“How can I ever repay you for this? Thanks to you, I completed the commission far too easily.”
“Just a moment. There are still some things I need to pick up.”
“Ah, yes.”
Since a High-Rank Dark Spirit had been residing here, there were quite a few high-ranked Mana Stones scattered around.
Every single one was important for filling Hunger.
There was no way I could leave them behind.
If there was one disappointing thing, it was that I could not see any more Spirit Stones.
The single High-Rank Spirit Stone seemed to be the end of it.
Everything else was Mana Stones.
Apparently, the one dropped by the Dark Spirit was all there was.
‘I should’ve shaken down the Dark Spirit for a few more while I had the chance.’
My regret did not last long.
-Waaah! Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says he brought back two Low-Rank Fire Spirit Stones!]
[Fire(EX) says the Dark Spirit brought them over immediately when he asked for them!]
“Ohhh! As expected of Fire!”
So that was where he had suddenly disappeared to.
He was unbelievably good at things like this.
After searching for roughly another thirty minutes, there were no more Mana Stones to be found.
“Is there really nothing else around here? Search carefully. This place is a gold mine.”
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says there is definitely nothing left!]
It was disappointing that there was nothing more, but I had already obtained plenty.
Coming here had been the right choice.
The profits were excellent for the amount of time invested.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m finished now.”
“Not at all. Thanks to you, Mr. Chanyoung, I completed the Association commission far too easily. Waiting thirty minutes is nothing.”
His attitude had become much more respectful than before.
I must have looked extremely powerful to him.
I had instantly resolved a task requiring a specialized skill and a B-Rank or higher Hunter.
Anyone watching would probably mistake me for at least an S-Rank Hunter or one of the Trial Tower Rankers.
“I’m so grateful that I’d like to give you the commission payment as well. It isn’t much, though.”
“The commission payment? Haha, that’s all right. I already received the Spirit Stone.”
“Ah, three hundred million won is a rather small amount—”
“My account number is 112, 4099…… Can you remember that? Should I give you some paper and a pen?”
“W-Wait a moment!”
Three hundred million won was not a small amount.
If someone was offering me free money, why would I refuse it?
Coming here really had been the right decision.
A broad smile spread across my face.
It looked like I would be moving into a villa a little sooner than expected.
Late that evening.
The door to my tiny studio apartment opened, and my filthy self walked inside.
“Home!”
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) is delighted to finally escape that gloomy place!]
I stripped off my clothes and headed straight for the shower.
After wandering all over the Haunted House, my entire body was covered in dust and dirt.
I had remained like this for a full twelve hours.
I had filled my stomach with the remaining pork belly.
Now it was time to fill myself with comfort.
The moment warm water soaked my entire body, I finally felt alive again.
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says the warm water feels amazing!]
“Seriously. It feels incredible. I was stupid for even thinking about sleeping there overnight. There wasn’t even anywhere to shower.”
That was why I had come down today instead of staying the night.
I would have liked to remain until tomorrow, but my entire body was drenched in sweat and covered in dirt.
I was in no condition to stay any longer.
More importantly, I had already stripped the entire Haunted House bare in a single day.
The numbers in my Inventory proved it.
Microscopic Subspace ×109
Delicious-Smelling Ghost Grass ×506
A whopping 109 and 506!
Once I included the Mana Stones, Delicious-Smelling Ghost Grass, and Spirit Stones, I had profited enormously from this trip to the Haunted House.
There was no reason to stay longer.
And that was not all.
“Three hundred million won too! Hahahaha!”
-Waaah?
[Fire(EX) asks whether that is really something worth being so happy about.]
“Of course it is! I hadn’t even saved one hundred million before this!”
More than ninety-five percent of my money disappeared into food expenses and the cost of raising Fire.
I was absolutely going to use this money to move.
Thanks to reinvesting everything I earned, I had no shortage of resources for growth.
And there was still more.
“I even found a blacksmith!”
As a B-Rank Hunter, Geum Chan had plenty of connections.
When I asked whether he knew a blacksmith, he immediately introduced me to a highly skilled one.
He said all I had to do was bring the business card and mention his name.
Helping Geum Chan really had been worth it.
I never expected everything to go this smoothly.
We had exchanged contact information too, so I could ask him questions whenever something came up.
Normally, it was probably better not to form unnecessary connections like this.
‘But I’m going to become known eventually anyway. Having someone who understands this industry well can’t hurt.’
That was enough for today.
After thoroughly searching the Haunted House, my fatigue had built up all the way to the top of my head.
