The 31st Piece Overturns the Game Board

Chapter 195

Seol recalled a time when he was first creating what was now the Grave Robber’s Tomb.

“So why is this…”

Seol glanced at a man sitting alone in a corner, his eyes laser-focused on the game board.

A god, wearing a mask with strange leaves and branches protruding out of it, was engrossed in a game on his own.

He was a player that enjoyed playing on his own.

Seol slowly approached him.

“Excuse me… SturdyPaulowniaTree…”

“Seriously, why is this—Huh? Snowman? What is it?”

Not only was SturdyPaulowniaTree a renowned player, he was also the reason Seol became completely entranced by The World of Eternity.

“I have a request,” said Seol.

“A request? Ahh… a request!”

SturdyPaulowniaTree was quite the unique individual. He didn’t talk with the others and simply enjoyed the game on his own.

Despite that, he was extremely famous because of his piece.

“You've helped me out quite a bit last time. It's only fair that I help you in return. To be honest, though, I didn’t really mean that. I really don’t want to take on your request.”

“......”

His personality was also quite unique.

“Is your golemist… still alive?” asked Seol.

“Quite to the point, aren’t you?”

“Ah…”

“Yes, they’re alive! They’ve even completed their Exceptional Skill. That’s a secret, though.”

“A-An Exceptional Skill?!”

Even considering that this was the beginning of their journey into The World of Eternity, the high-ranking players were surprisingly weak.

This was because most individuals died during Adventures, and the high-ranking players were those who grew by avoiding dangerous encounters—individuals whose growth was stunted.

Though some players succeeded in multiple dangerous Adventures one after another, they all inevitably met their demise.

This meant that the number of pieces that knew Exceptional Skills could be counted on one hand.

As such, since the player in front of him had completed an Exceptional Skill—a symbol of high-ranking players—Seol was even more shocked and excited.

Anyone would be excited when seeing an expert of their hobby. Seol was no different.

“Wow… that’s incredible. Do you think I’ll be able to make one too?”

“Hahaha! I don’t know if you’ll come up with one as good as mine, but… I can see potential in you, Snowman.”

“Really?”

“No. I didn’t mean that.”

“......”

This was why he couldn’t get along with anyone.

Regardless, young Seol persisted, trying to overlook his words.

“So my request is…” began Seol.

“Your request?”

“I received a copy of a blank sentry golem and…”

“I heard about that. The trade was a loss for you, wasn’t it? I remember the treasure you sold being worth quite a lot.”

“It was. But a golem is more valuable to me right now…”

“Still, a shoddy sentry golem like that wouldn’t be able to protect anything…”

“That’s why I’m asking for…”

“Ah!” shouted SturdyPaulowniaTree. “Is your request to remodel it?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Golems are my expertise, you came to the right place. Remodeling? I won’t be doing it myself, of course. I’m just annoyed that my game piece will be doing it! More importantly… how did you want to remodel it?”

“Essentially, I’m trying to…”

SturdyPaulowniaTree expressed his disapproval after hearing Seol’s plan.

"Hm… are you sure that’s a good idea? Increasing its effectiveness isn’t an issue, but it seems like a waste to just keep it in your treasure storage."

“That treasure storage is the source of my power, though,” responded Seol.

“Also, it won’t be invincible just because it can use the powers of your treasures. You have some treasures with a lot of restrictions, comparable to Abomination-quality items, too, after all.”

“I wouldn’t be able to defend it otherwise. My combat ability isn’t too high.”

"Okay then! I’ll immediately get to work! Snowman’s treasure storage… no, what was his name again?”

“Gollun. Gollun, the Grave Robber.”

“Okay, I will immediately begin modifying the invincible golem that will defend Gollun, the Grave Robber’s treasure storage!”

“Yeahhhh!”

“Obviously, my piece will be the one making it, not me, so don’t shout too loudly!”

“...Okay.”

SturdyPaulowniaTree, as always, was a difficult man to talk to.

* * *

Seol recalled how he brought the large sentry golem here.

It almost felt like he was reliving those memories.

[Adventure 25-2. ‘Giant Outside the Rat Hole’

While you managed to survive the falling rocks, your current situation remains precarious.

Fortunately, you’ve made a discovery: the terrain here is highly unstable.

Through your investigation, you've discovered a rat hole likely used by the grave rats to sneak into the treasure room and pilfer its treasures.

In front of you lies a door, but you also notice a golem patrolling the room.

It appears that to escape, you'll need to deal with the golem somehow.

Objective: Defeat the golem or sneak through the next door without being detected.

Remaining Time [About 2 days]]

Thuuud…

Thuuuuuud…

The golem SturdyPaulowniaTree created was circling around the treasure room.

