I Got a Monster Spaceship from the Tutorial Tower - Chapter 17

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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 17
Episode 17
The Large Unmanned Drone on Floor 10 had frustrated countless novice pilots.
It wasn’t merely a matter of raw specs—it commanded dozens of drones in concert.
It had been prepared to display the characteristic emotionless tactics of a machine against Yeon-woo and Ha-yoon alike.
Boom-boom-boom!!!!
Crack.
Before the main cannon of the Space Battleship, the machine’s algorithm was utterly obliterated.
A hit with no margin for error.
More than mere impact—a single flare of light carved through space along its trajectory, erasing all trace that any drone had ever existed there.
Yeon-woo’s voice rang out the moment the hit registered.
“Commence battle!”
Given the main cannon’s destructive power, he could have swept away the remaining drones all at once if he’d been greedy enough.
But there was a reason he’d launched the Large Unmanned Drone first, right as the attack began.
Through the Masterball, Yeon-woo’s senses perceived it clearly.
The drones, deprived of their flagship, froze in unison.
Since their movements had been controlled through the large drone, they couldn’t respond immediately to the loss of command authority.
Though Yeon-woo and the Space Battleship had achieved the feat of capturing the flagship in a single blow, from this moment on they could only watch—the cannon had been fired once, after all.
But by then, it was already decided.
‘The assault is over.’
What remained was only the wolves’ merciless massacre among the flock.
— I’m heading for the center.
Ha-yoon spoke, pushing Hades’s speed even higher.
The carrier pilots’ responses followed.
— Left flank! Left-left-left!!!!
— Gudru, taking the right.
— ……?
In that instant, Ha-yoon’s expression on the screen shifted subtly.
‘I expected as much.’
Yeon-woo spoke without concern.
“Our pilots are a bit unconventional. Don’t mind them—just proceed. Gudru’s a callsign, by the way.”
— Ah…… understood.
To faze even someone who looked that cold.
Gudru could be written off as the taciturn type.
Markross, though—he was an embarrassment anywhere you put him.
Of course.
Boom-boom-boom!!!
‘Two drones down simultaneously…… and he specifically targeted the ones with defensive barriers.’
Separately from that, there was no question about his skill.
Would you fly in formation with a middling pilot who fell short in actual combat?
Or would you fly with someone unconventional but absolutely brilliant in battle?
Ask a hundred pilots, and they’d give you the same answer.
Markross streaked forward, piercing through the left flank of the drone fleet in a single pass.
Behind him, only the charred remains of drones melted by the freshly installed Plasma Gun drifted forlornly through the weightless void.
That was the beginning.
Thump! Thump!
Hades’s Antimatter Attack, considerably more ponderous compared to Thunder Hound’s plasma cannon.
Crash!
Gudru’s weighty combat style—oddly enough, turning defensive barriers into offensive tools.
With only minor timing variations, the drone fleet was entering its death throes everywhere without exception.
Of course, the drones hadn’t entirely abandoned resistance.
Shriek!
Centered on the remaining medium-class machines, smaller drones began converging.
It seemed they were attempting to regroup in formation of their own accord.
Simultaneously, they deployed their available assets—Stealth, Barrier, and the like—from multiple angles.
In moments, lasers crisscrossed chaotically through the void.
A melee where a single lapse in focus could spell immediate combat incapacity.
But there was one thing the drones hadn’t accounted for.
That their opponents were already a team that had crushed A-Grade Raid Portals head-on.
“……about Hades, though. Hasn’t its movement gotten even better than before?”
“I quite agree, Captain.”
Yeon-woo unmuted briefly to ask Urelka a question.
The four main cannons mounted on either side of the Hades fired antimatter rounds at separate targets.
It was difficult enough to keep a single target properly in sight while moving with such chaos.
Yet wherever Ha-yoon’s trajectory passed, several unmanned drones fell silent, their hulls torn clean through.
— Target auto-lock. B4, commencing interception.
The crisp, steady briefing delivered a kind of admiration Yeon-woo had never felt before.
Small wonder—Markross had been too busy shrieking “Bawk-bawk-bawk!” and Gudru’s communications bore no resemblance to such professional procedure.
