Chapter 20: Freedom  

Lee Shin remembered the time when he first found the Immortal Sphere here and regained his memory.

'They came when I was in a daze,’?Lee Shin remembered.

For some reason, Lee Shin felt more attached to Kim Kang-Chun, Baek Hyun, Kang Ji-Hoon, Ji Eun-Ju, and Park Hye-Won, compared to the other challengers. Was it because they were the first ones he had encountered? Or was it because of the guilt of preventing them from climbing the tower? That did not matter anymore.

In addition to them, there were Hwang Kang-Woong, who made the biggest contribution to establishing Undermost; Kang Jung-Won, who made Undermost's specialty tteokbokki; and Park Joo-Hyuk, who overcame his trauma and acquired a unique ability in the Square.

All of these people could not climb the tower, because of Lee Shin, and stayed here for a long time.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Lee Shin apologized.

People began wailing when they heard Lee Shin’s voice, remembering the hardships they had suffered.

It started out as one or two people crying, and soon the whole crowd was crying. Everyone in the Square was in floods of tears.

"Heugh..."

"Is this happening for real…?"

Some people cried and sobbed, and others flopped on the floor because they lost their strength. Some people thanked Lee Shin, and most of the people were thrilled that they jumped and hugged each other to express their joy.

"You are all free now," Lee Shin threw off his mask and pulled back his robe.

His smile shone brightly.

"Yayyy!"

"We are finally free!"

"Yay! We’re free!"

"Mom, dad! Your little jerk is finally going up!"

"I'm going up too! Young-Mi! Wait for me!"

People expressed their joy.

"Master!"

"You did it!"

"Ahhh!"

"You condescending master! How can you scare people like this?”

"Thank you so much for all this time."

The five initial members of Undermost rushed to Lee Shin and hugged him.

Normally, Lee Shin would have blown them away with his mana, but he decided to accept them at this moment.

"Thank you very much," Hwang Kang-Woong approached Lee Shin.

"Thank you," Lee Shin replied.

"You didn't forget that you'll help me when I start climbing the tower, right?” Hwang Kang-Woong asked.

"Of course, I didn’t," Lee Shin smiled.

It was strange to see them happy.

Hwang Kang-Woong handed Lee Shin a map. "Here is the map with the location of the tombstone."

"Thank you so much," Lee Shin thanked him.

"I can go along and guide you if you want," Hwang Kang-Woong offered.

"That's all right. You should go and catch up with them for a bit,” Lee Shin replied.

"I think it would be nice if you could come with us," Hwang Kang-Woong suggested.

"I'm the villain who stopped you guys, aren't I? The villain needs to stay clear, haha," Lee Shin replied with a playful smile.

"I wish you the best of luck,” Hwang Kang-Woong answered.

Lee Shin, who smiled faintly, moved to the center of the Square. All the eyes of the people gathered in the Square turned to Lee Shin.

"Hello everyone, as I've already mentioned many times, your growth on the first floor will give you a tremendous advantage in climbing the tower forward. So, if anyone thinks they are lacking in growth, don't go up to the first floor right away. Train more here and then climb up." Lee Shin looked at the people’s faces.

Everyone had different facial expressions.

‘Well… There's nothing I can do about it…’

Some people could understand what he meant, but others did not. Lee Shin just hoped that they wouldn't die before they reached the 50th floor.

The tower was not a place where one could climb by the help of another. It was a place where one had to overcome entirely by their own will and effort. Therefore, Lee Shin thought that their growth at the first floor, which was the starting point, was important.

Not to mention that beyond the 50th floor was where the real ordeal of the tower began. Lee Shin just wanted them to get to the 50th floor so they could return to Earth. The growth here was a source of power that would help them reach the 50th floor. "The difficulty level of the boss on the first floor was set randomly. People who lack skills may not be good enough to clear it, so it is important that you focus on improving your skills here,” said Lee Shin.

There were a few people who wanted to vent their dissatisfaction, but they couldn't make it obvious because they were conscious of the others around them. Lee Shin did not want to care about every single one of those people. He knew that they would be able to understand his words later on.

"So, from now on, I won’t be on the first floor. Feel free to challenge yourself," Lee Shin said.

