Chapter 49

"Uncle, were you playing a different game…?" was the first thing Sae-ah said upon returning home.

"Martial Power… Force… What are these?"

"They're unique stats."

"Does such a thing even exist?! I knew about rare stats… Dad's, no… Ito's stat is 'Twin Swords'."

Rare stats were widely known by the public because, when a player reached Diamond League, a new stat was added to their stat window that was tailored to each player and provided even greater effects than the existing ones.

That was what a rare stat was.

"How could your stats be like this when you aren't in Diamond?"

Though JiHan wasn't in Diamond yet, he had not one but two unique stats. He was only in Bronze.

"There's a way."

"Can I also… do that?" Sae-ah asked with a glimmer of hope.

Her Gift might have been ranked the lowest, but with a special stat, she might be able to play properly just like her uncle did.

No, if she became like her Uncle, she might be able to dominate the League.

"Hmm, these two won't be possible." JiHan shook his head.

His unique stat, Martial Power, required Dongfang Shuo's brush, and on top of that, you needed to have the Gift 'Wanderer's Eye'.

With Force, you needed two classes: Mage and Support.

Sae-ah met none of those conditions.

"That's too bad…"

"But I know of a way to get another unique stat."

"Really?!"

"Yes. If you get it, you'll become a remarkable player." JiHan calmly said. "But it will be a bit tough."

"Only a bit? That sounds manageable."

"Hmm… Let me correct that. It's manageable from my perspective. It will be very hard."

"Right…? Given that it's by your standards, it will probably be extremely challenging."

JiHan chuckled at the worried Sae-ah.

Although she'd said that, he knew his niece had incredible willpower.

"You can do it, so don't worry. About your Gift… What is it?"

JiHan remembered that he hadn't seen Sae-ah's Gift yet. Until then, he'd pretended not to know, but it was time to get things moving.

"It's this…" Sae-ah showed him her Gift.

[Gift - Late Bloomer (Rank F)]

- Great vessels take time to mature.

"That's all it says?"

"Right? I thought it was a proverb or something."

"Hmm…" JiHan pretended to think, but he already knew what that Gift meant.

With such a lackluster explanation, it was probably hard to understand the true value of the Gift 'Late Bloomer'.

'Having such a Gift will probably dampen her spirits.'

That's why he'd prepared something in advance.

"Here."

"What's that…?

"Your real birthday present."

It didn't have any special packaging, but JiHan took an item from his inventory and handed it to Sae-ah.

[Hermes's Monocle]

Rank: A

- The Monocle of Olympus's God, Hermes.

- Allows you to identify the essence of a Gift.

- One-time use item.

It was an item that could be obtained by repairing the 'Messenger's Broken Monocle', which was a C-rank item sold on the Battle Net market for 100 GP.

He'd repaired the monocle using the Achievement Shop's Emergency Recovery.

In reality, he could have obtained it without using Emergency Recovery. After all, once the Tutorial was over, a repair kit dropped inside Diamond League dungeons, but…

'I can't wait until then.' It was a birthday present for his niece, so he was okay with spending 10,000 achievement points.

"What's this…?"

"Your birthday present."

Sae-ah gave the monocle a puzzled look. It was shining in a gold light and didn't look like an ordinary item.

"Now that you've received the status window and have awakened as a player, you can use the inventory, right?"

"Yes."

"Put that in your Inventory and check the item's description."

"Inventory."

Following JiHan's words, Sae-ah put Hermes's Monocle into her inventory. As she looked at the item's description, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Woah. Was there an item like this?"

"Yes, but it can only be used once."

"Oh, my God… It's A-rank?! Isn't it expensive?" Sae-ah thought that it would be a waste to use such an item on her useless Gift, but…

"Don't worry about that and just use it," JiHan calmly said.

Sae-ah nodded. She knew that an A-rank item wasn't ordinary, but she was curious about the true essence of her Gift.

As soon as she used Hermes's Monocle…

"Huh…?"

The description of her Gift, 'Late Bloomer', changed completely.

[Gift - Late Bloomer (Rank F - Number of games required for upgrade: 50)]

- Upgrades the basic Battle Net system.

- To upgrade it, you must participate in Battle Net games.

- F-rank Effect: Increases daily game participation by 1.

- 100% increase in natural stat growth.

"This…" Sae-ah blinked. A Gift… that could be upgraded?

All of the Gifts that had come out so far had fixed ranks, so there was no room for upgrades or downgrades. The fact that it could be upgraded was unimaginable.

"What's wrong? What did you get?"

"L-look at this…!" She quickly shared her status window's Gift section with him.

"Woah… a Gift that can be upgraded? And the F-rank Gift's effect is also good!"

JiHan thought about Xin YouHua, the Chinese ranker who had the Gift in his previous life. No wonder she could participate in games twice a day.

'The fact that stat growth increases by 100%…'

Strength, Vitality, Agility, etc. Even without using unused stat points, your stats could increase through training. The effect was fitting for the name, 'Late Bloomer'.

"The effect's great!"

"R-really?"

"Yes, and on top of everything, the natural growth of stats increases… This will make getting a rare stat easier."

