abcnovels
Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Chapter 80
The portal that Jeong-Hoon had entered turned red.
And the name [Siegfried] appeared above it.
“The first tower master… This is bad.”
Of all people, it had to be the first tower master.
Since he got stuck with that crazy guy, passing was out of the question.
Now it was just a matter of how long he could last.
“A week?”
Khairos had watched Jeong-Hoon train up close.
His tenacity in completing any task without complaint, no matter how difficult, made even Khairos click his tongue.
Jeong-Hoon wouldn’t give up easily.
“I’ll watch.”
One day inside the portal was equivalent to one hour outside.
Seven days meant seven hours.
So it wouldn’t be long before the color of the portal changed.
If he was recognized by Siegfried, the red portal would turn blue, and if he gave up and admitted defeat, the portal would turn black.
And less than an hour later, the color of the portal changed.
Khairos’ face went blank when he saw the color.
“Blue…?”
That’s right.
The portal was shining blue.
It meant that he had been recognized by Siegfried.
“How…?”
He couldn’t believe it.
Less than an hour meant that he had been recognized in less than a day.
He himself had barely received recognition after nearly two weeks.
And soon after, Jeong-Hoon returned.
“I’m done.”
“…How?”
“Huh?”
“The first tower master appeared, how did you get recognized in just one day?!”
Khairos shouted.
He couldn’t accept the reality unfolding before his eyes.
“He was quite a picky one.”
“What kind of test was it?”
“It was simple. A test to handle all the weapons of every class, including martial arts.”
“…And you passed that?”
“Yes.”
The records of the Mu Tower throughout history said to give up on getting recognition the moment you met Siegfried.
A portal that could be re-entered five years later if you gave up once.
It was said that when Siegfried’s disciple visited, instead of looking at the martial artist’s spirit, he would demand strange things and make them give up on their own.
Therefore, no one had ever received Siegfried’s recognition.
There was a record that even the second disciple, who was Siegfried’s disciple at the time, had not received his recognition until the end, and Siegfried, tired of it, had forced the position of tower master onto him, leaving behind a record of his frustration.
But Jeong-Hoon had broken that history in less than a day.
“It’s time to give it to me.”
Jeong-Hoon held out his hand.
A promise was a promise.
Khairos couldn’t help but nod.
[Quest completed.]
[You have acquired the Completed Martial Artist’s Mark.]
With this, the Completed Martial Artist’s Mark was in Jeong-Hoon’s hands.
* * *
“She advanced to a hidden class…?”
Yeo Sunwoo couldn’t believe his ears.
“Yes. Miss Yeo Min-Ji told me herself.”
“Huh…”
At his daughter’s request, he had entrusted her with the entire recruitment and management process.
Since it was about recruiting the first martial artist to advance to a hidden class, the chances of failure were zero.
He thought it would be a good experience for his daughter, so he held back even though he was dying of curiosity about the hidden class.
But what was this?
He heard that even the mother who joined with the martial artist had advanced to a hidden class.
And it was even Epic grade.
If it was a hidden class of Epic grade from the first advancement, there was no need to even consider her future growth.
“Miss Yeo Min-Ji has an excellent eye for talent!”
“Indeed… She’s my daughter after all.”
Yeo Sunwoo nodded with a satisfied look.
A hidden class was a hidden class for a reason.
Even in Ho-Yeong, only a few people had hidden classes.
In such a situation, two hidden classes had been added at once.
“Now no one will be able to say a word!”
“Why? Were there people who were dissatisfied?”
Yeo Sunwoo’s smiling face instantly turned cold.
How dare they be dissatisfied with my daughter?
Park In-tae sweated at his chilling expression.
“That’s not it, but… there might be an image of them being parachuted in…”
There was no one who was dissatisfied, but the fact that they were parachuted in didn’t change.
But now there was no need to worry about such views.
“I guess I’ll have to step up myself.”
He had left everything to his daughter, but the situation had changed a lot this time.
With two hidden classes joining at once, Yeo Sunwoo needed to meet them in person.
“Yes! I already told Miss Yeo Min-Ji.”
“Okay. What did she say?”
“She said she would ask for your opinion first.”
“Is that so?”
* * *
It wasn’t easy to get rid of Khairos.
“What?! You won’t become my disciple? Why? You have the potential to be the martial artist who will succeed me!”
He had successfully completed all the training, so Khairos was forcing him to become his disciple.
“I’m telling you again, my answer is no. And I have no intention of changing my mind.”
Becoming the tower master’s disciple meant going under Khairos and training under him.
That would completely deviate from his current goal.
Jeong-Hoon had no intention of doing that.
“No, why? What don’t you like about this Mu Tower? Tell me and I’ll fix it right away!”
He had never seen such a monster since he started walking the path of a martial artist.
So he was even more greedy.
If Jeong-Hoon succeeded him and became the master of the tower… He would surely become a tower master who would go down in history.
“It’s not that I don’t like it, but I have no intention of living as a martial artist.”
“No intention of living as a martial artist?”
Jeong-Hoon shook his head and added,
“Yes. The first tower master was an All-Master.”
“…Is that so?”
Siegfried was the first tower master who built all the towers, including the Mu Tower.
The fact that he was an All-Master was also recorded in the literature.
“So he made me handle all the weapons of every class, not just martial arts. I barely got his recognition after mastering them all.”
