Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 20

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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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Cheating Administrator Climbing a Mythic Tower (20)
When you thought about it, it was only natural.
A Golem is an Artificial Lifeform that moves by means of a core.
Which meant, simply, that someone had made it artificially.
There was a creator.
The reason he hadn’t particularly dwelt on that obvious fact was precisely this:
“Whoooooosh.”
All that remained here were rubble piles and debris.
The scattered heaps strewn about easily numbered over a hundred.
In other words, if he simply recovered his stamina and Mana methodically, killed them one by one, and collected the fixed number of cores needed, he’d achieve the Clear Condition automatically.
Who made them? Why did they make them?
He had no time to worry about such things.
“Phew, okay. Third one done.”line>
Thanks to the Chi-Ta Boots (B) and the Hand Strength Enhancement Gloves (C), Mu Saeng—whose total Stats exceeded the 30+ range with increased speed and strength—made short work of this floor in mere minutes, nothing to write home about.

[Once you cross this mountain, there should be a house on the other side.]
“Yeah, I know. A place with a kitchen and cooking equipment, right? And a Guardian appears there?”
[Under the normal Clear Condition, you only trigger the Guardian’s response after acquiring 50% or more of the Golem Cores, then entering that house. Above all else—it’s the Tower’s interaction at work. You wouldn’t get a response from something like a Dungeon.]
“I see…… that makes sense.”
The different object responses in the Tower versus the Dungeon.
He’d already confirmed that distinction back on Floor 3 when he opened a Hidden Chest.
So this Hidden Condition could only be achieved through that same mechanism.
“Maia…… the Vietnam One-Way Group challenged with 35 people and 13 died. The Thailand One-Way Group too—30 people, 8 casualties. That’s the Floor 55 boss.”
Mu Saeng muttered while tucking three Golem Cores into his bag.
Though he’d focused mainly on information related to Floor 58 from the materials attached to Jang Ha-guk, he hadn’t ignored the other floors either.
To reach Floor 58, he’d have to climb through all the floors below it anyway.
There was no way he’d overlook Floor 55.
The Mage Maia—commonly called Mama.
Skilled not only in element-based magic but in Magitech as well.
If the Southeast Asia One-Way Group had suffered casualties, then it stood to reason that even several Korean guilds, including Geumseong, had their hands full with this boss.
[Still, there’s no actual Mage there in person, so it should be fine.]
“You say that like it’s easy, but the report said the Guardians around Mama were what caused most of the One-Way Group’s casualties.”
He remembered their appearance.
Faces without features, like egg ghosts.
Grayish-silver bodies like jointed dolls.
No expression, no voice—thinking of creatures like that charging at lightning speed to kill would certainly make combat difficult…… or so one might think.
[That’s only because those ones are crude and stupid. That’s why they got wiped out.]
Wash snorted derisively, huffing through his nose as he spoke.
Though tension still lingered in his tone, Mu Saeng found himself having a certain confidence in him, all things considered.
“Heheheh…… so you’re saying our clever and distinguished Wash has a method to overcome the Guardians? Call them out? And then what exactly should we do?”
Call out the Guardian, and then what?
Wash would know what came next.
Mu Saeng asked with anticipation.
[How else? Kill it.]
“…… Huh?”
Wash answered matter-of-factly.
Kill it?
The Guardian of Mage Maia—the one that had threatened the lives of Awakeners challenging Floor 55, or actually murdered them?
[To be precise, you stop its operation. It’s an Artificial Lifeform like a stone Golem. Obviously, finding the core and destroying it is the best approach.]
Wash added the explanation as if bestowing a favor.
No different from saying to kill it.
“Ah…… ”
Poison obviously wouldn’t work on it.
Then what was left? What could he use?
A monster repellent wouldn’t work either.
No—avoiding it wouldn’t solve anything to begin with.
‘Kill it…… a Guardian? Me?’
Mu Saeng shook his head.
He only had the Strong Bone Skill.
No matter how he combined the Dungeon Sherpa’s belongings he carried, there was nothing that could let him face a Guardian.
