Chapter 40: Turns Out To Be a Genius Duelist Chapter 40
Chapter 40 Administrator b 3}
It was a space brimming with traces of life, such as tables, cupboards, cooking appliances, chairs, a sofa, and picture frames. Although it was a family home, it emanated a slightly different feeling. The place looked like a cottage. He didnât see any standard modern technologies. Everything was manually operated and antique as if he were taken to a house back in the Middle Ages.
âHowâs the tea? Are you okay?â
To be honest, it was way too bitter for Yoon-seok, who had a sweet tooth, but he nodded along without expressing his thoughts. The important thing right now wasnât the taste of tea. As if Yoon-seokâs innermost thoughts were visible, the Lady of Liberation smiled.
âItâs still confusing. I understand. Everyone did say so. Now that youâve settled, Iâm going to explain everything. Is that okay?â
âYes, please, Lady of Liberation.â
âJust call me Elle.â
She made sure to point out to call her Elle instead of her formal title.
âJudging from how your future has changed because of your choices, the future you saw was real. You lost something precious while ascending the Tower, and you were betrayed after granting his wish.â
Elle brushed off Yoon-seokâs request for further elaboration. To be exact, she said she couldnât say if sheâd wanted to, butâŠYoon-seok couldnât even tell if it was true. So, he decided to ask something more practical instead of questioning her clairvoyance.
ââŠYou guysâŠno, what are administrators?â
The critical question heâd had since the start of the Wish Auction. Elle started explaining without making any excuses this time.
âThe Tower has existed for so long that even immortals donât know where it came from. Administrators are Challengers whoâd reached the final level, I included.â
Elle said sheâd once climbed the Tower as a Challenger and fought to protect her dimension.
âWhatâs at the top of the Tower?â
Elle put on a wry smile.
âI said weâve reached the final floor, not that we won the last trial. So all the administrators are those who were defeated.â
He also asked what the last trial was about, but this time she drew the line, saying, âI canât answer that because of the restrictions placed on me.â
Subsequently, a little explanation followed, and he came up with a conclusion. They died in the final trial and became a part of the Tower, given the role of administrators by the Tower itself.
âAdministrators are not divine beings. Iâm just an admin, working to fulfill the Towerâs goal.â
âGoal?â
âWhat else can there be? Someone at the top of the Tower is waiting for a Challenger to overcome the final ordeal. Over and over again.â
It seemed that the admins acted as mentors to help challengers climb the Tower more efficiently, but that didnât make any sense to Yoon-seok.
âIf an admin must nurture a challenger, isnât that out of range?â
âFirst of all, remember the principle. Nothingâs free in the tower.â
She didnât answer the question. Yoon-seok nudged her to explain further with his eyes.
âItâs not an adminâs duty to train a challenger. Itâs a kind of welfare given by the Tower.â
An administrator could ask a challenger for a wish during their life span. However, if you have already achieved your wish through another challenger, you may wish for another.
âSo that you know, the Heavenly Warriorâs desire was never fulfilled.â
âSo, whatâs good about fulfilling a wish?â
âWe can get back the WP we bid on the contracted challenger with interest. The more difficult the desire is, the higher it multiplies.â
-To reach the final floor of the Tower. Thatâs all I want to ask for.
-I desire to kill 10,000 challengers.
-My desire is no different from yours, to kill the Heavenly Devil and the King of Steel.
Out of those who chose Yoon-seok, these were the only three wishes that were survival-related and were achievable with a moderate level of difficulty.
âThe Heavenly Warrior. What was his desired difficulty?â
Invincible. For Yoon Seok, who jumped into the world of swordsmanship, it was a spell that made his heart pound. Elle smiled under Yoon-seokâs curious gaze.
âThat would be similar to having all three desires combined.â
He wondered how difficult it would be, but all those crazy desires combinedâŠwhile Yoon-seok was surprised by the weight of that position, Elle went on to talk about the value of WP.
âWP is like AP for admins. We can use it to pray for our wishes to the Tower. For example, it is possible to leave the Tower and return to our original bodies.â
However, Elle said, it was only possible if a Heavenly Warrior-level type of wish was granted multiple times.
âMaybe thatâs why. If itâs the realm of creation that resurrects the original body, physical extortion would be much cheaper than that.â
ââŠ?â
Yoon-seok sensed something in Elleâs tone. She didnât deny it after recognizing what Yoon-seok was thinking.
âYes, thatâs right. He used WP to steal your body. Still, maybe heâd had a bit of conscience left. He did fulfill your wishes.âŠ.â
Yoon-seok then asked what his wish was, but Elle said she couldnât answer. Feeling suffocated, he began to ask rather aggressively.
âThen why didnât you ask me for anything?â
ââŠâ
âCanât answer due to constraints? When you answered about all the otherâs desires?â
As expected, this woman had something up her sleeve. After having such thoughts, Yoon-seok was stunned by Elleâs sudden reply.
âI couldnât beg for anything else. Because that was the only desire, I had.â
To live without any obligation, without anyone wanting anything from you. That was the most intense desire she ever had? What kind of life had she led?
âIs there a trap or something that I donât know about? Like the difficulty level is super high, or why havenât you achieved it yet?â
âNo, not really. The desire does relate to the challengerâs personality or belief, but anyone can fulfill it.â
Feeling distrustful, Yoon-seok tried to come up with a few assumptions, but they all felt off.