Yeon-woo didn’t realize it, but Ha-yoon had rested outside the tower for several days now.
As the accumulated fatigue drained away, her senses had sharpened considerably from their prior state.
Yet the transformation was not hers alone.
“Markross and Gudru seem different too, somehow.”
Markross still commanded unmatched mobility, weaving through enemy positions with masterful precision.
Gudru’s combat style hadn’t changed dramatically on the surface.
But the sensations transmitted through the Masterball carried a strange new quality to Yeon-woo’s awareness.
Urelka merely smiled faintly, offering no answer—as though inviting him to puzzle it out himself.
Yeon-woo frowned as he watched the battle continue, and then something clicked into place.
“Hwaryeon?”
At that, Urelka nodded.
“Likely so. Though I confess I don’t fully understand it myself.”
They’d all been utterly exhausted overnight—but it seemed her maintenance assistance alone couldn’t account for this.
It was a matter of subtle details.
Screee! Whoosh!
Markross’s signature move—a barrel roll at an angle that seemed to defy physics.
He’d always drawn admiration before, but watching closely revealed something new.
The gear shifts, the bank angles—everything.
The movements themselves had grown smoother, far more refined.
Gudru showed the same refinement.
Where once his combat had resembled a typical troll’s chaotic charge—pure brute force—now something different emerged.
‘That one looks organized too.’
Hidden within the seemingly disordered collisions lay deliberate structure.
He deployed only specific sections of his barriers to guide impacts, as if he’d found the angles that placed the least strain on the barrier itself.
Unlike before, when he relied purely on combat instinct, now his movements minimized wear on the chassis.
Yet theory and reality diverged sharply.
“How does anyone master that overnight?”
It was one thing to understand a new fighting approach—quite another to integrate it into live combat in so short a span.
Urelka’s expression darkened.
“The pilots’ exceptional talent certainly helps, but……”
Her voice trailed off.
“Ah……”
Yeon-woo sensed where this was heading and chose not to press further.
Hwaryeon must have driven them brutally hard.
“She told them to master one technique first, at least.”
“There’s more to come?”
“Almost certainly.”
……And it seemed they would be grinding intensely for some time yet.
The remaining drones regrouped, but the battle’s outcome was already beyond salvage.
The difference in movement quality had been overwhelming from the start.
Each blink of Yeon-woo’s eye saw several enemies vaporized—the engagement ended in a flash.
From the moment the Large Unmanned Drone fell to the main cannon, Floor 10 had ceased to be a Boss Stage, becoming merely an ordinary floor with slightly more drones than usual.
Thoom!
When the last medium-sized drone’s barrier and chassis were pierced simultaneously by Ha-yoon’s antimatter cannon.
「Tutorial Tower Floor 10.
S+ Grade Clear.」
「First-ever S+ Grade Clear on Floor 10.
All pilots are notified.」
The familiar S+ Grade Clear notification materialized before Yeon-woo’s eyes.
It was the result of a battle strategy no one else had dared attempt—taking down the Large Unmanned Drone first.
And Ha-yoon’s steady, dependable contributions had cut the clear time dramatically compared to when it was just Markross and Gudru.
“Now that’s what I call a clear.”
Yeon-woo nodded, a satisfied smile crossing his face.
Ha-yoon, Markross, and Gudru drifted back through the wreckage of the unmanned drones with unhurried grace.
Only once the conquest was complete did Ha-yoon’s true expression finally come into focus for Yeon-woo to see.
She looked genuinely delighted—the pilots’ first encounter with a formidable enemy had been cleared with surprising ease.
— We’ve achieved something remarkable thanks to you. An S+ Grade Clear, no less… The carrier pilots are truly exceptional people.
“Don’t say things like that.”
— ?
“Ah, no—I mean, thank you. I was able to clear it without trouble because of you.”
Yeon-woo hurried to wave his hands in protest and express his gratitude.
Hwaryeon was already glowering at him over his reckless piloting of the fighter jet.
Without Ha-yoon’s support, Markross and Gudru would certainly have had a much harder time.
Yeon-woo, reading Ha-yoon’s expression carefully, spoke again with deliberate caution.
“There is one thing I’d like to ask of you.”
