109
“Oh, is this our new home?”
“Yes, you can relocate it anytime if the conditions are right.”
“It’s convenient in many ways. But I thought Seo-ya said there weren’t many features when she first became the clan leader.”
“It’s a feature unlocked from the 5th floor onwards. The price is quite high, so other players might know about it but find it difficult to purchase.”
Instead of the trial on the 6th floor, Se-un and Go Chang-seok found themselves in a barren wasteland. A desolate plain without even a single tree or blade of grass stretched before them.
They were fortunate to spot a waterway far in the distance.
“Price? How much did it cost?”
“One million points.”
“O-one million, you say? You earned that all by yourself?”
“Points naturally accumulate as you climb the tower. Anyway, one million points is less than half of what I have.”
“So you’re saying you still have over a million points. Haha, the more I learn about you, the more amazing you are.”
Go Chang-seok stared at Se-un with wide eyes.
Indeed, the contribution points Se-un possessed were abnormal by anyone’s standards.
Around this time, the contribution points an average player acquired were barely over a few hundred thousand.
In reality, this residence was typically purchased by pooling the points of the clan members, not by the clan leader unilaterally like Se-un.
Otherwise, one million points was an almost impossible price to afford.
“It’s good that we have our own place, but there’s absolutely nothing here.”
“We’ll have to wait until those two arrive.”
“You mean those kids? Haha, they are trustworthy.”
Se-un couldn’t construct a residence in this wasteland without materials.
Even if he could, the efficiency would be too low.
Therefore, he sat down to replenish the mana he had depleted while fighting the Stone Lava on the 5th floor.
He had taken a short break, but that was only enough to move his body minimally.
“Give me your equipment! I’ll repair it like new.”
“It’s alright. You already took care of it on the 4th floor….”
“What are you saying! If possible, it’s best to maintain your equipment after every battle. And look. It’s very dirty, isn’t it?”
Se-un looked down at his armor.
Because the Stone Lava’s movements were so large, it was covered in dirt and dust, and there were quite a few minor scratches.
It was evidence of how fierce the fight on the 5th floor had been.
Se-un scratched his head sheepishly and nodded, handing his equipment to Go Chang-seok.
He felt sorry for passing the work on to the elder, but Go Chang-seok was reaching out as if he would get angry if he didn’t give him the equipment.
“Give me that sword too. You split that rock, so I need to sharpen the blade, right?”
“Ah, this sword….”
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ says to keep the sword as it has something to say and wags its beak happily.
‘Hmm?’
Mamon’s sudden message.
Judging by how unusually happy he seemed, he must have been very pleased with catching Kepri’s pet bug, the Stone Lava.
He didn’t understand why he should keep the sword, but it didn’t seem like a bad offer, so he decided to follow Mamon’s words.
“The sword is fine. Please take care of the armor.”
“Is that so? Hmm, well, the blade looks fine. It’s amazing that it’s still intact after cutting through that rock. It’s hard to call it just a famous sword.”
He hesitated for a moment, as if he still had lingering feelings for Durandal, but soon gave up and prepared to repair the equipment.
As always, his eyes sparkled as he looked at the equipment.
Meanwhile, Se-un distanced himself from him and took out Durandal.
As Go Chang-seok said, the blade was not damaged at all, even after cutting through the rock.
Although the ‘Slimy Mud’ prevented durability consumption, it was a performance that was hard to believe for a B-grade item.
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ is pleased to bestow a reward upon you.
‘A reward?’
He didn’t even ask for it, but he was going to give him a reward. And it was Mamon, the Demon God of Greed.
He must be very happy to have interfered with the god Kepri.
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ instructs you to stick the sword into the ground.
Stab.
As soon as he heard the instruction, Se-un stuck the sword into the ground without hesitation.
Even though he lightly tapped it without much force, more than half of the sword’s blade was embedded in the ground.
Since it was a wasteland, the ground was quite hard, but Durandal’s sharpness had already surpassed that.
Immediately after.
Woo-oong-
Durandal’s blade was dyed purple.
Se-un blinked, not understanding what was happening, and Mamon kindly explained.
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ says that in the process of replicating Durandal, it was able to uncover some of the power contained within.
‘Oh?’
Durandal, which he had lent to Mamon during the tutorial.
