Chapter 23: Robin, Just a Little Longer

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Upgrading your rank overnight?

Absolutely impossible.

If it were that easy, I would’ve reached the highest rank long ago.

“Brick by brick, stacking steadily….”

There are no shortcuts.

You have to diligently complete missions, accumulate experience points, and raise your rank.

That’s all there is to it.

So?

“You just have to do it.”

Right now, there’s only one goal.

[Fixed Team Summon]

[Robin (Top-tier): Available in 06 days 7 hours 31 minutes]

Yeah, that one.

To get rid of the time left until summoning is possible…

I need to raise my rank.

[Worker Summon (Rank – Silver)]

[At the current rank, you can summon all targets classified as Advanced or Intermediate.]

The current unique skill rank is Silver.

I can summon Advanced and Intermediate workers.

‘Will Top-tier appear at the next rank?’

“There is! Top-tier? Coming!”

Okay.

One rank up, and I can summon Top-tier.

Which means…

“Robin, I can call him every day!”

Exactly.

Then I have to move quickly.

[Mission List]

1. Clear Chaos Tower Floor 20

2. Complete 5 training sessions at the training grounds (0/5)

Training can be done after coming back.

“First, let’s head to the Tower.”

“Alright! Coming! Going to the Tower!”

[Worker Dispatch]

[Tower]

Currently on the 12th floor.

To reach the 20th floor, even at one floor per day, it takes 9 days…

‘Can’t I go twice a day?’

Unfortunately, entry is limited to once per day.

Anyway, it seems like I’ll be clearing floors easily for a while….

[Chaos Tower Floor 12 Clear Success!]

[Level Up Achieved.]

[Clear Reward – 130 Lower-grade Magic Stones]

[Clear Time – 00:03:11]

[World Record Achieved!]

[Additional Reward – Key Fragment of Chaos]

See?

Cleared in just three minutes.

And the result? Obviously a world record.

“Hwarang help made it easy!”

‘Hwarang? That’s overpowered.’

Rani really is a lucky charm.

But…

Even without her, I think I could’ve cleared the 12th floor easily.

“But still! Hwarang makes it faster.”

“That’s true.”

Like wings on a tiger’s back.

Makes you feel secure.

And what if I call the orcs around here?

“Whoosh!”

“They’re coming! Quick!”

They even help with training.

That’s the daily grind for missions.

The next day too.

***

[Chaos Tower Floor 13 Clear Success!]

[World Record Achieved!]

And the day after.

[Chaos Tower Floor 14 Clear Success!]

[World Record Achieved!]

Steadily climbing one floor at a time,

summoning orcs and training repeatedly.

***

After five days—

[Mission Complete!]

[Complete 5 training sessions at the training grounds (5/5)]

[Reward]

[Unique Skill Experience +2]

[Temporary Summon Range Expansion Ticket]

[Daily Worker Summon Reset Ticket]

Oh!

Experience went up by 2.

That’s nice.

Missions that take a few days usually reward 2 experience points.

‘So, how much experience is left?’

[(10/15)]

Not bad.

I’ll check out the “Temporary Summon Range Expansion Ticket” I got later.

For now, let’s look at the next mission.

[New Mission]

Earn 500 Request Points (0/500)

Nice.

500 points…

That should be a breeze.

Good.

Almost there.

Robin, just hang in there a little longer.

Rank up is coming soon.

Just wait a bit longer!

Still, it’ll take over a week….

After all, just reaching the 20th floor of Chaos Tower takes 9 days.

[Fixed Team Summon]

[Arthur (Advanced)]

[Robin (Top-tier)]

[Rani (Advanced)]

***

A week passed.

The summon time arrived again.

This time too, I called everyone together.

“Everyone’s here today! Boss, coffee please!”

“Um! Then Rani wants candy too!”

“…Meat.”

“Are you all starving?”

Looking for food right after showing up is a rare sight.

But whatever.

“I’ll give it later. First, we’re taking down the Monthly Boss today, so let’s eat after that.”

Today is Monthly Boss Raid day.

