Jackpot Summon
I slowly scrutinized their twisted faces.
The Earth was their playground.
They unleashed disasters.
They toyed with humanity.
They cackled over screams and despair like appetizers.
That was their idea of fun.
Even in the final moments.
The one called the Inevitable Force, the Absolute God, descended.
The reason was simple.
To savor that last drop of despair.
And because it was convinced.
That I would fail.
Humans are weak.
They could never blow up their own home, Earth, with their own hands.
That shallow conviction.
The misjudgment that Kim Jeong-seok, who had always lived by the book, could never pull off such madness.
But they were wrong.
I gladly ripped out my heart.
I burned my comrades' corpses.
I turned Earth into a bomb and smashed it into its face.
I smirked.
Now it's the opposite.
The positions have reversed.
I've come to their world.
This place is my 'playground' now.
I'll toy with you bastards.
I'll crush you thoroughly, mock you, and lead you to utter destruction.
Kim Jeong-seok.
True to the name my parents gave me.
I'd lived my whole life by the straight and narrow.
Studying, magic, even saving the world.
I chased only textbook answers.
I'll discard the straight and narrow.
The rules, too.
Even the suffocating morals that bound me—they burned away with Earth.
So let me show you.
How terrifying it is when a man who's lived by the book snaps.
How dangerous he becomes when he loses it.
"……."
"……."
Hostile glares.
Unfriendly stares.
I could even feel killing intent.
Pretty brutal for a welcome party.
I smirked.
Clap!
A crisp clap echoed through the underground chamber.
"Now, now."
A cute voice.
But the power behind it was anything but light.
The entire space froze forcibly.
Everyone's bodies stiffened.
"You all seem full of youthful vigor. But no fighting allowed. Only in the designated arenas."
The voice's owner appeared.
Waddling forward.
A tuxedo-clad beast on short legs.
"……A penguin?"
Someone muttered in a dazed voice.
Sure enough, an emperor penguin.
Just over a meter tall.
Round eyes, glossy feathers.
Anyone would call it a cute plush toy.
It thumped its chest with its flippers—no, forepaws.
"Pleased to meet you, aspiring gods! I'm GuGu, the proctor and manager for this 1st Floor promotion exam!"
Manager.
I rummaged through memories from my past life climbing the tower.
Never seen one.
I'd reached the tower's end, but no manager ever showed their face.
They maintain the tower's system, huh.
Then they must be existences even gods couldn't mess with lightly.
GuGu spread its flippers and grinned.
Well, its beak just made it look like smiling.
"Alright, chit-chat's over. There's an open spot on the 1st Floor, so let's hurry."
Clap!
GuGu clapped again.
In that instant.
Whoooosh!
A wave of discomfort washed over my body.
My vision flipped, gravity twisted.
I narrowed my eyes.
Forced spatial transfer.
On a massive scale, too.
Thousands of people, teleported with a single clap—no casting.
That's far beyond grand mage level.
The pinnacle of spatial magic.
Absolute authority, skipping coordinate calculations.
These managers might be more troublesome than I thought.
Flash!
The light faded.
The scenery had changed.
No more dingy underground prison.
An endless white temple.
Thousands of stone altars aligned in perfect rows.
"Where the hell is this?"
The seeds buzzed in confusion.
Panic clear in their voices.
GuGu hopped onto the podium.
"No need to panic. This is the Chamber of Selection."
GuGu gestured to the crowd with a flipper.
"The total number of seeds gathered here is 5,501. Including the last arrival, Mr. Rag."
All eyes turned to me.
I shrugged.
"Quite a crowd. But sadly, there's only one spot on the 1st Floor!"
GuGu raised a flipper tip.
"Through fair competition, only the most qualified one will ascend to godhood."
Gulp.
Swallows echoed here and there.
Competition.
5,501 to 1.
A needle's eye with less than 0.01% odds.
"There are three trials in total."
Three tests to decide the 1st Floor's owner.
"The first trial is very simple."
GuGu pointed to the altars.
"A god needs aides to be their hands and feet. It's the Familiar Summoning Ritual!"
Familiar.
A kind of servant beast or familiar spirit.
Angels, demons, or divine beasts serving gods fell into this category.
"The method is easy. Offer the most valuable item you possess on the altar before you."
Sacrifice.
The law of equivalent exchange.
"The familiar's grade depends on the sacrifice's value. Naturally, a stronger familiar means higher score."
GuGu grinned.
"Alright, begin!"
The seeds sprang into action the moment the word dropped.
They rummaged through their possessions like they'd been waiting.
"This should be enough!"
A goblin-like man with horns pulled out a fist-sized gem.
Blood Jade, glowing red.
Seemed like a treasure his race had guarded for generations.
Thud!
