I Got a Monster Spaceship from the Tutorial Tower - Chapter 8

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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 8
Episode 8
Whoosh!
“It’s open!”
Just like before with Gudru, a bronze-colored C-rank Fighter portal bloomed wide.
A real fighter jet.
The sheer size of the portal made no sense unless it was a fighter.
‘Unless a dragon actually shows up.’
……
A flicker of unease threaded through Yeon-u’s anticipation.
A real dragon wouldn’t actually emerge, would it?
No, that’s ridiculous.
Then again, I thought the last one was a fighter until Gudru walked out—I can’t afford to drop my guard.
‘Besides, if it does appear, all the better.’
But no legendary dragon came.
「You have acquired the C-rank Fighter Fullmail.」
“Interesting.”
Fullmail had arrived.
Though it was a C-rank fighter, this particular model was renowned for different reasons.
“A defensive-class fighter. The composition is quite favorable for us at present.”
Urelka’s assessment was sound.
True to its name borrowed from armor, Fullmail boasted the largest frame among the three C-rank fighter variants, its form heavy and imposing.
Its defining feature was the pair of large barrier generators mounted fore and aft and on both flanks.
Even in squadron operations, a C-rank Fullmail earned legitimate respect as a tank-class vessel.
Yeon-u turned to Markros.
“Markros, what do you think?”
Earlier he’d griped about incompetent pilots and all that, but Yeon-u didn’t dismiss experience either—not really.
Even part-time work had its unspoken pecking order based on seniority.
Markros raised a feather and scratched along his beak as he spoke.
“Well… for a mass-production model, C-rank isn’t bad, but I suppose I’m a bit particular. At the end of the day, it’s still just a paper airplane.”
“Fullmail too?”
Apparently he thought himself an A-rank pilot or something.
For someone plagued by acrophobia, he certainly had exacting standards when it came to fighters.
As Yeon-u’s eyes narrowed, Markros hurried to clarify.
“N-no, I mean, I prioritize speed over rank! Weak and fast beats tough and slow! Got it? Mobility is the best defense, or so they say!”
“Right, right.”
Well, if that was his preference, Yeon-u couldn’t fault him for it.
Besides, piloting the Thunder Hound, Markros was putting on such a flawless performance he’d earned considerable acclaim even on Earth.
‘He’s proven it with results.’
Yeon-u turned his gaze to Gudru.
“Gudru, would you be all right piloting Fullmail?”
Gudru’s face broke into a wide, delighted grin, and he bounced once with unmistakable enthusiasm.
Boom!
“Hoo-rah!”
‘Wait, did he just dent the ship’s floor?’
Oblivious to Yeon-u’s concern, Gudru spoke with booming certainty.
“Fullmail good. Fullmail sturdy. Thunder Hound good too. Gudru not choose fighter. Any fine.”
“Hm.”
‘Now that’s a proper gentleman pilot.’
No fear of flying, and he’d fly anything without complaint?
“An excellent pilot indeed. I chose well.”
“Captain, thank you. Gudru fly fighter. Gudru fight hard.”
Yuk!
So what if he was a little oversized and rough around the edges?
Character was what mattered in people—or in this case, trolls.
As Yeon-u seemed genuinely fond of Gudru with each word he spoke, the troll grew endearing to him.
Markros began to panic.
“This conniving bastard! Captain, I’ll prove myself through ability! Meritocracy, okay?”
He was so flustered he threw English into the mix.
Where he’d learned it was anyone’s guess.
“Sure, sure.”
Do as you like.
Yeon-u had a gift for hiding such thoughts even behind eyes that gleamed with joy.
“Grrr… Gudru, wait till the captain steps out. We’ll settle this.”
Markros glared at Gudru, his beak snapping shut with an audible click of frustration.
Gudru tilted his head, puzzled.
“Fight? No, no. Harpy, troll lose to harpy. Troll, harpy eat troll.”
……
Yeon-u and Markros both went rigid.
Yeon-u, dreading what carnage might await him next time he came to raid, spoke to Gudru with unmistakable firmness.
“Gudru, no violence inside the ship.”
“V-violence. Gudru not like.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Ah, understood. Captain’s words important.”
“You can’t eat your crewmates either.”
“My apologies. Troll only eat things that can be eaten.”
“Right, and Markros is off-limits.”
“Understood. Markros not food.”
“Captain, hearing you say it like that feels a bit strange.”
Though it beat being devoured, didn’t it?
