NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23
The fact that the Gate’s ceiling came down with an eerie sound… and Seol’s last line as he called out Yzmokan…
There was no better scene for the viewers to cheer over.
[‘Woah’ has donated 300 Madness!]
[Bravo]
- I give you a 10 out of 5.
- It seriously felt like I was watching a movie.
- I think I pissed myself from excitement.
- You didn’t need to say that. Like at all…
[‘Fry’ has donated 300 Madness!]
[Shut up and take my money! Hurry up! Take it! Take it all!]
- You guys are just throwing donos at him loool
- I hate watching other people’s streams after watching Snowman’s. It’s like… different?
- Like he’s the only pro in a group of amateurs?
- Yeah! Exactly!
- You’re overexaggerating, other people are also playing well too. Especially those game addicts.
- What? If they’re regular no-lifes, Snowman’s the no-life of no-lifes.
It was dark all around Seol after the ceiling dropped down on him.
He pressed on, through the darkness.
Step, step.
As he walked a bit further, he saw a staircase.
He climbed the staircase one step at a time.
And every time Seol took a step, he kept feeling something strange.
He kept remembering how Ziliac felt as he cleared the ruins. How Ziliac was eaten alive by his fear and madness.
Seol couldn’t feel the same way that Ziliac did since he practically knew all of the answers behind the ruin but that was exactly what made Ziliac feel more incredible to him.
Through his sacrifice, Seol was finally able to reach the end of the ruin.
Over there, he saw a light.
‘Is it here?’
It was a place made out of simple stone.
Compared to the hall made of gold earlier, this was much more humble.
Still, the size of the room wasn’t to be looked down upon.
There were pillars on each side that made the room feel imposing. It almost made you feel like you were in a king’s throne room. Seol was in awe as he looked around the room.
And when Seol reached the end of the room, he saw a statue of a goddess.
She looked like a benevolent goddess. It was clearly supposed to be Yzmokan.
Something that surprised him about the statue was that two lines coming from it’s mouth like one of those wooden ventriloquist dolls.
Just as he was getting curious about the purpose of those lines, she opened her mouth.
It was clear that those lines were so that the statue could look like it was talking.
[Oh, stranger. Welcome to Yzmokan’s Sanctuary.]
“Thank you,” replied Seol. He also noted that her eyes opened up as well.
[Yzmokan shall give you a gift. Use it well.]
Rumble Rumble Rumble!
As she finished her sentence, the entire ruin violently shook.
Clang!
Clatter! Clatter!
Tak… tak…
Something was pouring out of the walls.
When Seol turned around to look, he saw items in many different colors. There were so many of them that it could fill up the colors of a rainbow.
There were brilliant gems, shining shields, and even golden chalices.
He felt like Aladdin trying to resist the treasures from The Cave of Wonders.
[You cannot take back your decision, so choose carefully.]
[‘It’s a trap!’ has donated 200 Madness!]
[It’s the final trap! The Gate still isn’t cleared yet!]
- I knew it! You can’t fool us~ kekekeke. This is a trap too, right? Like you can’t take anything or something like that?
- Who do you think you are? LOL Yzmokan download complete!
- ???: What? You’re not going to pick anything? Okay. You may return then.
- (30 Years Later) Snowman still has yet to receive a reward.
[‘Reward?’ has donated 100 Madness!]
[Right… Those did exist, yes… (Reminiscing)]
- Don’t die Grandpa Snowman! Don’t die just yet!
- How is he supposed to pick one out of this LOL
- I’m pretty sure Yzmokan wouldn’t be able to pick one out of this herself either LOL.
- How are you supposed to make a decision when you don’t know what’s good and what’s trash…
* * *
As his viewers argued with each other about the correct item to take, Seol was at a loss for which item to choose himself.
‘They’re all decent.’
Since this was still early into The World of Eternity, it was difficult to find an item that was useful in the late game.
That’s why Seol was looking for things that could be useful right now but the problem was that he didn’t know what he needed the most.
