Chapter 56
A few days passed.
In the meantime, I kept repeatedly clearing Floor 24 of the tower.
Those were days of diligent plunder and exploitation.
It was boring, but the results were undeniable.
I sat cross-legged in the middle of the basement and closed my eyes.
The first thing to check was the changes in my body.
Swoosh.
At my will, the boundaries of my body crumbled.
My body was turning into a sand statue in an instant.
The transformation spread past my lower body, swallowing my waist and abdomen in no time.
The sensation of sand stopped just below my solar plexus.
That meant I could now turn more than half of my body into sand.
But my chest and head, the most important parts, still couldn't be sandified.
“Still, this is enough.”
Satisfied, I released the sand transformation.
Suddenly, curiosity struck me.
What would happen if I could sandify my entire body?
Would I become an immortal being then?
There was no way to know right now.
Curiosity pulled me forward more than fear of the unknown.
“That was an unexpected gain.”
The mysterious mineral I had obtained on Floor 24.
I decided to call it Moonstone. Even though it didn't actually come from the moon.
Moonstone perfectly fused the other minerals mixed into my body and expanded the capacity of my vessel itself.
Thanks to that, the kinds of minerals I could ingest also increased.
A spare one or two slots had opened up.
“No need to rush yet, right?”
But I didn't immediately go off to find and eat another new mineral.
I planned to leave this precious space open for when I found something truly special later.
After checking my body, I got to my feet.
Then I looked toward one corner of the training ground.
There, a small pile formed from days of backbreaking labor was stacked up.
Pinkish metal lumps.
They were Orichalcon.
“Five tons...”
I muttered under my breath in front of the mountain-like Orichalcon pile.
More than enough to exceed the amount needed to fully let my body absorb Orichalcon's properties.
Even seeing it with my own eyes, it still didn't feel real.
A map much larger than everyone else's.
The result of mobilizing dozens of sand clones and kobold slaves in a place like that.
It was a mining output only I could achieve.
It was enough to make me dizzy.
If I sold all this, how much would it even be?
“Mithril is a little disappointing, though.”
But the amount of mithril was pitiful.
With what I'd gathered so far, I'd barely reached half of the amount I needed.
“Well, I'll be able to fill it eventually.”
I decided not to worry about it too much.
After all, the tower would keep going up, and maybe there were floors higher up where mithril appeared in abundance.
There was no need to rush.
After one last look over the mineral pile, I left the training ground.
***
I half-slumped into my chair, my body sore, and habitually turned on the computer.
Without hesitation, I logged into Hunter Gallery first.
The cancerous parasites that ate up traffic welcomed me once again.
[300% let's go lol]
[What do you think about jumping in now?]
[We're going to a new all-time high, kyaa lololololol]
[Why go to the tower? You can just do coins]
[Money gets duplicated. Don't you get it?]
Today's gallery was plastered with nothing but coin and stock talk.
No matter how many pages I turned, it was hard to find anything else.
“Ugh, is this Hunter Gallery or Stock Gallery?”
I wrote a post full of irritation.
Someone commented right away.
ㄴ People don't actually talk about stocks in Stock Gallery, though?
ㄴ On Hunter Gallery, we spin stock bait, and when we're bored, we go to Stock Gallery and spin hunter bait.
“Sigh, you guys are hopeless.”
Reluctantly, I started skimming what people were talking about.
I wanted to find out why everyone had suddenly started talking about coins.
There were lots of complicated posts, but the gist was simple.
Recently, the prices of rare minerals from the tower had gone up.
As a result, mineral-related stocks and coins were skyrocketing.
People pointed to various reasons for it.
The leading theory was that several giant Chinese guilds were buying up every last bit of supply hitting the market. And the background behind this hoarding was even more complicated.
But the difficult political and economic issues just gave me a headache.
I glossed over that part.
There was only one thing that mattered.
The price of the Orichalcon I had stockpiled had gone up too.
However, what other people were paying attention to wasn't the mineral, but the coin.
