Surpassing Expectations,
A warp rose above the horizon of Earth.
Before crossing that place and challenging the next trial, there was something that had to be done.
“Pick out the very toughest bones, caw.”
Caw!
Caw!
Eleven corpse crows descended from the sky and began searching through the giant’s bones.
【Lv.6】
The corpse crows, boss monsters that had been level 4, were elevated to level 6.
A change born from an ordinary Corpse Crow Summoning spell transcending into an upper-grade Corpse Crow Summoning spell.
But it wasn’t only their level that changed.
When the corpse crows flapped their wings, two purple hands stained with curses appeared and lifted the massive bones.
Upon becoming upper-grade corpse crows, they had been granted new skills as well.
That such rapid skill transcendence was possible at all was thanks to the hidden trait, ‘Dexterity.’
‘Dexterity even raises the level of transcended skills.’
When a skill transcends, its level resets.
But here, the true scam of ‘Dexterity’ shows itself.
Even in the ordinary ‘Corpse Crow Summoning’ in the first place, Dexterity had raised the skill level by 1.
Then, when the skill transcended and transformed into ‘upper-grade Corpse Crow Summoning,’ it again added 1 level, letting it start at 2Lv.
That’s why there are eleven upper-grade corpse crows summoned right now.
‘It’s basically like Dexterity raised it by 2 levels.’
Though they say it resets upon transcendence, calling it a reset is just words, in truth it’s no different from ‘inheritance.’
It carried over the pre-transcendent skill’s traits as they were, and even raised the limit level further.
Whether this is a system error, a bug, or intended, I don’t know, but the more a skill transcends, the more the scam of ‘Dexterity’ grows like compound interest.
On top of that, it even amplifies the speed at which proficiency rises.
You could say there are few traits with better cost-performance than this.
Weapon Master is limited to weapon proficiency, but Dexterity affects ‘all proficiencies,’ after all.
Caw!
Thud!
They picked out giant bones that weren’t broken and were still in good condition, and stacked them neatly in front of me.
‘They only couldn’t endure because their level was low, but these are all giant bones.’
It wasn’t just the skeleton soldiers’ frames that got bigger.
The trait of Giants, those bones were the real deal, armed with powerful Giant’s Magic Resistance.
The hardness of the bones was tougher than steel, and they wouldn’t even be scratched by ordinary physical attacks.
The reason for gathering only intact giant bones was simple.
‘Using eleven upper-grade corpse crows, I’ll make one work.’
I planned to create a ‘work’ to prepare for the next trial.
Because it wasn’t only Corpse Crow Summoning that had transcended and changed.
<Using the ‘Grandmaster of Corpse Arts (Lv.2)’ skill.>
‘Corpse Arts’ had transcended into ‘Grandmaster of Corpse Arts.’
Even before, I could pile bones and make something like a golem, but becoming a ‘Grandmaster’ raised its utility.
I could use more materials, and perform larger arts.
‘If the Druid trait is added in the next trial, they’ll definitely handle nature-type spirits.’
Druids are a nature-realm race specialized in spirits.
With spirits, they could fully support and move even a giant’s huge body.
The terrifying thing about Druids was that they could handle spirits of ‘all natural attributes.’
But what I feared was an even worse case than that.
‘…Emptiness added the Light attribute. They might even handle light spirits.’
Spirits of Light that aren’t natural attributes.
If those spirits, judged superior even to nature-type spirits, are summoned too, clearing in my current state would be impossible.
So I had no choice but to prepare thoroughly.
“Connect them properly, caw! There must be no fissures, caw!”
***
The area around the Tower of Mystery was already packed.
Because the number of monsters gathered from across Kramdel had exceeded ten thousand.
Among them were many who were considered strong in Kramdel.
“An infant phoenix, Imoogi, an adult Leviathan, Minotaur King, many ogres, the king of corpse crows, True Bloodline Race, serpents……”
Beast monsters wearing red helmets were writing something down at the Tower of Mystery’s entrance.
They were checking who was currently inside.
