Chapter 16
Indeed, would the True Ancestor climb the Tower of Trials again today?
It is currently one of the biggest interests of people all over the World.
In the news, communities, and various forums, debates over the True Ancestor’s next move continued day after day.
- if they climb on Nightmare Difficulty again and set a new record, they’re a true legend.
- is Korea getting its second Ranker? Damn.
- what do you mean Ranker? At True Ancestor-nim’s level, Rank 1 is totally possible.
Especially in Korea, which was revealed to be the True Ancestor’s nationality.
There were a great many people anticipating a third record there.
Of course, not all the reactions were positive in the Capital.
- everyone stop making such a fuss. Don’t you know the experts said there’s a high chance it’s a restrictive conditional single-target Skill?
- Fr lol. They might not even climb the 3rd Floor since it’s a numbers game.
- it’s so obvious that they’re doing this whole mysterious concept and refusing to communicate just to raise their asking price, right?
- if they go to the Nightmare 3rd Floor this time and their Clear Time drags out, their reputation will plummet, so they’re 100% going to ghost us lol.
Some people were suspicious of the abnormal records on the 1st and 2nd Floors, saying that the 3rd Floor would be the true testing ground that revealed the True Ancestor’s true capabilities.
And then.
Not long after, a post went up on the Hunter Gallery.
<Domestic Hunter Gallery>
[Title: True Ancestor’s 3rd Floor record is up!! Whoa…]
Poster: News Wrecker
<Trial 3rd Floor (Nightmare) Clear Time ranking>
Rank 1 - Jinjo (True Ancestor) / 00 minutes 03 seconds (NEW!)
3 seconds, damn…
- ???????
- 3 seconds????? Is this real?
- Lol fuck, 3 seconds isn’t even enough time to cross the map there.
- Didn’t this True Ancestor bastard awaken a hypnosis Skill as a Unique Skill? They probably just ordered the mobs to commit mass suicide as soon as they spawned. Yeah.
ㄴ oh, that makes sense.
ㄴ even so, 3 seconds would be tough lol.
- Fact Bomber) hmm. In that case, the opinion about it being a conditional single-target Skill is definitely wrong.
[Title: ??: I heard a lot of talk about how I wouldn’t be able to clear the 3rd Floor or whatever]
Poster: Jinjo Worshipper
(An illustration of a rather cool-looking Vampire going 'shh')
3-second clear shut your trap
- great em-pe-ror true an-ces-tor
- yeah, it’s True Ancestor bro. Bro doesn’t speak, he shows it with his actions.
- where did all the kids calling True Ancestor overhyped go? They all burrowed away in the meantime lol.
[Title: What? Heon-gael? What kind of gallery is that?]
Poster: Yes.
From now on, this is the True Ancestor gallery.
- True Ancestor! True Ancestor! True Ancestor! True Ancestor! True Ancestor! True Ancestor!
- sign the petition, hun-bung-is! From now on, the Gallery Master is True Ancestor-nim!
- Haa… I want to get my nape bitten by the silver-haired loli Vampire Bishojo Gallery Master-nim and have my blood sucked dry…
ㄴ what the Hell is wrong with this bastard lol
ㄴ a Vampirism fetish is hardcore.
Another overwhelming achievement that instantly shut the mouths of the doubters.
It was a moment when the World was once again shaken by the name of the True Ancestor.
* * *
At the same time.
“Hunter Baek Eun-seol, have you checked the record that just went up?”
Association President Kim Tae-seong’s voice coming through the phone was trembling slightly.
“Yes. I saw it a little while ago too.”
Baek Eun-seol answered calmly, but she was also greatly surprised on the inside.
“This is… a much more shocking result than the records on the 1st Floor and 2nd Floor.”
Baek Eun-seol agreed with Kim Tae-seong’s words.
The True Ancestor’s 3rd Floor record this time was…
When simply viewed, it increased from 1 second to 3 seconds.
But that wasn’t an issue at all.
