[You leveled up.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate increased by 12.85%.]

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Dexterity increased by 2.]

[Your Constitution…]

[…]

[You have passed the final trial.]

[Your achievement is recorded in the Colosseum.]

Thud—

Following the message that YuWon passed the trial, Orochi’s body fell in the center of the arena. 

A deep rumbling was felt through the ground. 

YuWon took a moment to catch his breath before checking his increased stats.

[Name : Kim YuWon]

[Level : 69]

[Strength : 78]

[Dexterity : 62]

[Constitution : 70]

[Perception : 60]

[Arcane Power : 72]

[Total Points…]

[…]

He leveled up again, even though he had just leveled up after defeating the swordsman in the nineteenth trial. 

‘That’s stupendous.’

Logically, leveling became harder the more you leveled up. Starting around level 60, it became virtually impossible to level up through normal hunting. 

That’s why most players preferred to obtain power through the floor clear rewards, rather than trying to level up by hunting and grinding. This was because all you got from leveling up was three stat points, but when you cleared a floor, the reward could potentially be even better than ten stat points.

However, one could never become a Ranker by setting levels aside.

‘Only 31 more to go till I reach Level 100.’

YuWon was leveling up much faster than he had anticipated. 

Due to having lost his levels and stats from going back in time, his body felt as heavy as a pile of rocks, but that feeling had now mostly dissipated. 

“Participant Kim YuWon.”

YuWon turned his head to the voice calling him. 

An Elven woman wearing leather armor and holstering a total of six swords on her waist and back approached YuWon.

YuWon wondered where she appeared from. 

Her movements were so quick and stealthy that YuWon had a hard time sensing her presence. In actuality, those graceful movements weren’t intentional, but just a force of habit. 

A beautiful but intimidating face. Long straight hair. And a lover of chocolates. 

‘Shuri.’

She was a pretty highly ranked Ranker. She was on another level of power compared to Chryses, who YuWon had faced off against recently.

She also happened to be the test examiner of the 1st Floor.

“Did you already know about 《Yamata no Orochi》?”

YuWon had wondered why the text examiner would approach a participant. Turned out she had some questions. 

YuWon nodded his head at her question. 

“Yes, I did.”

“Then that wound was…”

“It was a wound inflicted by the High Ranker Susanoo.”

That was enough of an explanation. With her doubts confirmed by YuWon, she finally got the answer to the mystery she’d been pondering. It was a wound caused by Susanoo, and YuWon was able to pass the final trial of the Colosseum by finding and piercing that wound. 

“How did you figure it out?”

“Because the Tower never gives impossible tasks. Even if it was the twentieth trial, I thought that it was far too high a difficulty for the 1st Floor.”

YuWon pointed to his crimson eyes. 

“So after looking carefully, I found the answer.”

Crimson eyes. After looking at them up close, she remembered seeing those exact same eyes in the past. 

It was approximately 1,000 years ago. She was the test examiner on the 1st Floor back then as well when she was presented a great surprise by a player. 

The skill that symbolized the High Ranker Son OhGong.

“… Are those the Golden Cinder Eyes?”

“They’re not golden quite yet.”

[Cinder Eyes] and [Gigantification.] A player capable of using the skills of two High Rankers from two of the biggest guilds. She was certain he must have some amazing backers. She was split between two possibilities, and with this, she was able to confirm her guess.

“So you’re from the Heavenly Realm.”

The Heavenly Realm. Similar to Olympus, it was one of the top guilds that ruled the Tower. And though it wasn’t any longer, at one point, it was the guild of Son OhGong.

“Or are you a successor of the Great Sage? Either way, that answers a few of my questions.”

Shuri was nodding her head.

YuWon decided to let her keep her misunderstanding as there was no reason to clear this up with a complicated explanation.

‘Besides, she won’t even be able to tell anyone what happened here.’

Confirming his thoughts, she said, “Don’t worry. Test examiners aren’t allowed to tell anyone the contents of a test or any information on the participating players. So there’s no way anyone will find out about you.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Also…”

Shuri unfastened one of the many swords on her and handed it to YuWon.

“This is a bonus reward from the Administrator for this test.”

A sword with a red handle and a silver scabbard. 

It was a reward, so YuWon took it. 

“You mean this sword is a reward?”

“It’s something that the Administrator handed me when I first became a test examiner. I was told to give it as a reward to any player that clears all the trials, but I honestly never thought the day would come.”

That was to be expected. Who in their right mind would think that a 1st Floor player could be capable of defeating one of Orochi’s heads? 

But thanks to YuWon, Shuri was finally able to take one of the many swords off her person. 

“Check it out. Even I don’t know what that thing actually is.”

YuWon unsheathed the sword to see it with his own eyes. As it was freed from its scabbard, it started to unleash a surprising mana. However… 

“Huh?”

Weirdly enough, the sword was broken in half.

“Wait, is this thing defective?”

Even the test examiner was stumped by the sword. 

YuWon looked at his reflection off the blade that was perfectly broken in half.

The blade of the sword had a gentle blue hue. 

YuWon smiled faintly.

‘So this thing was here.’

