Leveling with the Gods

The meeting regarding the Tutorial was almost wrapped up. 

They had managed to discuss a few possible scenarios regarding the Chimera Creator:

If neither [Cinder Eyes] nor [Gigantification] were obtained, do not even try.

If only one of them was obtained, leave it up to the user’s judgement.

But if both were obtained…

“You have to defeat the Chimera Creator.”

The Chimera Creator, after reclimbing the Tower, became a High Ranker that time around, bringing chaos to the Tower again.

He used the players of the lower floors as ingredients, and as a High Ranker, he had gained enough power to rival a guild between the power he cultivated for a thousand years and the human-type Chimeras. 

So in order to prevent any more travesty, Son OhGong had to personally go after him again. 

“Getting both Cinder Eyes and Gigantification during the Tutorial…”

Eyes that can analyze the essence and weakness of all creation and the ability to exude the same power as a Giant, one of the dominant races of the Tower. With those two powers combined, it should be entirely possible to tear apart the Chimera Creator’s limbs and snap his neck. 

As the meeting regarding the Tutorial was ending, YuWon said the following: 

“An unbelievable guy is going to be born.”

At that point, he had never imagined that the unbelievable guy would end up being him.

* * *

[You have defeated the ‘Chimera Creator.’]

[You have accomplished an impossible achievement.]

[Due to accomplishing an impossible achievement, the calculation of your reward will be delayed.]

[The Tutorial has been finalized.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Dexterity increased by 2.]

[Your Constitution…]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate increased by 8.24%.]

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Dexterity increased by 1.]

YuWon’s level had increased by two. It was an exorbitant amount of EXP, being able to level up twice at his current level. And on top of that, thanks to reaching a higher completion rate, YuWon also obtained two additional stat points. 

‘So this guy was recognized as a boss, like Suruhtra.’

This was a good thing for YuWon. Had the system not recognized Childe as a boss, not only would he have not received EXP, he also wouldn’t have received any bonus rewards.

Luckily that didn’t occur, and as an additional bonus, the completion rate for [Heaven-Slaying Star] shot up, which was great news for YuWon. 

‘With this, the completion rate is now over 10%. I got an additional two stat points. Does that mean it’s one stat point per 5%?’

This meant that he’d be able to earn a total of 20 stat points unrelated to levels by completing the skill. 

YuWon had thought that the effect was pretty lackluster for an A plus-rank skill, but it turned out to be pretty decent.

YuWon turned his head and looked around. 

Thud—

Flop—

The human-type Chimeras that were in battle suddenly started dropping dead as if their souls had left their bodies. It was all because Childe, the one who was controlling them, died. 

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They suddenly flopped over.”

“Is it over?”

“They’re not getting back up, right?”

“Grrrr—”

Hargaan’s team and the unsealed Chimera stayed on guard against the fallen human-type Chimeras. They were concerned that the Chimeras might get back up at any moment and charge at them again. 

“They won’t be getting up, so don’t worry. The boss is dead.”

Hargaan’s team untensed after hearing YuWon’s reassurance.

“R-Really?”

“Phew—”

“I thought we were actually dead.”

“Is anyone injured?”

Now that the battle was over, Elador and Paladinte started looking after their teammates with their healing abilities. 

Quite a few of them had been injured. They might have been high-ranking participants, but their opponents were human-type Chimeras created by the Chimera Creator. Had the unsealed Chimera not helped them, more than half of them probably would have died.

‘The reason why none of them died is probably…’

YuWon looked over at Hargaan who was tending to his injured teammates.

‘… Thanks to this guy.’

He only got a few glimpses during the fight, but Hargaan’s skills far exceeded what YuWon had expected. 

Hargaan used his golden lightning to slaughter the human-type Chimeras and protect his teammates. And despite all that, it seemed that he was neither tired nor injured. 

‘He really is talented, even among the Olympians. He might have even been able to become the next Hercules…’

“Where’s the reward?” asked Hargaan. Seeing how it was taking a while for the reward to be calculated, he signaled to YuWon and turned around. “Come with me for a bit. You guys stay back.”

