Chapter 68: Chapter 68 - The Tower (10)
Chapter 68 . The Tower (10)
“Look who’s popular . Uhaha . ”
Yeon-woo looked at the table with a slightly irritated face .
Phante burst out laughing at that sight, and Edora also smiled with her hand covering her mouth .
It was because the table was now full of invitation letters from several clans for Yeon-woo .
This meant that his performance had drawn the attention of clans all over The Tower .
Most of them were from small and unknown clans, but some of them were from quite large ones .
“So, hyung, what’s your plan?”
Phante asked with a grin .
“What plan?”
“Regarding those clans . Seems like everyone wants you . Even the Eight Clans might come to you . But you’re going to move by yourself, right?’
Just like many other places, The Tower also followed the law of the jungle . Therefore, most clans were always looking for strong new recruits .
If they could recruit someone strong, they would be able to ascend to greater heights, and in turn, assert greater dominance over The Tower .
As such, Phante was curious as to what choice Yeon-woo would make .
As far as he knew, Yeon-woo had a strong sense of individuality .
Although Yeon-woo seemed to have established a close relationship with Kahn and Doyle in the tutorial, he heard that Yeon-woo didn’t clear the sections as a member of their team . Which suggested that he had cleared the whole tutorial as a solo player .
Thus, he wondered whether or not he would continue to walk the unconventional route of a solo player even after entering The Tower .
But Yeon-woo’s answer was somewhat vague .
“For the time being . ”
“Huh? What do you mean ‘for the time being’? You mean you’re only planning to go solo for a while, and then look for a clan when your value increases?”
“Think however you like . ”
“Hmm . ”
Yeon-woo waved his hand as if he no longer wanted to bother with his questions .
Phante gave a puzzled look as he failed to guess Yeon-woo’s plan .
But of course, even though Yeon-woo just answered vaguely, he clearly had no intention of joining any particular team or clan .
‘Even if I join a clan, it’ll just get in my way . ’
In the tutorial, Yeon-woo had become acquainted with quite a few people .
Though he had become somewhat attached to some of them, he never got to fully trust them . Because he was well aware of how his brother had fallen into the path of demise .
He didn’t want to leave anything that could backfire and become his weakness . So he tried to keep a certain distance from people he met, and Henova and these siblings weren’t the exception .
‘Well, if I were to join a clan, there would be only one reason for it . ’
Yeon-woo chuckled as he thought about the possibility of him joining a clan . But the laughter was full of murderous intent .
‘It’d be to sneak into their safe house and stab a dagger into their hearts . ’
But that would be a story for later as he was still too weak .
‘For the time being, I’ll have to focus on building up my strength by gathering all the hidden pieces that Jeong-woo left for me . It won’t be too late to have my revenge after that . ’
Even though he got rid of Leonte’s right-hand man, Bild, he was well aware that he had been lucky .
So Yeon-woo wasn’t going to face them head-on .
For now, he had to suppress his vengeful thoughts and act as a normal player trying to reach the top .
‘I will never belong in a team, a clan or anything related to other players . Just stay low and hide myself . ’
Yeon-woo’s eyes glowed with determination .
‘And when the time comes, I will rise up and cut their throats . ’
Therefore, the first thing Yeon-woo had to do was to enter Olympus’ Treasury .
Therein lies a very important artifact that he must acquire .
“Are you guys done drinking coffee? Then let’s get up . . ”
“Yup . ”
“Okay . ”
But the moment they got up from the table,
“Hmm… This place hasn’t changed much since the last time I was here . ”
A man stepped into the terrace .
He had a long red hair that looked like a flame blazing fervidly .
And before they knew it, the surrounding noises had vanished . Even the tails that had been watching Yeon-woo from outside the cafe disappeared .
The man looked around the terrace as if it were familiar to him, then turned his eyes to Yeon-woo with a warm smile .
The moment their eyes met, Yeon-woo’s face stiffened .
‘Why is he here?’
