Chapter 40

Chapter 40

World Tree essence.

Earth had a resource somewhat similar to it.

Nuclear power.

A single nuclear power plant could generate around 2 to 5 gigawatts of electricity.

A major city typically consumed around 1 to 3 gigawatts.

So one large nuclear plant could support roughly one to three major cities.

Of course, I only know the basics.

But everyone understood how powerful nuclear energy was.

The World Tree had supported an entire Empire.

Kang Ha-min didn't know how large the Empire was,

but that meant the World Tree contained energy beyond even nuclear power.

That thing was an absurd energy resource.

Kang Ha-min looked back at the World Tree.

If they could use that enormous source of energy,

couldn't they do something incredible?

The thought briefly crossed his mind.

And more importantly...

Returnees were living inside the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest.

Their housing problem had been solved,

but their daily lives still lacked many things.

No matter how many supplies they purchased from outside,

they probably suffered various inconveniences they didn't mention.

If World Tree essence can replace ordinary energy, their lives could become much easier.

Kang Ha-min made his decision.

Now he needed to make an offer.

"Iziris."

"Hmm?"

"I have a proposal."

"I'll allow you to use the World Tree."

"In return, can you teach us how to use its essence too?"

Iziris's eyes widened.

"Truly?"

Iziris couldn't use the World Tree without Kang Ha-min's permission anyway.

If she could gain access merely by helping them use the World Tree essence,

the deal was overwhelmingly favorable to her.

"Really."

"But having a Resonance Furnace alone isn't enough to use World Tree essence, right?"

"Correct. Additional devices are required to actually use the World Tree essence."

Electricity couldn't be used simply because electricity existed.

Modern humans had created countless technologies to make use of it.

The World Tree was the same.

"Can you build those devices?"

"The reason my royal family became royalty is because we have built devices for resonating with the World Tree for generations!"

That was great news.

No wonder Iziris was proud.

She was basically a nuclear energy expert.

"Good. Then I'll provide whatever you need for production."

He didn't know what materials she would require yet.

But they had the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest.

They could probably find some way to obtain what she needed.

Iziris's eyes sparkled.

She could finally see hope of saving the people of her Empire.

But Kang Ha-min had another question.

"Come to think of it, Iziris, how are you planning to return to your people?"

The people of her Empire were suffering from cells destroyed by World Tree essence.

An Empire should have an enormous population.

How was she planning to deliver purified essence to all of them?

"...Actually, it would be impossible for me alone."

Worry filled Iziris's face.

"I was only able to come here because I made a deal with a god."

A god.

The moment Kang Ha-min heard that,

he thought of the Gods of the Tower.

Could it be...

"Iziris, does your world also have a Tower?"

"Hmm. It isn't exactly that we have a Tower."

"We live inside the Tower."

The answer hit like lightning.

"Ah. I see."

Baek Cheon-myeong seemed to understand immediately.

"I wondered why you had such a strange aura."

"You're one of the Towerfolk."

Towerfolk.

That meant...

"So Iziris was created by the Tower?"

"No. That's different."

"She isn't the same kind of existence as Aji."

"Woof!"

Aji barked loudly after hearing his name.

"If I had to explain it simply, she's a descendant of Tower Ascendants."

A descendant of Tower Ascendants.

So she was descended from people who had climbed beyond the 100th Floor.

Come to think of it,

Kang Ha-min had heard something before.

The world beyond the 100th Floor was different from lower floors.

Completely different kinds of beings lived there.

Very little information about Tower Ascendants ever reached the surface.

So Kang Ha-min had only vaguely accepted the explanation before.

The descendants of people from other worlds who achieved Tower Ascension live inside the Tower?

He had never expected that.

"Starting from the 100th Floor, floors are no longer like the ones you've seen until now."

"Each floor becomes an entire world."

Baek Cheon-myeong looked at Iziris.

"So it isn't unusual for Tower Ascendants to settle inside the Tower and eventually create Towerfolk."

"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, then..."

A possibility appeared in Kang Ha-min's mind.

"Could it be that Towerfolk..."

"Yes."

"A Tower Ascendant can continue climbing only while their original world still exists."

Towerfolk.

They were people whose original worlds had been destroyed.

Once a world was destroyed,

all Tower authority possessed by Hunters from that world disappeared.

Tower Ascendants and their worlds were inseparably linked.

People who could no longer climb the Tower

settled within it instead.

Their descendants became Towerfolk.

So that was it.

Kang Ha-min suddenly felt dizzy.

As long as the Tower existed,

Earth could eventually face the same fate.

And then...

"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, could you also..."

Baek Cheon-myeong raised the corner of his lips.

"What do you think?"

Baek Cheon-myeong had said he made a deal with the Tower.

What kind of deal had turned him into a corpse waiting for the Gravekeeper?

Perhaps his obsession with climbing the Tower came from regret.

"Iziris, if you came here through a deal with a god, that means you have no way to return to your floor, right?"

"...Correct."

"Towerfolk have no right to climb the Tower."

This place had been provided by the Tower.

So being sent outside the Tower was possible.

But returning to the Tower was impossible.

From Iziris's perspective,

the Empire would be destroyed either way.

That was probably why she had risked everything to find the World Tree.

"Then could we climb the Tower and deliver the essence to your people?"

Iziris raised her head.

Her expression contained countless emotions.

"...Would you truly do that for us?"

"We're climbing the Tower anyway."

Baek Cheon-myeong wanted only to go upward.

Eventually,

he would pass the 100th Floor and become a Tower Ascendant.

For Kang Ha-min,

this simply meant adding one more stop along the way.

