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Knock, knock.
A drop of water hanging from the stalactite fell on Do-hyunâs shoulder.
Now, Do-hyon had just entered the passage leading to the Tower of Trials. The passageway made of limestone caves was dark and gloomy. It was also cramped as it was made wide enough for only one person to pass through. Do-hyon calmly stretched his hand to the side as far as possible, and walked with his hand to the wall of the cave. The bumpy and damp walls of the cave were torn apart, and the smooth, dry walls were touched. âIt must be like this?â As soon as Do-hyon had a foreboding of the end of the passage, a light could be seen from afar. A system message appeared with him.
<You have entered the dungeon âTower of Trialsâ.>
<The Tower of Trials seeks constant competition by testing the qualities of the players who entered. Only a few players can earn rewards from the tower.>
âIâm finally here.â
As he read the phrase, he finally realized that he had reached the tower of ordeal. Do-hyun gulped. The reason why the Tower of Trials gained popularity is because of its loud appearance and unusual entrance quests. However, there was another main reason for attracting public attention. That is, unlike other dungeons, it induces competition between players. It wasnât just a matter of who killed the boss first. These towers ranked players respectively. A dungeon that ranks players was unprecedented. As this information leaked out, large-scale bets using it took place in the world. Although only players who have cleared the entrance quest can enter this tower, information is constantly leaking out. The upper group earned the envy of people, and the lower group earned peopleâs ridicule. In fact, since they came to this tower, players deserved to be called promising stocks in their own way. Because he was selected from the Legion and Sega, and he was a talented person who even broke the entrance quest. But in the public domain, it didnât work. The guy who finished last was just last. It was a good topic to chew as a snack at a drinking party.
âWhy did I put this in?â
Even in real life, because he was hit by talented guys, Do-hyun was terrified of competition. Still, it was purely surrogate satisfaction that put such a vicious system in the novel. It was just a device to float Jo Ja-hyun, the main character in the novel. But I didnât know that it would come back as a boomerang like this. Do-hyun sighed.
âWell, Iâll give it a try.â
Although he seemed discouraged, Do-hyun had now found quite a bit of confidence. He easily broke the entry quest he thought would be impossible. Do-hyun felt proud at the thought that the strategy he had set up worked. He wanted to feel again the thrill he felt when he faced the goblin. Do-hyon moved his steps towards the place where there was light without hesitation.
The ordeal lurking in it was unfamiliar to the prospect who grew up hearing the sound of a genius to the point of wearing out his ears. It wasnât just about hunting monsters as they had been educated until now. It would have been better if that had been the case. But the Tower of Trials was not like that. Unlike other dungeons, it was not a map, but a stage format. There are nine stages in total, and you have to deal with the monsters on that stage. Defeating the boss was only possible after clearing the eighth stage. Of course, that wasnât the only thing. It seems that anyone can do it if they have the time, Top presented the ordeal in a different way. The time taken to kill all monsters on the stage was recorded. To advance to the next level, we had to shorten the time even more than the previous playerâs record. It was a matter of how quickly and overwhelmingly you killed the monster. For example, to advance to the second stage, the battle time had to be shortened more than the time recorded in the second stage. What if you succeed in shortening the record? If so, the competitorâs record will remain in the second stage, and the challenger will be eligible to challenge the third stage. And the loser who loses the record is moved down from Stage 2 to Stage 1. In this way, players are ranked. Each time the record was changed, the ranking was pulled out and subject to bets. The message T.O.P conveyed was clear. If you canât surpass the talents of others, you can never win in this tower. It was a structure that thoroughly carves the differences in talent between players. And now, there were many promising youngsters who were well-known in the world. Until now, it has been very rare for promising youngsters to gather in one place and compete for their skills. There could be no more exciting spectacle to the public than this.
âI donât know if theyâre going to make a mess of it! Do ordinary people even know where we are?â
A young man slammed the sword he was holding onto the floor with all his might. He was Jeong Seon-chang, a prospect in the emergency corps. Not so long ago, he had a reputation for being a promising player. However, his reputation had long since plummeted to the ground because of the towerâs ranks circulating outside.