“So a total of 100 are inside right now.”
“There’s a transcendent species among them.”
The Mystery Hall accepts only 100 entrants at once.
And their mission was to investigate all 100 entrants who had gone into the Mystery Hall.
To determine whether the being undergoing the ‘Trial of Myth’ inside was friendly to Kramdel or not.
If friendly, they would treat them well, but if not, they had to prepare.
“The ones with any real possibility are four.”
“Imoogi, Leviathan, True Bloodline Race, and Minotaur King.”
Even if a transcendent species transcends its species, the foundation must be exceptional for that to happen, there was virtually no chance of a transcendent species arising from a lower species.
After narrowing and narrowing, those four remained.
Among them, Imoogi and Leviathan were mythical species.
“It’s not Minotaur King.”
“……Lord Qiongqi?”
At that moment, Qiongqi barged in.
The monsters with red administrator helmets bristled as they looked at Qiongqi.
Because Qiongqi is one of the four monsters holding the greatest influence in Kramdel.
One of the White King’s four close aides.
A being belonging to the third Great Master among those called the Four Great Masters.
In a confident tone, he shook his head.
“Minotaur King is under my command. But he is not a transcendent species.”
“Ah. Then the one who entered the tower recently, is that the Minotaur King said to have been born in the third Great Master territory?”
“That’s right.”
Scratch, scratch.
After crossing it out, three remained.
One of the red-helmet administrators spoke.
“Leviathan has been identified as from Afendel of the Gloomy Lake. But we have no proper read on Imoogi and True Bloodline Race.”
“Then one of those two is doing the Trial of Myth?”
While the Trial of Myth is underway, the tower closes.
No one can enter, and no one can leave.
If the Trial of Myth ends successfully and someone comes out, they have to identify them no matter what.
Then Qiongqi asked as if he couldn’t understand.
“Where did the rest of the Great Masters go, why are only you lot out here?”
Since it was Qiongqi asking, even Kramdel’s administrators couldn’t refuse to answer.
“Lady Medusa must still focus on her recovery……”
“Lord Death King is conducting important research……”
“The Great Earth Dragon is in his hibernation period……”
Hearing those excuses, Qiongqi frowned.
“They are acting relaxed even after seeing three rings rise? No……well, those idiots were relaxed even when facing ‘that human.’ Looks like they have learned nothing since then.”
Qiongqi shook his head.
Two years ago, that day, the Four Great Masters were defeated.
Maybe it would’ve been different if they’d joined hands, but because they looked down on the human species, they were defeated one by one.
All Four Great Masters, by a single human.
‘The reason he didn’t kill us was to draw out the White King.’
How could they ever forget that humiliation.
He was strong, impossibly strong to the point of incomprehension.
In the end, wasn’t there a catastrophe where the White King had to give up one fang.
Yet even after that, the other Great Masters' seemed to have learned nothing.
The reason all them, including himself, were alive now was entirely due to the White King’s grace.
If the White King hadn’t abandoned his own fang, all four of them would have been killed by one human.
‘If it were now.’
Qiongqi had changed since that day.
He whipped himself harder and grew stronger.
So he would never repeat the same humiliation!
‘If it were now, I wouldn’t lose so easily like before.’
Qiongqi was looking forward to the day he met that man again.
If they fought again, he would never lose.
Because he’d become several times stronger than then.
He counted the days until a rematch.
‘But by now, he should have come out.’
Three rings.
A transcendent species that achieved the same feat as the White King.
It was about time they appeared.
But no matter how long passed, the tower did not open.
‘…Don’t tell me, they’re challenging the fourth ring?’
If four rings were completed……that would be a feat surpassing the White King.
At that point, the other Great Masters wouldn’t be able to stand by without showing themselves.
An immortal feat no one had ever achieved, even to them, would be something to be wary of.
Qiongqi looked toward the top of the tower.
…Still, there were three rings.
But though it seemed impossible, if the rings became four……then every Great Master in Kramdel would gather here.
