Chapter 17: 17

“Select . ”

[The command has been entered . ]

[Please choose your reward . ]

A long list of rewards appeared as soon as Su-hyeun spoke those words . Very much similar to a website, various items were listed from top to bottom .

The ordinary stores used achievement points as their exchange currency, but these were different .

[Stored accomplishment points: 70 . ]

Although he had heard of some selected stores using a different method, he had not encountered any in his past life .

Su-hyeun looked through the list of rewards .

It might have been hard to stumble upon this chance again in the future . He had to be careful with his choice .

There were many items worth purchasing using his accomplishment points .

There were skills, equipment, and consumer goods . Unfortunately, the skills that Su-hyeun was unable to learn yet were not available for purchase .

Skills with a low requirement for magic level required fewer accomplishment points . Su-hyeun could have bought a few skills, but he quickly turned them away .

Su-hyeun turned to the equipment and consumer goods . Unfortunately, none of the skills he could learn right now were better than Flame . On the contrary, there were a lot more useful items under the equipment category, some of which were of similar standards to what he had used in his past life .

“It’s better than I thought . ”

As it was tough gauging the difficulty on the 10th floor, it was the same for the rewards .

Su-hyeun swiped down the rewards list . The items got more expensive as he went down the list, but it also meant that those were much more valuable .

Similarly to skills, he thought the same way about equipment .

Instead of carrying several pieces of equipment on him, owning just one an outstanding weapon or set of armor would be more efficient .

Su-hyeun went to the last item on the equipment and consumer goods category . The most expensive was 65 points .

He felt that something was lacking .

It was the armor category . Named the Heavenly God’s Armor, the item had the effect of changing its form according to the user’s wishes . It also served as an extra lifeline, with resistance to various attributes like fire, electric, poison, and more . It was great .

In truth, it was a piece of equipment that wouldn’t normally be obtained on the 10th floor .

But…

[Others . ]

Su-hyeun’s eyes turned to the last remaining category . It wasn’t skills, equipment, or consumer goods, but “others . ”

All other random items were gathered here . Su-hyeun did not pay special attention to it at first, but he had decided to take a look at it; it didn’t matter if it was lacking .

“Let’s just take a look . ”

He selected the category, and various items appeared before him . Indeed, there was a wide variety .

From musical instruments to water tanks and fashion items, some would make one wonder why they were on sale . It was quite a spectacle . There were some useful items amongst them, but they would be a waste of the points .

“All that for nothing . ”

However, the last item on the list caught Su-hyeun’s eyes .

[Unidentifiable God’s Egg]

[An unidentifiable egg . Not sure what will be hatched . ]

An item worth 70 points .

But why is this even called an item? It was evident that something would be hatched, but there was no way to tell what it would be .

“God’s Egg . ”

It was the item’s name that caught Su-hyeun’s eyes .

“This is it . ”

He was confident that he would somehow be able to get the other items .

No matter how valuable the equipment was, Su-hyeun knew how to obtain the hero level weapons, like Balmung, that he had used in his past life .

But it was different for God’s Egg .

In fact, if an awakener was lucky enough to get this egg, the hatched item could elevate the awakener’s rank . It was one of the few items that Su-hyeun knew of but did not know how to obtain .

“Although the unidentifiable explanation is quite worrying… . ”

But it seemed that there was no other better option .

“I’ve decided . ”

[You have used 70 accomplishment points . ]

[You have purchased the “Unidentifiable God’s Egg . ”]

As soon as he made the transaction, an egg with the size of a fist appeared before him . It was a white egg without any patterns . Su-hyeun accepted it carefully with both hands .

“It’s smaller than I thought… . ”

Su-hyeun had thought it would be around the size of his body since it was called God’s Egg . As it was his first time seeing the Unidentifiable God’s Egg, he didn’t know if it was normal .

“Anyway, with this, my job on the 10th floor is done… . ”

It was time to head back .

Most of the poison had been neutralized . It wouldn’t be a problem for him to move about . Su-hyeun stood up and reached his hands out .

And with all his strength, he grasped the air and opened the door .

Rip—!

The door back to reality opened . Su-hyeun’s expression calmed down as he stepped out .

“With this… Did I meet the minimum standards that I had planned out?”

He had cleared the 10th floor . It was the minimum standard that Su-hyeun had in mind initially .

That was what he had been working hard towards . However, the results were beyond his expectations .

“Although it took longer than expected…”

Step—

He grinned slightly as he passed the door .

