The Tutorial's End

The Tower's climbers. They were the ones thrown into the Tower after catching Kairas's eye and given the quest to conquer it. If they possessed the talent to resist Markrun's mana, their moral character—good or evil—didn't matter. Most of them felt repulsed by the endless battles against monsters and the grueling climb, but they had no choice. Without fighting and winning, they couldn't survive.

Once they adapted, the sudden change left them reeling.

"Damn it! I don't understand what's happening! Why are we starting over from the first floor?"

Dong-cheol Ma, who had just cleared the ninth floor, swung his blood-soaked hammer. In less than half a year, he had pushed past the twentieth floor and believed conquering the Tower was entirely possible. He didn't know how long it would take, but he was determined to survive. That resolve had given him a sliver of hope—until he was hurled back to the first floor, and his anger boiled over.

He checked the condition of the hammer and shield he'd obtained from treasure chests, huffing and puffing to calm himself.

"It's driving me crazy not seeing another human face. Does this mean I have to keep pushing forward alone until I finish climbing the Tower?"

He remembered the countless Conquerors he'd seen on the first floor. Their presence had reassured him that he wasn't alone. But that comfort lasted only a moment. During his climb back to the ninth floor, he hadn't encountered a single one of them. The isolation made him uneasy.

"This won't do. When crisis strikes, stay calm. Heart hot, head cold."

He had cleared up to the ninth floor without facing any real life-threatening danger. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the gate leading to the tenth floor. Every floor ending in zero held a boss monster. Defeating the one beyond would advance the tens digit.

He scooped water from the Spring of Healing with his hands and splashed it on his face. Vitality surged through his body.

Now for the boss. The traps and monsters are weaker than before, but it's still a pain. I'm worried about A-reum and Su-ho hyung's condition too.

As the party's tank, he had suffered no serious injuries while breaking through to the ninth floor. But his companions, A-reum Jeong and Su-ho Jang, were different. A-reum specialized in healing and buffs, while Su-ho excelled at ranged attacks. Without protection, neither could fully exert their strength, and the thought of never seeing them again filled him with dread.

"Kuh! This isn't the time. If the Tower has any sense, it won't keep me wandering alone forever! I'm Dong-cheol Ma, a real man! I won't die like this!"

Grinding his teeth, Dong-cheol Ma stepped through the gate to the tenth floor. A vast circular arena unfolded before him. Dry sand covered the ground, and dust rose with the wind. Beyond the encircling walls, countless empty seats rose in tiered rows. Dong-cheol Ma's face twisted in confusion.

"This is a colosseum..."

He remembered the tenth floor as a labyrinth. You navigated the maze, disarmed traps, reached the boss monster, and defeated it. That had been the original setup. Now the entire environment had changed.

Clank!

Clatter-clatter-clatter!

Chains rattled as the iron bars blocking the passage began to rise. Dong-cheol Ma tensed.

The boss used to be a Goblin Warrior and a Shaman. Who knows what'll come out now. Since I haven't been worn down by traps or the maze, it'll probably be stronger...

"Kieeeek!"

"Kiek!"

Shield raised, Dong-cheol Ma gritted his teeth at the approaching monsters' shrieks. He pressed the shield tighter to his body and gripped his hammer until his knuckles whitened. His forearms, hardened over half a year of training, bulged in anticipation—until the monsters emerged from the shadows.

"Kiek!"

"Kieeeek!"

"W-what the hell are those?"

Two goblins appeared: a Warrior and a Shaman. But they bore no resemblance to the imposing foes from before. Their armor was cracked, their swords missing teeth, and the shaman's staff looked ready to snap at the slightest swing. They were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nothing like the monsters he remembered from the original tenth floor. Their eyes even held a pitiful glint as they looked at him.

Dong-cheol Ma relaxed his stance and lowered his shield, simply watching them.

A short while later, he had dispatched both goblins. Despite supposedly being stronger than before, they had been pathetically easy to defeat.

"I don't get it. I saw the quest telling us to climb from the first floor again, but isn't this too easy? Hey, Quest Guy. Say something."

He stared blankly at his own unwarmed muscles. At the same time, a quest window appeared before his eyes.

"What the hell is a starting village, and what's this residency card? And it says tutorial...?"

Dong-cheol Ma let out a hollow laugh at the gate that had appeared and the single card lying on the ground. When he picked it up, its effects materialized before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him.

"You may use the starting village until you conquer the twentieth floor. If you abandon the climb and return to the village, you must start over from the twelfth floor to reach the twentieth again... Once you conquer the twentieth floor, you can pay with mana stones to travel freely between the twenty-first floor and the eleventh-floor rest area."

Dong-cheol Ma's mind raced. He stored the card in his inventory and looked at the gate again. Life returned to his previously anxious eyes.

"So if I go through that gate, there's a village. That means I can see A-reum and Su-ho hyung again."

Once he realized that, there was no reason to linger. He didn't know what the village would be like, but he wanted to meet his party members immediately. Every floor had been nothing but hunting grounds, and the occasional merchant had been the only source of supplies in exchange for mana stones. He hadn't expected much from a village, yet his steps quickened.

He passed through the gate, and a chorus of voices reached his ears. The sight that greeted him made him burst into laughter.

