Omniscient Necromancer POV

Since I had declined Lerah Carter's invitation to become a Paladin, my financial situation remained unchanged.

The main difference, however, was that time was now working against me.

When her letter arrived at the Church of the Golden Halo, the organization that controls entry and exit from the Tower of Babel would change my Rank.

After that, the media would quickly discover that an eighteen-year-old from Bronxord was a Rank B. Several journalists would come to my house, eager for interviews for the newspapers they worked for.

This would disturb the peace of my family and neighborhood, bringing trouble to the Shibutani.

For this reason, I needed money to move out of my apartment more than ever.

"Money, money, dollars, bills, coins..." I muttered as I walked through the city after leaving the police station.

The word coins, however, sounded strange in my head.

"Coins... Coins...! Wait a second."

That's when I remembered that I had earned coins once. Not the gold, silver, and bronze coins that existed here in Aland, but coins in my system.

That meant I had a store, right? Hunter Ruse had a kind of store!

My eyes widened and I started cursing myself mentally for taking so long to notice it.

I opened my menu and searched through all the tabs — Status Window, Attributes Window, Inventory, Skill Chest... Where was the shop?

No matter how hard I looked, there was no "Shop" tab in sight.

I furrowed my brow. "So, what the hell are these Coins for? Think... maybe I just haven't unlocked that feature yet."

Yes, my system unlocked features as I leveled up. Maybe the shop just wasn't available yet. After all, I didn't get anything when I first leveled up. Not even when I reached level five.

"What if something unlocks at level 10?"

Considering that the system had already warned me that it was important to level up to unlock things, it was a possibility that I hadn't even unlocked the store to be able to use the Coins.

The only problem was that leveling up to level 10 would be too big of an investment...

I closed my eyes for a moment, weighing the decision.

After defeating Blackpearl, I earned 3,000 Soul Fragments. That was the same amount I had used to defeat him, so the investment had been worth it in every way. The only problem was that, since this system regulated itself, the rate at which I had evolved with 3,000 Soul Fragments before would not be the same now.

'Until now, I've been investing most of the time in my attributes rather than my levels because it's better in the long run. However, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to change it up a little this time.'

I opened my menu and checked my current level — Level 5.

Each 10 EXP cost 1 Soul Fragment, and it seemed that this would not change like the cost per Attribute Point.

So, with the amount of Soul Fragments I had now, I could gain up to 30,000 EXP.

If I wanted to go up to level 10, I wanted to spend a maximum of 2,000 Fragments to leave an emergency reserve.

It was a high expense, but I had to think about the possibility of earning something for my family now.

20,000 EXP was enough to reach level 10. I was sure of that, since I had invested very little to reach level 5.

"All right. Let's do it."

[2000 Soul Fragments have been converted into 20000 Experience Points (EXP).]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 6!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 7!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 8!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 9!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 10!]

[Your HP has been fully restored.]

[Your MP has been fully restored.]

[A new feature has been unlocked!]

A big smile spread across my face because I had actually unlocked something. But...

"What? This isn't a store."

Ding!

[Quest Board is available!]

My jaw dropped, and I slowly raised my trembling finger to tap the message.

Immediately, a new interface appeared, filled with quests separated by categories. Some of these quests were dimmed, indicating that they were not yet available, while others glowed in different colors representing their difficulty.

+

[Daily Quests]

— Complete 4 Physical Trainings (0/4)

— Hunt 10 monsters (0/10)

— Obtain 500 Soul Fragments (0/500)

[Achievement Quests]

— Defeat an enemy of Rank B or higher (0/1)

— Reach 50,000 converted EXP after reaching Level 10 (0/50,000)

— Unlock a Legendary Skill (0/1)

[Special Missions]

— ???

— ???

— ???

+

I scanned the list with my eyes, analyzing the options. Some seemed easy, while others would require much more effort.

"Right... This isn't what I was expecting, but missions give rewards, right?"

I clicked on the first mission, the one about Physical Training, because I had always wanted one of those to start changing my physique.

