The Impossible Choice

They say three opportunities come to a person in life.

Perhaps this is that very moment.

In the 21st century, the era of Gates, every modern person harbors a dream in their heart.

The dream of being chosen by the Tower and becoming an Awakened.

Everyone imagined their own awakening, dreaming of a happy future. But those actually chosen by the Tower to awaken were a tiny minority.

One million during the first Great Awakening.

Three million during the second.

Six million during the third.

The ratio of Awakened to the entire human population was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mere 0.1%.

While the odds were much higher than winning the lottery, they were still far too low for me to count on.

Having been laid off from my job and joining the ranks of unemployed youth, I never seriously expected to awaken. I gathered information about the Tower daily and wrote strategy guides on how to clear it if I ever did awaken, but that was purely for self-satisfaction. I didn't analyze it because I truly believed my time would come.

And then, that very opportunity presented itself to me.

Text suddenly materialized, blurring my vision.

The moment of awakening, which I had only ever heard stories of, had finally arrived.

I had exactly ten minutes to choose a difficulty. If I failed to select one within this time, my awakening would be canceled.

First, I tapped the floating text for the Status Window. It was always best to choose a difficulty based on one's talent rank. Generally, F to D-rank was recommended for Easy, C to B-rank for Normal, and A-rank or higher for Hard.

Please, let it be A-rank or higher. No, at least B-rank...

“...Huh?”

A multiple awakening, something with a mere 0.1% chance of occurring among all Awakened.

And an SSS-rank skill, of which only about ten existed in the entire world.

The effects were as broken as their high ranks suggested.

And my luck didn't end there.

Generally, an adult male's starting stats upon awakening hovered around 10. My physical stats were slightly higher, but considering my lifestyle, they were within the margin of error.

However...

Mana: 32.

This was an absurd number, completely unheard of.

I'm pretty sure they said the average Awakened's starting mana is 8...

A mana stat over 10 was considered above average, and anything over 20 meant one had the potential of a ranker.

And mine wasn't just over 20—it exceeded 30.

The world's Rank 1, the Empress, started with 26, and I'm over 30?

Since mana was a stat that couldn't be raised through effort, talent was everything. I had completely shattered the Empress's record, which many believed would never be broken.

A rush of euphoria filled my head, but now was not the time to waste on celebration. I turned my attention to the remaining skill.

An emotion-related skill? Isn't that usually something summoners get?

It was indeed a basic skill typically obtained by summoners. It felt completely out of place next to Regeneration and Stealth.

Well, I can just pretend Appraise Emotion doesn't exist. It doesn't matter.

Even ignoring that F-rank skill, Regeneration and Stealth alone far exceeded my wildest expectations.

Then, my eyes drifted to the newly appeared difficulty option that sat beside Hard and Normal.

[Impossible]

Impossible. Literally, not possible.

It was a brand-new difficulty that had never been reported before.

First, I calculated how I could climb Hard difficulty with my current abilities. Generally, the minimum requirement to attempt Hard was a single A-rank skill. However, even within the same rank, efficiency varied wildly depending on the skill's type.

With Regeneration and Stealth, no matter how high their ranks are, a perfect clear is impossible.

There were two main ways to climb the Tower: the Conquest style and the Survival style.

Conquest climbers aimed to achieve objectives perfectly to maximize their rewards.

Survival climbers did the bare minimum to pass, taking only the basic rewards.

Regeneration and Stealth. These skills were heavily focused on survival rather than combat. While they guaranteed I wouldn't die, they made it difficult to aim for high scores.

Choosing Hard difficulty now would be a waste of the SSS-rank skill I had just obtained.

But do I really need to climb to the very top? Hard difficulty is already blocked at floor 92 anyway.

The higher the difficulty, the greater the base rewards. Clearing the lowest tier of Hard difficulty yielded more rewards than a perfect clear of Normal difficulty.

I shifted my gaze to check the remaining time.

Since my life was on the line, I had to choose carefully. I raised my hand and tapped the text below the Status Window.

I searched through the rapidly updating posts and clicked on the one I wanted.

I stopped scrolling at the last comment.

Even with survival skills that might be the best in the world, the reason I hesitated to enter Impossible difficulty was simple.

What if I couldn't even clear the 1st floor?

Escaping the Tower was only possible starting from the 2nd floor.

If you couldn't clear the 1st floor, you were trapped inside the Tower forever, destined to die.

Was Impossible difficulty impossible from the very 1st floor, or was it just the 100th floor at the top that couldn't be cleared?

Few people were willing to gamble their lives on an uncertainty. Among the newly awakened in South Korea, only three had chosen Impossible difficulty.

As I scanned the newly posted threads, I spotted another post by the same user from earlier.

Ever since the first person to clear Easy difficulty proved they had upgraded a skill to Transcendent rank, the word 'Transcendent' was no stranger to Awakened.

I don't even expect to reach the 100th floor. If I can just break through to floor 30...

Typically, the rewards for a perfect clear of Normal difficulty were comparable to a basic clear of floor 30 on Hard difficulty.

And floor 30 was the limit of what could be cleared using the Survival style.

With three waves of Great Awakenings, research on the Tower had progressed significantly. Even if the difficulty changed, the theme and clear conditions of each floor remained similar.

The 1st floor was a mission where up to 100 players had to work together to escape a forest inhabited by monsters. This was the absolute best environment for me, equipped with infinite stealth.

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

Having made up my mind, I walked over to my closet. Of all modern items, only clothing could be brought into the Tower.

I pulled out a stab-proof vest, combat gloves, and a survival jacket that had been tucked away in the corner of my closet, then grabbed my combat boots from the shoe rack. These were clothes I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had prepared to wear to the Tower if I ever awakened.

Numerous studies had been conducted on the Tower's criteria for what constituted 'clothing,' and the gear I had prepared barely managed to satisfy those strict standards.

With all preparations complete, I stood in front of the mirror and activated my Stealth skill.

When I looked down, I could see my own body, but the mirror in front of me reflected absolutely nothing. Even my shadow on the floor had vanished.

It was exactly the effect of the Stealth skill I knew.

Over the past few years, I had studied the Tower, combining thousands of skills in my head. I had analyzed the Tower floor by floor and written a perfect strategy guide. Some of the strategies I wrote had even been registered in the official Tower Guide, read by every Awakened in the world.

In my expert opinion, Regeneration and Stealth were the most perfect combination for climbing the Tower using the Survival style.

They say three opportunities come to a person in life.

The true meaning of this saying was that when an opportunity presented itself, one had to be prepared to seize it.

And I was absolutely certain that I was ready.

Without any further hesitation, I made my choice.

I had a plan.

At least, I did... until the 1st floor of Impossible difficulty actually began.