“…Huh.”
So that’s why no one could pass Siegfried’s test.
He hadn’t known that because there were no detailed records left.
“So I don’t want to focus on just one thing either.”
Khairos shut his mouth at Jeong-Hoon’s serious gaze.
This was the man recognized by the first tower master, Siegfried.
He must have recognized him because he saw the potential of an All-Master.
When he thought that far, Khairos lost the confidence to force Jeong-Hoon to become his disciple any longer.
‘I might be clipping the wings of this outsider.’
It was a shame, but it was right to let him do as he wished.
After much thought, Khairos nodded.
“…Alright. I’ll stop asking you to be my disciple.”
“Thank you. By the way, do you know anything about this martial robe?”
Jeong-Hoon showed him the Mukho he had received from Siegfried.
Khairos’ pupils trembled madly at the appearance of Mukho.
“Is that Mukho?”
As expected, he seemed to know about it.
“Yes. It’s Mukho. But it’s sealed.”
“…Huh, I never thought he would bestow the martial robe that the first tower master used.”
Mukho.
It was the martial robe that Siegfried enjoyed wearing, and it was said that he sealed and hid it himself just before he died.
To bestow Mukho meant that he had not only recognized him but also declared him as his successor.
“Anyway, I want to unseal this. Do you know how?”
“Hmm… I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about such seals.”
Unfortunately, Khairos had only heard stories about Mukho.
He knew nothing about the seal.
“I see.”
“Oh, but it’s not that there’s no way at all. There might be something about Mukho in the archive room.”
On the 6th floor of the Mu Tower, there was an archive room where the records written by the tower masters were kept.
Siegfried’s records were also kept in the archive room, which could only be accessed by the tower master.
To access those records, one had to become the tower master’s disciple.
“Then it’s no use.”
Jeong-Hoon decided to give up cleanly.
If he became the tower master’s disciple for Mukho, it would be a loss in the long run.
Mukho wasn’t even in his plans anyway.
Giving it up wouldn’t hinder his future plans.
“No, it’s okay. You can read it.”
“You’re okay with that?”
“Yes. If I go with you, you can read it even if you’re not my disciple.”
“…Then may I ask you a favor?”
“Of course. But in return, can you do me a favor? I won’t ask you to be my disciple.”
“…I’ll decide after I hear it.”
“Alright, then let’s go together.”
Khairos took Jeong-Hoon to the archive room on the 6th floor.
The archive room was heavily secured, and couldn’t be unlocked without the tower master’s permission.
The method of unlocking the security was a bit tricky.
The tower master had to inject mana into the controller to unlock the security one by one.
[The first security is unlocked.]
[The second security is unlocked.]
…
[The last security is unlocked.]
After a whopping 16 messages, the security was completely unlocked, and the door slid open to reveal a staircase.
“Is this the archive room?”
“It’s the stairs leading to the archive room. It’s best to be careful not to fall. You’ll get trapped in the dimensional gap.”
Next to the white stairs leading upwards was pitch-black darkness.
It felt like space.
Then these stairs were a passage connecting dimensions.
He now understood why the security was so tight.
“Hmm? Aren’t you coming?”
Jeong-Hoon took a step, but Khairos stood still like a statue.
“Yes. I’ll wait here, so go ahead.”
“Weren’t you interested in Mukho, so you brought me here?”
He thought Khairos had readily opened the door to the archive room because he was interested in Mukho.
“I am curious, but you’re the one recognized by the first tower master. It’s okay, go ahead.”
Khairos said, taking a step back.
“…Thank you.”
At his consideration, Jeong-Hoon leisurely climbed the stairs and arrived at the archive room.
The archive room consisted of a single library.
‘Amazing.’
All Jeong-Hoon had found were a few records left by Khairos.
Perhaps the passage connecting to the archive room had been cut off when it became a dungeon.
‘The records of the first tower master…’
Finding the records wasn’t easy.
The records wrapped in white cloth had the tower master’s name written in very small letters.
And one white cloth in the farthest corner caught his eye.
[Siegfried]
The name Siegfried was written on the cloth in black letters.
Thanks to the game, even such trivial things were written in Korean, making it convenient.
Jeong-Hoon unwrapped the sealed cloth and checked the records.
There were only 100 pages of records, and there were only 3 pages of records written on them, as if he was too lazy to write.
-I am the first tower master, Siegfried.
-From now on, tower masters should record and leave behind everything they do.
-For reference, I’m perfect, so I’m only writing a little and finishing.
-If you’re not happy with it, conquer all the other towers and stand above me.
From the first page, his arrogance was sky-high.
Jeong-Hoon skipped the unnecessary parts and turned to the next page.
-I’m taking Mukho with me, sealed. You guys aren’t skilled enough to handle it.
-It’s not just dogs that bite their owners. This one bites even harder.
-So I’ll give it to someone I acknowledge.
The next page was about Mukho.
Jeong-Hoon focused on reading that page.
-The way to unseal Mukho is simple.
-Just wear it.
-The rest is up to Mukho. If it acknowledges you, the seal will be completely released.
The method of unsealing was too simple.
‘Get acknowledged.’
How many times did he have to get acknowledged? Seriously.
Jeong-Hoon chuckled and put on Mukho.
[What is this lowly human?]
A rough voice echoed in his head.