Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 106

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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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Episode 106

The chat window was like a hyena that had just spotted prey.
It didn’t miss that fleeting expression.

– Is this real?
– All-in, straight away.
– Sold the house, sold the car, sold the underwear—everything.

I issued a stern warning.
“You won’t find sympathy if you regret it later.”
There was something we were preparing with the Nakhwa Guild, true enough.
But it was too early to announce anything publicly.
Or was it?

– Breaking news! Nakhwa Guild announcement just dropped!!
– Neia went all-in! Straight bet!
– No! She didn’t! She didn’t!

For this timing to align so perfectly, someone would have to be watching the broadcast live—it’s practically impossible otherwise.
I felt awkward for no good reason.
“That’s… not what I said.”
I turned toward Baek Jin-seong before the atmosphere spiraled further out of control.
The best move here was to cut off the gossip before it spread.

[User … has been removed.]
[User … has been removed.]
[User … has been removed.]

“Anyway, this isn’t that kind of room.”
The excitement cooled in an instant.
Though now I was wondering if I should’ve bought some Nakhwa Guild stock myself.
In any case, we began the actual clearance.
I had no intention of dragging this one out.
The goal was simple: punch out on time.
With only five floors to go, we needed to finish in under two hours.
“Let’s begin the clearance.”

– Let’s go!
– Time for monster slaughter.
– Neia! Neia! Neia!

I skimmed through the quest log.

[Quest: Eliminate Monsters – Iron-Clad Giants 0/120]

The 46th Floor.
Since the Outer Tower maintained roughly a +10 level difficulty curve, 50th-floor-tier monsters had begun appearing.
The kind that emerged during the C-grade Gate incident back then.
Because the Iron-Clad Giants favored rocky terrain, they’d spawned here in abundance.
“Ar, you handle this.”
Ar, who’d been tunneling through the ground, looked at me.
She seemed genuinely surprised at being singled out.
And no wonder—both on broadcast and
in actual fieldwork,
Ar’s contributions had dwindled lately.
She clocked in for shifts, but had essentially nothing to do.
Like a department head whose desk had vanished.
‘Thinking about it that way does make me a little sad.’
I took the chance to reflect on myself—how I’d been so fixated on speed all this time.
There were so many other things I should’ve been cultivating besides that.
“Neia, grant Unit Formation authority to Ar.”
Neia appeared on the video screen and answered at once.

『Authorization target: Lieutenant Ar. Authorization in progress… Authorization complete.』

I nodded toward Ar upon hearing the confirmation.
That was the strategy, after all.
“I’ll be going!”
“Right, Lieutenant. Go big and hit hard.”
The boundary between SSS and SSS+ Grade.
Which was why I’d been borrowing Krail’s strength more than strictly necessary.
Today, though, belonged entirely to Ar.
And perhaps I’m only realizing this far too late, but…
‘There are actually scoring angles beyond pure speed.’
Namely: Overkill.
Today I’d aim for exactly that.

Ar formed the unit and rose in Drone form.
Combat Drones alongside her, all charging to full capacity.
Whiiiiiing—

– Ar returns!
– This is the real deal, no matter what anyone says.
– The Ultra-Particle Cannon! Been a while lol
– True love always comes full circle, I guess.

I watched the scene unfold with quiet contentment.
Deploying an Ultra-Particle Cannon just to mop up trash mobs.
The cost-efficiency was terrible.
But since I was going for Overkill anyway, this might’ve been the better choice.
Besides, I still needed to accumulate Experience Points for Combat Learning.
So I let her unleash freely.

– Lightning-Particle Cannon firing!!!

A nickname that stuck to Ar because she was a one-trick specialist with the Ultra-Particle Cannon.
There was no shame in that, though.
Even as a one-trick, there was a solid reason why Ar remained invaluable as one of the unit’s core assets.
And that reason was…
‘Even knowing it’s coming, you can’t stop it.’
Boom—
She locked onto some distant mountain range far off on the horizon and fired,
then traced the blast back and forth like brushstrokes with a blade.
The ridge itself twisted and crumbled to ash, vanishing.

[(Outer Tower) Quest: Monster Elimination – Iron Giant 31/120]
[(Outer Tower) Quest: Monster Elimination – Iron Giant 55/120]
[(Outer Tower) Quest: Monster Elimination – Iron Giant 83/120]
[(Outer Tower) Quest: Monster Elimination – Iron Giant 131/120]
…

The kill count climbed in real time.
The target was shattered in seconds, and the numbers kept rising.
When that merciless torrent of light scraped away the entire field and vanished, leaving only heat in its wake, what remained was a figure that was nothing short of staggering.

[(Outer Tower) Quest: Monster Elimination – Iron Giant 811/120]

‘Ar’s gotten quite strong too.’
Baek Jin-seong’s buffs were genuinely powerful.
Once Blessing and Synergy activated together, it reached this level.

– Atae-shik’s made his comeback.
– Ar’s Ultra-Particle Cannon is awe-inspiring.
– Perfect! Perfect score!

Ding—
The tally began.
What would the result be?

