13. The Egg of Mingled Dreams(1)
"......!"
Feeling his eyes snap open as though someone had woken him, Lee Jin-hyeok sat up.
'My condition......'
A condition good enough to call the best it had ever been.
Looking beside him, there were traces of all sorts of potions and medicinal herbs having been used.
"They spent a fair number of points, it seems."
At treatment more lavish than expected, a small laugh slipped out.
"Sshk!"
Just then the door opened, and someone approached with a mace resting on his shoulder.
"So you are up."
"You have come?"
"Indeed. I have come."
The Lizardman Grand General Rakuowak.
It seemed he had come in person to check Lee Jin-hyeok's condition.
"Just how long did I sleep?"
"Roughly twenty-six hours?"
"That's a long sleep."
Lee Jin-hyeok clenched and unclenched his fist.
Was it because it was a Constellation's vessel?
His recovery and durability were absurdly good as well.
'With an ordinary body I would have gone down the instant I took the Ranker's first blow.'
And then the plan to impose a penalty on Rakuowak could not have been used either.
"How does it feel to be a hero?"
"A hero?"
"Sshk sshk sshk. You do not know the rumors yet, it seems. Well, of course you would not. You cannot use the <Community> yet."
Swish.
"Your condition looks fine, so wash and prepare yourself. We must go to have an audience with the Lord."
***
Floor 3, <Lava Ocean>.
The audience hall of the granite palace.
Standing among his Lizardman guards, the Lord Kukokawik's eyes gleamed.
"Sshhhhhk! The hero of <Lava Ocean>, Lee Jin-hyeok, enters!"
The all-time player who, a mere novice, had defeated a Ranker and Grand General.
Lee Jin-hyeok had come in.
"I greet the Lord."
"You are welcome here."
Courteous, yet not to be looked down on.
Seeing the gleam in Lee Jin-hyeok's eyes, Kukokawik smiled.
"You have set something entertaining in motion. On the <Community>, which I cannot even view."
Before coming here to the audience with the Lord.
Through the <Community> Rakuowak had shown him, Lee Jin-hyeok had been able to tell.
That Kukokawik had waged what one would call a press campaign.
He had used anonymous Lizardmen and other players to deliberately raise Lee Jin-hyeok's reputation.
"Yes. An entertaining matter."
Kukokawik had been certain.
That a player who cleared Floor 3's Stage 5 at 'Constellation difficulty' rather than the Tower's standard difficulty would be no ordinary being.
Sure enough.
Digging through the <Archive> showed Lee Jin-hyeok had come up rewriting all-time records on Floor 1 and Floor 2 as well.
So he had gone down to the lower floors, made inquiries, and shaped his image favorably.
"First, my thanks. You did do something good for me, after all."
Since the result had been to his benefit, Lee Jin-hyeok thanked him first.
"'First,' my thanks, you say. Sshk sshk sshk."
"I know at least this much isn't free."
"I am not so shameless as to extend a favor no one asked for and then collect payment for it."
Kukokawik smiled.
"Think of this one as simple goodwill."
'It is goodwill, but not goodwill that simple.'
Kukokawik knew.
The fact that Lee Jin-hyeok held the Imugi's power.
'Even Jǫrmungandr is trying to make me its Apostle. In a situation like this, the greatest task set before Kukokawik is.'
Swish.
'making me his.'
Kukokawik knew now as well.
That Lee Jin-hyeok was an 'Imugi.'
Which meant he held potential powerful enough to dominate reptilian monsters if he set his mind to it.
From a Lord's position, even if he could not be made an ally, he was absolutely not to be turned into an enemy.
And there was a Constellation's influence involved as well.
That was why he had healed his body, shaped public opinion favorably, and done various other things.
For Lee Jin-hyeok, it was extremely well-timed help.
Because in the Tower, a player's 'reputation' was the sort of thing that could not be manufactured with even an astronomical number of points.
