61. Pick the Right Response When the Tower Keeps Serving You Gourmet Rewards (3 Points)

Geukbing's Sobaeksan Magical Girl Boot Camp, courtesy of yours truly. Ten days had passed since it kicked off.

"…I see it."

A short ten days if you called it short, but reasonably long if you didn't. Among the magical girls who were growing by leaps and bounds each day, the one who'd advanced the most was surprisingly the plainest of the bunch.

The magical girl, Blade Fang.

While the others flaunted ever more flashy techniques and boosted firepower, she alone quietly honed her sword aura.

Ching—

She deflected a heavy sword strike from a knight clad in plate armor right in front of her eyes.

Blade Fang's sole defensive technique from the Earth Sword style, Third Form: Earth Return. She smoothly shook off the attack and seamlessly transitioned her momentum into offense with fluid grace.

Kwaduduk—!

Seventh Form: Heaven Chain unleashed. An absurdly grandiose basic martial art that "shatters the heavens from the earth"—it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pulverized the armor around the neck, exposing the hollow interior.

The forms flowed together as naturally as running water. Proof that Yu-ri had already mastered the Earth Sword style, wielding it like an extension of her own limbs—a grand attainment.

"Huuuuh… Huh?"

As Yu-ri snapped out of her hyper-focused immersion with a deep breath, her eyes went wide.

This was the eighth time she'd seen this message just in Sobaeksan alone. It shouldn't have been anything new, but paired with her best clear grade yet, the rewards hijacked her attention completely.

"Martial arts?"

"So that's what comes out, huh. I thought it was just passives."

"Martial arts are half active too, meong."

Whenever she'd picked skills from the tower before, it'd been stuff like "Efficient Muscles." Probably because she used a sword, so it leaned toward physical buffs…

"It was RNG, huh."

"Your gacha luck's been trash, meong."

"Don't remind meee!"

As a VTuber deep into gaming, she'd played her share of gacha games—and her luck was abysmal. She'd always had to smash pity ceilings ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for the featured characters. Her fans even joked she was "not the goddess of luck, but the goddess of bankruptcy."

Remembering the cash she'd burned made her stomach churn, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so Yu-ri roughly selected her reward with a flick.

"Whoa, it's A-grade!"

"But it said martial arts, meong? Doesn't sound very wuxia, meong."

With Nureungi's head-tilted question hanging in the air, the two returned outside the tower.

"So, Su-yeon, you're not hitting the tower?"

"I'm swamped just with business registration right now, sawayo."

"Hmm. Still, getting stronger should give your business a boost."

"I'll go in a bit later, sawayo."

With the other juniors off tackling the next floor, I had some downtime. I was streaming separately with Su-yeon, who'd skipped the tower.

"Yeah. Prep stage, but steadily marching toward tycoon status, sawayo."

I tossed some hype for Su-yeon's business venture. Leisurely, we scoped out the spot with the strongest mana signature among recent gates.

"Highest grade I've confirmed personally."

I marveled at the gate's rank alongside the viewers. Surprisingly high… Gates of this caliber don't pop up just anywhere. From my chat with Aris, it seemed my Soul Rank (precisely, mine) was suppressing them.

Anyway, among the gates we'd scouted, this was the strongest. Normally, I'd slice through anything like this or beefier without a second glance.

"Likely."

If I had to nitpick, that giant tiger was top dog—but tin can or not, the size class was similar. No huge gap.

The tower system would've pegged it around SSS-grade, maybe?

"Info's out, sawayo."

As Su-yeon paid the Gate Coins—wondering if the minus sign was right—I'd been raking them in via auto-hunt, but restrictions meant using hers. I hadn't climbed the tower at all.

Su-yeon was barely qualified too. Good thing "on Floor 5" counted as "Floor 5+ climber."

Otherwise, we'd need to drag someone else in.

"A gimmick, huh."

"I've seen 'em popping up lately, sawayo."

Obviously, subspace intel had spread wide by now—ten days in. So why "industry first" in the title? I'm the only one streaming from inside yet. Others tried wired setups but bombed.

Gimmick types were especially notorious from the leaks.

"You guys know more than me?"

Game-like format, basically. No biggie for me, so I dove in stream ongoing.

Whooooosh—

Vision shifted in a blink. Fierce winds howled like wailing ghosts, clashing with the indoor vibe.

"Hup."

"'Ruins' my ass—it's cleaner than expected inside."

A bit worn and super dim, but structurally sound.

"Huh? Why's everyone acting weird?"

I tilted my head at the shady chat reactions—then it popped up.

First glance screamed "gimmick." But…

"Just to confirm—no way this is that, right?"

"Definitely not some Napolitan-style nonsense, sawayo."

I sighed lightly. No wonder it felt off from the rumors.

I wasn't an expert, but I knew what gimmicks like this meant. Not adjustable difficulty—more "know it or die" or "no prep = game over."

"Gate's… gone elsewhere, looks like."

The retreat warning was moot; the entry gate had vanished. Probably tucked into the unfinished rules.

Classic horror genre screw-you design. A demon's maw devouring clueless awakeners.

Truly vile genre mashup.

"…Enough of that crap."

I declared solemnly, sharing the message for all to see. Was it just revealing the default gimmick, or bait to drain coins? Couldn't tell.

"Our world's genres are already oversaturated! Ice Fox Chaos!"

No more genre adds—that'd snap brains.

My left hand gripped my beloved sword. Ice Fox Chaos, one of the ice crystals I'd refined to near-perfection.

Pajijik—

Did it sense my intent? Sparks flew from the message, warping the text in warning.

Hmph. I respected its rules last time, but pushiness changes things.

Time for a magical girl's classic: IYAGI hour.

"Lily. Stick right behind me."

"R-Right, sawayo."

Stream viewers needn't worry. Subspace contained the fallout, thankfully.

So thinking, for the first time since that final battle—fully unleashing my authority—I swung.

Geukbing Style, Secret Technique—Absolute Frost Gang Qi!

Dudududuk— Kwakduk—

"H-Ha…?"

The frozen text shattered and vanished, collapsing the message. Ignoring stunned Su-yeon and chat, I peered beyond it.

Tower and gate. Their intertwined essence. Closer to authority or concept, really.

A limited glimpse, like peeking at program code.

Something like [Kaijin] in text form. Normally invisible even to me, but freezing and breaking it with my power changed that.

Kururururu—

Leaving the crumbling concept and Absolute Frost Gang Qi's backlash to shred the subspace, I grabbed the frozen Su-yeon—caught in the ripple too—and dove through the gate manifesting behind us.

Good timing. Crossing dimensions to adjacent realms is a hassle.

Camera toss or not, you're safe at home watching, right?

* * *

"…That's what happened, sawayo."

"Hearing that makes my news sound lame."

"Nah, yours is wilder…"

After wrapping the subspace typhoon stream, Su-yeon and I met up with Yu-ri, fresh off Floor 8.

Ours: subspace drama. Hers: martial arts.

"A real manual drops? No way."

"But is this actual martial arts?"

"Yes and no."

I continued, eyeing Yu-ri's manual with a wistful pang.

"Narrowly, martial arts mean wuxia techniques passed down. Broadly, any training to build them fits fine."

Wujun called isekai martial arts "this world's wuxia?" and lived it. If influenced by actual wuxia folk, even more so.

I glanced at the tower, eyes narrowed at the manual, Fangs of Ashire…

A technique from an acquaintance over there.