Chapter 168.

After commanding the dwarven supercar to follow us, I walked with Boss .

We walked forward inside the snowstorm without a clear destination .

Ssk, ssk .

The sound of our feet touching the snow vividly resounded .

It was then .

Boss asked fleetingly .

“…What do you think?”

She sounded gloomy . I wasn’t so insensitive as to not know the meaning of her question and tone .

“Still the same . ”

In the past, Boss asked me what I thought about murder . That to be with her, I would have to kill many innocent people .

My answer was still the same as it was back then .

“I’m a murderer too . ”

Whether someone is beaten to death, shot to death, or cut up into bits and pieces, the result was the same .

“… . ”

Boss stopped .

Behind her small shoulders, I also stopped .

Perhaps she was afraid that I was disappointed . After all, she had never killed anyone so brutally in the three years we worked together .

“…I see . ”

Boss left behind these two words and began walking again .

“They’ll be revived anyways . Though they’ll have to start over from the tutorial . ”

In truth, being dismembered was a rather severe way of dying . Those thugs should have lost 2~3 lives from it . Also, with the pain they must have suffered, they wouldn’t be able to avoid mental trauma either .

But they were the ones who started it in the first place . Boss had given them a chance to back down before it was too late .

“They were probably Djinns anyways . I heard about 500 tickets were released in Pandemonium . ”

“…Yeah . ”

Boss muttered . She didn’t sound as dejected anymore .

This was probably the right time to show her my new artifact .

I called the dwarven supercar over .

Shoong—

Seeing the supercar slide towards us, Boss became startled and unleashed her magic power .

“What is it?!”

“It’s mine . It’s our transportation . ”

I jumped in like I was getting in a sports car .

“Get in, Boss . ”

“…What is this?”

“Like I said, there are lots of useful items on the 2nd floor . ”

I smacked the back seat with a grin .

“Hoee…”

Before getting on the dwarven supercar, Boss examined the vehicle with curious eyes .

“Is it pure gold…?”

As expected, that was what caught her attention first .

Boss rubbed the golden symbols engraved on the vehicle before jumping in .

“Alright, it’s rather fast, so hold on tight… . Oh, also…”

Before setting off, I took out the Yggdrasil Leaf and casted a blessing on the dwarven supercar .

[Yggdrasil’s Blessing envelops the Dwarven Supercar . ]

[All effects of the Dwarven Supercar increase by 1 level . ]

“Hold tight . ”

“Okay . ”

I stepped on the accelerator .

Vroom— Driving the quick snowmobile, I sneaked a peek at Boss . She was leisurely watching the scenery .

She looked beautiful except for one thing .

“Boss, you should take off that bear head now . ”

“…Ah?”

Boss’ eyes widened, and in the next moment, she quickly took off the helmet .

“…I, I forgot I was wearing it . I was thinking about other things . ”

Her face turned slightly red .

It was the most meaningful change in expression I had seen from her .

**

Day two .

Like Rachel, we built an igloo to spend the night . By the time we woke up, the fiercely blowing blizzard was gone . A blinding sunlight reflected off the snowy field .

As soon as I came out of the igloo, I took out the dwarven supercar from my inventory . Since Cheok Jungyeong and Jain were starting to get bored, I had to quickly find the dwarven steles and go up to the 3rd floor .

“Let’s see…”

Murmuring, I took out the Book of Truth .

It was the first time I was using it in the Tower of Wish . Although the system warned me about using Stigma, I hoped Luke wouldn’t notice if I used less than a single streak . After all, the 2nd floor administrator, Luke, wasn’t a highly ranked NPC .

“…Hm . ”

Speaking of NPCs’ ranks, the 3rd floor’s administrator should be the famous magician, Medea . Unfortunately, her personality wasn’t too good .

To think that the administrator of a trash-like residential area would be a mythical-rank NPC… what a shitty setting .

…Anyways, I asked Book of Truth the question I currently needed an answer to .

[Is there a dwarven stele within a 3km radius?]

The Book of Truth immediately sucked in 0 . 5 streaks of Stigma, and along with it came an intense pain .

“Argh . ”

As I thought, using Stigma in the Tower came with a greater backlash .

However, the pain was worth enduring as the Book of Truth revealed the stele’s location to me .

“…It’s not far . ”

Northwest, 1 . 3km .

I got on the dwarven supercar and stepped on the accelerator .

It took less than 3 minutes to get to the coordinate shown in the Book of Truth .

Inside a huge crevice at the edge of the glacier land near an ocean, a stele-like object was buried under the snow .

I slowly drove the dwarven supercar down the cliff . As this snowmobile could go down vertical paths, going down a cliff was no problem .