"James! Where are you, James! Has anyone seen James?"

"Yuri! Yuri!"

"Looks like a family reunion after a war."

Standing alone in the wide plaza, Dong-cheol Ma shook his head. Buildings lined the square around a central fountain. Though the structures were old and shabby, the smell of food and the sound of music filled the air. For someone who had lived in constant tension, the sudden peace made his body go slack.

"Roa. Display the number of Conquerors who have cleared the tenth floor."

[Understood.]

Yoo Ji-sung gazed at the scattered villages across the eleventh floor and gave the order. Two thousand five hundred people had reached the eleventh floor, while others were still struggling below the tenth. A few had died from misfortune. Yet he felt no pity for their deaths.

"If they can't even manage this much, they don't deserve to climb the Tower."

[You're terrifying. Do you truly intend to nurture these Conquerors?]

"Why are you like this again? You know how hard I've been working on the Tower."

[People have died.]

"It couldn't be helped. But you know better than anyone, don't you? You saw exactly what I did up to the tenth floor. Didn't you feel how much I cared for them?"

Yoo Ji-sung protested with an aggrieved expression. He didn't feel he had done anything wrong.

"I placed a Spring of Healing on every floor so they could rest and climb at their own pace. The tenth-floor boss monster? Even as the Tower's master, I can't change the boss itself. So I weakened it beforehand so the Conquerors wouldn't be completely exhausted before facing it. I've done everything I could."

[Couldn't you have made it even easier?]

"If they can't handle this, they're hopeless. It's a necessary sacrifice for the greater good."

[Disgusting.]

Kairas criticized him, clearly displeased. But Yoo Ji-sung had plenty to say in return.

"Hey. Honestly, I'm more afraid of you than of myself."

[What do you mean? Stop spouting nonsense.]

"The only reason you're protecting Earth's creatures is because your own life depends on it. If you fail to stop Markrun, their deaths will harm you too. That's why you created Conquerors and sent them into the Tower, isn't it? You don't want to die, so you're forcing them to deal with Markrun."

[Watch your words. I never sent the Conquerors into the Tower with such intentions.]

Yoo Ji-sung snorted.

"Good or evil. Talented or not. You turned anyone who could withstand Markrun's mana into a Conqueror without distinction. Of course, you'll need a lot of soldiers to fight Markrun. You knew many would bleed, yet you still sent them to their deaths."

[That is...]

"You'll call ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. Isn't that exactly what's happening now? You have your methods, and I have mine. I won't condemn you for sacrificing people—I'm doing the same. But let's get one thing straight."

Yoo Ji-sung's expression turned cold. Good and evil meant nothing to him. Anyone pushed into a corner could become evil—even those once called saints. What one person saw as a good deed could be the opposite for someone else.

"Kairas. If you truly cared about humans, you wouldn't have created Conquerors. You would have fought in their place, even if it meant your own destruction. Am I wrong? You were the one who sent them to their deaths."

Kairas fell silent. Yoo Ji-sung exhaled deeply. Whether she had left or simply stopped speaking out of anger, he didn't care.

"Well, I'm prepared to sacrifice even more. But I won't just sacrifice them. I'll make the Conquerors stronger, and I'll eliminate anyone who gets in the way—by any means necessary. That's all I'm saying. So if you're going to keep nagging me like this, you'd better stay out of it. If this happens again, there won't be any more communication between us."

[Arrogant human.]

"Yeah, since you have nothing left to say, that's all you can manage."

At Kairas's reply, Yoo Ji-sung's expression softened. She was speaking harshly, but he could feel her yielding. For a goddess, that was enough.

Yoo Ji-sung turned his attention back to the Tower, leaving the now-quiet Kairas behind. In a few days, all the Conquerors would gather on the eleventh floor. And once Kairas recovered her divine power, new Conquerors would enter the Tower.

"The immediate fires are all out. I've restored up to the seventieth floor, so no one will reach it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for at least three years. The rest I can fix gradually when I have time."

Monsters would no longer wander out of their assigned floors due to the aftereffects. The village-cities built with the help of other races had stabilized as well. That meant Yoo Ji-sung could move on to his next preparations.

A certain man surfaced in his mind.

"If we're talking about a true good person, it's him. Not hypocritical, reasonably just, and someone who stuck to his path even on the brink of death. He's the key."

There was someone Yoo Ji-sung considered a true saint—someone who had adapted to the Tower better than anyone and displayed overwhelming power. He had eliminated that man in advance, fearing he would become a true enemy to Markrun rather than a mere pawn. But things were different now. Yoo Ji-sung intended to use him.

"Remember this. When selecting the next batch of Conquerors, that guy must be included. I need to raise him as quickly as possible if we want any chance of winning."

Kairas didn't respond, but Yoo Ji-sung was certain she had agreed. She had issued the kill order against that man only after exhausting her divine power. She, too, had placed great expectations on him—just like Yoo Ji-sung.

I'll take it easy until that guy enters the Tower. Tower Ver.2 starts now.

The Tower, once Markrun's invasion weapon, had become a weapon to strike at Markrun itself. Yoo Ji-sung surveyed the completely transformed structure. A strange sense of anticipation rose within him—how much would the hero who would one day protect Earth's future grow inside this Tower?