Absolute Sight
He was putting on a show of unshakable composure, but a cold bead of sweat still slid down the back of Do-yun's neck.
His eyes had been locked for some time on the notification hovering in the corner of his vision.
Remaining Mana — 8
Tip — Mana recovers naturally over time!
Of course, skills weren't something you could spam forever. Every use burned through mana, and the moment that resource hit zero, the outcome was obvious.
Game over, basically.
Natural mana recovery ticked at one point per minute. He needed to drag this fight out as long as possible.
His opponent, however, had no intention of waiting around for him.
"Khrr—you piece of shit!"
The man, already a wreck, heaved his greatsword up with a strained effort. He was the same one Do-yun's Bash had launched into the air only moments before.
"How the hell are you using a skill?!"
Bloodshot eyes fixed on Do-yun with pure disbelief—he simply couldn't accept what he was seeing.
Good question.
Do-yun tilted his head as he listened. Of everyone present, he was the only one using a skill. Even the frenzied murderers around them were tearing people apart with pure technique—nothing that violated the laws of physics.
Is it because I got the skill after the seal notice went up?
While he was still turning the thought over, the man decided he was being ignored. He clenched the greatsword's hilt and roared.
"Whatever! I'm going to rip you to shreds!"
"Like you weren't planning to already," Do-yun muttered under his breath—
and in the same instant—
Boom!
The man's foot slammed into the ground and launched him forward. The speed was absurd for someone hauling a massive greatsword. The gap between them vanished in a blink.
Fast!
Much faster than expected. Without time to think, Do-yun snapped a punch out on pure reflex.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
The shockwave that burst from his fist scoured the space ahead like a storm. The air warped; dirt and dust blasted skyward—and the man's body was caught in the blast path.
Slip.
In that same heartbeat the man's left foot skimmed across the ground. Elbow tucked, waist twisting, he dropped his stance low. The motion looked almost wrong, joints bent past reason—but every inch of it was calculated.
Fwoosh.
In the space Bash's shockwave had torn open, only a few strands of the man's hair drifted on the air.
"You think I'd fall for the same trick twice, you bastard?!"
It hadn't been luck. It was the muscle memory of thousands of real fights, the kind of reflex only a survivor who had crossed the line of death again and again could pull off.
Whoosh.
The dodge rolled straight into a spin. The heavy greatsword came whipping around with the full force of that rotation, screaming toward Do-yun.
He knew it instinctively.
He couldn't dodge this. No matter which way he threw himself, the greatsword would chase him down and cut him in half.
If he tried to dodge, that is.
"Looks like you're falling for it twice."
Bash(F-Rank)
Instead of the still-extended right hand, light of Bash gathered in his knee. The knee-kick shot out faster than the greatsword and drove into the man's solar plexus.
Thud.
A dull impact cracked through the air. The man's body bent like a bow.
"Guh—!"
Clutching his stomach, he staggered as a mouthful of bright blood poured from his lips. The greatsword he had been clinging to rang off the ground with a sharp clatter.
Bash is a pure damage amplifier.
Swing a weapon, throw a panicked kick, hurl something—it stacked onto every attack. There was a reason returnees who had seen every kind of hell recommended it. And this Bash's amplification rate was 1,517%. Even a hastily thrown knee-kick hit with the force of a siege hammer.
The man crumpled, coughing blood. Do-yun looked down at him without expression. A greatsword lay abandoned on the dirt. As the aftershocks of Bash settled, silence returned to that corner of the battlefield.
Then—
"Haaah, David. How long am I supposed to clean up after you?"
A woman's bored voice drifted from behind him.
Do-yun spun on instinct—
BANG—!
A gunshot tore through his eardrums, and his head was yanked violently backward.
What the hell now—!
As he staggered with his neck forced back, something glittered as it fell in front of him.
Ting.
A flat metal disc the size of a coin. Do-yun knew exactly what to call it.
…A bullet?
The instant he recognized it, a translucent system window bloomed before his eyes.
You are in the beginner protection zone for floors 5 and below of the Tower of Trials.
90% of damage has been mitigated.
-21 HP
Only then did it click. He had just been sniped.
Holy shit. Without beginner protection, I'd be dead.
Unmitigated, that hit would have killed him twice over. His head still rang with the impact.
Someone else, though, looked even more shaken than he did.
"Not even a scratch from my custom-modded pistol?"
The woman frowned as if the universe itself had stopped making sense. When Do-yun absently touched the spot where the bullet had struck, all he felt was unbroken, smooth skin.
So this is the HP system's power.
A mysterious safeguard that existed only inside the Tower of Trials. Until a challenger's HP hit zero, they took no physical wounds at all. A shot that should have put a hole through a skull, a blow that should have stopped a heart—as long as HP remained, you simply did not go down.
"Uren! Shoot him again!"
"Shut it, David. Still can't do the math on ammo costs?"
Blood-soaked David ground his teeth and shouted, but the woman standing over him—Uren—didn't so much as flinch.
"Two core crystals per magic bullet. The second I failed to leave a wound, this was already a loss."
Uren lowered the pistol and clicked her tongue. Then she pulled a round bead from her pocket.
Crack.
