Three hours earlier.
Kim Tae-seong blinked.
At the message about a special reward, there was no way he could leave it unchecked.
[Silver Box]
"......This is insane."
His mouth fell wide open.
It could not be helped.
The rewards obtained in the course of climbing the tower normally came in three kinds.
[Mana Stone] [Item] [Skill Box]
Mana stones were consumed in all sorts of ways, not only for reinforcing items but for brewing potions and as magical materials, so they were used broadly enough to be called the currency of the new world. Items were, as the name said, tools with special abilities, while a Skill Box was nothing less than a jackpot one could obtain during a climb.
The drop rate of a Skill Box was one in a thousand.
A probability of roughly one appearance per thousand climbs of the tower.
'And a Silver Box at that. Is it giving an absurd reward like this because the gap with second place is more than double?'
The grades of Skill Boxes ran [Soul]-[Diamond]-[Platinum]-[Gold]-[Silver]-[Bronze].
Floors one through five dropped a Bronze Box at best, and yet on Floor 1 he had obtained a Silver Box.
'The true advantage of a Skill Box doesn't end with simply obtaining a skill. Depending on the box's grade, you can also reinforce a skill. Because of that, even a Bronze-grade box normally trades for a hundred million won at minimum.'
Of course, it was not an unconditional windfall.
There was a sad story about a Saudi tycoon who once paid a full trillion won for a [Diamond Box] and got nothing but garbage skills out of it. What that showed was that a Skill Box was assigned enormous value for the mere reason that something of high grade might come out of it.
'If I sell the Silver Box, three hundred million won at minimum. I can pay off my debt in one stroke.'
He swallowed dryly.
In truth, up until the hobgoblin was dealt with, he had been satisfied enough with the small mana stones and items he had picked up.
And then a result like this.
His thought circuits spun madly.
This result here and now.
It was a Floor 1 reward.
Which connected directly to the fact that, in the current situation where the twentieth floor was being climbed, he could obtain 'nineteen' special rewards.
'What this reward tells me is that Namgung Su-ho isn't counted as climbing personnel, he's treated as a being summoned by me. Even if I summon two or more people with Summon and Conscription, I can receive the privileges of a solo climb.'
He burned with impatience.
He wanted to challenge the second floor quickly.
Just as he was about to leave the tower.
"Is my task finished?"
Namgung Su-ho.
He remained.
The summon's duration was one hour.
With a full fifty minutes still left, he had not yet confirmed what would happen to Namgung Su-ho if he walked out of the tower like this.
'There are two possibilities. Either Namgung Su-ho leaves the tower along with me, or the summon is simply released.'
The odds were high that it was the former.
In that case it would be a problem.
If the place Kim Tae-seong had climbed from were a space free of other eyes he would walk out together with Namgung Su-ho, but room [F-23] had CCTV installed against an Overflow. One person going in and two coming out would certainly require explanation on several fronts.
Kim Tae-seong was a hunter worn smooth by experience.
He clearly recognized that his own ability was special, but for now he had not finished taking an objective measure of himself.
Excessive exposure was unnecessary.
Therefore.
"Yes. Thank you for your work."
"Understood."
"Release Summon."
FLASH-
He released the summon.
Namgung Su-ho vanished, wrapped in a halo of light.
Kim Tae-seong bowed his head toward him, then turned and walked out.
***
First he moved location.
On the way to a quiet spot, Kim Tae-seong checked the state of 'Hunter Camp' on his phone.
-Guys. If the kid who just took first on Floor 1 fought Bjorn Gustafsson, would the former win?
-No way. It's first place in the Floor 1 record, you can't take that as meaning he overwhelms anyone in personal strength.
-Agreed. The HFC (Hunter Fighting Championship) actually ran events like that now and then, and it was proven that it has nothing to do with the records. In the tower, a strategy born from endless analysis can make more difference than personal force.
-Even so, 8 minutes is legit insane. I'd pay money just to find out what the strategy is.
The whole world.
It was in a complete uproar.
In fact, Kim Tae-seong clearly recognized that part as well.
Nine years in this business, there was no way he did not know the records of the Lion of Sweden, Bjorn Gustafsson.