When Yeon-u fixed him with that look, Markros had nothing more to say and simply closed his beak.
‘Hmm, I was thinking of treating everyone to a meal once today’s raid wraps up.’
Yeon-u sighed, watching Gudru.
Urelka and Markros might squeeze out of the one-room apartment for a bit, cramped as it was.
But bringing Gudru outside?
The wall facing the neighbor’s unit would collapse.
With soundproofing this poor, the neighbors might actually get introduced to Gudru personally.
Instead, Yeon-u turned to Urelka.
“Urelka, can the crew come outside with me too?”
“Of course. Whenever you wish, Captain.”
“That’s a relief.”
It seemed best to postpone the gathering until they had more space.
When Yeon-u mentioned this plan, Urelka and Markros lit up noticeably.
“A gathering with the captain—we’d be delighted anytime!”
“I’m for it too! Is fried chicken possible, by any chance?”
You shouldn’t be like that!
Yeon-u shot a glare at the audacious Markros, a harpy no less, who apparently intended to eat fried chicken.
Markros shrunk back, wings folding nervously.
“W-why the look, Captain? Chicken tastes good. Especially those tender chicken legs…”
This harpy really was impossible.
Yeon-u turned to Gudru.
“What about you, Gudru? Anything you’d like to eat?”
Gudru’s face brightened at the mere thought of food, his mouth stretching wide in a grin as he pondered.
Then he thrust his massive fist upward with a decisive gesture.
“Mountain vegetable bibimbap. Delicious!”
……?
That was unexpected.
It seemed trolls, despite appearances, were omnivorous.
But still—a troll naming mountain vegetable bibimbap first, not meat? That seemed odd.
‘Though if he’d mentioned pork or beef, that would’ve been awkward…’
Well, no harm in it.
Mountain vegetable bibimbap was healthy and delicious regardless.
And with what little money Yeon-u had now, he wasn’t about to serve just a single bowl of mountain vegetable bibimbap at the gathering.
He’d need to prepare generously.
“What about you, Urelka?”
“I’m content with anything, though if it’s helpful to mention, I’d prefer as an appetizer low-temperature seared octopus carpaccio with citrus vinaigrette, for the main course a veal striploin lightly paired with a suitable red wine, for dessert a dark chocolate ganache tart, and finally a fragrant herbal tea to finish.”
……
What?
After the appetizer, Yeon-u couldn’t make out a single intelligible word.
He forced a smile and nodded along, doing his best.
“The vice-captain has quite the refined palate.”
“Thank you for the compliment. Among goblins, I’m just average.”
Yeon-u found himself imagining goblins seated around tables, savoring citrus dishes, veal preparations, and chocolate confections in elegant courses.
There was something unsettling about realizing he’d become prejudiced against an entire species.
“I’ll prepare something to suit everyone’s tastes as quickly as I can.”
“Please call on me anytime!”
“We’re looking forward to it!”
“Captain, you’re amazing. You’re kind.”
With goblins, harpies, and an enormous troll added to the crowd, Yeon-u received a lively send-off before slipping out of the Tutorial Tower.
* * *
A Raid Portal.
It appeared without warning in the sky above a designated zone, strangling air traffic and flooding the region with mechanical monsters—a new catastrophe that followed in the wake of the Tutorial Tower.
The very act of transforming an ordinary stretch of sky into a warzone was terrifying, but there was another factor that made responding to Raid Portals so challenging.
It was the Level Restriction.
The day after videos of the fourth floor of the Space Battleship had set the entire world talking again.
A notification suddenly materialized before every pilot’s eyes.
「Raid Portal generated.
Location: Incheon, South Korea.
Level Restriction: 10」
According to the notice, any fighter pilot at level 10 or above couldn’t even take off.
This meant that the lower the level of a Raid Portal, the more difficult it became to respond.
Pilots who had only just begun facing unmanned fighters were too paralyzed by fear to mount any defense.
Experienced pilots skilled enough to suppress monsters were that much rarer.
Wee-wee-wee-WEEEE!!!
“W-what’s happened?”
“A Raid Portal in Incheon! The Level Restriction is 10!”
Tae-geun bit down on his lower lip at the report.
Of all places, it had to be Incheon—right next door to Seoul.
Any delay in response and Seoul itself would be at risk.
Incheon was a megacity with millions of people living there to begin with.
The Control Authority went into emergency alert within seconds.
