The First Floor

On the first floor, "You bastards—whether you move your bodies or wield abilities, you all use mana. There will be no more light for you."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just swing my magic staff around or something." Removing the sunglasses, the darkened vision suddenly brightened as light flooded in. "Kuhuh…! Hoo! Hoo!"

After finishing that grotesque laugh, the deformed monster launched one of the eyeballs attached to its head. Ping—! Tentacles trailed from the eyeball as it shot forward at high speed. It looked like a preemptive strike, but it was far too slow. Compared to Sun Wukong's insane thrust that skipped the process and only produced the result, this was on a completely different level.

Thwack! A casual swing of the Yeoui sent the incoming eyeball bursting with a pop. "……?" "What, you little shit." It seemed like the monster had been confident in that attack. Staring at the ruptured eyeball dangling from the tentacle tip with its other eyes, the creature pulled out another handful of eyeball-covered hair. This time there were many. Dozens of eyeballs tangled in its scalp floated into the air. Ping—! Countless eyeballs rained down like bullets.

Jecheon Daeseong-style Yeoui Staff Art — Dance of Flowers, Thrust

Whoosh—!! Staff techniques required every movement to flow naturally. After bursting every falling eyeball, I added a spin to the Yeoui and thrust it forward, blowing off a chunk of the monster's face. "How…… did you!" The monster's face rippled and regenerated in seconds. "Impressive." "Without mana, how!"

No matter how strong the monster was, it was still just a tutorial-stage lifeform. "Did you get beaten up by mana as a kid? Why do you keep going on about mana?" "……" The creature seemed to have some kind of inferiority complex about mana; most of its dialogue revolved around it. Even now, its blown-off head was slowly regenerating with a squelching sound.

Step. When I took a step forward, the monster flinched. Step. It backed away one pace. Bang—! The moment I decided to move, my body arrived right in front of it. The monster reacted a beat late, startled. Thanks to my master, my lacking mobility had been filled. Aside from the headwind that felt like it would tear my steel-like body apart, it was an excellent technique.

"You bastard……!" Crack! A swing of the iron club shattered its head like an apple. The regenerating head was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smashed again, making the creature flail its arms in panic. "Stay still. I won't kill you." "……" At those words, the flailing monster stopped moving. "You don't want to die either, right?" After a moment of hesitation, the monster slowly nodded. It hadn't been able to feel the overwhelming difference in power, but it wasn't stupid enough to miss it entirely.

"You alien-star friends probably have societies too. What's your social standing?" "I…… cleared the Tower's tutorial with an extremely high score and caught the attention of the divine thrones. Thus, I was able to form a contract with the great Azaig-nim and his followers." "So do you have status or not?" One by one, the regenerated eyes began turning toward me. "Our family is……" "Good." The moment I cut it off, the monster's throat bobbed. I'd heard enough earwax-inducing talk about families from those Namgung Sega bastards. Anyone who brought up "family" was never normal, and they all claimed high social standing.

"I am the great Aza……" When I reached out toward the monster, it stopped mid-sentence and rolled its eyes. Soon its gaze grew hazy. Illusion Dream My right eye throbbed. "W-witch……" "Good boy?" The monster, trembling and swinging its eyes around as if its mind had broken, gradually calmed down. "Use your position to cause social unrest." The monster began trembling violently again. "Assassinate someone in a high position." "Ghh……" "Start regional conflicts. Start national conflicts. Start wars. Use every means available." "Kuu……u……" The monster's eyes spun and began turning blood-red. "Suppress religions. Trample the bells." "……" "Discriminate. Wield violence. Cause chaos. Incite disputes." "Kuuu……!" The monster spat blood foam. "Smile while poisoning your father's food, then stab him in the stomach. And devour the family." Grabbing the collapsing monster by the neck and lifting it, our eyes met again.

"A growing sprout is a harm. Trample it, uproot it, burn it." The longer it went on, the more pain assaulted my right eye and blurred my vision. At this point, it might be better to just rip the eyeball out. This was the first time I'd used such heavy suggestion. The silver lining was that the more I used Illusion Dream, the more accustomed I became. "Hate your kin. Betray your kin. Exterminate your kin." "Graaah—ak." The monster's boiling voice forced its way out of its narrow throat. "You…… are……" "I'm basically the daughter who got family education from the root of all evil." Letting go, the monster stood and began convulsing. At the same time, the dome-shaped black hemisphere spread around the arena scattered. —Click, click. "Hoo—" Putting the sunglasses back on and exhaling cigarette smoke, countless gazes poured down on me late. The surroundings, which had been as noisy as a marketplace, were now deathly quiet.

