Chapter 18: The Deal with Heimdal

The Garden of the Gods was peaceful.

No.

It was boring.

The sound of flowing water.

A harp playing somewhere.

The sweet aroma of fruit.

Everything was a perfectly harmonized paradise.

But for Heimdal, the God of the Typhoon, that silence was genuine torture.

He rested his chin on one hand while swirling a cup filled with nectar.

The golden liquid gently swayed.

‘How quiet.’

At the end of his thoughts, a single figure appeared.

Rag.

The guy who had swallowed his typhoon and then had the audacity to propose a deal to him.

— When I climb the tower, the first thing I’ll do is seek out the great ruler of all things, Heimdal.

That was exactly what he had said.

He had guts.

And he had also proven his ability.

After all, he had destroyed an entire Sanctuary and become the owner of Floor 1.

However, he hadn’t heard anything about him since then.

The only thing he had heard was that he had become the owner of Floor 2 thanks to Caligo’s death.

After that, the boy had remained as quiet as a dead mouse.

“Heimdal.”

Someone called him.

He turned his head.

It was a god dressed in a green robe.

Partagos, a supreme-ranked god who ruled over forests and earth.

“What is it?”

“That Seed. Rag, was that his name?”

The god sat down across from Heimdal.

Curiosity and mockery mixed in his eyes.

“Do you really think that guy will make it all the way here, where we are?”

Instead of answering, Heimdal took a sip from his cup.

Partagos continued.

“You know as well as I do what kind of place this tower is.”

The tower was so stagnant that it had already rotted.

A structural contradiction.

The rich became richer and the poor became poorer.

For a god from the lower floors to ascend, he needed an enormous amount of Prosperity.

To increase Prosperity, he had to develop his floor.

And to develop his floor, he needed Nectar.

The problem was that there was practically no way to obtain it.

That tiny handful of Nectar they handed out every thirty days?

How was anyone supposed to build structures or create an ecosystem with that?

“There is a limit to what one person can do. Even in a thousand years, he won’t get past Floor 20.”

Partagos shot him a suggestive look.

“Are you supporting him in secret? Are you sending him large amounts of Nectar?”

According to him, there was no other explanation for why Heimdal was so calm.

Heimdal chuckled.

He shrugged as if the idea were ridiculous.

“And why would I do that?”

“…Huh?”

“He’s a guy with 0 affinity for catastrophes. Someone who doesn’t possess even a trace of natural authority. Why would I support him?”

It wasn’t a lie.

Rag’s affinity had been classified as “Nothing.”

“Really? Well, I suppose someone with your personality wouldn’t do charity work.”

Partagos nodded with a somewhat awkward expression.

Heimdal stood up.

“Don’t worry about it. If he climbs, he climbs. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t.”

He waved a hand dismissively.

But inwardly, he was thinking something else.

‘Though I am curious.’

It was true that he wasn’t supporting him.

Rag was completely broke.

The 100 Nectar he had received upon advancing from Floor 1 to Floor 2 was probably his entire fortune.

With that amount, he could barely afford to put some grass in the yard.

He could easily imagine the boy’s desperation.

‘Should I go see him?’

A sudden urge struck him.

And honestly, he could understand it.

He had been pushed to Floor 2 so suddenly.

It was natural for him to be disoriented.

Even Heimdal had gone through a similar phase.

Of course, he didn’t have time to go looking for him.

‘Maybe I should go give him some advice.’

If he left him alone, he’d end up starving to death.

He could teach him how to properly develop a floor and, if necessary, even give him a bit of Nectar.

He could consider it an investment.

Heimdal left the garden.

He stood before a spatial teleportation gate.

Destination: Floor 2.

Wooooong!

The magic circle glowed.

His vision inverted.

‘I’m here.’

Heimdal opened his eyes.

And then tilted his head.

“…Huh?”

There was nothing.

Literally nothing.

No buildings.

Not even a single tree.

There were no monsters, water, or wind.

Only an endless stretch of white land.

A barren wasteland wrapped in silence.

“What is this?”