YuWon nodded his head and followed behind him. He had a rough idea what Hargaan wanted to say. 

He led YuWon to boss room No.3 where the Chimera boss was originally sealed. Without the Chimera, the cave was completely empty. 

“I won’t ask who you are or how you knew about the connection between that Ranker and the Tutorial.”

It bothered Hargaan. He had heard Childe speak about YuWon and Olympus. However, that had to be tabled for now.

“Yolche’s injured.”

YuWon nodded his head, listening to Hargaan. 

The one who took the biggest injury during this battle was Yolche. It appeared as though she was stabbed in the hip, and Elador was busy treating her right now. 

“Did you really have to do that?”

“Are you talking about the Chimera Creator?”

“Yeah. This was a Tutorial that could have been cleared just by defeating the sealed Chimera. We didn’t have to defeat that guy.”

“That’d normally be the case.”

“Normally?”

Hargaan couldn’t believe YuWon’s words. Saying something like “normally ” when they had challenged the Tutorial’s boss after only five days. Even Zeus, his father, had never managed to set this kind of record in the Tutorial. 

Yet here YuWon was claiming that just defeating the sealed Chimera in record time would be “normal” after having challenged something far beyond that.

“You could have set the greatest record to date just by defeating the sealed Chimera. How far do you have to go until you’re satisfied? Will you only be satisfied once you and all your comrades are dead?”

Yolche wasn’t the only one who had fallen into danger. The reason why she got injured in the first place was because she tried to protect the rest of her teammates from the human-type Chimeras. And unlike Hargaan, she wasn’t strong enough to fight while protecting others. 

And it wasn’t just Yolche. It was the same for the rest of Hargaan’s teammates. They had faced a crisis where more people could have been injured, or worse, some could have even died. 

“‘How far,’ you say…”

YuWon closed his eyes and took a moment to think. How far indeed did he have to go? 

Even now, YuWon could vividly picture it when he closed his eyes. 

The Outer Gods. The gods from another world outside the Tower. 《One Who Couldn’t Be Born》, 《Despair that Reaches the Skies》, 《Gloom Trapped in a Swamp》, and… 《Foolish Chaos.》

‘How far do I have to go?’

YuWon thought back to the fight with 《Foolish Chaos.》In order to just defeat him, Asura, Vishnu, and various other Rankers had lost their lives. 

And exactly how many bastards like him existed? There was no way for YuWon to know. 

That’s why YuWon couldn’t let himself be shackled by the laws of this small and tiny Tower. He had to become endlessly powerful while purging the rotten parts of this world, leading it to become even stronger. Or else this world would meet its end. 

“I…” YuWon shook his head in response, “… don’t know.”

He had never thought about it before. How far would he have to go in order to face the gods from another world?

YuWon felt like he couldn’t breathe, and a suffocating pressure weighed down on his entire body. This was a much harder question to answer than fighting Childe. 

“You don’t know?” Hargaan asked back in confusion. 

He tried to read YuWon’s face. YuWon had always appeared confident and laid back up until now. He was absolutely certain that no one was as strong as YuWon during their time as a newbie. However, YuWon still didn’t seem satisfied, as if he had only just taken the first step towards his goal.

Instead of responding to Hargaan’s question, YuWon replied with a question out of the blue. “You’re looking for a team, right? One you can get through thick and thin with.”

Hargaan looked confused, not understanding what YuWon was talking about. 

YuWon continued, “This is why. This is the reason why I’m not looking for a team right now.”

“What do you mean ‘This is why…’?”

Hargaan suddenly remembered what YuWon had said before.

“I don’t have any intention of forming a team with people who have a different destination than me. That’s my answer.”

* * *

The reason why YuWon hadn’t made a team. Hargaan had previously thought he was simply being stubborn, not wanting to work together with people who had a different goal. And it was only natural that he thought YuWon was just being stubborn back then.