I washed myself clean, roughly dried my hair, and dove into the Spirit Shelter.
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) tells you to sleep well!]
“You too.”
I fell asleep in an instant.
The next morning, before dawn—
As always, I felt completely refreshed.
I handled breakfast with soy sauce egg rice, then entered the Tower.
Today’s destination was the 9th Floor.
As I mentioned before, the trial type had changed.
This time, it was a Monster Wave.
My surroundings darkened before gradually brightening from the center.
The complicated labyrinth had been replaced by a vast plain.
I could see for dozens of kilometers in every direction.
That was because of where I was standing.
“A castle wall?”
-You are required to defend the castle. For Awakened with long-range Traits, this is arguably the most ideal defensive position.
“Ah! Right. You said I have to defend the castle as well as survive the waves.”
-Correct. If you possess a close-range Trait, hit-and-run tactics are recommended.
When I looked behind me, a fairly grand castle stood there.
Conditions like this were precisely why the 9th Floor was called hell.
Even if someone somehow eliminated every Monster Wave, the castle often failed to survive until the end.
And even if the castle survived one wave, they still had to defend it against the next.
There were siege weapons specifically designed for defending the castle.
Using one could eliminate hundreds of monsters at once.
However—
-The requirements to use them even once are correspondingly severe.
You had to craft them yourself using Items dropped only by monsters and materials gathered from the surroundings.
One person had to accomplish work normally divided among several people.
How could that possibly go smoothly?
But for me, it was a pointless concern.
I would not need to use them anyway.
[You have arrived at the 9th Floor of the Trial Tower.]
[Clear 5 Monster Waves.]
[The trial will fail if the Castle’s Health falls below 50!]
[Monster Wave: 0/5]
[Castle: 100/100]
[Monster Wave: 1/5]
[Monster Wave 1 begins.]
The trial began.
The empty plain was filled with monsters in an instant.
There was only one thing I needed to do against the approaching horde.
[Fire(EX)’s possessed skill, ‘Hellfire(EX),’ activates.]
KABOOOOOOOM!!
The next wave was exactly the same.
Waiting time between waves?
I did not need anything like that.
I skipped through them one after another.
After repeating the process exactly five times—
[You have cleared the 9th Floor of the Trial Tower!]
[Monster Wave: 5/5]
[Castle: 100/100]
[You have perfectly defended against the Monster Waves on the 9th Floor of the Trial Tower!]
[A new record has been achieved!]
[The Trial Tower 9th Floor World Ranking has been updated to Rank 1!]
[Clear Time: 1 minute 2 seconds]
[You have succeeded in overwhelmingly clearing the 9th Floor of the Trial Tower!]
[Goblin’s Assorted Worn Equipment × 2,133 has been awarded!]
[Orc’s Assorted Equipment × 1,043 has been awarded!]
[Kobold’s Superior Equipment × 941 has been awarded!]
[Slime’s Slime × 1,402 has been awarded!]
[Lowest-Rank Mana Stone(F) × 1,096 acquired!]
[Low-Rank Mana Stone(E) × 791 acquired!]
[Lower-Intermediate-Rank Mana Stone(D) × 583 acquired!]
[Intermediate-Rank Mana Stone(C) × 392 acquired!]
[Upper-Intermediate-Rank Mana Stone(B) × 300 acquired!]
[High-Rank Mana Stone(A) × 20 acquired!]
[Highest-Rank Mana Stone(S) × 5 acquired!]
I had cleared it in only one minute.
The difficulty increased dozens of times with every few floors, yet somehow my clear time had become even shorter.
I had not even needed the Spirit Shelter’s effects or abilities.
“I completely forgot to give you the Item we got yesterday, but I guess it didn’t matter.”
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) demands the Yin Energy Orb right now!]
“Here, here.”
Using it on myself would not accomplish much.
It was obviously better to give it to Fire.
His power was my primary combat ability anyway.
Fire swallowed it in one bite.
[Yin Energy Orb(B) consumed!]
[Fire(EX)’s Hunger increases by 1,000,000.]
[All stats permanently increase by 1.2 times!]
[All skills permanently become 1.2 times stronger!]
“Ohhh? One million?”
Giving it to Fire had definitely been worthwhile.
It restored five times as much Hunger as an S-Rank Mana Stone, and it strengthened both his stats and skills.
Now that was reassuring.
From now on, I should obtain elixirs whenever I saw them.
I had plenty of Hunger, so I might as well level up the buff I obtained yesterday too.