However, no one was willing to step up after hearing Lee Shin’s words. The idea of clearing the first floor was already unfamiliar to the challengers.

They cringed unconsciously at the thought of 'Can I really clear the first floor?'

"Oh, one other thing! Even if it’s not me, the boss on the first floor will not kill you. So don't worry, and give it a try,” Lee Shin clarified.

After the clarification, there were people who stepped forward. A young man stepped forward with confidence.

"Hey! Why are you guys so scared? Our master said that we can challenge the first floor. I'll go first!" He walked into the first-floor portal confidently.

Even after seeing him enter the portal, none of the challengers followed the young man. For some reason, they thought a light streak would come down in a moment and the young man who had just entered would come back.

However, there was no news after a minute, five minutes, and then ten minutes. The young man did not come back.

Did he really clear the first floor? Shouldn’t there be fireworks that go off, or some kind of change that happens if someone clears the first floor? People thought about all sorts of things.

That was how big of an obstacle the first floor was to everybody. However, seeing that nothing happened, people started to step forward, one by one by one.

"I'm going to try!"

"Yeah, me too!"

"Huh? Why are we getting so scared? We lived longer than these young people here. I’ll just die if I have to.”

"Okay! Let's go!"

A large crowd of people began to enter the portal on the first floor. Nevertheless, most people were still hesitant. And as more time passed, people began to believe that the first floor could be cleared.

"Hey, shall we go up now?" Park Hye-Won asked.

"Wait, we don't know when we'll get together next once we start climbing the tower. I want to catch up with you guys first,” Kang Ji-Hoon replied.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" Shin Ha-Neul interjected in the conversation between Park Hye-Won and Kang Ji-Hoon.

"Why are you here?" Baek Hyun looked at Shin Ha-Neul as if he were looking at a stranger.

"Hey, don’t treat me like that," Shin Ha-Neul replied.

"Treat you like what?" Baek Hyun asked.

"How can you be so negligent to the future ranker?" Shin Ha-Neul was disappointed.

"Pfft!" Ji Eun-Ju laughed at Shin Ha-Neul's words.

"Wow, even you’re laughing, Eun-Ju?" Shin Ha-Neul looked at Ji Eun-Ju with a surprised face.

"Who cares. Master, please join us," Kim Kang-Chun approached Lee Shin.

"I'm good. Have a great time," Lee Shin answered.

"Still..." Kim Kang-Chun was disappointed.

"It’s fine," Lee Shin replied.

Lee Shin started to walk away without looking at them.

He thought he would feel bad toward them and regret his choice to not join them if he saw their faces. Lee Shin thought that if he hung out with them, the gods might hate them too. Therefore, he did not want to get attached to them.

Lee Shin left the Central Square and decided to look around Undermost in disguise. It was his first time taking a look around the village. It was quite spacious from the Central Square to the outer wall. Lee Shin tapped the fortified wall.

"It’s quite strong," Lee Shin muttered.

The wall seemed stronger than what Lee Shin had expected. He could see clearly how hard they must have worked in that short time.

After a slow walk around the tower wall, he visited different places inside Undermost. The house of the five challengers was built near the Central Square. The entrance of the house was enchanted and firmly locked, making it difficult to break in or open. It seemed like they cared a lot about security, but...

Click—

Lee Shin could open the door very easily using his mana power. He skimmed through the house of the five people. Now that they were leaving this place, it was neatly organized, but the memories of their past remained all over it.

Lee Shin locked the door and walked down the street. He could see Hwang Kang-Woong's building, which was the largest building in Undermost.

The interior design was neat and simple. There were only one or two people left inside. As he climbed to the top of the building, he could see a panoramic view of Undermost. The Undermost village was so developed that it felt like an actual place where people could live.

‘Mr. Hwang did contribute a lot,’ thought Lee Shin.

Lee Shin thought this would be enough for the next challengers to adapt well to the environment.

As he walked down the street, he saw Mrs. Kang's shop. He couldn’t see Mrs. Kang there. Another person was selling food inside.

"Can I please get the most delicious tteokbokki from this place?” Lee Shin asked.

"Sure! Kang's special tteokbokki is the main menu here. I'll be right back with your tteokbokki," she replied.