And yet it was not the Cult Leader of the Divine Cult, nor the Magistrate of the Heaven-Breaking Fortress, nor a head-level figure of the orthodox sects of murim, but 'Namgung Su-ho, Vice Captain of the Azure Sky Corps' who had surpassed that record.
It was an astounding result.
From the objective result alone one might conclude that Namgung Su-ho was stronger than Bjorn Gustafsson, but that was not a simple matter either. The reason Namgung Su-ho cleared the tower so quickly was the swiftness particular to martial arts. Fast mobility, and senses keen enough that traps did not work on him. His overwhelming performance in butchering low-tier monsters without an area skill held every strength suited to clearing Floor 1.
So he set Namgung Su-ho's skill at A-Grade minimum, and left the realm of S-Grade an unknown.
'To interpret that, if this is what Namgung Su-ho can do, then someone on Namgung Cheol's level could crush the difficulty of most towers.'
His heart pounded.
First-place rewards.
He could monopolize them all.
It seemed a Silver Box had dropped because the gap with second place was overwhelming, and Namgung Cheol's skill would surely produce a result beyond that.
In the midst of it there was one slightly regrettable part.
During the raid he had asked Namgung Su-ho a few things, and by his explanation the tower that had arisen in his own world and the tower of this world were different. Had they been the same tower, he could have obtained a direct strategy guide up to the forty-ninth floor, but a cheat code of that scale was not permitted.
Before he knew it, he had arrived at his destination.
A mountain with few people about.
In a quiet open lot, he set an 'Overflow alarm' against any eventuality.
It was a device that could at least notify the surroundings if an Overflow occurred.
It was the method chosen mainly by those who begrudged the government fee, and if the process led directly to loss of life, legal responsibility could not be avoided. Kim Tae-seong was not particularly worried. Judging by the result on Floor 1 alone, there was no chance of the climb failing.
'There are two things I have to confirm with this climb.'
A harsh world.
Objectivity was absolutely necessary.
If he could not look his own ability in the face, dying a dog's death from a miscalculation would take only a moment.
'First, whether the tower treats even a climb made while maintaining a summon as a solo climb.'
Next.
'Second, whether the summoned being is maintained when I leave the tower with the summon still active. If both conditions hold true, I'll have the conditions to clear towers very quickly, one after another, on solo climbs.'
"Hoo."
He steadied his breathing.
He was trembling.
It was a different feeling from the first time.
Knowing already that it was a jackpot, the excitement of heading out to dig a gold mine flushed his face red.
His eyes sank into calm.
All those past hardships, mountain and water alike, kept him at a certain composure.
Preparations were done.
In that case.
"Conscription. Target, Namgung Cheol."
FWOOSH-
There was no longer any reason to hesitate.
***
[The tower's gate has opened.]
[Enter Floor 2?]
"Yes."
The gate opened.
As he stepped toward the bright halo of light, the drab interior of the tower filled his sight, just as before.
"Thank you, Savior."
Namgung Cheol.
His hair, streaked with white, tied back neatly, his gaze turned toward Kim Tae-seong.
"Not at all."
"......What I asked of the Savior was food and water. It came to me that this small hope, as we breathed clean air, might be a great hope that we could perhaps sustain. It is thanks to you. For the first time in a long while, I was able to see our children smile."
His words.
They carried sincerity.
Sixteen hundred square meters of Green Field.
It had changed a great deal.
Vividly living undergrowth, and a sky that gave off a clear presence within the boundary of gray.
It was a miracle.
As they ate the food Kim Tae-seong had shared out, several of the adults could not hold back their tears.
Kim Tae-seong smiled, a little abashed.
"It's only a deal."
"We do not think so. If only to sustain this relationship, we will bring you benefit without fail."
SHING.
He suddenly drew his sword.
Beyond the darkness.
The presence of monsters could be felt.
"So then, shall I deal with those wicked things?"
"Please do."
"It is an order, Savior."
He moved forward.
The monsters that appeared.
They were different from Floor 1.
The goblins were the same, but the singular point was that they handled 'trolls'.
At the sight of the monsters charging in, Namgung Cheol's sword gave off a sharp aura.
FLASH.
THWACK!
Trolls.
Tremendous brute strength and transcendent regeneration.
The head of a troll, rated a calamity-class being among the early grades, flew off in one stroke.
The thick blood that came dragging out could not knit the severed body back together.
