A Weapon Acquired

Warm sunlight streamed through the window.

"Mmm... is it morning?"

"Woof!"

I stroked Poppy's solid crown as I sat up in bed. Outside the window, the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon.

I slept for about six hours?

It had been late at night when I exited the Tower, so if the sun was only now rising, I couldn't have slept for very long. Yet, my body felt as refreshed as if I had slept for half a day.

Checking the clock I had salvaged from the abandoned house, I saw that I had slept for just over five hours.

Being an Awakener certainly has its perks.

To think that after staying awake for nearly two days straight, a mere five hours of sleep was all I needed to fully recover. Before my awakening, this was the kind of lifestyle I could only dream of.

And this was only because my Stamina stat was still relatively low. There were rumors that the Empress, who cleared the 91st floor on Hard difficulty, once went without sleep for over thirty days.

Of course, doctors still advised that even Awakeners needed regular sleep for the sake of their mental health.

I wonder if Cheon Seo-ah is still working herself to the bone like that.

My former colleague suddenly crossed my mind. She was a notorious workaholic who pulled back-to-back all-nighters, constantly brushing off concern by claiming she was fine because she was an Awakener.

I had briefly considered leaving her a message before I departed, but since I was no longer a member of the guild, I decided it would be overstepping and simply left.

Besides, I hadn't even decided what to do about my old identity yet.

"For now, I can just disguise myself as a Gate Kid..."

Twenty years ago, after the Gate Incident threw the world into chaos, a significant number of children in South Korea were born and raised in legal blind spots.

Among them, children born to Awakeners in cities overrun by monsters were occasionally discovered. It would be simple enough to claim I was a Gate Kid whose parents had passed away.

"Woof!"

"You want me to register you as my younger sibling too? As much as I'd love to, that's a bit..."

"Woof, woof, woof!"

"No, I know we're family. I'm just saying that's how the law is."

Most summoners regarded their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠summons as family. Because of this, there were occasional instances of eccentric summoners demanding that the government register their summons as citizens.

However, those demands ceased after the government passed a special law decreeing that only humans could receive resident registration. To be precise, the Awakener guilds collaborating with the government had quietly handled the matter.

At any rate, a summoner's summon could not be registered as a citizen, but...

"Woof."

"Huh? I'm not human either?"

Come to think of it, the species listed on my status window had changed from human to something else.

"Well... I look perfectly human on the outside, so it should be fine, right?"

I hadn't heard anything about resident registration centers installing devices that could measure one's species, so it probably wouldn't be an issue. Besides, returning to the city was a problem for the future; there was no need to stress over it now.

"More importantly... I'm hungry."

Though I had eaten the meal prepared by the monster during the 2nd-floor trial, that was already a day ago. I wasn't on the verge of collapsing from starvation, but a persistent hunger was beginning to gnaw at me.

"Woof! Woof!"

Sensing my mood, the Void Dogs approached, wagging their tails eagerly.

Splat.

"Woof!"

One of the Void Dogs dropped a goblin corpse from its jaws onto the floor. It wagged its tail at a frantic pace, practically begging for praise.

"..."

"Woof?"

Sensing my sudden wave of dismay, the Void Dog's tail slowly came to a halt.

"...Could you please clean that up? Big sister is going to the Tower now."

"Woof..."

"You guys can eat that."

"Woof! Woof!"

The Void Dogs immediately began tearing into the goblin. Leaving them to their meal, I headed up to the fourth floor.

Just like the third floor, the fourth floor of this building was a residential apartment, allowing me to avoid staying in a room reeking of goblin blood.

"From now on, if you're hungry, just hunt and eat on your own. You don't need to save any for me."

"Woof!"

After summoning the fed Void Dogs up to the fourth floor, I prepared to enter the Tower. I could afford to go hungry a bit longer, and if worst came to worst, I could always requisition some food from the NPCs during the trial.

"Alright, I'll be back!"

Giving the Void Dogs a light wave, I stepped into the Tower. The now-familiar safe zone materialized before my eyes. I immediately opened the system window to review the newly updated objectives.

The details were largely as I had anticipated. However, this time, the sub-objectives did not display the number of remaining monsters.

If that was the case, what would the numbers look like on Impossible difficulty?

Though the conversation had drifted slightly, Lava Princess's point was ultimately correct. The running speed of myself, Poppy, and the Void Dogs was overwhelmingly superior to any monsters at our current level. Under normal circumstances, monsters wouldn't even be able to keep up with us.

No matter how many enemies swarmed us, we could simply outrun them, rescue the NPCs, slay as many monsters as possible along the way, and then make our escape.

If my predictions were correct, there was a high probability I would acquire a sword during this trial.

Though I couldn't learn a master-level technique in such a short time, having even a basic grasp of the concepts made a world of difference.

Engraving the Forgotten Swordmaster's advice into my mind, I prepared myself for the challenges of the third floor.

As I stepped out of the safe zone, a dirt road wide enough for carriages came into view. According to the lore, this road connected the village to the city. Since it was a route regularly traveled by merchants, it was reasonably well-maintained.

