I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 18

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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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18
Slash—!
The sensation traveled from blade-tip to fingertip—bone and flesh cleaving apart.
And there, following the deep crimson arc, his body split cleanly in two.
Blood erupted like a fountain, washing across my face.
Warm. Metallic. Sickening.
“Ptuh.”
The moment my feet touched ground, I wiped my face roughly with the back of my hand.
[You have defeated ‘Gar, Leader of the Morae Claw Raider Gang’.]
Instant death. As expected.
The message came right on schedule.
The battlefield fell silent. The goblins still living held their breath.
The shock of watching their trusted leader die so pathetically hit harder than I’d guessed.
They’d lost their will to fight, standing frozen and uncertain, doing nothing but scanning each other’s eyes.
Exactly the reaction I’d been counting on.
They were already on the verge of breaking.
No need to land a blow here.
Just feint at them, and they’d shed tears and snot all on their own.
‘A little intimidation ought to do it.’
I shook the blood from my blade and drove it hard into the ground like a walking stick.
“So. What’ll it be? Want to keep going?”
And I smiled.
Like some villain I’d seen in a movie once.
Threatening enough, I was sure.
Covered in blood as I was.
‘Go on. Come at me. If you’ve got the nerve.’
It worked. A few of them flinched, visibly terrified.
But not one stepped forward.
‘All I need is one. Just one brave soul to take the plunge…’
One coward willing to be first—the first deserter, the first to flee before all these watching eyes.
That’s all it would take.
“Keruk! Kyiek!”
And there came my volunteer.
A goblin screaming something in their own tongue, then bolting from the ranks like a panicked animal.
“Kyieeet!”
That was the signal.
Once one broke and ran, the rest shoved and trampled each other in a race for the exits.
The way they stampeded, you’d think death itself waited for the stragglers.
“Yeah. Go on. Get out of here.”
I didn’t chase them down.
Truth was, I had nothing left to give chase with.
I just stood there, watching their forms dwindle to specks on the horizon.
When the last living goblin had fled and only corpses remained at my feet—
that’s when my legs gave out and I dropped hard to the ground.
“Hah… barely made it.”
If I hadn’t leaned on Yasang-gok like a crutch, I’d have collapsed long before this.
“That was close.”
If anyone had seen me like this, I’d have become the sacrificial lamb in some new goblin’s rise to power.
I caught my breath for a moment, then looked for Ju-si, who’d been slacking off.
“What now? The egg’s fine. I’m alive.”
Only then did the system message surface in my mind.
[Special Mission ‘Ju-si’s Trial’ completed.]
[Recognized: Feat exceeding the designated conquest parameters.]
[Reward structure has been recalculated accordingly.]
“Huh? This—!”
Exceeding the conquest parameters. That was the same message I’d seen during the Tower kidnapping incident.
Ju-si probably hadn’t expected that I’d cut through this entire goblin horde and slaughter a boss that wasn’t even on the objective list.
‘Well, if they’re handing out bonus rewards anyway, I’m not complaining.’
I waited for the next message, but strangely, the system fell silent.

It’s that exact feeling you get when you feed money into a vending machine and nothing happens.
‘Did it just eat my money? I can’t even kick the thing….’
I waited for about ten seconds or so.
Finally, the system broke its silence.
[Reward Assessment Complete.]
[Clearance Rating: EX Plus]
“EX… Plus?”
This was another result I hadn’t anticipated.
Not EX, but EX Plus.
In truth, every grade below had plus and minus variants, so there was no reason EX couldn’t have them too.
‘So clearing just the basic mission on each floor caps you at S Plus, clearing the Trial gets you EX… and if you reinterpret the Trial entirely and overachieve, you get EX Plus?’
I’d overachieved on the 2nd Floor Trial as well, but that hadn’t been EX Plus.
There must be something else at play.
‘Do I need to surprise Ju-si? I get the general sense of it now. Just not the perfect conditions.’
While I sat lost in thought, the system continued pouring out messages.
[Special Mission Completion Reward and Overachievement Reward are now being distributed.]
▶ Reward: D-Grade Shadow Engraving Slot
※ Only skills of D-Grade or lower can be inscribed in this slot.
[You have obtained the unique spoils of the Morae Claw Raider Gang Boss Gar: Plunderer’s Red Breastplate.]
[An excellent performance has been recorded. Top-tier achievement bonus is being additionally awarded.]
▶ Additional Reward: Strange Egg
The additional slot was invaluable, and the breastplate would be instant strength to my build.
