Lord of Chaos
You have cleared Stage 50.
You have passed the Tower’s final trial.
An astonishing achievement! Your feat is engraved upon the Akashic Records.
I had expected as much.
“Khhh…”
Even so, joy flooded through me. A delighted, exhilarated sound tore free from deep in my chest of its own accord.
An achievement is granted in accordance with the user’s class and deeds within the Tower.
Achievement — Bone Artist is granted.
“Hooooh…”
“Why are you so astonished?”
“It just hands out a flat 20% without asking a single question.”
“The Undead Maker achievement you obtained before was also a 20% increase, was it not?”
At Sir Isra’s completely unfazed demeanor, Ingrid let out a derisive snort.
“This is exactly why iron-headed types are hopeless.”
“I am aware that 20% is a formidable figure. I merely spoke thus because my lord is overly surprised.”
“It means a correction attaches to every single product mediated by bone. Do you not understand?”
Sir Isra’s eyes trembled finely.
“So the performance of armaments crafted from bone rises as well!?”
She had finally grasped the true worth of the achievement.
Yes.
Undead were not the sole targets of the performance boost.
Swords, spears, armor—everything made of bone received the effect of Bone Artist.
Unlike Undead Maker, it would not raise the stats of weapons or the dead already crafted…
“A simple repair is enough, then.”
If I just put up with a little inconvenience, I could raise the performance of both undead and bone armaments by a full 20%.
Truly.
This was the taste that made climbing the Tower of Chaos worthwhile!
But then—
You are the first in this dimension to behold the end of the Tower.
You have achieved an astonishing feat.
It was not over yet.
An achievement for the first clear!
Good heavens.
It simply raised every single stat by 20% without a single question asked, and claimed that finding the hidden conditions would grant additional options on top.
Perhaps because it was a first-clear privilege, the achievement itself was special.
“Hm. There are achievements whose abilities only manifest under certain conditions?”
“I wouldn’t know either.”
Hunters who had earned achievements at all were rare. The acquisition conditions for most of them were not even known.
Well, that was only natural. How many people would freely share something good without any price?
“It does not seem like an ordinary achievement.”
【Big Master will unravel the secret in no time, he will.】
【Greatness. Master.】
Was this what they meant by the hamster running the wheel while the human made the money?
Hah.
My chest truly swelled full.
I had obtained a superior-compatible achievement that stacked with Undead Maker’s stat bonuses and even applied its effect to weapons and gear, plus an unheard-of achievement that spoke of hidden abilities.
Even the public option alone was an all-stat 20%—there was absolutely nothing lacking.
Receiving rewards one after another left me feeling full even though I had eaten nothing.
The Chaos Stone is granted as a clear reward for the Tower of Chaos.
“Huh?”
Come to think of it, achievements were rewards the world’s records bestowed according to my deeds. They were not what I received for clearing the Tower of Chaos.
In other words, the reward for climbing all the way to Stage 50 was this.
Grade: Unique (???)
Classification: ?
Restriction: One who has passed Stage 50 of the Tower of Chaos
Durability: 999/999
A mineral of the Chaos realm that has undergone a special processing procedure.
It can materialize an item matching the image the user envisions.
*Growth-type item.
A stone that held a green light.
The clear-reward item for Stage 50 of the Tower.
“A precious item indeed. I worry it may become soiled; it would be best to store it within the Death Blacksmith.”
“That’s right. Shouldn’t we save it carefully and use it only when necessary?”
Look at these people.
Their insides were so transparent they might as well have been made of glass.
“I’m not going to the front lines, so tone it down.”
“Kh-heh-heh-hehm.”
“We only say it because we worry for Master.”
I can see clear as day that you’re terrified of a weapon that can change in all sorts of ways, you know?
The Chaos Stone.
I had obtained a reward I never even imagined.
But if it could materialize according to the “image” I pictured…
Did it really have to be limited to weapons?
