Leveling with the Gods

Inside the dazzling castle.

Two people, Guard and Reed, widened their eyes and opened their mouths.

"Wow..."

"Woah..."

The mouths of the two who had followed YuWon couldn't close.

The garden shimmered with golden light.

All the flowers and grass were golden sculptures.

"Even looking at it again, I can't help but think that this is a huge waste of money."

YuWon shook his head as he gazed at the beautiful sculptures.

What a waste of points.

Odin had turned the Golden Castle into the Tower's most famous tourist attraction and a sacred place where Rankers wanted to be invited, but it was still a squandering.

He wondered how many hundreds of millions of points were spent to build this castle.

The Golden Castle was entirely made of gold. If you wanted to steal, there was no better place to do it.

In fact, the Golden Castle had housed many thieves a long time ago.

Of course.

They were all caught and are still rotting in Asgardian prisons.

Pap.

YuWon moved forward, leaving the distracted Guard and Reed behind.

When they had shortened the distance a bit, they hurried to catch up.

"W-Wait for us!"

YuWon didn't particularly care about the two as they roamed the Golden Castle, as he had mentioned before arriving. They knew not to stray too far from him as getting lost in the Golden Castle would be troublesome.

Swoo~

Suddenly, they felt stares fixed on YuWon from different parts of the Golden Castle. They were all Rankers, and quite high in the hierarchy, which meant they had the necessary qualifications to be in the Golden Castle.

"Did we enter the wrong place?"

"Luporda."

"Who is Luporda?"

"His ranking is 2600, in any case, his rating is quite high."

"L-Look! Over there...!"

"Is that Idun?"

The two whispered quietly as they looked around the Golden Castle.

Every time they looked, they saw familiar Rankers. Although the Golden Castle was open to external Rankers, most of them were from Asgard.

YuWon walked through the corridors of the Golden Castle and turned to face the two.

"Are you going to continue with me or wait here?"

"Where are you going?"

"To see Odin."

"To Odin? Ah..."

For a moment, they stammered, not immediately realizing who he was referring to, and then their eyes widened.

"A-Are you referring to King Odin?"

Odin.

The King of Asgard, the most powerful Mage and Warrior of all time.

YuWon was saying that he was going to meet him.

"I have his invitation. It shouldn't be difficult to meet him."

Although the Golden Castle Plate was given to him by Thor, it was actually an invitation from Odin.

As long as he had it, it wasn't difficult to meet Odin. The whole point of traveling to the 64th floor in the first place was to meet him.

"Are you coming with me?"

"Well, for me..."

"In my case, I'm fine, I'll wait here."

"Me too."

Guard and Reed waved their hands and took a step back.

As if it were a signal, YuWon nodded and continued down the long hallway.

He knew where Odin's quarters were.

He hadn't traveled all over the Golden Castle in the past, but he had come here a few times to meet Odin.

There was a certain modesty in public.

There was majesty in Odin.

The kind of majesty that a King of a Great Guild, of a nation, should have.

But that majesty was just for show, and that wasn't his true nature.

Step-.

YuWon's steps halted in front of a small door.

As befitting a Golden Castle, even the door was made of gold, but it was more plain than the rest of the room.

There were no guards or escorts.

It was natural.

For the God Odin, there was nothing more useless than an escort.

Tak.

"I will enter."

YuWon knocked on the door, then pushed it open and entered.

Hwak-.

As the door opened, a fragrant grassy scent that tickled the nose was felt.

It was the only life felt within the completely golden castle, which was so rigid and hard.

The room was completely covered in green, and though it was quite spacious, it was difficult to find a place to step because of the abundance of stems and leaves.

"Who are you?"

YuWon discovered an old man who was watering the plants with soil in his hands.

His broad shoulders and robust body were hidden by a tunic with wide sleeves.

If it weren't for the wrinkles on his face, it would have been difficult to recognize him.

"This is Kim YuWon greeting Odin, the Great King of Asgard."

"Kim YuWon?"

Odin stopped watering the plants and stared at YuWon.

Odin's expressionless face was terrifying. There were no shortages of rumors about him in the world.

Some said he was a tyrant, others a gentle saint.

It was impossible to know which was true, but he also did not show his feelings in his facial expression.

"The plate?"

"Here."

YuWon extended the Golden Castle Plate in his hand.

Odin took it and nodded. He put it in his pocket and asked.

"But how did you know this was my chamber? No one but my sons and Heimdall knows that this is my chamber."

"I could smell Yggdrasil."

"Why are you speaking informally?"

Immediately after YuWon spoke, Odin's expression tightened.

It was a way of speaking he hadn't heard in a long time. Most Rankers would bow their heads and not even dare to look him in the eyes.

But...

"You are the King of Asgard, not mine."

It was something familiar to YuWon.

