One day, a colossal tower appeared above the clouds.
People began calling it the <Sky Tower>.
“Oppa, we should break up.”
“…What?”
“I’m sorry. There’s someone else I like.”
The summer I turned twenty-five.
My girlfriend dumped me.
“Damn it.”
Tears blurred my vision.
I later discovered that I had suffered what people called a transfer breakup—the kind that supposedly felt the most humiliating because the other person had already found someone new before ending the relationship.
The man who stole my girlfriend was a successful <Ascender>.
Yes, an Ascender.
Those who climbed the <Sky Tower> were known as Ascenders.
What was the Sky Tower?
It was a mysterious tower that had transformed the entire paradigm of the world.
It was a place filled with mysteries and miracles that the Earth of the past could never have imagined.
“I’m going to become an Ascender too, if only because this is so unfair!”
I shouted into the empty air, pouring all my resentment into my voice.
But deep down, I knew.
It was not as easy as merely saying it.
That was because a person could only awaken as an Ascender after being chosen by the <Sky Tower>.
The earliest age at which most people awakened as Ascenders was fifteen.
I had also rushed to the Sky Tower the moment I turned fifteen.
I had gone there to undergo the Awakening Ceremony.
And the result?
‘All I did was confirm that I had no potential.’
My body was completely incapable of accepting mana.
Those with the potential to become Ascenders would absorb mana into their bodies even if they could not awaken immediately.
But I possessed a constitution known as mana rejection syndrome, which prevented me from accepting even the slightest trace of mana.
‘And I had to be the one person in 0.0000000001%.’
Statistically speaking, I was one man in ten billion.
That was right. They said a constitution like mine, one that rejected mana entirely, was virtually unprecedented throughout the entire world.
It was so unusual that a television station had even come to interview me.
Even so, I had not fallen into despair.
I had been optimistic back then.
So what if I could not become an Ascender?
I might never rise into the ruling class of society, but surely I would not be reduced to begging for food.
“AAAAARGH! What do you mean, ‘So what if I can’t become one’?!”
But that had merely been the naive thinking of a child who knew nothing about the world.
Society increasingly revolved around Ascenders.
And the place left for non-Ascenders grew smaller by the day.
The world has changed. You must climb at least the first floor!
The Sky Tower was believed to end at the tenth floor.
Even setting aside the tenth floor, which no one had ever reached, climbing even a single floor had become a major dividing line between social classes.
“Starting today, I should begin offering Awakening prayers.”
Awakening prayers.
The lobby floor of the tower was open to everyone.
The term referred to the act of visiting the lobby every day and praying for the chance to become an Ascender.
Had I not just said that a person needed to be chosen? Could someone truly awaken merely by praying?
They could.
Even now, there were frequent reports of people awakening while praying.
That was why non-Ascenders had no choice but to pray with the desperation of someone clinging to the hem of a savior’s robe.
The lobby floor of the tower.
It was a vast place where people of every race and nationality came and went.
A sun formed from magical power floated in the sky throughout all 365 days of the year, earning the floor the name the Land Where the Sun Never Set.
“Grant our prayer, grant our prayer!”
“O great Sky Tower! Grant even lowly people like us the opportunity to ascend!”
“Everyone together! Grant our prayer, grant our prayer!”
““Grant our prayer, grant our prayer!””
After entering the lobby floor and looking around for a moment, I found the group I had come here to seek.
They were gathered like a swarm of bees before a statue modeled after a colossal tree, praying fervently.
They were the reason I had come here.
“Uh… Hmm.”
But when I actually witnessed them praying, I could not help recoiling.
They were far too loud.
Was joining them really the right thing to do?
I cautiously glanced at the people nearby.
“Tsk. I understand that they’re desperate, but they’re disturbing everyone.”
“Good grief. They make this much noise every single day…”
“And it isn’t as though we can report them for noise pollution.”
I knew it!
Apparently, I was not the only person who thought they were being a nuisance.
Everyone nearby was clicking their tongues in disapproval.
