KOONG! I landed with a thud, but didn’t suffer any injuries thanks to aether covering my back. I quickly got up and looked around. It seemed like an empty cave complex. Only the rocks on the ground seemed noteworthy.

“I’m not familiar with any tower like this.”

Honestly, I had only carefully designed one tower called the Tower of Wish, which was the largest one in history. It could be considered an alternate world. I planned to go there in the future. I had to go, but that was for another time.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“Uwoooah!”

A scream rang out from above as someone else fell. Was it a coincidence? Chae Nayun landed on the ground. Or were stupid people more likely to fall for the trap? That would mean I was stupid too.

“Auuu…”

Chae Nayun rubbed her back and seemed surprised when she saw me.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Kim.”

She narrowed her eyes and said some strange words.

“Did you hurt your head?” I reached out a hand. She hesitated, but soon grabbed it and stood up. Then she dusted herself off and asked, “Where are we?”

“How would I know? Rather, how did you fall?”

“Well, a crossbow shot an arrow at me. The floor suddenly collapsed after I destroyed it.”

Come to think of it, the crossbow was white. One of the three commandments said to [Cooperate with white]. How were we supposed to cooperate with a crossbow that tried to kill us?

“Wait a minute.”

I widened my eyes and looked forward. My thousand-mile eyes quickly expanded and I spotted a group of dwarves around a kilometer past the cave complex. They stood in front of a stone door and pulled on a rope tied to it.

“I found the way. Follow me.”

I gestured at Chae Nayun and proceeded forward. She looked at me somewhat grumpily before following.

“Where are we going?”

“There are NPCs ahead.”

“NPCs?”

A tower’s magic power could create beings that lived inside it. These existences were officially called tower residents, but people liked to call them NPCs like in a game.

“This tower has NPCs?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Even an artificial tower was mystical. We ran for about 5 minutes until we spotted the dwarves.

“Wow, your eyesight is freak… amazing.”

“Just say freakish.”

I didn’t know why she changed the way she talked.

“W-What do you mean? I’m always like this.”

Chae Nayun dodged my eyes as she flipped her hair. I ignored her and observed the NPCs. They all wore the same green clothes, but nothing else stood out.

“Ah! Who is it!?”

One of the NPCs noticed us. The others also looked over.

“They must be here to help us!”

“Oh, venerable giants! Please open this door for us!” the dwarves pleaded.

“What do we do?”

“Hold on.”

One of the three commandments said to [Have faith]. I didn’t know what that meant, but I couldn’t be careless.

“What are your names?”

“I’m One!”

“I’m Seven!”

“I’m Twelve!”

“Never mind then.”

I counted them off myself. One, two, three… seven. I didn’t know if we could trust them.

“Is there anyone else?”

“We have other brothers!”

“How many?”

“100!”

White[1]? The stupid wordplay made them more trustworthy.

“Fine, we’ll help you.” I looked at Chae Nayun and signaled her. She grabbed the rope tied to the stone door.

“I just have to pull this?”

“Yes! But it’ll be difficult alone!”

“You hear that?”

I also grabbed the rope. The stone door easily opened when we pulled.

The problem came from within. A giant praying mantis jumped out as soon as it opened. It seemed like a fairly high ranked insect monster from its black carapace. It swung its front legs and charged at us. However, Chae Nayun slashed with her sword before it could approach. Her magic power cleanly cut its shoulder. Then she kicked the shrieking mantis in the abdomen and slashed again as it flew back. Swish— A crescent wave of magic power plowed through the ground and obliterated it.

Chae Nayun closed her eyes and sheathed her sword as her short hair fluttered in the wind. I blinked several times. She had grown crazy strong.

“Thank you, thank you!”

The dwarfs bowed and walked through. We should probably enter as well.

“Let’s go.”

“Take the lead, Mr. Kim.”

“... Hm.”

We walked through the stone door and instantly found ourselves in a forest. Then the dwarves continued leading us to their town.

“Are towers normally like this?”

“Towers have intelligence, so I’m sure they can change their structures.”

Towers had intelligence exceeding humans according to my settings. However, their intelligence didn’t exist for survival, but another reason.

“Let’s follow those NPCs. It looks like the town has other cadets.”

“Sure, Mr. Kim.”

“… Sigh.”

We followed the NPCs into town. They had all sorts of facilities like inns, restaurants, and weapon shops. Other cadets had also arrived.

“Oh, it’s Nayun!” one of the cadets shouted.

“Nayun!”

It was the high rank supporter, Yi Jiyoon.

“Yi Jiyoon? What is this place? How do we climb up?”

Yi Jiyoon pointed at the noticeboard in front of the town’s community hall.

“Take a look at that first.”

I began to read it as Chae Nayun joined me.

[Stage – Dwarven Town] [Enemies are terrorizing the dwarves who seek your assistance.] [Please leave your thumbprint here if you would like to join the war effort.] [You will be awarded 25 points for every enemy invasion you stop.] [100 points are required to proceed to the next stage.] [You will receive bonus points based on your contributions.]

Yi Jiyoon spoke once we finished reading. “Hurry and sign up. It’s the only way to earn points.”

We promptly left our thumbprints on the noticeboard.

“Enemies!”

A dwarf on a watchtower suddenly shouted. I turned in the direction he pointed and saw goblin warriors marching with archers in the middle and magicians in the back. A group of around 300 goblins approached.

