I Became an Almighty All-Master with EX-Rank Spirits - Chapter 17

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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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Chapter 17
Episode 17
I stepped through the apartment door.
All the joy I’d been holding back came pouring out at once.
I slipped my hands into Fire’s armpits and lifted her high, tossing her toward the ceiling.
“Our house treasure! Our precious gem!”
—Screech! Chirp!
[Fire (EX) laughs with delight!]
[Fire (EX) says that without her, you’re nothing at all!]
“Absolutely! You’re right! I’m nothing without Fire!”
For tonight, at least, I’d give her anything she asked for.
Anyone else would probably feel the same in my position.
The money I’d made was substantial.
“75.73 million won!”
That’s enough left over even after buying seven Lowest-grade Fire Spirit Stones.
How could I not be thrilled?
The day I’d hold a hundred million won in my hands wasn’t far off.
Before throwing a proper celebration with all these earnings,
“Let me send some money home first.”
About two million won.
For what I’d been earning, it shouldn’t seem like much.
But telling my family about my Awakening was still too soon.
They’d unconditionally oppose it as too dangerous.
I’d break the news once I’d gotten myself properly established.
The moment I sent the money, my phone rang.
I managed to convince them I’d been lucky enough to receive a bonus at work.
I mentioned that my living expenses were more than covered.
They started to doubt me before finally accepting it and hanging up.
Had the timing been too suspicious?
Next time, I’d need to find a more believable excuse.
—Chirp!
[Fire (EX) is pestering you to throw the party already!]
“Right, and look—the food’s here.”
Ding-dong.
—Chirp!
[Fire (EX) says the smell is incredible!]
Once I opened the containers, her reaction grew even more frenzied.
Every dish from the Chinese restaurant was there.
Noodles in black bean sauce and seafood spicy noodles, naturally.
Stir-fried mixed vegetables, white-cut chicken, assorted seafood and rice crust soup, shark fin, abalone—even the deluxe fare!
“Usually it’s better to eat at the restaurant itself, but it’s getting late.”
—Chirp! Chirp?
[Fire (EX) says she doesn’t care at all!]
[Fire (EX) asks if she can start eating!]
“Go ahead. I ordered it for you anyway.”
She didn’t hesitate for a moment.
Fire immediately dove into the food.
I’d set aside only the noodles in black bean sauce and sweet and sour pork for myself beforehand.
I was starting to get used to her seemingly endless appetite.
—Chirp!
[Fire (EX) is asking for Mana Stones too!]
Ugh. Scratch that.
There’s no such thing as enough.
She’d already consumed several High-grade Mana Stones.
This wasn’t the time to celebrate earning 75.73 million won.
If I didn’t keep earning, she’d burn through it all in no time.
‘Tomorrow’s already worrying me.’
Once I reached level 10, Fire would unlock new skills.
Naturally, just like at level 5, there would be conditions attached to the skill unlock.
‘It was ten Lowest-grade Fire Spirit Stones at level 5, so now it’s probably Low-grade ones?’
One Lowest-grade Fire Spirit Stone costs 10 million won.
The tier above that, Low-grade, goes for 30 million.
Even just ten of them adds up to 300 million.
I’ve barely escaped this cramped one-room apartment, and already
‘I’ve got a long way to go.’
I’ll know the exact numbers once I check tomorrow.
For tonight, I decided to simply enjoy myself.
I ordered from a Chinese restaurant that actually delivers decent food, and they sent real jjamppong noodles with black bean sauce.
Not just added onions to the sauce — the real, freshly stir-fried kind.
They poured a measured amount that wasn’t too salty and let me toss the noodles through it.
One bite of the dry-tossed noodles with black bean sauce.
“Slurrrp! Ah! Now that’s it!”
The savory richness of the lard harmonized beautifully with the crisp sweetness of the onions against the dark sauce.
And then there’s the sweet and sour pork to chase it with?
All the fatigue from the day melted away like snow in sun.
This is happiness, right here.
Tonight I’d sleep like a stone.
* * *
Five in the morning.
Thanks to the set effect of the Spirit Rest, my eyes opened early.
Condition optimal.
I threw together a quick soy sauce and egg rice, then entered the Trial Tower.
