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Chapter 50: Administrator (2)
[ Translator – Bin ]
[ Proofreader – DVN-L ]
「 The dungeon boss ‘Blue Starving Flame Demon’ has died. 」
「 The boss will not appear again. 」
「 The dungeon will be expunged in 3 hours. 」
I wiped the blood off my face while reading the messages.
I was covered from head to toe, but that was the best I could do for now.
‘Damn it, why did I leave the cleansing stone at home…’
The battle was unexpectedly more messy than I thought it would be.
Although I guess I should be satisfied that it ended without a hitch.
‘If I didn’t have the Mind’s Eye, the outcome could have been very different.’
I couldn’t let my guard down just because I had a regeneration skill.
If the monster that had snuck up on me was from the tower…
‘I would have been gravely injured.’
No matter what happened, I needed to review what had just happened and learn from it.
I walked over to the boss’ corpse and absorbed its soul.
「 You have absorbed the soul of the azure starving flame demon. 」
「 Proficiency increased by 22% 」
Then I collected the rest of the corpse into the dimensional pouch.
‘Is that it?’
I didn’t think there was anything left to do now that the dungeon was expunging soon.
But…
“…”
While I was busy cleaning up my mess, Lee Hayeon stood still.
Staring into space as if she’d just seen a ghost…
“What the hell…”
I shot her a perplexed gaze as she stood there muttering to herself.
She’d been like this for a while…
All of her reactions felt so exaggerated.
‘She must have seen something similar while she climbed to the 8th floor…’
But the problem was that I didn’t think she was faking it.
Why?
I thought about it for a moment but decided to satisfy my curiosity.
“Aren’t most challengers on the hard difficulty at this level?”
The person who’d answer all my questions was right in front of me.
“…No, even in the hard difficulty, there are only a handful of people who’d be capable of something like this.”
“I know the individual trials are personalized but aren’t they all around this level?”
“Are you kidding me…?”
“I’m serious.”
“…”
She hesitated for a moment before answering.
“The only people who could replicate what you did here would be fighting for the top spot in the rankings.”
Really?
‘I don’t know about that…’
The tower wasn’t a logical place.
On the surface, it looks like it has a friendly user interface that lets you choose your difficulty level.
But in its essence, the tower challenges us.
You have to overcome its trials and take on the risk.
Those who can’t, die, but those who do, get stronger.
That’s what I’d learned in the past couple of weeks.
‘And only those who do can reap the sweet fruits that the tower provides.’
So it was strange to me that what I could do was an outlier in Lee Hayeun’s eyes.
Still confused, I stayed quiet.
“Not everyone has the same trials even within the hard difficulty.”
“I know.”
I figured that out a while ago from people talking in the community.
“And people who don’t do well on their trials don’t get great rewards.”
“Yeah, they probably miss out on all the bonus rewards.”
“But even then, those people still survive. That’s not a coincidence.”
“…?”
“Once you don’t perform well in a trial, your difficulty level adjusts.”
“What do you…”
“The information should be pretty accurate since we learned it from interviewing other challengers.”
She continued to explain.
“So basically…”
In essence, this is what she said.
In the easy difficulty, challengers who cleared their trials with outstanding performance tended to struggle with subsequent trials…
And people who struggled to clear the objective said their trials became progressively easier to clear.
Plus, the contents of the trial itself started to change depending on the person.
“That’s what happened to me. My trials started out as battles but later became more focused around exploring and finding my way out of a labyrinth.”
“Hmm…”
“On the other hand, if you perform well, the trials would get harder and tend towards battles.”
“But your rewards would be better.”
“There hasn’t been a case like that from the easy difficulty mode challengers but… that should be the case.”
That probably meant my difficulty had been increasing because of my performance in previous trials.
That wasn’t all bad though.
It just meant that I’d have an easier time getting stronger.
“What you just demonstrated should only be possible by the top 50 rankers… and the more trials you go through, the stronger you’ll get. You’re one of the few people who are voluntarily climbing the tower.”
Most people bought the permanent return stone and left the tower.
I nodded my head.
“…I see.”
