The Retired Max-Level Worker Wants to Rest - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Rewards

TL/ED – Miso

Park Dong-cheol had a dream.

When he was young, he swung a sword. He had talent, and he put in the effort. Thanks to that, he was a prodigy who never missed first place at the national tournament.

It was an ordinary story.

Park Dong-cheol’s family was ordinary, and the family of the friend who placed second had connections to the association. Park Dong-cheol was unfairly pushed aside, and the friend who’d been second became the national team representative.

These things happened.

Even at that young age, he understood he had no power to fight back against the injustice. He didn’t want to give up and cried every night, but there was nothing he could do.

The problem was…….

What came after.

He got angry.

And he overwhelmingly beat that friend in a sparring match.

That was when it started.

His father lost his job. His older brother got bullied at school. He himself got into an accident during a training camp.

That was the message.

They wanted him to disappear entirely.

So he quit the sport.

And that friend became a national team athlete.

……It wasn’t a particularly special story. Just an ordinary one.

.

.

.

Cough-

Park Dong-cheol came to his senses.

He realized there was transparent glass in front of him. One arm was still missing. Even so, the thought crossed his mind that at least it wasn’t his right arm.

And then.

-Your level has increased.

-Your level has increased.

-Your level has increased.

-Please select your reward.

He was Level 15.

And then.

-Trait [Regeneration] has manifested.

That was why.

He was able to get up so quickly.

And when he tried to choose a skill.

-Sword-Body Unity: The mind that becomes one with the sword. It is both a reward and a culmination of the time spent with the blade.

The other two skills.

They looked good too.

One consumed mana to increase stamina and strength. The other infused mana into a sword to dramatically increase its cutting power and durability.

‘This one doesn’t seem to have any stats, though.’

That’s what the description suggested.

But he chose it anyway.

And the next reward.

-A sword.

Of course he picked the sword.

-You have selected the sword.

-You have obtained [Blue Dragon Curved Sword (Unique)].

Unique grade.

What did that mean?

[Blue Dragon Curved Sword (Unique)]

: A combat sword refined from the Joseon-era hwando. Legend says a naval commander in the late Imjin War prayed to the Dragon King and received it as a divine weapon. It grows stronger near water and grants the skill ‘Blue Dragon Slash.’

It was clearly an incredible sword just from the description.

What was Blue Dragon Slash, though-

That was when.

He finally noticed the message Cha Yu-ra had left.

* * *

The Turk.

There was a reason it was called the tin can.

It was a construction robot designed for cosmic battlefields. From mineral extraction to body-blocking, repairs, and construction, this robot had to function flawlessly in any environment.

Multi-layered insulated absorption armor.

EMP phase-shift shielding.

Power regeneration module.

Current-inductive external discharge system.

It was thanks to tech like this.

I swung the electric arrow in my hand.

Bzzzt-!

The approaching Creeds were paralyzed.

The arrow didn’t detonate, so no Creeds actually died, but the paralysis alone was more than enough help.

And then.

‘Why is it charging?’

Okay, fine, that much I could accept.

But then.

Bzzzt.

Electricity was running across the Turk’s outer armor.

Continuously, without fading.

Wham-

When a Creed struck my armor plate.

Thud.

It went limp, paralyzed on the spot.

Was this supposed to happen?

‘Hey, if it works, it works.’

But the breathing room was over now.

“GRAAHH!”

A Basilak’s acid spit grazed right past me!

They had arrived.

The tide of battle shifted instantly. Two turrets had already been destroyed, and the remaining three were under attack from Creeds.

“Yu-ra, Basilaks first!”

-Got it! Thanks for drawing them in!

That hadn’t been intentional.

But if it helped, good.

‘Running away is-‘

Not easy.

There were still too many Creeds.

Over a hundred remained. On top of that, the turrets were melting fast now that the Basilaks had arrived, and escaping was getting harder for me too.

The Cree’vah were even starting to burrow into the ground.

Their spines would shoot up any moment now.

Those were extremely tricky to block.

No, blocking wasn’t even the right word; you had to dodge them, and their range was massive. That meant we’d need to leave this terrain entirely, but-

‘That’s not an option.’

