Chapter 33

Chapter 33. The Berl Rune

The total number of rune types humanity had identified while climbing the Tower was thirty-three.

Among them, the so-called 'High Runes'—the rarest and most valuable—could be counted on one hand.

They were items that dropped only in the highest-tier dungeons, at astronomically low odds.

Naturally, this was not the time for one to appear.

Episode 3.

It was still the early stages.

A forbidden domain, believed to be absolutely unobtainable during the Protection Period granted to humanity.

Because depending on how they were used, these runes could shatter the balance entirely.

And yet.

"......It's already here."

A small stone fragment resting on my palm.

A red glyph carved into it.

'Berl.'

There was no mistake.

I swallowed hard.

It wasn't simply because it was rare.

It was because of what this rune could do.

A rune granted its owner a special buff just by being held.

Later, if you socketed it into a piece of equipment, you could create 'runed gear'—equipment with abilities unobtainable through ordinary means.

Among all runes, the Berl Rune's effect was in a class of its own.

[Name: Berl]
[Passive Effect: High-grade Lifesteal 7%]
[A rune imbued with mystical energy. Recovers health and mana on hit.]

'High-grade Lifesteal!'

I gripped the rune tight.

A thrill ran through me.

High-grade Lifesteal.

Every time I struck an enemy, I recovered a fixed percentage of the damage dealt as both health and mana.

The number was a mere 7%.

On paper, it might look small.

But reality was different.

Consider the amount of damage I dealt.

Seven percent of the damage I was hammering in with Authorities.

It meant that with every swing, the more enemies there were, the faster my mana recovered.

'My combat sustain is going to jump significantly.'

The corners of my mouth rose.

What this meant was clear.

'Perpetual engine.'

I recalled the battle moments ago.

Living Primordial Fire.

The Origin-grade Authority had been overwhelming.

It had erased the Great Calamity in a single second.

But the price had been brutal.

In that single second, every drop of my mana had evaporated.

Total exhaustion.

I'd nearly passed out.

Powerful, but the risk was far too great.

Consecutive use was impossible.

But with the Berl Rune?

'That problem is largely solved.'

I'd recover simultaneously with each attack.

Mana refilling as fast as it drained.

In theory, it meant I could spam Authorities without tiring.

A revolution.

The final puzzle piece, perfectly shoring up my greatest weakness: sustain.

And on top of that.

'Its value as a crafting material is insane too.'

The Berl Rune wasn't something that ended as a mere accessory.

It was a final weapon.

A core material essential for crafting endgame runed equipment.

'Infinity.'

'Immortality.'

'Destruction.'

Names that made your heart swell just hearing them.

Creating those required the Berl Rune without exception.

Even veterans ran dungeons hundreds, thousands of times trying to obtain this single rune.

Gods' Avatars would have been no different.

A cursed stone that had sparked wars between nations and destroyed guilds.

And I'd obtained it in mere Episode 3.

"Ha ha."

Laughter came on its own.

'Lucky' didn't begin to cover it.

I placed the Berl Rune into my Inventory.

Just having it was reassuring.

I now held a joker that could turn the tide at any moment.

I shifted my gaze.

There were still rewards left.

'Twenty Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.'

Another jackpot.

Each fragment was worth one million Nectar.

Meaning I'd just gained twenty million Nectar.

The cost of upgrading Floor 2 to Grade A had barely exceeded one million.

Twenty times that.

With this money, I could go beyond redecorating Floor 2—I could outright buy an entire new floor and still have change left over.

'War funds secured.'

The war against Cryos.

War inherently favored the defender, and if the fight came down to a Nectar-based contest, that was actually good news for me.

I could buy Demonic Beasts and traps like a madman.

And finally.

The reward I was most excited about.

'The Ancient-grade Equipment Chest.'

I gazed at the ornate chest floating in the air.

Ancient.

The upper limit of what humans could create, and a grade approaching the relics of gods.

Most importantly, the key detail was that it was a 'chest.'

This wasn't a random draw.

A chest meant I was given a choice.

'Five.'

Opening the chest would present five items at random.

I could pick one myself.

I could select whatever suited me best—whatever I needed most right now.

Gulp.

I swallowed.

Nerves.

The Heavenly Demon Armor and shoes, the Holy Sword Abriel, the Heart of the Frozen Wastes.

My equipment was already overflowing.

But human greed knew no bounds.

If I could get even stronger, there was no reason to refuse.

'Open it.'

I reached out.

I gripped the lid.

CREEEAK.

The chest opened with a heavy groan.

WHOOOOSH!

Blinding light filled the room.

Five shapes emerged from the light.

Items arrayed in the air like holograms.

Each one radiated an extraordinary aura.

I narrowed my eyes and scanned the list.

First.

[Gauntlets Imbued with Giant's Strength]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Strength +300]
[Unstoppable Effect]

Not bad.

A whopping 300 to Strength.

The Unstoppable effect meant that when charging, nothing could halt me.

If I were a warrior and my opponent was a mage who'd finished all combat preparations, this would be a must-have option.

Second.

[Robe Bearing the Sage's Wisdom]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Intelligence +200]
[Magic casting speed increased by 30%]

An option that would make any mage lose their mind.

Casting speed was directly related to Authority activation speed.

On top of that, Intelligence was closely tied to mana recovery, skill proficiency, and comprehension.

Third.

[Cloak of the Shadow Lord]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): Enhanced Stealth]
[Special Effect (2): Shadow Movement]

An assassin's tool.

Granted, Shadow Movement had excellent versatility and could be used like a teleport.

Fourth.