ㄴ Honestly, mineral investments don't make much money. The real jackpot is ORC Coin. It's an Orichalcon-based coin, and it shot up 50% yesterday too.
ㄴ Free coin signal room, Telegram @orc1279
“This happens all the time.”
Whenever something pops up, there are always people trying to make a quick buck with day trades.
In the end, most of them just lose money.
I knew that all too well from experience.
But as I kept seeing more and more testimonials about profits, my resolve kept wavering.
“Sigh, I guess I'll stop browsing the gallery for today.”
If I kept looking, it felt like I'd end up starting coin trading again without even realizing it.
This was exactly when I needed to keep my head straight.
I closed Hunter Gallery and logged into Wizard Gallery.
People here would surely keep their cool instead of being swept up in madness.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : I've already made 70% on ORC Coin lol. Thanks for the tip.
ㄴ 마법은화력 : I told you to buy quickly, didn't I?
“No way, these people do coins too?”
Could coin really have been the right answer?
Was it the wise investment?
ㄴ냉장고 : No. It was obviously a typical shitcoin, so why did you buy it??? Are you crazy???
ㄴ냉장고 : At least cut your losses now. The volatility is way too high. If it crashes, it'll just keep falling.
“Of course, right? Not buying it is the right call, isn't it?”
ㄴ마법은화력 : You make money because of the volatility. If you only care about stability, how are you supposed to make money?
ㄴp깟쮸 : Exactly! Once it starts dropping, you just sell then!
ㄴp깟쮸 : Don't you know that if you can only survive by working, you'd have to work for the rest of your life?
ㄴ마법은화력 : I even leveraged up. I've already made enough for a unique staff.
“Damn it... should I buy just a little?”
p깟쮸 and 마법은화력. A rare sight of those two on the same side.
Normally, 냉장고 would be the one to break up their arguments, but today was the exact opposite.
I felt my resolve wavering again at this unexpected harmony.
That was when 풍뎅이 joined the argument too.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : I thought it was gambling at first too, so I didn't buy it, but it's been rising for months now.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : If I'd bought when 화력이 first told me to, how much would I have now? I've lost out so much. I should buy more even now.
ㄴ 냉장고 : No, you can't think of that as a loss....
ㄴ 냉장고 : These people aren't making rational decisions right now.
ㄴ 냉장고 : Hold on. I'll explain why you absolutely shouldn't buy that coin.
냉장고 versus 풍뎅이, p깟쮸, and 마법은화력—what a spectacle.
“… Why does the side with just one person seem more trustworthy?”
Especially after hearing that 풍뎅이 was into coins, my trust in him suddenly dropped even further.
Of course, he was an S-rank Hunter, and a wizard—a job only someone with a mind as incredibly brilliant as mine could have....
Still, thinking about how he looked when we met in real life last time, he didn't seem like someone who'd be good at investing.
“And ORC Coin?”
An Orichalcon-based coin.... Wait, Orichalcon?
I immediately ran to the underground training ground.
Click. Click.
I pulled out my phone and took a picture in front of the Orichalcon pile.
Rushing back to Wizard Gallery, I posted the photo with a short message.
[Title : I Bought Coin Too, Following the Hype.]
Author : ㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3)
(Actual photo of Orichalcon)
This is the Orichalcon coin everyone is talking about, right?
How much would this sell for, I wonder.
The moment my post went up, the lively conversation stopped dead as if it had been cut off.
A moment later, comments came flooding in.
ㄴp깟쮸 : ??????
ㄴ냉장고 : How many kilos is that?
“Kilos? It's tons.”
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : About 5 tons? Well, if you exclude what I'll eat, it's not that much.
ㄴ냉장고 : Are you an elephant? You eat by the ton.
ㄴ마법은화력 : Did you bring the whole mine here or something?
ㄴ풍뎅이 : What floor were you climbing right now?
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : I only mined on Floor 24, lol.
ㄴ냉장고 : You mined almost hundreds of times more than everyone else.... Is that because you're an earth mage?
Since I was at it, I explained the method I had used to mine.
Once they heard the explanation, they all seemed to accept that absurd mining output.
