Chapter 67 The Tower (9) (1/2)
For the past month, Yeon-woo had been quite busy.
During the time he was waiting for Henova to complete Gyges’ Eyes, he traced back to where his brother had been, trying to live the life his brother had lived. Not only that, he also practiced metallurgy in order to repair his brother’s pocket watch.
And he had one more reason to stay in Outer District.
To work out a strategy to speedrun through the lower floors.
‘Jeong-woo cleared the first ten floors within 10 days.’
The reason why Arthia had drawn the players’ attention from all over The Tower.
It was because they had passed through the so called ‘Beginner Zone’ floors 10 days after finishing the tutorial, which was equivalent to clearing one floor a day for ten days.
It was an unprecedented record which had become a turning point in the thousands of years of The Tower’s history.
Thanks to this, Jeong-woo and his team, Arthia, were able to prove themselves as one of the most influential clans in The Tower.
And the record they set left an indelible mark that has never been broken even after the dissolution of Arthia.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
But of course, what Yeon-woo wanted to gain through breaking this record was neither honor nor glory.
‘Jeong-woo was given Hades’ Key after setting that record.’
Hades’ key, the second key to opening Olympus’ Treasury.
It was a hidden piece, given only to those who quickly passed through the Beginner Zone.
Just like how Zeus’ Key was given only to the players who had topped the tutorial, The Tower was once again demanding players to accomplish an excruciatingly difficult task.
Only after getting Hades’ Key, I belatedly became aware of both the existence of Olympus’ Treasury and the way to acquire Zeus’ Key. Then, I felt a bit regretful because if I had tried a little harder, I could have ranked first and gotten Zeus’ Key. Fortunately, I got a chance to enter Olympus’ Treasury later on, but if I had been able to get in a little earlier….
The only way to acquire Hades’ Key was to break the previous record, which meant he had to pass through those 10 floors in less than 10 days.
Though it would be challenging, he didn’t think it would be too difficult.
All the skills and experiences he had gained during the tutorial would serve of great help.
And above all, he would have Gyges’ Eye added to his power.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
All of a sudden, a faint smile crossed Yeon-woo’s lips.
‘Come to think of it, isn’t this also a competition between me and Jeong-woo?’
The burning desire to beat his brother started to gather rapidly in his mind.
His pride as an older brother didn’t allow him to lose against Jeong-woo.
Yeon-woo raised his head and looked out the window.
Far away in the distance, there stood The Tower with its head poking through the cloudy sky.
* * *
“Haa… Those bastards! I haven’t had a single peaceful day after that idiot started coming here.”
In the smithy, after Yeon-woo and the siblings had left, Henova was grumbling as he furiously puffed at his pipe.
His smithy had been a peaceful place for the past few years. But in a matter of a few days, too many things had happened all at once.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
And then, there were those three kids.
No matter how many times he yelled at them to be quiet, they never listened.
How did he end up tangled with those kids?
This was all because of that kid with the white mask.
‘Hold on a second… what’s his name again?’
While trying to recall Yeon-woo’s name, Henova soon realized that he had been calling him ‘kid’, ‘idiot’ or ‘bastard’, but he had never called him by his name, or even asked him his name.
Then he began to feel sorry for what he had done to him.
At the same time, he felt thankful to Yeon-woo.
“No. No. Look at how stressed I am because of that little rascal!”
As he mumbled to himself, Henova walked over to the place where Yeon-woo always sat.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
In the place where the hammer had been making loud noises, the molten metal radiated intense heat, and the furnace spewed out scorching fire until just a few minutes ago. The images of Yeon-woo silently hammering a piece of metal, Phante’ noisy chattering next to him, and Edora quietly reading her book lingered there.
He felt as though the images were going to come alive at any moment.
Moreover, the images kept overlapping with another scene from his memory.
‘Hey pops! Come take a look at this! Isn’t this awesome?’
‘Wait a second, you used that skill, didn’t you? You promised not to use any skill!’
‘Nope. I didn’t use it. You don’t even have proof.’
‘How can it come out like that without using your skill!’
‘You got proof? Huh?’
‘You asshole!’
‘Hey, guys. Can you please stop yelling? I’m reading here.’
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
‘Go somewhere else if you want to read!’
‘Tsk. This is why people call you dumb.’
···
The noisy, messy, hectic, and chaotic scene that he remembered.
In the past, there were kids who had visited his smithy every so often like it was their hideout.
Henova tried shouting at them, kicking their butts, cursing at them and several other methods to kick them out of his smithy, but they didn’t care for what he said.
But it was a sight that was never going to happen ever again.
A wisp of white smoke spew out accompanied by a deep sigh, rising up to fill up the ceiling of the smithy.
‘I guess I did get old.’
Henova shook his head with a bitter smile.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
“Hmph. Those bastards….”
It was probably better to call it a day here.
If he kept hammering like this, he could ruin the artifact
‘Let’s see here… Hmm, it seems like I’m almost done with this artifact. Has it been a month already? Haha, time flies so fast.’
Time seemed to have passed faster than usual .
The due date for when Henova had promised to complete the artifact was already reaching the end.
‘Well, even if I’m late, it’s all his fault.’
With that thought in mind, Henova was about to put out the fire of the furnace and stand up from his seat.
Just then,
*Creeeak*
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
“Excuse me.”
The door suddenly opened.
“Sorry, but the shop’s closed. Come back tomorrow if you….”
Henova first spoke to the sudden visitor without looking, and when he turned his head, his face stiffened.
Standing in front of the door, there was a man he had sworn to never see again.
A man from his old memories.
“It’s been a long time, master.”
The man gave a slight grin at Henova.
* * *
Under the night sky covered by a bright moon and twinkling stars, Yeon-woo once again went to the cafe his brother used to often visit and drank his hazelnut coffee at the terrace.
This content is taken from lightnovelworld.com
Over the fence, laid a magnificent night view brimming with sparkles of colorful lights.
It was such an exuberant view that one could never grow tired of, but right now, Yeon-woo’s attention was engaged in something other than the view.