Shoong — The storage box from before the tutorial appeared. A window popped up with the list of items and I picked out three.

[Aether] [The armament, aether, will have its battle prowess restricted by 50%.]

Aether, which I hadn’t seen in a while, sagged like a sad slime. I reached out and it twitched like a cute caterpillar before coiling up my arm. I smiled and took out the next item.

[Smartwatch]

I wore the laptop-linked smartwatch on my wrist as aether seeped into it and made it more elegant. Aether had great taste and it looked somewhat like a Patek Philippe watch now.

[Desert Eagle]

Finally, I grabbed the Desert Eagle. The platinum handle’s size and coldness felt nostalgic.

“Hmm…”

I examined the Desert Eagle and transformed it with aether into a shotgun, sniper rifle, and assault rifle. The Desert Eagle had one magazine loaded for each form: 1 handgun magazine, 1 assault rifle magazine, 2 shotgun shells, and 5 sniper rifle bullets. That was all I had.

“Um, system?”

I felt like this wasn’t enough and raised the Desert Eagle to the tower’s system, which should be watching me. The storage box contained all my magazines. I didn’t expect to receive hundreds of bullets back, but just a small portion would be enough.

“Um, you see, this is a gun. It might be a bit special, but a gun can’t be used without bullets.”

I tried asking just in case.

— Extra7 has used Lv.2 Haggling.

— Extra7's Lv.2 Voice of Trust has been activated.

I hoped the system would listen to me.

“With that in mind, can you give me some extra magazines? I don’t need too many.”

The system didn’t reply even after a long time. I felt dejected and lowered my hand. It seemed the system couldn’t make an exception. As I gave up…

[Your request has been accepted considering that this weapon is a gun.]

“Oh!”

I bowed respectfully as soon as I heard the message.

[However, we hope you will not use the mysterious power you possess at lower levels of the tower.] [The administrator of the lower levels may consider it an unfair advantage and punish you accordingly.]

“Understood. Thank you.”

I nodded. The mysterious power most likely referred to stigma. It didn’t matter too much since I could currently only use 2 streaks. Any more than that and my body wouldn’t be able to handle it.

[The magazines will now be transferred over.]

Soon, various magazines appeared in the air: 2 handgun magazines, 1 assault rifle magazine, 3 sniper rifle bullets, and 6 shotgun shells. This should be more than enough as I stored them in my inventory.

[After 24 hours of rest, you may advance to the tower’s 2nd floor.] [You may now use all the system functions.]

[Here is a brief explanation.] [Waiting Room] — Normal Entrance: You may teleport to your waiting room when there are no hostile players nearby or when you are not in a combat zone. — Emergency Teleportation: You may teleport to your waiting room no matter where you are or what situation you are in. (This function has a 96 hour cooldown.) — Waiting Room Entrance Ticket: You may provide other players with entrance tickets to your waiting room.

[Deaths in the tower] — After the tutorial, players are given 7 lives in total. Once killed, players will revive at the nearest residential area and will receive a penalty based on their circumstances. (Note: If you die on the 2nd floor, you will lose all stat gains you’ve acquired and will restart from the tutorial.)

[Auction house…]

I already knew everything and nothing seemed to have changed from the original setting. Then I turned on my smartwatch and stared at the egg on my bed.

[???]

I wasn’t able to read the egg’s information with the tower’s current system. However…

[Lv.6 Muninn’s Egg] [Tower – Mythical] — An egg laid by Muninn, the Eagle of Memory.

My smartwatch could perfectly read the egg’s description. As I thought, my laptop was superior to the tower’s system.

“Hmm… What do I do now?”

The 24 hours seemed needlessly long, but was barely enough to utilize each of the system’s functions. Currently, members of various guilds should be having conferences.

“Oh right.”

I infused stigma’s magic power into the blanket covering the egg. The little blanket nest I made for Muninn’s egg became incredibly warm. Next…

“24 hours…”

I lay on the floor and thought about what to do.

[Remaining time – 23h 35m 39s]

I couldn’t just waste an entire day.

“I’ll fix this place up until random dice’s cooldown ends. Then I’ll start making more equipment once I get more materials.”

I came up with a plan.

“Um, can you please bring up a list of items from the player shop to renovate the waiting room?”

The system immediately pulled out a list of items from the player shop’s miscellaneous category.

[Lv.1 Marble Slabs – 30 TP] [Lv.1 Timber – 20 TP] [Lv.1 Warehouse – 300 TP] [Lv.1 Training Room – 500 TP]…

“There’s even a training room?”

I bought the marble slabs and thought about making a warehouse or a training room.

