Chapter 143
The first time talks of taking the test directly from the Administrators came near the end of the meeting.
“Although it’ll be difficult, this is the fastest method.”
The person who suggested it was Odin.
He was the one who had lived in the Tower for the longest time. And back in his time, the system of taking a test through a test examiner acting as a proxy for the Administrator didn’t exist.
That system was created a few hundred years after Odin had become a Ranker, a direct path that was much safer and much easier to take to become a Ranker.
However, rather than the long and winding silk road, Odin suggested the thorny but faster path.
“If you become certain, take the test from the Administrator. Then you won’t need to care about test schedules or anything else.”
Using this path, the rate at climbing the Tower would become much faster.
There was one problem, however.
“▷ You want to take the test from me?”
“Yes.”
“▷ It’ll be quite expensive.”
It was the enormous price to take the test.
A test prepared just for one person naturally required a lot of points. If a standard test took a hundred players and a hundred points from each, a test from the Administrator for one person would take ten thousand points.
It was the height of inefficiency. You would be using tens of thousands of points to buy from ten days to at most a month faster than normal.
However…
“It doesn’t matter.”
This didn’t apply to YuWon. He already had more than enough points. He acquired the materials to complete the 「Divine Sea Crystal」 and even earned a million points from an unexpected place. On top of that, while he was completing the Administrator’s test, he could continue to earn points during that time.
“Please set the difficulty sufficiently hard and a high-level reward as well.”
“▷ Quite the pick condition.”
“Couldn’t you do at least that much? There was that incident this time as well.”
“▷ ‘Incident’? You mean the Lightning Bolt?”
“Why did you allow that?”
“▷ If I didn’t, he would have thrown the Lighting Bolt many more times while suffering the penalty. Then your chances of survival would have disappeared entirely.”
Zeus was definitely an existence who could take the penalty and erase Camelot. He was also someone who wouldn’t be wary of an Administrator either.
But the odds would change if it was a test facilitated by the system. Not even Zeus could continue to throw [Lightning Bolts] while ignoring the test. The difficulty of the test couldn’t be higher than the set reward.
“▷ Maybe he was wary of Poseidon, but he didn’t particularly want to suffer a large amount of the penalty. The million points and rewards were all paid by Olympus. A reasonable difficulty and a reasonable reward. There was no reason for me as an Administrator to refuse this.”
Unless one broke the law, the Administrator would never take action. Not even if that would lead to the destruction of a lower floor. The actions taken within the laws of ‘order’ they were talking about were the tests.
YuWon let out a sigh and shook his head. “You guys have already gone insane for the tests.”
Maintaining order within the Tower and officiating tests—the Administrators took priority of these two.
In addition, if something didn’t break their laws, they didn’t take issue with it, even if it was most immoral or absurd.
A reasonable difficulty with a reasonable reward. If that was fulfilled, the Administrator would stand on anyone’s side because no matter what, the Administrator was always neutral.
“▷ Keke. You’re not wrong. That is our role.”
“Then please get on with that role of yours.”
YuWon requested the Administrator for a test. It was the fastest way up. YuWon made up his mind to follow this path from the 25th Floor onwards.
“▷ Alright, sure. A high difficulty and high-level rewards…”
After thinking for a bit, the Administrator nodded.
“▷ I do have something like that right now.”
Snap—
The Administrator snapped his finger.
“▷ Follow me.”
Shwoooshh—!
The environment in front of him instantly changed. In an instant, many scenes came and went. After the dizziness and nausea, he had finally arrived at the top of a castle wall.
“▷ This is the border of this nation.”
He could see the scene beneath him. YuWon looked at the dead and black-colored forest.
“▷ This is the end of this world. Officially, anyways.”
“Are you saying it hasn’t been developed further than this?”
“▷ Yeah. The level of the monsters beyond this point is quite high.”
Britain had made a lot of effort into expanding their world since long ago.
No, not just Britain with the 25th Floor but most other floors also did. As players continued to enter the Tower and its population increased, they needed more and more land as well.
But that soon ended. At the end of their endless expansion, Britain chose to stop rather than continue on.
It was only because of one reason. It was too difficult to expand beyond the forest before them.
‘The highest floor where you could see the Wall of the World was only the 3rd Floor. The wall of the 25th Floor couldn’t be seen even when it finally came crumbling down.’
The closer one got to the Wall of the World, the more monsters and stronger existences there were.
The reason Britain stopped expanding their borders was because they became too tired to fight more.
“▷ Looks like they’re trying to restart their expansion after resting for a few years.”
The Administrator was like a god that ruled over this world. He knew of the situation in Britain, and he gave a fitting test to YuWon.
“▷ Help the people here and cross over the forest. How’s that? Can you do it?”
[Create a path through the forest within 1 year.][You can receive help from the pioneers.]
[Will you accept ‘World Development’?]
“▷ Just like you requested, a high-difficulty test, and I chose good rewards for it as well. How’s that?”
