Chapter 93

Simply clearing the dungeon was not the main objective.

The primary goal was to blitz through each level with maximum speed and exit promptly. His mind wasn’t just focused on the potential prizes awaiting him inside the Tower of Trials. If he intended to craft runes and then utilize those prizes to upgrade them, it was going to require an immense time commitment.

“Song Yeonhui.”

“Present!”

“I appreciate you letting me borrow these. I’ll make sure they gain an absolute ton of levels before returning them to you.”

Baek Jinwoo picked up Song Yeonhui’s collection of puppets once more and allocated them straight into Team 2.

When it came to maximizing speed on a dungeon run, absolutely nothing could compete with these tiny figures.

“Oh, please don’t even worry about it! Honestly, I’m the one who should be thanking you!”

For Song Yeonhui, this arrangement carried absolutely no downsides.

He was planning to employ her puppets all the way from Floor 21 right up through Floor 50 of the Tower of Trials.

The sheer volume of experience points that would come pouring in as a result would be utterly monumental.

Trying to raise their levels manually by combining low-tier summons would have demanded an outrageous amount of time and capital. Sending them off on what was essentially a one-week training trip abroad inside the Tower of Trials was a far superior alternative.

Granted, a singular danger remained…

The absolute worst-case scenario would be if the guild master failed to make it back alive.

Ah, there was no point dwelling on that.

Time to banish any pessimistic thoughts.

“I’m going to stick to my physical workouts and keep practicing the breathing routines that Drill Sarge taught me.”

In all honesty—

Because she possessed the Heavenly Heart Constitution blended together with the Limitless Constitution, Song Yeonhui was fully capable of practicing her puppet manipulation techniques purely through mental visualization.

“And Hwang Jiwoo.”

“Yes, Jinwoo-nim!”

“I’m sorry, but it looks like I need you to stay behind and guard our position outside the Tower of Trials.”

“No problem at all! I’ll just treat the whole experience like an outdoor camping trip.”

He had already secured authorization from the main headquarters.

He requested that they set up a short-term living space where she could remain alongside the administrative workers.

To prevent Stormy’s Sudden Quest from undergoing a complete reset, it was mandatory for him to conquer every single floor in under sixty minutes.

And if a particular floor appeared as though it might drag on longer than that?

He would have to leave Stormy behind entirely.

Even under those circumstances, his absence could not surpass a total of five hours.

If he stayed away any longer than that, Stormy would automatically become unsummoned.

[Tower of Trials raiding squads can configure up to 3 total parties.]

[Please finalize your tactical arrangement.]

Party 1 consisted of his absolute top-tier combatants.

Ramba, Drill Sarge, Stormy, Rolly, and Rune Dwarf.

Why bother including Rune Dwarf in the active roster?

He simply didn’t have any alternative summons available to fill that particular slot, and having to backtrack every five hours just to summon him all over again was a massive hassle.

Rune Dwarf wasn’t there to participate in actual combat.

Even while stationed inside the dungeon environment, he would endlessly consume resources and keep striking away with his smithing hammer.

Party 2 was entirely comprised of Song Yeonhui’s puppets.

Party 3 was packed with the player’s specialized movement assets and stat-boosters: Wind Falcon, Sky Dolphin, Skypierce Wyvern, and similar entities.

“Is everyone prepared?”

• Naturally, Jinwoo!

• Yes, my preparations are complete.

• My lord, I am ready to clear a path through our enemies.

Now that was precisely the kind of response he appreciated hearing.

Completely reliable.

Even though he was about to step directly into an infamous location widely recognized as the cemetery for active players, Baek Jinwoo didn’t experience even a hint of nervousness.

“Welcome, Player Baek Jinwoo!”

The on-site administrative staff greeted him with looks reflecting profound admiration.

Under ordinary circumstances, they would have required him to go through the standard registration verification process, but they bypassed that bureaucratic step entirely.

At this point, his mere presence served as his identification card and authorization.

“We have configured the confidentiality protocols exactly like the previous occasion!”

“That won’t be necessary.”

The secret was already out in the open.

The entire global community was aware of the truth, and even the prominent Five Emperors were utterly certain that he was JinuGod. What purpose did it serve to keep sneaking around at this stage?

