A Monster Who Levels Up

Editor - N/A

It’s disheartening. When you see more comments on a site that has stolen your work, it tells you those readers spit on you. When they thank thieves for the chapter, have engrossing conversations, and support others...It tells us as creators that you do not care for the work we put in.

Out of all the large sites out there, JFB receives probably the least in terms of donations. Doesn’t phase us. But the creators that provide you with chapters sometimes 5-10x a week, and you can’t even read the chapter on the very platform they put their work on? That is another story. That is you disregarding everything that we are.

Some may ask, ’What is the point of continuing?’, if you despise us so much. You rather read from thieves.

To those I see read on Fantasy-Books, with JFB every day, I thank you. I notice you. Sarcht, GonZ555, Mesmerised, Nisem, jppe, Belkar, LightDX, jhodyac, GM_Rusaku, DOHere, Shirou, and a few others. I’ve noticed you. You have supported Fantasy-books/JFB for a while just from your comments here and there.

And there are a few who have donated. It is you that keep us going. As for those few thousand people (yes, thousands) that spit on us, reading and thanking those that steal from us.

You disgust me. And I’m proud to tell you.

-Sincerely,

J.

(TL: This extra chapter is brought to you by these patient and generous human beings: Thomas G, Edi C, Joscha D, Anthony M, and the VVIP, Raoul A!! Thank you for your support, guys. I really appreciate it.)

The ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the end of the construction work for the Dawn and TM’s new Wizard Tower was taking place at the site of the Tower located in Seoul’s Seocho-Gu. The identities of every single audience member present were who’s who of biggest corporations out there. For instance, people like TM’s CEO, Jo Hahn-Sung, and from the Dawn’s side, the sole grandchild of its Chairman, Yu Sae-Jung. (TL: A “-Gu” is a district and it’s bigger than a “-Dong” which is a suburb.)

“The Knight Yu Sae-Jung’s the representative from the Dawn, huh.”

This Wizard Tower was built in the city of Seoul. This inevitably meant that it would compete against the Seoul Wizard Tower, widely seen as the Seoul’s best, and consequently, Korea’s best Tower. So, the Director of the Seoul Tower personally came here to gauge the flow of atmosphere around these parts.

The Tower Director spoke from behind the heavily-tinted car window while looking at Yu Sae-Jung.

“Jo Hahn-Sung from TM... They must be expecting great things, since Kim Sae-Jin’s right hand man is here in person.”

“Yes. It’s quite likely that both TM and the Dawn has poured all their resources into this venture.”

Within the financial circles, Jo Hahn-Sung was well known for his straightforward personality and tenacious drive to succeed, which made him a man others should not mess with. But that wasn’t the only reason.

Kim Sae-Jin’s most trusted adviser.

The title alone easily sunk all the other qualifications the man named Jo Hahn-Sung possessed into insignificance.

From the huge-scale national defense business supported by the likes of Griffins and a Kraken, to creating artifacts; from Orc’s miraculous weapons to Mana Tattoos, etc, etc – all of them, indispensable abilities that the current world could not do without.

If one were to call the Wizard of Bangbae-Dong as the true icon of innovation in the modern Wizardry, then Kim Sae-Jin should be seen as the symbol of the modern world itself.

It was all very strange.

Now normally, the public came down hard on those folks who earned a good deal of wealth

and political power through their Traits only. However, Kim Sae-Jin was the only exception to that strict rule.

Maybe, that was due to the ‘special’ circumstances – currently, Boss Monsters appeared several times a month so if there was no Kim Sae-Jin, the country of Korea would’ve ceased to exist in this world a long time ago.

Without him, there would not be the Orc’s weapons to satisfy the demands for quality armaments by the Knights, not to mention those artifacts that could increase the chances of their survival by 90%, either.

And also, it was the same sort of story for the Griffins, responsible for drastically reducing the amount of time required for the dispatched Knights to arrive on the scene – introduction of Griffins that could figuratively arrive virtually as soon as being dispatched, was referred to as ‘revolution’ in policing – as well as the worldwide defense service that raised the status of Korea internationally, the Kraken.

