The Point Shop Opens

Aside from the restriction that it could only be used on a single target, Reverse had no limits on what kinds of targets it could affect.

As Do-yun turned that fact over in his mind, a brilliant idea surfaced.

Could I use Reverse on a living being?

An earthworm's lifespan, at most, stretched to about ten years. If he used Reverse, he could rewind time to before the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worm had ever existed. So what would happen if he used Reverse the moment a monster fused with a mana stone was recognized as a single "target"?

The notification that floated up before his eyes was the answer.

Looking at the points window that had appeared before him, Do-yun let out a low murmur of admiration.

A full fifteen thousand points. Considering that the S-rank threshold in the Tower of Trials was one thousand, he had exceeded his goal by nearly fifteen times over.

"I should thank Remiel for this."

Without Reverse, he never would have even considered trying something like that.

Humming under his breath, Do-yun suddenly felt something missing and turned his head. Ciel, who normally would have been making a fuss and blasting fanfare the moment they returned to the Sanctuary Room, was wearing a serious expression, as if deep in thought.

"What's wrong? Is there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a problem?"

"Ah, it's nothing!"

Ciel quickly put on a bright face again and started rummaging for something, but Do-yun was not so dense that he would simply let it pass.

"Be honest. We're bound by fate, aren't we?"

When Do-yun refused to back down and kept pressing, Ciel waved her hands, gave an awkward smile, and finally answered.

"It's really nothing. I was just wondering what would happen if I used Remiel-nim's authority on myself."

"You want to use Remiel's authority on yourself?"

Do-yun frowned. He could not see how her thoughts had wandered in that direction.

"Why would you think about that?"

"Um, I just got curious all of a sudden."

Ciel lowered her eyes and added in a small voice,

"What kind of being was I before I was born as a fairy?"

The moment Do-yun heard those words, his eyes went wide.

Did fairies have a concept of past lives? That was not among any of the information the returnees knew. He had always assumed fairies were simply beings generated by the Tower's system. But Ciel's words had cracked that assumption wide open.

Realizing he had taken an unexpected step closer to one of the Tower's secrets, Do-yun opened his mouth to speak—then Ciel flinched and hunched her shoulders.

"I-I was just imagining, that's all! Everyone daydreams about stuff like that once in a while, right?"

The forced smile and hasty cover-up made it painfully clear she had only just realized she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Anyway, you exceeded the target again! I'm sorry there isn't an overachievement reward."

The instant Ciel hurriedly snapped her fingers, a notification appeared before his eyes.

The topic change was transparent, but when Do-yun saw the tears welling in Ciel's eyes, he decided to let it go for now. Her face looked one touch away from crying, practically begging him to drop it.

There'll be another chance later.

Considering how devoted Ciel had been so far, this was less that she didn't want to tell him and more that she couldn't.

I'll be satisfied with learning the keyword "past life" for now.

"Whoa, shoes this time?"

Do-yun muttered loudly to himself as he scanned the categories. Ciel quickly wiped her eyes and slapped her own cheeks. Pretending not to notice, he kept browsing for a moment—then found an item that practically screamed to be chosen.

The special effect was honestly nothing special. The movement speed option rarely saw real use outside a handful of unusual trials. What caught his eye was the word "Imperial" in the description.

"That makes three pieces of standard-issue gear now, doesn't it?"

Sword, dog tags, combat boots. Every time he equipped an Empire-related item, a set effect seemed to trigger—and he might be able to activate one more.

Do-yun selected the combat boots without hesitation. Moments later, a notification appeared announcing that a set effect had been added.

"So every three skill activations, I get one free use."

Not a bad effect. Little advantages like this stacked up and decided fights.

Do-yun filed the effect away in his mind and turned his gaze aside. With the 8th Floor over, the ranking window had appeared as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠well. He already knew he was first, but how far ahead of second place he was remained a matter of real interest.

The moment he opened the ranking window, Do-yun tensed. Second place was far closer than he had expected. If he hadn't deliberately avoided reviving that earthworm as undead at the end, he might have been overtaken by a hair.