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A long-term test that might take a year to complete.
To YuWon, who wanted to climb the Tower as fast as possible, this wasn’t good at all.
YuWon turned his head and looked at the Administrator.
He was smirking.
‘So he’s telling me to screw off.’
Although he couldn’t know all the Administrators of all the floors, the Administrator of the 25th Floor was an annoying guy. Asking if he liked it after giving such a long-term test…
The Administrator didn’t stop his antics there.
“▷ I’ll tell you right now, but getting help from The Great Sage is cheating. You can only accept help from the pioneers that are from Britain.”
There were only two choices. Give up here and wait for the test day or attempt the long-term test of developing this region.
The Administrator looked at YuWon with an amused expression.
But then…
“Other than that, I just need to complete this with my own ability?”
“▷ Yes.”
“Should be fine then.” Hearing the Administrator’s answer, YuWon smirked. “I’ll take this test.”
[You have accepted the test ‘World Development.’]
[You used 30,000 points as the test fee.]
[Faster completion will guarantee more rewards.]
[9760 : 00 : 00]
The test had started.
As soon as the test started, YuWon immediately began to descend the castle wall.
And around that time, a cloud came down from the sky.
YuWon’s eyes turned fiery red. [Cinder Eyes] was resonating.
“I was wondering where you went.”
Son OhGong came down on his cloud. He was lying down with a hand on his chin.
“You got a test from the Administrator? What is it?”
“World Development. I need to get through that forest there with the people here.”
Below the castle wall were the soldiers and knights that protected the border. A few of them were people who were born and raised on the 25th Floor. A few of them were players who had given up on climbing and stayed on this floor.
“That forest?”
Fwooosh—
Son OhGong’s [Golden Cinder Eyes] looked through the distant forest.
His eyes that could see through truth were one of the representative skills with [Thousand-Mile Eye] that could see long-distance.
In this moment, Son OhGong’s eyes were looking at something much further than what YuWon could see.
“Maybe it’s because it’s the edge of the world, but there’s some interesting guys here.”
He had an excited expression. There was no way someone like him who loved fighting would give up this opportunity.
“Should I help you?”
How great would it have been if he could help? No matter if he was a clone or not, with the skills he displayed when he blocked the [Lighting Bolt,] Son OhGong was more than enough to clear out this forest. Just one swing of his 「Ruyi Jingu」 would send hundreds and thousands of monsters living in the forest to their deaths.
But it didn’t even need to be considered.
YuWon flicked his hand and gestured to him to leave.
“It’s fine, so go. I’ll get in big trouble if I receive your help here.”
“Why?”
“The only thing I’m allowed in this test is my own abilities and the pioneers of Britain. Everything will go down the drain if you interfere.”
“What’s a drain?”
The end of the conversation was nowhere to be seen.
This was all just a waste of precious time for YuWon. He continued to go down the stairs of the castle.
Then…
“Wait, stop right there!”
The knights who found YuWon grabbed their hilts and walked up to restrain YuWon.
“Who are you? How did you get here?”
It was a prim and proper knight. But he didn’t seem like a Ranker considering his nonthreatening aura. The knights at the level of a Ranker would probably not be out here but rather in the barracks within the nation.
At the knight’s question, YuWon responded calmly, “I’m in the middle of a test. I ask for your cooperation.”
“Test…?”
The knight had an expression that said ‘What nonsense is he saying?’
A test?
There was only one thing this could mean.
“There were a few times a test had happened at the national border, but from what I know, it isn’t the test period right now.”
The knight looked around at his fellow knights to check. But as expected, everyone confirmed what he thought.
His suspicion against YuWon grew.
But then…
“Huh…?”
“Isn’t that Kim YuWon?”
A few of the soldiers recognized him.
Although most didn’t know his face, the knights seemed to have heard of him as their reactions became favorable.
“If it’s Kim YuWon…”
“I heard that he was in the capital right now?”
The edge of the world was quite far from the capital city of Camelot. Even using all kinds of transport methods, it would take at least three days to get here.
But since YuWon had appeared here so suddenly, it was natural to find it weird.
‘I guess it’s helpful in cases like this.’
Although he looked like a suspicious intruder, his fame was helping out quite a bit here.
Maybe not with Rankers, but Kim YuWon’s fame among the lower floors was considerable. On top of that, his face was also fairly well-known due to the Grand Martial Arts Tournament.
“What test are you taking?”
“I received it directly from the Administrator.”
“Directly from the Administrator? Does something like that even happen?”
The knight looked around again with a surprised face.
At his silent look of asking if anyone knew, they all shook their heads. There was no way someone here would know information that most old Rankers didn’t know either.
After not receiving a concrete confirmation, he turned back and sighed.
“Anyways, so you did receive a test?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I heard that there are plans to soon continue development again.”
“That’s right.”
Seeing that only he was continuing to talk, he was probably the highest ranking knight there.
After calculating the dates in his head for a second, YuWon said, “Let’s finish that in half a month.”
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