Chapter 89. Tower of Trials
“A tower and a trial... Am I the only one thinking of something else? Doesn’t this feel strangely familiar?”
“It is a pretty obvious combination, if you think about it.”
Looking up from below, the tower seemed even taller.
I stood beneath it beside Mr. Kim Inbang, who somehow looked even more exhausted than the last time I had seen him, and stared up at the structure.
This guy seemed to be doing pretty well lately, but I thought he had been neglecting his character growth because he was too busy doing odd jobs for the knight order and creating content with his viewers.
Apparently, he had still been working hard after turning off his stream.
Since this guy literally made money by playing games, did that mean playing the game even while he wasn't streaming counted as a highly future-oriented, productive, and constructive activity?
He was the complete opposite of me.
“How have you been lately? You seem to be doing pretty well.”
“Ah, why are you suddenly asking about that? When we’re inside the game, let’s only talk about the game.”
He looked so tired that I had tried to show him some concern, just like he had been kind to me before.
But maybe this was one of those topics people preferred not to be asked about.
...But both your job and your hobby are this game.
Then what the hell am I supposed to talk to you about?
Give me back the courage I spent on opening the conversation!
“You seem to be doing well too, Ingwang. That equipment looks like something a veteran would wear.”
“Well, I just picked it up around here.”
“Haha, the merchants nearby really jack up their prices, don’t they? I found something with decent performance for the price, so I bought it, but most of the other stores were terrible. There were even a few merchants who looked kind of scary.”
“...Is it better than what Corruption gave you?”
“No? That thing was honestly ridiculously overpowered. I just can’t use it anymore.”
“Oh... We really managed to clear that back then, huh? And that was near the beginning of the service.”
“Honestly, back then we only defeated the boss because the Great Hero helped us. If current players tried forming a party and challenging it by themselves, it would probably be pretty difficult.”
That was true.
Because it happened so early on, I had a tendency to underestimate it.
There still wasn't even a raid party that had properly cleared it yet.
We had definitely been lucky.
Grandpa Alo and his subordinates had actively supported us, and during the second phase, we had also been lucky enough to have a favorable matchup.
“We were lucky.”
“Yeah. Hopefully we’ll be lucky this time too.”
“Do you think we have to compete with all these people and survive?”
There were all kinds of races gathered beneath the tower from all over the place.
Most of them looked relatively humanoid, so to me they all looked more or less the same, but there was definitely quite a variety.
Since the fishmen had regained their strength thanks to me this time, maybe I'd see a few fishmen here the next time I visited?
Come to think of it, there were monsters like Mallang who had good hearts.
Could monsters like that not enter this place?
Could only creatures resembling humans become heroes?
No way, right?
This game's motto was complete freedom.
Yeah, of course.
The great Chairman must have prepared something for every possibility.
“Well... Oh, did you know? We might actually become the first players to obtain the Hero title.”
“Oh... Really?”
As more information about the Mental Force system gradually became known, it was strange that not a single player had become a Hero yet.
This was a country full of people who would finish a game with an estimated sixty-hour playtime in just a day or two.
And somehow, we were about to claim the first title.
“Mr. Kim Inbang, what kind of knight are you? I’ve been so busy playing the game that I haven’t had time to watch your streams.”
“Apparently, I’m the Knight of Luck. I don’t really know what exactly is supposed to be lucky about me... but yeah, that’s what they call me.”
When I stared directly at him, he gave an awkward laugh.
He said things like how he was jealous because something like my Indomitable title sounded cooler.
We passed the time chatting casually.
Then...
“We will now open the doors to the tower.”
A calm voice announcing the beginning of the trial entered our ears as we stared blankly at the tower.
Starting without any other explanation was actually something I liked, but this still felt incredibly abrupt.
Didn't people normally say a bunch of things before announcing something like that?
Maybe that person was new and got nervous?
Surely they hadn't made a mistake, right?
“The contents of your trial will be determined entirely by the examiner waiting for you inside the tower. You will not all take the trial together, so please keep that in mind.”
“Please understand that we are unable to interfere with the examination.”
“We wish you good luck. I hope all of you will become Heroes.”
“Isn’t the order of that speech kind of strange?”
“Does it really matter? Standing in front of people and speaking is actually incredibly difficult. Let’s forgive them even if they made a small mistake.”
That single sentence carried an incredible amount of exhaustion born from personal experience.
It was difficult to simply laugh it off.
Just what the hell had this guy gone through?
That person over there was speaking in front of potential Heroes, but Mr. Kim Inbang had to speak in front of hundreds or thousands of faceless lines of text.
...
No matter how many times I thought about it, quitting streaming early had definitely been the right decision.
I couldn't do that.
Absolutely not.
“Well then, see you later.”