Drill Sarge had also grown vastly more powerful, and on top of that, he was actively establishing an entire guild organization.

“I am no longer concerned about public broadcasting or media coverage, so you can disable those restrictions.”

“A-are you absolutely certain?”

“Yes. Alright then, I’m making my entry.”

“Understood! We truly hope you experience a successful raid!”

As he received their polite and formal farewells—

Baek Jinwoo moved forward across the main threshold of the Tower, stepping directly into the portal that vibrated with a dark, shimmering aurora.

The formidable opponent waiting at the end of Floor 10 had been One-Eye (S-rank), while the entity defending Floor 20 had been Dracul (S-rank).

So what kind of adversary would show up on Floor 30?

Phantom.

A spectral-class boss monster.

Every block of ten levels operated under a specific environmental motif, and the chosen theme governing Floors 21 through 30 centered entirely around apparitions and spirits.

• Ugh, why does this place have to feel so incredibly spine-chilling?

Ramba rubbed her arms to soothe the goosebumps and quickly slipped behind Baek Jinwoo’s back for protection.

The atmosphere was undeniably ominous.

It was a metropolis blanketed by heavy, pitch-black clouds that obscured the sky, barely permitting a single beam of sunshine to penetrate the gloom.

The structures throughout this abandoned city, completely stripped of any human presence, stood deteriorated and collapsing. The window panes were thick with grime and covered in spiderwebs.

• Quit trying to conceal yourself and start swinging your staff weapon, Ramba.

Shring!

Drill Sarge unsheathed his blade and gave her a stern lecture. Ramba jutted out her bottom lip, visibly sulking.

• Fine, whatever, I hear you. You total know-it-all!

• My lord, do I have your permission to obliterate them right now?

An environment based around spirits could actually prove incredibly grueling and problematic for standard players.

The streets appeared entirely vacant, but every single object and structure in sight was actually hosting an apparition.

The dimly glowing street lamps.

The lodging house with its shattered signage.

The storefront with its security shutters left half-open.

Every single element was purposefully engineered to hypnotize players and guide them straight into clever ambushes.

However?

“Go ahead, obliterate everything.”

KRAKABOOOOM!

When faced with the sheer destructive capability of Drill Sarge, who was fully armed with optimized graduation runes, none of those elaborate traps mattered in the slightest.

• Understood, my lord. I shall reduce this entire area to shattered fragments.

Fwash!

Drill Sarge soared straight up into the upper atmosphere and brought his weapon crashing down in a single, devastating sweeping motion.

That basic attack completely pulverized the urban landscape, leveling the city as though a massive bombing run had just occurred.

KABOOOOM!

Drill Sarge showed absolutely no hesitation or mercy.

• KYAAAAAAH!

• KREEEEEEK!

Phantoms shrieked in agony as they shot up into the air, forced out from the structures they had been infesting as the buildings crumbled into dust.

However.

Swish!

Rolly, enhanced by Ramba’s supportive magic, spun his massive scythe in rapid circles and sliced their forms right down the middle.

The literal harvester of spirits, the Gale Slaughterer!

Rolly’s fluid repositioning was actually far more elusive and spectral than the very ghosts they were fighting.

• YES! Now that is exactly what I wanted to see!

Ramba cheered at the top of her lungs with pure thrill, completely forgetting that she had been shivering with anxiety just moments prior.

Baek Jinwoo wasn’t simply standing around watching the spectacle either.

Shwarararak!

He hurled his collection of puppets out across all coordinates, triggering a barrage of elemental spells.

The results were quite impressive.

He made a mental note to look into acquiring far higher-tier puppets to replace these at a later date.

They would need to be A-rank at the absolute bare minimum.

• My lord, the immediate surroundings have been entirely neutralized. We are continuing our forward progression.

“Got it.”

The traditional method for navigating Floor 21 required players to track down and eliminate the ‘Ghost Commander’ (B-rank) stationed right in the urban center.

But Baek Jinwoo didn’t waste any time searching for it.

The reason was that later on, this entire metropolitan area would assemble into a colossal ‘City Ghost’ (A-rank) to assault the players.

The actual battle against the City Ghost was scheduled for Floor 25.

