I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 210: Episode 45_SVIP (7)

Episode 210

Chapter 45: SVIP (7)

8.

He had been a little worried.

’Just how strong are they going to be?’

The monsters on the 1st floor had been tough for him, even back then.

His level had been low, sure, but considering he had been wearing Legendary items at the time, he had suspected that the Trial Tower might scale its difficulty to match the player who entered.

He should have tested that theory on the 2nd floor, but thanks to Hwangdo’s performance, he had cleared it without fighting a single monster.

These were the first monsters he had faced since then.

It was only natural to be tense.

On top of that, he was holding a pickaxe with absolutely ridiculous stats.

’With a weapon like this, how strong do the monsters have to be?’

Enemies were closing in from all directions.

Roughly thirty of them.

By the time he had steeled himself, the monsters had reached the egg.

ROOOAR!

GRAAAH!

They charged in, screaming all sorts of things.

But their eyes were not on Kim Buja, who was standing next to the egg.

“Huh?”

They only gave him a quick glance before rushing straight toward the egg.

“What the hell?”

What were they trying to pull?

It took him a moment to process the absurdity of the situation.

Then, as the monsters began hammering at the egg with their claws, fists, and weapons, he finally understood.

’...So I’m not the only one doing this.’

And the reason for their behavior appeared in a hologram.

[Hatching]

▶ Grade: Cooperative/Competitive Mission

▶ Level: ★★★★★

▶ Objective: Hatch the egg

▶ Reward: Distributed according to contribution

Another mission was taking place inside the Trial Tower.

There was no rule against it, but this was certainly a novel twist. Normally, these creatures would have skipped the pleasantries and gone straight for each other’s throats. Now, they were forced to cooperate to break the egg.

The thought that he had avoided one grind only to face a worse one vanished in an instant.

“This actually sounds fun.”

’What’s the reward? What’s inside?’

His goal, which had simply been to break the egg, shifted. Now, he had to break it faster than anyone else and with a higher contribution.

The sharp sound of the pickaxe rang out again, and the nearby monsters all turned their gazes toward him. When they saw the tool in his hand, their eyes immediately filled with greed.

Some of them began to edge closer, their movements underscored by a sense of relief that the one holding the item was a mere human.

“Yeah. Of course they’d react like this.”

The monsters understood. They knew exactly what this pickaxe represented.

Kim Buja pretended not to notice and kept swinging with all his might. Then, the moment a few of them drew near, he swung it sideways without a shred of hesitation.

“Whoops!”

The blunt end of the pickaxe smashed straight down on a monster’s skull. The creature’s head looked as hard as a rock—solid enough to crack the egg before its own skull would—but with a wet crunch like a watermelon splitting open, its head burst. The headless body simply staggered in place.

The monsters advancing alongside it froze mid-step. The greed in their eyes slowly curdled into fear.

Watching them, he had a realization.

’So the Trial Tower isn’t actually that hard of a place.’

The first floor had only been difficult because his level was low, and the clear conditions had been calibrated to feel challenging for someone at his level. From the second floor onward, it seemed that specific conditions were becoming more important than just blindly killing monsters.

If that were the case, he would be confident.

CRACK!

With a louder, more forceful strike, the grueling labor of cracking the egg resumed.

* * *

The rhythmic clang of pickaxes was shattered by the ear-splitting shriek of a pterosaur. He instinctively looked up. A massive shadow, large enough to cover the entire egg, swept across the sky.

“What the hell?”

’What is it this time?’

He had already faced so many unexpected situations since entering the third floor that he couldn’t predict anything anymore. He tensed up, but at the same time, he felt a flicker of anticipation.

’What kind of entertaining situation is about to unfold? Is that thing going to drop out of the sky and smash the egg to pieces?’

Unfortunately, nothing of the sort happened. The pterosaur simply flew past, and in its place, several smaller shadows appeared.

’What are those?’

Driven by curiosity and instinct, he sprinted toward the objects falling near the egg. As they drew closer to the ground, their shapes became clearer. There were about five of them, each with a different form, but he was sure of one thing.

’Items to break the egg.’

They were probably similar to the pickaxe Hwangdo had found when they first arrived. He could tell just by watching the other monsters, who were still pounding on the egg with their own weapons or bodies. Naturally, there would be a huge difference in contribution between those with a specialized item and those without.

That was why Kim Buja was sprinting.

’I need to monopolize them while they still have durability.’

If the pickaxe had infinite uses, he could have avoided competing with the other monsters and quietly stayed in his spot. However, its durability was wearing down faster than he had expected. In the time since he’d started, he had already used up about 50 durability.

If the next supply drop came at a similar interval, his current pickaxe would be practically useless by then. To get a good reward from this mission—a mission that was both competitive and cooperative—he had to diligently secure items like this.

