D-Rank Magic Stone
After promising the Bearded Blacksmith that she would visit again soon, Yena made her way home, opening and snapping shut the pure white parasol with nearly every step.
“Oooh…”
It was remarkably light, yet sturdier than anything she had ever held. No matter how violently she shook it, the frame didn’t offer so much as a creak. Even more fascinating, the moment her fingers wrapped around the handle, a subtle, static-like tingle coursed through her fingertips.
“Is this… mana?”
Having never properly channeled mana before, it remained a shot in the dark, but one fact eclipsed all theoretical curiosities: it was completely, gloriously free.
“With the money I saved on this, I can buy even more magic stones to eat.”
She couldn't wait to test out its combat capabilities. Of course, her truest, most sacred motivation was the gold and magic stones she would reap from conquering the tower.
“I wonder what kind of rewards I’ll get this time~”
Just as she was humming along with a brisk, cheerful bounce in her step, a flustered voice called out from behind.
“E-Excuse me!”
Yena halted and glanced over her shoulder. A schoolgirl roughly her own age was shuffling toward her, fidgeting nervously.
“I’m so sorry to bother you, but do you have just a moment…?”
“…Yes?”
“I actually saw you around here a few days ago, too. When I ran into you again just now, my body just moved on its own…” The girl paused, her cheeks flushing bright pink, before blurting out, “Are you… by any chance, a celebrity?”
Yena blinked in utter bewilderment, shaking her head vigorously.
“N-No, not at all?”
Thoroughly caught off guard, Yena waved her hands in frantic denial.
“Ah, really? But, um… you’re just so breathtakingly pretty. If it wouldn't be rude…” The girl hesitated before fishing a small notebook and pen from her bag. “Could I please have your autograph? Just… I just really want to have it…”
“An autograph? But I’m not anyone famous…”
“No, you will be! I'm positive! Once you blow up, people won't be able to get your autograph even if they beg, so please, just this once…!”
The girl looked up at her with big, pleading eyes reminiscent of a puppy waiting for a treat. Staring into that pure, imploring gaze, Yena found it impossible to say no. With an awkward grimace, she reluctantly took the pen.
Having never signed an autograph in her life, the gesture felt completely foreign. She carefully scrawled out her name in slightly crooked handwriting across the blank page.
“T-Thank you so much! I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life! I’ll be cheering for you, so please take care of your health! Fighting! You can do it!”
The student hugged the notebook tightly to her chest, bowing repeatedly before practically skipping down the street in pure euphoria.
Left standing alone on the pavement, Yena stared blankly at the girl's receding figure and tapped her chin.
Well… I guess I am pretty gorgeous.
Basking in a pleasant surge of vanity, she resumed her stroll toward the tower.
Less than a single minute later.
“Gasp, wheeze…”
Drenched in cold sweat, Yena slumped against a nearby telephone pole, gasping for air.
“…Seriously, how can one body be this pathetic?”
Only after an agonizing cycle of walking three paces and collapsing for five minutes did Yena finally drag her trembling legs to the foot of the Tower of Trials.
“Doing this twice in one day is going to put me in an early grave.”
She paused to catch her breath, her trembling finger hovering over the access device’s activation switch, when suddenly—
“Oh, right…”
Startled by her own oversight, she frantically patted down her coat pockets. Inside rested five F-Rank magic stones she had set aside for emergencies. The remaining five were stashed back home for super emergencies.
“I almost walked straight in without eating.”
Entering the tower empty-handed could have proved fatal. If a monster ambushed her like last time, she wouldn’t even have had a split second to chew.
Without further ado, Yena tipped all five stones into her mouth and swallowed them down.
Blegh.
They tasted foul. Having experienced the exquisite luxury of an E-Rank magic stone, her palate had become completely spoiled; her body could no longer find even a shred of joy in this chalky dirt.
Current Remaining Mana: 4.6%
“Still, with my mana restored, I should be able to trigger the Quick Draw Technique at least once, right?”