'And later, to stand against <Pure Radiance>, I'll need to gather players together too.'
Before the regression, Lee Jin-hyeok had gathered players through the martial power of the first-ranked High Ranker, the 'Wailing King.'
Add a suitable image on top of that and rallying players would become easier still.
"Do you know?"
But there is no such thing as free in this world.
"We Lizardmen are thorough in how we treat the strong."
"......."
"We intend to appoint you an <Honorary Lizardman General>."
As expected, the other side had one thing it wanted as well.
"The procedures are already complete. It only needs your consent."
Having taken a Floor 3 trial with the difficulty already raised to its limit, Lee Jin-hyeok had been granted every qualification.
Many conditions had been attached, but he had beaten a Ranker while a novice, so there was no objection.
'A sly old serpent of a Lord.'
Looking at Kukokawik, Lee Jin-hyeok smiled as well.
[Lizardman Lord <Kukokawik> wishes to grant you the skill <Honorary Lizardman General>.]
[Will you accept?]
One might think he was purely revering 'martial prowess' in giving Lee Jin-hyeok the rank of <Honorary Lizardman General>.
But Kukokawik was a strategist who would do anything for 'the stability of the world he belonged to.'
'What he wants is talent. Using me, who is climbing while rewriting all-time records, as publicity.'
Had it meant belonging entirely to <Lava Ocean> like the other generals or the Grand General, he would have refused.
But because it was an 'honorary' post, there was no need to stay in <Lava Ocean> and fulfill duties.
There was no compulsion attached either, unlike becoming a Constellation's Follower or Apostle.
If it came to it, he could simply delete the skill.
In short, being appointed a general was a one-sided gain for Lee Jin-hyeok.
Because it meant gaining authority over not only <Lava Ocean> but the Lizardmen scattered everywhere.
Lee Jin-hyeok's role was merely to indicate that he was on the side of the Lizardmen, and specifically of the Lord 'Kukokawik.'
If obtaining this skill was the price for that, it was not a losing bargain.
Holding it did not mean he could no longer kill Lizardmen or reptilian monsters, either.
"In that case."
Lee Jin-hyeok bowed his head and made his courtesy.
"I will accept it with honor."
[You have acquired the skill <Honorary Lizardman General>.]
{Skill}
<Honorary Lizardman General>
Grade: Heroic
▶This skill is treated as <Lizardman General> and carries identical effects.(*However, you may refuse the Lizardman Lord's orders.)
▶Allows you to 'dominate' Lizardmen and issue them commands.(*The skill's power is proportional to the [Mana] stat.)
▶The lower the target's level and intelligence, the more the skill's effect is amplified.
A skill that let him dominate Lizardmen and issue them commands.
It had effects extremely similar to <Goblin Chieftain>.
"Heh heh heh. Good. I look forward to working with you."
"I look forward to working with you as well."
***
<Honorary Lizardman General> was not a simple skill but something like a symbol.
So Lee Jin-hyeok was able to enjoy a great many benefits in <Lava Ocean>.
"General! Welcome!"
"Your room is prepared!"
One of them was receiving the Lizardmen's respect and being able to use all sorts of facilities.
An enormous house meant for generals alone was provided free of charge, along with soldiers and escorts to guard it.
Inside the house there was even a forge, a training ground, and every other amenity.
"Please rest in comfort."
"We will block anything that comes near."
Befitting Lizardmen, who revere strength, power, and authority, they treated the high-'ranking' Lee Jin-hyeok with strict courtesy despite his different species.
'Trading on a name isn't bad either.'
He had expected Kukokawik would take some measure the moment he beat a Ranker.
But the thing's spending had been larger than expected.
'Handing over a general's post, no less.'
It was, quite literally, an honorary general's post, a position with no responsibility.
'Nice.'
A fairly wide room with windows of full-length glass.
Beyond them, the civilization the Lizardmen had built came into view at a glance.
Because magical treatment had been applied, no one could see inside from the outside.
