I tightened my grip around the dwarven supercar’s accelerator. We sped through the flames shooting up from the ground. The hot breeze mixed with ashes irritated our faces, but we endured it with our masks on.

“Wow.”

The demon realm that I’d only seen in movies or read in books passed by. Dark flame pillars shot up from the ground and monsters chased us while screaming.

However, my traveling companion remained silent. She simply watched the scene through her bear helmet and didn’t even ask about our destination. I focused on driving and ignored all the obstacles. We drove for about 30 minutes towards the GPS coordinate displayed on the Book of Truth.

[Lv.6 The Strange Valley of Darkness]

I finally found one of my discarded settings. I stopped the dwarven supercar at the entrance.

“We’re here, Boss.”

Many of the Tower of Wish’s settings had been abandoned. I had changed the original story a lot from my initial plans. It became more shallow and completely lost its originality. I passionately came up with the settings, but lost focus due to the pressure and lack of time when I wrote the story.

This won’t be fun. I only have half an hour until the deadline. I don’t have time, so let’s just skip this. Ah, this one is too difficult to describe, etc… I discarded dozens of NPCs along with more than 10 episodes.

The Tower of Wish arc became incomplete and full of holes. The lazy past me had left it that way, but I wanted to properly finish that story now. That’s probably what the co-author, who should be watching even now, wanted to see as well.

“Where are we?” I became slightly emotional when Boss suddenly asked.

“Huh? Umm…”

How should I explain? I stroked my chin for a moment.

“Well… ah.”

Something crossed my mind. I just had to come up with a similar excuse as I always did.

“I read some books in Prestige.”

“Books?”

Boss widened her eyes. Then she smiled for some reason.

“I’ve been reading a lot of books recently as well.”

She probably thought we shared similar hobbies.

“Not webnovels.”

“… Webnovels count as books too.”

Boss pouted. It had been a while since I last saw her like this. Spartan must’ve healed her somehow.

“Look. This author here is earning a ton of TP with his webnovel.”

She even tried to show me the novel she sponsored, but I stopped her.

“Anyways, I found this description in the book.”

I cleared my throat and recited what I had written in my settings book.

“The demon prison camp is hidden somewhere on the 5th floor. In this prison camp, human NPCs are treated as slaves to demons…”

A husband and wife pair should be inside: Kedrick and Lirko.

[5th Floor Slave NPCs – Lirko and Kedrick] 1. Two human NPCs locked up in the Valley of Darkness. 2. Kedrick is a master blacksmith and Lirko is a talented lancer. 3. Kedrick possesses an item called the [Mysterious Pocket] and Lirko is hiding an item called [Kedrick’s Ghost Sword]. 4. The [Mysterious Pocket] is a unique item that enables the user to bring something from inside the tower to the outside world. 5. [Kedrick’s Ghost Sword] is an excellent Lv.6 sword. 6. Kedrick and Lirko have high potential. They can grow to Lv.55, equivalent to most administrators.

The Valley of Darkness also contained Krakoon, the commander-in-chief of the demons.

“This valley must be that prison camp.”

“I see.”

Boss looked at the valley before her. The narrow canyon between two mountains looked dangerous. Boss turned to me after observing for a while.

“What do we get from saving the NPCs?”

“Huh? Oh, that’s…”

I couldn’t tell her that NPCs would later help us in a crucial moment. No, we had to make them help. Not just for the Tower of Wish, but also the many obstacles and devils in the future.

“NPCs can become useful.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Just look at my Riry Shop. Henry and Kiri are both on my side now, right? I earn more than 3000 TP per day. It’s almost like I’m cheating.”

Henry and Kiri grew quite rapidly. They became very tall after I took care of the famine. Well, maybe not that tall, but they certainly grew and already mastered a passive skill called the [Law of Thinking]. I also gave them a skill book called [Sharp Eyes] since they wanted to learn more.

[Sharp Eyes] was a rare basic skill that could measure an NPC’s abilities and hidden potential. I left it to Kiri since I couldn’t learn any more skills. Winning over an NPC allowed me to indirectly use skills that I couldn’t learn.

“We’ll probably receive an additional reward if we get rid of all the demons in there.”

Henry and Kiri didn’t possess any professions, but the couple did. I even wrote a description for Lirko along the lines of: Lirko can even overpower Kim Suho with brute force when freed from her shackles. I didn’t know why I wrote such a sentence.

