Chapter 27: The Tower's Trial: 8th Floor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 27: The Tower's Trial: 8th Floor
Not long after, a post appeared on Lee Do-hee’s fan cafe...
---
[Title]: I think this is why she got the hidden ending?
[Content]: The name of the guy Lee Do-hee killed, Raymond, sounded familiar, so I looked him up.
He was in a report someone else filed after clearing the 46th floor.
The trial back then was [Prevent the Fall of the Trahal Kingdom], and he was on the list of spies they caught and killed.
So basically, Lee Do-hee got lucky and took down a spy who had infiltrated the Trahal Kingdom. I think that’s what triggered it.
[Comments]:
- So what about the other trials?
└ [OP]: I'm looking into the other trials too. If this is the official method, it's a huge discovery.
- Oh, so that was it?
- Wow, it really is a hidden condition. They buried it deep, huh?
- Some other guy (it was me)
└ [OP]: How'd you know;;
└ Who the hell remembers a name from a list in some random report? lolololol
- For real, this is worth looking into.
- Fuck, they hid this way too well lol
---
This post was the spark that ignited an investigation by the netizen detectives.
And soon, evidence began to surface.
- Found one from another trial. A guy named Valmut, who was executed for plotting a rebellion in the Lavien Kingdom, was the vanguard commander during the 4th-floor trial.
- I think I found one too. A guy named Kenian, who joined forces with a black magician in the Absence Kingdom, appears as the vanguard commander in the 4th-floor trial.
- So this is the power of knowledge and history...
- A spy, a traitor, and someone who colluded with a black magician. Yeah, they all deserved to die.
- Seems pretty much confirmed, right?
Over the 15 years humanity had spent conquering the Tower, countless reports had been created about each of the worlds within.
As the pieces were put together, the truth was finally coming to light.
And this incident didn't just stay within Lee Do-hee's fan cafe.
[Title]: Current articles about the 4th-floor hidden ending.
[Content]:
MNJ Broadcasting Station: 4th Floor Hidden Ending Discovered?! A New Strategy Emerges.
KSB Broadcasting Station: Lee Do-hee, The World's First Awakened to Receive an SS-rank Reward, Finds a New Hidden Ending!
AT Communications (International): Korean Awakened Makes a Breakthrough. Method to Raise Tutorial Reward Grade Revealed!!
It's on the main page of every news site lol
[Comments]:
- Lee Do-hee's face is plastered everywhere lol
└ She gets the clicks~
└ The foreign article only shows her ass, though?
- Guys, our discovery got exported to the world?
└ fr they just ripped our post
- I think this is out of our hands now?
- Even the major guilds are investigating now, shit
- Sigh... I work for a major guild, and we're on high alert.
- It's blowing up overseas too lol
- The foreigners are gonna be shocked when they watch the VODs lol
- What do we do? Are foreigners going to watch Lee Do-hee's VODs now?
- Sigh... our streamer is an embarrassment no matter where she goes...
Naturally, the major guilds, always desperate to nurture and cultivate new talent, wouldn't miss this.
They, more than anyone, knew how crucial it was to obtain high-grade traits in the tutorial floors for future growth. They immediately began reviewing their reports, utilizing all the information at their disposal.
But it didn't end there. The news spread beyond Korea, and the entire world scrambled to report and verify this new discovery.
Information spreads across the internet in less than a day.
And as if on cue, a promising rookie from America's #1 guild killed the commander in the 4th-floor trial and received the same SS-rank as Lee Do-hee, providing perfect proof.
Consequently, just six hours after Lee Do-hee's discovery of the 4th-floor hidden ending, the World Awakener Association made an official announcement.
[Condition for the 4th Floor Hidden Ending]
Kill the vanguard commander.
A very short but powerful sentence.
That single sentence sent the entire world into a frenzy once more.
Although the condition was considerably difficult, the reward grade would increase by a full rank if one could pull it off.
- Yeahhh
- Is this that K-pride I've heard about?
- Flutters~
- We are South Korea~
- Just how many achievements is Lee Do-hee going to rack up......
- She is a proud Korean.
But wait a moment.
What was Lee Do-hee doing during those six hours?
[Title]: Is Lee Do-hee in the Tower right now?
[Content]: I watched her clear the 4th floor, but I've been busy looking up info since then. What's she up to?
[Comments]:
- Well, about that...
- Are we becoming a porn-exporting country now? lololol
- Now she's getting sexually harassed by foreigners too.