"We'll deliver the World Tree essence to your people."

Tears began gathering in Iziris's eyes.

Kang Ha-min panicked slightly.

He had always been weak against crying children.

But Iziris soon lowered her head deeply.

"I ask this of you."

"If you truly do this, I swear I will repay you."

Being allowed to use the World Tree essence was already enough repayment.

"Let's work together from now on."

And just like that,

Iziris became another new neighbor.

After their new neighbor, Iziris, arrived,

she immediately became busy working with the Returnees.

Kang Ha-min separately asked Ha Cheol-ryong to look after her.

After that,

she began discussing various things with the Returnees.

One of the Returnees had previously worked in the electrical field.

Apparently,

he had even earned the title of Master Craftsman.

A Master Craftsman was someone who possessed the highest level of practical skill in an industrial field.

They were experts with at least fifteen years of professional experience.

Even someone like that had been used as a test subject after becoming a Returnee.

It was ridiculous.

Still,

having a Master Craftsman immediately proved useful.

The man's name was Im Tae-jeon.

After speaking at length with Iziris,

the two began working on the World Tree.

Maybe because they were both specialists,

they would work and talk for hours without noticing time passing.

People who loved the same field naturally understood one another.

"Ugh, engineering nerds."

Shin Ji-min, who handled most outside errands,

looked disgusted.

The two specialists kept requesting more and more supplies.

Naturally,

she was the one forced to obtain them.

While Iziris steadily worked on resonating the World Tree essence,

Kang Ha-min continued his own training

while sending Baek Cheon-myeong into the Tower.

[Congratulations on clearing the Nineteenth Floor!]

[You have cleared the Nineteenth Floor in the fastest time in the world.]

[Clear Time: 4 Minutes 1 Second]

[Nineteenth Floor clear rewards will now be distributed.]

[Hunter Kang Ha-min's level has increased.]

As always,

Baek Cheon-myeong destroyed another floor.

Throughout the Second Floor Realm,

Baek Cheon-myeong's expression had remained unpleasant.

While climbing the Second Floor Realm,

he defeated every one of the Nine Venerables Under Heaven.

Eleventh Floor, Poison Venerable (毒尊)

Twelfth Floor, Fist Venerable (拳尊)

Thirteenth Floor, Saber Venerable (刀尊)

Fourteenth Floor, Art Venerable (術尊)

Fifteenth Floor, Illusion Venerable (幻尊)

Sixteenth Floor, Spear Venerable (槍尊)

Seventeenth Floor, Flame Venerable (炎尊)

Eighteenth Floor, Ghost Venerable (鬼尊)

Nineteenth Floor, Sword Venerable (劍尊)

Each one practiced a different kind of martial art.

And just like the Poison Venerable,

every one of them had trained their art to the absolute limit.

It was almost as though they had been waiting for someone.

Every one of them treated Baek Cheon-myeong as though he were the servant of another person.

And in the face of death,

they showed different emotions.

Some showed sorrow.

Some emptiness.

Some rage.

But all of them cried out toward someone other than Baek Cheon-myeong.

And every time that happened,

the same person appeared.

"Isn't all of this simply the fate of someone born under the Heavenly Slaughter Star?"

The man who spoke of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.

He appeared beside Baek Cheon-myeong in a different form each time.

He constantly spoke about the fate of Baek Cheon-myeong, the Heavenly Slaughter Star Lord,

and deliberately irritated him.

Whenever the man appeared,

Baek Cheon-myeong swung his wooden sword.

But before the blade could reach him,

the Tower clear would activate

and force Baek Cheon-myeong to return.

Because of that,

Baek Cheon-myeong's mood had become extremely bad.

He hated hearing about the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star.

He had even called it the Tower's disgusting hobby.

And that terrible mood inevitably fell upon...

"Aaaagh!"

The Floor Lords.

[Congratulations!]

[A new Floor Lord has been crowned on the Nineteenth Floor.]

[Floor Lord of the Nineteenth Floor]

[Baek Cheon-myeong]

Another Floor Lord had been crushed instantly.

Since the Eleventh Floor,

Baek Cheon-myeong hadn't liked a single Floor Lord.

Most had looked at him in terror from the moment they met.

So perhaps it was natural.

Then again, Tenzin of Vajra was probably the unusual one.

Lower floors favored latecomers.

Up to a certain point,

wealthy Hunters could consume huge amounts of elixirs

and force their way into record-breaking physical ability.

So several Hunters had received support from major corporations,

increased their raw strength to absurd levels,

and defeated Floor Lords weakened by the challenge restriction.

On lower floors,

raw power was everything.

No matter how skilled someone was,

their techniques meant nothing if their attacks couldn't damage the opponent.

Once someone had both a powerful Class

and a body strengthened through expensive elixirs,

defeating them became extremely difficult.

But that didn't apply to Baek Cheon-myeong.

His basic physical ability itself existed on another level.

As a result,

Floor Lords who had built their positions through corporate support

were broken one after another.

Citizens who disliked the arrogance of major corporations

loved it.

They had hated watching corporate-backed Hunters act untouchable as Floor Lords.

Seeing Baek Cheon-myeong sweep them away felt satisfying.

The Twentieth Floor already.

It felt like he had cleared the Tenth Floor only yesterday.

Time passed quickly.

"Master."

Kang Ha-min had been looking through another wave of social media posts

when Baek Cheon-myeong returned.

"Tomorrow, we'll be able to enter Grave Mountain again."

Ah.

Right.

The 480-hour cooldown of Grave Mountain.

At last,

the time to summon a new corpse was approaching.