The Great Return Pill

Even the ordinary, mid-tier elixirs sold in the shop started at a baseline asking price of around 10,000 points, and this one had come from Ha Heijeong herself. There was zero chance it was some cheap off-brand potion. Even the name was a cut above the rest.

The Great Return Pill, huh…

By tradition, nothing with the character for "Great" in its name was ever trivial. Great General, Great Warrior, Great Sword… While I was off indulging in that idiotic train of thought, another message flew in from Ha Heijeong.

A fair price? Somehow I doubted her definition of "fair" matched mine. I hurriedly opened the shop and searched for the Great Return Pill.

The moment I saw the price tag, my jaw dropped on its own. Thirty thousand points? For an elixir? The Essence of Lightning had cost 45,000 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— this thing was basically 0.7 of an Essence of Lightning. Expensive didn't even begin to cover it.

No, still. There had to be a line.

Believe it or not, I still had a conscience. And that conscience itched something fierce at the idea of wolfing down a 30,000-point elixir a friend had tossed my way without a second thought.

Right. After Floor 14, in the Waiting Room, I'd settled on the armor I was going to buy — Feather of the Thunder Bird. I'd picked it out myself, and Ha Heijeong had confirmed it was a genuinely solid piece of gear.

The purchase would cost 55,000 points. I currently had about 42,000, so I was still 13,000 short of the mark.

Still, if the Great Return Pill was truly necessary, I'd have been willing to scrape the money together myself. Of course, if anyone other than Ha Heijeong had been the one offering, I would never have considered taking it for free in the first place. Getting stronger in the Tower is a good thing. But my goal was never to climb it alone.

I wanted to climb with as many people as possible — and above all, to conquer the Tower alongside Ha Heijeong. That was the whole point.

I was already receiving nearly every reward each floor had to offer, as it was. This isn't just a matter of funneling loot my way. Thirty thousand points was by no means a trivial sum for Ha Heijeong, even now. Every point she spent on me was a chance for her to grow stronger, forfeited in my stead. For every increment I gained, Ha Heijeong got weaker. That, I couldn't stomach.

Anyone else would probably ask why I'd refuse something like this… But if Ha Heijeong ever died or got hurt down the line, this exact moment would carve itself deep into my heart. It would become a blade buried in my back, one that never faded — a scar I'd carry forever. So no, I didn't welcome the gift. I wanted her to come through this Tower unharmed, and I didn't want to be dragging around a needless load of guilt on the day something went wrong.

I wasn't so weak that I needed to steal away even Ha Heijeong's points to grow.

But when I laid all of that out honestly, Ha Heijeong's only response was a message that practically radiated disbelief.

Long story short, I ended up accepting the Great Return Pill.

By her reasoning, there were three reasons it had to be me. The first: a stronger me meant a greater chance of saving more climbers on Floor 16. The second: her growth rate was already outpacing even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her own projections — probably because she'd been clearing every hidden mission on every floor. And the last reason was simply Ha Heijeong's declaration — her flat, absolute vow that she would never die and never get hurt.

Fine. Whatever you say. I'd take it. I'd get stronger, and I'd be the one protecting Ha Heijeong. Keep her from getting hurt. Keep her from dying. Ever.

And so, with that conversation settled, I found myself sitting at the table, staring down the pill.

The notification window's description was blunter than most elixirs'. Enhanced physical abilities, expelled impurities, abundant mana. My eyes snagged on that warning line, but Ha Heijeong had given this to me personally — surely it wouldn't be a problem for me. Well, that works out nicely, actually. Sleep had been refusing to come to me lately anyway.

Elixirs made you drowsy. I had no idea why. Maybe the body simply accepted the medicine and spread it evenly through itself, and the fatigue that followed was the price. Either way, the plan was simple: swallow the pill, sleep like the dead, wake up better.

I picked up the elixir. Having actually committed to it, my heart began to pound. A full 30,000-point elixir. I couldn't help wondering just how dramatic the effects would be.

I screwed my eyes shut and swallowed.

The round pill slid down my throat — and I promptly lay down flat on the floor. Warmth began to spread from the back of my throat outward.

When I opened my eyes, a good stretch of time had passed — nearly six hours of sleep. It was the first time in ages I'd managed more than four. Even the Bug Queen's elixir had never done this for me. Whatever the Great Return Pill was, its effects were clearly on another level. Perhaps because I'd slept so long, my body felt light, refreshed, purged.

Hm, or maybe not? Maybe it was the pill more than the sleep. It had supposedly flushed out every impurity and waste product in my body, so that was the likelier culprit. I felt brimming with strength, too. I figured only one thing would settle my questions: the status window.

Wow. A single elixir did this? My stats had climbed so far I was practically speechless. Ever since my physical stats had crossed the 100 mark, growth had slowed to a crawl — usually the whole pool of stats rose by about 1 per floor.

And one Great Return Pill just bought me a minimum of 5. Constitution had risen a touch more, but what jumped out most was Magic. It had shot up by a little over 10, hadn't it? On top of that, every body-related skill had leveled up in a neat chain — Presence Detection, Natural Healing, the lot. A 30,000-point elixir really was worth every point.

In the middle of my pure, honest admiration, though, I noticed something different from before. What's this? A bit of focused attention told me: it was the mana-storing gauntlet. Unfamiliar mana was pooling inside it — even though I hadn't done a single thing to earn it.

Suddenly the Great Return Pill's description resurfaced in my memory. "Steeped in a vast reserve of mana," it had said. So whatever my body couldn't absorb had accumulated in the gauntlet instead. There was no other explanation. Well — that was hardly a bad thing. Mana my body couldn't hold would otherwise just evaporate and be gone; now I could spend it as a one-shot reserve instead. And gauging it properly, there was a startling amount pooled in there. More than I'd expected.

Just then, a message arrived. I checked the sender — Aleksei.

Huh? Since when does she have any reason to message me? Even the content left me baffled. Out of nowhere, "tell me later too"? Tell me what?

Messaging required two rounds of confirmation before sending, so there was no chance this had landed with me by mistake. We weren't exactly on chatty terms, either.

Huh. So the thing she wanted taught was axe technique? She could've just asked outright, but somehow the message came off needlessly prickly. Knowing her personality back on Floor 10, I didn't think it was shyness — no, watching her now, Aleksei struck me as another one of the stubbornly proud sort. Still, woven in with a genuine compliment about my fighting, it was hard not to feel good about it. Fine, I'll teach her when there's time. I messaged back that I would.

Not long after, the rest of Ha Heijeong's preparations for Floor 16 arrived.

The summoning ritual on Floor 16 ran longer than on any floor before it — as if the Tower wanted every message read before pulling us in. My vision was blindingly bright, yet the notification windows remained crisp and clear.

The content matched what Ha Heijeong had told me. No time limit. Hold the fortress — or, if it fell, flee north and stay alive for six hours. Hah. All we could do was pray we handled it well.

"As the Holy Maiden foretold, you have all assembled. Then the military council will now begin."

As my vision brightened, an ancient, stately council chamber came into view. Seated at the head of the room was, unmistakably, the Emperor — golden armor, blonde hair swept back. Before him stood rows of armored commanders.

"What the hell? What's going on here?"

At the irritation in that voice, I turned my head. Beside our party sat a cluster of otherworldly races — and not just one. Three sentient species, all drawn into the Trial of the Tower alongside the people of Earth. Three alien parties, seated right beside us.