“Let’s go together.”

I looked at Boss. Her dark eyes always sparkled like jewels.

“If you say so.”

Boss nodded as we headed towards the valley. We only took a few steps in when everything turned dark and we could only hear our footsteps on the sand. The Valley of Darkness sure lived up to its name, but my hearing grew sharper.

“Boss, where are you going?”

Boss suddenly changed directions. No, more like she leaned towards the right.

“I have no idea. It’s too dark to see.”

I grabbed her wrist before she went too far ahead.

“…?”

“Just follow me. I can see just fine.”

Boss nodded as we continued onward. The valley felt strangely quiet. Slaves should be digging for the dark ores buried here.

“Eh?”

Soon, we came across a dim source of light. A withered flower buried under the valley’s dark soil. I immediately checked its description.

[A Nearly-Withered Shamrock Plant]

The bud of this valuable herb gleamed with a white light. You could chew it whole or use it to make an elixir with the power to resurrect even the dead. I had planned to obtain it at some point. Unfortunately, this one neared its end.

“Boss, wait just a second.”

I stepped over to the shamrock plant. Then I took out the Orb of Regeneration in front of the dry, thin plant. The orb touched its leaves and gave off a faint glow.

The dried leaves and withered stems gradually stood up again.

However, it progressed too slowly. I inserted my magic power into the orb to speed things up. Woong. The orb grew brighter as the shamrock plant absorbed the flash of light.

[Lv.4 Healthy Shamrock Plant]

The plant regained its vigor and the white light flowing from its bud looked even more beautiful. I placed the plant in my inventory.

“…?”

Boss looked at me with wide eyes.

“What was that?”

“Oh, that? I just used the item that Medea gave me as a reward.”

“Reward?”

Koong─! A loud noise rang out.

“What?”

“It seems there’s someone else here besides us. I've felt a strange presence for a while now.”

At Boss’ words, my thousand-mile eyes stretched towards the noise before stopping at a mysterious player draped in a robe.

— Mmm?

He held the NPC Kedrick by the neck and would undoubtedly kill him. He glanced towards me as if he felt my gaze.

“There’s an enemy. Follow me.”

I took out the Desert Eagle and held Boss’ hand as I ran. Boss didn’t ask any questions and simply followed. Soon, we reached the unknown player.

[This place is a prison camp.] [The Valley of Darkness’ veil will be temporarily lifted.]

The darkness disappeared and the man’s figure came into view. I could guess his identity.

The second, or maybe the first existence, that wasn't in my original story. He called himself Bell.

“Damn.”

He stared at us and seemed startled, but soon smiled.

“You got the quest too?”

“Quest?” I frowned.

“I guess not. That’s fine. Long time no see, huh?” He scratched his head.

“Yeah.”

I replied while tightening my grip around the Desert Eagle. I didn’t know how he got here, but now seemed like a good chance. His existence always bothered me. I wanted to kill him at least once today. However, the man suddenly blurted something strange.

“No, not you.” Bell grinned and looked at Boss. Complex feelings filled his gaze.

“Hey, let me give you a piece of advice.”

“…?”

“You’d better get out of her way.”

Huge magic power suddenly erupted. The ground vibrated and the whole place shook. Only then did I look at Boss.

“Boss?”

Her facial expression remained calm despite her magic power. She gave off an ominous aura. The color of her eyes also changed. They turned blood-red, the eyes of Yaksha that I came up with in my settings.

“Long time no see, Byul.” [1]

Bell spoke to Boss.

***

[Lv.3 English Royal Court Guild’s Hideout]

The English Royal Court had one of the highest level hideouts in Prestige along with Essence of the Strait, Frost Sanctuary, and Desolate Moon.

— You know me, right? We met in Tutorial Town.

The events that took place yesterday played as a video in the hideout’s lounge. The title was: Aileen and Rank 1 in a Battle of Nerves. Rachel had recorded it for members who couldn’t attend the event. They watched the video in stifling silence.

— I don’t remember. Why don’t you just eat quietly?

Those words stopped Aileen’s prodding. The voice contained magic power that caused an echo in the soul.

The guild members slightly stiffened when the voice filled the room. They felt overpowered and awed even though it came from a video.

“To think someone other than the Spirit Speech Master could use magic power like that.”

The vice team leader, Davin, nervously spoke.

