I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 22

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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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22
“I’ll send you a text once the work is complete. It should take about a week. Maybe a little longer.”
“Of course. Take your time. I’ll be waiting.”
After finishing my business at Temda Farm, I headed straight to the waiting room on Floor 1.
The main reason for the visit was to commission the Swamp Curtain.
As a result, the money that had arrived in my account an hour ago didn’t even settle before flowing right back out—and I ended up spending an additional million won from my living expenses. But I had no regrets.
‘There’s no helping it. This is all an investment. I can earn money again in the tower.’
Nearly ten million won had passed through my account in the span of an hour, in and then out just as quickly, and it stung a bit. But there was nothing to be done.
After all, you need to be alive to have any use for money.
‘Well, the commission is settled. Now I should fill that empty Slot I got as a reward from Floor 3 EX+.’
That was the second reason for visiting Floor 1.
I surveyed the passersby, focusing on my Sense of Smell.
Information about each Awakener immediately became faintly perceptible through their scent.
‘Hmm, that person smells appetizing. Looks like a decent high-floor Awakener.’
In the old days, I would have recklessly stepped on the shadow of whoever smelled most enticing.
But I’m different now.
‘There’s a faint burnt smell coming from somewhere….’
I’d already decided what Skill to inscribe in the newly acquired D-Rank or below Slot.
‘Fire Resistance.’
It wasn’t for nothing that I’d immediately equipped the Salamander Leather Armor at Temda Farm.
What I needed now wasn’t anything particularly extraordinary—it was defense against the frenzied heat of my Nocturne Sword, which seemed ready to consume even its own wielder.
Why else would I have burned through a Potion the moment I cleared Floor 3’s Trial?
And those don’t come cheap, either.
‘Burned by my own weapon. That’s not happening twice.’
Fortunately, Floor 1 had enough foot traffic that I quickly found a suitable Awakener.
A man in a ridiculous pointed hat, giving off a subtle burnt smell.
Definitely a fire-type magic Awakener.
‘Pardon me for a moment.’
I slipped behind him and quietly stepped on his shadow.
[New shadow contact detected.]
[Target: Awakener ‘Jo Jun-hee’]
[Activating unique ability ‘Shadow Mimic’.]
[Analyzing Skill information…]
‘Jo Jun-hee, is it.’
The familiar message continued, and soon a list of the target’s Skills unfolded before my eyes.
[Fireball (D), Fire Resistance (E+), Mana Recovery Speed Increase (F)]
‘Perfect. Jackpot on the first try.’
Just as I’d hoped.
The Rank was E+, which was slightly disappointing, but for now it would suffice.
I couldn’t spend all day wandering Floor 1 waiting to find a D-Rank Fire Resistance.
I was a busy person, after all.
[Please select a Skill to inscribe.]
‘I’ll go with Fire Resistance.’
[Inscribe ‘Fire Resistance (E+)’ to the D-Rank or below exclusive Slot?]
‘Yes.’
[Shadow Inscription complete.]
[Shadow Inscription: Fire Resistance (Rank: E+ / Source: Jo Jun-hee)]
Now I was prepared against a demonic blade that even attacked its own master.
‘All right. Time to head up.’
To hunt the Golden Goblin.
* * *
The Basic Mission on Floor 4 consisted of eliminating ten goblins: goblin wolf riders and scouts, plus heavily armored Hobgoblins.
Given that repeated Trials had made me twice as strong as others at each floor, honestly, it didn’t matter what the Basic Mission threw at me.
The new leather armor hugging my body also made movement noticeably easier.
‘There really is a difference between proper equipment and regular clothes. I should’ve bought low-grade tower gear from the start.’
The problem came after that.
‘But where is this thing hiding?’
I’d finished the Basic Mission long ago.
More precisely, I’d disarmed one and was dragging it along alive, bound and secured.
Because as soon as the Basic Mission ends, the Trial begins—no Golden Goblin, nothing else appears before that.
“Screech! Screeeech!”
“Quiet, or I wouldn’t have bothered keeping you alive in the first place.”
The timid creature’s feeble protest was almost endearing.
I rapped it across the head with the flat of the Nocturne Sword, and a satisfying *thunk* silenced it at once.
“Screee….”