It felt somewhat absurd, but she genuinely wanted to get down on her knees and prostrate toward wherever that famous Sword Princess was right now. Thanks to her, Yena was able to enjoy this miraculous lease on life.
Dearest Sword Princess. Thank you once again for providing my daily bread of sword skills.
Offering a prayer of heartfelt gratitude from the bottom of her soul, she pressed the button.
Click.
Do you wish to enter the 2nd Floor of the Tower of Trials on 'Hell' difficulty?
There was zero reason to hesitate.
“Yup!”
Entering the 2nd Floor of the Tower of Trials on 'Hell' difficulty.
Her vision blinked into darkness.
The instant the darkness receded, a crisp, chilling gale whipped against her cheeks. She found herself perched atop a sheer, dizzying plateau surrounded on all sides by towering, jagged precipices.
“What is with this atmosphere? It’s only the second floor…”
Above stretched an expansive, bleak sky, while below the sheer drops churned an ominous, impenetrable sea of dark mist. Swallowing hard, Yena checked the trial’s objective window.
Tower of Trials — 2nd Floor
📍 Difficulty:Hell
👾 Monsters Remaining:1
🎯 Clear Condition: Slay all monsters
“…Just one?”
Compared to an army of a hundred goblins, this was almost adorable. All she had to do was put down a single beast and collect her prize.
Too easy.
She began casually scanning her surroundings when a rhythmic, heavy flapping sound echoed from high above.
“…?”
Yena carefully tilted her head back. The moment her eyes locked onto the sky, the color drained entirely from her face.
Casting a colossal shadow across the ravine, a gargantuan silhouette was carving wide circles through the air.
A massive, sinewy body armored in pitch-black scales, flanked by leather wings wider than a passenger plane.
“What in the world is that…?”
A lizard.
No, that was definitely no simple lizard. But an airborne monster sharing reptilian features with massive dragon wings could only be one thing…
“Don’t tell me… a wyvern?!”
A trembling shriek spilled unbidden from her lips. From what she remembered reading, wyverns were high-tier predators that didn’t even start appearing until at least the 20th floor! To encounter one on the measly 2nd floor was sheer lunacy!
I have to run!
She had entered in high spirits just to test out her fancy new parasol, but facing a legendary apex monster was an entirely different nightmare. Panicking, Yena fumbled to yank out the access device to abort.
At that exact second, the wyvern unleashed an earth-shattering roar and folded its wings, diving straight toward her. The sheer atmospheric pressure of its descent swept across the plateau like a hurricane.
“Eeeeeeek!”
Terror short-circuited her brain. There was no time to assume a stance, let alone activate her Quick Draw Technique.
“Aaaahhhh—!”
Driven purely by blind, desperate instinct, Yena squeezed her eyes shut and frantically swung the parasol through the air in wild, frantic circles.
Whoosh! Swoosh!
And then—
BOOOOOOOM!
A deafening blast shook the canyon to its foundation, violently ringing in her eardrums. A shockingly dense, heavy impact traveled up the parasol's shaft into her palm, and then… utter, profound silence descended over the world.
“Huh?”
Yena cracked one eye open and peeked ahead. The terrifying, draconic monstrosity that had occupied the sky a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
In its place, resting quietly on the stone ground, was a single fist-sized, radiantly glowing magic stone surrounded by a handful of glittering scales.
Monsters Remaining: 0
Congratulations! You have cleared the 2nd Floor of the Tower of Trials on 'Hell' difficulty!
Clear rewards for the 2nd Floor of the Tower of Trials on 'Hell' difficulty have been distributed!
“…Whoa.”
Staring at the prompt flashing before her, Yena’s jaw went slack in disbelief.
“This weapon is insane…”
The Bearded Blacksmith wasn't just blowing hot air; his skills were the real deal. When he called it an unprecedented masterpiece of his lifetime, he hadn't exaggerated in the slightest. To think a grazing tap from this parasol could atomize a monster as formidable as a wyvern!
Still, weapon performance was just a secondary bonus. The only thing that truly mattered right now was the prize sitting on the gravel.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Her heart hammered frantically against her ribs the moment she caught sight of the crystal’s mesmerizing luster.
