9. Scale Breaker
"Then please rest well."
"Yes. Thank you."
At last, inside the room he had arrived at.
'Right. This is <Dead Run>.'
Looking out the window, he saw the ghouls, zombies, and skeletons from the Floor 2 trial wandering around the castle walls.
'Divine Power is worked into the walls, so they can't come at it all at once.'
The scenery here was utterly unlike peaceful Floor 1.
Dark clouds hung overhead at all times so that sunlight never once shone through, the earth was dead, and the water and air were contaminated with poison.
'There's no reason to stay here long.'
With no resources and not much land to speak of, it was a place where almost no one lived.
Barring some special purpose, the usual approach was to collect one's rewards, rest a few hours, and go take the next floor's trial.
There was nothing to do in <Dead Run>, and the environment itself was a den of undead, which made it dangerous.
"Good."
After drawing the curtains, Lee Jin-hyeok all but threw himself onto the bed.
[Accessing the <Auction House>.]
Odusasa's corpse was enormous, but when he used the system it was sucked inside as though by magic.
He did not set a fixed price.
Odusasa's corpse was made of Imugi scales, so the price would rise only if he set them competing for it.
'The auction house is handled.'
Swish.
"Check the rewards."
[You have acquired 2,000 points.]
[You have acquired the item <Adept's Greaves>.]
[You have acquired the item <Adept's Helm>.]
The two pieces of 'Adept's equipment' obtainable from clearing the Floor 2 trial.
'This is a set that sells well.'
Lee Jin-hyeok already had the armor called <Eternal Frost>, so he had no particular need for these two pieces.
'A helm is sturdy to wear, but it blocks too much of your field of view.'
Three pieces of <Hunter's Leather Equipment>.
Three pieces of <Adept's Equipment>.
These had another use altogether.
[Player <Lee Jin-hyeok>'s final record is 0.23 seconds.]
[This is the shortest record in history! A reward is granted!]
[Player <Lee Jin-hyeok>'s name and achievement are recorded publicly in the Floor 2 <Archive>!]
[You have acquired 10,000 points.]
[You have acquired 3,000 points.] x4
[You may choose one of three items.]
▶<Evil-Slaying Cross> (Heroic)
▶<Savior of Dead Life> (Heroic)
▶<Scale Breaker> (Heroic)
'One of three Heroic items.'
Seeing the item list, Lee Jin-hyeok's eyes went wide enough to tear.
Points were points, but it was handing out a Heroic grade item, no less.
For a low-floor reward it was insanely good, so the corner of his mouth started twitching on its own.
'Which of the three should I choose?'
No information about the three items was displayed, but that did not matter.
Lee Jin-hyeok already knew about these items.
<Evil-Slaying Cross> was a cross in necklace form.
An item that gave off strong Divine Power, letting one buff or heal nearby companions or oneself.
<Savior of Dead Life> was a ring.
An item that amplified demonic energy when equipped and let one raise and control dead bodies.
<Scale Breaker> was a sword.
It had a particularly excellent effect for smashing things like a creature's scales, hard armor, or outer hide.
'Well, the outcome is already decided.'
After a brief moment of deliberation, Lee Jin-hyeok chose one.
[You have selected the item <Scale Breaker>.]
<Scale Breaker>
Grade: Heroic
Category: Sword
[Attack Power: 200] [Strength +10]
[Physical Penetration: 20]
▶Deals 50% additional damage to enemies that have 'scales.'
▶Bleed effects are amplified by 30%.(*Applied at 50% against enemies that have 'scales.')
▶Consumes mana to rotate the blade.
Before long, a dagger about the length of a forearm came into Lee Jin-hyeok's hand.
A dagger designed like a snake.
'Shall I test it?'
[Mana is consumed.]
[The item <Scale Breaker> begins to howl.]
WHIRRRRR—!
Ordinarily it was merely a sharp blade, but pour mana into it like this and small additional blades formed along its surface.
And then they turned.
Much like using a chainsaw.
'For cutting something hard, there's no weapon like it.'
<Evil-Slaying Cross> and <Savior of Dead Life> felt like they poured everything into a single attribute, light or darkness, and strengthened that.
