Chapter 7

Infinite Skill Copying with EX-Grade Interpretation Chapter 7

“...No way.”

But my ability was telling me.

This really was an arrow made by elves.

Moreover.

[Elven Ritual Arrow]

─The arrow guides you toward a trial.

‘Guides me toward a trial...’

At the same time those words appeared, the tip of the arrow began to glow.

As though showing me the direction, a small cluster of light pointed ahead.

What was this trial?

Did it literally mean the dictionary definition of a trial as I knew it?

And.

‘Does clearing this trial give me something?’

I was curious.

Like the sage’s laboratory I had discovered before...

Maybe I could obtain some kind of reward this time too.

Slowly, while imagining gold and treasure.

“I should go check it out.”

I followed where the arrow led.

Toward the direction the light pointed.

Moving forward while using stealth to avoid monsters, onward, and gradually upward.

While moving like that.

The current floor was the ninth.

Fortunately, thanks to some kind guild members, the ninth-floor boss had died, so the path upward was open.

The only problem was.

‘Just how far is this thing taking me?’

I had no idea where exactly the light was leading me.

Moreover, above this was...

The tenth floor.

A floor that held significance for hunters in more ways than one.

It made me nervous, because passing this floor was the minimum requirement for being recognized as a proper hunter.

“All right, let’s go.”

Even so, I didn’t stop walking.

Hell, I stabbed a hunter above my level and won. There’s no way I can’t clear the tenth floor.

Erasing my fear, I kept moving.

Toward the stairs.

A faint light began seeping into the previously dark cave, and soon I could feel something like a refreshing breeze.

I could see it.

The scenery beyond.

“Whoa, damn...”

I could only smile quietly at the exclamation that escaped me the moment I saw the view.

It was a vast forest.

Yeah.

Not the shitty caves I’d been seeing all this time,

but an enormous forest, something you could never see in the city, spread out before my eyes.

─Whoooosh.

I enjoyed the refreshing wind for a moment and thought.

“So this is why you have to reach the tenth floor before people recognize you as a hunter.”

I had wondered why it had to be the tenth floor, but now I understood.

I finally felt it firsthand.

Everything I had seen in the Tower until now had only been a tutorial.

The real adventure started here.

─Clench.

I simply tightened my grip on my sword.

____________

I walked through the forest.

The scenery had changed, but just like the lower floors, I still had to stay alert in every direction.

No, if anything, I had to be even more cautious.

‘There are too many places to hide.’

Unlike a cave, a forest had far too many hiding spots.

The treetops, dense bushes.

Even behind the enormous trees.

There were countless places for monsters or people to hide, so I had to raise my guard another level.

If I let my guard down...

─Rustle, rustle.

“Hmm?”

I looked toward where the sound had come from.

Only the dense bushes were shaking.

Did I imagine it?

Just as I was about to turn my head, thinking I might have overreacted.

Something entered my vision.

A small flower blooming beneath a tree.

“Wait, this...”

I wasn’t especially knowledgeable about flowers or plants, but it looked familiar.

In that case.

[Using the ability ‘Interpretation.’]

[Pure Herb]

─A medicinal herb used to heal wounds.

─Excellent for relieving pain.

“So it really is a medicinal herb? Is the tenth floor really this different?”

Before the tenth floor, the only environmental elements in the Tower had been rocks and useless mushrooms.

Using Interpretation on them had been pointless... but now that the environment had changed, it seemed there were far more things I could use it on.

And it wasn’t just this one.

“This looks like a medicinal herb too.”

[Hemostasis Mushroom]

─Applying the mushroom’s juice produces a hemostatic effect.

“It’s an herb field...”

Besides those two herbs, when I looked down at the ground, countless flowers and grasses were growing there.

It actually made me curious.

What the hell were hunters doing, leaving all these valuable resources untouched?

Or was I the only one who recognized them?

It was a reasonable assumption.

Hunters were all money-crazed bastards, so would they really leave valuable medicinal herbs lying around?

It made far more sense to believe no one knew what they were.

No, that was probably the truth.

