Floor 5: An Insight or More

“Would you like to purchase the Essence of Lightning for 45,000 achievement points?”

“…Yes.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I answered Heijeong. Squeezing my eyes shut as I said yes to a price like 45,000 points — no wonder my voice was shaking.

A flash of light burst out, and a small wooden case appeared on the little table set up in the Waiting Room.

Sitting atop the lidless case was something like a transparent golden orb. Lightning crackled and flashed inside it, flickering without pause.

When I typed Body Enhancement Elixir into the shop's search bar, the list refreshed with a soft shimmer.

Body Enhancement Elixir x98 — Sale price: 3,000 points.

The x98 next to the name must have meant the remaining stock. The Essence of Lightning, by contrast, had been marked Unique.

So that's why it cost so much.

“Yes.”

It was fifteen times cheaper. Having just bought a 45,000-point Essence of Lightning, apparently my threshold for sticker shock had been thoroughly recalibrated.

Though a small worry did creep in — was I going to end up splashing achievement points around like water from now on?

Another flash of light, and a tiny vial materialized on the table.

It certainly looked anything but ordinary — though the liquid inside was clear, it shimmered with a faint, luminous glow.

Coming from Heijeong, "it tastes bad" gave me pause.

Heijeong is the type who'll wolf down literally anything. Seeing her warn me about the taste was a rare sight.

Just how bad can it possibly be?

‘All right, let's just drink it.’

Think of it as herbal tonic. I'd downed plenty of bitter medicine in my life.

“Kgh—!”

“Kkiik! Human! Are you okay!”

Ignoring Dobby fussing beside me, I gulped the liquid down, gagging with every swallow.

Phew. That was close. I'd nearly spat it right back out the moment it touched my tongue.

If I had to describe the taste — it was like the smell of durian settling on the tip of my tongue.

That garbage flavor still lingered in my mouth. I hastily raised the vial to rinse out my mouth, and that's when my body began to flush hot, a wave of deep fatigue washing over me.

Was it the elixir? A heavy, drowsy languor. Sleep was coming for me.

Just then, Heijeong sent a message that read like a shove between the shoulder blades.

At her urging, I reached for the Essence of Lightning.

Hmm, is it safe to pick up with a bare hand? It won't shock me, right?

‘If it would, she'd have warned me.’

With slightly trembling fingers I picked up the essence — and nothing happened. It just felt faintly warm.

But once it was in my mouth, I had no idea what to actually do with it.

Was I supposed to chew it? Or swallow it whole?

‘Lightning had been flashing inside that orb…’

Just swallow it.

If Heijeong told me to eat it, it obviously wouldn't hurt me — but I had zero confidence in holding lightning open in my mouth.

The moment the Essence of Lightning slid past my throat, something went thud deep inside me.

Thud—

The reverberation came again. Then my core flashed searing hot.

This was different from the burning flush I'd felt after the elixir.

And then drowsiness crashed over me, unbearable, drowning everything.

I tried to answer her message as it floated before my eyes, but my eyelids were already drifting shut on their own. My vision swam, and my body burned far too hot.

I fought to hold onto consciousness, but I could feel myself tilting, sinking.

“Kkiik! Human!”

The last thing I heard as my awareness blurred was Dobby's shriek.

By the time I came to and opened my eyes, I was already inside Floor 5.

Even with my eyes open, everything was dark. It felt like being plunged back into the darkness of Floor 1.

‘And my body feels like it's floating.’

There was no sensation of standing on anything, nothing bracing me. The weightless drift of being aboard a spaceship — that was the closest comparison I could find.

In the pitch-black view, only the notification window glowed, stark and solitary.

Time remaining: 5 hours 52 minutes.

Damn it, when did all that time slip away?

How much had I been given at the start? Just how much of it had I squandered?

“Dobby?”

I called for him, but no answer came.

Had Dobby failed to get summoned along with me this time too? They say we climb the Tower together, and yet — what a joke.

‘Anyway.’

What on earth did "obtain one or more insights" mean? An insight into combat? Into the Tower itself?

Or into myself?

One thing was certain: the Body Enhancement Elixir and the Essence of Lightning were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what had knocked me out.

My body felt unmistakably different. I couldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tell how to wield it yet, but power beyond measure coursed through me. Was this the power of lightning?