And they would face the unidentified transcendent species.
As an ally, or as an enemy.
***
Unlike the third trial, the fourth trial’s difficulty shot up for sure.
<The level of the ‘skeleton soldiers’ is the same as the challenger’s level.>
<The ‘skeleton soldiers’ gain opposing attributes due to ‘Void.’>
<The ‘skeleton soldiers’ gain the trait of ‘Giants.’>
<The ‘skeleton soldiers’ gain the trait of ‘Druids.’>
Skeleton soldiers that fully inherited the Druid trait.
They supported and moved their heavy huge bodies with spirits, and fired arrows of Light.
Their former range of only 50m increased in proportion to their size.
Their destructive power, likewise.
Boom! Boom! Kwarururung!
With violent tremors, the walls shook.
What I made using the Grandmaster of Corpse Arts skill was a tremendously thick ‘wall.’
A gigantic wall of a 10m-high standard.
I installed this wall in the narrowest gap between cliffs possible.
‘Arrows of Light can’t pierce Giant’s Magic Resistance.’
I fully exploited the Giants trait in reverse.
Because of the magic resistance that formed their bones, the arrows of Light couldn’t pierce the wall.
To break through with physical force, they’d have to move their bodies violently, but even supported by spirits, they wouldn’t get that kind of momentum.
And because I installed it in a narrow place, they couldn’t get around or leap over.
‘The fish-pen farm is complete.’
Exactly that, a fish-pen farm.
With the ordinary ‘Corpse Arts’ skill, I couldn’t even dream of this, but the works the ‘Grandmaster of Corpse Arts’ could produce had no limit as long as I had enough star power.
‘There was no time limit saying I had to move to the next trial.’
I made full use of the given time.
A wall that’s nothing more than bones cut, fitted, and raised solidly.
I repeated it again and again until I completed a masterpiece of this scale.
Faced with the wall carved from their own bones, the skeleton soldiers had no choice but to stop.
‘All the trials had the same terrain. That’s why I struggled to find the right spot.’
Every trial so far had identical geography, like copy-paste.
So first, I scouted a place to install the wall.
I had to craft it with not even a 1cm error and slot it in precisely.
I also made supports so the wall wouldn’t topple, and installed nine pillars to fix it to the ground.
With that, I could block the skeleton soldiers’ advance, but,
‘The problem is the spirits.’
Spirits can become incorporeal.
So they could pass through the wall and come for me easily enough.
“If I just endure, it’s my victory, caw!”
Ssshhh.
Shaaaah-!
Just as I expected, spirits of all kinds broke through the wall and revealed themselves.
But spirits are summoned with Mana.
They can’t be maintained forever.
The moment Mana is exhausted and the spirits are unsummoned, the skeleton soldiers will collapse.
If I endure the spirits’ attacks, I win.
Before that, if the wall collapsed or I couldn’t endure, I’d lose.
‘I have to survive.’
Still, this is better than fighting skeleton soldiers and spirits at the same time.
Suddenly, I remembered the first time I was summoned to Pangaenia.
When I was dropped into the desert out of nowhere and death was right in front of me.
My heart then and now were the same.
I have to survive. I had to constantly yearn for life, challenge it, chase it.
<Using ‘Star Scratch (Lv.2)’.>
<The power of stars envelops your entire body for 76 seconds.>
***
Qiongqi stared up at the tower.
“……Four.”
“The rings became four!”
It was an emergency no one had predicted.
Four rings!
A feat surpassing the White King’s record.
Now they couldn’t ignore it.
In the end, all Four Great Masters gathered before the Tower of Mystery.
When they assembled, all the monsters surrounding the Tower of Mystery had no choice but to retreat.
Because the Four Great Masters were Kramdel itself.
“…It’s been a long time since we all gathered like this in one place.”
Great Earth Dragon.
The strongest among the earth dragons, called the supreme existence.
A massive brown dragon so huge its end wasn’t visible, comparable to the tower itself, revealed its form.
“It hasn’t been that long. It’s only been 2 years and 87 days.”
