[EXERCISE (1)]
“Decomposition liquid has been obtained. The preparations can be considered complete. We were in a position where we could ascend at any moment. However, rushing up isn’t smart. In a situation where the starting point could reset at any time, we couldn’t simply go up. At least not from Yoo Dahui’s perspective.”
Even so, we had Elena. An 8-star player to fill in the gaps in information. Originally, we hadn’t wanted to share anything actively. We’d planned to let them discover the necessary details from the floor themselves. But since regression had begun, Elena started telling us everything. She explained it to us so we could clear as quickly as possible.
“The 4th floor… isn’t that much different from the 3rd. In fact, it might even be worse. It’s subtly up to the player themselves. It’s hard to define precisely.”
Up through the 3rd floor, modern culture was completely absent. We had to survive in a purely fantasy environment. Most players continued their everyday lives in places far more uncomfortable than what they were used to. But from the 4th floor onward, it changed.
“From the 4th floor, you can decorate your own ‘room’ to your liking. It’s possible to create your own kingdom.”
“Players receive a ‘room.’ Each one isn’t that spacious. About half the size of this guild house.”
The guild house of the red-haired mercenary company was around forty pyeong. Half of that would be twenty pyeong. A room with twenty pyeong was quite spacious. To Elena, it might even feel small.
Yoo Dahui asked, “Rooms?”
“Ah, before that. The structure of the 4th floor is simple. Territory war. The number of ‘rooms’ reflects the power of the faction.”
“Players must gradually occupy rooms containing boss monsters.”
The overall structure was reminiscent of a 1000 by 1000 labyrinth dungeon. Entrances or exits had been opened in all four directions.
Players had to keep fighting through invasion or being invaded, always in struggle. They had to either steal or be stolen from. In the end, everyone wanted to take, but it wasn’t that easy.
“On the 4th floor, ‘rooms’ play a very important role. The more rooms you have, the more buffs apply to the entire room area.”
It was almost like the territory wars on the 3rd floor. The reason territory wars existed on the 3rd might be to let players taste the buffs and debuffs tied to the whole region.
“The explanation alone is a bit vague.”
“Once you’ve spent just one day on the 4th floor, you’ll get the feel for it. When you experience it directly, the structure isn’t as difficult as you’d think. Instead, it’ll be very tough.”
Elena furrowed her brows.
“I can’t help with the 4th floor. I’ll probably be placed elsewhere…”
“Elsewhere…?”
“Since I’ve already passed the 4th floor, the System will probably distinguish between players.”
“Eh?”
It was like a bolt from the blue. Elena had been pampering me sweetly the whole time. Now she was saying I couldn’t be together from the next floor? Was it just a fart? ‘That seems about right… There was that kind of episode.’
From the 5th floor, unlike the lower floors, the upper floors and communities were connected. Compared to the 3rd, the guilds were far more active. Each individual player had the potential to grow into a key player conquering the Tower of Struggle.
But a PK happened on the 5th floor. If it was just once or twice, it would be fine. But victims kept appearing. It was a serious enough incident that players from the upper floors even came down to investigate. ‘The killer had fled.’
He’d run to the 4th floor. ‘Because he received buffs inside a ‘room.’ The more rooms, the stronger the fortresses.’
‘But he was caught miserably.’ The players who followed him down had all been summoned to a single room on the 4th floor. Normally, like when ascending from the 3rd, each would have scattered into separate empty rooms, but all the players who came down from the 5th were in the same room.
‘He had no coins left to escape with, so he was too late to run and stupidly got executed.’
That incident happened later, but Elena seemed to know the flow of the 4th floor.
“It sounds like Jinwoo and I have to figure out the 4th floor on our own…”
“Yes. Clearing the boss monsters themselves shouldn’t be difficult. But the difficulty to get there…”
As always, there were those who exploited the structure. Especially on the 4th floor, which was weaker than the 3rd, vicious bastards had already settled in and taken control. It would be an unpleasant journey.
Elena shot me a glance and continued.
“I brought back the decomposition liquid, but we won’t be using it for a while yet. We need to get stronger first. At our current level, we can’t possibly clear the 4th floor.”
It was firm. Elena was confident after seeing our level.
‘If we struggle somehow, we can clear it.’
While vicious bastards were throwing tantrums as the top dogs, there were always underdogs trying to gather strength below. There’s no business in numbers, so if you rush in a crowd, you lose. The only problem was how brutal that process would be.
