The Extra's Odyssey-Chapter 185 First Trial Reward
Administrator
That was the name the one in front of me called herself in the novel. However, later down the line, we were introduced to more important facts.
Administrator of Tower, or Dungeon of Trials, was a part of the System's consciousness that the System left inside the Universe to maintain the Tower.
"Why do you think I would answer your question?"
Administrator answered without looking at me. She was busy watching the cadets exploring the dungeon and quenching her boredom.
"It's my reward"
I shook my shoulders.
She would have to answer. After all, she was a part of the System, an entity that maintained rules. She had to give me an additional reward, and answering a question would also be better for her than to give material rewards equivalent to my feat.
System was an omnipotent entity. It existed since the beginning and governed over the laws with its supreme [Authority].
No matter how strong the being who bought me here was, he couldn't be stronger than someone omnipotent.
Administrator was my best bet to get more information on what was going on in this world and why I was brought here.
She glanced at me.
For a moment, her eyes shone in golden color. The way she stared at me made me believe she was looking into my soul.
I didn't know what to make of it—it felt as though she could see into every corner of me and know exactly who I really was.
A few seconds later, the golden color receded and her eyes returned to their previous color.
"The lightless veil inside your soul is obstructing me from locating your soul core. Without it, I can't pinpoint your records and check your past to see what kind of entity reincarnated you here. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I can't, but I'd rather not waste all of my [Authority] over one question."
"...reincarnated?"
My eyes shook.
Administrator scratched her belly under her t-shirt and continued.
"Bruh, what was that reaction? Are you saying you are not reincarnated?"
"…I'm not"
Administrators had a questioning look and her eyes again shone in a golden hue.
This time, it took a while before the golden hue disappeared.
"My bad, the laws of time and space are heavily distorted around you. I thought you were also reincarnated, like the other fella from before. Ah, before you ask about the other one, I can't tell you anything regarding other challengers, it's a breach of Tower rules."
"Haaaaaa...."
I clasped my face in my palms and sighed deeply.
"So, I'm not reincarnated?"
"Hah? Didn't you understand what I said? I'm not sure if you reincarnated because the laws of time and space are distorted around you, it's to the point that it's affecting the records of the time period you were brought from, and making them unreadable."
Administrator kept her eyes on the TV and munched whatever that plastic bag had.
However, I couldn't care less about how she looked.
I was attempting to connect the dots and gain as much as information from her words.
'She said 'other one' that was the same as me, so one among X or Y has come here. If I have to make a guess, it would be X whom she met. Or maybe she is talking about Leon who should have also cleared [Singularity] Trial.'
'Administrator is not the System, but only a small part of it that no longer belongs to the System. The amount of [Authority] Administrator has is limited, she is refusing to answer my question as it would consume all of her remaining [Authority]. For the veil to be so powerful, the one who created it must be stronger than her, or atleast on the same level.'
These two points were obvious, but there was one more noteworthy fact.
"Did you say 'time period'? Am I not someone from a different Universe or a different Dimension?"
I was brought inside a novel.
However, here, everything was too real, the sorrow of Eth's past, the fear of Katrina's inferiority, the dullness of those who knew about the dreadness of frontlines, the people hoping for a better future.
There was no way all of this was just something written in a novel.
Ba..dump-
Ba...dump-
My heart sped up, waiting for her answers.
If... If I was from this world, and since regression was possible, then can't I... I...
"Of course not. There is no dimension where you can live, other than the World Dimension, or a different Universe."
There were a lot of questions in my mind, however, only one that I cared about.
"How much strength do I need to manipulate the law of time?"
"You can't-"
"I can! Didn't I already exceed your expectations?! I don't give a damn if you think I can't reach that level! Just tell me how much strength I need to control time!"
Unconsciously, I lost control of my emotions.
As long as I control time, I can go back and redo everything! There would be no-
"Shut it"
An invisible pressure slowly crept on top of me.
It was different from anything I'd felt up till now.
It was as though someone put a giant weight on top of me, pressing down on my chest and limiting my breathing.
A second later, the pressure vanished.