[You have obtained a Daily Mission, "No pain, no gain"!]

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[Mission Details!]

Mission Name: No pain, no gain

Description: To strengthen your body, you need to dedicate time, effort, and willpower.

Objective:

Sit-ups (0/100)

Squats (0/100)

Push-ups (0/100)

Kilometers Traveled (0/10km)

Reward: +1 LootBox

Duration: 24 hours remaining.

+

"This training... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before," I thought, one hand on my chin and a smile from ear to ear.

The only LootBox I had opened so far had given me the key to a pocket dungeon, so

I was excited just thinking about what the prize for the next LootBox might be. But before I ran off through the streets, I accepted all the other missions that weren't daily and therefore didn't have a time limit for completion.

[You have obtained a Daily Quest "Hunter (Rank C)"!]

[You have obtained a Daily Quest "Soul Collector (Rank D)"!]

[You have obtained a Daily Quest "The Bearer of a Legendary Skill (Rank S)"!]

Minutes later, I was already trotting through the streets. The formal clothes I was wearing weren't conducive to exercise, so I had my blazer tucked under my arm and the sleeves of my shirt rolled up.

Fortunately, my body was much more resilient than before, thanks to the attributes I had gained since coming to this world. Otherwise, I would have been gasping for air after running two blocks.

"Running 10 kilometers will be easy. The problem is the other physical exercises..." I muttered, picking up the pace.

After running for a while, I decided to pass through a park in the center of Browink District. With more time and space, I decided to do the other exercises for the mission right there. It took me over an hour, but with a few breaks, I managed to complete all the exercises.

Sweat ran down the side of my face, sliding down my chin and dripping onto the damp grass in front of the bench where I was sitting. My legs trembled slightly, and my chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to catch my breath.

"Haa... Haa... Fortunately, my body is much more resilient than it was in my other life."

[You have completed the Daily Mission "No pain, no gain"!]

+

[Mission Details!]

Mission Name: No pain, no gain

Description: To strengthen your body, you need to dedicate time, effort, and willpower.

Goal:

Sit-ups (100/100) ✓

Squats (100/100) ✓

Push-ups (100/100) ✓

Kilometers Traveled (10/10km) ✓

Reward: +1 LootBox

Duration: 22 hours remaining.

[You have received +1 LootBox!]

A small square box wrapped in gift paper appeared in front of me. I looked around to make sure no one had seen it, but in this society, people were not yet in the habit of going to parks for exercise or leisure — especially during the week — so the park was practically empty.

"Well... there's only one way to find out if all this effort was worth it."

With a light touch of my fingertip, the box opened with a small glow.

+

[Item obtained!]

[Key to the First Floor of the Tower of Giants.

Description: A magic key that allows access to the First Floor of the Tower of Giants.

Effect: Opens a portal to a Rank-B dungeon.]

+

The small golden key rested in my palm. Its ends were almost completely different from each other. While the tip was very pointed, the teeth looked like a pair of double wings, and the bow imitated the scepter that some priests used in the old days. But it wasn't the appearance of the key that worried me, it was having it for myself.

More than ever, it was clear that obtaining a key like this was no coincidence.

Just as Hunter Ruse had already gone to the Cursed Library, I remembered that he had also been to the Tower of Giants on two occasions.

"The system wants me to find the original protagonist again."

This conclusion was not only because getting a key from a dungeon should be more difficult, but also because one of Hunter Ruse's favorite dungeons was the Tower of Giants due to a legendary item at the top of it.

The wind blew, rustling the dry leaves on the ground and cooling the sweat on my face.

I held the key up to the early afternoon sun, watching how it looked when held up against the light.

LootBoxes were supposed to be random, but this was definitely not random. This was an invitation.

The thing that had brought me to this world was doing something.

That was obvious to me now, but why? What was the reason? My hand closed tighter around the key, gripping it tightly.

"If I go to the Tower of Giants, I might end up meeting the protagonist again. But wasting the opportunity to get a legendary item isn't something I would do, even if I were an idiot."