- Ugh, so embarrassing. She got caught on a live foreign broadcast.
- she is not korean
- You fucking idiots lol
- [OP]:??? Did something happen?
└ She's doing her main job.
└ [OP]: Main job? Ah... no way.
- ??? : Lee Do-hee is a proud Korean.
- Fuck, why at this exact moment!!!
What on earth happened to her during those six hours...?
*
Six hours ago.
The Tower's Trial, 5th Floor.
The 5th floor was straightforward.
The trial was to break through the various traps in a dungeon.
From classic traps like pressure plates that made the floor collapse, devices that shot arrows, and mechanisms that spewed fire, to platforms that would kill you if you stepped on the wrong one—it was a mix of familiar traps and strange, new devices.
And Lee Do-hee advanced through them all as lightly as if she were on a stroll.
She moved like flowing water, as if she already knew all the right answers.
After investing the five bonus stat points from her 4th-floor SS-rank reward into Agility and using her buff skill, her body felt even lighter.
- What am I watching?
- She's just running?
- She's just going through that?
- Is it just me, or are the traps avoiding her?
She was already at the final trap.
From above, massive, sharp spike balls swung from side to side, while sharp spears periodically shot up from the floor below.
To top it off, the walls on either side were equipped with flame-spewing devices, making it a triple threat.
Normally, this was the most difficult section, requiring perfect timing to run through and a carefully planned escape route in case of a mistake.
But Lee Do-hee just ran.
It was over in an instant, almost as if the traps were moving out of her way to let her pass.
"Done!"
As she pressed the red button at the end of the dungeon, the Tower's voice rang out.
[You have cleared the 5th floor. Please select your S-rank reward.]
- What the fuck was that?
- This isn't the trap dungeon I know.
- I feel like I'm watching some pro do a speedrun.
- How much more are you going to cheat, Lee Do-hee!
The 5th floor was unique in that rewards were based on clear time rather than trial difficulty. Her clear time was 5 minutes and 38 seconds.
'So close. If I'd been under five minutes, it would've been an SS-rank...'
It couldn't be helped.
It was impossible without using cheap tricks like teleportation or just smashing through the walls to reach the end.
The reward for the 5th floor was a core skill.
But instead of choosing a skill, Lee Do-hee took a Skill Growth Ticket.
A Skill Growth Ticket was exactly what it sounded like: an item that could raise a skill's level.
To level up a skill, you needed a number of tickets equal to the skill's current level.
One ticket for Lv.1, five tickets for Lv.5.
It was a simple system.
'They're all basic skills anyway.'
The skills learned in the tutorial could be bought with money later on.
While she did need to learn a skill that raised her defense, there was no need to get it right now.
And so, she invested all her Skill Growth Tickets into Haste.
<Haste Lv.3>
Consume 7 Mana to increase Agility by 6 for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The buff skill was finally starting to become somewhat useful.
She invested all three bonus stat points from the S-rank clear reward into Strength.
*
The 6th floor was even easier.
The theme was combat against aerial units.
In the past, this floor had given her a lot of trouble, but this time she simply chose a bow and cleared it with ease.
Five bees, each the size of a human torso, appeared, but she took them down in an instant.
- Fuck, she's good with a bow too.
- She has everything.
- Where's the mid-air bondage sex with the swarm of bees?
- In the air, just going at it...
"Why would I do something like that!!"
Anyway, the reward for the 6th floor was, disappointingly, B-rank.
She'd been getting a lot of A and S-ranks, so it was about time for a B.
The reward for the 6th floor was the creation of a special stat.
<Fighting Spirit>, which grows stronger as the opponent gets stronger.
<Insight>, which is advantageous for appraising items and assessing situations.
<Dexterity>, necessary for crafting skills.
<Regeneration>, which improves natural healing.
<Indomitable Will>, which makes you stronger the more you're injured.
Among the various traits, the one I chose was...
<Regeneration>.
This trait was good on its own, but I knew how to upgrade it, making it extremely useful to acquire early on.
As a result, my status window was reorganized.
<Final Stats>
Strength: 28.8
Agility: 9.8
Defense: 20.6
Mana: 204.6
Regeneration: 1
Bonus Stats: 2
Unfortunately, Regeneration couldn't be raised with bonus stat points.
I took a short break here, chatting with the viewers, then left the Tower to grab a quick meal before heading back in.
All of this took about three hours.
Without any delay, I immediately challenged the 7th floor.
