Hatchling (1)

A skill window materialized before my eyes.

Hah.

An involuntary sigh of admiration escaped my lips. An ultra-long-range sniping skill, and a general-purpose wide-area skill — every single special effect on both of them was a jewel in its own right.

So from 3-Star onward, special effects start becoming genuinely practical.

The vast majority of 2-Star skills had come with things like reduced mana cost or increased critical damage, which meant magic-related special effects had been relatively scarce. But 3-Star skills were a different beast entirely.

The loss of mana reduction means I'll be wrestling with my mana pool even harder from now on, sure.

But my combat power was about to balloon severalfold beyond that.

Good. Very good. My mouth curled up to my ears as it dawned on me that I could chew through and swallow the 3rd Floor just the same.

There's still time left.

I had plenty of room before my scheduled meeting with James.

In that case—

Maybe I'll grind out a few levels in the meantime?

How fast could I level up now? And how powerful would the Mythic skills I'd just acquired prove to be? Heart thrumming with anticipation, I set my steps toward the cluster of dungeons.

As Hajun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠began his sprint toward lightspeed leveling, another storm was sweeping through the Ascender Community.

The world had learned that Unknown could command demons and spirits alike.

The various media outlets began churning out breathless, sensationalized coverage of Unknown as well.

"Unknown? Who's that?"

"Some rising-star Ascender. I hear the momentum behind him is enormous. They say he's going to become one of the next Seven Ascenders, too?"

"Whoa! That's impressive."

"No idea who he is, but I'm jealous."

"Honestly, I'm tempted to dump my boyfriend and switch to Unknown."

"Same. Hoho."

"He's bound to have a girlfriend, right?"

"From the rumors I've heard, his proportions are supposedly straight out of a modeling catalog. With that kind of ability AND that kind of physique, of course he'd have one."

"Whoever that lucky woman is, I envy her..."

"Tell me about it."

The news had spread even to ordinary people standing a step removed from the Sky Tower. Unknown's fame had begun blanketing the entire nation — to the point where some women ranked him as their number-one choice for an ideal boyfriend.

"Who could he be? Now I'm curious."

The rumors about Unknown had reached the ears of Hajun's ex-girlfriend, Lee Yeonhee.

"Hmmm. I wonder if this guy could climb above the 8th Floor."

From the 8th Floor upward, the realm was known as the Celestial Tier. Her current boyfriend — the man she'd dumped Hajun for — was Level 60. Unfortunately, that was the ceiling of his growth. There was no sign he had the capacity to push past Level 70. Even within his clan, the atmosphere had shifted; no one expected anything more from his development.

Ascenders on the 7th Floor occupied an exalted position, to be sure — but human greed was, by nature, always gazing at somewhere higher.

I want into the Celestial Tier.

The minuscule VVIP royal family where only Ascenders of the 8th Floor and beyond gathered. Lee Yeonhee wanted to be one of its members.

The 7th Floor isn't enough. It would haunt me for the rest of my life, I just know it.

Until now, even if she'd wanted to meet them, there had been no way to encounter an Ascender standing on the 8th Floor. Their numbers were vanishingly small, and those few were either already married or far outside her age range.

But Unknown was different. He was on a low floor for now, yes — yet he was widely rated as a certainty for the next Seven Ascenders. And by all accounts, he was estimated to be in his early-to-mid twenties.

A perfect paradise that could fulfill Lee Yeonhee's dreams.

And they say he's tall and handsome on top of it all.

Truthfully, her ex-boyfriend Hajun had been the most physically gifted man she'd ever dated. She didn't expect quite that level — but as long as he at least had a lean, tall frame, he'd pass the bare minimum external requirements.

I have to have him.

Desire bloomed in Lee Yeonhee's eyes. Even if the rumors were true and Unknown turned out to be Chinese, it wouldn't matter. And if Unknown already had a girlfriend?

I'll just take him away from her.

Gazing at her own reflection in the full-length mirror, Lee Yeonhee allowed a greedy gleam to settle into her gaze.

Kwagagagaga.

Chejejejejejjeong—!!

My Freezing Orb froze solid, in a single sweeping instant, every monster in the ruins that had come lunging at me.

Kwaaaaaaang!!

The moment it reached its target point, a colossal explosion shattered every frozen monster to pieces.

"Woohoo."

It devoured enormous amounts of mana, but for all that, its power was undeniable. What's more, the Ice attribute was a hard counter to the monsters of the 3rd Floor — because the 3rd Floor's monsters, being field-type ruins dwellers, were overwhelmingly rock-attribute, and the Ice attribute dealt devastating bonus damage to Rock.

