I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - 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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Chapter 106
My name is Nebula.
My character is Nebula.
Straightforward naming, isn’t it?
[That one was… unnaturally strong and seemed familiar.]
Of course it would be.
To me, it was just a game.
And I was good at games.
[I kept watching out of curiosity. Then one day, some entity contacted me asking if I’d be interested in taking over the Auction House. I agreed. And through Nebula, I was able to acquire some truly rare collectibles.]
“Wait. ‘Some entity’?”
[Yes.]
“Tell me more about this entity.”
[I don’t know the details myself. They just asked me to take over the Auction House, and I agreed.]
“How did you even communicate?”
[The Dimensional Merchant has a dedicated line. Think of it like your civilization’s text messages.]
“···.”
‘Some entity, huh.’
[Anyway, that’s when this bastard showed me an artifact called Nameless. The potential to become anything—it’s a collectible I’ve never seen in my entire life as a collector. My eyes nearly rolled out of my head.]
I see.
So that’s why you made such a fuss.
[But this dog Nebula had no intention of selling, yet kept toying with me.]
“Ahem. No cursing.”
[Damn—]
“Quiet!”
[···.]
I crossed my legs in response.
‘This one’s a pushover.’
They hadn’t even properly conveyed the information about Nameless—the item in question—yet kept casually dropping high-grade intelligence.
And.
‘…a target I need to strategically recruit.’
So far, they’re the only bridge connecting Lost Honor and reality!
‘What should I do?’
Here, hiding the fact that ‘I am Nebula’ would be a mistake.
The moment I evade like that, my connection with the Market would sever.
‘Let me dig a little deeper first.’
“Tell me what a Core is.”
[Hmm.]
“Not going to say? Then I’m leaving.”
[Wait. I was thinking about how to explain it.]
Market fell silent for a moment, then slowly resumed typing.
[Cores are… you can think of them as clusters of causality.]
“Elaborate.”
[I’ll give you an example. Well, this is something I purchased from Nebula…]
The Dimensional Merchant floated a shield across the surface of the dimensional gate, speaking in that embarrassingly proud tone of someone showing off their collection—a nauseating manner of speech.
‘Huh?’
[It’s incredibly rare. The name is ‘One-Handed Shield of the Deep Crimson Dusk’.]
“….”
A garbage item with nothing but a fancy name—the kind you wouldn’t use even if handed to you.
Watching Market proudly display one of these…
my heart ached a little.
“That’s… quite impressive.”
I do have a human heart, after all.
Of course I do. I’m human.
And so, when Market shyly presented this garbage item as though it were a precious collectible…
I couldn’t bring myself to unleash the truth bomb and say, “That’s just a garbage item.”
[What if you could use this on Earth?]
“It would be useless. Such a garbage item.”
[What?]
“I was about to say.”
My inner thoughts had spilled out before I could stop them.
“It would be absolutely wonderful.”
[I knew it, right? But the thing is, you can’t use this fine shield on Earth. Can’t sell it either.]
“Why not?”
[Because Earth’s dimensional grade is far too low.]
‘I see.’
That’s unfortunate.
While that shield is indeed garbage, most of the items Nebula has sold to Market so far are genuinely broken—absurdly overpowered items.
If there were a way to bring them back to Earth, I could at least equip my entire party with Nebula’s broken items.
‘Even just bringing over the items necessary for clearing would be a huge help.’
[What makes that possible is this core.]
“Interesting…”
[At Earth’s current grade… you’d need about five cores to obtain this shield.]
“What about others? For example, something like the ‘Fisherman’s Harpoon’.”
[That tacky spear? Hmm… that would only require one core.]
My mind raced.
If I gather these cores, I can bring Nebula’s items to Earth?
‘Moreover, it seems Market is the one setting the required number of cores.’
No sane person would price that shield and the Fisherman’s Harpoon at such rates.
Market’s eye for goods is at a complete novice level, so it makes sense they’d slap such absurd price tags on these items.
‘Even this works in my favor.’
Thump. Thump.
I brought down an imaginary gavel in my mind with all my might.
This bastard.
Confirmed sucker!