‘It’s hard…’
And as Seol was contemplating which item to pick, a message popped up.
[You receive a reward from 'Moving Wagon', a previous Adventure.]
[Insight temporarily improves for 10 minutes.]
Right after that message appeared, the room almost seemed to get brighter. And it wasn’t because of the room itself.
Gloooow…
[Insight activates.]
[This item is not ordinary.]
[Insight activates.]
[This item seems to be dangerous.]
[Insight activates.]
[This item seems to have a story behind it.]
……
Messages ceaselessly appeared in Seol’s vision.
- Oh shit!
- Insight is so nice!
- Insight’s the best :)
- The reason why I didn’t do anything in the 1st Adventure was to gain momentum!
After he saw those messages, Seol started to inspect all of the treasures. He had to pick a great reward from the pile within 10 minutes, the time limit.
Glow…
A shield that radiated a violet light.
Crackle…
Crackle…
A dagger that glowed yellow.
Seol felt directly in real life what an empowered Insight felt like.
‘I forgot Insight had an effect like this. I knew it was great but I didn’t know it was this good.’
Each and every one of those items was radiating a different hue.
In a short amount of time, Seol was able to reduce the number of options to a few.
The first was a blue chestplate that was radiating a red light and the second was a helmet that was radiating a black glow.
The last option he considered was an old-looking blindfold.
- Dude! Pick the chestplate! Chesplates sell for a lot too!
- Give it to Karuna… give it to the kid! Give it to Karuna!
Seol looked at both the chestplate and helmet before shaking his head.
Even though it was glowing brightly, it looked a bit suspicious. Not to mention the fact that Insight warned him as a dangerous weapon.
He then thought for a second while holding the blindfold.
- He’d be an idiot to choose that.
- What are you going to use that on? LOL Are you trying to cosplay Lee Sin? IKU!
- He’s going to be a 0/7/0 Lee Sin though…
- Seriously, it looks like trash. Why is he hesitating?
Even though the audience could see the effects of Insight, they were unable to see the light that it was radiating.
Since they were only able to judge through the item’s looks, they thought that the blindfold was the most useless.
[‘Seriously, please’ has donated 200 Madness!]
[Why are you leaving those good items behind to pick that?! This is so frustratiiiiiiiiiiiing!]
- It’s not like he can hear us, but… I still want to talk shit…
- Why did he pick the blindfold? LOL Does he think it would help him in battle? Of course it wouldn’t. What a dumbass.
- Seriously, I can feel my wisdom teeth falling out.
- Isn’t that a good thing?
- Oh? It is?
- But seriously it is frustrating lol How does he seriously not have an eye for items?
But Seol could clearly see something that his audience couldn’t see.
Gloooooow!
A splendid golden light was radiating from the blindfolds.
It glowed much more brightly than any of the other items he saw so far.
Seol held onto the blindfold tight.
The statue of Yzmokan opened its mouth again.
[Have you made your decision?]
“Yes, I’ll go with this one.”
[Do you perhaps desire more?]
“I do not.”
[Yzmokan shall give riches to those with self-control.]
Hum…
Click!
[An additional reward has been generated.]
Seol thought the additional rewards would be useful since he could see some gold coins even at a glance.
But still, Seol checked the blindfold he received first before checking the additional rewards.
[[Blindfold of Perception]
Quality: Treasure
Recommended Level: N/A
Defense: 0
Durability: 35/35
Weight: 0.1kg
Allows you to see what cannot be seen.
Basic Effect: N/A
Bonus Effect: Unlocks ‘Eyes of Perception’.]
“Eyes of Perception!”
Seol shouted without realizing it.
His viewers were shocked as well since Seol never reacted happily like that.
- Eyes of Perception! (I’m just shouting)
- Eyes of Perception! (I don’t know what that is)
- Eyes of Perception! (I’m just following along)
- Eyes of Perception! (I bet someone will find it.
- It’s not in the early game ability database?