Thanks to that, I was able to sweep through the 3rd Floor dungeons at a blistering pace.

All right, then.

Next up — the boss room. I strode straight inside.

Kugugugugu!

Inside the gate a hundred meters ahead, a mummy began to rise.

A boss monster had appeared. I stretched out my hand toward the creature, as if drawing a bowstring.

A virtual bow-frame woven of starlight materialized in the empty air.

Jiiiing—!!

A staggering volume of starlight began to compress and condense.

"Graaaaagh!"

Just then, the Mummy Sentinel fully rose from where it had been seated. Roughly aiming for the creature's torso, I released my fingers.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang—!!!

The Astral Arrow tore through the air, leaving a trail of beautiful motes of light in its wake. It passed clean through the temple pillars scattered along the path — like a phantom. That was the effect of Dimensional Penetration, one of the Astral Arrow's special options.

Peoooooooong!!

The Mummy Sentinel was annihilated in a single shot. With its attack power amplified through the Sage's Aura, the outcome was only natural.

The moment I stepped out of the dungeon, a message appeared announcing that I had reached Level 25.

Hah.

I'd hit Level 25 precisely on schedule, just before joining up with James. A leveling speed unprecedented in all of history.

Unlike my pathetic early days, the more skills and items I acquired, the faster my growth became. Considering that, conventionally, growth only slows as one climbs higher, it was frankly bizarre.

What did I tell you — the Sage trait is broken.

Then again, it made no sense for the sole possessor in the entire world of a 10-Star trait (★★★★★★★★★★) to be floundering around on the low floors. A thought flickered through my mind: I needed to push on to the 9th and 10th Floors — floors worthy of my trait — as quickly as possible.

I moved to choose my Perk Skill on the spot, then held off. I'd decide after seeing how things unfolded against Tiamut — pick something to match the situation.

This one choice might just turn out to be my Joker card.

Preparations complete, I went straight to rendezvous with James's party.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Now I understand why people call you GodKnown."

"Haha. You flatter me."

James's praise made my shoulders square with pride. Even James — the strongest in the world — apparently found my growth rate astonishing.

"Khh-hhh. You had quite the rough time of it, I hear? That lunatic Omar — I can't believe he tried to snipe you."

Omar? What's that about.

I stared at Ivan, utterly lost.

"What? You don't know yet?"

After Ivan filled me in, I learned the reason the trolls had swarmed me during the Trial of Qualification — it was all because of Omar.

"My apologies. I've been buried in dungeons, so news travels slowly to me."

I'd never bothered reading the Ascender Community to begin with, and lately I'd been so busy testing out my new Mythic skills that I'd had no spare moment to check.

Omar, is it.

I committed the name to memory. Pressing Ivan further, I learned the man ran a massive magic stone trading house on the 5th Floor. So why on earth had he tried to take me out?

"The guy's a real piece of work. He's got this obsession with Ascenders who operate anonymously — can't stand them, like they're prey he can't devour."

"Ha."

A wry huff escaped me at such a petty reason. When I reached the 5th Floor, I decided, I'd start by paying the man's face a visit.

"By the way — did you at least raise your level? Those Tiamut bastards are no pushovers. You should've pushed up at least a little before coming."

At Ivan's words, Sophie, who had been quietly listening, opened her mouth.

"You make leveling up sound so easy. Even on the 3rd Floor, raising it that quickly in a short span is simply impossible."

"Well, that's all I'm saying. So... you're still Level 21, then?"

I answered with an awkward little smile.

"No. I'm Level 25."

"...?"

Instantly, giant question marks floated up above everyone's heads.

"Twenty... five?"

Ivan asked again, wearing the expression of a man certain he'd misheard.

"Yes. Level 25."

"Not 15 — 25?"

When I nodded, Ivan's jaw dropped so wide it seemed in danger of plunging through the floor.

"Good heavens!"

"I— is that even physically possible?"

Even Sophie's eyes went round as saucers as she demanded an answer.

"Haha. Well, well. Now I really do understand why people say that where Unknown is concerned, nothing is impossible."

James said it with a knowing grin.

"Perfect timing, actually. I was just debating whether to push our schedule back — the difficulty has gone up again, you see."

"...?"

When I gave him a look that plainly asked what he meant, James delivered an answer that made my ears stand at attention.

"We believe they've hatched a Dragon's egg. Our first priority is now to secure that dragon hatchling alive."

Good ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heavens.

A hatchling. A dragon's hatchling — really? That strongest, most fearsome race of legend — the dragon?