Episode 5 - Hidden Truth (2)
As Seojun organized the information he had heard from Yeomra, he began making plans for the future.
‘Once Earth’s situation stabilizes to some extent, I’ll have to climb the Tower.’
When the entire world was thrown into chaos on the Day of Upheaval, there was one place that was noisy in a different sense.
Singapore, the only safe zone in the world where Gates had not appeared.
“The only place with a Gate leading to the Tower.”
While the rest of the world suffered in the war against demonic beasts, the people of Singapore began investigating the Tower on their own.
The Tower’s name was the Final Tower.
Those who had entered and returned from the Tower described it like this.
A land of opportunity.
Most who entered and came back returned far stronger than before.
But. Those who heard their experiences were horrified inwardly.
“Because the ones who returned back then had only cleared up to the 3rd floor.”
‘And they barely made it back alive since they nearly died.’
Then, people’s reactions began to split into two.
Even if it’s dangerous, it’s worth enduring to grow stronger in a world like this.
No. No matter how important growth is, it’s over if the Awakened—precious combat forces—die by mistake. Let’s not enter the Tower and leave it alone.
While opinions were divided into these two, a party of four returned from the Tower, and the news delivered by the man who appeared to be the leader plunged the world into silence.
“We won’t stop you from going to the Tower! But. We who have been to the Tower do not recommend going there. Because….”
The four began speaking in turn.
“If you enter the Tower and leave even once, you can never enter again.”
“Because of that, unless you come out midway, there is no way to leave the Tower except climbing to the end or dying.”
And their subsequent words were enough to shock the people.
“Inside the Tower, there are various races. Elves, Giants, Dragons, Demons, Angels, and so on. Of course, there are humans like us too.”
“What you must keep in mind is that even among them, we were the weakest.”
“For your information, the total number who entered the Tower with me was nine.”
“Why are there only four now? Because five died in the Tower.”
“And that too… at the hands of the Angels among the races I just mentioned.”
But as if they had no intention of ending there, they began speaking with trembling voices.
“They died without being able to resist at all, simply for looking at them.”
“We four were let go simply because they were busy. We were lucky….”
“What I’m trying to say through all this is…. If you’re going, go with a firm resolve.”
With those words, people gave up their lingering attachment to the Tower and focused on dungeons and Gates.
Occasionally, there were those who couldn’t abandon their greed for the Tower and snuck in, but.
‘Even now, there has been no word from them.’
Literally, they had become people whose status—whether dead or alive—was unknown.
But now, 150 years after the Tower appeared, such perceptions had faded greatly, and it was said that many High Rankers thirsty for growth went there.
Rumors even circulated that the Twelve Heroes, whose current whereabouts were unknown, had entered the Tower, so perception of the Tower had improved somewhat.
‘And that means I now have to climb that Tower.’
The ones Seojun had to take revenge on were probably lording over their respective planets, living in luxury, rather than being in the Tower.
“Because the rewards from the Tower are quite useful.”
Having set his plan, Seojun began packing the items needed to go to the dungeon he had booked yesterday.
“Bottled water, extra food, and night-vision goggles—should that be enough?”
Dungeons were extremely dark inside, so night-vision goggles were essential.
If his level rose beyond a certain point, his physical abilities would improve thanks to his stats, so he wouldn’t need them.
‘But I’m only level 3 right now.’
Having finished his preparations, Seojun called Sua.
-Hello?
“You ready?”
-Of course. I’m on the intercity bus right now. It’s Jeongeup, right?
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m about to leave now too.”
-The one who arrives late buys dinner. Okay?
“Yeah, got it. Where was it again. Suseong-dong? You can just come there.”
-Got it. See you soon.
After finishing the call with Sua, Seojun also departed on an intercity bus.
Seojun and Sua arrived at some nameless mountain at the edge of Suseong-dong, Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do, and were checking their equipment to enter the dungeon visible before their eyes.
“So even a 1-Star dungeon gets inspected by the Association.”
“Right, because it’d be troublesome if we accidentally cleared it.”
“Though since it’s a 1-Star dungeon, we don’t need Awakener registration. That’s a small mercy.”
Because dungeons had begun decreasing recently, the Association had forbidden clearing dungeons by posting guards in front of the boss rooms of 3-Star and below dungeons.
The reason they specifically designated 3-Star and below was.
‘Because from 4-Star onwards, high-level Awakeners come, so they practically don’t have the power to stop them.’
But low-level Awakeners like Seojun also came to lower-ranked dungeons.
Perhaps because of the dungeon’s unique system where you could obtain rewards even without clearing the boss room, low-level Awakeners could use them without complaint.
“And don’t forget that while rewards are nice, our goal is growth.”
