Chapter 6: A Continuous Change

Several months had passed since Lee Shin possessed the Immortal Sphere.

[A challenger has appeared.]

Numerous system messages appeared in the air one after another. Once again, the challengers had come up to collect some points. Most of the challengers had already given up on killing the boss and climbing the tower.

It had been a while since Lee Shin began to teach Kim Kang-Chun and his group at a price. There had been other challengers who wanted Lee Shin’s teaching, but there was just not enough time.

Sooner or later, Lee Shin could create a guy who could teach others. And when that happens, Lee Shin could receive different things from everyone in exchange for making them stronger.

Lee Shin roughly cleared up the system messages and started focusing on the research he was doing. He was still having difficulty interpreting the research data that Gene Ebrium had left behind. These data required more knowledge and superior insight compared to what Lee Shin had thought.

Lee Shin was sitting on a fluffy chair that he had received, looking through the materials in depth.

“God and mana, soul and passing, life and death, and boundaries.” Lee Shin summarized the content of the data into a sentence.

There was too much content in the data. The amount was comparable to dozens of books. The data consisted of studies from multiple fields. And yet, Lee Shin could not understand the material properly. He understood less than a quarter of what was written.

“Soul and passing, passing…” Lee Shin muttered.

After finding the Immortal Sphere, Lee Shin recalled thousands of deaths.

[Your understanding of death has increased drastically.]

At the same time, he saw this system message. He could not tell the exact difference at that time; however, after reading Gene’s research data on death, he could now understand the difference between soul and passing.

Not only was Lee Shin able to understand Gene’s data, but he was able to notice what was wrong and lacking. Lee Shin cleared his head and organized his thoughts. Looking at the contents, Gene seemed to have done studies on the power to fight against God. It seemed like Gene Ebrium also had some conflict with God.

In addition to that, there was an odd-looking bundle of old paper. This paper must have turned yellow even before the preservation spell took place. Since the text had been written in ancient script, Lee Shin’s understanding of the content was extremely limited. He could only recognize the words that he had seen a few times as he climbed the tower.

“Faith, war, debris…” Lee Shin read from the book.

For now, he was not sure of most of the things he had read, but he could tell that he would be able to figure things out as he climbed the tower.

What was the relationship between God and the tower? Was it true that gods have built this tower? From what the gods had said to Lee Shin on the 100th floor when he climbed up last time, it was clear that their intentions had something to do with the tower. However, if gods had built this tower, why would there be this Immortal Sphere?

[Immortal Sphere]

# We don’t forget.

The Immortal Sphere had an ability that denied the power of the gods. Moreover, considering how it allowed Lee Shin to access his memories before entering the tower, it was not necessarily an ability only available inside the tower.

Lee Shin had no idea. There were so many things he had to think about. He had so many things to do, but he did not have enough time.

It was necessary for Lee Shin to finish the production of Skeleton Mage, which was currently in progress.

“Finally! I just need the soul beads to complete this project.” Lee Shin said excitedly.

The Skeleton Mage’s body was completed. There were some things to be tweaked, but since he had been planning on making modifications along the way, that was not a concern.

[You have defeated the challenger.]

Suddenly, numerous system messages appeared in the air. These messages were from those challengers who were returning after collecting points.

[Your mana power has increased by 60 points.]

When the challengers finished their attempt like this and returned to the waiting area, Lee Shin could accumulate mana points without effort. Thanks to the challengers, Lee Shin’s mana points exceeded five digits.

# Mana points: 13,400/13,400

“I still have a long way to go…” Lee Shin muttered. Now that his mana blood flow was disrupted, healing the mana blood was the most urgent thing for Lee Shin.

# Unlock Level 2: Mana Level 2

In order to lift the seal on Lee Shin’s body, it was required to achieve Unlock Level 2 by raising the mana power.

[Mana power Level 2]

# Required MP: 50,000

# Required INT: 100

Fifty thousand mana points was a significant number. If it could restore a portion of Gene’s body that was at the level of transcendence, it would result in a tremendous increase in power.

Lee Shin had become a little impatient after looking at the numbers with his own eyes, but he soon decided to relax and wait for the challengers patiently. The number of challengers had been increasing steadily, and that meant the rate of increase in mana power would increase accordingly. Lee Shin would soon be released from the seal.

