Chapter 3: The Awakening
The challengers appeared as streaks of light flashed in the waiting room on the first floor.
"Huh?" Toeing was surprised to see that the challengers he had sent a while ago had returned already.
"Why are you back?" asked Toeing curiously.
"Are you sure you sent us to the first floor?" Hye-Won asked back.
"Huh? What do you mean? Of course, I sent you to the first floor!" replied Toeing.
"Then how come..." mumbled Hye-Won, but soon decided not to ask.
"We were defeated by the first-floor boss," muttered Ji-Hoon.
"What? Really?" Surprised by Ji-Hoon's words, Toeing stared at them while flapping his ears.
The five people seemed very depressed, and it was very apparent from their expressions.
"That can't be true..." said Toeing in a confused voice.
The five became even more suspicious at Toeing's response.
"Are you sure that nothing changed?"
"Has the first-floor boss always been this difficult? How do beginners survive there?"
"Toeing would have known if something had gone wrong on the first floor. But it seems like he doesn't know anything about this change," replied Ji-Hoon.
The four looked at Toeing who seemed to have no idea what was going on.
"Is this really happening? Then what's the problem? Are we all idiots who can't even get past the first-floor boss?" Hye-Won couldn't believe what was going on.
"Something is definitely wrong. Why don't we wait until the next group of challengers arrives?" asked Kang-Chun.
With no other choice, the four agreed with Kang-Chun.
"This can't be true. What if we get stuck here? I don't want to live here forever."
"Could it be a bug or an error just like any other game?"
"Hmm... This is not a game though. I think there could be a possibility that the situation inside the tower has changed."
"Could this be a special event?" Ji-Hoon raised a doubt.
"I don't know, man.”
The five of them kept thinking about this situation, but they could not come to a conclusion.
"Why don't we try again?"
"Yeah, that might be better. We can't stay here forever!"
"That's right! It would be embarrassing to see the next group of people."
"At least I don't think the boss is killing the challengers right now. It could be a new rule that came up as they increased the difficulty level."
"Maybe... But if we're going to try again, we have to be more strategic this time. Let's plan out everything in advance," Kang-Chun said. He started plotting a detailed plan to defeat the boss.
After some time had passed, they went to challenge the first floor again. The ordinary monsters were still weak, and since they had already caught these monsters in the past, they advanced very quickly to the boss's room.
"Guys, let's focus. Don't let your guard down until the end."
"Of course."
"Ugh... I'm so nervous."
Unlike in their previous attempt, they were armed this time. Eun-Ju and Hye-Won had a [Low-Rank Magical Wand], while Kang-Chun, Ji-Hoon, and Hyun all held a [Crude Sword].
Creakkk-
The door opened, and the boss unfortunately looked exactly the same as the one he had faced previously. He was sitting in his chair waiting for the challengers.
"So you’re here again, suckers... I mean, challengers," Lee Shin sneered at the challengers.
The boss's lines were different from the previous time. He seemed very relaxed in his chair.
"Dang it..." muttered Kang Ji-Hoon as he stared at the boss in front of him.
It was the same as the last time. He had a strong feeling that they would fail to break through once again.
"Do you guys want to come in all at once? It’s kinda tiresome," teased Lee Shin.
"That's what we were going to do!" yelled the challengers in the group.
Kang-Chun quickly signaled to the rest of the group and ran toward the boss. The boss didn't seem to be bothered at all. The next moment, a Dark Arrow appeared in front of Kang-Chun.
Puck!
Following a dull sound, Kang-Chun felt like he was losing his vision. When he opened his eyes, he was already in the waiting area on the first floor.
"Fuck..." Kang-Chun murmured. It was the first time he swore after entering the tower.
*** [You have defeated the challenger.]
[You have defeated the challenger.]
[You have defeated the challenger.]
[You have defeated the challenger.]
[You have defeated the challenger.]
[Your Mana Points have increased by 50 points.]
"Man... only 50 points this time? It’ll take forever like this…." muttered Lee Shin.
'Oh well, if I get more challengers, it will build up pretty fast,' thought Lee Shin as he recalled the system message.
