I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 31

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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 31
“Yes! One gold.”
Lee Ah-woon hummed to himself.
At an extremely low probability, magic stones form where the corpses of magical beasts accumulate and congeal.
And at a somewhat higher probability, things called “fragment magic stones”—tiny, low-value magic stone-like materials—also appear.
Lee Ah-woon was a day laborer who hunted for these “fragments.”
Normally, you needed to collect ten to be treated as one gold, but this one seemed substantial enough to exchange for currency on its own.
‘My luck is incredible today?’
The sun hadn’t even set yet, and his total earnings for the day already exceeded five gold.
An overwhelming pace.
“At this rate, I could afford the medicine by the day after tomorrow?”
Wheeeeze—
An ancient Hunter Watch, shabby enough to deserve the name “junk,” wheezed out a sound.
It was a call.
“What? Everyone calls me.”
Lee Ah-woon, who had been stuffing the byproducts of magical beasts into his pockets, wiped the blood carelessly on the wall and answered.
“Who is this?”
[Our little bloodstain, you’re quite polite on the phone?]
“…Who is this?”
[Who else? It’s me.]
“Uncle?”
[Yeah.]
“Why are you calling? You said you’d give me six gold. I’ll pay back that one gold you discounted last time soon.”
[That’s not why I called.]
‘What’s with this guy? Why is he putting on airs?’
Unease crept in.
Wasn’t this uncle always playful and lighthearted?
Hearing him suddenly speak in such a serious tone made my heart sink.
“Is something wrong?”
[Bloodstain, no. Ah-woon.]
“Damn it. Why are you making me anxious, uncle? Why are you calling my name like that?”
[…There’s something important I need to tell you.]
“What is it?”
[The medicine. The supply has been cut off.]
“…”
Thump.
I collapsed to the ground.
“Damn it. No wonder my luck was so good today.”
It was over.
The next seizure would kill me.
It felt as though inevitable death was creeping up from my feet, inch by inch.
[Don’t give up yet.]
“Give up? You bastard. You’ve been gorging yourself on my gold all this time, getting fat off my money, haven’t you? Now that one steady customer is slipping away, you’re getting desperate…”
[There’s a way to treat your condition.]
“…!”
It felt like lightning struck through my mind.
[I heard intelligence that very soon, a very special ‘consumable’ will appear in the Market Black Market. I don’t know exactly what that consumable is yet. But with it, we could even recover from your mana backflow syndrome.]
“…Sir.”
But that lightning instantly transformed into disappointment.
“How am I supposed to buy that? It’s just pie in the sky.”
[I’ll buy it for you.]
“…Ha.”
Lee Ah-woon burst out laughing.
“Yeah, sure. A treasure like that would definitely sell to some old guy who just pockets pocket change from neighborhood kids.”
[Ha ha. Blood clot. You really don’t know me, do you? Sir has plenty of money.]
The king of darkness ruling South Korea’s underworld.
The true identity of the ‘anonymous businessman’ who feeds all of South Korea’s impoverished.
The individual who owns the most gold in the entire world.
A legendary merchant.
A man who became one of the Numbers simply because he had so much gold.
[Fucking loaded.]
Lee Hyung-je, the ‘Golden Mine,’ opened his wallet.
* * *
[Master.]
“Yeah. What is it.”
Pandemonium’s Master was trimming his nails in his office.
Click. Click.
Trimming his nails neatly was one of Master’s few hobbies.
Few hobbies meant he treasured this time dearly.
So Master killed most anyone who dared interrupt this moment.
Unless it was truly exceptional news.
And so, ironically enough.
Calls that came while Master trimmed his nails always brought issues beyond his expectations.
He disliked the interruption.
Yet simultaneously, he’d come to subtly anticipate these contacts—a peculiar time indeed.
[The Saint called the money bag, sir.]
“Hmm.”
Weak. Should I kill her?
[The ‘Golden Mine’ has closed his shop, sir.]
“Ho.”
This is quite intriguing.
Individually, neither incident is particularly alarming.
The Saint would spend money. Golden Mine would loosen its purse.
But if both events occurred simultaneously, this is a definite signal.
The wealthiest organization in the world: the Religious Order.
The wealthiest individual in the world: Golden Mine.
A signal that the two are colliding.
And it means something precious enough to make both of them open their coffers will emerge soon.
But even this isn’t enough.
The ‘why’ is missing.
“Why are the two of them?”
[···It appears a tremendous artifact will be released at today’s South Korea Numbers Auction.]
“Hmm. How reliable is this?”
[You know how South Korea operates, don’t you? Since this leak came from there, the accuracy is 100%.]
Fascinating.
[And finally.]
“There’s more?”
[Numbers 100, Race, has lost his position.]
This is…
truly intriguing.
Race is a criminal belonging to Pandemonium.
He received the rank of ‘100’ on the condition that he exclusively supplied poison to the Black Market—a toxin that works on both humans and magical beasts.
Race lost his rank of 100?
That means a new Numbers has been born.
[Information beyond this point is blocked. But if you reason it through, the results are quite amusing.]
