Romanak's upper body split cleanly in half and fell to the ground.
There was no spray of blood. His body simply fragmented into tiny pieces, scattering into the wind.
Ding!
[The King of the Strange Land, Romanak, has been defeated!]
[Romanak was once a deputy mayor who selected and shaped high-quality flint.]
[One day, he realized he could imbue flint with supernatural power—he could assign rules to the creations he forged.]
[The Strange Land is an impregnable kingdom Romanak built over a very long time.]
[After completing his kingdom, Romanak wished to bring in other living beings. With them, he believed he could create even greater "toys."]
[Thus, Romanak's Strange Land became part of the Tower of Despair.]
[You have shattered Romanak's dream of reviving his kingdom here!]
"…Huh?"
Jinhyuk frowned.
Became part of the Tower of Despair?
It sounded as though the Strange Land hadn't originally belonged to the Tower at all.
"Hmm."
Maredo's case had been similar. The rabbit should have been in the Tower of Myths, yet Jinhyuk had encountered him in the Tower of Despair.
There had to be some kind of rule at work.
After a brief moment of thought, Jinhyuk shrugged.
Ever since the Towers appeared, common sense had stopped applying. Even creatures from myth like the Imugi had proven to exist. At this point, nothing would surprise him.
There must be plenty more like this.
Years had passed since the Tower of Despair emerged, yet humanity had uncovered only fragments of its secrets—synchronization rates, tower items, and the link between transfers and floor progression.
There was still a long way to go.
That's what makes it fun.
He hummed in satisfaction.
Personally, he hoped the Tower was still hiding countless secrets. Uncovering them one by one—that was half the thrill.
"Momo-ooooo!"
"What?!"
He summoned Great Teacher Momo and pointed at the floor at the summit.
"I'll break this apart. Want to collect it?"
"Yep!"
He struck the ground with his steel sword. Sparks flew in all directions.
Just as Tutti the rabbit had said—it was flint.
Focusing on one section, he struck repeatedly until shards broke loose. Momo, who had been waiting eagerly, snatched them up.
Jinhyuk clasped his hands together.
Please, Romanak's flint forged over a thousand years!
After a moment of inspection, Momo nodded.
Ding!
[You have obtained Romanak's Flint, Tempered for a Thousand Years!]
"Nice!"
Jinhyuk threw an uppercut into the air. Momo clenched her fist in imitation.
[Insufficient flint quantity! More flint is required to update the materials for the Soul Reaper!]
No need to despair.
The entire summit was made of flint.
Jinhyuk pulled out a pickaxe.
"Teacher Momo."
"Mm!"
"I'm counting on you."
"Totally ready!"
Momo gave him a chubby thumbs-up. Jinhyuk returned the gesture and raised his pickaxe.
Then he began an unexpected round of hard labor.
Clang! Scoop-scoop-scoop! Clang! Scoop-scoop-scoop!
Strike and collect. Strike and collect.
Watching from the side, Kancho swallowed.
"As expected of the Jin–Momo duo…! Their teamwork is amazing!"
"Seriously. Look at that rhythm."
"Since when did you start talking like that, Grandma?"
"You're the last one who should comment on someone's speech pattern."
As Kancho and Elia bickered, Renya walked over to a crack Jinhyuk had created and drove her fist into it.
The floor exploded upward with a thunderous vibration.
"Uwooooo!"
Momo's hands moved even faster as flint pieces rained down.
After quite a while—
Ding!
[Required quantity met! Materials for the Transcendent One-Handed Sword, Soul Reaper, have been updated!]
The gray material slot turned bright white.
Jinhyuk straightened up and wiped sweat from his brow.
Now only one thing remained: the Black Dragon's Claw.
"What about the rest?!" someone asked.
"Hold on."
He examined a shard of flint closely.
[Romanak's Flint, Tempered for a Thousand Years]
Flint imbued with Romanak's supernatural power.
Flames ignited with this flint will carry that power.
Various effects are added to all crafting processes that use these flames.
Especially effective for blacksmithing!
"Ohhh!"
As expected of something refined over a millennium.
It wasn't just a crafting material—it had real utility.
They were taking all of it.
He'd hand it over to Zhu Yeo later.
Just as he exchanged glances with Momo and lifted his pickaxe again—
Ding!
[The Strange Land, somewhere on the 70th Floor of the Tower of Despair, has been cleared!]
[Unique Trait 'Level Equalization' activated! The highest level and rank—Seira Kinkeiton—has been selected as the standard!]
[Player Yoo Jinhyuk's level has increased!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
…
[Level Up! Current Level: 110]
['Genius of Growth' SSS+ trait activated! All stats have increased!]
[You have obtained 2 Blank Cards!]
[You have obtained 1 Double-Gacha Blank Card!]
It had been a while since he'd gotten one of those.
A Double-Gacha Blank Card allowed him to learn an ununlocked skill from one of his hero cards. He couldn't choose which skill, but whatever he got was always worth it—learning something even the hero hadn't yet mastered.
[Experience for Seira Kinkeiton, Commander of the Black Knights, has increased! Current Level: 201 / EXP: 60%]
[Kancho, Vice-Captain of the Yodel Rangers, has leveled up! Current Level: 112]
Unique Skill 'Explosion Enchant' unlocked!
