I walked with Boss after commanding the dwarven supercar to follow us. We proceeded through the snowstorm without a clear destination. Ssk, ssk. Our feet crunched the snow beneath us. Then Boss asked me a question.

“What do you think?”

She sounded gloomy. I wasn’t insensitive enough to not know what she meant.

“Still the same.”

Boss once asked me what I thought about murder. That I would have to kill many people if I stayed with her. My answer remained the same.

“I’m a murderer too.”

The result remained the same whether someone was beaten to death, shot to death, or sliced into bits and pieces.

“…”

Boss stopped and I also paused behind her small shoulders. Perhaps she feared disappointing me. After all, she had never killed anyone so brutally in the 3 years we worked together.

“I see.”

Boss only spoke those 2 words and continued on.

“They’ll revive anyways, but they’ll have to start over from the tutorial.”

Honestly, being dismembered was quite a severe death. Those thugs would probably lose 2-3 lives and wouldn’t be able to avoid the mental trauma either.

However, they had started it and Boss even gave them a chance to leave.

“They were probably djinns. I heard Pandemonium had around 500 tickets.”

“Yeah.”

Boss muttered and didn’t sound so dejected anymore. This was probably the right time to show her my new artifact. I called the dwarven supercar over. Shoong— Boss became startled and unleashed her magic power.

“What is it?”

“It’s mine. It’s our transportation.”

I jumped in like getting into a sports car.

“Get in, Boss.”

“What is this?”

“Like I said, the 2nd floor has lots of useful items.”

I smacked the back seat with a grin.

“Hoh…”

Boss curiously examined the vehicle before getting on.

“Is it made out of pure gold?”

As expected, that caught her attention first. Boss rubbed the golden symbols engraved on it before jumping in.

“Alright, it’s rather fast, so hold on tight. Oh, also…”

I took out the Yggdrasil leaf and blessed the dwarven supercar before setting off.

[Yggdrasil’s Blessing has enveloped the dwarven supercar.] [All effects of the dwarven supercar have increased by 1 level.]

“Hold on tight.”

“Okay.”

I stepped on the accelerator. Vroom— I sneaked a peek at Boss as we drove off. She leisurely watched the scenery and looked beautiful except for one thing.

“Boss, you should take off that bear head now.”

“Ah?”

Boss’ eyes widened and she quickly took off the helmet.

“I, I forgot I was wearing it since I was thinking about other things.”

Her face turned slightly red. This was the most meaningful change in expression I had ever seen from her.

***

On day 2, we built an igloo like Rachel to spend the night. The fierce blizzard had disappeared by the time we woke up and blinding sunlight reflected off the snow.

I took out the dwarven supercar from my inventory as I left the igloo. I had to quickly find the dwarven steles and head to the 3rd floor since Cheok Jungyeong and Jain grew bored.

“Let’s see…”

I murmured and took out the Book of Truth for the first time in the Tower of Wish. The system had warned me about using stigma, but I hoped Luke wouldn’t notice if I used less than a single streak. After all, Luke wasn’t a highly ranked NPC even as the 2nd floor administrator.

“Hmm.”

Speaking of NPC ranks, the 3rd floor’s administrator should be the famous magician, Medea. Unfortunately, she didn’t have too good of a personality. To think the administrator of a trash residential area would be a mythical rank NPC… what a shitty setting. I asked the Book of Truth about what I currently needed to know.

[Is there a dwarven stele within a 3 km radius?]

The Book of Truth immediately sucked 0.5 streaks of stigma as I felt an intense pain.

“Argh.”

Using stigma in the tower came with a greater backlash. However, the pain felt worth it as the Book of Truth revealed the stele’s location.

“It’s not far.”

Northwest, 1.3 km. I got on the dwarven supercar and stepped on the accelerator. It took less than 3 minutes to reach the coordinates. I found the stele buried under the snow inside a huge crevice at the edge of the glacier near the ocean.

