Tower of Trials 14th Floor

I shook off the sword soaked in sticky blood once and stored it in my inventory, catching my breath.

The boss on the 13th floor was a deer-man monster named something like "Deer whatever," characterized by its spring-like legs. Without performing its dedicated gimmick, it would sprint around the boss room at insane speeds, turning everything to ruins. And as always, that gimmick was structured in a way I couldn't pull off solo.

The boss, carrying the gimmick on its back, moved at breakneck speed without pause, denying any damage windows and smashing the boss room to bits.

But whatever. I won.

-Click.

I took a screenshot of the clear message and uploaded it to the open community, adjusting it so the system clock was clearly visible to preempt any manipulation claims.

The challengers I'd bet against were freaking out, crying that this couldn't be real, and spamming comments like mad.

Sigh, don't make bets if you're not sure—haven't you heard that one?

The 13th floor boss gimmick being impossible solo, and extremely hard without it? So what.

If the difficulty's abnormal, so what? The challenger—me—ain't exactly normal either.

Sure, its speed was insanely fast—but I was just a bit winded from chasing it around. I won pretty easily.

What was that one guy saying? If I took it down today, he'd do the naked zero-to-hero dance in the Starting Village square?

This guy's 10-try limit for a public head-shave certification.

Oh, and the last one promised cheese pork cutlet bentos to every challenger on the same floor.

Guess they thought I was a safe bet and ran their mouths. Must've figured I looked like easy prey.

Watching the board get spammed with "Great True Rev" by the challengers receiving their cheese pork cutlet bentos, I closed the community.

After solo-clearing the world boss raid, my fame in the community had skyrocketed.

Naturally, interest in my specs was sky-high too, and occasionally bets like this popped up about me.

But among the challengers paying attention to me, not a single one had accurately guessed my specs.

Well, can you blame them? Who could've imagined?

My specs having reached this insane level.

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The typical ways challengers raise stats are two: level-ups and gear upgrades. You can boost stats separately from levels via achievements, but that's a distant dream for most challengers.

Even with the open community sharing info, most achievement conditions are unknown.

Even grabbing every known one yields minimal gains for the time invested.

The only other method is physical training, infamous for its near-zero efficiency.

After clearing the 9th floor, I deliberately hunted hidden bosses for achievements.

Skipping gimmicks I could do, picking fights with NPCs I'd never normally face.

I used to see those "screw-you" elements as unfair when they blocked my path.

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But with my new goal beyond reason, I had to seek out the irrational myself.

Unlike back then—blindly throwing myself into danger amid conflicting wills of climbing higher, wanting to stop, self-loathing, and self-abuse.

Now my will and heart aim the same way. Clear purpose empowers action.

Crashing into every strong foe I could find, repeating training without fail—that's the result: these stats.

And—

—the skill list has grown so long I need summary view just to take it in.

Several martial techniques merged into Weapon Mastery, passives evolved into higher skills—it's trimmed down to this.

Unsummarize for details, and resistance skills alone fill the screen.

Still few actives, no Warrior trinity of Shrinking Earth or Aura Mastery.

But training paid off with Mage trinity's Mana Control.

Hey, plenty of room to grow—so skill gaps are a joy.

"Still a long way to go. This ain't enough."

Checking Elenoir's Soul in my inventory again, I opened the door to the 14th floor.

The spatial transfer's queasy lurch deposited me in the 14th floor's backdrop—barer than any before.

Sky blood-red, clouds pitch-black, ground sulfur-yellow, flames scattered menacingly.

Plus high-density mana in the air that crushes mages.

First impressions match the community's hype.

Topography looks similar at a glance.

Tower of Trials 14th Floor: the Demon Realm.

Home of demons—born with evil mana and tough bodies, a cheat race.

Spawn point: an entrance to one Demon Realm region.

"Oh, that's it, huh."

Far off: massive stone gateway, blocked by a red-skinned giant.

Wings on back, two horns on head, reverse eyes—whites pitch-black.

Demon gatekeeper guarding the Demon Realm entrance.

The one that claimed countless 1st-gen lives.

To enter deeper, pass three such guarded gates.

Not by force, obviously. Each gatekeeper's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boss-tier strong—designed not to fight.

First: toll or sacrifice.

Second: riddle.

Third: puzzle.

Toll from early quests in outer areas; answers all over community.

Nightmare for 1st-gen without guides.

Now? Copy-paste answers for easy EXP honey pot.

Tolls, puzzles, riddles identical across towers—so I skip the hassle too.

I headed straight for the gate. Soon, the red demon gatekeeper blocked me.

"Halt."

Unlike his look, a deep, actor-like baritone.

"I am Galt ram the Crimson, master of this gate. Who are you to pass?"

"Seo Jin-hyeok."

"To pass, you need proper tribute. You brought none."

His "tribute": living souls.

Conveniently, I have a soul shard.

But no way I'm wasting Elenoir's Soul on this scrub.

Galt ram the Crimson crossed his arms, exuding fierce mana.

"No tribute? No passage. Have you a pass?"

"Nope."

"No pass, no tribute—no passage."

I ignored his threat and drew my sword.

Obviously, this was the plan from the start.

No pass? Can't pass? Wanna bet?

Let's see if you really can't be passed.