“Found it . ”

A dwarven stele was buried under the snow .

I dusted my hands off in front of it . At the same time, a system alert popped up .

[You discovered a dwarven stele . ]

[The contents of the dwarven stele have been stored in your database . ]

[Ecorld Qowemr FcmoE Roalz… . ]

Although I couldn’t understand it at all, I could leave the translation to the Book of Truth .

I immediately asked the Book of Truth for the translation of the stele’s content . Was it because the dwarven language was easy to translate? It didn’t take too much Stigma .

[Young Dwarf’s Diary of Enlightenment]

[Today, Old Man Hairy Nostrils taught me the most important mindset as a descendant of Hephaestus…]

“The heck is this?”

I frowned in the middle of reading the translation . A diary? What happened to the potion recipes?

After continuing to read the diary, I walked up to the stele to check if there was something else to it .

But when I touched the stele, a burst of light erupted from the stele .

It was a brilliant golden light that I had experienced a few times before .

Right, it was the light from the activation of accumulation of luck .

Chwaaa—

The golden light emanating from the dwarven stele poured into my eyes .

I stood still and received it fully .

[‘Young Dwarf’s Enlightenment’ resonates with your Trait ‘Dexterity’ . ]

[Trait ‘Dexterity’ disappears . ]

[It has been replaced by ‘Young Dwarf’s Dexterity’ . Its rank has been increased . ]

“…Ha . ”

I trembled in excitement from the series of system alerts .

Dwarves, the descendants of Hephaestus . The innate dexterity possessed by this mystical race .

I clutched my beating heart and took a deep breath .

There was only one thing I could say in my current level of excitement .

“Jackpot . ”

**

After the blissful activation of ‘accumulation of luck’, we stayed on the 2nd floor for another 36 hours .

Meanwhile, the landscape changed from Antarctica to a volcanic zone, and I found two more dwarven steles . One had a recipe for brewing ‘Special Dwarven Potion’ and the other had a recipe for crafting ‘Special Dwarven Shoes’ .

Both of these recipes resonated with Young Dwarf’s Dexterity and entered my head . Now, I was able to make them as long as I had the ingredients .

“Now, everyone, let’s go up to the 3rd floor~”

“I almost died from boredom . We’re finally going up?”

Cheok Jungyeong grumbled .

I smiled in response .

“Didn’t you have fun fighting the Flame Octopus? You said it lasted 12 hours . ”

“…I’m tired of it now . I want to fight with humans . ”

Judging by Jain and Boss’ expressions, they were probably thinking the same thing . Of course, I didn’t blame them since there wasn’t anything fun to do in this place .

Cheok Jungyeong shot up .

“Alright, we’re really going up now, right?”

“Yes . ”

“You better not be lying . Otherwise, I’ll squash your head . ”

Cheok Jungyeong sounded impatient, but in truth, none of us were too worried . It was because I had already found an elevator .

We left our temporary base and walked towards the elevator .

We arrived not too long afterwards . As it was covered in granite from the magma we poured on it before, it didn’t look like an elevator at all .

“I’m breaking it . ”

“Yes . ”

Cheok Jungyeong immediately punched the granite mound .

KWANG!

The granite covering the elevator shattered, revealing the elevator within .

“Alright, let’s get on~”

“By the way, Hajin, is everyone going to be able to come up? There were about 2000 people, and only four of us are taking a single elevator right now . ”

Jain asked .

“I’m not too sure, but I’m guessing about 80% will be able to make it up . ”

In truth, the speed of the elevator would double after a week from something called the ‘acceleration phenomenon’ .

“Really? Hm, I can’t see more than 50% going up though . ”

“Well, we’ll see… anyways, hop on . We don’t have time . ”

“Oh, right, okay . ”

With that, we got on the elevator, which only had three buttons: floor 3, open, and close .

After pressing the 3rd floor button and the close button without hesitation, I sat down on the floor .

Wooong—

Along with a huge roar, the elevator began to float up .

“…Ah~ I’m hungry . Hajin, let’s eat some deer meat . ”

“Oh, I gave all of it away to my friend . ”

“What? All of it?”

Jain was shocked . It was understandable since it was enough to feed all four of us for a week even if Cheok Jungyeong ate three people’s worth every meal .

“Yes, but you know the dwarven supercar, right? You could say I traded it for the meat . We also have lots of boar meat left . ”

“…Ah, I see . If that’s the case, then I guess it’s fine… though I don’t know what kind of an idiot would trade that artifact for food . ”

Knowing the versatility and usefulness of the dwarven supercar, Jain quickly accepted it .