I’d been meaning to pick up some armor anyway, so the timing couldn’t have been better.
But that last reward was peculiar.
“Wait, wasn’t this Egg supposed to be a standard Trial drop?”
Based on how the Trial mission felt, I could’ve sworn the Strange Egg was always part of the loot, but apparently it wasn’t.
‘Lucky I got it. I’d probably have been genuinely bitter if I’d missed it.’
That was the extent of the special rewards.
Everything else—miscellaneous crafting materials and equipment that looked only fit for scrap—was automatically tucked into inventory as usual.
“Crimson Goblin Mane… that’s probably from the boss. The wolf’s broken fang and… sixty-seven green leather scraps?”
It hit me then just how many goblins I’d slaughtered.
And one dropped from each—guaranteed. To this extent.
‘Ju-si’s favor and that mysterious black page are old hat now….’
What I was most curious about right now was obvious—this.
“Item information.”
[Plunderer’s Red Breastplate]
Grade: Rare
Classification: Leather Armor
Description: Armor worn by the Morae Claw Raider Gang Boss Gar to display his dominion.
This breastplate embodies his two commandments.
‘Fear to those who dare oppose—plunder for those who possess!’
Special Effects:
[Boss is Scary!]: When facing monsters of the ‘Goblin’ type, there is a low chance of placing the target in an ‘Intimidation’ status for 2 seconds.
※ Targets under ‘Intimidation’ status hesitate to attack, and their movement and attack speed are temporarily reduced significantly.
[Sneaky Theft]: When dealing physical damage, there is a low chance of plundering one consumable or material item from the target’s inventory and obtaining it immediately.
※ Upon meeting certain conditions, you can obtain items that would otherwise be unobtainable through normal means.
“Goblins are gonna keep showing up through the 10th Floor anyway, so this is solid. No—is it more than solid?”
With Trial difficulty escalating day by day, I’d been meaning to equip anything I could get my hands on, and this timing was perfect.
The unique effects should be quite helpful too.
But something felt slightly off.
“It’s good, it’s definitely good… but surely this isn’t all, right?”
The moment I asked that question—wondering if an EX Plus rating really felt this thin—the announcement came.
[Tower-Wide Notice: Tower of South Korea]
[The first EX Plus clearance record on the 3rd Floor of the Tower of South Korea has been confirmed.]
[A Special Situation occurs in the Tower of South Korea due to the contribution of the Awakener who achieved this feat.]
[Abandoned Treasure Vault]
[The Special Entity ‘Petty Thief Goblin’ has appeared.]
Dead right.
A smile spread across my face unbidden.
“Yeah, I had a feeling there was more to this.”
* * *
An unexpected encounter with Shin Yu-seong, culminating in a trial where lives hung in the balance.
It had been an unusually long day.
“Phew… at least I can breathe now.”
Only after returning home and finishing his shower did everything finally feel real.
He dried his damp hair roughly with a towel and settled onto the mattress.
His mind felt oddly tangled.
‘I picked that choice because I wanted to be at least a little helpful…’
And yet, thanks to those seven days, the Tower’s collapse had been averted—he still couldn’t quite believe it.
If not for Shin Yu-seong’s warning, he’d have dismissed it all as madness.
‘Slaughtering over a hundred goblins in a single floor is less surreal than this.’
Shin Yu-seong’s business card, which he’d carefully stashed in his pocket and just retrieved, anchored him once more to the reality of it all.
“Shin Yu-seong’s personal phone number… I’ve really moved up in the world.”
It probably wouldn’t come to that, but terrified of losing the card, he’d already saved the number carefully in his phone.
‘The name… SSS. That fits.’
Shin the teacher’s SSS.
Something about storing it under his full name felt wrong, so he’d done it this way instead.
‘South Korea’s most famous and respected figure’s contact info—who knows what might happen. I could lose my phone, not just the card.’
As he was about to set the phone aside, something suddenly occurred to him.
‘Since something new has happened, people will definitely have hot takes on it.’
He was curious what everyone would say about this event.
‘Let me start with the news.’
He didn’t even have to search—the portal site’s main page was already plastered with related headlines.
[BREAKING] Tower System unveils new rank ‘EX Plus’… South Korea’s 3rd Floor records first, world in ‘shock’
[BREAKING] ‘Poongyo’ surpasses EX, achieves ‘EX Plus’ new record… Tower of South Korea, ‘Golden Goblin’ special entity emerges
[Tower Issue] ‘Guardian’ Shin Yu-seong and ‘Revolutionary’ Poongyo… Tower of South Korea, era of ‘two suns’ dawning?
