Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: The Goblin's Mine and the Windfall
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While Joo-hyuk and his summoned beings were locked in a fierce battle with the Twin-Tailed Fox at the waterfall...
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
Razix was swinging his pickaxe like a madman.
Razix, with his LSSR-grade detection skill granting him supreme sensory abilities, had caught the scent of an intense energy the moment he set foot on the 76th floor.
The scary-looking old man had mentioned it too.
This was a place where the energy of nature gathered.
A sea where streams of energy converged.
More sensitive than even the Mad Demon, Razix went a step further.
He realized there was a specific location emitting an exceptionally dense aroma of energy.
What could be over there?
Let's go.
"Hoe!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Razix rode the Blood Wolf and ran.
Towards the source of the energy.
And the place he found.
Massive rocks, as large as houses, were scattered everywhere.
A substance glittering densely across the surface of the rocks and the ground beneath his feet, embedded like chocolate chips in a cookie.
Magic Ore.
That's right.
This place was like an open-pit Magic Ore mine.
"Hoe-ee!"
"Woof!"
Razix got off the Blood Wolf's back and struck a rock with his pickaxe.
Clunk!
The Magic Ore that came loose with the pickaxe's swing.
Each piece was about the size of an adult's fist.
The grade?
A mix of normal and high-grade.
White ones were normal Magic Ore, those with a deep blue tint were high-grade.
Let's collect them all.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!
While Razix was mining the Magic Ore, the Blood Wolf stood guard beside him.
He had to work fast.
There was no telling when they'd be ejected from the Tower.
Suddenly!
Spot!
"Hoeng?"
The Blood Wolf vanished in an instant.
"Hoe-ee…."
It just disappeared.
Razix tilted his head in confusion.
It wouldn't just vanish for no reason.
The Summoner must have sent the Blood Wolf back because he wanted to call someone else.
The only person worth calling, besides the shy alchemist, would be…
Did he need more medicine?
And then,
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-BOOM!
"Hueeeek?"
The sound of explosions echoed from far away.
What's happening?
"Hue…."
Should he go check?
No.
No need for that.
His role wasn't combat.
Just do his job without worrying about it.
High-grade Magic Ore.
The Summoner said he needed a lot of it.
Then he absolutely had to bring it back.
Kwa-kwa-BOOM! Kwa-BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The unceasing roar of explosions.
Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank-Kwang!
The golden pickaxe digging into the rock.
Magic Ore tumbled out in heaps.
There was no time to distinguish between normal and high-grade.
Perhaps because the energy was so dense, the amount of high-grade was actually greater.
"Hoe-eeek!"
Razix, too, was faithfully fighting his own battle.
The nearly fifty-strong army of Three-Tailed, Five-Tailed, and Seven-Tailed Foxes had been instantly pulverized and disintegrated.
The insane Nine-Tailed Fox Queen, who had lost her reason, put up a bit of resistance, but soon her barrier was pierced and she was torn to pieces, her flesh scattered into the air.
'Wait, it was like this?'
Joo-hyuk's eyes were just wide open.
He had truly been half in doubt.
He'd been skeptical if she would really be of any help, but she had completely obliterated the battlefield.
It was truly invincible.
The moment she appeared, she cleaned everything up neatly.
The alchemist and elf, Alia-Mari.
Wasn't an elf supposed to shoot arrows or use spirit magic?
But a bomber?
That doesn't fit the image of an elf at all.
The tiny humanoid Homunculi,
each one of them was a bomb.
Suicide bomber Homunculi.
Their individual power wasn't great.
But in a swarm?
Swarming together and exploding all at once?
Especially when they burrow inside the body and explode from within?
What was even more amazing was the control.
It was simply mind-blowing.
Controlling that many, those tiny, speck-like Homunculi one by one.
'Could I do it too?'
Well.
First, the form is different.
Joo-hyuk's own Homunculi are silver.
On the other hand, Bomber Mari's Homunculi are red.
They also differed in size.
Mari's Homunculi were much smaller than his.
They were truly the size of dust particles.
How could you stop something like that from entering nostrils and ear canals?
So even if he were given red Homunculi, imitating her would be difficult.
How does one manage such precise control?
Over things as small as dust.
It's something only Mari can do.
Joo-hyuk just tightened his buttocks.
What if one stray Homunculus burrowed into that hole?
The other summoned beings were equally astonished.
At first, they wondered why he had called her.
Even now, the socially-avoidant, room-bound alchemist was just crouched on a rock, her head bowed.
Even if she was LSSR grade, a non-combat class would be in danger on the battlefield.
But in reality, it was the foxes who were in danger.
Who would have thought those Homunculi, which they thought were just toys, could be so terrifying?