To use those properly, one had to serve a Constellation that held the corresponding power.
'Handle Divine Power and you'd have to contract with something like <Pure Radiance>. Handle demonic energy and it would be a demon-king-type Constellation.'
<Scale Breaker>, by contrast, was a good weapon usable in any situation.
It had a 'penetration' effect that ignored the opponent's physical resistance, and it amplified bleed effects by a full 30% to inflict greater damage.
Being colorless and odorless, it could also be strengthened if one brought special materials.
"Status window."
{Status Window}
Name: Lee Jin-hyeok
Race: Human
Level: 24
[Strength: 68] [Vitality: 63] [Agility: 65]
[Mana: 49] [Divine Power: 0]
'My Strength, Vitality, and Agility are absurdly high for my level.'
The Mythic grade skill <Indomitable Star>, which let him endure a Constellation's consciousness.
Thanks to it he could hold overwhelmingly powerful Strength, Vitality, and Agility compared to players of the same level.
The usual level of a player who came up to Floor 2 was somewhere in the low to mid teens.
And his level was far higher than that of other players on the same floor, on top of it.
"This much is reward enough."
After setting <Scale Breaker> aside for a moment, he looked up at the ceiling.
"Shall I rest a little first?"
***
After a few hours of deep sleep, the <Auction House> goods had already sold.
[The item <Odusasa's Corpse> has been sold at auction for 150,230 points.]
The price came to 150,230 points in total.
'I'd guessed it would come to around 70,000 points.'
It was far more than he had expected.
▶Points currently held: 286,652
'I'll need to gather nearly 100,000 more points to get two skills.'
He ate a simple breakfast and got moving briskly.
'There's one item I need to obtain at this timing.'
For that, he had to go to the forge and meet a skilled blacksmith.
CLANG!
CLANG!
The forge inside <White Castle>.
Arriving there, Lee Jin-hyeok found a truly unexpected figure.
"Master Eike?"
"......Ah?"
Seeing Lee Jin-hyeok, Eike rushed at him.
"You were alive!"
GRAB!
"Hahahaha. I knew you would be!"
"I'm glad you seem unharmed."
"That's my line, if anything."
Releasing Lee Jin-hyeok, Eike smiled artlessly.
The emblem of <Gigantic Punk> was still carved into his armor.
Dukon too had probably had no choice but to mind his moods after seeing that emblem.
'And now they'll have no choice but to mind mine as well.'
Holder of the all-time first rank, and apparently on special terms with <Gigantic Punk>'s imperial family?
For <White Castle>, which desperately needed support from other worlds, minding his moods was inevitable.
"Did you guess that it was me who killed Odusasa?"
"Yes. By the timing, and by what you showed me, I knew you would manage it if anyone could, Master Jin-hyeok. And your name was carved into the Floor 2 trial records too."
Lee Jin-hyeok nodded.
"What do you intend to do now?"
"As for me."
Downing cold coffee, Lee Jin-hyeok answered.
"I mean to finish what I have to do and then take the Floor 3 trial."
"What you have to do......?"
"There are four leaders threatening this place, aren't there? And Odusasa was only one of them."
Swish.
"I intend to remove them all."
"......!"
At Lee Jin-hyeok's words, Dukon, who was beside them, shot to his feet.
"That is far too dangerous!"
"It doesn't matter."
"......."
"Doing it will make this place at least a little safer, won't it?"
Making this place safe.
It was slightly different from his real purpose, but it was a perfectly clean justification.
'Truth be told, it's more like dealing with them on the side.'
In fact, Lee Jin-hyeok was not risking his life to go outside <White Castle> in the spirit of volunteer work.
It was in order to go and obtain the remaining <Fragments of the Imugi's Inner Core>.
"But Master Jin-hyeok. The necromancers here are wicked and violent. The terrain and the environment itself are far too favorable to those bastards."
What sort of breed was the breed called players?
Were they not a breed that moved strictly in whatever direction helped them climb the Tower?
"And you still mean to go?"
"Yes."
An unshakable goal, and courage that did not so much as register danger.
