Shin Jungho was a proud citizen of Seoul, South Korea.^[1]

Why on earth would he be proud of being a Seoul citizen?

Because it was one of only 20 cities in the entire world that possessed a Tower.

Giant towers had suddenly appeared on Earth.

They were treasure troves of new resources where those who awakened as superhumans could mine Magic Stones—a clean energy source.

The world was now ruled not by oil money, but by Magic Stone money.

Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say that whether a city or a nation possessed a Tower—the only channel through which Magic Stones could be mined—determined its wealth and military power.

“When will I finally awaken?”

Jungho grumbled as he stared at the Tower visible through his window.

A full 20-minute walk from the subway station!

It was a hilly neighborhood where not even buses ran, but he had moved into a studio apartment in a 30-year-old villa solely for the view of the Tower peeking through the gaps between buildings.

The condition for awakening was just one.

Live within a 20km radius of a Tower.

From birth until his mid-20s, Jungho had always been a citizen of Seoul.

“If we’re talking about preparing for the 1st floor, I finished that a year ago.”

Jungho’s motto was ‘preparedness averts peril.’

Knock on a stone bridge before crossing it, and double-check the embers.

There was nothing wrong with being cautious and careful in everything.

The only things you could bring into the Tower were things you had brought out of it.

In the early days, everyone fought 1st-floor monsters bare-handed.

Nowadays, you could purchase a New Awakener Package that included clothes, limb protectors, and a baseball bat as a bundled set.

He had purchased this package two years ago.

And a year ago, he had swung a baseball bat diligently at a batting center to become a Home Run Master.

Surely, with this much preparation, even an Awakener with no skills could instantly climb to the 10th floor, right?

“…No, I need to prepare for the boss fight on the 10th floor, so I’ll stop exactly at the 9th.”

Caution in all things was an essential virtue for living a long, safe life.

With such thorough preparations complete, all that was left was to awaken.

Ttiring-

[Shin Jungho, you have awakened.]

[You have been affiliated with the Tower 25.]

[We wish you luck in clearing up to the 100th floor.]

“…Whoa?”

He had actually awakened.

Reading others’ experiences, they all said it felt completely out of the blue—and it truly was.

Anyway, what was the golden rule upon awakening?^[3]

Checking your Status Window, of course!

= Name: Shin Jungho

= Affiliation: Tower 25

= Level: 1

= Challenge Floor: 1

= Exclusive Skill: Meteor Summoning (1 time/day)

= Universal Skill: Tower Entry (1 time/day), Tower 25 Community Forum Entry

…Oh?

He had an Exclusive Skill?

An Awakener’s skills were largely divided into two types.

One was Exclusive Skills, which could only be used inside the Tower.

The other was Universal Skills, which could be used outside the Tower as well.

Universal Skills, such as tough skin or nimble hand movements, were treated more like being slightly more impressive than an ordinary person rather than being truly superhuman.

Because of their versatility, it was assumed their performance was correspondingly lower.

In contrast, Exclusive Skills—like Mana Blade, Psionic Bolt, Blink, and Flame Wall—were powerful and flashy enough to make anyone exclaim “Wow!”

They had usage limits as well as time restrictions.

Naturally, Exclusive Skills were what helped in climbing the Tower.

Especially since leveling up unlocked ways to use Exclusive Skills outside too, they were essentially a superhuman’s trademark.

Seeing an Exclusive Skill listed right there, he could have danced with joy and it still wouldn’t have been enough.

“But Meteor Summoning?”

It was a skill he had never heard of in his life.

Of course, there were many superhumans operating unofficially, so it was highly likely it just hadn’t been made public, but it was definitely an uncommon skill.

“Hmm… I need to check for more detailed information.”

[You have entered the Tower 25 Community Forum.]

[Tower Records], [Chat Room], [Bulletin Board]

He entered the most important section, the Bulletin Board.

[All Posts], [Concept Posts], [Best]

Entering the most important ‘Best’ section, detailed information regarding Tower climbing was organized in order of the most recommendations.

<1. Rules for Using the Tower 25 Community Forum>

<2. Must-Read Compilation for Newly Awakened Superhumans>

<3. Useful Information When Operating as a Stealth Superhuman>

·

·

·

Wow…

To think he would see these with his own eyes!

Actually, he had already read all the posts in the Community Forum, which only superhumans could access.

This was because a superhuman using the alias Speed Scooter had created a paid website and scraped the relevant posts in real-time.

But now that he had awakened as a superhuman, he figured he could cancel his paid subscription.

Remembering this, Jungho immediately canceled his recurring subscription.

50,000 won per month.

Money saved the moment he awakened.

Now then, shall he check if the content is the same as what he had seen before?

[Please create an alias for your activities.]

…A major obstacle appeared right from the start.

A wall far too high for a cautious person like himself.

Creating a nickname!

…One hour later.

[Shin Jungho’s alias has been set to ‘Mirinae’.]^[2]

…That was tough!

He had searched and searched for something similar that didn’t sound like a skill name, finally finding one.

Couldn’t they at least add an automatic alias generation feature?

Of course… whether he would actually use that to decide his alias was a separate issue.

Once his alias was complete, all posts became readable without restriction.

Another hour later.

“Paying for that subscription was definitely worth it.”

There were superhumans who shared information for free, but the updates weren’t timely, there were many typos, and occasionally, a lot of content was missing.

Fortunately, it had been worth the money he paid.

Thank you, Speed Scooter.

Though I’m never paying again.

Even after utilizing the search function, not a single trace of a skill related to meteors could be found.

That meant all that was left was practical application.

All preparations had been completed a year ago.

With a reverent heart, Jungho put on the New Awakener Package.

Having practiced this hundreds of times as well, his movements were as natural as water flowing from top to bottom.