It made far more sense to diminish its total structural integrity ahead of time.

If he obliterated all the components right now?

Floor 25 would turn into a total breeze.

Furthermore.

An amalgamation of ten individual City Ghosts would eventually combine to form the ‘Phantom’ (S-rank), the ultimate boss of this section.

The underlying strategy for this entire theme was incredibly basic.

If you simply systematically demolish every piece of scenery, the challenge becomes trivial to complete.

“Let’s pick up the pace, double time.”

• Right away, my lord!

[You have successfully located the ‘Ghost Commander’ (B-rank).]

Perfect!

He had finally run into the main target that was supposed to be hiding out in the middle of the city.

The only issue was—

• Grrrk?

Floor 21 concluded with the Ghost Commander standing in absolute bewilderment, staring out at an environment that had already been entirely converted into smoking ruins and debris.

[Congratulations!]

[You have successfully cleared Floor 21 of the Tower of Trials!]

Excellent.

[Your completion incentives have arrived.]

[You have acquired Universal Abrasive x20!]

Oh.

Universal Abrasives?

That was a solid drop.

He still had quite a few graduation runes left to properly optimize, and Universal Abrasives stood out as one of the highly sought-after rune refinement materials that rarely ever appeared on the open trading boards.

“Alright, let’s eliminate this target immediately. Finish off the Ghost Commander.”

• Understood.

KRAKABOOOOM!

Floor 22 proved to be entirely direct.

Defeat the Ghost Commander.

Granted, it was only considered direct from the perspective of Baek Jinwoo. A lone Ghost Commander was actually a far more formidable opponent than the One-Eye (S-rank) encountered back on Floor 10.

Well, that was a given based on the scaling.

Regardless of that fact—

Drill Sarge and Stormy disposed of the threat with zero complications.

Fwoooosh!

• KREEEEEEEEK!

The Ghost Commander dissolved into nothingness, its features contorted in pure suffering.

[The ‘Ghost Commander’ (B-rank) has been successfully neutralized.]

[You have successfully cleared Floor 22 of the Tower of Trials!]

The resulting prize?

[You have acquired Supreme-Grade Rune Selection Ticket (Bound) x2!]

“Are you kidding me?!”

Now that was a spectacular pull.

An item exponentially more valuable and uncommon than standard abrasives had actually just dropped for him!

[Floor 18 – Supreme-Grade Rune Selection Ticket (Bound)]

[Floor 20 – King’s Crest (Bound) x1, Supreme-Grade Rune Selection Ticket (Bound) x2]

He was still holding onto the rewards he gathered from Floors 18 and 20, which signified that his running total had now reached five individual selection tickets in his inventory.

If he could just secure one single additional ticket…

He would be able to claim a full, finalized graduation rune configuration all at once.

Of course, these vouchers couldn’t be used to select Unique grades, only Rare ones… but regardless, it was an incredible benefit!

Just hold on a little longer, Rune Dwarf.

Baek Jinwoo intended to utilize these collected vouchers to specifically claim the ‘Master Craftsman’ (Rare) rune.

[Rune]

[Rank: Supreme-Grade (Rare)]

• Global possession limited to 100 units total.

[Set Bonus: Master Craftsman]

• Having 6 units equipped amplifies overall Crafting Success Probability by 25%.

[Level: 1]

[Attribute Enhancements]

STR +50%, INT +50%

This was a genuinely ridiculous set of attributes.

Once a player attained the maximum possible Crafting level, the baseline probability for a successful creation sat at 25%, and utilizing this set would push that baseline all the way up to 50%.

The sheer quantity of raw crafting materials he would save over time would be astronomical.

“This is an excellent opening. Let’s push forward to Floor 23 immediately.”

A massive smile spread across Baek Jinwoo’s face.

Song Yeonhui and Hwang Jiwoo had managed to become incredibly close friends in a remarkably short window of time.

Yeonhui was currently twenty-three years old, while Jiwoo was twenty-two.

The age difference between them was practically nonexistent, and being forced to wait around together right outside the entryway of the Tower of Trials had naturally accelerated their bonding.

Chomp, chomp.

Hwang Jiwoo, who had just wrapped up her intense physical conditioning routine and was currently biting into a hamburger, suddenly found herself feeling inquisitive.

