Chapter 16

In conclusion, Lee Woo-jae’s theory was correct. I could freely enter and exit any floor of the Tower.

[You have entered the Superlative Tower, 77th Floor: Room of Rest.]

That wasn’t all. The Tower was fundamentally designed for solo play, with each floor being a new design regardless of which floor one entered. However, I could even go to floors where other people were residing.

“Wow, is this where Woo-jae used to live?” “Yep. I used to train here whenever I hit a wall.”

We were currently on the floor Lee Woo-jae had lived on in the past. Just as he said, the 77th floor possessed a luxury comparable to a penthouse. It was very different from a modern apartment, but it was so grand that one might imagine a medieval archduke living there.

“It’s like a separate villa. I lived on the 90th floor for 24 years, so the 90th floor is prettier and better to live in.” “I see. Even this place seems better to live in than a penthouse, though?” “So, will you switch?” “No.”

Of course not. Rolling in a field of dog poop is still better than the afterlife. The Tower must be such a place for everyone, as Towermu is the only means of communicating with others.

“More importantly… Gasp.”

I was about to ask, “How do you hatch a dragon’s egg here?” but suddenly, I couldn’t speak. More precisely, it felt as if I had plunged into deep water; I was suffocating, and my body felt crushed.

“Gasp, gasp.” “Oh dear. I didn’t expect you to be unable to withstand this much.”

Seeing my condition, Lee Woo-jae quickly moved his hand, and something made of mana was placed over me.

“Huh, huh, I thought I was going to die. What was that?” “It’s mana pressure. The mana here is too high for you to endure.” “No, is it really that high?” “Yep. The concept of the 77th floor itself is to hunt down the spiritual beasts that grew up feeding on this immense mana.”

I remembered hearing about it in the news. While each Tower had different missions, it was said that spiritual beasts emerged from the mana springs within each Tower. And if one succeeded in taming those spiritual beasts or becoming the king of that place, it would become a peaceful zone, allowing access to the resources in the mana spring.

True to his personality, Lee Woo-jae seemed to have chosen to become the king rather than tame the spiritual beasts. There were no spiritual beasts visible around.

“Did all the spiritual beasts run away because they were scared of you, Woo-jae?” “It’s consideration, consideration. I’ve always liked meditating here, so they don’t disturb me.” “…”

Is that so? I don’t think so.

“It’s true. They’ll come if I call them.” “Well, of course they’ll come if you call them.”

Because they’re scared.

“Anyway, you don’t need to waste time like that. How about we just go straight for the C-section?” “What, fine. The mana pressure is a bit unpleasant anyway.”

Lee Woo-jae’s shield was blocking the mana pressure, but I couldn’t forget the feeling of drowning I had experienced earlier. If I went to a higher floor from here, I felt like I would die. No, absolutely not. Especially since I hate pain.

“Then I’ll begin. Place your hand on the egg and pour in as much mana as you can.” “Uh, I’ve never used mana before?” “Try to recall your memories from when you were V. You never directly used mana, but didn’t you feel what it was like to use it?”

Come to think of it, he was right. Although I had used Lee Woo-jae’s mana when I was V, it was a direct experience, so the feeling of using mana was ingrained in my body.

Closing my eyes and concentrating, the mana flowing from my heart moved through the mana circuit that had somehow formed, reaching my hand.

Woosh—!

As the mana touched the egg through my hand, the egg vibrated and became slightly warm, and a strange pattern was etched onto its surface.

“That’s the pattern indicating that its parents have been imprinted. But you still need to keep pouring in mana. The more mana you pour in, the easier and faster the imprinting will be.” “Yes!”

I bit my lip and poured in as much mana as I could. The vibration grew stronger, the egg became hotter, and the pattern became clearer. At that moment, Lee Woo-jae nodded and said,

“Now, I’ll perform the C-section.”

I was so focused on drawing out mana that I had no time to reply. I simply nodded slightly, and Lee Woo-jae drew a few strange patterns in the air and then used mana.

Rumble—

An immense sound erupted, and for a moment, the world distorted. It wasn’t an optical illusion. The mana was actually converging to one point, causing the world to warp as if being sucked into a black hole.

The mana spring suddenly boiled and evaporated like a hot spring on an active volcano, and all the surrounding mana materialized and was sucked into the dragon egg, like a hurricane. Even my shield was warped towards the dragon egg.

“It’s tough, but hold on a little longer! You definitely won’t die!”

The surrounding storm was so loud that Lee Woo-jae’s shouts were only faintly audible. Please, I won’t die, right? No, surely Lee Woo-jae wouldn’t try to kill me? If he fails, he’ll die too, right?

“I won’t die, I won’t die, I won’t die…”

If it was this dangerous, he should have told me beforehand! Of course, if I had known, I wouldn’t have done it. As I muttered to myself, a sword appeared in the storm. It was Lee Woo-jae’s sword. And he swung the sword down towards the egg as if to cleave it in two.

Slice—

But it wasn’t cleaved. Like a surgeon’s scalpel, it precisely cut only the outer part of the egg. From the center of the almost ruined mana spring, the egg was cut open, and a rather large baby dragon emerged.

“Myaang?“

The baby dragon crawled towards me innocently, making nyom-nyom sounds. Lee Woo-jae looked at it with a proud expression and said,

“C-section successful. It’s a beautiful princess.”

I chuckled and replied,

“Your dad had a really hard time giving birth to you, you rascal.”

Even though it was a child born from the heart.

“Myaang-myaang-myaang, myaaang~ myaang!” “Oh, is that so, my little Myaang-myaang? Do you like it?”

I had become a doting parent. Although it wasn’t human, the inability to communicate was the same, wasn’t it? Is this why people raise pets?

“You’re probably the first person to give a hatchling a name like Myaang-myaang.”

