The Hero Returns

The flames turned blue for a while. As the monster felt high heat above its head, it stopped its actions and looked above.

Grr—

What the monster saw above its head was a gigantic blue sword.

And soon.

Slash—

A blue line similar to that sword sliced the monster's body into half.

Sludge, sludge—

The monster's body fell to the sides, starting from its head. The beast quickly raised its arm to keep his body from falling off, but, of course, it wasn't possible.

Stomp, stomp—

Its massive body finally split into half and fell onto the floor. Thick blood flowed, and Su-hyeun, who stood in front of the corpse, extinguished the flame and caught his breath.

Pant—

A blue flame and the flame's bird, the phoenix.

Both of them were newly acquired abilities obtained through leveling Flame's skill. It was his first time checking out their effects, and each had its own pros and cons.

<<Did the problem lie with the magic factor?>>

Firstly, the required mana to maintain the phoenix was quite substantial.

Moreover, the phoenix was a summoner that never perished if Su-hyeun could have an indefinite supply of mana to maintain the flame.

But the mana consumption was too high. And it was the same for the blue flame.

<<Their abilities were powerful, but… I might have to restrain myself.>>

The phoenix maintained its original form even though it had suffered attacks from the ancient beast. It was because Su-hyeun had kept supplying mana so that it doesn't disappear.

But at that moment, Su-hyeun felt his magic factor got slashed tremendously. It was a tremendous amount of magic that he hadn't expected to use.

<<I've got to increase my proficiency. Compared to the skill's effectiveness, the mana consumption is…>>

Stumble—

Then, the monster's body convulsed vigorously. Su-hyeun's gaze fell onto the monster's half slain body. It was fascinating that the monster hadn't died yet. It's too horrible to think of one being alive while in that state.

Come to think of it, there wasn't any message of him clearing the trial.

<<Was its long life one of its unique traits?>>

It wasn't too bad of a trait, but it wasn't one that would make Su-hyeun envious. What could one do with that enormous amount of strength if he had to also be stuck in that situation?

"Even so, you…"

Burning—

Su-hyeun brought out the flame once again.

"I can't use the transfiguration ingredients either."

But it was also much too useful for an 18th-floor trial. It wasn't to the level of wanting that ancient monster's trait to himself.

Clank—!

Su-hyeun swung his sword and lit the flame. At that moment, a gigantic blaze swept over the ancient monster's body.

[You have gained 50,000 achievement points.]

[You have attained the highest achievement.]

[You have cleared the 19th floor trial with perfection.]

[You will be ranked according to your performance.]

[You have been ranked first.]

[You have gained 1 health point…]

….

[Will you ascend to the next floor?]

The string of messages appeared simultaneously. It had also meant that the monster had finally died.

The objective of the trial was to end the unstable resurrection of the ancient monster and the creature. Of course, several forces attempted to fully revive the monster in the process.

<<It should have made the fight start from the very beginning.>>

It was annoying being instructed on what to do.

Although it would be manageable for Su-hyeun to handle the monster at the current level, it would not be a smooth process. However, he had eventually succeeded in finishing off the ancient monster that had hibernated under the city. It had taken him two months to clear the trial.

"T-t-the monster…"

The young man who had warned Su-hyeun to be careful earlier had now flopped on the ground and was muttering to himself. After the monster appeared, everyone had escaped to the outskirts of the city. Only Su-hyeun and the young man were left.

Su-hyeun looked at the young man. The young man looked back at Su-hyeun with fear in his eyes.

<<Well, in his eyes, both I and the monster are one and the same.>>

There was no other reason for him to stay there. Su-hyeun lifted his head towards the sky and spoke.

"Ascend."

[You will ascend on to the 20th floor.]

* * *

His sight had turned white in an instant, and a vast city appeared before him once again.

It was a city that had been fully frozen and covered in white. The world on the 20th floor was a frozen city called Raglia.

Its temperature had reached as low as minus 60 degrees. On the 20th floor was a dying city where no living human would be able to live in.

Su-hyeun could hear people's mutters as he stepped into the square.

A crisis existed every 10 floors at the Tower of Trials. The trials at every 10th floor had exceptionally high difficulty, which brought about high numbers of death. Thus, only special awakeners gathered every 10 floors, including the 20th and 30th floors.

<<Regardless, I have arrived within the stipulated time.>>

31st December.

Today was the last day of the year.

Su-hyeun had aimed to achieve his goal to reach the 20th floor before the year ended. Though he had cleared the trial with ease at first, the last trial had been a drag.

Even so, he was able to arrive on the 20th floor according to his goal. Of course, something was missing.

<<As expected, was level seven too far-fetched?>>

The magic level and factor.

His original aim was to achieve a magic level of seven, and a magic factor of 70, but he was short of achieving those goals. Although he was able to pull up his magic factor to 68, which neared 70, his magic level still stayed at level six.

[Name: Kim Su-hyeun]

[Magic Factor: 68] [Magic Level: 6]

[Strength: 71] [Agility: 78]

[Health: 69] [Reflex: 80]

[Skill: Leap *Details.]

[Skill: Transfiguration *Details.]

[Skill: Flame…]

…

[Fatigue: 15.]

Compared to two years back when he first entered the Tower of Trials, the status window had lengthed quite a bit.

There was an overall increase in stats and magic level, a magic factor was a given, and an increase in skills.

Two years.