“The Saint heads to South Korea, and Golden Mine, who had been lurking there, moves from the mainland?”
[Yes. And this artifact is the first piece submitted by the ‘new Numbers’.]
“Hahaha. Ahahaha!”
Master laughed with delight.
[Hehe. What shall we do, Master?]
“What are you asking?”
Master set down the nail clipper with an eerie smile.
“Snatch it away at the moment when whoever bid the highest price is drowning in joy, clutching the elixir of eternal life. That’s the most fun part.”
Pandemonium’s participation: confirmed.
* * *
A few hours later. Noon.
Lee Ah-woon had just over six hours remaining before his lifeline was severed.
In South Korea’s black market, a special auction had begun.
Twenty-three participants.
However, only two Numbers had attended in person: Yereche, the ‘Saint’ who ranked 2nd, and Lee Hyung-je, ‘Golden Mine’ who ranked 100th.
Paying such an astronomical sum of points to use the Market’s ‘Emergency Auction Teleportation’ service was far from easy.
The rest were representatives from Numbers.
A single item up for auction.
Name: Red Elixir.
Effects:
Wound Healing (S)
Disease Healing (S)
And the appraisal certificate from Kang Hyo-jun, proving the authenticity of these claims.
‘This is insane!’
Yereche gasped in shock.
She had never imagined such a thing could exist.
And witnessing it with her own eyes was something she’d never dreamed possible.
Her initial motivation had been simple—to see just how impressive this newcomer truly was.
Coupled with jealousy over how he’d managed to push her down to Number 2.
But this.
This was wrong.
Something like this shouldn’t exist.
‘It makes no sense…!’
Yet there it was, right before her eyes.
‘If this becomes public, what happens to our Religious Order?’
Equipment artifacts could be used permanently until they broke, but they were singular items.
Consumables, on the other hand, were one-time use, but identical items could continuously ‘reappear’ on the market.
This was precisely why the Market valued the ‘supplier’ of consumables more highly than the specs of equipment.
Because behind consumables lay an exclusive, monopolistic supply source that distributed them continuously.
The problem was that this ‘Red Elixir’ that had just appeared was also a consumable.
If an elixir with such absurdly broken specifications didn’t end with this one-time auction, but instead continued to flood the market through a supplier?
Even in minute quantities, it was obvious it would become the ultimate item that billionaires worldwide seeking immortality would kill for.
And that posed a fatal threat to Yereche’s Religious Order.
The Order operated by extracting massive donations, using the healing effects of holy water and divine power granted only to select VIPs as bait.
But if an elixir of perfect superiority, far surpassing divine power, were continuously distributed?
Wealthy and powerful figures would never again come crawling to the Order with desperate pleas, eagerly opening their wallets as they once had.
Because an alternative had emerged.
No, not merely an alternative.
A vastly superior replacement had appeared!
Crunch—
Yereche nervously bit her nails.
‘No matter how insanely talented an ability user is, they can’t mass-produce S-rank items like that. At most, they’d manage one or two bottles. If I win the bid and bury it forever, that’s the end of it!’
Neither this elixir nor the existence of the supplier hiding behind it could ever be revealed to the world.
As Yereche’s expression darkened in real time.
‘With just this…!’
Lee Hyung-je swelled with hope.
‘This is entertaining.’
Race, an assassin belonging to Pandemonium and former member of Numbers, found himself laughing.
The auction continued.
“Bidder 2, 100 points. Bidder 2, 100 points. Bidder 2, 100 points…! The highest bid continues to climb!”
It was a fierce contest between Yereche and Lee Hyung-je.
The price soared without ceiling.
“Hold on.”
Lee Hyung-je raised his hand, requesting a pause in the auction.
The auctioneer accepted the halt, understanding from Lee Hyung-je’s gesture toward Yereche.
They recognized that negotiations between the two would now take place.
“Your Holiness.”
“What is it.”
Unlike Lee Hyung-je’s cautious approach to speaking,
Yereche bristled like a porcupine, her demeanor sharp and prickly.
“Let me take this one.”
“Why should I? I still have plenty of gold.”
“I know. I have plenty left too. And I’m prepared to spend my entire fortune to obtain it.”
“…How amusing.”
In truth, it was not amusing at all.
‘The Golden Mine’s’ total wealth—how much was it?
No one knew. They only understood that its depth was as bottomless as an abyss.
“However, I give you my word. I need only a single bottle of the Red Elixir.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You must know that consumables can be restocked. From the second bottle onward, I will not touch them.”
“Hmm.”
It was a reasonable condition.
But.
“I refuse.”
It was a condition she could not trust.
“I won’t surrender even a single Red Elixir. So I’ll make an offer the seller absolutely cannot refuse. The victor is already decided, after all.”
‘…Damn it, why is this crazy woman doing this?’
Lee Hyung-je clenched his teeth.
Yereche raised her hand and waved it side to side.
A sign of failed negotiations.
“Fine.”
Lee Hyung-je shouted, his eyes bloodshot with fury.
