Chapter 3
[You will be transported to the Reward Room shortly]
A new line of text appeared in midair.
'Huh.'
Only then did my mind snap back to the present.
'What did I just do...?'
I hadn't blacked out. I remembered vividly what I'd done.
Qi circulation and meditation.
I performed a meditation straight out of a wuxia novel as naturally as breathing.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) I'd drawn up in the process.
I practiced a divine art whose name I'd heard but whose contents I knew nothing about, and vomited blood countless times.
What's more, Shukuchi (縮地).
It was called Shukuchi, but I casually used teleportation, a high-level spell for mages.
And to top it all off...
'Heaven-Shattering Annihilation?'
I even used a technique with an incredibly flashy name as if it were second nature.
One punch, and the earth was ground up along with the goblins like it had been tossed into a blender. The rush was incredible.
Anyway, I remembered every bit of it clearly.
'I remember all of it, but...'
It felt impossibly unreal. Like I'd had a long dream with my eyes open.
'And I think I heard someone's voice, too.'
I couldn't be sure of that, either.
'Isn't this a little dangerous?'
Turning into a little girl overnight was already absurd enough.
And now I was casually using magic I'd never been able to use and techniques I didn't even know? It was truly shocking and terrifying.
I had to seriously consider whether another personality had formed inside my head.
'For now, let's look on the bright side.'
Nothing was hurting me at the moment.
Turning into a little girl was a drawback, I suppose. Still, I did seem to have gotten ridiculously strong.
'If this keeps up...'
Maybe I could make my dream come true.
The dream I'd held onto ever since before awakening and never forgotten afterward. The one I'd finally had to give up on because of the harsh realities of life.
Flash!
[Please select a reward]
In a swirl of light, my body was transported to an unfamiliar place.
'This is...'
I knew all about this. The sweet reward granted only to Awakened who cleared a tower.
It was what made so many people fight tooth and nail to climb the tower: a generous reward for risking their lives.
"I wonder what kind of reward Nightmare difficulty gives."
My mouth was already watering.
Even the reward for clearing just the first floor on Easy was worth far more than two months' wages for an ordinary convenience-store part-timer.
Normal was twice that, Hard four times, and Nightmare eight times, naturally.
And on top of that, there was an additional reward based on clear time.
"It's like winning the lottery."
It was the very definition of high risk, high reward.
"My clear rank..."
SSS. Triple S.
I'd watched countless videos of Awakened clearing towers, but I'd never seen such an insane rank before.
'Wasn't S+ the highest score?'
The previous record was S+. It belonged to the so-called 'Super,' an S-rank Awakened who was always near the top of the rankings.
That hairy old guy, whose abilities even resembled those of a famous superhero, had achieved it exactly once—and only after thoroughly memorizing the first-floor challenge. As far as I knew, that was the first and last time anyone had done it.
"A single punch got me an SSS rank."
I'd set a record that blew the old one out of the water.
"I'm pretty sure Super got a cloak as his reward."
The black cloak he still wore everywhere.
Its stats were far too good for a first-floor reward, and it had practically become the signature item of 'Super' Josh Richard.
"I wonder if I'll get something like that, too?"
What if I really did?
If it was something I could use, it would be a huge help with climbing the tower from now on.
And if I couldn't use it, I could sell it.
Selling it would change my life completely.
"Ahem."
Brimming with anticipation, I flung open the black box before me.
Flash!
The moment I opened the box, the reward appeared in a swirl of light.
"Huh?"
What is this?
***
While Lee Jian stared in stunned disbelief at the reward for clearing the tower...
Outside the tower, all hell had broken loose.
[Title: Breaking news) First-floor clear rankings changed, holy shit lol]
SSS rank, holy shit lol Super got triple-S'd!
[Comments]
Bullshit.
ㄴ It's real. Go check right now.
Upvote if you think this Super bastard's all hype lol
ㄴ Here's my upvote lol
[Title: This guy's kinda pathetic]
Super, this bastard bragged like crazy about being the only S+ rank in the world, and now an SSS rank pops up lol
All flash, no substance now lol
[Comments]
Kinda?
(A laughing, finger-pointing emote)
[Title: But isn't the number-one ranker's handle kinda suspicious?]
Could it be 'that country'?
[Comments]
The fact that they're using the handle 'Heavenly Demon' makes it seem likely.
ㄴ They could be Korean, couldn't they?
ㄴ Why would a Korean use Heavenly Demon?
ㄴ It's cool.
The appearance of the new powerhouse, 'Heavenly Demon,' sent the community into an absolute frenzy.
