Chapter 3

Awakening

Light descended into the First-Floor Waiting Room, revealing the returning party of challengers.

“Huh?”

Toing tilted her head, thoroughly perplexed to see the very challengers she had sent off just a short while ago standing back in the lounge.

“Why are you back so soon?” Toing asked.

“Did you really send us to the first floor?” Hye-won retorted.

“Huh? What do you mean? Of course I sent you to the first floor!”

“Then why—” Hye-won cut herself off, swallowing her words.

“We got smashed by the first-floor boss,” Ji-hoon admitted bluntly.

“Eeeek?”

Toing’s long rabbit ears flopped wide in surprise as she stared at them. “For real?”

The five challengers wore deeply solemn, crestfallen expressions. There was no mistaking their truthfulness.

“That doesn’t make any sense…”

The five couldn’t hide their bewilderment at Toing’s reaction.

“Wait, so nothing was changed?”

“You’re saying that’s the intended baseline difficulty? How are ordinary people supposed to beat that?”

“If something about the first floor had been changed, Toing would’ve known. But she clearly has no clue.”

At Ji-hoon’s words, the remaining four turned to stare at Toing, who was standing there blankly. By all appearances, she genuinely knew nothing.

“Really? Then what is this? Are you saying all five of us are just brainless idiots who can’t even clear Floor 1?” Hye-won shouted, refusing to accept it.

“Something is definitely wrong,” Kang-cheon said, bringing order to the group. “For now, let’s wait until the next batch of challengers arrives.”

The other four agreed. They had no other choice.

“What do we do? Are we going to be stuck living here forever without even clearing the first floor?”

“Could it be a bug or a glitch? You know, like in video games?”

“Hmm… this isn’t a game. If you ask me, I think the conditions inside the Tower itself have shifted.”

“Did some kind of special event trigger?” Ji-hoon suggested.

“Hard to say.”

All five pondered the situation continuously, but no clear answer emerged.

“Should we try again?”

“Yeah, we can’t just sit around here forever!”

“Right! If the next batch of challengers comes… how will we look to them?”

“At the very least, it seems the boss doesn’t kill challengers. Maybe that’s a built-in rule that came with the increased difficulty?”

“Could be. If we’re going to challenge it one more time, we need to build a meticulous strategy first.”

Summarizing the situation, Kang-cheon began drafting a detailed tactical plan to take down the first-floor boss.

After a considerable amount of time spent preparing, they stepped onto the first floor once more.

The regular monsters remained weak. Having already raised their stats from clearing mobs earlier, the party advanced to the boss chamber even faster this time.

“Alright, remember: do not drop your guard until the very end, everyone.”

“Of course.”

“Ugh… I’m so nervous.”

Unlike their previous attempt, they were fully armed. Eun-joo and Hye-won held [Low-Grade Mana-Infused Branches], while Kang-cheon, Ji-hoon, and Baek Hyun each wielded a [Crude Sword].

Creeeeak—

The heavy door swung open. Inside, just as before, the boss sat casually in his chair, waiting for them.

“Back again, suckers… err, challengers?”

Resting his elbow on the armrest and leaning his chin on his hand, the boss exuded complete composure. His dialogue, too, was different from last time.

“Damn it…” Ji-hoon muttered under his breath, staring at the figure before them.

It was identical to their first attempt—that crushing, undeniable pressure.

We can’t beat this guy.

“This is a bother. How about all of you come at me at once?”

“That was the plan anyway!”

Kim Kang-cheon signaled the others with a quick glance and charged straight at the boss.

The boss maintained his relaxed posture the entire time. Before Kang-cheon could close the distance, a Dark Arrow materialized right in front of his face.

Thwack!

With a heavy impact, Kang-cheon’s vision blurred and faded into darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the First-Floor Waiting Room.

“Fuck…”

It was the very first time he had cursed since entering the Tower.

[You have defeated a challenger.] [You have defeated a challenger.] [You have defeated a challenger.] [You have defeated a challenger.] [You have defeated a challenger.] [Mana increased by 50.]

“Hah… that’s a meager increase.”

Well, as long as challengers kept trickling in, it would stack up over time.

He summoned his status window in his mind.

