Carry (1)

"I was wrong about him."

"Huh……?"

Kim Min-sung's out-of-the-blue remark made Lee Yeon-hee blink her wide eyes at him, silently asking what he meant.

"I thought he was an Ascender of the 3rd floor or below, but he's got to be at least 5th floor. Maybe higher."

"What? The 5th floor?"

Lee Yeon-hee's eyes wavered again, as if another earthquake had just torn through them. An Ascender of the 5th floor at Hajun's age—wasn't that the definition of a rising prodigy?

"You're sure you weren't mistaken?"

She asked back, denying reality even as it stared her in the face.

But Kim Min-sung shook his head firmly.

"That thing that just got erased is a boss monster from the highest-tier dungeon on the 4th floor. To intercept it in a single strike from over several hundred meters away, you'd need to be at least one full tier above it—a 5th-floor Ascender, minimum."

……

Lee Yeon-hee shut her mouth tight at those words. Regret over having dumped Hajun began, ever so slowly, to lift its head inside her.

Why? Because as time went on, she could feel it—Hajun was the genuine article.

There was exactly one thing Kim Min-sung had over Hajun: the business card ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of being a high-tier Ascender. And yet looking at him now, it seemed patently obvious that Hajun, too, would climb his way into the upper ranks before long.

I was too hasty.

The old saying flickered through her mind—that you only recognize the flower after it has already passed you by. The regret was crushing.

Well, if it's come to this, then I will have Unknown. No matter what.

Even as she shook off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her regret over Hajun without a lingering attachment, a foothold toward the very top of the royal class was taking shape in her mind. Little by little, Unknown was becoming a beacon of hope—burning brighter and larger in her heart.

Whew.

I let out the breath I'd been holding as I stared at the message floating before my eyes.

It worked.

A moment ago, when a boss monster from a 40th-level dungeon of the 4th floor had come bursting out of the Irregular Portal, my original plan had been to flee the scene immediately with Han Gain.

But I'd had no choice but to abandon that plan the moment this appeared:

The Sub Quest had appeared, plain and simple.

The Sage's Tome upgrade condition.

That, I could not let slip away. Raising the grade of the Sage's Tome meant not only making it more powerful, but also boosting my Magic Power stat.

And that meant drawing one step closer to the awakening of Dragon Blood.

"Hajun?"

I had stopped mid-retreat and stood frozen in place, and Han Gain called out to me with a puzzled look.

"I have to kill that thing."

"…I'm sorry?"

For a moment, she didn't understand what I'd said.

"You— you're going to fight that? That's a Level 40 boss-grade monster!"

As far as she knew, Hajun was only a 3rd-floor Ascender. She was one of the precious few who knew he was Unknown, yes—but even so, she couldn't help but be skeptical about whether he could take that thing on.

That creature stood at least ten levels above him—an entire tier apart. And it wasn't just any monster, either. It was a boss.

By her common sense, even Unknown shouldn't have been able to bridge that gap.

"And besides, if your identity gets exposed somehow……"

That wasn't the only problem, either. Hajun's combat style was already somewhat known to the world. Which meant the spells he favored were known as well. One careless move, and the whole world would learn that Hajun was Unknown.

"Don't worry. I've still got spells I haven't shown the world yet."

Freezing Orb. Astral Arrow. As it happened, the only ones who had ever witnessed those two Mythic skills from the 3rd floor were the Seven Celestials and Tiamut.

Tiamut I had wiped out entirely, and the sole surviving witness from that day was Joao. Even he had only seen it when a massive cluster of light flared up as my Dispel nullified his shield—and since I'd fired the Astral Arrowafter that flare-up, the odds were good he'd never gotten a proper look at it.

And on top of that—

I'm not planning on simply using Astral Arrow as-is, anyway.

The perk skill I had just acquired: Magic Fusion. The fifth of the six perk skills obtainable by Level 30.

With Magic Fusion, the spell would become something else entirely—there would be even less chance of anyone recognizing it.

Fuse Astral Arrow and Freezing Orb.

Before, even having gained Magic Fusion, I wouldn't have dared attempt it—my mana had been far too shallow.

But things were different now. My Magic Power stat had already climbed past a staggering 60.

FWAAAAAAASH!!

Starlight laced with frost gathered in my hand—mana made of starlight steeped in the chill of absolute cold.

