Chapter 93: Crossing the Line

"……Is that it?"

This time, the increase was more than four times less than last time, when I gained a whopping nine levels.

That made it even harder to believe.

"Really? For real? This is the end?"

Denying reality didn’t change the result.

Levan felt an indescribable emptiness as the experience bar refused to budge any further.

"Wow, these damn bastards……."

To be honest, it was understandable, since I knew how the Elixir of Experience actually worked.

The condensed Elixir of Experience was just a settlement system disguised as a potion, instantly calculating all the experience points earned from the monsters defeated inside the Tower.

But unlike the first floor, where I’d steadily fought my way through from the start, on the second floor, I met the boss monster directly.

So if I thought about it, I should be grateful for even gaining two levels from a single boss monster.

Still, people are greedy by nature, and having once experienced a huge level-up spree, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in the end.

With that, the reward review filming was over.

Levan tossed out a half-hearted closing remark and finished filming, then flopped onto the bed and muttered.

"Damn it, what a lousy reward…… How can it be so empty…?"

If anyone had heard, they’d probably curse me for being spoiled, but so what?

‘If I feel empty, what’s it to them.’

Levan lay on the bed for a while, rolling around in that emptiness.

"Status window."

[Levan]

-Level: 69

-Divine Throne: Rubiks

-Class: Warmage

-Affiliation: #Herum #Freedom

-Stats

Strength 212(+5)

Perception 19(+5)

Intellect 47(+20)

Dexterity 14

-Special

Movement speed +10% in combat

Movement speed +5% out of combat

Skill cooldown -20%

-Remaining stat points: 2

Levan frowned as he looked at his status window.

‘Damn, I won’t even be able to try the third floor with this level.’

Of course, if I use the 3rd Floor Ticket, I can meet the master of the third floor directly.

That’s what the ticket is for, after all.

But for Levan, the Infinite Tower was his main content for growth.

And since I decided to maintain the overpowered character image, I had to look cool and overwhelming, like with the Goblin Leader, rather than desperately struggling in a boss raid.

‘To do that, I’ll have to match the entry level and do a rehearsal run again.’

In any case, I’d already decided in my heart to run the Infinite Tower twice.

So instead of challenging it at the minimum level, I’ll just tackle it after hitting level 70, whenever the Infinite Tower content becomes relevant.

‘For now, maybe I should take care of some chores I’ve been putting off.’

Chores.

Strictly speaking, the Infinite Tower was an outside job—a side menu.

The main dish, the real inside job, was progressing the Epic Scenario, which could also be considered a promise with Rubiks.

However, so far there hadn’t been any specific instructions from the Central Mage Tower Association.

So, until Rubiks gives me a sign, I’ll just run the Epic Cube and Growth Cube and work on quests at my own pace.

Levan picked up the Epic Cube and Growth Cube he had set aside for a while.

‘Let’s start with the Growth Cube.’

Levan picked up the Growth Cube and solved it quickly with practiced hands.

[You have successfully solved Rubiks’ Growth Cube.]

[A quest has appeared.]

[One Class Master]

-Rank: Special

-Condition: Achieve One Class Master.

-Reward: Rubiks’ Growth Cube, Rubiks’ Skill Cube Fragment, Rubiks’ Treasure Cube Fragment.

‘One Class Master?’

One Class refers to users under level 100.

So, One Class Master means reaching level 100.

Naturally, from level 101, it’s called Two Class.

Levan tilted his head as he read the quest details.

‘Is this supposed to be easy?’

There were no other conditions—just level up, so in that sense, it was easy.

But after only being given vague and mysterious quests until now, it was only natural to feel odd about suddenly getting a simple leveling quest.

Levan continued and picked up the Epic Cube.

[You have successfully solved Rubiks’ Epic Cube.]

[An Epic Quest has appeared.]

[Chief Massacre]

-Rank: Epic, Special, Unique.

-Condition: Hunt three different boss monsters with at least a 30-level gap.

-Reward: Rubiks’ Epic Cube, Rubiks’ Skill Cube Fragment, Rubiks’ Treasure Cube Fragment.

‘What’s this now?’

After the Growth Quest, another new Epic Quest had appeared.

But this new Epic Quest didn’t seem much different from the Growth Quest.

‘Why all of a sudden?’

Cube quests are essentially Rubiks’ will.

But when I was given nothing but simple hunting and leveling missions, I couldn’t help but feel a vague sense of dread.

‘Something feels off…….’

But so what if it feels off.

Levan was Rubiks’ apostle.

When the Divine Throne commands, the apostle obeys.

***

"Hmm, he did end up clearing it……."

MegaCompany Development Team.

Oh Jaehyun was staring at Levan through the monitor.

Lee Seongmi spoke.

"Weren’t you already expecting this? Honestly, if he can beat the Master Orc, the other floor bosses wouldn’t be much harder."

"That’s true, but there’s a proper order to things. The Infinite Tower may be a sub-scenario, but in terms of scale, it’s almost main scenario level. And if we push the Infinite Tower scenario too quickly…… the main scenario might end up looking too dull, don’t you think?"

"Well, in that case, there’s nothing we can do."

"What do you mean, nothing we can do? Just leave it and watch?"

"No. If that happens, we can just increase the difficulty of the main scenario."

"It’s already tough, and you want to make it even harder?"