Yes, no matter how desperately I wanted to awaken, this seemed excessive.
I should pray on my own or find some other method.
I had just begun quietly backing away when I heard voices nearby.
“Oh! He’s a member of the Dominance Clan.”
“Wow. He even has a gold badge. He must be at least Level 60.”
“No wonder his girlfriend is so beautiful. He’s a successful Ascender.”
I turned toward the source of the voices.
A striking man and woman came into view.
The man stood over 190 centimeters tall, with his hair swept straight back, and wore a uniform emblazoned with a lion’s face.
That lion was the emblem of the Dominance Clan, one of the largest clans in our country.
The man was also wearing a gold badge, something only elite members above Level 60 were permitted to wear.
In other words, he was one of the elite among the elite.
‘He’s even handsome… Wait.’
I had been thinking that the bastard was the very definition of an alpha male when my gaze landed on the woman clinging to his arm.
‘Y-Yeonhee?’
My eyes trembled as though an earthquake had struck them.
She was the ex-girlfriend who had dumped me without a second thought.
Lee Yeonhee.
It was her.
‘So that was the bastard?’
He was the man she had chosen after leaving me.
Even another man could see that he was practically perfect.
Ah.
A profound sense of defeat settled upon my shoulders.
“Ah?”
Had she sensed my gaze?
She looked in my direction.
For exactly one second.
Our eyes met.
It was more than enough time for her to recognize me.
“Hmm? Honey, is something wrong?”
“No, Oppa. Don’t worry about it.”
SQUEEZE!
She pressed her chest even more firmly against his arm.
It was as though she were deliberately putting on a show for me.
The faint frown that had appeared between her brows when she looked at me vanished as she turned toward the man, her face blooming into a radiant smile once more.
‘…Urgh.’
As I watched them, a storm of emotions raged within one corner of my heart.
Jealousy, hurt, anger… and defeat.
But only for a moment.
A far fiercer emotion, like a raging inferno, began boiling inside my chest.
“Damn it.”
I whipped my head in the opposite direction.
“Grant our prayer!!”
The non-Ascenders were still praying with all their might.
That was right. Who cared what other people thought?
I had to awaken first and worry about everything else later.
“Grant my prayer!! Please let me awaken!!”
A thunderous cry burst from my mouth as I joined the ranks.
Yes, as long as I could awaken, I would gladly roll through a field of manure!!
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work. One person successfully awakened today! Please applaud the newly awakened Ascender, Ahn Cheolho!”
“WAAAAAH!!”
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!
So this really worked?
I stared at the bald man who had successfully awakened that day.
“Bwahahaha! Thank you! I owe it all to every one of you!”
The man appeared to be around my age.
He was so overjoyed that tears had welled in his eyes.
“Ascender Ahn Cheolho has awakened a five-star Trait! Let us all follow his example and pray even harder!”
“OOOOOH!”
A five-star Trait!
Every Ascender obtained a <Trait> upon awakening.
Traits ranged from one star to nine stars.
The grade and type of a person’s Trait determined both their maximum growth potential and the direction in which they would develop.
It was commonly believed that the older someone was when they awakened, the more likely they were to receive a low-grade Trait.
Yet despite appearing to be in his mid-twenties, the man had received a five-star Trait, placing it in the upper-middle ranks.
That was why everyone erupted into thunderous cheers, filled with renewed hope.
‘Please, let me have a five-star Trait too.’
I was no exception. Seeing him filled me with hope.
Depending on how well I developed, a five-star Trait could allow me to grow as powerful as the man with the gold badge from earlier.
Level 60.
It was a level at which a person could comfortably climb as far as the tower’s sixth floor.
Considering that the strongest Ascenders in the world had currently reached the ninth floor, reaching the sixth floor was enough to place someone among the world’s elite Ascenders.
‘Starting tomorrow, I’m going to pray even more sincerely.’
Perhaps I had been swept up in the atmosphere.
It felt as though I might awaken as soon as the following day.
The next day.
