Essence of the Strait’s team leader, Kim Youngjin, took a guess at the contribution rankings for Medea’s quest.

First was the destruction of the demon control towers. Guilds severely lacked here because they found it impossible to cooperate. One side would suddenly ambush the other or would suddenly say different things than initially discussed. Jain had caused all these conflicts in disguise. Then an irregular took care of the towers while the guilds turned to shambles.

Kim Youngjin became dumbstruck whenever he thought about it. He woke up like any other day, but someone had destroyed 3 towers without a trace.

Leaders of each guild quickly ran to the towers’ locations that day. However, they only found ruins and a black lotus symbol engraved with magic power.

Kim Youngjin knew what that black lotus symbolized as Essence of the Strait’s executive. Every high ranking hero often talked about Pandemonium’s serial terror incidents.

Black Lotus took all the contribution points related to control towers. Shocked by this, the guilds came together to conquer the last one. Thankfully, Kim Youngjin managed to achieve ruby rank.

Next, they hunted the demons and undead monsters near the city. The contribution points couldn’t compare to destroying the towers, but guild analysts concluded that one could achieve gold to ruby rank by faithfully doing this.

Finally, Prestige’s various quests also gave contribution points. Others like the [Lv.3 Longsword Forged with Ice Crystal] quest that Chae Nayun received also gave rewards that any player would envy.

Kim Youngjin nervously looked around the reception hall. It contained exactly 100 players. The top 100 in terms of contribution points.

They all sat around a long table looking at each other. At first glance, they seemed to be equal, but a clear hierarchy existed.

First were the ones closest to Medea. One diamond, three emeralds, and six rubies including Kim Youngjin himself. The diamond seat had yet to arrive, but the most eye-catching hero was the emerald seat Aileen.

“Ah, I’m starving. When will the administrator arrive?”

The Hero Association’s ultimate weapon, also known as the Human Dragon or the Last Spirit Speech Master. Kim Youngjin felt honored to be in the presence of this white-haired expert. She greatly contributed to the southern tower’s destruction and slaughtered countless undead monsters to undoubtedly earn the emerald seat.

“The most important person hasn’t arrived yet either.”

Seo Youngji, the high rank hero who sat next to Kim Youngjin, whispered. Kim Youngjin also thought the same.

“Right, Black Lotus hasn’t arrived yet.”

The only diamond seat undoubtedly belonged to Black Lotus.

“He must be planning to reveal himself more now since he carved his signature inside the tower.”

Seo Youngji muttered as she looked strangely at Kim Youngjin.

“By the way, Youngjin, I heard you found a rare item on one of your quests.”

“Us?”

“Ay, don’t pretend like you don’t know. I saw you swinging that blue sword with an ice attribute, right? It looked amazing. Where did you get it?”

Kim Youngjin shook his head. The blue longsword wasn’t just a weapon since outside items couldn’t be brought inside the Tower of Wish. Good weapons found inside served as valuable assets for any guild. Seo Youngji was a senior from his days in Cube, but Kim Youngjin couldn’t give away any information.

“Cough, rather than that, don’t you think Prestige has been rapidly changing?”

Kim Youngjin changed the subject. Seo Youngji seemed to accept his indirect refusal.

“The outer city became more energetic. Crops are growing too.”

As their conversation came to an end…

DUN—!

A large gate that had remained shut suddenly roared. Every player turned towards the gate decorated with beautiful diamonds.

Kiiik—

The door slowly opened as a man walked through with steady steps. The butler near the door introduced him.

“The diamond ranked Buyong has arrived.”

The man didn’t look simple. He wore a black robe embroidered with white patterns that looked beautiful enough to capture every eye. Magic power flowed along the robe’s surface. What level could it be? Kim Youngjin couldn’t help but wonder.

“…”

The man sharply scanned the players in the room. His hawk-like eyes seemed to pierce through their secrets. After 5 seconds, he concluded his brief observation and sat at his seat. The room suddenly grew louder.

“So he’s…”

“Shh.”

