The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 32

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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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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 032
An email arrived from London.
[Drone footage recovery complete. (File attached)]
Busan’s shadow.
It contained footage of the necromancer Jo Ju-won infiltrating the Tower.
That video of him attempting to murder an EX-rank Awakener to claim EX-rank succession.
The video quality had actually improved.
Choi Kang-mok didn’t hesitate.
“Release it immediately.”
Jo Ju-won’s footage was released right away.
The truth laid bare before the world.
[???: Jo Ju-won’s settings are just Tower settings, all fabricated. Please trust the Busan Guild]
└So Jo Ju-won really was a Busan Guild member
└Busan is truly legendary. We kept hearing they were rotten, but I never imagined it was this bad
└We kept hearing Busan was rotten, but I didn’t think it was actually this serious
Public outrage toward the Busan Guild erupted explosively.
The Busan Guild withheld any official response.
Riding the wave of public fury, even the Grand Lord Jeon Myung-gyu issued a statement saying, “We are watching this incident with grave concern and will fulfill our duties as the Korean Awakener Association.”
└But wait, isn’t that beside the point right now? Look at the EX-rank Awakener’s combat power
└That’s Floor 8, so the EX-rank is level 16, right?
“lol currently stomping a necromancer that a level 16 brought with a bunch of ghouls”
The EX-rank Awakener’s appearance was blurred and couldn’t be seen clearly.
But what they were doing was unmistakable.
[Dozens of beams of light were fired?]
└Looks like a mage?
└The EX-rank is a mage?
The initial theory was that the EX-rank was a mage.
But other claims began to emerge.
└What would low-level Awakeners know?
└No matter how EX-rank, a mage couldn’t do that
└Definitely not a mage. A mage at that level absolutely couldn’t output that much firepower
└Ugh, there are kids complaining about the lack of realism again haha. The level isn’t the problem. That guy is EX.
The theory that it wasn’t simple offensive magic began to gain traction.
└That’s definitely an interception-type ability
└It’s a tank’s wide-area protection technique?
This actually had more plausibility.
In the case of interception-type tanks, there exist rare cases where they exhibit far more powerful force in interception than ordinary mages.
└Wait. The EX-rank is a tank? Not an explorer?
A tank could actually pull off an attack like that.
└There are types where counterattacks amplify damage massively.
└Now that makes sense lol
└Nah, I still think he’s a mage. If he’s an EX-rank mage, magic at that level might be possible (I’m not a mage myself)
└If he’s EX-rank, his magic could be beyond standard classifications anyway.
As public opinion remained divided.
Daegu’s top ranker Lee Kang-nam added his voice to the discussion.
[Lee Kang-nam, “EX-rank Awakener is a superior tank compared to me.”]
Though I had identified him as a dealer, I deliberately called him a tank.
This too was one means of protecting the EX-rank Awakener.
[Lee Kang-nam officially acknowledges defeat to EX-rank Awakener!]
└If the Busan Guild Master was trying to assassinate him, that’s based
Lol isn’t the hardest part of assassinating the tank? That must suck haha
└With that level of ability, assassination would be practically impossible domestically
Thus emerged the EX-rank tank.

* * *
Busan Guild conference room.
Shin Chae-ryung slammed her hand on the table with a bang.
“A tank?”
One specialized in interception at that?
Unfortunately, for necromancer Jo Ju-won, this was a hard counter.
Since all undead summoned through necromancy would register as attack judgments.
“And Lee Kang-nam lost?”
“Yes, that’s what he stated himself.”
The footage hadn’t been made public.
However, Lee Kang-nam came forward and acknowledged his own defeat.
This meant one had to consider that a low-level EX-rank Awakener was stronger than Lee Kang-nam, Daegu’s top ranker.
Which essentially meant assassination had become impossible.
Unless they mobilized the military.
The wrinkles on Shin Chae-ryung’s forehead deepened.