’Assuming that egg actually breaks, anyway.’

He decided to put aside his worries about an egg whose breaking point he couldn’t even begin to estimate.

Thanks to his quick reaction, he had started running the moment he saw the drop. Kim Buja was the first to reach the spot where the first item had fallen. Since the five supplies had landed in different locations, the thirty or so monsters had each run toward the one closest to them. The number converging on his target was roughly five or six.

The monsters running for the same item saw him arrive first, his speed boosted by the pickaxe’s stats, and snatch up the supply. They clicked their tongues in frustration and turned back. He had expected a fierce battle, but their surprisingly quick surrender spoke volumes about their intelligence.

Satisfied, he checked what he had picked up.

[Unidentified Laser Gun]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Durability: 210 / 210

▶ Attack Power +999

▶ Magic Power +422

▷ A laser gun from an unknown dimension. It appears to be suitable for melting the egg.

▷ It will be destroyed when its durability is depleted. It will be destroyed if taken outside a certain area.

He was left speechless.

At this point, it felt like the tower was just throwing random nonsense at him. In a scene straight out of a nature documentary—a verdant meadow teeming with wild beasts—what the hell was a laser gun doing here?

Then again, considering this was the third floor of the Trial Tower, where multiple dimensions overlapped, he supposed it wasn’t entirely out of the question.

His curiosity was piqued. A laser gun, huh? Just looking at the stats, it seemed to be about twice as good as the pickaxe. He wondered how it would actually work.

Standing a good distance away, he aimed at the egg and pulled the trigger.

A beam of light shot out. Despite looking like a small toy that fit snugly in his hand, the laser it fired was incredibly thick and destructive—a shimmering, rainbow-colored beam that slammed into the egg and scattered.

“Graaah!”

“Skreee!”

A few monsters shrieked and bolted away from the falling sparks.

He held down the trigger, but the laser showed no sign of stopping. He must have kept it pressed for about three minutes. Only then did he release it and walk up to the egg. What he saw made him stare.

“Holy shit.”

The egg’s surface was charred black. Of course, it was too early to be impressed just by a scorch mark; it might have only burned the outermost layer of the shell.

However, for the first time, the smooth, oval egg had visibly changed. The area that had been hit by the laser felt ever so slightly thinner. It wasn’t just his imagination; he could tell without measuring that the part that should have bulged out the most had been flattened.

He looked down at the laser gun in his hand again. This was the answer. Supply drops. The way to hatch the egg wasn’t endless effort, but a gear advantage.

He raised the laser gun to fire again, but nothing happened.

“...Guess I should save this.”

Lowering his hand, he hooked the laser gun to his belt.

▶ Durability: 120 / 210

That had been only three minutes. The pickaxe had lost about 50 durability over three hours of nonstop swinging, whereas the laser gun had burned through 90 durability in just three minutes. If he used up the rest of it here, he might be able to punch a hole through the shell.

He had done the math, but he held back for one simple reason: he wasn’t alone.

’I need to be able to protect myself.’

He had been lucky enough to get the pickaxe and the laser gun without interference, but a quick glance at the other supply drops told him that some seriously nasty monsters were out there too. On top of that, with every supply drop, another sixty monsters came charging in. It was a clear sign that the upcoming quests wouldn’t be easy, so he needed to be prepared.

The ultimate goal was to hatch the egg, but he couldn’t forget one thing. This quest was both cooperative and competitive.

CLANG!

He started swinging the pickaxe again at the slightly flattened spot.

* * *

The monsters gathered here were a motley crew. The fact that such a diverse assortment wasn’t fighting and was focused solely on the egg was an unusual sight. There had been brief skirmishes over the supply items, but once ownership was established, there were no major disputes, and they all returned to their tasks.

Time passed until another sound broke the silence. It was the sound of a simple realization.

"Come to think of it, there’s no food."

On this vast meadow, the only things that existed were the egg and the monsters. There were no wild animals or any kind of sustenance in sight. Even the supply drops had only yielded weapons; for about twenty hours after the laser gun, nothing else had appeared.

"Is it on a 24-hour cycle?"

He couldn’t say for sure. The important thing was that the monsters were growing increasingly hungry, which also proved they weren’t native to this place. Eventually, to fill their bellies, they would charge at the emergency rations standing right next to them.

Out of roughly eighty monsters, how many would be consumed as they tried to feed themselves?

"Hm."

The situation raised a lot of questions. If this had been a solo quest, he could have just hammered away without thinking. But there had to be a reason the tower had thrown a bunch of monsters together and told them to break the egg. He was seriously considering the fact that this quest was not just competitive but also cooperative.

Then he came to a conclusion.

"I’ll wait until the next supply drop, at least."

’When will this shitty situation end?’

Time kept flowing, and things kept getting more and more messed up.