100 Floors All Master - Chapter 284

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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All Master of 100 Floors Episode 284
Floor 65. Your Own Mirror (1)
[Title: Hmm. Floor 65 was quite difficult.]
[At this difficulty level, I’d guess most Players couldn’t have made it through.]
[Hwa Rang-in (Floor 66): Huh? Wasn’t Floor 65 supposed to be a relatively easy floor?]
[Dang Jung-ryeong (Floor 65): Hmm?]
[Hwa Rang-in (Floor 66): For me, Floor 66 wasn’t difficult at all. Didn’t even take a few hours. And you’re a far stronger Player than someone like me, aren’t you? So you found it hard?]
[Dang Jung-ryeong (Floor 65): It was quite difficult. The clear alone took me several days straight. I hesitate to say this, but your strength shouldn’t be able to reach mine. Is this a floor where the difficulty scales to match each Player’s power, as the quest description suggests?]
[Hwa Rang-in (Floor 66): There were actually quite a few weak Players who said they struggled with it too. Hmm. I’m not sure.]

* * *
“Kang Jun-hyeok. You’re truly extraordinary.”
Someone spoke—their face full of disbelief, brimming with excitement.
“Goodness, goodness. To think you’d reach the 4th Tier in the 70s. That’s an achievement no one else has accomplished. Even the Defeated Ones didn’t calculate for this. I can’t fathom why you didn’t show your brilliance from the start.”
The other’s face was filled with deep hope. He wore a martial arts robe with plum blossoms embroidered on it.
“If it’s you, you really might save the universe.”

* * *
A vast chamber on Floor 65.
At its center stood a full-length mirror.
The mirror’s size matched Kang Jun-hyeok perfectly. As if it had been made for him alone.
[Floor 65 Quest.]
[Stand before the mirror.]
[The mirror will face you and create a doppelgänger of yourself. The opponent’s strength is proportional to yours.]
The quest of Floor 65 was to confront your own doppelgänger.
The opponent’s strength scaled to match the Player.
On the surface, it seemed like a straightforward quest—simply defeat a copy of yourself.
But in reality, it was different.
The other self that appeared didn’t scale only in physical strength.
It scaled in mental fortitude as well.
For instance, imagine a Player who possesses absolute confidence beyond what their actual strength deserves.
Then their doppelgänger appears with strength befitting that confidence.
A doppelgänger that never breaks, wielding absolute power.
The doppelgänger grows stronger in proportion to ego, consciousness, confidence, and will. Conversely, someone mentally weak produces a weak doppelgänger—easily defeated without much difficulty. However strong someone is, they rarely possess perfect confidence. Even Ariel, even Touvalt carried some fragility deep within. Target that gap, and you could clear it.
Yu Jin-ha had cleared this floor easier than anyone. Mentally, he was utterly weak compared to his actual skill level.
Conversely, Trey Dice had failed to clear it and ended up dead.
He possessed, quite literally, the absolute confidence that neither Ariel nor Touvalt held.
That was the trap’s meaning.
Then how should one clear Floor 65 easily?
The answer was simple.
Deceive your own emotions, your own consciousness.
Act as an utterly weak version of yourself. With Control Skill and Acting Skill, you could even deceive yourself. That way, Floor 65 would be simple to clear.
But.
But you shouldn’t do it that way.
Kang Jun-hyeok gazed at his Skill Window.
[First Qualification]
[ Pass.]
[ ]
[ ]
[1. Partial Unlock.]
A qualification obtained from facing the Master of the Universe.
He couldn’t know the details, but it must be necessary to achieve his goal.
He’d obtained the First Qualification upon clearing Floor 50.
It had been a pure Tower quest—neither the Defeated Ones’ trial nor the Victors’ trial.
The one who built the Tower was the Master of the Universe.
A Tower quest was, in essence, a trial given by the Master of the Universe.
Then what must he do to obtain the Second Qualification?
Deducing the answer wasn’t particularly difficult.

