Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Platinum
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When I'm bored, I open the gallery.
A short while later, the gallery where every post had somehow been marked as read.
I kept hitting refresh, waiting for something new to pop up.
The moment an interesting post appeared, I clicked it immediately.
[Title: Dagger >>> Baseball Bat is Fact? Nah?]
Kids who only watch movies always say baseball bats are better because of reach, but reality is totally different.
In a 1:1 with a yakcha rule, dagger wins hands down.
Have you ever seen a hunter wielding a baseball bat instead of a dagger?
In PvP, dagger >>> bat, period.
Comments
ㄴ That's because there are assassin classes, duh ㅡㅡ
ㄴ Fr, tanks all use blunt weapons, bullshit
ㄴ Have you ever seen a baseball player become a hunter?
ㄴ You mean the sport that shut down after someone awakened mid-game and got caught? lol
A post I stumbled upon while blankly scrolling through the hunter gallery.
These guys are always the same.
Always the same bait and comments.
They'll probably be arguing the same topic ten years from now.
But I'm no different.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(A11.111): Lol, whether it's a bat or a sword, ma12law wins~
ㄴㄴ Oh, it's Top Anon.
ㄴㄴ You a mage too?
ㄴㄴ As if? Mages are so rare their info is public knowledge already.
Ever since that post I wrote last time, people occasionally recognize me.
My nickname is Top Anon.
Sometimes they call me Asgard Anon too.
It stuck because of my weird IP—people were like, "Ain't this guy posting from the top?"
Even though I gained invincible trolling skills, I'm actually holding back.
Thing is, now that I'm this famous, my posts carry weight, y'know?
I have to be careful with every comment and post.
I pick titles and content that people can't help but click.
[Title: Turn off the lights and come into my blanket]
Author: ㅇㅇ(2E2.E22)
(Roughly a Tyranno meme the size of a person, made of sand)
Fucking awesome sand dinosaur. I made it.
[Comments: 0]
Huh, no way this is happening?
Why no reactions? It's a badass dinosaur.
"Man, I put real effort into this...."
My insides feel pitch black.
If this indifference keeps up, I might go dark side.
"What to use for aggro? Repost the Excal proof?"
Now that I'm free from tracking too, maybe I can advertise more aggressively?
Right then, my phone alarm went off.
I got out of bed and looked out the window.
Outside, the sun was starting to rise.
I opened the window for some air, and there it was—a massive black pillar swallowing all the lights beyond.
Time to head into the tower.
I've played enough.
Now, off to work.
***
I entered the tower again today.
Yesterday's gross feeling is yesterday's problem. Today's me climbs today's tower.
I'm proud of myself for showing up every single day without fail.
The mage gallery's advice was clear.
Climb the tower. Level up to increase max mana. Or find new skills.
Simple and straightforward. I agreed.
Controlling two clones at once was too tempting a tactic to give up.
"Plus, it's about time for a level up anyway."
According to mage gallery folks, you'd level around floor 8.
But that's for hard mode users.
If hard users level at 3 and 8, then me, who leveled on 1, should be around 6.
"Extreme means way more monsters killed. Gotta match that."
I set foot in the tower.
The familiar sensation of being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
In front of me was the seamless white room I'd seen before.
And a new status window I hadn't.
[Party Invite]
They said party functions activate from floor 6.
People in the same tower can form parties and tackle together.
Later, you can even party with hunters in towers from other regions.
Of course, irrelevant to me.
I've been solo, and I'll keep soloing.
Plus, now I have a sturdy tank.
I opened the tower door without hesitation and stepped in.
[Tower Floor 6 (EXTREME) entry.]
The scenery before me was a vast plain.
Looks like the damp caves are finally over.
No more goddamn goblins greeting me.
Green-skinned giant bulk. Crude leather armor and a massive double-headed axe slung over the shoulder.
"Tchiiik...."
An orc.
Just one enemy.
I furrowed my brow for a second.
"Same setup as normal?"
Heard hard mode has two orcs. But I'm getting one?
I know by now. This ain't good news.
If monster count drops on extreme, it means a qualitatively stronger one.
Sure enough, the orc's axe didn't look ordinary.
Chilling aura pouring from the blade.
No need to watch longer. I cast sand bog right away.
The orc was fast. Before the bog finished, it kicked off the ground and charged.
The bog grabbed its ankle briefly, but minimal effect.