***

└ We are looking for Korean challengers.

└ Where did everyone go? Did all the Koreans get killed in a war that broke out while I was in the tower?

└ Oh freak, how come no one has shown up for months?

└ What are we gonna do about the national round? It’s hard to even maintain our position right now because Korea was the only one that did not show up!

└ All the challengers in Isocia are dying out now!!!

└ Wow, if you’re at Isocia, you went up pretty high! I’m still on the 10th floor… I really miss Koreans!

The community for Korean challengers was now on fire. At some point, it seemed like the newly joined challengers kept failing to come up from the first floor. It was a strange situation. Eventually, the upper-floor challengers had to struggle even more.

In many cases, the tower was not a place where one could climb alone. It was necessary to form a team and challenge as a team. However, the challengers on the upper floor panicked when the manpower got cut off at the lower floors. This situation had not affected the challengers at the top for the most part, but it was about to be a big problem for them as well. The heat was on.

Every year on December 1st, something called the Dimension Gate opened on the 50th floor. Since the challengers could move freely between the 50th and the 100th floor, the ones who managed to at least climb to the 50th floor could use this gate on December 1st.

The Dimension Gate had been the only means of connection between Earth and the tower. Since it was only accessible for a month, most remaining challengers had waited desperately for this opportunity. They had an opportunity to go back to Earth and get a handle on the situation there.

However, there was still a long way to go before the Dimension Gate opened. And before then, the challengers in the tower could not get any information from outside.

└ Please don’t tell me Korea is ruined already. It can’t be.

└ Why would it be ruined, dummy? Korea is one of the few countries that have many challengers who are already close to the top.

└ Yeah, which also means that there would be many countries keeping an eye on us.

└ Korea has Cha Yu-Min. The top ranker, Cha Yu-Min! How dare they try to defeat us?

└ Did the government go crazy and impose restrictions on entering the tower, just like 10 years ago?

└ That’s nonsense.

└ Then how come there aren’t any newbies coming up?

└ Why do you think people didn't enter the tower? It could be that they are constantly failing at the first floor.

└ Oh yeah? Do you really think so? Because the first-floor boss is freakin’ strong?

└ That makes no freaking sense!

Occasionally, when the hypothesis came up that the first-floor boss is strong, it got criticized by others and was dismissed eventually. The challengers could get access to the community when they reached the second floor.

Because of this, people on the upper floors were completely unaware of the situation on the first floor, and that amplified the upper-floor challengers’ anxiety.

In addition, it was impossible for the challengers to move between floors if they had not reached the 50th floor. Once they went up, they could not return to the lower floors. Therefore, the upper-floor challengers had to wait for the opening of the Dimension Gate to get a sense of what was happening on the first floor. That was the only way they could know if there was a problem outside.

***

Several streaks of light fell onto the central square of the village in the waiting area on the first floor.

“Hello! My name is Toeing, the manager of the waiting area on the first floor!” Toeing welcomed the newly joined challengers.

More than ten challengers had arrived this time. Six of them had fit bodies and sharp eyes as if they had just returned from a battlefield. Showing no interest in Toeing, the newly joined challengers twitched their eyebrows and looked around the village that was built in the waiting area.

“What happened here?” mumbled a guy.

“What?” Toeing tilted his head and replied.

“Why is there a village here? This area should not have anything,” the guy continued.

“Aha! The village was built by the challengers who came here before you!” Toeing replied.

“Why?” asked the guy.

“Um… because, there’s no place to sleep?” Toeing replied, having gotten used to answering a lot of questions like this.

The man frowned at Toeing. “What did you say?” “Huh?” Toeing was surprised.

The man reached out to Toeing, who was greeting the challengers on top of a stone chair.

Tak-

At that moment, Baek Hyun appeared and grabbed the man’s hand that was going for Toeing.

“Who are you?” the man asked with a frown.

“Haha, this guy is the manager, but he’s a bit of a fool. So, let me answer your questions instead,” Baek Hyun replied.

The man wiggled his eyebrows when Baek Hyun grabbed his hand. As Baek Hyun released his grip, the man also lowered his hand and looked at Baek Hyun.

‘That grip was…’?The man looked at Baek Hyun with a sharp gaze.

