Seven Consecutive S-Ranks
When Do-yun came to his senses, he was face-down on the floor.
Apparently, because he had returned to the Sanctuary Room mid-fall, even his posture had frozen in the exact position of plummeting through the air.
"Aigoo."
Do-yun groaned as he pushed himself up.
What he had gone through on the seventh floor had been nothing short of a roller coaster. Repechage participants, a black mage's magic circle that shouldn't have existed in the Tower of Trials, and at the end—an unsolicited skydiving session.
"Still, looks like I barely hit my goal."
Do-yun muttered as he looked at the numbers floating before his eyes.
Time Elapsed — 56 minutes 25 seconds
The cutoff for an S-rank clear in the Tower of Trials was one hour. There had been no shortage of time-eating variables, but he had still managed to scrape by with an S-rank.
"You worked hard!"
At that moment, flower petals drifted down from above. When Do-yun looked up, he found Ciel scooping pollen from a basket and scattering it over him.
"That's seven S-ranks in a row. Seven really is the lucky number after all!"
Do-yun gave a wry smile and rested a hand on Ciel's head.
"You worked hard too."
In those final moments, without Ciel's help he would have been in real trouble. If she—who could fly freely—hadn't found the clear crystal, he might have headed in completely the wrong direction.
"And the reward for the seventh floor is…!"
Drumroll. Ciel hyped it up with a sound effect from her own mouth, then handed Do-yun the entire basket she had just been scattering petals from.
"An F-rank Ring Selection Ticket! Congratulations!"
As Ciel smiled, a system notification appeared before Do-yun's eyes.
You have successfully cleared the 7th floor!
Clear Grade — S
Reward: F-rank Ring Selection Ticket
Do-yun dug the catalog out from among the petals.
"Do you really have to hand it over like this?"
"Come on, if I just dumped the reward on you there'd be no mood at all! No mood!"
He shrugged once and opened the catalog. Just like when he had chosen a necklace, a flood of names appeared.
"Hmm."
Do-yun stroked his chin as he scanned the list. What he needed to prioritize was already decided—Imperial gear.
Set effects get exponentially better the more pieces you collect. That's just common sense.
This time, though, nothing jumped out as the obvious pick. Dog tags had clearly been items for proving military identity, but rings were far too versatile for that kind of filtering. After some deliberation, Do-yun settled on a safe, solid piece of equipment.
◈ Emergency rescue equipment for patients collapsed from mana exhaustion.
◈ Max Mana +5
◈ Circulation Stimulus — While worn, mana recovery speed increases by 50%.
You could tell from the "emergency rescue equipment" line that this ring was never supposed to perform this well. At best it should have had something like a ten-percent boost. The numbers staring Do-yun in the face were something else entirely.
"How does one ring stack up to a Meditation skill?"
From an ordinary challenger's perspective, an F-rank Meditation skill doubled mana recovery—one hundred percent efficiency. Mana that normally took a minute to recover by one point came back in thirty seconds. The ring was only half as efficient, but because it worked even in combat, it could actually be considered the superior option.
The stat boost is just as ridiculous.
Five might look small, but this was a ring—and that changed everything.
You can wear one ring on each finger.
Unlike weapons or armor with limited slots, rings could be worn ten at a time. Do-yun gazed at the blue-gemmed ring with satisfaction.
"Whoa..."
But someone else was even more taken with the ring than he was. Ciel was staring at the gem set in it with glittering eyes. Her tip had already been a little biased, but he hadn't expected her to like it this much.
"Hehe, so pretty."
Ciel rubbed the ring against her cheek, stared dreamily at the gem—she put on quite the show. Was it really okay for a so-called angel to be this materialistic?
Watching her play with the ring with a peculiar look, Do-yun soon turned his gaze away with a serious expression. The Hall of Fame was updating.
The trial of the 7th floor has ended.
1st — Kim Do-yun(56 min 25 sec)
2nd — Sinia of the Blue Sky(56 min 53 sec)
3rd — Gale Kaya(57 min 16 sec)
4th — Wind-Weathered Immortal Seo Hwi(57 min 31 sec)
5th — Reassembly Angelina(59 min 48 sec)
Plenty more reward notifications were popping up after that, but Do-yun brushed them aside for the moment. What he wanted to know right now was something else.
How many people washed out here?
Only five could make the Hall of Fame, but through each of their perspectives he could still get a rough sense of the overall situation. Do-yun calmly watched the recordings of those who had made the board.