“All my liquid assets currently available for immediate mobilization—a total of 1.5 billion points!”
The hall froze in silence.
1.5 billion. Even for S-rank Hunters who earned in the hundreds of millions, it was an astronomical sum to pay without hesitation.
Lee Hyung-je drew a ragged breath, glaring at the Saint.
But Yereche laughed as if it were pathetic.
“Is that all you’ve got? Just throwing cash around, Moderator? I’ll wager something far more valuable—my single full-power summon right, as Yereche herself. Tell me, can Golden Mine still win against that?”
—Gasp!
—Is she… serious?
Shocked exclamations rippled through the Black Market, followed by murmurs of disbelief.
A single summon right for the Saint was worth far more than any amount of currency.
The Saint’s awakening ability was none other than “Saint (S)”—the pinnacle of all healer classes.
Healers, particularly those of the “Priest” lineage, possessed a unique resource called “Holy Power.”
This Holy Power specialized in mending wounds and curing ailments with unparalleled efficacy.
The Saint was considered the supreme awakening ability among all Priest-lineage hunters.
Yereche’s Holy Power, granted by the Saint, was extraordinarily potent.
She could restore even the most catastrophic injuries to perfect condition.
‘Pay me. I’ll save you. Everyone except the dead.’
This single sentence defined her entire existence.
To have unrestricted access to Yereche’s power just once!
“Saint! Would you truly go this far?”
“I must obtain it. No matter what.”
The wild gleam in Yereche’s eyes made Lee Hyung-je grit his teeth and step back.
‘…It’s over.’
Lee Hyung-je had never anticipated Yereche would escalate to this degree.
A single summon right for the Saint?
Every hunter alive would covet such authority.
With it, one could call upon the Saint while climbing the Tower.
When a Break occurs, one could request the Saint’s intervention.
In every conceivable situation, the same applied.
The summon right was a promise that the Saint would commit her full power to assist, once and only once.
The Red Elixir would inevitably fall to the Saint.
“The auction has concluded. Let me summarize the final bids.”
Option One: Saint Yereche. One Saint summon right plus one billion points.
Option Two: Golden Mine Lee Hyung-je. One point five billion points.
Lee Hyung-je felt his chest tighten until he thought he might lose his mind.
By sheer monetary value, he had bid five hundred million points higher than the Saint.
But a Saint summon right was an item beyond all price…
Defeat was absolute.
“All lower bids lack sufficient value and shall be disregarded by my authority. I will present these two options to the seller, and whichever bidder the seller selects shall claim the Red Elixir.”
The auction had ended.
The Moderator transmitted both options to the seller through a private hotline.
Lee Hyung-je squeezed his eyes shut.
“The seller has just made their final decision. I shall announce it now. The owner of the Red Elixir is···.”
I’m sorry, Ah-woon.
“…Congratulations.”
The auctioneer cleared his throat and announced in a trembling voice.
“Both of you have won.”
‘!!!’
“W-what did you say?!”
Lee Hyung-je’s eyes snapped wide open, and Yereche convulsed to her feet.
“That’s absurd! There’s only one item!”
“Well… the consignor has just informed us of something new.”
The auctioneer swallowed hard.
“It turns out the Red Elixir was never just a single bottle.”
“What do you mean—!”
“Therefore, both of you will each receive one bottle at the highest bid and conditions you’ve offered.”
Silence fell.
Lee Hyung-je collapsed onto the floor. The tension drained from his entire body, and something hot surged up within him.
I can save him. I can save Ah-woon.
Whether I’d been played for a fool or outright swindled didn’t matter. The simple fact that the medicine to save that poor, wretched life was now in my hands was enough.
Meanwhile.
Yereche’s face flushed red as the meaning dawned on her a moment too late.
There were two items? Then I didn’t need to fight tooth and nail with the Golden Mine and stake my summon right!
I’ve been played!
That unknown consignor had exploited both their desperation, driving the stakes to rock bottom, and swept away both their fortunes.
“This—this is fraud! I demand an immediate cancellation—!”
Just as Yereche was about to protest furiously.
The auctioneer hastily raised his hand to silence her.
“There’s an additional comment! The consignor says, ‘I’ll return with an even finer elixir.'”
“······!”
A light and arrogant remark, as if leaving a delivery food review.
Yereche gasped and held her breath.
It sounded like a casual parting comment, but…
It felt like a threat: cancel this, and I’ll cut off all future elixir supplies.
“…Um, could you perhaps lower the—”
“This concludes the auction!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The auctioneer brought the gavel down without mercy.
Yereche’s gaze fell to the floor. Venom crystallized in her eyes.
How dare you pull this scam on me? This damned consignor… whoever you are, I will find you.
Just as everyone was consumed by shock, anger, or astonishment at the results.
In the deep shadows of the back row of the auction hall.
Race, the assassin from Pandemonium who had lost his Number 100 seat, twisted his lips into a grotesque smile.
“The auction is over. Now, it’s time to settle accounts.”
Slither—
From beneath his feet, an ominous ashen shadow began to serpentine across the auction hall, spreading like a living thing.

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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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