— Yes, please tell me anything.
“Please… don’t mention me in any interviews.”
— ? That’s only natural.
Ha-yoon tilted her head slightly, as though puzzled by the very question.
In Yeon-woo’s mind, it seemed as though Ha-yoon might be holding his weakness over him, ready to exploit it.
‘She must have reasons for keeping her identity hidden. If I carelessly expose her, wouldn’t that be a terrible breach of trust?’
But Ha-yoon harbored no such intentions at all.
Of course one’s personal information should remain the individual’s own choice!
In any case, having received Ha-yoon’s firm assurance, Yeon-woo exhaled in relief.
The conquest was finished now; all that remained was to offer thanks for her effort.
Yeon-woo was about to say his final farewell, his expression now considerably lighter than before.
“Then, thanks for—”
Beep.
“Captain—”
And at that exact, unfortunate moment, Hwaryeon entered the bridge through the opening hatch.
Click.
Fortunately, Urelka, who had been monitoring the radio exchange between Yeon-woo and Ha-yoon, cut the connection before Hwaryeon’s image could properly register on the screen.
“…Did we just finish with a thank-you and leave it at that?”
“Yes, Captain. Still, we said what needed to be said, so it should be fine, shouldn’t it?”
In other words, Yeon-woo had become a chronic serial communicator—unceremoniously cutting off calls for the second time in a row.
Better that than exposing Hwaryeon’s nine-tailed fox nature, though.
Meanwhile, Ha-yoon, who was aboard the Hades, was equally startled by the abrupt disconnection.
“…?”
She tilted her head in confusion, but didn’t dwell on it long.
‘Maybe that’s just his style.’
He was generally courteous enough, but people’s temperaments varied; it was possible.
Still, she could have sworn she glimpsed another person’s silhouette just before the signal cut out.
‘Probably another pilot.’
Knowing there were carrier pilots aboard the Space Battleship, it wasn’t particularly strange.
After a moment’s thought, Ha-yoon simply exited the Tutorial Tower.
Only Yeon-woo and his crew remained in the space of Floor 10.
‘The misunderstanding just keeps growing…’
Yeon-woo felt a little melancholy, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Hwaryeon asked with a small laugh.
“Did I make a mistake? I came up to offer my respects once the conquest was complete…”
“No, it’s fine. Besides, we won’t be conquering together again anyway.”
It was enough if only Yeon-woo took the hit.
A true captain willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of his crew—that was Yeon-woo!
“I apologize. I’ll be more careful next time. Ah, by the way, I came up here to deliver reports on maintenance and pilot training…”
Hwaryeon bowed deeply and began to explain the reason for her visit to the bridge.
It aligned closely with what Yeon-woo had assessed during the battle.
Through maintenance, they’d elevated the fighter’s performance to the next level, and through training on the equipment installed in the jet, they were developing safe and smooth piloting techniques.
Yeon-woo, who hadn’t realized a maintenance officer could contribute this much, found it genuinely welcome news.
Markross and Gudru, who arrived at the bridge while Hwaryeon was speaking, flinched noticeably several times.
Seeing their reaction, Yeon-woo spoke up.
“Right, you worked hard. Keep it up in the future. …But don’t torment the kids too much.”
“Understood! Ensure the pilots’ monster quotas are protected!”
“Guarantee it.”
Markross and Gudru raised one arm each in unison, chanting as though they’d rehearsed it beforehand.
Zing!
“……Keep it reasonable, would you?”
“Reasonable.”
One sharp look from Hwaryeon’s sharp eyes sent them both lowering their arms without protest.
Hwaryeon glanced back and forth between Yeon-woo and the two of them, then let out a sigh and nodded.
“Since we’ve cleared Floor 10, I think we should take it easy for a while.”
“Right call. Well done.”
Yeon-woo answered with a smile, and Hwaryeon’s expression brightened in turn.
The camaraderie was all well and good, but now that Floor 10 was cleared, the real prize awaited.
Yeon-woo turned to Urelka and spoke.
“Shall we head down to the Floor 10 Advanced Summon?”
“Of course, Captain.”
An Advanced Summon awarded for every five S+ Grade Clears.
The second Advanced Summon had come due.

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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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