Kim Sae-Jin was an existence that burned like the light coming from a lone guiding star within this dangerous and treacherous world.

For a man like that to enter the business of Wizard Towers... Now that was the advent of an unexpected calamity for all potential competitors.

“I heard the rumours of the Vice Tower Lord Heming sending in his resume over that side.”

The Seoul Tower Director creased his forehead. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he got. That bat-like son of a gun...

“...The Vice Tower Lord Heming tendered his resignation yesterday.”

“Hah, based on what? Surely, he hadn’t heard anything concrete from them yet.”

“According to the Tower Lord, he said he will bet on him walking away a winner with this move when he resigned from his post. Apparently.”

“...Winning? Sounds more like gambling.”

The Tower Director’s sigh clung to the car window’s glass and became a sheen of white frost. Although it was definitely Spring, the temperature was still on the colder side.

“Oh well. The projections for the future should be rosy for them, right?”

“.....Indeed, yes. The only demerit is them only having 100 or so grimoires, but 25 of them happen to be books that not even an entire year’s worth of research into a single volume will be enough to determine their true value...”

The true worth of a grimoire wasn’t simply about ‘learning a single magic spell contained within’.

No, the most prominent meaning of its existence was all to do with creating other types of spells, by applying the logic and composition of the original spell contained within the pages of a grimoire.

Considering that point alone, no one could assign any arbitrary value to those grimoires written by the revolutionary genius, the Wizard of Bangbae-Dong. With a single volume of his work, 10 grimoires with different spells could be created. However, within the new Wizard Tower, it held all 25 volumes, so it was only a matter of time before the collection grew into 250 books, then to 2500 books...

“Mm?”

It was then. The Seoul Wizard Tower’s Director spotted a man watching the ribbon cutting ceremony from afar. He seemed familiar – sculpted physique, sleek and long legs; strong jawline and a sharp nose; even though he wore a pair of sunglasses and a mask, there was no way his handsome visage could be hidden away.

The Director had seen that face hundreds, thousands of times before, so he instantly recognised the man. It was a secret no one else had any clue of, but the Tower Director ‘Joseph Jin’ just so happened to be one of Kim Sae-Jin’s most ardent fans out there.

“....Wait for a second.”

The Tower Director hurriedly opened the car’s door and approached that man. That man tilted his head in confusion when an unknown person came up to him.

“By any chance, are you Mister Kim Sae-Jin?”

Just under his sunglasses, signs of panic could be seen.

*

Kim Sae-Jin talked about various things with the Director of Seoul Wizard Tower who had quite unexpectedly managed to spot him. And unlike the popular belief that everyone from a Wizard Tower were egocentric fools with too much pride, the Director was actually quite a principled man.

Their conversation went well and Sae-Jin even found his dignified attitude likeable, even – all of that was due to the man’s passion clearly imbued within the way he gestured and talked.

“Here. It’s a present.” (Sae-Jin)

So, Sae-Jin gave away the thing he brought along to use as a PR material today.

“What is it?”

The Tower Director fixed his frameless glasses and took a closer look at the book given to him. There was nothing written on the cover, other than the alphabets and numbers “No. 26”.

Number 26, 26th, the number being 26...

While saying the same thing over and over again, the Tower Director belatedly realised what this was and his expression changed into one of pure panic.

“This, this is....?!”

“Please, use it well. There are only 17 of this 26th grimoire in the world – 18, if you count that one as well.” (Sae-Jin)

Kim Sae-Jin spoke as he smiled. The 26th grimoire strided the boundary existing between magic and sorcery – it featured ‘Meteor’, a spell that would’ve never been revived in the modern world if it weren’t for the Bathory’s knowledge on sorcery and the Leviathan’s Mana Body combining their might together.

This powerful legendary spell that occupied the top spot in the fire-based element magic, would no doubt leave behind a huge crater in the world of magic very soon.