Smack!! I struck the back of the trembling monster's head, sending it face-first into the ground. "Hoo— I've reached a peaceful agreement with the other party." 《The Demon of Three Shots offers a half-hearted apology, saying it was a close call》

Before I could even finish reading the short message, another window appeared.

The gazes of the players outside the arena fixed on the air. Their eyes moved rapidly, as if reading the window before them. After a moment, once they finished reading, their scattered gazes began gathering one by one. Eventually, every player in the arena and every spectator in the stands turned their eyes toward me.

"Annihilation War." Ding!

When the message appeared, the alien-star friends made reluctant faces and began moving. It seemed the Tower's message was forcing their actions. None of them shouted surrender. [The Annihilation War begins] That meant surrender was impossible before the start. Only after the game began could they declare surrender. That was the meaning.

"Surren……!" Bang—!! Thrusting the Yeoui forward, an alien-star friend's head vanished. Sun Wukong had once punched a massive hole through a mountain range so far away it could be covered by a thumb. This thrust wasn't at that level, but by imitating it, it could cover the entire arena. Even without extending the Yeoui, Sun Wukong's staff technique of thrusting through empty space felt closer to divine the more I used it.

"Hoo— This is the beautiful Earth representative, Han Ga-eul. From now on, I'm going to smash the heads of every little shit who opens their mouth, one by one." "……" Even though numerous beings stood on the arena, not a single one opened their mouth. "If you don't want to die, fight." "Surren……!" Bang—!! Another alien-star friend's head burst like a firework. Plop, plop. Blood and flesh fragments scattered everywhere belatedly rained down onto the arena floor. "My iron bat is faster than your mouths." "……" Tick. A spark flew from the cigarette butt on the arena floor. —Click, click. "Hoo— If you don't want to die, come at me."

From their perspective, this was a forced last stand. The Earth team was just me. The other players outside the arena had their mouths wide open. When I wiggled the Yeoui, the light in their eyes changed. The enemy soldiers had met a commander who would not accept surrender. There was only one action left for them. Grind. Seeing the bloodshot-eyed monsters charging in a horde, strength naturally flowed into my hands. Each tutorial group had over fifty people, and I still didn't know how many such groups there were. Judging by the number of monsters rushing toward me, there were easily hundreds.

"As they say, life and death are fated, so alien-star friends, gracefully accept your heavenly mandate and offer your heads without avoiding death." Grind.Jecheon Daeseong-style Yeoui Staff Art — Super Strike! — Cleave Even though the Yeoui above my head only spun once, it created a murderous wind. Supporter Support Magic — Earthquake "Hup!" Kwaaang—!!!! Slamming the iron Yeoui down with all my strength onto the arena floor, which was as hard as steel, the arena cracked and collapsed. The recoil sent the monsters floating more than a meter into the air. Watching them, I sheathed the Yeoui at my waist and spread my legs shoulder-width apart. Drawing Stance A tingling sensation ran through my left eye as the world slowed down.

"Hoo." I took a short breath. Yeomra-style Hope Mountain Blade — Sever Dusk and Dawn The sheath was in my left hand, the blade was the Yeoui. Drawing was linear motion, slashing was rotational motion. The two motions canceled each other's force. Therefore, drawing was not a technique of quickly pulling and cutting. This was an action to explosively increase centripetal acceleration—in other words, a power-gathering motion like flicking someone's forehead. Grind! It was a battle against myself. My right hand pouring strength to draw and my left hand gripping the Yeoui to prevent it from advancing engaged in a contest of power. Thanks to the left hand acting as a support, I could gather strength; conversely, because there was no ground to step on, those creatures were struggling in the air. No matter how alien they were, without ground they couldn't put power into their movements. Crack! From overexerting, the sound of bones breaking came from the back of my hand. Because I had received this technique almost forcibly, I had tried using it on the first day only to stop immediately from the sensation of my entire body breaking. I thought it would be fine by now, but the recoil on my body was still severe. I couldn't understand how I was supposed to use something like this.

Draw — Both SeverBang—!!! Releasing all the gathered power along with the Yeoui, a deafening roar struck the arena. Players outside the arena bled from their ears and collapsed simultaneously. At the same time, the necks of hundreds of monsters were severed at once and thudded onto the floor.

—Click, click. "Hoo— I'm gonna die." Ding!

