SWNOVELXO Chapter 114 - Veteran (1)
Chapter 114. Veteran (1)
On the paper, there were only three digits written without any further explanation.
【188.】
Theresia, who checked it first, was already frozen in place.
Yuri, who leaned in next to her to check the score, also stiffened right after.
However, their reactions were clearly different in meaning.
Yuri’s expression read, “Is that all?”
On the other hand, what appeared on Theresia’s face was pure astonishment.
They spoke simultaneously.
“188? Only 188?”
“188? 188 on the first try?”
As their voices overlapped, they turned their heads to look at each other.
Startled by their close proximity, they both quickly pulled back.
Then, seeing Yuri’s disappointed expression, Theresia sighed.
“188 is… a high score.”
Yuri blinked in disbelief.
“This?”
“Yes.”
“But Senior Tetsha scored 198, didn’t she?”
“I…! Sigh, anyway, 188 points are enough to rank.”
“At best, it might be around 20th place.”
“That’s still 20th place, on your first try.”
Despite her explanation, Yuri still furrowed his brow, causing Theresia to sigh again.
“Even though the Green Cave is rated as a 2-star challenge, the actual difficulty is much higher.”
“That does seem to be the case.”
Yuri nodded in agreement, as he had already sensed that too.
“Despite that, the reason this quest is rated 2 stars… is because you can attempt it repeatedly.”
Yuri, who had tilted his head slightly at her explanation, soon asked with a face that suggested he had figured something out.
“Do the scores from all attempts count towards the final record?”
“Yes.”
“Ah!”
It was only then that Yuri fully understood why this challenging quest was only rated 2 stars.
‘You can learn through repeated attempts, and there’s no limit to the record count… It makes sense why it’s rated 2 stars, despite the difficulty.’
You could learn where traps would appear from certain locations.
And you could figure out how to respond in those situations.
After several attempts, those things would naturally be learned.
Therefore, Yuri had assumed there would be some restrictions on how the records were measured in the Cradle…
But there weren’t any such limitations.
Each and every attempt was acknowledged as a record.
It would have been more unusual if a quest like this was considered highly difficult.
With an expression of understanding, Yuri watched as Theresia gestured.
“Follow me.”
Theresia, with Yuri in tow, headed to a makeshift building with the ranking board.
There, the man who had been dozing off earlier was still sound asleep.
Theresia glanced at the man and knocked on the table.
Knock, knock-
But the man, who was dozing off, did not respond.
It was clear that he wasn’t just dozing off, but was in a deep sleep.
Seeing that the man didn’t seem to wake up, Theresia sighed softly and cleared her throat.
“Ahem.”
Then, in a deep and urgent voice, she spoke.
“Peter Lehmann, prepare for battle!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the man, who had been sleeping with a hazy expression, snapped his eyes open.
He immediately moved his hand to his waist, emitting a sharp aura.
His movements were smooth and precise, as if repeated thousands or tens of thousands of times.
Tap, tap, tap-
However, his hand groping around his waist seemed a bit pitiful.
When he realized that his sword wasn’t there, he grasped the situation and returned to his sleepy demeanor.
With half-closed eyes, Peter looked at Theresia.
“What’s this, Theresia? Didn’t I tell you not to do that?”
“You wouldn’t wake up otherwise, Peter. Don’t sleep during work hours.”
“Leave me be. There’s hardly anyone around, and there’s nothing to do anyway…”
His voice was just as weak as his appearance.
He yawned as he asked.
“Yaaawn, so why did you wake me up?”
Theresia gestured towards Yuri.
“That.”
“That?”
“The score sheet.”
“Ah.”
Nodding, Yuri placed the score sheet on the table.
Peter’s gaze briefly passed over Yuri and then returned to Theresia.
“Who’s this?”
“A junior. Class of the 50th.”
“How rare for you to bring someone else along. Weren’t you always breaking through the trials alone? And now you’ve brought a junior?”
“…”
As Theresia silently glared at him, Peter shrugged his shoulders in response to her fierce gaze.
He then averted his eyes and picked up Yuri’s score sheet.
A flash of surprise crossed his eyes when he saw the number written there.
“Ho? 188 points? You’re the first among the 50th class to make it into the rankings. How many attempts did it take?”
Yuri answered calmly to Peter’s question directed at him.
“The first attempt.”
“…The first? Really?”
“I don’t lie about stuff like this.”
Peter looked over at Theresia.
His eyes seemed to ask if this was true.
When Theresia nodded, the sleepiness in Peter’s eyes slightly faded.