“Uh... Uh, uh..... But, h, how can I receive something this valuable...”

The hands of the Tower Director were shaking like leaves.

“Please, take it. There aren’t that many Wizards who can learn this spell around the world anyway.” (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin deliberately chose an attacking magic for his new grimoire. He hoped that this would help at least a little bit during the Kim Yu-Sohn-prophesied ‘the Great Calamity of Monsters’ in the future.

Fearing that Vampires might get their hands on it and abuse the spell, Sae-Jin was planning to select 17 Wizard Towers that had Tower Lords capable of learning this Meteor spell and personally hand it over to them. However, not one Korean Wizard Tower was included in his original plan. But well, another copy could be made any time, so it wasn’t a problem.

“Please, take it. Well then, I should get going.” (Sae-Jin)

“Eh? Ah, t, thank you very much!! Actually, I, I’m a big fan of yours!”

“Really? In that case, thank you for your support.” (Sae-Jin)

Kim Sae-Jin lightly tapped the shoulders of the heavily-trembling Director, and headed towards the ribbon cutting ceremony while cutting open a path through the walls of reporters like an unstoppable tank.

When a tall man suddenly barged his way through, inevitably reporters began spitting out their dissatisfied remarks.

And so, when he arrived around the middle of the way, Kim Sae-Jin removed the sunglasses and stared at Yu Baek-Song.

Since he didn’t tell her he was planning to show up, panic was quickly overtaking her expressions as the countless camera lenses turned towards him.

He walked confidently within the path created by the reporters. While thinking about trivial things, such as wondering if this was what Moses was feeling during that famous moment, he walked next to Yu Sae-Jung and took his spot there. Then, he gazed at her and formed the brightest smile he had ever worn until now.

“I’m sure some of them will notice with this much?” (Sae-Jin)

“......Awoo, really now. You should’ve told me beforehand, you know.” (Yu Sae-Jung)

Yu Sae-Jung spoke in a fake criticising voice, yet her face was blossoming with a huge smile.

Thanks to Kim Sae-Jin’s unexpected arrival, the ceremony was a roaring success.

***

“The Vampire Lord’s whereabouts might be deep underground,” said Rhosrahdel.

His voice lacked energy. Also, both his eyes were blackened, and almost half of his hair had been plucked out. It seemed that he had to pay a heavy price for ruining Bathory’s speech during the exhibition’s final show.

“Underground where?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

Yi Hye-Rin handed over a boiled egg as she asked. With a practiced hand, Rhosrahdel massaged his eyes with the egg.

“Under the Gangwon Province’s Monster field. Remember the place that got created when two Fissures overlapped each other and the earth’s crust got distorted?” (Rhosrahdel)

“Ah!! That place where Mana couldn’t be used at all?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

As if she had recalled it, Yi Hye-Rin spoke up while clapping her hands. Hearing this, Kim Yu-Rin’s face too began drowning in memories. Well, that was the place where she got to meet the Orc for the first time, after all. (TL: No, mister author, it’s not, but I’ll just leave you to your own forgetfulness...)

“Right. Apparently, the Lord is performing research underground with his most faithful retainers.” (Rhosrahdel)

“What kind of a research?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“I don’t know. They are doing something, alright.” (Rhosrahdel)

“.....Guild Master? What should we do now?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

Kim Yu-Rin asked Sae-Jin while looking at him. Sae-Jin thought for a while, before shifting his gaze to Kim Sun-Ho. Kim Sun-Ho passed the baton over to Joo Ji-Hyuk. Then, Joo Ji-Hyuk passed it onto....

Well, the person at the end of the chain of stares turned out to be Kim Yu-Rin after all. She sighed out grandly.

“Ha-ah...”

“Can’t be helped, really. Captain’s the only one with enough experience on planning and conducting raids amongst us here.” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“I get it, I get it. Let’s take a look at the map first.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

Kim Yu-Rin took a look at the map of the interior Rhosrahdel brought along. The most eye-catching thing on it was the passage displayed, and it was located quite close to the East Sea’s coastline. They might be able to utilise the Leviathan’s strength at this rate.