Heimdal looked around.

For a moment, he thought he had gotten the coordinates wrong.

However, the system clearly indicated that this place was Floor 2.

Then was it because of a lack of Nectar?

No matter how scarce it was, with 100 Nectar, one could at least plant a few saplings.

When someone became a god for the first time, it was normal to want to experiment with different things.

At the very least, there should have been some grass.

“Tsk.”

But this was already too much.

After thinking for a moment, Heimdal came to a conclusion.

‘He hasn’t even touched the place.’

A sense of disappointment crossed his mind.

Abandonment.

He had given up from the very beginning.

***

I couldn’t close my mouth.

I counted the numbers again.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand…

One million.

‘They’re saying they’ll give me one million Nectar for a single Fragment of the Broken Golden Law.’

The scale was completely different.

I had just confirmed that a Myth-rank piece of equipment was worth only 5,000 Nectar.

That meant a single fragment had the same value as two hundred pieces of Myth-rank equipment.

‘This is incredible.’

I swallowed hard.

Of course, that exchange hid a fatal trap.

There was a “sell” button.

But there was no “buy” button.

In other words, once converted into Nectar, I would never be able to recover the fragment.

‘Could it be that only I possess Fragments of the Broken Golden Law?’

The question arose immediately.

I had obtained those fragments solely as tutorial rewards and hidden rewards.

Furthermore, I had never seen any other god use them.

At most, I had only heard about Nectar.

There was a high probability that they were items that didn’t exist in the normal reward tables or ordinary shops.

If that was the case, I couldn’t sell them lightly.

They were the only key that allowed me to manifest my power on Earth.

‘I’ll leave it for later.’

I closed the exchange house window.

Then I took another item out of my inventory.

The hidden reward from Episode 2.

It was the Heart of Extreme Cold.

A ring crafted from transparent ice crystal.

The cold it emitted made my fingers go numb.

I stared at the ring intently.

Ding!

[Item: Heart of Extreme Cold]

[Rank: Mythic]

[Type: Ring]

[Base Effect: Mana +100]

[Special Effect (1): Grants 50% immunity to ice-element damage.]

[Special Effect (2): Increases the power of ice-element attacks by 50%.]

[Special Effect (3): Freezing Wave. Attacks have a chance to inflict the Frozen status on the target.]

[Special Effect (4): Frozen Thorns. When hit, reflects powerful ice damage back to the attacker.]

“Ha.”

Even after seeing it again, an incredulous laugh escaped me.

It was a Myth-rank item, after all.

None of its options were wasteful.

100 mana points, ice immunity, increased power, and special effects for both offense and defense.

‘And they want me to sell it for 5,000 Nectar?’

It was insane.

No matter how badly I needed money, I would never gut the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Without hesitation, I slipped the ring onto the index finger of my left hand.

That was when—

Wooooong!

Space vibrated.

Someone appeared.

And with him came a pressure so overwhelming that it seemed to crush the air itself.

— Grrrrrr…!

Angragon, who was on my shoulder, let out a squeal and hid against my chest.

He was trembling like a leaf.

For a creature known as the Dragon of the Great Catastrophe to react like that.

Shiiing.

Beside me, the Holy Sword, Abriel, made her blade vibrate.

Even Seria raised her bow while her face turned pale, though her fingertips trembled slightly.

It was instinctive fear.

A superior predator had appeared, one they could not challenge.

I raised my head.

The white ground cracked apart, and from that fissure, a man emerged.

‘Heimdal.’

The God of the Typhoon.

And the person who had brought me here.

He stood with his arms crossed, looking down at me.

“It’s okay.”

I stroked Angragon inside my arms.

I also signaled Seria with my eyes.

It was an order for her to lower her weapon.

Resisting would be pointless.

‘I should have gone first.’

I had promised him that I would seek him out as soon as I arrived in the tower.

I thought I would have a little more time.

I never imagined he would come personally.

I stood up.

Then I bowed deeply at the waist.

Now was the time to be humble.

“I apologize.”

I spoke in the most respectful tone possible.

