I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 3

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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 3
Hidden Quest.
Truly a phrase that warms the heart.
Typically, developers hide them away, and only a select few veterans who know the secret claim them easily—a honeypot of sorts.
Lost Honor views it differently.
In 4D.
…Not a rotten joke.
Difficult.
Dangerous.
Deep and insidious.
And the rewards are correspondingly delicious.
If ordinary hidden quests are no risk, high return—
Lost Honor’s hidden quests are high risk, great very very high return, fully equipped with all 4D elements.
‘Those who covet good rewards must bear the danger… something like that.’
Of course, honestly bearing the danger is something only novices do.
Once you’re seasoned like me, you develop an extreme sense for finding loopholes to evade danger.
I intended to hunt for exactly that now.
I’d already prepared the guideline for this.
The first step.
—Item power.
‘Items. The essence of RPGs.’
The time Han Seol-ah spent consuming the elixir. A full day.
I hadn’t spent that time sitting idle.
‘If I’m doing something else while South Korea teeters on the brink of collapse, I’m insane.’
I liquidated part of my assets and crafted an exquisite set of items for Han Seol-ah.
The “Winter’s Sovereign” set—a frost mage exclusive, the ultimate set item.
And now, the final piece of the set.
‘The weapon’ was my next task.
[Unique—Blacksmith God’s Anvil: Kardanium is initializing]
I clicked the iridescent, gleaming anvil and began crafting.
[Primordial Four Elements confirmed—Hidden Mode activated]
[Mode: Hidden—Genesis Arctos]
[※This mode can result in user death!※]
A crimson warning window obscured my vision.
In this mode, a mistake doesn’t destroy the weapon—it destroys the character’s head.
In Lost Honor, death means character deletion, a far too great risk for mere item crafting.
But.
[Begin crafting Genesis-grade Staff—Eternal Winter of Frost?]
[1. Yes] [2. No]
Creating a Genesis-grade item required accepting this danger.
And besides.
As long as I don’t make a mistake, there’s no problem.
“With my skill level, it’s zero risk.”
Time to show what I’m truly capable of.
* * *
“Heh heh.”
After grinding through that tedious, pedantic crafting mini-game.
[Crafting Critical Success!]
Flawlessly.
Perfectly executed.
Sparkle!
Boom boom boom!
[The world’s fifth ‘Genesis-tier’ item has been born]
[Remarkable Achievement!]
[Your renown echoes across the entire universe]
I swiftly dismiss the obnoxious notification windows.
On the anvil, a single staff comes into view.
Over the staff carved from transparent ice crystals, an ethereal aurora-hued chill coils like a serpent, flowing with mesmerizing grace.
A Genesis-tier item exclusive to the ‘Frost Mage’—a master of ice-binding magic.
‘Eternal Winter.’
Only five Genesis-tier items exist in this world, and with ‘Eternal Winter’ just completed, that count remains at five.
The fact that these five weapons each possess their own unique power means there is only one weapon permitted to the pinnacle of Frost Mage mastery—this one alone.
“In other words, the ultimate endgame item.”
Its specifications are nothing short of dazzling.
“Let me check how well it turned out.”
Magic attack power increase, frost attack power increase, mana recovery speed increase… and so on.
“A receipt would be shorter than this.”
The option list extends endlessly downward.
It has everything you could possibly imagine—and then some.
‘I’ll skip over these basics.’
But for a Genesis-tier item, this exhaustive list of options is merely the foundation.
The real treasure is this.
‘Genesis Attribute.’
An absurdly broken passive skill that only appears on Genesis-tier items.
Behold: ‘Genesis Attribute.’
‘Let me see if it attached properly.’
Upon inspection.
It was flawless, as expected.
‘Of course it’s me.’
A man who tolerates no mistakes….
[Ugh…]
In that moment.
With a dull thud, Han Seol-ah finally regained consciousness from the impact of her collapse.
“Time to receive your gifts.”
