Chapter 111 Elizabeth (1)

「Ticket (Rank F) has expired.」

「Go to the waiting room on the 13th floor.」

He was back in the waiting room. Yoon-seok slowly looked around and smirked. Had he gone weird in the head? Now he felt much more comfortable here than on Earth.

‘At the time, my goal was to just survive and go back….’

A trip to Earth to learn about Moorim. Perhaps because he somehow ended his unhealthy relationship with Kang Hyung-woo with his own hands and came back, strange sentiments kept circulating throughout his body. Should he say that the past and the present contrasted sharply?

He thought many things had changed in less than half a year.

‘I’m curious. What would the past me say to the current me now?’

Well, he was sure he wouldn’t understand. No, he might treat himself as a madman, saying, “What’s wrong with you to go around killing other people?” If he thought about it now, he was too soft in the past. Of course, he didn’t miss that time.

Just as he couldn’t imagine himself now when he first came here, he didn’t know what the future entailed. Of course, it wasn’t something to worry about now.

「Get ready. The duel will begin soon.」

If he continued to ascend, he would find out someday.

「Countdown is starting.」

Moderate tension helped in combat. However, he didn’t feel that way anymore from the battle on the 6th floor until now. He couldn’t feel any sense of danger until he was on the 9th floor where his clone appeared or the secret mission he fought the Sword Saint.

The free fight was the icing on the cake. There were as many as seven challengers, but…he ended them with one skill. Of course, he might be a little nervous if he didn’t know what the trial might be. But that wasn’t the case anymore. At least he could hear about what enemy might appear until the 18th floor in advance from the Sword Demon.

「3.」

The opponent of the 13th floor was a challenger. However, it wasn’t a real-time matching but a recreation of a past duel challenger who went through the floor like last time. The Cheon-ma, King of Steel, or the Devil who previously carried out a massacre in the square on the 6th floor. There might be such a threat among them, but at least not this time.

「2.」

Yoon-seok observed his opponent out of habit. Robes with fancy embroidery, plus a cane with seven brilliantly shining jewels. The appearance practically screamed, “I’m a wizard,” piquing his curiosity.

「1.」

Wizards were rare in duel trials. The reason was very simple: it was hard to survive in a 1:1 match. Except for the necromancer who reanimated dead people in the Great Battle and the Elementalist he met the other day, Yoon-seok had never met a real wizard. He hadn’t seen another one after that, either.

‘A wizard was ascending to the 13th floor.….’

He thought there must be a way. But that was the end of his observation. There was no tension in him. Wizards were rare, so he didn’t have the chance to use them properly, but Yoon-seok’s skills were a wizard’s counter. Unless there were a huge difference in basic stats, he couldn’t lose even if he wanted to.

「START!」

The duel began, and at that moment…

“Unlimited Boundaries.”

The ground was gone. No, in this case, it would be right to say that the whole space was gone instead of the ground. The arena disappeared, and a space like a black hole appeared.

“Attributes Fusion.”

Fire, cold air, lightning. Light with three attributes rose in the air and was mixed into one before surging toward Yoon-seok. But he looked at it quietly. He was going to take this opportunity to see the effects of b Immortality}. If the explanations were correct, it meant that he was invincible to these elemental systems skills…

Was it true? He would find out soon.

Boom!

The moment the light hits Yoon-seok’s body as if this field-type skill had a power amplification effect, a loud crash sounded out. But that was all. It was loud, but there wasn’t a single scratch on Yoon-seok’s body.

“…?”

As a result, the wizard grew flustered, but only for a second. He quickly regained his composure and activated a new skill.

“Introspect Identification.”

It wasn’t the kind of skill that exploded like before. According to the skill name, it seemed to be similar to Appraisal that identified information. Yoon-seok’s expectation wasn’t let down.

“What the…?”

The wizard spat out a curse word. Although it was invisible to Yoon-seok, he was quickly reading something in the air. It was nothing other than his information. Yet, as he ascended to the 13th floor, he had never seen such strange figures before.

‘Attribute damage immunity? What the heck is this?’

Even his mental tolerance was 100%, and his other figures were far above average. However, he quickly controlled his astonishment. He learned from the obtained information that his opponent was a ridiculous monster, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have weaknesses.

Sacred attributes, that negative figure would quadruple the damage. If he hadn’t learned this skill, he would have to go through a huge process of trial and error to find out about this.

“Character Transformation.”

A skill that changed the nature of magic itself. This would add the divine attribute to any other skills he used.

“Fire Storm.”

One of the fire magics belonging to High-level Attributes Magic. As soon as the command was chanted, a flame appeared on his cane. Originally, the activation time was about 3 seconds, but most of the characteristics were taken to reduce speed, so now it activated almost instantaneously.

Whik!

As soon as he swung his cane, flames flew in Yoon-seok’s direction.

Fwhooooosh!

Was it due to the divine attributes? The fire was not red but blazing white. In addition, there was aiming assistance, which was a passive-type, so even if the opponent tried to avoid it, it would follow them to an extent. Yet.

Slash.

The fire was cut down by his sword, disappearing without a trace. The cause was his weapon.

「Magic has been offset by the Judgment Sword of the Sun Monarch.」

A true wizard fought strategically. After a long preparation, if the foe was still thought to be undefeatable, it was a long-standing rule of wizards to avoid the battle entirely. However, it was inevitable to fight here and there, even if the pattern of their battle opponents was almost random. He needed more and more means to survive here as a wizard, and this skill was one of them.