Baek Hyun appeared to be an ordinary man in his 20s, a typical sight in Korea. Although his body looked quite firm, he had nothing more, nothing less.

“Again, who are you?” the man asked.

“My name is Baek Hyun,” Baek Hyun replied.

“I’m sure you know that’s not what I’m asking about,” the man said.

“Then what are you asking?” Baek Hyun asked the man.

“I am Park Joo-Hyuk, the head of the task force of the Korean Challengers Association. Our team was formed by the government to clear the tower more quickly,” Joo-Hyuk introduced himself.

“So what?” Baek Hyun asked.

Park Joo-Hyuk seemed embarrassed at Baek Hyun’s unenthusiastic response. Even after hearing about Joo-Hyuk’s identity, Baek Hyun couldn’t care less. It was an attitude consistent with those who took pride and had full confidence in their own skills. In that case, they had to nip this attitude in the bud so that they wouldn't show such arrogance the next time.

Like a bolt of lightning, Park Joo-Hyuk tried to grab Baek Hyun’s collar. However, Baek Hyun’s fast reflexes allowed him to respond immediately, pushing Joo-Hyuk’s hand with his left and twisting his body to avoid the attack. Baek Hyun was startled. Joo-Hyuk was surprised that his attack was so easily blocked.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Baek Hyun asked Joo-Hyuk in an irritated tone.

Park Joo-Hyuk frowned as he saw the crowd gathering around him, but he knew that it would do no good to pick a fight here. It was not clear why there was a village there, but it was clear that something had changed.

‘These people here are no different from the ordinary people who have not yet climbed a single floor,’?Joo-Hyuk thought.

Nevertheless, Baek Hyun was skillful enough to equal Joo-Hyuk, which made Joo-Hyuk question why someone like Baek Hyun was still in the waiting room on the first floor. Joo-Hyuk realized that it was better to have a good relationship with someone he might encounter again on higher floors. Therefore, Park Joo-Hyuk decided to apologize first.

“I’m sorry for the surprise. I think there was a misunderstanding.” Joo-Hyuk apologized to Baek Hyun.

“Okay, I’ll let this one slide,” Baek Hyun replied.

“But… I don’t understand why someone who’s talented like you is still on the first floor. And why is there a village built here?” Joo-Hyuk had several questions he wanted to ask.

There had been more challengers than Joo-Hyuk had expected. The size of the village was quite large, so he assumed that all the challengers who had entered during the last several months had failed to climb up and just started living in the village.

Baek Hyun smiled at Park Joo-Hyuk’s question. “Go challenge the first floor. That’s my answer to your questions. Then, you’ll understand.”

Joo-Hyuk could not understand why Baek Hyun was saying this. If they challenged the boss and cleared the stage, they would not be able to come back down here. In that case, he would not be able to know about this secret.

“So, I guess you just don't want to tell me the secret?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Oh well… Think whatever you want,” Baek Hyun replied.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. We’ll figure it out on our own.” Park Joo-Hyuk, who thought that he would not get a clear answer from Baek Hyun, turned around and went back to his team.

“Oh, and also, don’t go around picking fights with people!” Baek Hyun yelled from behind.

“Okay, I won't,” Park Joo-Hyuk replied.

Park Hye-Won and Kang Ji-Hoon approached Baek Hyun after the task force had left to look around in the village.

“Why is he so rude?” Park Hye-Won asked in an annoyed tone.

“It’s quite understandable. His team is well supported by the association and the government,” Kang Ji-Hoon replied with a smile.

“So what?” Park Hye-Won muttered.

“Life is all about pulling strings,” Kang Ji-Hoon replied.

“Ugh…” Park Hye-Won sighed and shook her head, looking at Kang Ji-Hoon who was joking around.

Baek Hyun stared at Park Joo-Hyuk with a look of pity, until he disappeared from sight.

“What’s wrong?” Park Hye-Won asked, suspicious.

“He seems like a person who has never lost a fight, but how embarrassed would he feel if he gets beaten by people here who don’t seem to know how to fight?” Baek Hyun replied.

“But then, why did you tell him to go challenge the first floor? Sir would—” Hye-Won was interrupted by Baek Hyun.

“Newbies should get a welcome ceremony,” Baek Hyun sneered.