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Chapter 9
Ominous Clouds
The Chaos Gate. Literally, it is filled with chaos where no one can see even one step ahead.
For normal gates, detection-type Hunters gather information beforehand. They find out the general
size, rank, time remaining, and appearing monsters. Emergency disaster text messages lack detail
because speed is key, but Hunters who know their stuff know everything they need to know.
On the other hand, for a Chaos Gate, nothing is known—not the size, the difficulty, or the monsters
that appear. No one knows when or where it will open or close. Furthermore, while clearing a
Chaos Gate, you get cursed. Your stats might decrease, or your skills might be sealed. Naturally,
you cannot display your full strength. You cannot even prepare measures in advance, because you will not know what kind of curse will appear until you step inside.
Another difference is that normal gates spill monsters outward, but a Chaos Gate requires you to go
inside. Apart from the main body, entrance portals open all over the Earth. Where they will open is
completely unknown; if you are unlucky, an entrance might even appear on top of an apartment building’s water tank.
In return, the rewards from a Chaos Gate are great. So far, only three Legendary items have been discovered worldwide, and two of them came from Chaos Gates.
[Gate Type: Chaos Gate (???)]
[Time Remaining Until Opening: 31:27:41]
However, a Chaos Gate was about to open in Korea. In about 31 hours. As Jeong-ho focused his mind, the globe screen expanded.
‘The exact location is right here. I can get there by transferring between a few buses.’
Jeong-ho thought about it and then flinched without realizing it.
— [Gate Guide. You can see where gates open, and when they open and close. Remote entry is also possible.]
He remembered what Big Shadow Daeyoung had said. If remote entry is possible, why take a bus? Human habits are truly terrifying.
‘Thirty-one hours means roughly two days? During that time, I can climb two more floors in the Tower of Trials.’
Jeong-ho was gradually getting greedy for gates. He heard that Chaos Gates were difficult, but you
can give up halfway at any time inside a gate. If you move more than 300 meters away from the
gate, it ends. As long as at least one Hunter is actively clearing the gate, the monsters will draw toward them, making it easy to escape.
It was the same for Chaos Gates. He could just step inside briefly, check what the curse was, and if it felt like too much, he could simply leave. Unlike the Tower, there was nothing to lose.
‘If I’m going anyway, let’s grab the blessing from the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials too.’
The blessing from the 5th floor gave a chance for double rewards. To put it bluntly, it was a blessing for farming items. It was great when making money, but useless when clearing either the Tower or a gate. However, he heard that the 10th-floor blessing helped in battle. Since Li Wei’s magic stone supply block was still ongoing, why not grab the blessing to send a warning to him as well?
“Enter the Tower of Trials.”
[Skill Used: Enter Tower of Trials]
[Which floor would you like to enter?]
Repeating cleared floors right now was out of the question. He had to snatch the 10th-floor blessing before the Chaos Gate opened.
“9th floor.”
[Entering the 9th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
Flash!
Jeong-ho stepped out of a lump of white light and looked around. He saw giant salamanders covered in a moist blue background color with dense yellow grid patterns.
[9th Floor Goal: Defeat 19 Electric Salamanders.]
[Time Limit: 6 hours]
The 9th floor of the Tower of Trials was a jungle full of puddles. At a glance, it looked like fire magic would not work.
‘If they are salamanders, they must be strong against fire, right? Plus, there is water for them to dive into.’
The elemental match-ups among monsters were quite intuitive. If a monster looked like fire wouldn’t work on it, it mostly didn’t work in reality. Though there were occasional exceptions.
‘First, let’s turn on Water Shield. Fire Bolt! Wait, will they mix together again?’
[Surrounding you with a shield of water.]
[Mind Separation Technique is activated!]
[Shooting a arrow made of fire.]
Fortunately, the skills came out separately. It seemed that once a skill was discovered, it had to be used independently.
Whoosh! Water swirled around Jeong-ho, wrapping around him. A red sun floated up lightly into the air. As the salamanders instinctively jumped into the puddles, Kaboom! A rain of fire evaporated the puddles entirely.
