Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 23

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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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Chapter 23. Elixir Addict
Park Chan-woo had never entered Dungeon Abyss before.
Like the ‘First Night’s Abyss,’ he had no direct experience with it.
In fact, he didn’t begin properly clearing abysses until six months after this point in time.
Only after the First Racial War ended did he finally begin to move.
After 120 million randomly chosen people vanished as offerings.
Having tasted that unspeakable terror, Park Chan-woo could not afford to remain still.
‘Every hope I could lean on had vanished.’
He grasped instinctively that true hell was beginning.
He knew, too, that without effort, he could not survive in the world that lay ahead.
When 120 million people evaporated all at once, the world ground to a halt.
While everyone froze, Park Chan-woo moved.
That was why, despite starting late, he had reached level 99 faster than anyone else.
Of course, that wasn’t all there was to it.
‘Even if I hadn’t experienced it directly, I always kept my knowledge of abyss-related information current.’
Park Chan-woo kept his ears open to everything related to abysses.
He was fearful enough that curiosity came naturally with it.
He never dismissed what had already passed as worthless.
One by one, those fragments of information accumulated, aiding his survival and rapid growth.
Of course, he had already absorbed a fair amount of information about Dungeon Abyss itself.
―Water Deity Abyss isn’t a place you’re meant to clear. The Water Deity—that creature was truly abominable.
―But you can gain more from it than from any other dungeon.
―I’ve heard no shortage of stories about people finding Spiritual Elixir there.
―The faster you enter, the greater the rewards you can claim. But if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t go in. Those filthy Mystic Avatars were running amok like madmen.
People’s assessment of that day was unanimous.
It was absolutely miserable.
Especially Water Deity Abyss—they wouldn’t enter it again even if forced to.
It was the dungeon where the most Mystic Avatars had run wild.
‘The reason the Mystic Avatars ran wild wasn’t simply because the points awarded were the highest.’
He had thought it was straightforward.
He assumed the Avatars had gathered to interfere with clearing the dungeon.
Water Deity Abyss had a clear value of 1,000 points.
The highest among all Dungeon Abysses.
But that wasn’t it.
The reason Yu Han-seop had led people into Water Deity Abyss from the start.
He’d sensed something amiss, but there was indeed another reason.
‘Yu Han-seop knows the locations of the treasures buried in Water Deity Abyss.’
Park Chan-woo quietly followed in Yu Han-seop’s footsteps.
He became certain upon seeing how the man walked without hesitation, choosing his direction.
Yu Han-seop clearly knew the geography of this place.
More than that, he likely had complete knowledge of every hidden treasure’s location.
‘His contracted Creator must have told him.’
The Creator who had entered into a Mystic Avatar contract with Yu Han-seop.
Along with countless other Creators, they had sent their Mystic Avatars into Water Deity Abyss.
Now he understood why so many Avatars were concentrated in this one place.
‘…Water Deity Abyss. This place exists for the Mystic Avatars.’
Creators occasionally crafted specialized abysses to develop their contracted Avatars.
Or they sometimes collaborated with other Creators.
This case was likely the latter.
The Creator who had made Water Deity Abyss working together with other Creators.
They were arranging placements within the dungeon to serve as growth catalysts for their contracted Avatars.
The finest example was the Spiritual Elixir.
‘Placing Spiritual Elixir in an abyss isn’t easy. Not unless the environment of the abyss is properly established, like here.’
The rewards a Creator could place depended on the dungeon’s environment.
Among those rewards, Spiritual Elixir was the most difficult to handle.
This was because ordinary abysses were constructed around the theme of ‘death.’
How could proper medicinal herbs or Spiritual Elixir possibly exist on land where everything was dead?
Water Deity Abyss, by contrast, had its environment properly established unlike typical abysses.
The abyss held such high intrinsic value that it was ideal for seeding Spiritual Elixir.
‘The reason multiple Spiritual Elixirs have been discovered in Water Deity Abyss stems from this very logic. If the Creator placed all manner of Spiritual Elixirs here for the Avatars….’
Splash!
“Damn it! Why isn’t it here?!”
Yu Han-seop struck the Lakeside with his fist.
