Turns Out To Be a Genius Duelist

‘Did it… sound like a proposal?’

Yoon-seok acknowledged he did hold some responsibility.

—…I want to be with you. Now and in the future.

Come to think of it, he’d heard a confession-like statement from Elle. Of course, Yoon-seok, who was flustered at the time, quickly changed the subject, but… perhaps Elle thought this was his answer. Then, how should he resolve this misunderstanding?

“You know, Yoon-seok. You don’t have to tell me if you’re shy. I’m extremely happy right now….”

How was he supposed to talk to Elle, who was happily blushing and twisting her body side to side? Elle suddenly bowed her head.

“Of course! T-that thing is still a little scary… if it’s Yoon-seok, I think I’ll be able to take your courage…”

Slowly becoming anxious, Yoon-seok asked her:

“That thing…?”

Only then were his instincts ringing the alarm. He didn’t know why but he felt like he had just made a huge mistake. As always, his ominous hunch was right.

“T-that Su-yeon lady who mentioned how babies are ma…”

“Stop.”

Curiosity only led to disaster. He shouldn’t even dare to ask what that thing was. Elle was flustered and wrapped her hands in front of her shirt when Yoon-seok stood up.

“E-even so, I need time to be mentally prepared…! Y-you’re not done eating yet…!”

No way. Did that mean it was okay if it was after the meal? He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to think about it. Yoon-seok touched his throbbing forehead.

“…”

He suddenly became curious. Why was he always busy thinking about the past like Rick? No way, was this always what the Tower had planned?

‘Should I find the shaman Su-yeon mentioned…’

Yoon-seok’s headache worsened.

“T-try it first. No, please try it?”

Elle, whose face was bright red, changed the subject and urged Yoon-seok to eat. Eager to leave this conversation behind, he picked up his cutlery. He ate mechanically, his body creaking with every movement.

“…”

Did she imagine what would happen (?) after the meal? No clue, but Yoon-seok, who finally finished eating in that awkward silence, sighed loudly.

“W-what should we do now…?”

What did she mean by that? He wanted to shout, but he felt the coolness of an invisible blade poking at his neck. Elle continued shyly after cleaning the table.

“I did wash up first…”

It was the first time he had wanted to run away since he came to the Tower, but he shouldn’t. He was able to come this far because he’d faced countless enemies face-on, and it was the same for now.

“Excuse me, Elle…”

“Yes?”

After swallowing his fear, Yoon-seok made up his mind.

“That’s… I think it’s still too early….”

This was the best he could do at the moment. Of course, it would be great if he could say it clearly and resolve this misunderstanding… but those words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

“…I-I, know, right? I-I’m sorry. I heard that all men wanted to do it quickly….”

Elle must’ve heard it from the same admin who told her about the table for two. He didn’t know who it was, but Yoon-seok felt the urge to go and kill them.

“…Not everyone is like that.”

“I-I see…”

Elle nodded as if she had learned something about Yoon-seok.

“Then, let’s do that later if that’s what you think… shall we drink tea together today?”

“…Yes. I would love to.”

For now, Yoon-seok felt he had overcome a crisis.

Yoon-seok ran away from Elle’s cabin and returned to the waiting room after finishing his tea. Well, he wasn’t able to test if Soul Bond would work on Elle because of that, but he didn’t regret it.

‘And I still have no idea what this skill is…’

If this skill could summon the contracted target to fight together, it would be best to use it on Elle. On the other hand, what if they shared abilities instead of summoning? Then, it would be better to sign with Cheon-ma or Lee Su-yeon. Either way, they were the colleagues who would help him deal with the Tower and the Queen.

‘Let’s think about this later…’

Yoon-seok stood up from his position strewn out over the floor to check his points. 35.4 million MP and 37 million AP.

‘Let’s say we keep AP or WP, but MP is gone anyway, so it’s better to use them all.’

Yoon-seok decided to use up the remaining MP. Before that, he decided to open the Random Box.

*Random Box (Rank SS) – When the box is opened, up to three random pieces of equipment, skills, and special items from Rank S-SSS can be obtained.

