〈A Wimp's Guide to Clearing the Tower 110〉
America's top player, Gerald, borrowed a holy sword in Korea and cleared the Eastern Tower's 70th-floor copy, Kabalon.
And the very next day—
He entered the Eastern Tower's 71st floor, received gifts— a Ring of Morphic Transformation, a Potion of Disease Cure, an Elixir of Rejuvenation, and a Rune Necklace of Liberation—then handed them over to Director Antonio.
The Western Tower was still at the 68th floor.
They planned to decide whether to clear it based on overall progress.
It looked like they'd have to tackle the Western Tower soon as well.
Someone else might climb it first and snatch the four-item gift set.
Boss of the 70th floor, Kabalon—easier than expected.
Not just that.
Floors 68 and 69 too.
It felt like the overall difficulty had dropped sharply.
Then what about the 71st floor?
"Antonio."
"Hm? Gerald, what is it?"
"I'm thinking of clearing the 71st floor… what do you think?"
"Oh! You want to go ahead and clear it?"
"The collapse timer's basically meaningless now anyway. It stacks."
Director Antonio pondered briefly.
They'd already discussed this.
They'd received information on the 71st floor from the Korean government as well.
And it was true that with the collapse timer stacking, there was no real reason to delay.
Since they'd climbed all the way to the 71st floor, fully clearing it didn't sound bad.
They could also decide on the Western Tower's strategy based on the difficulty.
"…You think you can handle it? You know it's a bit unusual."
"Heh, what's the problem? It's basically just a game anyway."
"Alright. I'll put in the proposal."
Director Antonio conveyed Gerald's intent to Minister MacMillan, who then reported it to the White House.
With the White House's approval, the decision was made to clear the U.S. Eastern Tower's 71st floor.
[Entering the 71st floor of the American Black Tower (NO.1).]
The safe zone was inside a log cabin.
When he opened the door—
Shrrk.
A mission appeared.
Before, he'd just taken the gifts and exited.
This time was a full-fledged clear.
In Gerald's eyes unfolded a village in utter chaos.
The stench of blood and screams spreading through the village.
Children being abducted.
Adults trying to block them.
Yet Gerald remained calm.
He checked his equipment and layered buffs over his body.
In the meantime, a middle-aged woman trying to protect the children was cut down by a mercenary's blade.
A grown boy who rushed forward with a stone after seeing his mother die had his throat slit as well.
Gerald didn't even blink.
It was all just settings.
Why bother saving them?
Focus on the mission.
Acting on trivial sympathy and rushing in recklessly would only put himself in danger.
Alright then—let the clear begin.
Starting with the lone mercenary looting by himself.
Gerald moved without hesitation.
Humans?
So what?
Outside, maybe it'd be different—but this is the Tower.
Monster or human—
They're all targets to be killed for the clear.
Whoosh!
He incinerated them with fireballs,
Slash!
Cut them down with his sword.
'Easy.'
This is nothing.
Even weaker than orcs.
He killed them methodically.
Even those who tried to flee—he chased them down to the end and killed them.
[Formel Mercenary Members defeated 20/20]
[You have succeeded in the basic mission of the 71st floor.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Reward: 1.1 kg of Magic Stones / 6 kg of Superior Magic Stones]
"Seriously."
What a joke.
This is supposed to be a 71st-floor mission?
[Would you like to continue the additional optional mission?]
[If you refuse, you will exit the Tower with mission success.]
An additional optional mission?
Of course he'd do it.
Why wouldn't he?
Killed in a single stroke.
[You have completed the additional optional mission.]
[Reward: Holy Water of Divine Power (Tower-exclusive)]
Got the reward.
'…Holy water?'
A new item.
He'd check it after exiting.
[Would you like to continue the high-difficulty optional mission?]
Of course he would.
Abandon a mission this easy?
'The boss?'
Seems like it.
He uses sword aura.
About the strength of a jungle troll, maybe.
But—
Slash!
Gerald took his head off without much trouble.
[You have completed the high-difficulty optional mission.]
But then—
[Reward: Rune Necklace of Liberation.]
'Huh?'
Gerald was startled.
'The reward is…'
A Rune Necklace of Liberation?
'Was it this common?'
No doubt about it.
That necklace.
An item that unlocks a player's abilities even in reality.