Though it wasn't a short time, it wasn't quite long either. If someone were to witness Su-hyeun's stats with their own eyes, his mouth would be wide-open in awe.

<<It was definitely a rapid growth.>>

Although he had a high magic factor and level, the overall increase in stats was remarkable, too.

<<Although the growth in magic was slower than expected…>>

Some parts complemented others, and there were some areas that Su-hyeun was satisfied with.

<<Well, the growth in skill proficiency was quick.>>

It was not sufficient, but rather at a rapid speed. His initial aim was set so high that it could be deemed as impossible to meet. Having nearly achieved his initial goal, it also meant that his performance wasn't that bad.

[Achievement points: 1,981,400.]

Su-hyeun checked on the amount of achievement points he had accumulated.

Although it was a massive number, it was slightly insufficient.

<<20,000 more points to go.>>

2,000,000 achievement points.

It was the price of the "highest grade potential booster" that Su-hyeun wanted to get his hands on. Like all the other awakeners, what Su-hyeun needed most was magic.

Though nothing such as the skill's composition or items were unimportant, high magic levels and factors had the power to ignore them all.

<<I wanted to accumulate more points before arriving at the 20th floor.>>

Considering that it too was an impossible goal, he had accumulated quite a considerable amount of achievement points.

Although it was a pity, it had not occurred to him that he would not clear the 20th floor's trial.

<<He definitely said that it was today, right?>>

Thankfully, the date had matched up. Kim Dae-ho said that it would take almost a year to complete the weapon that Su-hyeun had requested.

"The ranking has been updated!"

Then, the square was filled with a certain awakener's voice. The ranks were, of course, updated regularly, but it wasn't hard to understand his words.

"Ranking? Could it be the first place?"

"Could it be…"

"Kim Su-hyeun has arrived on the 20th floor?"

The square turned noisy in an instant.

The ranking had been updated. This also meant that Kim Su-hyeun had ascended to the 20th floor.

<<I have to leave here soon.>>

Su-hyeun left the square and turned into a dimly-lit alley. Su-hyeun moved quietly alone in the crowd, and the public seemed to not have paid any attention. There were already tens of people gathered at the square anyway.

As soon as he entered the alley, Su-hyeun opened the door.

Rip—

* * *

Su-hyeun returned to reality and soon turned on the car's engine.

It was a relatively expensive red sports car. It's quite a pity to drive it deep into the mountains.

Though Su-hyeun did not have much interest in the car, he had no reason to not ride it since it was a gift.

<<I don't even ride it often enough.>>

It was a gift from Lee Ju-ho, who had gifted him the sports car after completing a dungeon attack one day. As per Lee Ju-ho's words, Su-hyeun only added gas in and took it out when he had to travel.

Screech—

Su-hyeun drove his sports car into a hillside at Yangpyeong, the mountain where Kim Dae-ho's house was located. He drove it as deep as his car could go into the mountains, parked it, and started walking in.

Clank, clank—!

The sound of steel could be heard without fail.

Su-hyeun wondered when he took his rests. It was hard to imagine how much he loved hitting on steel.

"Uncle, I'm here."

Clank—!

The sound stopped.

Soon after, Kim Dae-ho trudged out to meet him.

"You're here?"

"Yes. It's today, right? Our promise."

"What do you mean promise? I only said that I would complete it before the year ends."

"Doesn't that mean the same thing?"

"I had long completed it, kiddo. Come in immediately," Kim Dae-ho said and turned around quickly. It wasn't to get the weapon, but instead, it was to guide him into the house.

Su-hyeun was slightly surprised at Kim Dae-ho's reaction.

Kim Dae-ho never allowed strangers into his smithy. Being invited into his smithy meant that he had a certain level of acknowledgment and friendship. Su-hyeun had entered Kim Dae-ho's smithy once in his previous life, but it was only after they had known each other for three years.

At the back of Kim Dae-ho's house was a smithy with a steel woven spherical ceiling. As he entered the smithy through the door, various equipment was laid out.

<<It's been a while.>>

The high heat was almost cooking his flesh. If an awakener like him could barely withstand that amount of heat, what about Kim Dae-ho?

He wasn't called a craftsman for nothing.

"Aren't you surprised?" Kim Dae-ho asked in a relatively small voice. It seemed that he had expected a surprised reaction.

It was reasonable to be surprised at this amount of equipment.

"Ah, I am surprised."

"I know that you're not. How mean."

It seemed that he wasn't satisfied with Su-hyeun's reaction.

Su-hyeun laughed awkwardly and looked at the equipment hung on the walls: swords, spears, armor, wrist guards, etc.

Amongst those, the first equipment that came into Su-hyeun's eyes was the swords.

<<As expected… They are quite superior.>>

There was a vast and minor difference in all the equipment; they all had ether stones mixed in them.

Though it was tough to smelt ether stones, making use of that and creating weapons like those were only made possible by certain craftsmen. In the current era, there was no one better than Kim Dae-ho who could make equipment of this quality.

<<If all these were brought to the market…?>>

It could shake up the world quite a bit.

"What are you doing there? Stop looking at the junk and pick up your weapon now."

Junk.

It was too much to call this equipment junk.

But of course, the equipment placed by the entrance was what Kim Dae-ho had regarded as failed creations. The successful ones were in the basement.

And…

"You might be quite surprised at it."

The weapon that Kim Dae-ho made for Su-hyeun was a masterpiece amongst them.