[Reward for ranking first in this area: "Lowest-tier rare weapon selection ticket"!]
[Reward for ranking first in the entire region: "Special reward selection box"!]
After reading the message, Ryu Min opened his inventory and found two new items—a weapon selection ticket and a reward selection box.
Without hesitation, he selected the weapon ticket, and a translucent window popped up.
[You can now choose one of the following rare weapons.]
[Please touch the desired reward.]
└ 1. Serrated purple longsword
└ 2. Stiletto
└ 3. Javelin
Swords, daggers, and spears. Although there were more types of weapons available, these were the only options presented in the early stages of the game.
"This alone is worth it. It's a rare item," Ryu Min thought to himself.
There are six grades of items—normal, rare, epic, unique, legendary, and godlike. Although rare is only second on the list, considering how difficult it is to obtain through conventional means, it is still a pretty good reward.
"Newbies would probably choose a sword or a long spear, but…" Ryu Min did not even hesitate and moved his hand.
["You have selected the 'Stiletto'."]
The reward appeared in his inventory, and the information window popped up automatically.
[Stiletto]
Classification: Weapon
Grade: Rare
Attack Power: 15
Effect: Agility +1
Durability: 150/150
Usage Restriction: Novice grade or higher
Description: This is the best dagger a novice can use.
After looking at the information, Ryu Min discarded the goblin's dagger he had been holding. It was a piece of junk with only 3 attack power and no stats.
"It's pointless to keep it. I can't even sell it," Ryu Min thought as he realized it would just take up space in his inventory.
Ryu Min's gaze then fell on another reward—the special reward selection box that could only be obtained by achieving first place in the entire region.
Naturally, it was a much better reward than the lowest-tier rare weapon selection ticket he had just obtained. However…
"For now, I'll hold off on using it," Ryu Min decided and closed the inventory window without touching the reward.
It seemed like he had no interest in the items at all. Instead, he opened up his status window and allocated the stat points to his agility before turning his attention to something else.
As Ryu Min gazed around the battlefield, filled with the screams of humans and goblins, he wondered if Yongmin was holding his own.
As the round passers were unable to move beyond the pillars, there were limitations to his movements.
"There he is."
Far in the distance, the hulking figure of Hwang Yongmin came into view.
Watching him fight fiercely from behind others put Ryu Min's mind at ease.
"He'll make it through this one too."
While he knew that Yongmin would survive not only the first round but also the fifth, the possibility of unexpected variables made him uneasy.
"Don't you dare die early. You must be used first, and then I will kill you myself when you're no longer useful."
Although he no longer harbored any resentment or desire for revenge, he had no desire to keep Yongmin alive.
"It seems like this is going to be a drag." He sighed.
He wouldn't be allowed to return home early just because he completed the quest quickly.
He had to wait until the round was over.
"It's surprisingly fair game, isn't it?" He couldn't help but smile.
If he returned home after finishing early, the other participants would be completely exposed to danger.
They would still be asleep in their beds.
"There's nothing more dangerous than being targeted while in soul transfer."
If the body on Earth dies while the soul is in another dimension, the soul will die as well.
At that point, no matter how strong the player is, it's pointless.
They're just defenseless and helpless.
Whether they wished for such a risk or not, the system only returned the Round Passers to their world after the round ended.
That's why Ryu Min was waiting idly.
"It's just boring to wait like this."
That's the only problem with finishing first.
"Save me! Aaaargh!"
"Stop it! Please!"
Even amidst the desperate screams of people, Ryu Min felt bored.
He had seen it many times before.
The weak ones perish while only the strong survive.
"There's no choice. To escape this game of death, we have to compete and survive."
It was a reality that Ryu Min, a mere human, could not change.
Ryu Min shook his head and recited a spell to pass the time.
"Progress window."
[World]
Participants: 1,801,029,290
Achievers: 3/900,514,645
[Current Area ESKS45-5]
Participants: 10,286
Achievers: 1/5,143
As he checked the quest progress window, he found that there were only three people who had finished the quest, including himself.