'Hmm.'
What should he do with this?
Hand it over to the U.S. government?
Not a chance.
Why should he?
The reward process isn't recorded on a body cam, and there's no way to know what's inside his inventory.
He pocketed the Rune Necklace of Liberation.
He couldn't give this to anyone.
This was his.
'Interesting.'
Gerald's face filled with anticipation.
The day he'd test his power in the real world wasn't far off.
Then—the final, ultra–high-difficulty optional mission of the 71st floor.
A voice suddenly echoed from above.
"Oh dear? What a mess—looks like I'm going to get scolded by my master again."
A woman's voice from midair.
Kate, the necromancer, using Fly magic.
Magic swordsman Gerald hadn't learned Fly.
Maybe after reinforcing his traits a few more times, he could.
"You look pretty strong. Don't you?"
Did he need to listen to her rambling?
Gerald immediately launched a Fire Spear.
Whoosh!
But calmly—
Spot!
The necromancer Kate dodged with Blink.
"I've got your face memorized. I'll come back with my master, Noma, and kill you—tear you to pieces and feed you to the chimeras I raise. So, see you next time. Bye."
Damn it!
Screech!
Kate fled at high speed.
He hurled spells and even fired a crossbow at her, but—
"She got away."
If it had turned into a real fight, it wouldn't have been difficult.
But her escape speed was fast, and with shields and Blink, she was impossible to catch.
[You have failed the Ultra–High-Difficulty Optional Mission.]
Still, it was fine.
Getting the Rune Necklace of Liberation alone was satisfying enough.
[You may challenge the 72nd floor.]
[Exiting the American Black Tower (NO.1).]
Gerald exited the Tower.
"Huh? You came out pretty fast. Wasn't it hard?"
"Way too easy. It was worse than the low 30s."
"Really? What about the rewards?"
"Superior magic stones, and this."
Gerald handed the Tower-exclusive Holy Water of Divine Power to Director Antonio.
"It's called holy water. Send it to the lab and have it analyzed."
"Oh! A new item."
Naturally, he didn't mention the Rune Necklace of Liberation he'd obtained as a reward.
Namyangju, the villa.
The Mad Monk's manifestation time ran out, and he returned.
After showcasing the crescent-shaped qi boomerang wave on the 73rd floor.
The spectators who'd sat comfortably in the stands, enjoying bloody entertainment under the belief that they were safe, were swept away by a single wave.
"Old man, that was insane. The scale doesn't even compare."
That's right.
The Mad Monk—the ultimate mass-murderer.
The difficulty spike on the 73rd floor had been abrupt.
But there was no worry.
No matter what missions came next, as long as they had the Mad Monk, even an entire division charging in would be no cause for concern.
Anyway, there was too much to check.
In three hours, they had to summon the Mad Monk again for the badge award ceremony.
First— the Multinational Tower Access Tickets received as additional optional mission rewards.
With these, was it five total now? No—six?
A solid reward.
The more, the better.
They'd keep them stored.
And then—the high-difficulty optional mission reward.
Rune Necklace of Liberation (2).
Two at once.
"Why do these keep dropping so often? I can't exactly smash them."
"It is concerning. It feels as though the Tower is blatantly loosening these necklaces."
"We should start being cautious."
Melt them down in the furnace?
No.
They might be useful someday.
So these went into the inventory as well.
At level 74, there was plenty of inventory space.
The real highlight was the Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough.
But before checking that—
Clearing the 73rd floor with an S+++ rank had awarded two more badges.
So how many badges had they accumulated so far?
Eighty-five in total.
Which meant—
They were eligible for a perk.
"Alright! Time to check the perk."
"Shall we do a drumroll chant?"
"Shout it out loud."
"Should I perform a ritual?"
"That's for when we hit a hundred."
"I shall prepare with utmost sincerity for that day."
Please be something good.
[With a cumulative total of 85 Platinum Badges, a perk is granted.]
"Dugudugudugudugu—"
[Perk: Tower Stronghold Declaration Loudspeaker is granted to your Tower-exclusive inventory.]
"…"
What in the world—
"…Stronghold?"
What?
"…Tower?"
In what way—
"…A loudspeaker?"
An item he'd never even heard of.
But its effect was shocking.
