I Became an Almighty All-Master with EX-Rank Spirits - Chapter 37

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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 37
Episode 37
Exhaustion washed over my entire body.
Making potions twice turned out to be harder than gathering materials.
My energy drained away completely.
Even though the skill explained everything, Alchemy itself was entirely new to me.
‘If I keep at it, my proficiency will improve.’
Think long-term.
Usually, if one aptitude is strong, talent in other areas tends to be solid too.
Until I can produce potions above standard quality, I’ll have to pay someone to craft them.
“Ugh, this is tough. I don’t even have time to gather materials today. Let’s call it a day.”
-Chirp?
-Chirp?
[Fire (EX) is asking when you’re finally going to feed him!]
[Water (EX) is asking when he can have a drink!]
I did eat and drink in between.
Just a little.
I’d been too busy making Lowest-grade Health Potions.
I have to follow through on what I promised.
Delivery chicken and beer.
The apartment that had reeked of foul potion suddenly filled with the savory aroma of fried chicken.
So did I.
“Chicken really does go best with beer!”
-Chirp, chirp.
[Fire (EX) says he doesn’t understand that.]
[Fire (EX) insists you should only eat chicken with chicken.]
-Chirp? Chirp!
[Water (EX) is asking why you’d eat chicken at all.]
[Water (EX) says this golden liquid tastes much better than chicken!]
It’s nice that they like different things.
At least they won’t fight over who gets more.
After polishing off a can of beer and a whole chicken, I checked my potions and the materials I’d gathered.
Burning Stonewood × 43
Blazing Cotton × 34
Strong Stone × 11
Eighty-eight total.
The variety could be better, but it’s definitely improved from yesterday.
-Umm… chirp?
[Water (EX) is hesitantly asking if he can drink the potion.]
His eyes were glistening with desire, but unfortunately it wasn’t possible.
“Just two more days. It won’t work out today.”
At ten Lowest-grade Health Potions per hundred, that’s one thousand Thirst.
Currently I need three thousand Thirst to reach the next level.
If I let him drink it today, tomorrow I’d be left with much less Thirst to gain—why would I do something that stupid?
It’s not like I’m even good at making potions yet.
-Chirp……
[Water (EX) pouts his lips and nods reluctantly.]
I compensated for his disappointment with beer.
Looks like draft beer really suits his palate.
He drank it down eagerly.
In ten minutes, after polishing off fourteen chickens and thirty liters of draft beer, he wore a satisfied smile.
I cleaned up quickly and sent Mangja back out to gather materials.
So came the next morning.
Having established my daily routine by now.
“Please! Just once more! Please!”
The roulette.
Kneeling down, I begged all the gods with desperate fervor.
I didn’t ask for the jackpot like before.
I’d be thrilled with even last place—just please, no blanks.
That’s not asking for much, is it?
But the gods answered none of it.
“Ah, another dud.”
Clank, clank, clank.
That made three failures today.
I’d need to raise the odds somehow.
Why was the Luck Talisman so quiet all of a sudden?
As I prepared breakfast, they started waking one by one.
-Uh… squeak?
[Water (EX) timidly asks if you’ll be going to buy alcohol today.]
“Of course. There’s plenty besides Blue Label, so buy whatever you like.”
-Squeak! Squeak!
[Water (EX) says that only a contractor would do such a thing!]
[Water (EX) lets out delighted laughter!]
You’d think that alone made them happy.
Since it had come to this, I decided to let them buy whatever they wanted.
They say even the ghosts of the dead glow brightly when they’re well-fed.
Besides, I wasn’t taking the money with me when I died.
And at my level, money could be earned anytime I wanted it.
-Squeak?!
[Fire (EX) says that today they’ll eat whatever they want to eat too!]
“You eat whatever you want every day anyway.”
Acting as if you’d gone without—that was rich.
Still, I let Fire pick something they wanted, keeping it fair for both.
They’d figure out what to eat while we were out today.
