I Became an Almighty All-Master with EX-Rank Spirits - Chapter 23

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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 23
23
“How can I ever repay this kindness? Thanks to you, I completed the commission far more easily than I expected.”
“Just a moment. There’s more to gather here.”
“Oh, understood.”
Since this was where a high-rank dark spirit had dwelled, there were considerable quantities of high-grade Mana Stones.
Each one was vital to sating my Hunger—it would’ve been a shame to miss any.
The only disappointment was that I didn’t spot a single Spirit Stone beyond that.
I’d found just one high-grade Spirit Stone in the end.
Most of it was Mana Stones.
It seemed that was all that came from the dark spirit.
‘I should’ve squeezed the dark spirit for more while I had the chance.’
My regret didn’t linger long.
Chirp! Chirp!
[Fire (EX) has brought back two low-grade fire spirit stones!]
[When Fire (EX) asked for them, the dark spirit apparently handed them all over!]
“Oh! That’s my Fire!”
I’d wondered where it had darted off to.
It handles work like this brilliantly.
After searching for another thirty minutes or so, there were no more Mana Stones to be found.
“Nothing else around? Search thoroughly. This place is like a goldmine.”
Chirp!
[Fire (EX) confirms there’s nothing left!]
Though it was disappointing that there wasn’t more, I’d gathered quite a haul.
Coming here was the right call.
The yield relative to time was quite lucrative.
“Have you been waiting long? I’ve finished everything I needed to do.”
“Not at all. Thanks to you, I achieved the Guild commission so effortlessly. Waiting thirty minutes is nothing compared to that.”
Their demeanor had grown even more deferential than when we first met.
I must seem far stronger now.
After all, I’d solved in one go what a specific skill and a B-rank or higher hunter would normally handle.
Anyone watching would probably mistake me for at least an S-rank hunter, maybe even one of the Trial Tower’s top rankers.
“I’m so grateful that I’d like to give you the commission fee as well. It’s not much, but—”
“The commission fee? Ha, that’s not necessary. I’ve already been compensated with the spirit stones.”
“Ah, but 300 million won isn’t a small amount…”
“My account number is 112, 4099… Can you remember it? Or should I give you paper and a pen?”
“Wait, just a moment!”
300 million won wasn’t trivial, it’s true.
Since they were offering it freely, there was no reason to refuse.
I’d made the right choice coming here, no doubt about it.
A deep smile bloomed across my face.
I’d be able to move into that villa considerably sooner now.
* * *
Late evening.
The door to my tiny studio apartment opened, and I shuffled in, covered in grime.
“I’m home!”
Chirp!
[Fire (EX) is happy to finally be out of that dreary place!]
I stripped off my clothes and headed straight for the shower.
I was covered head to toe in dust and dirt from wandering through every corner of the Ghost House.
I’d been in that state for a solid twelve hours.
I’d filled my stomach with the leftover ribs, so now I needed to soothe my body.
As the warm water cascaded over me, I finally felt alive again.
Chirp!
[Fire (EX) says the warm water feels amazing!]
“Tell me about it. It’s wonderful. Stupid of me to think about sleeping there instead of coming back to shower. I couldn’t even wash up at all.”
That’s why I’d come down today without sleeping the night before.
Even if I’d wanted to stay another day, my entire body was drenched in sweat and covered in dust—I was in no presentable state.
I couldn’t have stayed like that.
Most of all, I’d completely cleared the Ghost House in just one day.
The numbers displayed in the inventory were the result.
Micro Subspace ×109
Fragrant Spirit Grass ×506
A full 109 and 506!
Combined with the Mana Stones, Fragrant Spirit Grass, and Spirit Stones, this Ghost House had yielded a considerable haul.
So there was no reason to expect anything more.
But that wasn’t all.
“Three hundred million! Ahahaha!”
-Chirp?
[Fire (EX) asks if that’s really something to be so delighted about.]
“Of course it is! I haven’t even scraped together a hundred million until now!”
Over ninety-five percent of what I’ve earned goes straight to food and Fire’s growth.
This money’s going entirely toward moving.
Thanks to reinvesting every coin I make, there’s been no shortage for growth.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
“And I’ve even found a blacksmith!”
As a B-Rank Hunter, Geum-Chan had broad connections.
When I asked if he knew any blacksmiths, he immediately introduced me to one with solid credentials.
All I had to do was show up with the business card and give his name.
Helping Geum-Chan turned out to be the right call.
I never expected things to move this smoothly.
