Chapter 76 - Qualification – 1

Qualification – 1

Killing over six-hundred humans in that battle had resulted in quite a bit of a gain for me. First of all, my level had risen, almost disgustingly so, up to level 199. Even if the experience was less on average than that of the higher-level monsters that appeared on the 7th floor, the humans had grouped up all at once instead of making me hunt them down individually. The conditions needed for me to evolve included leveling up, and now I only needed one more level to satisfy that condition.

Second, I obtained a lot of money. Plenty of those humans here had hundreds, if not tens, of thousands of gold on them. Checking my inventory, I had over 400,000 gold now. Since I had been spending a lot of my money on the entrance fee to the Garden of Nak, it felt quite nice to have a surplus of cash.

The last thing was the items I acquired. I had been using Lunatic Trickster pretty heavily in that battle, so most of the items had been used to fuel it. Still, I kept the high-end equipment and really useful potions. Compared to the armor and weapon I was currently using, their performance wasn’t all that great, but I could still use them as materials to synthesize equipment in the future.

“Are you heading back to the 7th floor, Captain?”

“No, before that I have some other things to take care of. I’ll go conquer the 7th floor after that.” I responded to Lee Chan-yu as I organized my inventory. My thoughts drifted to Jinma’s tower and its manager, A. I had been thinking of conquering the 7th floor of the Black Palace and conquering Jinma’s Tower, but A had told me to find myself first before I entered the boss room.

“Is the 7th floor the end of the dungeon?”

“I believe so. If not, I’ll just have to keep pushing forward.”

“What will you do after you reach the end of this dungeon?” His question gave me pause.

“Don’t worry about it too much. I’m simply curious about what will happen next.”

“I think I’ll just go outside and buy some jjajangmyeon.”

“Really?! That’s it?”

“I’m kidding.” I smiled grimly at Lee Chan-yu.

“I suppose I’ll have to go find my family.”

“…”

“These other humans don’t matter…heck, sometimes it feels weird to think that I was once human too. But still, it’s not possible for me to ignore my family. Even if they died, I still want to know.”

“Captain… that’s…” Lee Chan-yu hesitated, then let out a sigh.

“I’ve told you this before, but the world is a little crazy right now. Years have passed since I first entered this dungeon, so it might’ve gotten worse but…I doubt it’s gotten better. For low-level noncombatants…well…things usually don’t go well for them.”

“You mean I should be prepared for the worst.”

“…Yes.” His expression was quite dark, but I decided it would be best to leave the topic alone. He was right, after all. More than a year had passed already; it was silly to expect that my parents or siblings would still live. That I could find them, and they would greet me with a smile. ‘Besides… haven’t I been focused on just my own survival up until now? How hypocritical of me…’ It was cruel of me to start caring about them now, just because I was nearing the end of this dungeon.

“What’s next?” Lee Chan-yu was attempting to change the topic.

“Let’s go take a walk.”

“Through the dungeon?”

“Yeah. It would be nice if we could live comfortably here, without all these people trying to take us on. I suppose I’ll have to aim at becoming so strong that they won’t even bother.” Lee Chan-yu laughed at me, finding my goal amusing.

“What a Captain-like goal. Wouldn’t it be nice if we also made a guild?”

“That’s a good idea.” We passed the time walking to the 6th floor with idle talk.

“Until you clear the 7th floor, I will focus on beating the boss here.”

“I believe that you can. But…after the aftermath of today, stronger enemies might show up to investigate. If you’re going to take on this floor’s boss, you may want to hurry.”

“I want to but…it makes such a terrible sound.” I bid farewell to Lee Chan-yu and made my way back to the 7th floor, killing all the monsters I encountered on the way. The 7th-floor corridors were made of a translucent obsidian-like crystal, flickering as if it was breathing anytime I released my mana. It was an incredibly beautiful place, and it seemed ironic to me that dangerous monsters could live here.

I made my way to the boss room, marked by a bizarre iron gate built into the middle of a cave wall covered in the same material as the corridors. It was a massive door, larger than any I had ever seen, and it lacked a keyhole unlike the other ones in the dungeon. It welcomed any and all challengers to enter. I had a feeling of what lurked within, remembering the words the humans said before.