For a moment, watching its dejected form, I almost felt sorry for it—until I remembered that the moment an opportunity arose, this creature would tear a person apart without hesitation. Sympathy evaporated in an instant.
“Hey, where’s your friend? Go find him.”
I spent nearly twenty minutes combing through the sprawling wasteland, which offered precious few hiding spots, searching methodically in widening circles.
Yet the golden goblin I sought remained nowhere to be found.
The community channels were already drowning in dozens of sighting reports, while I—the one who’d triggered the event in the first place—hadn’t caught even a glimpse of it.
“Maybe I should just clear the Trial and get out of here.”
The moment I’d made up my mind to give up, the shadow beneath my feet rippled, and Bami’s head popped up from the ground.
“Mew!”
“Hmm?”
Before I could react, it bolted away at lightning speed, pounding across the wasteland.
“Hey! Running off alone like that is dangerous!”
There were no monsters around, but this was still a Tower—who knew what might emerge.
Oblivious to my concerns, Bami bounded forward with pure joy, racing across the barren expanse.
I dropped the rope I’d been dragging it with and gave chase at full speed.
‘This tiny thing is impossibly fast!’
Even with my physical abilities dramatically enhanced inside the Tower, I found myself gasping for breath trying to keep pace.
Fearing things would really spiral out of control, I finally managed to catch its body mid-sprint and scoop it into my arms.
“Bami, you’re going to get a proper scolding….”
“Mew mew!”
Even cradled in my grip, the creature thrashed desperately, stretching its front paws toward something ahead with all its might.
As if there were something there that demanded its attention.
“…Wait. Hold on.”
The ground where Bami was pointing bulged unnaturally, and something about it struck me as off.
“Shrieeeek!”
Sand exploded upward, and from beneath it burst a goblin carrying a bundle on its back.
“…There! Found it!”
Our eyes met for an instant.
The creature took one look at me and bolted without hesitation, not even glancing back.
Its speed was every bit as legendary as the rumors suggested.
But.
“Oh no you don’t!”
It had chosen the wrong opponent.
*Slash!*
A dark flash tore through the air.
I closed the distance in a burst of speed and cleaved the creature in one swift stroke.
Its head tumbled cleanly away, rolling across the ground.
Below it, items spilled out in quantities that made my eyes go wide.
“Oh, Rare Ore.”
I was scanning the spoils quickly when system messages began cascading across my vision.
[The special effect ‘Sleight’ is activated.]
[A hidden item that your target was concealing is seized as loot.]
[Condition 1: Direct causation of the triggering event.]
[Condition 2: Ownership of ‘Plunderer’s Red Breastplate’.]
‘Special conditions? Hidden items?’
Before I could fully process this, a worn scrap of parchment suddenly materialized in my inventory with a soft *pop*.
[You have obtained a special item from the unique entity ‘Petty Thief Goblin’.]
[Secret Map Fragment]
Rank: ???
Classification: Miscellaneous Item
Description: A fragment of a map that ‘Gar’, the Plunderer Chief, secretly copied in order to betray his lord ‘Goldin the Goblin Lord’ and seize his hidden vault of treasures.
After Gar’s death, his subordinates scattered it into three pieces.
(Currently held: 1/3)
“Interesting….”
I’d suspected from the Sleight skill’s description that such hidden items might exist, but I hadn’t expected to actually obtain one so quickly.
‘The Goblin Lord’s secret treasure vault? This could be something major.’
To be honest, there was a nagging sense that I was doing all the hard work while Awakeners across the country shared in the rewards.
And yet here he was, looking out for me again.
‘Like I thought—our tower doesn’t dole out merit awards so sparingly.’
Based on the item description, there were three map fragments in total.
‘I can roughly estimate it now. If I climb one floor a day and catch three Thieving Goblins, the map should be complete.’
The Goblin Lord’s treasure vault, no less.
An actual treasure. There was fresh reason to push forward.
Of course, I had something to handle first.
“Bami!”
Discipline time for Bami.
I was thinking of giving her a good flick on the head for running off on her own like that.
‘Nowhere to flick her, though.’
Still, I couldn’t very well praise her either.
She’d gotten lucky this time, but if this reckless behavior kept up, she’d get hurt one day for sure.
I gripped her with both hands and put on an exaggerated scowl.
