Reader - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Spire Lord Pavian’s plot

[Special Quest – Vigorous Body]

[Complete the conditions below! Your body will be exponentially strengthened!]

[Iron Scarecrows Destroyed: 0 / 50 ]

[Drink the Mad Alchemist Kora’s potions: 0 / 2 ]

[Quest Reward: Stamina Stat Upgrade]

“Stamina stat upgrade?”

The reward for the quest was surprising, a stat upgrade. Of course, Soo Hyuk couldn’t know how it was going to be upgraded, but it’s enough that it was going to be upgraded as it was the only stat that Soo Hyuk bothered with anyway. However, his confusion was still not cleared.

“The conditions……”

Soo Hyuk’s pleasant smile faltered as he read the conditions again. Although the reward was good, the conditions made it immensely difficult for him.

“It’s 50 gold coins per scarecrow though……”

The iron scarecrow, which had a massive amount of defence and magic resistance. It was also 50 gold coins each. And the condition was to destroy 50 of them. 50 scarecrows.

“2500 gold coins?”

Soo Hyuk needed 2500 gold coins to get 50 iron scarecrows. But the second condition was what baffled him.

Drink 2 of the Mad Alchemist Kora’s potions. That was the second condition, but Soo Hyuk was still missing an important detail.

“Who the heck is Kora?”

Soo Hyuk had never heard of Kora before as the name wasn’t even mentioned in the book.

“It seems that I have to spend time on this quest as well.”

The reward was enticing as he needed stamina to increase the satiation efficiency and read more books. However, it wasn’t a quest that he could do in a short amount of time, whether it was because of this Mad Alchemist Kora or gathering 2500 gold coins.

“Will I be able to complete it?”

Soo Hyuk thought as he closed the quest tab. Could Soo Hyuk fulfil the conditions?

“I’m sure I’ll be able to someday.”

The good thing was that like ‘Pavel’s Inheritance’, there was no time limit. Soo Hyuk stopped thinking about the quest and started reading the second blue book.

* * *

The Tower of Poison.

“An immeasurable talent appeared again? Kekeke.”

The Poison Spire Lord, Pavian, laughed menacingly.

“Finally! Finally!”

The Tower of Poison had never even once possessed an immeasurable talent in all its history. How long had he waited for this day?

Even the founding ancestor of the Tower of Poison hadn’t been one, much less the current lord, Pavian.

“I have to rope him in no matter what!”

While immeasurable talents occasionally popped up in all the other towers, the Tower of Poison had never even had one. How long had they endured humiliation and frustration over this?

“Hah! That bastard Orek won’t be able to bully us anymore!” What Phantasm Citadel?! They’re also just a tower!”

The tower just in front of the Tower of Poison, the Phantasm Citadel. Spire Lord Pavian was always bullied by the Phantasm Spire Lord Orek, whenever they met. But Pavian couldn’t do anything about it because Orek was also an immeasurable talent.

The Phantasm Citadel always either ignored or ridiculed the Tower of Poison. The tenth Poison Spire Lord was suffering the same fate as he was just an ‘exceptional’ talent.

“No matter what I have to sacrifice!”

Pavian was prepared to pay anything for Soo Hyuk. Just to shut Orek’s mouth.

“Kale!”,

Pavian called his Vice Spire Lord.

“What do you require, sir?”

“What’s the plan?”

Pavian asked Kale. As expected of the Tower of Poison, Kale’s abilities also fell behind other Vice Lords.

Kale wasn’t actually number 2 for magical ability in the Tower of Poison, but Pavian had promoted him because he had the brains.

“I do have a plan, sir!”

Kale smiled as he replied to Pavian’s words. He had instantly come up with a plan as soon as he heard of the news from the Matab Spire.

“Oh, really?”

Pavian also erupted into a smile.

“Then let me hear the plan!”

“Yes, sir. First we must set the gathering at the last possible moment.”

“……huh?”

Pavian tilted his head in confusion at Kale’s words.

“Why?”

Why did they have to set it late?

“Don’t we have to grab him as soon as possible?”

Pavian wanted to go to the gathering as soon as possible. He thought that arriving first and roping him to the Tower of Poison before the others arrived was the best course of action.

“No, we can’t do that. The other lords will also arrange it early so we must arrive as late as possible.”

“Okay, but why?”

Pavian made an irritated expression. Seeing his superior’s face, he immediately replied,

“Because he’s SSS, the immeasurable talent.”

