Chapter 79: Earnest Wish (2)

Chapter 79: Earnest Wish (2)

Chapter 79: Earnest Wish (2)

The moment when the dazzling system message disappeared.

"..."

A new message appeared in front of my eyes along with a feeling of a lead being placed on my heart.

「 Power: Sword of Iron-blood (A-) has been engraved on your soul. 」

Sword of Iron-blood.

I'd obtained the power to summon a sword made of mana at any time.

The power that I obtained, Sword of Iron-blood, was a power in which the ability of the summoned sword was also determined by the swordsmanship skill and mana level.

As such, it'd have taken quite a long time to buy it if I was going to buy it at the exclusive contractor shop, but...

'I'm not that happy.'

Even though I had obtained a better power than I expected, I was surprisingly calm.

It was the same as well as in the trial of the 10th floor. It was probably because I had obtained many rewards several times.

Let's say, just a fine feeling that I got a good card in my hand?

I had no other feelings than that.

Would it be because of that?

"...Don't tell me you got the most useless power?"

The Iron-Blooded Monarch, who was sitting down and observing me, widened her eyes and asked me that question.

Of course, I didn't get as bad of a power as she thought, so I immediately shook my head.

"I got the power I thought I needed at this point."

"...?"

"I've obtained the Sword of Iron-blood."

"That's... Amazing."

The Iron-blooded Monarch continued speaking as though she was relieved.

"Sword of Iron-blood is an ability that I enjoyed using before. The higher the level of the swordsmanship skill, and the higher the mana is, the stronger the sword becomes."

The ability to grow stronger according to the caster's growth.

And other than that, there were a lot of pretty good options when I read it before.

"Plus, the necessity to purchase an item related to the sword disappears too."

"That's correct. You can pretend not to use a sword and suddenly summon it to make a surprise attack."

In fact, no other ability was as important as this for someone who uses a sword.

After exchanging a conversation, the Iron-Blooded Monarch smiled as if her mood lightened up.

"I guess it was worth it to use the points I've accumulated so far to give you the gift."

She was clearly expecting something from me in her tone, emphasizing that she had made a loss by granting me power.

I immediately realized what it was and opened my mouth.

"Thank you. It'll definitely be a power that'll aid me forever."

The Iron-blooded Monarch twitched the corners of her mouth and curled her eyebrows.

"You don't have to mention it... doing this much is nothing for my precious contractor."

After saying that, the Iron-blooded Monarch picked up the snack on the table and chewed it.

Following that, I also took a bite of the snack and chewed it, and she soon opened her mouth again.

"Now that I've given you the power that I wanted to give, let's talk about something else."

"...?"

"What I'm going to talk about now will spend your rights to your questions. Would that be alright with you?"

"How come?"

"Unlike other information, the tower will impose sanctions on me if I tell you these without any cost."

Information important enough that the tower could impose sanctions on her?

I answered while nodding my head as it definitely wouldn't be some kind of nonsense.

"Sure. I didn't really have anywhere to use it, so I just kept on stacking it."

It was just then when I answered so—

「 All question rights held by the challenger, Han Sungyeun, will be consumed. 」

"...!?"

I was bewildered by the message that all of the question rights I had were used up instantly.

'...Just how important is this story going to be?'

I had a lot of question rights left since there had been very few cases where I used the question.

However, as soon as all the question rights were used, I noticed that the story from now on wouldn't be anything ordinary.

"..."

At that, as I looked at the Iron-blooded Monarch with a serious expression, she soon opened her mouth.

"Previously, you must've killed a challenger from another world on the 9th floor."

"...Yes. It was the first time I met a challenger from a Murim world, so I had a hard time too."

"..."

"Don't tell me, are you acquainted with that young master of the Namgung noble family?"

"I'll be damned if that's true. The young master of the Namgung noble family is a greenhorn who's just twenty years old."

The Iron-Blooded Monarch scoffed and brushed her frizzy hair backward.

"I've been an administrator for several decades. The years I've lived from him are completely different."

"Then how do you know about the young master of the Namgung noble family?"

"There's a way to know everything. Well, that doesn't matter, so let's move on...."

The Iron-blooded Monarch evaded the point all of a sudden, narrowed her eyes, and said.

"The young master of the Namgung noble family is probably several times stronger than you."

"..."

"He must be a fairly-high level challenger since he has reached the 20th floor in the Tower of Trials."

"20th floor? Then don't I have a chance at winning?"

"Not at all."

When I tilted my head at her confident denial, quickly, she answered.

"The challengers of the Murim dimension are at an entirely new level in terms of the strength of their own body. It's a world in which only those who've been insane about martial arts have lived for hundreds and thousands of years. As it's a world full of people who have honed their strength and become godlike, no other world can look down on the effectiveness of their method for enhancing their strength."

Hearing that, I had no other choice but to keep my mouth shut.

A world where hundreds and thousands of years have been devoted to martial arts.

How strong would the ones who grew up in such a world be?

'Even Baek Sunhak, although his physical abilities and skills were limited, he still overwhelmed me.'

What was worse was that it was after defeating that black knight I met on the 5th floor.

I was prepared, and I had the confidence that I wouldn't be as helpless as before.

But I couldn't help but marvel at an old man's unbelievable strength.

He tried to give me death till the very end by increasing his speed to impede my movement.

On the other hand, I was almost defeated even though I was equipped with a strength that didn't match the floor level with an ability that specializes in growth.

That difference was huge, and I quickly accepted it calmly.

"Then he's on a completely different level from me, huh."

"It'll be difficult for you to survive if you face him directly on a floor."

It was only for a moment that I laughed bitterly at the death sentence I had not heard in a long time.

"But it's not entirely impossible, so I'll give you the information I know for now."

As soon as she started talking about the young master of the Namgung noble family, I started to concentrate.

The words that followed were something to be listened to carefully.

Sword Dragon of the Blue Sky.

He's a person who uses the grand nickname, which meant dragon of the sword that rules the blue sky.

At the same time, he was the next master of the family who'd inherit the Namgung noble family, a famous family in Murim.

And his real name is Namgung Hyuk, and there was no one who wouldn’t know his name when you mentioned it to any challengers from the Murim dimension.

His swordsmanship would surpass A-rank in terms of skill level, and so on and so forth. A lot of talks were exchanged.

Only after devising a plan against him did the conversation's heat cool down, and the Iron-blooded Monarch gave permission to leave.

"...It seems I have told you everything I can, so you may leave now."

I nodded at the voice that seemed to have achieved all her goals.

Originally, I was in the middle of checking the rewards in the waiting room, so I didn't have time to stay any longer.

"Alright. Then I'll see you in the waiting room on the 12th floor next time we meet."

The Iron-blooded Monarch responded with satisfaction to my brief words...

"I'll be looking forward to your future."

「 Moving to the 11th floor waiting room .」

Then, a message appeared in my sight, and the place changed instantly.

From a medieval-style hut full of gloominess to a desolate waiting room.

"..."

Of course, I was quietly adapting to it and was going to continue what I had to do, but...

Ring! Ring! Ring!

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to the administrator territory. 」

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to the admini... 」

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to... 」

At the invitation messages that popped up in an instant, I had no choice but to stop what I was about to do.

The administrator White Crane Sword Saint had sent me an invitation.

Not just once, but countless times.

——

——