"Time can never flow backwards"
The eyes of Administrator as 'it' spoke those words were bored. They didn't think anything of me. I was a transmigrator, an anomaly in every sense, yet those eyes didn't put a value on any of it.
"Now, shoo shoo, I'm watching this year's class competition of you humans, go take your rewards and don't disturb me anymore."
***
Administrator's pressure had somehow calmed me down.
One could say I was feeling refreshed, but all of it changed after I got my 1st Trial reward.
I looked at my prize of 1st Trial with blank eyes.
"Pffft"
On the other side of the door, the Administrator, knowing what I got, snickered.
"To get one of the most powerful skills from the reward roulette, as you said, you are lucky!"
Reading the description of the skill, only one word came to my mind.
'Useless'
Odd Trials rewards were luck based.
If you chose [Normal] difficulty, you can get a skill, a magic spell, an artifact, art, precious herbs or ores, and something else as your reward after clearing odd-numbered trials.
The reward is similar to drawing a lucky draw where the grade of rewards can go from Normal-grade to Legendary-grade. A Gacha, so to say.
[Hard] can give you anything from Rare-grade to Legendary-grade. For [Expert] it was Unique-grade to Legendary-grade.
Although the drop rates of higher grade rewards were abysmal in lower difficulty, there was a minuscule chance that one might get a Legendary-grade reward in [Normal] too.
This was why Ward had strict rules, that Cadets must choose [Normal] difficulty, if they choose a higher difficulty and fail to clear the Trail, they will be expelled from Ward on the ground of not being able to properly judge their capabilities, a quality that was necessary for Cadets to have as they would be leading the War on frontlines after graduation.
[Singularity] had a 70% chance of giving an Epic-grade reward and a 30% chance of giving a Legendary-grade reward. 30% drop rate might seem less but it was leagues higher than [Normal] that had around 0.01% Legendary-grade drop rate.
'I can't believe there can be such a useless legendary-grade skill'
While moving to the Even Trials Reward room, I read the skill description.
======
[Ignition [Legendary] ]
Ignite your soul! The time has come, mighty warrior! Raise your sword! Even if the enemies are unbeatable, even if all hope is lost, stand your ground at the world's end!
You will not lose as long as there is life in you!
-Increases the damage output of your next attack by 100 times.
-Apply [Immortal Killer], [World Destroyer], and [Indestructible's Bane] enchantments to your next attack.
-Cooldown: 2 years
-Penalty- Death
======
T-This..!
Reading the description made me almost faint from anger.
The skill was useless! I would die once I use the skill!
Which idiot gave this skill a legendary grade?!
"And this cooldown...."
"This is too much! Is System trying to rub salt in my wounds?! How would I reuse the skill if I'm dead?!"
No matter how strong a skill is, it's useless if you die after using it. The only ones who could use this skill would be Demon Kings, they were immortal and were revived every time they are killed.
(My condolences)
'My condolences to you, too.'
(What do yo- crap, wouldn't I die too if you use the skill?)
Cluck-
I came out of the 'ODD TRIAL HERE PLEASE' door and, without looking at Administrator, stood in front of the 'EVEN TRIAL HERE PLEASE' door to take the reward for the 2nd Trial.
However, suddenly Administrator stopped me.
"Take this"
I caught the object Administrator threw and looked at it.
"What is this?"
"Are you blind or illiterate? Tsk, It's a piece of paper with coordinates written on it."
"I can see that much, I'm asking what is at these coordinates, or are you dumb to not even understand that?"
Administrator's eyebrow twitched.
"It's your additional reward, although I can't access your records, from what I saw, you would find some of your answers there."
I nodded.
Additional reward was something that I bought up to get information about the being and my transmigration. In a way, these coordinates were what I wanted.
Memorizing the coordinates, I entered the reward room.
The room was no bigger than the previous one. The only difference was the fact that this room was empty.
This room was used for the 'Even Trials Rewards'.
Including myself, there was one other person here.
"What should I choose? I want to take the sword but I want the other equipments too. Everything prize here is too good to pass up on!"
The person's height, voice, looks, everything about him was unrecognizable.
Nevertheless, I knew who he was.
'Leon'