“Is it E-Rank? Could it really be an E-Rank?”
Drip. Trickle.
A thin line of drool pooled at the corner of her lips while a trail of fresh blood dripped freely from her nose. Creeping forward on tiptoes like a predator stalking its meal, Yena closed in on the stone.
Yet the closer she drew, the more distinct its aura became. It radiated a presence wholly unlike any magic stone she had ever encountered.
F-Rank stones were a dull, chalky dirt-brown that looked like mud cakes. E-Rank stones possessed a pristine, translucent turquoise gleam.
“Wow…”
The crystal resting before her was pulsing with an intoxicating, deep magenta-violet radiance.
“It’s so gorgeous.”
Unable to restrain herself, she reached out and lightly tapped it with her index finger. A sharp shockwave, akin to an electric jolt, surged up her arm and straight into her chest. But this time, she recognized the sensation immediately.
“Mana… It’s practically bursting at the seams with mana!”
Gulping down her saliva, she scooped it up reverently with both hands. About the size of a fist, its weight was substantial—dense and heavy, like a fully ripened fruit bursting with sweet nectar.
“Haa… haa… Calm down. Let's check it first.”
Clutching her fluttering chest, she opened the item appraisal window as if under a spell.
◈ A rare, ultra-concentrated magic stone harvested from a high-grade beast.
◈ Provides double the mana recovery efficiency of standard magic stones.
“Gasp!”
Yena inhaled sharply, nearly choking on her own tongue.
D-Rank.
She blinked once, twice, rubbing her eyes repeatedly, but the glowing letters refused to change.
“D-D-Rank…!”
And that wasn’t even the best part.
Unlike ordinary stones, it carried the glorious prefix High Purity. That meant it was an elite treasure far superior to standard market items.
“How delicious is this going to be?! If E-Rank tasted like heaven, what about this?!”
Overcome by delirium, she couldn’t resist pressing the tip of her tongue against the crystal. The moment she did, an electric shudder whipped through her entire nervous system like lightning.
“What is this?!”
An intoxicating, mind-numbing sweetness exploded across her tongue, so dense and concentrated that E-Rank seemed like diluted dishwater by comparison. A mortal mind felt entirely ill-equipped to handle such sensory overload.
Yet restraint was utterly impossible. The primal temptation was simply too immense. She had climbed this wretched tower specifically to feast on magic stones; holding back now would be an insult to the cosmos.
Gripping the stone firmly in both hands, Yena shoved it straight into her mouth.
Crunch! Crack!
The instant her teeth shattered the crystal shell, an ecstatic smile stretched across her lips.
“S-So good…!”
Tears of pure bliss welled in the corners of her eyes.
“Maybe… maybe I should savor it slowly?”
That would certainly be the sensible choice. Unfortunately, that was nothing more than an idealistic pipedream.
Ignoring her rational mind entirely, her body was already ravenously inhaling the shards, crunching and swallowing them down like gourmet sugar candy.
She didn't even have time to mourn the empty space in her hands, because a golden chime resonated in her mind the moment the final crumb went down.
A substantial amount of internal mana has been restored.
Current Remaining Mana: 14.6%
“Huh?!”
Yena froze stiff upon reading the figures.
Her mana, which had sat at a miserable 4.6% just moments ago, had skyrocketed by a massive 10% from eating just a single stone!
“It jumped by ten whole percent?!”
Eating an E-Rank magic stone worth 1.5 million won had barely bumped her gauge by 1%. Yet this single beauty had restored ten times that amount!
“Jackpot…”
It wasn't just a jackpot; it was the mother lode.
Yena greedily licked every stray crystal speck from her fingertips, murmuring beneath her breath.
“…I want more. Mmm.”
If she wanted more, there was only one solution: she had to climb higher. Naturally, she would wait until she was in peak condition before challenging the next floor, but the decision was already set in stone.
“Alright, time to push up! Just you wait, my precious little candies…!”
Yena was still, irrevocably, starving.