There was no selling price because it wasn’t sold in the store. However, growing curious, Yoon-seok converted the value of this item into points in his mind.

‘If I get a Rank S, it would be around 6 million points. If I can get three Rank SSS items, would it be at least 100 million points?’

The average point was about 50 million points.

‘Please, let’s just go with the middle…’

Yoon-seok carefully put his hand on the box.

「You have opened the random box.」

「Please choose a random ball.」

As the box opened, colorful balls floated in the air and spun around him.

‘All I have to do is choose one of these….’

Yoon-seok observed the rotating balls. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, navy, purple. There were no characteristics other than different colors. In the end, it meant that he had no choice but to rely on luck.

「You chose a random ball.」

When Yoon-seok caught the red ball, the others disappeared.

「You can choose up to three times.」

It looked like the choice just now was to determine the number of items he could obtain. That was a good start.

Yoon-seok observed the hundreds of balls that appeared again in the air. Unlike before, the color was constant, and instead, symbols were engraved on them. There were three types of marks.

‘The cross between an axe and sword is likely equipment, the fist shape is a skill, and the potion-like thing a special item…’

There was no explanation, but it was so straightforward that it was unnecessary.

‘What should I choose?’

Yoon-seok wasn’t the type to get help from equipment, and he had plenty of skills. Therefore, since he had three chances, he chose special items first as a test.

「Acquired Steel Upgrade (Rank S).」

「Remaining choices 2/3」

‘The start’s Rank S…’

The start was disappointing, but Yoon-seok quickly used Appraisal after snatching the upgrade that fell as the ball split.

*Steel Upgrade (Rank S) – Physical strength and durability below S+ are increased by 2 levels.

An upgrade that ranked up two abilities at once. Ranking up a stat required 6.14 million AP, so even if it was Rank S, it was worth about 24 million points. But…

‘But why does it have to be strength and durability…?’

It was disappointing that it wasn’t something like agility that he was planning to slowly upgrade anyway.

「Rank of strength (S-) has increased.」

「Rank of strength (S) has increased.」

「Rank of durability (S-) has increased.」

「Rank of durability (S) has increased.」

Yoon-seok used the upgrade without hesitation. Whatever it may be, eat what’s good for your body first. When he thought about what ball he should choose next, Asura popped out of his front pocket.

“Grr, grr!”

“…You want to try it too?”

“Grr!”

“…”

‘Since there are two chances left…’

“Okay, you should try it too.”

“Growl!”

With Yoon-seok’s permission, Asura moved up to his shoulder and bowed to thank him. Then he jumped high and snatched a rotating ball.

‘He chose equipment?’

Equipment was most likely to produce items that Yoon-seok didn’t need. However, he could change the equipment into points by recycling it with b Metallurgy}.

‘Please, at least get a high rank…’

「Acquired Ring with the Genie of Love (Rank S).」

「Remaining choices 1/3」

Two of his big opportunities were already blown.

‘…S rank again?’

Furthermore, it seemed useless given just the name. Genie of Love? It was obvious that it wouldn’t help him fight.

‘But it’s not something that’s sold in the store…’

Did he pick a good item? Yoon-seok decided to check.

*Ring with the Love Genie (Rank S) – A ring with the soul of a great spirit who died after being single all his life.

Women’s likeability is quantified when worn. When worn, women’s emotional state appears in color. When talking to a woman, the genie of love will give advice.

Rub, rub.

Yoon-seok rubbed his eyes without realizing it. However, the information didn’t change.

“That’s it?”

It was Rank S equipment. However, all three abilities attached to it were horrible.

‘Even so, why would you pick such a useless…?’

As Yoon-seok stared, Asura tilted his head innocently. Almost as if he was saying…

‘I chose what you needed the most, but why are you looking at me that way?’

“…”

Yoon-seok put the ring on. Aside from the advice, seeing one’s emotional state could be useful for psychological warfare. And if it wasn’t as good as he hoped, he could still recycle it later.

