Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 64

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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 64. Second Night
“Hey, hey — his eyes are open!”
“Look! Are you with us?”
A chill in the air. A cacophony of voices.
Kim Byung-han forced his eyes open and surveyed his surroundings.
Just moments ago, he’d been standing on the tenth floor of the Tower of Arrogance.
“Where am I…?”
“Outside the Tower of Arrogance!”
“People came pouring out through the entrance all of a sudden!”
“What in the world happened in there?”
Questions pelted down without pause.
Among them were journalists.
They’d come to the site in person, eager to report on whatever had unfolded within the tower.
‘The tower entrance.’
He lay not far from it.
The Seoul Alliance members who’d climbed with him were nearby as well.
Yet their situations differed markedly from his.
While Byung-han was left exposed on the ground, the true Alliance members — Lim Chang-yeol among them — were being transported elsewhere on stretchers.
Kim Byung-han’s expression darkened.
‘These bastards. So I’m not a real member after all?’
Discrimination had never looked so naked.
They’d treated him like a distinguished guest when recruiting party members for the climb, and now that he was spent, they wouldn’t spare him a glance.
‘Wait. My rewards…’
He quickly checked his inventory and Status Window.
A breath of relief escaped him.
The rewards he’d gathered climbing the Tower of Arrogance to the tenth floor remained intact.
A multitude of Coins and Boxes of Arrogance.
Just looking at them was satisfying.
‘The tenth floor must be cleared. There are bonus rewards here that weren’t there before.’
When he’d first reached the tenth floor, Byung-han had possessed forty-two Boxes of Arrogance.
Yet his inventory now held fifty.
That meant Kankun and Adora’s final battle had concluded.
But something nagged at him.
‘How exactly did things play out?’
…His memory was a complete blank after that.
He was certain he’d reached the tenth floor with Lim Chang-yeol and the Seoul Alliance.
The problem was what came after.
He couldn’t recall how Kankun and Adora had fought, or how their battle had ended.
He didn’t even know who’d won.
There was no system message to clarify matters.
‘……I saw the Seer. He was there.’
The only thing he could remember clearly was the Seer.
The one who’d gained the upper hand against the Game Master Andel in the First Night and had cultivated Yi Hyuk-su.
The savior who’d rescued Byung-han from the Sniping Abyss afterward.
The Seer had been standing beside Adora, the Witch of Death.
And then……
Wait.
A single image flickered through Kim Byung-han’s mind.
‘Yes. I remember now. Kankun and Adora were locked in combat. Kankun was caught by Adora, and then after that……’
Thump!
The Seer’s heart was pierced.
By Kankun’s invisible blade.
Kankun was a user of the Heart Piercer technique.
But wasn’t it strange?
Kankun hadn’t aimed for Adora — he’d aimed for the Seer.
Why?
‘……Could the Seer be dead?’
Everything after that had been cleanly erased from his mind.
But if what Byung-han had seen was real, the Seer could not have escaped death.
Kankun’s Heart Piercer was truly formidable.
Not a single monster that had faced that blade had survived the ascent up the tower.
So it stood to reason that the Seer was dead as well.
‘No. That can’t be. The Seer who toyed with the Creator and demons alike—there’s no way he’d fall to someone like Kankun.’
But Kim Byung-han pushed the thought away.
Every time he’d encountered the Seer, miracles had followed.
No matter how formidable Kankun was as a monster, he couldn’t slay someone who stood level with the divine.
In a world where no one could be trusted, the Seer was the sole being Kim Byung-han believed in.
Yet the final image seared into his mind would not fade.
Was the Seer dead?
Or had he wrought another miracle and survived?
Who had won between Kankun and Adora?
And why had they been expelled from the tower?
What would become of the Tower of Arrogance now?
‘…… Survival of the fittest. First, I have to survive.’
This was no time to wallow in confusion.
Kim Byung-han steadied himself.
This world was one where even the Seer—extraordinary as he was—faced peril.
