Once you step into the tower, leaving is possible—but only if the floor is cleared. Fail, and you're dead.
Many never made it past the 25th floor.
Ji-ho breathes in deep, savoring the fresh air.
'It's been so long since I've had the chance to breathe in the air of Earth. I've missed this feeling so much.'
He takes in his surroundings.
'Looks like I've returned to the time just before I originally entered the tower after wanting a new life other than being poor trash on the streets.'
Ji-ho's memories rekindle at the sight of the huge void beyond the door of the tower.
Around him stand people whom he cannot remember at all, because he was the final player on floors 80 to 100.
They all enter the tower, everyone except for Ji-ho, unaware of the horrors that await them.
Everyone lights up in awe at the beautiful view of the vast meadows and forests that have suddenly appeared before them after entering through the doors.
A window appeared in front of them showing the quest.
[Main Quest]
-Survive 7 days
-Difficulty: F
-Reward: F rank mana stone, advancement to the 2nd floor.
-Upon failure: Death
"Wow, it looks so cool!"
"Death?! What kind of place is this?!" Someone shouts from the crowd.
A person notices the failure condition in the window, and others soon follow suit.
"Oh my God! This can't be real, I don't want to die!"
With everyone panicking over the death penalty for failing, Ji-ho sneaks away from the crowd and into the vast forest surrounding them.
Knowing the layout of the floor and using it to his advantage, he eventually arrives at a clearing in the forest.
'I need to level up before night falls,' Ji-ho thought, looking at some seemingly harmless, cute slimes.
However, he already knew they were anything but harmless and cute.
"Inventory"
Ji-ho opens his inventory.
There lies a rusty iron sword.
[Rusty Iron Sword]
-Type: Weapon
-Rank: F
-Level Requirement: 1
-Attack Power: 5
-Durability: 25/100
-Description:
A useless rusty sword barely fit to chop firewood. Wielding it feels like a mistake.
'Yeah, it really is pure dog shit and almost unusable. Every player gets one in the tutorial.'
Ji-ho takes the sword out of his inventory.
'Pretty sure the others are getting the hang of the system right now. Let's see if they survive the night later.'
Ji-ho approaches the slimes, cutting through their weak spots in an instant.
-Whoosh
-Sching
[You have slain a Normal Slime]
[Level up! You are the first player to slay a monster!]
[You have received a Random Weapon Box!]
[Random Weapon Box]
-Type: Consumable - Loot Container
-Rank: D
-Usage: Single-use
-Effect: Generates one weapon of random type and rank upon opening
-Level restriction: 1
-Description:
A sealed cube humming with unstable energy.
Ji-ho smiles to himself slightly.
"Well, this is pleasant."
[Condition met! Hidden stat "Luck" has been unlocked.]
Luck influences item drop rate, rank, and consumables based on luck.
'Finally. The luck stat doesn't appear until you meet the condition of getting a luck-influenced consumable.'
Ji-ho summons his status window.
[Status Window]
-Name: Kim Ji-ho
-Class: None
-Level: 2
-Strength: 10
-Agility: 10
-Endurance: 10
-Intelligence: 10
-Luck: 5
-Mana: 20
-Unallocated stat points: 3
'I guess I'll use the box after leveling up some more.'
Ji-ho quickly rushes to an area with more slimes, killing them all with skilled precision.
[+10exp]
[...]
[...]
[...]
And so, 5 hours passed.
***
[Level up!]
Ji-ho stands over the immense field of slime and monster corpses, wiping sweat off his forehead.
[Status Window]
-Name: Kim Ji-ho
-Class: None
-Level: 21
-Strength: 10
-Agility: 10
-Endurance: 10
-Intelligence: 10
-Luck: 5
-Mana: 20
-Unallocated stat points: 60
'That's better. I'll distribute 15 points to luck and evenly to the rest.'
[Status Window]
-Name: Kim Ji-ho
-Class: None
-Level: 21
-Strength: 25
-Agility: 20
-Endurance: 20
-Intelligence: 20
-Luck: 20
-Mana: 20
-Unallocated stat points: 0
Ji-ho sighs, feeling the new strength flowing through his veins.