That was how sharp and powerful the strike was, and Namgung Cheol began butchering the monsters as leisurely as if he were out for a stroll.
'Whoa.'
It was one wonder after another.
If Namgung Su-ho had been nimble.
Namgung Cheol was a matter of course.
His concise movements tore the monsters' limbs apart as though it were only natural.
Even at a glance, it was not his full strength.
Even so, in the blink of an eye, he had blown off the head of the hobgoblin that handled ten trolls.
[You have passed the trial of Tower Floor 2.]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 6 minutes 58 seconds]
[The minimum-personnel shortest record of 19 minutes 55 seconds has been broken. A special reward applying the value of the difference is granted.]
The Floor 1 record.
It was faster than 8 minutes 30 seconds.
The tower's difficulty had risen, and yet Namgung Cheol produced a record beyond even that.
With this he confirmed one important fact.
That even if he entered with a summoning skill in use, because the being was bound to Kim Tae-seong, the climbing personnel was displayed as one.
He left the tower at once.
FLASH-
Right behind him.
When he looked back, Namgung Cheol stood there.
The second point was confirmed as well.
As long as the summon time held, Namgung Cheol could come and go from the 'tower'.
In that case.
"Would it be all right to climb the third tower right away?"
More than fifty minutes remained.
There was no time to take it easy.
Namgung Cheol nodded.
From here on.
"As the Savior wills."
It was time to smash every solo climb record.
***
Opinion on Hunter Camp.
At first it was simple amazement.
A Floor 1 record of 8 minutes 30 seconds.
Was it the appearance of a new rising star, or had someone found a perfect counter that humanity had not discovered?
Amid all manner of speculation, records of towers being conquered one after another suddenly began to pour in.
[Tower Floor 2]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 6 minutes 58 seconds]
-Huh?
-Looks like that Floor 1 guy started climbing?
-Holy shit, this time it's 6 minutes. He cut the record below Floor 1. Damn.
[Tower Floor 3]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 7 minutes 20 seconds]
-He smashed Floor 3 too in 10 minutes?
-We're f***ed. For real.
[Tower Floor 4]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 7 minutes 33 seconds]
-This is strange.
-Is it actually bugged?
[Tower Floor 5]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 8 minutes 20 seconds]
-No, fuck. What the hell is going on?
-Guys. You know what? The Floor 5 record is faster than the Floor 1 record, lol.
[Tower Floor 6]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 8 minutes 55 seconds]
-It's certain now. This isn't a matter of strategy. There's no explaining this except that the unknown being climbing the tower right now is absurdly strong.
[Tower Floor 7]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 9 minutes 20 seconds]
[Tower Floor 8]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 9 minutes 33 seconds]
[Tower Floor 9]
[Personnel: 1]
[Record: 9 minutes 58 seconds]
Hunter Camp.
Users flooded into it.
At the records for floors seven through nine, people lost themselves.
-So some monster bastard who showed up out of nowhere rewrote every record up to Floor 9 in less than ten minutes each? Is this a dream? Floor 9 took even Bjorn Gustafsson over thirty minutes, so does this look like a realistically possible figure to you?
-Fuck if I know.
-Who the hell is it?
-With the twentieth-floor climb right ahead of us, is there an expert who'd waste time like this? And setting all of that aside, if records this absurd were possible in the first place, is there any reason he wouldn't have been climbing all this time?
It was appalling.
Humanity's record was the nineteenth floor.
Now that the twentieth floor was being challenged, conquering the ninth was nothing special.
But the senseless records shook the hearts of the people crowding Hunter Camp.
Then someone said.
-Even so, a solo climb of Floor 10 would be tough, right?
Those words.
They were this world's common sense.
Floor 10 was different.
Just as humanity today was blocked by the wall of the twentieth floor, when humanity first challenged the tenth it tasted tremendous despair.
As proof of that.
-If the unknown being succeeds even at the Floor 10 climb, this is definitely a massive event that will overturn the history of the world. Even the Lion of Sweden, Bjorn Gustafsson, challenged Floor 10 countless times on solo climbs and in the end declared that the difficulty was impossible alone.
The record of Floor 10.
That was why.
On the cursed tenth floor, not a single person had succeeded in a solo climb in over a decade.