After Clearing Floor 1 Joint Trial - Episode 11: Entering the Soul's Room
Soul's Room. A phenomenon that had never once appeared in any other climber's stories.
In a hemlock forest thick with trees, I found myself sitting in a neatly arranged small clearing, basking in the warmth of a campfire.
"Haa..."
The earthy scent unique to a rain-soaked forest rushed into my lungs with each inhale, while my frosty breath settled on the ground with each exhale. Yet the space felt neither cold nor harsh—it was warm. Even though this was a scene I'd never seen before, a sensation I'd never felt, my soul warmed as if it were a memory from my earliest childhood.
Imprint Granted
Rare imprint bestowed.
Imprint Enhancement
Existing imprint strengthened.
"...Status Window."
A simple Status Window. Compared to the Survival difficulty climbers whom the government snapped up every last Skill Book and Enhancement Stone from, pouring in endless support, mine looked pathetically bare. Still, I'd lucked into an EX-grade cheat difficulty, so that was something.
"Not that."
Anyway, my achievements in this Joint Trial were apparently nothing short of miraculous from the tower's perspective. Not that I'd done much— the system and my difficulty had basically handed it to me on a platter.
...So, what should I pick for my reward?
Not that there was much to deliberate over.
"I'll go with Imprint Grant."
What I'd realized swinging that Formel and sword non-stop: my body was absolute trash. Cold weapons were way heavier than I'd thought. My hands blistered, my arms screamed, my knees wailed like they were about to give out. Like how the morbidly obese or flat-footed struggle with something as basic as walking, even with Super Special Very Easy Mode cooking and plating everything for me, I was still choking it down with effort.
I wanted to freeload. But I wanted to freeload even easier!
I needed something.
Imprint Grant selected.
With that, a blue message crumbled into powder, falling into the campfire and rising as eerie smoke. The mist coalesced and twisted into incomprehensible wedge-shaped script, slowly seeping into my chest.
"Kughaaaah...!"
A sizzling sound like branding iron on flesh—or evenly searing a steak on a hot pan—rang out, my heart prickling with heat. It didn't hurt or torment, but it itched unbearably, like an unreachable spot deep in my heart that made me writhe. Unpleasant, repulsive... yet somehow addictive.
Once the inexplicable heat faded, I instinctively knew my Status Window had changed.
"Status Window."
◈ A glass vial made to store mysterious and rare items. It glows faintly.
"What the hell is this?"
Dozens of question marks popped up in my head. I'd been hyped for a rare imprint, but out came some mystery glass vial.
Following the manual the tower had implanted in my mind with the imprint's acquisition, a small, beautiful glass vial appeared on my palm with a pop.
When I gripped it, it squished softly, molding to my fingers and palm, but hardened the moment I squeezed harder.
"This better than the Resistance Seed?"
Sprout (Resistance Seed)'s effect: While inside the tower, it continuously grows, improving the user's physique...
No matter how I looked at it, this vial seemed inferior to Sprout. Was there something I didn't know? Or was Sprout actually rare too?
My head throbbed like I'd been smacked in the back.
Whatever. Good is good. It was an imprint I never expected to get. I'd find a use for it eventually. And with the rare label, I had no doubt it'd pay off someday.
Exiting the tower.
"Yeah... that was rough."
After a full day of manual labor, even my mind felt drained. I'd probably crash for days once I got home.
*****
Westminster Grace.
She awoke on the bed in her usual luxury medical facility.
"...Ah-"
A sigh like a death rattle. She'd failed. Well, not the Origin Tower itself—she'd conquered it. But not through her own power; it was a forced clear due to the tower's machinations.
Her sharp mind quickly grasped what the tower desired.
"...To keep humanity from uniting... is that it?"
It had killed a million, then ten million a year later, then a hundred million the next. A mad butcher. As if it delighted in humanity's screams and thrashing.
From the transcendent tower's view, time was infinite. Rather than massacring climbers in one Joint Trial desperate bid, it slowly whittled them down, ensuring not one capable of opposing it remained.
Thinking back, the tower had always been like that. Trials came with commensurate rewards—an absolute rule even it followed. No one had considered the reverse: the tower arbitrarily granting boons to some climbers, then imposing equivalent penalties on others.