Lee Woo-jae said with a sigh. But I was unapologetic.

“It cries ‘myaang-myaang,’ so it’s Myaang-myaang. What else would I call it?” “…I have nothing to say.” “Oh, don’t be like that. I’ll change its name when it grows up.” “Dragons have good memories; they remember everything that happened when they were hatchlings, even when they grow up. Just so you know.” “Even so, would it really eat its dad? We should just think of it as a prenatal name or a childhood nickname, I guess. What’s it going to do?” “…That’s true too.”

But now that I had a hatchling, I knew nothing about how to handle it. I had no idea what it ate, what it liked, how to raise it, or how strong it was. I was a complete novice dad. So, I asked Lee Woo-jae…

“I don’t know either.” “…What does this guy even know?” “What did you say?”

Ah, he heard that. I muttered it quietly. Then Lee Woo-jae sighed heavily and said,

“I told you. I fought to the death every time I met them. All I know is that dragons grow by consuming mana, and a hatchling is roughly S-rank low-tier. That’s all.” “S, S-rank low-tier? This tiny baby?” “If they were that fragile, they wouldn’t be dragons. They need to be that strong from a young age to be able to fight me to the death as an adult.”

Ah, right. This guy was a monster. His full power was at the level of S-rank high-tier with about 5 percent of his strength. To fight such a person to the death, they would have to be incredibly strong from a young age.

“Still, it’s a relief to know that they eat mana. Would they also eat mana stones?” “Probably? Dragons have tons of high-grade mana stones piled up in their own storages.” “Aha. I see.”

I gave it one of the mana stones I had as a test, and it expertly absorbed the mana from it, swallowing it down. Indeed, it would be difficult to maintain such a massive body by only consuming mana floating in the air. Mana stones as food… that’s going to be expensive. Is this what it means to be a breadwinner? I definitely need to earn a lot of money.

“By the way, what’s its lifespan? How long does it need to live to become an adult?”

I heard rumors that dragons live for a very long time. I probably won’t see it become an adult before I die of old age, right? From Myaang-myaang’s perspective, when it eventually becomes an adult, I’ll just be like a nanny who raised it for a short time.

“They usually live for about 10,000 years, from what I know. The one I fought to the death on the 90th floor said it was about 9,400 years old.” “Wow, it lived for a really long time.” “So, I know they need to live for about 2,000 years to become an adult. Unless there’s a special catalyst.” “A special catalyst?” “Like this time, absorbing an enormous amount of mana, more than what’s needed to become an adult. I don’t know the exact details. This is just a theory, like before.” “I see. Well, it’s cute, so that’s fine. And its combat power is strong too.”

This much is enough. A cute, strong dragon daughter. I’m a dragon daddy, you know?

“Then, moving on to the next step, shall we start opening the random boxes?” “I was curious about them too. I’ve never received one before. They didn’t give those out when I was A+ or S-.” “Then let’s open one.”

We, of course, opened the random boxes outside the Tower, inside the penthouse. The atmosphere from the item-spawning background music and frequency played through 10 million won speakers was indeed on another level.

“Please, let something good come out, let something good come out…”

As I kept praying and tearing open the random box, light burst forth, revealing its contents.

[Random Box Result: Box of Concentration-Boosting Gum x1] Chewing this gum increases concentration. The box contains an infinite number of gums, allowing you to chew it repeatedly. The flavor can be adjusted to the user’s preference.

“Uh, is this good?”

It increases concentration, and there’s an infinite supply, so it can be used anytime. The flavor can also be adjusted, so it can be enjoyed. All the good conditions were attached, but… gum? It felt kind of trashy.

Just in case, I put it in my mouth and chewed it once. My pupils dilated immediately, and my surroundings began to slow down. It was the same feeling as when I transformed into V.

“It’s not bad, but it doesn’t seem very useful for us. A-rank and above can achieve this level of concentration easily.”

It might have been good if I had used it when I was a beginner, Lee Woo-jae added. Hmm, so it’s good for beginners or those below B-rank, right? I’ll make a note of that. My clients aren’t just people in the Tower. I’m making a lot of money by lending items to people in the Tower with this ability, but wouldn’t it be better to secure other clients?

For example, lending Lee Woo-jae’s mythical-grade items to S-rank hunters, or selling items like this gum as supplements to hunters. In that sense, all of this was money.

“Next, then.”

The next items were similar: a hood that created camouflage similar to the surroundings, and glasses that allowed one to see farther, like binoculars. They were somewhat useful but not exceptionally valuable. That’s because they were things that could be easily created with modern magic engineering technology. There were exactly two special items.

[Beginner’s Guide to Lightning Magic (A)] [Tower Basement Key (Entrance Ticket)]

The Beginner’s Guide to Lightning Magic was A-rank, and I decided to think a bit more about whether to learn it or sell it. But the problem was the Tower Basement Key. It looked shabby but was mythical-grade.

[Tower Basement Key (Entrance Ticket)] Grade: Mythical Allows entry to the Tower’s basement floor. Extremely dangerous, so proceed with caution.

“This is…” “I’ve never seen or heard of the Tower having a basement floor until now. Moreover, I’ve never seen a description in the Tower stating something is ‘extremely dangerous’.” “Is this good luck or bad luck…” “Just knowing that the Tower has a basement floor is incredibly lucky. Still, it would be better to go later. After my injuries have fully healed.”

I wholeheartedly agreed. Even though I had obtained such an item, there was no need for me to necessarily enter the Tower’s basement. Especially with a description saying it was extremely dangerous.

In such a situation, it was best not to be the vanguard but to trust the hunters and stockpile money and resources. Much, much later, if there was ever a truly unavoidable reason to enter, then I’d ask Lee Woo-jae. I absolutely wouldn’t go in myself.