I slowly drove the dwarven supercar down the cliff. This snowmobile could travel across vertical paths, so a cliff posed no issues.

“Found it.”

The dwarven stele lay buried under the snow. I dusted my hands as a system alert popped up.

[You have discovered a dwarven stele.] [The contents of the dwarven stele have been stored in your database.] [Ecorld Qowemr FcmoE Roalz…]

I couldn’t understand it, but immediately asked the Book of Truth to translate. Surprisingly, it didn’t take too much stigma.

[Young Dwarf’s Diary of Enlightenment] [Today, Old Man Hairy Nostrils taught me the most important mindset as a descendant of Hephaestus…]

“The heck is this?”

I frowned in the middle of reading. A diary? What happened to the potion recipes? I walked up to the stele to check for anything else. A burst of light erupted when I touched it. I had experienced this brilliant light before. It happened when my accumulation of luck activated.

Chwaaa— The golden light emanating from the dwarven stele poured into my eyes. I stood still and fully received it.

[Young Dwarf’s Enlightenment has resonated with your trait, Dexterity.] [Dexterity has been replaced with Young Dwarf’s Dexterity. Its rank has been increased.]

“Haa…”

I trembled in excitement from the system alerts. The mystical race of dwarves, descendants of Hephaestus, possessed an innate dexterity. I clutched my beating heart and took a deep breath. I could only mutter one word.

“Jackpot.”

***

We stayed on the 2nd floor for another 36 hours after my accumulation of luck. Meanwhile, the landscape changed from Antarctica to a volcanic zone and I found 2 more dwarven steles. One contained a recipe for brewing a special dwarven potion and the other had a recipe for crafting special dwarven shoes. Both of these recipes resonated with Young Dwarf’s Dexterity and entered my head. Now, I could make them as long as I had the ingredients.

“Everyone, let’s head to the 3rd floor now.”

“I almost died from boredom. We’re finally going up?”

Cheok Jungyeong grumbled as I smiled.

“Didn’t you have fun fighting the flame octopus? You said it lasted 12 hours.”

“I’m tired of it now. I want to fight humans.”

Boss and Jain probably felt the same judging from their expressions. I didn’t blame them since this place had nothing fun to do. Cheok Jungyeong shot up.

“Alright, we’re going up now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You better not be lying. Otherwise, I’ll squash your head.”

Cheok Jungyeong sounded impatient, but none of us worried since I had already found an elevator.

We left our temporary base and soon arrived at the elevator. It didn’t look like an elevator since we poured magma over it and covered it in granite.

“I’m breaking it.”

“Yes.”

Cheok Jungyeong punched the mound of granite. KWANG! It shattered and revealed the elevator within.

“Alright, let’s get on.”

“By the way, Hajin, will everyone be able to come up? There were about 2000 people and only 4 of us are taking a single elevator right now.” Jain asked.

“I’m not too sure, but I’m guessing about 80% will make it up.”

The speed of the elevators would double after a week from something called the acceleration phenomenon.

“Really? Hm, I can’t see more than 50% going up.”

“Well, we’ll see. Hop on. We don’t have time.”

“Oh, right. Okay.”

We all got on the elevator, which only had 3 buttons: floor 3, open, and close. I sat down after pressing the 3rd floor button and the close button. Wooong— The elevator began to float after it roared to life.

“Ah, I’m hungry. Hajin, let’s eat some deer meat.”

“Oh, I gave it all away to my friend.”

“What? All of it?”

Jain felt shocked since it could’ve fed us for a week even if Cheok Jungyeong ate 3 people’s worth at every meal.

“Yes, you could say I traded it for the dwarven supercar, but we still have a lot of boar meat left.”

“Ah, I see. I guess it’s fine if that’s the case. What kind of idiot would trade that artifact for food.”

Jain accepted it after learning about the dwarven supercar’s versatility.

“By the way, is this thing going up?”

“Probably? Yaawn.”

It took 8 hours for the elevator to travel back and forth. We would be here for the next 4 hours.