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger than I had planned . ”

The standard was no different from when he cleared the eighth floor and obtained the Flame skill .

“I can’t delay any further . ”

Act 9

Time flowed differently in the Tower of Trials and reality . Although it was dawn on the 10th floor, in reality, it was just 2 PM .

Su-hyeun headed to the nearest bank . He inserted his card and verified his bank balance . A total of 1,210,000 Korean won was all that Su-hyeun had .

He had saved all the allowance that Shin Su-yeong sent him every month . The fact of the matter was he had no use for the money . His only expenses were the occasional gifts for Shin Su-yeong, so he had saved quite a lot .

Whirl—

He withdrew all the money at once .

Su-hyeun took the money and headed to Seoul by bus . He had to rely on his memories to find his way from Seoul Station . Su-hyeun finally found the place he was looking for, which was located in a reasonably large area .

The Awakeners Accreditation Authority .

It was a state-run institute that evaluated the awakeners’ ranks, but wasn’t just that; the institute also monitored the foreign awakeners’ movements and managed the local awakeners .

“It has been a while . ”

The awakeners who got stronger every singe time they ascended the tower would sometimes increase their skills and request reassessments . Therefore, an average awakener would visit the institution three to four times in his life .

But of course, it was different for Su-hyeun .

There was no reason for him to be elevated in the first place . Su-hyeun was previously a local awakener, but he wasn’t a normal awakener .

He started heading in . He took his time, reminiscing about old times, as he had been living all the while as Su-hyeun .

“What brings you here?”

A staff member greeted Su-hyeun brightly as he stepped into the lobby .

“I came to be evaluated . ”

“Is this your first time as an awakener?” The female staff member, who appeared to be in her mid-20s, smiled and spoke calmly . She must have been one of those people in Korea who had seen many awakeners in her life .

“It has been a while . ”

“It might take a while according to procedures . Please follow me . ”

Guided by the staff, Su-hyeun went through several procedures to verify his identity and headed to the first floor . Several chairs were placed in the middle of a spacious room, and many people were standing . As soon as Su-hyeun saw the five people sitting on the chairs, he realized that they were awakeners like him .

“Oh?”

Su-hyeun recognized one of their faces .

“Choi Hak-joon?”

He was the awakener he had chanced upon at the Tower of Trials not too long ago . It seemed that Choi Hak-joon had also come to be evaluated as an awakener .

“Please wait for 30 minutes until the ranking evaluation is prepared . You will be called accordingly . ”

The woman who guided Su-hyeun quickly left after she finished speaking . Soon, everyone in the room looked towards Su-hyeun .

“Oh?”

Unlike the other awakeners, Hak-joon narrowed his eyes and waved his hands as he seemed to have recognized Su-hyeun, but he soon tilted and scratched his head as if he was afraid that he recalled the wrong person . True, it would not be easy to recognize Su-hyeun right away after only one encounter .

“It has been a while . ”

Since he had time, Su-hyeun approached Hak-joon . Actually, he was also curious as to what kind of person he actually was .

Hak-joon asked, delighted that his memory did not fail him, “Indeed, we have met before, right?”

“We did have a small encounter once on the second floor . ”

“Ah, I remember it now . ”

Hak-joon clapped his hands and laughed while looking at Su-hyeun . It seemed that Su-hyeun’s first impression was too intense to be forgotten .

“Are you here to be re-evaluated again?”

It seemed that Hak-joon had been evaluated once before .

Su-hyeun shook his head .

“No, it’s not a re-evaluation . ”

“So it’s your first time?”

“Yes . ”

“Hasn’t a year passed since we last met?”

Usually, after a person has awakened, they were evaluated within a month because it was the first time that they are magically awakened . After that, one would usually get re-evaluated every time their magic level increased . It was the only reason why awakeners were evaluated . One had to be ranked in order to enter the dungeons, and then one could earn some big bucks there .

In this regard, it was rare to see someone doing their evaluation a year after awakening .

“If you’re unsure about the rank evaluation for awakeners…”

“I’m fully aware . ”

“So, you’re not here for the money?”

There had been occasional instances, too, when those who awakened but did not care about the money did not receive rank evaluations . They were usually rich enough to decide not to work as an awakener .

“My objective…”

Truthfully speaking, it wasn’t for the money at all — it was because that was the minimum requirement to work as an awakener .

But…

“It’s not my purpose, but I sort of need it . ”

He did not intend to let Shin Su-yeong suffer forever .