He thought he was just focused on replication, but he must have discovered something in the meantime.
Se-un’s eyes, which had been full of questions, filled with anticipation.
In other words, he was going to release Durandal’s seal.
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ says that it won’t be possible to completely release the seal, but one stage should be fine, and raises its head.
Woo-oong!
The purple light surrounding Durandal was absorbed into the sword as if sucked into a sponge.
Even though it was still stuck in the ground, the golden patterns, now clearer than before, immediately caught his eye.
Pulling out the sword, a pleasant ‘sreung’ sound rang out, and a sharp blade was revealed.
[ Rock-Splitting Sword, Durandal (Sealed) ]
Classification: Longsword
Grade: A
Description: A legendary sword used by legendary heroes. Its potential is partially sealed because it has not yet been fully recognized by its owner.
Abilities: 1. Hero’s Sword – Increases cutting power by 50%.
2. Hero’s Qualification – Increases attack power against monsters by 30%.
3. Rock-Splitting Sword – The blade never dulls or chips in any situation.
4. Unbreakable Sword – Durability is not consumed by any attack.
5. (Sealed)
Se-un gripped the sword tightly in his hand without realizing it.
Not only had Durandal, which was B-grade, become A-grade, but the fourth sealed ability had also been unlocked.
Unbreakable Sword.
Since it was already a strong sword that could split rocks, other players might have overlooked this ability, but it was different for Se-un.
‘With this, I can use Noble Phantasms [powerful, personalized abilities] without any problems.’
He realized this when fighting the Stone Lava.
The better the sword’s performance, the closer he could get to manifesting the Noble Phantasm’s power at 100%, and the sword’s durability could withstand the power of the Noble Phantasm.
But what if the medium, the sword, was an A-grade masterpiece?
Moreover, what if its durability never ran out?
He would be able to use Mamon’s Noble Phantasms without worry.
Of course, this was only limited to sword-shaped Noble Phantasms, but the fact that he didn’t have to worry about his weapon breaking from now on was a huge advantage.
“Thank you.”
-The constellation, ‘The Bowing Crow,’ flaps its wings, saying that it is just a reward for the bug that might bother you in the future.
The constellation, ‘The One Who Rolls the Sun’. The god of sunrise, Kepri.
It was revenge from a constellation close to the main god level, but it wasn’t a concern.
After all, it was almost impossible for a constellation to directly interfere with the tower, and most of his followers existed above the middle floors of the tower.
By the time Se-un encountered them….
‘They weren’t that strong of a force.’
He would probably have far surpassed their power.
Someone might call it arrogance, but it was confidence that Se-un could have because he knew his current growth rate and the power of Kepri’s followers.
‘I want to use it soon.’
Although it wasn’t written separately in the abilities, the sharpness of the sword had also increased as the grade increased.
When he swung the sword, he heard a cutting sound as if the air was being sliced.
While enjoying the pleasant cutting sound by performing a short sword dance, he felt a new presence behind him.
“Wow! What is this place? It’s amazing! Is this really our land?”
A familiar, lively voice.
‘Areum……. No, was it Da-un?’
He could barely tell the difference due to the subtle difference in intonation.
The twin sisters were surprisingly similar, as if proving that they were twins.
If they were determined to deceive, it would be difficult for anyone in the clan except for Yoo Seo-ah to distinguish them.
“Wow! Blood Wolf oppa [term of endearment for an older brother figure]!”
“You came early.”
“Han-cheol oppa went ‘kwang! kwang!’ [onomatopoeia for a loud bang] and knocked them down right away! The trial on the 4th floor too, he’s really reliable, you know?”
Han Da-un, who was approaching energetically as soon as she found Se-un, was standing next to Kang Han-cheol.
As if proving the fierce battle, his armor was covered in ogre blood.
Well, Kang Han-cheol had hunted starving ogres with Se-un in the tutorial. Even an ogre that hadn’t fully grown wouldn’t be too difficult.
“More than that, is this really our land? Can we build buildings here without worry?”
“Yeah. I was waiting to ask you that.”
“Waah! Then we don’t have to build mobile ones anymore, right? We can build completely stationary ones, right?”
“Of course.”
“Yahoo! Look forward to it! We’ll make it really cool! Ah, hasn’t Areum arrived yet?”
