I Inherited the Basement of the Tower - Chapter 15

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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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Inherited the Basement 1 of the Tower – Episode 15

Night had fallen.
Whether this simply meant the sky had darkened.
Or if the subject was me—I couldn’t be certain.
But one thing was absolutely clear.

“Yahwi! What in the world is that monster…!”

My power knew no limits right now.

Grrrrrrgh—!

I had heard such words spoken before.
That wherever light exists, darkness dwells everywhere.

Whoooosh—!

【Releasing nearly infinite Darkness.】

A colossal hand of pure darkness extended from my shadow, seizing my opponent.
Radiance?
Such things meant nothing once I obscured their source.

Thud! Thud-thud-thud.

“Gahhh! Gahhhhh! Please, please spare me—ugh! Ugh!”

Countless massive arms erupting from my shadow engulfed him completely.
Not a single glimmer of light escaped anymore.
Only pitch-black darkness enveloped everything around us.
That was night, and that was me.

“…Yahwi.”

I saw Yahwi collapsed beside the now-neutralized creature.

Grrrrgh.

I merely thought it, yet the infinite Darkness moved as though it were my own body.
In an instant, it swelled in size, and my eye level rose as high as a mountain.
Soon after, a tendril of Darkness stretched out once more, gently cradling Yahwi in its embrace.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Clink—

【Equipping Recovery Potion.】

Splash!

At the tip of the risen Darkness pillar, I poured the recovery potion over Yahwi, who lay sprawled and exhausted.

【Using Recovery Potion.】
【Rapidly restoring target’s vitality.】

Whoooosh—

I watched as Yahwi’s wounds healed rapidly.
As expected from an item bearing the Wol-yeong-seok Shop’s mark.
The effect is excellent.

“Ugh. My head. Where am I….”

Yahwi’s vitality restored, he slowly opened his eyes and grasped the current situation.

“Hah, hah! My lord…!”

Was it the shock from the impact, or perhaps because he witnessed the quest’s completion?
Yahwi had returned to the Yahwi I knew.

“You’ve realized it… That’s right. Just before I died, Goddess Nix descended through my disciple’s body. No, looking at it now, that must have been you, my lord.”

Yahwi’s eyes trembled with reverence.
Unable to restrain himself, he prostrated himself toward me from atop the Darkness pillar.

“Save your thanks for later. We can do that once we both return safely to the Temple.”

Whoosh—

I swept my hand gracefully, guiding Yahwi safely back to the surface.
The battle was far from over.
The darkness tendrils that imprisoned the radiant light had been convulsing since moments ago.

Tremble.

As expected, the creature refused to yield and fought back desperately.

Flash—

Because of this resistance, the radiant light blazed brilliantly between the darkness tendrils, triggering a massive explosion.

Boom!
Thud, thud.

As chunks of deeply gouged earth fell away.
The creature trembled with fear and rage.

“How dare you. How dare you inflict such humiliation upon one destined to become a god…!”
“A god?”

I couldn’t suppress a cold sneer at its words.
In the past, perhaps I would have been uncertain, but now I could answer with absolute certainty.
That creature was no god—nothing at all.

“Let’s finish this.”

Snap!

I flicked my fingers.

Ding!
【Transforming the form of darkness.】

Screeeech—!

The images I had conjured in my mind materialized through the Darkness.
The towering hills of Darkness slowly took on form.
A vantage point far higher than before.
The world appeared diminished from this elevation.

‘That’s where I set Yahwi down earlier.’

After roughly calculating the position in my mind.

“Die.”

I swung my palm downward toward the barely visible ground below.

Whoosh—!

Like Buddha subduing Sun Wukong.
A colossal palm of Darkness descended from the heavens, engulfing the earth.

“Gahhhhh—!”

Boom.

Followed by a tremendous scream.

Ding!
【You have defeated the Antagonist.】
【Yahwi’s survival has been confirmed.】
【You have cleared the second objective.】

“Phew, is it over?”

Whoosh.