‘I recognized them because I have Interpretation, but who the hell would be crazy enough to chew on random flowers and smear them on a wound?’

Yeah. No one but a complete lunatic would do something like that.

Naturally, this was good for me.

Thanks to that, I could monopolize all these flowers by myself.

And.

“This means I can throw away this absolute trash-tier bottom-grade potion.”

The potion was ridiculously overpriced despite being garbage, and buying even one had made my hands shake.

Now I could say goodbye to it.

The herbs worked better, so there was no reason to use this junk anymore. You’re officially kicked out of my bag.

For now, I should gather as many as possible into my bag, and if I need more later, I can come back here...

─Zap.

─Clang!

“You bastard...”

I raised my right hand holding the sword.

“You tried to ambush me?”

─Kiiiiik!!

What stood before me was a gigantic spider.

I knew something had felt off...

‘Good thing I raised my stats.’

The instant I felt something strange, I quickly swung my sword.

If I had been even a little slower... I didn’t even want to think about it.

[Giant Spider]

─A gigantic spider that inhabits the forest.

─Paralytic venom comes from its enormous mouth.

‘So it has venom... I should avoid getting bitten at all costs.’

─!!

─Kiiik! Kiiiiik!!

The creature raised its two enormous forelegs.

Then it swung them at me like twin blades, and I responded with a faint smile.

─Whoosh! Whoosh!

Its sharp forelegs swept right past my face.

It was faster than expected, but not so fast that I couldn’t dodge.

And.

[Using the skill ‘Weakening (B).’]

You won’t be moving that fast again anyway.

─Kiiiiik!!

Perhaps realizing it had been afflicted with Weakening, it shrieked in fury, but it couldn’t move at the same speed as before.

Its strength also weakened as its speed dropped.

─Clang!

It had become weak enough that I could easily knock its attack away with one hand.

True to the term parry, I knocked aside its foreleg, and the moment it exposed an opening, I slid my sword back into its scabbard.

Lowering my stance, I immediately.

[Using the skill ‘Demon Flash (A).’]

─Slice!

Cut it cleanly in two.

I had killed a monster from the tenth floor.

Put another way,

my strength worked here.

The meaning of that was simple.

‘My current combat ability is at least third-grade.’

It meant that, just like that thug who had nearly killed me back then, I had also reached the same third-grade level.

No, with my skills, maybe I could even somehow handle a second-grade hunter, one class above.

[You have gained experience.]

[Skill proficiency is accumulating.]

[The proficiency of the skill ‘Trained Body (E+)’ is 66%.]

[The proficiency of the skill ‘Light Footsteps (E+)’ is 80%.]

“It’s piling up nicely.”

The more new experience accumulated, the higher the corners of my mouth rose.

Even objectively speaking, my growth rate was abnormally fast.

Who would have thought that someone struggling on the fifth floor would reach the tenth floor in just a few days?

Perhaps I should say it was thanks to that.

The speed at which I accumulated experience also seemed to far exceed the growth rate of others.

If I just kept pushing forward like this, I felt like I could raise my skill ranks even further before the day ended.

‘Looks like higher floors really do give more experience.’

It felt like being low-level and suddenly killing a strong monster, gaining a huge amount of experience at once.

At this rate, I might reach second-grade hunter status very soon.

No, maybe I could even reach a level beyond what I had only ever dreamed of...

“Come to think of it, what is this thing going to drop?”

─Crackle...

The spider, lying on its back as though proving it was dead, turned into bubbling black liquid and began disappearing.

When you killed a monster, corresponding materials would drop.

It was practically a law, so my chest gradually swelled with anticipation.

What would come out?

The forelegs that had threatened me earlier? Or maybe the spider’s vicious-looking fangs?

Or perhaps something like a venom sac...

─Thud.

What dropped before me was a black plate.

“What the hell is this?”

The thing in my hand was flat and incredibly hard.

Hard enough that tapping it with my hand hurt a little.

[Giant Spider Carapace]

─A carapace harder than steel.

─Flexible yet extremely durable, making it an excellent material for armor.

“A carapace...?”

