Chapter 12

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 12

“Phew...”

Smoke dispersed.

With a cigarette in his mouth, Kim Hyeonuk had been unable to take his eyes off the Gate for a while now.

“...”

The safety team agents glanced at Kim Hyeonuk and thought.

Is that old man going to get lung cancer at this rate?

Of course, they understood how he felt.

After all, someone had gone in alone to try clearing a Gate meant for up to five people, one where no one knew what variables might arise.

Even with a Return Scroll, that didn’t guarantee absolute safety.

He could be attacked while tearing the scroll, and even after tearing it, escape wasn’t immediate but had about a one-minute delay.

There was clearly still a chance his life could be endangered.

And that wasn’t all.

What if the worst-case scenario occurred?

The Republic of Korea would lose an enormous talent who ranked first in the tutorial.

And Kim Hyeonuk, as the director, would bear all the responsibility.

‘I don’t even care about the clear anymore. Please, just come back safely...’

Just as the agents guessed, Kim Hyeonuk was going insane with anxiety.

About an hour had passed since Junbeom entered the Gate, and it felt like his blood was drying up second by second.

‘No. Calm down, Kim Hyeonuk. It’s only been an hour. There’s no need to be this anxious!’

Clearing a Gate took three hours at the shortest, and sometimes several days at the longest.

So for now, he should calm his nervous heart and maybe get a cup of coffee from the nearby convenience store―.

...Ruuuumble!!

“?!?”

The moment he tried to regain some peace of mind, the entire area began to shake.

The contaminated mana beyond the boundary rippled like waves.

The safety team agents hurriedly stepped in front of Kim Hyeonuk.

“Oh, my God.”

Shock spread across Kim Hyeonuk’s eyes as he faced the surging contaminated mana.

It was clearly the kind of shock that meant something major had happened.

However.

“D-did he succeed?”

That ‘major event’ simply wasn’t negative.

Saaaaah―!!

At that moment, the surging contaminated mana began splitting in half.

The murky energy that had dyed the entire atmosphere violet began fading away like a mirage.

“Ah...!”

This was unmistakably the phenomenon that occurred when a Contaminated Gate was cleared!

All the anxiety vanished from Kim Hyeonuk’s face, replaced by a joyous smile.

He succeeded.

Junbeom really cleared a Contaminated Gate all by himself!

“Yes! Of course! I knew someone who ranked first in the tutorial would naturally be able to do at least this much! Ha! Hahaha!!”

‘Didn’t he smoke at least six cigarettes over the last hour?’

The agents were dumbfounded by Kim Hyeonuk’s reaction, as though he had expected everything from the start.

At that moment.

Ding!

A message announcing the successful clear appeared.

[As of this moment, the Gate ‘Mouth That Spews Calamity’ has been cleared!]

[S+]

[The Republic of Korea’s Contribution increases by 10%!]

“...”

“...”

Everyone fell silent after seeing the clear result rank.

...S+?

Not B, A, or S?

‘A-all by himself?’

Kim Hyeonuk suddenly remembered that it had only been a little over an hour since Junbeom entered the Gate.

Apparently unable to bluff that he had expected even this.

Kim Hyeonuk froze like a statue before the unbelievable reality.

Step.

The contaminated mana cleared away.

Beyond the boundary, now filled once again with refreshing air, Junbeom appeared with light footsteps.

“Looks like I won the bet?”

______________

After finishing the Gate clear and talking about various things with the director.

Back in my studio apartment, I narrowed my eyes as if staring directly into sunlight.

“How radiant...!”

What was radiant?

The Mana Crystal currently in my hand.

A stone that wasn’t merely blue, but held an emerald hue like the ocean of Hawaii.

Anyone could tell it was a Mana Crystal of the highest quality.

‘SaviorOfTheEmpire is going to love this.’

With a Mana Crystal this pure.

Maybe she’ll even remember what kind of baby formula she drank as an infant?

Today will be the best day ever for her.

‘And I’m going to enjoy the best day ever too.’

I opened my status window.

