Chapter 105
105. Tower of Trials, 14th Floor
[Congratulations. You are the first to clear Floor 13 of the Tower of Trials.]
I shook the sword covered in sticky blood once, slipped it into my inventory, and caught my breath.
The boss of Floor 13 was a deer-human monster named something-or-other Deer, distinguished by its spring-like legs.
Unless you performed its special gimmick, it would race around the boss room at an incredible speed and lay waste to everything around it.
And as always, the gimmick was designed so that I, a solo player, couldn't perform it alone.
With the gimmick on its side, the boss moved at a maddening speed without taking a moment's rest, giving me no chance to deal damage while smashing the boss room to pieces, but—
Well, anyway, I won.
-Click.
I took a screenshot containing the clear message and uploaded it to the open community.
I adjusted it so that the system clock would be clearly visible, in case anyone raised suspicions of tampering.
[Author : Seo Jinhyuk#2661]
[Title : Oh, it's Hyung]
(Image)
Hyung proves it with results
- What the fuck, how'd you do that?
- What the fuck is this? Didn't five minutes pass?
- Hahahahahaha, this is actually possible, holy shit.
- Jinhyuk, I actually believed in you. Please forgive me just this once.
- ㄴ Naked Zero Two has entered the chat lol
- ㄴ All right, let's go lol. You know, no proof means—
- Don't lie, you bastard. This is fake, right? How is that possible?
The challengers who had bet with me were aghast, insisting that this couldn't possibly be real, and started leaving comments at random.
Jeez, haven't they heard the saying, “Don't bet unless you're sure”?
The fact that the Floor 13 boss's gimmick couldn't be performed solo, and that it was extremely difficult without performing it.
So what? What did it matter if the difficulty was abnormal when I, the challenger, was outside the bounds of normal myself?
It was certainly incredibly fast—but aside from getting a little winded from running around, I beat it incredibly easily.
What had this guy said again? That if I killed it today, he would dance the Naked Zero Two in the center of the village on Floor 1?
This guy here had said he would shave his head and post proof if he got it within ten tries.
Ah, and the last guy here said he would hand out cheese pork cutlet lunch boxes to every challenger on his floor.
I guess they had blurted out anything because they thought they had a sure bet. Apparently, they had thought I looked easy enough.
- If you hand out ten cheese pork cutlet lunches, I'll let you put your underwear back on. How about it?
- ㄴ I'll hand out twenty, so may I put on just one more thing, hyung?
- ㄴ Okay, hand out all twenty and post proof.
- ㄴ Fuck yeah, this is it. I'm getting in line right now.
- ㄴ Line
- ㄴ Line
After seeing the board plastered with “Great Jinhyuk” by the challengers who received cheese pork cutlet lunch boxes, I shut off the community.
Ever since I cleared the World Boss raid solo, my fame in the community had soared tremendously.
Naturally, interest in my stats had risen just as high, to the point that people occasionally even started betting on me.
But among the challengers who took an interest in me, not a single one had correctly guessed my stats.
Well, I suppose that was understandable. Who could have imagined it?
Seo Jinhyuk Lv.68 (Warrior)
HP : 1280/1280
MP : 770/770
Strength : 106 (96+10)
Agility : 102 (91+11)
Endurance : 113 (98+15)
Intelligence : 101 (89+12)
That my stats had risen to this insane level.
**
There are two ways ordinary challengers raise their stats: leveling up and upgrading their equipment.
It is possible to raise your stats separately from your level by completing achievements, but that is a distant prospect for ordinary challengers.
Even though the open community is a place for sharing information, the conditions for most achievements are barely known.
Even if you collect whatever achievements have known conditions, the increase is very small compared to the time invested.
The only other way to raise your stats is physical training, which is famous for being almost completely inefficient.
After clearing Floor 9, I deliberately went around looking for hidden bosses in order to complete achievements.
I did things like deliberately not performing gimmicks I was capable of performing, or opposing NPCs I would never normally have had reason to fight.
In the past, I had considered those “unfair bullshit” elements appearing before my eyes extremely unreasonable, but—
Considering that my new goal lay beyond the realm of reason, I needed to seek out unreasonable things myself.
The will to climb the tower, the desire to stop where I was, and hatred and abuse directed at myself.
My circumstances were different from back then, when I had thrown myself into danger without a thought while carrying so many contradictions.
My will and my heart now looked toward the same place. A clear sense of purpose lent that much more strength to my actions.
