The Great Summoning
The Great Summoning had occurred.
Countless people were summoned to the Tower.
No one knew why. No one had explained it to them.
The Tower bestowed upon them the title of Adventurer and gave them just one purpose.
"Climb the Tower."
Kang Ji-hyun was one of the summoned.
I'm going back.
His goal was clear, unyielding no matter the trials.
He had a disabled younger sister. Ji-hyun was the only one who could care for her. Their parents had passed away early, and their relatives had become worse than strangers.
Leaving her alone filled him with unbearable anxiety. She wasn't a burden to him—she was his reason for living, his joy, his happiness.
Yet that sister was abandoned, left by herself. Just thinking about it chilled his blood to ice.
He would return alive. And as quickly as possible. Anything could happen.
He burned with passion, devoting himself to endless effort. He didn't distinguish between talents he had and those he lacked—he simply pursued the best strategies relentlessly.
As a result, the guild he joined became one of the top guilds, steadily advancing toward the Tower's summit at the forefront.
Knights Order
It had started as a small party. As they climbed higher, it grew in power, earning the nickname "Knights Order."
Like unshakeable rocks supporting one another through endless trials, they endured and climbed the Tower. That was the fame they earned, the confidence they gained.
With them, conquering the summit didn't seem impossible.
That was what he'd thought.
The Tower began in a beginner dungeon called the Tutorial, ten floors high.
The Tutorial was brutal. Life-or-death battles. Survival without comfort, gnawed by profound solitude.
Fortunately, true death didn't occur in the Tower's lower floors. Deaths in the Tutorial were especially meaningless.
There were no penalties whatsoever.
He died countless times, revived countless times, defeated the monsters that had killed him, and overcame traps.
After enduring all those trials and emerging, the sight of the 11th Floor left him stunned by its alien normalcy.
There was a village.
No people in sight, but buildings like houses lined the streets. The Tower, which had only shown floor numbers before, now displayed an unfamiliar message.
Time remaining until 12th Floor opens: 115 hours, 58 minutes, 15 seconds
The floors opened automatically?
To Ji-hyun, who had fought grueling battles to advance each floor, it was bewildering. Soon, he realized he wasn't the first to arrive in this village.
There were people.
To those sinking into isolation, it was like a brilliant light.
Jo Myeong-hun
He met him right there on the 11th Floor.
Jo Myeong-hun arrived much later than the others. His initial expression was machine-like, almost frightening, but after surveying the 11th Floor, he relaxed into an angelic smile, comforting everyone.
That smile gently melted the frozen hearts. His gentle, trustworthy tone, laced with subtle charisma, captivated them.
When the 11th Floor opened fully, the people rallied around Jo Myeong-hun.
That was the beginning of what would be called the Knights Order.
Ji-hyun served as the Order's commander. His personal combat skills lagged behind the other knights, but his battlefield command was top-tier, and the members trusted and followed him.
Jo Myeong-hun trusted Ji-hyun completely in turn. He entrusted him with the First Assault Team, composed of the guild's finest, and sought him out first in dire situations.
The reason they were called the Knights Order was straightforward.
They specialized in tactics emphasizing the defensive power of heavy armor. The name stuck especially after forging armor from White Iron obtained on the 30th Floor.
On chaotic battlefields, armored warriors blocking enemy assaults evoked knights from old tales.
Passing the 30th, then the 40th, and finally breaking through the trial-like 50th Floor, the Knights Order reached the 51st.
And from the 51st Floor onward, everything changed.
The 51st Floor was a symbolic place in the Tower.
Unlike the small village on the 11th Floor or the occasional minor settlements after, an entirely different scale of residence appeared.
It was large enough to call a city.
Hundreds of stairways led from the 50th to the 51st Floor, and countless paths descended to the 52nd.
Masses of people gathered.
The term "Great Summoning" originated here, as information spread from the 51st Floor onward. People of all nations, races, genders, and ages had been summoned to the Tower.
And one step further—
Shocking information about the 52nd Floor emerged.
From the 52nd Floor, resurrection was impossible. Lower floors had no permanent penalties until cleared. But from 52 onward, death was real.
Adventurers hardened by countless deaths paled before the Tower's warning of true death.
Yet they couldn't stop.
Ji-hyun steeled himself and led the guild as Knights Order commander.