〈Tower Stronghold Declaration Loudspeaker〉
Effect: Use the loudspeaker to "declare" a Tower Stronghold in the form of a [World Announcement]. Ten days after the declaration, the Tower of the designated country is forcibly occupied and incorporated into the user's nationality. The declaration can be canceled midway. There is no limit to the number of uses.
Limitations: Declarations can only be made against countries whose Tower-clearing progress is below the global average. Additionally, the target country is granted "Defense Rights."
"What the hell is this?"
Doesn't this mean forcibly stealing another country's Tower?
A completely insane item.
Of course, it wasn't unlimited.
There were constraints.
Only countries below average Tower progress.
And Defense Rights.
The exact details of those Defense Rights were unclear.
The item itself looked like a toy.
Click! He flipped the switch.
[You can declare a Tower Stronghold.]
Click! He turned it off again.
"No, seriously… this is…"
Only now did he understand.
What the Mad Monk had called world conquest—
It wasn't some vague, delusional fantasy.
The summoned ones looked shocked as well.
But their expressions said so it's finally come to this.
"…What should we do?"
"I regret to say, but even this girl has nothing to advise. I shall follow only Young Master's decision."
What about Kosak?
"…I'll stay by your side until the end."
What did "stay by your side" mean?
If this was used incorrectly, people could die.
"Senior Officer Veronica Caliber. Before using the loudspeaker, a preemptive strike will be necessary. It would be best used after breaking the enemy's will to resist and planting the final flag."
War?
Well, using it would inevitably start a war.
This was far more grotesque and terrifying than the Rune Necklace of Liberation.
A Tower standing squarely on a nation's land would no longer belong to that nation.
The country that lost its Tower wouldn't even be able to collect byproducts like magic stones.
If displeased, the occupying side could even halt progression on uncleared upper floors and force a collapse.
An item of Tower imperialism.
An item of colonial occupation.
An item of colonial exploitation.
An item of colonial oppression.
And an item that provokes war.
His head hurt.
Was this really meant to be used?
Absolutely not.
It had to be sealed.
No one could know about it.
"Let's… pretend this perk never existed."
The summoned ones nodded.
"And keep it secret from the Mad Monk too."
Nod, nod.
Forget all that.
"Let's check the highlight reward."
The Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough.
He immediately checked its info.
〈Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough (Conditional)〉
Effect: Evolves five skills of an SSR-ranked summoned one into LSSR, achieving a rank breakthrough. Upon success, the SSR-ranked summoned one advances to LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare).
"Knew it."
A rune that turns a summoned one into LSSR.
But instead of raising the rank outright, it evolved five skills into LSSR.
That seemed to be the criterion for the LSSR rank.
Five LSSR skills.
What about the condition?
Condition: Can only be used on the Barbarian Meat Shield summoned one.
'Ah…'
Well, that was expected.
The mission itself had been tied to him.
There were limitations too.
The first limitation—
Limitation: Upon using the rune, the Barbarian Meat Shield cannot be summoned for approximately two weeks.
"…I don't like that."
How was he supposed to live without seeing him for two weeks?
The second limitation—
Limitation: 25 Platinum Badges are consumed as breakthrough materials. The number of badges currently required for the Barbarian Meat Shield is 22.
'…'
Wasn't the rune enough already—why did it need badges too?
What a waste.
Should he just not do it?
But something felt off.
The breakthrough material was said to be 25 Platinum Badges—
Yet Gobang only needed 22.
"…Hmm, maybe."
The total number of Platinum Badges Juhyeok had obtained so far was 85.
Out of those, how many had already been awarded to the summoned ones?
Gobang: 3
Kosak: 3
Gyeon Dallae: 3
The Mad Monk: 3
Veronica: 4
Bardin: 3
Deputy Chief Jeon Gwang-il: 1
Rajiks had quite a lot.
He had previously absorbed five badges into his body to upgrade one skill, and currently had three attached—so eight in total.
That made 28 altogether.
That meant 57 physical badges remained in the inventory.
Gobang had already been given three badges beforehand.
So maybe that was why only 22 were needed?
'Let's test it.'
Juhyeok summoned Gobang.
Then he removed the badges pinned to Gobang's chest.
"S-summoner, did this warrior do something wrong…? I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
"Don't worry. I'll put them back on."
Now Gobang only had two badges attached.
