Chapter 34: 34

The flames turned blue for a while . As the monster felt high heat above its head, it stopped its actions and looked above .

Grr—

What the monster saw above its head was a gigantic blue sword .

And soon .

Slash—

A blue line similar to that sword sliced the monster’s body into half .

Sludge, sludge—

The monster’s body fell to the sides, starting from its head . The beast quickly raised its arm to keep his body from falling off, but, of course, it wasn’t possible .

Stomp, stomp—

Its massive body finally split into half and fell onto the floor . Thick blood flowed, and Su-hyeun, who stood in front of the corpse, extinguished the flame and caught his breath .

Pant—

A blue flame and the flame’s bird, the phoenix .

Both of them were newly acquired abilities obtained through leveling Flame’s skill . It was his first time checking out their effects, and each had its own pros and cons .

Firstly, the required mana to maintain the phoenix was quite substantial .

Moreover, the phoenix was a summoner that never perished if Su-hyeun could have an indefinite supply of mana to maintain the flame .

But the mana consumption was too high . And it was the same for the blue flame .

The phoenix maintained its original form even though it had suffered attacks from the ancient beast . It was because Su-hyeun had kept supplying mana so that it doesn’t disappear .

But at that moment, Su-hyeun felt his magic factor got slashed tremendously . It was a tremendous amount of magic that he hadn’t expected to use .

Stumble—

Then, the monster’s body convulsed vigorously . Su-hyeun’s gaze fell onto the monster’s half slain body . It was fascinating that the monster hadn’t died yet . It’s too horrible to think of one being alive while in that state .

Come to think of it, there wasn’t any message of him clearing the trial .

It wasn’t too bad of a trait, but it wasn’t one that would make Su-hyeun envious . What could one do with that enormous amount of strength if he had to also be stuck in that situation?

“Even so, you…”

Burning—

Su-hyeun brought out the flame once again .

“I can’t use the transfiguration ingredients either . ”

But it was also much too useful for an 18th-floor trial . It wasn’t to the level of wanting that ancient monster’s trait to himself .

Clank—!

Su-hyeun swung his sword and lit the flame . At that moment, a gigantic blaze swept over the ancient monster’s body .

[You have gained 50,000 achievement points . ]

[You have attained the highest achievement . ]

[You have cleared the 19th floor trial with perfection . ]

[You will be ranked according to your performance . ]

[You have been ranked first . ]

[You have gained 1 health point…]

… .

[Will you ascend to the next floor?]

The string of messages appeared simultaneously . It had also meant that the monster had finally died .

The objective of the trial was to end the unstable resurrection of the ancient monster and the creature . Of course, several forces attempted to fully revive the monster in the process .

It was annoying being instructed on what to do .

Although it would be manageable for Su-hyeun to handle the monster at the current level, it would not be a smooth process . However, he had eventually succeeded in finishing off the ancient monster that had hibernated under the city . It had taken him two months to clear the trial .

“T-t-the monster…”

The young man who had warned Su-hyeun to be careful earlier had now flopped on the ground and was muttering to himself . After the monster appeared, everyone had escaped to the outskirts of the city . Only Su-hyeun and the young man were left .

Su-hyeun looked at the young man . The young man looked back at Su-hyeun with fear in his eyes .

There was no other reason for him to stay there . Su-hyeun lifted his head towards the sky and spoke .

“Ascend . ”

[You will ascend on to the 20th floor . ]

His sight had turned white in an instant, and a vast city appeared before him once again .

It was a city that had been fully frozen and covered in white . The world on the 20th floor was a frozen city called Raglia .

Its temperature had reached as low as minus 60 degrees . On the 20th floor was a dying city where no living human would be able to live in .

Su-hyeun could hear people’s mutters as he stepped into the square .

A crisis existed every 10 floors at the Tower of Trials . The trials at every 10th floor had exceptionally high difficulty, which brought about high numbers of death . Thus, only special awakeners gathered every 10 floors, including the 20th and 30th floors .

31st December .

Today was the last day of the year .

Su-hyeun had aimed to achieve his goal to reach the 20th floor before the year ended . Though he had cleared the trial with ease at first, the last trial had been a drag .

Even so, he was able to arrive on the 20th floor according to his goal . Of course, something was missing .

The magic level and factor .

His original aim was to achieve a magic level of seven, and a magic factor of 70, but he was short of achieving those goals . Although he was able to pull up his magic factor to 68, which neared 70, his magic level still stayed at level six .

[Name: Kim Su-hyeun]

[Magic Factor: 68] [Magic Level: 6]

[Strength: 71] [Agility: 78]

[Health: 69] [Reflex: 80]

[Skill: Leap *Details . ]

[Skill: Transfiguration *Details . ]

[Skill: Flame…]

…

[Fatigue: 15 . ]

Compared to two years back when he first entered the Tower of Trials, the status window had lengthed quite a bit .

There was an overall increase in stats and magic level, a magic factor was a given, and an increase in skills .

Two years .

