Chapter 13
*
At 9:30 p.m., at Incheon's White Tower.
“You said the second floor was just full of trash mobs, right?”
After checking that no one was watching nearby, I prepared to enter the Tower.
With a kitchen knife in one hand and a black bag in the other.
“Hmm, I've got everything I need, and the area... looks clear.”
I checked to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything I was carrying.
I had everything with me—the knife, bag, phone, and crown.
There wasn't a single guard around the Tower, either. It was quiet and clear.
“No wonder other races and illegal Awakened run rampant when the Association's surveillance is this lax.”
I gave myself a quick shake to loosen up, then approached the Tower.
No matter how many times I felt this strange sensation with every step closer, I just couldn't get used to it.
Keeping an eye on my surroundings just in case, I slowly entered the Tower.
After passing the familiar sights, I quickly made my way inside.
Fwoosh—
Along with the strange sensation I'd felt before, the scenery around me began to change in an instant.
It was hard to get used to the feeling of this space being cut off from the outside world.
[Confirming user entry.]
[Entering Floor 2 of the Tower at ??? difficulty.]
I was repeatedly clenching and unclenching my fingers, trying to get used to the strange sensation.
A message announcing my entry into the Tower appeared, and the scenery changed again.
Flash—
An unknown, warm light washed over me.
“Ugh… My eyes!”
I hastily covered my eyes against the sudden light.
After being outside at night just moments ago, this brightness was like poison to me.
I rubbed my eyes as much as I could, desperately trying to adjust to the light.
Gradually, my vision returned.
Once I could see, I quickly looked around to assess the situation, but...
The Tower didn't wait for me.
Krrrk—!
‘!!!’
Swoosh—
“Holy shit, that scared me—!”
In an instant, something green and gray flashed past right in front of me.
Judging by the cry, it was definitely a goblin.
But something was different.
‘There’s no way a goblin could move that fast, is there?’
It was noticeably faster than an ordinary goblin.
I immediately drew my kitchen knife and dropped the bag to the ground.
Then I turned to look for the mysterious goblin.
Gradually, I began to make out my surroundings.
“What are those things…?”
I was standing in the middle of a grassland beneath the blazing sun.
Around me, goblins riding what looked like wolves had me surrounded.
“They just showed up out of nowhere. Scared the hell out of me.”
Having quickly assessed the situation, I kept an eye on the goblins around me.
There weren't that many.
About ten of them—or around twenty if you counted the wolf-like monsters underneath them.
‘Appraisal.’
I kept as much distance as possible and took a small step back.
To get a read on them, I used my appraisal ability on one of them.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Goblin Rider Lv. 3
Kreuk—! I'm fast!
Skills
None.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
‘……’
The description was remarkably straightforward.
In short, it seemed to just be a fast goblin.
It had no skills, and its level was low, too.
Kreuk—!
I was still gauging their strength with my appraisal ability when...
One of the riders charged straight at me, as if it had spotted an opening.
It was going about as fast as a bicycle.
I glared hard at the one rushing toward me.
Then I immediately pulled the crown out of my pocket and put it on...
Imagining the creature bursting into flames, I used my skill.
Kreuk?!
Fwoooosh—!
At my signal, the creature charging at me was swallowed up by flames that erupted from its own body.
I'd tried to control the skill so it would leave enough of a body to make a smoothie.
But no matter how carefully I controlled it, the goblin was consumed by flames almost immediately.
“Uh…”
Without leaving behind so much as a trace.
“Looks like I need to be a lot stricter with controlling this.”
My Magic stat had probably gone up, too, but...
The King Slime Crown was gleaming brilliantly on my head.
It seemed to have amplified the power of my skill.
I immediately looked at the goblins hesitating as they watched their companion burn.
The goblins flinched whenever our eyes met.
I already had the upper hand.
“All right, customers. Let's turn you into smoothies one by one.”
Flash—
I immediately charged at the nearest goblin.
Kreuk?!
The goblin tried to move out of the way when I suddenly rushed at it, but...
It was too late.
Slash—!
Kreuk...
In an instant, I cleanly cut through the goblin's neck and the monster it was riding.
Thanks to my increased Strength, the blade cut through without the slightest resistance.
I could really feel how much stronger I'd become.
‘That's one.’
Kreuk—!
I shook the goblin's blood off my knife.
There were eight Goblin Riders left.
I quickly readied myself and looked at the ones glaring at me.
I considered taking care of the goblins all at once with my skill, but...
They might disappear without leaving anything behind, like the first one.
I still wasn't very good at controlling it.