[ Jean Evrium ]

Class: Necromancer

State: Sealed (Details*)

Title: Details*

Health: 280 / 280

Mana: 210 / 400

Strength: 5 (+2)

Agility: 6 (+2)

Intelligence: 10 (+12)

Skills: Details*

A truly pathetic baseline. The only saving grace was his Intelligence, which was significantly boosted by his titles.

“Jean Evrium, huh…”

The boss of the first floor, and the original owner of this body. What kind of story did he have? How had he ended up abandoned here, forced to act as a floor boss?

He proceeded to check his title list.

[ First-Floor Skill Creator ] How did you create magic on the first floor? Amazing! Were you an Archmage in the past?

Intelligence +10

[ Guardian of the Tower ] Fending off challengers right from the first floor! You are a true Guardian of the Tower!

Basic Stats +2

[ Insightful of Death ] How do you understand death so profoundly? It is as if you have experienced countless deaths yourself.

Allows you to pierce through the nature of death.

Allows you to see the dead.

“Ha… ha ha…”

To think the system would even apply to someone like him—a glorified puppet meant to block challengers.

Insightful of Death…

A title granted after recalling thousands of brutal deaths, driving his understanding of mortality to an absolute peak. He couldn’t yet grasp what it truly meant to “pierce through the nature of death.” However, he instinctively understood the second effect: seeing the dead.

Huuuoooorrrgh—

Spectral phantoms floated through the air, emitting eerie, hollow wails. They were visible to his eyes now.

The problem was that no matter how much he called out or approached them, the spirits offered zero response. Though it wasn’t obvious from their appearance, he could sense it intuitively: their souls and spiritual essence were severely fractured.

Who had reduced them to such a state? What were their original identities? And why were they wandering aimlessly in a place like this?

For now, answers remained entirely out of reach.

Tch.

He channeled his mana. The thick, viscous mana characteristic of a Necromancer flickered and snapped, stumbling over hidden obstructions within his body.

In his past life, he had assumed his powers were crippled simply because his mind was fragmented, but that wasn’t the whole story. The internal mana meridians and pathways throughout this body were completely shattered.

‘Is it because of the sealed state?’

He opened the detailed information regarding his seal.

[ Physical body is currently sealed. ] [ Unlocks when specific conditions are met. ]

Unlock Stage 1: Mana Grade Lv. 1

Now he understood why the original host had relied exclusively on Dark Arrow—an absolute pinnacle of inefficiency. His physical body was bound under a heavy curse. Add a shattered mind into the mix, and it was a miracle he could cast anything at all.

Though he had restructured the spell formula of Dark Arrow to maximize its efficiency for his current body, there were clear limits to what he could accomplish in this state.

First and foremost, he needed to break the physical seal.

To achieve that, he had to raise his Mana Grade. The requirement for [Mana Grade Lv. 1] was a total mana capacity of 5,000.

Until he reached that threshold, the only spells at his disposal were the fundamental Black Magic spell [Dark Arrow] and the basic non-attribute spell [Magic Missile].

For now, low-tier magic was more than sufficient to deal with greenhorn challengers. But as time passed and stronger challengers began to gather, unpredictable variables were bound to arise. He needed to establish an overwhelming power gap.

Fortunately, his mana capacity naturally increased every time he fended off challengers. Once he reached Mana Grade Lv. 1, he would have breathing room.

He needed to incite the challengers below to attack him as frequently as possible. If they ever joined forces, hoarded points, and brought high-grade items from the shop, things could get genuinely dangerous.

“Huuu…”

Swallowing a heavy sigh, he looked at the skill that had dragged him out of the abyss.

[ Orb of Unforgetting ]

It bore no secondary effects other than granting absolute immunity to memory loss. Yet, it was the single most vital power he could have ever received.

The memories of his past life—as the first human to ever reach the 100th floor. The vast repository of knowledge he had gathered along that journey, and the magic formulas that had elevated him to an Archmage—all of it had returned.

Not only that, but his memories from before entering the Tower were completely intact as well. He could vividly recall picking up a loose coin off the street when he was just four years old.

“Ha ha…”

A dry laugh escaped his lips.

The status window displayed the name Jean Evrium instead of Lee Shin. Among the endless waves of challengers who had killed him during his time as the first-floor boss, the Lee Shin he used to know was nowhere to be found.

By rights, the human named Lee Shin should have already begun climbing the Tower in this era.

