UTC 03

Chapter 3

I clicked on Kinol’s Lightning Flute in the inventory.

Then the grade of the Lightning Flute was revealed.

【Kinol’s Lightning Flute】
《Grade: B》

• A flute of the goblin Kinol who was struck by lightning. It has the ability to summon ominous lightning.

“Grade B? This is seriously amazing.”

Even the most common materials in the supply box, graded C~D, sold for at least hundreds of thousands of won. For a higher grade, there would probably be an extra zero.

I checked more posts on the community about ‘Kinol’s Lightning Flute.’

[Buying Kinol’s Lightning Flute.]

• Anyone selling for 1,100? No, please sell it. I really don’t have enough money.

I had expected a price around a million won.

But it was much more expensive than that.

My fist clenched.

[Buying Lightning Flute.]

• I’ll pay 1,200. I won’t buy it tomorrow. Only for those willing to trade via Lucid.

LucidNet.

It’s a site for auctioning or trading countless items related to the Tower.

Trades between players were usually conducted here.

“1,200?!”

Curious if trades really happened at that price, I checked past community posts and then LucidNet’s transaction history.

“The highest is 1,500?!”

Of course, that was the top price; the average transaction was about 1,000.

Still, some desperate buyers were willing to pay the extra.

For a moment, I felt I had truly hit the jackpot.

“But why…?”

I wondered why people were paying so much.

I investigated more on the community.

[Got Kinol’s Lightning Flute.]

• I immediately applied an attribute.

ㄴ Wow, I’m so jealous…

ㄴ Why don’t you sell it to me? I’ll give 1,000.

ㄴㄴ Sorry

[Is Kinol’s Lightning Flute that good?]

ㄴ It’s a material for attribute infusion. If melted and applied, up to floor 20 it’s like a blissful autobahn.

ㄴ You can beat most monsters up to floor 20.

[How do you use Kinol’s Lightning Flute?]

ㄴ You can process it at the Association. But the commission is a bit pricey, around 1,000,000. Still, it’s a lifesaver early on.

“I see, so this is a honey item.”

There were even videos of hunting using equipment infused with Kinol’s Lightning Flute.

They easily cut down trolls, monsters from floors 16–20.

Trolls, in particular, have high regeneration and are tough to kill with normal attacks.

Early on, it’s hard to deal damage exceeding their regeneration, making them like a wall of despair.

“You apply a debuff to regeneration, and maybe due to the attribute, cutting power seems to increase too.”

Applying the lightning attribute also allowed redistributing stats from strength and magic to agility and mana, reducing the difficulty of the strategy.

“Now the price makes sense.”

Given this effect, the price was reasonable.

Kinol’s Lightning Flute.

It was definitely a valuable attribute material.

But for me, it wasn’t necessary.

The drones did the fighting.

So, I decided to sell it casually.

But at the same time, another thought followed.

“Hmm…”

I couldn’t ignore the question of how to dispose of Kinol’s Lightning Flute.

Three major routes came to mind immediately.

The first was LucidNet, which I was looking at now.

I could list it for sale on the exchange.

The second route was the Association.

The Association’s underground mall had an offline exchange.

They would buy materials with consistent demand without limit.

But the price they offered was slightly lower.

“With Kinol’s Flute, maybe around 8 million won?”

About half of LucidNet’s highest price.

Of course, the 15 million was rare, so I couldn’t fully rely on that.

Selling at the Association would be at least 20% cheaper than LucidNet.

The last option was a private exchange.

It could pay better than the Association, but even if not illegal, there was a risk of problems during the transaction.

“Maybe I should just post on Lucid first…?”

If a buyer appeared by tomorrow morning, I’d sell through Lucid.

If not, the Association would be wise.

The private exchange was risky and naturally excluded.

The Association’s exchange paid a bit less but was safe.

Trying to get more profit and ending up with nothing was too risky.

“I should get my awakening review done tomorrow.”

Once that was settled, I relaxed.

“Phew…”

Fatigue hit all at once, and I felt drowsy.

It had been half a day since my night shift at the convenience store ended at 8 PM yesterday.

Checking the clock, it was around 7 PM.

“The money’s good, but maybe I should take a nap first.”

I washed lightly and lay on the bed.

As usual, I picked up my phone with sleepy eyes.

No matter how tired, I couldn’t resist using my phone before bed.

I opened the player community ‘Top Expert’ and browsed posts.

This site allowed not only players but also non-members to post freely.

It was a solidly established player site in Korea.

This was also the site where I had searched for information on Kinol’s Flute.

“Why are posts updating so fast tonight?”

Curious, I checked carefully and was startled.

[SSS-Rank Conqueror? 52 seconds?]

[Bug user? Is the first rank real? Is that physically possible?]

[Emergency!! Legendary monster appears!!!]

“Ah, right… there’s a Hall of Fame.”

I remembered seeing it among the notifications.

But I hadn’t checked immediately at the time.

“What’s going on now?”

Checking the Tower would be the surest way, but the Tower only allowed one entry per day.

You could clear as many floors as you wanted after entering.

But once you left, you had to wait until the next day to re-enter.

I was slightly worried if my name had spread.

“If that’s the case… this is too much pressure.”

I admired top players but didn’t want excessive attention from the start.

Plus, high-potential players were targets for kidnapping by red countries.

I wanted to avoid that.

[Why isn’t the name registered?]
[If not entered, it shows as ‘unregistered’ lol]
[Don’t they know?]

└ How could they not know?

[Anyway, with this, Miller will soon catch up, right?]
└ Does Miller look like ‘catch up’?

“Good, that’s not the case.”

Browsing the community, there was no sign of that concern.

Luckily, my name didn’t seem to be entered.

