Chapter 16
When I'm bored, I open the gallery.
A little later, before I knew it, every post in the gallery had been marked read.
I kept hitting refresh, waiting for something new to pop up.
The moment something interesting went up, I clicked it right away.
[Title : Daggers >>> Baseball Bats, Isn't That a Fact?]
People who only watch movies always say baseball bats have the advantage because of reach, but reality is completely different.
In a 1:1 no-holds-barred fight, daggers always win.
Hunters carry daggers too; have you ever seen a hunter with a bat?
Daggers >>> bats in pure PvP.
Comments
ㄴ That's only because there are assassin classes, geez ㅡㅡ
ㄴ Seriously, tanks all use blunt weapons, this is nonsense
ㄴ Have you ever seen someone who used to play baseball become a hunter?
ㄴ What even is a sport that got shut down because someone hid their awakening and got caught playing, lol
While idly scrolling through the Hunter gallery, I found a post.
These guys are as consistent as ever.
Always the same bait and the same comments.
Maybe ten years from now they'll still be arguing about the same topic.
But then again, I'm no different.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(A11.111) : Oh, whether it's a bat or a sword, magic wins them all~
ㄴㄴ Oh, it's the top anon.
ㄴㄴ Are you a mage too, maybe?
ㄴㄴ No way? Mages are such a tiny minority that their identities are already public knowledge.
Ever since I wrote that last post, people who recognized me had started showing up here and there.
My nickname is Top Anon.
Sometimes I'm also called Asgard Anon.
It was the name I got because people were joking that I must be posting from the Tower thanks to my bizarre IP address.
I got an invincible trolling technique, but I'm actually holding back.
Because if you're as famous as I am, you have to post with some gravitas now.
I have to write every comment and post carefully.
I write posts with titles and content that people can't help but click.
[Title : Turn off the lights and crawl under my blanket]
[Author : ㅇㅇ(2E2.E22)]
(A meme image of a sand-made T-rex about as tall as a person)
It's an insanely cool sand dinosaur. I made it.
[Comments : 0]
No way, this can't be right?
Why is there no reaction? It's an awesome dinosaur.
"I really put my heart into making it..."
It feels like my insides are turning pitch-black.
If this kind of indifference keeps up, I might go villain mode.
"What should I use to bait them? Should I upload the EXCL verification again?"
Now that I'm free from tracking too, maybe I can promote myself more aggressively?
My phone alarm went off.
I got out of bed and looked out the window.
Outside, the sun had already started to rise.
When I opened the window to air out the room, I saw a massive black pillar beyond it, as if it were swallowing every light in sight.
It was about time to enter the Tower.
I'd had my fun.
Time to go to work.
***
I entered the Tower again today.
Yesterday's awkwardness was yesterday's business. Today's me climbs today's Tower.
I'm proud of myself for clocking in every day without missing one.
The mage gallery's advice was clear.
Climb the Tower. Level up to increase your maximum mana. Or find a new skill.
A simple, clear answer. I agreed.
Being able to control two clones at once was an irresistible tactic.
"Besides, it's about time I leveled up."
According to the people in the mage gallery, I'd level up somewhere around floor 8.
But that was the standard for hardcore users.
If hardcore users level up around floors 3 and 8, then since I leveled up on floor 1, it makes sense that I'd level up around floor 6.
"Extreme gives you way more monsters. I should at least do that much."
I stepped into the Tower.
The familiar sensation of being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
In front of me was the same seamless white room I'd seen before.
And a status window I hadn't seen before.
[Party Invitation]
The party feature was said to become available from floor 6 onward.
A feature that lets people who entered the same Tower form a party and clear it together.
I'd heard that later on, you'd even be able to party with hunters in Towers from other regions.
Of course, that had nothing to do with me.
I'm a solo player, now and forever.
More than anything, I now had a dependable tank.
I opened the Tower door without hesitation and stepped inside.
[Entering Tower Floor 6 (EXTREME).]
A wide grassland stretched out before me.
Looks like the damp cave stage is over.
The monster greeting me wasn't the annoying goblin from before.
A huge green-skinned brute, crude leather armor, and a massive double-edged axe slung over its shoulder.
"Kkrrr..."
It was an orc.
There was only one enemy.
I frowned immediately.
"Same setup as Normal mode?"
Besides, I heard that Hard difficulty spawns two orcs. And yet I'm getting one?
I know now. This is definitely not good news.
If the number of monsters decreased in Extreme difficulty, that meant something far stronger had appeared instead.
Sure enough, the orc's axe didn't look ordinary.
The axe blade was exuding a cold, creeping aura.
No need to watch any longer. I immediately cast Sand Swamp.
The orc was fast. Before the swamp even finished forming, it kicked off the ground and charged.
Sand Swamp caught its ankles for a moment, but the effect was negligible.
As if only slightly annoyed, it shook off the sand's resistance with a single stomp.
As expected, Sand Swamp didn't mean much against a monster larger than a human.
