Chapter 163

Chapter 163. Waiting Room

Shoong—The storage box from before the start of the tutorial appeared in front of me. A window popped up with the list of items I had stored inside.From the list, I picked three items to take out.

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

First was Aether.Aether, which I hadn’t seen in a while was sagging down like a sad slime. I reached out to Aether. When I made contact, Aether twitched like a cute caterpillar before trembling and coiling up my arm.I smiled at it and took out the next item.

[Smartwatch]

I put the laptop-linked smartwatch on my wrist. Aether seeped into the smartwatch and made it look more elegant. It looked somewhat like a Patek Philippe watch. Aether really had great taste.

[Desert Eagle]

And finally, I grabbed the Desert Eagle. The platinum handle’s coldness and thickness felt too nostalgic.

“Hm….”

I examined the Desert Eagle then tried fusing it with Aether.Shotgun mode, sniper rifle mode, assault rifle mode… After trying out each mode once, I was able to confirm that the Desert Eagle had one magazine loaded for each form.One handgun magazine, one assault rifle magazine, two shotgun shells, and five sniper rifle bullets. That was all I had.

“Um, System-nim?”

Feeling like this wasn’t enough, I raised the Desert Eagle, showing it to the Tower’s system that should be watching over me.The storage box contained a box full of magazines. Of course, since that box had hundreds of bullets in it, I didn’t expect to get the entire thing. Even a small portion of it was enough.

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

I tried to ask just in case.—Extra7 used Lv.2 Haggling.—Extra7’s Lv.2 Voice of Trust activates.I was hoping that the system was getting such messages.

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

…Even after a long time, the system didn’t reply. Dejected, I put my hand down. It seemed the system couldn’t make an exception.Just when I was thinking so…

[Considering that this weapon is a gun, your request has been accepted.]

“Oh!”

I bowed respectfully as soon as I heard this message.

[However, we hope that you will not use the 「mysterious power」 you possess at lower levels of the Tower.][There is a chance that the administrator of the lower levels will consider it an unfair advantage and punish you accordingly.]

“Understood. Thank you.”

I nodded. The ‘mysterious power’ was most likely referring to Stigma.It didn’t matter too much since my use of Stigma was restricted anyways. Currently, I could only use two streaks of Stigma at most. Any more than that and my body wouldn’t be able to handle it.

[Magazines will now be transferred over.]

Soon, various magazines appeared in the air.Two handgun magazines, one assault rifle magazine, three sniper rifle bullets, and six shotgun shells.Since I only wanted some spares, this was more than enough.I put them all into my inventory.

[After 24 hours of rest, you will be able to advance to the Tower’s 2nd floor.][From now, you may use all system functions.]

[Here is a brief explanation.][About the ‘personal waiting room’]—Normal Entrance*When there are no hostile Players nearby or when you are not in a combat zone, you can teleport to your waiting room.—Emergency TeleportationNo matter where you are what or situation you are in, you will teleport to your waiting room. (This function has a cooldown time of 96 hours.)—Personal Waiting Room Entrance TicketYou can provide other Players with entrance tickets to your personal waiting room.

[‘Deaths’ in the Tower]—After the end of the tutorial, Players are given 7 lives in total.Once killed, Players will revive at the nearest Residential Area and they will receive a penalty that differs based on their circumstance. (Note. If you die on the 2nd floor, you will lose all stat gains you’ve acquired, and you will restart from the tutorial.)

[About the ‘auction house’…]

I already knew everything, and there wasn’t anything new or changed from the original setting.As such, I turned on my smartwatch. Then, I stared at the egg sitting on my bed.

[???]

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

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

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

“Hm… what do I do now?”

24 hours of rest.Although it seemed needlessly long, it was actually barely enough to utilize each of the system’s functions. Currently, members of the various guilds should be having conferences together.

“Oh right.”

I remembered something to do.I unleashed Stigma’s magic power at Muninn’s egg. In case something went horrifyingly wrong and the egg ended up being fried, I infused Stigma’s magic power into the blanket covering the egg rather than directly feeding it to the egg.As a result, the little blanket nest I made for Muninn’s egg turned incredibly warm.Next…

“24 hours, huh…”

I lied down on the floor as I thought about what to do.

[Remaining time – 23h 35m 39s]

I couldn’t waste an entire day doing nothing.I got up once again.