"Insane. Where the hell did this score come from?"

Do-yun immediately clicked the ranking window and checked the footage. One after another, challengers had their heads taken off by Kaya's claws. His brow furrowed. She had not touched a single mana stone or monster—she had hunted only other challengers. Even through a recording, he could almost smell the blood on the air.

On the surface it looked like simple slaughter, but given the 8th Floor's rules, it was anything but pointless killing.

"…Rewards for eliminating other challengers."

When he had taken down Robin, Do-yun had definitely received a thousand points. He had treated it as incidental income, but Kaya had clearly gone after it as her main source of score.

Easy to say—she took down ten people?

Fights between challengers were not simple stat contests. The Tower of Ascension forcibly lowered stats and skill ranks. Slaughtering ten people under conditions that minimized power gaps meant Kaya's combat sense was in a league of its own.

Do-yun turned that over in his mind as he moved on to the next ranks.

From third down, the scores at least make sense.

Kaya had simply pulled far ahead by killing ten people. Anyone below third could have reached those numbers by collecting mana stones while keeping other challengers in check. He was familiarizing himself with the faces of the mid-rank contenders when a notification about Hall of Fame rewards appeared before him.

Six consecutive first-place finishes. The effects added as the price of that feat were straightforward yet powerful.

"Ten stat points, huh."

The "temporary" qualifier suggested they would vanish if he failed to keep the streak, but the ability to spike his combat power right away still mattered.

What concerned him more, however, was something else entirely.

"Rune of Resurrection, or Rune of Evolution?"

The same three Hall of Fame ranking rewards as always: the Rune of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Glory, the Rune of Resurrection, and the Rune of Evolution. They always made him hesitate, but this time there were especially many factors muddying his thoughts.

"What reward do I hand Kaya?"

First of all, the Rune of Glory was absolutely not something he could give her. He had already been burned once by Grham on the 7th Floor. But the remaining two rewards were equally problematic to force on her. The first would hand Kaya another safety net and let her act even more aggressively. The second might put wings on combat power that was already more than threatening enough.

"I'll take the Rune of Resurrection."

After clutching his head in thought, Do-yun finally chose the Rune of Resurrection. Killing a Kaya who had the Rune of Resurrection twice would still be no easy task—but a Kaya with the Rune of Evolution might become so strong he couldn't even touch her.

And I'm curious how this changes when it's synthesized, too.

Do-yun took the Rune of Immortality from his coat.

An item created by fusing two Resurrection Runes. If he fused one more Resurrection Rune into it, what kind of item would appear?

On the 6th and 7th Floors he had been forced to pick Evolution Runes and never gotten to satisfy that curiosity. This time, it looked like he finally could.

With a faint thrill of anticipation, Do-yun looked down at the pebble that had formed at his fingertips. Before long both the Rune of Immortality and the Rune of Resurrection began to glow, then pulled toward each other as if they had always been one.

Fwaat.

Unfortunately, after the flash of light, the stone that appeared showed no dramatic change. Checking the item description with hope still in his chest, Do-yun could not hide his disappointment.

Everything else was identical. The only change was that the revival function, which had been limited to once, had increased to twice.

Well, obtaining a triple-S grade item was never going to be that easy.

Do-yun clicked his tongue and moved on to the next reward. Ordinarily the rewards would have ended with the rune selection, but the 8th Floor had added one more system.

Unlike previous floors, which had only determined Hall of Fame rankings, a shop had now appeared where he could spend points on what he needed. Curious about what it held, Do-yun opened the shop—and could not close his mouth when he saw the list that filled it. The goods on sale defied imagination.

A shop window plastered with skills of such high grade he could hardly believe this was the 8th Floor. But what shocked Do-yun was not merely the ranks.

"This is a skill Grham used, isn't it?"

Subspace. The skill that had been practically the trademark of the shadow-wielding Grham was sitting casually on display in the shop window.