Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13

[Returning from the Tower]

I returned to my room after clearing the eleventh floor.
The situation had been sudden, but looking at the results alone, I felt reasonably satisfied.
“I’m getting quite a lot out of this.”
Of course, I’d heard some shocking truths along the way.
About Baek Jin-sung’s Ability, and the existence of viewers.
At first, I’d regretted stepping forward at all.
But now I’d decided to think about it positively.
It’s no use crying over spilled milk.
Baek Jin-sung was… yes, something like a natural disaster.
An irresistible force that most people couldn’t evade.
Thinking of it that way, I could laugh it off.
“Besides, the whole Drone thing would’ve come out eventually anyway, broadcast or not.”
Using a Drone was something that couldn’t be hidden forever no matter how hard you tried.
Keep using it consistently in open fields, and people’s eyes would catch on to it before long.
And some of it had already been exposed at the Mir Guild.
Given that the information was going to come out anyway, what I’d gained was substantial.
“I didn’t expect him to offer broadcast revenue too.”
He’d been upfront about his Ability and even put up equity.
So it was true that my favorability toward Baek Jin-sung had risen somewhat.
Truth be told, the streaming Ability itself wasn’t a loss for me.
I wasn’t planning to hide forever anyway.
“As long as the fact that Neia is ‘Kang Seon-woo’ stays hidden, there’s no immediate problem.”
In fact, using the alias Neia was entirely for safety in real life.
It wasn’t actually fatal to reveal my identity as Kang Seon-woo to a certain degree.
With Cognitive Obstruction on top of everything else, keeping Baek Jin-sung close had far more benefits in this situation.
“Might as well check something.”
I searched for Baek Jin-sung’s MiTube.
In any case, I’d become his business partner now.
I was thinking of checking the scale of his broadcast and things like that…

[Neia’s Secret Origin Story Revealed]

Baek Jin-sung’s broadcast with that title.
The setting was still Peronta.
He seemed to be back there, interacting with viewers.
My gaze naturally shifted to the viewer count in the broadcast, and I flinched.
“One… one hundred thousand?”
The viewer count was still climbing.
It felt like the attention of not just the entire country but the whole world was turning toward Baek Jin-sung right now.
It made sense that he’d taken on the role of a subordinate, bowing and scraping.
If he solidified his position now while the tide was in, even if we went our separate ways later, he’d have plenty to enjoy.
“How much is all this?”
Watching the broadcast, I saw donations flooding in one after another.

[…donated 500,000 won.]
[…donated 200,000 won.]
[…donated 100,000 won.]

The amounts were all substantial.
Looking into why, as people flooded in, smaller donations got no attention—so viewers’ donation amounts had climbed accordingly.
Those wanting their questions answered were shelling out large sums to get them.

-So it’s confirmed you’re going forward with Neia from now on?
『Thank you, Nicholas, for the 500,000 won donation. Yes, that’s how it’s been decided.』
-Did you get Neia’s contact info?
『No.』
-Then how are you staying in touch?
『He said he’d reach out when he’s ready to clear a floor. So I’m waiting for that.』
-You actually saw Neia’s face?
『No. He keeps a lot of secrets. And here, you have to call him Neia. If you don’t, you get banned.』

The existing viewers reacted with awkward bemusement.
If Baek Jin-sung was the type to read even low-tier chat messages without exception, then it was safe to assume these were his people.

-Strange to see Jin-sung blow up overnight like this.
『Me too. Please keep stopping by. Looking forward to it, buddy.』
-I hoped he’d do well, but not THIS well.
『Eh…?』

“So that’s why I could confidently pump out the rewards.”
The stream was raking in money hand over fist.
Still, the knowledge that ninety percent of it went into his own pocket left him grinning like an idiot.
“Maybe I’ll grab some chicken for dinner tonight. Been a while.”

* * *

News about Neia sent the users of Top Zealot into a frenzy.
They knew he was Korean, but nothing about his actual abilities had ever been revealed.
Yet that information leaked far earlier than expected—and in a form nobody had anticipated.
The video of Neia clearing the eleventh floor became a sensation almost overnight.
A million views.
Within an hour of upload, it spread across every platform imaginable and hit those numbers.

[So Neia’s Trait is SS-rank or higher?]
ㄴ Wouldn’t you think? Anyone can see his potential is at least Miller-level…
ㄴ Though honestly the drone seems stronger than him, so it’s hard to tell…
ㄴ Isn’t the drone more like a summon? Just looks like a drone…
ㄴㄴ Who knows yet. Could be something he made himself, right?
ㄴㄴ No way he made that himself.

A drone-shaped modern weapon has inherent limitations.
At best it transports and drops missiles, so its firepower is capped.
Yet the drone before their eyes, despite that form, carried high-output components and unleashed miraculous destructive power.
For that to be possible, something beyond current reality’s technological level was required.
It was impossible unless Neia had come from the future.
Most striking of all was its stealth—a mysterious cloaking technology.
It far transcended simple radar evasion stealth.
Experts agreed it was a contradiction-laden weapon by modern standards.

[I work in drone development. We can’t build something like that with current tech.]
[I’m a researcher at a defense contractor. That’s at least fifty years ahead. A craft that small producing that firepower should be physically impossible.]
[I’m a military officer in modern weapons tech. Seriously? He built that himself? World conquest is possible. Ship it out immediately.]

Industry professionals revealed their expertise and marveled.
So the masses quickly reached consensus: whether homemade or not, it had to be linked to an Awakened Trait.

[Must be some Tower-related ability.]
ㄴ Honestly, it doesn’t make sense any other way.
ㄴ So what’s the Trait? Something to do with crafting?

They theorized among themselves about Neia’s exact capabilities.