‘Unregistered’

No manipulation had been done, so it displayed like that.

“Should I change it when I enter tomorrow?”

I thought about a good name.

Then it came to mind.

“Neia.”

That would be perfect.

Awakening Review.

It wasn’t that serious.

It just confirmed the abilities of fully awakened players.

If I had stats matching EX grade, I might have been tense.

At a time when attention to ‘unregistered’ was high, if a rookie with outrageous stats appeared, it would reveal an SSS-Rank Conqueror.

Miller, the world’s #1 player, was a prime example.

Miller had a total of 140 points at review.

The Tower gave 3 points per level. Starting with 140 points meant a 30-level advantage over normal players—a tremendous potential.

I, however, was only EX grade by title. My stats were typical of normal awakened players.

I had a high grade only due to my A-space ability, and awakening review didn’t show which abilities had matured.

If my stats had matched EX grade, it would have been obvious. I was lucky.

“Certificate for Kang Seon-woo.”

As expected, I received it without suspicion.

Grade: F.

No disappointment.

With Neia’s power, I could always raise the grade.

I calmly took it.

Beep—

After the review, I headed to the Association’s underground.

The main purpose today was selling materials.

My mind focused entirely on the exchange.

“This is the underground mall…”

It had been two years since awakening.

But it was my first visit.

I walked through quiet exchanges and entered the materials exchange.

“Welcome.”

I approached the counter where a clerk greeted me.

“I want to sell this.”

“Oh… Kinol’s Flute.”

I asked cautiously.

“How much can I get?”

“We buy Kinol’s Flute for 7.9 million won. Supply has increased a lot recently.”

“Hmm…”

That explained the lack of buyers on LucidNet. Supply had increased.

The price was slightly lower than expected but not enough to change my plans.

“Will you sell?”

“Yes, please.”

I gave the account for payment, confirmed the deposit, and left the exchange.

“Time to buy magic stones…”

I entered the underground magic stone exchange.

“What brings you here?”

“I want to purchase magic stones.”

The clerk pointed to a price list.

“Here’s the price table.”

I checked carefully and clicked my tongue.

‘These are thieves.’

Bought at 98,000 won, sold at 105,000 won.

“I’ll buy 8 million won worth for now.”

“Understood, we’ll prepare it shortly.”

I paid and went straight home.

Neia, still consuming energy, couldn’t be left unattended.

“Open Gate.”

I opened the gate and ran to the Core Center.

『Welcome, Seon-woo. It’s an honor to meet you again.』

“Yes, the honor is mine.”

I accepted Neia’s greeting and poured the magic stones.

Thud-thud-thud.

“Use all of this for energy charging.”

『Energy management robot approaching. Please wait.』

Soon after, the familiar robot came, loaded the stones, and left.

“After using those, can you check expected power consumption?”

『Current energy charge: 0.003%. With current reserves, basic system maintenance without external activity can last about 203 hours.』

“About 8 days…”

I had roughly expected it, but hearing from Neia reassured me.

“Can I take the combat drones for a bit?”

『Should I permanently transfer command to you, Seon-woo?』

“No, temporarily, just in case.”

Neia’s eyes glowed, and a moment later, a reply came.

『Command temporarily transferred.』

“Alright.”

Combat readiness complete.

I casually asked about the city.

“Can you give me information about this city?”

『This city is modeled as Nemesis-9. It wasn’t inhabited, but is recognized as a special city created for a purpose.』

“Then why is this city in my A-space?”

『Access to that information requires security level 1 or above. Currently inaccessible.』

“So it’s not a coincidence.”

『Correct.』

I asked further.

“You mentioned security level 1. How are security levels defined? What level do I have?”

『The city has seven levels. Your current level is 6, the lowest.』

Neia displayed a holographic window.

《Level 5 Access Conditions》

• Lv. 20
• Magic 50 achieved
• Mana 50 achieved

Essentially, I needed to level up.

A long road ahead.

Secrets of the city postponed.

“Any other combat units besides drones?”

『Currently, three combat drones are operational. Additional units require factory production.』

“Can we produce them?”

Neia replied excitedly.

『Yes, but it consumes a lot of power. Shall we temporarily operate the nearby small factory?』

“How much is ‘a lot’?”

『Temporarily running the small factory consumes ten times the usual power.』

Roughly 20 hours and Neia would run out of power.

I sighed.

“No, stay idle.”

『Command confirmed. Awaiting next order.』

For now, I focused on leveling up.

“Keep drones ready to deploy when I open the gate.”

『Understood.』

I left A-space and entered the Tower.

[Previous record exists.]
[Enter Tower 1st Floor?]

First, I opened my status screen.

[Lv.4 Kang Seon-woo]
Class: A-space User
Grade: EX
Strength: 10 (+)
Agility: 10 (+)
Magic: 10 (+)
Mana: 10 (+)
Stat Points: 9

【Skills】

• [A-space]
  「Available commands: Open Gate, Close Gate」

I had pondered stat allocation since clearing floor 1.

But now it seemed unnecessary.

“Magic and Mana.”

Needed to increase authority level. Focus there for now.

Magic: 14 (+)
Mana: 15 (+)

I then opened the Hall of Fame.

[Hall of Fame (1st Floor)]

• 1. SSS Name registration (00:00:52)
  2. S Miller (00:06:23)
  3. B Kane (00:15:23)
  4. B Kyoichi (00:16:42)
     …

I modified the name.

-1. SSS Neia (00:00:52)

Satisfied, I closed the Hall of Fame.

All preparations done, it was climbing time again.

[Repeat Tower 1st Floor?]
[Challenge Tower 2nd Floor?]

Stretching, I said,

“I’ll challenge the 2nd floor.”