"I'm first, and there is already a second and third achiever,"
However, in this area, there was only one person who had achieved the quest—himself.
"Well, it looks like the second and third places were taken by people in other areas," he said, consoling himself.
Nevertheless, if he couldn't make it into the top three in the world, whether in the previous area or this current area, it would be meaningless to try hard since there was no reward given beyond third place.
"Even though we all receive gold as a quest reward for achieving the quest, it's not that special," he muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the number of achievers in his area increased from 1 to 2.
Looking around, he saw a man trapped in a translucent column in the distance, who had just defeated 100 goblins and achieved the quest.
"More and more people will start to appear now," he thought.
As he expected, quest achievers began to appear here and there.
"Even the third spot in this area has been taken," he observed.
The slow pace of progress gradually accelerated, and as a result, the number of goblins also decreased significantly.
"Well, it's not the ranking that matters. What's important is finding a way to make it into the top half," he thought.
He turned his head and saw a giant man trapped in a column. It was Hwang Yongmin.
He looked like he was struggling and gasping for breath, unlike the other achievers who were turning their backs and relaxing.
Meanwhile, intense battles were taking place all around him.
"Kiyaaak!"
"Euaaak!"
Although there were all kinds of screams, there was no chaos like before.
"Perhaps they have already adapted to this environment where they have to kill to survive," he thought.
As a result, the number of goblins decreased noticeably as time passed, although the number was still higher than that of humans.
Moreover, humans had better stats than goblins, and they could increase their stats by killing them, so it was only natural that players had the upper hand.
"The number of goblins is decreasing. It's time for the angels to intervene," he thought.
When the number of quest achievers exceeded 400, and the number of goblins, which was originally 50,000, decreased to 10,000, the angel who had been watching from the sidelines finally intervened with a wicked smile.
"Kehehe, this is fun, they're hunting them down, should I add more goblins?"
Flap!
Fluttering her wings seemed to be the signal, as the corpses that had been scattered across the meadow vanished in an instant.
It was only natural for the people to be perplexed.
"What, what's going on?"
"The goblin corpses disappeared?"
"It's not just goblins. Other corpses are gone too!"
Although the people were taken aback, it was only temporary.
As goblins began to appear here and there, they all wore expressions of disgust.
"Kyo-ho-ho-ho, I've replenished 50,000 of them. There won't be a shortage of them, so stay assured. Kick-kick-kick!"
"…!"
Even if she didn't know, the people were probably cursing the angel right now.
"Kill them!"
"Aaaaah!"
The people had to swing their weapons again to live or die.
They were too young to scream for their lives like this in a bloodstained place like this.
└ Achiever: 1,021/5,143
…
└ Achiever: 2,129/5,143
…
└ Achiever: 3,533/5,143
As the number of quest achievers increased, the goblins decreased exponentially.
Each time, the angel cleared away the corpses and added more goblins.
Has it been about five hours like this?
Ryu Min, who had been sitting on the ground looking at the progress window, suddenly stood up as if it was time.
"It will end up soon."
It's time to wrap this up and go home.
But there's something he must do before that.
└ Achiever: 5,143/5,143
Finally, the moment came when the number of quest achievers filled up.
"Huh?"
"What's going on?"
The goblins that had filled the meadow suddenly disappeared without a trace.
It seemed as if it were a dream.
[Half of the challengers have passed.]
The angel spoke as if she were regretful.
[Unfortunately, the rest must be annihilated.]
"What? Annihilation?"
"Wait a minute! Please, Angel! I just need to catch one more! Please…!"
That's when it happened.
Those who failed to finish the quest were scattered like dust.
It was about 3,000 people… 3,000 people disappeared without leaving a trace.
The remaining 2,000 were killed by the goblins.
Puff-
People couldn't even scream at the sudden arrival of death.
The achievers who had been watching from the pillar swallowed their dry saliva.