The theme of the 7th floor was underwater combat.
In this trial, a grotesque monster from a race called 'Naga', with webbed claws for hands, appeared.
Normally, you'd have to fight a fierce battle underwater while protecting the oxygen mask on your face, but since only a single monster appeared, I just stabbed it with a spear right at the start and finished it.
Naturally, the reward was only a B-rank.
As a reward, I gained mana recovery, which restored 1 mana per hour.
My base recovery rate had been 0.1 per hour, so this was an improvement, though a bit disappointing given my total mana pool.
And then, the problem occurred on the 8th floor.
The theme of the 8th floor was cooperation.
You are matched with one random person, and you have to cooperate with them to pass the dungeon.
You have to work together to break through eight rooms with various themes, including combat, gimmicks, puzzles, deduction, and bosses. In a way, it could be seen as a condensed version of the tutorial.
"Alright~ who am I going to meet?"
- I'm going in, wait for me!!
- I climbed to the 7th floor and stopped just for this.
- Oh please...
- All you guys above are lying. How can an Awakened take their phone into the waiting room?
- Ah.
- Liars aside, there's probably someone real in there, right?
To be honest, I hoped I would get matched with a viewer.
Even if not a viewer, it would be easier if it was at least someone who knew me. Even if their face was censored, I'd still have to get their permission to broadcast, and it would be much more comfortable to have someone who would follow my orders.
[Matching complete. Would you like to proceed?]
The matching was over in less than five minutes.
"Hoo... I'm going to turn off the chat and donation alerts for now. Please, let them be a normal person."
They didn't even need to pull their own weight. As long as they could handle half a person's share, I could carry them. Praying that I wouldn't get matched with a troll, I pressed the accept button.
- Swoosh~
As I pressed the accept button floating in the air, my body was automatically teleported.
I was inside a somewhat dark dungeon.
A faint light emanated from the gray walls, and the corridor was quite wide.
Various weapons were displayed on racks, as if telling us to choose one before proceeding.
And in front of me stood a man.
A guy with a decent build and a slightly asshole-ish face met my eyes.
"Hm?"
"Uh... hello?"
Does he not know me?
His reaction was a bit strange.
"Ooh...?"
He tilted his head as he looked at me, then his eyes widened as if he'd just remembered something.
"No way!!"
"Yes?"
Does he know me or not?
"You're the one who got an arrow in the butthole, right? Wow, you're still alive and climbing? Weren't you an onahole or something? Didn't you have some weird trait like that?"
'Sigh...'
What am I supposed to do with this guy?
He was big and looked dependable, but his mouth was a bit too loose. The type of guy who's a total turn-off the moment he speaks.
"Ye-yes, that's me. But..."
"Wow~ How did you manage to climb this far like that? I mean... it's amazing that you made it this far as a woman, but you know, there's public perception to think about. You know what I mean, right? I just assumed you would've given up by now."
There was something unpleasant about the way he was looking at me. It was like he was looking down on me with a hint of mockery.
"Ah... yes."
"By the way, how old are you?"
Somehow... it felt like he already knew the answer.
"I'm... 21."
That's what my ID card said, anyway.
When I revealed my age, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
"Ah~ Then I can speak casually, right? You can just call me oppa, it's easier! You must have suffered so much clearing the trials in a woman's body! Just leave this trial to me and..."
The man was trying way too hard to take control. I couldn't just let this slide.
"Hey."
"...Hey? Did you just say 'hey' to your oppa? Well, look at you. You've got some nerve for a little pipsqueak. You know we're inside the Tower right now..."
"Shut up and let's fight, according to the rules."
There was an unspoken rule on the 8th floor.
The reward grade for the 8th floor was distributed based on each person's contribution to clearing the rooms, and the party leader could set the contribution ratio with the party member's consent.
Since it was only natural for the stronger person to receive a larger share, it was standard practice to have a sparring match with the non-lethal weapons provided to come to an agreement.
"Ha!! Don't come crying to me when you get hurt, little girl. This oppa hits girls too!!"
*
Three minutes later.
"Keugh... I was wrong... Please, stop. I said I lost..."
A man was on his hands and knees in the middle of the waiting room, clutching his body and crying out in pain.
"Whatever. Hand over the party leader position."
"I did..."
"Contribution is 70/30. That should be enough, right?"
"Yes... I agree."
The talkative, arrogant punk had become much more polite.
'A good beating really is the best medicine...'