People had been playing many RPG games before virtual reality games entered the market. It was undeniable that the number of players playing RPG games had significantly decreased upon the advent of Athenae. Regardless, the number of RPG players had already been on a constant decline even before Athenae appeared. Such a trend was quite sad.

The main reason for this was , often called auto-hunting. It involved hunting automatically on their computers. These auto-hunting characters began to occupy all of the dungeons, fields, and hunting grounds in the game.

The gaming companies tried to stop auto-hunting, but they could not find a way. Because of that, players, who were reserved about the increase in characters auto-hunting, began to leave one after another.

Just imagine the feelings of someone doing their best and struggling to hunt monsters to level up for six hours, only to see characters auto-hunting. It would feel like their six hours of hard work were all for naught. After all, an auto-hunting character could easily turn things around without doing anything.

This was the reason why the honest and hardworking players chose to leave the game and shelve them.

But the virtual reality game Athenae was different. Auto-hunting could not be done inside this game. This was his response when a reporter asked President Kang Taehoon about auto-hunting and how it ruined online games.

–

That was how confident President Kang was about his game. Of course, not a single player in Athenae was able to do auto-hunting.

Minhyuk’s new power, the clone bird, was similar to auto-hunting. After all, it allowed Minhyuk to acquire what the clone bird had hunted.

Minhyuk estimated that the acquisition rate would be around 5% or lower. But Minhyuk knew himself well. Since the clone bird took after him, Clone Bird Dodo would not pass up the opportunity to eat delicious food.

Dodo would hunt any monster that looked delicious, which happened to be on his path. As such, Clone Bird Dodo would continue to hunt monsters and repeat actions related to DEX.

What would happen if Minhyuk could get 1 DEX every six days?

Then, what about the gold and the EXP? Of course, Clone Bird Dodo was much weaker than Minhyuk. Because of that, the level of monsters he could hunt would also be significantly lower. Nevertheless, the amount of EXP that he could acquire would still accumulate.

Minhyuk was indeed in awe. He thought he might be a bit nicer to Dodo the next time he saw him.

While thinking about how he would treat Dodo next time, he went to the Tower of Growth, where the new Pillar Ingredient was.

***

People worldwide were waiting excitedly as if the final hour of the year before the new year was imminent. What were they waiting for? It was none other than Minhyuk’s Level 700 achievement.

What would happen if a player reached Level 700? The thought of Minhyuk growing stronger as the Battle God and the Food God and acquiring new stats excited them all.

Because of Minhyuk’s shocking level-up speed, all of them expected that he would climb over that wall quickly. Some even said,

Alas, Minhyuk’s level remained the same even after three days.

More and more people started refreshing the ranking page, temporarily paralyzing the Athenae community site. This just went to show how high the people’s interest in Minhyuk reaching Level 700 was.

Amidst the waiting people, a quick player suddenly appeared.

The people quickly flocked to Minhyuk’s post, only to be shocked out of their wits. This was because Minhyuk, who had always hidden important things like his HP, total defensive power, and attack power, had posted a screenshot of the EXP he needed to level up. The screenshot left everyone speechless.

Everyone’s burning enthusiasm instantly cooled down.

If Minhyuk hunted a strong Named monster, the amount of EXP he would get would be at least one billion. So, the experts predicted that Minhyuk would take at least fifty days to reach the next level at best. It might even take a hundred days too.

Of course, people were not only focused on the contents of Minhyuk’s post. Many of them also focused on the hashtags that he used.

As expected, Minhyuk was a man whose hashtags were related to food.

***

There were countless towers in Athenae. Most of these towers depended on their tower masters. Among these towers, the Tower of Growth was considered outstanding.

There was no better place than the Tower of Growth to gain EXP. However, the number of players challenging the Tower of Growth was lower than expected. This was primarily because of the tower’s system.

Varoghan made it possible for anyone to use every floor of the tower. In exchange, one had to pay three times the EXP they obtained if they failed to climb the tower. Losing three times the amount of EXP one obtained or obtaining less EXP? The loss would be more significant between the two choices when one lost their EXP.

