Turns Out To Be a Genius Duelist

Exploration or adventure trials, Tower of Truth-seeker, finding an opponent worthy of b Predation}, or recruiting challengers in preparation for the Queen’s Match. These were all the other things he could’ve done in the 24 days until the next duel.

‘…I don’t even know if this is something I’m good at.’

Before starting in earnest, Yoon-seok finally considered his gains and losses. He had the Rank SSS Personal Skillbook that could only be used once. It started with checking (?) via this prejudiced book to not create a peculiar Rank SSS Unique Skill. But he suddenly thought, wouldn’t it be possible to make the kind of skill he wanted if he used this wisely?

[Lonely], [Same Sex Seducer], [Stupid], [Decisive], [Monk]. The representative keywords of the first day were a mess, but what if all five of them could be filled with similar context words?

‘Is it all or nothing…?’

Of course, keywords only made the skeleton, and it was the Personal Skillbook that set the details of the skill. Yoon-seok couldn’t guarantee what would come out of this, but it was worth trying.

‘Let’s do it.’

If he could make the skill how he wanted it to be, it was worth spending his remaining days doing only this.

‘There is a possibility in the Personal Skillbook since it’s Rank SSS.’

Transcendence, b Predation} and b Voracity}. Although it didn’t help much on the battlefield, maybe he could craft an ultimate growth ability exceeding these three abilities in development. Yoon-seok wanted that kind of thing.

「Strength stats increase by 0.000001%.」

After finishing the first set of 100 reps as a test, Yoon-seok smiled. His stats would increase only if he did another 100 million sets were not surprising. Didn’t he quit exercising because of the lack of effectiveness?

—Repeat lifting movements 100 times with two 15T dumbbells in both hands.

*Very interested in increasing muscle strength.

At least that had been confirmed. No matter how prejudiced this book was, there was no room for unusual interpretation given the current situation.

*Blacksmith Apprentice’s Bracelet (Rank D+) – A bracelet made by ancient blacksmiths to improve muscle strength. When used, a weight equivalent to half one’s muscle strength is added.

Yoon-seok also slapped on the bracelets. But was it because his strength rank had improved since then? The dumbbell was much lighter than he thought. The increase to his strength was still very low, and most of all…

‘I’m still dry.’

He wasn’t sweating. Sweat dripping from one’s forehead was proof they were growing stronger.

—Buys two 30T weight dumbbells using 40,000 MP.

**Doesn’t hold back against investing in strength.

Yoon-seok lifted the newly weighted dumbbell.

「Strength stats increase by 0.00002%.」

*Very interested in increasing muscle strength.

It wasn’t noticeable when the decimal point was that long, but when he put on the bracelet and increased the weights, the rate of increase boosted by twenty times. But it was still not enough.

Swish.

His forearms tingled as he worked. It was much better than before, but no sweat flowed from his forehead. No, not just sweat. When muscles and skin were torn, and blood and sweat flowed. He clenched his teeth, endured the pain, treated his muscles using magic, and finished the last set after the message that his endurance and physical strength had increased appeared.

‘…What should I do?’

Yoon-seok faced an unexpected difficulty. The store was integrated, so he searched just in case, but they didn’t sell more than 30 tons of dumbbells.

‘Now this is getting awkward.’

Yoon-seok couldn’t customize it either. Earth was entering a new era of exploring the knowledge of the Tower, but still. How could they produce dumbbells well over 30 tons? Would it be different if he was a special skill challenger related to production?

‘…Oh? No, wait a minute.’

Struggling for a while, Yoon-seok suddenly stopped in place.

‘Metallurgy.’

Come to think of it, Yoon-seok also had a Unique Skill related to production.

‘It would be better to strengthen this than make a new one.’

The dumbbell was worth 20,000 points.

‘Let’s try adding an ability first.’

「10,000 MP is used to give a special ability to heavy dumbbells.」

「10,000 MP is used to give a special ability to heavy dumbbells.」

「10,000 MP is used to give a special ability to heavy dumbbells.」

「You can’t add any more abilities.」

Add Ability added special abilities by spending 50% of the selling price.

*Heavy Dumbbell (Rank D) – An exercise tool used by an unknown ancient race.

Total weight, 30 tons.

Indestructible.

+Cannot feel the pain.

+35% chance of knocking out an opponent during an attack.

+Feel 2x fatigue.

Yoon-seok’s eyes glinted while he checked the added abilities. Aside from the small options such as painless and knocking out, feeling twice the fatigue? Did that mean that the exercise efficiency doubled? It was necessary to test it.

「Muscle strength stats increase by 0.00004%.」

‘…Incredible.’

Yoon-seok thought he was foolish before this. Why didn’t he strengthen his exercise equipment with {Metallurgy} back then? While he was at it, Yoon-seok finished giving three new abilities to the remaining dumbbells. But what was this?

+When using, magic stat increases to a maximum of +3 depending on fatigue.

+35% chance of knocking out an opponent during an attack.

+35% chance of knocking out an opponent during an attack.

It was one the same dumbbells, but the assigned abilities were different.

‘…This was randomly assigned?’

Adding abilities at random and even duplication was possible.

‘Hang on. Doesn’t that mean the doubled fatigue option can be added twice?’

Yoon-seok purchased several dumbbells for testing the idea. And after several experiments, his hypothesis was proven.

+Immune to heat-related abnormalities.

+Feel 2x fatigue.

+Feel 2x fatigue.

It worked.

「Strength stats increase by 0.00008%.」

Yoon-seok felt a great possibility in this knowledge. Apart from creating an ultimate growth ability, the initial 100 million sets were quickly reduced to 1.25 million sets. Of course, it was still an astronomical amount of exercise… but why wouldn’t he put the option of increasing fatigue in all six spaces on each side of the dumbbell?