So, swallowing down the slight annoyance, I had no choice but to take their heads one by one.
“It's a little annoying, but it can't be helped.”
After that, nothing much happened.
Most of the goblins were so terrified that I cut them down without much resistance.
The few who managed to get a grip on themselves and attack were easy to deal with by setting their wolf monsters on fire.
Once I'd taken care of all the goblins and wolf monsters...
The familiar reward window began to appear.
[Congratulations on clearing Floor 2.]
[You are the first to clear ??? difficulty.]
[Bonus rewards have been applied.]
[You have acquired 200 g of Low-Grade Mana Stones and 5 Shop Points.]
“Oh, the Tower gives Shop Points as a reward?”
I checked the reward window and immediately brought up the System Window.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Shop.
1. Skill Draw. 1 point.
2. Recipe Draw. 2 points.
3. Item Draw. 2 points.
4. Ingredient Draw. 3 points.
Points remaining: 14
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
“It really did go through?”
I'd gotten points from the Tower.
The unexpected reward left me dumbfounded.
Honestly, I'd thought it would just toss me a few mana stones and call it a day.
But points?
If this was possible, maybe I could even get stat points as a Tower reward.
“I can't wait to see what the future holds.”
For now, I closed the System Window and looked at the Tower's reward prompt.
[Would you like to return to the lobby?]
[Y/N]
Without hesitating, I pressed Y, and...
The Tower's scenery changed, and I returned to the room I was in before.
Then the blue window appeared before my eyes again.
[Would you like to challenge Floor 3?]
[Y/N]
It seemed the Tower had a conscience after all, since it gave me a chance to rest.
If it had sent me straight to Floor 3 without letting me leave the Tower, a string of curses would've spilled right out of my mouth.
For now, I put the Floor 3 challenge prompt on hold and...
got moving to do what I'd come here for.
“Phew—first, let's take care of what I came to do...”
I took out the severed goblin heads I'd brought along in advance.
And the reason I'd brought these was...
“You're all going to become my smoothies today. Aren't you happy?”
To raise my Agility stat.
I'd brought them after reading in the guide that goblins appeared from the Tower's second floor onward.
Looks like that was the right call.
Of course, it was a bit of a pain bringing them all the way to the Tower...
I immediately took out the black bag and dumped everything inside onto the floor.
From the portable blender to the yogurt and ice,
I'd packed it full, without leaving out a single thing I needed.
Some of the ice had melted a little, but I was still satisfied.
“All right, first, the goblin heads...”
I picked up the blender and goblin heads scattered across the floor.
Then I immediately put a goblin head into the portable blender.
Or, I tried to.
“Dammit—why are these big-headed goblins' heads so huge?”
The goblin's head was bigger than I'd expected, so it wouldn't fit in the blender.
What did these things eat? Did all the nutrients go straight to their heads?
They weren't exactly smart, but they sure had ridiculously big heads.
“Good grief...”
I sighed and decided to cut them up before putting them in.
It was a little gross, but...
What else could I do if they wouldn't fit?
I gathered up all the goblin heads and started chopping them up one by one.
Goblin blood and bits of flesh smeared all over my hands, which felt disgusting, but...
I endured it for the sake of my Agility stat and chopped them up one by one.
Their volume shrank in no time.
This looked like enough.
Clunk—
I put the chopped heads, ice, and yogurt into the blender, then closed the lid.
And then...
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind—
I pressed the button, and the blender began grinding up the goblin heads with a vicious noise.
“Ugh—“
As the goblin heads were ground up, a truly revolting smell filled the air.
How could anything smell like this?
This was practically alchemy, not cooking.
Once all the goblin heads had been ground up...
Gulp—
Before me sat a Goblin Head Smoothie (True) that looked even more revolting than the automatically prepared version.
“So it gives me the full stat boost, but the original appearance comes back...?”
It looked absolutely disgusting.
When I'd first tried the automatically prepared smoothie, the chunks had just looked like random bits of something.
Now I could actually see what they had looked like before they were ground up.
Getting stronger was such a pain in the ass.
But it wasn't as if I could just refuse to drink it.
Thinking only of my Agility stat and the rewards I'd get from the Tower later, I lifted the blender full of smoothie...
and brought it straight to my mouth, starting to drink.
Gulp. Gulp.
The awful smell rose up just like before, but the taste wasn't bad.
More than anything, the lingering sweetness was good enough that I could honestly call it delicious.
And so I drank every last drop of the smoothie.
[You have consumed Goblin Head Smoothie.]
[Agility stat increased by 1.]
I even got the reward I'd been hoping for.
And now I just had to repeat this eight more times.