Seo Youngji placed an index finger to her mouth.

“Nothing good will come from being involved with him.”

“…”

Kim Youngjin silently nodded. That man was no doubt the strongest player. Kim Youngjin felt thankful he met Black Lotus in the tower since they might stand a chance with everyone’s stats restricted.

“By the way, is it true?” Kim Youngjin asked Seo Youngji.

“What is?”

“That the Divine Archer Jin Seyeon is also looking for a ticket.”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re her direct junior and an association member. Shouldn’t you know?”

Seo Youngji laughed and shook her head.

“Association members don’t know everything regarding what heroes do in their spare time. Why do you ask?”

“Black Lotus also uses a bow. We need someone who can suppress him.”

“Why can’t that be someone from a guild? You guys sure like to bring up the association when it’s convenient.”

Black Lotus probably destroyed 3 towers with a single arrow each. Only an archer on the same level could suppress him. A warrior would never be able to defeat an archer on high ground. They could only hope that they wouldn’t be sitting ducks.

The association bestowed Jin Seyeon with the master rank title for this reason. Reaching the peak of the bow was much harder than the sword.

“Honestly, I hope she doesn’t come. I don’t think the Divine Archer can beat him either.”

Seo Youngji spoke as she shook her head.

“No way, there’s a reason she’s called the Divine Archer.”

“No, I’m positive. Look at the ominous and dangerous aura around him. He hasn’t even shown his face.”

Seo Youngji didn’t know that this aura came from Jain’s disguise, which became unstable because of the restricted stats. Seo Youngji mistakenly thought Kim Hajin emanated this ghastly aura from his level of attainment.

“I guess you’re right.”

“I hope nothing bad happens here.”

“It should be fine. Aileen is here as well.”

“I don’t like her that much.”

Seo Youngji grumbled. Tk, tk, tk, tk. The lights went off. Soon, a white sphere of magic power rose and lit up the room.

“The third floor’s administrator and this palace’s master, Medea, has arrived.”

The door behind the head of the table opened with the butler’s introduction. Medea elegantly strode in wearing a blue dress under a red robe.

However, her entrance felt a bit lacking after Black Lotus.

“Welcome, players.”

Medea paused before sitting at the head of the table. She stared at Black Lotus, who sat next to her.

“As expected, the administrator recognizes his strength,” Seo Youngji murmured.

“Looks like it.”

The players began talking among themselves after seeing this.

***

“Welcome, players.”

Medea suddenly stopped and looked at me after her grand appearance. To be exact, she looked at my robe. It seemed the butler wasn’t lying when he said she would envy its beauty.

“Cough, I am the administrator of Prestige, Medea.”

Medea turned back to finish her introduction. The 100 players all greeted her and she returned a kind smile.

“I am glad we can gather on this joyous day. All of you must have walked through your respective door of contribution.”

Snap. Medea snapped her fingers.

[You have received the diamond door’s blessing.] [The amount of TP gained by completing Prestige’s common quests has permanently increased by 11%.]

A system alert popped up.

— Hm?

— What’s this?

Players widened their eyes as Medea smiled.

“Huhu, that was the first reward. Don’t be surprised. This is only the beginning.”

This time, she clapped and classical music began to play. Several servants walked in carrying food.

“First, let us enjoy our meal.”

[Lv.3 Steak] [Lv.3 Beef Soup]

They served high quality food that couldn’t be found in Prestige. Players smacked their lips as they glanced at Medea.

“Dig in. You must be starving.”

The players began to eat as I looked around while cutting my steak. I also knew the other top 8 players. The robed emerald ranked player in front of me was most likely Bell. Like me, he didn’t exist in the original story.

“Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. Players should work together, right?”

Medea laid the groundwork for conversation. Immediately, a gaze fell on me. I turned my head and found Shin Jonghak passionately staring at me. It seemed he wanted to talk to me. Of course, I ignored him.

“You.”

Poke. The woman next to me suddenly poked my shoulder.

“…?”

“Hi.”

