Tempering in the Abyssal Deep

The Mark of Transcendence was a reward granted exclusively for conquering the Tower of Despair with an EX clear rank.

And what happened when you gathered five of them and entered the Tower of Transcendence?

A special shop opened.

Just like that.

Of course, it didn't end there. Since it called itself a shop, it naturally had wares for sale. This particular establishment dealt in boxes—bronze, silver, and gold. As for what rested inside them? That was a complete mystery. The prompt from the start simply urged you to pick a box containing a random reward.

Last time, I had no choice but to settle for the silver box. I only had a single Mark of Transcendence left, after all. Yet the reward pulled from that modest box had been nothing short of absurd.

An unbelievable cheat item that had left Cassius, the diamond golem, utterly aghast and stunned even the High Transcendents. Naturally, my expectations skyrocketed. If a silver box costing just one token could spit out something that game-breaking, what kind of miracle would a ten-token gold box hold? My heart raced as the lid swung open.

"Um……"

How was I even supposed to describe this? It looked downright ordinary. Sure, it gave off a subtle, refined elegance, but at the end of the day, it was still just a notebook. I skimmed through the description, hoping for some hidden majesty.

That was literally it.

What is this? Did I just pull a total dud?

"What is that object?" Senior Merlin asked, tilting his head as he observed from the side. "Did you not obtain that VIP membership card on your previous attempt?"

<Hmm...?> Cassius the golem merely stared in mild bewilderment, blinking his crystalline eyes.

This reaction was terrible. When I drew the VIP card, the golem had lost his mind on the spot. Seeing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him so nonchalant now made a knot of anxiety tighten in my stomach.

"I'm not quite sure myself yet……" I mumbled, scratching my cheek. "Let me check it out first."

Since it was a notebook, reading whatever was written inside should shed some light on its purpose. With that thought, I reached out and lightly tapped its cover.

Shhh—

The moment my skin brushed the leather, the notebook dissolved into a cloud of glittering motes of light and vanished into thin air.

Wait, what? It was a skill?

It really was an active skill. And if it was a skill, that meant I could cast it. Eager to see what my shiny new ability did, I mentally triggered it without hesitation.

Excuse me? What do you mean, no logs? So I can't even use it?

Okay, great, but how on earth am I supposed to add a log?

"Hmph……"

This was baffling. Since it granted an actual skill, it wasn't a total loss, but not having the faintest clue how to use it was deeply frustrating. Even factoring in the randomness of gacha, was this really worth ten Marks of Transcendence? No, fifteen, considering the five tokens required just to unlock the storefront in the first place.

Just look at that. Twenty-one tokens were completely faded to gray. Surely there wasn't a return policy on this kind of transaction, was there?

"What manner of relic was that notebook just now?" Merlin asked, stroking his white beard in contemplation. "I have traversed countless realms and witnessed all manner of artifacts, yet I have never seen its like. Even so, the energy lingering within it felt profoundly extraordinary."

"Pardon? Extraordinary?" I blinked. "Uh, well…… the skill doesn't even activate right now."

Poking at the skill again yielded the exact same result. What kind of item was it, really? I wanted to know that more than anyone. But since it refused to budge for the moment, I had no choice but to investigate later.

"Senior, getting a blank like this suddenly makes me want to climb the Tower so bad," I said, clapping my hands together to shake off the disappointment. "Please tell me about Floor 4."

Senior Mer had thoroughly briefed me before I stepped through the gate. He said the fourth floor could best be likened to being cast into the bottom of the deep ocean.

"He wasn't kidding……"

It really did feel like I was submerged underwater. Total silence enveloped the space without a single stray sound, and everywhere I turned, endless shades of abyssal blue stretched out into infinity. The only relief was that I could breathe without trouble, and my vocal cords worked just fine. Tilting my chin up, I spotted a lone ray of pale light gleaming far above, impossibly distant.

"So all I have to do is swim up to that light, huh?"

Alright then. Let's see how this works.

Whooosh—

"Whoa…… that's crazy."

Kim Haun, twenty-three years old, had always been hopelessly inept at swimming. In any ordinary body of water, I sank like a sack of rocks. Yet here? Was I actually swimming? Well, to be precise, it didn't even feel like proper swimming. The moment I willed myself to ascend, my body simply drifted upward, rising with effortless grace.

If I just kept coasting like this, clearing the fourth floor would be an absolute breeze—just like every other trial so far.

However……

"Well, I proved I can go up whenever I want……"

I completely relaxed my muscles and let gravity take over, drifting gently back down until my feet touched the seabed floor with a soft thud. There was a very specific reason I didn't rush to the finish line: the Tower's star tutor, Senior Mer, had given me an invaluable tip.

'The fourth floor is a forge meant to temper the Transcendents who reach it.'

That was what he had said. Something about subjecting the challenger to immense pressure to harden their very foundation. I knew the concept well enough—beat a lump of steel over and over with a hammer, and it becomes vastly denser and stronger. It sounded like the exact same principle.

