WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Abandoned Tank is a Disaster-class Awakener ◈
Chapter 21
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At some point, I stopped counting how many spirits I had defeated.
But there was one thing I knew for certain.
[You have gained sufficient experience.]
[Level has increased from 54 → 55.]
[5 Status Points have been awarded.]
A little while ago, I had defeated another spirit and reached level 55.
My level had been 42 before arriving on the 27th floor.
Of course, my battle with the Guardian was not over yet, but I had gained 13 levels clearing a single floor.
‘If other Awakeners saw this, I couldn't complain even if they cursed me out.’
Even I found it absurd.
Awakeners climbed floors and defeated powerful monsters, desperately trying to raise their levels.
Yet even after risking their lives to clear a floor, they would usually gain only one level.
And yet, somehow, I had gained thirteen levels from clearing a single floor.
Getting cursed at over this would be completely justified.
Of course, that did not mean the level grinding had gone smoothly the entire time.
Giantification, the core of my overwhelming strength, had run out.
But after dealing with the spirits, I had concluded that I could defeat them even without Giantification's 50% stat increase.
Besides.
【Kang Seong-un (Super Novice)】
Level: 55
Strength: 394
Agility: 350
Health: 407
Available Status Points: 5
Skills: +1 Transcendent Body, Giantification, Shell
To compensate, I split the Status Points earned from leveling between Strength and Agility.
When grinding for experience, increasing my attack power and speed was more useful than simply enduring.
Of course, I was no longer as overwhelmingly powerful as before.
Still, my stats were close to 400.
A mere semi-boss monster that appeared around the 40th floor was nowhere near enough to threaten me.
There was no time limit anyway, so I continued the repetitive work even if it took a little longer.
Thanks to that, I reached level 55.
And before me stood...
「...」
A weary Arvelia.
None of her former majesty remained.
Her four wings drooped weakly, and the golden patterns decorating them had faded.
Hardly any of the particles of light that had filled the surroundings remained.
More than anything, I could not sense any mana from her at all.
When she had first appeared, her mana had weighed down the entire garden.
With a single gesture, she had created four intermediate spirits, and even the flowers and trees that made up the garden had responded to her.
But now.
Whoosh.
Arvelia raised a hand with difficulty.
Flash!
A single red light appeared, but then...
Flicker.
It trembled.
And then.
Ffft!
It went out.
The Pixie Queen was a Guardian, but she was also a magic-type monster.
One that specialized in summoning and spirit magic.
For a being like that, having no mana was tantamount to losing its combat power.
Step.
I walked toward the exhausted foe.
Swish.
Then I raised the Black-Iron Greatsword.
Arvelia belatedly tried to spread her four wings.
“You did well.”
Paying my respects to the Pixie Queen, who had summoned spirits until her mana was depleted.
Flash!
The Black-Iron Greatsword swung down.
Slice.
From the Pixie Queen's neck down to below her waist.
Fwoosh!
Blue light spilled out.
Then.
Rustle.
Her severed body turned into countless flower petals and particles of light, scattering into the air.
[You have defeated the Guardian of the 27th floor, “Pixie Queen Arvelia.”]
[You have completed the Hidden Trial of the 27th floor.]
[The throne guarded by the Guardian has lost its owner.]
[Challenger Kang Seong-un inherits the throne of the 27th floor.]
[You have successfully cleared the Guardian of the 27th floor.]
[Authority over the throne of the 27th floor is bound to the challenger.]
[You have obtained authority over the Throne Toll.]
[You have obtained authority over Throne Approval.]
[Calculating Guardian-clear rewards.]
[The results of the solo clear and Hidden Trial completion have been reflected in the rewards.]
Fwoosh!
Light surged from where Arvelia had vanished.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
The expected Vacant Chest, Adverse Chest, Extreme Chest, and Lonely Conqueror's Royal Chest fell at my feet.
* * *
The Vacant Chest, Adverse Chest, and Extreme Chest.
All three chests gave me the same reward: a Relic Enhancement Ticket.
“...This is a little unexpected.”
Of course, I had gotten the same thing from the previous Vacant and Adverse Chests.
But I had not expected the Extreme Chest, the one that had been different, to give me the same reward.
I had thought a Skill Enhancement Ticket would be guaranteed from the Extreme Chest, even if not from the first two.
At least I learned one thing from this.
The rewards from each chest were not completely fixed.
It seemed the result was determined by a certain probability within a pool of rewards of the same grade.