Yeon-woo’s head was filled with questions .
“You’re the Hoarder, right?”
The man spoke to Yeon-woo with a smile on his face . A very placid and benign looking smile .
But there was a powerful charisma in his smile that almost overwhelmed him .
Most of the people who came to recruit Yeon-woo spoke with honorifics . But the man in front of him spoke in a manner that was almost as if he was looking down on him, and it also came across very naturally .
It felt like the area surrounding the man was completely under his control .
Yeon-woo knew people with this power very well .
‘Rankers . ’
He didn’t expect to meet a player from the higher floors here .
Furthermore, Yeon-woo knew who the man in front of him was .
‘Bahal, the Flame Fist . ’
A man known to usually have a gentle personality, but when it came to fighting he would become aggressive and bring everything down to ashes .
He was one of the executives of Red Dragon, and also, an old member of Arthia .
Not only that,
‘He was once Henova’s disciple . But I thought he would never come back to the Outer District after being expelled by Henova . Why is he here? Is it because of what I did to Night Watch? I thought that what happened to the clans in the Outer Distric didn’t concern them . Was I wrong? Or is it simply to recruit me just like other clans?’
Various ideas filled his mind .
Still, he didn’t forget one thing .
‘Whatever the reason may be, I can’t look surprised . ’
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Rankers were mostly people with superhuman abilities and endless combat experience . For them, reading an ordinary player’s expression and guessing their thoughts based on that was as easy as flipping their palms .
It was true that Bahal was one of the enemies Yeon-woo had to take revenge upon one day, but that day surely wasn’t today .
So Yeon-woo tried to hide any sign of agitation as much as possible, and answered with a silent nod .
Bahal gave a slight smile at Yeon-woo’s response .
“I’ve heard you have a blunt personality, and it looks like it’s true . Well, that’s not a bad thing . ”
Bahal said with a gentle laugh .
“If you don’t want to talk for long, I’ll make it short then . I want you to join Red Dragon . ”
It was such an unexpected remark .
Yeon-woo’s eyes became slightly bigger .
“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but this is the first time we’ve ever made a recruitment offer to a novice . And you are that lucky novice . ”
Bahal continued with a grin hanging on his lips .
“If you join our clan, we are willing to spare no effort to help you climb The Tower . And believe me, the support we can provide… I’ll just say it’s beyond what you can ever imagine . So, what do you say?”
Yeon-woo closed his mouth tightly .
Even as far as he knew, it was the first time that one of the Eight Clans had offered a novice to join their ranks .
Because no matter how good of a performance one showed in the tutorial, players would often die after entering in The Tower .
In addition, there had been numerous cases where players who had fallen behind at the beginning, suddenly rose to prominence at some point .
Therefore, the Eight Clans preferred to use those who were proven to be competent, rather than to unearth a ‘prospect’ .
The only exception was Cheonghwado, who put some of their efforts into fostering players with potential .
This was why Yeon-woo took it in his stride when he got offers from all those clans .
However, there was still one thing that Yeon-woo could figure out from the offer Red Dragon made .
‘They’re in need of power even if it’s as small as mine . ’
Yeon-woo recalled how high a price he had managed to get for the ownership of Hargan’s Lair with the mysterious merchant in the tutorial .
At that time, he presumed that the atmosphere between the Eight Clans was already crackling with tension .
There was no other explanation that he could think of .
As for Red Dragon, their main goal must be not just recruiting a talented novice, but also to impede the other clans from acquiring players like him .
Because of this, from now on, no other clan would approach to recruit Yeon-woo unless they wanted Red Dragon as their enemy .
‘If so . ’
Yeon-woo decided that he should answer well here .
Bahal was a kind and well-mannered person on the outside, but he had a feral beast nestling inside him . He had to avoid actions that could raise any suspicion .
“I don’t want to be tied up yet . ”
Yeon-woo shrugged in order to act like a novice drown in narcissism .