“……?”

Pavian still couldn’t understand Kale’s words.

“The other lords definitely won’t give up. That means, the gathering is naturally going to take a long time and that means a stamina race.”

“……!”

Understanding finally dawned on Pavian’s face. He finally knew why they had to push it as far back as possible.

“Weren’t you just investigating then? You have to rest and be at your peak condition.”

Pavian was indeed investigating just now. And he hadn’t just stayed up for one or two days. He hadn’t slept for at least a week. No matter how much he offset his exhaustion with magic, there was a limit.

And if he went to the gathering now? He would collapse before long.

“And the other lords would gradually feel frustrated and lose their edge.”

The reason wasn’t just because Pavian needed a rest. If Pavian hadn’t been able to sleep for a week, the other lords will also be suffering from a lack of sleep. If they dragged it out more, the other lords naturally won’t be able to rest properly with their enthusiasm and perform poorly in the gathering.

“But……”,

Pavian asked.

“What if they start the gathering without us?”

What if the other towers ignored the Tower of Poison and started without them? Pavian thought that it was highly likely.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“……?”

“We won’t be the only ones dragging it out.”

Kale replied as his grin got even wider.

“The Steeple of Darkness, as well as the Tower of Healing currently don’t have their Spire Lords at their tower. The Vice Lords attending the gathering? What a joke. They will also try to have it as late as possible so that the Spire Lords will have time to rush back.”

After all, ignoring one tower was one thing, but ignoring three was another matter altogether.

“Then what’s the next step?”

Pavian asked. Now that he understood the first part, he wanted to know the next part.

“We have to win over a tower.”

“……?”

Pavian was once again confused at Kale’s words.

“Win over? Who? The others won’t want to give up on this.”

Win over a tower? It was the immeasurable talent. Who would want to give up on this opportunity? Pavian asked as he tilted his head again.

“There’s one place.”

There was one place that they had had a chance at winning over.

“The Earth Pagoda.”

* * *

[Immeasurable Talent]

[The talent for magic that you possess is immeasurably great. You, who possesses unlimited potential! Your talent is so outstanding that Kerza cannot answer the questions you might have. Kerza wants to meet you again in two weeks.]

[Time left: 7 days ]

[Quest Reward: ???]

[In case of rejection, your relationship with Kerza will fall.]

“There’s still 1 week left.”

Soo Hyuk could complete this quest once he waited 1 more week.

Soo Hyuk wasn’t uncomfortable with this anymore. He was a bit curious at most. He wanted to get this over and done with so that he could read without anything nagging at his mind.

Soo Hyuk closed the quest tab and stood up with the read books in his hands. He walked over to the return box and placed the books inside.

When he looked inside again, the books had disappeared. They were returned to their original spots. Looking at the empty box, he couldn’t help but wonder how convenient reality would be if they had magic.

In this past week, Soo Hyuk had been conquering bookshelves left and right. Of course, it was possible with this speed because he had already read a lot of books in Oren so there were already lots of dull spots.

If he hadn’t read all the books in Oren. Then he would’ve only finished one or two bookshelves at his fastest speed. Returning to the bookshelves, he randomly picked out five books and went to his desk. He had already given up searching for special books and just started reading random ones.

“Now it’s really only just me.”

Soo Hyuk thought as he looked around the interior of the library. When he first arrived, there were two users. But it was totally empty now. There was only the occasional librarian showing up. After looking around the library, he went back to reading his book.

[Wisdom has increased by 1]

His wisdom increased when he finished the first book.

[Wisdom has increased by 1]

The second book also raised his wisdom. After that, the third and fourth books didn’t.

[Wisdom has increased by 1]

“The time is……”

Soo Hyuk checked the time after he returned the books.

“I can probably around read four more books.”

1 hour and 30 minutes left, Soo Hyuk could usually read four thin books. Soo Hyuk once again headed to the bookshelves.

“Let’s go to the next line.”

The line he was currently on only had three more books left to read. Soo Hyuk pulled out the three books and headed to the next line.

When he reached the next line, he pulled out the first glowing book.

“How many books are in this line?”

“Hmm?”

The regular sparkling book was halfway out of the bookshelf when Soo Hyuk suddenly froze.

“That’s……”

The reason Soo Hyuk stopped was because in his line of sight, was a special book that he had never seen before.

“Purple?”