164. Giant Tree Labyrinth (3)
「I entered the world of Iron Blood.」
When I opened my eyes, the tomb of the white sword greeted me.
Looking at the snowy field with swords stuck everywhere, I was sentimental.
‘Still nothing has changed.’
It really feels like it’s been a very long time, but nothing has changed….
For a brief moment, I thought that I was out of the flow of time.
‘It feels like it would be suitable as a resting place.’
Of course, I didn’t come to find a place of rest, so I shook off the sentiment that seeped into my body and started walking.
And…
“You’re here, Han Seong-yoon.”
Soon after passing through the snowy field and entering the cabin, a cold-looking beauty appeared.
I glanced at her and soon sat down on the sofa in the cabin and said hello.
“It’s been a while, Iron Blooded Lord.”
The iron-blooded lord said with a wry smile.
“I don’t think it’s been a long time, but I don’t think it’s been that long…”
“It’s already the waiting room on the 18th floor, but I haven’t seen it in person since the waiting room on the 12th floor.”
“It’s strange that I came up to the waiting room on the 18th floor in such a short period of time.”
“It’s not short. Because the ordeal was ridiculously difficult, I spent a lot of time clearing it.”
“You still have useless humility. No, not humility, but sincerity. You… even if you’ve grown up to that point, nothing has changed.”
The iron-blooded lord said that as if he was dumbfounded, and then sighed.
“I didn’t know that divinity would be established before reaching the 20th floor…” “
Well, I didn’t know that I would have divine status even if I wasn’t a proper god. You’re lucky.”
“There is no such unusual growth rate in the history of the tower, so what kind of luck is luck…
”
The divinity itself is certainly a huge growth.
However, I still felt that the quality or quantity of divinity was less than that of managers with similar divinities.
It’s also very huge.
Even without considering divinity, there was a huge difference in skill with the manager who had climbed to the 40th floor.
That’s what being on the 40th floor means, and being chosen by the tower is just as great.
It’s not like luck that the Administrator even got the immortality to live for an eternity.
So I also admitted that I simply lacked strength.
However, the iron-blooded lord turned his head at those words.
“Compared to the same number of floors, no one would have built up the same strength as you.”
“But I’m not competing with people who stay on the same floor.”
At those words, the iron-blooded lord said with a stiff face.
“…You’re referring to the deities that exist outside the tower.”
“That’s right. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t like the birth of a god or the tower, but at least there seem to be few gods who are kind to me.”
“…that can’t be denied.”
“There was actually a time when the god of battle descended during the ordeal.”
Of course, there were deities of goodwill or malice, such as the God of Proof or the God of Darkness, but… there
seem to be surprisingly many gods, so there must be gods who will have ill will toward me besides them.
“So I’ll take whatever I can get.”
So…
“Now let’s get to the point.”
Now it was definitely time to talk about the event that TOP had prepared.
“I will use all the questions, so tell me everything about the giant tree labyrinth.”
***
In the first place, I came to the manager’s area for the purpose of collecting information.
So, first of all, he said he would listen to information about the giant tree labyrinth without talking about other topics.
The iron-blooded lord looked at me blankly for a moment, then said yes and then began to give me information.
“The giant tree labyrinth is a labyrinth resembling a tower with a total of 10 floors.”
The iron-blooded lord explained that this 10-story labyrinth resembles a tower very much.
At those words, I thought the giant tree labyrinth felt like an ordeal, but it wasn’t like that.
“Like the tower, you can choose the difficulty and receive rewards according to the difficulty.”
The giant tree labyrinth was really no different from the tower.
‘Setting the difficulty level and receiving rewards accordingly…’
The giant tree labyrinth was an event that imitated the basic system of the tower.
Just…
“Difficulty types are Easy, Normal, and Lunatic.”
The only difference is that it is one more difficult than the Tower and only has 10 floors.
After hearing the explanation up to that point, I thought for a while before opening my mouth.
“What is Lunatic Difficulty?”
Lunatic.
It was a difficulty level that did not exist in the Tower.
I was wondering what the difference between the difficulty level and the difficulty level was.
“The highest difficulty, Lunatic, is different from the three difficulties. It’s a level of difficulty that doesn’t even exist in the Tower, so the content is devastating.”
When I heard that the difficulty level was more serious than the difficulty level, I questioned the question.
“…Does the level of the enemies appearing in the labyrinth become more difficult?”
“There may be things like that, but the true suffering of Lunatic Difficulty is not like that.”
The iron-blooded lord ran his fingers through his long silver hair and opened his mouth.
And…
“If you select Lunatic difficulty, all abilities disappear.”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but close my eyes.