"Really? You aren't lying, right?!"

"Really. Woah~ My dear niece has received a great Gift!"

Sae-ah fell to the floor at those words. She hadn't even cried after receiving an F-rank Gift…

"Ah… Ah…"

But now that she realized the result was good, tears flowed from her eyes.

Slide-

Several tissues pulled out by themselves and floated toward Sae-ah.

"Thanks… Uncle."

"It's nothing. So… are you going to become a player?"

"Since I got something like this, obviously!"

Since she'd obtained a growth-type Gift, there was no need to study for college entrance exams anymore.

JiHan nodded and said. "Okay, then let's eat."

"Food…"

"Yes. You've been in the Gift Hall for the entire day, so you haven't eaten anything, right?"

"I'm okay…"

Growl-!

As soon as she said that, her stomach's growling betrayed her.

Sae-ah's face turned red.

"At least your body is honest." JiHan brought out bread and soup. "Last time, you said you wanted to eat a full-course meal, right?"

"Ah…"

"I'm going to grill some steak, so fill your stomach with this for now."

"When did you start cooking?!"

Spoons, forks, and other things started to fly and set themselves. The previously empty table was quickly set. It was a magical sight, and Sae-ah made a stunned expression.

After receiving her Gift at school, she thought it was the worst birthday ever, but the situation had completely changed.

'Did Uncle know this would happen…?'

Before receiving the Gift, he kept telling her not to expect anything, and when she got an F-rank Gift, rather than being surprised, he gave her the Hermes's Monocle as if he'd been waiting for that moment and made her desperation disappear.

No matter how much she thought about it, it seemed like her Uncle knew what was going to happen.

'Can he see the future?'

Sae-ah thought about it for a brief moment but decided to let such thoughts go. If her uncle wanted to tell her, he would. All she could do for the moment was be grateful.

"Uncle… this is really delicious!" She smiled while eating the soup. It wasn't the forced smile she had been putting on but a genuine one. It was a smile that showed she'd let go of her worries and concerns—a smile that came from her heart.

'I haven't seen that smile in a while.' When he saw it, a smile of its own crept onto JiHan's face. He hadn't seen that bright smile since the Sword King left Korea.

'Let's see that more often.'

* * *

On the morning of the 22nd, JiHan logged in to Battle Net as soon as he woke up.

- 1st place again.

- What's up with the obvious comment?

- He must go to Silver quickly.

- When's the promotion match?

Whenever a defense map came up, everyone accepted that JiHan would get the top spot.

After the game ended, an alert message popped up in front of JiHan as he leisurely read the chats.

[You've reached level 25.]

[You've reached the level cap for Bronze League. Your level won't increase anymore.]

[You can now participate in the League promotion match.]

"Oh, everyone. I've just reached level 25."

- Woah, really?

- Congrats!

- Woah… You're finally going to get to Silver!

- Already? Is he going to participate in the promotion after less than a month?

- Congrats, congrats!

- (Some surprised emoticon).

The chat became full of congratulatory messages, and with that, another system message popped out.

[You've finished 1st place in the Bronze League.]

[You've earned the title of 'Ruler of Bronze'.]

[You are eligible to participate in the 'Top 100' promotion match.]

"I can also participate in the 'Top 100' promotion match."

- Top 100? Woah.

Did that mean JiHan was within the 'Top 100' Bronze players?

- Of course… 100? At this point, he's probably 1st.

- For real. Didn't he take the 1st place in every game?

Even among promotion matches, 'Top 100' was a special one,

While regular promotion matches were done among players from the same country, the 'Top 100' were players that the system had chosen from all over the world.

The 'Top 100' promotion match, held on the 25th of each month, garnered immense popularity worldwide.

While most people didn't care about the Bronze League promotion matches, the 'Top 100' was a whole other story.

- Is Bronze the first to broadcast?

- I always skipped Bronze and watched from the Top 100 Silver, but I'll have to see it this time.

- Woah… when was the last time a player from our country participated in a Top 100 promotion match?

- It's been four years, hahaha.

- Four years? Is K- Battle Net's level for real?

- By the way, if you participate in the Top 100 promotion match, isn't promotion guaranteed?

- Yes. Just by being among the Top 100, you're guaranteed a promotion.

Unlike other, regular promotion matches, in the 'Top 100', your promotion was guaranteed just by participating.

However, the match wasn't like the regular Battle Net games that ended when half the players were still alive. Instead, it went on until only one person remained.

That was, after all, a clear way to determine the rankings from 1st to 100th.

[Will you participate in the 'Top 100' promotion match?]

"Yes."

'It's time to clear the epic quest.' JiHan concluded after deciding to participate.

Since the promotion match was a survival map, it would surely be the Colosseum.

JiHan was determined to clear the epic quest and gain the Shadow Queen's recognition during the promotion match that would have the world's attention.

'I'll have to learn Nameless Divine Arts for that.'

Since he was at level 25, once he increased his Martial Power to 30, he would have met the conditions to learn Nameless Divine Arts.

'Finally…'

With a smile on his face, JiHan logged in to finish his preparations.

It was time to register Nameless Divine Arts in his skill window.