Timing is perfect, so when I open the Labor Management Office…

[Worker Dispatch]

[Tower]

[Dungeon]

Monthly Boss

Here it is! Monthly Boss.

Recently, Rani said, Attention

“The turtle’s shell and the core are great! Better than the materials used for making Ttakgeumi and Shuk, so if you gather more, Rani can make pretty stuff!”

Materials for Ttakgeumi and Shuk…?

Those are the Fang of Venom Basilisk from Tower Floor 57.

Better than that?

As expected from a Monthly Boss Raid.

Right.

Back then, Baek Hwarang said he’d pay an insane price if he had the materials.

For now, it’s just Rani’s toys.

But gathering more means making better things.

Can’t resist that.

[Worker Dispatch]

Monthly Boss

“Robin, go.”

Just came out, so the boss is fresh.

Let’s aim to top contribution again and bring back plenty of materials.

“….”

[Worker is entering Monthly Boss Raid.]

[Automatic Hunting initiated.]

Ah, right.

I saw Baek Hwarang’s interview the other day.

He said he got a new weapon and got stronger.

This Monthly Boss Raid is Hwarang’s responsibility.

“Hmm….”

Hwarang?

Nice.

But our Robin has Shuk.

‘Can’t give him first place in contribution.’

Sorry.

Monthly Boss Raid happens once a month.

Each month features a different boss.

Last month was the Giant Armored Turtle.

This time?

“Grrrrrr!”

A giant gorilla as big as the armored turtle.

Characteristics: sturdy and high HP.

***

“Alright, the shout is out! Everyone, fall back.”

“Get outside the range! You’ll get fear debuff!”

“Next is probably a jump attack, so prepare yourselves!”

The giant gorilla is a recurring boss.

High HP and heavy hits with each attack.

Thankfully, its patterns are simple.

If you dodge in time, it’s basically a big punching bag.

“If you dodge the attack, immediately deal damage!”

“Don’t hold back, just pour it all in!”

Normally, we’d take it slow.

Dodge patterns carefully, then chip away.

But…

“We’re gonna lose it again!”

Still don’t know who that Hunter is.

Can’t be sure he won’t show up, so no room to relax.

“Come on, everyone, don’t hold back on damage. As I said before, if the five main guilds get the materials, it’s over, and rewards will be based on contribution.”

The five guilds changed their approach.

Instead of monopolizing, they decided to share a bit.

They want to finish quickly by any means…

“Portal confirmed at the back!”

“Damn! Here they come again!”

“Suppression squad! Run to where the portal appears!”

It showed up after all.

The one who wiped the last raid rewards with insane damage.

Krrrik!

“Crazy, shooting arrows!”

Order to kill?

Not this time.

If that’s the Labor Management Office Head, it would be a huge loss.

The five guilds agreed.

If they show up again, suppress them first.

Then find out who they really are.

“Capture!”

“Block their vision or tie them up—stop them by any means!”

But that guy…

‘How does he shoot arrows so fast?’

He fires immediately right after stepping out of the portal.

Pick!

“Huh?”

What?

Why so quiet?

Last time it exploded “Kwaaaang~!”

‘Did he miss?’

Doubt lasted only a moment.

“Crazy! Why is the damage like that?”

‘Damage?’

‘Why damage?’

Monthly Boss Raid contribution:

[Individual 37.77%]

[Hwarang 7.13%]

[Mountain Lord 3.20%]

[Baekhodan 2.11%]

[Iron Blood Gate 2.08%]

No way.

What nonsense is this…

Hwarang, with Baek Hwarang’s new weapon, is just 7%.

“One arrow did 37%? No, 38, 39… Why does it keep going up?”

“Must be poison damage.”

“Damn, he shot another arrow! Stop him, you idiots!”

“Captured!”

This time, they got close.

Three or four people held him tight.

Now, if they topple him…

Topple him…

“What? Why isn’t he moving?”

“Like a rock or something….”

Meanwhile, he fired again.

One arrow.

And another.

Shuk!