As the objective concluded, the awakened power of Goddess Nix began to dissipate.
The endless torrent of Darkness ceased, and the Darkness that had filled the surroundings gradually scattered away.

Tap.

Soon enough, my feet touched the ground.
The boundless power of Darkness tingled through me, but there was nothing quite like the familiar comfort of standing on solid ground with both feet.

“Yahwi. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!”

Yahwi, fully recovered, wore the same playful expression he’d shown back at the Temple.
I chuckled and patted his shoulder.

“You’re back.”
“Yes, my lord! You’ve worked hard! To celebrate, let’s head back and have some Kobold meat and a glass of soju together.”
“Sounds good.”

I was smiling contentedly when I suddenly grabbed the shoulder I’d been patting.

Crack—

“Wait. Did you have fun? You dared to speak informally to me and hit my head?”
“Ugh, argh! That’s just it, my lord. I don’t remember that time…!”
“You expect me to believe that? Don’t lie to me!”
“No, no, I’m not!”

Yahwi and I laughed together before trying to escape the memory.
Then.
Because I had reconstructed the memory, the surrounding scenery rapidly faded away.
Yahwi swept his hand through the dissolving trees, his expression wistful.

“…I missed it. It’s nice to see it like this.”
“….”

I thought viewing the memory would teach me more about Yahwi.
But the information was too sparse.
I wouldn’t press him on it, and Yahwi wouldn’t try to hide things from me the way he used to.

‘He’ll tell me when the time comes.’

What had happened to that man who wielded Radiance?

‘…Maybe I’m being too sensitive. But it bothers me that Ahn Jae-jun uses the same power.’

Even if not immediately, I need to investigate any potential connections.

Whoosh—
Whoooosh.

Unlike the other floors of the Dungeon of the Tower, I couldn’t collect trophies here either.
Just like the Darkness I’d borrowed, all matter was dispersing.
No, looking at it now, this entire space itself seemed to be composed of Darkness.

‘…How fascinating.’

Could a god truly maximize the application of Darkness to this extent?
I felt it firsthand through direct use.
This power called Darkness. Its utility was far greater than I’d anticipated.

Crunch—

‘Excellent.’

With my fist clenched, I resolved to rapidly cultivate my Darkness.

‘But what’s the reward?’

For the first trial on Basement 1, they’d given me a Rare-grade Resident Summon Ticket.
Wol-yeong-seok as a bonus too.
This time wasn’t much different.

Ding!
【You have obtained 500 Wol-yeong-seok as a reward for clearing the second trial.】

“Oh, 500 pieces?”

This was quite a substantial gain.
I’d earned several times the Wol-yeong-seok I’d invested for the trial.

‘And most of the items I’d prepared for the trial remain unused.’

Items still remained in the inner pocket of my upper garment and the cargo pocket of my work pants.
Well, it didn’t matter.
They didn’t have expiration dates anyway.
Just as I’d been able to save Yahwi today with a stamina potion, there would surely come a day when these items proved useful again.
Next was….

【You have obtained 1 Resident Recruitment Ticket.】

I clenched my fist tightly.

“That’s right!”

At last, I could put an end to this stuffy underground life with only two men.
A new companion was always welcome.

“What’s the tier this time….”

When I’d recruited Yahwi before, the maximum tier I could get was Rare, so would it be Rare again this time?
The tier wouldn’t increase with each quest completion, so it was probably the same.

‘That would be too broken. By around the sixth quest, I’d definitely be able to recruit a Legendary resident.’

【The maximum tier for residents you can recruit with a Recruitment Ticket is ‘Rare’.】

My prediction was correct.
As I’d said when recruiting Yahwi, Rare alone was incredible.
You could tell just by looking at Yahwi’s performance.

“Yahwi. Let’s head out now. Let’s prepare to welcome our new family member.”
“Yes! As your second subordinate and also their senior! I shall grill meat for my successor!”

I chuckled at Yahwi’s excited expression.
He really couldn’t hide his emotions at all.