The tower's curse, converted to blessing upon Joint Trial clear.
And... doing nothing, just tearing a ridiculous free pass ticket for an instant clear.
In compensation, it amplified the difficulty increase penalty on the other towers.
"Idiots. Utter fools... Kyaaah! How dare a mere butcher toy with me...!"
Having lived in the upper crust with no lacks, she'd always been confident. Grace family nobility tasting such humiliation for the first time. Her face burned crimson at being played by the tower's vile scheme.
Clunk!
"Miss! Are you alright?!"
"......Please don't come in right now. Tell them I know everything. Say I haven't woken up yet. I haven't the face to see Father."
"Pardon? What do you—"
Her servant's obliviousness grated today.
"The Joint Trial... convey that next time, we will surely succeed. And... Doom... Doom Tower... prepare donations for the bereaved support facilities. Otherwise, I fear I shan't endure."
"...Miss? I don't understand what you're saying."
"Enough! Speak no more. Leave me. I wish to be alone. I must devise a strategy for the next Joint Trial—request meetings with government officials and Climber Management Agency figures."
It wasn't her fault. Yet her hands trembled as if she had personally massacred the Doom Tower climbers. Breath quickened, heart pounded unbearably.
"Mm... Miss? Forgive me, but the Joint Trial has been cleared."
"......Pardon?"
She looked up involuntarily. Her maid's face beamed with admiration, as if beholding a figure for the history books.
Why?
"Pardon? Eh? What did you say? Did I mishear?"
"A message said the Joint Trial was conquered. It was you, Miss!! Shall I recount all that happened while you slept these two days? Hehe! Do you know the whole world is praising you and the other Survival climbers? Letters for you fill an entire room."
"Conquered? How? I clearly failed... No, that can't be. It was utterly impossible to conquer... wasn't it?"
The maid didn't seem to be lying. But she, who had endured that underground cavern, could never believe it. She wasn't childish enough to take myths of men lifting mountains literally.
Clearing an even harder Joint Trial? Impossible.
Origin and Cycle Towers cleared via tickets.
Which left...
"Doom Tower climber."
She snapped her head up, glaring at the maid like she might devour her.
"The Doom Tower Survival climber. Any info on their identity?!"
"That person is still unregistered..."
"No need. Out! I must verify something."
"P-Pardon? Yes, right away!"
The maid was unceremoniously shooed out, but Grace had no time for her grievances.
Doom Tower has conquered the Joint Trial.
All towers have overcome the Joint Trial. Joint Trial ends.
Floor 1 curse "All skill acquisition rates reduced" is dispelled.
A blessing descends on Floor 1 of the towers. Mysterious Merchant appears in the System Hub. Sell Magic Stones to purchase skills or tower-exclusive goods.
The moment she entered the tower's Hub System, the messages finally appeared.
"Ah? A-Ah? How...? Ngh...?"
She blinked repeatedly, but couldn't believe it. A few years ago, she'd gone to space, and it felt like someone floating over from a spaceship beyond, saying, "Enjoying space travel? Haha!"
What? A dream?
Even after sitting there for dozens of minutes rereading the messages, she couldn't accept it.
The Doom Tower Survival climber—known to her and the world—was just one person. Had they soloed that dungeon with the amplified difficulty penalty?
How?
Made no sense.
Were others feeling the same? The community window overflowed like oil on fire, posts flying non-stop.
Posts appeared with every blink. Unfamiliar with SNS or communities, she awkwardly fidgeted, exploring new features.
...Reading more would make her dizzy.
"Um... S-System? Where might one meet this Mysterious Merchant person...?"
Born of superior royal blood overlooking all, she felt pathetically small before kiosks. Even in the tower's community Hub, she squinted and poked around for ages.
Then—
Joint Trial rewards distributed. Rewards scaled by contribution; guild climbers' contributions pooled.
Floor 1 Joint Trial Reward List
📍 Unregistered Climbers:69%
📍 [Guild] Climber Association:8.8%
📍 ...
"Ah? P-Pardon? Contribution what? I didn't hear that!"
"Ah...? This makes no sense. Isn't it miscalculated?"
She kept blurting foolish things today.