“Rabi, while I’m here in the warehouse, what’s it like outside? Does time flow the same? Then am I missing right now?”
“No, it is not so. Just as items from the subspace can be provided to you immediately without any time delay when you request them from outside, you may view it the same way when you enter here and take items out.”
“Uh... then that means... in here?”
“That is correct. This place is a gap between countless fragmented shards of time. While you are inside, time outside flows extremely slowly, and the time ratio between the subspace warehouse and the outside world is fixed at ten million to one. So while you are here, everything outside is practically stopped.”
“...Good Lord... one ten-millionth... So ten million seconds here is one second outside?”
“That is correct.”
“Insane. Then how much is that... ten million seconds is...”
Suho tapped at his calculator.
“That’s about 115.7 days. Heh heh... Then 1,157 days here is... roughly three years, but outside it’s ten seconds? Interesting. I’ll practically live forever.”
“It is not forever. The time ratio is merely acting at a slower rate.”
“I know, I know. I’m saying it’s ‘almost forever.’ Rabi, it’s good that you’re precise, but I think you’re too dull when it comes to human perception.”
“I am not human, though...?”
“Wait, then if I spend a lot of time here, won’t I be the only one who suddenly gets old? While the people outside don’t?”
“That is not so. Here, aging also proceeds ten million times more slowly. And this time ratio within the subspace warehouse applies not only to you, Suho, but to me as well.”
“...Tsk... Well, this is something... Guess I can’t even die when I want to.”
As if infinite wealth weren’t enough, he had nearly eternal time as well...
Was this really a good thing?
He honestly had no sense of how much time he would have to spend with Rabi.
Suho thought he ought to get closer to this kind warehouse keeper if they were going to be together for a long time.
“Rabi, then are you going to live here with me for the rest of my life? From what I can see, I don’t think I’ll be able to use up everything I’ve received before I grow old and die. No, forget using it all up—I’m not even sure I’ll be able to choose and receive all one thousand items.”
Suho pointed with his finger at the baby dragon, who was flapping its adorable wings that, no matter how he looked at them, didn’t seem meant for flight.
“You’re my subspace warehouse keeper, so you’re going to be here until one of two things happens: either I die, or I use up everything I’ve received.”
“That is correct. As long as you are alive, Suho, or as long as any items remain, I must manage this place.”
“Then what happens if I die?”
“Everything you received will return to its proper place in the universe. I will return to my race as well.”
“I see... Anyway, it seems it’s true that we’ll be together for the rest of my life, until I grow old and die. Let’s get along.”
When Suho held out his hand, Rabi approached and extended an adorable front paw, clasping it.
“However, while it is true that I will be with you until the time of your death, Suho, in truth, that will not be my entire life.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Because my lifespan is much longer. The current average lifespan of humans on Earth, to which you belong, is 110 years. You may be able to extend your lifespan by roughly ten times by equipping items that drastically reduce aging or by continuously consuming elixirs, but that is the limit. Even if you were to live a thousand years, it would be only a very short period to us Azure Dragons, whose lifespan averages around one hundred thousand years. You will likely leave first before I even become an adult...”
“Aha... Is that so...”
In that instant, one part of Rabi’s words flashed and lodged itself in Suho’s mind.
“Wait, but what did you just say... How many years?”
“One hundred thousand years.”
“No, not that. You said if humans extend their lifespan, what? A thousand years? Does that mean their lifespan outside, not inside this subspace warehouse, increases tenfold?”
“Yes, that is correct. If one steadily consumes [Elixir of Anti-Aging] approximately once every ten years, extending one’s lifespan to a thousand years should not be particularly difficult.”
“H-how is that possible?”
“To explain it in terms of Earth’s medicine, [Elixir of Anti-Aging] removes reactive oxygen species to prevent cellular damage, dramatically enhances regenerative ability, and improves DNA damage repair, hormone balance maintenance, metabolic processes, and so on, because...”
“Got it. Got it. That’s enough. So, uh, how much of it do you have to drink?”
“Once every ten years, roughly one 300-milliliter bottle by Earth standards.”
“My God... Anyway, you’re saying a substance like that exists in this universe?”
“Of course. Would you like to choose [Elixir of Anti-Aging] as one of the thousand items?”
Suho was astonished.
The items he had received so far had mostly been minerals or solidified things like etherium.
It had never occurred to him that he could receive something in liquid form, and something this magical at that.
If he received it as a liquid, where and how on earth would it be stored?
“W-w-wait... Then does that elixir also appear in an amount the size of a planet?”
“No, it does not. According to analysis, [Elixir of Anti-Aging] has not yet appeared, been observed, or been used on Earth.”
“Of course not... There’s no way something like that would have existed.”
“As I explained previously when generating etherium exceeding S-rank, [Elixir of Anti-Aging] is an unprecedented item on Earth, making it difficult to determine a price based on global market rates, so it is automatically set to the maximum value. Therefore, it will not be as much as a planet, and is expected to be generated in a very small amount.”
“How much is that...”
“One hundred trillion won per milliliter.”
“...That’s an incredible price... Then what’s the total amount?”