[Hunger: (500,000/500,000)]
[You have successfully fulfilled the condition!]
[Possessed Buff, ‘False Fullness(C+) Lv. 2,’ has become ‘False Fullness(C+) Lv. 3’!]
[The amount of Hunger restored increases to 1,000,000.]
[It can now be used once every 6 days.]
I had spent a total of 300,000 Hunger to reach Level 3.
Fifty thousand, then two hundred fifty thousand.
The next level required 1.2 million, so I would upgrade it once I had more to spare.
Now that Fire’s stomach was properly filled—
“Let’s go!”
First stop, Namdaemun.
A broad smile spread across my face as I checked my bank account.
[Seoul Bank: 503,055,088]
“Five hundred million!”
I had not bought anything at Namdaemun today.
I had only sold things.
I had thought three hundred million was already a fortune.
Now I had five hundred million.
Tomorrow, I was definitely going house hunting.
To think I could escape my studio apartment only ten days after awakening.
That was unbelievably fast.
“Next is the Space Expansion Stone.”
There was no need to travel far.
A blacksmith district had formed near Namdaemun.
“It should be around here. Ah, is that it?”
Steel Forge.
This was definitely the place.
I went inside, handed the owner the business card, and said Geum Chan had introduced me.
My commission immediately received top priority.
‘Connections really are the best.’
I handed over all the materials I had gathered.
The blacksmith’s mouth fell open when he saw the sheer amount I took out.
“So exactly how many Space Expansion Stones are you asking me to make?”
“One hundred nine.”
“…….”
Since the quantity was substantial, the crafting fee came to fifteen million won.
It was expensive, but as expected of a place recommended by a B-Rank Hunter, the blacksmith’s skill was unquestionable.
By the time I went to Gwanaksan, gathered more materials, and returned, all 109 Space Expansion Stones had been completed.
“This is the first time I’ve ever crafted this many Space Expansion Stones.”
“Haha, you worked hard. Thank you.”
Now I could finally expand the Spirit Shelter.
I bought the tteokbokki, fried snacks, and blood sausage set Fire had become obsessed with, then headed home.
After filling our stomachs roughly, I immediately started expanding the Spirit Shelter’s floor area.
[Burning Stonewood: (100/100)]
[Space Expansion Stone: (1/1)]
[You have successfully fulfilled the condition!]
[Fire(EX)’s Spirit Shelter has expanded by +1 pyeong!]
❰Floor Area: 11 pyeong❱
“Done!”
All that effort had been worthwhile.
I continued expanding it as far as I could.
By the time I had increased it by roughly five pyeong—
…….
…….
[Burning Stonewood: (200/200)]
[Space Expansion Stone: (10/10)]
[You have successfully fulfilled the condition!]
[Fire(EX)’s Spirit Shelter has expanded by +1 pyeong!]
I had used 720 pieces of Burning Stonewood and twenty-three Space Expansion Stones.
The consumption was so fast that all the materials I had gathered from Gwanaksan suddenly seemed insignificant.
What remained was—
Burning Stonewood ×195
Microscopic Subspace ×86
With so few materials left, I could not expand the floor area any further.
On top of that, another material had been added to the requirement.
……Floor Area can be increased by +1 pyeong after acquiring Burning Stonewood (0/230), Space Expansion Stone (0/13), and Processed Sea Lava (0/1)
“Sea Lava this time?”
Unlike the Space Expansion Stone, I did not need to commission a blacksmith to make it.
The problem was how difficult it was to obtain.
It only formed on a small island in the West Sea.
Even entering the area required strict conditions, and once inside, the atmospheric pressure was so intense that specialized protective equipment was necessary.
“This is processed too? Most blacksmiths can’t even work with something like this.”
The more I did, the more work appeared.
Raising a Spirit King was unbelievably difficult.
Of course, not everything was blocked.
Expanding the Spirit Shelter by fifteen pyeong had unlocked several new pieces of furniture.
One in particular caught my attention.
……A Mana Stone Enhancement Workbench(C-) can be crafted after acquiring Burning Stonewood (0/50), Enhancement Hammer (0/1), and Enhancement Stone (0/100)
<Mana Stone Enhancement Workbench(C-)> Research Stage 2 Unlock (×)
Description: A Mana Stone Enhancement Workbench crafted by properly combining Burning Stonewood, an Enhancement Hammer, and Enhancement Stones! It can enhance any Mana Stone to increase the amount of Hunger restored, although enhancing higher-ranked Mana Stones is less efficient. There is also a very small chance of failure, so please be careful!