Chapter 31 – How The Veterans Train For The Absolute

Jin-hyuk confirmed his newly acquired ability with a satisfied face.

‘Blessing of the Star.’

Teresa’s unique ability granted her the protection of the constellation.

Finally, he got it in his hands.

‘I gained a lot from coming to the ruins.’

Relics such as the Frozen Tears and Braham’s Ring were all useful.

But nothing compared to natural powers or Teresa’s unique ability.

‘To get two abilities of a top ranker…’

He wanted to manage his facial expression, but he couldn’t. Like someone who just won the lottery, the corners of his lips were twitching.

Phew, calm down.

Jin-hyuk took a deep breath.

How many unique abilities exist in this world?

Besides, Fusion could replace ‘Blessing of the Stars’ with a superior ability later.

Another sky above the sky.

Until he could rise to such a high position that no ranker could even look at him, he couldn’t relax for even a moment.

‘First, we must collect the skills that can produce the best synergy.’

All of the replicas that he needed were already in his head.

At that time…

“Mr.Jin-hyuk?”

Teresa gently tapped his shoulder. Right he was still with her.

He had been too engrossed in his own skills that he forgot about her

“Ah. Sorry, I had to check something,”

“It is fine. Rather, did you think of a good way?”

“There is no good way. I just want to try it with bare hands.”

“… Uh?”

Teresa had a look of shock on her face.

No matter how confident he was, cursed relics could not be touched without divine power.

And among those who can handle divine power…

She was the only one.

“Actually, I am quite a religious person. I even went to Sunday church service all the time, and I never once missed religious activities in the military too.”

“So you can use divine power?”

“Why? Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course, I don’t!”

Teresa raised her voice.

“What did I say when we were coming here?”

“T… to trust… you unconditionally.”

She remembered his words.

“Then, believe in me.”

“…”

Teresa bit her lip as his words continued to echo in her head.

She had already regretted not trusting him a moment ago during the small encounter. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

“Ha. But… This is a different thing.”

Right.

She wasn’t wrong.

“Hmm. Let’s do this. Shall we bet on whether or not I’ll still be okay after touching it?”

“A bet?”

Teresa mumbled. It wasn’t like she was afraid to lose.

However, she had already promised him 10,000 coins and had nothing left to give.

“I will not make unreasonable demands. If I lose, I will give you the relic. And instead, if Miss Teresa loses, appear as a guest on my show later.”

“That sounds good.”

“You promise?”

“Mr. Jin-hyuk, keep your promise too.”

Keep his promise

If he lost.

Woong!

At that moment, Jin-hyuk’s hand began to glow.

It was magic that could calm the mind.

There was no doubt.

This was divine power.

“Ah…’

Teresa sighed.

There was disappointment. Beyond that, there was a sense of despair as if everything she had believed in and protected had collapsed.

But she understood it, and she could even accept it at this point.

This was just natural now.

“Guest, please.”

Jin-hyuk lightly tapped her on the shoulder. This secured support for him when he needed it.

[Merlin’s Staff Fragment {Material}
Acquisition Difficulty: AAA
Attack power: ?
Durability: 5/5
Description: A fragment of the staff used by the British Archmage Merlin. Because it is under a curse, only those who can use divine power can touch it.]
An AAA-grade material could only be obtained from a labyrinth or a ruin. Just selling it on the coin exchange would probably yield a fantastic profit.

Even if he used a magic tool, it would be worthwhile…

There was no other way to use this.

‘Those who don’t know anything will use it for mundane things like that.’

Fools who couldn’t use even 1/100th of the relic’s actual value.

‘Well, thanks to those people, the veterans could shine more.’

Think about it.

If everyone in the world had a vision and quick judgment…

What good, then, would information hoarding do? In a way, one should be thankful for idiots rather than insulting them.

‘By the way, luck followed me in too many ways in this raid.’

Had it not been for Teresa, he would have needed to acquire the Oath of Apostle Peter and the staff fragment in a much more troublesome way. Aside from that, he would have needed to come up with a much more detailed story to deceive Elise.

Her presence made things easier.

Jin-hyuk picked up the piece. It was now time to leave the ruins.

“This is a special news feature, so make sure to grab it.”

“Whether it is a day, a month, or a year, wait like a stone! Yah!… yah! You bastard. Permission has been granted from above to shut it!”

Reporters from broadcasting stations, officials from the guilds, and porters alongside the miners.

There were literally hundreds of people waiting for the arrival of a particular person.

‘Soon, the raid on the ruins will be complete.’

Those were the words of a man who had said it while holding an old sword. All of this uproar was caused by that man.

“Chief. What the man said is true, right?”

Jong Jae-hyun from the Awakened Association asked his chief, Kim Taechun, who was next to him smoking a cigarette.

“Well. It is too absurd to believe. Damn, if I had heard it myself, I would have asked a few questions, but the fact was that the people who were sent to question the man got scared and walked away.”