Their evening appetite changed every time, they said.
For breakfast: rice with anchovies and a bottle of clear soju.
While eating, I continued practicing Alchemy.
To raise proficiency even a fraction faster, I had to practice whenever I had the chance.
Only then could I pull off formulas as skillfully as the alchemist currently making potions for me.
Alchemy would come eventually—as long as I kept at it.
My real worry was the fifteenth floor of the Tower of Trials.
“Can I manage it with sense alone?”
I had to face the Golden Goblin, a creature that made skills useless.
I had the Hidden Stat called Sense, but I wasn’t sure that alone would be enough.
‘Even using Fire’s skills, I don’t think I can clean it up.’
If it failed, there wasn’t much to be done.
I’d simply have regrets.
What I’d done so far was already unreasonable.
It was about time I stopped.
‘Still, stopping now feels like such a waste. I even earned a nickname.’
The Express Lane.
That’s what they called it—the way I shot straight up without any blockages.
I’d been proud of it in my own way, but I might lose it now.
So be it. What good was a record anyway?
I decided to focus on what I had to do today.
‘I need to gather materials for Alchemy and Spirit Sanctuary research.’
Phase Two research.
Complete enough research and I could eventually manufacture Mana Stones—I couldn’t stop now.
As for Water, for now it seemed we just needed to gather potion materials and let them practice Alchemy.
‘I wonder what will come from Water’s Spirit Sanctuary, like Fire’s.’
I looked forward to finding out.
Having done it yesterday, the potion-making had picked up speed.
What used to take five hours finished in three and a half.
The quality had even improved slightly from the lowest grade.
I was just thinking about heading into the Tower of Trials first.
Knock, knock.
“Lee Chan-young, are you in?”
“Has the potion delivery already arrived?”
It had come around mid-afternoon yesterday and the day before.
I tilted my head in confusion, opened the door, and found a remarkably beautiful woman standing there.
She was nothing like Jin A-rin.
If Jin A-rin brimmed with charisma and seemed capable of commanding anything, this woman before him was like an unshakeable wall.
No matter what he did, it wouldn’t crumble—and if he attacked, he suspected only he would get hurt.
Her compact frame radiated such overwhelming presence that it was unmistakably clear she was no ordinary person.
‘An assassin?’
What kind of assassin knocked before entering?
The person behind her didn’t look particularly dangerous either.
Both of them were even carrying gifts.
The moment he studied her face carefully, he recognized her immediately.
“Geum Chae-a? Master of the Tiger Guild?”
“Ha, how nice to meet you. You know who I am?”
“Anyone in South Korea who doesn’t know Geum Chae-a would have to be a spy.”
She was the Master of the Tiger Guild, whose reputation had been climbing steadily throughout South Korea.
Rising through the ranks of the Tower of Trials at such a young age, she was unstoppable.
So what was she doing at his house?
The question didn’t linger.
“It’s nothing much, really. I just wanted to meet someone so renowned. This is a modest gift.”
The gift seemed more than modest.
It was an Intermediate Buff Potion, after all.
He didn’t know the exact market price for buff potions, but it had to be worth at least hundreds of millions.
With that, she vanished after a parting remark about seeing each other again.
Even without detailed explanation, the meaning was crystal clear.
‘She’s marking me.’
More and more people were starting to take notice of him.
Annoying, sure, but he’d half-expected it anyway.
And if she was handing out gifts, he certainly wasn’t going to complain.
Besides, raising Fire and Water had taught him that they required more and more resources as time went on.
Fire needed Mana Stones; Water needed potions.
The next spirit would demand just as much, if not more.
So it made sense to cultivate connections with prominent Awakeners.
He could trade with the Association again if needed.
She had good taste in gifts.
“C-rank means 3,000—perfect for leveling up.”
Was a buff potion different?
When a potion he hadn’t been able to drink for two days suddenly appeared, Water’s eyes sparkled.
Down the hatch in one go!