=====

[Park Junbeom (Human)]

Affiliation: Earth (Republic of Korea)

Class: Rookie

Level: 13

Strength (59) Stamina (59) Agility (59) Divine Power (59) Luck (11)

Unique Trait: Access to <​Transdimensional Divine Intelligent Entity Exchange: Pantheon>

Skills: God-King Style Sword Forms (Growth-Type, First Limit Break), Ernia-style Mana Cultivation Method

Assimilation Rate: 1.01%

Privileges: Experience Gain Rate x2.0, Stat Points per Level Up +4 (‘Luck’ excluded)

Penalty: Elemental Resistance -20%, Skill Cooldown +30%

=====

“...Overwhelming power leveling.”

I killed one enormous mouth, and my level rose by a staggering six levels.

The stats that had risen massively along with it.

‘As expected, the extra 4 stat points per level-up are huge.’

The new privilege I gained when my class advanced to ‘Rookie.’

The reason my stat values had grown so sharply was entirely because of this privilege.

I had gained in only six level-ups the amount of stat points other people needed twelve level-ups to obtain.

Running around like a madman just to kill that mouth had been worth it.

But what I achieved there didn’t end with this.

[S+ Rank reward calculation complete!]

[You receive 1 ‘Diamond Box’!]

A Diamond Box!

As I said before, sometimes when you clear a Gate, you receive this kind of random-draw box as a reward.

The boxes have grades too, and among them, ‘Diamond’ is the highest grade.

‘They said even though it’s a gacha-type item, Diamond Boxes only appear in high-level Gates.’

Was it because I went beyond S-rank and achieved S+?

Contrary to what was publicly known, a highest-grade box had appeared.

A Diamond Box contained the following.

85 ‘Super Rare’ items and 14 ‘Legendary’ items.

And 1 ‘Unique-grade’ item.

...Did you notice?

Since it was a random-draw box, I could obtain only one of those hundred items at random!

‘I’m not even dreaming of Unique-grade. Please, just Legendary...!’

Even the worst result would still be ‘Super Rare,’ but...

What gambler could possibly be satisfied with that?

Desperately praying that I would absolutely get ‘Legendary,’ I opened the box―

‘No, before that.’

That was close.

I immediately equipped the ‘Management Bureau Basic Equipment Set+’ again.

Because while wearing this, my ‘Luck’ stat also increased by 10 points.

Good, all preparations complete.

Now, let’s open it.

[Opening the ‘Diamond Box’!]

Rrrrrrrumble...!

This bastard system knew how to put on a show.

Instead of immediately displaying the result after opening it, the box shook around like this, making an absolute spectacle of itself.

Then the lid would open, and if a brilliant light burst out at that moment?

‘Legendary jackpot.’

Rrrrrrrrr...!!

How long is this thing planning to keep going?

Thanks to my anxiety reaching its peak, I ended up squeezing my eyes shut.

‘Please shine.’

Even with my eyes closed, if a bright light burst out right in front of me, there was no way I wouldn’t notice.

Just as I prayed and prayed for light to seep into this darkness.

...Click!

I heard the lid opening.

...But I couldn’t sense any light.

‘Ah, fuck, don’t tell me?’

A dud?

I opened my eyes in despair...

“Huh?”

And witnessed an incomprehensible sight.

Wooooong―

Instead of light, black smoke was rising from the opened box.

If it was a dud, shouldn’t there simply be no effect at all?

What the hell was this black smoke?

As I nervously chewed my lip, a system message appeared.

[The effect of your ‘Luck’ stat, which exceeds the average for your level, activates!]

[You obtain the Unique-grade item, ‘Eye of Anarion’!]

“!!!! Wh-what.”

The moment I checked the message, every hair on my body stood up as though electricity had run through me.

It felt like my brain stopped functioning.

Unique-grade.

Does that make sense?

The probability was one in one hundred?

‘If your Luck stat is unusually high for your level... can something like this happen?’

I had been ready to immediately scream if ‘Legendary’ appeared.

But after drawing something even better, I didn’t even know how I should react.