For high-rankers who were more talented, the more floors they could clear, the more EXP they could get. However, there was a problem. There was no end to a human’s greed. Since they had cleared one floor, they would think they could break the next floor and probably the next one.

With every floor they cleared, the amount of EXP they could obtain would increase. The problem was the loss of EXP would also be more significant. After all, the penalty was losing three times the EXP that one had obtained.

Many of those who had lost the EXP they had gained and more would often choose to start from the beginning once again.

These thoughts lured them back into the tower and gave them the encouragement to try again. Whenever the rankers finally realized that they had succumbed to the tower’s charm and tried to quit, the tower master and supervisors would appear and encourage them to try once again.

A popular story involved a Level 630 player who experienced a level drop to Level 580 after entering the tower.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t any methods of targeting cases like this in common computer RPG games. Regardless, it was a method that they could not use. This was because the trials on every floor of the Trial of Growth would change every week.

This very same Tower of Growth was now attracting the people's attention. The reason?

“The Tower of Growth is holding an event?”

“It’s a Double EXP event?!”

“If that’s the case, then it’s worth the try!”

It was because the Tower of Growth was hosting an event for the first time. It was even a double EXP event! The best part? The penalty was the same and would not increase!

An old man stood at the top of the tower and looked at the players flooding the entrance to the Tower of Growth. This old man was Varoghan, the tower master.

“Fufufufu. This time, I am finally ‘The Teacher’.” Varoghan chuckled deeply.

Varoghan had been drinking the waters of the Spring of Eternal Life, and thanks to that, he had lived a very long time. Yet, in those long years, he could not discard the sense of inferiority from one man and one man alone.

The man that he was envious of was none other than The Teacher Beradon. Nevertheless, the information about The Teacher Beradon was not known to the world.

Beradon had always been lowkey despite raising some of the Eight Pillars. And Varoghan found it to be completely ridiculous. After all, one could gain enormous wealth, eternal glory, and even the respect of everyone in the world just by telling everyone that he was the one who taught them.

What did Tower Master Varoghan go by here? It was none other than “The Teacher, Varoghan.”

Varoghan was fully aware that it was a false title. Yet he still used it. He even lied through his teeth and said he was an Eight Pillar Candidate. However, these lies would become the truth sooner or later.

Varoghan walked until he stood in front of a huge egg. Dozens of twitching umbilical cord-like ropes were attached to the egg.

The egg was none other than the Growth Devourer. It devoured other people’s growth, eating the EXP taken as a penalty from those who failed to complete the challenge of the Tower of Growth.

The egg was already at the point of hatching. They only needed to gather some EXP to make it happen.

It could help others grow, but it could also hinder their growth. It had the power to hinder the growth of those who opposed it and allow those who followed it to grow.

“The Teacher, the foreigners have already flocked to the tower. Their numbers are enough to fill the entire tower.”Varoghan chuckled lightly. The reason why he gathered the foreigners here in the name of an event was so he could take more growth away.

Double the EXP? Of course, he would give it to them. In exchange, he would increase the difficulty from the very first floor. Even if they could break through the first floor, the difficulty level of the second floor would be much higher than the first.

Varoghan intended to use this method to take everything from these pig foreigners, who were blinded by growth.

“What if the foreigners clear the tower and reach the top?”

All the EXP distributed to the players came from the Growth Devourer slumbering inside that egg. If a foreigner broke through and cleared a floor, the egg’s incubation would increase and its size would grow smaller, a phenomenon contrary to what every single one wanted.

Nevertheless, Varoghan believed that it was fine.

“That won’t happen, no?”

The greedy foreigners would, for the most part, not be able to stop. This was especially the case if they could obtain double the growth.

“More than that, we have to make sure to let this guy eat well once he hatches,” Varoghan said as he looked over the one thousand blindfolded sturdy young men that were bound near the egg.

These men would be the food that the Growth Devourer would eat once it awakened to the world.

***

On the tower’s first floor, Varoghan stood before the vast crowd and said, “I, The Teacher, for your sake…”

He spoke every word carefully and with emphasis.