“This is the perfect time to sleep.”

We decided to rest until the elevator arrived. I took out 4 pieces of monster leather from my inventory for each of us.

“Good night, Boss.”

“Yes.”

“You too, newbie.”

“You too, Jain.”

I checked my messenger before going to sleep and had received a few new messages.

Nayunjajangman: Hyung, did you clear the 2nd floor? If not, you can join the elevator we found. We decided to wait for about 3 hours before leaving. I’ll give you the coordinates if you want to come.

“…”

The message came about 30 minutes ago. At first, I turned the messenger off without replying, but if Nayunjajangman was that girl…

Me: I’m on the 3rd floor now.

I felt like Nayunjajangman would wait for more than 3 hours if I didn’t reply, so I sent a brief reply.

Nayunjajangman: Oh lol as expected of hyung.

Me: Oh right, make sure you stock up on food.

Nayunjajangman: Food?

Me: Yep. Deer or wild boar. If you’ve never dismantled wild animals before, now’s the time.

Nayunjajangman: Got it. Is there nothing to eat on the 3rd floor?

I didn’t say anything else. Of course, I wasn’t sure whether Nayunjajangman was Chae Nayun, but my heart felt heavy and I cast the thought aside.

Zzz— Zzzz— Zzzzzz—

“Pft.”

My depression didn’t last long after hearing the unique snoring of each member.

“I should sleep too.”

I closed my eyes and began to breathe. One, two, three… DING!

A ringing woke my blurred consciousness. I opened my eyes and got up as the elevator slowly opened.

“Yaawn.”

“Kuhu, I like this leather. It’s from the bear I defeated, right?”

“Yeah.”

I stored the bear blankets in my inventory and stood in front of the door.

[You are now on the 3rd floor.]

The elevator opened along with a system alert. I looked out at the 3rd floor. The first residential area that players would soon label as the worst. Its name was Prestige.

[Welcome to the 3rd floor’s residential area, Prestige] [You may freely use the messenger, waiting room, and community inside residential areas.] [Please be careful of sudden attacks by hordes of undead monsters.] [Prestige Boost — Stat increase rate is increased by 5% (7% for magic power).]

“What is this place?”

Jain frowned as she looked at the poor city outskirts. I knew how bad it would be beforehand and still thought it looked poor. Run-down shacks filled the city and homeless drunks slept by the road. A mysterious knee-deep fog blanketed the city and the air smelled like coal.

“It’s a city.”

“This is a city?”

“Yes, the system called it a city, so it’s a city.”

Roads filled with life and death and lifeless NPCs. The 3rd floor didn’t have a sun, so everything looked black and dark blue.

“Now, let’s go.”

People still lived here, so it should have shops. This part of the city on the outskirts seemed a bit more hopeless.

“Wait, wait, let me rest in my waiting room first. This place smells too awful… uwek—”

“Be patient. We have to figure out what kind of a place this is first.”

Going to the waiting room right away wouldn’t be a good idea. You wouldn’t be aware of anything that happened outside and also wouldn’t receive Prestige’s stat buff.

“Right, don’t overreact and just endure it, Jain.”

“Okay.’

Jain had no choice but to nod as Boss chimed in. We walked through the city as some NPCs aimed for our pockets and others innocently begged for help.

“Oh right, where did the other players go?”

“They’re probably working to make TP.”

“Auuu, this smell!”

Jain hated the nasty smell more than anything else. The other two felt the same. Cheok Jungyeong frowned and Boss put on her Lv.3 bear head helmet.

“Wait just a little longer. I’ll make a gas mask for you.”

I consoled Jain as we went to receive the group quest from Prestige City Hall. It felt a little annoying to deal with that damned Medea, but we couldn’t live in Prestige if we got on her bad side.

***

On the 2nd floor, Rachel energetically walked towards the coordinates sent by the second team. The 2 guild members who fainted after touching the dwarven supercar also accompanied her.

“Vice leader!”

“Over here!”