A system message appears before him.
[You are now eligible to adopt a class after leveling up 20 times!]
'Ah. The message came a bit late, but I suppose it's all alright. I should explore and hunt some more.'
Ji-ho opens his inventory and peers at the rusty iron sword he had been using.
[Rusty Iron Sword]
-Type: Weapon
-Rank: F
-Level Requirement: 1
-Attack Power: 5
-Durability: 1/100
-Description:
A useless rusty sword barely fit to chop firewood. Wielding it feels like a mistake.
'Well, this is going to break after one or two more attacks. I'll use the Random Weapon Box I got earlier.'
Ji-ho takes out the Random Weapon box.
'Twenty luck. This should give me something decent. Should.'
"Use."
A system message appears.
[Opening Random Weapon Box!]
The small-sized box, exuding unstable energy, rises into the air.
After a few seconds, the box disintegrates, dropping a sword into Ji-ho's hands.
[Stormedge]
-Type: Weapon
-Rank: C
-Attack Power: 45
-Durability: 100/100
-Passive Effect: Each consecutive hit within 3 seconds increases attack speed by 2% (Max 10%)
-Description:
A sword forged for those who never stop moving forward.
"It's a decent pull."
Ji-ho deposits the sword into his inventory and moves on.
Turning, Ji-ho sprints back into the dense forest, not caring about the other players or how they may be faring on this first floor of the tower.
***
Running through the forest, Ji-ho sees something in the distance, a ruined structure.
Moving at the speed of a professional athlete, Ji-ho eventually arrives at the ruins.
The ruins, with crumbled stone everywhere, tall, cracked pillars of fading white and gold.
There is crushed bone dust scattered everywhere along the floor, and cracked tiles under his feet.
At the other side of the ruins lies a crumbled door, revealing a pathway that leads deep inside.
Ji-ho approaches the pathway, finding a stairwell that gives him an ominous feeling of dread, going down deep into the ground, surrounded by walls of stone.
He gazes down the stairs.
'Oh yeah, let's go down the ominous-looking stairs, there couldn't possibly be anything dangerous down here,' Ji-ho says to himself sarcastically, chuckling.
Ji-ho heads down the stairs.
***
Ji-ho eventually arrives at a room and looks around.
Inside, there are three altars.
'I've never seen this, even before I regressed to the past,' Ji-ho thought as his eyes stared at the altars.
'But then again, when I entered the tower for the first time so long ago in my first life, I had been such a coward, hiding behind the people who would fight the monsters in groups. I never had the courage or the ability to explore around like this, so it makes sense that I had never known this was here.'
Each altar pulsed with faint energy—one red, one blue, one gold. Ji-ho's instincts screamed that this was no ordinary room.
Ji-ho approaches the altars cautiously.
A system prompt pops up and hovers in front of him.
[Player detected. Welcome to the Tomb of the Forgotten Kings.]
[Choose an altar's trial to undergo.]
-Trial of Blood (Red)
-Trial of The Divine (Blue)
-Trial of The Golden Order (Gold)
Ji-ho stares at the system window, examining the trials and what they could mean.
'Blood sounds like combat. Divine… Maybe magic or faith? Golden Order… could refer to leadership or judgment. I've never seen this before—even in my past life.'
'This choice might shape what my class becomes… or maybe an item? I need something that scales into the upper floors.'
Ji-ho steps forward after resolving himself.
"I choose the Trial of Blood."
[Trial of Blood selected.]
[Warning: This trial cannot be abandoned once begun.]
[Objective: Defeat the spirit of the original Vampire King, Alarion the Crimson Sovereign.]
[Difficulty: EX (Nigh-Impossible)
[Reward: Class Unlock – Vampire King (EX-Rank)]
[Penalty: Death]
"The fuck you mean, nigh-impossible—"
The altar erupts in a crimson glow.
Ji-ho is pulled into a sealed chamber—walls slick with blood, torches burning with black flame.
A spectral figure materializes in the middle of the room—tall, regal, draped in tattered royal garb. His eyes burn with ancient hunger. A crown of bone rests on his head, and a blood-forged blade floats beside him.