Because killing a single-target Boss and killing 200 monsters plus a Boss were on completely different levels.
And yet they managed to do that in 3 seconds?
It had to be seen as an even more overwhelming result than before.
“The experts' hypothesis was wrong. The True Ancestor doesn’t just have a powerful single-target killing Skill. It seems it also possesses an Area-of-Effect Attack capable of wiping out a large number of enemies in an instant.”
“…The more time passes, the more their identity becomes a Mystery.”
She and the Association President conversed a little more, but…
Other than cliché remarks about how surprising it was, or how they had to somehow uncover their identity and make them an ally of the Association, there wasn’t much else to say.
Eventually, the call ended not long after.
“Haa.”
Setting down her Smartphone, Baek Eun-seol let out a sigh.
Her headache was worse than it was yesterday.
Ding.
Just then, a text arrived through the System Message Window.
[Sender: Chris Edwards]
The sender was Chris.
An S-rank Hunter from America, and a 'Ranker' who was ranked 10th in the official global Awakener rankings.
He was also a man famous for his frivolous and slippery personality.
- hey, Icey. It’s been a while.
I was just wondering if you had any information on the True Ancestor (True Progenitor)?
You’re Korean too, so you must have heard something.
The translated message, applied with the Auto-translation Function, continued.
- haha, that guy. He’s not taking my calls at all.
If you happen to know a way to contact him, I’ll make sure to reward you properly.
For example, a 1-on-1 dinner voucher with me. How about it?;)
Eun-seol read the message with an expressionless face and closed the window without an ounce of hesitation.
She left him on read.
Ranker or whatever, strong or not.
She had absolutely no interest in such a frivolous man.
And besides, she didn’t have a way to contact the True Ancestor anyway.
It was a situation in which even the Association and all the prominent big shots and their subordinates clinging to them around the World hadn’t received a single reply.
The True Ancestor was strictly refusing all communication and sticking to their mysterious persona.
In truth, Baek Eun-seol hadn’t even sent a message to the True Ancestor.
There was no way they would answer just because she contacted them, and honestly, she had no desire to exhaustingly entangle herself with such an entity.
Rather than that…
She opened the chat app for the game she frequently played.
[Ice Coffee: You said you were climbing the 3rd Floor, right? Do you want me to send you some newbie items if you need them? I have some extras.]
It was a sentence she had spent a long time writing and erasing painstakingly to make it feel unburdensome.
However, the Read Receipt hadn’t appeared on the chat she had sent earlier.
[…They aren’t reading it.]
Her friend hadn’t logged into the game today.
While she figured they were busy with real life or had something going on, she was also a little anxious on the other hand.
[They said they were climbing the 3rd Floor today. I hope nothing went wrong.]
A monster like the True Ancestor might wipe out Nightmare Difficulty in 3 seconds… but the 3rd Floor could be a dangerous place for a newbie who had just awakened.
There was a reason she was worrying so much about an online acquaintance.
Baek Eun-seol had awakened with the S-Rank Class, Ice Empress, at a very young age.
Her overwhelming talent manifested at a young age, along with her beautiful appearance.
She instantly rose to become a national pop star, seizing wealth and fame.
But the weight of that crown was heavy.
People didn’t treat her as a human being named “Baek Eun-seol”.
Everyone approached her trying to get close with intentions and ulterior motives, looking only at her titles of S-rank Hunter or Ice Empress.
Politicians, conglomerate chairmen, hunters from other guilds…
Endlessly pouring hypocritical goodwill.
And the subtle, clingy, desire-filled gazes directed at her face and body.
Growing up amidst such exhausting and suffocating relationships since childhood, she naturally began to draw a line with cold speech and behavior at some point.
By isolating herself, she treated everyone strictly professionally. She lived without forming any personal relationships.
In the midst of all that.
She met a person in a game that she coincidentally started during her break time.
[Jin-yu: Hi hi, you’re pretty good, wanna duo next game?]