Fortunately, Bahal fell for his acting and talked with a smirk .
“Right, I see . You just finished the tutorial . It’s the time when you feel like you can do anything you want . ”
But Bahal did not bother adding ‘but The Tower is different from the tutorial’ at the end .
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He believed that Yeon-woo would come to him begging to join their clan once he experience hardships in The Tower and realized the limits of solo playing .
“Take your time and consider our offer . ”
“Sure . ”
Bahal patted Yeon-woo’s shoulder a couple of times before walking towards the exit .
With each touch, Yeon-woo felt great pressure .
“Oh, and . ”
Bahal suddenly stopped as if he had something he forgot to say .
“Master seems to have grown fond of you . He’s a soft hearted old man, so please, take good care of him . ”
Bahal said with a faint smile .
Yeon-woo tilted his head pretending he didn’t understand .
“Master?”
“Oh, I should have said his name . I was talking about Henova . Well then, take care . ”
The relationship between Bahal and Henova was not very well known even in The Tower . It was more like a secret .
On the contrary, it was a well-known fact that Henova felt unfavorably about the Eight Clans .
Which was the reason why clans from underworld including Night Watch had bullied Henova up until now .
And after Bahal left the cafe,
“Puha!”
Phante let out a loud breath as if he had been holding it . He had a stern look on his face .
“Who the hell is he?”
He found himself unable to speak a word when Yeon-woo and Bahal were talking in front of him .
It felt as if he were in a separate space .
It was just like the pressure he felt when his father was talking with other experts .
He couldn’t believe he had just felt such pressure in a place no other than Outer District .
And now,
Yeon-woo looked like a monster in Phante’s eyes .
How could he talk so bluntly in face of such pressure?
“He’s one of the rankers… And I think he’s the Flame Fist . ”
“Wait a second, you mean the Flame Fist?”
At Edora’s remark, Phante jerked his head towards her in shock .
To his knowledge, Flame Fist was one of the strongest members even among the ‘81 Oculus’ of Red Dragon .
He couldn’t believe a man such as him had taken interest in Yeon-woo .
Especially, the clan Red Dragon that was known to be so aloof that they hardly had any interest in events that took place below the 50th floor .
Even the One-horned tribe could not take liberties with them .
And just now, Yeon-woo got an offer from that clan .
There was something profound in the way Phante looked at Yeon-woo now .
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But regardless of his look, Yeon-woo suddenly jumped up from his seat .
“I have to get going now . You can stay here if you want . ”
“Where are you going?”
“Back to the smithy . I just remembered I left something there . ”
Yeon-woo then threw himself to the exit of the terrace before Phante could even say he would go with him .
‘If Bahal has visited Outer District, there’s no way he wouldn’t have dropped by Henova’s smithy . ’
For what he knew, Henova was a grumpy old man with a heart as brittle as a glass pane .
He couldn’t even guess what kind of an adverse effect Bahal’s visit would have on Henova .
But when he reached the smithy,
“Huh? What are you doing here at this hour?”
Henova was puffing away at his pipe sitting in front of the furnace .
Thinking he would be weeping, Yeon-woo was rather startled to find him so calm .
Like this, he couldn’t even ask whether he was okay or not .
‘Maybe I didn’t have to worry that much . ’
Yeon-woo tried to come up with an excuse .
But Henova suddenly jumped to his feet without even listening to him .
“Well, that doesn’t matter . You came at the perfect timing . I started hammering to work off the stress I got just recently, and I happened to finish the artifact a little earlier than expected . ”
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened .
“Which means…?”
“Yup . Your Gyges’ Eye is ready . ”
Henova brought out a huge box from the corner of the shop .
*Kung*
The box made a loud noise when Henova put it down on the floor .
“Open it . ”
Henova said as he arrogantly raised his chin as if he were telling him to be prepared for a surprise .
Yeon-woo nodded and slowly removed the top of the box .
And on the inside,
There was not one, but two artifacts lying neatly next to each other .
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