I began dropping items one by one before her.
“Crown of the Extreme.”
[Huh?]
The headpiece of the Winter Sovereign set.
“Snowstorm Lord’s Ice Mantle.”
[Gasp.]
The garment to wear.
“Eternal Snowy Scales, Bracelet of the Harsh Covenant, Roar of the Winter God.”
[W-what?!]
The upper body, hands, and belt.
“Greaves of the Ice Fortress, Boots of Eternal Frost.”
[Kyaaaah?!]
The lower body and feet.
Seven crimson pillars of light—the mark of Mythic-grade items—bloomed into existence.
Han Seol-ah’s eyes darted between the scattered items and my character.
[H-huh. Wow.]
Her eyes widened. Her nostrils flared slightly, her breathing quickened, her face flushed.
Confusion and disbelief warred within her—’Why me?’ and ‘Is this really for me?’
She took several steps back.
[A-are you giving these to me?]
After studying my character’s expression for a moment.
When my character showed no sign of moving, Han Seol-ah unleashed a hundred grateful bows in rapid succession.
[Thank you! Thank you so much!]
She hurriedly gathered the fallen items, beginning to carefully equip the boots first.
With each piece she donned, vitality surged through her body, drawing gasps of wonder from her lips.
Once Han Seol-ah had equipped all seven pieces, she looked like a sovereign ruling the Arctic itself.
‘Beautiful.’
“One final piece remains.”
The crown jewel of the Winter Sovereign set.
The Genesis-grade staff, ‘Eternal Winter.’
I dragged the brilliantly glowing staff from my inventory and dropped it with a soft thud onto the ground.
A rainbow-hued pillar of light erupted before Han Seol-ah.
“Take it, Han Seol-ah. Seize destiny in your hands….”
And then.
[Thud.]
Upon seeing the item, Han Seol-ah lost consciousness once more.
“…Huh?”
* * *
A god existed.
In the darkness, I thought so.
‘Ah, I’ve lost consciousness.’
The Mental Realm.
That’s what I called this place—somewhere I occasionally visited whenever I fell asleep or lost consciousness.
A space I found myself in whenever awareness slipped away.
‘Why did I pass out again?’
As I retraced my memories, I recalled muttering about the ‘god.’
A sacred radiance.
A beautiful light unmistakably emanating directly from a god.
Not an artifact—a divine object!
The moment I witnessed that presence, tension drained from my body and consciousness snapped.
The thread of my mind had severed under excessive stress.
Like a fuse blown by overvoltage, plunging everything into darkness.
The reason for the tension?
That was clear.
Trembling—
I found myself shaking without realizing it.
Since falling into this world, I had encountered a terrifying existence.
Its form was human, yet the aura it radiated was anything but.
From the black armor it wore came not the clang of metal, but a spine-chilling, bone-scraping sound.
Its breath carried a malice that seemed capable of paralyzing the mind itself.
It was wreathed in a sinister aura that reeked of blood and killing intent.
As for the ‘strength’ I sensed?
…It was of a different order entirely.
Even the air around it pressed down with such weight that breathing became agony, as if my lungs would tear with each gasp.
I felt a primal terror—as though grotesque tentacles might at any moment burst forth from that abyssal helm and tear me to shreds.
Merely knowing such a terrifying being existed made my mind scream.
The fact that I stood in its presence threatened to drive me mad.
It was cosmic horror incarnate.
That’s why my tension had eased when I saw the divine object radiating the familiar mana of the Snowy Country.
‘Still, I need to wake up.’
I knew how to escape the Mental Realm.
Concentrate my mind, think of opening my eyes.
‘Hah!’
My eyes snapped open with a start.
‘KYAAAAAAHHHHH!!!’
“Gack.”
The moment I saw that being staring down at me with those piercing eyes.
I was cast back into the mental realm once more.
‘T-t-terrified!!!’
My consciousness felt like it was slipping away….
Tap. Tap.