And there was one more person whose forehead wrinkles had deepened.
[Synthesizing Talisman 1/5.]
….
[Synthesizing Talisman 1/5.]
Synthesizing the second talisman.
I wondered what kind of excellent effect this talisman would possess.
[Talisman synthesis complete.]
───────
[Damage Increase Talisman]
Increases damage of offensive skills by 100%.
───────
It was the so-called Damage Increase Talisman.
One of the essential talismans.
Kang Hye’s eyes widened.
“You really are something else.”
Damage Increase Talismans are essential for most job classes.
In the New Civilization era, the meta for Tower conquest is what they call “maximize damage output”.
Everyone focuses on pushing damage numbers as high as possible.
“I heard an incredibly good Damage Increase Talisman appeared in Japan.”
It provided a 10% damage increase, and the entire world was buzzing about it.
Normally, damage increases maxed out at around 2-3%.
“That’s insane, oppa.”
It is impressive, in a manner of speaking.
Still, Choi Kang-mok exhaled a sigh of relief.
‘This is different from the Doubling Talisman.’
The Doubling Talisman had one peculiar option.
───────
Applied immediately upon acquisition, regardless of slot availability.
───────
Because of this, voluntary removal was impossible.
Whether I liked it or not, I had to bear the effects of the Doubling Talisman.
───────
[Talisman Slot]
[□□□□□]
───────
Five talisman slots were now active.
My current damage output was already difficult to manage—a 100% increase on top of that?
My body could shatter the moment I cast a spell.
I hesitantly tried equipping it just once.
Click!
With a soft sound effect, the talisman was equipped into the slot.
[■□□□□]
[Talisman effect applied.]
But that wasn’t the end of it.
‘Huh?’
[Job class and talisman compatibility is ‘Excellent’.]
[Job class and talisman effects create a synergy.]
[!Congratulations!]
[Damage Amplification (×2) option has been generated.]
───────
[Damage Increase Talisman (Job Class Synergy Active)]
Damage from offensive skills
increased by 200%.
Increase.
───────
Choi Kang-mok’s expression hardened.
No matter how I thought about it, this talisman was beyond my capacity to handle.
“Want to borrow it?”
“What? No! Are you insane?”
Kang Hye shot to her feet.
“I told you not to pull that common web novel cliché.”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hah, I’m a very cool older brother. But secretly, I’ve always cherished my younger sister! So I’m even willing to give up something this precious! That kind of nonsense!”
I’d never thought any such thing.
In any case, from Kang Hye’s perspective, the proposal was absurd.
Of all things—an EX-rank talisman.
And not just any talisman, but a damage-boost talisman that every class considers essential, simply lent out?
“Keep it.”
I believed this should unconditionally belong to Choi Kang-mok.
Because we were family. Because he was my younger brother.
I had no intention of accepting such a grand gesture of goodwill.
“Remember this. It’s yours, brother.”
Kang Hye was resolute.

* * *
Ten consecutive EX-rank clears.
As a result, Busan Tower became a subordinate tower to Seoul Tower.
This alone had become an enormous issue.
The world was already fragmenting into city-states.
Now it meant that one city could swallow another entirely.
The entire world was watching this phenomenon unfold.
For now it was happening within a single nation, but what about later?
“This is merely a preview.”
“We must strengthen our Tower’s competitiveness.”
A Tower could conquer another Tower.
With this fact alone, the lords of each city began to grow increasingly tense.
“At least it’s fortunate that it happened in Korea.”
“If it had been one of the world’s three major Guilds…”
The lord of New York.
Claire shook her head as if she didn’t even want to imagine it.
Before the age of the new civilization dawned, the world’s supremacy had always belonged to America.
But now, pushed back by the three major Guilds and the European Guilds, they were merely second-tier.
What if an EX-rank Awakener had been born in Europe? And if a Tower conquest war began?
America would have had no power to oppose Europe.