[Electric Salamanders Defeated: 11/19]
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
“Ugh. Phew. They are terribly strong.”
The remaining Electric Salamanders spread their neck frills wide. Zzzzt! Purple sparks flared from their spread skin.
‘Electric? Should I try using Deep Cloud? They said it can change into other elements.’
[Skill Used: Original Form of Deep Cloud]
[Covering the area with clouds. You can change the nature of the cloud using other elements.]
Puff! Ominous clouds burst out from Jeong-ho’s palm. Trapped in the dense clouds, the Electric Salamanders flared threat sparks.
Flash! Crackle! Zzzzt!
In an instant, the sparks traveled through the clouds. As if electricity passed through wet water, the entire cloud was covered in purple sparks.
[You have cleared the 9th floor of the Tower of Trials!]
[Clear Time – 00:00:09 seconds.]
[Clear Grade: EX]
[EX Grade Reward: You have obtained 29 Magic Stones.]
[EX Grade Special Reward: You have obtained 1 Proof of Hero.]
[Reclaimed Rank 1! You have updated the record!]
He spent some time on the 9th floor because he was testing a new skill. His impression of the newly discovered skill was:
‘This Deep Cloud thing… is incredible, right?’
If you wrap the enemy in clouds, the moment they try to do something, the cloud reacts and explodes. Its power is great too. It turned the Electric Salamanders into grilled electric salamanders.
‘Elements themselves are common, so it’s easy to detonate.’
Warriors cover their blades in flames, and archers ignite their arrowheads. Not to mention mages.
If Hunters are like this, monsters are even more extreme. Users who handle light, dark, or blood
attributes—which are not included in water, fire, earth, or air—are rare, whether they are monsters or Hunters.
‘It’s a bit disappointing that it’s passive, though.’
If worst comes to worst, he could just light it himself with Fire Bolt. After clearing the 9th floor,
Jeong-ho logged onto Hunter-On. Since a boss monster appears on the 10th floor, he decided to check the guide.
<Breaking 9 9th EX-grade News! Tower Trials clears floor in of seconds! the>
└ I’m tired of praising him now. Long live EX-grade!
└ The guy above is so spoiled. You should just emigrate.
└ Why leave Korea where the EX-grade lives? I will live in South Korea for the rest of my life and be buried here!
└ Did he match the clear time to 9 seconds because it’s the 9th floor? That’s funny.
└ If he goes to the 10th floor tomorrow, will he take another blessing from Li Wei?
As always, the banner at the top was noisy. He tried not to look, but his eyes kept drifting toward it. However,
└ Don’t get too excited. Even for an EX-grade, the 10th floor is dangerous. In fact, an EX-grade might die on the 10th floor.
A comment appeared that made the atmosphere go cold. Die? Jeong-ho’s eyes widened.
└ What’s with this guy who can’t read the room?
└ Leave him alone. He’s probably jealous of the EX-grade. I heard there are many like that among high-rank Hunters.
└ If you don’t have skill, at least have a good heart~
Flash! A new post appeared at the top of the message board.
— Baek Mi-na (A): It seemed like it would be long, so I posted a new thread. If the EX-grade is
watching this, please keep this in mind. The boss of the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials is a Doppelganger.
— Baek Mi-na (A): The 10th-floor Doppelganger copies not only appearance, but also stats, skills, and unique skills. Weak Hunters can easily overcome it using temporary buffs, but strong Hunters could die.
‘This person… wrote the Elixir guide before, right?’
The Hunter named Baek Mi-na. Her name was familiar now. The tone of the comments that were insulting her just a moment ago changed.
└ That’s right. The 10th floor is the Doppelganger, right? What should the EX-grade do?
└ I heard Ronald, the World No. 1, almost died back then too.
└ Almost died? Ronald was practically a corpse back then. They barely kept him alive with 72 hours of continuous surgery. How many Elixirs did they feed him during rehabilitation?