I had just discovered a compelling reason to maintain my connection with Market.
The sole conduit through which I could acquire items crafted by Nebula!
One method involves possession, which requires the target to equip the item themselves, and since the tickets are extraordinarily scarce, their usage is severely limited.
But if I accumulate Cores, I can obtain Nebula’s items through Market.
‘As long as I hold Nameless, I can strike at him whenever I please.’
In that case.
It would be advantageous to reveal my true identity to this fool.
Nebula holding Nameless. Me controlling Nebula.
I needed to firmly imprint upon him that I stood at the apex of this pyramid, so I could exploit this sucker to my heart’s content going forward.
“I possess Nameless.”
[What!!! Were you Nebula all along!]
“Not exactly. I am Ha Sung-woon.”
[?]
“Nebula is… if I had to use an analogy, like an alter ego of mine.”
[···.]
Market fell silent for a moment.
[You’re not an alter ego? You’re far too… pathetic compared to Nebula···]
“Silence!”
[···]
Since she’s my character, she is indeed my alter ego.
I am the original.
‘And he dares treat me as pathetic?’
Unforgivable.
“However, I cannot place Nameless on the trading block.”
[Why not]
“It’s my decision.”
[Bastard]
“Ahem.”
[···.]
“I have the capacity to create items as precious as Nameless.”
[Truly?]
“Yes. So propose something else.”
[Hmm.]
“Make a proposal that favors me appropriately. Then I’ll trade you an item of Nameless’s caliber. Additionally, if your favorability accumulates sufficiently, I might even trade Nameless itself.”
[Truly?]
“Yes. For your information, your current favorability stands at –100. Therefore, the probability of trading Nameless is 0%.”
[···Why so low?]
“It’s my choice.”
[···.]
“That conversation just cost me –101.”
[I am a merchant. Therefore, I cannot simply ‘give away’ information. Instead, I will provide you with knowledge first.]
‘Haven’t you already given away plenty?’
Is this lunatic?
“Speak.”
[It concerns the Core.]
‘There’s more?’
[This is… simply put, a ‘possibility’.]
“You say you’ll explain simply, then you lie? The deal is off.”
[Wait, wait!!! I really did explain it simply!!!]
These types need their hearts jolted once in a while.
That’s the only way to make them talk faster.
I settled back into my chair.
“Mind yourself. Before I walk out entirely.”
[···So, this is a possibility capable of gestating an entire world.]
“?”
A familiar concept I’d heard somewhere before.
The material for Genesis-tier items.
The ‘Fragment of Genesis’—obtainable only when defeating occasionally regenerating event bosses, the Outer Gods.
That item, which I also call ‘shards’, has a description that matches exactly.
‘That tiny black bead is a Genesis Fragment-tier item?’
[Of course, compared to the genuine article, it’s extremely small and trivial…]
‘Well, that figures.’
How could it compare to a Fragment of Genesis?
Then the genuine article being discussed here must be the Fragment of Genesis itself.
[Unlike the genuine article, which humans have no way of obtaining, this Core is relatively easy to acquire.]
“How do I get it?”
[The easiest method is to deal with the ‘special bosses’ that appear when a Break has been dormant for a long time.]
It seemed to be referring to Scathaha and Resonar.
But even after defeating those two, I’d never obtained a Core.
“···You never gave one?”
[Those creatures aren’t ‘genuine articles’, that’s why.]
“Genuine articles?”
[Whether they emerged directly from the Tower, or are merely replicas of the Tower. That is the difference. For example, Scathaha is such a popular boss monster that there are many replicas of it.]
“···.”
What kind of nonsense is this?
The merchant deliberately paused, clearly gauging my reaction.
[Ah, you didn’t know that? Then I’ll deduct it from your information fee···]
“Of course I knew.”
[···Is that so? Anyway. The reason Break becomes progressively harder is because the Tower sends out genuine articles, not replicas. So if you overload Break and confront and eliminate the genuine article, you should be able to obtain the Core.]
Fascinating information.
What would have happened if I’d faced the next Break Boss without clearing the 94th Floor?
‘What would happen? The country would’ve been destroyed.’