“Got it. Seojun, you haven’t had your Trait Awakened long, so don’t overdo it.”
“Yeah. Then let’s go in now.”
Wearing their night-vision goggles, they entered the dungeon.
〚You have entered the 1-Star Dungeon - Goblin Shelter.〛
〚Your current dungeon achievement is 0%.〛
〚Rewards are determined by achievement.〛
Even though he had entered the dark dungeon, Seojun looked at the Yeongmyeol Sword reflecting light off its blade, gripped the hilt leisurely, and thought.
‘Is Yeomra still sleeping?’
Yeomra, perhaps tired from being held by Seojun to talk about the events of 140 years, had been sleeping inside the Yeongmyeol Sword.
‘More importantly, should I see Sua’s skills?’
They had trained every day. Out of consideration for Seojun, who had no trait, she hadn’t used her trait in front of him, so when training with Seojun, she only did basic training. Because of that, Seojun, who didn’t know how she was in actual combat, was curious about Sua’s abilities.
As if sensing Seojun’s thoughts, Sua was chanting an incantation, preparing for battle.
“O soul born of fire, answering with fire, awaken! Salamander!”
Along with a cringeworthy(?) incantation, a form of fire took shape in the air, and a salamander wrapped in flames appeared.
It was the lowest-grade fire spirit, Salamander.
“You can only summon fire spirits?”
“Yeah. Because my trait is the Blessing of the Fire Spirit.”
“Ah…. Right.”
He had known she had a spirit-related trait, but he hadn’t known exactly which attribute’s spirit trait it was.
“Salamander, I’m counting on you today too!”
She petted the summoned fire spirit as if familiar with it.
“What grade can you summon up to now?”
“Hmm… If I push it, I can manage up to Intermediate grade.”
Reaching Intermediate grade in just 4 years since her Trait Awakening.
“That’s amazing.”
They began taking stances against the five goblins shambling out from beyond the dungeon.
“Sua, I’ll take three, so handle the rest.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay? I’d rather take the three—”
Though he could feel her consideration for him, having only recently awakened his trait, Seojun had to refuse.
“No, I’m fine. I have something I want to test out. Please bear with me.”
Finishing the conversation, Seojun lightly swung the Yeongmyeol Sword at a goblin charging at him from the front, raising a stone axe.
Swoosh!
Feeling the mukgi in his body drain, perhaps because the Sibiji Mu had activated, Seojun swung his sword at the next goblin without rest.
But. Perhaps because the ground was uneven due to the dungeon’s terrain, the sword aimed at the neck only managed to pass through the shoulder.
The goblin wounded in the shoulder shrieked neurotically and tried to hide behind its remaining comrades the moment.
“Salamander! Attack!”
As Sua attacked the remaining goblins at that moment, Seojun unfolded his basic swordsmanship and swung at the goblin that missed its chance to hide because of that.
Ding!
〚Your level has increased by 1!〛
〚All stats have increased by 10!〛
To finish off the last remaining goblin, Seojun pushed aside the system window blocking his vision and drew his sword from left to right at the goblin trembling in fear, unable to resist properly.
Slash!
The battle ended more anticlimactically than expected.
“I feel it again, but trait performance is definitely something else.”
Perhaps tense during battle, she relaxed her contracted muscles and checked the system window that had just appeared.
“Huh? Did I see that wrong?”
“What’s wrong?”
Sua, having finished off the goblins assigned to her, approached Seojun, who was making a bewildered expression.
“Ah, no. My level just went up.”
“Why are you surprised by something like that? Ah, I leveled up too.”
“Sua, how much did your stats increase by?”
“Huh? Well, of course, my main stat, Magic Power, went up by 5, and the rest went up by 1 each.”
Because Sua handled spirits, her main stat was set to Magic Power, and every time her level increased, her Magic Power rose by 5.
Depending on the talent of each trait, the amount the main stat increased varied, but on average it rose by about 2~5.
“R-right? My mukgi just went up by 3.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried the side effects might still be applying.”
He decided not to mention that all his stats had increased by 10, as it might be related to his previous life.
‘Maybe it’s because stat increases are related to talent?’
In Seojun’s previous life, where he had once stood at the apex of the gods, he had possessed talents in other fields that ordinary gods could not even hope to match, not just in the talent of energy control.
But in his previous life, he hadn’t even bothered glancing at other fields.
‘Because there was no need to move to other fields.’
Because there was no rival for him, who had already reached the apex with his talent for controlling energy and his cheat-like authority.
There was Nox, who possessed a similar caliber, but Nox had also reached the apex with talent in only one field like him, so their situations were similar.
‘If I was the apex in the domain of superpowers, Nox was the apex in the domain of the physical body.’