It just shook off the sand resistance with a single foot stomp, like it was mildly annoying.
As expected, sand bog means little against monsters bigger than humans.
But that's fine.
I have a new skill.
"Sand Totem."
I calmly cast the skill.
The sand in front of me rapidly clumped, forming a massive pillar.
I familiarly sliced off my pinky and stabbed it into the totem.
Then focused on the god within.
My form. I visualize myself.
The sand pillar writhed, soon turning into a doll identical to me.
A sudden worry hit me.
Can something that small block that huge axe?
"Wooorrr!"
The orc roared and swung the axe high.
Then smashed it mercilessly down at the totem.
I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
Kwaang!
A dull impact, sand dust rising where the totem stood.
I cautiously opened my eyes.
Luckily, the totem wasn't shattered.
One shoulder was caved in, but it steadfastly held position.
Tougher than expected.
"Good, it tanks at least one hit."
I let out a sigh of relief.
The orc swung the axe again.
This time, it might dodge.
I controlled the totem to leap sideways.
But not as I thought.
"No way that's a hit?"
The clumsy side step made the clone take it full-on.
The totem's head split like firewood.
Dodging made it hit harder.
Looks like with zero close-combat sense, controlling the clone like this is pointless.
"...Should I learn some martial arts?"
I ended the brief thought.
Anyway, sand totem is a meat shield.
As long as it buys casting time, it does its job.
Meanwhile, I fired the prepared sand bullets at the orc's head.
Shuuuuk-!
The bullets sliced through the air.
"Wooorrr!"
But the orc bellowed a battle cry and blocked with monstrous reflexes, axe raised.
"Crazy, it reacts to that?"
Luckily, even that thick axe couldn't fully nullify my bullets' power.
Pakang!
The orc's axe shattered, fragments flying everywhere.
But the orc didn't die.
Just the arm holding it mangled.
"Guess I need attack skills after all?"
Makes sense—this was just basic magic copied from a nutube video.
Maybe hit the limit of basic attacks without skills.
"Hah, too many skills I need.... How do others even do it?"
"Wooorrr!"
The orc screamed in pain and charged me.
That last attack pulled aggro to me.
I calmly manipulated the sand totem again.
Needed to shift aggro back.
Built-in function of the sand totem.
My sand clone, in a tough guy's booming voice, yelled.
"Look—at—me—!"
Seeing myself yell in a tough guy voice felt weird.
Ah, if I had a good body, I'd wanna do that too.
Now a dead dream.
The orc's red eyes snapped to the clone.
Enraged, it charged the clone and punched.
Peok! Peok!
So satisfying, anyone watching would cheer.
Kinda sad seeing myself get pummeled like that.
The sand clone couldn't take many hits.
"Hah... I could... do this... all day...."
With mangled pronunciation, the clone's body burst apart, returning to a handful of sand.
The orc charged me again.
Only then did I stop spectating and unloaded all prepared bullets.
Half the sand from the bog, dozens of shots.
Shushushushuuk-!
The orc's massive body turned into Swiss cheese and collapsed.
The familiar system message appeared.
[Tower Floor 6 (EXTREME) cleared. Congratulations!]
[Level up! Congratulations!]
[Current Level: Lv3]
[You can acquire a new skill.]
Finally, level up.
Three books appeared in the air before me.
Dull brown for duds, and another brown.
Finally, softly glowing silver.
"Wait, silver? Could this be?"
Anticipation swelled, then new alerts in succession.
[First clearer of EXTREME difficulty!]
[First clear bonus applied!]
The silver skillbook turned dazzling gold.
I clenched my fist in excitement.
"Doesn't mean...?"
[Rank 1 bonus applied!]
The gold skillbook changed again.
Blindingly radiant platinum skillbook.
"Kuh, yes. This is it."
Ahh, so brilliant.
I'm getting a platinum skillbook too.
Heard even one highly rated skill from these treats you like quasi-A rank firepower.
And I got it on floor 6.
I reached out entranced toward the silver-white skillbook.
"Surely a decent DPS this time?"
The moment my finger touched, it dissolved into light particles and absorbed into me.
Full of expectation, I checked the skill info.
"What? It's passive?"
My first white skillbook? No, platinum.
Its dazzling name: [Eyes Open].
I read the skill description.
[Passive Skill: Eyes Open]
[Description: Opens your eyes.]
Short to the point of rudeness.
I blinked in disbelief.
"What the hell is this?"