“The owner of the dungeon.” That’s what would appear if I went past that door. Even reaching out with my senses, I couldn’t feel anything in the room beyond it. Not that I was surprised, I hadn’t expected it to be so easy to gather information on the boss. I would have to fight him sooner or later if I wanted to leave this dungeon, so no point in rushing it anyway.

“You are unbearably kind.” A’s words rang out in my head as I decided to ignore the boss door for now and instead open the path to Jinma’s Tower. I stepped into the tower, greeted only by a vast expanse of earth.

“…Huh?”

“Welcome to the 6th floor of the Jinma’s Tower. There is no opponent this time.”

“A?” I looked around but couldn’t find him. I could feel his presence, although I wasn’t able to pinpoint where he was. But more importantly than that… ‘Is this really the tower? It’s huge.’

“You will conquer this floor by acquiring the Wings of Jinma.” A had thrown me into the 6th-floor challenge without any warning or preparation. The Colosseum did not rise from the ground as it usually did, but I could still tell there had been a chance as soon as he finished talking. The quality of the mana flowing through the air had changed, and I tensed up.

‘Acquire the Wings of Jinma?’ I grounded my teeth as I looked around but couldn’t see anything. ‘Wait, no opponents? How can I not have an opponent here?’

I could hear a rush of air, and without thinking, I used Ubiquitous to leap into the air. Seconds later, shells of dark mana slammed into the ground where I had been, exploding below me. ‘If I had been hit by one of those directly…’

“I thought you said there was no opponent!”

“There are obstacles. It is the will of Jinma’s Tower to use its energy to protect the wings from you, Fate.” It took me a second to parse through what he was saying. ‘The energy of the tower? Then that means…the entirety of this place is now my enemy?’

The mana shells volleyed forth once more. They were orbs of mana, shaped sort of like cannonballs, armed with murderous intent. The mana of the tower was thick and pure, completely different from that which was flowing through my body. The ordeal I was currently in was absurd, and I had to wonder if the 6th floor was also the last of Jinma’s Tower. However, I didn’t have long to consider this as mana shells rained down upon me from all directions. I wouldn’t have the time to sit and think in this place. If I paused to think, if I hesitated at all, this mana bombardment would destroy me.

‘The Wings of Jinma…’ That was all I needed to worry about right now. I had to find them; if I couldn’t before my mana ran out, I would die. This was a space where I didn’t have to worry about death sticking, but it was possible the location of the wings would change if I lost. This floor was a trial designed to test my control over my body and my ability to use my senses to evade attacks.

Right now, however, it seemed impossible. The wings had to be somewhere in this vast space, but trying to find them while avoiding this continual bombardment of mana as it rained down from everywhere? And then to secure the wings and bring them back? ‘Is that even possible?’ The core of the previous trials the tower presented to me was to overcome them using Predation. I grew in my usage of Predation every time I trained here. I had learned of new things that were possible with the skill.

‘Is A telling me to devour this mana with my Predation? That’s absurd…’ The mana of this tower possessed an intense will similar but distinct to my own. If I tried to touch it, it would violently reject my own will and destroy me. It made no sense to devour the mana; if I could do that, I wouldn’t need to fear the use of any magic. Even if it were possible, it would be at a much different level than that of devouring the body or even the soul and converting it into mana.

But I had to regardless. This wouldn’t be the first time I misunderstood what I was to do in Jinma’s Tower, that I had learned how to accomplish something I had thought was impossible. If I couldn’t conquer this task, I would never be able to conquer this tower.

“If you don’t keep moving, you’ll get hurt.” I ignored A’s words as I always did and continued to stand still. Hundreds of mana shells volleyed toward me, unmatched violence raining down upon my body

“Ahhhhh!”

I couldn’t have prepared for the sensation that overtook me, overwhelmed by fear as everything that made me who I am, shattered. Even though I knew I wouldn’t die here, I couldn’t help but be afraid. Mostly, I was terrified of this pain.

But Jinma’s Tower always presented me with what I needed. Seconds after my body was obliterated, it reformed in the same place. I opened my eyes, and the mana shells once again volleyed toward me.

‘I have to do this. I can do this.’

With a sigh in my heart, I spread my arms wide open and welcomed my second death. As pain permeated every fiber of my being, I could feel strange mana that I was starting to get a little used to.