“By the way, is this thing going up?”

“Probably? Haam . ”

A yawn came out .

It took eight hours for the elevator to travel back and forth . In other words, we would be in here for the next four hours…

“This is the perfect time to sleep~”

We decided to sleep until the elevator arrived . I took out four pieces of monster leather from my inventory for each of us .

“Good night, Boss~”

“Yes . ”

“You too, Newbie~”

“You too, Jain-ssi . ”

I checked my messenger before going to sleep .

I had a few new messages .

[Nayunjajangman . ]

「Hyung-nim, did you clear the 2nd floor?」

「If not, you can join the elevator we found . We decided to wait for about three hours before leaving . I’ll give you the coordinates if you want to come . 」

“… . ”

The message was sent 30 minutes ago . At first, I turned the messenger off without replying .

But if Nayunjajangman was really that girl…

「I’m on the 3rd floor now . 」

I felt like Nayunjajangman would wait for more than three hours if I didn’t reply . So, I sent a brief reply .

Nayunjajangman: 「Oh ㅋㅋ as expected of Hyung-nim . 」

「Oh right, before you go, make sure you stock up on food . 」

Nayunjajangman: 「Food?」

「Yep . Deer or wild boar . If you’ve never dismantled wild animal before, now is the time . 」

Nayunjajangman: 「Got it . Is there nothing to eat on the 3rd floor?」

I didn’t say anything more than that . Of course, I wasn’t sure whether Nayunjajangman was Chae Nayun yet . But because my heart felt heavy, I cast the thought away with a deep sigh .

Zzz—

Zzzz—

Zzzzzz—

“Pft . ”

My depression didn’t last long hearing the unique snoring length of each member .

“I should sleep too . ”

I closed my eyes and began to breathe regularly .

One, two, three…

…DING!

In my blurred consciousness, a clear ringing noise echoed out .

I opened my eyes and got up . The elevator door was slowly opening .

“Haam~”

“Kuhu, I like this leather . It’s from the bear I defeated, right?”

“…Yes . ”

I put the bear blankets back in my inventory and stood in front of the door .

[3rd floor . You are now on the 3rd floor . ]

Along with the system alert, the elevator door fully opened .

I looked out .

3rd floor .

The first residential area which Players would soon come to label the ‘worst’ without hesitation .

Its name was ‘Prestige’ .

[Welcome to the 3rd floor’s residential area, 「Prestige」]

[Inside residential areas, you can freely use the messenger, personal waiting room, and Community . ]

[However, please be careful of sudden attacks by hordes of undead monsters . ]

[Prestige Boost – stat increase rate is increased by 5% (7% for magic power) . ]

“…What is this place?”

Jain frowned as she looked out at the outskirts of the city .

That was how poor the city looked . Even I thought it looked poor and I knew how bad it would be beforehand .

Even at first glance, the city was filled with run-down shacks, with homeless drunks sleeping by the road . There was a mysterious knee-depth fog blanketing the city, and the air had a thick smell of coal .

“…It’s a city . ”

“This is a city?”

“Yes, the system called it a city, so it’s a city . ”

Roads filled with life and death .

Lifeless NPCs .

As the 3rd floor didn’t have a sun, the entire world was black and dark blue .

“Now, let’s enter . ”

But since it was a place where people lived, it surely had things like shops . This part of the city was a bit more hopeless only because it was on the outskirts .

“Wait, wait, let me rest in my waiting room first . This place smells too bad… uwek—”

“Be patient . We have to figure out what kind of a place this is first . ’

Going to the waiting room right away wasn’t such a good choice . Not only would you be unaware of anything happening outside, but you also wouldn’t receive Prestige’s stat increase buff .

“Right, don’t overreact and just endure it, Jain . ”

“…Okay . ’

Jain had no choice but to nod with Boss chiming in .

And with that, we walked through the city .

The way NPCs looked at us were similar yet different from the tutorial city . Some were aiming for our pockets, while some were innocently begging for help .

“…Oh right, where did the Players go?”

“They’re probably working . You know, to make TP . ”

“Auuu, this smell!”

Jain seemed to hate the nasty smell of the city more than anything else . It was the same for the other two . Cheok Jungyeong had a harsh frown on his face, and Boss had put on her Lv . 3 Bear Head Helmet .

“…Wait just a little longer . I’ll make a gas mask for you soon . ”

I consoled Jain .

For now, the group quest Prestige City Hall gave out came first .

Although it was a little annoying that I had to deal with that damned Medea, I had no other choice since there was no way to live in Prestige if we got on Medea’s wrong side .