One floor higher, and the difficulty had ramped up accordingly.
[You have arrived at Trial Tower, Floor 7.]
[Find 5 objectives and return safely.]
[Objectives: 0/5]
The increased number of objectives wasn’t all that had changed.
Cobalts in tatters gripped crude weapons in their hands.
What had been a shabby cave turned into a complex maze.
The difficulty had doubled compared to the last floor.
But for me, one skill is all I need.
[Fire’s held skill, ‘Meteor (EX)’, activates.]
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-BANG!!
After that, find the objectives with Spirit’s Eye and I’m done.
[You have cleared Trial Tower, Floor 7!]
[Objectives: 5/5]
[Crude Cobalt: 9,000/9,000]
[Crude Cobalt Captain: 30/30]
[Crude Cobalt Commander: 3/3]
[You have annihilated the entire Cobalt Labyrinth of Trial Tower, Floor 7!]
[You have achieved a World Record!]
[Trial Tower, Floor 7 World Ranking 1st place is updated!]
[Clear time: 4 minutes 22 seconds]
[You have successfully dominated Trial Tower, Floor 7!]
[You receive Crude Cobalt’s Poor Cloth × 633!]
[You receive Crude Cobalt’s Superior Club × 745!]
[You receive Crude Cobalt’s Old Shield × 411!]
[You receive Crude Cobalt Captain’s Superior Talisman × 7!]
[You receive Crude Cobalt Commander’s Shining Gem × 2!]
[You obtain Lowest-grade Mana Stone (F) × 836!]
[You obtain Low-grade Mana Stone (E) × 611!]
[You obtain Mid-low Mana Stone (D) × 453!]
[You obtain Mid-grade Mana Stone (C) × 332!]
[You obtain Mid-high Mana Stone (B) × 210!]
[You obtain High-grade Mana Stone (A) × 14!]
[You obtain Highest-grade Mana Stone (S) × 2!]
I cleared it a minute faster than last time.
My legs had grown used to dashing through those tunnels.
Anyway.
“S-rank!”
At last, I’d broken through A-grade and obtained S-grade.
A-grade filled my Hunger at fifty thousand.
What would Highest-grade be like?
At minimum, it’d exceed a hundred thousand.
-Chirp! Chirp!
[Fire (EX) says he’s worked hard and wants a high-grade Mana Stone as reward!]
“Hold on. Let me just check the unlock conditions and I’ll give it to you right away.”
My Hunger was climbing toward five hundred thousand.
If the unlock condition turned out to be something other than Spirit Stones, I’d be in for a headache.
[Hunger has reached 500,000!]
[Fire (EX) has leveled up by 1!]
❰Fire (EX) Lv. 10❱
❰Possessed Skills: Hellfire (EX), Meteor (EX)❱
❰Hunger: (0/1,000,000)❱
……New skill unlocks upon reaching Lv. 15
……New skill unlocks for Yi Chan-yeong upon reaching 1,000,000 Hunger
……Spirit Rest Research now available to unlock
The Hunger had doubled.
Still, this was manageable enough, so I checked the unlock conditions first.
[Highest-grade Mana Stone (S) required to unlock the next skill!]
[Highest-grade Mana Stone (S): (0/25)]
“Stop iiiit!!”
-Chirp! Chirp!
[Fire (EX) hastily sets down the Highest-grade Mana Stone (S) he was trying to sneak away with.]
I was glad I didn’t give him those S-grade Mana Stones.
Why did unlocking require twenty-five S-grade Mana Stones?
I’d only obtained two S-grade Mana Stones for the first time today.
So I needed to gather twenty-three more.
The Spirit Stones were comparatively merciful.
One S-grade Mana Stone was worth one hundred million won.
“I shouldn’t have been happy about earning seventy million won.”
Still, it wasn’t impossible.
As I climbed the Trial Tower, I’d keep obtaining S-grade Mana Stones.
The problem was time.
“Where else do S-grade Mana Stones drop?”
-Statistically impossible, human.
“Yeah, I know that already.”
If there’s no way, there’s no way.
I could start with the newly added Research function instead.
First, let me check the skill I’d acquired.