But that's fine.
Because I have a new skill.
"Sand Totem."
I calmly cast the skill.
At the same time, the sand in front of me rapidly clumped together, forming a massive pillar.
I swiftly sliced open my pinky and stabbed it into the totem.
Then I focused on the god within.
My appearance. My form. I pictured it.
The sand pillar twitched, then soon transformed into a doll that looked exactly like me.
A worry suddenly crossed my mind.
Could that tiny thing really block that huge axe?
"Waaaargh!"
The orc roared and raised its axe high.
Then it brought it down mercilessly toward the totem.
I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
Kwang!
Along with the dull impact, a cloud of sand dust billowed up from where the totem had stood.
I carefully opened my eyes.
Fortunately, the totem hadn't been smashed to pieces.
Though one shoulder had caved in, it was still stubbornly holding its ground.
Its durability was tougher than I expected.
"Good, it can take one hit, at least."
I let out a relieved sigh.
The orc swung its axe once more.
This time, it looked like I might be able to dodge.
I made the totem move sideways.
But things didn't go as I expected.
"No, is this even right?"
The clumsily sidestepping clone ended up getting struck squarely by the axe instead.
The totem's head split like firewood.
It dodged for nothing and got hit even harder.
It seemed that for someone like me, with no sense at all for close combat, controlling a clone like this wasn't going to mean much.
"...Should I learn martial arts or something?"
I ended my brief thought.
In any case, the sand totem was a meat shield.
As long as it bought me casting time, it had done its job.
In the meantime, I fired the sand bullets I'd prepared toward the orc's head.
Shoooosh-!
The bullet sliced through the air.
"Waaaargh!"
But the orc let out a battle cry and, with monstrous reflexes, raised its axe to block the shot.
"What the hell, it reacted and blocked that?"
Fortunately, even that thick axe couldn't completely cancel out the power of my bullet.
Crack!
The orc's axe shattered into pieces, fragments flying everywhere.
But the orc didn't die.
All that happened was the arm holding the axe turned ragged and ruined.
"Maybe I really should get an attack skill?"
Come to think of it, this was just basic magic I copied from a YouTube video.
Maybe I'd finally reached the limits of basic attacks without skills.
"Ha, there are too many skills I need to get... How do other people even do this?"
"Waaaargh!"
The orc let out a pained scream and started charging at me.
My last attack had drawn its aggro onto me.
I calmly manipulated the sand totem again.
I had to move the aggro back onto the totem.
A built-in function of the sand totem.
The sand clone wearing my face shouted in a loud, macho voice.
"Look at me-raa-!"
Seeing my own face shouting in such a macho voice felt strangely bizarre.
Ah, if I had a good body, I'd want to try that too.
That dream was over now.
The orc's red eyes snapped toward the clone.
The enraged orc charged at the clone and threw punches.
Pow! Pow!
It was a barrage of punches so satisfying it would make anyone watching feel refreshed.
Seeing my own face getting beaten up like that was a little sad.
The sand clone couldn't withstand more than a few hits.
"I... can... do it... all... day..."
With garbled pronunciation, the clone's body burst apart without mercy and returned to a handful of sand.
The orc came charging at me again.
Only then did I finish watching and pour out all the bullets I'd prepared.
Dozens of bullets, using up half the sand I had gathered with Sand Swamp.
Shoosh-shoosh-shoosh-shoosh-shook-!
The orc's huge body was instantly riddled with holes and collapsed.
Then the familiar system message appeared.
[Congratulations on clearing Tower Floor 6 (EXTREME).]
[Congratulations on leveling up!]
[Current Level : Lv3]
[You can acquire a new skill.]
At last, a level up.
Three books appeared in the air in front of me.
A drab brown and another brown, both symbols of failure.
And finally, a softly shining silver one.
"Wait, silver? Could it be?"
The moment my expectations started to rise, new notifications appeared one after another.
[You are the first to clear EXTREME difficulty!]
[The first-clear bonus has been applied!]
The skill book that had been shining silver changed into a dazzling gold.
I clenched my fist in excitement.
"Then does that mean?"
[The ranking #1 bonus has been applied!]
The skill book that had turned gold changed once again.
A platinum skill book, blazing with a brilliance that made my eyes sting.
"Hah, this is it. This is it."
Ah, how radiant.
So I'm getting a platinum skill book too.
Even just one highly rated skill from among these would be treated like near-A-rank combat power.
I had picked that up on floor 6.
Like I was bewitched, I reached out toward the silver-white skill book.
"This time it'll give me at least one usable damage skill, right?"
The moment my finger touched the book, it turned into glittering dust and was absorbed into my body.
Filled with anticipation, I checked the skill information.
"What? It's a passive?"
The first white skill book I'd ever gotten.
Its dazzling name was [Open Eyes].
I read the skill description.
[Passive Skill : Open Eyes]
[Description : You open your eyes.]
A description so short it's practically rude.
I blinked in disbelief.
"What is this?"