‘Let’s see; it’s a total of twelve times with three on each side. Then…’

Yoon-seok froze.

‘My rank increases if I do 100 sets 78,000 times?’

When he was in Rank A, he had to do 160,000 sets over three weeks. But now that his strength had reached Rank S+, his stats would increase in half the time?

‘I still have to match the dumbbells first if I were to do that…’

There were a total of eleven random abilities that could be assigned to the Heavy Dumbbells (Rank D) with b Metallurgy}. He had to embed the same option three times. Then, what was the probability?

“…”

Yoon-seok didn’t have to calculate. He was going to try until it worked anyway. Yoon-seok refunded the failed ones at 50% of the price and repeatedly purchased new ones to add abilities. By the time he used up the 4 million MP left for Skill Synthesis-

+Feel 2x fatigue.

+Feel 2x fatigue.

+Feel 2x fatigue.

The first dumbbell was completed. Yoon-seok wasn’t satisfied with this and tried to complete the remaining one. By the time he invested about 4 million more AP, Yoon-seok had gotten his hands on the second enhanced dumbbell.

‘Of course, the ratio must be balanced on both sides.’

Yoon-seok was satisfied and lifted the dumbbells. However, the watching book had to ruin the mood.

—Used a total of 9.16 million points to create the desired exercise equipment.

*****Tends to enjoy inefficient spending.

Inefficient spending… Yoon-seok could understand why it looked like that since the Rank S upgrade only cost 6.14 million points. In addition, the loss would be greater considering the opportunity cost of doing something else during exercise time. But…

「Strength stats increase by 0.00128%.」

Sweat dripping like rain off his brow. His triceps swelled up and twitched every time he lifted it up and slowly let it down. The pain of muscles tearing and the periodically rising strength and durability stats prove it.

「Durability stats increase by 0.0007%.」

「Strength stats increase by 0.0012%.」

At this moment, Yoon-seok was growing stronger. Day after day of hard practice flew by.

—Day 2. [Muscle Lover], [Training Enthusiast], [Lunatic], [Devotion], [Strengthen Self without Stopping]

—Day 3. [Muscle Expert], [Training Maniac], [Contempt for the weak], [Strengthening], [Physical Training]

—Day 4. [Muscle Worshiper], [Disciplinarian], [Fitness Master], [Development], [Fitness Equipment Collector]

Except for checking the keywords occasionally, Yoon-seok spent his time only training.

‘Fitness equipment collector…’

The waiting room, which had been empty without any furniture, was now filled with various pieces of iron. Yoon-seok bought these to help him exercise because he thought it was boring and inefficient to only lift weights day and night. Well, he used a lot of points as a result…

‘But I don’t get tired this way.’

Exercise had become more fun sitting on the bench and lifting dumbbells. Or lying diagonally on the angle-adjustable bed and doing sit-ups while lifting dumbbells. Sometimes he went through the closet leading to a subspace garden and ran crazy with the dumbbells. Regardless of what he did, ten days had passed since he started exercising.

—Day 11. [Muscular Apostle], [Intermediate Disciplinarian], [Breaking the limit], [Evolution], [Macho]

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

Yoon-seok’s strength had finally ranked up. As a result, the rate of increase plummeted, but it wasn’t a problem.

「Heavy Dumbbells have been strengthened.」

「Heavy Dumbbells have been strengthened.」

「Heavy Dumbbells have been strengthened.」

All he had to do was enhance the weight to match.

‘If this continues, I think I can rank up again before the next duel starts.’

Even without the Personal Skillbook, given that more than 13 million points were needed to raise a rank from Rank SS, the growth wasn’t too bad.

‘But it’s a little disappointing…’

Yoon-seok, who finished 100 sets of chin-ups using a hanger that looked like an iron bar, lept down to the floor. Then, he clicked his tongue after taking off the dumbbells around his waist.

‘Can I not do something about my agility?’

It was good to see his muscle strength increasing smoothly, but something was missing. Breaking the limit, evolution, devotion, training, development. He gathered enough keywords related to growth and several keywords related to physical strength and durability, such as muscle worshiper. But none for agility yet.

‘In retrospect, it’s good in duels… fewer people hit me. And time slows.’

Yoon-seok’s agility sometimes improved when he ran in the garden, but it wasn’t as much as avoiding all-out attacks.

‘As expected, should I use b Predation}?’

Finding the right person and dragging them to the arena. If he didn’t think about the keywords, that was the best option.

‘…I’m just getting greedy.’

Except for the first day, Yoon-seok devoted all his time to growing. It was all because he could create the ultimate growth skill using this Rank SSS Personal Skillbook. However, if he entered the arena, chances were high that a keyword related to battle would be attached to him. Well, just a few keywords wouldn’t change the outcome, but…

“…”

For some reason, Yoon-seok had a hunch that if he only chased after the benefits in front of him, he would miss something bigger.

‘…Okay, since I’ve decided to put everything aside, let’s just finish it all in one place.’

Soon, Yoon-seok made his decision. However, he wouldn’t give up on agility training. Come to think of it; he didn’t have to go to the arena for agility. Besides, the people he met there wouldn’t cooperate if he asked them to hit him, unlike the affectionate people from back home.

Yoon-seok returned to Earth to visit Ashton. Worried the book might get weird ideas again, he talked about the matter as concisely as possible.

“Can you invite challengers from the 15th floor and above?”

Ashton did not wonder why. He only asked:

“How many people do you need?”

Yoon-seok answered without any hesitation.

“As many as you muster.”

The more, the merrier.