We had to hold out here as long as possible.

As long as the turrets were still operational.

As long as the bunker sheltering Cha Yu-ra still stood.

The problem was the Turk’s durability hitting its limit.

Keeeng- Splat!

Creeds were easy at this point.

The problem was the Basilaks.

CRACK-!

One opened its maw at me.

They sprayed acid to incapacitate prey, then crushed and swallowed it with their teeth. That was what made Basilaks truly terrifying.

But.

Bang-

A round buried itself in that open mouth.

Cha Yu-ra’s shot had hit its mark.

‘Did she run out of arrows?’

Or maybe she was using both.

But this alone wasn’t enough.

I checked the text floating before my eyes.

-First Trial: Brakta Swarm Attack!

-Creeds 85/1,000

-Cree’vah 14/50

-Basilaks 26/30

That was the situation.

Way too many Basilaks.

Cha Yu-ra’s bunker was surrounded by Creeds.

We couldn’t hold out any longer.

“Yu-ra, fall ba-”

I was about to shout that.

-I’m here!

Park Dong-cheol’s voice.

I’d never been happier to hear it!

Had he already recovered?

But then.

“We can’t win this! We need to retreat!”

I shouted.

I’d told Cha Yu-ra to hold the line.

And now I was the one calling for a retreat.

But there was no other choice.

-Hold on!

A brief radio exchange.

A few seconds passed.

Splat-

Something shot past me.

So fast I couldn’t even track it properly.

And then.

Shhhlick-

A single streak of blue light.

An instant later, a Basilak split clean in half.

“……What the hell!”

I was stunned.

A Basilak, of all things.

Light-armor immunity. Meaning nothing short of heavy ordnance could scratch one; you’d need something like a tank to even engage it.

And he’d just cleaved it with a sword.

Like one of those legendary war heroes!

‘Even elite combat troops struggle with those things.’

Park Dong-cheol.

He was missing an arm, but he didn’t stop.

His movements were too fast to follow now. Even on the Turk’s close-range radar, he was just flickering from one spot to the next.

Shhhlick-

Another Basilak, split in two.

One strike per kill.

“Insane.”

Was it even possible to get this strong?

The investment had been worth every bit.

Ping-

One of Cha Yu-ra’s arrows pierced through ten Creeds. Park Dong-cheol’s blade felled yet another Basilak.

Yes. The momentum had shifted to our side.

I wasn’t going to stop either.

“AAAAHH!”

Keeeng- Splat.

Keeeng- Splat!

“…….”

I’d thought I was strong.

Now I was nothing.

‘Am I really the deadweight here?’

Bows and swords.

I had no idea they could be this powerful.

Maybe if I tried using magic-

Crackle! Bzzzt!

One Creed.

A few around it collapsed, stunned.

It didn’t look impressive at all.

‘This is rough.’

The silver lining was.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-Your level has increased.

The EXP from Basilaks was enormous!

That was only natural.

The stronger the monster, the more EXP it gave.

“……It’s over.”

Only a handful remained.

We’d held.

The First Trial.

-Your level has increased.

One more level pushed me to Level 19.

-You have survived the First Trial!

-Distributing rewards.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-You have gained a large amount of EXP.

-Your level has increased.

-Distributing rewards.

The rewards were sweet, as expected.

* * *

Cleaning up the battlefield came first.

Everything else was fine, but having Creed and Basilak corpses littering the areas that needed construction was anything but fine.

They had to be cleared anyway, and if left alone, the rot and stench would be unbearable.

“I can’t believe we actually held that off.”

That was Cha Yu-ra.

She was trudging along.

She dragged three Creed carcasses bound together in one haul. They had to weigh at least several hundred kilograms, but she pulled them without much effort.

The physical growth from leveling up was clearly substantial.

“Dong-cheol, what happened with you?”

“I got Regeneration. That’s why I healed up so fast.”

Same as Cha Yu-ra.

And then.

“Guess I got lucky. A good skill came up, and a good sword too. It’s called Sword-Body Unity, and basically-”

Park Dong-cheol looked genuinely thrilled.