If he lost his wits, he would be swept away like driftwood in a violent tide.
‘I’ve already laid the foundation to stand at the summit.’
At least that much was fortunate.
The rewards from climbing the tower meant he had only to plant his feet firm and rise.
‘Everyone’s eyes are on me. If I open the Box of Arrogance here and claim top-tier equipment, I can be the protagonist of this story.’
The masses had gathered around the tower’s perimeter.
They were all hungry with curiosity.
What had transpired within the tower.
A single word from him would become breaking news, rippling across the whole of South Korea.
Kim Byung-han meant to be that protagonist.
He would stand at the center of this grand narrative—the Tower of Arrogance itself.
After all, no one else could possibly have gathered more Boxes of Arrogance than he had.
“Everyone! I, Kim Byung-han, have conquered the Tower of Arrogance!”
“Gasp!”
“Is—is that true?”
“Could you tell us in detail what happened inside?”
“What happens now?”
“Does that mean the Protected Zone disappears too?”
The crowd surged toward him like hungry wolves.
Reporters had their notebooks out, determined not to miss a single word.
This was his moment.
His chance to become a hero, a true protagonist.
No one else could recount what lay within the tower with such authority.
“The tower consisted of ten floors in total. Countless traps that strangled the breath, monsters beyond number. And the Death Witch, Adora! Having overcome every ordeal, I laid hands upon a legendary weapon.”
Moreover, Kim Byung-han possessed fifty Boxes of Arrogance.
If the messages that had appeared when he first began his ascent were true, the more boxes he collected, the greater the quality of the rewards.
And fifty was an unprecedented figure.
‘At minimum Legendary. I might even reach for something beyond that.’
The grades of weapons that existed in the Abyss.
As far as was known, ‘Legendary’ was the highest tier.
And officially, that grade didn’t even exist in South Korea.
If he obtained a Legendary-grade weapon or higher here and now, ascending to superstardom would be easier than falling off a log.
Judging by the tower’s scale, it dwarfed any Abyss that had appeared before.
The rewards dispensed would surely match.
“The Death Witch!”
“A legendary weapon, you say?”
Everyone’s attention was fixed on Kim Byung-han.
Tens of thousands had fallen silent as if bound by a single covenant.
“From this day forward, the history of South Korea will change. By me, Kim Byung-han! I promise you! I will protect you all!”
Kim Byung-han was poised to claim the pinnacle.
Today was the beginning.
‘Open.’
Kim Byung-han drew fifty boxes from his inventory and opened them all at once.
《Fifty ‘Boxes of Arrogance’ have been collected.》
《As fifty boxes gather, the reward tier has been set to ‘Legendary ~ Eternal’.》
‘…I’ve lost my mind!’
Fate had caught up with him at last.
At minimum, Legendary Grade!
And Eternal Grade on top of that?
‘I’ve never even heard of it. Eternal Grade!’
Thump-thump-thump!
His heart hammered like it might burst from his chest.
His mouth had gone dry.
He had already boarded the express train to becoming the protagonist.
‘Could I be the first to obtain an Eternal Grade?’
More than anything, if he were to obtain an ‘Eternal Grade’…
He could become the true master of South Korea itself.
Wasn’t that thrilling just to imagine?
The kind of thing any man would dream of at least once.
《The reward is being revealed.》
Ah!
A shiver ran down his spine.
A rosy, golden future blazed brilliantly before his eyes.
The royal road.
The path to becoming an emperor seemed to stretch out before him.
It was done. All done!
Kim Byung-han’s eyes flew wide open.
And then.
《The ‘Tower of Arrogance’ has been declared Bankrupt.》
《No reward can be obtained.》
“……What?”
* * *
The next day, the Tower of Arrogance vanished.
With news of the tower’s bankruptcy, it evaporated like a lie.
The Abyss’s encroachment began anew.
And Park Chan-woo was finally able to return home.
Chirp!
Chirp-chirp!
Boксseul-i, brimming with joy, bounded out of his arms and scampered through the house.