“Ah.”
The exact same words as before.
Yet the sigh that escaped him now—born from futility and despair—was entirely different from the one before.
Mu Saeng stopped dead in his tracks and asked.
“Wash, is there a time limit on the Hidden Condition?”
[No.]
“Then for now…. Fine. For now, I’ll do as much as I can.”
Mu Saeng reversed direction, away from the path that would have taken him over Stone Mountain.
Toward the heaps of stone golems scattered across the landscape.
[Huh? What? If you collect two more Golem Cores, you’ll clear—.]
“I don’t have to collect them, do I? I can just leave three cores here as a backup and head out.”
[—What?]
Wash tilted his head in confusion, but the answer only deepened the bewilderment.
Why turn back if he wasn’t going to collect the cores?
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble…!
“Roooaaarrr!”
Why deliberately awaken the stone golems?
Mu Saeng clenched and unclenched his fists, steadying his breath.
Over twenty-three hours remained.
“This isn’t a Dungeon.”
A Dungeon is a kind of practice space.
Slaying monsters yields little of value in most cases.
Artifacts and elixirs come almost entirely from boss monsters on higher floors.
He sidestepped the stone golem’s fist as it whistled through the air, then surged forward, driving power into his thighs.
This place was not a Dungeon—it was a Tower.
Every Awakener could.
“Haah!”
Crash———————…!
Grow within a Tower.
Unlike fighting Stat-less monsters in a Dungeon—
There had to be a distinctly different outcome here.
* * *
Whoooosh….
Tiny shards of stone scattered through the air.
Fragments of what had been a massive rocky body of a stone golem moments before.
Why had that hard stone transformed into gravel, then into smaller pebbles, and finally into dust-like fragments?
[Strength increased by 1.]
“Phew… I’m finally getting the hang of this.”
Because of Mu Saeng’s fists.
The light in the golem’s core flickered several times, then cut off with a dull click.
‘Stat gains from repetitive action only while the core is still active… This probably applies to other monsters too, not just golems.’
Around him lay several cores that had already lost their light.
And the stone dust, no less affected, was scattering on the breeze.
Mu Saeng looked around the area.
‘I need to test while they’re alive. Pummeling a dead corpse or an inert rock won’t raise Stats no matter how many times I strike.’
A way to grow beyond clearing the Tower.
Stat increases from repetitive action, or Skill acquisition through special techniques.
He’d understood this in theory, but this was his first time applying it in practice.
He’d tested various approaches and finally grasped the technique and intensity needed to raise Stats—but now….
[Time Remaining: 2:08:53]
Soon the remaining time would drop into the single hour range.
He could collect five Golem Cores whenever he wanted, but achieving that ‘standard Clear Condition’ mattered not at all.
“I should get moving soon, Wash.”
[…Is it finally over?]
“Yeah, just need to organize things one last time.”
[What now!]
“I need to balance my Stats, don’t I? Status window.”
Twenty hours of grinding had clearly paid off.
Strength up 2, Agility up 2, Stamina up 1, Accuracy up 3.
Eight Stat Points gained in total.
But for Mu Saeng, therein lay the problem—it wasn’t entirely good news.
[Strong Bone (Passive)]
Solidity is achieved only when heart, spirit, and body achieve perfect harmony.
The smaller the gap between your highest and lowest stat, the stronger the effect becomes.
Current stat gap: 7. Total ability multiplier: x1.5
Only two points wider than the original five-point gap, and yet.
‘Loosen my focus just a little, and it widens like this. No wonder nobody picks this skill. Status window.’
That’s why I’ve been preparing.
Five Stat Points from the normal clear reward on Floor 4!
‘If I give Luck and Mana two points each—both at eighteen—and pour one into Willpower at nineteen…’
Highest stat: Strength at 25. Lowest stats: Mana, Willpower, Luck all at 20.
The gap narrows back to five.