‘Well, that’s Yahwi’s charm.’

The way he kept emphasizing “successor” showed how lonely he’d been on his own.
We’d spent most of our time together, though he had gone up to the surface once before.
Going forward, I’d be coming and going frequently to supply Kobold meat, so it would definitely be better to have someone else around.

“Kekeke. All done. I’m ditching the Swordsmanship Hall cleaning and cooking altogether!”
“….”

It seemed Yahwi didn’t consider the new resident a friend.

“Well then, shall we head out? Exiting the Tower….”

That instant.
Crackle—.

“Huh?”

Sparks suddenly erupted across my status window.

Crackle, sizzle.

Then the text in the rewards section of my status window wavered and began to shift slowly.

Ding!
【You have cleared the objective using a hidden strategy.】
【Clear rewards have been enhanced.】

“Enhanced?”

A hidden strategy.
That must be referring to eliminating the Zealot.
So the straightforward approach wasn’t the only answer.

‘I should remember this. It might prove useful in the next objective too.’

I’d overwhelmingly cleared regular stages before, but this was my first time encountering something like this. It must only appear in objectives.

Gulp—.

‘So, what are these enhanced rewards?’

I focused my gaze intently on the message content shifting before me.

Ding!
【Due to Clear Reward Enhancement, the grade of residents available from the gacha has been adjusted.】
-Rare → Artifact.

“Yes!”
“No, no, no!”

My eyes gleamed with excitement, while tears of despair glistened in Yahwi’s.

“Artifact grade…”

This was insane.
Yahwi alone, being only Rare grade, already boasted such absurdly broken performance—if I could pull Artifact grade, there was nothing more to say.

“Exit The Tower!”

Ding!
【You are exiting from the Second Trial.】

Unable to wait any longer, I rushed back to the Temple.
What was there to hesitate about?
I immediately bowed twice before the Goddess Statue of Nix.
I realized later that bowing twice wasn’t a good thing, but I didn’t care.
What mattered was this sincere desire to pull an Artifact grade!
What mattered was that this devout heart would be conveyed.

“Come forth! Artifact grade!”

I knelt down and used the gacha ticket.

Ding!
【Using Temple Resident Gacha Ticket (Maximum: Artifact Grade).】
【The roulette spins.】

Whoosh.
Whirrrrrr…

The roulette spun with a pathetically cheap sound effect.

“Please, an artifact, artifact, artifact, artifact.”

I pulled my eyes wide open, desperately trying to draw an artifact.

“Pleeeease. Great Goddess Nix, I beseech you. Pleeeease just give me a normal one. Actually, in good conscience, a rare would suffice! Even that much would let me suppress it with sheer force! Pleeeease!”

A staring contest erupted between Yahwi and me as he desperately tried to stop me.

“This bastard?”
“Ugh, ugh… An artifact…! Come forth!”

When I glared at him, he belatedly corrected himself with insincere words.

Ding ding ding ding ding…!

And soon after, the moment our fortunes reversed.

“Nooooo!”
“Yes!”

Goddess Nix raised her hand—for me, not Yahwi.

Ding!
【You have summoned a new Temple resident, Barkalor.】
【The building corresponding to ‘Barkalor’ is the Office.】

Rumble rumble rumble rumble—!

Just as when the Swordsmanship Hall appeared, the earth split open and a building rose from within.

“An Office!”

Not a Swordsmanship Hall, but a proper Office.
That meant the one I’d drawn this time was someone who used his head!
An elderly gentleman with white hair dressed in an immaculate medieval butler’s attire.
His appearance was absolutely perfect.

And more importantly than that, what was his rank?

“Ah, my master. This old man Barkalor bows before you. I must apologize for the trouble you’ve endured, having drawn a mere monkey who only knows how to swing a sword.”
“Is that old geezer senile?! What is he saying?!”
“…A Rare-grade talking back?”

Ding!
【Barkalor’s grade is ‘Relic’!】

A gacha jackpot.

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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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