Escape the Silent Forest.

This time, there was no visible time limit. The objective of the third floor was simply to reach the exit at the end of this road, regardless of how long it took.

I immediately veered off the road into the dense brush and began digging into the earth.

"Woof! Woof!"

With Poppy's massive forepaws tearing up the dirt, a large pit was hollowed out in no time. As I channeled my mana to manifest a Void Pool, a shimmering purple liquid began to fill the excavation.

After utilizing the resources stored in the Void to initiate the spawning process, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had Poppy uproot nearby trees and toss them into the pool.

Splash!

By repeating this process five times, I quickly established five Void Pools within the forest. Thanks to Poppy's tireless efforts, I was able to gather more than enough resources to fuel all of them.

By the time we finished, five minutes had elapsed, and the first batch of newly spawned Void Dogs began crawling out of the purple depths.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Alright, let's move!"

I issued a series of commands to the fresh summons before leaping onto Poppy's back.

The core mechanic of the third floor was that enemies would pursue us from behind. The real issue, however, was that starting from Hard difficulty, the stranded castaways would be actively hunted by separately spawned monsters.

On Extreme, players were given a grace period of about thirty minutes. But on Impossible, there was no telling what the rules were. For all I knew, the castaways might have already been slaughtered during the five minutes I spent preparing.

"Woof!"

Sensing my anxiety, Poppy surged forward, picking up speed.

"It's fine. We can't expect to perfect-clear every single floor anyway."

Even so, there was a reason I hadn't rushed out the moment the trial began. It was far wiser to climb the Tower safely than to throw my life away chasing a perfect clear.

Five minutes was the compromise I had made to balance my safety with the pursuit of a perfect score. If the castaways had died within that window, I was fully prepared to abandon the perfect clear without a second thought.

And yet...

It seemed my gamble had paid off; none of the NPCs had perished yet.

In the distance, I spotted a carriage mired in a swamp, with several figures desperately struggling to haul it out.

"What are you fools doing?! Pull harder!"

An old man with a harsh countenance, dressed in extravagant silk robes, was shouting at the top of his lungs, his face contorted in fury. Before him, a knight clad in full plate armor and two men who appeared to be porters had tied ropes to the carriage, straining with all their might.

However, the carriage was already half-submerged in the mire. Despite the men pulling until the veins bulged on their faces, the heavy vehicle refused to budge.

"Do you have any idea what is inside this—what in the world is that?!"

Even upon seeing Poppy's massive, terrifying visage, the old man didn't lose his temper. Instead, he shrieked in alarm.

"Sebastian! Come and greet our guest! Some monster has..."

"She's not a monster. Her name is Poppy."

"Huh? And who might you be?"

Only then did the old man shift his gaze to me, perched atop Poppy's back. I slid down from her saddle and approached him.

"I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"

"What a bizarre child, commanding such a beast. Unfortunately, we have no food; those incompetent fools dropped our provisions into the swamp. Unless you plan on eating a withered old man? Or perhaps those useless servants over there?"

"Hieee!"

The porters, who had been entirely focused on wrestling with the carriage, finally noticed us and gasped in terror.

"My Lord! It is dangerous!"

The knight in plate armor drew his sword and hastily threw himself between the old man and Poppy. Through the narrow slit of his visor, I could see his face pale, his pupils trembling with fear.

"If I pull that out for you, will you give me some food?" I asked, pointing casually at the carriage.

"Hmm? Yes! If you can pull that carriage out, I will give you everything inside it, save for one specific item!"

The old man's eyes darted toward Poppy. He was clearly expecting me to use her massive strength to drag the carriage free. However, I walked right past him and grabbed the ropes the men had tied.

"Step aside."

"Huh? Uh..."

I gripped the rope tightly and gave it a powerful yank.

Groan...

The carriage groaned violently as it began to slide out of the thick mud.

Thud!

In a matter of moments, the carriage was dragged completely out of the swamp and onto the solid dirt road.

"Good heavens..."

The old man stared at the carriage, his mouth agape as if he had just witnessed a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ghost.

"We're done here, right?"

"The chest! Yes, I must check if the chest is safe!"

Muttering frantically to himself, the old man scrambled into the carriage. He paid no mind to the mud caking his expensive silk robes; his only concern was clawing through the muck until he retrieved a small box.

"Hahaha! I found it! It's safe!"

Clutching a small, ornate jewelry box to his chest, the old man laughed like a lunatic. Meanwhile, the knight, who had been watching the display in stunned silence, quietly approached me.

"You likely have no idea of the magnitude of what you have just accomplished. You have my gratitude, child. I shall see to it that you are handsomely rewarded once we reach the city."

"Give me that."

"...Excuse me?"

I pointed directly at the sword sheathed at the knight's waist.

"You're weaker than me. I'll be using that until we escape this forest."

"..."

"Hand it over."

A cold bead of sweat rolled down the knight's nose.

As if a scrub with less than 100 Strength should be carrying a sword.

I had just acquired my weapon for the third floor.