The mental realm trembled violently.
From outside, ‘that being’ was calling to me.
Telling me to wake up.
Or else….
‘W-wake up now!!!’
“Ugh.”
‘P-please…!’
“Gack.”
* * *
…After waking me up and letting me lose consciousness several times over.
Only after applying a mental protection buff did Han Seol-ah finally regain her senses.
Though whether she could truly be said to have regained them was questionable, given how she gasped for breath as if unable to breathe properly, her entire body trembling uncontrollably…
“Hey, pick it up. What are you doing?”
Yet Han Seol-ah only knelt before the staff and bowed reverently, unable to bring herself to pick it up.
Han Seol-ah was muttering something in an incomprehensible alien tongue.
[#@!$#@…!]
“What in the world is happening?”
Even the system couldn’t decipher this dialect, spitting out only corrupted characters.
The text appeared and disappeared so rapidly it seemed like a video playing at ten times speed.
Then, after a moment, the translator finally kicked in and the sentences printed correctly.
[…Jesus, Buddha, Allah, ancestors, spirits of heaven and earth…muttering.]
‘A prayer?’
Han Seol-ah’s strange behavior didn’t cease until ten more minutes had passed.
Trembling like an aspen leaf, having prayed with such fervent intensity, Han Seol-ah—now drenched in sweat from head to toe—asked my character where the bathroom was.
After I pointed the way, she vanished like an arrow, returning after purifying herself through ablution.
Her silver hair glistened with moisture, and her pale hands extended with the reverence of one holding a sacred relic.
“Beautiful.”
With movements of utmost piety, Han Seol-ah carefully picked up the Eternal Winter.
[This is… incredible. Extraordinary…!]
Han Seol-ah caressed the staff with careful hands, as if worried it might shatter.
And then I picked her up.
[Huh?]
I opened a portal immediately.
[W-wait, Nebula?]
—As we stepped through the portal, we arrived in the Snowy Country.
[Where… am I?]
The Northern End of the world.
A region teeming with frost-attribute monsters.
I crossed the hunting grounds with Han Seol-ah at my side.
[Frost Dragon]
Krraaaagh—!
The domain’s ruler, the Frost Dragon, sensing an intruder who dared breach its territory, shrieked and dove toward us.
[Gasp! An ice dragon?!]
This is one of the common mobs within Lost Honor—the Frost Dragon.
But I can understand Han Seol-ah’s confusion.
The Frost Dragon that manifested in reality looks identical to what the Hunter Association calls an “ice dragon.”
“…Wait.”
Han Seol-ah crossed over from the game world into reality.
Could it be that beings from within the game can also cross into reality?
Now that I think about it, the monsters’ specs are exactly the same…
Could it be…?
‘…No, that can’t be right.’
[Party member ‘Han Seol-ah’ has fallen into the abnormal status: Fear]
While I was lost in thought.
Han Seol-ah was overwhelmed by terror.
“Tsk.”
[….]
Despite being afflicted with fear severe enough to register as an abnormal status, her expression remained impassive.
She possessed the composure of someone who had fought countless battles on the frontlines against bosses.
She understood better than anyone that wavering was not an option.
“Admirable, Han Seol-ah.”
I gently lifted the crowd control with a mental protection skill.
Click.
I dispatched the raucous Frost Dragon with a single skill.
[Gasp. An ice dragon in one hit…!]
“That’s not an ice dragon.”
The title of ice dragon was not something to be bestowed upon a mere Frost Dragon.
The true ice dragon existed elsewhere.
‘I’ll introduce you to it soon.’
As we reached the very end of the Northern End.
An enormously massive black gate came into view.
‘The Interdimensional Gate.’
A content system that allowed one to offer sacrifices and summon boss-class powerhouses from other dimensions to enjoy raids.
[Raid List]
(…)
[Ancient Blue Dragon Lord – Ice Dragon Scathaha]
(…)
“Found it.”
The gate yawned open, swallowing Han Seol-ah and me whole.