**

Same time, 2nd floor .

Rachel was energetically walking towards the coordinates sent by the second team . The two guild members who fainted after touching the dwarven supercar were also with her .

“Vice-leader~!”

“Over here~!”

She could see two members waving their hands in the distance . Rachel wanted to quickly run up to them, but she purposely walked slower to match the two members who weren’t fully recovered yet .

“Geez, look at those two . They’re nothing but burdens . ”

“I heard you two fainted… Why didn’t you just die!? You’re going to revive anyways, right!?”

“…Sorry, vice-leader . ”

“…Sorry . ”

The two guild members dropped their head in shame . However, Rachel only smiled kindly .

“It’s fine . No one expected such a thing to happen . ”

Just like that, the seven members of the Royal Court guild reunited in front of an elevator .

There was just one worry .

“…Should we wait? 50 people can ride the elevator . ”

Davin, who was the leader of the second team, asked .

Rachel also thought for a moment . She recalled the ‘Empire of Glory’ guild, which she met not too long ago . Rachel didn’t want to be like them .

As a vice-leader, however, she knew there were times when she had to make cold-hearted decisions . In this place, kindness would only be a burden .

“Let’s go up . ”

Rachel came to a decision and got into the elevator with her guild members .

“You can do the honors, Vice-leader . ”

“Yes . ”

Rachel pressed the 3rd floor button .

Then, as the elevator door was closing…

“Waaaaaait—!”

A loud voice rang out .

Startled, Rachel pressed the open button instinctively .

“Let me go with youuuu—!”

The elevator door opened once again, and Rachel could see a white-haired kid and her supposed guardian . They looked dirty and tired, but their running speed was extraordinary .

“Uwak!”

The child stumbled on a stone and fell forward . Then the man following her quickly snatched her up and entered the elevator .

“Ah, thank you so much!”

The man bowed and expressed his gratitude .

“No problem…”

Rachel responded aloofly . For some reason, she felt like she had seen the man’s face before .

“Thank god, thank god… . ”

She was also familiar with the white-haired child’s face . She felt like she could remember it if her unmade hair was properly combed .

Tap, tap .

At that moment, one of her guild members tapped on her shoulder and whispered .

—Vice-leader… I think they’re Aileen and Yi Yongha . They’re Heroes of the Temple of Justice .

Immediately, Rachel’s hair stood on end .

After hearing their names, she easily matched their faces with the faces in her memory . In fact, white hair was almost a symbol of Aileen .

—But what do you think is wrong with them?

Rachel whispered back . Why was Aileen, who reigned as one of the strongest Heroes in the world, in such a state?

—It must be because they both heavily rely on magic power . As you know, magicians are heavily disadvantaged in this place .

He was right . In this Tower, one had to know how to ‘use their body’ to easily get through it . Even the greatest magician couldn’t do anything if he was hungry .

“Ah, thank you, thank you~! Really, you guys are the only ones who opened the door . ”

Even so, Rachel was still curious . Aileen’s Gift, Spirit Speech, was well-known for being able to control people’s actions . Was her magic power restricted that much?

“No, it’s only obvious . Nice to meet you, Aileen-ssi, Yi Yongha-ssi . ”

Rachel reached out to Aileen who was about 20cm shorter than her . Aileen looked at Rachel’s hand then grabbed it with a grin . It seemed she had not washed it for a while as it was dirty and sticky .

“You know us?”

“I don’t think there are many who don’t . ”

“There were . No, actually, they just pretended not to know . They must have been scared of me . ”

Meanwhile, the elevator door closed on its own .

Its destination was obviously the 3rd floor .

Ssss— The elevator began to move .

“Anyways, thank you so much~!”

Relieved, Aileen smiled like a child and plopped down on the ground .

“Ah~ but I’m hungry . No, I’m starving . Yongha, do you have anything to eat?”

“No, we already ate everything we had . ”

“What do you have? Hmm…”

Afterwards, Aileen naturally turned to Rachel . She was too ashamed to directly ask for food, but she seemed to be asking with her eyes .

“We don’t have any either . ”

Rachel shook her head . Of course, it was a lie . Her inventory still had a lot of the deer meat Kim Hajin gifted her .

“Mm? Ah~ no, I wasn’t asking for food or anything . I’m thankful for the ride alone~”

“Ah, yes . ”

===

[Lv . 2 Kim Hajin’s Special Sauce Deer Meat]

○Lv . 2 Satiety

○Lv . 3 Taste

===

Letting them in the elevator was one thing, but Rachel couldn’t share this Lv . 2 food with them . It was an extreme~ly delicious food that she planned to share with her guildmates .

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