[Mu Saeng]
—Age: 29
—Awakener Ability:
—Stats
Strength: 50(25) Agility: 46(23)
Endurance: 44(22) Mana: 40(20)
Knowledge: 40(20) Precision: 40(20)
Willpower: 40(20) Luck: 40(20)
—Skills: Poison Mastery, Strong Bone
—Resistance: Poison (S)
—Climbing Record: Maximum Floor 4
·Solo—Floors 1–4
·Additional or Hidden Rewards—Floors 1–4
·Multiplayer—None
—Notable Features: High resistance to Mana Pressure.
Attack power against small monsters +45%
Movement speed +5%
Stat increases via passive skill [Strong Bone]
In the end, I’ve calibrated the effect of [Strong Bone] to this—a doubling of stats.
Mu Saeng muttered aloud.
“Wash, but why can’t Willpower and Luck be ground out through brute work? I get Mana, but…”
[…That’s because raising stats through such crude methods was never even an option in the first place. I mean, who spends hours just to gain a single Stat Point?]
Wash, who’d been watching the whole time, understood.
Facing a stone golem wouldn’t be particularly difficult for Mu Saeng in his current state.
But the effort required to raise Stat Points was a different matter entirely.
[Precision]—achieved by striking only the exact pinpoint, waiting for it to regenerate, striking again the moment it did, over and over.
For [Endurance], never stopping, constantly moving without rest.
For [Agility], awakening three stone golems at once and fighting them simultaneously.
“Huh? Hours of investment? I’d do even more if I could. That’s what I want.”
[It’s recklessly dangerous. One slip, one mistake, and your life is forfeit. And you do this knowing the output barely justifies the input…That’s primitive.]
Crackle.
Wash spoke with a scornful edge to his voice.
But Mu Saeng simply burst into laughter.
“Ha, maybe it’s because you’re an administrator. You just don’t get it.”
[What?]
Even here, the difference showed.
Perhaps because their origins were fundamentally different, Mu Saeng explained.
A single point?
Why grind away at work with such terrible efficiency?
“When your life’s on the line, you don’t think about efficiency. You don’t, right?”
One point could mean the difference between living and dying.
Efficiency?
Who thinks about efficiency when death is staring them in the face?
Behind the black-rimmed glasses, Wash’s tiny eyes widened.
Then, just as quickly, they curved into crescents.
[…Kya-kya-kya-kya! Yes, that’s right. You’re absolutely right, Mu Saeng.]
Such resolve. Such spirit.
Wash found himself satisfied, thinking anew of the Abyss Contract.
“Ahem, of course. Besides, raising stats isn’t all of it. I’ve been collecting something else since before—”
[Let’s go faster then. I’ll stake my life on this too.]
“If you’d just finish what you were saying……”
Mu Saeng chuckled as he watched the yellow rubber duck fluttering away with a rapid whirring sound.
The stone dust that had been scattering in the wind around it had already vanished without a trace.
Mu Saeng tucked the small pouch into the pocket of his sherpa pack and steeled himself.
“But what are you planning to do? At least tell me before you go!”
Then he ran toward Wash.
[Time Remaining: 00:54:35]
With less than an hour left until the time limit for Floor 5.
Tap, tap, tap……. Creak.
Mu Saeng finally stepped into the dilapidated Wooden House.
A house so old that nearly all traces of its former inhabitants had disappeared.
A handful of barely serviceable iron cooking utensils and a fireplace thick with dust.
Had it been well-maintained, this house might have felt cozy enough — and Mu Saeng had entered it several times before, but…….
Dungeons and towers were different beasts entirely.
[It comes, Kim Mu Saeng.]
Just as the four Golem Cores began to emit a faint glow, the sound of violent grinding teeth echoed through the space.
Screeeeeech────────!
The sound grew louder, and the shabby wooden floor split apart left and right.
“Huff, huff.”
Mu Saeng steadied his breathing and examined the opening.
Something slowly rose from the revealed underground chamber.
Or rather, not something.
The Guardian that protected the side of the Mage Maia, the boss of Floor 55.
One Guardian revealed itself.

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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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