Then Juhyeok checked the breakthrough rune's limitation again.
Limitation: The number of badges currently required for the Barbarian Meat Shield is 23.
'So it includes the ones pinned on his chest—making 25 total.'
Then was the rune really a mandatory item?
Before, when he gave Rajiks five badges, Rajiks's scouting skill had been upgraded to LSSR rank.
If he attached 25 badges to a summoned one and sequentially evolved five skills that way…
They could reach LSSR—Legend Special Super Rare—without needing the breakthrough rune.
However, he couldn't just hand out badges recklessly.
There was a restriction when awarding badges: the hearts of the giver and the receiver had to align.
The summoned one had to have earned enough merit for both sides to acknowledge it.
So assuming one badge was awarded per notable contribution…
'That would take a very long time.'
Probably several months, at least.
'Is that why the breakthrough rune exists?'
The Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough bypassed that entire process, requiring only 25 Platinum Badges—
Along with two weeks of waiting.
On the other hand—
'It might be useless for Rajiks.'
That was likely.
How many merits had their cosmic farmhand already piled up?
Even now, if he received just two more badges, he could upgrade yet another skill to LSSR rank.
'Either way, we're going to need a lot of badges.'
Should he reclaim the one badge he'd given Deputy Chief Jeon Gwang-il?
No—absolutely shameless.
Nothing was more petty than giving something and taking it back.
He'd have to acquire badges through other means.
Temporary naturalization, perhaps—or multinational Tower access tickets.
Now he understood exactly what the Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough was.
An item that allowed an SSR summoned one to be promoted to LSSR in a short time.
So what would Gobang choose?
After Juhyeok explained the breakthrough rune in detail—
"This warrior understands."
Gobang thought for a moment.
Then—
"I will use the breakthrough rune. I will become LSSR and protect the summoner."
The decision was practically already made.
Still, Juhyeok had no intention of rushing it.
"If you use the rune, I won't see you for two weeks, so let's enjoy ourselves first and use it later."
"Until when?"
"Let's see… there's not much time left until the random summon day. How about right before the random summon?"
"This warrior will follow the summoner's words."
The random summon.
It really wasn't far off.
And this time, the random summon was already guaranteed to be an LSSR-ranked summoned one.
That would make how many in total?
The existing Mad Monk, Gobang after his promotion, and a new summoned one—
Three LSSR-class summoned ones.
An absurd level of combat power.
Practically a balance collapse.
Anyway, Gobang becoming LSSR was only a matter of time.
Everyone congratulated him.
Everyone except Kosak.
"How am I supposed to look at Gobang from now on?"
"…Just look normally?"
"I'm kidding. If I mess around and get flicked on the forehead, I'll seriously die."
That was true.
An LSSR forehead flick wouldn't exactly be ordinary in power.
"Gobang, when you become LSSR, you won't flick my forehead, right?"
"…"
"You won't, right?"
"…"
"Please say you won't. I beg you. I'm sorry for everything."
Gyeon Dallae snickered.
"I'm looking forward to an LSSR forehead flick. I'd like to hear that magnificent explosion again."
"…Why don't you take one, Princess?"
"Would Lord Gobang really flick the forehead of a delicate young lady?"
Gobang replied with a straight face.
"This warrior is fair to everyone. Except the summoner."
"…"
Now all that remained was the badge award ceremony.
They'd have to summon the Mad Monk again.
By the way—what about Rajiks?
Surely he wasn't empty-handed?
It might be greedy to ask, but—
"Mr. Rajiks."
"Hoh?"
"Nothing this time?"
In that instant—
A sly grin spread across Rajiks's face as he slipped his subspace backpack off his shoulder.
"H-huh?! D-don't tell me—"
"Hohhh…."
He flipped the bag upside down and shook it.
Thudududududududu—
Items poured out endlessly.
"My god…"
Did he raid another treasure vault?
No wonder he'd taken Kosak with him.
"Hoeeek!"
Master thief Rajiks.
It was staggering.
Speechless.
The necromancer's treasure vault didn't even compare.
How many badges would he have to give this guy?
'If I give Rajiks just two more badges…'
That would make ten.
Another skill upgrade.
It was now certain.
For Rajiks, the Rune of Summoned One Rank Breakthrough was utterly useless.