「Acquire one of your opponent’s skills at random.」
「Acquired Unique Skill b Torture Technician}.」
「Looting one of your opponent’s equipment.」
「Looted Necromancer’s Crystal Ring b Rank D}.」
「Absorb some of your opponent’s highest stats.」
「Absorb magic.」
The Final Battle ended in victory. It must’ve been a devastating situation for the beast-man, who was already going through his third attempt. He could have shouted in joy, but he sweated and kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t any different for the woman standing beside him.
They were afraid of Yoon-seok.
“…”
“…”
Was it an illusion that if they made eye contact with him, he would slaughter them after breaking the bars even though they were on the same team?
A total of three duels had ended, but there were no bodies in the arena. The summoned dead were devoured by a divine light, and the remaining…was torn apart and scattered into tiny pieces, making it hard to identify as a body anymore.
What made it even scarier was that guy was alive until just now.
‘As expected, quiet people are the scariest of all…’
Yoon-seok, who had been cutting flesh from his fingers and toes with a nonchalant look despite his spine-chilling scream, eventually destroyed the body when he bled to death. Only by using his sword.
Recalling the memory, the beast-man felt goosebumps again. It was a natural reaction for him to see the situation without knowing the judgment mark or the man’s Unique Skills. The illogical and stubborn woman was no match to him. The Yoon-seok he just saw was an unmatched lunatic.
“…It must’ve been easy for him to ascend the Tower. I would never want to meet that man in the arena. Don’t you think so, lady?”
The beast-man talked to the woman next to him to calm his pounding heart. However, even though he used the nickname she disliked, the woman didn’t respond much. Maybe he’d heard his murmuring as Yoon-seok turned his head toward them. The beast-man stepped back unintentionally.
Thump-thump.
Yoon-seok walked toward the waiting room blocked behind bars, causing the woman’s complexion to turn white. She recalled all the previous mistakes she made toward Yoon-seok. But regret was always late, no matter how soon it came.
Clang!
When Yoon-seok’s sword hit the bars, the whole arena shook greatly due to its collision. There was not a scratch left on the bar, however. It was protected by something absolute.
However, perhaps he hadn’t thought too far, as the beast-man urgently shouted.
“N-not me! She’s the one who’s been talking badly about you!”
He pointed his finger at the woman. Rather than getting angry, she apologized while deathly pale.
“I-I’m sorry! I said something wrong about you. I’ll take back everything!”
An apology that didn’t seem likely poured out of the woman’s mouth. Yoon-seok tilted his head with a face as if he didn’t understand. In the meantime, he realized that they might have misunderstood.
‘I was just trying to see if I could break the bars…’
Revenge for words and deeds? He never thought of it. To be honest, he wasn’t that angry. As long as no judgment mark appeared over their heads, they didn’t have to be afraid of him. Unless, as the beast-man said, they run into each other on the dueling grounds. Also, even if he’d met them in the arena, they wouldn’t die a terrible death like that guy.
Still, Yoon-seok opened his mouth, thinking that this was his chance to make the proud woman a little humbler.
“Be careful in the future. Words can hurt someone.”
Now that he’d said it, it sounded like some public campaign ad. It was also very awkward as he felt that he wasn’t someone who could admonish others. But the woman nodded frantically, perhaps not feeling that way at all.
“Okay. From now on, I promise.”
Was it because their first meeting didn’t match her current attitude at all? Yoon-seok laughed, his expression hidden away under the mask. No one could tell if the woman would change her personality for sure.
But Yoon-seok hoped so.
When they met one day again, if a judgment mark were floating on their heads or he witnessed them conducting similar evil deeds in person…he wouldn’t be able to laugh as he did now.
「Victory.」
「A reward of 512,000 AP will be paid.」
「Go to the waiting room on the 7th floor.」
「One coin will be paid as a reward for the promotion.」
The battle was over.
Seventh-floor waiting room.
Again, the timer was fixed at zero. He’d only heard about the battles up till the sixth floor from Elle, but the challenge seemed to be autonomous instead of coercive. Having returned to the waiting room, he checked his tablet first. This was because the total amount of AP he’d received as a reward was a little strange.
1 thousand, 2 thousand, 4 thousand, 8 thousand, 16 thousand…so far, the number of AP received as a reward had doubled whenever a duel was won, even if they didn’t get a promotion. This time, however, he received the same reward as when he ascended the 5th floor.
What on earth was this?
‘It’s not gonna stay this way, is it?’
If that’s the case, it was impossible to grow stronger every time he finished a duel like now. Of course, not much else had changed. Should he call it downgrading? Yoon-seok’s competitors had the same combined score. However, whether it was skill or stats, the weight of the A-rank had only become stronger.