* * *

[Totsuka no Tsurugi – Fragment]

ᗌ It is a fragment of the sword used by Susanoo long ago to seal 《Yamata no Orochi.》 There is a special power sealed inside it.

ᗌ It is currently in a broken state. You need to collect the remaining fragment to recover its original power.

The effect of the item was laughable. Broken in half, you couldn’t even call it a real sword. A sword was a weapon meant for slashing and stabbing, but a broken sword could do neither very effectively due to its short length. 

However, that didn’t matter. YuWon had already procured a sword to use, and the fragment of 「Totsuka no Tsurugi」 wasn’t meant to be an item for slashing and stabbing.

‘It is a key to obtain one of the Three Sacred Treasures, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi.’

The 「Totsuka no Tsurugi」 was originally an item that YuWon was supposed to obtain by fighting the “Three Precious Children.” So having obtained half of the item here meant that his plan just became easier.

“If you are unsatisfied with the reward, just tell me. Even if it takes some time, I’ll put in a request with the Administrator…”

“It’s okay.”

Click—

YuWon put the sword back in its scabbard and put it in his inventory. He wouldn’t be needing that item for a while.

“This will be plenty.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

This was far better than a mediocre item that was only usable on the lower floors. And since he knew where to obtain the other fragment, it wasn’t a difficult item to use. 

Also, this was only the bonus prize for clearing all the trials of the Colosseum. The real prize still remained.

[You have cleared all the trials of the 1st Floor test.]

[You have obtained 20000 points.]

[All your stats increased by 2.]

[You have obtained 「Totsuka no Tsurugi – Fragment.」]

[You have obtained 「Orochi’s 7th Heart.」]

[Would you like to move onto the next floor?]

Two points for every single stat. A total of ten stat points were given as a reward. For someone like YuWon who desired his stats to be well rounded, this was a reward as sweet as honey. With this, Strength, his highest stat, had reached 80. 

Also, he was given 「Orochi’s 7th heart.」

YuWon looked at the ruby-colored gem in his hand. 

This was Orochi’s heart. A miniscule heart compared to its giant size. That meant that 「Orochi’s Heart」 was an item with that much condensed power.

[Orochi’s 7th Heart]

ᗌ It is the 7th heart of Orochi, which was separated after being sealed by Susanoo.

ᗌ It possesses a powerful poison.

Unlike the 「Giant’s Heart,」 「Orochi’s Heart」 couldn’t be consumed by any normal means. Orochi’s blood carried poison, and the heart was condensed with the most lethal poison in its body. 

It was an item that he couldn’t use right now, but if he could somehow neutralize the poison, it would be one of the greatest elixirs ever.

“Orochi’s Heart… I kind of half expected it, but it actually gave it to you as a reward.”

Shuri couldn’t help but be a little envious. 「Orochi’s Heart」 was an elixir that even High Rankers desired. It was so valuable that it was hard to put a price tag on the item.

“Congrats. Let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t just consume it.”

It seemed that Shuri had felt bad about the reward she gave YuWon. Which wasn’t all that surprising since, compared to 「Orochi’s Heart,」 nothing should be known about the fragment of 「Totsuka no Tsurugi.」

“Thank you for the advice.”

After this, YuWon had intended to leave the 1st Floor since he had obtained his reward, so there was no more reason to remain here. Yet…

Vwoom, vwoom—

Vwoooom—

[「?’s Egg」 is reacting.]

[「?’s Egg」 expresses hunger.]

Out of nowhere, the egg started letting out a cry.

‘So suddenly?’

Despite it crying out in hunger, there was nothing YuWon could do since he knew nothing about the egg. 

Normal eggs hatched simply by incubating them, but this egg didn’t do that. 

An egg that expressed hunger… YuWon had never once heard of an egg like that. 

[「?’s Egg」 shows its form.]

The egg was going to show its form? 

YuWon checked his inventory, which showed no reaction. The egg was definitely still safely inside his inventory. 

But then…

“W-What in the…?”

The first one to notice that something was off was Shuri. She readied her sword and activated her mana. 

YuWon looked around to see what was up and felt a chill down his spine.

Gnaw—

Crunch, crunch—

The Colosseum was enveloped in darkness. And within the darkness appeared dozens of half-opened eyes and not fully grown teeth.

“Did a monster break into the Colosseum?” Shuri wondered. 

She stayed on guard against the monster that had suddenly appeared in the testing arena. 

She found this bizarre. This was the testing arena, a place protected by the power of the Tower. She had worked here as the test examiner of the 1st Floor for thousands of years, yet this was the first time a being from the outside had intruded into the testing arena. 

Shuri decided to leave the thinking for later. For now, she had to prioritize bringing order to the testing arena as the test examiner. 

Shing—

She tried to cut down the mysterious being by swinging her sword.

“Wait!”

Hearing YuWon’s voice, she stopped and turned her head. 

“… Please give me a minute.”

YuWon stopped Shuri and looked at the strange thing that had appeared in the arena. 

He was sure that these eyes and teeth didn’t come from the outside. Instead, it was…

[「?’s Egg」 has started feasting on ‘Orochi’s 7th Head.’]

… The ‘Egg’ that YuWon possessed.