The Veteran Player Already Knows

Chapter 7 - Growth (1)

To reiterate, climbers were people who climbed the tower, and guilds were places that gathered such people.

However, Hodgepodge guilds that weren't big enough to enter the tower didn't enter the tower, but instead made a living by hunting demonic beasts in the 'fields' near it.

Meaning, the nearby areas that had been eroded by the tower's mana and turned into a unique ecosystem.

'Well, the hierarchy is divided like that.'

Top-tier guilds were the ones that could actually conquer the floors inside the tower and acquire 'ownership' of specific areas.

Mid-tier guilds were the ones that could participate as members of the tower subjugation teams recruited by such guilds.

Low-tier guilds were the ones that hunted low-level demonic beasts in the fields formed near the tower.

And.

There were bottom-tier guilds that couldn't even join that caste.

The ones who couldn't even hunt demonic beasts properly and had to get by just barely picking up scrap paper.

And the harvest work I was doing right now was exactly that.

Scavenging exclusively for climbers.

"Hoo..."

A sigh escaped me naturally as I looked at the demonic beast carcasses scattered nearby.

The most expensive magic stones had already been extracted, but the parts that weren't worth the effort were all left abandoned.

Processing these and delivering them was what harvest work was all about.

"...How do I use this?"

Seo Ah-in, who had been struggling to use the equipment somehow, finally asked me with a tremble in her voice.

"Just use it like a vacuum cleaner. It's not difficult."

"What's a vacuum cleaner?"

Yoo Ho-jun, who had been silently doing his work next to us, turned to look at Seo Ah-in with a look of horror.

When I also glared at her for a moment with narrowed eyes, she instantly shriveled up.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I-I've never cleaned before! The servants always did it for me!"

"Something to be proud of."

Die, bourgeois.

I couldn't be bothered to explain further and was just sighing, when a familiar voice was heard from nearby.

"Yo, newbies. Sorry I'm late."

It was the middle-aged man with the bushy beard I had met at the guild.

His name was Lee Seong-jin.

He had introduced himself as the ‘Guild Master’ of Renegade.

Well, a guild master was a guild master.

For now.

The story would be a little different if you considered the ‘inside story’ I knew.

“A bit difficult, right? It's harder than it looks.”

Lee Seong-jin said with a chuckle as he watched Seo Ah-in struggle, unable to even turn on the equipment.

And he nodded his head with a satisfied look when he saw Yoo Ho-jun, who had at least gotten the hang of it on his own and was working away.

“At least this friend has made some progress on his own. Do you get told you're a quick study often?”

“Yes, well. Thank you.”

“Then the last one is...”

“I'm all done.”

Lee Seong-jin blinked at my words.

“...What?”

“Hair removal, skinning, deboning, and dismantling. I'm all done.”

Lee Seong-jin scanned me up and down with disbelieving eyes.

But when I laid out the things I had handled in front of him, his eyes soon widened in astonishment.

"Did someone teach you? No, this isn't something you can do quickly just because someone taught you...?"

"Is that man that good at it?"

Seo Ah-in asked with a sullen look.

She seemed displeased that I was being praised, but Lee Seong-jin continued to nod his head, his eyes still wide.

"This is on a level that's comparable to a professional dismantler. You could just make a living with this and never have to worry about starving."

Well.

Certainly, this was a specialized skill that, if you could master it properly, you would never have a problem making a living.

Of course, I remembered how to do it from fiddling with it in the game, but the reason my skills were this good was for another reason.

[ Dexterity / Survival Expert (Special): Basic Increases proficiency in all crafting skills. ]

Survival Expert was one of the special job classes that opened up when you could mix several classes in the game.

Skills with the 'Special' classification were rare things that, throughout this entire world, you'd be lucky to find ten people who had one.

In the first place, there were extremely few people who could mix several classes.

Therefore, in most cases, they guaranteed powerful performance, but among them, skills with such a vaguely written effect were always good to take.

Because ‘overall’ literally meant it applied to all fields.

Being able to perform a specialized task that I only knew in theory as well as a pro was all thanks to that.

“...”

And I could unlock about 7 of those special jobs right now.

And it would increase in the future.

I was just scared of Kim Gyu-sik's potential!

“I'm going to take a short break.”

Of course, that wasn't what was important right now.

I had accepted this first harvest work without a word for another reason.

“Going for a break? This area is a field, so there shouldn't be anything but demonic beasts.”

I gave Lee Seong-jin, who said that while tilting his head, a smirk.

You don't know what you're talking about.

“No, well.”

There were more valuable things around here than you'd think.

I had to go get my cheat key.

***

‘Tower Conquest’ was a task so difficult that it couldn't be compared to all the other content in this game combined.

Even the ‘Mysterious Forest,’ the first place a player would conquer, was, contrary to its ethereal name, a demonic realm filled with all sorts of man-eating plants.

If the game had been released normally, many players would have probably tasted defeat right from the start of the tower conquest.

But, well.

This game wasn't completely heartless.

It had prepared several devices for players who would struggle like that.

A kind of ‘privilege’ for progression, given to players who struggled to break through the tower on their own.

“Ugh...cha.”