“According to calculation... One yang won’s worth of [Elixir of Anti-Aging] at the maximum value is one hundred billion liters.”
“Gah... What, you said it was small. You said it would be generated in a really small amount?”
Rabi tilted his head.
“It is a very small amount. One hundred billion liters is not even as much as the volume of water in a medium-sized lake on Earth.”
“Well... Compared to gold or platinum being generated in planet-sized amounts... Haha... This is driving me crazy.”
Overall, he felt as though his sense of numbers was about to flee the building.
No matter how small one hundred billion liters was said to be, it was enough for the world’s 9.1 billion people to drink almost thirty-seven servings of 300 milliliters each. In other words, it was enough to let the entire world’s population live to at least 370 years old.
“Wait, then are other potions priced like that too? Like healing potions, regeneration potions, ether potions, antidote potions, disease-curing potions... Looking at the potions that come out of the Tower, there seem to be a lot of different kinds. All of those too?”
“Upon confirmation, healing potions, regeneration potions, ether potions, and other antidote, treatment, and resistance potions have already been found in large quantities through the Tower, and since they are actively traded and have established market prices on Earth, they follow those prices.”
“Ah......”
He could choose potions as part of his thousand items!
He thought he should make the remaining categories major potions.
For now, he had to buy this anti-aging or whatever it was, this elixir.
“First, I’ll choose that. The elixir that stops aging.”
“Would you like to receive one yang won’s worth of [Elixir of Anti-Aging]?”
“Yeah.”
“It has been generated. Would you like to move to the corresponding area and check it?”
“Yeah.”
Curious as to what form liquid assets would take when generated, Suho immediately moved to the area with Rabi.
“Whoa...”
There, an enormous, perfectly straight pit had been dug, and inside it, an unidentified rainbow-colored liquid filled it to the brim, gently sloshing.
All the surrounding ground, smooth and hard like marble, held the liquid without a single gap, as though trapping water inside a bathtub.
“I have filled a pit measuring 4,472 meters wide × 4,472 meters long × 5 meters high with [Elixir of Anti-Aging].”
It felt like standing before an enormous swimming pool.
When he scooped up the liquid with both hands, a mysterious light shimmered brilliantly.
“Can you give me just one bottle of this? About 500 milliliters?”
“Yes!”
Rabi immediately placed [Elixir of Anti-Aging] onto Suho’s hand. The rainbow-colored liquid, contained in a transparent glass bottle shaped like a milk bottle, gave off a soft glow.
It seemed like he could lose track of time just staring at it blankly.
“It’s okay to drink this, right? The color doesn’t really look like something edible...”
“I understand it to be colorless, odorless, and tasteless.”
“What’s this bottle? Where did you get it? It’s pretty. Was it something you had?”
“No. I borrowed one of the materials currently stored in this warehouse and carved it into the shape of a bottle.”
Wait... If it was something in this warehouse that looked like glass... No way.
“Don’t tell me, is this...”
“Yes, it is diamond.”
“Kek... Kehek, keh.”
This was just going to drive him insane.
He couldn’t get used to it. He just couldn’t.
After choking and coughing for a while, then calming down somewhat,
Suho downed the 500 milliliters of [Elixir of Anti-Aging] contained in the diamond-carved bottle in one shot.
Gulp—gulp—
There was nothing special about the elixir. It was just like cool plain water.
But its effects were anything but ordinary.
The moment he drank it, an intense vitality coursed through his entire body.
Not the vitality of someone at the tail end of their twenties,
but as though the energy of his lively late teens was surging up within him.
“Hwaa... The effects show up right away! If I keep drinking this on top of itself, won’t I become a baby?”
“That will not happen. Your internal and external physical abilities and metabolism will simply be fixed and maintained at their most active period.”
Phew, in any case, it felt good. Vitality swelled tautly throughout his whole body.
Someone had said it.
In youth, you have no money and cannot enjoy life.
In middle age, you are too busy with work and cannot enjoy it.
In old age, your body hurts and you lack stamina, so you cannot enjoy it.
He had always nodded along, thinking it was true,
but now, and in the future as well, those words did not apply to Suho.
Then did he have everything now?
“Yahahahaha!”
He felt as though he could do anything.
Enjoying his overflowing energy, Suho ran with all his might toward the endless horizon.
Rabi followed behind him, gently flapping his wings.
* * *
The points and cash in the OnTower auction house had started to run dry.
To prepare more money, Suho devised a plan of his own.
As the first step, he called the Tower Management Administration.
Commissioner An Yonggeon, who had somehow become his personal assistant.
There were things Suho wanted to ask of him, and things he wanted to question him about.
The commissioner was so kind that he didn’t show even a hint of annoyance.
Was this the spirit of a public servant?
“No, Commissioner. Didn’t you say you’d keep the fact that I’m an S-rank Admittee a secret? Everyone who’s in the know already knows. Towerpia or whatever knows too.”
— Ahem... Hm, we did try to control it, but there are limits. There are already staff members in the examination room and issuance office, and even before you met me, Suho, there were already people who had encountered that fact. The information has likely spread quite a bit among influential clans and management firms. Still, it’s certain that there are many clans and management firms that still don’t know. Even more so for subcontractors like agencies. The same goes for the general public. In fact, nothing has been reported in the regular news, has it?