“In the end, strength is what matters.”
“Yes, that’s right. One’s own physical power will make any situation smooth.”
Elena stood up abruptly.
“In that case, let’s begin special training starting today. Dahui-nim, are you planning to regress during this?”
“Hmm…”
The reason Elena asked was simple. If we trained until the end and then regressed, we’d be abandoning Elysha, Eloin, and Elbaren. There was no need to push them to get stronger. But if we wanted to show Elysha, Eloin, and Elbaren a taste of the 4th floor, training together would be the right thing to do. Especially Elysha.
When we reached the 4th floor, we’d scatter in every direction. Elysha’s lewd body would become a target for the males. ‘It might actually be better to leave her behind and go up…’
At this point, since we couldn’t protect her on the 4th floor, leaving her on the 3rd made sense if we thought about Elysha. Elena probably understood that too.
‘I guess we’ll think about it later.’ It would be better if Elysha also regressed. Regressors had an advantage over others. But that probably wouldn’t happen.
“I think I’ll go up to the 4th floor, look around, and regress right away.”
“Understood.”
Elena made her decision. She wouldn’t touch Elysha. For Elena’s sake, living peacefully in the Kingdom wasn’t a bad idea at all. It could get boring, but with plenty of coins, there was no reason to send her on dangerous tasks.
“Let’s begin. Please take care, Dahui-nim.”
The hell training had begun.
Decomposition Liquid • Special Training
Elena had put chains on Yoo Dahui and me. She also used handcuffs that sealed some of our stats. She trained us by minimizing the System’s power and honing our skills overall. This was a reminder of what I’d received from Eloin back in the previous cycle.
‘Originally, it wouldn’t have mattered…’
But on the Tower of Struggle, the value of skills was high when stats were the same. A slight trick or technique could decide victory or defeat. But it meant nothing at human level. Gifted people would always be superior in stats or skills anyway.
What Elena was making us do was a last resort. It was a desperate struggle for Kim Jinwu, who had reached his stat limit. Nothing more, nothing less.
A week had passed. Yoo Dahui’s stat growth hadn’t stopped yet. For some reason, it kept growing, and Elena’s method wasn’t efficient enough. So she’d succeeded in escaping.
Yoo Dahui had decided to train separately. Elena’s approach was actually inefficient. ‘Why…?’ I couldn’t understand it. So Elena followed Yoo Dahui’s training.
After killing the presence, she stole a peek at Yoo Dahui.
Yoo Dahui was pulling something out in an empty courtyard. It was a wooden doll, looking familiar.
‘Eh…?’
Standing in front of a wooden doll that looked exactly like Elena, Yoo Dahui took a deep breath. She was perfectly controlling the sinking energy and momentum. When there was no emotion at all, the killing intent exploded.
‘Ah…!’
It was just a moment, but Elena missed it. There was no way. Yoo Dahui had moved faster than Elena’s detection.
She swung her sword at the wooden doll. It wasn’t based on swordsmanship or experience. She was just blindly trusting her stats and swinging wildly. But it was threatening. The amount of magic power bursting out at every moment was enough that Elena couldn’t ignore it.
‘What the hell…?’
Yoo Dahui swung her sword as if venting her frustration toward the wooden doll she’d made by copying me. Watching her, Elena wondered what she should do.
‘…I can do that.’
She’d let my partner have her stress-free life. From Yoo Dahui’s point of view, it was a lie if she wasn’t stressed. Elena understood Yoo Dahui well. It was a bit sad, but she had nothing to say about the emotions Yoo Dahui was feeling.
‘If I get closer, it’ll get better.’
Female friendship was important for a healthy harem. Love for a man only made the women fight each other. Put the center of the harem, the man, aside for now and make the women sticky with each other. ‘There’s plenty of time.’
Elena decided to wait for Yoo Dahui. If she approached constantly, she might completely accept her.
A peaceful mindset.
‘Let’s go to Jinwu.’
When I returned, Kim Jinwu was running through a distant courtyard. Elena stared at him, sweating profusely as he rolled around. He was on his ninety-eighth lap already. The courtyard wasn’t that wide, but the distance was too much to ignore.
Honestly, I was deliberately tormenting Kim Jinwu. Under the guise of training, I was making him do ridiculous things.
