Chapter 9 - Growth (2) (1/2)
Chapter 9: Growth (2)
Hyun Sukjin: Basically, you can get back to Earth once you reach the 5th floor.
Kim Seunghoon: Is that where the tower ends?
Hyun Sukjin: Seeing that they said the system would expand on the 5th floor, probably not.
Park Chansuk: An expansion…….
Hyun Sukjin: I think they’re planning to add more commands and start selling an item called the return stone.
It seemed like more things would be unlocked on the 5th floor.
I paid closer attention to the chat.
Hyun Sukjin: The stone you can buy on the 5th floor will only let you return temporarily.
Kim Seunghoon: Did they tell you how much it would be?
Hyun Sukjin: Nah. They wanted me to use another question so I stopped.
Lee HaYeon: Then we can never go back to Earth permanently?
Hyun Sukjin: No, I hear there’s another item for that on the 8th floor.
Kang Sunwoo: So there’s no way to go back just yet then, damn.
The chatting died down as everyone became somber.
I saw this as a huge win though.
“So there IS a way to get back….”
It’s all I’d wanted since I’d entered the tower.
Same as everyone else.
As long as you reach the 8th floor, you should be able to get back.
But why is it that—
“…”
The news didn’t make me that happy.
Kang Sunwoo: Alright. It’s my turn to spread some knowledge.
More information started to pop up in the community.
Kang Sunwoo: Basically, it’s not possible to get your abilities back, but you can grow really quickly by climbing the tower.
Lee Changsuk: Ah, I asked about how the rewards were calculated.
Hyun Sukjin: Eyy let us have it!
Lee Changsuk: So everyone gets their own individual trials and you get bonus rewards depending on how special your method of clearing was.
Kim Seunghoon: That’s simpler than I thought.
Everyone started sharing what they found out left and right.
They could be charging points for this…
Not a single person tried to sell anything though.
They were all too preoccupied with the idea of returning home.
Lee Hayeon: I just asked about the expansion and got a response.
Lee Seungjin: Ohh that was fast. What did they say?
Lee Hayeon: Starting from the 5th floor, they’ll be selling more weapons as well as more items like the return stone.
Lee Hayeon: And they’ll even be selling skills starting on the 8th floor.
Lee Seungjin: They’re gonna sell skills….? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Hyun Sukjin: Is that all the expansion is?
Lee Hayeon: No, I think they’re also adding a new system called the ‘divergence.’
What they called the ‘divergence’ was simple.
The narrative-based trial.
The battle-based trial.
The strategy-based trial.
On the 8th floor, you get to choose one of these divergences.
Essentially, it would determine the way in which you’d climb the tower.
Lee Hayeon: Once you choose a divergence, you’ll get the relevant trial.
If you chose the narrative-based trial, you’d play a role within a story.
Battle-based trials would be mostly eradication or a raid.
And the strategic trials would consist of challenges that could involve the other challengers, like capture the flag.
I could picture how they’d all go besides the narrative trials.
Hyun Sukjin: And even if you plan to leave on the 8th floor, we still don’t know how expensive the item would be.
Kang Sunwoo: Damn, I guess I gotta start saving.
Park Chansuk: You might die if you’re too cheap with it. Be careful.
Kim Seunghoon: You might have to keep climbing the tower to save enough points.
Lee Hayeon: Yeah. I wasn’t able to find out anything else.
Lee Jinwoo: I don’t like the sound of having to go against the other challengers.
Park Chansuk: They probably won’t let the losing side survive.
Lee Jinwoo: I don’t even know why that’s an option.
From the looks of it…
The administrator didn’t seem to want to give us the whole picture.
‘I should take this into account when I ask my questions.’
There wasn’t much more to get out of the community after that.
Kim Donghyuk: I think I understand the divergence system now.
Hyun Sukjin: I think we figured out as much as we could at this point.
Kim Seunghoon: I guess everything else is up to us now.
Lee Seungjin: Damn, the other difficulties probably already got out.
Oh Choonsuk: lmao yeah we’re the only ones still stuck here.
I turned the community off when the conversations became irrelevant.
“Why aren’t I that happy about finding out that we can go home…”
If I could get back, I’d be a top-class hunter.
Using my innate ability, I’d be able to go around dungeons absorbing souls to get stronger.
‘I can probably even become an A rank hunter.’
But that didn’t sit right with me.
I guess human greed knows no bounds.
This was the first time I’d been given the opportunity to grow.
I wanted to get stronger.
I wanted to climb higher.
A smile escaped from the corner of my mouth.
‘Am I trying to kill myself?’
I had to snap out of it.
Slap!
“Get yourself together.”
I slapped my face to regain my composure.
The 5th and 8th-floor challenges were a problem for the future.
I might not even survive the 3rd floor.
I had to focus.
“I’ll think about those floors when I get to them.”
The most important thing was staying alive.
「 Han Sungyeun 」
「 Strength – 16 」 「 Stamina – 11 」
「 Agility – 11 」 「 Mana – 8 」
「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy(F) 」
「 Skill – Accelerated Regeneration(E+), Heat Resistance(F), Pain Resistance(D) 」
“This is more like it.”
It was much better than the time from the tutorial where all the stats were below 10.
But…
I didn’t know if this would be enough for the higher floors.
I needed to get stronger.
「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy(F) 」
「 Proficiency – 65% 」
「 Basic effect – Able to absorb the souls of the dead and control them at will. 」
「 Extra effect(1) – Able to permanently increase stats depending on the nature and rank of the soul. 」
「 Extra effect(2) – Able to store souls for later use. Soul storage capacity depends on the ability’s rank. 」
My innate ability’s proficiency was getting pretty close to 100%.
That meant it was almost time for my innate ability to evolve again.