Aileen waved as our eyes met. She could be considered the strongest individual force aside from the Nine Stars.

“You know me, right?” Aileen asked.

“…”

However, I focused on my steak without answering.

“We met before in Tutorial Town. You threw the vodka at me.”

Annoyed by her incessant talking, I activated [Demon’s Cunning Speech].

“I don’t recall. Can you eat quietly?”

However, even I felt surprised by how fierce my voice sounded. The players eating quickly turned towards me. I should’ve learned how to use it properly.

“Oh? You’re using magic power in your voice. Are you provoking me?”

Aileen smiled, but her gaze grew sharper with hostility.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The new black.”

Everyone in the reception hall focused on us, including Bell and Medea. I wasn’t surprised since Medea liked conflict.

“…”

I turned towards Ailee glaring at me. I wasn’t scared of someone who looked like a kid. However…

“First, take off that rob— uup!”

Aileen spoke with magic power, but I stuffed a big chunk of steak in her mouth before she could finish.

“Eat.”

I had an item that let me cast hypnotic suggestions, which functioned similarly to Spirit Speech. Of course, it wouldn’t work on someone with high magic power like Aileen unless I made it hard to notice.

“It’s delicious, isn’t it?”

For example, this subtle hypnotic suggestion amplified the flavor.

“…”

Aileen stopped glaring and quickly began to chew. Nom, nom, nom, nom. It took ages for her to finish with her small mouth. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back. Then I looked at the players staring at me. They quickly averted their gazes, but the giants I mentioned continued to look on with interest.

“…”

I shook my head and Medea suddenly clapped her hands.

“Great, it seems the rank 1 player has the heart to give his food to others. That was a fun spectacle,” Medea spoke up. “Now then, let’s begin the conferment ceremony.”

Her announcement felt too sudden. The startled players hurriedly finished their food or stood with their plates.

“No, no, you don’t have to stand.”

Medea smiled and stopped them.

“Feel free to continue eating. I’ll take care of the reward ceremony. I dislike unnecessary and uncomfortable formalities.”

That was a lie. Medea wouldn’t hesitate to throw disrespectful people in jail or use them as sacrifices in magic experiments.

“Cough.” She cleared her throat before starting the conferment ceremony.

“First up, rank 51-100. Silver rank players will receive 500 TP in addition to the silver door blessing.”

Fifty butlers walked in and handed 5 gold coins to each silver ranked players.

“Next up, rank 11-50. Gold ranked players will receive 1000 TP in addition to the golden door blessing.”

They received 1000 TP in the same fashion.

“Finally, rank 1-0. The rewards are as follows.”

A window popped up in front of the top 10 rankers.

[Trait Recovery Coupon] [Special Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.1 Lightning of Thor] [Artifact – High-intermediate] [Special Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.2 Wind of Odyssey] [Artifact – Low-intermediate] [Orb of Regeneration] [Mystic Key]…

“Rank 1-10 players may choose their rewards from this list. First, the diamond ranked Buyong may pick 4 items from this list.”

Medea looked at me with interest. Four items were indeed worthy of first place. However, the players behind me would undoubtedly feel discontent if I took all the skill books. Medea probably hoped for that as well. Of course, I felt confident in dealing with them, but I didn’t want the skill books anyway.

“Have you made up your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Haha, I guess it’s not too hard of a decision. Announce your choice.”

I selected my items in front of the other 9 rankers.

First, I chose the [Trait Recovery Coupon] and the [Special Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.2 Wind of Odyssey].

The others likely expected this. However, the final two rewards I chose were the [Orb of Regeneration] and the [Mystic Key].

Immediately, the room stirred and Medea also looked surprised.

“D-Did you click the wrong button?”

“No.”

I needed much better skills than Medea’s skill books, so I chose the evolving items that would only grow stronger and could only be acquired from her.

***

“Why didn’t you choose the other skill book?” Jain grumbled about my choice after we left.

“Lightning of Thor isn’t all that good.”