It was the shell that had covered the spider’s body earlier.

As the one who had cut through it with a sword, I knew very well how hard this carapace was.

‘Armor really would be best.’

I placed the carapace against my chest.

It was larger than expected, enough to cover my chest comfortably.

Its size naturally brought a smile to my face.

Decision made.

“If I just punch some rough holes in it with my sword... and tie it so it covers both the front and back, that should work...”

Want to know what you learn from living dirt poor?

You naturally learn how to make clothes and repair them.

Because if you don’t, you won’t have anything to wear.

I attached the roughly patched-together protector to my chest with some cord.

“Oh... So this is why people wear armor.”

─Thump, thump.

Looking at the sturdy protector, I could feel the corners of my mouth rising.

To think I’d end up making and wearing my first set of armor myself.

Buying something like this outside would cost several million won at least...

I couldn’t help smiling at the handmade armor.

Yeah, why waste money buying it?

If I gather the materials and make it myself, it costs nothing.

And...

“It’d be a shame to stop with just a chest protector.”

Now that I had one piece of armor, I wanted more.

Since I’d already made one, wouldn’t it be nice to have armor for my arms, legs, thighs, and other places too?

─Rustle.

─Kiiik...?

I looked at the spider stealthily approaching me from atop a tree.

“Come here, you little bastard. I’m gonna fuck up every last one of you until your whole species goes extinct today.”

A full set is what makes it look good, right?

______________

“I feel like I’ve become a different person.”

Wearing the spider armor made me feel like I had become someone important.

They say clothes make the man.

Or was it clothes are wings? Whatever.

Anyway.

Clothes and armor really were important.

Just wearing them made me feel like my self-esteem was surging upward.

Yeah, if things keep going like this...

─Swoosh.

“This is...”

The deeper I went into the forest, the thicker the fog became.

My field of vision gradually narrowed.

I could feel the surrounding temperature dropping because of the fog.

Anyone who wasn’t an idiot would instinctively realize it.

‘This is the place.’

This was where the light had been guiding me.

And something unique to this place was beginning to take hold of me.

Forcing away the illusion that the thick fog was making it slightly harder to breathe, I kept walking.

As the fog grew denser, something began to appear.

“That’s...”

Beyond the fog.

A dark silhouette appeared within the white mist.

Tall stature and pointed ears.

Even from far away, I could make out a sharply sculpted face.

And the gentle gaze that quietly stood there watching me.

It was an elf.

There was an elf beyond the fog.

A real elf? Inside the Tower?

At that thought, I quickened my steps and ran toward it.

Along with the anticipation of whether it really was an elf, there were quite a few things I wanted to ask.

And one more thing.

I wanted to see a gentle and beautiful elf up close.

Clutching my chest, which had swelled so much it felt ready to burst, I ran.

“Huh...?”

As I drew closer, the number of elf silhouettes began to increase.

There wasn’t just one.

Could they have built a village in here?

And the light had guided me all the way here?

Once I had closed the distance somewhat, I waved toward them and shouted.

“Excuse me!! Are you really...”

─Stop.

My footsteps halted.

My eyes trembled.

My feet grew heavy.

And slowly, cold sweat began forming and dripping down my back.

What?

From far away, the silhouettes had looked perfectly normal, but as I approached, something seemed wrong.

They were far too angular to be human.

And.

─Zing!

A red point of light glowed in the center of their faces, staring straight at me.

“Huh...?”

Just as my mind froze in confusion.

─Fwing!

─Bang!

“Ugh...”

An arrow flew in and struck my shoulder.

Fortunately, I had made armor, so I wasn’t injured, but soon I was able to see their true forms with my own eyes.

Those weren’t elves.

Their faces and bodies were so angular they looked as though they were made of metal.

A red core-like object was embedded in their chests.

And their eyes had been replaced by a single red light.

Just as that realization fully sank in.

[Welcome to the Trial of the World Tree.]

“A trial...?”

[Survive against the golems.]

─Zing!

Golems.

They weren’t elves, but elf golems?

“This is fucking bullshit.”

Fuck.