What should have been there was missing, and his rage had reached a fever pitch.
Park Chan-woo stood nearby, but Yu Han-seop couldn’t perceive him.
‘Non-existence remains effective within the Abyss.’
Outside, people could perceive Park Chan-woo, but even within the Abyss, another person couldn’t recognize him first.
Using this to his advantage, he had devised a plan.
‘Damn Mystic Avatars. I’ll strip every last one of them bare.’
Park Chan-woo despised Mystic Avatars.
More loathsome than insects.
At least insects enriched the soil or became sustenance for other creatures, but these Mystic Avatars contributed nothing to humanity’s survival.
They pretended to help in the beginning, playing their parts, but in the end—there was no denying it—they had ruined the world.
Stealing from a Mystic Avatar could almost be called the work of a noble thief, couldn’t it?
“The map isn’t wrong, is it? Or did someone else plunder it first?”
Yu Han-seop withdrew a Map from his inventory and unfolded it.
The spot where he now stood bore an unmistakable X mark.
Even the characters “Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng” were neatly labeled.
Yet it wasn’t here.
Since the Map couldn’t be wrong, someone must have entered before him.
“Hell!”
Yu Han-seop raked his fingers through his hair irritably.
The Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng was a Spiritual Elixir he absolutely had to consume.
The reason he’d brought people here first was because of the effects the Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng possessed.
‘It was supposed to boost Pure Ability Stats.’
When level increased, Pure Ability Stats rose.
Average gain was about 5 per level.
The Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng raised this average by roughly 0.5.
What’s more, it applied retroactively even to levels already surpassed.
Spiritual Elixirs possessed the power to raise Pure Ability Stats themselves or correct stat growth rates.
If one could obtain them, they had to be obtained—treasures of the highest order.
“Whoever it was, if I catch them, I’ll kill them without fail!”
Crackle!
With eyes blazing fury, Yu Han-seop stuffed the Map away.
Then he left the Lakeside and went searching for the scattered members.
‘So the Creator distributed maps after all.’
……Beside him, Park Chan-woo smiled.
Thanks to that, he’d been able to see the Map.
And more than that.
《The Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng begins to be digested.》
《The essence of the Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng spreads throughout your body.》
The medicinal effects of the Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng were kicking in.
Yet doubt remained.
‘Status Abnormality: Weakest. My Pure Ability Stats are locked at 1.’
The Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng’s effect was to correct Pure Ability Stats.
But Park Chan-woo’s Pure Ability Stats were fixed.
He wondered whether a Spiritual Elixir could overcome this restriction.
Still, there was a possibility.
Spiritual Elixirs are extremely difficult to obtain within the Abyss.
A Spiritual Elixir is something like medicinal herbs that grow over long periods by absorbing nature’s essence, and such things don’t align with the barren environment of the Abyss.
Unless it was a major undertaking like this—Creators collaborating to cultivate Mystic Avatars—Spiritual Elixirs were something you’d rarely even see.
So.
《The essence of the Hundred-Year Snow Ginseng aids your whole body.》
《Due to the Status Abnormality ‘Weakest,’ Pure Ability Stats cannot be corrected.》
《For 100 hours, Attack Power increases by 30.》
《For 100 hours, Defense Power increases by 30.》
‘…So unable to correct stats, it manifests instead as an immediate Buff effect.’
……It worked.
Though it couldn’t raise Pure Ability Stats or correct stat growth, in exchange his Attack and Defense Power had surged sharply upward.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
‘This isn’t so bad, actually.’
It might even be better.
The real reason to raise ability stats lies in ‘attack power’ and ‘defense.’
To strike harder, to take less damage.
Though it amounts to a buff lasting a hundred hours.
Given that his current attack power totaled 159 and his defense 46, it was an absurd increase.
Park Chan-woo ran a hand across his jaw.
‘I could actually kill the Water Deity in one blow.’
A dungeon everyone had abandoned as uncleared.
A monster deemed absolutely impossible to kill.
He was planning to kill it—the creature known as the Water Deity—in a single strike.
And to make that plan work, he meant to seize every Spiritual Elixir the Creators had prepared to nurture their Mystic Avatars.
‘That one must have come here wanting something too.’