‘If simply sealing stats and rolling around just for fun would change something, that wouldn’t be right.’
I knew that kind of brute method was meaningless. If that worked, there wouldn’t even be stagnation or slump on the Tower of Struggle. We might have cleared it already. ‘He has no talent.’
Kim Jinwu was a complete loser. He had not even a speck of talent. If he weren’t a regressor, if Pluto hadn’t existed, he would have died long ago at that level.
Elena had finished her observation for a week. It didn’t seem like she could dramatically improve his technical side just by teaching. ‘Still, he’s working hard.’
Sitting on a tree stump, I watched his training that wasn’t really training. These moments had become the joy of my life lately. Why? “Haa, haa, haa!”
Kim Jinwu stopped in place. He’d completed one hundred laps and was taking a short break.
Elena naturally stood up and walked toward him. Her steps were full of anticipation.
“Again?”
Kim Jinwu gave a laugh in disbelief. He’d been doing this every day for the past week.
“I can’t stand it anymore.”
Elena stood in front of him. The thick scent of Kim Jinwu wafted over. A drop of honey-like fluid trickled from between her legs.
Elena hugged his sweat-soaked body and buried her face in it. Ssssuuueeeh-.
“Haaah…”
The scent of Kim Jinwu seeped deep into her lungs. It was enough to drive anyone mad. Thinking about it, it had been like this since the 1st floor. She’d secretly stolen and smelled his panties.
It was just an extension of that.
“Dahui?”
“Dahui-nim is…”
While sniffing Kim Jinwu’s scent, she asked the question that snapped her out of it.
“She’s training swordsmanship in a somewhat distant place.”
“Oh, really?”
After giving a vague answer, Elena stripped off Kim Jinwu’s top.
“You’re following the regression with your body too?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Jinwu handed over his body and nodded calmly. When he exercised, the results reflected in his regression too. Since his stats were passed on, it was only natural.
“It’s amazing…”
Elena stroked Kim Jinwu’s body. She could feel the solid, male body he alone possessed. He had no talent, but Kim Jinwu never took a day off. He kept training and honing himself. Including the army, Kim Jinwu’s body was shining quite manly.
Halp-.
“Hey. You’re sweating, so what happens if I lick?”
Elena licked down Kim Jinwu’s upper body. She flicked his nipple, and Kim Jinwu flinched. Finding it cute, she rubbed his chest with her fingers.
Kim Jinwu was being pushed back little by little. He ended up sitting like he’d collapsed against the tree stump. Elena had deliberately pushed him naturally.
“It seems like you’re waiting only for this time on purpose.”
“No… lift your butt. Before the pants tear.”
Elena pulled down Kim Jinwu’s pants. When he lifted his waist, the pants came off with a whoosh. The sweat-soaked panties came off too and were naturally stored in the inventory.
‘He’s taking it again.’
I didn’t point it out. After all, the guy who was offering his naked dick in an open place like this was a strange one. It was mutual.
“Haaah…”
Elena brought her face close to Kim Jinwu’s penis. She buried her head between his legs. She wasn’t licking or sucking; she was just smelling.
“Huuup, haa. Hhuuut, haaang…”
A cool breeze cooled the sweat. Kim Jinwu sat still and painted Elena’s face with his penis. His pre-cum smeared all over Elena’s face.
At that moment, “I was here!”
Ryan appeared. A nuisance visitor who came every day for a week, and he was also his sparring partner.
“Ah, ah…! Just a little more…”
Kim Jinwu stood up from his naked state. Elena looked up at Kim Jinwu desperately, but she had no choice because of Ryan.
Elena’s method didn’t work on Kim Jinwu. But Ryan’s black magic and holy power were helpful to Kim Jinwu.
Kim Jinwu had trained against Ryan for a week.
‘Training black magic.’
It was the path to becoming unique on the Tower of Struggle. Selection and concentration.
‘Fucking hell.’
Kim Jinwu put on his panties.
Ryan’s gaze was unpleasant, but there was no choice. To draw out Ryan’s full power.
Kim Jinwu was burning himself to the limit.
“I’ll eat you up!”
Ryan charged like a madman and collided with Kim Jinwu’s black magic. Black magic level 50.
Kim Jinwu didn’t yield to Ryan. After suppressing Ryan with black magic, [‘Black Magic Lv.50’ ▶ ‘Black Magic Lv.51’] The level rose in just one week.