“Yeonhui Unni.”

“Yes?”

“What’s the reason you’re continuing to wait out here in the open, though?”

Jiwoo was required to remain on standby specifically to prevent Stormy’s progress from being wiped out, but Yeonhui didn’t have any actual obligations forcing her to stay.

“No major reason, really.”

She offered a gentle smile.

“You’re very comfortable to hang out with, and honestly, I’m just highly intrigued by our guild master.”

“You mean Jinwoo-nim?”

“Yes, to be completely exact, I’m fascinated by the specific puppets he’s deploying in combat. It’s really practical to monitor their status every single time he exits and re-enters the gate. I wonder exactly how many levels they’re going to gain? Just pondering the possibilities gets my heart racing, you know?”

“Come on, there’s no way that’s the only explanation.”

“Why you little—”

Bonk!

Yeonhui tapped Jiwoo playfully on the top of her head and let out a hearty laugh.

“Fine, you caught me.”

She openly conceded the point.

“Our guild master. He’s honestly just incredibly handsome, you know? A total treat to look at. That definitely plays a role in why I’m lingering around out here.”

“Wow, so you actually have a romantic interest in him?”

“Is there a single woman on this planet who wouldn’t find themselves interested in a guy like him?”

“Yeah, that’s a completely valid point.”

Jiwoo nodded her head in full agreement.

Setting aside his sheer mechanical prowess and capabilities, the man was simply drop-dead gorgeous.

And his physical form was absolutely phenomenal on top of everything else.

During their very first interaction, she had been so incredibly overwhelmed and flustered that she could barely manage to articulate her sentences properly.

She simply understood her boundaries perfectly well, so she chose to keep those internal observations strictly to herself.

Right as they were in the middle of their casual conversation—

“Incredible job out there, esteemed members of the national squad!”

One of the facility’s administrative workers walked over toward them cautiously, carrying a pair of iced americanos in his hands.

“It looked like you were finishing up your meal, so I figured I’d bring these over to serve as a nice dessert.”

“Oh.”

“We really appreciate it.”

The two young women bowed their heads courteously as they took the beverages from him.

“Please, don’t mention it! We’re the ones who owe you our gratitude! Seeing you train with such intense dedication since earlier today all for the sake of the upcoming World League…”

The employee shook his head from side to side in pure astonishment, as if he had never witnessed such an unforgiving workout routine in his entire life.

Two seemingly delicate women had literally strapped heavy automobile tires around their midsections and were performing full-speed sprints directly across the pavement in front of the Tower. He couldn’t quite figure out if they were standard dungeon players or world-class track athletes practicing for an Olympic event.

He would likely never discover the real truth, not even in his wildest fantasies.

The reality was that Hwang Jiwoo and Song Yeonhui actually placed at the absolute bottom tier of the entire national squad when it came to raw physical conditioning stats.

“If it wouldn’t cause you too much trouble, would it be possible for me to get your autographs?”

“Oh, of course… I can absolutely sign something for you.”

“Thank you so much!”

The administrative worker, having successfully acquired signatures from two separate national team players in exchange for a couple of inexpensive coffees, looked as though he had just hit a massive jackpot.

Right at that exact instant—

Clack!

“Oh!”

The staff member let out a sharp gasp of astonishment as the main entrance doors of Jamsil Tower swung wide open.

“Already?”

Exactly how many times had this sequence repeated itself now?

Floors 21 all the way through 25.

Every individual level had been completed in less than an hour.

The fact that he was walking back out through the threshold meant he had achieved a perfect clear.

“Jinwoo-nim!”

“Guild master!”

Both Jiwoo and Yeonhui instantly scrambled up to their feet.

Baek Jinwoo walked out of the portal looking a little fatigued and proceeded to call forth Stormy.

“Once I hit Floor 26 and beyond, things might start taking slightly longer to finish.”

“Oh, how much time are we talking about?”

“I will absolutely make my way back out within a maximum of five hours, so just ensure you keep a close watch over Stormy for me.”

He placed Stormy safely on the ground and immediately turned around to walk back through the shimmering gateway.

“……”

The administrative worker along with the two women could do nothing but gaze silently at the doorway in absolute reverence.