Immediately after.
The field shifted into the Ice Cavern.
Grrrrooooowwww—
A predator’s roar echoed through the air.
[Ice Dragon Scathaha has appeared]
[Ancient Blue Dragon Lord]
[Ice Dragon Scathaha]
A Blue Dragon.
The mightiest of all water-element dragons.
Ancient.
The oldest among all Blue Dragons.
Lord.
The most powerful individual among all Ancient Dragons.
…possessing these three attributes.
In reverence to the mightiest of all dragons,
I bestow upon it the name of an element.
That is none other than Ice Dragon Scathaha.
Compared to Frost Dragon, the difference is as vast as that between a worm and a dragon.
—ROOOAAARRR!
“Ugh, the fear aura.”
Mere proximity drained my character’s mana in chunks.
The mental barrier I’d cast on Han Seol-ah was desperately resisting the fear effect.
Ah, my character has mental immunity, so it doesn’t affect me.
[…gasp.]
“This is the true Ice Dragon.”
[It’s incredible…]
After unleashing a tremendous roar, Scathaha simply stared at us, waiting.
Combat hadn’t begun yet.
Toss.
I threw a different kind of elixir in front of Han Seol-ah.
Crimson red.
This one restored vitality.
[Huh?]
Han Seol-ah picked it up and drank it without hesitation.
The moment the flash effect faded, her eyes widened.
[What is this…?]
Thud.
I tossed another vial of elixir.
This time, a bit farther.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Farther and farther still.
Flash—! Flash—!
And so, like a hamster cracking sunflower seeds, Han Seol-ah picked up and drank the elixirs one by one, gradually drawing herself into Scathach’s field of awareness.
Before she knew it, she had stepped directly into the boss’s recognition range.
[Interdimensional Boss Raid commencing]
[…Huh?]
A System Message materialized in that same instant.
A transparent, house-sized hemispherical barrier unfurled, encasing both Han Seol-ah and Scathach.
Han Seol-ah, her face drained of all color, turned around.
“Go, Han Seol-ah!”
[…Fight? Me?]
—KUOOOOOOOOOO!!!
[…Against that thing?]
The boss battle had begun.
From the speaker cranked to MAX, the majestic roar of the ice dragon reverberated with deafening force.
[I… I can’t win! The ice dragon is immune to frost magic… My spells won’t work…!]
Han Seol-ah descended into panic.
I understand.
Even the Frost Dragon, far inferior to Scathach, possessed a high level of frost resistance.
But ‘resistance’ at least left room to whittle away at scales—Scathach, by contrast, possessed perfect ‘frost immunity’ where damage simply did not register at all.
With frost magic, Scathach could ‘never’ be wounded.
—There was no way to win.
Of course that would be her thought.
It was not an incorrect assessment.
Even if Han Seol-ah increased her mana reserves and became EX-rank.
The probability of defeating the ice dragon Scathach was zero.
Against an opponent immune to frost magic.
How could Han Seol-ah, a frost mage, possibly win?
‘…This is the image of ruin that South Korea will one day face.’
…But now.
At this moment.
There was no danger whatsoever.
There was no probability of defeat at all.
Because I held eternal winter in my grasp.
‘…Though she wouldn’t know it.’
Han Seol-ah had no idea how extraordinary the staff in her hand truly was.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Scathach approached at tremendous speed.
[Ugh…!]
Han Seol-ah’s response was swift.
She quickly regained her composure, her expression returning to its usual cold composure.
Whoosh!
She thrust her staff forward.
“That’s right.”
If I give up saying I can’t win, then I’m not Han Seol-ah.
[Eternal Permafrost!]
My signature technique.
Whiiiiing—!
A brilliant blue mana swirled before my extended staff, and in the blink of an eye, an ice sphere the size of a human head materialized with a sharp crack.
[Huh?]
In that moment when I hesitated, sensing the magic’s unfamiliar feel.
Whoosh!
