Only My Skill Tooltip Is Strange

Chapter 97

The Namgung Family. It’s quite a prestigious family. Among the Five Great Families, it boasts one of the highest positions.

Even the well-known gossips, notorious for their light talk, stiffen their tongues when it comes to the Namgung Family. They know it’s futile to slander them.

They also know it’s best not to offend the Namgung Family, as they don’t know what kind of consequences might follow.

But this is the Tower of Struggle. It’s a new world where the strength of the central plains’ sects and families doesn’t reach.

Even the top martial artists, who were so full of themselves, fall to the skills of the Soul System and end up dying.

Gok Gyeom, a third-rate martial artist from the central plains, had seen many martial artists from the central plains foolishly die at the hands of the Soul System. He had survived by learning from their deaths.

However, the inferiority complex about his background from his home dimension never disappeared. That feeling only grew stronger on the 7th floor.

‘Gu Paibang, the Five Great Families, that’s only true in the central plains.’

Thanks to the Soul System, Gok Gyeom had gained considerable strength. He had grown stronger than even the late-stage disciples of famous central plains sects.

Resentment. The emotions he had been harboring.

He could no longer hold onto them quietly.

Since he had become stronger than them, it was only natural that he wanted to release those emotions.

Moreover, the 7th floor was set in the central plains. On the realistic 7th floor, Gok Gyeom established a sect he had long dreamed of.

He gathered people who were similar to him and flaunted his strength. Their malice was entirely focused on martial artists.

Players from other dimensions weren’t really interested in martial artists. They didn’t even know much about the central plains forces. When martial artists fought amongst themselves, the rumors didn’t spread.

This was the secret to Gok Gyeom’s long survival.

Swoosh!

As expected, Gok Gyeom had never led a sect in the central plains. He didn’t know how the actions of a sect member would reflect on the sect leader.

Just because he was cautious, it didn’t mean his sect members would act the same way.

Thud. “You... you bastard...! I’ll take you down!”

The sound of a sword being drawn echoed through the tavern. Of course, the few guests quickly ran and hid inside.

Here we go again. Gok Gyeom sighed, considering whether drawing his weapon would be the best choice.

‘...An Earthling, and a strong one at that.’

Namgung Hyuk’s hobby, or rather his struggle. He was being oppressed by his fellow martial artists, so he sought out players from other dimensions, those who weren’t from his hometown, to mingle with. And he picked weak-looking Earthlings to do so.

But this Earthling turned out to be stronger than expected. Seeing Namgung Hyuk’s expression, it seemed like he hadn’t anticipated this.

‘...There are no absolute strong ones in the Tower of Struggle.’

Gok Gyeom was a seasoned player, too. He had mastered the use of the Soul System skills.

They had numbers. The Earthling was alone.

‘That last strike was probably a skill. There must be a cooldown before he can use it again.’

Gok Gyeom didn’t think they’d lose. After all, he was facing an Earthling.

Without the Soul System skills, the Earthlings were nothing.

“Kill him.”

Gok Gyeom drew his weapon. Of course, his thinking didn’t last long.

Swoosh!

Do you know what the most common emotion I’ve encountered while climbing the tower as an Earthling is?

‘The absolute certainty that they’ll win against me.’

I’ve seen that look before. It was during the regional representative tryouts for the Youth Sports Festival.

‘I gave them a proper lesson back then.’

Why are they acting this way without even seeing what cards I have?

I swung my Force Strike against the martial artists. It was exactly what it sounds like.

Swoosh! “Ugh!”

Even throwing a punch was too much of a luxury. A slap was just right for these guys.

It’s pathetic to fall after getting hit by a punch, but the slap is even worse.

Even though my strength stat wasn’t very high, I couldn’t create a fun image where I knock them down with each blow.

Swoosh!

A slap. And a martial artist falling helplessly.

[Absorbing the soul of Gok Gyeom (martial artist).] [Strength increased by 0.03.]

It was too pathetic to be called someone’s death. None of them would’ve wanted to die like this.

I wiped my hands after wiping out the martial artist gang.

“Good thing the roasted duck survived.”

Before the gang of thugs could wreck the tavern, I took the initiative and landed a slap to protect the duck dish.

Thanks to that effort and dedication, the duck was safe.

“G-Great Hero, what is going on here...?”

Namgung Hyuk looked at the gang in disbelief. For a brief moment, fear flashed in his eyes.

‘Looks like they gave him quite a beating.’

Listening to what the gang said, it seemed they knew Namgung Hyuk. Being from the famous Namgung Family, it was understandable.

But I had a feeling that a deeper, more complicated connection was tied to this.

But I didn’t need to care about that. Whether they were close to him or not, I had just killed the martial artist gang who had looked down on me.