According to the information Lost Honor casually let slip, the next boss was the ‘Fallen Divinity—Madness-Consumed Heavens’.
At my current level, I could never defeat it.
But what if I had succeeded in defeating this creature?
Perhaps I could have obtained the Core.
‘…It’s incredibly difficult to obtain, though.’
Yet Iransu possessed it.
That meant there were other routes to acquire the Core besides this method.
“And?”
[?]
“That’s information I already know.”
I bluffed with perfect composure.
[…That can’t be right…]
‘Sharp instincts, this one.’
“You doubt me? I’m leaving.”
[Understood, understood.]
Market hurriedly printed the next line.
[Next, you simply need to climb the Tower.]
“How obvious.”
[No. It’s not obvious. ‘You’ must be the one to climb.]
“Huh?”
[Other ‘Hunters’ lack the qualifications.]
Market’s tone grew profoundly grave.
[You were a Climber, weren’t you?]
“···.”
This bastard.
He certainly knows a lot.
‘How did he find out?’
My mind raced frantically.
Was there a separate method to identify the first Climber?
But showing ignorance here would be amateurish.
I pressed forward shamelessly.
“Yes.”
[Which floor?]
“94th Floor.”
[…So you were ‘that’ Korean Tower climber?]
“Yeah.”
[…So that’s why…]
“Right…”
[Is that so… Then…]
‘What the hell is this bastard going on about.’
[Let’s drop this subject.]
“….”
It’s a tactic I use frequently when dealing with Min Ji-hee.
Now that I’m on the receiving end, it feels absolutely infuriating.
And whenever I employ this tactic, it’s always for one reason.
‘When I need to pretend I know something I don’t.’
‘It seems Market doesn’t understand what the 94th Floor climb means.’
“Ah, so you don’t know…”
[…]
I probed slightly, and Market fell silent.
‘Caught red-handed, aren’t you?’
Psychological warfare—how pathetic.
Arrogant bastard.
[Only the first climbers can obtain a Core. I don’t know the reason myself, but the Tower must have had some purpose in selecting and summoning that person.]
“….”
[The fact that you don’t know this information suggests you’ve never obtained a Core before? Well, from what I hear, it can’t be obtained through ordinary means anyway.]
‘I see.’
The puzzle pieces clicked into place in my mind.
This Core was something I took from Iransu.
And Iransu is an Apostle of an Outer God.
The descriptions of Shards of Genesis and Cores are somewhat similar.
According to Market’s explanation, there’s a difference between genuine and counterfeit versions.
In other words… putting it all together.
A Core is an item related to Outer Gods.
‘The 90th Floor range has Outer Gods as the theme… I’ll probably have multiple opportunities to obtain them.’
As expected.
Climbing the Tower was the right call.
[At this point, I’m proposing a transaction.]
“Sure. What is it.”
Thud.
Something fell from the portal where Market’s messages had been appearing.
It was a Core.
Two of them, in fact.
[Advance payment.]
“Why are you doing this?”
Kindness without reason was not something to trust.
Market added.
[I wish to hear your story.]
“My story?”
[You are the climber who has ascended the highest floor currently existing on Earth. I wish for you to tell me about climbing the Tower and the things you obtained in the process.]
🙂
Market displayed a smiling emoticon.
[And raise your favorability with me.]
···This bastard.
He knew how to do business.
I picked up the core.
“Deal.”
[A satisfactory transaction.]
The core was about the size of a walnut.
It was perfect for holding in my hand and rolling around.
“Hmm.”
Click. Click.
As I fidgeted with the core…
I pondered its use.
‘Should I use it now?’
[Why not?]
‘No, rather… it’s better to use it when I need it.’
When South Korea faces a crisis.
Or if a problem arises in clearing Floor 95 of the Tower.
There will come a moment when I absolutely need Nebula’s creation.
[The transaction is complete. Leave.]
That will be the timing to milk this sucker dry.
My mouth watered.
[What are you doing?;]
“Shut up. You’re distracting me.”
[Sir. This is my room;]
“I know.”
Your room is my room now.
“Get out of your room. Let me organize my thoughts.”
[???]

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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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