[Gene Ebrium]
# Occupation: Necromancer
# Status: Sealed (Details*)
# Title: Details*
# Health Point (HP): 280/280
# Mana Point (MP): 210/400
# Strength (STR): 5(+2)
# Agility (AGI): 6(+2)
# Intelligence (INT): 10(+12)
# Skills: Details*
His stats were very disappointing. However, thanks to the title, his intelligence points had risen a lot.
"Hmm... Gene Ebrium..." Lee Shin murmured.
It was the name of the first-floor boss, the owner of this body. How had he ended up as the boss in such an abandoned place?
Then, he looked at the list of titles.
[The One Who First Created Skills on the First Floor]
How did you create magic on the first floor? That is Amazing! Are you a Great Wizard?
# Intelligence +10
[The One Who Guards the Tower]
How did you block the challengers on the first floor? You are the true guardian of the tower!
# Default Stats +2
[The One Who Knows Death]
How did you understand death so well? It seems like you have been through countless deaths.
# You can see through death.
# You can see the dead.
"Hahaha..." laughed Lee Shin.
Lee Shin couldn't believe that the system would still work for him, especially when he was being treated like a puppet to block the challengers.
"The one who knows death..." he muttered.
This title was given to him as he had experienced death thousands of times and deepened his understanding of it. He did not know what it meant to see through death. However, he could immediately understand that the ability allowed him to see the dead.
Ughhh-
He could see the spirits floating in the air, making a strange noise. The problem was that no matter how many times he talked to them or approached them, he never received a response. He could not tell from their appearance, but he had a strong gut feeling that their souls and characters were destroyed.
Then he pondered. Who had made them like that? What exactly were they? And why were they wandering aimlessly in such a place? He could not come to a conclusion.
"Tsk."
He tried to use mana. However, the necromancer’s unique, sticky mana channels seemed to be blocked. In his past life, he had simply thought that this destruction was due to having a divided mind. However, he had been mistaken.
Both the mana blood and the path where the magical power flowed inside his body were clogged and destroyed.
'Is it because I'm sealed?' he wondered as he read the details of the seal.
[Your body is sealed.]
[The seal will be lifted if certain conditions are met.]
# Unlock Level 1: Mana Power Level: 1
He could finally understand why the boss only used the Dark Arrow all the time. Since the body was sealed by a curse, the boss could only use an inefficient trashy skill. Besides, he had a divided consciousness. Although he had rearranged the Dark Arrow technique formation and maximized its efficiency to suit the current state of his body, he could clearly see the limitations of this skill.
The first thing he had to do was to unseal his body. To do this, he had to increase the level of his Mana Power by getting 5000 Mana Points, which was the threshold required to attain [Mana Power Lv. 1]. Until then, the only magic that he could use was [Dark Arrow], the most basic black magic spell, and [Magic Missile] which was a basic spell with no elemental attributes.
At the moment, he could easily deal with the challengers even if he used these limited skills. However, over time, if the challengers increased in number and attacked him all at once, he wasn’t so sure that he would be able to defeat them easily. Therefore, he needed to widen the skill gap even more by raising his Mana Power to Level 1.
Fortunately, he could increase the Mana Power by defeating the challengers. In order for him to gain this power, he needed a lot of challengers to attempt beating him so he could defeat them. He would be in danger if the challengers cooperated and collected points together to purchase high-performance items.
"Sigh..."
Barely swallowing his sigh, he saw the skill that had pulled him out of the abyss.
[Immortal Sphere]
The only effect of this skill was that his memory was perfectly preserved, nothing else. However, it was the effect that he needed more than anything.
His memory of being the first human to reach the 100th floor, the knowledge he had gained along the way, and the magic that had made him a Great Wizard came back to his mind. And that was not all. Even his memories before entering the tower were still fresh in his mind. He could clearly remember picking up a coin on the street when he was four years old.
"Hahaha..." He laughed at the futility of this. In the status window, the name Gene Ebrium was written in place of his name, Lee Shin.
Among the challengers who had killed him as the boss on the first floor, his past self could not be found. Originally, a man named Lee Shin should have climbed the tower. Did that mean that Lee Shin’s existence was no longer a thing of this world? Or was it a different world in which Lee Shin had never existed in the first place?
