Remiel's Gift

A low hum filled the air.

The left portal was the first to respond.

From the trembling gateway burst a fairy no larger than a palm.

"Hello! I'm Ciel, the fairy assigned to support you from here on out, Doyun-nim!"

Her clear, bright voice filled the Sanctuary Room. Spotting Do-yun, the lively fairy immediately shot him a wink.

"With my support, you'll make it all the way to the top for sure!"

"Uh, right. Nice to meet you."

Do-yun met Ciel's overflowing energy with a halfhearted expression. He'd already suspected as much from the system windows full of emoticons, but she seemed a little too full of spirit.

"More importantly, how did you clear the fifth floor's trial with someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠else?"

Ciel pulled a tiny booklet from her clothes as she spoke. Even by her miniature standards it was small enough to fit in her pocket, and Do-yun couldn't make out a single speck of the writing.

"That's strange? There's nothing about that in the manual."

She flipped through the pages with a puzzled tilt of her head, then noticed Do-yun staring and broke into a wide smile.

"It's fine! Even without the manual, I know plenty. I graduated top of my class at Fairy Academy, I'll have you know!"

Ciel declared it with pride, hands planted on her hips.

Her freewheeling chatter cut off the moment the right-hand portal stirred.

"Huh? And what's that?"

While Ciel's eyes went round, the figure stepping out from the right spoke.

"To think a mere creation could summon me."

Her appearance felt oddly familiar. Stretch Ciel's limbs out and she might have looked just like that. Her presence, however, was the complete opposite of Ciel's.

"I am Remiel, one of the managing angels of the Tower of Ascension."

A lofty aura poured from her fully unfurled pure-white wings, and a crushing pressure that made Do-yun want to drop to his knees and bow washed over him from head to toe.

"Challenger. What did you hope to gain by summoning me?"

The look Remiel fixed on him was sharp. If he'd called her for something trivial, she fully intended to pass judgment.

I didn't summon her because I wanted to.

She was nothing more than an accidental byproduct of summoning Ciel — and in a way, that was a stroke of luck. The stronger the power involved, the better the odds of solving this mess.

The moment Do-yun drew a breath to speak, Ciel flailed beside him in a panic.

"S-Senior? Why are you in my assigned zone?"

"Hmm?"

"Did I do something wrong? Was it the tips I tossed around so freely? I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"

Watching Ciel plant her forehead on the floor in a cold sweat, Remiel's brows climbed steadily skyward.

"How, exactly, did a fairy from the Tower of Trials end up here?"

"Huh?"

With Ciel wearing a blank look, Do-yun spoke up in her place.

"As you can see. For certain reasons, I fell in here without ever passing through the Tower of Trials."

"That is impossible. The system is perfect. An irregular who violates the rules the way you claim cannot exist."

"But it happened, didn't it?"

Remiel cut him off with absolute certainty — yet for both of them, the unfortunate truth was that it already had.

A rush of power burst from Remiel's hand and wrapped around Do-yun's entire body. Her brows twitched again.

"It is true. Your soul's grade has not been tempered in the slightest."

An untempered soul. It almost sounded like an insult, but if it proved his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠point, that was fine by him.

"I want only one thing. Please allow me to follow the proper procedures."

"That is impossible. Once you have entered the Tower of Ascension, there is no going back."

Remiel rejected his request without mercy. A cold aura began to seep from her as she seemed to weigh something in silence.

It was not a metaphor. The temperature in the room was actually dropping — cold enough to make the Sanctuary Room's name feel like a joke. A bone-deep chill rolled over them.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Uugh."

Ciel carefully clutched the hem of Do-yun's sleeve. From her perspective, none of this could have made any sense. After coming through the portal full of anticipation, she looked thoroughly pitiful now.

Do-yun cupped a palm over her tiny shivering body. That alone brought the color back to her face.

"Very well."

Notifications of damage taken and recovered flashed hundreds of times. At last the cold faded, and the alerts before his eyes fell quiet. In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its place, the condensed chill of Remiel's frigid gaze fixed on Do-yun.

"I will suspend judgment regarding you for the time being."

Suspended or not, what about compensation?

The words rose as far as his throat, but Do-yun was not so dense that he would say them. Speak now, and Remiel would turn him into an ice statue for certain.

