Chapter 19
Upon entering the Subspace House, Suho struggled with the layered status ailments.
Indeed, Dragon Fear was far more devastating than any regular fear effects.
Suho gritted his teeth and took out the ‘Purification Potion’ he had bought in advance from Dongdaemun Market.
[ The Purification effect is activated. ]
[ The Fear debuff is removed. ]
[ The Auditory Hallucination debuff is removed. ]
After consuming the Purification Potion, all the debilitating effects finally disappeared.
Free from Dragon Fear, Suho lay down on the floor, finally able to breathe easily.
‘I thought I was going to die, seriously.’
Dragon Fear was one of the reasons Jang Pyeong-ho couldn’t defeat the Tower Dragon. He had only encountered the Tower Dragon once before.
However, Suho possessed the data on the Tower Dragon through Jang Pyeong-ho’s experience, which is why he had prepared the Purification Potion in advance.
His Cure skill was of little help. Dragon Fear, being a high-level debuff skill, required at least an A-level skill to be effectively countered.
‘Though it cost me a fortune.’
He felt fortunate to have received the scholarship money in advance. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to afford the expensive Purification Potion.
“Dragon Fear doesn’t build resistance after just one encounter… it’s unavoidable.”
Regular fear effects don’t recur after the first encounter. But Dragon Fear was different. Being among the highest tier of fear effects, building resistance required specific defensive items or skills.
This meant that every time the dragon used its Fear ability, Suho would have to escape into the Subspace House and drink a Purification Potion.
Therefore, he had bought a generous supply, enough to burst his stomach from drinking them.
“With this pattern, no wonder Jang Pyeong-ho couldn’t defeat it.”
Jang Pyeong-ho had prepared poison skills for his climb of the Tower.
By poisoning his enemies and then retreating into the Subspace House, he could weaken the monsters.
But this tactic didn’t work on the Tower Dragon.
Additionally, its powerful attacks like Dragon Fear and Earth Claw made it difficult to approach.
Despite all this, Suho was determined to defeat the Tower Dragon and solo clear the Challenge Tower today. He had prepared thoroughly.
After healing sufficiently, Suho checked his status window again.
– Lv : 39
– Class : Healer
– Strength : 95
– Stamina : 95
– Magic : 96
– Sense : 39
– Bonus Stats : 0
A Magic stat of 96.
He was slightly short of his target, but he had prepared something for such an occasion.
Suho took out the items he had bought from Dongdaemun Market one by one. They included a skill book and some miscellaneous items. First, he used the skill book.
There are several ways a player can learn skills, but the most common and representative method is through skill books.
Typically, skill books take the form of books, but rare skills can take on various other forms.
In this sense, the Basic Combination Spell he had just learned was a low-tier skill available everywhere.
But that didn’t matter.
The rank of a combination rune doesn’t determine the success rate of the combination itself but rather how well it can uncover hidden runes among the ingredients.
“No matter how basic a combination spell is, if it’s an absolute spell, it’s bound to succeed.”
Suho, having learned the combination spell, immediately activated the skill.
A combination jar, unique to the spell, appeared before him, and he began placing the miscellaneous items he had taken out along with the skill book into it.
[ You have placed Nameless Minstrel’s Instrument into the combination jar. ]
[ You have placed Nameless Janitor’s Broom into the combination jar. ]
He placed a total of three items into the jar.
These were items he had picked up from gates or received as rewards, but their use was unclear. There are more such items in the world than one might think, often classified as junk items.
These items were easy to find with a bit of effort at the market, but their true value was unknown to the world.
Not until a crazy pulverizer, often called a ‘Micropulverizer’, came along and ground them down to discover their secrets.
‘Well, thanks to that, I’m benefiting from it now.’
Having placed the materials into the jar, Suho began the combination process.
[ Combining… ]
[ Oh? The state of the jar is…? ]
Suddenly, the system flashed a meaningful message, and the jar began to emit a golden light.
[ You have obtained the First of the Triple Strike (S+). ]
[ You have achieved a great feat. The system grants you 10 bonus stats. ]
‘As expected.’
Suho smiled as he read the notification and then checked the item information.