"A brief courtesy greeting to the king as gratitude for the invitation is enough, right?"

True to his word, YuWon bowed, introducing himself as politely as he could in their first encounter.

It was an etiquette that Asgard's Rankers showed when meeting Odin for the first time.

But that was gratitude for the invitation to the Golden Castle.

"This, then, is it right or wrong in terms of etiquette..."

"I don't know, what do you think?"

"Indeed."

Odin smiled satisfied at the admission.

King Odin.

He didn't bother with formalities. He thought that courtesy was shown in the meaning and action of words, not in tone. Formalities were something that others, who dealt with him, should show.

"I like your personality. Young people these days are so stiff and boring."

Tsk-.

Odin snapped his fingers.

At the same time, a plant stem moved, forming a green chair and table.

"There is nothing here but the Yggdrasil stem, and nothing to drink but its sap."

Kik-.

A cup taken out from the inventory was filled with the plant's sap. Odin quickly made it drinkable and handed it to YuWon.

"It may seem disgusting, but it's good for the body. Drink it with relish," Odín said.

"Is it like a diluted Yggdrasil potion?" YuWon gulped down the sap Odín handed him.

And then...

[You have consumed 'Yggdrasil Sap']

[Arcane Power has increased by 1]

A stat point increased in an instant.

Yggdrasil Sap.

It was given to him as if it were nothing, but it was a potent elixir.

An elixir worthy of being compared to a life elixir.

If someone who knew about the existence of Yggdrasil were to learn about this room, their eyes would widen.

"You drank it well, and you don't seem very surprised," Odín commented.

"Probably because I've eaten many things that are good for my body."

"Of course. As the winner of the Murim Competition, you were given that famous pill, right?"

Odín looked at YuWon and then asked, "Have we ever met before?"

It was a direct question.

When YuWon didn't answer immediately, Odín gave him a meaningful look and continued, "You know this room. And Yggdrasil as well."

Odín's chamber was a highly classified secret.

The room where the roots of Yggdrasil grew.

If its existence were known, Valhalla would become the stage for a great war.

"And I, too..."

Odín also felt as if it wasn't their first meeting.

No.

It wasn't just a feeling.

"You..."

Odín became convinced by the faint scent he detected from YuWon.

"You used the Clock Movement to come here."

YuWon's eyes sparkled at the response.

He had tried it just in case, but it turned out to be true.

"Regardless of who goes back in time, if I encounter you again, I will recognize the existence of the Clock Movement."

It was a statement filled with confidence.

Chronos had ignored the possibility, but Odín seemed to have great confidence in his knowledge of the Clock Movement.

And it made sense.

After all, even though Chronos created the Clock Movement, it was Odín who had studied it for a long time.

Odín had been contemplating the existence of the Clock Movement in his mind for a long time.

Although it was just a thought, he never doubted that the Clock Movement would one day be completed.

"So you've completed it, then. How did you do it, and why are you here?" Odín was intrigued.

But there was no answer.

"I can't speak," YuWon replied.

Odín's expression furrowed.

"Why not?"

"Because you asked me not to."

"...Me?" Odín seemed confused by the statement.

Why would he have told him something like that?

"If possible, don't answer my questions. No matter what they may be."

Odín was very distrustful of his past self.

"Perhaps then, I would think for myself and act on my own."

He was more than qualified and capable of doing so.

He was the most powerful person in the Tower, the one who could single-handedly change the fate of the Tower.

But still, Odín distrusted his past self.

"No matter how good I was back then, I'm not as good as I am now."

It was true.

And that's why Odín spoke again, this time clearly.

"And probably, the person I was then and the person I am now think very differently."

That's why YuWon couldn't tell Odín what he knew.

About the upcoming war with the Outer Gods.

About Ragnarok.

And about the death of his son, Baldur, whom he deeply loved.

And luckily, Odín wasn't that foolish.

"If I said that, there must be a good reason."

Precisely because he believed so much in himself, YuWon's words convinced him.

He didn't know what the future held, but he knew that if it was his choice, he would have a good reason.

But then something strange happened.

"So, why have you come to see me?"

The reason why Odín invited YuWon was because he thought he might be a player who had returned to the past using the Clock Movement.

And as expected, YuWon responded to his invitation and arrived at the Golden Castle.

Odín assumed it was because of the Clock Movement.

Any player who had traveled to the past thanks to an object made by him would want to meet him.

But that wasn't why YuWon had come to him.

"I need to tell you something."

In response to YuWon's words, Odín nodded with an understanding look.

As expected, his future self was trying to convey a message through YuWon.

"What is it that you have to tell me?" Odin asked with an interested expression.

But when YuWon continued speaking, Odin's expression changed dramatically to a very grim one.

"I want you to start the Ragnarok," YuWon said.