“…I’ll fix up this place until Random Dice’s cooldown ends. Once I get more material using the Random Dice, I’ll start making some equipment.”

I came up with a plan.

“Um, can you please bring up a list of items from the Player Shop that could be used to renovate the waiting room?”

I asked the system which immediately pulled out a list of items from the Player Shop’s ‘miscellaneous’ category.

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

“There’s even a training room?”

I bought the marble slabs. I could make a warehouse or a training room myself.

Shoong, shoong—

A bundle of marble slabs was transferred to my waiting room. Although it was only Lv.1, marble was still better looking than wood. I began to tear out the waiting room’s wooden flooring and began to install the marble tiles.Of course, with my stats being so low, even doing such a menial task took a lot out of me.

[Your strength increases by 0.003 points.][Your vitality increases by 0.003 points.][Your strength increases by 0.003 points.][Your vitality increases by 0.003 points.]…

Doing the same thing for about six hours, I received many similar alerts.

“…If only I had the Goblin Tablet with me.”

I murmured as I wiped off the sweat from my forehead.Tiring—At that moment, a message 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 the request.

[Extra7-nim entered the chat room.]

PhantomThief: 「Hey Newbie~」PhantomThief: 「There’s even a group chat. Isn’t this interesting?」Goryeo’sStrongest: 「Whadup?」PhantomThief: 「Look at Cheok Jungyeong trying to type ㅋㅋㅋ what an idiot ㅋㅋ」Goryeo’sStrongest: 「The screen is too small for my fingers. You’re next to me anyway, so why do I even need to chat?」

[‘Boss’ entered the group chat.]

PhantomThief: 「ㅋㅋㅋ Hey Boss~」Boss: 「Hi.」PhantomThief: 「Look, our nicknames are similar.」 [1]Boss: 「Similar? How?」PhantomThief: 「Isn’t that obvious?」Boss: 「…No.」

When I put my hand up to the chat window, a holographic keyboard popped up.

Me: 「What’s everyone doing?」Boss: 「I’m training.」PhantomThief: 「I’m looking around the Community for any information. There’s already an anonymous information café set up. People sure are quick-witted~ it looks like a great way to earn TP.」Me: 「Is the owner a Djinn? Or is he from a guild?」PhantomThief: 「I don’t know yet. I think I’ll set up my profile too.」Boss: 「Profile? How do you」

Boss’ sentence cut off mid-sentence. She was quite a slow typer.

Boss: 「do that?」PhantomThief: 「It’s going to 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 by. Your Random Dice has been recharged.]

I got another Random Dice at just the right moment. I put the chat window aside and grabbed the Random Dice. Because I sold everything that could be sold, my inventory was completely empty.

“Good material, good material.”

Murmuring a wish, I rolled the dice.The dice hit the marble floor and transformed into a shining piece of leather.

[Lv.4 Black Gargoyle Leather]

“Oho.”

It was practically screaming that it was special.

**

12 hours later.The waiting room of the Player ‘CaptainBritain’.

Rachel opened her eyes on a shabby wooden floor. Wondering if the waiting room was normally this cold, she shivered and rubbed her arms.

“Huuu….”

After chattering her teeth for a bit, she let out a sigh. She had woken up from the middle of sleep once again. It wasn’t because of the coldness but because of her body clock.Since she was awake, she opened the Community.

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

This was the post Rachel made as soon as she finished the second tutorial. Thanks to this post, she was able to meet up with members of her guild, but there was still one person she wasn’t able to meet.Kim Hajin.She wondered what he was doing as there wasn’t any news about him.Of course, she believed he was doing fine on his own…Rachel turned off the Community and lied down on the ground once again. Without a blanket or a pillow, there was nothing comfortable about her current living space.

“….”

After waking up once, it wasn’t easy to go back to sleep.Although she cleared the high-intermediate difficulty tutorial, all sorts of worries rose up in her head: England’s current situation, the Royal Court guild’s situation, and the person whose life or death was unknown.In the end, Rachel got up. Working out seemed to be the best solution to shake off complicated thoughts.

“Huu.”

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

After four hours of training, she accessed the Community once 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 to be quite busy.In truth, Rachel was also busy until about eight hours ago. At the time, all seven members of the Royal Court guild gathered in Rachel’s personal waiting room to hold a meeting.

“…Hm?”

At that moment, an interesting post caught Rachel’s attention. There were dozens of people commenting on the post.