Well, since Boксseul-i was born here, this place was surely home to the Divine Beast as well.
Watching Boксseul-i prance about, Park Chan-woo chuckled softly, then washed up and began to clean.
Of course, perhaps because Boксseul-i was a Divine Beast, not a speck of dust settled on him even without washing.
Afterward, he settled onto the bed and pulled out the Star of Arrogance.
‘No matter how many times I look at it, I can’t get used to it.’
The detailed information held within the Star of Arrogance.
He must have confirmed it a hundred times more since returning home, and each confirmation filled him with awe anew.
A moment later, a related window materialized in the air before him.
Name: Star of Arrogance
Level: ∞
Grade: Quarter God
Description: Ultimate Opus. Presumed to be a fragment of divinity.
Equipment Slot: Necklace / Jewelry
Durability: Indestructible
Unique Options:
(1) Restores all magical power once per day.
(2) Magical regeneration increases by 250%.
(3) Magic casting speed decreases by 25%.
(4) Magic critical hit chance increases by 25%.
(5) Chance for dual-casting magic increases by 25%.
(6) Magic effectiveness increases by 25%.
Wow—a sound escaped him unbidden. Options as precious as pearls.
He understood now why the Black Witch had treasured it so dearly.
Each option alone was incredible enough to defy description.
‘As my level rises and my mana grows, there will come a time when recovering all my mana becomes difficult.’
For a Mage, the higher the level, the more critical ‘mana regeneration’ becomes.
Cast a high-grade spell once, and sometimes your mana won’t fully recover for an entire week.
Yet this one restores all my mana ‘once a day.’
And it even raised my mana regeneration by 250%.
That’s not all.
‘Reduced casting speed, increased double casting probability……!’
Spell critical strike and spell effect enhancement are remarkable, but these two stood out even more.
Every Mage’s dream.
An endless barrage of spells without casting time — pure fantasy made real.
Even with Soundless Casting Magic, there was still casting time.
There was a lag while mana converted into spell and manifested as reality.
This equipment reduced that very duration.
‘I’ve rarely owned equipment with options like this.’
And even when I have, the option effects were only between 1% and 5%.
But 25%!
‘Quarter. One-fourth.’
It was a sacred object and a ‘Fragment of Divinity,’ they said.
Perhaps there were three more sacred objects like this.
This was the first time he’d seen a Grade like Quarter God, and the thought that this wasn’t the end left Park Chan-woo breathless.
‘Now that I think about it, the Winged Egg recovered my mana. Does that egg hatch too?’
He had no idea.
Each time his mana recovered, the Winged Egg appeared and circled the area once before vanishing, but there was no sign of it hatching.
Could it hatch if he gathered more Stars of Arrogance?
For now, there was no way to know.
In any case, Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
His ascent through the tower had yielded far more than just Stars of Arrogance.
‘The Eternal Sword, the Eternal Annihilation Magic, and Reputation points.’
He had a decent grasp on all of them by now.
Particularly the ‘Reputation’ gained from opening the Mystery Codex was genuinely overwhelming.
In the Abyss, Reputation has two primary uses.
First, high Reputation allows entry into special zones within the Abyss.
Second, there are quests in the Abyss that appear based on your Reputation level. Particularly high-grade quests require substantial Reputation to unlock.
Finally, Reputation can be spent at the Reputation Shop.
It doesn’t appear often—more like an event that surfaces occasionally—and there you can exchange useful items for Reputation.
And the Reputation Shop appears this very evening.
‘I’ve prepared much for this moment.’
Stars of Arrogance, the Sword Mage class, the Eternal Sword and Eternal Annihilation Magic, and more.
He had accumulated a hundred Coins and his Reputation stood impressively high.
His preparations were flawless.
Park Chan-woo looked up at the sky.
It was evening now.
A night where a full moon hung heavy and bright.
At last.
《The Second Night has begun.》
The moment he had longed for and longed for again had finally arrived.

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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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