Rushing toward the Underground Control Center prepared for exactly this kind of scenario, Tae-geun asked:
“What combat strength do we have available?”
“As you know, portals at level 10 and below…”
“Would I be asking if I didn’t know?”
Tae-geun was rarely seen frowning in normal circumstances.
But in a situation where monsters might pour into Seoul itself, the rebuke burst out reflexively.
If they lost air superiority and allowed a landing?
If a stray laser weapon brought down even a single building?
Paradoxically enough, there was one small mercy: the Raid Portal had opened over Incheon’s airspace.
Seoul and the metropolitan region were a double-edged sword.
Yet it was also the place the government could respond to most swiftly.
While the skies over Incheon remained contested, ground forces could be deployed rapidly to prepare for a potential monster incursion.
The staff member spoke with grim resolve.
“First… Hades is available. The Fierce Tiger Clan just confirmed it.”
Shin Ha-yun’s Hades, which had cleared the ninth floor not long ago.
It fell just short of the portal’s ten-level limit—barely, fortunately.
“Hah…”
Even that much gave them room to breathe.
At his level, Ha-yun was the strongest card Korea could play.
Perhaps even the strongest across the three nations of Northeast Asia at this moment.
‘If we round up the promising young pilots from Seoul’s clans…’
Tae-geun predicted quietly.
“We should be able to gather around thirty.”
“That’s our assessment as well.”
Whether they answered the call was their choice, but that many would be worth attempting.
What remained was the Rank determined by analyzing the energy burst alongside the portal’s generation.
The system didn’t announce it publicly.
Yet even with the same Level Restriction, the difficulty varied dramatically depending on this energy reading.
So they’d standardized it internationally, creating a ranking system from F to S.
Upon arriving at the Underground Control Center, Tae-geun’s first act was to check the Rank.
“The Rank, has it come through?”
The duty chief who happened to be managing the main control panel of the facility jolted from his seat.
Ominously, his face had drained of all color.
The chief cried out as if in agony.
“A…… A-Rank……!”
It seemed inevitable.
A typhoon that vastly exceeded Tae-geun’s imagination was about to sweep across South Korea’s airspace.
* * *
“Today’s the fifth floor,”
Yeon-u was no less occupied than usual, bustling with preparations to enter the tower from morning.
Exactly halfway between the first and tenth floors.
The difficulty spiked considerably at this so-called “mid-boss” section, but he harbored no great worries.
A powerful main cannon that could obliterate anything of Unmanned Fighter caliber.
Markros, whose devastating firepower cut through the swarm like a wolf among sheep.
And Gudru, who had recently joined their ranks, whose very presence was reassuring beyond measure.
“That much ought to tide us over for a while,”
A cheerful hum escaped his lips.
Broadcast fees continued to accrue steadily in his account even now.
Moreover, as the number of videos accumulated, the sums grew noticeably larger.
Thanks to that, yesterday he’d ordered the most expensive pizza.
Was this what it meant to live a life brimming with contentment, body and soul?
“So, the Tutorial Tower…….”
Just as Yeon-u, having meticulously blow-dried his hair, was about to enter the tower—
A window suddenly materialized before his eyes.
「Raid Portal generation.
Location: Incheon, South Korea.
Level Restriction: 10」
“Huh?”
A Raid Portal?
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The energy of the Raid Portal, akin to an earthquake, shook Yeon-u’s body.
Ordinary citizens struggled to distinguish it from a real tremor, but pilots could infer the portal’s direction and location from it.
Nowadays, the necessary equipment had all been developed, and the Control Authority made announcements about it.
Yeon-u, momentarily flustered by his first Raid Portal since awakening, quickly collected himself.
Beep-beep-beep!
At that very moment, a disaster alert message arrived on his phone from the Control Authority.
The location matched the status window: Incheon.
‘Incheon, Incheon… where have I heard that name before?’
Yeon-u pondered for a moment, then suddenly recalled.
Yeon-u’s shabby one-room apartment was in western Seoul, barely on the outskirts—practically touching Incheon’s border.
Which meant, if a Raid Portal had opened in Incheon…
‘It’s basically next door?’
His modest one-room wouldn’t be entirely safe after all.
Unless it was a genuinely high-level raid that didn’t even require a cosmic battleship, low-level ones were reportedly difficult to respond to.
He still didn’t want to do anything that might blow his cover.
‘But I should probably go… if I just skip the comms and keep things discreet…….’
Yeon-u’s mouth went dry.

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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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