I can go tomorrow.
We exchanged contact information, so I can ask questions if anything comes up.
Not that I usually prefer making connections like this.
‘It’s going to come out sooner or later anyway. Having someone in the industry who knows what they’re doing won’t hurt.’
That was enough for today.
Exhaustion had built up to the crown of my head after combing through Ghost House so thoroughly.
A quick shower, a hasty dry of the hair, then a dive into the Spirit Shelter.
-Chirp!
[Fire (EX) reports it’s sleeping well!]
“You too.”
I fell into dreamland in an instant, and dawn broke the next day.
Fresh as ever this morning.
I took care of breakfast with some dried rice and headed into the tower.
Today’s target was the ninth floor.
As mentioned before, the monster type changes, so it’s a Monster Wave.
The view darkened, then brightened from the center.
A sprawling field stretched out where a complex maze had been.
I could see tens of kilometers in range—thanks to where I was standing.
“A fortress wall?”
-Since you must defend the castle, it’s the most ideal defensive position for an Awakened One with ranged capabilities.
“Right—I have to defend the castle, not just clear the waves.”
-That’s correct. If you possess close-range traits, hit-and-run tactics are recommended.
Turning back, I saw what was indeed an imposing fortress.
This is why the ninth floor is called hell.
Even if you somehow manage to clear all the Monster Waves, the castle won’t hold out before then.
Even if the castle survives, you have to fend off the next Monster Wave.
There are castle-exclusive siege weapons available.
A single use clears hundreds of monsters, but—
-The conditions required for a single use are quite stringent.
You have to craft them yourself using items that drop only from monsters and materials from the surroundings.
It’s work that should take multiple people, yet one person must do it alone. How could that possibly work out?
But for me, that’s an unnecessary worry.
I won’t have any need for it anyway.
[You have arrived at Trial Tower, Floor 9.]
[Clear 5 Monster Waves.]
[If the castle’s HP drops below 50, the trial ends in failure!]
[Monster Wave : 0/5]
[Castle : 100/100]
[Monster Wave : 1/5]
[Monster Wave 1 has begun.]
The trial commenced.
An empty field filled with monsters in an instant.
Against the surging horde, there was only one thing to do.
[Fire’s exclusive skill, ‘Hellfire,’ activates.]
Crack-crack-crack-crack-BOOM!!
The next wave, identical.
Waiting between waves?
Unnecessary.
Swept through them.
Five times in perfect succession.
[Trial Tower, Floor 9 cleared!]
[Monster Wave: 5/5]
[Defense: 100/100]
[Floor 9 Monster Wave completely repelled!]
[New Record achieved!]
[Trial Tower, Floor 9 World Ranking updated to 1st place!]
[Clear time: 1 minute 2 seconds]
[Trial Tower, Floor 9 overwhelmingly cleared!]
[Goblin’s miscellaneous worn equipment × 2,133 obtained!]
[Orc’s miscellaneous equipment × 1,043 obtained!]
[Kobold’s superior equipment × 941 obtained!]
[Slime’s slime × 1,402 obtained!]
[Rank F Mana Stone × 1,096 acquired!]
[Rank E Mana Stone × 791 acquired!]
[Rank D Mana Stone × 583 acquired!]
[Rank C Mana Stone × 392 acquired!]
[Rank B Mana Stone × 300 acquired!]
[Rank A Mana Stone × 20 acquired!]
[Rank S Mana Stone × 5 acquired!]
A minute—that’s all it took.
The difficulty multiplied exponentially with each floor, yet my clear time had only grown shorter.
I hadn’t even needed to tap the Spirit Shelter or its abilities.
“Forgot to give Fire those items from yesterday, but it didn’t matter.”
—Waa!
[Fire demands the Yin Energy Orb this instant!]
“All right, all right.”
There’s little use in me taking it.
Better it goes to Fire—that’s only fair.
Fire is my primary source of power, after all.
Fire swallowed it whole in one gulp.
[Yin Energy Orb (Rank B) consumed!]
[Fire’s Hunger increases by 1,000,000.]
[All stats permanently increase by 1.2×!]
[All skills permanently strengthen by 1.2×!]
“A million? Impressive.”
Feeding it to Fire was well worth it.
On top of Hunger equivalent to five Rank S Mana Stones, both stats and skills had grown stronger.
Solid progress.
I’d need to hunt down every elixir I could find from now on.
With my Hunger full, I should focus on leveling up yesterday’s buff.