âIsnât it true that youâre lagging behind me? Thatâs not wrong, is it?â
âWhat?â
âWhy? Youâre going to go at me with that little skill? I think itâs better to save your energy and try again.â
And Choi Woo-shik watched Jeong Sun-chang glow and laughed. Jeong Seon-chang and he were âso-calledâ rivals. It means he didnât think so. In the public domain, Choi Woo-shik and Jeong Seon-chang were compared as players with the same potential. And Choi Woo-shik was dissatisfied with that. The guy who got lucky enough to not be able to take care of himself and got a handful of talents is the same as you? He felt uncomfortable being associated with such a guy. In that sense, the Tower of Trials was a golden opportunity for him. Because I was able to show my skills properly to the people who had beaten him up until now. In fact, as the rankings of him and Jeong Sun-chang widened, there was also talk that Choi Woo-shik should be reevaluated.
âCatching a monster and catching a person are different. You donât think I can handle you?â
âReally? If youâre that confident, come on.â
A fierce battle broke out between the two. There were other players around, but no one stood up to stop them. It wasnât even a day or two for the two of them to do this. Unsurprisingly, Jeong Seon-chang, who was living in the dark, could not pull out his sword. Even if he said that, he was defeated by Choi Woo-shik in the top ranking. This is because he became conscious of the difference in skill between himself and Choi Woo-shik.
âThatâs it. I can beat you with a record anyway, right? Itâs a laughing stock to fight here.â
âHa, bland guy.â
âSay whatever you want.â
Jeong Seon-chang managed to suppress the boiling anger. Here, even if he only had a fight, he was only losing himself.
âWhy donât you wait for Lee Do-hyun to come or wash your fingers?â Heâll give you the bottom.â
âSince you said letâs watch it says letâs see!â
Jeong Seon-chang was moved by Choi Woo-shikâs sarcastic sarcasm. She had nothing to compare with, so it was unfair that she was compared with such a bastard. At that moment, footsteps were heard from over the central square where the players had gathered.
Bumping. The two of them, who were staring at each other, stopped moving and looked at them. Other players also rolled their eyes. And Choi Woo-shik and Jeong Seon-chang, who confirmed the main character of the sound, opened their mouths at the same time.
âMask of Illusion?â
âWhat? Why is a criminal here?â
As the saying goes, it was Do-hyon wearing a welcome mask who entered the central square inside the Tower of Trials. However, there was no way that Choi Woo-shik or Jeong Seon-chang knew about it. To both of them, it just seemed like a suspicious player had suddenly entered the tower.
âDid a new guy come in again? Who the hell is it?â
Jeong Seon-chang made an impression on the unexpected visitor who suddenly came. Not long ago, I heard the absurd news that the foolish Lee Do-hyon would have awakened by breaking the blank wall quest. However, there was no way that Lee Do-hyon could break the entry quest, even if he had a backup of the Mucheon-sega. Because of this, he thought that no one would ever enter this tower any more. But heâs a red player. It was unexpected. And it wasnât just Jeong Seon-chang who had such a thought. So did the other players gathered in the central square. He is suspected of being the red player. He couldnât just sit still. Sreung. Some of the players got caught up in excessive tension and finished preparing their swords. The rest exchanged glances and took a vigilant posture. There was an eerie silence in the central square.
âWait a minute
It was Do-hyon who opened his mouth first.
âI donât have any intention of attacking. And I definitely broke the entrance quest.â
Do-hyon raised his two hands and appealed that he was empty-handed. He had no time to waste. Even at this moment, the activation time of the skill
âPapyrus of the Originalâ was decreasing. If you miss the time, you have to prepare a magic stone again and use the skill. I wanted to avoid troublesome work as much as possible. Do-hyon looked at the face of the player in the central square. Now in this place, there were no people who could be called major figures. Even if you hit it well, there were just a bunch of guys with a semi-supporting level setting.
âAnd Iâm not interested in you guys. Mind your own business.â
It was added to avoid friction, but the listener seemed to be in a bad mood.
âWhat?â
âYou punk!â
Some players, including Jeong Seon-chang, took a step forward. Oops. Do-hyeon realized the mistake and hurried past them. âExcuse me anyway.â All the players gathered here were the sons of the famous corps, Sega. Wearing the illusion mask doesnât necessarily mean youâre a red player. Attacking an unarmed player first would be a rookie thing. âSheesh!â Jeong Seon-chang kicked her tongue and pulled out her sword. The unidentified player soon disappeared beyond the darkness.