“Haha... Assuming this finishes within a day.”
After casually chatting with Mr. Kim Inbang for a while, I leisurely walked through the wide-open doors of the tower.
“Ooh.”
There had definitely been a lot of people and noise when I entered.
But the moment I stepped through the door, I found myself completely alone.
The small sound of admiration that escaped my lips echoed through the enormous space.
I see.
Did every participant get assigned a separate examiner?
If they were judging whether someone was worthy of becoming a Hero, then the examiner would probably be someone who had already walked the path of a Hero before.
If this followed the standard cliché, some Great Hero from the distant past would suddenly appear with a dramatic entrance and declare—
I am your examiner, so-and-so!
Normally, there would have been some foreshadowing beforehand, and I would react with shock.
What?! That famous so-and-so?!
Something like that.
Unfortunately, I didn't know enough about history to react properly even if that happened.
“I can hear something... Am I supposed to go up?”
I took one step onto the spiral staircase winding upward through the tower.
Thinking that I'd have to climb this entire staircase before I could even take the examiner's trial...
What a pain.
“...”
Step.
Step.
...
Now then.
About Mr. Kim Inbang.
Both he and I had lied to each other.
First of all, I actually did occasionally watch Mr. Kim Inbang's streams.
We had formed such a strange connection by chance in this game that it was impossible not to be somewhat curious about him.
And I also knew that Mr. Kim Inbang had yet to awaken his Mental Force.
Apparently, he had earned a nickname like the Knight of Luck because he had absurdly good luck whenever he gambled or did similar things inside the game.
However, he did not actually possess a Mental Force related to luck.
Which meant Mr. Kim Inbang was probably someone the Empire had sent to keep an eye on me.
They had already assigned Ien to watch me.
Judging from the fact that she was still with me, she seemed to be submitting her reports properly.
But the fact that they had sent Mr. Kim Inbang instead of simply relying on Ien meant that someone within the Empire had probably started doubting her.
The Alliance had formed a massive crowd right outside the palace.
It wouldn't have been surprising if the Empire had planted people inside the palace as well.
I should probably assume I’m still being watched even now.
I tried reading the flow around me, but something about this place seemed to interfere with it.
I couldn't read it properly at all.
Crack.
Crunch.
A sound came from my tightly clenched fist.
Why the hell was everyone so desperate to watch me?
I should prepare something...
Just like I had deeply rooted my chains into the walls of Karantlia's Dragon Palace, I placed my hand against the wall and began spreading my chains inside it.
As the power of Indomitability had grown stronger, I had developed something that was almost like Bluetooth connectivity.
Even if my chains lost their strength when I moved too far away, they would regain that strength once I got closer again.
As long as I prepared things ahead of time, I could invade this place whenever I wanted and turn everything upside down.
Keeping one hand against the wall, I used the other to feel around the equipment I had received from the self-proclaimed craftsman.
I wanted to check whether he had added any strange tricks to it.
[Poor Craftsman's Slightly Disappointing Light Armor Top]
[A respectable masterpiece created using insufficient materials by a craftsman with exceptional talent and skill, but an extremely stubborn personality.]
[Health +451
Agility +237
Endurance +20
Defense +928]
Honestly, I still wasn't completely convinced about how much the bonus stats attached to items mattered in this game.
Unless the difference was overwhelming, like the gap between Grandpa Alo and me, a well-made strategy combined with a little luck could overcome most stat differences.
Still, this was probably pretty decent equipment.
And judging from the description, the self-proclaimed craftsman was extremely stubborn.
Someone that prideful probably wouldn't tamper with something he personally made.
A craftsman who only cared about his technique and his pride...
I liked that.
Would he become my friend if I shared a few drinks with him like that gun craftsman?
“...Ah, damn it! Why is this so freaking long?!”
I was getting tired of planting chains into the walls.
The staircase still showed no sign of ending.
I couldn't even see the ceiling.
Only my frustrated voice echoed emptily back toward me.
Seriously.
What was this?
Was this supposed to be some kind of joke?
What the hell?
“...Don't tell me this is the actual trial.”
A perfect trial for the Knight of Indomitability!
You simply keep climbing...
And climbing...
And climbing...
An endless staircase!
Ta-da!
...
Wouldn't that have absolutely nothing to do with Indomitability?
Wouldn't the correct word for that be stupidity, my friend?!
“...Ah, screw this.”
Clatter!
I summoned a chain and fired it diagonally upward.
It stabbed into the wall.
Then I launched myself forward at high speed.
Was this what people called three-dimensional maneuvering?
Whatever.
Using the chains and the power of flow to their fullest, I began flying upward toward the invisible ceiling faster and faster.
...This place wasn't created specifically to trap me, was it?
Personnel sent by the Empire to monitor me.
