Leveling with the Gods

Lackeys possessed a near uncountable amount of items.

Some of them were even things that YuWon wished he could buy, making him wonder how a Lackey on the 11th Floor had possessed such a thing. However, YuWon wasn’t so foolish as to make an impulsive purchase.

As long as he could purchase some adamantium and receive Hephaestus’s help, he could obtain an item far greater than what was available here.

‘It’s here.’

YuWon’s eyes twinkled before he caught himself. His facial expression almost revealed his true feelings to the Lackey.

After finding the adamantium, YuWon still browsed over items, only coming back to it much later.

“How much is this?” he asked.

[Adamantium : 1.7kg]

The Lackey smiled after seeing what YuWon was pointing at.

“> Adamantium… Nice choice, but there are plenty of other good objects as well, so why that one?”

“Finished items are too expensive. I thought it’d be cheaper to purchase the raw materials and make something myself.”

“> That is normally true… however, it is a bit different for adamantium.”

The Lackey’s eyes were smiling.

YuWon could tell that something was wrong. The Lackey appeared as if it knew something.

“> This is an unbreakable material, and not only does it have great mana conductivity, it can even amplify mana. There’s no other mineral like it in the world.”

The Lackey went on a spiel, but YuWon already knew how great of a mineral adamantium was.

‘Adamantium is the only material out there that can self-amplify mana. Taking its hardness and durability into account, it’s honestly a cheat-like material,’ Yuwon thought to himself.

That was the reason why blacksmiths described adamantium as the material of dreams, but due to it’s incredible hardness and durability, there were less than ten blacksmiths in the entire Tower that were capable of handling this mineral.

“> As long as you can get your hands on it, you can definitely make an amazing item out of it. Of course, there aren’t many blacksmiths who can handle it…”

And what would you know.

“> … But you’re acquainted with Hephaestus, aren’t you?”

The Lackey knew about YuWon’s relationship with Hephaestus.

Adamantium was undoubtedly a great mineral, but not only was there an extremely limited supply of it, with how few blacksmiths there were capable of refining it, there was also low demand for it.

Due to that, depending on whose hands it was in, its value fluctuated.

“So why does that matter?”

“> Well, since you’re a player capable of getting it crafted into any item, wouldn’t that naturally increase it’s value?”

The Lackey wasn’t wrong. Any other player that came across adamantium would have to first face the hurdle of finding a blacksmith that could refine it. And even if they found someone capable, they’d need to pay an exorbitant crafting cost.

In that regard, YuWon was in an extremely advantageous position with Hephaestus being greatly indebted to him.

YuWon had a slight snarl on his face. The conversation had gone on longer than he wanted in a direction he disliked.

“So, what’s the price?”

“> Yes. It’ll be 1.5 million points for 1.7kg of adamantium.”

It was a ridiculous price. Even though it was adamantium, for less than 2kgs of it to cost 1.5 million points…

“I don’t have that much money.”

“> I am able to provide a loan with an interest of 11.5%. Actually, since you are a reputable player, I can even give you a loan at a 10% interest rate.”

Lackeys were businessmen at heart.

YuWon let out a deep sigh.

“A loan you say…”

The Lackey nodded its head.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

“> Excellent choice! Then the 568,580 points you are short on will be borrowed through a loan at an interest rate of—”

“I’ll just have to buy it elsewhere,” YuWon said, closing the item shop window.

It all happened in an instant. The Lackey went into shock, but that didn’t last long. It once again put on a nice smile.

“> Hehe. If that’s the case, I could discount it a little bit. I’m not sure if you know, but this is a very rare item that can’t be purchased elsewhere.”

“Even without it, I’ll have no difficulties climbing the Tower.”

YuWon’s response put the Lackey into shock again for an entirely different reason.

Players naturally desired better items to climb the Tower, but that didn’t apply to YuWon. Not only did he already have sufficient skills to climb the Tower, he had been breaking one record after another on every floor’s test.

“I have plenty of time. There are Lackeys on other floors, not to mention there are also auction houses. And if it comes down to it, I could also just buy a different item.”

In short, YuWon was telling the Lackey that if it was going to propose such a price, he had no intention of doing business with it.

“Let’s just end this here.”

“> Uh… Wait,” the lackey said in a panic.

YuWon was smiling on the inside. He was now in control of the flow of things.

“Nah.”

It was time to put the nails in the coffin.

“I’m not buying.”

* * *

“> Then 900K… no, I’ll sell it for 850K points.”

850,000 points. That was a fairly reasonable price, and it was the result of a long haggling session.

‘That might even be cheaper than market price,’ YuWon thought.

YuWon nodded his head, “If that’s the price…”

The Lackey who looked like it was on the brink of tears brightened up a little. But that was short lived. The Lackey carefully opened its mouth.

“> Um… Anyway, could you do… N-Nevermind. Let’s just do 850K.”

Due to the limited number of people capable of crafting, paired with the price, there were very few actual purchases and sales of adamantium. So even though it was valuable, for a Lackey, holding onto it did nothing for it.

In the end, 850K was still a lot of points, and it was unknown when another big baller like YuWon would come by. So it was essential for the Lackey to secure YuWon here.

[You have spent 850,000 points.]

[You obtained 1.7kg of adamantium.]

It was a pretty decent trade for YuWon.

