The Master of the Legion

A bright sun rose over the village. The moment the last remaining monster died, a white portal signaling the clearance of the second floor appeared in the village square. However, it was too early to leave; there was still some tidying up to do.

"Should I make it around here?"

After digging a pit next to the portal, I created a new Spawning Pool. I had closed the previous Spawning Pool after riding Poppy over here, and now a new one was born in the center of the village.

The Void Grubs, arriving late with corpses stuffed in their bellies, crawled toward the Spawning Pool.

I dumped all the corpses of the Abyss Cult and the marine monsters into the Spawning Pool. When I threw in just one or two, there wasn't much of a reaction. But once the number surpassed a hundred, a flood of new messages poured in.

They weren't mind-blowing abilities, but they were highly versatile. In particular, the C-rank Night Vision provided at least a minimum level of sight even in pitch-black darkness. Of course, it didn't turn night into broad daylight like it did for the Abyss Cultists. That probably wasn't the cultists' own ability anyway, but rather a power granted by the monster of the abyss.

Still, obtaining a portion of their abilities just by hunting the cultists—without even defeating the main body—was an unexpected windfall.

"No new soldiers?"

No new types of units were added to the Legion. It was a bit disappointing, considering how many marine creatures existed within the Void Devourer faction.

"Well, I suppose expecting a new friend on just the second floor is a bit greedy."

"Woof! Woof!"

"You're saying all I need is you, Poppy? That's not true."

"Whine..."

Come to think of it, expecting a new unit after killing barely a thousand monsters was indeed greedy. Even on Hard difficulty, thousands or tens of thousands of monsters would appear on the upper floors. Wanting a new type of legion unit already was rushing things. Soothing my disappointment, I pushed all the remaining corpses into the Spawning Pool.

Once all the corpses were pushed in, a few more messages popped up. I turned my gaze to the children gathered around me.

The children packed the village and spilled over the wooden palisades. Even now, new Void Hounds were constantly emerging from the Spawning Pool, so the size of the legion was actually growing.

Turning my head back, I saw the white portal shimmering in the air. What would happen to these children once I left this place?

This was a point on which even the Transcendents couldn't give a clear answer. Generally, Awakened who fought with the help of other creatures were classified as summoners. The difference between them and me was that a summoner's summons could all be unsummoned. Even if they cleared a floor without unsummoning them, they would be automatically unsummoned.

But the children created in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Spawning Pool could not be unsummoned.

Even though they must have sensed my worry, the children nudged me, urging me not to waste time and to clear the second floor. Just in case, I tried tossing some of them into the portal, but they simply passed right through and landed on the other side as if nothing was there.

"...Live well."

In the end, I waved to the children and stepped through the portal. Would they all vanish once I left? Or would they live out a new life somewhere? Only the Tower knew the truth.

A long list of messages followed. But I couldn't bring myself to look at them.

"Can you still feel the children?"

"Woof."

"You too, huh."

The tidal wave of emotions that had been rushing into me until just moments ago was gone. To hide my melancholy, I stared at the system window.

Looking at the calculated score, something didn't sit right with me.

"I want to change my name."

"Yes."

It was common knowledge that the Tower possessed a will of its own. There had never been a reported case of a climber changing their player name, but surely someone climbing the Impossible difficulty was entitled to at least this much privilege.

I wasn't climbing this Tower alone. The children who died for me on the first floor, and the children who couldn't follow me and were left behind on the second floor... I was only here today because everyone had helped me.

To meet those children again someday. I now had one more reason to climb the Tower.

The new Fourth Great Awakening was underway, and the world was once again thrown into a tempest.

Initially, the center of attention was the mysterious person who had cleared the Impossible difficulty. However, interest cooled surprisingly fast.

The reason interest had cooled was because the climber had not revealed their identity.

There were only two things one could bring into the Tower: the clothes on one's back, and items obtained from the Tower or Gates. However, not just any item could be brought in. Only a select few items authorized by the Tower could enter.

Naturally, the value of items that could be brought into the Tower was astronomical. But if a climber died in the Tower or was team-killed, those precious items would be lost forever. Therefore, under normal circumstances, guilds rarely lent out items that could be taken into the Tower.

However, if it was a talent who had shattered the Floor 1 rankings with a score over twenty times higher than the Empress's, they were worth supporting even at the risk of losing everything.

Honestly, this debate should have vanished once the conquest of Floor 2 on Impossible difficulty began.

To prevent climbers' movements from being tracked, the Tower allowed the climbing status to be set to private if half of the server's population agreed.

Just when people were starting to believe that the Impossible difficulty user had given up on climbing...

A bombshell dropped on the entire world.

The Impossible difficulty climber was once again the center of attention. But while the eyes of the world were focused on her, the person in question was caught in a serious dilemma.

"Hmm... Should I just upgrade the Spawning Pool? There isn't much preparation time for the next floor..."

"Woof! Woof!"

"...You're telling me to just trust you, Poppy?"

"Woof!"

The next floor was a mission where I had to escape a forest with stranded NPCs while fleeing from swarms of incoming enemies. Unlike the second floor, there wouldn't be time to leisurely build a Spawning Pool and churn out soldiers.

Originally, I had planned to use stealth skills to slip away quietly. However, since stealth skills had been effortlessly bypassed on the Impossible difficulty, I had to formulate a different plan.

There were two most realistic options.

Either upgrade Poppy, or purchase skills for myself.

With 46,000 points, I could buy two B-rank skills. On the other hand, if I invested in Poppy, she would reach level 10, unlocking a new special upgrade.

Trust Poppy, or trust myself?

"Poppy... I'm trusting you, okay?"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

In the end, I chose to trust Poppy.

Even if I get stronger, there's a limit to what I can do.

Fighting the Priest of the Abyss had made me realize how fragile I actually was. Although the fight had ended in an easy victory, I would have died on the spot if I hadn't been able to summon Poppy. I wasn't skilled in combat to begin with, and my skills were heavily specialized for survival.

Poppy's first special upgrades had been Telepathy and Emergency Escape. Neither of them was combat-oriented. If utility skills popped up again this time, breaking through the third floor would become quite difficult.

"Woof!"

Sensing my anxiety, Poppy trotted over and rubbed her head against my leg.

"Yeah, we'll figure it out somehow."

I smiled faintly and tapped the system window.

The 20,000-point gamble had paid off.