A forest near the tower.

I diligently pushed through the thick bushes growing nearby.

On the outside, it was an ordinary bush with no special features, but if this were a game, a phrase like 'Check here!' with a huge arrow would have been slapped on it.

And as soon as I cleared the bush, a passage leading underground revealed itself.

‘...Well, I'll be.’

There must have been countless people who had passed by here until now, but none of them would have ever imagined it.

That a cheat item that couldn't be obtained even if you offered all the gold and treasure in the world existed down here.

“Whew.”

I whistled as I saw the lights that turned on automatically as soon as I set foot inside.

It was a grand reception, as if advertising, ‘There are good things down here!’

And as I went all the way down the stairs, three structures, set up like altars, revealed themselves.

‘It's all here.’

I was secretly a little worried about what I would do if it was different from the game's setting, but thankfully, it seemed to be a groundless fear.

On top of the altars were flasks containing different liquids.

The things bubbling inside just looked dangerous on the outside.

But each one of those was something that would give you a unique-grade skill for each class for free if you consumed it.

‘This is crazy...’

Just by skill grade alone, it was a grade that was faster to count from the top.

Considering that those with two or more unique skills in the game's world were immediately treated as top-tier climbers, its power was even more profound.

They were elements that seemed to have been put in so that players wouldn't quit because the game was too difficult, but I sometimes wondered if they weren't too over-balanced.

So.

They were originally set up so that you could only choose one in the system.

Because if you ate more than one, the game would become too easy.

Well.

That's how it was originally.

“...”

So, a smile wouldn't leave my face as I picked up all three flasks without any hesitation.

It was possible to do this now because there were no system restrictions.

Just eating one or two was that powerful.

What would happen if I consumed all of them?

‘But...’

Even so.

I had no intention of using this in a normal way.

I had to use it a bit more... efficiently.

If I thought about it.

Sooner or later, as I leveled up, it wouldn't be a difficult task to learn the unique skills of all classes.

It was possible because I could acquire skills with just points, without being bound by restrictions.

It might take some time, but it meant that it was a place I would eventually reach.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime cheat key chance, so wouldn't it be a bit of a waste to use it on something like that?

So, I was going to try something a little unusual.

“Let's see...”

I picked up something that looked like a basin from nearby.

After scrubbing it clean, I attempted a scan.

[ Large Bowl / Grade: Junk ]

[ It is a sturdy bowl. ]

I smirked at the simple description that had nothing much to say.

Well, right now, as long as it was sturdy, it didn't matter.

And I poured all three flasks into it in order.

The liquids mixed together, emitting complex and dazzling colors.

Soon, the liquid, a mixture of all three solutions, had turned into a deep gray.

“...”

Just by looking at it, it was a color that didn't seem ordinary.

I stared intently at the gray liquid and attempted a scan.

[ Mysterious Solution / Grade: Legendary ]

[ Automatically adds one skill most suitable for the user's condition. ]

“...Good.”

The phrase to pay attention to here was the word ‘add’.

As I had noted many times, I was someone who had access to all skills in this game.

Within the normal system, there were no more skills to be added.

On top of that, if it was a skill that was most ‘suitable’ for ‘my condition’... as far as I knew, there was only one.

In short.

If I combined these two, it meant I could aim for a skill that was far 'outside' the system.

“...”

There was only one thing I was aiming for.

A cheat skill that would break the balance.

I steeled my resolve and lifted the basin.

At the same time as the liquid passed down my throat, a sensation like napalm flowing through my veins enveloped my entire body.

After a few minutes of that scorching sensation rushing through me.

A series of message windows popped up before my eyes.

[ Analyzing user's condition... ]

[ Search error. ]

[ Search error. ]

[ Determines that the user's state is identical to Lastboss001. Proceeding with data recalculation... ]

[ A new skill is additionally unlocked. ]

That's right.

Up to this point, it was according to my calculations.

Now I had to see if the exact item I wanted would pop out...

[ Displaying information. ]

With that sentence, a new window popped up before my eyes again.

It was a window with static-like noise, as if it were bugged.

I looked closely at the window, which reeked of not being a normal skill.

And soon, a hollow laugh escaped my lips.

[ 'Share (Stage 1)' skill has been added. ]

“Jackpot.”

It was a phrase with only simple content, but as soon as I saw it, I let out a triumphant smile.

Because it was exactly what I was aiming for.

It was a skill that ‘no one’ in this world could obtain through normal means.

It was something you couldn't even get a glimpse of unless a bug character with all skills unlocked exploited a loophole in the system.

Why?

‘Because it was too much of a cheat, so it was deleted.’

Just as it said, this was something that wasn't implemented in the game and remained only as dummy data.

It was originally a skill attached to the final boss in the alpha test version.

“...”

But, you know.

Because they couldn't beat that one final boss, a record of 0% clear rate worldwide was set during the alpha test.

It was the historic event that earned Conqueror the nickname Concentration camp, so I still remembered it well.

It was a huge mess.

And.

The terrifying ability that was the cause of such a situation had just rolled right into my hands.

My thoughts were simple.

“I've hit the jackpot.”

Long live bugs.