Lee Shin didn’t have to wait for that long as his tteokbokki came out pretty quickly.

Hwang Kang-Woong lent his points to Lee Shin, who could finally collect points after changing his status to a challenger. Lee Shin bought tteokbokki with those points. The tteokbokki was delicious, more so than any other tteokbokki that he had eaten in his past life.

"I see why this place is so popular,” Lee Shin muttered.

After he finished eating, he walked on the street again. He went to the park and out of Undermost. The sun had set and it was already dark.

When Lee Shin came back to the Central Square, he could barely see any people. When he called Toeing, he appeared from the back of the building.

"Are you finally going to the first floor?" Toeing asked.

"Yes," Lee Shin replied.

"No..." Toeing whimpered.

For some reason, Toeing did not seem to be in a good mood. Lee Shin bent down and hugged Toeing. When Lee Shin stroked Toeing’s soft fur slowly and gently, Toeing remained still as if he was enjoying it. Soon after, Lee Shin noticed Toeing snoring. He carefully put Toeing down on the ground and covered him with his robe.

"I still have things to do before I go, so you can sleep a little," Lee Shin said quietly.

***

The ancient words written on the monument were not easy to translate. After Hwang Kang-Woong showed it to Lee Shin, he worked on the translation every day. However, he could only understand a part of it. And one thing Lee Shin learned was that this monument was built on the altar of God just as he expected. However, it was not known which God the temple belonged to.

If it was a temple of a strange God, Lee Shin might be tied up there.

However, Lee Shin had no choice but to go. The waiting area, as well as the whole first floor, were not influenced by the gods in the first place.

Nevertheless, it was necessary to check it out, because there was an altar of God not on the first floor, but in the waiting area on the first floor. There was one God whom Lee Shin was expecting.

[The Immortal Sphere]

This is a marble that contains a speck of the forgotten gods.

# We don’t forget.

The first floor was the place where Lee Shin had found the Immortal Sphere. Perhaps the monument here was also built on the altar of the forgotten God.

Before Lee Shin had noticed it, he arrived at the place drawn on the map. There was a huge monument embedded deep into the ground. Lee Shin read the inscription on the monument.

"Go against… the mana spell..." Lee Shin muttered.

The reason why the mana here was dissipated was that the flow here was against the flow of mana from nature. And on this tombstone, it said to go against the flow. Just like what it instructed, Lee Shin forced the mana to reverse.

Opposing nature and going against the flow was a mana control that even fifth and sixth-level wizards couldn't do, especially not on the first floor. Lee Shin suppressed his laughter and focused on mana control.

His body, which had been in its best condition, changed to its worst.

His mana blood vessels began to weaken more and more, and mana control became harder and harder.

"Keugh!"?Blood came up from his esophagus and escaped through his tightly-pressed lips. His health points dropped at a rapid pace. Mana power swirled around him and his mana blood vessels were bursting.

"Gasp!"?Blood filled his mouth and splattered out. Seeing all that blood, Lee Shin thought he could die of excessive bleeding.

# Health Points: 500/8,750

Lee Shin did not have many health points left.

"Ahhh!" He squeezed out all his strength and controlled his mana power.

# Health Points: 150/8,750

The capillaries in his eyes burst one after another.

# Health Points: 0/8,750

For the first time since he had gained his memory, his health points dropped to zero.

.

[He Who has the Qualities of God]

You have divine qualities, don't you? You have the potential to become a god. He who has the qualities of God does not die easily.

# Immune to death for 3 seconds (24 hours cool time)

[Those with Qualities of God don't die easily]

[You are immune to death for 3 seconds]

Lee Shin did not even have the time to look at the system window that floated in the air. He controlled the mana by drawing from the last of his mental power, and then the mana that had resisted nature naturally assimilated into the flow of nature.

"Ha…" Lee Shin sighed.

# Health Points: 1/8,750

Coo-gu-gu-gu-gung—

The ground where the monument was located cracked, and the entrance to the basement appeared.

* * *

└Guys, it's a scoop! This is crazy!

└What is it? Why are you making a fuss all of a sudden?

└The ranking on the second floor has been updated!

└What? Seriously?

The activity in the Korea tower’s community increased. And that was just the beginning.