This will do it.

Aiming the Frosted Astral Arrow at the Irregular Portal's boss monster, I knew it with pure instinct: this one strike would erase the creature from existence.

Spirit Amplification. Sage's Aura.

KWAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!

The starlight, already thrashing and seething with cold, began to boil over as though it would detonate on the spot. Unless you possessed truly extraordinary Mana Control, this was a level of power where even holding its shape would be impossible.

Yet I did the impossible as naturally as breathing.

Your Mana Control, of all things, never ceases to leave me in awe every time I lay eyes on it!

Aleon, too, couldn't hold back his admiration at the sight of it. I curled my lips into a smile and released the surging mana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from my hand.

THOOM—!

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Trailing a blinding white corona through the empty air, the Frosted Astral Arrow flew true—and swallowed the boss monster whole.

"KIIIIIIIIIEEEK!"

Through the white storm of starlight that filled my vision, I could hear its scream, drenched in agony.

The scream didn't last long. When the storm of starlight dissipated, the creature had evaporated without leaving a single trace behind.

I did it.

My first Magic Fusion was a complete success. A thrill of electric exhilaration ran down my spine. With this, I had grown stronger still.

Tiamut? The Abyss? Whatever it was, confidence was surging up inside me—I could clear away anything that dared stand in my path.

Heh heh.

Laughter spilled out from the corner of my mouth all on its own.

Your destructive power has increased tremendously.

Just as Aleon said, the Frosted Astral Arrow had fused into a form focused entirely on raw destructive force. It had lost the piercing trajectory of an ordinary Astral Arrow, which flew straight through its target—

But in exchange, it froze the enemy solid with mana of absolute cold, then shattered them with mana of starlight. That was why the boss monster had just vaporized on the spot without so much as a speck of dust remaining.

"M—my god."

A thread of stunned disbelief drifted over from beside me. Han Gain was staring, soul departed from her face, at the spot where the boss had stood only moments before.

"H—how……?"

She turned to look at me with eyes full of confusion. After all, the destructive power we had just witnessed was something only an Ascender of at least the 5th floor could possibly produce.

"Weren't you a 3rd-floor Ascender, Hajun?"

"Yes. That's correct."

"Haha… Right. Of course you are, Hajun."

She soon burst into a short, helpless laugh. She had, it seemed, given up on trying to understand.

"Truly, every time I watch you, you defy all imagination."

"You're too kind."

"Heh. All right then—shall we move along for now?"

For some reason, Han Gain's energy seemed even higher than before as I nodded, and we slipped away all the more quickly—I figured that getting tangled up with the Association Ascenders currently swarming over from that direction would only make things tiresome.

"So, the request I originally wanted to make of you was……"

We made our way back to the bakery café. Swallowing the last bite of bread, Hajun reviewed the documents she slid across to me.

Steel Skin Potion Project.

That was the title written across the very top of the file. The potion that Han Gain—or rather, the Seolhwa Clan—was researching was one that reinforced the skin itself.

"It's the new product we're launching this time."

Seolhwa Clan was a wealthy clan, with a great many thriving businesses. Among them, their potion division had made quite a name for itself.

Their potion research team must be extraordinarily skilled—so why would a request like this come all the way to me?

Tilting my head inward, I read through the materials. And before long, I understood exactly why they had failed.

Ah. They left this part out.

The single most critical point. What the Seolhwa Clan's researchers had overlooked was plain to see at a glance.

For such a thing to be visible at a glance—this truly was the Sage's Alchemy. I realized anew, through my very skin, that it operated on an entirely different plane from ordinary alchemy.

"If it looks too difficult, please feel free to say so. Honestly, we've already written this project off as nearly dead—it's on the verge of being scrapped."

So that's why she could show me the project files this freely. Understanding the situation, I gave a single nod.

"Even with Hajun looking at it, it's probably hopeless, right? Ugh. Yeah, this project is getting scrapped any—"

She had apparently misread my reaction. No—perhaps, from the very start, she'd never held much hope to begin with.

"No. I think I can do it."

"Right. Of course you can. We've been grinding away at this for so long ourselv— …huh?"

She'd been echoing me on autopilot when her whole body jolted.

"Y—you said you can do it?"

"Yes. I think I know what the problem is."

"Really?"

Her eyes went perfectly round. She couldn't bring herself to believe it.