“Grant my prayer!!”
The day after that.
“Grant my prayer!! Please!!”
And the day after that.
“Grant my prayer!! Give me five stars too!! No, even four stars would be enough!”
Contrary to my initial enthusiasm, Awakening seemed impossibly distant.
And so, time passed without pause.
“Grant… my prayer!”
I was praying again today with hollow, exhausted eyes.
“Excuse me… Mr. Hajun? Perhaps you should go home for today…”
A voice came from beside me.
I jerked my head around and saw the man who led these prayers standing nearby.
“No. I’ve only just started.”
“Ah! I understand your enthusiasm, Mr. Hajun, but you’ll ruin your health at this rate.”
“You don’t… have to worry about me.”
For him to say something like that, I must have looked truly dreadful.
Then again, over the past several months, I had come here to pray without missing a single day.
I always arrived earlier than anyone else.
And I always left later than everyone else.
Two more people had awakened during that time.
But my turn had never come.
No, perhaps it could never come.
‘Mana rejection syndrome.’
This accursed constitution of mine had not accepted even the tiniest speck of mana despite all the time I had spent on the lobby floor.
It was more than enough reason to despair.
But I refused to give up.
Did they not say that sincerity could move the heavens?
I would awaken.
No matter what it took.
With my resolve renewed, I began praying again.
Then, a miracle occurred.
[The <Sky Tower> has responded to your desperate wish.]
“……!”
A crisp voice rang inside my head.
‘Ah.’
The moment I heard it, I knew instinctively.
‘It’s here!’
The moment of my Awakening!
[The <Awakening> Ceremony will now begin.]
SHIIIIING!
A soft white light burst from my body.
It was the sign that an Awakening had begun.
“Oh!”
“Ascender Kim Hajun is awakening…!”
“WAAAAAH!”
I faintly heard the startled voices around me.
Ah.
Yes, everyone.
I shall cast off all the chains and restraints of this world and begin climbing first in search of my own happiness!
Dopamine erupted inside my head like a succession of fanfares.
Exhilaration boiled within my chest.
Then it happened.
[Your constitution is incapable of accepting mana.]
[The <Awakening> cannot proceed.]
‘…What?’
My body froze in the middle of my ecstatic expression.
It could not proceed?
Why in the world not?!
Countless thoughts flashed through my mind.
The entire world was conspiring against me.
Was I truly incapable of becoming an Ascender?
Was I supposed to live like this for the rest of my life?
This could not be happening.
Just as tears of injustice threatened to form in my eyes, another message from the tower rang out.
[You have fulfilled a hidden condition.]
[An Easter egg within the <Sky Tower> has been activated.]
ROOOOOAR!
Along with the message, a brilliant golden light erupted from my body.
‘W-What is this?’
Even through my confusion, I felt my entire body relax as though I had returned to the comfort of my mother’s arms as a child.
‘Ah…….’
A languid yawn escaped my lips.
Just as I was about to drift off to sleep without realizing it—
[Congratulations. You have successfully awakened.]
The message instantly snapped me back to my senses.
Had I finally become an Ascender?
However, that was not the end of the surprises.
Compared to the messages that followed, it was merely the tip of the iceberg.
[The Easter egg has granted you a Hidden Trait.]
[You have acquired the Hidden Trait ‘Sage (10-Star ★★★★★★★★★★).’]
[Congratulations. You have become the first Ascender in the history of the <Sky Tower> to possess a Hidden Trait.]
[You will receive a special skill and artifact as benefits of possessing a Hidden Trait.]
[The <Sky Tower> pays tribute to the Ascender who has discovered its Easter egg.]
[May you climb to the summit of the tower.]
Huh…?
What was this?
A ten-star grade?
Were my eyes deceiving me?
Thinking I must be seeing things, I rubbed my eyes and opened them again.
[You have acquired the Hidden Trait ‘Sage (10-Star ★★★★★★★★★★).’]
The message was still floating before my eyes.
No, that was insane! Ten-star Traits actually existed?