Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Tower of Trials, 1st Floor (2)
Wow. It was real?
— Hehe.
Baek Jin-woo couldn't hide his bewilderment as he stared at Explosive Dragon Sorcerer, who was smiling with her staff gripped in both hands.
Drill Instructor had been exactly right.
The moment he'd announced that starting today, regular dungeons would be run with Lamba, Combat Marshal, and 3 Lava Drakes instead—he had clearly felt Explosive Dragon Sorcerer grow flustered.
He had even told her.
That the 2 of them would do dungeons together after she'd learned Dragon Burst Art: Chain. That they'd do it then.
And so, after diligently running dungeons and returning around evening—what was this?.
[Summoner Beast: Explosive Dragon Sorcerer]
[Tribe: Human]
[Grade: EX-Rank (Suppression Seal)]
— A balance-breaking element was detected under specific conditions. Quarantined.
[Level: 42]
[Stats]Strength: 20, Intelligence: 85, Stamina: 20, Agility: 20HP: 22,000, MP: 500Critical Hit Rate: 55%Critical Hit Damage: 185%
[Skills]
— Dragon Burst: Expels a dragon-shaped flame forward.
— Dragon Burst Art: Chain: Enables Dragon Burst to be accumulated.
She had actually learned it.
Drill Instructor really does have remarkable insight.
For now, the very first emotion that welled up was joy.
Whatever the circumstances, the moment she learned Chain, Explosive Dragon Sorcerer's value shot up to the sky.
For reference, even back in the days of Battle of Summoners, not a single player had ever made their Explosive Dragon Sorcerer learn Dragon Burst Arts.
Only God of Jinu had been the exception.
Explosive Dragon Sorcerer's desire?
Baek Jin-woo had no particular opinion about it.
Some might ask.
Shouldn't she be scolded for scheming like this?
Was it okay to just let it slide?
Why bother?
This is where good players and bad players diverge.
Whether or not they look their Summoner Beast's desires directly in the eye.
A Summoner Beast's desire is like a quest.
Only by clearing that quest does the player gain something in return!
Think of it as an extension of the game, and most gamers would play exactly like Baek Jin-woo.
It's only because it became reality that people got too caught up in it.
Just use it well.
In the first place—wanting to be with him.
Wasn't that endearing?
"Explosive Dragon Sorcerer! Well done. You really worked hard."
Baek Jin-woo smiled and ruffled her hair.
— Thank you, Jin-woo.
"Good."
Rummage, rummage.
Baek Jin-woo pulled something out from inside his jacket.
It was a gleaming VIP Company Card.
"You succeeded, so as promised—tonight it's a chicken and beer party for everyone! Drill Instructor."
— Yes, My Lord!
"Give the others rest until tomorrow evening."
— Yes……? Are you referring to training?
Ah.
Right.
Drill Instructor's desire lay in training itself, didn't it?
But still.
He could handle this much with a bit of tact.
How much experience did he have as a player?
"Yeah, you said it yourself. Rest is a form of training. Let's set it in stone from now on. Whenever anyone learns a new skill, we take a break and enjoy a unity party among ourselves. Didn't you say it? Unity. It's important."
— Oh, if that's the intention, then very well. Unity among Summoner Beasts is indeed a mandatory event that must be incorporated into training.
"Yeah, yeah."
As always, there's nothing in that head of yours except training.
Baek Jin-woo snorted and made a call somewhere.
— Yes, could you bring over 50 chickens and 10,000cc of draft beer? Yes! That's right, 50!
The local chicken shop.
That was for the humanoid Summoner Beasts.
— Is this Brothers Butcher? Please bring over all the meat that came in today and whatever stock you've got in reserve—every variety. Yes, yes, I mean everything you've got. Huh? I'm not joking.
And the local butcher shop as well.
Today was the day even the non-humanoid Summoner Beasts would feast.
If it's a 1 billion Company Card, this much is the least I can do.
Even if they threw a festival every time someone learned a skill, would the day ever come when they spent 1 billion on food alone?
Honestly, he had no idea.
"And, Explosive Dragon Sorcerer."
— Yes, Jin-woo.
"Since you learned a skill this time, for the next week we're going to run dungeons with just the 2 of us."
— R-really?