- But hold on a second it’s ‘Treasure’ Quality? That’s insane…
Seol’s heart was pounding.
‘I didn’t think there would be a clue toward awakening the Eyes of Perception here.’
There were various families, groups, and races in Pandea with special eyes.
And those ‘special eyes’ were called that because they did more than just help you see.
There were a variety of special eyes one can acquire with just as many events and methods to acquire them.
‘And the ‘Eyes of Perception’ is one that I synergize well with. I thought I would need to reach at least the mid-game to get a clue about it, but…’
Lift…
Seol ignored the fact that his hands were shaking and wrapped the blindfold around his eyes. Immediately…
Crush…
“Kuaaaaargh!”
It sounded like someone had crushed and popped his eyes.
Pop…
Crush…
“Ur… Urgh….”
This was something that Seol had failed to consider.
When a game piece with ordinary eyes awakened special eyes, they had to also face pain that they couldn’t have imagined.
Seol drooled as his body dropped to the floor.
Seol couldn’t think straight but still tried his best to not faint.
‘It feels like my eyes are being scorched!’
Time continued to pass as he was forced to undergo unimaginable pain.
And after that…
Crumble…
The blindfold that covered his eyes turned to dust.
Seol slowly opened his eyes.
Gloooooow!
The same golden light he saw on the blindfold radiated from his eyes.
His eyes were colorful like those of a dragon’s.
- Argh! Who turned on the lights!
- Turn off the headlights moron!
- Look at his eyes… Is he supposed to be Ultraman?
- Still, it’s dying down on its own.
- It’s so pretty… Is this how people customize their characters nowadays?
When Seol’s eyes had fully awakened, he saw a message.
[‘Eyes of Perception’ has been unlocked.]
[You see the world with new eyes.]
[You begin to see that which cannot be seen.]
[Your vision improves.]
[The status of elite monsters will be shown.]
[You will be able to see more statuses, as well as the statuses of stronger monsters, the more you train these eyes.]
[There is a certain chance of seeing the explanation of important objectives.]
[You will be able to see rarer objectives at a higher chance the more you train these eyes.]
[Perception’s proficiency greatly increases.]
- Bravo…
- Where did the people who told him not to pick the blindfold go?
- They’re here! They’re in this corner raising their hands as punishment!
- I won’t say anything when I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore…
- That’s insane! He got a really nice item!
“Fuuu…” sighed Seol.
The rewards he got felt even sweeter since he had to overcome unimaginable pain to attain them.
‘The world looks completely different now.’
The first thing was that he could see everything clearly.
The things that would look blurry to him in the past were now crystal clear.
There was a huge difference between trained and untrained eyes. Right now, Seol received trained eyes as a reward without having to train them himself.
He looked at his surroundings and nodded.
Now that I have the ‘Eyes of Perception’, I’ll be able to avoid getting caught up in random events.’
The reason people fell for traps was because they didn’t know they were traps.
As long as Seol had the Eyes of Perception, he was able to avoid most of them easily.
- Now! Let’s get the additional rewards and bounce!
- The ruins were so easy to clear! A success!
- I’m pretty sure Snowman got the best rewards this Adventure season LOL
As his viewers said, the moment Seol took the additional rewards, the Adventure was over.
But Seol’s experience was telling him that if he chose to take the rewards now, he would be only getting half of it.
Seol had always felt uncomfortable if he didn’t perfectly clear everything about an Adventure.
And in this Adventure, there was something he still had to face.
‘Is Borgo dead?’
He wasn’t.
If Borgo was dead, a message would’ve popped up.
Clearing the ruin wasn’t the only thing on Seol’s mind as he was progressing through it. He was progressing through it while drawing up a scenario in his head.
And for that scenario to be fulfilled, he needed Borgo.
Still, Seol didn’t need to particularly worry about it. The scenario that he drew up was progressing as he expected.
A few moments later, Seol heard a booming voice laugh.
“Hahahahaha! I finally caught up to you!”