20
* * *
The news that the missing #1 ranked Magnetic had joined Yeoun Guild spread not only through the Veritas System community but even to internet news.
However, the person in question, Magnetic—Lee Doun—was overwhelmed just trying to adapt to the atmosphere of the guild group chat he had been invited to.
Samin had tried to set a company dinner date to properly introduce faces, but Doun desperately stopped him. A full-scale gathering like a company dinner felt really burdensome.
[Kyung Samin: Hyung, is tomorrow okay for floor 45? (｡・ω・｡)? It feels a bit rushed, but you said faster would be better… Since it’s a new floor, you can just check monster patterns and gimmicks. You can take your time getting close to guild members too, absolutely!! no pressure]
Samin had suggested postponing the 45th floor clear until after meeting with guild members, considering Doun who was entering the tower for the first time in a year. However, Doun was in debt for at least hundreds of millions in his heart.
The sooner the comeback, the better. The faster he regained his combat sense, the more he could help the guild unlock new floors. Doun wanted to enter the tower as soon as possible, and Samin couldn’t break Doun’s stubbornness.
Actually, his desire to see Doun’s skills again was so great that he didn’t strongly dissuade him either.
[I watched your guild’s conquest videos.]
As Doun sent his reply, he recalled the points he had carefully checked. It was the complete opposite of conquests where he had to handle all the damage and even provide backup. It was a conquest team with clear roles—dealers, supporters, healers, and even gatherers each had distinct responsibilities.
‘If I had been in a place like this too.’
He forcibly pushed down the depression that was trying to rise. Now he was also a member of the guild. Rather than regretting the useless past, it was better to chew over conquest strategies one more time.
[Kyung Samin: Σ(‘◉⌓◉’) Our guild’s? Hyung… it’s really too embarrassing… You only watched the unlocked episode videos, right? Please ㅜ say that’s right…]
Perhaps because he became more urgent toward the end, there were typos scattered throughout. Doun shook his head and sent a reply.
[I watched that unlocked episode.]
He had also watched a few previous videos for reference, but didn’t bother mentioning it. If he did, he felt like he’d get a phone call.
[Kyung Samin: Thank goodness (゜▽゜;) Anyway, then we decided to meet at the tower at 10 AM tomorrow. I’ll come pick you up in front of your house, let’s meet at that park where we met before (⌯⌅⌄⌅)]
He didn’t want to refuse the guy who was going out of his way to come to his house. Doun decided to acknowledge that he was getting used to Samin now.
[Yeah, see you tomorrow]
Though shameless, he planned to properly repay the meal costs and debts soon. Doun put down his phone and took in the quite lengthy conquest video again.
His head spun busily as he began calculating the dealers’ patterns, attack ranges, and compatibility. For unknown reasons, the pitch-black screen filled his left eye that had still not returned from its blue transformation.
“The range is more uneven than I thought.”
His face analyzing the black mist extending around Samin’s body was more vibrant than ever. Doun slipped one more item into his list of questions to ask when they met tomorrow and stared at the video.
There must be no mistakes. For Doun, the tower was that kind of place.
* * *
Thanks to thoroughly instructing guild members to keep their mouths shut, the tower entrance was relatively quiet.
However, as Yeoun guild members appeared one by one, the surroundings stirred. And when Doun, wearing his hat pulled low, and Samin appeared, the murmuring grew louder.
‘I knew this would happen.’
Samin had already formed a party and finished the alliance in preparation for this situation. They quickly disappeared beyond the entrance carved with fragments of wailing. Someone watching them muttered.
“But is Yeoun clearing with an 8-person party now?”
Even covered with hat and mask, it was obviously Slope with his mean-looking temperament. The man stuck right next to him was naturally Magnetic. And six figures that disappeared simultaneously with those two.
“Damn…”
Someone’s soliloquy mixed with envy and jealousy was buried in the murmuring. And they scattered from around the tower one by one. As if they had seen all they came to see.
* * *
‘Floor 45…’
Doun stood on a new floor he had never been to. Floor 45. His “next” that he thought he would never reach was spread out before his eyes.
As confirmed in the video, the dense forest had not a single bird sound, like an artificially created space. In a place where only the sound of leaves rustling in the bleak wind existed, Doun caught his breath.
Even though it was his first time actually coming to this unfamiliar dimensional space, he felt like he had returned to where he should be. Doun gripped his staff and immediately used ‘Thought Acceleration’ and split his mana.
This was an action he couldn’t do when using the training floor with Samin. He was too busy responding to Samin’s chattering. But the alliance members’ nicknames displayed before his eyes reminded him that this was the field, not a training ground.
Coming to a place where a moment’s carelessness could lead to harsh consequences, his old Magnetic habits revived.
‘Why isn’t the link acceptance notification appearing?’