The sphere shot forth at invisible speed and struck Scathach.
Boom!
Just like that.
Scathach exploded and died.
[…Eh?]
[Interdimensional Gate Boss Raid—’Ice Dragon’ Scathach has been subjugated.]
[MVP: Han Seol-ah (100%)]
“This is it.”
This is the power of a Genesis-tier item.
Genesis-tier Staff—Eternal Winter, to which I granted the ‘Genesis Attribute’.
[Winter That Heralds the End: Absolute Zero]
Whether it’s Frost Dragon’s ‘Ice Resistance’ or Scathach’s ‘Ice Immunity’.
Both are meaningless before this.
It ignores all resistances and immunities entirely, delivering its damage with absolute honesty.
But that’s not all.
‘If it were just this, it would merely be immunity penetration, immunity negation.’
Boss monsters, and even lesser monsters below them, all possess innate magical resistance.
‘Absolute Zero’ disregards even that magical resistance.
Moreover.
It comes equipped with absurdly broken buffs befitting a Genesis-tier item’s caliber.
Now.
Nothing in existence can block my magic.
“Proof complete.”
And just as I predicted.
[Hidden Quest: You have completed the slaying of Frost Dragon]
—The Hidden Quest has been cleared.
* * *
The Quest window in Lost Honor is not user-friendly.
It simply lists the Quest name, objectives, and rewards—nothing more.
Extracting valuable information from this sparse presentation depends entirely on the player’s ability to read between the lines.
Reading the Quest window again.
[Urgent Epic Quest]
[Save South Korea from the brink of annihilation]
[Quest Objective]
[Awaken S-rank Hunter Han Seol-ah to EX-rank]
(Achieved)
It appears that awakening Han Seol-ah to EX-rank would resolve the Urgent Epic Quest.
However, a seasoned player would notice something lacking here.
I supplied Han Seol-ah with mana elixir and elevated her to EX-rank.
—But can that truly save South Korea from the brink of annihilation?
‘It cannot.’
The answer is no.
As long as Han Seol-ah possesses her specialization and limitation in frost magic.
Eventually, another boss will emerge that she cannot defeat.
In other words.
Elevating Han Seol-ah to EX-rank, as the Epic Quest initially suggested, is merely the surface-level objective.
‘It’s just the starting line.’
The reason this objective was proposed.
The true name of the Epic Quest.
The genuine purpose of this Quest.
[Save South Korea from the brink of annihilation]
…It is not simply about making Han Seol-ah EX-rank.
It is about granting her the power to save South Korea from the brink of annihilation.
That is the true purpose of this objective.
The hidden piece.
That is why I led Han Seol-ah before Scathaha.
Difficult.
Dangerous.
Deep.
To handle these three elements.
…And incidentally, to claim a sweet reward as well.
‘Han Seol-ah obtains a primordial-grade item, and I obtain the hidden reward. This is mutual benefit.’
“Well then, let’s see what we have.”
[Quest Reward]
[Awakening] → [Awakening+] (new!)
[Possession Ticket]
“… Awakening Plus?”
‘Just how strong is my character becoming?’
This time, I selected Quest Complete and Claim Reward.
Ding—
“…Huh?”
[You have awakened]
[Awakening Ability: Synchronization (EX)]
The notification message was strange.
It floated before my eyes.
Inside the game, that is…
Not within the monitor.
Right before my actual eyes.
Before the eyes of Ha Sung-woon, the real me.
“…What is this?”
A hallucination?
Had my mind finally crossed the threshold from ‘normal’ into the realm of ‘abnormal’?
[Synchronization Ability—Frostbinding (EX) confirmed]
[From this moment forward, you may use ‘Frostbinder’ from the Skill: Synchronization (EX)]
[Initial manifestation of ability detected. Beginning tutorial experience]
“Gasp!”
In that instant.
A biting, frigid mana of frostbinding surged through my entire body.
My vision blurred into darkness.

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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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