‘This is the last one…?’

Yoon-seok stared at the spinning orbs.

‘Hold on. If it’s from S to SSS, doesn’t that mean there will be no skills?’

Yoon-seok observed the balls with fist marks. Skills only went up to S rank. Even in the case of general skills, it turned into power as soon as it reached S.

‘What happens if I choose this? If the rank is high, do they give us multiples?’

Yoon-seok decided to choose one.

「Acquired Personal Skillbook (Rank SSS).」

「Remaining choices 0/3.」

「Random Box will disappear.」

The box crumbled. At the same time, Yoon-seok’s eyes widened.

‘Rank SSS?’

Wasn’t this the highest he could get from a random box? Yoon-seok quickly picked up the book that fell to the floor.

*Personal Skillbook (Rank SSS) – When used, all your actions are recorded in the book for 30 days, creating a Unique Skill that matches them. Performance decreases or increases depending on the rank of the book.

Caution, Personal Skillbook that rank S- and above can only be used once.

Yoon-seok nodded. The Personal Skillbook did change after Rank S.

「You used Personal Skillbook (Rank SSS).」

「Ending in 719:59:59.」

When he used it, a book appeared and began following Yoon-seok.

“Is it working?”

—Murmuring to himself, ‘Is it working?’ *Need someone to talk to.

This was just the beginning. In the future, an extraordinary skill might be created, but for now, he would have to pay attention to his words and actions.

—Increases strength using 6,144,000 MP.

*Prefers strength.

—Increases agility with 6,144,000 MP.

*Prefers to be fast.

After ranking two of his stats to S+, 23 million MP remained. After that, the remaining points would be used to upgrade one Unique Skill to S and synthesize the remnants with Skill Synthesis later.

‘Let’s do that later…’

After completing his inspections, Yoon-seok sent Lee Su-yeon word through Communication and headed straight to Earth. Now that the Mission Tower had closed, he would check to see any problems on Earth.

—Sent a message to Lee Su-yeon, ‘I think you have to go on exploration alone. I’m going to Earth.’ *There is a tendency to report his every move to women.

‘More like I tend to move efficiently.’

Feeling dissatisfied with that subjective interpretation, Yoon-seok raised his head.

“You’re here.”

Ashton, amid work, noticed and greeted him.

‘Come to think of it, the last time I was on Earth, I was here.’

“I’ll get going now. Please speak comfortably.”

Ashton’s secretary gave way when Yoon-seok appeared. However, he could see the likeability score above her head thanks to the ring he wore as she left.

[55]

Well, it was useless since he had no point of reference. But he never caused her any inconvenience, and she was a member of the Challenger Alliance, so she at least probably didn’t hate him.

‘It’s probably not low.’

“What did you gain from your mission?”

Soon after, Ashton put down his work, made tea, and sat in front of Yoon-seok. His eyes glinted like a child begging his parents to tell him a story.

He suddenly became a little curious. What would Ashton’s likeability score be?

‘I think I can see it for a moment with Lady’s Commandment…’

Yoon-seok raised his magic.

「 To Lady’s Commandment, the effect of Ring with the Genie of Love ignores gender within the radius.」

Magic was pouring out just to maintain it for a second, so Yoon-seok quickly checked over Ashton’s head.

[499]

‘The perfect score must not be 100 points.’

Then, what was the maximum? He didn’t think it would exceed 500, seeing how Ashton was leisurely waiting for an explanation even though Yoon-seok suddenly used Lady’s Commandment.

‘As expected, I don’t have to worry about betrayal.’

Yoon-seok was satisfied and deactivated Lady’s Commandment. And that moment, new words were recorded in the book that followed Yoon-seok to Earth.

—Checks Ashton Jackson’s likeability by consuming most of his magic.

*****Cares a lot about men’s affection.

There were five stars…

‘…It’s getting worse?’

He wanted to ask aloud, but Yoon-seok closed his mouth. He thought he should be more careful in the future. Indeed, what skill would come out based on that? Yoon-seok didn’t want to know.