Capture The Flag! (1)

「 You have entered the 6th floor waiting room. 」

「 Healing all injuries and status ailments. 」

「 The healing effect is constantly applied in the waiting room. 」

「 Challenger Han Sungyeun's information is published on the leaderboard. 」

After stepping into the blue portal, the 6th floor waiting room appeared.

It was just as empty as I remembered it, but I got a sense of comfort from it now.

'Hm, what shall I do first…'

I sat on the floor of the stone room, wondering what to do next.

I had to go through my rewards, but there was something I had to take care of before that.

'I should do this first.'

The Covert Hunter's Shield that was destroyed by the knight in the 5th trial had to be repaired.

'Hm, it feels like a waste because I can only use it once, but that's why I bought it.'

Better use it now than die saving it.

The shield was just small enough to fit in the box.

I activated it without giving it any more thought and pushed some mana into it.

「 Activating Krocken Magic Tower's Repair Box. 」

「 Uses left – 1/1 」

The ashy stars on the box lit up gently, notifying me that the repair was over.

"I don't see any changes on the outside."

A little doubtful, I opened up the magic box and…

There it was, a shield in its perfect condition.

I was astonished at the flawless shield.

"Damn…"

It was definitely worth the money I spent on it.

The Covert Hunter's Shield was worth more than whatever the box cost.

'If I could sell it back to Earth, I could get at least 2 repair boxes for it.'

There was no use in regretting it now anyway.

If I could keep repairing these kinds of items and selling them back on Earth…

'It could be a profitable business.'

Then I activated the cleansing stone to freshen up.

Whooof…

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A gust of wind wrapped around my body and evaporated the dry wolf blood from my skin.

It felt a little lavish to have it just for comfort but…

After using it, it didn't really feel like a waste of money.

'There's a bare minimum of how a human being should act.'

Staying comfortable wasn't a waste.

Now, let's see what the reward I got was…

"This was the only thing I got from that."

「 Skill – Triple Laceration (A-) 」

「 Proficiency – 0% 」

「 Basic effect – Using mana, strengthen a blade for three attacks. 」

「 Detailed effect – Upon using the skill, the cutting force of bladed attacks increases by 1.5/2.0/2.5 times after each attack. 」

"A skill related to cutting force…"

It must have been similar to the aura skill that the knight was using.

Maybe it was because it's an A- skill, but the system had more details about the skill.

The system explained the details almost as if it was an innate ability.

More importantly, the proficiency for this skill was 0%.

That meant, unlike the Eye of Truth, this skill could be ranked up.

'I was wondering what to do after the daggermanship skill maxes out…'

This skill could be a good addition to that one.

Of course, that was still only a temporary fix.

'They said that I could even buy skills after reaching the 8th floor, so I should be fine.'

It wasn't something I should worry about at the moment.

After coming to that conclusion, I checked out my stats.

「 Han Sungyeun 」

「 Strength – 54 」 「 Stamina – 51 」

「 Agility – 54 」 「 Mana – 43 」

「 Tenacity – 43 」

「 Innate ability – 'Necromancy (E) 」

「 Skill – See details 」

'Hm, not much different on this end.'

The numbers did increase, but not by a lot.

Of course, it wasn't completely meaningless.

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Nothing stood out though, so I opened the leaderboard.

「 5th Trial Evaluations 」

1st, Kim Seunghoon(SS-) 2nd, MaxLevelSwordsman(S+) 3rd, Hunter(S) 4th, Hae Sunah(S-) 5th, Oh Choonsuk(A+) 6th, Headygongdu(B)

…

…

I was scrolling down the leaderboard when.

"…Uh?"

3rd, Hunter(S)

I saw my nickname within the top ten and.

"…"

Then stared at the evaluation.

3rd, Hunter(S)

3rd, Hunter(S) 5th Trial Clear Time (2:21:31) 5th Trial Clear Process (SS) 5th Trial Clear Result (S-) 5th Trial Clear Evaluation (S)

I thought I was seeing things for a second but it wasn't that.

I kept on blinking but the S didn't move.

"S grade…."

I didn't know what to say…

'Even after doing all that on the 4th trail, I couldn't even touch an S.'

I don't know how the tower evaluated our performances but it deemed me worthy of an S.

And what was even more amazing was my rank.

"3rd… that's a little strange."

On the 4th trial, even challengers who received a higher rank than this were placed lower.

That meant some people were just placed lower in general.

The guy with the Headygongdu nickname placed 6th with just a B grade.