“You’re the first after us.”
“Hmm, well, Areum said she was stuck with Jung-pil oppa, so it’ll take a while.”
The combination of Han Areum and Park Jung-pil.
He was a little worried because both of them weren’t proper combat-type players.
Park Jung-pil would probably survive somehow, but Han Areum’s combat power was actually lower than the elder’s.
“Then I’ll start drawing up the blueprints first! Ah, Grandpa!”
“Oh, Da-un, you’ve arrived.”
“Let’s draw up the blueprints together!”
“Hmm? Let’s finish repairing the armor first….”
“Don’t do that, let’s do it together! Huh? Huh?”
“……Hehe, let’s do that.”
There was no way to help now anyway.
Se-un sat down and began to recover his empty dantian [energy center] and circle [magic circuit], hoping that everyone would come up safely.
* * *
At that time.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Park Jung-pil and Han Areum, whom Se-un was worried about, were fighting an ogre.
No, could this be called fighting?
The ogre was following Park Jung-pil as if chasing a toy, and Park Jung-pil was running away with all his might.
Han Areum was taking out siege weapons from the high mountains and aiming at the ogre.
“Ah, just stay still for a bit!”
“It’s an ogre! An ogre! If I stay still, I’ll die!”
It wasn’t a bow, and with siege weapons that took time to aim, she couldn’t properly aim at the ogre.
Han Areum, who had been struggling for a while, gave up aiming irritably.
‘I shouldn’t have acted so cocky in the first place!’
When they first challenged the trial on the 5th floor, the ogre hadn’t noticed their presence and was fast asleep.
Seeing this, Han Areum had a good idea and climbed up here to install siege weapons.
Even an ogre would have a hard time surviving if it was hit in a vital spot while sleeping. Especially if it was a proper siege weapon, not just ordinary pebbles or arrows.
However, that plan was shattered by Park Jung-pil.
‘Hey, is he sleeping?’
‘Ehehe, this guy doesn’t even know he’s about to die and is sleeping so comfortably.’
‘He’s not even worth a punch, but I’ll let him off! I’ll let him die without feeling any pain while he’s sleeping!’
While Han Areum was busy installing the siege weapons, Park Jung-pil was talking nonsense and constantly provoking the ogre next to him.
Before Han Areum could stop him, she was focused on installing the weapons.
‘Kuaaaaaa!’
The ogre woke up.
What followed was the current situation.
Park Jung-pil was running away from the ogre, and Han Areum had given up aiming. It was a situation where there was no answer.
The fortunate thing was.
‘It’s not targeting me.’
For some reason, the ogre was only following Park Jung-pil.
Even if she occasionally made mistakes in aiming and activated the siege weapons as a gamble, the ogre’s target didn’t change even though it realized it was threatening.
But there was no chance of winning like this.
No matter how much he ran away, Park Jung-pil’s stamina had a limit.
Meanwhile, Han Areum was racking her brains.
‘Ah, that’s it!’
A good idea came to mind.
The method often used by the clan leader of the Diablo Clan, Se-un.
Han Areum, who had aimed the siege weapons forward, shouted at Park Jung-pil, who was still playing tag.
“Oppa! Run this way!”
“Do you think I’m running away while looking at the direction! How can I run up to that high place!”
“Ah, just! Just shut up and run!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
Park Jung-pil barely avoided the club swung by the ogre by rolling on the floor.
Soon after, he used that short gap to change direction and ran in the direction of Han Areum.
His speed gradually decreased to the point where running was almost impossible due to the slope.
On the other hand, the ogre maintained its speed with brute force and followed Park Jung-pil.
“Hurry up and do something! I’m going to dieee!”
A loud scream was heard, but in contrast, a smile appeared on Han Areum’s face.
Although there was an obstacle called Park Jung-pil, the ogre running straight towards them was now within the straight range of the siege weapons.
She activated the siege weapons without hesitation.
“Dodge it yourself!”
“What?”
Too-oong!
The projectile fired at Park Jung-pil. No, at the ogre.
As Han Areum had planned, the ogre was so focused on Park Jung-pil that it didn’t notice the projectile flying towards it.
Looking at the projectile flying quickly towards him.
“Aaaaaaah!”
For some reason, Park Jung-pil felt a sense of déjà vu.