They burrow inside and explode?
Mouth, nose, ears, and anus….
Kosak, Gobang, and Bardin all wore disgusted expressions.
They unconsciously clenched their buttocks.
Tightened their anuses.
An involuntary Kegel exercise.
Even the Mad Demon got goosebumps on his back.
The LSSR-grade insane Nine-Tailed Fox Queen had vanished without a trace.
He himself had been pushed back several steps by the blast's aftermath.
What if it were him?
Could he handle those red Homunculi?
'Even if I defend against them with my Protective Aura…'
The vanguard Homunculi would charge first to break the aura, and the follow-up ones would rush in through the gap.
'In the end, even I would explode.'
It wasn't that there was no way.
He could run.
Faster than the Homunculi.
He was confident he could do that.
Right.
The only way to escape Bomber Mari's attack.
That was simply to flee.
But the Nine-Tailed Fox Queen couldn't run.
The Homunculi swarmed her.
They clung to her entire body like a swarm of bees.
"Kyaaaaaaak!!! Ah, no!!!"
And then,
Kwa-BOOM!
Starting with the first explosion,
Kwa-kwa-BOOM!
They began detonating in sequence,
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-BOOM!
Until the final massive explosion completely annihilated her.
A wretched and cruel sight.
But Gyeon Dal-rae watched the Nine-Tailed Fox Queen explode without blinking once.
The enemy of her master.
The one who may have been responsible for the fall of the Celestial Empire.
Of course, this was the Tower.
A copied world with copied souls.
But does that mean everything is fake?
Like herself and the other summoned beings, the Nine-Tailed Fox Queen, her subordinates, and the fox minions were all real souls bound by the Tower.
Furthermore, through the Tower as a medium, they might have truly transcended time and space, connecting to the past world.
Her master was proof of that.
Hadn't he achieved ascension?
She was freed from the Tower's bindings.
Anyway, she felt relieved.
Now she had no regrets.
She had completely shaken off the lingering attachment in a corner of her heart.
Gyeon Dal-rae bowed deeply and sincerely to the alchemist Alia-Mari, who was still crouched on the ground.
Spot!
Joo-hyuk and the summoned beings appeared in the penthouse.
Honestly, it still didn't feel real.
Bomber Mari.
He'd only known her as a non-combat class alchemist, but she was more terrifying than anyone else present.
'It's a good thing they only had a keyboard war in the chatroom back then.'
What if they had gotten into a real fight?
It's not like the summoned beings would fight to the death amongst themselves, but still...
Razix, who hadn't been at the scene, was also ejected with them.
Covered head to toe in dust.
It looked like he'd been mining hard.
"Ahem, everyone, thank you for your hard work."
"Cough, cough. You've worked hard too, Summoner. However, I am nothing but ashamed. This old man's abilities were lacking, and I ended up showing a pitiful sight."
The Mad Demon wore a slightly awkward expression.
The others felt the same.
Having witnessed such a tremendous explosion with their own eyes.
By the way, where's Mari?
She wasn't in the living room.
She had already slipped into her own room.
He had no choice but to use the tablet chat.
[Real Man]: Thank you so much today.
[Mari]: You're welcome♥♡ I'm so happy I could help♪♪♬
Ugh, it's hard to get used to.
Bomber-nim being this lively in chat.
[Mari]: But I won't be able to use my strength for a while.
[Real Man]: Why?
[Mari]: I used up all my explosive Homunculi. It will take a long time to alchemize and replenish them.
Ah-ha!
So they were consumables.
Well, of course, they couldn't be a skill.
If that were a skill, it would be completely broken.
But it's fine.
He wasn't planning to climb the Tower for a while anyway, so they could rest fully.
Oh!
What about Razix?
Where had he been and what had he done to get so covered in dust?
"Hoe, this."
Razix pulled something from his subspace backpack.
A bluish-tinted rock.
"Huh? That's high-grade Magic Ore."
It wasn't anything special, but...
'Could it be?'
If the quantity was large, that could be special.
"Did you get that on the 76th floor?"
"Hoe, yes."
"A lot?"
"Hoe, a lot."
Just how much was it?
Razix began taking out the high-grade Magic Ore.
Thud-thud-thud-thud,
It piled up, filling the living room.
It kept piling up.
Thud-thud-thud-thud… It continued.
'Insane!'
Is this all high-grade Magic Ore?
But it's piling up way too much.
At this rate, the entire living room will be full.
"...W-wait a second!"
"Hoe?"
"Don't tell me you have more in your subspace bag?"
"Hoe, yes, I did a whole lot."
"L-let's check later. The house might collapse at this rate."
"Hoeng!"
He had definitely found a vein.