'Much like the third floor, the more powerful the climbing entity, the heavier the burden thrust upon them. The sole difference is that the trial of the fourth floor manifests purely in the physical domain.'

Normally, challengers were forced to climb while enduring a horrific pressure bearing down on their entire physical form. It was supposed to feel like being dumped stark naked into the deepest trench of the ocean. While I'd never experienced such a nightmare, just imagining it sent a chill down my spine.

'Though…… Senior did say none of that would apply to me.'

My physical vessel had improved considerably compared to the past, but by the cosmic standards of Transcendents, it was still laughably minuscule. As such, the Tower barely acknowledged my existence, allowing me to float up without hindrance, exactly as I had just tested. In other words, an effortless free clear was practically handed to me on a silver platter.

Yet how could I settle for that when Senior Merlin had suggested an entirely different approach? When someone gives you guidance, you ought to listen.

'Why not utilize that power to reinforce that fragile vessel of yours? Rather than resisting or bypassing it, try embracing the pressure wholeheartedly.'

The fourth floor had an alternate moniker among the dimensional climbers: the Field of Serendipity. Occasionally, Pre-Transcendents who had slammed against an impassable wall in their cultivation came here and managed to shatter through their bottlenecks under the intense compression.

Of course, I wasn't expecting anything that grand for myself.

"He told me that if I close my eyes and focus on my surroundings, my Primordial Force will react."

Will it really?

Fwooooosh—

A sudden, heavy presence tightened around my skin. The weight of the deep began to press down in earnest. Alright, so all I had to do was stand here and endure it, right? Let's see how much this vessel can take.

Outside the trial, after Kim Haun—an existence universally recognized by the residents as an unprecedented anomaly—departed to challenge the fourth floor, Merlin spoke with palpable intrigue.

"The more I observe that lad, the more wondrous he seems. To think a day would come when I would feel such profound anticipation watching someone who has not even achieved Transcendence."

<Indeed. I have managed this Arcana Market for so long that I cannot even recall when my duties began, yet I have never encountered a creature quite like him.>

"Ho-ho…… it seems our thoughts align."

Merlin nodded sagely. He felt the exact same way. He had accumulated eons of experience since shedding his mortal coil and ascending to Transcendence, yet ever since meeting that bizarre Climber, novel and baffling phenomena had continued to unfold before his eyes.

Those strange Marks of Transcendence, the peculiar hidden shops, and game-like system mechanics he had never seen in all creation…… But among all those spectacles, the one that had astonished him the most was the item that had appeared just moments ago.

"That object he called the Climber's Notebook…… what was your impression of it?"

<To be frank, my discerning eye cannot compare to yours, Lord Merlin, so I cannot speak with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, even I could sense that it was by no means an ordinary trinket.>

Naturally. It couldn't possibly be ordinary if it possessed a reservoir of power vast enough to startle a High Transcendent of Merlin's caliber.

"My curiosity is thoroughly piqued," Merlin murmured, his eyes twinkling with intellectual hunger. "I wonder what manner of authority resides within that humble ledger. And what delightful, extraordinary curiosities that ever-erratic youth will bring back next."

He stroked his beard, a wide grin spreading across his weathered face. "It shall be well worth keeping a close watch over him for the foreseeable future."

The chimes had been echoing relentlessly in my mind for hours. My honest reaction?

"Holy crap…… this actually works."

Bypassing the Tower trials with a casual shortcut was great and all, but this was on another level entirely. How many base attributes had just ticked upward? Raising my aptitude by this much back on Earth would have required downing top-tier legendary elixirs worth hundreds of millions of won at bare minimum. And I was getting all of it for free.

Well, to be fair, it did cost me some time.

I had been idling in this stifling, watery void for nine hours and fifty-five minutes straight. Not that I had engaged in any strenuous, bone-breaking cultivation, mind you. All I did was zone out while staring blankly into the blue water, and my foundational stats shot through the roof. Could personal growth really taste this sweet?

"Honestly, a part of me wants to keep milking this forever……"

Still, Senior Mer's parting advice echoed in my ears. He warned that excessive greed only invites ruin, telling me to be content with nudging my potential up by a rank or two before calling it a day. A legendary archmage had to have good reasons for issuing such a warning.

"It really is a shame, though."

Once you cleared a floor in the Tower of Transcendence, you could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never set foot inside it again. I wondered if there would ever be a way to revisit the fourth floor later on. If I could drop by whenever I was bored and let the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pressure hammer away at my body like an artisanal blacksmith, I could become an unstoppable powerhouse in no time.

Sigh, stop dreaming. Greed is bad. Haven't I exploited this place more than enough already?

"Time to wrap this up."

Pushing past the subtle, familiar pressure that my body had grown accustomed to over the past ten hours, I pushed off the seafloor and glided smoothly toward the surface.

Hell yeah, clear complete!

To think the Tower would shower me with yet another enlightenment perk. I felt like I had already sucked the floor dry of all its benefits, but turning down a gift would just be bad manners.

Alright, time to head back to the shop and see what Senior—

Huh?

Wait a damn second. What did that just say?