[List of Purchasable Stats] [Lv.2]
-Vitality
-Magic Power
-Strength
-Agility
-Random Skill [New]
*Distribute Evenly
I stared at the window floating before my eyes, unable to hide my mixed feelings for a moment.
“…Random Skill?”
Along with traits and stats, skills were one of the most important factors in determining a Hunter’s rank.
Skills generally consumed Magic Power, although certain special skills required other resources instead.
And I could obtain one of those skills at random?
‘This is… incredible.’
In all twenty-five years of my life as a Hunter, I had never obtained a single skill.
Ordinarily, skills were either granted when someone first awakened or acquired through extraordinary luck after fulfilling some special condition.
Yet I had never acquired a single skill in twenty-five years, including when I first awakened.
That had been the decisive reason I remained an F-rank Hunter for twenty-five years.
While everyone else obtained all manner of traits and skills and raced toward the higher floors, I had been forced to remain where I was.
Because I had no skills whatsoever.
Because I was nothing more than an ordinary F-rank Hunter.
But that was no longer the case.
‘There’s no reason to hesitate.’
The opportunity I had dreamed of for so long was finally within my grasp.
Why would I hesitate?
“Purchase Random Skill.”
DING!
[Insufficient experience points to purchase ‘Random Skill’.]
“Huh?”
I tried several more times, but I still could not purchase the Random Skill.
[Current Experience: 9,175,568]
I currently had approximately 9.1 million experience points.
Considering that purchasing a single stat point had previously required around ten million experience points, there was a good chance that a Random Skill required a similar amount.
‘It might even cost more.’
If the cost was significantly higher than that, I might actually have to think carefully about whether purchasing a Random Skill was worthwhile.
“Hmm……”
There was a simple reason for my hesitation.
Throughout my career as a Hunter, I had seen plenty of Hunters who possessed skills yet rarely, if ever, used them.
Some consumed so much Magic Power that they could only be used as a final trump card.
Others were so ineffective that using them was worse than not using them at all.
Still others required special conditions before they could even be activated.
Skills varied enormously.
In other words, simply possessing a skill did not guarantee that it would be useful or powerful.
There was probably a reason the purchase option specifically called it a Random Skill.
‘Even if it only costs ten million experience points, the risk is too high compared to stats, which are guaranteed to make me stronger.’
Stats were a reliable reward.
In particular, as stats grew higher, their effects compounded, making each additional point increasingly powerful.
A skill, on the other hand, could be extraordinary if I obtained a good one.
But if I received something useless, the opportunity cost would be enormous.
Naturally, I had no choice but to hesitate.
‘For now, I should focus on accumulating experience points.’
Once I cleared the eleventh floor tomorrow, I would probably have my answer one way or another.
***
The Korean Awakened Management Agency.
“Again?”
Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong could not conceal his excitement when he heard that the mysterious SSS-rank record holder had broken the tenth-floor record as well.
And that was not even the most astonishing part.
Climbing one new floor every single day was an extraordinary pace with almost no precedent.
Even Challengers usually exercised extreme caution when climbing the Tower. Attempting a new floor generally required at least several days of preparation.
They only had one life, after all, and once someone entered the Tower, abandoning the challenge midway was impossible.
But the newly emerged SSS-rank record holder was different.
Not only had he surpassed Jeff, the previous record holder, but he was establishing an unheard-of SSS-rank record while climbing one floor every single day.
This went beyond merely being an exceptional rookie.
Perhaps a new S-rank Hunter unlike any who had existed before was about to emerge.
Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong urged the subordinate who had come to report.
“Did you find anything?”
“Yes. Among the Hunters who use the nickname Strongest, one recently sold Kobold materials through a Government Official Market. The amount he sold also corresponds almost exactly to the quantity of Kobold materials obtainable from the sixth through ninth floors.”
“Hmm… That makes him a fairly likely candidate. Who is he? He isn’t already affiliated with a guild, is he?”
The subordinate shook his head.
“No, sir. He’s an F-rank Hunter.”
“F-rank? How long has it been since he registered his awakening? If he used the Market, he must have registered.”
“Twenty-five years.”
“What?”
At that answer, Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong’s mouth fell open.
Twenty-five years?
If he had awakened back then, he would have belonged to almost the same generation as the very first Hunters.
And someone with that much experience was still active?
That alone was exceedingly rare.
More importantly, among Hunters with that much experience, those who still remained F-rank were rarer still.
So rare, in fact, that Park Gi-yong still remembered their names personally.
“What’s the Hunter’s name?”
If he had awakened twenty-five years ago, there was a good chance Park Gi-yong knew him.
Park Gi-yong had not belonged to the very first generation of Hunters himself, but he was only a few generations behind them.
“Hunter Choi Kang Hyuk.”
“…Choi Kang Hyuk?”
Hearing the name, Park Gi-yong searched through his memories for a moment before a face finally surfaced.
F-rank Hunter Choi Kang Hyuk.
Although he had been one of the first Hunters, Park Gi-yong did not remember him as being particularly remarkable……
“Do you have his personal file?”
“Yes. Here it is.”
The subordinate handed him a tablet PC.
Park Gi-yong took it and soon found a familiar face in the file.
“That’s him. It really is Choi Kang Hyuk. His old face is still exactly the same.”
“You know him?”
“I do. Very well.”
Park Gi-yong gave a bitter smile as long-buried memories began resurfacing.
The first Hunters.
Those words held tremendous significance even to Park Gi-yong.
“Do we have Hunter Choi Kang Hyuk’s contact information?”
“Yes. It’s still the same number registered with the Agency. Shall I contact him?”