Color bloomed across Explosive Dragon Sorcerer's face.
"You've learned Chain, so next you'll have to learn Shift."
Dragon Burst Art: Shift.
An art that allowed the dragon-shaped flame to be reshaped as desired.
From Shift onward, a wide range of applications became possible.
The flame could be used to create a shield, strike walls, or even conjure a gust of wind.
Of course, this wouldn't be learned as quickly as this time.
It's an art that can only be used when mana control is pushed to its absolute limit.
Still.
Baek Jin-woo smiled and nodded.
Now, at least the minimum preparations are done.
What kind of preparations?
The preparations to attempt the Tower of Trials, 1st Floor!
***
The next day.
Baek Jin-woo began preparations in earnest for climbing the Tower of Trials.
The Tower of Trials.
The final content of Battle of Summoners—Baek Jin-woo had already experienced reaching the 100th floor.
With its monstrous difficulty, it was the only place where AI-generated random rewards could be obtained.
The Tower of Trials required all 3 parties a player could form to be deployed.
In other words, it meant he could climb with 15 Summoner Beasts.
Normally, I'd need to obtain other EX-Rank Summoner Beasts and bring them along, but……
That was realistically impossible.
The probability of one appearing was far too low.
Take all of YuBaek's profits as dividends, use that money to buy expensive Summoning Scrolls and crack them open? Sure, getting an EX-Rank out of that would be great, but……if he couldn't get one?
That would mean burning an astronomical sum for nothing!
Even factoring in reselling the Summoner Beasts obtained in the process, the losses would be staggering.
Even so, not now.
He knew Yu Ji-a had been working incredibly hard lately.
Apparently she'd recently bought a plot of land and was even constructing a building on it?
She was pulling together funds even going as far as taking out loans—asking for hundreds of billions on top of that just to crack open Summoning Scrolls wasn't something he could do.
And so.
For now, he decided to climb the Tower of Trials using the Summoner Beasts meant for Weekly Dungeons.
Just up to the 10th floor.
The Tower of Trials' 10th floor was manageable enough that quite a few domestic rankers had reached it.
Though of course, ‘manageable’ was by Baek Jin-woo's standards.
In reality, it was a place far from easy—quite a few domestic rankers had lost their lives challenging the Tower of Trials.
"Hoo."
For now.
He'd decided to take today off from dungeons as well.
Baek Jin-woo, having purchased 4 iced Americanos from a café, visited YuBaek's office today.
Beep, beeep!
He pressed the employee badge he'd been issued before against the reader, and with a clunk! the door slid open.
"Huh?"
"Baek Jin-woo?"
Kim Byeong-jin and Hwang Tae-seop, who had been hard at work, rose to their feet.
Yu Ji-a was seated at the head desk as well.
"Oh! Jin-woo! What brings you here! You should have contacted us before coming!"
Yu Ji-a shot to her feet, standing at rigid attention as though greeting a senior officer.
What's this?
Was it just his imagination?
Lately Yu Ji-a seemed even more deferential than before.
"Haha, I had some free time today and also something to say, so. Please help yourselves to the coffees."
"Thank you."
"Oh my, much appreciated."
One by one, the staff took their cups.
Yu Ji-a guided Baek Jin-woo into the conference room.
"Jin-woo, you said you had something to talk about. Is there anything you need?"
"No, nothing much. I do need some Summoning Scrolls……"
"Summoning Scrolls? Mid-grade? High-grade? How many should I source for you?"
"Haha, the scrolls were a joke. Actually……I'm thinking of challenging the Tower of Trials soon."
"……Tower of Trials?"
Yu Ji-a's eyes wavered.
The tower of dread housed inside Jamsil Tower within the Player Zone.
Its infamy was something she had heard plenty of while at Headquarters.
— The graveyard of players!
— Insane hell-tier difficulty!
Rankers who had survived and returned all said the same thing.
That place was hell.
That they'd survived only by luck, and had nearly died.
As the representative of YuBaek, it was only natural to worry when a player under their management was heading into somewhere like that.
But why was it.
Look at those eyes.
Even while saying he was heading into the Tower of Trials, there wasn't a single tremor in his gaze.
Exactly the same as before entering a Weekly Dungeon.