Her expression was all bright-eyed innocence—she had no idea what she’d done wrong.
‘Damn it, she’s too cute. My resolve just melts.’
Those amethyst eyes, as perfectly round as polished gems, nearly made me falter for a moment—but I had to do what needed doing.
“Running around on your own like that, you’re going to get hurt. Don’t do it again. If you keep this up, I’ll leave you at home next time I come to the tower.”
“Meow, meow, meow!”
She shook her head firmly—absolutely not.
Looking at her, she understood the words perfectly.
The trouble was she didn’t always follow through.
“This is a promise, okay? You understand?”
“Meow!”
“Good, so we’ve made a promise. For now, stay hidden in the shadows—it’s dangerous out here. And I mean it—don’t come out until I call for you! If you come out before I tell you to, I’m really going to scold you!”
“Meow!”
Yon-seok—I wish she’d follow through on promises even half as enthusiastically as she made them.
Bami had slipped into the shadows, and my side work was finished. Time for the main event now.
I approached the last goblin I’d bound.
“Rest now. Your friends fought well because of you.”
Slash—!
As a reward for holding out until I caught the golden goblin, I sent it on its way cleanly.
I flicked the goblin’s blood from my blade and spoke.
“Jushya. Let’s go.”
The system message came as if waiting for my call.
[Do you wish to attempt the Trial of Floor 4?]
“Of course.”
[Beginning ‘Jushya’s Trial’.]
* * *
Incheon International Airport’s arrivals hall.
A woman walked briskly through immigration, the exhaustion of a long flight already forgotten.
Hair black as obsidian, bound in a long braid; sharp, striking features that drew eyes despite the absence of makeup.
She was Kang Yu-jin, the true successor to Haetae Guild.
She had just returned from three months abroad, conducting strategic partnerships and technological exchanges with overseas guilds.
‘The atmosphere here really is different. All anyone’s been talking about overseas is that news.’
She, too, was well aware of what had unfolded at Korea’s tower in recent days.
As Haetae’s successor, it was a detail she couldn’t afford to miss—and besides, the story was so pervasive that you’d hear it even with your eyes and ears shut.
‘It’s been exhausting because of it, honestly.’
By the final stages of her business trip, everyone she met asked about Poongyojwa, until she felt sick of it.
Knowing almost nothing, she’d had to tell each person, ‘The only connection I share with him is that we’re both Korean,’ which was tiresome.
‘Well… at least I won’t have to deal with that sort of thing back home.’
She quickened her pace, savoring the sense of security her homeland offered.
‘I need to get home, stretch out, and rest. And my first meal—I’ll ask Mom to make me doenjang-jjigae!’
Yet something felt off.
‘Awakeners here, Awakeners there… is there some kind of event? Why are there so many?’
Awakeners didn’t exactly walk around with ‘I’m an Awakener’ written on their foreheads, but there was a certain feel to another Awakener’s presence.
Kang Yu-jin was confident her ‘Awakener radar’ was quite accurate.
And right now, Incheon International Airport was teeming with them.
By her estimate, roughly one in every ten people passing through looked like an Awakener.
Considering that Awakeners made up less than 0.2 percent of the global population, the density here was absurd.
‘When I left, it wasn’t like this. Am I imagining things…?’
That sense of strangeness grew sharper as she rode the taxi toward her destination: Haetae Guild Headquarters.
Seoul after three months away looked slightly different from what she remembered.
‘Something’s wrong. Why is traffic so backed up? And why are there so many people in the Plaza?’
The transformed atmosphere of the Plaza brought Kang Yu-jin to a halt.
“Driver, I’ll get out here.”
“But the Haetae Guild Headquarters is right up ahead. You sure you don’t want to go further?”
“Ah, I just want to look around here for a moment first.”
Kang Yu-jin stepped out onto the Plaza in front of the tower where Jo Jun-hee once made his living, and began studying the faces of the people passing by.
‘It’s not just that there are more people.’
Awakeners everywhere with flushed faces, seeking out parties, trading items, preparing for their next ascent.
Everyone’s eyes were gleaming.
A hunger to reach higher places.
And faces brimming with the hope that they, too, could make it.
“Hey, did you see today’s trending post? Somebody caught a golden goblin on Floor 5 and got rare gear.”
“Rare from Floor 5? Wow, I’m jealous.”