[Clearance Rank SSS+ Achieved!]

To be honest, I hadn’t expected it.
As the floor numbers climbed higher, the field difficulty had ramped up considerably.
The overkill score being this high resulted in SSS+…
‘Not bad.’
At this rate, it didn’t seem unreasonable to entrust the higher floors to Ar as well.

[Overkill Detected…]
[Rewards Adjusted Upward.]
[Level Increased.]

My level had gone up.
Before entering the dungeon today, my level was 53.
I’d gained considerable levels during the last storm ascent.
Now that my level and floor number had begun to align, it seemed—
With the overkill factored in, I’d gained yet another level.
“Jin-seong.”
“Yes, understood.”
Quick as a snap.
Baek Jin-seong ended the broadcast.
I recovered the Drones from the elevator entrance and stepped inside, accompanied by several thousand Humanoids.

[(Outer Tower) 47th Floor Entry.]

Ding—
Upon arriving at the 47th floor field, I executed the plan immediately.
Crack—boom!
Ar’s Ultra-Particle Cannon tore through the field.

[(Outer Tower) 47th Floor Cleared.]
[Clearance Rank SSS+ Achieved!]
[Overkill Detected…]

On the 48th floor as well.
Hissss—
Crack—boom!

[(Outer Tower) 48th Floor Cleared.]
[Clearance Rank SSS+ Achieved!]
[Overkill Detected…]

“Handle it.”
The 49th floor was no different.

[(Outer Tower) 49th Floor Cleared.]
[Clearance Rank SSS+ Achieved!]
[Overkill Detected…]

And here, my level rose once more.
Lv.55 Kang Seon-woo.
At this rate, wouldn’t the next access condition for the security grade be easily met?
Of course, level was only the most basic requirement.
The real crux was the City Operation Rate—I knew that much.
In fact, I still hadn’t achieved the 10% City Operation Rate for Grade 4 Security, so I couldn’t access those records.
‘But I have the Lazanite now.’
With the energy resources from the Mining Site as a foundation, raising the current City Operation Rate was only a matter of time.
So in that sense, meeting the level requirement in advance was certainly worthwhile.
And there was a sense of accomplishment too.
Even if it was technically easy mode.

[(Outer Tower) 50th Floor. Entering now.]

And the 50th Floor—today’s final objective.
I suppose I could call it good luck.
All five floors ended up being monster elimination quests.
“Ar.”
“Yes!”
The Ultra-Particle Cannon blazed forth without fail.
I was savoring the brilliant cascade of light that crowned today’s ascent when it happened.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch.
The rocky terrain crumbled away, revealing an Underground City beneath.

* * *

The moment I saw the city, I sensed something ominous.
‘This is like before…’
It resembled what happened in the Floating Garden.
And there were overlapping elements with the strange phenomena I’d discovered on the 25th Floor too.
‘This isn’t good.’
It was always a prelude to unexpected incidents.
The viewers seemed to sense it too—they’d grown noticeably louder.
Until then they’d just been commenting idly, but now…

– Here it comes! Neia’s trademark chaos arc!
– Wonder what it’ll be this time?
– [Info] Every time Neia has a hard time breaking through, the followers always get showered with rewards.
– What blessing will she grant us this time, I wonder?

I listened to the voice chat and thought to myself.
‘Please just let this wrap up in the settlement phase… I wanted to clock out early today…’
But unfortunately, my sense of foreboding is almost always right.
The bad feeling materialized into reality.

[(Outer Tower) Quest: City Survey – Investigation Rate 0%]

The quest had changed.
Clink.
The Mark of Gluttony that had been stored in my inventory fell out.
It began emitting a crimson light.
I couldn’t help but sigh.
“Yeah, this is a dead giveaway.”
I’d lived through something like this once before.
The quest had changed when a new field appeared—that happened in the Floating Garden.
And this thing popping out of my inventory and glowing was something that happened when it was entangled with the Vampire Queen, or more precisely, with Gluttony.
And now.
‘The Seven Sins….’
The probability of one of them being ahead of me had skyrocketed exponentially.
It’s not some mystical feat of reading destiny and peering into the future.
It’s an event confirmed by data that goes by the name of past experience.
The chat window kept echoing with talk of Gluttony again and again.

– It’s Gluttony again this time, right?
– But why aren’t they giving directions this time?
– Right? The mark isn’t showing up lol
– Still, we gotta take down Gluttony, yeah?

So much so that even Baek Jin-seong whispered to me quietly.
Even that dull-witted fool had read the situation.
“Is this… okay?”
“It’s not okay, but what can we do?”
This is a business deal.
Of course, I can’t back out of it now.
Even if I could, giving up here would be like giving up right in front of a diamond mine.
Besides, I’d hate to lose the penalty fee.

– Just like Neia—always bold.
– Running away is definitely Jin-seong’s specialty.
– Sniff sniff, that’s the smell of testosterone. Neia’s got the makings of a true hero!

The viewers want this too.
“Let’s clear it. What could go wrong?”
We’ve always done it anyway.
Naturally.

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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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