Though it wasn’t a short time, it wasn’t quite long either . If someone were to witness Su-hyeun’s stats with their own eyes, his mouth would be wide-open in awe .

Although he had a high magic factor and level, the overall increase in stats was remarkable, too .

Some parts complemented others, and there were some areas that Su-hyeun was satisfied with .

It was not sufficient, but rather at a rapid speed . His initial aim was set so high that it could be deemed as impossible to meet . Having nearly achieved his initial goal, it also meant that his performance wasn’t that bad .

[Achievement points: 1,981,400 . ]

Su-hyeun checked on the amount of achievement points he had accumulated .

Although it was a massive number, it was slightly insufficient .

2,000,000 achievement points .

It was the price of the “highest grade potential booster” that Su-hyeun wanted to get his hands on . Like all the other awakeners, what Su-hyeun needed most was magic .

Though nothing such as the skill’s composition or items were unimportant, high magic levels and factors had the power to ignore them all .

Considering that it too was an impossible goal, he had accumulated quite a considerable amount of achievement points .

Although it was a pity, it had not occurred to him that he would not clear the 20th floor’s trial .

Thankfully, the date had matched up . Kim Dae-ho said that it would take almost a year to complete the weapon that Su-hyeun had requested .

“The ranking has been updated!”

Then, the square was filled with a certain awakener’s voice . The ranks were, of course, updated regularly, but it wasn’t hard to understand his words .

“Ranking? Could it be the first place?”

“Could it be…”

“Kim Su-hyeun has arrived on the 20th floor?”

The square turned noisy in an instant .

The ranking had been updated . This also meant that Kim Su-hyeun had ascended to the 20th floor .

Su-hyeun left the square and turned into a dimly-lit alley . Su-hyeun moved quietly alone in the crowd, and the public seemed to not have paid any attention . There were already tens of people gathered at the square anyway .

As soon as he entered the alley, Su-hyeun opened the door .

Rip—

Su-hyeun returned to reality and soon turned on the car’s engine .

It was a relatively expensive red sports car . It’s quite a pity to drive it deep into the mountains .

Though Su-hyeun did not have much interest in the car, he had no reason to not ride it since it was a gift .

It was a gift from Lee Ju-ho, who had gifted him the sports car after completing a dungeon attack one day . As per Lee Ju-ho’s words, Su-hyeun only added gas in and took it out when he had to travel .

Screech—

Su-hyeun drove his sports car into a hillside at Yangpyeong, the mountain where Kim Dae-ho’s house was located . He drove it as deep as his car could go into the mountains, parked it, and started walking in .

Clank, clank—!

The sound of steel could be heard without fail .

Su-hyeun wondered when he took his rests . It was hard to imagine how much he loved hitting on steel .

“Uncle, I’m here . ”

Clank—!

The sound stopped .

Soon after, Kim Dae-ho trudged out to meet him .

“You’re here?”

“Yes . It’s today, right? Our promise . ”

“What do you mean promise? I only said that I would complete it before the year ends . ”

“Doesn’t that mean the same thing?”

“I had long completed it, kiddo . Come in immediately,” Kim Dae-ho said and turned around quickly . It wasn’t to get the weapon, but instead, it was to guide him into the house .

Su-hyeun was slightly surprised at Kim Dae-ho’s reaction .

Kim Dae-ho never allowed strangers into his smithy . Being invited into his smithy meant that he had a certain level of acknowledgment and friendship . Su-hyeun had entered Kim Dae-ho’s smithy once in his previous life, but it was only after they had known each other for three years .

At the back of Kim Dae-ho’s house was a smithy with a steel woven spherical ceiling . As he entered the smithy through the door, various equipment was laid out .

The high heat was almost cooking his flesh . If an awakener like him could barely withstand that amount of heat, what about Kim Dae-ho?

He wasn’t called a craftsman for nothing .

“Aren’t you surprised?” Kim Dae-ho asked in a relatively small voice . It seemed that he had expected a surprised reaction .

It was reasonable to be surprised at this amount of equipment .

“Ah, I am surprised . ”

“I know that you’re not . How mean . ”

It seemed that he wasn’t satisfied with Su-hyeun’s reaction .

Su-hyeun laughed awkwardly and looked at the equipment hung on the walls: swords, spears, armor, wrist guards, etc .

Amongst those, the first equipment that came into Su-hyeun’s eyes was the swords .

There was a vast and minor difference in all the equipment; they all had ether stones mixed in them .

Though it was tough to smelt ether stones, making use of that and creating weapons like those were only made possible by certain craftsmen . In the current era, there was no one better than Kim Dae-ho who could make equipment of this quality .

It could shake up the world quite a bit .

“What are you doing there? Stop looking at the junk and pick up your weapon now . ”

Junk .

It was too much to call this equipment junk .

But of course, the equipment placed by the entrance was what Kim Dae-ho had regarded as failed creations . The successful ones were in the basement .

And…

“You might be quite surprised at it . ”

The weapon that Kim Dae-ho made for Su-hyeun was a masterpiece amongst them .