“No. I’ll do it myself.”
“Understood.”
If Choi Kang Hyuk truly was the person behind the SSS-rank records, Park Gi-yong believed it would be better for him, someone who at least knew him personally, to make contact.
More importantly, a personal call from the Deputy Commissioner of the Management Agency would make it clear just how seriously they were taking him.
After his subordinate left, Park Gi-yong remained alone in his office and looked out the window.
Even now, whenever he closed his eyes, he could remember what had happened on the front lines long ago as vividly as though it had occurred yesterday.
At the same time, he thought about the Choi Kang Hyuk he remembered.
An admirable Hunter.
But not a strong one.
That was precisely why the situation was so puzzling.
How could a veteran Hunter who had awakened twenty-five years ago suddenly establish an SSS-rank record now?
“…Could it be someone other than Choi Kang Hyuk?”
Strictly speaking, the likelihood that Choi Kang Hyuk truly was the SSS-rank record holder was not particularly high.
Common sense suggested that a different rookie had appeared, rather than a veteran Hunter who had awakened twenty-five years ago somehow becoming powerful only now.
“Did he get lucky and obtain a trait or something?”
Whatever had happened, he would find out once he met Choi Kang Hyuk.
Park Gi-yong spent a long time looking over the file containing Choi Kang Hyuk’s personal information and career history.
As he did, he revisited a past he had long forgotten.
***
The next day.
I immediately challenged the eleventh floor.
[11th Floor Mission Overview]
-Eliminate 5 Scorpions.
-Completion Condition: Eliminate all Scorpions
-Failure Condition: Death
Starting from the eleventh floor, the forest I had grown accustomed to was gone.
Instead, I was greeted by a desert beneath a blazing sun.
They said the world inside the Tower belonged to another realm entirely separate from Earth.
Apparently, this world had a sun as well.
“So this is the eleventh floor.”
Hunters who climbed beyond the tenth floor were regarded as being among the very best of D-rank—in other words, D+ rank Hunters.
Accordingly, the difficulty starting from the eleventh floor was far more troublesome than anything that came before it.
The desert environment itself was one of the biggest reasons.
With a merciless sun blazing overhead and nothing but desert in every direction, even the toughest Hunter could not survive for very long without water.
That was why Hunters who climbed beyond the eleventh floor generally kept survival supplies in their inventories.
Of course, ordinary items could not be stored in an inventory, so Tower-made survival supplies were naturally outrageously expensive.
That was why I had not been able to prepare any elaborate survival equipment.
I had simply brought a few bottles of water.
Partly because I could not afford anything more, but also because I had calculated that I probably would not need anything beyond that.
And yet……
“I’m perfectly fine?”
According to the information posts I had read, simply standing beneath this sun was supposed to feel as though one’s skin were burning.
Yet even without any special equipment, I felt nothing unusual.
No matter how harsh the environment was, it seemed incapable of having much effect on a body with average stats of 79.
“In that case……”
I glanced around.
All I could see was an endless desert stretching beyond the horizon.
Desert monsters generally traveled beneath the sand, which meant they could not be detected with the naked eye.
Normally, Hunters in this situation used detection-type skills or some other skill specifically meant to force Scorpions out from beneath the sand.
But I did not possess a single skill.
The only thing I could rely on was my own senses.
I quietly closed my eyes and concentrated on everything I could feel around me.
Rustle—
Rustle, rustle……
‘Found them.’
I managed to sense the Scorpions.
The problem was that they showed no intention of emerging from beneath the sand.
They were probably waiting until I became exhausted or exposed an opening.
‘Hmm… Would this work?’
I had no skill capable of dragging them out from under the sand.
But I did possess an extremely sturdy body that could serve as a substitute.
‘Might as well try.’
I did not know whether I could properly transmit my strength through loose sand, but there was no harm in attempting it.
I raised one leg.
Then I slammed it down into the sand.
At that moment—
BOOOOOOOM──!!!
An enormous shockwave erupted outward, sweeping across the surrounding desert.
Even I, the one who had stomped the ground, stood momentarily stunned by the overwhelming sight.
Then the Scorpions that had been hiding beneath the sand burst onto the surface, flipped onto their backs like fish struck by lightning.
“Finally came out.”
All right.
Now the real hunt could—
[You have defeated a Scorpion Warrior!]
[You have defeated a Scorpion Assassin!]
[Experience points acquired.]
…apparently, there was no need.
Looking more closely, every Scorpion that had been thrown onto the surface had already suffered catastrophic damage from the shockwave.
Their heads or portions of their bodies had burst apart.
As though confirming what I could already see, another notification window appeared before my eyes.
[You have cleared <Tower 11th Floor>.]
[All stats are ‘11’ or higher. Additional experience points will be awarded instead of stat increases.]
[You have achieved SSS-rank.]
[A special reward for achieving this rank will be granted.]
[You have broken the clear record for <Tower 11th Floor>.]
[Leaving the Tower.]
After leaving the Tower, I could not quite hide my bewilderment.
But soon enough, I simply accepted it.
‘Stats really are king.’
At this rate, did I even need skills?
‘…No. It only feels this way because I’m still on relatively low floors. As I climb higher, I’ll inevitably need the help of skills.’
First, I needed to determine whether purchasing a Random Skill was even possible now.
I checked my experience points.
“Current Experience.”
[Current Experience: 11,846,545]
“Oho……”
Perhaps because it was the eleventh floor, the amount of experience I had earned was on an entirely different level from the previous floors.
In any case, I now had more than ten million experience points.
Just as I was about to try purchasing a Random Skill—
RING RING—
My phone rang.
It was a number I did not recognize.