A large pillar stood at the center of the room, and the golem simply walked around it.

Thud…

Thud…

“Why not?” asked Karen. “We can just break it, no?”

Ur and Seol both vehemently disagreed.

[Intermediate Insight activates.]

[Physical Damage Mitigation is being applied.]

[Elemental Damage Reduction is being applied.]

[Tremendous Strength is being applied.]

[Brilliant Mirror is being applied.]

[Health Regeneration is being applied.]

[Elemental Restoration is being applied.]

[Thorn Armor is being applied.]

……

Countless more messages continued to appear even after this.

‘Did I… go too far with the remodeling?’

SturdyPaulowniaTree had poured his heart and soul into the golem.

Seol’s Eyes of Foresight quickly read through the golem’s information.

[[Masterwork: Paulownia Tree Sentry]

Rank: Heroic

Estimated Level: 32~36

Sentry golems seem to always appear where there are valuable items. However, they are typically slow, dull, and clumsy.

The Paulownia Tree Sentry, however, is different.

If you were curious why there were so few corpses despite the number of people aiming for this tomb, look no further than below its feet.

As long as treasures exist within the storage room, defeating the sentry will be difficult.

Surprisingly, this sentry isn’t made from paulownia trees.

Basic Skills: [Temporary Storage 3], [Treasure Power 5], [Utilize Everything 3], [Annihilate 5], [Self-Recovery 5]

Unique Skills: [Passive: Golem's Turf 2]]

After reading its information, Seol went into thought.

‘I won’t be able to slip past it as long as it is active.’

Seol then looked at the door the golem had just passed by.

‘The sentry can use the power of the treasures. We won’t be able to defeat it in the treasure storage.’

A golem that can wield the power of treasures.

It was a masterwork that SturdyPaulowniaTree only perfected after remodeling it over and over again.

- What’s that bag on its back?

- Does it get stronger if you put treasures into it?

- He’s like reverse Santa.

Like the viewers mentioned, the Paulownia Tree Sentry had a pouch-like object on its back.

With a hint of hesitation, Ur spoke to Seol.

- Destroying it seems possible, but... it will take way too long. I can already sense ten layers of barriers on it. We would need at least a day if we want to defeat a dumb lump of steel like that. Not to mention, even one hit from that thing will be enough to kill us.

“What do we do then?” asked Karen. “Could we just sneak past it?”

“No, that’s impossible.”

Seol quickly cut her off.

There were countless magic circles set up throughout the room.

Upon detecting any irregular movement, they would relay the signal to the Paulownia Tree Sentry, prompting it to fight.

“It’s set up so you’re forced to fight the golem unless you can fly.”

While the Paulownia Tree Sentry was only a Heroic-rank, it had gained strength way beyond its capabilities through placing a restriction on itself.

The restriction being that it can’t leave this room.

‘The problem is that we need to go through it.’

Seol then saw a few options before him.

[[The Paulownia Tree Sentry is guarding this room. What do you do?]

1. Attempt to converse with the Paulownia Tree Sentry.

2. Attempt to sneak through the Paulownia Tree Sentry.

3. Investigate the grave rats’ territory.

4. Use one person as bait to escape.

……]

All of those choices seemed dreadful.

Particularly the third, which would require Seol to not only backtrack but also inspect the mutilated corpses.

- We can’t fight the golem head-on. We already learned the terrain here is unstable, fighting it would be like asking for a cave-in.

Karen laughed after Ur’s warning.

“You can bring us out if it caves in again, right?”

- I don’t have enough mana to do that anymore. I squeezed out every last drop of my mana to do that back then.

“What do we do then?”

Seol rubbed his chin.

“I… have one method in mind, but…”

“You do?” asked Karen in response.

Sensing what Seol was going to say next, Ur spoke up.

- Are you planning to use the pocket watch?

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking about.”

The two were referring to the pocket watch that the triplets—one was dead when it was used, so—twins used.

For some reason, the Pocket Watch of Equality had transformed into the Pocket Watch of Inequality when Seol picked it up, its quality also changing from Abomination to Treasure.

Seol was trying to come up with a way to use it.

- At least you've got your head on your shoulders. It seems that the golem uses treasures to defeat its enemies, and... placing the treasure into the sack on its back is probably the method to prompt it to do so.

It only took Ur an instant to figure out the Paulownia Tree Sentry.

- Toss it in. I'm sure it'll do what you expect.

"How can you be so sure, though? It might not affect it, and... I don't even know how much time it has left."

- Trust me, I can guarantee its quality. Also, I can sense how much time it has left and who it can affect.

Seol was completely shocked.

“You’re guaranteeing its quality? How?”

- Because it is from Cagon.

“...What?”

- That pocket watch is from Cagon. I could tell right away.