Shoong, shoong—

A bundle of marble slabs appeared. The Lv.1 marble still looked better than wood. I began to tear out the waiting room’s wooden floor to install them. Of course, even such a menial task took a lot with my low stats.

[Your strength has increased by 0.003 points.] [Your vitality has increased by 0.003 points.] [Your strength has increased by 0.003 points.] [Your vitality has increased by 0.003 points.]…

I received many similar alerts after about 6 hours of work.

“If only I had the goblin tablet with me.”

I wiped off the sweat from my forehead. Tiring— A message suddenly popped up in front of me.

[Player PhantomThief has invited player Extra7 to a group chat.] [Would you like to accept?]

PhantomThief was Jain’s nickname. It seemed she figured out how to use the messenger system. I accepted.

[Extra7 has entered the chat.]

PhantomThief: Hey newbie. There’s even a group chat. Isn’t this interesting?

Goryeo’sStrongest: Whadup?

PhantomThief: Look at Cheok Jungyeong trying to type lol what an idiot.

Goryeo’sStrongest: The screen is too small for my fingers. You’re next to me, so why do I even need to chat?

[Boss has entered the chat.]

PhantomThief: Hey Boss.

Boss: Hi.

PhantomThief: Look, our nicknames are similar. [1]

Boss: Similar? How?

PhantomThief: Isn’t that obvious?

Boss: No.

A holographic keyboard popped up when I reached out to the chat window.

Me: What’s everyone doing?

Boss: I’m training.

PhantomThief: I’m looking around the community for more information. There’s already an anonymous information café. People sure are quick-witted. It looks like a great way to earn TP.

Me: Is the owner a djinn or from a guild?

PhantomThief: I don’t know yet. I think I’ll set up my profile too.

Boss: Profile? How do you

Boss didn’t finish her sentence since she typed slow.

Boss: do that?

PhantomThief: It’ll be too hard for you, Boss. No matter how well we explain it.

Boss: I can do it. Teach me.

[9 hours and 30 minutes have passed. Your random dice have recharged.]

My random dice came back at just the right moment. I placed the chat window aside and took them out. My inventory was still empty after selling everything.

“Good materials, good materials.”

I rolled the dice as I wished. They hit the marble floor and transformed into a shining piece of leather.

[Lv.4 Black Gargoyle Leather]

“Oh.”

It practically screamed special.

***

In player CaptainBritain’s waiting room 12 hours later, Rachel opened her eyes on the shabby wooden floor. She shivered and rubbed her arms.

“Huuu…”

She sighed after her teeth chattered and had woken up again in the middle of sleeping. Not from the cold, but because of her body’s clock. She checked the community page after waking up.

[Confirming members of the Royal Court guild. Please leave comments.]

Rachel had posted as soon as she finished the second tutorial so she could meet up with her guild members. She still hadn’t met Kim Hajin and wondered what he was up to. Of course, she believed he was doing just fine on his own. Then she left the community page and lay back on the ground. Her current living space felt uncomfortable without even a blanket or pillow.

“…”

She struggled to fall back to sleep. Although she had cleared the high-intermediate difficulty tutorial, all sorts of worries rose in her head: England’s current situation, the Royal Court guild, and the person whose life or death remained unknown. Rachel decided to work out and shake off those complicated thoughts.

“Huu.”

She began to do push-ups. Three sets of 40 followed by 3 sets of 60 curl-ups, then squats and the Royal Court’s basic sword training routine…

After 4 hours of training, she accessed the community again.

Public Forum [Tutorial clear records.] [Is there anyone with a Lv.2 sword willing to trade for a Lv.2 axe?] — Me. I’ll put it up on the auction house. — The auction house has high fees though… [Difficulty doesn’t matter from the 2nd floor onwards, right?] — Looks like it.

The public forum seemed quite busy. Honestly, Rachel was also busy until about 8 hours ago. At the time, all 7 Royal Court guild members had gathered in Rachel’s waiting room for a meeting.

“Hmm?”

An interesting post caught Rachel’s attention with dozens of people commenting.

[Everyone, someone earned 20000 TP in the third tutorial.] — No way, who? — Don’t lie, please. — No, no, it’s already been confirmed by everyone who cleared the highest difficulty tutorial. His nickname is Extra7. — Extra7? — Yes, people are guessing it’s either the Vast Expanse or a member of the Nine Stars.

“Eh? 20000 TP?”

Rachel’s mouth opened in shock. She only managed to collect 3500 TP in the high-intermediate difficulty Tutorial Town. Even then, other players labeled her as vicious. To have 6 times as much… Rachel refreshed the page while feeling a bit jealous.