‘No — no time to dwell on that.’

I had to gain an insight within five hours. Could I actually do it?

Why did Heijeong have me take these right before Floor 5 and land me in this mess?

Hah — no. Don't blame her. Heijeong had no way of knowing I only had four hours left.

And if there was a battle on Floor 5 against stronger enemies, having gotten stronger would have been a huge help.

‘And for all I know, the time limit might have been six hours.’

In that case, not even ten minutes would have passed.

Heijeong was pushing me forward because she trusted me. I shouldn't be pointing arrows at my staunchest ally.

No more useless thoughts. Time to think about insights.

Gaining an insight might take one minute — or days, or weeks. Focus.

‘An insight into what, exactly?’

Hmm. First, I should narrow the scope.

Since this was a trial handed down by the Tower of Trials, let me start from the day I was dragged here.

The first thing that came to mind was combat.

Something I had never once tried before entering the Tower.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

And yet, unexpectedly, I seemed to have a monstrous talent for it.

Even Heijeong said that if it hadn't been me, no one would have passed the tutorial.

Heijeong, who had climbed past the 90th floor, had given up in the Floor 1 boss room.

Granted, that was unavoidable — she was a mage.

‘But I don't really have anything to gain an insight about from combat.’

Nothing came. I'd never formally studied fighting anywhere.

The enemy's movements simply looked clear to me, and my body simply moved the way I willed it to.

Dodge and cut. Block and swing.

I had improvised clever tricks here and there when facing crowds, and against Karakshi.

But each time, I'd moved on a split-second judgment. It wasn't as if some profound realization guided those movements.

‘Well, there was one thing.’

I had learned a lesson from my fight with Karakshi.

No matter how much stronger you are than your opponent, never let your guard down — in battle, a single split-second decision decides everything.

Could a lesson like that count as an insight?

The notification window hadn't changed. Did the Tower simply not consider a lesson from battle to be an insight?

‘Maybe it doesn't count because I've already internalized it.’

Or maybe — since it said one or more — realizing a single thing wouldn't be enough to end it.

Damn it. If the insight was supposed to come from combat, that was all I had. The Karakshi fight had been the hardest one yet.

‘The Tower. The Tower of Trials. What else is there?’

Suddenly, something I had agonized over constantly throughout my climb surfaced in my mind.

Inner conflict. What to do. What choice to make.

It had started the day I met Dobby.

Spare him, or kill him?

A dilemma born of pity had led me to Karakshi, and then to Faraktus.

At the crossroads — would I listen to Dobby's words? When I met Faraktus — would I help him or not? That inner tug-of-war.

‘When I first entered the Tower, I wrestled between Heijeong's advice and the Tower's messages, too.’

Whether to accept the status window. Whether to choose a close-combat weapon or a staff.

Naturally, listening to the advice of Heijeong — a regressor, and my friend — was the obvious choice. But the choice itself was mine.

When I followed Dobby's counsel at the crossroads, when I chose to help Faraktus — advice was there, yes.

But in the end, every choice was mine.

You can take advice, but the weight of responsibility rests on your own shoulders.

‘Is that an insight, though…’

Frankly, I didn't know. It sounded blindingly obvious.

That every choice is made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by the person themself.

It was a truth that held even outside the Tower — in ordinary life.

University, careers, business, stocks — in all of it, the decision ultimately falls to the individual.

‘And yet, somehow, I feel lighter.’

Whether it was trivial or not didn't matter. Maybe what mattered was that I believed it was an insight.

Could the Tower actually reject it? Tell me the thing I'd realized wasn't an insight at all?

Just in case, let me think about whether there was anything else to realize.

I still had plenty of time.

I spent the remaining hours turning all kinds of thoughts over in my head, but nothing else struck me with that flash of I've realized something!

Well — I couldn't exactly hypnotize myself into declaring "Eureka!" either.

But thankfully, the Tower seemed willing to accept the insight I'd gained earlier.

Following Floor 4, Floor 5 had felt easy to clear too.

No — not felt easy. It genuinely had been easy. There wasn't even a battle.

Would I have died on the spot if I hadn't gained an insight?

Imagining it sent a shiver down my spine, far too late. Thank goodness I'd scraped together even a humble realization.

The message refreshed, and the familiar sensation of floating took hold.