Two methods immediately came up on Kim Yu-Rin’s mind once she thought about using this lengthy passage to enter the base. They could bore a hole on the ground and poke their heads in, or quietly infiltrate...

Rhosrahdel added a few words as she deliberated.

“Ah, I forgot. Bathory told me to contact her as soon as the planning is complete. She said she will help.” (Rhosrahdel)

“Really? Then, that’s fin... Wait. Didn’t you say that the Lord can ‘see everything’? He probably has seen you coming here to meet us. Doesn’t that mean we are busted already?” (Yi Hye-Rin)

Yi Hye-Rin asked.

“Ah. That only applies to the Vampires that had sworn the oath.” (Rhosrahdel)

“The oath?”

“It happened really a long time ago. Remember the Vampire cleansing that happened in the past? Vampires found out that it was definitely an inside job. So, those who somehow survived the cleansing, wanted to make sure the traitors pay the appropriate price, but well, since there weren’t a lot of Vampires remaining, someone cooked up the idea of ‘Let’s not kill our own kins when there’s so little number to begin with, and instead, swear an oath of never betraying our kind and entrust our lives to the Lord...’ However, I am a child born after the racial cleansing had come to an end. So, I am not affected by this blood oath.” (Rhosrahdel)

“A child...?!” (Yi Hye-Rin)

Yi Hye-Rin stared at Rhosrahdel with eyes that screamed contempt and her failure to understand his claims.

“Don’t be like that, since I’m the youngest of everyone here. Both Knight Kim Yu-Rin and Wizard Hazeline have shot past their 30s already, no? I’m still in my 20s, you know.”

The two people who got dragged into the conversation unexpectedly began gritting their teeth. A violent desire to murder burned fiercely in their eyes. Rhosrahdel whistled nonchalantly and avoided their eyes.

“But still. Vampires would die from that by getting caught in it if they are unlucky, right? Even Nosferatus?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Nope, that’s not it either. I hear that the Lord is way too busy doing his research underground that he has no time to check and stuff.” (Rhosrahdel)

“So, in other words, there is no problem, is that it? Well, then how about we do it like this? Everyone, please listen to this...” (Kim Yu-Rin)

Kim Yu-Rin began explaining the plan she cooked up in this short amount of time. It was quite a bit complex plan, too. And this plan required the presences of excavators, the Leviathan, the Kraken, etc, etc. However, once everyone heard of it, it sounded quite doable, so they ended up nodding their heads in approval.

“It’s good, Captain.” (Yi Hye-Rin)

“As expected. It’s not for nothing people chant ‘Kim Yu-Rin, Kim Yu-Rin’ all the time.”

“Haha, you are overestimating me. Well then, Guild Master, should we go with this plan?” (Kim Yu-Rin)

“Yes, let’s.” (Sae-Jin)

Sae-Jin gave his permission.

Tting!!

It was then, the elevator door to the conference room opened up, and a woman with white hair that kinda, sorta resembled a middle schooler belatedly arrived.

“Here I am. What’s up?” (Yu Baek-Song)

“Oh, Miss Yu Baek-Song. Please take a seat. There’s a plan we need to explain to you.” (Kim Yu-Rin)

Kim Yu-Rin proceeded to explain the plan once more to Yu Baek-Song. However, the little white tiger suddenly tilted her head in confusion, and then, poured the proverbial cold water on their parade.

“Why the heck is it so complicated? If you know the coordinates, you can just enter with the sorcery, no? Hey Kim Sae-Jin, that sorcery thing you used to teleport us, can’t you use that again?” (Yu Baek-Song)

“......”

“......”

“......”

How come they haven’t thought of that simple idea?

A thick silence mixed with self mockery descended upon the conference room. (ED: Haha, good going, Yu Baek-Song!)

< 45. The Entering (1) > Fin.