Closed Beta That Only I Played

Then a message rang.

[You have entered the auction place.

-You can’t sell or purchase your items.

-When you succeed in selling, you have to pay 1% of the sales price. You don’t pay the fee when you buy items.]

‘Item search.’ I had already used it before. So I immediately started searching for the items because I had nothing to sell for now, except for the Ice Emperor’s Guardian Sword.

I have no intention of selling it. Every time the cooldown for the “God of Enhancement” is over, I will try to enhance it again. I plan to equip the guardian sword after achieving Level 700, and the Myth grade weapons that might have already turned into 3+ or 5+ despite Safety Enhancement 0. I smiled, thinking like that. Then a message rang. f𝐫ee𝘄ℯ𝚋no𝐯𝐞l.c𝘰m

[Item search]

When the search bar appeared, I entered Level 100 and chose main stats in Intellectual Power, ‘rare’ in grade and 3 in the minimum enhancement, then started the search. Several items were searched. So, I chose the items with the highest trading frequency rate for selling later.

[+3 Cydin’s Robe (Rare)

-This is an item set created for beginners who are newly introduced to the wizard by Cydin, the chief craftsman of the Cydin Magic Workshop.

-The set consists of a robe, pants, gloves, and boots. There are additional effects when you wear it with a set.

: 2 sets: additional increase in Intellectual Power by 5.

: 3 sets: additional increase in Intellectual Power by 10.

: 4 sets: additional increase in Intellectual Power by 15.

-You can wear the set when you are Level 100 and above.

-Effect.

: Intellectual Power increases by 12.

: Willpower increases by 5.

: Health increased by 2,000.

-Physical Defense: increases by 77, Magic Defense: increases by 165.

-Durability: 11,700/11,700]

[+3 Cydin’s Pants (Rare)

-This is an item set created for beginners who are newly introduced to the wizard by Cydin, the chief craftsman of the Cydin Magic Workshop.

-The set consists of a robe, pants, gloves, and boots. There are additional effects when you wear it with a set.

: 2 sets: Additional increase in Intellectual Power by 5.

: 3 sets: Additional increase in Intellectual Power by 10.

: 4 sets: Additional increase in Intellectual Power by 15.

-You can wear the set when you are Level 100 and above.

Effect.

: Intellectual Power increases by 10.

: Willpower increases by 4.

: Health increases by 2,000.

-Physical Defense: increases by 45, Magic Defense: increases by 131.

-Durability: 9,600/9,600]

[+3 Cydin’s Gloves (Rare)

Since I was above average in the Status bar, I was not that satisfied with the item sets of Cydin. But I bought them all because they were excellent compared to my current items.

[To purchase four items, a total of 293,600 golden rings are required.

-Would you like to buy them?]

I immediately clicked on the purchase option. Then I left the auction house right away.

Buying weapons? I thought about it while coming here, especially the weapons that I would use later. Although I didn’t mean it, I decided to use the sword to get used to it anyway.

And a sword was in the inventory, which was the +3 strong longsword.

After exiting the auction house, I stopped by a grocery store and disposed of the miscellaneous items I collected in the Golem Habitat and ant caves.

‘Then, am I ready now?’

I moved to the Teleport Zone with a lighter heart than before to hunt monsters again.

***

Late at night, several VIPs led by Chairman Junghan Kim of Daesung Group gathered in one place because of the report they received today. After checking the report in hand, sitting at the head table, Chairman Kim opened his mouth, looking at the participants sitting on both sides.

“Is this for real?”

“It seems that the report is true. All eleven members have made consistent statements. Of course, they might have been duped by someone falsely claiming he’s the operator, but what’s written in the report is all true.”

Sokju Han, the 4th branch manager, responded immediately. Actually, he had interviewed the eleven for almost five hours, as they claimed they were all killed by the operator.

Chairman Kim asked back immediately, “Did you record the incident?”

“Well, they stated that they were so absentminded that they couldn’t.”

“Eleven of them were there, but not one of them recorded it?”

“No, sir.”

“Tut, tut. How stupid!”

Clicking his tongue, Chairman Kim looked back at the report that he put down. Whatever the reason, he could not ignore the appearance of the operator lightly, even if it was a fake or if they were a scammer.

“They couldn’t identify the face of the alleged operator because he was wearing the ragged clothing befitting beginners…” Chairman Kim repeated in a low voice.

Hearing it, the 3rd branch manager who interviewed the eleven with Han stated,

“I think the guy was quite powerful, so much so that except for the tank, the others could not survive his triple-threat. Besides, even the tank could stick it out not because he was strong, but because he was outside the attack range.”

“Well, the eleven are between 290 and 350 in levels anyway. Is it difficult for a strong player to beat them all?”

“Well, if the guy is exceptionally strong, he can beat them easily. However, I want to tell you that there are very few strong players who, wearing such items as ragged clothing, hang around the Level 300 hunting grounds. Actually, there is no such strong man as far as I know.”

“Then is that guy really the operator?”

“Well, it’s more likely that he is not. But what the alleged operator told them was very significant,” the 3rd branch manager said.

“Are you talking about the first part of the report?”

Since Chairman Kim already read the report, he knew which part of the report was significant.

In fact, Kim himself felt that section of the report was very unusual.

“Yes, sir. I think if he is that strong, he must have lots of experience. Perhaps he is an old user who participated in the closed beta.”

“You bet. He might have lied when he said it was his first time, but based on the intelligence unit’s reconstruction of their interviews with the eleven from the beginning, they have produced a hypothesis,” Chairman Kim’s chief secretary Insu Jang said, following up on the 3rd branch manager’s words.

Looking at Jang, Chairman Kim asked, “What hypothesis?”

“The hypothesis is that the guy is the real operator and he has been using that character from the beginning.”

Jang paused for a moment and checked the expressions of the participants including Chairman Kim, and then continued, “He even apologized at first to the eleven who acted quite rudely to him. He also bowed to them, although what he had done was ungentlemanlike, it’s pretty common in this game. Do you think his behavior is common?”

“Hmm…”

Several participants stroked their chins after hearing Jang’s explanation. Obviously, the alleged operator’s behavior was not common.

“He is a strong player. With 3 AoE skills, he killed the users at Level 300 all at once.

To be honest, he used only two, not three. I haven’t seen a strong player be so polite to the weak until now.”

“…”

“…”

Not only Chairman Kim but also the other participants didn’t refute Jang’s statement because they agreed with him. Given that the phrase “power dominates all” is regarded as the truth in the gaming world, Jang’s words could not be more true.

“Of course, it’s a hypothesis with a low probability, but I still think it’s not bad to keep it in mind.”

“Good. Take the eleven idiots and search for that man. A guy with white hair is not common. If he really is the operator, it’s not bad for us to approach him first. We might obtain a hidden card.”

“Sure, sir.”

“Let me follow up immediately.”

With everybody nodding, Jang looked at Chairman Kim as if he had something to say.

Sensing it quickly, Kim said with a nod, “Just go ahead.”