“…All abilities disappear? What is that?”
It was worth it.
It’s nothing else, it’s a penalty that all abilities disappear…
Doesn’t it mean, in fact, that you throw away everything you’ve accumulated while climbing the tower?
But…
“Of course, it’s not a permanent loss of ability, it only disappears while staying in the giant tree labyrinth.”
The iron-blooded lord said there was nothing to worry about as it was a temporary loss, not a permanent loss.
However, temporarily losing all abilities was a huge penalty.
“If I can take any consolation, I can sync some of my abilities every time I go down a floor.”
“Specifically, from where to where can you synchronize?”
“You can recover one skill per floor. However, it is impossible to synchronize stats.”
“…”
If you get back one skill at a time, even if you go down to the 10th floor, you will get up to 10 skills back
.
It was close to impossible to recover all of the main skills as well as the auxiliary skills.
“It would be more important to synchronize the main skills in order of importance rather than synergy between skills.”
“Excellent. Yes, like you think, recovering the main skill is the most efficient.”
“By the way, is it possible to acquire skills within the labyrinth?”
“If you dare to learn skills, it should be possible, but… Anyway, the skill acquisition record itself will disappear later.”
“In short, it’s better to acquire the skills you need, but not master them more than necessary.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at him.
“Really, what kind of ridiculous difficulty is this…”
Even on the hard difficulty level, I didn’t mind resetting my abilities from time to time in the ordeal.
Well, that’s why they added a level of difficulty called Lunatic that doesn’t even exist in the tower…
But even so, I felt astonished at the level of difficulty that felt more vicious than I could have imagined.
I let out a sigh and then my eyes lit up.
“But with such a huge penalty, the reward must be great.”
The tower originally gives compensation to the amount of hard work.
If such a penalty was given, it must be proof that the reward is enormous.
“Yes, as the Tower gives very important perks, there are great rewards for each difficulty level.”
In fact, the iron-blooded lord also nodded without denying the words.
“It would be better to see the list of rewards directly than to tell them a few times.”
When she said that, she stopped fiddling with her hair and snapped her fingers.
Just-!
And…
[Read the giant tree labyrinth rewards.]
Seeing the rewards listed next, I had to doubt whether my eyes were wrong. 「Easy Difficulty Reward―Leaves of
the World Tree (S+)― The leaves collected
from the World Tree contain the power of life.
The dagger of a god without it (SS-) ― allows you to see and cut all types of divine power.」
The purple dagger was an SS-class relic that could cut all types of divinity by seeing it…
「Hard difficulty reward ― Book of Power (SS+) ― Designate a target and copy up to three powers to the book.”
In Hard difficulty, an item appeared that duplicated the other person’s powers.
「Lunatic difficulty reward ― ※Cannot read※ ― ※Cannot read※.」
I don’t know if it’s due to lack of permission to read, but I couldn’t read the reward information for Lunatic difficulty.
After looking at the rewards assigned to the three difficulties, I knew that the rewards that would be on the Lunatic difficulty would be huge without even looking at them.
“…”
I understood why the Tower of Trials said that it would be possible to obtain very important perks from the giant tree labyrinth.
‘Since this is such a reward, the tower must have emphasized that it is possible to obtain very important perks…’
I read through the entire list of rewards within a minute, and when I finished browsing, the Iron-Blooded Lord spoke to me.
“Now I have exhausted all of my question tickets. I don’t think I can tell you anything more you want to ask.”
“Is that so. It doesn’t matter. Most of my questions have now been answered.”
“Is that so….”
“It seems like we had a pleasant conversation after a long time.”
Now, most of the information about the giant tree labyrinth has been grasped.
“Now let’s go.”
I thought I didn’t need to stay here any longer, so I tried to stand up…
“You mean you’re going to go right away without staying a little longer…?”
Instead of standing up, I tilted my head at the voice that made me feel sad for some reason.
‘what?’
I don’t think he did anything to make me feel sad…
It was difficult to understand why the iron-blooded lord was talking like he was bitter.
“Yeah well… other challengers will be on the move, so I can’t fall behind.”
To that question, I scratched my head as I answered, and soon after, the iron-blooded lord continued.
“Then, do you have any intention of coming to my manager’s realm in the future…? Even though I heard it so often that I would learn martial arts from Baekhakgeomseon…?”
Instinct urged me to come up with an answer by stimulating my head at the words of regret.
and.
“…I will make sure to hear from you often. Even if you don’t, there are many things I want to ask.”
Soon I came up with the answer I thought was best.
“…Right. I want to ask. Even if you don’t know what it is, just expect it.”
The iron-blooded lord thought for a moment as if he was thinking over the words, then said so.