I clenched the Chaos Stone tightly and called up the form of a single object in my mind.
Squelch—the once-hard surface turned jelly-soft and flopped downward with a wet slap.
The Chaos Stone wriggled and transformed.
“Is that not the hammer my lord uses?”
“Indeed. There is no law that says it must only become a weapon.”
The green mineral had taken on the exact appearance of the hammer I used so often.
Concentration Enhancement Lv 65
Precision Lv 62
Crafted Result Performance +7%
I blinked both eyes.
“Is this for real.”
Options adjusted to match the Unique grade.
Ability buffs that aided the crafting process sitting in the 60s was already astonishing, yet it even carried an option that improved the performance of the finished product.
A power worthy of the grade “Unique.”
Let’s try materializing other armaments as well.
Slash Lv 63
Thrust Lv 61
Mana Amplification Lv 40
The Chaos Stone materialized in the same design as the bone sword of the Fallen Knight.
Stats almost identical to the original.
I was starting to get a feel for it.
One more experiment, then.
Mana Concentration Lv 42
Mana Amplification Lv 45
*Attack magic power increased by 10%.
“So that’s the structure.”
A crudely shaped staff.
For a Unique-grade item its performance was lacking—maybe upper Rare level at best.
“Is it because Master is a blacksmith?”
“Ah. The performance follows to the degree one understands the structure!”
Correct, Sir Isra.
Five points to the Tempest Knight Order.
“Only as much as I understand.”
The Chaos Stone.
This was an interesting object.
An option that transformed into various forms according to the image the user projected.
In exchange, one had to properly understand the structure of the object one wished to materialize.
Otherwise…
“You end up with something like this staff.”
Another fun point was that it was a growth-type item.
The grade notation carried (???) in parentheses.
It meant no one knew how far it could grow.
“No need to hunt for spare armaments anymore.”
“The same would apply to metallurgy tools, would it not?”
“I think we could materialize tools other than the hammer as well.”
“Probably. But I don’t use just one, you know.”
The corpse-doll arms mounted on my back spun a full 360 degrees with a whoosh.
The auxiliary hammers held in both hands whirled round and round.
That was the secret that had let me endure durability consumption through successive battles.
“Ah. I see.”
“I’ll keep the auxiliary work tools on hand. This one I’ll use as the main.”
I liked it.
A Unique-grade item that simultaneously served as both weapon and work tool!
Since it was a growth-type item, its grade might rise the more I used it.
I no longer needed to worry about tools or weapons.
“Eheheh! Heheh!”
A sound of pure joy surged up my throat!
How was I supposed to hold this in?
“Truly a bold and magnificent laugh!”
“Is flattery also a virtue of chivalry?”
【Embarrassment.】
【When Big Master is happy, this one is happy too!】
This space will close in 10 minutes.
If you have finished receiving your rewards, please exit the Tower.
Tch.
Way to kill the mood.
“Isn’t that a bit stingy?”
Ten minutes.
An ordinary hunter would have finished their business and left immediately.
But I had far too much to pack, you know?
“Kids. Time to work.”
The remains of the Death Knight and the Lich.
I could not leave those precious things behind.
I would have to analyze them thoroughly and apply the knowledge to undead crafting, would I not?
“We should also gather as many of the large-species corpses as possible.”
Not only the ogres.
There were corpses of rare species one rarely even saw in gates.
We had to take as many as we could, right?
“We’ll have to give up on the Skeleton Mages.”
“I understand. Even this maiden would have thought the same as Master.”
Twenty undead had been expended climbing to Stage 50.
Of those, five Skeleton Mages had been annihilated.
I dismantled every one of the remaining fifteen Skeleton Mages.
If I wanted to fit even one more thing into the Death Space that had gained some room, there was no other choice.
“Let’s begin the work.”
Out in ten minutes, was it?
Five would be plenty.
The Tower of Chaos had become Pisa’s newest landmark.
“Someone seemed to have entered the Tower.”