Buff or not, it made no difference.
❰Thirst: (3,000/3,000)❱
No buff effect at all.
If that was how it worked, there was no point bothering to craft buff potions.
He’d focus on higher-grade items that were easier to make.
He needed to verify exactly what else came from them.
“So what Hidden Stat will I get this time?”
[Thirst has reached 3,000!]
[Water (EX) has leveled up by 1!]
❰Water Lv. 3❱
❰Possessed Skill: Divine Baptism (EX)❱
❰Thirst: (0/8,000)❱
……New skill unlocks at Lv. 5
……Lee Chan-young gains a Hidden Stat upon reaching 8,000 Thirst
[Hunger has reached 3,000!]
[You have acquired the Hidden Stat, ‘Sense’!]
[A similar Hidden Stat exists!]
[The Hidden Stats ‘Sense’ and ‘Sense’ have merged and evolved into ‘Super Sense’!]
<Super Sense>
Description: Your senses grow keener and more refined.
“Huh? ‘Super Sense’? What’s that?”
Another Sense stat had appeared, merging into an even better Hidden Stat.
This had never happened before, and even he felt caught off guard.
“Is that even possible?”
-It’s not impossible. But it’s extremely rare. Congratulations, human. You’ve accomplished something extraordinarily rare.
“I’ve seen skills with similar properties merge before, but this is my first time seeing two that are exactly identical.”
Despite the surprise, this changes everything.
A Golden Goblin?
‘I might be able to catch it without much trouble.’
If I’d acquired a new Hidden Stat, I needed to test it immediately.
I entered the Tower of Trials at once.
[You have arrived at Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials.]
[Find 1 Golden Goblin!]
[Golden Goblin: 0/1]
The environment was as ordinary as advertised.
A forest thick with the scent of nature.
I decided to sweep this entire area clean.
I deployed every skill Fire had available.
[Fire’s possessed skill, ‘Hellfire (EX)’, activates.]
[Fire’s possessed skill, ‘Meteor (EX)’, activates.]
[Fire’s possessed skill, ‘Hell Sphere (EX)’, activates.]
[Fire’s possessed skill, ‘Hell’s Sanctuary (EX)’, activates.]
The forest became ruins in an instant.
All that remained was black ash announcing itself as hell.
Yet the system showed no response.
[Golden Goblin: 0/1]
Still zero.
I wondered if I was about to waste years here for nothing.
Even Fire and Water didn’t know where the Golden Goblin was.
I was different, though.
I didn’t need to open my eyes.
With eyes closed, I focused only on my senses.
Air, mana, drifting ash—I missed nothing, not even the smallest movement.
A Golden Goblin would be no exception.
I turned my body slowly.
And reached out my hand.
“Caught you.”
Something seized with a sharp click.
There stood a goblin made entirely of gold, staring at me in blank confusion.
There was nothing more to do here.
The system message flashed as it vanished in that stunned state.
[You have cleared Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials!]
[Golden Goblin: 1/1]
[You have completely nullified the Golden Goblin’s concealment on Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials!]
[A new record has been achieved!]
[World Ranking for Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials has been updated to 1st place!]
[Clear Time: 58 seconds]
[You have successfully cleared Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials with overwhelming dominance!]
[If you succeed in nullifying all of the Golden Goblin’s abilities during the Floor 17 nullification, a golden bundle will be awarded!]
Fifty-eight seconds. Not even a full minute.
It was a record for the ages on Floor 15.
* * *
“He just looked pretty ordinary, honestly.”
That was the assessment of the subordinate who’d been watching in secret.
She thought the same thing.
There was no particularly impressive aura about him.
Utterly ordinary.
She tilted her head slightly, but only for a moment.
[1st Place Achieved on World Ranking for Floor 15 of the Tower of Trials!]
[1st Place: 58 seconds]
“Whoa.”
“Don’t trade stocks.”
It was the moment her investment prospects became impossibly certain.

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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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