Due to the lack of demand, we have swapped this series to our regular unlock method. We’ve completed the translations, however, we are still editing the chapters.

Chapter 304 Game-Changer (1)

The Heavenly Buddha’s nickname disappeared from the rankings, and that fact meant only one thing. But why? Yoon-seok didn’t think he was dead. After all, there were too many uncertainties for that.

‘Who on earth?’

First of all, there wasn’t a person who could kill him, especially not after his recent enlightenment. Well, there might be a strong person among those in 1st place he hadn’t met yet, but..

Even in this case, it still wasn’t valid. There was no such strong person among the rankers who entered the Spacetime World.

‘Then what happened?’

He thought about it, but no answer appeared. However, Yoon-seok thought it would be right to classify him as missing rather than dead.

‘Besides, there are more missing people.’

Looking back, Yoon-seok once felt a similarly uncomfortable feeling back then when he returned to the waiting room after finishing the duel on the 23rd floor. Two people who took 1st Place were erased from the rankings, and he’d risen by two points. Well, at that time, he thought it might have been a match between those in 1st place, but.

‘What if it’s not that?’

Now he had a slightly different idea. Maybe they didn’t die either but disappeared somewhere to escape the Tower’s eyes? Yoon-seok suddenly felt goosebumps.

‘After all, there’s only one person who can do that.’

The Tower’s only enemy, the Queen. Yoon-seok began to feel that the Heavenly Buddha’s disappearance might have something to do with her.

‘Is she gathering the ‘Destroyers’ of this round..?’

As he followed this hunch, evidence to support his intuition emerged.

Destroyer. Rick Gerssey, Disaster.. the twelve beings who became the Queen’s limbs and tried to destroy the Tower 500 years ago. Yoon-seok had met them on his last mission, which gave him even more access to the secrets surrounding the Tower.

‘Did she say some of them were Challengers?’

Elle said that when she saw them. Some of them were Challengers who’d been empowered by the Queen and turned away from the Tower.

‘Did I misunderstand from the beginning?’

Finally, the tangled thread began to unravel.

—You are not the first to make such an offer to me.

The Heavenly Buddha’s companion wasn’t a challenger like Yoon-seok. That’s why they were able to give him information that ordinary challengers wouldn’t know.

—It is said that everything that exists in the Tower begins here. And that kid is the Tower’s pawn that manages this place.

Even though one secret was revealed. No, rather, because of that, Yoon-seok felt even more frustrated. Suppose the one who was giving orders to the Heavenly Buddha from an unseen place was the Queen.

—Are you saying that you want me to break what I said?

Why was she trying to silence Henigus by killing him? Was the secret that important in preparing for the final battle?

—Let’s decide today’s match where the lies have disappeared.

Yoon-seok was convinced. If he didn’t find out the truth the Queen tried to silence him about, he’d be in trouble in the final battle.

‘Let’s ask Elle as soon as possible. Maybe she knows anything.’

Now, the next duel. No, there were about two months left until the final battle. Yoon-seok decided to dig up the secret that the Queen was trying to hide while he gathered colleagues for the remaining positions. Of course, this would be after completing what he had to do right now.

“..Hey, human? did you call me?”

Before he knew it, the watch repairman next door arrived.

* * *

“How long have you been there?”

“..About ten minutes?”

Sharon answered Yoon-seok’s question with a scrunched-up look. Was she afraid of something?

“Why are you talking like that?”

“About that, because your eyes are kind of scary..? T-then, why did you call me?”

She received contact from Lee Su-yeon, but it seemed that she didn’t hear a detailed explanation.

“It’s nothing special. I wanted you to use the abilities you mentioned back a few times.”

Afterward, Yoon-seok briefly explained to Sharon what he was going to do. She must be relieved that was all.

“Okay! I’m good at that! Trust me, human!”

Sharon nodded with a more relaxed expression, and Yoon-seok slowly approached the tablet. He spent 100LP in the Achievement Store to purchase an item.

[Please enter the nickname of the colleague you want to register.]

‘Party Formation.’

To start the gacha in earnest, he needed one more person besides Sharon. When Yoon-seok wrote down his nickname, a registration request appeared, and soon after, a notification popped up that the other party had accepted it. However..

[You invite Eltas to your waiting room.]

After half a year of being treated like a slave in the Spacetime world, Eltas’s expression, having barely rested after returning to the waiting room, was dark. But what could he do?

“..What’s going on?”

“I have a favor to ask you.”

“..Yes. I see.”

The contract should be well written.

“Human! Who is he?”

“He’s a colleague of mine. Get along with him. The two of you will have to stick together when we use the ticket.”

“Hmm, with him?”

At the moment when Sharon glanced Eltas up and down.

[A new ability will be added to the Old Pocket Watch for a week by the Unique Ability Awakening.]

After enchanting the watch using Eltas, Yoon-seok immediately took out the Elixir of Unique Skill he had kept in his bag. He was planning to try every possible option now, no matter how long it took.

‘First, let’s start with Divine Ultimatum.’

Variables might arise to stop them, so it would be better to start with the high-priority ones. Yoon-seok drank the elixir without hesitation.

[The rank of Divine Ultimatum rises.]

[It has reached Rank SS.]

[Unique attribute is given.]

It was immediately different from Rank S. There was no option, and it was given a unique attribute instead.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any noticeable change..’