That confidence and composure.
Yu Ji-a, in that moment, was once again convinced.
It's definitely God of Jinu.
Back in his gamer days, he was the only one to have attempted the 100th floor, wasn't he?
To someone like that, how trivial must the 1st floor seem?
Hoo.
Yu Ji-a inwardly drew a deep breath and maintained her poker face.
She suppressed her excitement.
Hadn't she already decided?
That until he told her himself, she wouldn't bother asking.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?"
"Yes, this was always the plan around this time."
"I see……"
"Ah, and this time I won't be wearing equipment."
"So you won't be selling the information?"
"Yes."
This dungeon run required the participation of Lamba, Drill Instructor, and Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
He didn't want to expose their existence prematurely.
And above all.
Communication was fairly important inside the Tower of Trials.
With equipment on, the Summoner Beasts couldn't speak.
"Hehe, please do as you're comfortable, Jin-woo."
"Thank you for understanding."
"No, it's not a matter of understanding."
Yu Ji-a smiled.
Once he begins climbing the tower in earnest……his worth will skyrocket beyond measure.
Whatever the case.
YuBaek had endless avenues for business.
"In exchange, may I ask 1 favor of you as well?"
"A favor?"
Baek Jin-woo tilted his head.
What favor?
"It's really just a genuine request, so you absolutely don't have to grant it."
"Alright, let me hear it first."
"Actually, the National Representative Selection takes place 2 months from now, you see?"
"……Ah."
He knew.
He'd looked it up.
Apparently, around the end of June every year, 10 players are selected to represent the country.
Those affiliated with Headquarters could participate, as could those belonging to major guilds.
And those selected?
They had to compete in the World League held at the end of the year.
Rachel, Moscow Man, and others.
The cream of the world's rankers—competing against them to bring back the rewards granted by the system.
"Individuals can't enter, can they?"
YuBaek existed as management, but strictly speaking, it wasn't an official guild.
Since it managed only 1 person, it had to be treated as an individual.
"It's possible with a Congressman's recommendation! Actually……ahem, Congressman Park Chang-seok, who backs our company, you see."
Yu Ji-a began to explain in detail.
The full story of what had happened inside Headquarters, and the situation with Park Chang-seok—who had, in a fit of anger, rashly made a petty bet with another Congressman.
"Hmm."
Baek Jin-woo stroked his chin.
The National Representative Selection itself didn't seem like it would be difficult. The issue was……
Having to meet world-ranked players.
It felt somewhat daunting, yet at the same time.
8 months from now?
That also felt doable enough.
So long as Explosive Dragon Sorcerer learned Predation before then.
"But once you're selected as a national representative, you'll receive enormous support. The current government's stance is to spare no expense on proven players."
"Oh, really?"
Money.
He did need money.
To pull another EX-Rank Summoner Beast.
PVP-wise, Storm Slaughterer is broken, though.
Storm Slaughterer.
The nickname for the Summoner Beast the God of Jinu used back in the day—’Storm Slaughterer’ (B-Rank).
Baek Jin-woo had once maintained the #1 ranking in Player Battle using Storm Slaughterer.
At the time, he'd 5-second-cleared Rachel's 5 Summoner Beasts (even including an S-Rank) with Storm Slaughterer before getting deleted, but……
"How much support do they provide?"
"It varies by year, but……You should be able to squeeze out a fair number of High-grade Summoning Scrolls. Maybe even Top-grade Summoning Scrolls……"
"Oh."
Top-grade Summoning Scrolls?
[C-Rank: 94%]
[B-Rank: 5%]
[A-Rank: 1%]
A Summoning Scroll carrying these odds, offering a chance at A-Rank.
Currently with no stock on the market and no fixed value.
Literally whatever price you named. Something only attainable at a national level—completely out of reach for even the most established guilds. A truly extraordinary Summoning Scroll.
Can't resist that.
In the end, after mulling it over, Baek Jin-woo nodded.
"Okay. 2 months from now—go ahead and push for it."
"Yes, understood. Thank you!"
Beneath the desk, out of sight, Yu Ji-a's fist quietly clenched.
Congressman Park Chang-seok.
Don't you dare forget this debt?
He's not just any player—he's God of Jinu himself, God of Jinu!