The result of seeking out every kind of powerful enemy, clashing with them, and repeating my training without fail was these stats. And—
[Weapon Mastery Lv.2] [Combat Awakening Lv.33] [Combat Sustain Lv.31] [Mana Dominion Lv.3] [Mana Reinforcement Lv.3] [Comprehensive Elemental Resistance Lv. 11] [Comprehensive Status Ailment Resistance Lv. 9] [Comprehensive Greater Magic Resistance Lv. 8] [Earth Spirit's Blessing (+Iron Wall) Lv.15] [Wind Spirit's Blessing (+Swiftness) Lv.15] [Lightning Spirit's Blessing (+Conductivity) Lv.15] [Lightning Charge Lv.23 ] [Weakness Insight Lv.8] [Super Senses Lv.7] [Super Regeneration Lv.2] [All-Out Lv.13] [Focusing Lv.11] [Unyielding Lv.17] [Leap Lv. 4] [Meditation Lv. 6] [Intimidation Lv. 2]
-Now my skill list had grown to the point where I couldn't even take it all in at a glance unless I turned on the summary display.
The list had been reduced somewhat because various weapon techniques had been merged into Weapon Mastery, and various passives had evolved into higher-tier skills.
If I turned off the summary and selected the detailed view, the list of resistance skills alone would fill the entire system window before my eyes.
Of course, I still didn't have many active skills, and I had yet to acquire the Warrior class's two remaining divine skills, [Teleportation] and [Aura Mastery], but—
In exchange, as a result of all my training, I had acquired [Mana Dominion], one of the Mage class's three divine skills.
Well, that only meant there was still plenty of room for me to grow—the lack of skills was something to be happy about.
“I still have a long way to go. This isn't enough.”
I checked [Eleanor's Soul] in my inventory one more time, then opened the door leading to Floor 14.
**
Along with the characteristic lurch of spatial transfer, I arrived on Floor 14, whose scenery was more desolate than that of any floor so far.
The sky was bright red, the clouds were pitch-black without exception, and the ground was sulfur-colored, with ominous flames scattered here and there.
On top of that, the air contained a high density of mana, said to put tremendous pressure on mages.
My first impression was exactly as the community had described it. At a glance, the terrain didn't seem all that different either.
The setting of Floor 14 of the Tower of Trials was the Demon Realm.
The homeland of the absurdly overpowered demon race, born with evil mana and powerful bodies from the moment of their birth.
The place where challengers arrived was an area that could be called the entrance to a region of the Demon Realm.
“Oh, is that it?”
In the distance, I saw a huge stone gateway and a red-skinned giant blocking it.
Wings sprouted from its back, two horns jutted from its head, and its eyes were inverted, with black sclera.
It was the demon gatekeeper guarding the entrance to the Demon Realm. This had to be the very one said to have taken the lives of countless first-generation challengers.
To enter the inner Demon Realm, you had to pass through three gateways guarded by gatekeepers like that one.
Naturally, you weren't supposed to break through by force.
Each of those gatekeepers was stronger than a boss, and they were mobs designed specifically not to be overcome through combat.
The first gatekeeper could be passed by offering a pass or a sacrifice.
The second gatekeeper could be passed by solving a riddle.
The third gatekeeper could be passed by solving a puzzle.
You could obtain the pass by completing quests in the outer regions early on, and the answers to the riddles and puzzles were all posted on the community.
It had been an extremely troublesome set of gateways for the first-generation challengers, who had been forced to challenge them blindly without a guide, but—
Now, by looking up the answers and copying them from the community, anyone could pass through easily and collect the experience rewards. It was practically free EXP.
For the record, not only was the method for obtaining the pass the same, but the puzzles and riddles were identical on every run through the tower.
In other words, I could easily get through each gateway without having to rack my brain or complete the quests the hard way.
I headed straight for the gateway, and soon the red demon gatekeeper blocked my path.
“Stop.”
Contrary to its appearance, the demon had a rich, beautiful voice that brought a film actor to mind.
“I am the master of this gateway, Galtram of the Red—and who are you, the one trying to pass through here?”
“Seo Jinhyuk.”
“To pass through this gateway, you require a proper sacrifice. You have brought no sacrifice.”
For the record, the sacrifice it was talking about meant the soul of a living creature. As it happened, I had a fragment of a soul in my inventory.
Of course, I had no intention of giving Eleanor's soul to some worthless thug like this.
Red Demon Galtram crossed his arms and continued speaking as ominous mana poured from him.
“Those who have prepared no sacrifice cannot pass. Do you possess the gateway pass?”
“I don't have one.”
“Without a pass or a sacrifice, you cannot pass through this place.”
I drew my sword, unconcerned by the demon's threat. Naturally, I had intended to do this from the start.
You can't pass without a pass? How about we make a bet?
Let's see whether I really can't pass.