Considering I got three Relic Enhancement Tickets in a row, their drop rate might be fairly high.
‘Well, does it matter?’
Still, I was not particularly disappointed by the lack of Skill Enhancement Tickets.
No, this was actually better.
Now I could enhance Verderaum's Medal to +5.
Enhancement always improved my combat power, but +5 entered a slightly different realm.
Satisfied with that achievement, I turned to the final chest.
The Lonely Conqueror's Royal Chest.
The unique chest that looked different from the others, obtainable only as a solo-clear reward.
Click.
I opened it.
Fwoosh!
Pale purple and golden light spilled out of the chest together.
What emerged was a small medal like the one I had received after defeating Verderaum on the 26th floor.
But the engraved design was different.
At its center was a crown made of flowers and thorns.
Four small designs surrounded it.
【Arvelia's Medal】
Grade:
Classification: Possession Relic
Bound to: Kang Seong-un
Possession Effect: One-time contract with a spirit
“...What?”
Even for someone like me, who had cleared up to the 70th floor, this was an ability I had never expected or seen before.
* * *
The 27th-floor clear was over.
After returning to the private training room assigned to me, I began sorting through what I had obtained from the 27th floor.
First.
『Relic Enhancement Ticket』.
I had three in total.
I had already decided what to use them on.
I placed a small medal on my palm.
【+2 Verderaum's Medal】
I had enhanced Verderaum's Medal twice so far.
I had gotten three Enhancement Tickets this time, exactly enough to raise it to +5.
‘It's still a relic, so it shouldn't be any different, right?’
With some doubt over whether it might work differently because it was a medal, I began the enhancement.
[Enhancement successful.]
[+2 Verderaum's Medal → +3 Verderaum's Medal]
[Enhancement successful.]
[+3 Verderaum's Medal → +4 Verderaum's Medal]
I used two Enhancement Tickets.
The stat increase from the enhancements was no different from before.
It rose by 5 each time, bringing the total stats granted by Verderaum's Medal to 40.
Then came the long-awaited final enhancement.
Riiip!
I tore the Relic Enhancement Ticket and enhanced it.
[Enhancement successful.]
[+4 Verderaum's Medal → +5 Verderaum's Medal]
It succeeded again.
But this time, a different system message appeared.
[The enhancement level has reached +5.]
[From +5 onward, enhancement effects increase significantly.]
“Just as I thought!”
The effect was exactly as I expected.
One reason +5 was different was that the enhancement effect increased dramatically.
For Verderaum's Medal at +5, the stats that had increased by 5 per level now rose by 10 instead.
This brought the +5 medal's effect to 50 total stats, not 45.
This stat increase would remain through +9, before changing again at +10.
That was why, before my regression, when Enhancement Tickets became fairly common, people evaluated relics in terms of five-sets and ten-sets.
Once someone began equipping relics enhanced to +5, their combat power changed completely, so that was how people abbreviated it.
But the benefits of +5 did not end with increased enhancement effects.
[A special enhancement effect has been unlocked.]
An enhancement level only the Vanguard who had reached the 50th floor could attain.
What was hidden at that level was...
[A special effect will be added.]
A new effect would be added besides the original one.
Of course, effects added through enhancement, especially +5 effects, were usually not very strong.
But...
‘If I get a good one.’
If a good effect appeared, even a low value could prove sufficiently powerful.
[Determining the special enhancement effect.]
Along with the system message.
Hummm!
Verderaum's Medal on my palm began to vibrate.
At the same time, the system window before me extended downward.
Flicker, flicker, flicker!
Countless lines of text began rapidly moving up and down.
Like images spinning on a slot machine, different special effects repeatedly appeared and vanished around a single slot.
[Attack Speed +5%]
[Movement Speed +5%]
[Final Defense +5%]
[Attack Power +5%]
[Health Recovery Speed +10%]
[All Stats +3%]
[All Stats +5%]
Effects flashed by among the rapidly passing text.
‘Stats.’
What I wanted was an increase to my stats.
There was a slight trap here too. Even for the same effect, the amount of increase differed.
There were increases of 3%, 4%, and 5%.
What I wanted was All Stats +5%.
Of course, Attack Power and Defense were not bad either.
But...
‘Just nothing related to mana!’
The flashing list included effects related to mana.
[Mana Consumption -5%]
[Mana Increase +5%]
[Magic Power +5%]
...
And so on.
They were special effects that had nothing to do with someone like me, who focused on physical attacks.