“I couldn’t visit you sooner due to circumstances. I just advanced, and I had many things to organize.”

Perhaps because my attitude had changed, Heimdal’s frown relaxed slightly.

The killing intent disappeared.

But his eyes remained sharp.

He looked around and clicked his tongue.

“Many things to organize?”

His tone was clearly sarcastic.

“There is absolutely nothing here. What exactly have you been organizing? Don’t tell me you’ve given up.”

There was disappointment in his voice.

After all, from his perspective, it looked like I had abandoned everything.

I shook my head.

“I was planning how to develop this place.”

“Planning?”

Heimdal laughed.

He stared at me before speaking as though he were giving me a lesson.

“Remember this. The first thing you must do is develop your floor.”

“…”

“You must create an ecosystem and increase the floor’s rank. Only then will the amount of Nectar the system provides also increase.”

So floors had ranks as well.

It seemed that creating ecosystems and properly developing territory granted additional benefits.

Pretending ignorance, I asked,

“Is there any other way to obtain Nectar?”

“Are you asking me to instruct you?”

“Yes. Please teach me. I want to obtain more Nectar and do it faster.”

My words made Heimdal’s eyes shine.

Ambition.

He liked ambitious people.

With his hands behind his back, he spoke arrogantly.

“There are three main methods.”

He raised one finger.

“First. Gather believers in the lands of Asgard, outside the tower.”

Believers.

The foundation of every religion.

“Grant them territory and guarantee their safety. Then select among them those who will serve as sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices?”

“Offer them upon a sacrificial altar and have them willingly consume themselves in sacred flames.”

Heimdal spoke those horrifying words as though they were the most natural thing in the world.

“The faith they release while burning alive is refined and converted into Nectar of the highest purity. It is the most efficient method.”

…Madness.

Turning living people into Nectar?

I felt nauseous.

But I kept my expression under control.

This was the world of the gods.

Their morality was different from that of humans.

To Heimdal, mortals were nothing more than livestock or resources.

“Second.”

He raised a second finger.

“Conquer dungeons. New dungeons constantly appear throughout Asgard. Conquer them and claim those lands as your own. If you extract the dungeon core, you’ll obtain a good amount of Nectar.”

That sounded better.

Hunting and conquering.

It was exactly what I did best.

“And third. Climb the tower.”

Heimdal pointed toward the sky.

“Make your floor powerful and raise its rank. Then challenge the owner of the next floor and defeat him. The higher you climb, the more Nectar you’ll receive.”

The law of the strongest.

The safest method.

And also the most dangerous.

To me, it was the most appealing.

“Those are the three most reliable ways to obtain Nectar. Do you understand?”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

When I nodded, Heimdal seemed satisfied.

He was about to turn around when he stopped.

He seemed to remember something and added,

“Oh, right. Let me give you some motivation.”

The corner of his lips rose.

“If you manage to raise this wasteland to Rank A or higher…”

“…”

“I’ll gift you one of the Divine Relics I treasure most.”

A Divine Relic.

Equipment of the gods.

Something that existed in a completely different category from Myth-rank items.

And if it was an item treasured by Heimdal, it might be even better.

That immediately caught my interest.

And very much so.

“Of course, it won’t be easy.”

Heimdal smiled.

“At a minimum, it’ll take you several decades.”

Several decades?

I raised my head and looked him straight in the eyes.

“You can look forward to it.”

Heimdal showed an amused expression.

“Good. I’ll look forward to it.”

Whoooooosh!

Heimdal disappeared along with a gust of wind.

When that overwhelming presence vanished, Angragon finally poked his head out.

Seria let out a long sigh.

I shrugged.

‘He just solved one of my problems.’

I opened my inventory.

‘Fragment of the Broken Golden Law.’

I took one out.

Even a single fragment could be exchanged for 1,000,000 Nectar.

Several decades?

Please.

‘I’ll show you what true capitalism means.’

Ding!

[The Fragment of the Broken Golden Law ×1 will be exchanged for 1,000,000 Nectar.]

I pressed the exchange button.