...Did I just use up the luck I was supposed to spend on winning the lottery?

No, who cares.

‘This is my lottery jackpot!’

Damn it, IMadeExcalibur! What the hell is this armor!

I thought of Excalibur, who made this lucky equipment for me.

She was in Pantheon, so she was probably up in the heavens, right?

“...”

After standing alone like a lunatic with both arms spread wide for a moment.

Reality hit me, so I stopped and began checking what the item actually was.

Inside the box was an amber-colored gem reminiscent of a cat’s eye.

=====

<​Eye of Anarion>

-Grade: Unique

-Required Level: -

-Can see through hidden spaces in dungeons.

=====

So it was a scouting item.

It allowed you to find hidden routes in dungeons inside Gates or Towers...

‘I’ve heard that although it’s rare, sometimes people discover secret spaces inside them.’

You hit what looks like an ordinary wall once, and the wall turns transparent to reveal a hidden route.

Or the ground suddenly caves in, and after falling through, you coincidentally arrive at a hidden underground space.

And afterward, most of the time, something good supposedly happened.

Whether discovering a hidden-piece item, finding a mountain of Mana Crystals, or discovering a shortcut connected to the destination.

‘Though in the end, everyone found them by accident.’

People had repeatedly carried out various experiments and research to find hidden routes in dungeons.

But in the end, they never found any reliable method.

The current established theory was that dungeon hidden routes weren’t something you could find just by searching for them.

Pure luck.

But if I had the ‘Eye of Anarion’?

‘That means I can find them even without relying on luck!’

...I see.

This definitely deserved to be ‘Unique-grade.’

Literally an item with no second copy in the world!

‘All right, then.’

Time to collect the final reward.

I accessed the gallery and sent SaviorOfTheEmpire a trade request.

Me) Hey

SaviorOfTheEmpire) What is it, Benefactor?

Me) I got the Mana Crystal

A short silence followed.

SaviorOfTheEmpire)...Already?

Me) You’re desperate for it. The sooner the better

SaviorOfTheEmpire) As expected! Your character is an example to all

What embarrassing flattery.

But well, honestly, it was true that I went through quite a lot to obtain this.

The moment I registered the Mana Crystal in the trade window, she immediately registered the promised 100,000 GP on her side.

Me) Aren’t you going to inspect the item?

SaviorOfTheEmpire) Someone of your character would never give me a defective item.

Me) True haha

SaviorOfTheEmpire) Once again, I thank you. Benefactor, I wish to continue trading well with you in the future, so if there is anything you need, tell me anything.

Me) Yeah. Smooth trade, so I feel good too lol

SaviorOfTheEmpire) By the way, it truly is strange.

Just as I was about to take the points and end the trade, SaviorOfTheEmpire added one more thing.

Me) What is?

SaviorOfTheEmpire) You too should be a resident of Pantheon like us, so I wonder how you managed to obtain Mana Crystals, the stones of life.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) If I could only learn the means by which you acquire them, I would not have to trouble you every time, but I am certain you would not tell me.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) It is fine. It is only natural not to reveal a secret known only to oneself, so I shall no longer pry.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) Although the Curse of Oblivion tightens around me with every passing moment... I shall accept this too as my fate and refrain from prying into your secret.

“...”

She’s talking a lot.

She says she won’t pry while putting absolutely everything she has into leading questions.

Me) Yep. Thank you so much for not prying

SaviorOfTheEmpire) (Dejected green ghoul emoticon)

She said it herself, so what was with that emoticon?

SaviorOfTheEmpire) And this is simply a question out of pure curiosity, but what will you use the points for?

Me) I don’t know. Well... for now, I was thinking of using them on the swordsmanship posts you uploaded to the Tips board

SaviorOfTheEmpire) Those words please me. But you need not do so.

Me)?

SaviorOfTheEmpire) If you wish to learn more Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship, I will personally teach you from now on.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) Whether I explain it verbally through the trade window, or share a Soul Stone like last time.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) So do not waste precious points on posts like those.