The quietly flying arrows pierced the gorilla one after another, and a message popped up for everyone.

[Monthly Boss Raid Completed.]

[Automatic Hunting terminated.]

“…He’s here.”

The second raid ended.

Ding!

[Monthly Boss Raid Success!]

[Contribution Ranking]

[Individual 84.32%]

[Hwarang 7.13%]

[Mountain Lord 3.20%]

[Baekhodan 2.11%]

[Iron Blood Gate 2.08%]

***

[Monthly Boss Contribution 1st Place]

[Individual reward granted.]

Of course, first in contribution.

Then, time to collect rewards.

Magic stones went straight into inventory.

Did the materials drop…?

[Giant Gorilla Hide]

Ah, got it.

Sadly, no core.

“Rani, here. Hide dropped.”

“Kya! Rani, this is good too! Thank you!”

Giving it to Rani, she bowed and immediately started playing with it.

‘But where’s Robin?’

“What? On the balcony again?”

Yeah.

Must do the window stare.

I did a good job today, so I’ll just watch for a while before leaving.

“Failed again. Seriously a monster.”

Baek Hwarang, Hwarang Guildmaster.

Currently ranked 2nd in Korea for Tower clearance floors.

Felt the wall hard again today

“Still, we dominated the other guilds in a direct fight….”

“So what if we beat them? We only get 7%.”

“That’s…”

“I thought the gap would have closed even a little.”

“With Hwarang’s help and clearing more Tower floors…”

“Why is it still the same?”

“Isn’t there any way to beat that?”

“We have enough weapons, so maybe we should improve other gear.”

“If only we could. You know how rare gear that can push beyond my specs is.”

“If we accept the group request that came from China…”

Group request?

“Ah, you mean the one asking if we can send Hunters?”

“Yes!”

“Are you crazy? They said it’s an S-grade Dungeon Break. If we send the kids, they’ll just die. Just refuse.”

Who would go?

No one sane.

China’s situation was the worst.

“They say the monster territory has pushed to a 20 km radius.”

“What about Hunters from other countries?”

“Sorry. Still no update…”

“Even if we pay that much money, it’s not enough?”

Monsters expanded their territory up to 20 km.

If not stopped, they’ll push all the way to Beijing.

Hunters inside China are powerless.

Even powerful countries refused support requests.

Only one last option remained.

A request targeting Hunters worldwide.

“Hunters aren’t exactly short on money….”

“That’s why they put equipment as a reward too.”

“And…”

They offered huge rewards.

Trillions in currency.

National hero treatment.

And any equipment they want.

But the response was?

[Who’d be crazy enough to go for that?]

Even blinded by money, that’s too much….

[It’s basically a suicide mission.]

Trillions is a big sum.

But are Hunters willing to risk their lives for it?

No.

They easily make billions anyway….

Hero treatment aside, equipment is tempting, but is it more valuable than life?

[They say Wei Jin died.]

‘The guy who was clearing floor 62 died, how are we supposed to clear that?’

‘They say they have to break through a monster field.’

[It’s more than 20 km now.]

[China is finished.]

The whole world had turned their back.

China’s situation grew darker.

Yoon Hajun, 23 years old.

A steady young man.

Had been relentlessly completing missions for days.

Jigeu Gyeoheochi Incident

[(14/15)]

Experience left until rank up: just 1.

And now?

[Mission Complete!]

[Complete 5 dungeon clear requests (5/5)]

[Reward]

[Unique Skill Experience +1]

[Request Point Double Scroll (One-Time Use)]

Cleared the last mission at Silver rank.

Experience went full at +1.

[(15/15)]

It’s over?

‘Why isn’t my rank rising?’

“What’s this?”

“Why, Sohjang?”

Arthur and Rani tilted their heads too.

Fortunately, a message popped up then.

[Unique Skill Experience has reached its limit.]

[To grow to the next rank, you must overcome a trial.]

‘Trial?’

‘What’s that?’

Tilting my head in confusion, I scrolled down, and it appeared.

[Gold Rank Promotion Trial: Clear an S-grade Dungeon]