Chapter 03 Elixir

The Tower of Trials.

A mysterious tower that had suddenly appeared one day. Countless Hunters had died inside it, yet there was a reason no one could afford to give up.

[You have cleared Floor 1 of the Tower of Trials!]

[Clear Time – 00:00:03 seconds.]

[Clear Rank: EX]

[EX-Rank Reward: You have obtained 19 Magic Stones.]

That was the reason.

Magic Stones were essential materials for crafting Hunter equipment. They were also a new resource that surpassed oil in value.

The oil business was a thing of the past. Ever since the Tower appeared, the Magic Stone industry had become the new gold rush.

With each Magic Stone selling for around 50,000 won, that meant he had earned 950,000 won in just three seconds.

And that wasn’t all.

[EX-Rank Special Reward: You have obtained 1 Proof of a Hero.]

[Rank No. 1 Reclaimed! You have broken the record!]

A special reward exclusive to Jeongho for clearing the tower at EX rank.

The Proof of a Hero.

There was nothing about it on the internet.

Could this be one of those rumored hidden pieces?

‘It’s possible.’

Hidden pieces were treasures that couldn’t be obtained through ordinary means. They were said to have effects at least on par with Unique-rank items.

Inside his inventory was a bronze badge slightly larger than a 500-won coin.

Proof of a Hero (Bound) × 1.
Proof of an Ancient Hero. Cannot be used. Cannot be sold. Cannot be transferred. Cannot be discarded.

‘Cannot be used? Then what am I supposed to do with it?’

He tried touching it, but nothing happened. Even pinning it to his clothes produced no response.

For now, he’d keep it. Surely, it had a use somewhere.

Hunters had to figure out how to use items themselves. Two years ago, an item that everyone had thought was trash turned out to be an Epic-rank item.

‘More importantly, the Tower of Trials seems worth climbing.’

Honestly, he’d been worried because all his stats were F-rank.

He’d even imagined a bizarre scenario where he stepped on a trap on the first floor and died, making the breaking news.

But now he understood why Daeyoung had told him to climb the tower. The original version of Fire Bolt was far more powerful than the standard skill, even if all five of his Hunter stats were F-rank.

‘Should I go straight to Floor 2 tomorrow while I’m at it?’

Jeongho logged into HunterOn, the Hunter community website.

There had to be guides for the lower floors of the Tower of Trials.

No. It was because things were going too well.

The EX-rank clear on Floor 1 had been a shock to the entire world.

The world No. 1 Hunter, Ronald, had cleared it in thirteen minutes, and even the second-place record was a whopping thirty-seven minutes.

The intelligence agencies around the world had reached a consensus: A three-second clear was impossible. It had to be an error.

“Again? Again?! Another EX rank! This time, two seconds!”

“Of course, Chief! Floor 2 is supposed to be faster than Floor 1! And the EX-rank Hunter is Korean, no less! I even bought a new Korean flag yesterday!”

“Officer Kim! That’s not what I’m talking about!”

Officer Kim Minjae shrank back and lowered his eyes.

Agitated, Section Chief Oh gulped down a glass of cold water.

‘This is no time to celebrate.’

Hunters were strategic assets. They were practically equivalent to nuclear weapons.

Honestly, the Tower of Trials records were none of the Bureau’s business. What really mattered were the Gates.

What happened if a Gate wasn’t cleared in time?

It exploded, spewing out the monsters inside, now in an enhanced state.

The resulting civilian casualties were enormous. Entire areas were reduced to wastelands as though a nuclear bomb had gone off, and the mana contamination lingered stubbornly afterward.

There were already quite a few regions around the world that had been ruined by Gate explosions.

In a world where Hunters were the measure of a nation’s power, would other countries simply leave an EX-rank Hunter alone?

And would the Hunter himself remain content to sit quietly? Someone that powerful? Even among A-rank and higher Hunters, there were occasional criminals.

Furthermore, Gates yielded items and elixirs, and the higher their difficulty, the greater the rewards.

Powerful Hunters could close even high-difficulty Gates with ease. The items and elixirs they obtained in the process could enrich an entire nation.

Conversely, it would be disastrous if such a Hunter decided to control the Gates.

A being capable of determining the fate of an entire nation single-handedly.

That was what an EX-rank Hunter represented.

‘We need to find him. Who on earth is he?’

Anyone who cleared a tower floor at EX rank would normally want to brag about it.

But the internet was quiet. The media were quiet. Strangely, there was nothing.

Was he unexpectedly a humble person?

‘Please, don’t be humble at a time like this! We’ll give you money, land, power, anything you want…!’

Section Chief Oh crushed the paper cup in his hand for no reason at all.

After clearing the tower at EX rank, Jeongho fell into thought.

Two consecutive EX-rank clears on the Tower of Trials, both achieved with a single cast of Fire Bolt.

It was almost absurdly easy, but he couldn’t afford to let his guard down. Every time he used a skill, his mana contamination surged to 99%, and he coughed up blood.

What if he lost consciousness from hemorrhagic shock in the middle of a fight? Instant death. He’d be beaten to death by a monster and that would be the end of his life.

‘Dealing with mana contamination has to come first.’

Jeongho opened his status window.

Flash!

[Name: Son Jeongho]

[Unique Skill: Enter the Tower of Heroes]

[Stats] [Level: 3]

Strength: F
Agility: F
Defense: F
Perception: F
Mana: F
Luck: F

[Common Skills: Enter the Tower of Trials, Original Fire Bolt]

He’d gained two levels from climbing the tower, but nothing else about his stats had changed.