But. Having checked his stat increases just now, Seojun was certain.
‘The truth is, I possessed equal talent in every field.’
And they were so high that comparing them to anyone would be meaningless.
Because if his talent related to energy control had been higher than his other talents, it would be normal for his mukgi stat to rise at least a little more than his other stats.
In his previous life, he hadn’t moved to other fields for the reason mentioned earlier, but it was also partly because he had thought his talents in other fields didn’t match his talent for energy control.
‘It’s good that I realized it now, even if it’s late.’
Resolved to forget the past and think positively, Seojun checked the dungeon achievement shown on his status window.
〚1-Star Dungeon Achievement: 3%〛
3% for three goblins….
‘Should I aim for 100% by hunting 100 goblins?’
With that thought, Seojun hunted goblins all around the dungeon with Sua, and as a result.
“Why are there so few goblins?”
Seojun’s attempt to fill his achievement to the brim with only the surrounding monsters, giving up on the boss that couldn’t be killed due to the Association’s rules, failed because of their insufficient numbers.
“Should we try the boss room?”
“Hey! Are you crazy? The moment we clear the boss, the Association will arrest us. And I told you our goal isn’t rewards but leveling up.”
“Well, 1-Star dungeons don’t give such great rewards anyway.”
‘If it were 4-Star or higher, maybe.’
Hearing Seojun’s muttering, Sua flew into a rage and stopped him.
Seojun was fairly displeased by the fact that he had to mind the mood of the likes of the Association (?), but.
‘It can’t be helped. After all, it’s true that order was established because the Association exists.’
Because Seojun knew of the Association’s efforts in calming the confused people after the Day of Upheaval and creating order in the world, he decided to follow the rules the Association made.
“Then let’s stop here for today. My level went up 3 more times too.”
“Yeah, good thinking. And today isn’t the only day, right?”
“Right, though we can’t get rewards again. We’ll just have to aim for leveling up.”
Although you couldn’t receive rewards again in a dungeon where you had already received rewards even once, as Sua said, as long as the boss wasn’t cleared, the mobs killed would respawn, so the opportunity to level up didn’t disappear.
They checked their rewards after exiting the dungeon.
〚You have achieved 53% completion in the 1-Star Dungeon - Goblin Shelter!〛
〚As a reward, your level increases by 2 and your mukgi stat increases by an additional 2!〛
〚All stats have increased by 20!〛
Then, content that overturned Seojun’s expectations appeared, covering his vision.
〚As your mukgi stat has exceeded 60, your mukgi achievement rises to 2-Star!〛
‘Status window.’
『Name: Shin Seojun
Age: 19
Origin: Earth
Level: 9
Unique Trait: Mukgi (???)-2-Star
General Trait: Sibiji Mu (SS)-1-Star
Strength: 72
Stamina: 75
Agility: 74
Mukgi (Unique): 64
』
Normally, stats increasing doesn’t raise a trait’s proficiency. But perhaps because mukgi also existed as a unique stat, when it reached a certain value, its achievement rose together.
Because Seojun’s stat increases during level-ups were overwhelmingly higher than others, he was able to raise his mukgi to 2-Star much faster than expected.
‘Now I can use that, right?’
A notification sound rang out as if in response to Seojun’s thought.
Ding!
〚You can use the skill Cheonsik (Heavenly Devour)!〛
Cheonsik (Heavenly Devour), swallowing the heavens.
As expected of a skill derived from mukgi, called the essence of Reverse Heaven, it possessed an extraordinary name.
Cheonsik (Heavenly Devour), as could be seen from the name, was a skill that attacked or grew by devouring.
〚As Cheonsik (Heavenly Devour) has bloomed, you can consume various colors of energy!〛
〚Black: 0%〛
〚Blue: 0%〛
〚Red: 0%〛
〚White: 0%〛
〚Gold: 0%〛
〚Devour all colors existing in the world to achieve Reverse Heaven’s ₢₣₰₭₯₫₪₦〛
〚Error!〛
“W-what?”
〚Error!〛
〚Invalid access!〛
〚Invalid access!〛
〚Invalid access!〛
〚Invalid access!〛
〚Resolving problem…〛
〚Resolving…〛
After quite some time had passed.
〚Unresolvable!〛
〚Unresolvable!〛
〚Unresolvable!〛
〚Unresolvable!〛
“…..”
〚Resolution complete!〛
〚The problem caused by a system error has been resolved!〛
Although a notification appeared saying the problem had been resolved, no change occurred to him, who was the very cause of the problem.
“What is it? A message suddenly appeared saying to devour all colors, and then….”
‘Could it be that Reverse Heaven is not permitted in Universe 0?’
It was a moment he took a step closer to the secrets of the universe.