'And there are a bunch more below.'

B-, C+, C, C-…

All the grades were generally low and all clustered together in the same area.

There were also a couple of people who were newly admitted as pioneers…

'Some of the initial pioneers might have even failed out.'

I wasn't sure why, but that was just how the 5th trial handled things.

Unfortunate for the people around the edge of 50th place.

Of course—

"That has nothing to do with me placing 3rd."

But this was still a unique situation.

Making the grading criteria stricter to balance the system.

'That must mean the perk of being a pioneer is that great.'

I wasn't sure what exactly they had planned, but it must be something worth fighting for.

Whether it's a skill or an item.

But—

"The better the reward, the higher the risk."

Even I knew that.

Anyway, there was something else to think about at this point.

'The black knight— he said he was from a different dimension.'

There were more urgent matters, so I hadn't thought about it too much, but this was also a big deal.

The existence of a different dimension, and how hostile he was towards me.

"…I won't be able to guarantee my survival if something like this happens again."

This time, I didn't die because I failed to meet the failure requirement.

But what if this happens again?

If they steal my trial objective and I'm forced to meet my failure requirement…

'I'll die for sure.'

That was 100% the worst-case scenario.

'I wanted to save my questions until the 8th floor but…'

This wasn't something I could wait to find out.

"If it's information pertinent to keeping me alive, there's no use in delaying it."

「 Please ask a question. 」

「 The administrator will answer the submitted question. 」

「 Currently available questions – 5 」

I started typing out the words on the holographic keyboard.

「 Amidst my 5th trial, I met a challenger who claimed to come from a different dimension. 」

「 This challenger stole my objective and tried to kill me. 」

「 What is a floor intrusion and what kind of being is the man from a different dimension? 」

「 And under what conditions do these events occur and how can I know if it happens? 」

Others said that the administrators didn't fully answer questions.

I made my question as detailed as possible.

"This should be enough."

I reread my question and clicked on the 「 Submit 」 button.

「 The question has been submitted. 」

And just a second later.

「 An answer has arrived. 」

"…Already?"

It was unexpected but good news.

And who am I to assume the mysterious being controlling this tower abides by time?

So I clicked on the little envelope icon next to that message.

But something was off.

「 Cannot comprehend higher-level concepts at your current floor. 」

「 Can only confirm a part of the answer. 」

「 This does not use your available questions. 」

'A higher level concept.'

Maybe it was because I asked about the floor intrusion or other dimensions but…

The tower decided to censor some of the details from me.

Honestly, I thought they would answer whatever I was curious about, but I guess there were floor restrictions.

'At least my questions aren't being used.'

If they were, I'd be totally outraged but…

I was getting some information for free now.

So, instead of getting mad, I turned my attention to the partial answer I got.

「 Floor intrusion is a system that allows challengers to join another challenger's trial within 10 floors. 」

「 But, it cannot interfere with special trials like a competitive trial. 」

「 This system will become available after getting to the 8th floor. 」

"…"

I finally got exactly what that knight was talking about.

Breaking the ladder, huh.

'…Getting rid of competition before they reach the 8th floor.'

Because they wouldn't know anything about this system or how to deal with it.

Even if that wasn't the case, it was unsettling to know that you could interfere with lower-floor trials.

I didn't know the exact benefits you could gain from doing that, but there were already a few cases I could think of.

While trying to scroll further down, an alarm rang.

Biiii~!

「 The following information is not accessible on the current floor. 」

A message popped up and erased everything on the screen.

'…I guess it can't tell me anything extra.'

Considering it didn't use any of my questions, it couldn't possibly give anything that useful.

A small message popped up after that, but it wasn't much help.

「 Most challengers from other dimensions will be hostile to challengers in your dimension. 」

"I guess the questions aren't a be-all-end-all either."

Practically speaking, I only learned a little bit about the floor intrusion and nothing else about all the other information I requested.

It was as if they were telling me that the information had to be earned.

"I guess I just have to keep climbing…"

I closed the question window and opened the community instead.

「 You have entered the community. 」

Maybe someone else went through a similar experience.

But that thought went away as soon as I saw the messages.

AddictedToHunting: Selling methods to acquire psychological resistance skills. It's a big help to anyone who hasn't murdered anyone. OrangeMushroom: Providing information on the 6th floor. Will provide more details for just 100 points. IiIiIiIiIiI: Selling methods to acquire different achievements. Related to getting more psychological resistance with things like 'murder,' 'betrayal,' and 'pillaging.'

The community was in a state of chaos.

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