He extended his hand.
“Dragon Plaque, and your name.”
Yuri hesitated for a moment as he reached for his Dragon Plaque.
His eyes briefly showed hesitation.
He was wondering whether it was okay to show Theresia his Dragon Plaque.
But such concerns lasted only for a moment.
Yuri quickly took out his Dragon Plaque.
A pitch-black Black Dragon Plaque appeared.
Yuri glanced at Theresia’s reaction, but her face remained calm.
As if she had already expected Yuri to have the Black Dragon Plaque.
The one who was actually surprised to see the Black Dragon Plaque was Peter.
“Black Dragon Plaque? Ah, you’re the one with the Black Dragon Plaque in the 50th class. Your name was… Yuri Holland, right?”
“You know quite well.”
“The Black Dragon Plaque is of interest to all of us.”
Peter examined Yuri’s Black Dragon Plaque before returning it to him. Then he took out a small wooden plaque.
Scratch, scratch-
“Let’s see, 188 points… here it is.”
Muttering to himself as he checked the ranking board, Peter wrote Yuri’s name on the wooden plaque.
【22nd Place/ 50th Class/ Yuri Holland/ 188 Points】
Then he pushed the original 22nd place plaque aside and hung Yuri’s name in its place.
Having finished his task, Peter turned to look at Yuri again.
“Reaching 22nd place on your first try is a first.”
A faint hint of admiration appeared on his face.
“I wonder how long it’ll take you to reach the top? For reference, Theresia here took five months to…”
“Peter!”
Theresia’s urgent voice echoed loudly.
As Peter and Yuri’s gazes focused on her, she quickly composed herself and replied casually.
“…You should explain the quest rewards to Yuri.”
“Well, alright.”
Knowing why Theresia was acting like that, Peter shrugged lightly.
Since he was curious about that too, Yuri perked up his ears.
Peter’s weak voice continued.
“First, you need to be in the top 100 to receive points for this quest. If you rank 100th, you’ll get 1,000 points. From there, you get an additional 1,000 points for each rank up to 76th place.”
And that wasn’t all.
From 75th to 51st place, you’d receive 5,000 points.
From 50th to 26th place, 10,000 points.
Finally, from 25th to 1st place, you’d receive 50,000 points for each rank up.
“If you make it to 1st place, the total points you can receive would be…”
Yuri’s calculation was quicker than Peter’s explanation.
“1,650,000 points.”
“Correct.”
Peter nodded.
Yuri’s eyes sparkled in response.
‘This… turns out to be more lucrative than I thought!’
Although it assumed taking first place, the fact that a regular quest could offer up to 1.65 million points was beyond imagination.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
The news that would make Yuri’s eyes widen was just beginning.
“And there’s a special reward for first place.”
“As expected of the Cradle! Of course, there has to be a special reward for first place! Could it be… an additional 10% of the 1.65 million points?”
Given a previous instance, this was a predictable reward.
And Yuri’s prediction was correct.
To some extent.
“They do give you extra. Every month.”
“…Pardon?”
“10% of 1.65 million points. In other words, 165,000 points will be deposited into your account on the 20th of each month if you secure first place.”
“…?”
Yuri blinked in confusion, unable to process what he just heard.
But soon, words mixed with astonishment burst out of his mouth like a rapid-fire.
“E-e-every month? They give 165,000 points every month? If I take first place?!”
“Yes.”
“F-for how long?”
“Until your record is broken.”
“…?!”
Yuri’s eyes widened so much that it seemed they might pop out.
His voice trembled like a leaf.
“I-if my record… isn’t broken until I graduate?”
“Then you’ll keep receiving 165,000 points every month until then.”
“…”
Yuri was at a loss for words.
He could only stare blankly at the ranking board.
Peter, yawning widely, spoke up.
“Yaaawn, well then, shall we start with today’s calculation? Since you placed 22nd…”
Just as he said that—
Thud!
Yuri, who had been in a daze, suddenly slammed the table.
All eyes turned to him at once.
At the same time, a small murmur escaped his lips.
“…I won’t accept it.”
“Hmm?”
“I won’t accept today’s calculation!”
A massive fire ignited in Yuri’s eyes as he shouted this.
He even breathed out hot air through his mouth.
“Anyway, I’ll take first place. I’ll receive all the calculations in one go then!”
“…With 1.65 million points?”
“Yes, with 1.65 million points!”
Peter, receiving Yuri’s fiery gaze that seemed as if it could burn anything it touched, finally allowed a small smile to appear on his face for the first time.
“That’s some good spirit.”