[Everyone, there’s someone who earned 20000TP 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 apparently Extra7.—Extra7??—Yes, people are guessing it’s either Vast Expanse-nim or a member of the Nine Stars.

“Eh…? 20000TP…?”

Rachel’s mouth opened in shock.In the high-intermediate difficulty Tutorial Town, she was only able to collect 3500TP. Even then, she was labeled as vicious by other Players. So to have six times as much….Rachel refreshed the page while feeling a bit jealous.

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

At that moment, a new comment popped up.

“…?!”

Startled, Rachel jumped slightly. She 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 – 500TP][Current Bid – 600TP]===

A Lv.3 item had appeared when the real Tower climb hadn’t even begun. Although Rachel couldn’t tell what ‘White Order’ meant, it still sounded cool.As soon as she laid her eyes on the armor she thought, ‘I want it. I want to make that armor mine.’With a dazed look, she clicked [make bid].

**

On the other hand, Player Nayunjajangman’s waiting room.

[Wow, there’s someone from the third tutorial who earned 20000TP!]

Chae Nayun was looking at the same post that Rachel was reading.Chae Nayun already knew that ‘Extra7’ earned 20000TP in the third tutorial. After all, she had seen it with her own eyes.

“Could he really be Vast Expanse-nim?”

However, the thought that he could the famous ‘Vast Expanse’ had never passed through her mind.

“Who?”“Who are you talking about?”

Hearing her, members of the Essence of the Strait, who were in her waiting room, showed interest. Chae Nayun had let them in using the ‘personal waiting room entrance ticket’ system.

“Extra7.”

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

This cheerful voice belonged to a former classmate from Cube, Yi Jiyoon. She had chosen the lowest difficulty tutorial.Chae Nayun retorted briefly.

“Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes. It was slightly more than 20000TP.”

“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?”

“….”

Hearing this, Yi Jiyoon became speechless.Soon, Chae Nayun retracted her sharp gaze and opened the ‘List of Encountered Players’, a system functionality that was only available inside the personal waiting room.

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

“…Eh?”

To her surprise, she saw Extra7 in this list.Chae Nayun’s eyes widened. However, she quickly accepted it. Since they were both in the highest difficulty tutorial, it wasn’t strange to think that they had passed by each other at least once. Clearly, neither side was able to recognize the other.With a small smile, she sent a friend request to her old master.

[You have sent a friend request to the Player ‘Extra7’.]

**

[You crafted a Lv.4 equipment.][Your Lv.2 Crafting technique improves to Lv.3]

“Huu.”

I let out an exhausted sigh.After 9 hours of hard work, I finally succeeded in crafting a Lv.4 equipment. It was the best equipment I made thus far, requiring the help of both Aether and Stigma’s magic power.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 gave the item a name using the Tower system’s item naming function. It seemed I went a bit mad when I finally succeeded.But well, I could just change it before selling, so it wasn’t too embarrassing.

I put the suit on. It was light, yet it stuck to my body. It was a ‘wearable armor’ that made moving easier.

“Amazing.”

It was much better than the failed products I made.At first, I used half of the Lv.4 material to make a Lv.3 armor, a complete failure. I gave that one a random name and tossed it in the auction house.If I remembered correctly, that armor was called [Lv.3 Gargoyle’s Leather Armor (J – White Order)].Here, the ‘J’ stood for ‘Jin’, the second part of my name, and ‘White Order’ meant it was a lowest-grade item.

“I guess I’ll see how it’s doing.”

Feeling bored, I was about to check out the auction house when, tiring—, an alert popped up on my group chat.

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

Jain was complaining.

Me: 「ㅋㅋㅋ 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 as big as other Players’ waiting rooms. Naturally, it was because two people were sharing the same room.

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 over to my room since it wasn’t likely that she ate anything.However…

[Player ‘Nayunjajangman’ has sent you a friend request.]

“Hm?”

Suddenly, I received a friend request. Tilting my head, I looked at the alert.It was a familiar ID, ‘Nayunjajangman’.

“What?”

I was taken aback.How did he send me a friend request? Didn’t I block people from sending me friend requests through the public forum?A sudden suspicion sank into my heart.

“Erm….”

I hesitated for a moment, but soon I accepted the request.Ding—As soon as I accepted the friend request, Nayunjajangman messaged me.

「Hyung-nim! What happened? I heard you made 20000TP!」

1. Their nicknames share the same first character in Korean