Communities are places where people hungry for the most basic dopamine gather.
Knocking the undisputed number one down by an overwhelming margin was like pouring oil on a fire.
[Title: Breaking news) Super responds]
Super says he always figured someone would surpass him someday, and that he's happy someone like that has finally appeared.
[Comments]
Look at this bastard pretending to be all cool lol
ㄴ For real, from what I've heard, he's a total loose cannon.
ㄴ This guy shouldn't be called Super. He's a classic American TV villain, plain and simple.
[Title: The current situation in Super Guild, lol]
[Title: Upvote if Super's getting ready to clear the first floor again right now lol]
That about summed up the mood: most of the posts flooding the board were mocking the former number one, 'Super.'
However, not every post was something people could just laugh off.
[Title: Breaking news) Blood Demon responds, too!]
Blood Demon says he welcomes his compatriot named Heavenly Demon. Let's work together for the prosperity of the People's Republic of China.
[Comments]
Fuck, judging by Blood Demon's reaction, it really does seem to be that country.
(A screaming frog emote)
South Korea is so fucked!
[Title: Fuck, it was bad enough that Blood Demon periodically went on his bullshit]
And now this Heavenly Demon bastard is being added to the mix?
And this Heavenly Demon bastard is a monster who pulled an SSS rank on the first floor?
(A frog emote hanging itself)
[Comments]
We're seriously fucked.
Fuck, just thinking about Blood Demon gloating for a while is driving me crazy.
ㄴ For a while? lol
ㄴ Our bro's got some pretty ambitious dreams...
Blood Demon (血魔).
Better known as the Perennial Runner-Up, he was a Chinese ranker consumed by jealousy of Super who took his frustration out on Korea. He was despised by every citizen of South Korea.
Now in third place, he was the real deal when it came to skill. His making an official statement about 'Heavenly Demon' caused a huge stir.
And he wasn't even flaunting his inferiority complex as usual. He was openly giving Heavenly Demon a shout-out.
That was practically the same as declaring Heavenly Demon to be one of his own people.
It was no wonder that the community, which had been celebrating just moments ago, plunged into chaos in an instant.
[Title: Upvote if this is finally the end of South Korea]
[Title: There's no guarantee Heavenly Demon is from that country, right?]
They could be a Korean who likes wuxia, after all.
[Comments]
As if.
If Korea had a gem like that, the chairman of Saseong would've found them first and bowed down.
ㄴ For real, this field is tiny. If there'd been any sign of that, we'd all have noticed ages ago.
Of course, the commotion wasn't confined to the community.
At the same time, at South Korea's Ministry of National Defense, Awakened Management Bureau.
Since the towers appeared, there hadn't been a single quiet day at the Bureau—and now the whole place was in an uproar.
"Quick! Compile every bit of information on the Awakened called Heavenly Demon!"
"Use any means necessary to find them! Bring them to our country, no matter what!"
This was an era when the tower had become the center of humanity.
An era when countries would offer astronomical sums to poach even an enemy nation's Awakened, as long as they could clear towers properly.
Especially considering South Korea still had no star Awakened to speak of...
Heavenly Demon.
The emergence of this overwhelmingly powerful figure, shrouded in mystery, was a matter on which the entire Bureau had to stake everything.
And so Lee Jun-ho, chief of the Awakened Management Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense, steeled himself.
'I'll bring Heavenly Demon here, no matter what.'
Judging by Blood Demon's attitude, neither he nor China seemed to have known anything beforehand.
In other words, that boisterous welcome was little more than a desperate warning to other countries: 'We've got our eye on Heavenly Demon, so don't you dare touch them.'
But would he back down in fear of a warning like that?
"Contact our agents in China right now! Have them comb through the Awakened academies, employment agencies, even the back alleys, and find every last person who uses—or looks like they might use—the handle 'Heavenly Demon'!"
There was no time, and nowhere to retreat.
If they hesitated here, China, the United States, and the rest of the world would all come rushing after Heavenly Demon.
'We'll make the first move!'
They had to make contact before anyone else and get a contract signed, no matter what.
Once powerful nations with their capital and infrastructure started getting involved in earnest, South Korea had no cards to play.
'Please.'
Please let no one have reached Heavenly Demon yet.
For the first time since the towers appeared, Lee Jun-ho prayed fervently to God.
***
Meanwhile, the source of all that commotion.
Heavenly Demon Lee Jian was now...
"Ugh, it's heavy..."
Straining under a gigantic saber almost as big as Lee Jian, strapped across their back, they trudged down the street.