“You’re talking about the empire you used to live in, right?”

- I am.

Seol was still shocked, but that pocket watch had been strange from the start.

“I knew its effects were ridiculous, but…”

An item with the effect of using one's lifespan to enhance power would never be anything normal.

- To clarify, it isn’t an ability that manipulates your lifespan, it manipulates time. Cagon’s wizardry was advanced enough to achieve that.

“Manipulating time…”

- When I was imprisoned, Cagon's wizardry had been divided into two distinct methods at the time: time manipulation and magic words. This must be a creation from the time manipulation side.

“Still… is it right to use this here?”

Seol thought using such a valuable item here to defeat the golem was a waste.

However, Ur disagreed.

- It will just be dead weight if we hold onto it anyway. More importantly, we need to extract the mana inside. That watch is essentially a clam hiding a pearl.

“A… pearl?”

- That's the distinction between wizards and magicians. Wizardry compresses mana for its utilization, allowing you to efficiently recover it. This principle also applies to the watch as well.

“And… what are you going to do with that mana?”

- Isn't my low amount of mana a hindrance to you? That's what it would fix.

“Is it possible for you to extract the clock’s mana yourself?”

- So, who's going to activate the watch? Just so you know, the clock is on the brink of destruction. Whoever activates it will likely be mentally assaulted.

Seol silently gave Ur a look as he ignored his question.

- No one else can handle the mana. An ordinary magician trying to absorb mana filled with personality like this would be burned alive. Only I, the origin of all wizardry, can control such pure compressed mana.

- I’m the goat, heh.

- I’m not even a human, heh.

- I’ll just die, I guess, heh.

In the end, Seol chose to use the clock.

During this entire time, the Paulownia Tree Sentry continued to circle around the room.

- So, who’s throwing the clock in?

“I should be the one to do it,” said Seol.

As he was the one who created it, he should be the one to destroy it.

- It’s coming. Get ready.

Fwirl…

Seol gripped the clock with his Shadow Hand and waited for the timing.

Thud…

Thud…

The rumblings grew louder as the Paulownia Tree Sentry lumbered closer.

Thuuuud…

“Now!”

Seol carefully placed the pocket watch into the Paulownia Tree Sentry’s pouch.

Thud…

Thud…

The Paulownia Tree Sentry showed no reaction and simply continued to circle around the pillar.

“Nothing… happened?”

- Just hold on a second. It will start soon.

As if Ur’s voice was the signal, the golem showed a reaction.

[Paulownia Tree Sentry used Temporary Storage.]

[Consume all of the stored item’s durability to activate its effect.]

[Paulownia Tree Sentry used Treasure Power.]

[The treasure’s effect is slightly increased.]

[Treasure: Pocket Watch of Inequality activates.]

[Paulownia Tree Sentry's stats have increased by ???%.]

[They lose ??? years of their lifespan for every 2 seconds.]

Tick tock…

The sound of a ticking clock filled the room.

Thud…

Thuuuud…

The Paulownia Tree Sentry continued to circle around the pillar without any issues despite the pocket watch activating.

‘I guess it will take a while for us to see its effects.’

However, contrary to Seol’s expectations, the results came quickly.

The Paulownia Tree Sentry seemed fine at first as it was walking toward the other side of the pillar, but as it was returning…

Creaaaak…

The golem began to crumble away.

Crumble…

Crumble…

The golem was slowly turning to dust.

Seol’s eyes were shocked open.

“So this is the power of time…”

- More accurately, the power of Cagon. Time manipulation seemed convenient, but there were a lot of discussions about it. Not to mention the side-effects that magic words don’t have… Well, regardless…

Crumble…

Crumble crumble…

Creaaaak…

Paulownia Tree Sentry began to lean before finally tumbling over.

Thuuuuuuud!

[You have defeated Masterwork: Paulownia Tree Sentry.]

[You have been given an additional reward.]

[You have earned the special achievement 'No Hands'.]

[You have earned the special title 'Invisible Hand'.]

Fwooooosh…

A fierce wind blew from the direction of the Paulownia Tree Sentry. Soon, a large, blue orb began to hover in the air.

- Excuse me, elf.

“...Huh?”

Fwirl…

Karen was swiftly returned to the Shadow Space.

[Ur, the Sealed’s Maverick activates.]

[Ur, the Sealed, gains Karen's stats as her summoning has been canceled.]

As Seol looked at Ur with worried eyes, Ur wagged his finger.

“Just a necessary step for the procedure. Well then…”

Craaaaackle…

[Ur, the Sealed’s Wizardry activates.]

[Ur, the Sealed, deciphers the unidentified mana.]

……

The pale blue orb unfurled like a string before being drawn into Ur's body.

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