[The Blood-drinking Cursed Blade, Dainsleif]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): Health recovery on attack (+10%)]
[Special Effect (2): Attack power amplification that consumes the user's life force (up to 99%)]

An option that overlapped with the Berl Rune.

But the Berl Rune had high-grade Lifesteal that also recovered mana.

Dainsleif, on the other hand, recovered only health.

The 'Berserker' effect of amplifying attack power as my health dropped was tempting, but.......

'The last one.'

I checked the fifth item.

And my eyes stopped.

"......This."

My heart was pounding.

It was different from the other four.

Neither a weapon nor armor.

A small, rough necklace radiating an eerie mana.

[Aegis of the Ancient God]
[Grade: Ancient]
[Special Effect (1): High-grade Danger Sense]
[Special Effect (2): Unique Domain 'Aegis.' Capable of automatically defending against attacks up to high-ranking god level. However, while the Aegis is deployed, the user cannot move or attack from within.]

"......!"

Found it.

The option I'd been hoping and praying for.

It created a unique domain.

Within it, absolute safety was guaranteed.

The crippling penalties of being unable to move or attack existed, but they didn't matter.

It could block attacks from up to a high-ranking god.

This was practically an absolute defense.

'I can protect my true body.'

I had a fatal weakness.

When I logged into Asgard, Kim Jeong-seok's body on Earth became completely defenseless.

Unlike Rag's body, which was guarded by Seria and the elves.

If someone broke into my studio and slit my throat while I slept, it was over.

But with this necklace?

All I had to do was deploy the Aegis before logging in.

No one—not even a god's Avatar—could touch my sleeping body.

The most perfect bunker.

And its applications were limitless.

'The war against Cryos.'

It would prove useful in the coming war as well.

Honestly, I was torn.

All four items above had excellent qualities.

The Intelligence-boosting robe and the Berserker blade were both tempting.

But nothing was more important than survival.

I reached out.

"I'll take this one."

Ding!

[Reward selected.]
[You have obtained the 'Aegis of the Ancient God.']

The cold touch of metal wrapped around my hand.

Reassuring.

Now I could sleep in peace and log in without worry.

I raised my head and stared into the air.

There was still something left to check.

The Hall of Fame.

I scrolled down.

[1st: NONAME (1,000)]
[2nd: Yamamoto (950)]
[3rd: Aritolt (800)]
......

My eyes narrowed.

'Yamamoto, and Aritolt.'

Their scores were too high.

Completely different from before the Regression.

Yamamoto had been strong back then, but not to this degree.

The same went for Aritolt.

And yet now they were nipping at my heels.

If I hadn't scored a perfect 1,000, they might have overtaken me.

'Coincidence?'

Or.

'Could both of them really be Avatars?'

Choi Taemin had been a case of Possession.

Kim Insu had been an Avatar.

Then what about those two?

The Battle Emperor and the Sword Emperor.

Was the shadow of a god cast behind those men called the strongest of humanity?

I'd have to verify.

But not now.

For now, it was time to build my foundation.

I hung the necklace around my neck.

Hummm.

A transparent barrier enveloped me.

***

Tokyo, the ruins of Shinjuku.

Yamamoto flicked the blood from his katana.

At his feet lay the massive corpse of a Demonic Beast.

The Demonic Beast of Black Greed.

The same type of entity that had appeared in Seoul.

But Yamamoto's expression was far from pleased.

He looked up at the ranking board floating in the air.

[2nd: Yamamoto (950)]

"......Second again."

His brow furrowed.

It made no sense.

It shouldn't have been possible.

He had prepared thoroughly for this episode.

His true body—the God of War—had supplied a massive quantity of Nectar.

He'd injected Nectar until his Avatar's blood vessels were on the verge of rupturing.

The result.

Two strikes.

In just two strikes, he had cut down the catastrophic-class Demonic Beast.

Overwhelming force.

A flawless run.

And yet he'd lost.

950 out of a possible 1,000.

Was the deduction for time? Or for number of strikes?

Then what about NONAME in first place?

"Are they saying he ended it in one?"

Yamamoto muttered.

It defied reason.

It meant someone had output more firepower than him.

To do that, they'd need to have fed their Avatar even more Nectar than he had.

But that was impossible.

'The body can't handle it.'

An Avatar was a vessel.

Level 10.

That was the ceiling during the Tutorial period.

To hold any more divine power, the vessel would shatter.

Accommodating more Nectar required an 'Awakening.'

Advancing to the next stage and expanding the vessel's capacity.

And Awakening was only possible through a quest.

Ding!

A message appeared before Yamamoto's eyes.

[You have reached Level 10.]
[Awakening Quest initiated.]
[Awakening Quest conditions not met.]
[Required Honor Points: 15,000]
[Current Honor Points: 8,000]

Honor.

Points accumulated through titles, achievements, and Hall of Fame rankings.

Yamamoto had pushed himself relentlessly.

Slaughtering, conquering, maintaining second place.

And it was still only 8,000 points.

Yet NONAME had surpassed 15,000?

"Impossible."

He said it with certainty.

Even sweeping first place in Episodes 1, 2, and 3 combined, it was a physically impossible figure.

Even hoarding every Hidden Piece wouldn't be enough.

Then NONAME hadn't Awakened.

Meaning the Avatar was below Level 10.

So how had it output more firepower than him?

How had the body endured that power without collapsing?

"......Who are you?"

A strange light entered Yamamoto's eyes.

A being that defied the common sense of the God of War himself.

A primal curiosity toward that unknown strength.

"NONAME."

The nameless monster.

He was becoming genuinely curious.

What on earth was inside that shell.