“Internal Exploration.”

In a way, it could be seen as a high-level interchangeable skill of Appraisal. He could check all the equipment information that his eyes landed on instead of a weapon in hand. His eyes, which were quickly checking the Judgment Sword, hardened suddenly.

—Ignore all spells below the User’s magic stats.

As a wizard, he was surprised that such a damnable item existed, but there was a separate fact that ridiculed him. Physical strength, agility, stamina, durability. He rarely used AP for abilities other than magic. In addition, thanks to his Unique Skill, a 3 correction was applied to his magic-related skills.

‘He’s a swordsman, but his magic is higher than mine…?’

What kind of ridiculous monster was this? The wizard trembled unconsciously. There were still a lot of magic skills left to be used. Among them, many could be called his secret weapon that had turned the tables several times. But what was the point of it all?

The moment that sword swung, everything would disappear.

“So you’re the devil…”

The opponent was the devil itself. No, at least for those who used magic, he was more than the devil. And soon, he realized one more thing. That word wasn’t only relevant internally but also externally.

‘Demonify.’

Yoon-seok’s body expanded, and huge horns and wings grew from him. As a result, the surrounding space began to crumble and warp.

Crack. Crackkkkk.

A scene that would fit in with the apocalypse unfolded. That was the wizard’s last memory.

「Go to the waiting room on the 14th floor.」

「Please prepare for the next duel.」

Yoon-seok, who used {Demonify} at the end, finished the duel swiftly.

What was true magic? He was a little curious, but he didn’t think it was necessary to be mindful of it. Even if he wanted to see more, his opponent had already lost his commitment before he could try anything.

‘By the way, the rewards keep increasing, and it seems like the duel is growing easier.’

The fraudulence of b Predation} shined more and more over time. Yoon-seok, who recalled the intense past, soon threw away his thoughts and confirmed the rewards. The victory reward was 3 million AP. If he combined that with the Rank A cane he would be throwing away soon with b Metallurgy}, it meant he earned a total of 3.85 million AP, but…

The amount was less than the last floor, where he killed all the challengers and monopolized the rewards. Still, perhaps because the opponent’s magic stat was Rank S, one absorption had accounted for half a rank up. He also received a Rank A Unique Skill.

{Great Wizard}

Rank A – All magical powers increase by 20x.

Rank B – All magic is given an additional 3 correction.

Rank C – When using magic, the re-use time is halved.

Rank D – If reserved magic is reduced to less than 30%, 75% of magic consumed is returned.

Rank E – Magic activation speed is halved. In the case of elemental magic, power is increased by 4x.

Rank F – Rank of all sorcery skills is raised by 1 grade.

He chose this because it was a Rank A Unique Skill. But, just as he expected, it was a Unique Skill specifically for magic. For reference, Yoon-seok never learned magic. He did have active skills, but they didn’t count as magic. Ice Magic, Mental Magic, Dark Magic, etc. Only those would be affected.

Ashton told him that learning these magic skills allowed him to use different kinds of magic within, and if the rank increased, traits were added as a characteristic to strengthen the existing magic.

‘Maybe that’s why he had so many skills.’

When Predation was invoked, he could check all the skills that his opponent learned. This one had an overwhelming number of skills above anyone Yoon-seok had encountered before. Well, because of that, the rank was low, and all skills except magic were insignificant.

‘Anyway, if there’s anything decent later on, I’ll have to synthesize it or throw it away.’

The only thing Yoon-seok could apply in {Great Wizard} was the Rank D effect. Of course, that alone was worth having, but he thought it would be better if he synthesized it.

「Your purchase has arrived.」

「Please check the lower part of the description.」

After quickly confirming the rewards, Yoon-seok spent 3.75 million AP to upgrade a Unique Skill to Rank B. He looked at all the existing skills and contemplated for a while.

“…”

It was a worry that he always had. Was he going to upgrade his ace b Divine Ultimatum} first? Or b Predation}? Usually, Yoon-seok chose the former as the safe path, but this time it was different. Was it the wrong choice?

{Predation}

Rank A – Harvest souls when killing creatures.

Yoon-seok, who was reading the additional effect, muttered quietly. Harvest souls? What was this? What was good about harvesting souls in the first place? Many questions came to mind, but the unfriendly Tower wouldn’t answer.

‘In the end, I have no choice but to find out myself again.’

He decided to move on, thinking so, but he was confused. Phantom Energy, Middle Qigong, and the Rank C effect of {Divine Ultimatum}. He felt like another bit of homework was added to the pile.

‘Whatever, let’s do what’s needed.’

Yoon-seok entered the achievement store and purchased a Mission Order. There was still at least a month before something happened in Moorim so that he would finish this quickly. But…

「Mission Order is used.」

「The number of people is insufficient.」

In the case of a mission trial with many challengers, unlike the duel, it still seemed to match in real-time.

‘It won’t take days, will it?’

He was worried about that, but Yoon-seok waited silently. He didn’t know if the timing was good or supposed to take this long, but the matching was completed after waiting for about three hours.

「The mission on the 14th floor is Heathens Assassination.」

「Difficulty level can be chosen.」

Soon after choosing the Only difficulty level, a light flashed once more in the waiting room, and soon his view darkened.

「Go to the mission place.」

He didn’t know what would happen in the future or what he would gain in the process. However, if what Kanna Blitz said was true, he would get to see it with his own eyes in this mission.

Elizabeth Lorwen. The answer to a question that he had for her for a long time.