“See? Camping on Floor 3 is old news now. We have to keep climbing.”
“Is that so… But climbing scares me a little.”
“Come on, what can’t we do? Floor 3 or Floor 5, it’s all the same. Poongyojwa is going to climb Floor 4 soon anyway, so we should push ourselves to keep up.”
“Yeah… that’s right. Since Poongyojwa opened the way for us, shouldn’t we at least try to follow?”
“Absolutely. And besides, if we can do it once, we can do it again!”
Poongyojwa’s name appeared in conversations from every direction.
‘All they talk about here is that person.’
In a way, it made sense.
A single individual had granted an area-wide buff to their entire tower.
Taking advantage of that momentum, whispers had already begun circulating that Poongyojwa was the next strongest Awakener in Korea.
They said this promising talent would grow strong and eventually take up the mantle from Shin Yu-seong, protecting Korea’s towers.
Of course, Kang Yu-jin disagreed.
‘Tower strength is measured by the highest floor you’ve cleared. But… I’ll give credit where it’s due. This person is remarkable. The ripple effect of one person is impressive.’
Even Kang Yu-jin—the youngest daughter of a powerful family, the country’s youngest Floor 10 climber, and someone who’d consistently shown strong results—had never heard talk of herself as the “next strongest in Korea.”
And yet here they were, already calling some novice just climbing Floors 3 and 4 the future strongest Awakener in the nation.
‘Ugh, I’m worried. Seriously worried about where Korea’s Awakener community is headed.’
In a fit of pique, she was pouting when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Hmm?”
A call from Secretary Kim, her father Kang Tae-san’s personal secretary.
At the welcome sight of his name, Kang Yu-jin answered with a smile.
“Secretary Kim. It’s been a while.”
― Miss, did you arrive safely? I just heard the news. If you’d given us a heads-up, we would have sent someone to pick you up.
“Don’t worry about it. You must be swamped helping Father. Besides, you’re the kind of person who would know—why the heads-up? You already knew I was coming tomorrow, didn’t you?”
― I beg your pardon? I’m hearing this for the first time.
“Come on. You must have heard all about it through Director Min anyway. So I got ahead of you this time. If I’d come on schedule, you’d have sent the whole security team rolling up… ugh, I hate that kind of thing.”
― Ha ha… You are a pillar of Haetae, after all. It’s only natural that we attend to you. Please don’t dislike the security team too much.
“Yes, yes… I understand. I just don’t like it. But Secretary Kim, what’s going on with the mood in the country right now? I heard about it, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.”
― The atmosphere in the tower has changed quite a bit over the past few days.
“That’s what I mean. It’s even bigger than I imagined. Anyway, I’m near the Plaza now, so I’m thinking of stopping by the headquarters. Is Father available at the moment?”
― Ha ha, of course. If you’re coming to visit, the Director would make time out of nothing. He’s already waiting for you.
“I thought so, which is why I came straight away. Oh, and Secretary Kim, Director Min has been handling something I didn’t assign him to do. That’s your doing on Father’s orders, right?”
― I’m sorry? What do you mean…?
“The item search.”
― I’m hearing that for the first time as well.
Secretary Kim played dumb, following his instructions.
But Kang Yu-jin had lived as a Kang for more than a decade—no shallow trick was going to work on her.
“Obviously Father told you to keep it a secret from me. Sigh… my own secretary is more loyal to Father’s word than to me. There’s really no one I can trust.”
At this point, Kang Yu-jin raised the white flag herself, admitting defeat.
There was no point pressing further—the other side simply wouldn’t admit to anything.
“Fine. Since you’re doing this anyway, make sure you do it right.”
― I don’t think that instruction is meant for me… but I’ll let him know.
“Of course you will. Sec. Re. Tary. Kim. Well then, I’ll see you both when I visit Father. Uncle.”
― Yes, I’ll be waiting. Come carefully, Miss.
Kang Yu-jin hung up the phone and gazed quietly up at the tower rising before her.
In her eyes burned a fierce determination.
‘A Super Rookie shaking up the game alone… I can’t just fall behind like this.’
A time of upheaval.
Korea’s tower ecology was changing.
Because of one Super Rookie.
I Copy Skills Just by Stepping on Shadows
Author |
Killing Part
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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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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