She could see 2 other members waving in the distance. Rachel wanted to run up to them, but walked slower to match the 2 members who hadn’t fully recovered yet.

“Geez, look at those two. They’re nothing but burdens.”

“I heard you two fainted. Why didn’t you just die! You’re going to revive anyways, right?”

“Sorry, team leader.”

“Sorry.”

The 2 guild members dropped their heads in shame. However, Rachel only kindly smiled.

“It’s fine. No one expected such a thing to happen.”

The 7 Royal Court guild members reunited in front of an elevator with one worry left.

“Should we wait since 50 people can ride the elevator?”

Davin, who led the second team, asked. Rachel thought for a moment and recalled the Empire of Glory guild she met not too long ago. She didn’t want to be like them, but knew she had to make cold-hearted decisions as the vice leader. In this place, kindness would only be a burden.

“Let’s go up.” Rachel came to a decision and got into the elevator with her guild members.

“You can do the honors, vice leader.”

“Yes.”

Rachel pressed the 3rd floor button. Then as the elevator began to close…

“Waaaaaait—!”

A loud voice rang out. Startled, Rachel instinctively pressed the open button.

“Let me go with youuuu—!”

The elevator opened once again and Rachel could see a white-haired kid with her supposed guardian. They looked dirty and tired, but ran at an extraordinary speed.

“Uwak!”

The child stumbled on a stone and fell forward, but the man following her quickly snatched her up and entered the elevator.

“Ah, thank you so much!”

The man bowed and expressed his gratitude.

“No problem.”

Rachel responded indifferently. For some reason, she felt like she had seen the man’s face before.

“Thank god, thank god…”

The white-haired child also seemed familiar. Rachel felt like she would remember if the child’s hair was properly combed. Tap, tap. One of her guild members tapped her shoulder and whispered.

— Vice leader, I think that’s Aileen and Yi Yongha. They’re heroes from the Temple of Justice.

Immediately, Rachel’s hair stood on end. She easily matched their faces with her memory after hearing their names. Everyone knew white hair almost represented Aileen.

— But what do you think is wrong with them?

Rachel whispered back. Why was Aileen, who reigned as one of the strongest heroes in the world, in such a state?

— It must be because they both heavily rely on magic power. As you know, magicians are heavily disadvantaged in this place.

In this tower, one had to use their body to get through. Even the greatest magician would struggle with hunger.

“Ah, thank you, thank you! You’re the only ones who opened the door.”

Even so, Rachel still felt curious. Aileen’s gift, Spirit Speech, could easily control people. Was her magic power restricted that much?

“No, it’s only obvious. Nice to meet you, Aileen and Yi Yongha.”

Rachel reached out to Aileen, who stood about 20 cm shorter. Aileen looked at Rachel’s hand and grabbed it with a grin. It seemed she hadn’t washed her hands in a while as it felt dirty and sticky.

“You know us?”

“There aren’t many who don’t.”

“There were. No, they probably pretended not to know. They must’ve been scared of me.”

Meanwhile, the elevator closed on its own and headed towards the 3rd floor. Ssss— 

“Anyways, thank you so much!”

Aileen smiled like a child and plopped on the floor.

“Ah, I’m starving. Yongha, do you have anything to eat?”

“No, we already ate everything we had.”

“What do you have? Hmm…”

Aileen naturally turned to Rachel. She felt too ashamed to directly ask for food, but seemed to be asking with her eyes.

“We don’t have anything either.”

Rachel shook her head. Of course, she still had a lot of the deer meat Kim Hajin gave her, but lied.

“Mm? Ah, no, I wasn’t asking for food or anything. I’m thankful for the ride alone.”

“Ah, yes.”

[Lv.2 Kim Hajin’s Special Sauce Deer Meat] Lv.2 Satisfaction, Lv.3 Taste

Letting them in was one thing, but Rachel couldn’t share this Lv.2 food with them. It tasted extremely delicious and she planned to share it with her guildmates.