“We just need to be careful about one EX-rank Awakener.”
That was far preferable.
I didn’t know how the future would change, but everything wouldn’t be decided by a single person alone.
“We must accelerate our growth. We need to build our own competitiveness. Let’s expedite the conquest.”
This wasn’t something happening only in New York.
Tension began to permeate the previously complacent player community.
And shortly after.
[World First: London Tower Floor 50 Cleared Successfully!]
Floor 50 had been conquered.
Naturally, the entire world focused on this.
It became an even greater issue than the EX-rank Awakener that had appeared in Korea, a remote and small nation (though globally, far more people still didn’t believe it was real).
[Global Announcement]
[!Floor 50 has been opened!]
[!Barriers between nations are collapsing!]
A new transformation had begun.
The barriers that had sealed the borders of each nation had vanished.
Sea routes and sky routes were all opened.
However, there was one restriction.
[Restriction: Floor 40 Conquest Required]
Nations that had not conquered Floor 40 remained isolated.
For reference, most Western European nations have cleared Floor 40.
[Europe Again, Glorious!]
└Order has always begun in Rome
└Even Tower climbing should be done with elegance. This is European class
└A new world approaches!
└The era of the EU has arrived
Europeans recalled the glory of the European Union from ages past.
They cheered at the prospect of reclaiming the splendor of the EU.
International exchange flourished.
If they could only generate positive synergy, it was an excellent opportunity to reclaim the hegemony they had lost to America.
But this was not the end.
[Part 1 has been partially concluded.]
[Before Part 2 begins, a preseason will commence.]
With the preseason announcement came—
[!First Clear Bonus!]
[A ‘Labyrinth’ has been generated in London.]
The Big Ben Clock Tower in London.
It had turned grey.
It was as if a colossal dungeon had materialized.
This was yet another transformation.
[What is this place? The growth materials dropping here are insane?]
└This dungeon is structured in stages.
Clear stage one, and you enter stage two.
Clear stage two, and you enter stage three. That was the structure.
Only the format had changed slightly; it was fundamentally no different from Tower climbing.
└Orb acquisition is over 10 times higher compared to Tower floors
└Holy crap, that’s insane?
└Yeah, high-level players were already complaining about orb shortages
└Right, but what’s the point if you’re not high-level anyway? Doesn’t affect me
Currently, the threshold dividing upper and intermediate ranks is Floor 40.
The level cap is 80.
To exceed this, growth materials called ‘Orbs’ are required in addition to experience.
└The important thing is that even low-level Awakeners can obtain Orbs, you blockhead
└Yeah, but would low-level Awakeners even keep their Orbs? They’d sell them
Many low-level Awakeners had little use for Orbs.
They only became meaningful once you reached higher levels.
But in London and throughout Britain, there were countless players who desperately needed Orbs.
└London’s rankers are going crazy
└First-mover advantage is ridiculous
└All the top rankers are rushing to London right now
Most Guilds that cleared Floor 40.
With border closures lifted, Guilds dispatched their forces to London.
Due to the airport being paralyzed for so long, most of those capable of chartering private aircraft were Guilds (or nations) with substantial resources.
However, there was one problem.
[Only Awakeners belonging to British Guilds are permitted entry.]
[Eligible Guilds: London, Liverpool, Manchester City… Wolverhampton, Newcastle]
Britain had fourteen Towers, and accordingly, fourteen official Guilds.
Membership in a British Guild had become an enormous privilege.
[The London Guild gets double Orb acquisition for a year?]
└Double Orbs? That’s basically a runaway leveling locomotive.
└The era of the London Guild has arrived, not the Big Three anymore.
└Lucky bastards living in London.
└But isn’t Seoul better by civilian standards?
You’re not actually believing the rumors about an EX-rank Awakener, are you? lol Don’t you know East Asians are experts at spreading propaganda and fabricating lies?
The dawn of a new era was upon us.

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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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