“Of course, it will be that much more dangerous. So please be careful.”
“…?”
“I want to stay by your side to see how much stronger you’d get.”
She smiled with a blush.
“I’m rooting for you, not as your contractor, but as a fellow hunter.”
“…I think I know what you’re worried about. But don’t worry.”
I knew the type of people who were left in the tower.
And I was just like them.
“We aren’t that different.”
“I guess that’s a relief. Now let’s get going. The dungeon is going to expunge soon.”
I nodded and followed her out of the boss room.
That was how my second day back ended.
***
***
After completing the dungeon…
I spent my day lazing around.
「 The Hunter Association has announced the ‘Tower of Trials’ as a disaster that… 」
「 Tower of Trials, what is it? A turning point for everyday civilians? 」
「 There are currently many easy and normal difficulty level challengers being confirmed… 」
There was still some to be dug up.
And—
「 Bank account – $1,232,630 」
“It’s real…”
All the money I made since I came back was already deposited into my account. freewebn(o)vel
‘It’s more than I thought.’
Even without the gate, just selling the cores was pretty profitable.
Plus, if I kept working as a hunter, I’d be making much more than this.
But…
‘I’m not gonna stop here.’
It would be foolish to throw away an opportunity to get even stronger.
And then—
“…?”
Bzzzt…!
The phone I left at the side of my desk started buzzing.
There was only one person who would be texting me.
‘Lee Hayeon.’
My prediction was spot on.
「 All the necessary paper was has been processed. You can now use any White Silver guild’s dungeons at your discretion. 」
“Ooh.”
Finally, some good news.
‘Now I won’t have to figure out what I have to do every time I come back.’
I sent her a thank you text with a little addition that I’d be going back to the tower soon.
「 I’ll be waiting, so text me any time you’re back. 」
I didn’t plan on making her wait too long anyway.
The ‘time limit’ for starting trials was now gone.
Which meant that I could go in any time I wanted.
And I wasn’t planning on taking breaks.
Once I feel that I can’t keep climbing with my abilities, I’ll come back.
‘I doubt that should take long though.’
Of course…
“I’ll think about that later.”
「 Returning to the tower of trials in 5 minutes. 」
I slowly got up and started packing all the things I needed to take back with me.
I put on all my equipment again and waited for the count to hit…
「 Time up. 」
「 Returning to the tower. 」
My surrounding changed immediately.
“…”
Within the blink of an eye, I was back in my eerily familiar waiting area.
‘It’s not as bad the second time.’
Without a second to spare.
“Trial.”
「 Do you accept the 8th floor trial? 」
Before I accepted, I decided to examine my equipment one more time.
This should be enough for the 8th trial.
‘Especially because I got a lot stronger from the dungeons.’
I proceeded to click accept.
But then…
As I expected a portal to appear—
「 Please select a divergence. 」
「 Narrative 」
「 Battle 」
「 Strategy 」
“…?”
Without warning, I was told to choose between these three divergences.
‘What?’
‘They did say that a divergence system was being formed.’
It was one of the 8th floor system expansions.
This time, there wasn’t a lot to contemplate.
「 You’ve selected the ‘battle’ divergence. 」
‘Probably best for necromancy.’
「 All of challenger Han Sungyeun’s trials will now be ‘battle’ focused. 」
「 Once chosen, a divergence cannot be altered. 」
I didn’t think I’d ever need to.
I just wanted to check on my new skills.
But then again…
「 Challenger Han Sungyeun possesses the qualifications of a ‘pioneer.’ 」
Something was off.
“…?”
More messages kept popping up.
「 Starting a meeting with an administrator. 」
「 Searching for a suitable battle divergent administrator… 」
“Administrator…?”
I’d definitely had an encounter with them when I first entered the tower.
But meeting one face to face was something I never even dreamed of.
A meeting with one of the entities who manage the tower…
「 Search complete. 」
「 Starting a meeting with a battle divergent administrator ‘Iron-blooded Monarch.’ ]
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Translator’s notes – Or ask me for clarification on our channel in discord!
*Looks at his bank account*
God I wish that were me
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