"I’m not saying to always raise it, just adjust dynamically as the situation calls for it. After all, it’s basically certain that User Han Sungwoo will break through the 10th stage and reach the true floors, right?"

"That’s true."

"That’s why I actually want User Han Sungwoo to reach the true floors quickly."

"Why?"

"I’m just curious."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Well, fair enough."

At Lee Seongmi’s reply, Oh Jaehyun nodded.

***

"Are you all just going to sit here and do nothing?!"

Bang!

Central Mage Tower Association.

Someone slammed the round table and jumped up from their seat.

The owner of the voice was none other than the Fifth Elder, Oracle.

Oracle continued.

"It’s the Infinite Tower! The Infinite Tower! That infamous Infinite Tower has already been cleared up to the second floor! By that damned Warmage!"

The Infinite Tower wasn’t just infamous among users.

Although among players it was considered a special area classified as a challenge site, that was only within the game’s system.

To the NPCs living in Warlord, the Infinite Tower was a mysterious place passed down like a legend.

That’s why Fifth Elder Oracle was making such a fuss.

"His reputation is spreading across the entire continent! Are you just going to sit and watch that bastard run rampant, Elders?!"

Oracle’s anger was simple to explain.

For a long time, Oracle had insisted they should send out an overwhelmingly powerful mage from the start, not one matching the Warmage’s level.

But back then, the Warmage had only just appeared, and Levan’s power wasn’t widely known, so everyone acted reserved.

Because of their long-standing, humiliating rivalry, they wanted to claim honor in a more dignified way.

But that honest desire for a fair fight had brought the situation to this point.

So it was only natural for Fifth Elder Oracle to be furious.

At that moment—

"……Elder, it’s Ran."

"Ran? What is it?"

Ran, agent directly under the Seven Elders.

He had the grand title of ‘Chief Attendant Mage,’ but most considered him little more than an errand boy for the Elders.

But for the Elders, Ran was a trusted asset.

So, although no one should appear during an Elder-level meeting, Ran alone was allowed to step in.

To Fifth Elder Oracle’s irritated question, Ran answered calmly.

"Forgive me. I have an urgent report that couldn’t wait for the meeting to end."

"Fine. Just tell me this urgent news first."

"Well, we just received information—Pessna has sent notice that they will no longer have any contact with our Central Mage Tower Association."

"What?!"

"Pessna?"

"Pessna, that country with that young king…!"

Unexpected news.

Pessna was a place they’d forgotten for a while, buried under so many tasks, but now a sudden urgent message from there had riled up the Elders.

Seventh Elder Chilpen asked,

"Why?"

"Well, about that……"

Ran hesitated in response to Seventh Elder Chilpen’s question.

Seeing this, Fifth Elder Oracle pressed him.

"Just say it already!"

"……Forgive me. Pessna declared that from now on, they would only associate with Rubiks’ Warmage, not our Central Mage Tower Association. Moreover, they have accepted Warmage Levan as the Great Sage of the soon-to-be-built Ivory Tower."

"What did you say?!"

A bombshell.

All seven Elders widened their eyes, unable to hide their shock at Ran’s report.

"Huh."

"Heh heh heh?"

"Have you ever seen such a crazy man……!"

Some of the Elders were already boiling with rage.

Fifth Elder Oracle’s face turned red as he shouted.

"Warmage! That bastard has finally crossed the line he never should have! I can no longer stand by and watch! This time, I will send someone myself!"

The Elders were silent.

Silence meant agreement.

Once everyone quietly agreed, Fifth Elder Oracle called out to Ran.

"Go fetch Nightmare!"

"Yes, Fifth Elder."

Anger burned in the Fifth Elder’s eyes as he gave the order.

***

Thud-!

A huge something fell, raising a thick cloud of dust.

Its silhouette through the dust looked vaguely like a giant tree.

But as the dust settled, what appeared was not a tree, but a cow.

Specifically, it was the corpse of a ‘Minotauros,’ a monster said to be half human, half bull.

[You have hunted a Brown Minotauros.]

"Not bad."

This place was called the Forest of the Labyrinth.

It was a hunting ground mostly populated by Minotauros with a minimum level of 110.

After pondering for a while about where to hunt for the Cube Quest, Levan chose the Forest of the Labyrinth. The reason was simple.

‘Because it would be more fun that way.’

The last field boss monster I took down, the Century Serpent, was level 110.

So, no matter what, I set the minimum level at 110, just to meet the quest condition. Otherwise, the hunt itself would be boring.

As a warm-up, Levan tried taking down a Brown Minotauros, known as the weakest in the area—nicknamed ‘Brown Cow.’

The result was extremely satisfying.

Of course, even the so-called Brown Cow was no real challenge to Levan, but at least this way, it wouldn’t get boring.

‘This seems about right for the difficulty… So, time to really get started?’

Fwoosh!

Levan pulled something from his inventory.

What he pulled out was none other than a ‘cape.’

Levan put on the cape, stylishly, just like a hero from a movie.

Then, he approached the herd of Minotauros.

"Moooooooooooo!!"

He let out a resounding cow’s bellow.

All the Minotauros’ gazes focused on Levan.

[The Brown Minotauros become agitated at the sight of your red cape.

(Serial) The Mage Doesn't Hide His Power