"This one's straight-up flying."
Sinia was a woman who rode a staff. The moment she spotted that Do-yun had grabbed the clear crystal, she flew over faster than anyone and claimed one for herself.
"Next is Kaya."
That Kaya hadn't taken second was pure luck. She had simply been too far from where Do-yun found the clear crystal. If she and Sinia had started from the same point, who knows who would have gotten there first.
"What kind of ability is this?"
The man in fourth place had a strange power. Unlike Kaya, he was literally stepping on empty air—a feat that looked like the mid-air footwork from a martial arts novel.
"She's on here?"
The last name was a bit of a surprise. Angelina—someone he had assumed wouldn't be able to do much in a situation like that—was listed. Especially given how far the gap was between fourth and fifth: by the time the fifth slot filled, most people already knew where the clear crystal was, so the contest had been even fiercer.
"Whoa. Didn't see that coming."
But once he played the recording, his confusion turned into admiration. Angelina didn't hurl herself at the clear crystal like the other challengers. Instead, she simply pulled a device from her coat—a long metal object with a rotary wire at the tip. A grappling gun.
— Thwip!
With a short sound, the metal hook flew toward the clear crystal. Shot cleanly between the other challengers aiming for it, the hook snagged the clear crystal exactly as intended.
— Click.
The moment the hook locked, Angelina twisted her wrist and reeled the wire back in. An instant later the crystal came whooshing toward her. Angelina grinned and tossed out a line.
The last thing the recording showed before it ended was the other challengers staring at her with hollow looks on their faces.
"Still no idea how many dropped out."
Do-yun waved the recording away. Even after watching to the end, he couldn't tell how many had fallen. And even if someone hadn't gotten a clear crystal before the drop, that didn't necessarily mean they had been eliminated.
They might have been able to survive the fall.
Especially that musclebound giant from the second floor. Someone like him might shrug off an impact like that and just get back up.
"Lily's not on here either."
Had that mage managed to survive? Even if she had, she wouldn't be in great shape. Her left arm hadn't been cleanly severed—it had completely evaporated.
The Sanctuary Room doesn't heal disabilities.
People who had never had arms or legs in the first place didn't grow new limbs just because they were invited into the Tower of Trials. If the health system hadn't prevented his body from taking actual wounds, Do-yun might have moved a little more carefully himself.
What the hell was that magic circle?
The circle that had given Lily enough power to collapse a mage tower. No matter how he thought about it, that hadn't been a coincidence. It felt like a trap designed long in advance.
And Lily already knew about it.
The moment they reached the tower master's chamber, Lily had betrayed him in broad daylight. She had known that getting her hands on the diary would grant her that kind of power. If he hadn't let his guard down for even a second, she might really have wiped out the other challengers.
"Ugh, my head hurts."
The sixth floor, the seventh floor—why were there so many buried secrets? Was there information only people who had climbed all the way to the top of the Tower of Trials were supposed to know?
Shaking his head, Do-yun decided to check his rewards instead.
The name of the reward for five consecutive first places was pretty straightforward.
"A mini-map, huh."
Do-yun already knew what the next floor would throw at him, but even so, a mini-map wasn't a bad reward. Memory wasn't perfect. He didn't have a firm grasp on every non-critical detail either. A mini-map would help a lot there.
If it marks enemies and allies too, that would be the cherry on top.
He wouldn't know the exact specs until he entered the floor, but just looking at it, it was a solid reward. Which left choosing a rune.
"I'll take the Rune of Evolution."
Do-yun chose the Rune of Evolution again this time. If he had experienced death this round, he would have taken the Rune of Resurrection, but for now he still had one free chance left. Better to grow his ability to stay alive even a little more.
Especially since there's that hidden piece on the eighth floor.
Do-yun used the Rune of Evolution on his sword right away. He could have put it on the staff, but for now the sword still seemed more useful. Besides, a staff whose rune characters hadn't been activated was basically garbage.
If the rune characters were already active, it wouldn't need any enhancement at all.
SS-rank gear was already overflowing with power. So the sword it was. When the system asked which aspect to improve, Do-yun answered.
"Boost spirit affinity."
After a flash of light, the sword's status window changed. It looked like a useless option for now, but Do-yun had a reason for adding it.
You may challenge the 8th floor in 24 hours.
You may use an Early Entry Ticket to enter 30 minutes early.
The next trial. A spirit he absolutely had to adopt was waiting for him there.