– Rank: S+
# No presence, no interest, no trace.
# A new treasure created from items of those who unintentionally lived quiet lives.
# As the first item discovered through the combination spell, its rank has been elevated by one level.
# When equipped, ‘Achromatic Solitude (S)’ is always applied.
There are many ways to categorize items, but some people divide them into two types: ‘first’ and ‘not first’.
Items with ‘first’ in their name are the first of their kind to appear in the world, and they are usually ranked S due to their exceptional nature.
Additionally, a plus sign next to the rank indicates either a growth-type item influenced by the wearer or an item with a set effect.
In the case of the First of the Triple Strike, it’s the former.
In other words, as Suho grows, the item’s skill effects will also increase.
In his past life, Suho’s Triple Strike was neither S-rank nor S+-rank but merely A-rank. That’s because the original Triple Strike was destroyed by the so-called ‘Micropulverizer’ in an attempt to discover the combination formula.
‘Thanks to that, the recipe for the mass-produced Triple Strike became known.’
That is why Suho was now able to obtain the First of the Triple Strike. In the current timeline, it would still be a long time before the First of the Triple Strike would drop in a gate.
Of course, at the moment, the First of the Triple Strike was an unnecessary item for Suho.
Triple Strike was initially mass-produced because of its ‘solitude’ effect, which allowed people to move discreetly, avoiding the gaze of ordinary people.
However, the reason Suho had combined the First of the Triple Strike now was solely for the bonus stats, which could only be obtained once through the combination formula.
Suho laughed as he placed the First of the Triple Strike on his finger.
‘I ended up combining an S+ item just for the bonus stats.’
He suddenly realized just how absurd the privileges of a regressor were. The ring on his left middle finger adjusted perfectly to his size upon wearing it and soon vanished, becoming completely intangible.
Suho then reopened his status window to check his current stats.
– Lv: 39
– Class: Healer
– Strength: 95
– Stamina: 95
– Magic: 96
– Perception: 39
– Bonus Stats: 10
With 10 bonus stat points available, Suho invested 4 of them into his Magic stat.
[ Your Magic stat has grown significantly. ]
[ Congratulations! Your Magic stat has leveled up to the Red rank! ]
The moment he allocated 4 bonus stats into his Magic, the stat value, which had been at 100, reset to 1 and turned red, signifying the Red rank.
An “R” appeared next to the stat, marking its elevated status.
Suho chuckled at the notification, feeling how absurdly fast his growth had been.
‘I reached my first Red stat just before hitting level 50 in my previous life. This is indeed much quicker.’
Every stat level increases by one rank when it reaches 100, with a new color assigned to each level.
Players called this the Color System, and the highest rank achieved by humanity was the 700th-level Purple rank.
Suho was the first to achieve this rank.
However, not all his stats had reached the Purple level—his primary focus had been on Strength.
Given his current progress, Suho felt hopeful about surpassing the Purple rank this time.
He invested 5 of his remaining bonus stats into Strength, bringing it to the Red rank as well, and allocated the rest to Stamina.
He refreshed his status window to review the changes.
– Lv: 39
– Class: Healer
– Strength(R): 1
– Stamina: 96
– Magic(R): 1
– Perception: 39
– Bonus Stats: 0
With all preparations complete, Suho finally took out the crucial item for defeating the Tower Dragon from his inventory: the old spear he bought from Do-Young Hardware.
‘To awaken this, my Magic stat needed to be at least 100.’
Now that he met this requirement, it was time to awaken the spear. Suho began infusing it with his magic.
[ The consciousness of ??? is beginning to awaken. ]
The spear vibrated and began absorbing Suho’s magic at an incredible rate. This time, however, he could withstand it thanks to his Red-level Magic stat.
Suho focused intensely, pouring more and more magic into the spear until the rate of absorption finally slowed down.
At that moment, a flash of light burst from the once old and worn spear, revealing a sleek, black spear with a smooth surface.
[ The consciousness of the Gwiyeong Spear has awakened. ]
[ Congratulations. You have successfully awakened the consciousness of the Gwiyeong Spear. ]
[ The item information has been updated. ]
[ You have obtained the Returning Shadow Spear (A+). ]
Suho smiled at the notification.
The Gwiyeong Spear.
It meant ‘Returning Shadow Spear’, and it was one of the treasures once owned by the Shadow Lord, known as the “King of Shadows”.
Now, it was finally his.