[Ngl watching Neia take out those Hunters felt so good ㅇㅈ?]
ㄴ ㅇㅈ… Those bastards have such a bad reputation.
— I’m telling you, there’s got to be hundreds who died at their hands.
— We’ve finally met our match.
There were those who celebrated what he had done.

[So Neia was male…]
— Possible.
— Possible? Come on, be reasonable.
— She’s probably female. Why are you so worked up about it?
— But he’s male?

[But seriously, clear that Cognitive Obstruction. Let’s see his face.]
— What’s the point of looking at a man’s face?
— Lol for real.

The attack on the Mir Guild from just days earlier was also a topic of conversation.

[Is it actually true that Neia was helping the Mir Guild?]
— Odds went way up.
— But something doesn’t add up. If that’s an Awakening ability, shouldn’t it weaken outside the Tower?
— Hmm… but what if he killed Odusah in that state?
— It has to be one or the other—if he killed a Player above the 50th floor with that level of power, then either Neia has another ace up his sleeve we don’t know about, or that ability isn’t Tower-related so it didn’t weaken. Though honestly, the highest probability is still that the collaborator isn’t Neia at all.

Kang Se-hyun looked bitter as he scrolled through the comments on Neia’s video.
The information control they had maintained to gain an advantage in identifying Neia had become worthless.
“This is not good.”
Neia’s ability had been exposed.
Without any solid leads yet, they had lost their information advantage on top of everything else.
Kang Se-hyun grew anxious.
He spoke to Gu Byung-hun, who had informed him of this development.
“Have you uncovered anything else?”
“I’m sorry… Director.”
Gu Byung-hun bowed his head, ashamed.
Kang Se-hyun didn’t seem to blame him particularly.
Truthfully, the information was sparse—painfully so.
All the Mir Guild had determined was that he likely lived near their headquarters.
He had visited their guild specifically to buy a Magic Stone, rather than going to another guild.
The most they could conclude was that he probably lived near Jamsil, where the Mir was located.
But with just that, finding Neia—who possessed Cognitive Obstruction—was impossible.
“What about the list you narrowed down last time?”
They had whittled it down to roughly twenty Players whose Awakening period aligned with Neia’s start of activity and whose residences were near the Mir Guild.
“The thing is… getting cooperation isn’t that easy.”
The list had been compiled based on information obtained through the Association’s connections.
Because of that, actively investigating them was difficult.
Without making a move, they couldn’t gain any ground.
All they could do was keep watch.
If not for Cognitive Obstruction, they could have at least compared the silhouettes captured on CCTV. Unfortunately, it seemed they had reached their limit here.
“Forget that. Try reaching out to Baek Jin-sung instead.”
Baek Jin-sung, who had become a collaborator with Neia this time, had also become a topic of interest in certain circles.
Whether or not that was true abroad, he had become a clear bridge connecting to Neia.
“I’ll look into it.”

* * *

The next morning.
I opened my inventory.
Numerous Reward Boxes were stacked inside.

【(Floors 6–10) S-Rank Reward Box】
【(Floors 11–15) S-Rank Reward Box】 x2
【(Floors 11–15) S-Rank Material Box】 x2

“I’ve had a good long sleep. Time to open these up.”

【(6-10) S-Rank Reward Box】

The first box to open was the reward box from floors 6-10.
The one I’d gotten after clearing floor 10.
Click-crack.
As the box opened with its familiar sound, thirty pieces of low-grade Magic Stone filled my inventory.
I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
Equipment rarely dropped from reward boxes anyway.
Next, I opened the box from floors 11-15.
“Hm?”
Again, what appeared was Magic Stone.
But something was different.
The quantity was lower than usual.
When I tapped to check, I understood why.

[Mid-Grade Magic Stone x 10]
They were mid-grade Magic Stones, not low-grade ones.
Just one tier higher, but their value was five times that of low-grade stones.
So even though the quantity had dropped, the total value had gone up by more than fifty percent.
“That’s not bad.”
Landing good equipment and scoring big all at once would’ve been nice.
But seeing the baseline value of Magic Stone rewards increase was welcome in its own way.
I opened the last remaining box.
Magic Stone again.
“…Am I not opening these with enough care?”
I hadn’t expected much.
But still, it’s an S-Rank box—I’d hoped at least one piece of equipment would drop.
“Sincerity moves heaven—or so they say?”
Even if it doesn’t reach that level, I’d put real effort into wanting it.
I made up my mind to open the remaining Material Boxes with genuine care this time.
“Here goes…”
The Material Boxes had never let me down before.
In fact, the most recent one had hit the jackpot—giving me over 120 million won.
After taking a deep breath, I opened the first Material Box.
Click-crack.

【Gardener Krim’s Scissors】

I checked the rank right away—B-Rank.
Kinol’s Lightning Flute and Blood Boar’s Tusk were both B-Rank too.
But I knew there could be price differences even within the same rank, so I searched carefully.
“Around 5 million won?”
I shouldn’t have been disappointed, but I couldn’t help feeling a little let down.
It didn’t even match the price of Kinol’s Lightning Flute.
The only saving grace was that the scissors had good hardness, making them usable as weapon materials for lower-tier dungeons.
Otherwise, I’d have been selling them to a junk shop.
“Let something else come out…”
But the moment I thought that, another thought crossed my mind.
What if something better than a Floor Boss material existed?
“Either way, come on…!”
Click-crack.
As I opened the final box, an item with a distinctly brilliant hue appeared in my inventory.
It shimmered with an emerald light.
It wasn’t remotely the same impact as Kinol’s or the Blood Boar’s drops, so I startled and checked it at once.

【Forgotten Sacred Object】
-Rank: A

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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