└ Seeing that, Li Wei removed all his items before entering. What a coward.
└ EX-nim! Please take off all your items before entering the 10th floor!
‘I don’t have any items to begin with, though.’
Jeong-ho felt a little scared too. Isn’t a Doppelganger too strong to appear as a 10th-floor boss?
‘Wait, no. Is it actually appropriate because it’s the 10th floor?’
The 10th floor of the Tower of Trials meant Level 10. How strong could a Level 10 Hunter be? Even
an S-rank Hunter is weak at Level 10. Even if the Doppelganger copies them, it can be overcome
through combat instincts and skill proficiency. As Hunter Baek Mi-na suggested, one could also use buff items.
But what about Jeong-ho? His stats were F-grade. His skills were EX-grade. Wouldn’t he die
instantly if he were hit by a skill copied by the Doppelganger? As he was starting to worry, a memory came to mind.
— [The Dimension Shop [Dapanda] deals strictly in originals. Everything you obtain in the Tower or Gates are just imitation copies of the original. They are on a different dimension.]
Imitations copying the original. They are on a different dimension from the original. Could it be that the skills copied by the Doppelganger are also treated as imitations?
Flash!
[Skill Used: Enter Tower of Trials]
[Entering the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[10th Floor Goal: Defeat 1 Doppelganger.]
[Time Limit: 3 hours]
It was a suffocating stone room reminiscent of a dungeon. On the opposite side, a wriggling black mass swayed and then transformed into the exact appearance of Jeong-ho.
“Ugh.”
An instinctive disgust, fear, and anxiety. That brief gap was the Doppelganger’s greatest weapon. The Doppelganger raised its hand first.
“Fire Bolt.”
It looked just like him and had the exact same voice, but it was not Jeong-ho.
“Wa—Water Shield!”
Whoosh! A shield of water instantly surrounded Jeong-ho. However, what about the Fire Bolt shot by the Doppelganger?
Fizzle—
A fire arrow at the level of a match flame flew over and simply went out. Even the Doppelganger looked puzzled for a moment, but then said with an evil expression again:
“Fire Bolt.”
Flame! Fizzle.
“Fire Bolt. Fire Bolt. Fire Bolt.”
‘This Doppelganger is way too weak?’
The Doppelganger copies skills. The moment it copies them, they are no longer original. They
become the level of skills used by other ordinary Hunters. Furthermore, Jeong-ho’s mana was F-
grade. Even if it used Fire Bolt, it was like throwing lit matches. To make matters worse, it collapsed
onto the floor and began panting heavily.
‘Its mana pollution is maxed out. It feels strange, like I’m killing myself with my own hands. Let’s cover it up as much as possible so I don’t see it—Deep Cloud.’
Clouds as dense as wet cotton wrapped around the Doppelganger.
“Fire Bolt.”
A fireball floated up above Jeong-ho’s head. As the rain of fire covered the cloud, Burn! The giant cloud turned bright red and raged like an angry sea serpent.
[You have cleared the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials!]
[Clear Time – 00:00:10 seconds.]
[Clear Grade: EX]
[EX Grade Reward: You have obtained 79 Magic Stones.]
[EX Grade Special Reward: You have obtained 1 Proof of Hero.]
[Reclaimed Rank 1! You have updated the record!]
After the cloud of flame scattered, only scorch marks remained on the floor. Jeong-ho could not look directly at the marks and turned his head away. Even though it was a monster, it looked just like him.
“…G-Good luck in your next life.”
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
[Warning! Mana Pollution 99%!]
“…And don’t suffer from mana pollution either.”
Suppressing his nausea, Jeong-ho prayed for the peace of the Doppelganger’s soul and checked his status window.
[10th Floor Rank 1 Special Reward: You obtain the Blessing of Sharpness.]
— Blessing of Sharpness: Grants a chance to land a critical hit proportional to your Luck and Perception stats, dealing 2x damage.
‘This isn’t that great?’