Can imbue weapons or objects with explosive energy!
Mana is consumed with each explosion!
Mana consumption and explosion power scale with swing strength or projectile speed!
[Dark Castro, the Undying, has leveled up! Current Level: 128]
Unique Skill 'Frost Emission' leveled up! LV7
The frost radius expands as battle continues!
[Momo the Greedy Collector has leveled up! Current Level: 127]
Unique Trait 'Meticulous Hands – Advanced' leveled up! LV2
Collected item quality increases!
[Elia Fossen, Star Alchemist, has leveled up! Current Level: 120]
[Carmella Shirin, Reader of the Skies, has leveled up! Current Level: 120]
[Renya, the Steel Goblin Tempered in Darkness, has leveled up! Current Level: 120]
Ding!
[Three Unique-grade heroes have reached promotion-eligible levels!]
[When encountering related items or situations, promotion quests will trigger!]
[Until promotion, leveling up is disabled!]
[Acquired EXP will accumulate in temporary storage and convert after promotion!]
"So they're already at promotion level."
Jinhyuk rubbed his chin.
Related items or situations, huh?
He'd gone through it before with Seira and Dark, though back then the quests had triggered before they hit the level cap.
Now three needed promotion at once.
He couldn't just sit around waiting for circumstances to fall into place.
Once he secured the Black Dragon's Claw and completed the Soul Reaper, he'd start retracing their pasts—looking for items or events tied to each of them.
[You have cleared all games from Episode 1 to the Final Episode in one run!]
[Floors 67 to 70 Clear Rank: SSS+!]
[Achievement gauge filled! Bonus reward box spinning!]
He washed his face with dry hands and stared at the spinning roulette.
No matter how many times he saw it, it always made his heart pound.
Sometimes—just sometimes—it delivered exactly what he needed.
Ding!
[Bonus reward granted!]
[Ticket Storage / Unique Grade obtained!]
[You can store Tower Tickets! Unused tickets at the end of the day will be saved!]
[Maximum storage: 10 tickets!]
Ding!
[Error detected! Another Tower exists!]
[Ticket Storage function expanded! Storage split into compartments! 5 tickets each for the Tower of Myths and the Tower of Despair!]
[Further expansion and upgrades possible upon meeting specific conditions!]
"…What now?"
That was unexpected.
"…Actually, this might be pretty good."
He'd noticed it before—his companions sometimes grew exhausted from constant pushes, yet they climbed daily to avoid wasting tickets.
Now they didn't have to.
Tickets could be stored. They could take a breather.
A subtle sense of ease settled over him.
Nice.
As he threw another celebratory uppercut—
Poke poke poke poke poke.
Sharp jabs hit his calf.
"At this rate we'll get kicked out! Hurry up and collect!"
"Ah."
Snapping back to reality, he resumed mining.
With Momo's upgraded trait, the flint's quality would be even higher now.
They were taking every last piece.
Not a single shard left behind.
"Made it, made it."
Jinhyuk stretched out on the sofa of his private jet.
It had been a while since he'd done manual labor.
Thanks to his overflowing stats, his body wasn't tired—but repetitive work always drained the mind.
"It reminded me of digging up sweet potatoes as a kid. Every time middle school ended, I'd get dragged to the field to use a hoe."
"Sweet potatoes are yummy!"
"They are. But I'd rather just buy them. Planting and harvesting? That's the hard part."
"If you don't want to do it, just don't!"
"If I didn't, Madam Kim Minji would personally deliver a back-smashing. Sometimes she even threatened to cut off my allowance."
"Then you have to do it!"
"So I did. Didn't dare complain."
"Commander, you don't need to worry about your hometown farm anymore."
"Why's that?"
"We have Lord Torong. By the time we visit, everything will already be done. We just harvest and eat."
"That sounded suspiciously like an evil landlord."
"I didn't order him! He just plows the fields on his own!"
Jinhyuk swallowed.
Now that he thought about it, Torong was always in the fields whenever he visited.
Surely Yoo Jinhui wasn't working that cute summon like a slave… right?
"Kancho, don't hit Lord Torong. He seems pitiful."
"I only encourage him these days. I even gave him a Yodel Forest Labor Rights Leaf in case things get too hard."
What was that supposed to mean? And how would Torong even get there?
Questions piled up, but Jinhyuk decided not to ask.
It seemed well-intentioned.
"By the way, what happened to Tutti the rabbit? I forgot while mining."
"As soon as Romanak died, he shouted 'I'm free!' and ran off. I tried grabbing his ears but failed. He's super fast."
"I see."
It made him wonder.
What happened to floors that had been incorporated into the Tower of Despair after being cleared?
From the system messages, this seemed like a unique, self-contained floor—like Maredo's space.
Unlike normal floors, it probably wasn't accessible again.
"Master."
Seira approached with a serious expression.
Jinhyuk straightened up instinctively.
"What is it?"
"I believe we require lobster."
"…Excuse me?"
"Momo wants lobster too!"
Now that she mentioned it, he was getting hungry.
Smiling, Jinhyuk nodded.
"Desummon and wait."
He was about to press the button—
This is your captain speaking. We will soon be arriving at Reykjavík Airport.
At the announcement, Jinhyuk turned toward the window.
They had finally arrived.
In Iceland.
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T/N:
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