Trait Upgrade!

Anyway, now that I've got a rough idea about the Tower and hunters in general, just like that Flame Mage said earlier, I decide to dig up as much info as I can on dungeons—the places that let you make money you can't earn in the Tower.

Unlike the Tower, which only lets in qualified climbers, dungeons are open to anyone, even regular folks like my old self. Plus, once their difficulty is set, it doesn't randomly spike or drop like some scam, so more often than not, it's the military—not hunters—setting up defensive lines with heavy artillery and pounding them flat.

Things are different now. To be precise, as long as it's not the absolute top-tier monsters—the ones where you'd need dozens of S-rank hunters raiding instead of just one or two—goblin scrubs can be suppressed by a few dozen uncles with modern rifles laying down suppressive fire. B-rank monsters? Bring a tank and you're good. A-rank starts getting brutal, and S-rank? Without hunters, you'd need division—no, corps-level forces, and even that's a nightmare ;

"This is how it turns out."

Searching for dungeon info, almost everything that pops up is stuff even I knew as a regular civilian back then. Excluding what we just talked about, it's all tales of soldiers plugging or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clearing dungeons instead of hunters.

I get the feeling there's nothing more worth seeing until I hit A-rank, same as before.

And while I'm scrolling through all this crap, I stretch to loosen up my stiff body.

"Nngh... uh, damn."

Reminiscent of my cyber ghost days, the sun's already set, crows are cawing, and it's pitch dark outside.

Time to wrap up the community browsing, sleep it off, and tomorrow do hunter shit instead of community shit.

And the next morning.

I wake up early bird style, but instead of diving straight into the Tower to clear floor 7...

I decide to finally claim the floor 6 clear reward, which I should've checked yesterday but got sidetracked by community scrolling.

Of course, floors 2 through 5 (excluding 1) were all meh items like awkward potions you can't really use...

So I pull a half-assed disappointed face, expecting more of the same—useful in theory but awkward in practice.

But that lasts only a moment. I tap the reward mail and claim the clear reward inside.

"...Oh?"

Something insanely intriguing drops—not just any item, but one that seems primed to boost my trait, which hasn't seen a single level-up through six floors.

Of course, no way am I using it blindly without knowing jack. I fire up the hunter community and search for it...

"Anyway, it's fucking awesome, got it."

Perfect timing with similar bait floating around, so I subtly pull some aggro.

The other hunters' explosive reactions confirm the floor 6 reward is delicious AF.

Of course, that doesn't last long.

The most recent German hunter who got one posted proof, and it literally only bumped stamina stat by one, whole community flipped

Happens to catch that post right before closing the community, making me freeze for a sec...

But in a world where Tower toppers have stats in the thousands, agonizing over a floor 6 clear feels retarded.

I toss the useless thoughts in the trash like a real man and use the item quick to head into the Tower.

But the instant I do...

-Sparkle sparkle sparkle

"Argh my eyes!"

Some hyper-flashy effect pops, and the auto-opening status window blasts right in my face, triggering photophobia seizure.

Obviously unprepared for the eye-stab attack(?), instead of entering the Tower, I dive back under the covers groaning in pain.

But soon the status calms, and an eye-friendly message shows what upgraded...

"Oh."

No level-ups through floor 6, wondering what the hell this trait even does, and boom—the key equipment mounting slot doubles right up.

Seeing that, I instantly feel deep satisfaction knowing floor 7+ is just Akimbo city from here on out.