Jeong-ho already dealt double damage thanks to the Mind Separation Technique. He already had firepower to spare. Even considering various overlapping factors, he had defeated the White Dragon Spirit in a single hit.
‘No, wait. You can never have too much firepower.’
Besides, it said it was proportional to Luck. Conveniently, he had raised his Luck to C-rank with the
5th-floor blessing. Looking at it now, the blessings synergized with one another. Having the 5th-
floor blessing made the 10th-floor blessing better. In that case, what about the 15th floor? The 20th
floor? He now had a reason to keep collecting blessings from the Tower of Trials in the future.
‘This should mean I’m fully prepared to enter the Chaos Gate.’
Jeong-ho’s eyes turned pale blue.
[Authority Used: Gate Guide]
[Opening Dimensional Sight!]
[Gate Type: Chaos Gate (???)]
[Time Remaining Until Opening: 17:02:51]
There were 17 hours left until the Chaos Gate opened. Having a good night’s sleep and eating a hearty bowl of ramen tomorrow would be perfect timing.
‘Oh, right. Speaking of which, since I cleared the 10th floor, I must have gathered enough Proofs of Hero, right?’
Jeong-ho opened his inventory.
[You have collected 5 Proofs of Hero.]
[You have obtained 1 Proof of Hero Box!]
He had to open the box before entering the Chaos Gate. Click! As he opened the box, a dazzling light poured out.
— Hero’s Diary (???): You can experience the memories of ??? ??? ???. Your stats will grow depending on the content of the experience. Growth is possible only once per chapter.
An old diary dropped into Jeong-ho’s hands with a thud.
Inside the hallway of the Mukryong Guild in China, a giant monitor was displaying news.
[Record Updated! The owner of the blessing changes.]
[10th Floor Rank 1 Special Reward: The Blessing of Sharpness is transferred from Li Wei → ???.]
The members of the Mukryong Guild looked pale. It was Korea’s second consecutive steal of a blessing, something they had not expected. That was not all. Li Wei’s dual-attack strategy on Myeongdong and Yeongwol was completely thwarted, and Koreans were praising the EX-grade Hunter instead.
“Khehehe. Hahaha. Foolish Koreans.”
Yet Li Wei was laughing. Flustered, the Mukryong Guild members looked at one another.
“Why are you all so quiet? You were as loud as babbling birds last time. Did someone sew your mouths shut?”
“N-No, sir. How could we…”
“How could we possibly comprehend the Master’s grand plan?”
“Please bestow your wisdom upon the foolish Chang Yao!”
Li Wei looked around at the guild members with a cold gaze. Respecting the strong was common
sense, but the Mukryong Guild was sometimes excessive. Only Liu Jie remained calm as usual.
“Liu Jie. You seem to have noticed something. You speak.”
All eyes instantly gathered on Liu Jie. Flustered, Liu Jie stammered as he spoke.
“I-I dare to speak, Master. Simply put, it can be assumed that the EX-grade knows nothing about the Chaos Gate.”
“Why is that?”
“The challenge for the 10th floor of the Tower of Trials is a Doppelganger. Since the EX-grade fought an EX-grade Doppelganger, he must have suffered severe injuries, just like World No. 1 Ronald did.”
Li Wei nodded with satisfaction.
“Keep going.”
“Yes. In short, it means this: Korea—and especially the EX-grade—can never join the Chaos Gate raid, which opens in less than a day.”
Only then did the complexions of the Mukryong Guild members brighten.
“Exactly. To be honest, losing the 10th-floor blessing was a critical blow to me too. Since I am a detection-type Hunter, I really needed a blessing that increases firepower. However…”
Li Wei fluttered his coat robes grandly. The screen on the large monitor changed, showing the outskirts of Incheon. It was the location where the Chaos Gate would open in 17 hours.
“With the rewards from a Chaos Gate, losing a 10th-floor blessing can easily be recovered and more.
The EX-grade will definitely not know what mistake he made, what he missed, or who he dared to make an enemy of. No matter how strong he is, in the end, he is just small fry.”
Li Wei laughed wickedly.