Passing the 52nd, 53rd, 54th, the mid-boss on the 55th, they finally broke through to the 60th.
It wasn't just triumph. People truly died. Losing comrades right beside you delivered unimaginable shock. Death might grow familiar, but loss never did.
Even the steadfast Knights Order began voicing their torment. The absurdly rising difficulty tormented them too. In the 60th Floor boss battle, over a dozen guild members died or suffered irrecoverable wounds.
Incurable wounds led straight to death. The obvious truth struck bone-chillingly cold. The weary Adventurers pressed on regardless.
After an agonizing climb like traversing a barren desert, they reached the 70th Floor.
And there, they faced the worst boss yet.
Lesser Dragon
All their accumulated skills, knowledge, wisdom... everything proved futile against that monster.
In utter despair, the Adventurers fled—and luckily discovered a path back from the 70th to the 51st Floor.
Ji-hyun rejoiced more than anyone. They needed time to regroup.
But that retreat brought results far beyond his expectations.
Many abandoned the climb.
Even Jo Myeong-hun, whom he trusted, voiced such opinions.
Not total surrender. He suggested fortifying their base on the 51st Floor. With so many people, resources and knowledge would accumulate. Strengthen here for an easier ascent.
A sweet proposal, but full of flaws.
Rewards grew exponentially with each floor. Lingering here meant stagnation. Earth's people were unfamiliar with the Tower's power—Aura—lacking any "system" to wield it. They had to fill that gap with Tower rewards.
Ji-hyun argued fiercely. They had to climb. It was the only way back. Wasting time was folly. His words rang true, and some in the Knights Order agreed.
Was that the problem?
In the Knights Order barracks on the 51st Floor, during a drinking gathering, Ji-hyun abstained, but members drowned battle horrors in alcohol.
Jo Myeong-hun invited him, wanting to talk with his oldest comrades. Ji-hyun sighed but followed.
He never imagined betrayal from Jo Myeong-hun—let alone like this.
"The 51st Floor allows resurrection. But what about outside the Tower?"
A rat-hole space in a corner of the vast city.
Jo Myeong-hun stabbed a curse dagger into his back, shoving him out with an expression never seen before.
"A subordinate should obey orders. Why act on your own?"
The words pierced like a dagger to the heart.
One figure plummeted outside the Tower.
A curse-infused dagger protruded from his gut. The Aura granting superhuman power was sealed by the curse, wracking his body in agony.
Falling toward the ground.
But the betrayal's shock dwarfed the wound's pain.
Why?
Why?!
Past memories flashed like a montage. Ji-hyun bit his lip hard.
Powerlessness enveloped him. Yet he wouldn't give up. He couldn't. His sister waited.
He gasped raggedly.
Think!
Find a way!
He spurred himself on, forcing his dying body to move.
The Tower streaked by—an unimaginably massive structure defying physics, beyond which loomed a hazy cluster of light.
Something he shouldn't see entered his vision.
A Temple?
He ground his teeth, biting his tongue. The metallic taste and throbbing pain anchored his fading consciousness.
Only then did he notice the message in the corner of his vision.
The Tower's interface, delivering info as needed.
But this is outside the Tower?
Perplexed, Ji-hyun stared as the Tower declared impassively.
Warning! This is not an area permitted for Adventurers!
Warning! ...
No matter how chilling, Ji-hyun could do nothing now.
But if anyone— the Tower's creator, administrator, whoever—watched him!
Give me a chance.
He couldn't die like this.
He had to live.
Ji-min...
She couldn't lose her brother too.
And in that instant,
the Tower's warning messages changed.
You have entered a Hidden Stage.
Hidden Stage: Outside the Tower
Achievement: The One Who Turns the Impossible Possible
A special privilege is granted to the first Adventurer to discover a Hidden Stage.
Privilege: Regression
Will you use this privilege?
Such words appeared. He screamed "Yes!" obsessively, but no sound escaped his throat.
Yet it was enough for the Tower to read his will.
*Warning: All skills, time, equipment, and relationships will regress to a specific point.
**Warning: However, the Adventurer's memories are excluded from regression.
Will you use this privilege?
[Y/N]
The Tower asked once more.
Words few could choose lightly.
But to Ji-hyun, it was salvation itself.
Twisting his dying body, he screamed—and the Tower accepted his soul's cry.