[Hunger: (500,000/500,000)]
[Condition met!]
[Your buff ‘False Satiation (Rank C+) Lv. 2’ has evolved to ‘False Satiation (Rank C+) Lv. 3’!]
[Your maximum Hunger increases by 1,000,000.]
[Usable once every 6 days.]
It took 300,000 total Hunger to reach level three.
Fifty thousand, then 250,000.
The next threshold was 1.2 million, so I decided to save that for when I had enough.
With a full belly and nowhere pressing to be, the night stretched comfortably ahead.
“Let’s head out!”
I set my course for Namdaemun.
* * *
A broad smile spread across my face as I checked my bank balance.
[Seoul Bank: 503,055,088]
“Five hundred million!”
I hadn’t bought anything at Namdaemun today—only sold—and that’s what made all the difference.
I’d thought three hundred million was a fortune, but five hundred million?
I absolutely had to go apartment hunting tomorrow.
Ten days after my Awakening, and I could already escape this cramped studio.
It was moving at an almost absurd pace.
“Next up: Space Expansion Stones.”
There was no need to go far.
A blacksmith district had formed near Namdaemun.
“It should be around here. Ah, is that it?”
Steel Blacksmith.
This was definitely the place.
I walked in, handed the owner my business card, mentioned I’d been referred by Geum-Chan, and he immediately prioritized my work.
‘Connections really are everything.’
I handed over all the materials I’d gathered.
The blacksmith’s jaw dropped at the sheer volume I’d brought.
“So, how many Space Expansion Stones are you looking to have crafted?”
“Exactly one hundred nine.”
……
The quantity was substantial enough that the crafting fee came to fifteen million won.
It was expensive, but true to a B-Rank Hunter’s recommendation, the craftsmanship was beyond question.
I headed to Gwanak Mountain to gather more materials, and by the time I returned, all one hundred nine Space Expansion Stones were complete.
“I’ve never crafted this many Space Expansion Stones before.”
“Ha, thank you for the excellent work. I really appreciate it.”
Finally, I could expand the square footage.
I bought some sweet fried pastries topped with Fire and headed home.
After a quick meal, I immediately began expanding the Spirit Shelter’s square footage.
[Burning Stone Tree: (100/100)]
[Space Expansion Stone: (1/1)]
[Conditions met successfully!]
[Fire’s Spirit Shelter has increased by +1 pyeong!]
❰Square Footage: 11 pyeong❱
“Done!”
All that effort had been worth it.
I kept pushing, upgrading as much as I could.
By the time I’d increased it by roughly five pyeong total—
……
……
[Burning Stone Tree: (200/200)]
[Space Expansion Stone: (10/10)]
[Conditions met successfully!]
[Fire’s Spirit Shelter has increased by +1 pyeong!]
I’d consumed seven hundred twenty Burning Stone Trees and twenty-three Space Expansion Stones.
The depletion rate was so fast that all the materials I’d gathered at Gwanak Mountain felt almost wasted.
What remained was this:
Burning Stone Tree × 195
Micro Subspace × 86
With so little material left, I couldn’t expand the square footage any further.
And on top of that, a new material requirement had appeared.
……Burning Stone Tree (0/230), Space Expansion Stone (0/13), Processed Sea Lava (0/1) — +1 pyeong upon acquisition
“This time it’s sea lava?”
Unlike the Space Expansion Stones, I didn’t need to entrust this to the blacksmith.
The problem was the difficulty in obtaining it.
It spawned only on a small island in the West Sea.
The entry requirements themselves were harsh, and even if you managed to get in, the atmospheric pressure was so intense you had to wear specialized protective gear.
“This is processed material too? Most blacksmiths wouldn’t dare touch it.”
The more I accomplish, the more work piles up.
Raising a Spirit King is brutally exhausting.
Of course, there were gains to offset the obstacles.
Fifteen pyeong of expanded space opened up several new furnishings.
Among them, one caught my eye above all others.
……Upon acquiring the Burning Stone Tree (0/50), Reinforcement Hammer (0/1), and Reinforcement Stone (0/100), I can craft the Mana Stone Enhancement Table (C-)
Research Stage 2 Unlocked (×)
Description: A Mana Stone Enhancement Table crafted by carefully blending the Burning Stone Tree, Reinforcement Hammer, and Reinforcement Stone together! You can strengthen any Mana Stone to increase satiation, though strengthening higher-rank Mana Stones yields diminished efficiency. A very small failure rate exists, so please proceed with caution!

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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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