Having seen Lee Jin-hyeok's words and bearing, Eike quietly closed his eyes.
How much time passed?
Opening his eyes, Eike rolled up his sleeves as though he had resolved something.
"As expected. As expected, I am moved, Master Jin-hyeok."
Swish.
"In that case I cannot simply sit still either. I will spare no support."
Was it because he did not know Lee Jin-hyeok's real goal?
Eike had taken hold of his hand outright and was on the verge of tears.
"I will do everything for you!"
'This is getting a little heavy now.'
Eike seemed to think Lee Jin-hyeok was doing this volunteer work because he had 'far too kind a heart.'
The Lee Jin-hyeok seen through Eike's eyes was a hero who knew nothing but sacrificing himself for others.
The misunderstanding seemed to be growing, but he did not bother to explain.
'I can hardly come out and say I'm going to fetch inner cores.'
Simply keeping his mouth shut was the best course.
"Hold on."
Eike's eyes lit up.
"You have the item sets you received as rewards for the Floor 1 and Floor 2 trials, do you not?"
"I have them."
"Let me synthesize them for you! For free!"
"Pardon?"
"I cannot sit idle by myself. I am a bit hopeless at combat, so I cannot go with you, but."
Grin.
"I can be of help from behind, at least this much!"
At the unexpected turn, the corner of Lee Jin-hyeok's mouth twitched.
'What rice cake has fallen into my lap?'
Twitch.
'So one really should live a good life after all?'
***
Weapon: <Adept's Sword>
Hat: <Adept's Helm>
Top: <Hunter's Leather Jacket>
Bottom: <Adept's Greaves>
Gloves: <Hunter's Leather Gloves>
Shoes: <Hunter's Leather Boots>
With no overlapping slots like this, using three pieces each of the <Hunter's Leather Set> and the <Adept's Set> as materials.
Then a new item could be created.
Lee Jin-hyeok had gathered those six items as rewards with exactly this in mind from the start.
So that no slots overlapped.
'Which is why sets covering these slots tend to sell well.'
Of course, only a blacksmith with a special technique could combine them into a new item.
That technique was in considerable demand, so the price of employing such a blacksmith ran high.
And yet Eike was stepping forward to do it for free.
For Lee Jin-hyeok, to whom every single coin mattered, it was no different from sweet rain out of a dry sky.
"Ah. Would this be possible as well?"
Lee Jin-hyeok took off the necklace, <Burning Frost>, and handed it to Eike.
"This? One moment."
Eike looked at the armor Lee Jin-hyeok was wearing.
"Isn't this <Burning Frost>? How did you get something this precious......?"
The six-piece set mentioned before.
Use <Burning Frost> on those six pieces of equipment, and one could create an item a full grade higher.
There was a reason <Burning Frost> was given as an all-time-record reward for the Floor 1 trial.
'Though there's almost no player who knows this hidden piece.'
Even if someone received <Burning Frost> as a reward, almost no one knew it was part of a hidden piece.
Unless they were blacksmiths on the order of dwarves.
"And it has already taken in both flame and chill? This will make the work far easier."
It had plainly begun as something he started simply to be of help to Lee Jin-hyeok.
But the materials placed in his hands turned out to be far better than expected.
"And if I refine the Odusasa scales you brought and join the sinews to it."
Eike smacked his lips.
"I think I can make something tremendous. May I fill in the missing materials myself?"
"If you like."
"Hahahaha! Thank you."
Forgetting entirely that Lee Jin-hyeok was standing right beside him, Eike immediately threw himself into the work.
Spreading out an enormous sheet of paper, he sketched out an item blueprint in an instant.
'I know that look well.'
Lee Jin-hyeok snorted with laughter.
Outstanding artisans, especially dwarves from <Gigantic Punk>, often looked like that when they became absorbed in their work.
'Tall as he is, a dwarf is still a dwarf, is that it?'
He still did not know much about Eike, but the fact that the man had given him the <Token of the Machine> alone meant he would not run off with the items.
'I can leave it with him and go.'
And so, leaving Eike to it, Lee Jin-hyeok moved on.