If they hadn't achieved the quest early, they might have been annihilated like that too.
"If you can't make it to half, you'll be gone without a trace."
The group that once numbered 10,000 has now dwindled down to a mere 5,000.
Sadly, there was no way for Ryu Min to save them, as it was a rule of this cursed game, just as the angel had pointed out.
"Why the long faces? You survived, so shouldn't you be happy?" The angel quirked its head, only to shrug its shoulders a moment later. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You all made it, so congratulations. You can go home now."
At the mention of going 'home,' the tension in the air dissipated, replaced by a collective sigh of relief and laughter.
However, the angel still wore a smirk on her lips; They weren't out of the woods yet.
"I should remind you though, that Round 2 will be much harder. So, you better do better next time. Teehee."
"…."
They had just cleared Round 1, and yet they had to face Round 2 in a month, and no one can escape this reality.
After all, they had suffered, they had only bought themselves a month of time.
As this realization hit them, their faces turned ashen.
The angel barely managed to hide her devilish grin.
"Well, before you go home, shall we take a look at the rankings first?" The angel spread its wings in a courteous manner, and a message box appeared before Ryu Min's eyes.
★ Round 1 Results ★
[Overall]
└1st place: Black Scythe (Lv5, no job) 00:10:21
└2nd place: Stupid Fools (Lv5, no job) 00:16:15
└3rd place: Heavenly Demon (Lv5, no job) 00:17:07
[Area ESKS45-5]
└1st place: Black Scythe (Lv5, no job) 00:10:21
└2nd place: Life is a Documentary (Lv5, no job) 00:23:55
└3rd place: Black Flame Dragon in the Right Hand (Lv5, no job) 00:24:43
[Black Scythe is currently ranked 1st in both overall and Area ESKS45-5.]
[Rank Reward:
Lowest-tier rare weapon selection ticket (already distributed)
Special reward selection box (already distributed)]
[Clear Reward: 1,000 gold (undistributed)]
[Clear Reward: You have earned 1,000 gold as a clear reward! Congratulations!]
[You can purchase items from the shop with the gold you've earned.]
[The shop function will be unlocked when you reach level 10.]
Everyone, not just Ryu Min, is staring at the empty air.
They are all looking at the results together.
"The others probably only received 1,000 gold."
Ryu Min achieved the top score, which came with a reward, but the others only received gold.
"Now there's no one who doesn't know that I'm ranked first place, right?"
Sure enough, people looked at Ryu Min with envy and jealousy.
However, most of them sent looks of reverence for his achievement.
The gap between Ryu Min's achievement time and second place was overwhelming, so it was even more impressive.
It wasn't just humans who were surprised.
"To think that the first place in the entire area came from my zone… It's amazing."
The angel's attention was focused on Ryu Min.
"Black Scythe? Answer me."
"Yes."
"How can you be so strong? Did you get some special runes…?"
The angel stopped talking in the middle of the sentence.
"What a foolish question… I almost revealed something unnecessary."
It was clearly a mistake.
It was like advertising that she couldn't see the player's status window.
Of course, Ryu Min knew that fact through repeated lives.
The angel was secretly flustered.
That's why Ryu Min decided to tease her a little.
"If you look at my status window, you'll know what rune I have, right?"
It was a natural question, but the angel was not flustered.
"Then you already know. Did you think I, an angel, wouldn't know your information? I just asked even though I knew."
"She's lying."
Ryu Min knew that the angel had no right to see the player's status window.
"She only has the authority to guide and proceed with the game, she can't know the player's personal information."
As he progressed with regression, he surprisingly learned a lot about the angel.
Was that why?
"Angel."
"What, human?"
"Can I make one request?"
"A request?"
Ryu Min was able to make a bold statement.
"I feel like the reward for ranking first is too cheap."
"What did you say?"
"I wish you had given a better reward."
Trying to negotiate with an angel, how bold.
People who were watching were surprised by Ryu Min's daring words.