A high-grade Magic Ore vein, to be precise.
When asked, that's what he said.
He only mined an extremely small part because there wasn't enough time.
Oh my,
Have you ever seen such a capable worker?
If you ask for something, he brings it immediately.
Sorry to the other summoned beings, but honestly, is there anyone else like Razix?
He couldn't even begin to imagine what feats Razix would perform when he became LSSR.
"Our quartermaster is truly amazing, isn't he? When he does something, it's on a brigade, no, an army scale."
"Well, he is a the ultimate worker. His supplies are bound to be cosmic too."
"I could never catch up, even if I died trying."
"Was the assassin even thinking of catching up? This warrior has already given up."
"He's a model for all of us summoned beings."
Swish—the high-grade Magic Ore covering the floor was put back into Razix's subspace backpack.
Now, what's next?
Check the items.
Setting aside the miscellaneous stuff, let's start with the core.
The reward for successfully completing all tasks on the 76th floor: the Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough Rune.
The same one Gobang had received.
A rune that allows a grade breakthrough.
It had a condition.
Usable only by Gyeon Dal-rae.
Using it makes her unavailable for summoning for two weeks.
And it requires 25 Platinum Badges.
Since Gyeon Dal-rae already has 4 pinned to her chest, she only needs 21 more.
He can give them to her during the badge awarding ceremony later.
Finally, the cumulative badge bonuses.
The total badges collected so far: 106. Physical badges on hand: 46.
The last cumulative badge bonus he received was for 90 badges.
Then he's eligible for the 95, 100, and 105 badge bonuses. That's three times.
Let's open them all at once.
One of the three should give something good, right?
He opened his inventory to check the newly received badges.
First one.
Well, I'm not expecting a Trait Enhancement Rune.
Would they really give one?
It'll probably just be some ordinary item again.
[Bonus: Item Acquisition Multiplier Ticket.]
I knew it, right?
Still, it's the first time seeing this item.
The second one?
Again, I'm not expecting anything.
Even though 100 is a symbolic number.
[Bonus: Trait Enhancement Rune.]
Look at that!
It's a Trait Enhancement Rune.
Did you think there'd be something special just because it's 100?
They'll just give the usual item and... Huh? What? Uh.
'What did the bonus just say?'
Did he mishear?
The message kept chiming, but...
[Bonus: Player Awakening Rune.]
Nothing else registered in his ears.
Joo-hyuk blankly took the Trait Enhancement Rune out of his inventory.
That's the one.
A small stone fragment.
Small enough to fit in one's mouth.
"Gasp! B-Bong Summoner-nim, th-that is?"
"Hue?"
"I-Isn't that a Trait Enhancement Rune? I offer my congratulations."
"Hoho, what a joyous occasion!"
"Commander! Congratulations!"
"Glory to my lord!"
Ding!
[Mari]: Congratulations ♥
He had finally pulled one from the 100 cumulative badge bonus.
Simultaneous Summoning Capacity: 9.
This meant he could now summon all currently registered summoned beings in the catalog at once.
Well, that won't last long either.
Soon there will be a Random Summon, and when that happens, the catalog count will increase to 10.
Then he'll be short one slot again.
Catalog count: 10.
The number 10.
Could it mean something?
It's not certain, but it might.
The Tower conquest's numbering system is also decimal.
A boss appears every 5 or 10 floors.
The final boss of the Undead section was also on the 70th floor.
If the catalog list is filled with entries...
'Will an achievement pop up?'
He'll find out when he summons.
Now, to calm his excitement.
Let's check what the other bonuses were.
First, the ticket from the 95-badge accumulation.
Check info.
Oh!
'It's a better item than I thought.'
Item reward multiplier from 2x to 10x.
There's a limitation excluding Tickets and Runes, but still.
What about the one from 105?
'....'
So this kind of item existed too.
Not sure if it's good or not.
Awakening an ordinary person into a Player.
The probability is still slim.
And there are countless people who wish to become Players.
A profession that offers a chance to turn one's life around.
Because you can earn big money just by reaching level 20 or above.
But arbitrarily awakening someone?
He didn't particularly want to do that.
At least not to his own acquaintances.
But since he got it, he can't just let it sit unused.
Should he clean out his unused items and hand them over on this occasion?
To the Awakening Management Bureau.
Anyway, he checked the bonuses.
The results were satisfactory,
What's left on the schedule?
A party, of course.
A big, lavish one.
There's a lot to do.
Let's head to the Namyangju villa.
There's the badge awarding ceremony, Gyeon Dal-rae's farewell party, a welcome party for the new family member, and decorating the White Tower's 17th floor.
First, he'll stop by the Awakening Management Bureau on the way.
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