His rapidly spinning brain showed brief puzzlement, then instantly output the result.
‘Ah, I don’t need to do that anymore.’
Now he was no longer Chronos Guild hunter Magnetic.
“Hyung. Are you okay?”
Doun gripped his staff and surveyed Samin standing next to him. His rough-looking face and piercings were the same, but his outfit was quite neat. Samin, dressed in a way that pursued practicality while not giving up on decoration, had a slightly worried expression.
“Of course.”
Doun grinned and stood behind Samin, taking in the people whose eyes were shining to a burdensome degree. These were people he had seen in videos and had conversations with a few times in the guild group chat, but due to scheduling, this was the first time seeing their faces directly.
It didn’t take long to match nicknames, real names, and faces. Thanks to Doun’s skill, ‘Thought Acceleration.’ While consuming mana to speed up brain rotation, there was a peculiarity where his eye color changed to blue.
“Alright. Now that we’ve roughly finished the briefing, let’s quickly look around.”
After Samin finished speaking, Doun slowly stepped forward. The artificial dirt crunched under his sneaker soles. At that moment, Doun realized he had returned to the tower.
* * *
Centered on Samin at the front, pitch-black poison mist spread.
Sediment of Night Mist. A tragic skill that Kyung Samin used often but no one called by its exact name.
Since it had such a chuunibyou-like name, Samin was reluctant to mention it, and other guild members would call it by joking names like poison gas or guild master’s black flame dragon.
Kwaaaaah!
The roughly 2-meter-tall monster Double Dial, roaring while dripping yellow-green mucus, was a monster that had also appeared on the 44th floor, so Doun knew it well. Its outer shell was hard and its bite force was strong, so if you let your guard down, an arm or leg could easily be severed.
But the moment the hard outer shell touched the black mist.
The black skin began melting instantly, revealing bright red flesh. Samin quickly retreated and gave Doun a look. At the signal to switch, Doun inhaled and gripped his staff.
Since entering the 45th floor. Contrary to the request to step back and check patterns and gimmicks, Samin and other attack-type dealers yielded the monsters to Doun.
Even if there was a slight gap, he was #1. Not only Samin but other guild members also wanted to see with their own eyes the skills of someone they had only seen in videos.
At first, only two or three monsters were allocated as if to adapt only to the sensation of using skills, but now the number approached almost ten.
It would be somewhat troublesome without area-of-effect skills, but none of the guild members looked anxious watching Doun. The only emotion in their eyes was anticipation.
And as if to reward such expectations, both of Doun’s eyes flashed with blue light.
-Thought Acceleration (A)
Accelerates the brain at high speed to derive optimal skill combinations. Slightly increases mana consumption when used.
Doun’s eyes, having completed skill combinations in an instant, returned to deep black. Even with ten monsters in front of him that had given quite a bit of trouble on the 44th floor, his head concluded that one skill would be enough.
‘One is enough?’
The only difference from before was that there were no longer people who had mana links on him, yet completely different results came out. But there was no leisure to panic in front of monsters.
Doun lightly swung his staff. Pure white wind flew gently as if embracing the monsters’ flesh, and the moment it touched the exposed bloody flesh.
Thwack!
Flesh, bone fragments, and organs scattered in the air. An enormous amount that could turn a space easily over 5 meters in diameter into a pool of blood. However, before the blood that splattered everywhere could touch their clothes, a warm gentle breeze blew again.
It was artificial wind. The monster remains that had burst out in all directions gathered in one place instantly, carried by the wind.
“The blood didn’t splash, right…?”
Doun tilted his head slightly at the guild members’ silence. Wondering if their feelings were hurt.
“Oh, of course. Hyung. Not even a speck of dust got on us!”
Do Hyeonwoo, the main dealer who was four years younger than Doun and had agreed to speak casually, answered on behalf of the dazed guild master who was looking at Doun with an ecstatic expression.
No matter what anyone said, it was the truly worthy return of the #1 ranker.
* * *
Leaving the somewhat dazed guild members behind, a flash flickered. The brief moment until vision returned from the blinding light was instantaneous.
As if it would be troublesome for the blood streams the monsters spewed in all directions to splash on clothes, Doun’s staff moved lightly. The moment a gentle breeze wrapped around the guild members’ bodies.
An alert window flashed before everyone’s eyes.
[Alert: Your alliance has successfully conquered the 45th floor.]
[Time taken after entry: 2 hours 7 minutes 20 seconds.]
[This record is a new South Korean record for Veritas Tower’s 45th floor.]
[Sorting by highest contribution calculated by the Veritas System.]
[Loading information……]
[Calculation complete.]
[1. Slope]
[2. Magnetic]
[3. Bright Sol]
.
.
Do Hyeonwoo, who was looking through the list sorted up to 8th place, muttered.
“This is a new record, right?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