He could not tell. He was confused.
When he looked around, he saw a bunch of research data and various reagents. This was probably the research data that Gene Ebrium had used to study when he had a clear mind.
The necromancer was just like an old man with dementia. How long had he had this condition? At least, he had been in a very serious condition when the tower was first built.
Judging from the research data, Gene Ebrium did not seem to have been in this severe condition from the beginning. Although he hadn't finished looking through all the research data, he had noticed that data consistency had vanished after a certain point in time.
He could tell that the data was very limited, in addition to having lost consistency over time, but it was nevertheless the research data of a necromancer who had achieved transcendence. It was priceless. He decided to collect all of Gene Ebrium's research data and keep it in a safe place.
As of now, he was the first-floor boss. He was the boss who appeared in a tutorial meant for the challengers to adapt to the system and get to know what to expect in the tower before they climbed it. He was the one who had to die repeatedly and be sacrificed for them. However, he was determined to climb the tower again.
Technically, he could not be in the same position as the other challengers at this moment. Since all the challengers had to kill the first-floor boss to climb the tower, he had to throw off his shackles and obtain the qualification to be a challenger once more.
He was determined to find a way out using his death-related ability, the research data left by Gene Ebrium, and his knowledge as a Great Wizard in his previous life.
In the worst-case scenario, his stay on the first floor would be prolonged. However, he was motivated to reach the top no matter how long it took him. He was determined to reach the 100th floor, challenge the gods, and kill them all to save those who would otherwise fall into despair.
Until now, the challengers had an opportunity to return to Earth once they reached the 50th floor of the tower. Therefore, the connection between the tower and the Earth had motivated people to climb the tower. However, at some point, this opportunity could vanish unexpectedly.
People were being fooled by the tow—no, by the gods.
***
With five streaks of light, the five challengers were summoned to the waiting area on the first floor.
"Huh? You guys are back again?" asked Toeing.
As soon as Toeing asked, the challengers exploded in rage.
"Hey, bunny! Did you intend to make us fail!?" Baek Hyun shouted as he grabbed Toeing by the collar and shook him.
"Owieee-" cried Toeing.
It was thanks to Eun-Ju and Hye-Won, who stopped Baek Hyun, that Toeing could get away from Baek Hyun.
"Why are you doing this to me? I have no idea what's going on," said Toeing.
"Ha..." sighed Baek Hyun as he fell to his knees.
It was hopeless. No one ever thought that they would be stuck on the first floor for so long. They could not even leave the tower, since they had already entered.
Baek Hyun looked up and saw the wide field on the opposite side. There was nothing. There was nothing apart from the sea, mountains, trees, rocks, grass, and forests. The ridiculous difficulty of the first-floor boss and the barren land seemed to go well together.
The challengers were devastated.
"Hey, Hyun! Don't worry! We will make it to the top," Ji-Hoon reassured Baek Hyun as he helped him up.
"Yeah, Hyun! It's too early to be depressed. We have a long way to go," another challenger said.
Thanks to the other challengers who reassured him, Baek Hyun cheered up a little.
"Alright guys, I guess I was hoping for too much," Baek Hyun grumbled.
"Let's stay here until the next group of challengers come. If we attack the boss with the other challengers, we'll definitely defeat him!"
"The boss can't deal with many people at once."
"We will eventually get there. We can do it!"
Toeing approached them while the five were chatting.
"Challengers will not get hungry or tired in the waiting area. So, feel free to take a rest. I'll call you guys when the next group of challengers arrives," said Toeing.
"Thanks. That would be great," the group replied.
Everyone sat down to take a rest.
"Wait... is there something we can do until the other challengers arrive?" muttered Baek Hyun. He was staring at the sky hoping that a streak of light would fall with another challenger.
"Should we do some training?"
"Yeah, we should increase our stats by doing some exercises," Baek Hyun replied, and got up to run.
Meanwhile, Kang-Chun and Ji-Hoon swung their swords in the air.
"Should we meditate?" asked Hye-Won.
"Let's go to the store and see if there's something useful!" claimed Eun-Ju.
Hye-Won and Eun-Ju also started to prepare for the next attack.
A week later, several streaks of light fell from the sky.