[Oh! Hey, there’s a Lv.3 armor in the auction house!]

A new comment popped up.

“…!”

Rachel slightly jumped and immediately entered the auction house.

[Lv.3 Gargoyle Leather Armor (J – White Order)] Lv.2 Resistance, Lv.2 Ease of Movement, Lv.3 Durability [Starting Bid – 500 TP] [Current Bid – 600 TP]

A Lv.3 item had appeared when the tower climb hadn’t even begun. Rachel didn’t know what white order meant, but it still sounded cool. She wanted it as soon as she saw it. I want it. I want to make that armor mine. She clicked to make a bid.

***

In Player Nayunjajangman’s waiting room.

[Wow, someone from the third tutorial earned 20000 TP!]

Chae Nayun looked at the same post that Rachel had read. She already knew that Extra7 had earned 20000 TP in the third tutorial. After all, she had seen it with her own eyes.

“Could he really be Vast Expanse?”

The thought that he could be the famous Vast Expanse never crossed her mind.

“Who?”

“Who are you talking about?”

The Essence of the Strait members in her waiting room also seemed interested. Chae Nayun had invited them over with the waiting room entrance tickets.

“Extra7.”

“Oh, him? The public forum is filled with people talking about him. Did he really make 20000 TP?”

This cheerful voice belonged to Yi Jiyoon, a former classmate from Cube who had chosen the lowest difficulty tutorial.

Chae Nayun briefly replied, “Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes. He earned slightly more than 20000 TP.”

“No way, really? How the heck did he make 20000?”

“I’m not sure. By the way, aren’t you being a bit rude?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Don’t use words like heck when you’re talking about him. Do you think he’s your friend?”

“…”

Yi Jiyoon became speechless. Chae Nayun retracted her sharp gaze and opened the list of encountered players, a system functionality only available in the waiting room.

List of Encountered Players — [Goryeo’sStrongest]… [Extra7]

“Eh?”

To her surprise, she spotted Extra7 on the list. However, she quickly accepted it since it wouldn’t have been strange to pass each other at least once in the highest difficulty tutorial. Clearly, neither had recognized each other. With a small smile, she sent a friend request to her old master.

[You have sent a friend request to player Extra7.]

***

[You have crafted a Lv.4 equipment.] [Your Lv.2 crafting technique has improved to Lv.3]

“Huu.”

I sigh in exhaustion after 9 hours of hard work. I finally succeeded in crafting a Lv.4 equipment, the best I had made so far. It required both aether and stigma’s magic power and I called it the Black Messiah’s Horrible Suit.

[Black Messiah’s Horrible Suit] Lv.3 Resistance, Lv.4 Durability, Lv.3 Temperature Control, Lv.3 Stealth

“My naming sense… sucks.”

I had become a bit crazy before finally succeeding. Well, I could just change the name before selling it.

I put the suit on. It felt light, yet stuck to my body. This armor made moving easier.

“Amazing.”

It felt much better than the failed products from before. At first, I used half of the Lv.4 material to make a Lv.3 armor, which turned into a complete failure. I randomly named it and tossed it in the auction house. If I recalled correctly, I named it: [Lv.3 Gargoyle’s Leather Armor (J – White Order)]. The J stood for Jin, the second part of my name, and white order meant the lowest grade.

“I guess I’ll see how it’s doing.”

Feeling bored, I went to check the auction house when…

Tiring— An alert popped up from the group chat.

PhantomThief: Ahhh, this waiting room sucks. How am I supposed to stay here for 24 hours?

Jain complained.

Me: Lol why don’t you buy a bed? There’s one in the player shop.

PhantomThief: Are you crazy? That’s such a waste of TP. Auuu, Cheok Jungyeong reeks of sweat.

The red entrance ticket’s waiting room was twice the size of other rooms since 2 people would share it.

Boss: Jain, you should train like Gyeong. A beautiful flower only bloims in solutudr.

PhantomThief: Stop making typos, Boss.

Me: Boss, have you eaten anything?

Boss: Of course.

Me: Hold on, I’ll send you a ticket to my room.

I planned to invite Boss to my room since she probably hadn’t eaten anything. However…

[Player Nayunjajangman has sent you a friend request.]

“Hm?”

I suddenly received a friend request and tilted my head at the familiar ID.

“What?”

How did he send me a friend request? Didn’t I block everyone from sending me friend requests through the public forum? A sudden suspicion crept up inside me.

“Erm…”

I hesitated before accepting.

Ding— Nayunjajangman immediately messaged me.

[Hyung! What happened? I heard you made 20000 TP!]

1. Their nicknames share the same first character in Korean. ☜