[Successfully achieved Hunger of 500,000.]
[Skill ‘Lucky Talisman (C-)’ has activated!]
[You obtain a skill one grade higher!]
[You obtain skill ‘Shadow Seep (B-)’!]
<Shadow Seep (B-)>
Description: Through the power of a darkness spirit, you can seep into any location where darkness exists.
“Oh! A skill one grade higher!”
Even after obtaining the Lucky Talisman, it had been quiet for days, so I’d momentarily forgotten I had it.
“It triggered here, then.”
The skill type was active.
Range was within one kilometer.
I couldn’t use it frequently, and the range was short, but this alone was more than satisfactory.
Darkness was everywhere in the world.
It shortened travel distances, and most importantly, it made ambushes possible.
Silent infiltration, too.
I decided to test it immediately.
I designated a location with darkness, and my body moved naturally toward it.
My entire form seeped into the darkness itself.
“Can you see me?”
-Chirp! Chirp!
[Fire says it’s visible to his eyes alone, but invisible to everyone else!]
He can emerge from Shadow Seep and move elsewhere while still cloaked in darkness.
While moving back and forth using this new skill, he noticed something peculiar.
A kilometer underground—Shadow Seep worked down there too.
“Underground? It’s not the subway, that’s for sure. What could it be?”
-The subway isn’t that deep.
“Right. I’ve heard there are Sandworms down there or something. Is that it?”
At a kilometer down, it had to be.
From what he’d heard, Sandworms made off with expensive Mana Stones, making them one of the fortress’s current headaches.
If there was a burrow, that depth made sense.
“Fire.”
-Squeak?
[Fire tilts his head, wondering why you’re calling him.]
“I want to check that out.”
Even in a dangerous place, having Fire with him meant there was nothing to worry about.
They moved at once.
His vision darkened, then brightened just as quickly.
Thanks to the Spirit’s Eye.
This level of darkness was nothing without a light source.
The underground chamber was enormous.
‘Wow. This is massive.’
Dozens of times the size of a World Cup soccer stadium.
But what caught his eye most was a cluster of deep blue stones sitting in the corner.
[Highest-grade Mana Stone (S) × 27]
“……?!”
He’d longed for these so desperately, and here they were, underground all along.
But excitement had to wait.
Looking around, he spotted a monster.
Centipede-like.
A genuine Sandworm.
He wasn’t sure who’d lost these to it.
‘But finders keepers.’
Fire’s mouth was already dripping with saliva.
Before the creature could notice.
“Let’s go.”
[Fire’s acquired skill, Hellfire (EX), activates!]
Crackle-crack-boom!
Whoosh!
Dark crimson flames swept through the vast underground, incinerating everything.
If anything looked incomplete, he’d have Fire go again.
It didn’t matter how strong it was.
After repeated passes, everything turned to ash.
All that remained were the Mana Stones.
-Squeak! Squeak!
[Fire rushes frantically toward the Mana Stones!]
[Fire momentarily loses himself in the presence of the high-grade Mana Stones!]
He calmed Fire down and teleported home with the stones.
* * *
“Damn, this is killing me. Why do I have to suffer because of this cursed Sandworm?”
“Just a little longer, sir. We’re almost there.”
“It’s all your fault. Why were you leaving those expensive S-grade Mana Stones lying around on the ground in the first place?”
It was the Sandworm’s nature.
It didn’t harm people, but it had a habit of stealing valuable Mana Stones.
Because of that, the entire world was suffering considerable frustration.
Since it filled in its burrows right after digging them, there was no easy way to track it down.
Normally, anyway.
But knowing the location of the burrow was some consolation.
“Ha! Come on, brother, enough complaining. We found it now.”
“Lucky we did. Otherwise, I’d…. Ugh.”
He said nothing more.
Hard to find, maybe, but I tracked it down in the end.
The Sandworm’s den.
I was braced and ready, expecting combat from the moment I arrived.
“It’s gone?”
“What? What is this?”
Not a trace of the Sandworm was visible.
The High-grade Mana Stone was nowhere to be found either.
All that remained was the acrid reek of charred smoke.
Faced with the unexpected, we all froze, mouths hanging open.

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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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