She flung it to the ground. White smoke billowed out and swallowed them both—a smoke bomb meant for escape.
He could have blown the cloud apart with Bash, but Do-yun chose instead to take a step back. Conserving mana was part of it. More than that, a far more shocking realization was looping through his head.
This wasn't a free-for-all?
Those two clearly knew each other. One of them had even closed in the moment the other was in trouble.
A look around the field told Do-yun he had been laboring under a massive misconception.
"Everyone from the Märchen Continent, group up!"
"Liam Empire natives, over here!"
"Help me and I'll pay five hundred credits plus A-rank parts!"
Without him noticing, people who shared a culture had started clustering together. They said life ran on blood, school, and hometown ties—he just hadn't expected the same thing inside a tower.
Earth natives really can't catch a break.
A knight in full medieval plate. A monk in flowing robes flinging talismans. A warrior flexing a cybernetic arm etched with circuits. Every last one of them dressed like a character. Not a single person looked ordinary the way Do-yun did in jeans and a hoodie.
"You're interesting."
"Heh—heheh!"
Allies? Not a chance. The gazes of the people nearby were all impure. After watching him dismantle David, no one was charging in recklessly—but the second he showed an opening, they'd try to tear into him. That much was obvious.
"What are you looking at?"
So Do-yun refused to show weakness. Where do these assholes get off? Want a taste of Bash? He swept that look across the circle, and everyone just watched their footing. No one rushed him.
Fair enough.
Sending a mountain of a man like David flying with one punch was something you could still rationalize—enhanced physiques, cyborg tech, whatever. But taking a bullet to the forehead and walking it off? That sat outside their understanding. Even if a gunshot didn't kill you, there should at least be a mark. Especially with skills sealed and every stat locked at ten.
Even a battle maniac would get the creeps.
In fact, no fights were breaking out in Do-yun's immediate vicinity. Everyone was just reading the room—while a little farther out, the blasts and screams never stopped.
"Ugh, I hate this boring vibe!"
A man with a frivolous face shrugged. His eyes had been drifting toward a more interesting stretch of the field for a while—a free-for-all where enemies swapped every second. Smacking his lips, he backed away and called out,
"I'm heading that way. You guys figure it out yourselves!"
His departure was the signal. Others peeled off after their own goals. Some left hunting for a bloodier brawl; some left hunting for people who shared their world. Most of those who stayed looked like they had no interest in fighting.
"I have no intention of fighting."
"Same here. No need to burn strength this early."
A few raised both hands, making a show of harmlessness. Watching them, Do-yun felt a strange twist in his gut. What faces would they make if they learned he had never even climbed the Tower of Trials?
Whatever.
He let a layer of tension bleed out and scanned the area. Even on a battlefield spilling every weapon imaginable, a few people still stood out.
"Nothing but unfinished rejects."
A man with a lofty gaze stood arms crossed. Every time his foot stamped the ground, a quake rolled out.
"Ahahahaha!"
A beastkin woman laughed wildly as she raked the air with her claws. The beast aura pouring off her made the body flinch on its own.
"Your lives. I'll take them with care."
A knight held a black blade that dripped dark energy. Anyone he drove that sword into had their life force drained until they shriveled into mummies.
Waiting time on the 0th floor has ended.
Survivors will be transferred to the 1st floor.
While he was taking it all in, thirty minutes slipped by. He blinked, and the world around him had completely changed.
This is the 1st Floor — Floor of Rest.
All injuries recover at an accelerated rate here.
Absolute safety is guaranteed in this place.
A chamber sealed on every side by white marble. At last, a place that matched what the returnees had described.
The Floor of Rest. Somewhere you could return to when you needed a break while pushing the higher floors.
"Hoo…"
The certainty of safety drained the strength from his whole body. Do-yun sprawled on the floor and stared up into empty air.
"What kind of disaster even is this?"
He had kept his nerves strung tight to the last second. The moment the crisis vanished, the tension collapsed all at once.
Think. Just think.
How had this even happened? A bug that dumped him alone into a different tower? Then who was he supposed to report a bug to?
The fairy.
The thought flashed past, and Do-yun's eyes snapped open. In the Tower of Trials, there was something called the Tutorial Fairy. Those unusually bright system messages that floated in front of him were sent by transcendent beings like that.
I was told you can meet a fairy in person once you clear the 5th floor.
Whether the same rule applied in the Tower of Ascension instead of the Tower of Trials, he had no idea—but right now it was the only place he could pin any hope on. A fairy with something like administrator authority should at least be able to tell him what the hell had happened to him.
Ding!
With a short-term goal set, white text bloomed before Do-yun's eyes.
Granted as a Tower of Trials entrance reward.
We recommend reviewing the guide carefully before deciding!
The Tower of Trials entrance reward that should have appeared immediately was only now being handed out. The 0th floor didn't exist in the Tower of Trials. Only upon reaching the 1st floor was he finally counted as having entered.
"An F-rank weapon selection ticket, huh."
In some ways, a choice that demanded even more care than a skill.
Ding!
Just as he was about to sink into deliberation, a golden notification rose before him.
What? I already got the reward—
Do-yun frowned, then his eyes went wide as he read the words written there.