That was true, actually.
If the fact that Suho was an S-rank Admittee had been properly reported, every portal would be burning up, and real-time searches would be going crazy. But there had been none of that.
It had merely spread quietly within the industry.
— By any chance... did you contact me because of that matter?
The commissioner was so calm about it that Suho lost some of his steam.
He decided to get to the point quickly.
“No. That’s not why I called... I have something to ask. You know, the ‘temporary tower.’ How do you make one of those?”
— By temporary tower, you mean...
“You know, the imitation tower used to measure whether someone is an Admittee or not. The one in the examination room.”
— Aha, I understand. I was under the impression that your examination was already finished... May I ask why you need to produce a temporary tower?
“As I told you before, even without entering the Tower, my collecting ability manifests near the Tower. So all I need is an environment like the Tower. Instead of going around looking for Towers, I’m thinking of making one in my yard at home and doing some collecting work there.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while.
Then came a voice of admiration.
— Just what in the world... Are you saying something like that is truly possible...?
“Yes, it seems possible. That’s why I’m asking. Please tell me how to make one.”
- Yes, yes, understood. The blueprint... No. I’ll send someone to your residence who can build it directly. Ah, but while the other parts of the temporary tower aren’t that difficult to configure, there is one core component that absolutely has to be included for it to function properly.
“That would be... Etherium, right?”
- Correct. Since it’s an imitation tower that can’t compare to a real tower, the waves it emits can’t possibly compare to those of an actual tower either. Even so, as far as I know, it needs fairly high-grade Etherium to perform its function.
“Oh, really? How much?”
- At minimum, it requires about C-grade Etherium.
C-grade Etherium had a transaction history ranging from a minimum of 300 million to as high as 1.5 billion.
Because its production cost was high compared to its usefulness, imitation towers were neither used nor made anywhere outside the Administration Bureau’s inspection lab.
“Ah, don’t worry. I have plenty of things like C-grade.”
- P... plenty...?
“Yep. Please send someone over for now. Then our address is... Oh, right, you sent security guards anyway, so you already know. Please send them there.”
Suho was about to hang up when the Director urgently called out to him.
- Wait, just a moment.
“Yes?”
- By any chance, have you ever excavated an item called “Star Dust”?
“Star Dust? The auction house is already completely flooded with inquiry posts about that. What exactly is it?”
- It’s a material item. It’s needed to repair a special weapon... They only need a very small amount, but there’s a clan having difficulty with their raid because they don’t have it.
“Oh. So it was a material.”
- Among the metals that make up light-attribute equipment items, the finest is undoubtedly Star-lite. That, too, is an extremely rare material, but it only exists as items generated or dropped within towers, and it has never appeared in the form of any ore or other material.
The only compatible material with the same attribute is Star Dust. It’s the powder of Star-lite. This is an item that can be obtained from towers in material form.
Right now, the Sanarae Clan is attacking a 70-floor tower, but an accident occurred in which their A-grade sword made of Star-lite, [Song of the Stars], broke.
As things stand, continuing the raid is impossible, so they have made an emergency exit, and they are currently looking for Star Dust to repair the sword.
However, Star Dust is also such an incredibly rare material... At the moment, even after searching auction houses all over the world, there’s none available at all. So...
The Director rattled off the explanation rapidly, without even pausing for breath.
It was clear he had some expectations of Suho.
“Hold on. So a sword made of Star-lite broke, and they need Star Dust to repair it, right? Wouldn’t it be better for the repair if they just had Star-lite?”
- That goes without saying, but as I mentioned, Star-lite has never been observed in any state other than as an item.
“Then what if they melt down another piece of equipment made of Star-lite and repair [Song of the Stars] with that?”
- That would be possible, but every single piece of equipment made of Star-lite is a high-grade, extremely expensive item. You can’t find any below B-grade. It would be far too wasteful to melt one down merely for repairs, and I doubt there are any Admity who would offer one up for that purpose.
“Hmm... All right. If I happen to excavate any, I’ll put it up at the auction house.”
- Thank you. Please, I sincerely ask you.
“Yes, yes!”
After hanging up, Suho pondered where to place the imitation tower.
‘I think it was about the size of a refrigerator... Should I just put it inside the house?’
But considering its appearance and the various excuses he would have to come up with, keeping it inside the house felt awkward.
As Suho looked around the corners of his spacious home, he found a side garden.
It was not the main terrace connected to the living room, but a small rear terrace located behind the house.
A small space of about five or six pyeong connected to the guest room.
For now, it was outdoors, and since there was an awning, it didn’t seem like it would be directly rained on.
“Okay, this place is perfect. Well, even if it rains a lot, it should be waterproof. It’s not electronic equipment or anything.”
More conveniently,
and at the same time more seriously,
it was time to try playing the part of a fake Admity and item collector.
‘A metal essential for light-attribute items, huh...’
Maybe the [Forged Ray of Light Ring] he had bought recently was made of that too.
Star Dust...
What would he do with powder?
If possible, wouldn’t Star-lite be better?
Suho called Ravi.