Medea offered 2 special skill books, but neither were particularly good. Yes, the Lightning of Thor was a high-intermediate rank artifact. However, skill books fell into the following grades: average, rare, artifact, historical, legend, and mythical. Three grades existed above the artifact grade.

“Jain, you can have this.”

I handed her the [Lv.2 Wind of Odyssey]. I didn’t want to learn it to save my skill slots, but Wind of Odyssey wasn’t a bad skill.

“Eh? You’re giving this to me?” Jain’s attitude did a complete 180.

“Yes, it suits you. As for Cheok Jungyeong, here’s 5000 TP.”

I simply handed him the currency. However, he stood in a daze and must’ve gone delirious after not being able to fight anyone in a room full of powerful rankers. Or maybe he fell for Medea.

“You don’t want it?”

“…”

Cheok Jungyeong didn’t say anything, so I placed the 5000 TP back into my inventory.

“By the way, Jain, doesn’t this face look too similar to mine?”

I recalled my disguise, which didn’t look all that different from my original face. Kim Hajin’s general looks remained, but I had a beard and more clearly defined facial features. Admittedly, I looked more like Jake Gyllenhaal now.

“Ah, I didn’t have a choice because my ability is restricted. Any more and someone would notice, but don’t worry. They’ll never think it was you. Your real face is a lot uglier, hehe.”

“Not a lot.”

“Hm? I’ll change your face back. You be the judge.”

The beard on my chin disappeared and my face returned to normal.

“How is it?”

“Hm.”

Well, maybe I looked just a little bit uglier. I caught sight of Boss walking towards us while feeling hurt about my appearance.

“Oh, it’s Boss!”

“Boss!”

Jain and I left Cheok Jungyeong and ran over to Boss. A week had passed since I last saw her. Of course, a part of me felt a bit uncomfortable because of Chundong’s past, but I already decided to bury that as Kim Hajin.

“Welcome back, Boss. What have you been up to?”

Boss silently looked at me for a long time. Did something happen on Earth?

“No, it’s nothing.” She sighed and shook her head.

“Your face looks a lot skinnier for it to be nothing.”

“My face.”

“Yes, let’s go back to the hideout. I’ll make you a good meal.”

I began to walk towards our hideout. However, Boss didn’t move. She only stared at me with somber eyes.

“Boss, aren’t you coming?”

“Hajin.”

The word that came out of her mouth startled me. Boss always called me newbie unless it was something serious.

“Yes?”

However, she simply shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

Her awkwardness made me feel awkward too, but I brightly spoke up.

“Oh right, Boss. We have a new family member at our nest.”

“Family member?”

“Yes.”

***

[Lv.5 Chameleon Troupe’s Hideout]

— Chirp?

Spartan tilted his head and scanned the 4 people in front of him.

“So this is your pet?” Cheok Jungyeong asked.

“Yes. He’s quite loyal, so he should only like me.”

“Oh?”

“He’s clever and only follows one master. His name is Spartan.”

Chirp. Chirp— Spartan flapped his wings at the three new people.

“Isn’t he cute? He’s flapping his wings to protect his owner. He’s worried that you’d hurt me.”

“Is he?”

“Yep, so don’t hate him too much.”

“How cute. He’s loyal to his master?”

Cheok Jungyeong seemed skeptical while Jain stared at Spartan in awe. Chirp, chirp— Spartan chirped a few more times before hopping over.

“Come here, Spartan.’

I opened my arms.

“What?”

However, Spartan didn’t jump into my arms. Instead, he hopped over to Boss on the couch reading a novel. Then he dug into her embrace. Spartan’s sudden snuggling startled Boss as well.

“…?”

Boss looked back and forth between me and Spartan. I fell into a daze. However, Spartan didn’t even spare me a glance.

— Chirp, chirp.

He rubbed his head on Boss’ chest, coaxing her into petting him. Cheep, cheep. He even began to sing. The hell?

“I see, he’s very loyal. Heh, hehehe.” Cheok Jungyeong snickered.

“How funny, Spartan is definitely a male,” Jain remarked about his gender.