“Well... the duck is tasty.”

As the saying goes, hunger is the best seasoning. Anything tastes good when you’re starving. After hunting the dragon, I could eat even a bowl of vegetables with gusto.

“It’s not the time to be doing this, Great Hero. The administrator will be here soon.”

“Administrator. Well, of course, they’ll come. I’ve committed PK.”

“But if we stay here…”

Namgung Hyuk raised his voice, urging me to leave immediately.

“If the administrator is coming, then I need to be here. I need to explain why I killed them so that things don’t get out of hand.”

Administrators can’t harm players carelessly. I was confident about that, so it was okay to stay.

‘...I also have the Illusory Ancient Book.’

I had already changed my race class earlier. Even if an administrator could analyze my system, I would appear as a martial artist to them.

A martial artist killed a martial artist. There was no room for players from other dimensions to intervene, and this would most likely end with the logic of power.

“...What the hell…”

Namgung Hyuk looked at me with a confused expression. He didn’t seem too pleased with the situation.

“Isn’t this good for you? It doesn’t look like you’ve had a peaceful life.”

“......”

Namgung Hyuk wiped his face. The sudden fight left him unable to finish his somyeon.

“The Namgung Family, one of the Five Great Families, seems powerless in the Tower of Struggle. You’re being beaten by these third-rate thugs.”

“…The family isn’t summoned all at once. Even a strong martial artist from the Namgung Family can’t guarantee victory against multiple players.”

“Really?”

While we continued chatting, the tavern staff slowly came out alone. The elf staff frowned at the sight of the scattered martial artist corpses.

But he soon did what he had to do. He started cleaning up the martial artist bodies.

“I made sure not to spill blood.”

The Soul System made this easy. As long as you deplete the life force, you can kill without needing to worry about the state of the body.

The aftermath was so clean.

I ate my roasted duck while waiting for the administrator. Namgung Hyuk, who had been pacing anxiously, took a bite of the duck, albeit late.

The first time is always hard, but the second is easy. Namgung Hyuk, starved, began devouring the roasted duck.

‘The Namgung Family doesn’t have the immense power I thought it did...’

Was there someone from the Namgung Family behind Namgung Hyuk? If a family member were around, they wouldn’t just let him get beaten by these thugs.

There were no martial artists from the Namgung Family on the 7th floor. That’s the conclusion I came to.

‘...The roasted duck. I assume you have the money.’

If not, Namgung Hyuk can pay with his body. I didn’t need to care about that.

“The administrator’s not coming. What’s going on?”

I finished the duck. Staring at the bones, I turned to Namgung Hyuk.

“The administrator is coming, right?”

“…Yes, the administrator is here. I know of more than four administrators.”

“Then why isn’t anyone showing up?”

Namgung Hyuk, not expecting this, looked perplexed.

“…Why is no one coming?”

“Because martial artists are fighting among themselves. Of course, no one will show up.”

It was the elf staff who answered Namgung Hyuk’s question. He asked us why we thought the administrator would come.

“…Aren’t you a martial artist?”

“I am a martial artist.”

“The person from the Namgung Family, did they just ascend to the 7th floor? No, I don’t think so. I’ve seen that face before.”

Namgung Hyuk didn’t answer. He silently nodded.

As if he expected it, the elf nodded as well.

“On the 7th floor, martial artists fighting among themselves isn’t something we intervene with.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It happens every time. I heard it was common in their home dimension too.”

The elf’s words made me glance at Namgung Hyuk. He didn’t deny my gaze.

“…But Anhui was quiet. Because the Namgung Family was there.”

“In the Tower of Struggle, your family has no power. You’re useless.”

“......”

This wasn’t a bad situation for me. I had been worried about what I’d say when the administrator arrived, but I had been lucky enough to avoid that troublesome situation.

“Well, I’m fine. It was a good meal.”

I wiped my mouth and stood up. I patted Namgung Hyuk’s shoulder as a sign for him to pay.

Namgung Hyuk looked like he was about to cry as he pulled money out of his pockets. The currency was strangely designed.

‘It’s not coins...’

It was silver, so it must be the currency Namgung Hyuk mentioned earlier.

“Are you leaving like this?”

“I need to find a place to stay. For work and stuff.”

I stepped out of the tavern first, and Namgung Hyuk hurriedly followed me.

“You can stay at the tavern. We have rooms. You can stay there.”

“Oh? Really? But I don’t have any money.”

I glanced at Namgung Hyuk. The hint was clear — he was going to pay for me.

Namgung Hyuk quickly caught on. He nodded vigorously, declaring he’d be my wallet.

And not long after, I realized why he had stuck with me.

“You guys are something else. Are you here for revenge?”

“Boys. Kill that bastard!”