"Good."
Sitting at the table, drinking an iced americano the Lizardmen had brought, Lee Jin-hyeok smiled.
"Check the rewards."
[You may choose and obtain one of the following rewards.]
▶5,000 points.
▶Choice of 1 from the Expert's equipment set.
▶A buff 'that will be useful in the Floor 4 trial.'
The reward given to anyone who merely passes the Floor 3 trial.
Seeing it, Lee Jin-hyeok chose the third item without hesitation.
[Upon challenging the Floor 4 trial, a buff 'that will be useful in the Floor 4 trial' is granted.]
[*However, the buff disappears once the Floor 4 trial ends.]
'5,000 points wouldn't even reach my liver, and there are plenty of things better than the current <Expert's> items anyway.'
To post a good result in the Floor 4 trial, that buff was essential.
[Player <Lee Jin-hyeok>'s final result is 'Stage 5 (Success).']
[Congratulations! You have achieved a feat no one has ever accomplished!]
[Player <Lee Jin-hyeok>'s name and achievement are recorded publicly in the Floor 3 <Archive>!]
'It's already recorded, what is this.'
Lee Jin-hyeok snorted.
'Anyway, what will it give me as a reward?'
[You may choose and receive one of four rewards.]
▶Level Up (30)
▶<Floor 10 Clear>
▶<Legendary Grade Item Exchange Voucher>
▶<Egg of Mingled Dreams>
'This?'
Seeing the three rewards, Lee Jin-hyeok could not contain his surprise.
The rewards were far more enormous than he had thought.
'A level up, is it.'
The first reward, and the most intuitively visible one, was the level up.
By rights it was an element that should be granted as a matter of course along with rising experience each time one cleared a stage of the Floor 3 trial.
'So that's why it kept accumulating the rewards.'
Having been accumulated and then offered as one of the rewards to choose, the figure came to a full 30.
Choose this reward and, in stats and in raw strength, he could simply push through the coming trials on body alone.
'But it's borderline.'
Raising his level by a full 30 in an instant was the most intuitive benefit.
But 'level' is an element that rises on its own as one climbs the Tower anyway.
For Lee Jin-hyeok, who already had powerful physical ability, the other rewards were far more attractive.
'<Floor 10 Clear>, is it.'
Choose the second reward and Lee Jin-hyeok would be able to clear all the way to Floor 10 in an instant.
Use it in his current state and he would clear every trial from Floor 4 to Floor 10 that lay ahead.
'It's certainly a good reward. But there's a trap in it.'
What one gains from clearing up to Floor 10 is only the 'basic rewards.'
The 'additional rewards' obtainable by actually taking the trials are not obtained.
Lee Jin-hyeok's goal was not simply to climb the Tower quickly but to rewrite records and obtain every reward while doing it.
It was no different from a fine-looking wild apricot that tastes bitter.
'<Legendary Grade Item Exchange Voucher>. This is certainly an attractive reward.'
The <Legendary Grade Item Exchange Voucher> was an item that let one have any 'Legendary grade item' one wished.
A Legendary grade item alone had tremendous value, and on top of that it let one 'choose' which.
Depending on how it was used, it could soar far beyond the other two rewards just mentioned.
Being a regressor who knew thoroughly which item had which effects, it suited Lee Jin-hyeok perfectly.
"Hmm."
Had the last reward not been presented, Lee Jin-hyeok would have chosen the <Legendary Grade Item Exchange Voucher> without needing to think.
"But this one......"
The last reward, the <Egg of Mingled Dreams>.
Because of his desire for this item, Lee Jin-hyeok could not decide easily.
'To think this reward could come out here.'
At the unexpected item, Lee Jin-hyeok's deliberation grew deeper.
<Egg of Mingled Dreams>.
An item said to be rarer than Legendary, and than Mythic grade as well.
It was an item even the Lee Jin-hyeok from before the regression had never seen in the flesh.