It was very rare for a team created during the Tutorial to stay together forever. Unless they were connected by blood like Olympus, most people joined other teams or disbanded according to their needs. And Hargaan had thought YuWon didn’t want something like that.

‘So that wasn’t it,’ Hargaan thought. 

YuWon wasn’t worried about his team changing or disbanding part way through. A team that would stay together forever for a common goal wasn’t what YuWon wanted. 

What YuWon wanted were comrades that were strong enough to face extreme dangers. The team had to be made of people who could walk the same path as him because the path he was destined to walk was far more dangerous than Hargaan could ever imagine. 

“That’s why it’s better if you give up now. If you pull someone like me into your team, who knows when something like this might happen again.”

With that, YuWon turned away, but it wasn’t so he could go back to where the rest of them were. It was because of the tall man that had suddenly appeared behind him.

“Have you been waiting a long time?” asked YuWon. 

“▷ Well, it seemed like you two were having an important conversation.”

It was the giant hobo, the Tutorial’s Administrator.  

Having been unable to notice the Administrator’s presence until then, Hargaan was shocked to see the tall man. 

Seeing YuWon and the Administrator greet each other, Hargaan carefully asked YuWon, “Who’s this?”

“The Tutorial’s Administrator.”

“What?!”

Hargaan froze for a second, as if he didn’t understand, before continuing, “T-The Administrator?!”

After shouting in surprise, Hargaan quickly shut up and measured the Administrator’s reaction. 

Even though YuWon had already met this one a few times, Administrators weren’t normally so easy to meet. Unless you specifically requested a meeting with them, they rarely ever showed themselves. And they usually stayed on the sidelines, having delegated most of their work to the Lackeys. 

The Administrators of each floor were beings on par with the highest Rankers. They were essentially in the same position as the “Big Three” of Olympus. 

“A-As a son of Olympus, I’d like to thank you for your presence, Administrator.”

It was only natural for Hargaan to show proper respect to the Administrator. Unlike normal participants, as a descendant of Olympus, he knew a lot about Administrators. 

“▷ Oh, yeah.”

The Administrator, however, didn’t seem all that pleased with his greeting. 

YuWon quickly guessed the reason behind the Administrator’s reaction.

“Don’t be like that. You should properly accept his greetings since he’s got nothing to do with that.”

“▷ I refuse.”

“Do you really have to be like that?”

“▷ Just thinking about how much more work I have now because of those bastards makes me want to go pull out Zeus’s beard right now.”

“…?” 

Not knowing the current situation, Hargaan was confused as to what they were talking about. However, he knew he couldn’t just demand an answer right now in the presence of the Administrator. 

Still, Hargaan could at least tell that the Administrator was currently hostile against Olympus. 

“▷ Also, thinking about what I’m about to hear from the other guys again because of you…”

The Administrator sounded like he had a headache. 

The Chimera Creator was a boss that had maintained the ecosystem of the Tutorial for almost a thousand years. It was all part of the Administrator’s plan. Childe created the sealed Chimera, maintaining the Tutorial’s system on repeat. 

The Tutorial’s Administrator had been preparing a different boss to substitute for the sealed Chimera before the thousand year contract ended. However, the Chimera Creator was suddenly killed, even though the preparations weren’t ready yet.

“▷ For the foreseeable future, the difficulty of the Tutorial is going to seriously decrease.”

He might have to just throw in any boss, even if it didn’t meet the difficulty requirement. And having to come up with a suitable reward, the Administrator felt like his head was going to explode from a migraine. 

“Did you come here just to complain?”

“▷ Not just to complain.”

“Just give me the reward already, please.”

Technically speaking, the Chimera Creator wasn’t a preset boss in the Tutorial. He was another hidden piece like Suruhtra. And the Administrator had made an appearance to give YuWon a reward for defeating that hidden piece. 

“▷ You’re much more impatient than you appear.”

“I’m sure you don’t have all day either.”

“▷ That’s true.”

The Administrator looked down at YuWon, not really thrilled with the situation, as he opened his hand. 

“▷ Here you go.”

Flash—