âBut why do you still have thisâŠ?â
Yoon-seok stopped talking. After seeing Elle smiling, he realized that it was a question that he didnât have to ask.
âI was the first contractor. Yes, I didnât sign anyone while I was earning WP as a basic allowance to bid in your auction.â
ââŠWhy?â
Elle retaliated at Yoon-seokâs question.
âWould you believe me if I said that I didnât want anything while I collected WP?â
Elleâs life desire. The pessimistic tone in her voice when she said she has no wish. Did he imagine it?
ââŠâ
Yoon-seok went silent. There was no way to reveal whether Elleâs words were true or false. Thus, Yoon-seok laid the possibility that Elle lied ever since mentioning that it was her first desire. That was when the truth started piling up little by little.
âWe donât have much time. From now on, instead of asking questions, Iâll tell you about what you need to know and what I can tell you. Is that okay?â
ââŠPlease.â
Elle continued to explain swiftly. There was not enough information to change Yoon-seokâs demeanor but it was mainly about the little things that might happen in the future. Maybe ten minutes passed in the meanwhile?
This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org
Soon after, Yoon Seok concentrated so hard that it reminded him of his school days when he focused on his lessons. And thenâŠ
It was his turn to take the blame heâd been waiting for. Give and take. Wasnât the reason why Yoon-seok signed a contract with an admin in the first place because of this?
âYou can meet me on the fifth floor. For the most part, use up all your WP now.â
Elle then opened up her powers shyly.
*Infinity â Your dimension disappears. Tickets associated with dimension shifts are available indefinitely. Price: 750,000 WP
*Heart of Liberty â Immune to physical and mental restraint and subversive effects. Price: 900,000 WP
*Ladyâs Commandment- Dictates the scope of a certain place through magic. You can establish only one whole territory within the realm. Price: 1 million WP
*Leader of the Light â The more followers you gain, the stronger you become. Price: 850,000 WP
*Skill Synthesis â Matches skills that can be synthesized. The synthesized skill must be of origin quality. Price: 1.5 million WP
*Evolution â You obtain a rising evolution gauge that increases over time. Additional corrections are received according to your thoughts and actions. You can evolve once the gauge is full. Price: 1.5 million WP
*Clairvoyance â At critical moments, you can see the future. Price: 3.5 million WP
Elle had about thirty unique powers, but this was the summary of the most useful ones. The deeper Yoon-seokâs brows furrowed, the more embarrassed Elle became.
âIâm sorry, it doesnât suit you, does it?â
ââŠItâs all right. I figured you might be more of a wizard.â
Yoon-seok tried to offer a helpful reassurance, but his expression was dark. No wonder he could barely skim through the list; almost half of the thirty powers were related to magic. He thought if there was no way for him to use them, but her powers were too distinct to be of any help.
Thanks to this, the idea of not choosing the Heavenly Warrior crossed his mind again. If Elleâs power, which didnât even have the keyword magic, would be like this, what would his power be like given how plastered it was in martial arts? Yoon-seok shook his head.
âIt was a goblet full of poison anyway. This is better. Itâs not like thereâs nothing to use.â
Yoon-seok, as he was looking through the powers, asked Elle for additional explanations. There were basic explanations provided, but it was better to hear them from the owner herself. Letâs start with that one.
âCan you tell me whatâs good about increasing quality?â
âThe quality of avatars all starts at zero. Itâs not that wide, but as the quality increases, the power produced on the same level of capability would be different. Most of all, if the quality increases, things can be handled outside the system. For example, the sword you use.â
Thanks to her kind explanation, it was much easier to understand.
âIâll have to buy this for now.â
Yoon-seok didnât hesitate to buy it first.
ăLimit Breakthrough is added to your soul.ă
ăAvatar quality is permanently increased by 70%.ă
Following a 30% improvement in quality obtained the other day, now 70% more was added. Did that make it 100%? He didnât know what the formula was like, but after the first 30% of vigor was activated, it likely meant he could now completely control his vigor.
âSkill Synthesize here says origin, what is that?â
âOrigin refers to skills that arenât listed in the Tower. If you make a raw skill today, you can make a new one next time.â
That meant he could create skills that werenât in the system. b Predation} worked well for Yoon-seok, where he could obtain Unique Skills. However, since it cost 1.5 million WP, heâd have to go through the other skills before deciding to purchase it.
âCan I hear more about Ladyâs Commandment? I have no idea what absolute territory is.â
âAs the word suggests, itâs just a whole territory. You canât use magic there, for example. Within this territory, no one in the realm can use magic.â
âIncluding myself?â
âYes, including you.â
Even so, it must have been an incredibly great power, but there were obvious drawbacks. The greater the impact of the absolute territory, the greater the amount of magic consumed in maintaining the area.
âNo matter how much magic recovery {Heavenly Body} grants you, it wonât last a few minutes with such a grandiose territory.â
âEven if my magic stats go up?â
âYes, not just you, but the enemies also become just as strong as you within the realm. The territory is absolute, but magic consumption is also relative.â
Continuing, Yoon-seok asked about Heart of Liberty, Evolution, and Leader of the Light, all while Elle answered him kindly one by one. Currently, Yoon-seok had 2.8 million WP to spend. Compared to the average challenger, it was a generous amount, but he couldnât have everything.
Take what you want and give up the others.
âIâve decided.â
As always, the most important thing was efficiency.