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Chapter 28: Intrusion (1)
Chapter 28: Intrusion (1)
I spent my last day on Earth doing more research about the tower.
One could look at this as wasting my precious time on Earth but...
My initial goal was to get a leg up on everyone else, so I didn’t mind.
There wasn’t anything I needed besides the food and sleep I got.
‘Too much rest is a luxury I don’t need.’
I tried finding out as much as possible about the status of all the challengers on the 6th floor.
And—
A phenomenon called ‘Tower of Trials’ has been going around among hunters...Tower of Trials, what is it and why is it spreading like wildfire?Interviewing anyone who has information on the tower of trials.
The mainstream media had picked up on the scent.
That just helped to show how many challengers came back from the tower.
‘And that means more people have enough points to spare the 500 on the return stone.’
That also meant I was starting to fall behind compared to the other challengers.
“I’ll be busy once I get back.”
I’d have to clear the 5th trial as fast as possible.
A familiar message popped up as I was lost in thought.
「 You will be returned to the tower soon. 」
Return, as though the place I belonged was the tower.
...but I didn’t have anything to say against it.
‘I guess return is the correct term.’
I was returning to become stronger, and to survive.
Back to the tower.
Badump, badump.
My heart raced as my body longed to go back.
‘I guess it’s not so bad that I’m so accustomed to the tower.’
The tower had changed me.
But that allowed me to grow and survive.
Maybe that’s why...
「 Time over. 」
「 Returning to the Tower of Trials. 」
I was looking forward to the next trial.
***
“...I’m back”
The large stone waiting area was there, just as I left it.
Realizing that I had returned, I searched my body for my items.
‘I was holding on to it when I was in the studio so...’
The tips of my fingers grazed something hard mid-thought.
「 Krocken Magic Tower’s Repair Box 」
A black box with gray engraved stars like constellations, an item I bought at the hunters’ market.
And just around the corner—
「 Cleansing Stone 」
An azure pyroxene stone.
Another item I bought outside.
「 Assassin’s Cloak 」
And even the item I get from the 2nd floor.
“...Items are free to travel back and forth, huh.”
No matter where you got them from, as long as the item had a rank associated with it.
I still didn’t have anything like my phone or wallet, but that was fine.
Just knowing this information was a huge advantage.
‘This cleansing stone is gonna take a weight off of me.’
Same with the repair box.
Now I know to just go buy items and bring them back if they didn’t have them in the marketplace.
It was then—
「 ‘The First Returnee’ achievement unlocked. 」
「 Acquiring the skill ‘Eye of Truth (A)’ 」
“...?”
‘The first returnee?’
I had to read that a couple of times to get a full understanding of the situation.
“I must have been the first person to go and come back.”
It made sense since I used it almost immediately after getting to the 5th floor.
It was amazing that battles weren’t the only place you could unlock an achievement from.
However, what was more amazing was this skill.
Just the fact that it was an A-ranked skill was making me shake with excitement.
I collected my breath and opened the status window to see the details.
And—
「 Skill – Eye of Truth (A) 」
‘My fights usually revolve around the sword anyway.’
It shouldn’t be too big of a problem.
After making all of the necessary preparations, I checked the community one more time.
「 Floor 5 Community (443/691) 」
“There were over 1,000 people the last time I checked.”
I guess most people moved onto the 5th trial almost immediately.
Maybe some of them only just cleared the 4th trial and came up.
Although the chances were pretty slim.
I then briefly checked the leaderboard before taking a sigh of relief.
‘My ranking hasn’t changed.’
The most important part was that I was still a pioneer, but it would be a good idea to stay on the higher side just in case.
“I guess there’s no use delaying it any further.”
「 Do you accept the 5th floor trial? 」
「 Y/N 」
The waiting period was long gone.
I pressed ‘Y’ without hesitation and the usual blue portal appeared.
I put the repair box and the cleansing stone in my inventory and put on the new equipment.
I stepped into the portal to find myself transported to a drab cave.
「 Entering Tower of Trials floor 5. 」
「 Difficulty – Hard 」
「 The objective of the following trial is hunting.’ 」
「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory ending to their choice. 」
The objective soon followed.
「 The 5th floor trial is starting soon. 」
「 Remaining time – 1 day 」
「 Trial success condition – Kill the boss of the wolf cave, the werewolf, in the remaining time. 」
「 Trial fail condition – Challenger’s death or time out 」
「 Trial success reward – Barbaric Wolf’s Hairband (C-) 」
「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」
As soon as I finished reading the message, I heard growls begin to surround me.
Grrrr...
“This is a warm welcome.”
Muttering dully, I took a look at my surroundings.
It should have been too dark for me to see anything but...
Maybe it was due to my enhanced stats, but I could see the enemies as clear as day.
A wolf-like beast with brown, uneven fur, and scarlet eyes.
“Eye of truth.”
「 Crazy Wolf 」
「 Rank: E+ 」
「 A D-rank beast with a wolf-like outer appearance who usually hunts in packs. 」
「 Their jaw strength is powerful enough to cleanly sever an ordinary person’s arm. 」
It was a useful yet vicious description.
Sever an arm with a bite...
Although they might have a harder time with my arm with my tenacity stat.
It still wouldn’t hurt to be careful.
“Grrrr...!”
I squeezed the hilt of my new sword as three growling crazy wolves ran towards me.
“Kwaaar!”
And that was the last thing to come out of their mouths.
Stab, stab, stab!
I placed a hole in their necks simultaneously while dodging their claws.
Their corpses lost all strength and dropped to the floor.
Katang.
The fight was anticlimactic and didn’t raise any emotion in me.
Considering my stats, a D-rank monster wouldn’t really put up much of a fight.
“The sword feels pretty good, but the electrocute effect didn’t activate.”
The description said it had a 10% chance of activating, but it wasn’t as frequent as I had hoped.
Though I wasn’t disappointed.
~Grrr...
There were more practice dummies left in the cave.
And the echoing growls would lead me to them.
Translator’s notes – Or ask me for clarification on our channel in discord!
MC: rest is a luxury i can’t afford
Also MC: lemme buy that 50k shower rock