“It’s a big world with many great people,” Rachel replied. Containing magic power in words without an artifact was difficult and also inefficient. Without real talent, it would only increase the volume of your voice.

However, this didn’t apply to Aileen and the mysterious rank 1.

They fought using only magic power contained in words. This short battle felt fiercer than soldiers exchanging blades 1000 times.

“You’re right. I feel quite inferior.”

“Inferior? It’s not like we stood there and did nothing.”

Rachel smiled bitterly. The gap in strength felt too overwhelming. Those two had gone far ahead even though they all started at the same place inside the tower. Rachel became convinced of focusing on the 3rd floor instead of climbing higher. If a crow-tit wanted to win against a stork, it had to compete in a different field rather than stretching its legs.

“For now, let’s stop watching the video.”

Rachel turned it off.

“Land prices have gone up lately, haven’t they?”

“Yes. The profit is already 2500 TP.”

Kimbol, the person in charge of their finances, answered. The Royal Court guild invested 4500 TP to buy 2 buildings and 500 acres of farmland. They had earned the TP by hunting undead monsters, attacking hidden dungeons in Prestige, and chatting with NPCs to complete even the most mundane quests.

“By the way, vice leader.”

However, Davin still felt worried.

“If there is another residential area on the upper floors…”

“Of course, I thought about that.”

Rachel lightly cut him off.

“Most of the land should belong to NPCs if the new residential area is better than Prestige. We won’t be able to buy anything with our money. If it’s worse, our investment would be a success since that means there isn’t a residential area better than Prestige.”

Davin thought for a moment before nodding.

“Right. You would be perfect if you did a little less shopping.”

Rachel slightly narrowed her eyes. Cut back on shopping? She saved as much as she could and spent the extra money very cautiously.

“Let’s take care of today’s work.”

“Yes!”

Today, they would hunt monsters on the 4th floor. They could obtain item drops while training and leveling up their skills since the undead king and his minions continuously respawned. Rachel stepped outside with the Royal Court guild members. They walked through Prestige’s familiar darkness towards the crystal stele. Then…

“Eh? Rachel?”

A familiar voice called her name. Rachel looked back and tilted her head. An old classmate stood there. The man who always placed first at Cube, Kim Suho, the Sword Saint from Creator’s Sacred Grace.

“Suho?”

“Wow. It’s so nice to see you again.”

Kim Suho approached with a smile as a crowd accompanied him. As always, he stood at the center of attention.

“It’s been a while.”

One of Kim Suho’s companions stood out. Rachel’s eyes fixated on her.

“I met them on the 2nd floor. Ah, you all know her, right? This is Rachel, the English Royal Court guild’s vice leader.”

Kim Suho introduced his group, oblivious to her confusion.

“H-Hi. D-Do you remember me? I, uh, I went to school with you, too…” Yi Yeonghan stuttered.

“Yes, I remember.”

Rachel nodded at Yi Yeonghan’s words while still looking straight at someone else.

“I’m Vanessa Fermun and this is Paolo Fermun. We're from the Colaion family.”

An Italian woman, Vanessa Fermun, introduced herself along with her brother. Rachel also greeted them. Only one person remained. The one Rachel had been staring at this whole time. She couldn’t keep her cool and all the Royal Court guild members felt the same.

“Ah… Cough.”

The woman in front of them was one of the 70 master rank heroes in the world. A hero among heroes, a powerhouse who could kill a calamity grade monster with a single arrow. Everyone respected her skill and character and her title sounded just as brilliant as her accomplishments, Jin Seyeon, the Divine Archer.

“Nice to meet you, vice leader of the Royal Court guild.”

Jin Seyeon smiled at Rachel.

“I’m Jin Seyeon.”

“Ah, y-yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Rachel.”

“I know. I’ve seen you a lot on TV. Haha.”

Surprisingly, Jin Seyeon had a very straightforward personality. She seemed slightly different from how the media portrayed her as a gentle saint.

“Why don’t we shake hands?”

Rachel couldn’t tell if she was dreaming or awake. She remained dumbstruck even when Jin Seyeon reached out. Of course, she had heard that Jin Seyeon was looking for a ticket, but didn’t know the master rank hero had already found one.

“Ah, s-sure.”

Let’s think about it later. Rachel forced herself to remain calm and shook Jin Seyeon’s hand.

1. Byul, Boss' name, means star in Korean. ☜