Placing it on the altar lit up the magic circle.
Roooar!
A massive wolf burst out amid red smoke.
A magic beast with flames on its back.
"Inferno Hell Wolf! 65 points!"
GuGu announced the score instantly.
"Jackpot right out the gate?"
Exclamations erupted around.
Emboldened, other seeds eagerly offered their treasures.
"I'll offer my tribe's finest named sword!"
"This is a branch from the World Tree in the elven forest!"
"Deep sea pearl should suffice!"
A flood of jewels and treasures poured out.
Heirlooms representing their races.
Everything they'd brought to become gods.
Flash! Flash!
Altars blazed without pause.
"Vampire Lord! 77 points!"
"Griffon! 79 points!"
Incredible beasts summoned one after another.
"See that? My familiar's Medusa!"
"Damn! Why's it just some Slime King?!"
"Cerberus!"
Joy and despair clashed.
A chaotic mix of cheers and groans.
Amid it all, I stood with arms crossed, unmoving.
Most valuable item, huh.
Tough choice.
Not because I lacked options.
Too many good ones, actually.
[Spirit's Wing]
[Shattered Fragment of the Golden Rule]
[Dragon Egg]
Spirit's Wing is useful.
Flight ability's too good to pass up.
Golden Rule fragment's essential.
Can't use my full power without it.
Life-or-death item.
That leaves one option.
Dragon Egg.
The top reward from the luck dice.
But to me, it was a hot potato.
No clue how long till it hatches.
Dragons hatch slow.
Taking full advantage would take ages.
Can't use it now anyway.
Decision made.
Better to cash it in here.
Besides.
A dragon egg should summon something decent, whatever it is.
Value-wise, top-tier sacrifice.
I made my choice.
Then.
"Insane!"
"Abyssal Dragon!"
The crowd stirred.
Someone had summoned a dragon, it seemed.
GuGu flapped excitedly.
"Excellent! Abyssal Dragon, 95 points!"
Abyssal Dragon—one of the strongest magic beasts from the upper floors.
Worthy of the divine beast title.
Full grown? Unbeatable.
Even our last desperate squad struggled against it.
Hard to find a better monster for a god's aide.
"Hey, parachute."
A mocking voice.
Turning, a dark elf man—the Abyssal Dragon summoner—sneered at me.
"Nothing to offer, just spectating? Penniless, huh?"
Eyes turned to me.
Mixes of wariness, curiosity, mockery.
Heimdall's parachute? Big whoop, their faces said.
"Who knows."
I smirked and pulled an item from inventory.
"Not penniless."
Ostrich egg-sized, I revealed the egg. The dark elf cackled.
"Picked up some dead dragon's egg, eh?"
His Abyssal Dragon behind him snorted roughly.
Jet-black scales, vicious fangs.
Newly hatched, yet imposing.
"Useless. Even if that egg hatches, it won't beat my Abyssal Dragon."
Other seeds nodded.
He was right.
Not all dragons are equal.
Like lizards vary wildly.
Among dragonkind, the gap was heaven and earth.
So.
I agree.
A legendary beast like Abyssal Dragon from this egg? Slim odds.
Wyvern at best, flying dragon if lucky.
I shrugged and stepped to the altar.
Dark elf's sneer stabbed my back.
"Squirm all you want, parachute!"
I ignored him.
Plunk. I set the dragon egg on the altar.
That instant.
Vwooooom!
The altar trembled faintly.
Tremors became vibrations.
The stone screamed.
Ding!
The First Altar allows a single familiar summon via sacrifice.
Sacrificing Unknown Dragon Egg.
Commencing Summoning Ritual.
Rolling the dice (1~100).
Dice?
Didn't remember this system.
Makes sense—summoning's a gamble.
Fitting for a game-like trial.
I glanced indifferently at the floating die.
Roll roll roll.
It stopped.
The number appeared.
100.
The highest number.
And then.
Measuring summoner's talents.
Necromancy (MAX), Spirit Summoning (MAX), Summoning (MAX)…
Touching the realm of Creation.
All attributes (Light, Darkness, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind) at pinnacle.
Measured talents forcibly shatter the sacrifice's limits!
Kwaaaaa!
A black pillar of light erupted from the altar.
With momentum to pierce the ceiling.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
"Earthquake? Another quake?!"
Seeds screamed, tumbling to the floor.
Even manager GuGu flapped in panic.
"N-never seen a reaction like this?!"
Crack! Crackle!
Cracks spiderwebbed the altar.
It couldn't hold.
A mere stone altar couldn't withstand the summoned being's rank.
I stepped back.
Instinct warned me.
Danger.
But thrill surged too.
BOOM!
Explosion shattered the altar to pieces.
Debris flew everywhere.
And from the wreckage.