Muttering that, Peter nodded.
“Go ahead then. It’s less work for me too. So, is that all you needed? Yaaawn!”
As Peter yawned widely again, Yuri, still ablaze, asked him with intensity.
“What about the others?”
“Hmm?”
“There are other ranking boards, aren’t there? Like the one behind this board.”
At that question, Peter and Theresia’s eyes widened slightly.
Especially Theresia, who looked at Yuri with a curious expression.
‘Now that I think about it, he didn’t ask about the other boards when he first saw the ranking board.’
He had just looked at the ranking board and headed straight to the Green Cave.
As if he already knew that the ranking board recorded the rankings for the Green Cave.
And as if reading Theresia’s thoughts, Peter asked a question.
“How did you know there were other ranking boards besides this one? And that they’re behind this?”
Yuri responded as if the question was ridiculous.
“Just think about it logically. Does it seem likely that 100 people could successfully complete a quest where you die one after another?”
“Ah!”
Theresia nodded in agreement, as if she had just realized something.
“And when you hang the wooden plaques, the wall shakes as if to announce ‘there’s space behind this!’ How could I not notice?”
“Ah.”
Peter scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Then Peter tapped the wall.
And then—
Rrrrumble—
The wall smoothly rotated, revealing what was behind it.
This time, another wall with wooden plaques hung on it appeared.
The only difference was that there were very few wooden plaques on this wall.
It looked so barren that it almost felt desolate.
Yuri, seeing the number of plaques, asked a question in a roundabout way.
“How far does this one rank?”
“The rankings for the 7-Star Cave, that is, the Red Cave, only go up to 10th place. But…”
Tap, tap—
Peter lightly tapped the wall.
“Only six people have made it out alive so far.”
In other words, it meant that just surviving would place you in the rankings.
At least in 7th place.
Yuri’s eyes sparkled as he asked.
“What’s the reward for the Red Cave quest?”
“The basic survival reward is 2 million points, and you get an additional 2 million points for each rank you move up.”
“…?!”
“Oh, and if you come back alive and place 7th, you can also receive the rewards for the 8th, 9th, and 10th place, which are still vacant. Adding up the basic survival reward with the rewards for 7th to 10th place, you’ll get a total of 10 million points.”
“Huh?”
Yuri let out a disbelieving laugh.
“So, the first person to survive the Red Cave and rank 1st got 22 million points for free?”
“Luck and being the first to arrive are also skills.”
At that, Yuri clicked his tongue.
‘No wonder there are people recklessly challenging the Red Cave.’
It made sense.
Just surviving would net you 10 million points.
Who wouldn’t be enticed by that?
And if you managed to secure 1st place, you’d earn 22 million points.
Just then, a flash of realization crossed Yuri’s mind.
‘Wait? Could it be?!’
He asked in an expectant tone.
“Is there also a special reward for 1st place in this?”
“Every month, 10% of the 22 million points will be deposited into your account. Until your record is broken.”
“…?!”
Yuri clenched his fists tightly.
‘E-every month… 2.2 million points!’
And if he added the points from the Green Cave, that would be a total of 2,365,000 points.
That meant he could earn that much every month by doing nothing but breathing.
Yuri felt like he was going to lose his mind with excitement.
At that moment, a voice brought a bit of his sanity back.
“But remember, you only get one chance to challenge the 7-Star Cave, so make sure you’re well-prepared.”
Yuri snorted and looked over the names of the six who survived the Red Cave.
He quickly skimmed over the unfamiliar names from 3rd to 6th place.
【2nd Place / 49th Class / Theresia Winchester / 165 Points】
Yuri paused briefly upon seeing the name in 2nd place.
He realized that Theresia had already challenged and survived the 7-Star Cave.
And that she had proudly claimed 2nd place.
It was all quite surprising, but at that moment, Yuri couldn’t care less about any of that.
He immediately looked up to 1st place.
【1st Place / 48th Class / Gunther Ryder / 188 Points】
Upon seeing the familiar name, Yuri’s lips twisted.
‘Is it you again?’
Gunther Ryder, who held 1st place in both the 2-Star Cave and the 7-Star Cave.
Seeing this, Yuri laughed.
“Hahaha.”
Whether he was the Sword Master’s son.
Or another Black Dragon Plaque holder.
None of that mattered to Yuri anymore.
To him now, Gunther Ryder was just a name that needed to be removed from the 1st place spot.
‘Haha, seems like you’ve had enough of a good time…’
So get lost already, will you?
Yuri’s eyes gleamed with greed.