The raid that went in didn’t even have the proper equipment to go all the way. No, even if they had the necessary power, it would have taken 3 weeks for them to complete it.

How could they finish it in such a short amount of time?

If it was that simple, the ruins wouldn’t be such an infamous place.

But, they still couldn’t pass on this news.

If the people came from the ruins, it would mean that they had defeated the guardian within it.

It was an unbelievable achievement and situation.

“It hurts.”

Chief Kim scratched his head and, at that moment…

Woong!

A bright light began to shine from the entrance of the ruins. At the same time, a golden status window appeared in front of everyone.

[The ruins, the ‘Corridor of the Fallen,’ have been conquered.]
[An outstanding achievement will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for one day tomorrow.]
“C-chief!”

“It was… true?”

Chief Kim looked towards the entrance.

There were people with injuries exiting one after another. The Balhae Guild was in the lead, followed by the Zion Guild.

Chak!

Their cameras were working here.

“They are coming!”

“Ohhh!”

People raised their voices to capture the image of these heroes.

“Congratulations on conquering the ruins on the first floor!”

“Can we ask how you succeeded in attacking it in such a short time?”

“Tell us who played the MVP role in this raid!”

Reporters held out their mics. In order to win the interview, you must find the captain who leads the raid.

At that time,

“Y-You are Mr. Song Cheon-hwa?”

One of the men asked a bald man.

At first glance, he looked like him, and upon closer inspection, he was even more sure. This man was Song Cheon-hwa, the captain of the raid.

“…”

But Song Cheom-hwa didn’t respond to the question. He just continued to move onward.

His face had an expression as if he had lost his soul. The reporters who saw this uttered softly.

“Oh my. Not just his hair, but even the eyebrows and lashes are gone!”

“Wha… what happened inside?”

“The relic? He looks so miserable.”

“It seems like he had a second awakening by giving up his hair, great for the Balhae Guild but terrible for him.”

Although he had lost something precious, he had completed the task that he was assigned, and it would be an excellent business for the guild. This made sense for those who didn’t know the reality of what had happened.

Eventually, Teresa intervened with the reporters.

“It wasn’t Song Cheon-hwa who conquered the ruins.”

“Well then, was it Miss Teresa…?”

“Did the Zion Guild do it?”

Their eyes focused on her. The surroundings went silent, so much so that only gulping sounds could be heard.

“No.”

She shook her head before pointing to a person with a mask on his face.

“The successful conquest of the ruins was done by this person alone. We… we were just spectators watching it happen.”

The emergence of a super newbie.

The topic caused the whole nation and the Tower of Trials community to heat up.

[The player with the mask. Who is he?]
[Conquered the ruins alone?! Absurd!]
[World class guilds. A decision has been made to dispatch an investigation team on the first flight tomorrow morning.]
[In 3 hours, the performance will be revealed at the Hall of Fame.]
It grabbed everyone’s attention.

The issue was especially important for the government and media as they used it to divert attention from the lack of progress on the raid against the 3rd-floor boss monster. This new topic was used to give the citizens hope.

A new hero who was recognized by the top ranker Teresa.

The player who reached the end of the ruins that no one else could even see.

“Ugh, there are all kinds of modifiers attached to it.”

Jin-hyuk scratched his head. He expected the reaction to be hot, but this was more than he expected.

At least he had a mask on, so he bought a few days of reprieve.

‘I will get the S class soon. That way, things will work out.’

100 players.

The 1st and 2nd place rankings had been decided by now.

All that was left now was to design a way to make everything look favorable to him. He needed to balance the different perceptions.

Since Teresa had promised to be silent, he didn’t think he had much to worry about.

For now, this was good.

And next.

‘I will have to talk to Elise, who is inside.’

It would be difficult to continue to act as if he couldn’t hear her.

‘Even if it is difficult to handle, I will have to handle this eventually.’

A difficult journey to the 50th floor.

The decision he would have to make to decide if it would be an easy or tough journey.

Jin-hyuk took the ring.

And then a sharp voice became audible.

[How dare you lock me in the dark! You stinky bag! Human! Do you know who I am…!]
“Look here, Miss First Ancestor, no, grandmother of Great Britain.”

She didn’t seem to understand the situation yet.

Did she think that she was the all-powerful vampire?

Jin-hyuk grabbed the ring and rotated it.

Wong!

Wong!

He swung it round and round in a clockwise direction

[Kyaaak! Stop, I am feeling dizzy! Stop it, please!]
Elise screamed, and he stopped.

“How is it?”

[Thinking I am crazy like you? Know this! The vampires never forget their grudges!]
She still didn’t understand. Fine.

Still, she was a strong monster.

She wouldn’t just give in that easily. Usually, he would play it hard as well…

But now he’s changed his mind.

He will train her thoroughly with a whip.

“From one station to another. There will be a lot of dizziness, so be careful, please.”

Jin-hyuk gave a voluntary announcement.

[That… stop. Seriously don’t do it. I might just puke now!]
“There is no door to get… off.”

And again, he started the hellish train.