“Hey! Gather up!” Chae Nayun quickly adapted to the situation and shouted. All the cadets soon gathered around her. We had 27 in total with 17 warriors, 8 supporters, and 2 sharpshooters. Chae Nayun didn’t know what to say after calling everyone over. I nudged her shoulder.

“Everyone’s here, Ms. Chae. What should we do?”

“Um… argh, who cares? They’re just goblins. Let’s just fight.”

“…”

A brief silence descended.

“Then I’ll snipe the goblin magicians.”

“Huh? Oh, sure.”

I looked around for high ground. The town had a watch tower, but I wanted somewhere higher. Thankfully, I spotted a 40 meter tree nearby. I climbed up using parkour and sat on a large branch. I took out the cadet handgun and aimed at the goblin magicians in the distance.

“Scan.”

The 40% buff wasn’t bad. The cadet handgun couldn’t compare to the Desert Eagle, but goblins had especially weak defenses. They should instantly die from headshots.

— Kieeeeek!

A goblin raised its staff and howled. Was that the leader? I fired at the howling goblin. My bullet drew a clear arc and pierced its head. I fired at the other magicians after confirming the leader’s death.

Each bullet killed a goblin magician until none remained.

“Nice, Mr. Kim! Let’s go, everyone!”

Our warriors charged forward at Chae Nayun’s command.

***

This place seemed even more real as the sun set after we finished fighting. Chae Nayun and I walked into the town’s restaurant and wondered if this was really a tower.

“So, Ms. Chae, what are you going to eat?”

“Just fruit juice. By the way, why are you calling me that? It’s kind of annoying.”

“You started it.”

“That doesn’t mean you can do it.”

I had no clue what she meant, so I just ignored her. I looked around the restaurant before turning to her. She admired the sunset with a smile. I sighed with a heavy heart and called her name.

“Hey, Chae Nayun.”

She turned to face me.

“Eh? What’s up, Mr. Kim?”

“… How’s your oppa doing?”

Chae Nayun made an vague expression. “What, you’re finally worried about him?”

“No, I’m just wondering. It’s probably the same for everyone else.”

“Heh, don’t lie. I know you were the first to arrive at the hospital. Yeonha told me.”

“…”

I stared at her. Honestly, I wanted to ask how she would feel if someone killed him. However, that shouldn’t be asked as long as someone was still human.

“By the way, Mr. Kim…”

Chae Nayun changed the subject and wriggled her fingers. “Was it, um, last week?”

She stuttered and looked at the ground. “What were you, um, doing with Rachel? At night.”

Was she calling me Mr. Kim because of that? They were rivals.

I briefly replied, “Training.”

“Oh, why are you training so late?”

She stuck out her lips. I was more curious about Chae Jinyoon’s condition. Would Boss help me?

“Also, I heard you’re going on a drive with Kim Suho.”

Chae Nayun sure had a lot to say.

“I like motorcycles more than Kim Suho.”

“No, that’s…”

“Let’s go on a trip. I’ll pay for all the expenses.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why? Tell me why you don’t have time. I’ll match my schedule to yours.”

I inwardly laughed at her tantrum.

***

Two nights passed since the final combat exam. We spent the first day killing goblins, and the next killing trolls and yetis. Three attacks took place over two days. We successfully defended against all of them and obtained 75 points. The bonus points would be given out once we defended against all four invasions.

“Wow, I guess they saved the best for last.”

The third day finally arrived. As expected, a boss monster appeared.

“Uaaak! It’s the black ogre!”

The dwarf on the watchtower ran away screaming. A few cadets turned pale at its mountain-sized appearance.

“For real?”

“This has to be a prank, right?”

I carefully observed the black ogre. Even the weakest black ogre was an intermediate rank, grade 3 monster. It had great endurance and would serve as the perfect target to test my 3 streaks of stigma. I tapped Chae Nayun as she looked at the giant ogre.

“Let’s do it like usual. I’ll support from the back while everyone attacks.”

“Wouldn’t bullets just… Eh? You’re using a bow?”

Chae Nayun tilted her head. I bought one from Cube just in case. The cadet handgun was too weak. I also wanted to raise my rank to 100. Who knows? Maybe djinns had sent that ogre.

“You’re going to use magic arrows?”

“Yeah, I can’t use a gun forever. Alright, I’m going ahead.”

“Ah, hey, wait!”

I climbed the usual tree and looked down at the black ogre. It didn’t seem as big from this height. I calmly aimed and drew the bowstring. Then I imagined an arrow. It couldn’t be just a normal arrow. The tip had to be jagged for more power. It had to be perfectly balanced like a spear. I should be able to use it as a weapon by itself.

Ssss—

Stigma’s magic power sucked in the surrounding air. It continued to condense until it formed the exact arrow I imagined. I infused the light attribute into it as well. This single arrow cost almost all 3 streaks of stigma. Of course, that meant its destructive power was unimaginable.

I pulled the bowstring with all my strength. The light from it swirled like a tornado and only grew brighter. I released it after taking a short breath. The arrow shot forward like a beam of light. The black ogre seemed to have noticed as it raised its hand to block. However, an explosion erupted the moment its hand touched. The blinding light burned its flesh.

— Guooooo!

Its arm burned white as it screamed. It could no longer fight against over a dozen warriors with just a single arm. Not to mention, Yi Jiyoon had cast several buffs on Chae Nayun.

“Wow.”

Chae Nayun blankly stared at the black ogre instead of charging in.

1. 100 is “baek,” which is also white. ☜