He needed his stats to improve so he could either prevent mana contamination or at least endure it.

Since he had no idea how to raise his stats, Jeongho had searched HunterOn.

– Baek Mina (A-rank): Don’t get discouraged just because your stats are F. Keep climbing the tower and leveling up, and your stats will eventually improve. You don’t necessarily need to drink elixirs.

According to the advice of Baek Mina, an A-rank Hunter, even Hunters who started at F rank could raise their stats.

– Baek Mina: Once you reach around Floor 20, you can raise one of your stats from F to E.

Floor 20.

And that would only raise a single stat by one rank.

Since the tower could only be entered once a day, even under the most optimistic assumptions, he’d have to wait at least twenty days, provided he cleared one floor every single day.

‘That’s impossible.’

It simply made no sense.

Was it because it was too difficult?

No. It was because he didn’t need to go through all that trouble.

‘I can just buy elixirs and drink them.’

Elixirs could kill Hunters if they were taken improperly.

Mana contamination accumulated through items, elixirs, and skills.

But what had Daeyoung, the Great Shadow, told him?

— Your mana is so weak that you’re actually immune to contamination.

That’s right. Jeongho could guzzle elixirs to his heart’s content.

The problem was that elixirs were practically impossible to obtain.

Items were traded frequently. Every Hunter had different primary skills, so selling an item they couldn’t use was more profitable.

The same went for skills. If a skill book didn’t match their specialty, Hunters would sell it at auction. What use would a warrior have for a magic skill book?

But elixirs?

Hunters would always consume them if they could. The more you took, the better off you were.

Who would turn down a permanent increase in their stats?

Even people with plenty of money couldn’t get their hands on elixirs because there were so few available.

— Hehehe. Welcome to the Dimensional Shop, [Dapanda]. We sell whatever you desire at a reasonable price. Whatever it may be. If you want it, bring me Magic Stones.

The Magic Stones Jeongho had received from clearing Floors 1 and 2.

Nineteen from each floor.

Thirty-eight Magic Stones in total. At 50,000 won apiece, he had a budget of roughly two million won.

The last time a root of Ten-Year Heshouwu had sold at a Hunter auction, it had gone for about that much, hadn’t it?

‘I should be able to afford at least one low-grade elixir.’

The answer was the Tower of Heroes.

Since he was going anyway, he might as well bring a different kind of ramen this time.

Daeyoung seemed to like ramen, after all.

[Skill Activated: Enter the Tower of Heroes]

[Entering the Tower of Heroes.]

“I know. It’s not my first time here.”

Jeongho grinned and held out a cup of instant noodles.

The moment he saw it, Daeyoung’s glowing red eyes narrowed.

“You can tell the ingredients?”

Looking thoroughly disappointed, Daeyoung picked up a mouthful of noodles with his wooden chopsticks and took a bite.

Slurp, slurp—

Jeongho was certain he’d seen it.

Those eyes had just widened.

“See? It tastes different, doesn’t it?”

Flustered, Daeyoung slurped down another mouthful.

Daeyoung clicked his tongue and backed away.

“A bet? When did we make a bet?”

Three options, all of a sudden?

Jeongho calmly considered which would be the best choice.

“Do you have a recommendation?”

As expected, when you didn’t know something, you asked the person selling it.

Of course, Daeyoung might try to rip him off, but the two of them had formed a bond over ramen. He had to trust him.

‘Hopefully, I’m not the only one who thinks we’re friends.’

Daeyoung’s heartfelt advice stabbed straight through Jeongho’s heart.

Still, at least he didn’t seem like a swindler.

“Then which one would you recommend, if you had to pick?”

“Thirty-eight Magic Stones from the Tower of Trials.”

“I’d love to carry more. It’s not like I have any.”

Daeyoung shoved a tentacle into his own body and rummaged around.

He suddenly produced a dark, gnarled root. It looked as though it came with a warning label telling people not to eat it.

— Original of the Tainted Hundred-Year Heshouwu (Legendary): A Hundred-Year Heshouwu tainted by the dark arts of the Blood Cult. It reached the age of one hundred before even completing a century of growth. Grants the consumer great power, but is lethally poisonous.

“Y-you’re giving me this thing?”

“Ugh. Should I really trust you on this?”

Jeongho still couldn’t quite bring himself to take it.

He’d read something while searching for information about elixirs earlier.

– Baek Mina (A-rank): Drinking an elixir doesn’t guarantee your stats will improve. Everyone has a different constitution, and low-grade elixirs can actually lower your stats if you take the wrong one. Even under the best circumstances, you’re usually limited to a one-rank increase.

If he took the wrong elixir, it could poison him instead.

But so what? His stats were already F. It wasn’t as if they could drop much further, right?

Jeongho squeezed his eyes shut and bit into the root.

Crunch!

He reflexively gagged and nearly threw up, but forced himself to swallow it.

His previous experience with mana contamination at 99%, when he’d nearly coughed up blood, had at least prepared him for this.

[Warning! Mana Contamination: 99%!]

Bitter, metallic blood surged up his throat. His vision blurred, and dizziness spread through his head.

The Great Shadow Daeyoung seemed to be laughing at him, too.

But then—

[Elixir consumed.]

[Stats have increased!]