‘The B-rank leap costs 380,000, and A-rank costs 1.53 million….’
If the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors were given fixed rewards of roughly 500,000 APs, it would take three consecutive wins in duels and not using a single penny to upgrade for the time being to had increased thanks to this, Yoon-seok ended his worries.
It was an armchair theory, anyway. What was certain was that he had to go up higher to find out. Whining wouldn’t change the rewarded AP, so he had to use it as efficiently as he always did.
‘Let’s check out the other rewards first.’
Before he began to use AP, Yoon-seok first checked his stats absorbed through b Predation}. The three abilities absorbed this time were agility, strength, and magic. However, there were no increases in his stats.
「Agility 63,500/96,000.」
「Muscular Strength 63,500/96,000.」
「Magic 31,500/96,000.」
He couldn’t figure out what methods were used to increase his highest powers. However, they were all already above C-rank, so he couldn’t rank up easily. Yoon-seok gave up on feeling disappointed.
‘Forget it. Let’s check the equipment.’
Yoon-seok opened the drawer under the statue. Next was the equipment that had been looted by b Predation}. Originally, he would have entered the store and searched for the same item, but he didn’t need it anymore now that he had an appraisal skill.
*Leather Boots of the Wild b Rank D-} – Luxury boots handmade by dwarves. When both legs are in contact with the ground, withstanding force increases.
*Druid’s Wish Bracelet {Rank D} – Increases efficiency of The Four Elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air) by 30%.
*Necromancer’s Crystal Ring b Rank D} – Magic increases by one when the magic level is below C-rank.
Yoon-seok took off his old Mercenary Boots and slipped on the newly acquired boots. Increases withstanding force? Did that mean any force applied to him would decrease? The explanation was a little vague, but perhaps because of the high rank, the basic defense was sturdier than the iron plate mercenary boots.
‘It’s better to throw out the rest of it.’
Yoon-seok used Steel Stealth to convert all of his goods to endurance. Among Yoon-seok’s skills that used the four elements, flame was the only one out of the seven random properties given by his random enhancement. Although Magic +1 was good, it would become useless once the below C-rank condition was violated.
「Due to the effect of Steel Stealth, the rank of Endurance b D-} has increased.」
Even though he had never directly invested AP in it, his endurance had reached D-rank. Finally, Yoon-seok confirmed his acquired skills.
Spear Mastery b Rank C}.
Spirit Affinity {Rank C}.
These were the general skills acquired from the Lizardman and Fairy Swordsman. The rank wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a skill that would help Yoon-seok’s combat style. However, he wasn’t disappointed.
Yoon-seok had a way to recycle these skills.
‘I’ll use it for synthesis next time.’
Soon after, Yoon-seok confirmed the Unique Skill he had acquired.
{Torture Technician}
Rank E – In all attacks, the enemy is afflicted by a state of fear for 10 seconds.
Rank F – In all attacks, the pain felt by the target is increased by 20 times.
It was certainly an ability that helped in combat. However, he felt disgusted when he saw the effects of the skill. He couldn’t believe this was the first Unique Skill he acquired in a long time…even though he might be disappointed, Yoon-seok felt a sense of great satisfaction.
What a coincidence. He felt sorry that he couldn’t induce more pain to the man punished earlier, so he couldn’t believe he received this. Yoon-seok felt as if someone invisible was saying that what he was doing wasn’t wrong.
Punish those who are not afraid of God again and again and become the presence of fear.
「Rank of magic b C} has increased.」
「Rank of magic b C+} has increased.」
「Agility {C-} rank has increased.」
「Agility b C} rank has increased.」
「Agility b C+} rank has increased.」
480,000 APs in total were used to raise his magic and agility levels to B-. That was the end of all his maintenance. Although 30,000 AP was left over, he decided to keep it for later. Skill Synthesis would be delayed since he couldn’t find any skills with good synergy.
He won additional LP by achieving the “One Level Ahead” and “One Strike-Kill” achievements, but there was nothing to buy. Yoon-seok opened the chat room.
-Current Participants 37/987.
A total of 987 people. Because the fifth floor had about eight hundred people, the number had increased by nearly two hundred.….
What was the reason? Why did the number increase, even as he ascended? The answer to the concern was extremely simple.
That’s how many people were stuck here.
‘Instead, the number of participants is much smaller…’
There were only thirty-seven participants. Maybe that was why the chat room was silent.
Yoon-seok, who thought about getting some information about the next battle, soon turned off the chat room. He could guess where most of the people who didn’t participate in the chat would be.
「Moving to the Plaza on the 7th floor.」
The sixth Floor Plaza was simply a place of corruption. Then what about this time? Yoon-seok hoped it would be different from there.
Depending on what they were up to, Yoon-seok had some changes to enact.
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