“...Why is she suddenly being so nice to me?”

The GP I spent to view those posts would surely go to SaviorOfTheEmpire.

Yet she was turning that down and offering to teach me personally. Wasn’t that excessively kind?

SaviorOfTheEmpire) You alone are the only one who has understood and mastered the principles of the imperial swordsmanship.

SaviorOfTheEmpire) I cannot ask compensation for teaching swordsmanship to someone such as you.

Me) Damn

Me) Then I’m completely grateful

SaviorOfTheEmpire) If you wish to take the next step in imperial swordsmanship, speak to me at any time. I will be waiting.

Leaving warm words until the very end, SaviorOfTheEmpire exited the trade window.

See, the gallery isn’t only filled with people whose personalities are completely rotten.

‘Anyway...’

After a successful trade, I suddenly had a lot of GP.

A total of 105,100 GP.

Abundant. So abundant.

With this much, I should be able to use the ‘Shop’ tab without any shortage, right?

“...”

While browsing the shop’s items with the feeling of a salaried worker who had just been paid.

A sudden question crossed my mind.

‘Wouldn’t there be at least one item that can heal ruined legs?’

There was a reason I wondered this.

My older sister.

Because of Park Sohui.

I think I mentioned it once before, but my sister became paralyzed from the waist down after an accident during an outbreak.

It wasn’t simply because a building crushed her and shattered her bones.

The massive amount of mana that leaked into the outside world when the outbreak occurred.

My sister, who wasn’t awakened, had already severely injured both legs.

But as if that weren’t enough, she was infected by highly concentrated mana, causing all the tissue in her legs to necrotize.

According to the hospital doctor, a complete recovery was out of the question, and even simple rehabilitation was impossible.

Because of that, my sister had to spend the rest of her life wearing a walker on her legs, both at home and outside.

‘It’s a shop used by Transcendents. So surely fixing necrotic legs should at least...’

I scrolled down with desperate hope.

...But damn it.

No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find an item or potion that could restore damaged legs to their original condition.

There was something called an ‘Elixir’ that could even regenerate severed body parts...

But according to the description, it had no effect on wounds or injuries more than one month old.

For reference, it had been two years since my sister’s legs were ruined.

‘Ha, fuck.’

A curse naturally escaped me.

No matter how much GP I had, there was currently no way to fix my sister’s legs.

‘...Currently.’

Recently, I had experienced miracles several times through the gallery.

So surely, someday I would find a way to heal my sister’s legs too.

Let’s not get too depressed.

Bzzzt.

At that moment, my phone vibrated.

A text message.

What is it?

[Web Message]

Deposit Amount: 5,000,000,000 won

Depositor: Korea Player Management Bureau

Balance: 5,003,650,950 won

“...”

I nearly turned into an ape that had lost the ability to speak while counting how many zeros there were.

Five billion won.

The signing bonus from the contract I signed in front of the director after finishing the clear earlier had just been deposited.

Of course, it was the contract without the mandatory clauses.

“Hundred million... uh, hundred million.”

I didn’t even know whether that was an exclamation or whether I was simply saying the unit of money.

Seeing such an unreal amount sitting in my bank account made my head feel strange.

Even though I knew the signing bonus was coming.

I immediately pressed the keypad.

“Hello? Yeah. Sis. No, nothing. I just called because it’s been a while and thought we should have a meal together.”

______________

A little later.

I took a taxi to my sister’s place in Daerim-dong.

‘I’m going to collapse. Seriously.’

Just looking at the completely run-down building drained all the strength from my body.

I climbed the stairs, entered the password, and went inside.

“I’m here~.”

Then, creak, creak―.

A woman wearing a walker resembling an exoskeleton came out to greet me.

This person with an oily face was my older sister, Park Sohui.

...Did she not wash her face?

Still, maybe because it was the face of family I hadn’t seen in months, a broad smile spread across my face out of happiness.

“You been well, Iron Girl?”

“Yeah, yeah, welcome. You worthless unemployed bastard.”

The two of us siblings greeted each other with smiles.