“Hah.”
He controls his own emotions. He acts out his feelings.
What he was performing wasn’t the weak version of himself, the one who could clear the 65th Floor with ease.
An absolute confidence, bordering on arrogance—stronger than anyone else’s. A conviction more unwavering than even Trey’s.
Kang Jun-hyeok stands before the mirror. His physical and mental strength are reflected in its surface.
In that moment, something beyond it seemed to laugh.
As though Kang Jun-hyeok’s choice had been the right one.
Ripple.
The mirror warps. It quivers like mucus, taking on a human form. Before long, a dark silhouette holding a single sword materializes.
[Hm.]
[……That is.]
Manbyeonggi and Eldyria instinctively sense it.
That is dangerous.
It is qualitatively different from any opponent they’ve faced before. Something entirely other—neither Victor nor Defeated One.
[It’s subtle to call it merely your shadow self. There’s something qualitatively different about it.]
“We’ll find out soon enough by facing it directly.”
Kang Jun-hyeok draws his sword.
“Here.”
With that word, his opponent charges.
The sword traces a sharp arc, attempting to cut him down. He swiftly swings his blade in response.
Clang!
Steel meets steel.
A violent impact sends them both sliding back half a step.
Their strength and speed are nearly equal. The opponent plants his feet. The blade whirls at dizzying speed. Kang Jun-hyeok shifts and parries, flowing and deflecting each blow.
Clang-clang-clang!
Vicious, killing strikes collide against one another.
Kang Jun-hyeok’s face tightens slightly as he responds to the assault.
‘What is this?’
The 65th Floor was supposed to pit him against his own shadow self.
Fundamentally, his opponent’s strength shouldn’t differ much from his own.
Yet the swordsmanship his shadow self wielded now was not Manbyeonggi’s.
The strange part was that it didn’t feel foreign. If anything, it stirred a peculiar nostalgia.
In the next moment, his opponent raises his sword high. He plants his feet and moves his body as though dancing.
Kang Jun-hyeok’s eyes widen.
Plum blossoms unfold.
Countless, blooming like cherry blossoms, they pour down toward him.
Kang Jun-hyeok expands his senses. He unleashes the Absolute World Suppression Domain. He controls his own power and moves his sword.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
He beats back and deflects the blossoms. Evading the driven blade, Kang Jun-hyeok opens distance between them.
[What is that?]
Manbyeonggi was bewildered. There was no other way to be.
[The Twenty-Four Hand Plum Blossom Sword Technique.]
What the shadow self had just displayed was the sword technique of the Mount Hua Sect.
Kang Jun-hyeok had never learned that technique. He’d never even met anyone from the Mount Hua Sect. And that wasn’t all.
Boom!
Flame clings to the blade. It explodes like a bomb, pressing down on him. Eldyria murmurs.
[Pyrokinesis.]
A psychic power that commands fire. That too was a skill Kang Jun-hyeok had never learned.
The shadow self raises a finger. Following a warning from his senses, Kang Jun-hyeok twists his body. Brilliant light surges from the finger, piercing straight through.
[Magic of the Laser Nora School.]
Sword technique, psychic power, magic.
Everything his opponent wielded was something Kang Jun-hyeok had never mastered.
[The 65th Floor Quest was supposed to summon your shadow self, wasn’t it? That is not you.]
“To be precise, it’s different.”
Kang Jun-hyeok steadies his stance and murmurs.
“That is me. Just not the me of this world.”
[What do you mean by…….]
Eldyria’s voice trails off. They finally understood.
[You from your previous life.]
“Exactly.”
Kang Jun-hyeok lets out a soft laugh.
“The Master of the Universe really is contemptible. I never thought I’d end up facing him like this.”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Plum blossoms unfold. And they ignite all at once. The Plum Blossom Sword Technique, infused with telekinesis, seeks to burn Kang Jun-hyeok alive.
Clang-clang-clang!
Kang Jun-hyeok defends. Then the laser finds an opening. He twists his body and dodges.
A coordinated exchange, each drawing on their own power.
It was a method he’d used frequently in his past life.
The opponent before him was his former self.
‘Around 70th Floor level, I’d say.’
In terms of stats, there was no great difference between this version of himself and what he faced now. With that degree of proficiency, it appeared to be his former self from the late 70s.
Overcome your past self.
That was the quest’s purpose.
Kang Jun-hyeok became genuinely delighted.
“Perfect!”
If that’s what you want! He bares his teeth. Steps forward with purpose. For the first time, he goes on the offensive.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
He carves through the gaps between the unfolding plum blossoms, steadying his breath.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
He strikes down the blossoms, deflects them, parries them. Perfect movements controlling his surrounding domain. It was the combination of Manbyeonggi’s Martial Arts and his Control Skill. In an instant, he forges a path and plunges into the doppelgänger’s body.
Burst!
The doppelgänger unleashes flame to drive Kang Jun-hyeok back. In that moment, he crushes the flame itself with telekinesis. Pouring in force, he thrusts upward.
Clang-clang-clang!
The doppelgänger manages to defend. Its body springs backward as if flung. Then it raises its fingers. At that instant, Kang Jun-hyeok activates magic.
[Pixie’s Mana Box.]
Whine.
Light streaming from the mana box crushes and flattens the laser. The doppelgänger shields itself.
Boom-crash-bang!
Along with a violent explosion, the doppelgänger barely escapes.
From that gap, countless lasers aim at every part of Kang Jun-hyeok’s body. He twists desperately to avoid each one.
‘As expected—its judgment is sharp.’
It recognized the power contained in the mana box’s light and immediately gave up on countering it. Instead, it aimed for his opening and fired lasers at vital points. Had its reaction been just a moment slower, he would have taken considerable damage.
The opponent was his past self from around the 70th Floor.
Hardly weak.
It was the period when he first began to make his mark in the Universe, when the Defeated Ones started offering their support. The Victors too grew wary and approached him to exclude him.
At that time, he possessed the power of the Fourth Tier.
There were many who marveled at his unprecedented feats.
‘But.’
Clang-clang-clang!
Sword meets sword. He steps forward.
He doesn’t yield ground.
He possessed the knowledge of his past life. He’d achieved Perfect Clear on every floor and attained realms no one else had reached.
As a result, by merely the 65th Floor, he had already acquired the power that his past self had barely achieved by the late 70s.
Their strength and speed are nearly matched. And Kang Jun-hyeok had never lost to such an opponent.
‘If there’s a problem, it’s that he is myself.’
The same held true for his enemy.
His former self from the 70th Floor possessed truly special and formidable powers—literally ‘unique’ abilities.
Resonance.
The doppelgänger realized it. The opponent was extraordinarily strong. At least not with these ordinary techniques it possessed could it win.
Then it must employ a special power that transcends him.
Purple aura flows from the doppelgänger as well. It spreads and stains the surroundings in an instant. Kang Jun-hyeok’s eyes turn serious.
That was one of the Unique Skills his past self had obtained.
[King of Curse.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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