"Um… you did read it properly, right? You genuinely think it's possible?"

"Yes. I'd have to inspect it directly to be certain, but I believe it's doable."

"Whoa……"

She blinked rapidly at me, her expression half belief, half doubt. She clearly hadn't called me here expecting me to solve it from the outset—and now, hearing me answer so casually that it could be solved, she couldn't quite bring herself to accept it.

Well, fair enough. This was a problem that even the finest researchers of the renowned Seolhwa Clan had failed to crack, so her reaction made sense.

"One moment, please!"

She hurriedly placed a call somewhere.

"Ah! Director Choi, I'm calling about the Steel Skin Potion project. We've found someone who says they can solve it, so we'd like to schedule a visit to the research lab—"

A voice thundered through the phone loud enough to ring in my own ears.

Whoa. Now that's a voice.

Throwing around Hermagnon's name like that… so it really was a project they'd given up on entirely.

Hermagnon was currently recognized as the greatest alchemist in the entire world. For them to declare that even he couldn't fix it meant they truly considered the project hopeless.

"Director! Your voice is too loud. It hasn't officially been scrapped yet, so a lab visit is still fine, right?"

"Three days?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. Her expression asked whether that wasn't cutting it awfully close on time.

I smiled and nodded for her.

"One day will be plenty."

"Ah."

Once the call ended, Han Gain wore a somewhat sheepish expression.

"I'm sorry. Director Choi isn't usually like this, but she's been rather on edge lately… She poured three whole years into this project, only to see it shelved in the end. She's in a very troubled state of mind."

"No, I understand completely."

Goodness—three years of her life poured into it? Then that prickly reaction isn't hard to forgive.

"Hmm. But um… if things don't go well, Director Choi might get even moodier, sooo…"

She let her sentence trail off, watching my face carefully. Apparently she, too, couldn't quite bring herself to believe I'd succeed one hundred percent.

"It's quite all right. There's no chance of failure."

Since she knew nothing of the Sage's Alchemy, she might not be able to fathom me declaring so brazenly that it was easy. But there was no need to explain it all step by step—I could simply go there and show her the result.

"Th… then I'll trust you, Hajun, and set up the schedule right away!"

Everything after that moved at full gallop. I booked a visit for the day after tomorrow, and made sure to nail down exactly what I'd receive for solving the problem.

"The Flower of the Wind, was it? I'll contact our procurement team right away and have them hunt down a listing as fast as possible."

The Flower of the Wind—the ingredient needed to upgrade the Sage's Tome to 3-Star (★★★). Once I had it, the upgrade was effectively within immediate reach. The problem was that it was an extraordinarily rare and expensive material, but thanks to the Seolhwa Clan, it looked like it would be handled without a hitch.

"Then I'll send a limousine for you on the appointed day!"

Okay. This was what you'd call a win-win trade, pure and simple. The Seolhwa Clan got a nearly-dead project revived, and I got to upgrade the Sage's Tome. Everyone walked away happy.

We chatted a while longer that day before parting ways.

The next day dawned. Fully armed, I headed straight for the Sky Tower.

"I—it's Unknown!"

"Whoa!"

"He's already shown up at the 4th Floor Ascension Exam Area?"

"My god! He's already Level 30?"

"Insane. That's even faster than last time."

Cries of astonishment and cheering rang out from the Ascenders gathered all around. After all, his climb from Level 21 to 30 had been even faster than his sprint from 11 to 20 last time.

How is that even possible, you ask?

This is what a Magic Power stat north of 60 can do.

On top of that, I had the Legendary-grade equipment James had lent me. Thanks to all of it, I'd been leveling at a pace that astonished even me, running around simultaneously summoning Dryas and Snikle while hammering out spell after spell.

Then again, when exactly is James planning to make the official announcement?

He'd said he would declare himself my official sponsor, but so far, silence. He seemed to be biding his time with some calculation in mind, though I couldn't fathom what it was.

Anyway.

Now—the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.

Shall we begin?

The corners of my mouth curled upward. And at that very moment—

"Stragglers, this is your chance!"

"You can ride the Unknown bus!!"

"Bus? Please. At Unknown's level, it's an MTX!"

The Ascenders resting at the outskirts came swarming in like storm clouds.

Why? Because the 4th Floor Ascension Exam was, plain and simple, a co-op raid.