Ding! Ding! ……

"Hoo—" 《Choco Stone Monkey praises it as an excellent horizontal slash》《The Demon of Three Shots cannot hide its surprise at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arena master's strike》《The Handstander expresses surprise》 Messages poured in endlessly while my body felt like it was breaking. 《The otherworldly divine throne Azaig expresses anger》 "Your dad is an alien." 《The otherworldly divine throne Azaig expresses anger》 "Yeah. My dad is stronger." 《The otherworldly divine throne Azaig expresses anger》 "Your divine throne was pretty strong. I was wondering who the idiot took after, and it was right in front of me." 《The otherworldly divine throne Azaig expresses anger》 "What can you even do? Go eat a donut, ppung-ppung-tti." Vigorously slapping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my butt, Azaig's messages stopped coming. 《The Star Maiden covers her face with the book she was reading from the rush of embarrassment》《The One Embracing Flames says 'She is the otherworlder'》 "Judging by the way you attach the country suffix, you know some English. I'm a proud Earthling." 《Choco Stone Monkey advises to at least be surprised according to your appearance》 Even my master scolded me. I had no shame looking up at the sky, yet I felt wronged. While I was busy arguing with the divine thrones, a sun-like angel suddenly appeared before me. "Han Ga-eul." "You came?" "Please stop fighting. Why are you provoking him?" "I'm just that kind of person. Still, we're friends, right?" Ariel's gaze subtly averted. It seemed she'd been a little hurt. From Ariel's arms, whose gaze had turned away, a white cotton ball jumped out. "Our Baek Seol, were you good?" "Yeah!" When I tried to pet Baek Seol, my hand was covered in alien blood. Thanks to that, a little blood got on Baek Seol's white fur too. Lowering the hand I was about to pet with, I brought my face closer, and Baek Seol also poked her face out. Our noses touched. "Uum— ppah!" "Good!" "Oh my, good." "Yeah!" Baek Seol wagged her tail vigorously. It was still hard to tell if she was shaking her butt or her tail. "Han Ga-eul, we need to wash up first." "Yeah, we do." "The first floor gate has opened, so wash and head there." "Okay. But where do we wash?" Tap! When Sunny flicked her fingers lightly, the surroundings changed.

It was the room where I had boiled ramen with the Holy Grail. ***Jingle! Opening the door and entering, an antique-style café welcomed me. I thought the first floor of the Tower would be less developed, but from what I'd heard, it seemed to be the widest and busiest floor in the Tower. Taking a wooden table and sitting down, a familiar angel soon sat across from me. "Huh? Why are you here?" "I submitted my resignation." "Uh…… Is that allowed?" "Yes." Sitting upright with shining eyes, the angel slowly parted her soft-looking lips. "I will explain how to use points." "Suddenly?" "You don't know anything, do you?" When I nodded confidently, a spoonful of coldness was added to Ariel's gaze. "100 Bronze equals 1 Silver, 100 Silver equals 1 Gold. 1 Point can be exchanged for 1 Gold." "Yeah." "Yes." "Huh? That's it?" "Yes." I thought she'd open a shop window since points were for buying things, but it was disappointingly simple. "I can open a simple shop for you, but it's much better to obtain initial items directly on the first floor. There are cases where players sell items they no longer use for cheap in gold." "Aha. Can you exchange just 1 point for now?" Nodding, Ariel opened her hand, and a faint light burst forth. Clink. A sparkling gold coin fell onto the table. The exchange rate was one-to-one with points. "Small." The gold coin looked smaller than a thumbnail. "Once exchanged, gold can never be converted back into points, so please be careful." "Yeah." Putting the gold coin into my inventory space, 100,000 won was added to my holdings. "Wow, what? I earned a ton?" The points obtained from the tutorial exceeded 100,000. Roughly calculating, I'd earned over 10 billion won. "What, they gave 10,000 points so stingily, but this is a jackpot." "The average point acquisition for tutorial players is between 500 and 1,500 points." It didn't matter for others, but by my standards, risking my life had earned me about 50 million won. "So damn stingy." "Han Ga-eul earned an unusually large amount." While talking with Ariel, the finger I'd put in my pocket tickled. Taking my hand out of the pocket, the culprit was playing with its finger.

"Baek Seol, want to eat?" "Good!" When sleeping, she slept on my face or in my palm. When moving, she was on my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head, and when eating, she went to my shoulder or wherever she felt like. I hoped I wasn't the only world for this little one. The world was quite wide and had many enjoyable things. "Right?" "Yeah!" Passing over her head and stroking down her back, she flopped onto the table and showed her belly. "Han Ga-eul's appearance in battle and in daily life is completely different." "What am I like?" "Like a demon." "That's a compliment, right?" "Are you serious?"

"I don't care if I'm a demon. As long as I have my kids." *** "Haa…… Haa…… Han Ga…… eul." After tormenting her so much, sweetness began to seep into Sunny's usually curt voice.

"Yeah?" "Contract violation…… Hehe!" "You promised a sticky kiss." "I already did…… Euhak!" "It wasn't sticky. I'll stamp a bunch of friend marks on cute Sunny's soft belly."

"Liar!"