"An inferior mortal dares to claim my throne?"
Alarion laughs.
"Come, then. Let your blood prove your worth."
Ji-ho assumes his combat stance, getting ready to judge and evade Alarion's attacks.
"Well, fine. If you won't come to me, I'll come to you!"
Alarion instantly lunges at Ji-ho, who barely evades due to the speed of his attack.
The blood-forged blade at Alarion's side finally acts, swinging down towards Ji-ho at a frightening speed.
Boom!
The blood-forged blade comes down, hitting the floor as Ji-ho narrowly evades, leaving a huge impact crater on the ground.
'This… This kind of power shouldn't be possible on the first floor! This guy's power is on par with the 20th-floor boss… No, it's more refined, less brute force, more precision! '
'If I get hit by any of his attacks, I'm dead!'
Ji-ho sprints full speed at Alarion and attacks, only managing to inflict a minor wound on his left leg.
[Attack speed +2%]
[Attack speed +4%]
[Attack Speed
Ji-ho attacks repeatedly using Stormedge, although he doesn't even cause him to bleed.
"You dare scratch royalty?"
Boom!
Alarion raises his hand and attacks back, his blood-forged sword responding like a loyal hound, its attacks causing shockwaves in the air that send Ji-ho flying back across the blood-slick floor, hitting a wall as his ribs scream in protest.
'Damn! And it wasn't even a direct hit, I'm too weak right now for this shit!'
Ji-ho takes cover behind a ruined pillar.
'I can't get hit no matter what, or I'm done for on the first floor for fucks sake!'
Alarion surrounds himself with a crimson mist of blood like a storm. Each movement bent the air around him, warping space with pure, raw force.
[Warning: You are within range of a high-tier entity. Defensive stats are insufficient.]
Upon seeing the system notification, Ji-ho curses some more.
"No shit, Sherlock."
Alarion seemingly teleports behind Ji-ho.
"Who do you think you're hiding from?"
Alarion swings his blade, and Ji-ho instinctively blocks with Stormedge.
Boom!
Ji-ho is sent flying back into a wall, bleeding badly.
[Synergy Detected: Luck + Bleed Status + Trial of Blood]
[Hidden Condition Met]
[Hidden Stat Unlocked: Resonance]
Ji-ho gets up, staggering forward, blood flowing from his body in several places. The wounds begin to pulse, not with pain, but with power.
[Resonance: 1]
[Effect: Converts incoming bleed damage into temporary buffs. Duration: 10 seconds.]
His vision sharpens. Time Slows. The blood mist around Alarion begins to swirl towards Ji-ho instead.
"What…?"
Alarion's voice falters.
"How are you absorbing my domain?"
Ji-ho grins, his eyes glowing faint red.
"Well, I guess I'm more compatible with your throne than you thought."
[Blood Resonance Detected: Blood Domain Compatible]
[You are absorbing EX-Rank essence.]
[Temporary Buffs Applied:]
-Strength +300
-Agility +250
-Mana Regen +500%
-Skill Cooldown Reduction: 80%
-Passive: Blood Echo – All damage dealt echoes for 30% AoE splash.
-Passive: Blood Armor – Mist hardens around you, reducing incoming damage by 70%
Ji-ho looks at the stats and begins to laugh insanely.
"This is just too overpowered for the first floor, but hey, I'm not complaining."
'I'm not just faster; nothing from below the 10th floor could touch me in this state!'
'If this is what EX-Rank feels like… I want more!'
"Come on, let's finish this!"
Alarion's usual regal posture is now broken.
Ji-ho moves at a blurring speed, closing the distance quickly.
Alarion, too, moves at the same blurring speed.
"Humans are nothing but slaves!"
Ji-ho and Alarion's blades clash, not with sound, but with force.
A shockwave tore through the chamber, shattering pillars, ripping stone from the walls.
That was the final clash.
Alarion falls to his knees, too weak to put up any more fight.
"Maybe you are fit for my crown after all…"
Alarion turns to dust, scattering away.
[Trial Complete.]