He raised the sword and launched into a full presentation about how he was passionate about the sword, and how you were supposed to swing a sword, and what a sword truly was-

“…….”

“…….”

We shouldn’t have asked.

We spent over three hours clearing corpses like that.

We piled them in the center of the Basin and burned them.

Whoosh-

Incendiary Rounds were great for this kind of thing.

They burned hot and didn’t go out.

It almost felt like a campfire.

And then we naturally moved on to choosing our rewards.

‘What’s available?’

I checked skills first.

These were the skills granted at Level 20.

-Mana Conversion: Convert mana into electricity, and electricity into mana.

“……!”

What was this?

Mana and electricity.

I could convert between the two?

‘If I carry Core Cells around, I can refill my mana, and if there’s no electricity, I can generate it myself?’

Good.

Too good.

It might not give me overwhelming power right away, but Core Cells could be mass-produced as long as I had the minerals.

Just loading a few onto the Turk would effectively mean unlimited mana.

I checked the next skill.

-Mana Operation: Operate mana to increase mana recovery speed, amplify mana output, and expand total mana capacity.

Mana and mana output.

If mana was electricity.

Then mana output was wattage.

Mana in motion became output.

“This one’s good too.”

Obviously useful to have.

But the first skill was too good.

And the third.

-Electric Nova: Consume mana to release a circular blast of electricity. Includes a powerful paralysis effect.

This was good too!

As expected, the skills I’d been using influenced what was offered.

Part of me wanted to learn all three.

‘But…….’

It was about income, as always.

Even now, my level was at least four or five above Cha Yu-ra and Park Dong-cheol. That was because I’d set up my EXP income early on.

‘Same principle applies here.’

Cha Yu-ra must have a large mana pool.

She’d been building it from the start.

Then I should start now too.

‘Mana Operation.’

That was my pick.

Build it steadily, grow the mana pool.

If Mana Conversion showed up again later-

-Trial Reward.

-Additional Skill Card selection.

-Exclusive Item Card.

There it was.

Those two had appeared.

‘Then the choice is obvious.’

Mana Operation.

Mana Conversion.

I learned both skills.

“Done.”

Bzzzt-

Electricity crackled in my hand.

Mana converted to electricity.

To do it in reverse.

‘Reinforce.’

I reinforced the Turk, spending mana.

Then I placed my hand on a nearby Core Cell.

‘Mana Conversion.’

Bzzzt-

Electricity flowed out of the Core Cell.

And I converted that electricity into mana.

‘It’s filling up.’

Mana surged back rapidly.

I had naturally gained electric resistance. Strictly speaking, I was probably converting the electricity into mana before it even touched me.

And then.

‘Mana Operation.’

I closed my eyes and activated the skill.

Mana began circulating through my body along specific pathways. Starting from the lower abdomen, it swam through every corner of my body.

My whole body felt lighter.

Refreshed.

Almost euphoric.

“Hoo-”

After about three full cycles.

My total mana had increased by a tiny amount.

Just a speck, really.

“……Is this right?”

I asked Cha Yu-ra.

“I learned Mana Operation, and the mana gain is this small?”

“……Yeah, that’s why you have to keep at it consistently. But the more you do it, the more it seems to compound, like interest.”

In other words, my mana was low to begin with, so the gains were even smaller.

I needed to put in the work.

And next.

-Exclusive Item Card

I used that too.

This one wasn’t a selection.

It was a fixed reward.

-Mana Battery Crafting Recipe

That was what it gave.

Not an electric battery. A Mana Battery.

And instinctively, I understood.

‘This is money.’

It would obviously be useful right here and now.

I could already convert electricity to mana and mana to electricity. That meant I could charge Mana Batteries myself.

But what if I took this outside?

‘I don’t know what it’s like out there, but.’

The system messages gave a rough idea.

-And that will prove useful in defending Earth.

-Provided you survive, of course.

That was what it had said.

Which meant Earth was no longer safe either, and people with abilities like ours existed out there.

And if I had a lot of money?

I could move up the retirement plan.