‘As expected… but when did EX disappear from the rankings?’
Initially, the name had wavered between EX and Poongyo, but at some point one had faded away, and now Poongyo had solidified as the standard term.
‘Right, Poongyo definitely rolls off the tongue better. If you’re Korean, you should use Korean.’
He then visited the Awakeners’ community forum.
“This place is already in festival mode.”
【Off-Topic】 WTF is this, a Golden Goblin now?
Did you see the notice that just dropped?
Poongyo unleashed a Golden Goblin in the Tower lol
▼ Comments
Anonymous1: WTF I’m still not awakened so I thought Awakeners were just messing with us again but why is this real??
Anonymous2: Poongyo pulled another EX on the 3rd Floor. Seems like they’re cranking them out as casually as eating.
└ Anonymous (OP): No no, get it right. It’s EX Plus this time
Anonymous3: Golden Goblin? OK so the god of abundance has blessed us with rice cakes lol
【Info】 First-ever Golden Goblin hunt report on this board
I was hunting on the 3rd Floor just now when suddenly this goblin carrying a bundle popped out of nowhere, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Looks identical to a regular goblin. But this thing is crazy fast, seriously, if you don’t lock in it vanishes in a blink.
But once you catch it, you get gear and rare ore lol good, I’m treating myself to beef for dinner with this haha
▼ Comments
Anonymous1: Dude I’m so jealous. I lost track the second I saw it damn
└ Anonymous (OP): Here’s a tip. It drops items while running—don’t pick them up. Pick them up and you’ll lose it
└ Anonymous2: But you said it lives by robbing right lol share some with us haha
Anonymous3: Poongyo… now even a Golden Goblin? Is he a god?
└ Anonymous4: Yeah Poongyo’s basically divine. Look how many blessings he’s raining down on us.
└ Anonymous5: Thanks to Poongyo, I got a high-grade piece of equipment and paid off all my debt. From now on I’m bowing to Poongyo’s direction every morning.
└ Anonymous2: You don’t even know which direction that is, idiot lolol
└ Anonymous5: If I bow in all four directions, it’s gotta reach somewhere.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
“Everyone’s so fired up. But I have to admit, I’m a little envious. The fast ones have already caught it.”
Meanwhile, the one who’d triggered this ‘Special Situation’ was stuck hitting the Tower’s daily climb limit and wouldn’t get to see the Golden Goblin until tomorrow.
Setting aside the regret, he put the phone away.
“I’ll find out tomorrow anyway. What matters now is… this.”
He opened his inventory and pulled out the Strange Egg.
It was solid and smooth-surfaced, a gleaming black oval.
Its size fell somewhere between a chicken egg and an ostrich egg, leaning slightly toward the latter.
The architect of the 3rd Floor Trial—and quite possibly the greatest prize I could claim.
“The highest-rank reward, then….”
By the Tower’s standards, it stood equal to the Endless Hunger.
Which meant there was no telling what might emerge from within.
“What are you, exactly?”
I tapped the egg carefully with the tip of my finger.
Nothing stirred inside.
‘What’ll come out? An eagle? No—if it’s from the Tower, it’d be a dragon or a phoenix or something like that.’
Whatever it is, fine by me. As long as it’s not an ostrich.
‘But after all that trouble, at least it should be something useful for climbing.’
Tap-tap.
“Huh?”
Then came a sound.
The same sound from when I’d rapped the egg moments before—except this time, I wasn’t the one doing the tapping.
“Wh—what…!”
No mistake about it.
Something inside was definitely tapping against the shell of its own accord.
“Is it… coming out…?”
I swallowed hard and fixed my eyes on the egg.
‘Please be a dragon, a griffin, a phoenix…! Just—anything but an ostrich!’
The moment that desperate prayer left my lips.
Crack.
A hairline fracture appeared across the egg’s surface.
The crack spread swiftly with a splintering sound, racing across the entire shell.
“Yes, yes. Just a little more…!”
Then a large piece of shell tumbled away.
Through the gap, I caught sight of a pair of violet eyes, gleaming with an otherworldly light—and our gazes met.
‘Oh, something truly magnificent…!’
The shell crumbled away in cascades.
At last, the creature revealed itself in full.
“Meow?”
A black, downy ball of fluff with ears perked upright and luminous violet eyes.
I recognized the species at once.
“…A cat?”
A cat had hatched before me.
And it had wings.
I Copy Skills Just by Stepping on Shadows
Author |
Killing Part
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks.

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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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