"For now, the Tower of Ascension will proceed as normal. I will not allow one person to derail plans long in the making."

Fortunately, Remiel did not vanish after that single line. She let out a deep sigh and plucked a single feather from her wing, holding it out for him to take. Do-yun snatched it without hesitation — and when he checked its information, his eyes went wide.

Triple S. A legendary rank that even Earth's strongest returnee — a man who had stood at the threshold of the ninetieth floor — had seen only once.

"Focus on surviving with that. I will search for a solution on my end."

"Thank you!"

Do-yun bowed at the waist with formal courtesy. No matter how unpleasant the advice, once you had been paid enough it became something worth listening to. Even Remiel's prickly attitude looked almost charming with a feather like this in hand.

"Haa. Showing this kind of favor will earn me a reprimand… but I cannot simply leave the weak to die, either."

Remiel's goodwill did not stop there. She flicked her hand lightly, and a notification in blood-red letters appeared before Do-yun's eyes.

Do-yun read the text with a dazed look. He had never expected her to go this far. She had essentially announced to every other challenger: do not touch this one.

"I have sent a message to those who have ever placed on the Hall of Fame. Should you encounter anyone else, state your name first."

Do-yun tilted his head mid-listen. A message to people on the Hall of Fame? He was currently sitting in first place.

"Ah. You may not know what the Hall of Fame is. Simply understand it as those who posted strong results on each floor."

Misreading his expression, Remiel patiently explained the Hall of Fame from the ground up. Only then did Do-yun grasp the reason for her favor.

She doesn't know I'm first place!

She clearly thought he was a weakling who had survived by pure luck. Otherwise there was no way she would hand out benefits like this.

Well. I'd have thought the same.

Every rival here was a genuine article who had cleared the Tower of Trials to the summit and been filtered once more on the zeroth floor. That Do-yun, who had entered the Tower of Ascension through a bug, had survived among them at all was a miracle. Without the extraordinary skills he happened to hold, he would have been weeded out any number of times.

"I will take my leave, then. May you remain safe until I return."

"Safe travels!"

He saw Remiel off with an enthusiastic farewell to the very end. When she was gone, only Ciel standing awkwardly and Do-yun remained in the Sanctuary Room.

Do-yun had been gazing at the feather with open affection when Ciel's tiny voice finally pulled him back.

"Doyun-nim? Is this… the Tower of Ascension?"

"Yeah. You heard just now — I don't know how it happened either."

"Then we're in huge trouble! The Tower of Ascension is where only complete geniuses gather!"

Ciel stamped her feet with a face on the verge of tears.

"You're going to die! You'll really die!"

"It's fine. You saw for yourself, didn't you?"

Do-yun's demeanor, by contrast, was far too calm. He tapped his temple as if telling her to think.

"I cleared three floors in a row at S-rank. From your perspective, aren't I a genius too?"

"Ah. Now that you mention it… you're right."

Ciel's mouth fell open as if she had completely forgotten. Of course, calling it an achievement earned by Do-yun's power alone would be a stretch — but the situation was not so hopeless either. He might even walk away with far more than mere survival.

First, let's use this.

Do-yun clenched the feather in his palm.

He nodded. Brilliant white light erupted and enveloped his entire body — a spectacular effect worthy of an SSS-rank item.

As the light settled, a system alert floated before his eyes. Do-yun laid a hand on the word Reverse to pull up the details.

Even after reading the description, he wasn't entirely sure what it meant. Rewind time? So it restored a target to a past state?

As a test, Do-yun used the Authority on the sword in his hand.

The blade trembled faintly as a silvery, mist-like vapor rose from it. The rusted, dull edge grew cleaner by the second, reclaiming the sharp, gleaming light of metal. Wear from countless grips faded from the hilt, revealing its original color. Every trace of age left on the sword was vanishing.

Do-yun's jaw dropped. Who would have guessed an F-rank piece of trash was hiding a secret like this? Of course the sword hadn't been forged looking ancient from the start.

The performance is solid.

Repeating the same motion raised not only attack power but attack speed as well, and the condition for ignoring status ailments had been eased from swinging the blade to simply holding it. Do-yun resolved to use the Authority on his armor the moment the cooldown returned, eyes gleaming as he turned to the remaining rewards.

The fifth-floor clear rewards. The newly acquired title. Plenty still waited to be checked.