Humanity’s strongest Mystic Avatar.
The real deal, contracted with the Great Nine Lords.
They said he possessed strength and talent on a different plane altogether, and perhaps had even surpassed level 100.
Why would someone like that keep visiting the Water Deity Abyss?
Unlikely as it seemed, though one couldn’t dismiss it entirely—there was every possibility he’d already formed a Mystic Avatar contract with the Great Nine Lords.
Park Chan-woo clenched his fist.
‘Whatever he has, I’ll take it too.’
* * *
Yu Han-seop felt as though he were going mad.
He’d barely managed to gather the refugees again and restart the ‘treasure hunt.’
‘Why! Why is there nothing here!’
He’d followed the map perfectly.
Yet at the marked locations, there was nothing.
Not a single one of the treasures the Creator had arranged for him remained.
‘My god! Great Creator! What has happened? Why can’t I find a single piece of the treasure you arranged for me?’
There was no answer.
Casual conversation with the Creator had always been beyond his reach.
The Creator was a great god, after all.
【…My child.】
That was when it happened.
The Creator’s voice rang clearly in Yu Han-seop’s ear.
Yu Han-seop listened intently, his entire body tensed.
【Something unknown is stirring in this place. It seems there is a meddler threatening us.】
‘Tell me who this meddler is. I will kill them by any means necessary.’
【It must be another Creator’s Mystic Avatar. There are Creators and Avatars who have broken their agreement, shameless thieves who have touched what is ours.】
The Creators had reached a silent accord.
Constructing an abyss and preparing arrangements for a Mystic Avatar consumed an enormous amount of coins.
Establishing the proper environment for a Spiritual Elixir was particularly tedious.
But the Water Deity Abyss was flawless in every respect.
Every condition had been created perfectly.
So they paid a fee to the organizer and decided to place their own Mystic Avatar’s ‘arrangements’ here separately.
The rule was simple: no one touched another’s ‘arrangements.’
Only the Creator who had placed them and their Mystic Avatar could claim them.
They’d even marked them on maps to ensure there was no overlap, taking every precaution.
But now…… they’d been cleaned out.
Someone had taken them first.
The culprit was one of the Creators who knew of this arrangement.
Or possibly all of them except that one.
【We cannot remain passive. The plan must change.】
‘Please tell me. I will follow faithfully.’
【We will seize the ‘arrangements’ another Creator has prepared.】
‘If my identity as a Mystic Avatar is exposed in the process, what should I do?’
【If they’re dead, it won’t be exposed. Kill anyone who suspects. Slaughter every person and every other Avatar who catches on.】
‘……Understood.’
Yu Han-seop’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
And at that very moment.
Other Mystic Avatars were hearing similar instructions from their contracted Creators.
【These thieving bastards!】
【I should never have trusted the other Creators from the start.】
【How dare they pilfer the Spiritual Elixirs I prepared!】
【My Mystic Avatar. Annihilate every last one of those thieves!】
And so, the war between Mystic Avatars had begun.
* * *
Inside the cave.
Park Chan-woo carefully grasped the small Gourd Bottle that lay sleeping deep within the cavern.
He then uncorked it and poured the contents into his mouth.
《You have consumed one drop of the Spiritual Elixir, Clear Stone Oil.》
《Attack power increases by 60 for 100 hours.》
《Defense power increases by 60 for 100 hours.》
《You have surpassed twenty different Spiritual Elixirs consumed in a short span.》
《You have acquired the Title: Elixir Addict.》
《The effects of all Spiritual Elixirs increase by 10%.》
《Attack Power: 1114(159+955)》
《Defense Power: 1,001(46+955)》
…….
《You have consumed far too many varieties of Spiritual Elixir at once.》
《This clearly exceeds the limits of mortal flesh.》
《Normally, your vital energies would tangle and run wild, leaving you crippled.》
《However, due to the Status Abnormality: Weakest, the consumed Spiritual Elixirs have begun producing an entirely different effect.》
《Because the effects manifest as buffs, the elixir’s potency spreads throughout your entire body over an extended period.》
《The remaining elixir potencies intermingle and transform your constitution in an extraordinary manner.》

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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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