Death King.
The king of the dead, said to govern all death.
Though he wore a robe over a skeleton form, merely standing beside him drained life away, in fact all flowers and grass within dozens of meters were already dead and withered.
“……”
Medusa appeared with her eyes covered and both hands bound.
She’d planned to only watch from afar, but the moment four rings appeared, she judged she couldn’t avoid facing it directly.
“Qiongqi. What do you think is inside?”
Great Earth Dragon asked Qiongqi.
Meaning, since he had watched the longest, had he found anything.
“…I don’t know.”
But Qiongqi shook his head.
He couldn’t predict it at all.
Among those who entered, there was no one he judged to be a transcendent species.
At most, True Bloodline Race had a chance, but that blood race did not have a good relationship with Kramdel.
Only a Grandmaster of True Bloodline Race would have even a sliver of possibility, and if such a being appeared, there was no way he wouldn’t know.
Then Death King spoke.
“Four rings signify the completion of myth, I wonder what was completed.”
“Something even the White King could not complete……”
Great Earth Dragon received the words.
At this point, curiosity felt like it would drive them mad.
That someone might truly have appeared who saw the end of the Trial of Myth.
-If they are judged to be a threat to Kramdel, kill them immediately.
Medusa said through a psychic wave.
All Four Great Masters agreed.
Kramdel was not a mere city.
It was an empire where the peaks of monsters gathered.
If the Four Great Masters that ruled the empire joined hands, there was nothing they could not kill.
Even if the opponent were that ‘Demon King,’ so to speak.
Also, only if the empire remained firm could they support the White King.
“……Then why aren’t they coming out?”
“Don’t tell me……there is a next trial?”
All Four Great Masters were baffled.
The Trial of Myth is composed of four stages.
If you overcome the 4th stage, the myth is completed, and the tower opens its closed door.
But even though four rings had appeared, the tower’s door did not open.
‘That can’t be……’
Qiongqi shook his head inwardly.
There was no way the White King’s words were wrong.
The absolute king’s words, who had failed at the brink of completion.
***
“……”
Lying down, I quietly looked up at the sky.
My whole body was wrecked.
‘Good thing the core didn’t break.’
When the last spirit was unsummoned, every skeleton soldier self-destructed.
I endured to the end, but my condition was terrible.
I couldn’t move a single finger.
Then it happened.
《You have cleared the ‘Wall of Species (4)’ trial.》
《All trials of species have been concluded.》
《The tower pays reverence to you who have completed the myth!》
That all trials had ended.
But I couldn’t understand it.
‘What about the Heavenly ones?’
There was still a Heavenly one left, yet it said completion.
Don’t tell me this is really the end?
《This is the final gift the tower grants to the one who completed the myth.》
《As a reward, you may obtain the unique-grade mystery, ‘Randolph’.》
‘Ah……’
Unique-grade.
……Unique-grade, seriously.
I was speechless.
I had never known unique-grade existed even among mysteries.
And the name of a unique-grade mystery was my name.
Randolph.
Proof of myself, completion of myself.
It meant I had finally built my own myth.
No item grade higher than unique-grade existed.
Likewise, there would be no mystery higher than unique-grade either.
Didn’t the tower say this was its final gift.
《All Constellations of the Pantheon praise your hard work.》
Even the Constellations recognized my suffering.
If I accepted this mystery, Main Quest 5 would be completed, and I could gain another reward and privileges.
The Constellations of the Pantheon had witnessed the Trial of Myth from start to finish, I expected how many would raise the reward list’s grade.
Would I obtain another transcended weapon, or something even greater than that.
《You have refused to obtain the unique-grade mystery, ‘Randolph’.》
But I refused this completion.
‘I can’t accept it.’
Because I couldn’t accept it.
Why are you completing it on your own?
Isn’t there still one left.
I haven’t seen the end yet.
I am not completed yet.
Therefore, I cannot accept such an ending and completion.
At that moment.
《You have cleared the ‘Wall of Species (5)’ trial.》