“If you drop by here later, I’ll teach you a technique that will be useful to you as well.”
“technology…?”
“It is a technology in my dimension that I do not have now. It will surely help you too.”
“…All right.”
I don’t know why he suddenly said he would teach me the technique, but one thing was certain.
‘Looks like you liked the answer I just gave you.’
That’s why I said I’d teach you this technique.
‘I don’t know what kind of technique it is, but seeing as he boasts, it must not be useless.’
After all, instinctively thinking that I was good at preparing a good answer, I prepared to leave.
“After a while, we will move to the waiting room on the 18th floor.”
As soon as the message to move to the waiting room came to mind, the Iron-Blooded Lord said as if to say goodbye.
“I will wait here until you reach the 20th floor.”
And…
“Please look forward to the day you make your wish come true.”
After saying that, she smiled brightly, and her vision shook.
***
「I have entered the waiting room on the 18th floor.」
Returning to the waiting room, I stood there thinking over the words of the Iron Blood Lord.
‘I’ll be waiting for the day to make my wish come true…’
She was sure that I would arrive on the 20th floor sooner or later.
It was no different from reminding them of a contract they had agreed to make their long-cherished wish come true.
To be honest, I had half forgotten about it, but now that I remembered, it was decided what to do.
‘As soon as I finish the 20th floor trials, I’ll have to clear my secret wish.’
The Iron Blooded Lord and the White Crane Swordsman were expecting me to fulfill their wish.
Then I had no intention of disappointing that expectation.
In any case, they recognized my potential and supported me wholeheartedly until now.
But…
‘Achieving a secret wish is about fulfilling it, so I have to go to the giant tree labyrinth first.’
At least that long-cherished wish will come true, not now, but later.
Freed from my thoughts, I opened the shop window and purchased a hearthstone.
「You purchased the Hearthstone (D+).」
Since it was a Hearthstone that could stay on Earth for a month, it was a bit expensive… To be
honest, now I don’t have to worry too much about points.
‘Because the points are rotten enough to overflow.’
Holding the hearthstone shining red in my hand, I poured out my strong will to return to the item.
And…
「Challenger Han Seong-yoon has confirmed her intention to return.」
「Consumes the return stone to return to Earth.」
In the blink of an eye, the scenery changed and soon a familiar studio came into view.
“…”
Now, out of habit, he checked all of his items as soon as he returned.
“I brought everything well without any problems.”
Of course, he brought all the items that could be used as his main force without leaving a single one behind.
In response, I immediately turned on my smartphone and quickly searched for the giant tree labyrinth.
The tower said that giant tree labyrinths appeared in all official climbing dimensions, so giant tree labyrinths must have appeared on Earth as well.
‘Then it must have been known about the giant tree labyrinth.’
So, first of all, I thought to find out where the giant tree labyrinth was, even briefly.
In fact, it turned out to be a not-so-bad choice.
[What are the giant trees that have appeared all over the world? The Hunter Association said, “We will take quick action on this situation”…]
[World tree that appeared in Seoul? What is the giant tree labyrinth that has been talked about a lot among the challengers, and why did it appear?]
[Is the giant tree labyrinth a dungeon? Controversy spreads over the possibility that giant tree labyrinths appearing all over the world may face a dungeon break…]
“ A lot more information has spread than I thought.”
As I skimmed through the articles, I felt that a lot of information had to be made public.
Since some gigantic trees appeared all over the world, it must have been revealed.
However, looking at the article in the article, I felt that there was no information that could be used greatly.
I soon realized that browsing the Internet was pointless, and opened the messaging app.
‘It won’t be difficult to enter the giant tree labyrinth itself, so what’s left is to gather challengers and form a team.’
He tried to find a way to gather challengers by contacting Lee Ha-yeon, who now feels like a half-manager.
But…
[Lee Ha-yeon: Seong-yoon, you’re in a very annoying situation right now.]
In the middle of writing a direct message, a text message suddenly came to Lee Ha-yeon.
[Lee Ha-yeon: Now that a giant tree labyrinth has appeared, top challengers from around the world are sending love calls like bombs in hopes of forming a team with Seong-yoon.
]
[Lee Ha-yeon: There is a possibility that your residence may have been known, so be careful and get out of your seat as quietly as possible when you return to Earth.]
That would be the case
too
… If you sleep, it means that I am currently selected as a very attractive team member.
“Everyone is rushing to this place…?”
It was as if people from all over the world were coming here to find me.
That’s why…
“It’s rather good?”
All you have to do is take the challenger you like without spending time.
“I’ll be able to enter the giant tree’s labyrinth faster than I thought.”
I smiled.
