EXSSS-Grade Authentication: Tower Conquest Live

The purchase of the EXSSS-grade certified daggers and the GoPro—a compact camera you clip onto your head or clothes—was handled right next door at the [Sales] counter.

Normally, even hunters can't just waltz in and buy vicious swords or guns without hassle. But daggers have short blades, so they fall outside sword and blade regulations. No permit? No problem. No age limit? Doesn't matter. There's no way to block the sale.

"That's 100,000 won per dagger, 500,000 total for five. Camera's 300,000, grand total 800,000 won."

"Ah, skip the GoPro. I'll just use my smartphone."

At the brutal 300,000-won price tag, I nixed the GoPro. Tower 1st floor's a cakewalk for me anyway—smartphone filming would do just fine.

And so, five short daggers ended up in my hands.

"Hoo, I've missed this. That cool, lightweight feel."

Perfectly comfortable little blades for gripping, throwing, swinging, or stabbing. And each one's worth a whopping 100,000 won. Why are these stubby things pricier than a full longsword? Monster-hide-piercing alloys. Buying from a government agency means a markup, but they deliver reliable quality you can trust.

"You know the rules, right? No using these on people."

"...Yeah."

I dodged the sales clerk's pat toward my head, handed over my cash card, and turned away.

Why do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all these civil servants go straight for the cheeks or scalp like they wanna kill you?

The Tower. These things sprouted up across Earth like weeds, upending human life entirely. Some call them alien invasion tech; others, divine gifts ushering humanity to true prosperity.

Prosperity, huh... Sure, discovering mana as a new energy source propelled us forward. Monster byproducts too. But monsters came as the package deal.

Tower Break. Skip conquering the top floor for too long, and it spews monsters everywhere. The Tower itself stays intact, so normalizing means punching through the horde to climb again. And if you ignore it? It ramps up, spawning stronger beasts, expanding the disaster zone.

On the flip side, it keeps hunters from slacking, pushing them to grow strong enough for gate threats... but.

In my pre-regression final moments, I saw a black tower linked to gate monsters.

Not Earth's white, but identical shape. Optimistic to think Towers are for humanity's benefit.

"Alright, let's go."

Like stepping into a tiger's maw. I headed for the Tower.

Within 100 meters, you transfer into the Tower's space—no physical barriers or annoying awakener checks needed.

The author of Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien, is basically a god in modern times.

Check this out.

—Kirrruk!

A green monster matching my elementary-schooler height. Goblin.

Lord of the Rings skyrocketed goblin fame. (The book's description doesn't match reality, but whatever.)

Click.

I raised my smartphone and started filming the goblin.

This was inside the Tower's isolated world. Tower 1st floor: a silent, pure-white room, goblins captured on camera.

Room size: precisely 133 square meters square. Goblins: 10 total.

Tower mob counts scale with climber talent—10 goblins on floor 1 is max. Even pros rarely hit max from the start.

Worth the sweat and blood forging my mana vessel manually.

"Alright then..."

I drew the daggers bought outside the Tower. Not one—five.

The five daggers absorbed my mana, floating above my palm like dancing.

"Go."

Whoosh—!

Lightning-fast toward the goblins. Each dagger took unique paths, targeting one goblin from different angles.

Normally, goblins swarm a lone hunter in a bloody melee. Here? Reversed.

Untargeted goblins froze like ghosts haunted them; the marked one fought desperately.

But a mere goblin against my telekinesis? No chance. Even with a fraction of my massive mana vessel, goblin-slaying was easy.

Dodge frontal strike? Hidden dagger nails the ankle. Mobility gone, it's flying-knife bait.

—Kiririk!

Swipe claws in threat? Target the guard break relentlessly.

One goblin down: 3 seconds flat.

—Kiruk!

—Kirrruk!

Finally, the paling goblins targeted me, the telekinetic.

"Shoot 'em dead."

I poured every last drop of mana, accelerating the daggers. Goblins ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fell like autumn leaves.

10 goblins cleared: 15 seconds total.

Rewards settled, and I transferred out of the Tower. Exit spots are random near the Tower, no overlaps.

"Let's see."

I checked the mana surging in me and the stone pile ahead. My vessel's so vast, the mana bump felt tiny. The D-rank stones? 500,000 won on anonymous markets. Generous for one floor—thanks to the Awakening Stone. Awakeners normally get Tower-assigned skills; skipping that boosted other rewards.

"Come again~"

Sold the stones to the counter lady. Mana stones are government gold—endless buyback as energy sources. Cash card now had two.

Then, I uploaded the smartphone footage to the gallery.

In the end, the aggro was a smashing success.

Hunters or knowledgeable folks nailed the video's value. 10 goblins on floor 1? Rare worldwide. Clearing in 15 seconds? Unprecedented.

But biggest shock: telekinesis user.

Telekinesis. Trash-tier ability, bottom of the barrel.

Telekinesis—such a seductive name. But tricky.

Why hunters (near-civilians) handle beasts? Towers boost power exponentially, but modern weapons flop. Beasts have mana barriers like chain nets—bulletproof vests on steroids.

Hunter mana morphs via skills to shred barriers, pierce in.

Issue: Telekinetics' mana barely changes form. Reacts to beast mana, sure, but pure manipulation = trash efficiency. Low reaction + ranged output = tug-of-war with skin mana.

Thus, telekinetics flood the world, failing even floor 1.

Yet OP vs barrierless lifeforms. Mix of scorn, fear, hate—that's modern telekinetic rep.

But shredding goblins like no barriers? Hunters losing their minds. Like a LoL pentakill on 0/17/0 Yasuo.

Satisfied, I scrolled comments. Shock and awe everywhere.

Even better than expected.

Amid it:

"Hah, this guy's consistent."

One guy still blind to the vibe.

I VPN-switched and replied slyly. (Others piled on anyway.) He tanked all the aggro solo, got perma-banned. Mainboard block—no VPN escape.

Oh, the "cut edit"? My voice edit. For credibility, had to mask this estrogen-dripping tone. Got hyped reclaiming some power... slipped up. Whatever.

Mission accomplished: planted badass image.

Half-given-up psybugi? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mod's charity drew 3 via 30 alts. Alt-account stealth from last stand tactics.

"Phew. Time for more troll—er, hunter tips?"

My gallery clout's way up now. Prepped world-saving post.

Ding— Message alert.

Awakener gallery idol, psybugi savior, head mod.