“I was once a candidate for the Eight Pillars but have chosen to renege and come down here myself…

“After all, the people had called me The Teacher, and I could not turn my back on you.

“Anyway…

“I, The Teacher Varoghan, have created an opportunity that can help you grow stronger.”

Varoghan believed that today would be the day he would discard his job as the tower master.

“The tower’s difficulty level has increased a bit, but there’s definitely a lot to be gained. You might have already known this: even if you all enter the tower simultaneously, you will all reach the second floor separately.”

The tower used a system where they were separated even though they came in together. Of course, they would still target the same floor in different locations.

“Of course, the highest EXP will be given to the first ones to clear the floors.”

“Wow…”

“Look at the EXP rewards…”

“As expected of the Tower of Growth!”

The players were all in awe. Varoghan was going to give them truly enormous EXP as a reward.

At that moment, a man, with the hood of his robe pulled down to his nose, wiped his mouth and raised his hand. Then, he asked, “What reward will one get if they can conquer this tower?”

The highest record of floors cleared in the tower, which had eleven floors total, was seven. Clearing all eleven floors? That was impossible.

Varoghan smiled lightly and said, “I will give you something that is considered one of the most precious things in the world. I can’t reveal any more than that.”

Varoghan thought, his tongue clicking in delight.

He did not expect to get his hands on it. Nevertheless, he could not touch it, let alone eat it. Varoghan thought that he would probably get the chance to eat it someday, so he kept it.

“Well then, everyone. Please come this way; you can climb the stairs and enter the tower. For your information, the Tower of Growth has three levels of difficulty. The growth that you will experience will depend on the level of difficulty that you will choose. The higher the difficulty, the greater the growth.”

Normal, Night, Hell. These were the levels of difficulty. The success rate would be significantly lower if the difficulty were higher. This was especially the case for the current tower, which had a higher difficulty level than average. For the first floor, someone taking on the Normal mode would have a 60% chance of clearing the floor. Night mode would have a 25% chance, and Hell had 5%.

The foreigners charged toward the tower like dogs in heat. It did not even take that long for someone to come out because he failed. The EXP taken from those who failed to clear the floor would be automatically delivered to the Growth Devourer slumbering at the top of the tower.

It had only begun, but the number of failed attempts grew considerably.

At that moment, the man, who had asked about what would happen if they cleared all of the floors, walked leisurely toward the tower. The man had an ordinary face and was around 178 centimeters tall.

The man asked, “Are you really The Teacher?”

“...?”

Varoghan flinched. Very few people knew about Beradon and his story. The number of people who knew about Beradon could be counted on one hand, even in the Luvien Empire. This fact gave confidence to Varoghan.

Varoghan nodded. “Yes. I was once a candidate for the Eight Pillars. But I grew sick of the title and abandoned it.”

The man looked at Varoghan from head to toe. Then he said, “I see. From the hairstyle to the clothes and even the expression. You even got his smile!”

“...?” Varoghan’s eyes widened when he heard the man’s strange words.

“The only difference is you’re ugly.”

Varoghan realized that this man knew the real Beradon.

The man slowly walked to the first floor.

“I assure you…” His voice sounded cold and dangerous. “This tower will fall today.”

“...!”

Then, the man finally stepped on the stairs.

Varoghan was left flustered and in disbelief. Just then, he saw the man choose “Hell” as the difficulty level. Seeing this, a grin appeared on his face.

“He’s nuts. Hell mode? And it’s even more difficult than usual?”

A few minutes had passed, but 40% of the people who entered the tower were already dead. There wasn’t a single one of them who had cleared the second floor.

Thirty seconds after the man entered, one of the tower assistants piped, “Tower master… the first person to clear the second floor has appeared.”

“Is that so? What level of difficulty is it? Is it normal?”

“No. It’s hell mode.”

“...?”

Varoghan’s expression was filled with confusion. Among those who entered the tower, only one person chose hell mode. Varoghan’s eyes were filled with shock. After realizing something, he hurriedly looked at the stairs connected to the second floor.

He could not help but think about the words that the man told him before.

–