Truthfully, the sooner he obtained adamantium, the better it was for him. In fact, the Lackey was right to suggest a loan to purchase it if necessary because what YuWon needed wasn’t just to climb the Tower without any troubles.

‘Now I need to get this to Ahjussi…’ YuWon thought while looking at the 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 on the back of his invisible glove. ‘However, I need this for the next test.’

The 11th Floor was Olympus’s domain. That meant that Olympus had many options to manipulate the test as well as to lay traps for him.

The 「Pure Dark Divine Crystal」 was YuWon’s greatest weapon. Not only could it release its own mana, it could change the attribute of mana with little effort.

‘I’ll have to go down as soon as I finish this test.’

Even for someone like Hephaestus, refining adamantium was no easy task, adding to the list of reasons why not too many people sought out this amazing mineral.

One month at the very least to even over three months. That’s how long it would take to produce the item. So taking that into account, it wouldn’t be a wise choice for YuWon to sideline the Crystal on this floor.

With a week left until the test, YuWon actually had a lot of time remaining.

“If that’s the case…”

After taking a moment to think, YuWon checked his status window before getting up.

“Why don’t I go on a walk?”

* * *

Hoon was one of the so-called geniuses. Not only was he a talented Pure-Blood player, being a direct descendent of the NamGung Clan, he had a background that supported his skills.

Since the Tutorial, he had passed various tests before his peers. Having come from one of the top martial clans in the Martial Realm, as well as having a father that was an executive at the mid-sized Martial Guild, he’d had no obstacles.

Talent and skills. Support of a large faction. Natural-born leadership. Hard-working. With all those qualities, Hoon was definitely qualified to be the leader of his group.

“This isn’t as hard as I thought it’d be.”

“Yeah. I was expecting more since I heard it was the hardest dungeon on the 11th Floor.”

“If this is all there is to it, we can definitely see it through to the end.”

“Well, that’s a given considering who we have.”

His teammates, whose morale was at an all-time high, all turned their gazes to Hoon, who was wiping his sword with a towel.

Hoon had long hair that was tied up in a traditional topknot. He was silently preparing to continue the raid of the dungeon, looking after a large sword that was the size of his own body.

Clatter—

Hoon got up from his seat. Having rested plenty, he picked one of the splitting paths, saying “How about this way?”

“If that’s the direction you want to go.”

“Things always go well for those who were meant to be something. If you want to go that way, I’m with you.”

“I agree as well.”

The ten teammates were in unanimous consent.

Being a maze-type dungeon, unless you had a high search-type skill, it was basically luck of the draw.

“Since we don’t have a lot of time, let’s hurry. We don’t have many days left if we want to finish the dungeon raid and get some rest before the test.”

“Understood.”

“The test, you say… Now that I think about it, it really is almost upon us.”

The 11th Floor’s test was the largest scale battle that players climbing the Tower would face, and tests that hundreds of players participated in together were also not very common.

“Is there any need to be so nervous? This test looks like it’ll be a complete cake walk.”

“Yeah. Team A is just full of scrubs.”

Despite the scale of the battle, the team composition was so far in their favor it was practically impossible to feel nervous.

The difference between the two teams was so large, some were even calling it the worst team draw in history.

“There was one person that was noteworthy though.”

“Kim YuWon?”

“He is kind of a hotshot.”

“True. He even passed the Heavenly Demonic Cult’s test.”

“He’s really fucking unlucky, ending up on that team.”

Rumor had already spread that the Kim YuWon was on Team A. People thought that this would end up being his first major setback after having smashed the records of every floor so far.

“Still, if he can even win this test, it’ll really prove that he’s great. In a way, it’d be another record.”

Because of that, people started to talk, speculating whether or not YuWon would simply give up this test.

“Stop chatting and stay on your guard. We don’t know when there might be an ambush,” Hoon said, taking the lead and scolding his teammates. “We’re going to give it our all in this test as well. That’s all there is to it.”

“Okay!”

“Alright, I got it.”

“I promise to keep that in mind, captain.”

Replying to Hoon, his teammates looked at how reliable their leader was.

Agrea’s Maze, said to be the hardest dungeon on the 11th Floor. Centered around Hoon, his team was raiding that very dungeon.

‘We all have to level up one or two levels. And actually defeating Agrea should help the finances of the team quite a bit,’ Hoon thought while tightly gripping his sword. ‘Kim YuWon, huh…’

Hoon had heard that name multiple times before. He was one of the players that were making names for themselves on the lower floors, just like him. In fact, it was well regarded that YuWon was far superior to him.

He didn’t know where YuWon was a Pure-Blood from, but he honestly wasn’t all that curious. What he really wanted to know was if his skills were as great as rumored.

‘I’d like to be able to face him at least once in this test.’

While he was lost in thought, they arrived at the next room.

Hoon prepared to use his skill, tensing up his legs. “Stop for a second,” he ordered his team while slowly stepping forward. “Everyone, prepare for combat…”

Despite being ready for a fight, Hoon suddenly stopped in his tracks.

His teammates that were following him asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“Is something there…?”

“Huh?”

His teammates’ reactions were no different than his.

At the end of the tunnel, a large, circular room appeared. And inside that room, there was a purple blaze as well as dozens of spider monsters that were burnt to a crisp by the very same flames.