“I hear he’s a hunter who’s been making quite a name for himself in Korea lately.”
“Korea? That little country in the Far East?”
Guild personnel always lingered around the Tower of Chaos.
Obtaining an entry ticket was extremely difficult.
Even so, because the Tower of Chaos was the only one of its kind in the entire world, hunters who held a ticket had no choice but to come to Pisa.
Checking the results of hunters who entered the Tower was the main duty of the dispatched hunters.
Less than ten minutes after Minho entered the Tower of Chaos, every detail of his identity and recent activities had already reached the guild personnel waiting nearby.
A representative of Paccione, one of Italy’s foremost large guilds, shook his head slowly.
“This is all wrong.”
“What makes you say that?”
“A greenhorn who only got promoted to B-rank less than a month ago.”
“Whoa. What a waste of a ticket.”
The guild personnel who had looked into Minho’s record made no effort to hide their scorn.
Entry tickets to the Tower of Chaos were hard enough to obtain as it was.
Someone who had merely been doing well lately had gone and consumed that precious item—there was no way they could feel good about it.
“Want to bet how far he’ll get?”
“I’ll take under 30 stages.”
“Hey, then I’d have to take under 20.”
“Then bet he won’t even clear 10.”
“They say he’s a promising talent in his own right. He’ll at least clear 10.”
France, Britain, Germany, and more.
Hunters from major guilds dispatched from various countries made no effort to hide their negative reactions.
The Tower of Chaos was not a place a hunter who had only just been promoted to B-rank could casually challenge.
Among the dispatched hunters were some who had actually entered the Tower themselves.
The pot gradually grew.
Not a single one of them put money on Stage 50 being conquered.
Creeeak—
An East Asian man opened the old door and stepped inside.
Baek Seonghyeon approached the betting handlers carrying a black golf bag.
“Can anyone join?”
“As long as you’ve got money, we don’t care if it’s a monkey or anyone else.”
Baek Seonghyeon smiled faintly.
Even hearing a racist remark did not sour his mood.
Of course not.
There was no reason to get angry at people who were about to make him money.
“Reaching Stage 50. What are the odds?”
“Heh. 12.5 to 1.”
“Then I’ll put a million dollars on it.”
For a moment the place fell as silent as if time itself had stopped.
“What? A million? Stage 50?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Ki-hat, kihahahat. What an amusing fellow.”
“Just take it. He’s the one who wants it.”
“Aren’t you going to do business?”
“Hey! Who said we wouldn’t? Come on, hurry up and hand it over.”
Ziiip—
When the bag’s zipper opened, crisp dollar bills shyly showed their faces.
“Yahoo!”
“Much obliged, East Asian sir.”
The appearance of a sucker who voluntarily raised the odds.
The guild personnel were busy holding back their laughter.
“Reaching Stage 50. I’ll put money on the same.”
A gender-neutral voice cut through the noisy atmosphere.
The guild personnel’s gazes turned toward the new figure.
Who’s that?
When did they come in? I didn’t even sense a presence.
Who cares. Another sucker joining means the pot gets bigger.
Unlike Baek Seonghyeon, this person had entered without any presence, yet no one paid it any mind.
Breaking Stage 50?
Even the 43rd stage set by the Saintess of Los Angeles had remained unbroken for over a decade.
It was impossible.
The guild personnel who had long observed the Tower of Chaos were certain.
“A fresh B-rank—will he even last three hours?”
“If he uses all his rest time he might stay a while.”
“If he’s going to give up before Stage 20, I’d rather he come out quick.”
The guild personnel snickered among themselves.
How much time had passed?
Gooooooooh!
An abnormal phenomenon began to occur at the Tower of Chaos.
A swirling green radiance.
Several hunters started in shock.
“Th-this is…?”
“Isn’t that a new record?”
“The last time this was witnessed was with the Saintess of Los Angeles!”
The guild personnel’s voices, thick with astonishment, filled the open ground.