ㄴp깟쮸 : Doesn't electric magic get a special-treatment floor or something? They only cater to illegal ice mages and earth mages.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : Don't worry. I don't have a special-treatment floor either.
ㄴp깟쮸 : That's called being attribute-less, you know.
After watching their reactions for a moment, I started typing again.
ㄴ냉장고 : Are you going to do coins too?
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : I don't do coins.
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : Instead of coin mining, I should just do real mining.
ㄴ냉장고 : Good thinking. You actually make a fairly sensible judgment.
ㄴ마법은화력 : Newbie, can't you trust your big sister?
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : Honestly, it's more that I don't trust 풍뎅이....
ㄴ풍뎅이 : ???
ㄴp깟쮸 : Honestly, I got uneasy when I saw 풍뎅이 buying too.
ㄴ냉장고 : He's basically a human indicator. Every time he buys, it crashes.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : Was that the image I had? I'm actually good at investing.
ㄴ냉장고 : (Hmm-meng-ming...)
ㄴ마법은화력 : (Hmm-meng-ming...)
ㄴp깟쮸 : (Hmm-meng-ming...)
ㄴ풍뎅이 : What is this? Why are you all reacting like that?
ㄴ풍뎅이 : I was the one who discovered the newbie too. I told you I've got a good eye.
Unexpectedly, the first to back out was 마법은화력.
ㄴ마법은화력 : Since even the newbie is trying to stop me, this feels a little off.
ㄴ마법은화력 : I've already made enough for one staff anyway.... I guess I'll stop here.
ㄴ마법은화력 : Hey, I'm selling because I listened to you, so if it goes up more, buy me a meal at least.
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : Then if it drops, can I get treated to a meal?
ㄴ마법은화력 : I can buy you one even now if you come to Busan.
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : (Reading the room....)
Her words were the signal flare.
p깟쮸 followed immediately after.
ㄴp깟쮸 : I'll just sell too. I'm satisfied since I made enough for fried chicken.
It took 풍뎅이 the longest to make up his mind.
He had started investing the latest and still hadn't made much profit.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : Ah, can't I wait just a little longer before selling?
ㄴ냉장고 : Get a grip, old man. You all made money anyway, didn't you?
ㄴㅇㅇ(3R3.3T3) : Right. This is a happy ending.
ㄴ풍뎅이 : Sigh, okay. I'll sell.
풍뎅이 grumbled, but in the end he pressed the sell button.
I felt at ease, thinking I had saved three wizards from the abyss of evil.
They'd be thanking me in a few days.
“There are still plenty of people left to save.”
I immediately ran to Hunter Gallery and started uploading proof photos of Orichalcon.
So they'd come to their senses after seeing my Orichalcon.
I couldn't just sit back and watch these people go down the path to ruin.
[Title : I Think We've Got About 5,000 Kilos of Orichalcon at Our Place Too.]
ㄴ It wouldn't be any trouble, so please give me 100 burgers.
ㄴ Damn. Where does this kid keep bringing stuff like this from?
ㄴ I'm suddenly getting hit with a serious life crisis......
ㄴㄴ For real, I'm happy just making 10,000 won a day staring at charts all day with my tiny seed money, but this is fucking insane.
ㄴㄴ The world is way too unfair, for real.
ㄴ Give me back my peaceful Hunter Gallery, you showoff bastard.
ㄴ It's just an AI pic, right? No need to be so upset ㅇㅇ.
Anyway, Orichalcon prices have really gone up that much?
I couldn't be satisfied with this.
With thoughts of mining even harder, I headed for the tower.
***
[Entering Floor 25 of the Tower (EXTREME).]
“A boss fight already?”
But I wasn't afraid at all.
If my expectations were right, this would be the easiest boss fight I'd seen so far.
What spread out before me was a ceiling so high I couldn't see the end of it.
The stage for this boss fight was the bottom of a massive vertical cavern.
It was so vast that I almost wondered if this was really even one floor of the tower.
“Huh? Where's the boss?”
But the boss that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.
That was when I was looking around in confusion.