Had the existence known as Lee Shin vanished from this world entirely? Or was this a universe where a human named Lee Shin had never existed to begin with?

He couldn’t tell. His head felt dizzy with complexity.

Shifting his gaze, he examined the research notes and chemical reagents scattered around the room. These were undoubtedly documents left behind by Jean Evrium back when his mind was still sound.

The Necromancer named Jean Evrium had been reduced to a state akin to a senile old man. How long had he suffered like that? At the very least, by the time the Tower first appeared, his condition was already severe.

Looking through the documents, it seemed he hadn’t been in that state from the start. Though he hadn’t read everything yet, arranging the papers chronologically revealed that his research had abruptly lost all logic at a certain point.

What he could deduce right now was extremely limited. Yet, even with its lost coherence, the remaining notes belonged to a Necromancer who had once reached the realm of Transcendence. Their intrinsic value was priceless.

Carefully, he gathered the scattered papers and organized them into neat stacks around the room.

Currently, he was bound to the role of the first-floor boss—a tutorial boss meant to let challengers acclimate to the Tower before their true ascent began. An entity designed to be repeatedly slain and sacrificed for their growth.

However, he had to climb the Tower again.

Systemically, he couldn’t hold the status of a normal challenger. To climb the Tower, one had to kill the boss of the first floor and move upward.

To bypass that rule, he needed to break free from his current shackles and acquire the qualifications of a challenger.

His newly awakened death-related abilities; the research documents left behind by Jean Evrium, a Necromancer of Transcendence; and his own knowledge as a former Archmage… With these three assets, he would find a way.

His stay on the first floor might end up being prolonged. But no matter how long it took, he would ascend.

He would reach the 100th floor once more and challenge the gods again. He would slaughter every last one of them and save the countless souls destined to fall into despair.

Currently, people believed that reaching the 50th floor would unlock a path back to Earth. That promise was what sparked interaction between the Tower and Earth, inspiring humanity to climb its floors.

However, that path would eventually be cut off without warning.

Humanity was being deceived by the Tower—or rather, by the gods.

Five pillars of light flashed violently as the five challengers were summoned back to the First-Floor Waiting Room.

“Eek? You’re back again?”

Toing’s innocent question proved to be the final straw for their mounting frustration.

“You little rabbit bastard! How the hell is anyone supposed to beat that monster?!” Baek Hyun roared, grabbing Toing by her collar and shaking her wildly.

“Eeeeeeek—!”

Thanks to Eun-joo and Hye-won rushing in to pull him back, Toing barely managed to break free from Baek Hyun’s grasp.

“Why are you taking it out on me~? I don’t know anything either~!”

“Haaah…” Baek Hyun slumped to the ground, utterly deflated.

It felt completely hopeless. To think they were brick-walled right on the very first floor. Having entered the Tower, they couldn’t even leave.

He looked up at the vast expanse of the waiting room. There was nothing here. Just distant seas, mountains, trees, boulders, grass, and forest… That was it.

An absurdly impossible first floor, paired with a barren waiting room. The future looked pitch black.

“Hyun! Don’t worry! We can climb it!” Ji-hoon said, helping him up with an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

“Yeah, oppa. If you collapse like this already, what are we going to do later?”

As everyone offered words of encouragement, Baek Hyun managed to regain a bit of his strength.

“Alright… I was being too naive.”

“Let’s wait here until the next batch of challengers arrives. If we raid the floor together with other people, we can definitely clear it!”

“Exactly. They say many hands make light work.”

“Let’s just endure a bit longer.”

Toing hopped over to them. “In the waiting room, you won’t feel hunger or fatigue! So don’t worry and just rest up! I’ll call you the moment the next challengers appear!”

“Haaah… alright.”

Deciding to take a rest for now, the group sat down on the grass.

“So… what do we do until then?” Baek Hyun muttered, staring blankly at the sky in hopes of seeing light fall.

“Should we train a bit?”

“Yeah. We should raise our stats through exercise.”

Standing up abruptly, Baek Hyun began jogging around the perimeter. Watching him, Kang-cheon and Ji-hoon started swinging their swords through the air.

“Should we try meditating?”

“Let’s check the shop to see if there’s anything useful we can buy!”

Hye-won and Eun-joo also began preparing for their next attempt.

And just like that, a week passed.

Several pillars of light rained down from the sky.