Then, what ability was added? Yoon-seok operated the tablet to check.

{Divine Ultimatum}

Rank SS – Absolute correction is added to slash.

Absolute correction..? Well, seeing is believing. If you’re not sure what it is about, it’s best to try it yourself.

‘..It’s an absolute correction, isn’t it?’

Yoon-seok, who swung his sword towards the muscle wall, stiffened. The muscle wall, which used to be only scratched by his most powerful blow-

Slash!

-was neatly cut in half.

‘..I feel somewhat empty.’

What he desperately wanted became possible instantly without completing the second technique. In that sense, it could be said to be a very good skill, but..

‘There are still many things to check out.’

“Then let’s move on to the next one.”

Yoon-seok, who had a little more time to explore this slash correction, immediately returned to the past using the Old Pocket Watch. He returned when Eltas had just finished enchanting the watch, so he only needed help from Sharon.

[The cooldown time of the Old Pocket Watch (Rank S+) is reset by the Unique Ability Reset.]

Yoon-seok felt strange reading this familiar message.

“You said you bought it from an administrator, right?”

“Yeah, but why?”

“I just thought it was lucky.”

How many high-ranking challengers had signed a contract with the same administrator as Dracar and purchased the same ability? It was very fortunate that such a woman lived next door to him.

‘Anyway, let’s keep going.’

He was thankful that Sharon was here for a moment. After that, Yoon-seok repeatedly upgraded his Unique Skills.

{Predation}

Rank SS – The reward obtained from the {Predation} effect is doubled.

That was simple enough to understand.

{Transcendental Muscle}

Rank SS – Your muscles have an ego.

The Transcendental Muscle moved at will, even to the point of being reluctant toward Yoon-seok.

b Heart of the Destructive Monarch} historical

Rank SS – When you destroy what is most important to you, you get a corresponding price.

This one was vague. What did most important mean? He tried smashing his sword once, but it didn’t activate.

‘Let’s aim to check everything first.’

Yoon-seok raised all his unique techniques to the SS rank. There were some pretty good ones, but none of them immediately caught his attention. However, Yoon-seok wasn’t disappointed.

‘Now, let’s try it in earnest.’

b Non-Verbal Magic}, b Demonify}, b Slaughter}, {Struggle}, {Death God}. Yoon-seok synthesized all his Unique Skills into one combination or another. Originally, each of them was irreplaceable, so he hadn’t touched them until now, but now he could turn them back whenever he wanted.

‘I thought it would be really fun, but it’s more boring than I thought.’

It was only once or twice that he was excited, and it soon became a bit boring to keep repeating it over and over again. Maybe it was similar to that gacha becomes no fun if you leave the cheats on. However, life cannot always be fun.

‘..Anyway, is this all that I got from Synthesis?’

Yoon-seok repeated tens of thousands of combinations. The synthetic materials should show better efficiency than pre-existing ones, and the most important abilities must remain. There weren’t many that satisfied these two conditions. If he only looked at the results, it was still good regardless of the numbers.

[A skill has been synthesized.]

[You acquired Voracity.]

The first combination he found was {Voracity}. It was created by combining b Gluttony}, b Predation}, and b Treasure Hunter}. It lost the effect of stealing skills and stats when winning a duel, but instead, it could acquire half of the total score upon winning. For reference, Yoon-seok’s total score was about 300 million AP.

If he killed a similar opponent, he could theoretically earn 150 million AP. Well, it must be rare among the top-ranked challengers to have a score as high as Yoon-seok, who started with b Predation}. Anyway, Yoon-seok decided to take this skill to the end, judging that it would be more beneficial to upgrade what he had than to acquire a new one.

However..

{Voracity}

Rank SS – If you lose in a duel, you will be revived by paying half of your total score.

There was only one duel left. Even considering the ability to apply for duel maintained in b Voracity}, it wasn’t efficient.

‘On the other hand, I’m a little worried about it.’

Yoon-seok went through synthesizing again using the second combination formula he discovered.

[A skill has been synthesized.]

[You acquired Source.]

This was the result of combining {Metallurgy}, b Commander’s Call}, and b Non-Verbal Magic}. Some complex abilities were added, but to put it simply, the effect was simple. Mechanical equipment possessed would be strengthened a dozen times over, and upgrading to SS Rank gave it a very amazing ability.

{Source}

Rank SS – Gives one mechanical device the ability to move through time.

As a result of testing, this was the ability to enable the world line movement he experienced in the Spacetime World. In other words, it would be like getting another chance even in the worst situation. However..

‘That is meaningless.’

Nothing would change if you focused on running away. What he needed to forge a new destiny wasn’t insurance.

[Please select the skills to be synthesized.]

Yoon-seok put the final combination on the synthesis table. This combination formula was very simple.

He combined the new skill obtained from the Bloody Sky Delusion Sword with the one from the Orc and b Thunder God}.

[A skill has been synthesized.]

[You acquired Fighting Ghost.]

Then he added b Heart of the Destructive Monarch} and b Slaughter} here.

[A skill has been synthesized.]

[You acquired Fighting God.]

After that, he combined it with b Demon God} and b Death God} for the grand finale.

[A skill has been synthesized.]

[You acquired God of Martial Arts.]

Then comes this crazy skill.