That was why, before my regression, people sometimes discarded or temporarily disposed of relics depending on what special effect they received.
But Verderaum's Medal was irreplaceable and could not be disposed of.
All I could do was desperately hope for nothing related to mana.
Flicker, flicker, flicker!
The text kept changing.
Then, at some point, it began to slow down.
Slide.
[Attack Power +5%]
Slide.
[Movement Speed +5%]
Slide.
[Final Defense +5%]
Now I could clearly read each line as it passed.
[Mana Consumption -3%]
“...!”
Slide.
[Mana Increase +5%]
“...!!”
Slide.
It was almost at a stop.
Slideooown.
As if by a miracle, it went down one more turn.
[All Stats +5%]
But it was not decided yet.
The text slowly continued moving downward.
‘Is it going to pass by?’
A new line began rising from below.
[Mana Increase +3%]
The best or the worst.
At that crossroads.
Clunk.
The movement stopped.
The text that had been moving downward trembled slightly.
Then.
Slide.
It returned to the center.
[The special enhancement effect has been confirmed.]
[The effect “Physical Amplification” has been granted.]
[All Stats +5%]
“...I got it!”
Without realizing it, I clenched my hand.
The special effect I wanted.
Not a fixed value of 3% or 4%, but a full 5%.
It might seem like a small difference when stats were low, but the story changed as the numbers increased.
【+5 Verderaum's Medal】
Grade:
Classification: Possession Relic
Bound to: Kang Seong-un
Possession Effect: All Stats +50
+5 Special Effect: All Stats +5%
The Verderaum's Medal created this way became an incredibly powerful relic, one I desperately needed as a Super Novice.
Then.
“What is this...?”
I took out the other medal.
【Arvelia's Medal】
Grade:
Classification: Possession Relic
Bound to: Kang Seong-un
Possession Effect: One-time contract with a spirit
“...A contract with a spirit...”
No matter how many times I looked at it, it was a strange effect.
Before my regression, I had climbed to the 70th floor.
Along the way, I had seen all sorts of classes, skills, and relics.
Summoners.
Spiritists.
Beast tamers who handled familiars.
Even necromancy-type Awakeners who raised the dead.
Awakeners who summoned something to fight were by no means rare.
But that only applied to Awakeners who possessed those abilities.
Could an Awakener with no class, no skills, and no aptitude for it control a summon?
Logically, it was impossible.
Yet this medal ignored that logic.
‘I can make a contract with a spirit.’
Me, a Super Novice.
Me, who did not have a single spirit-magic skill.
No matter how deeply I searched my memories of climbing to the 70th floor, I could not recall an item like this.
It was that rare of an effect.
Squeeze.
I gripped the medal in my hand.
Then I closed my eyes and focused on it.
At first, nothing happened.
But then.
Thump.
I felt a very faint pulse from inside the medal.
The next moment.
Whoosh.
My vision flipped.
“...!”
The sensation beneath my feet disappeared.
The walls, the ceiling, everything vanished.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in an entirely different space.
Or perhaps it was unclear whether I could even call it standing.
A space with no up or down.
Countless lights floated amid endless black darkness.
It felt as if I had been dropped into the middle of space.
Red, blue, gold, silver, purple, and colors difficult even to name filled the area around me.
There were hundreds of them, no, thousands.
Perhaps far more.
Those lights surrounded me like stars.
Each one carried a different energy.
Hot.
Cold.
Heavy.
Sharp.
Warm.
‘No way?’
I realized it instinctively.
Those lights... were all spirits.
Arvelia's Medal was not a relic that designated a single spirit for me.
It sent me to a place where I could connect with countless spirits and let me choose one myself.
But there was a problem.
‘What am I supposed to choose?’
There were too many options.
Clearly, some spirits would be more useful and more powerful than others.
But there was no explanation of what kind of spirit each one was.
I could not see their grade, attribute, or abilities.
There was only light.
So I had no choice but to hesitate.
This choice would determine the spirit I chose, and many things would change.
‘At times like this...’
If I did not know anything anyway, I would choose whatever I felt drawn to.
And what drew me most was a small green point of light in a distant corner.
Toward the light that had seemed to be watching me first for some time now.
Slide.
I reached out.
The moment my fingertips touched the green light.
Flaaash!
“...!”
The light I had thought was a small point exploded.
Green radiance swallowed my vision.
The endless darkness was pushed away, and the thousands of lights floating around me vanished in an instant.
Then, from the center of the green light that had burst outward, something slowly opened its eyes.
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