That was her friend with the nickname 'Jin-yu'.
An anonymous opponent whose name she didn’t know or even whether they were a man or a woman.
They also knew absolutely no information about her real life.
It was only after they got close that she subtly let them know she worked in the Hunter Industry.
A friend who approached her without looking at her appearance or the reputation of the Ice Empress.
An ordinary friend who purely enjoyed the game, shared silly jokes, and was easy to talk to.
The only real friend she had made since awakening was one with no strings attached or conflicts of interest.
[I hope nothing happened…]
That was why Baek Eun-seol was currently so bothered by her friend’s absence.
* * *
[Clear Time: 00 minutes 03 seconds]
In the middle of the Cemetery.
I was staring at the System Message.
[It definitely took 3 seconds because there were so many of them.]
I guess the 3rd Floor really is difficult.
The 1st and 2nd Floors only took 1 second, but the 3rd Floor took 3 seconds, which is three times as long.
Still, my Retainers are the best.
3 seconds is still super fast anyway!
With a pleased smile, I checked the rest of the System Notifications.
[The trial 3rd Floor (Nightmare) Clear Reward is being distributed.]
[Reward: Low-grade Health Potion x3, 50,000 gold, Zombie’s Rotten Flesh, Zombie’s Tooth…]
[Your level has increased by 4.]
[You have reached level 19.]
This time as well, it showered me sweetly with gold, experience points, and miscellaneous material items as rewards.
That wasn’t all.
Ding!
[An Additional Reward is distributed for clearing in under 1 minute!]
[You have acquired the item “Book of the Dead”.]
[Oh?]
A new item appeared in my Inventory.
Upon immediate inspection, it was a hardcover book made by stitching together leather of a suspicious material with thread.
[Ew. It feels kind of gross…]
Why does a book look like this?
It’s not made out of human skin or something, right?
Frowning heavily, I took a look at it with my [Appraisal Eye].
However
[Book of the Dead (S)]
[An S-rank Item?!]
You little guy. You were a totally amazing item, huh?
Looking at it again, I think it kind of has a vibe and looks cool…?
Suddenly, I can feel the philosophy in the book’s design.
Anyway, it was already a jackpot that S-rank equipment dropped as a reward on the 3rd Floor of the Tower of Trials.
Is it because of the condition of clearing Nightmare Difficulty in under 1 minute?
Smiling brightly, I checked the rest of the description.
[Book of the Dead (S)]
A grimoire for those who have defied the providence of death.
- upon using the item, all stats of 'Undead'-type summons temporarily increase by 30%.
- Cooldown: 10 minutes
[Hmm.]
Reading the tooltip, it was actually somewhat ambiguous.
[I think this is an item exclusive to necromancers.]
I wondered why it was giving an S-rank Item from the 3rd Floor.
It was because it was a class-restricted item.
It was an Overpowered option that boosted the stats of Undead-type Summons by a whopping 30%, but…
My class wasn’t a Necromancer type; it was Monarch of blood.
Then doesn’t that mean I can’t use it anyway?
Hiss. it might look ugly again.
[…Uh, but wait a minute.]
A thought crossed my mind just then.
[Aren’t vampires ultimately undead too?]
Usually, when you say undead in a game, things like zombies, skeletons, and ghouls come to mind first.
But strictly speaking, vampires are definitely beings that died once and came back to life to live an immortal existence, aren’t they?
[Then could this item’s effect possibly apply to my Retainers too?]
Katarina and si-yeon were peerless beauties who couldn’t be seen as corpses no matter how you looked at them, but since their race was Vampire, they might be classified as undead if I were lucky.
If that were the case.
It meant I could boost the stats of those two, who were already Overpowered, by a whopping 30% more here.
[Wow. Then that’s seriously crazy?!]
I immediately tried to check if this applied.
[Use [Book of the Dead]!]
However, the result was…
[Huh?]
In a direction I hadn’t even imagined.