He gripped the baseball bat and let out a deep breath.

“…Phew! Okay. Mental preparation complete.”

It was time to enter the 1st floor of the Tower 25.

* * *

[You have entered the 1st floor of the Tower 25.]

= Objective: Defeat 50 zombies.

= Time Limit: 1:00:00

= Special Privilege: Ownership of the Summoning Stone will be transferred to the fastest clearer.

A vast open field stretched out before him.

And in the distance, he could see 50 zombies swarming together.

The very first monsters to appear in the Tower were none other than zombies.

A bite wouldn’t turn you into a zombie, and their movements were sluggish.

They were weak enough that even a frail, ordinary woman could handle them as long as she swung her weapon properly.

Just thoroughly rotted corpses trudging around laboriously.

However, there were 50 of them.

Two or three might be manageable.

Facing 50 at once was absolutely impossible even if an Octagon champion had just awakened and tried it.

The weapons used by high-level players also had level restrictions, so a level 1 couldn’t utilize them either.

So how could he safely deal with them?

Hit-and-run tactics on one or two at a time was the basic strategy.

Or circle around to scatter the densely packed group and pick them off.

And lastly.

Using an Exclusive Skill, which could only be used inside the Tower.

As soon as he entered the Tower, Jungho immediately used the Meteor Summoning skill.

Depending on the specific floor, clearing it in the shortest time on the first attempt granted a special reward.

= Special Privilege: Ownership of the Summoning Stone will be transferred to the fastest clearer.

For the very first floor, it was the right to own a Summoning Stone.

This privilege disappeared on the second attempt, whether successful or not.

Naturally, Jungho intended to aim for that privilege.

Using the skill, he could roughly get a feel for how it worked.

It located clusters of meteorites drifting in space, allowed him to select a desired meteorite, and then teleported it.

It was literally the concept of summoning a meteor.

Perhaps because it was the vast expanse of space, the flying meteorites looked extremely tiny, like watching ants crawl from the second floor of an apartment building.

The meteorites that could be summoned from there were brightly highlighted, but…

Honestly, they were all as small as eye boogers, so he couldn’t tell what the difference was.

Jungho casually picked the largest-looking one.

Watching the news about meteorite strikes, houses would be left intact with only a hole punched through them.

So he didn’t have high expectations for the skill’s destructive power.

It was an early-stage skill, after all.

He just planned to drop the biggest one right in the middle of the zombie horde to cause an explosion.

Then, as the shockwave knocked them down, he would smash their skulls with the baseball bat as quickly as possible.

He just thought that maybe, just maybe, he could aim for the fastest clear time.

“Come on down!”

A massive black space opened up in the sky, and a meteorite was summoned right above the zombies’ heads.

Roughly the size of a playground.

“…Huh?”

A gigantic meteorite large enough to crush 50 zombies like ants crashed into the ground.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

“Uwaaaak!”

A shockwave blasted outward, sending his body flying into the air.

About… 100 meters?

Even in that chaos, Jungho had the presence of mind to spread his body into a star shape.

This would make him fall just a little bit slower, right?

“I absooooolutely doooon’t waaaaant toooo diiiiiie!”

Wings!

I neeeed wiiiiings!

They say your life flashes before your eyes the moment you die.

Strangely, his mind went completely blank, and only the ground rushing up at him in real-time filled his vision.

The moment he sensed death.

[You have cleared the 1st floor of the Tower 25.]

[1 Magic Stone has been provided.]

[You will automatically return in 10 seconds.]

Jungho screamed in desperation.

“Riiiiight nooooow! Riiiiight nooooow!”

Just as his body was about to hit the ground and turn into a bloody pulp, he vanished with a *byong*.

* * *

Teolssok!

Jungho, having flopped face-first with a *cheolpeodeok* onto his room’s floor, took deep breaths to steady himself.

“Heoeok! Heoeok! Heoeok!”

I-I thought I was dead!

If my kinetic energy hadn’t reset to zero upon returning to reality, there might have been a gruesome corpse right here…!

There was too much to think about.

What on earth was this Meteor Summoning skill?

He thought a boulder the size of an adult would fall at most.

But after summoning it, something like an island fell instead?

The fortunate part was that all 50 zombies died instantly on the spot.

What would have happened if even a single one had survived and been gasping for breath!

While his thoughts had frozen from sheer astonishment and shock, unable to figure out what to think about first.

Another matter to ponder appeared.

[Announcement: Mirinae has cleared the 1st floor of the Tower 25 in the shortest time.]

[As a special privilege for the fastest 1st-floor clear, the Summoning Stone previously owned by Swordmaster has been retrieved and granted to Mirinae.]

[Amazing Achievement Accomplished!]

[As a special privilege for the Amazing Achievement, 5 Return Tickets have been provided.]

Two stones dropped with a *tuk tuk* right before Jungho’s eyes.

A fist-sized black stone.

And a massive red boulder that reached up to his waist.

The black stone was the highly efficient energy source of the new era.

A Magic Stone.

One Magic Stone was worth about 1 million won.

So if he obtained one a day, he would be earning about 30 million won a month.

The problem was that they were guaranteed only on the first clear, and after that, the drop was random.

Especially in the lower floor sections, the drop rate was extremely low.

Furthermore, to trade Magic Stones legally, one had to register as a superhuman with the government, and this process carried the risk of exposing his identity.

Nowadays, everyone came out and received government support, but.

Because of this, Jungho absolutely could not reveal his identity.

[As a special privilege for the fastest 1st-floor clear, the Summoning Stone previously owned by Swordmaster has been retrieved and granted to Mirinae.]

An item that had been owned by the Swordmaster, Kim Taemin—Korea’s greatest superhuman and the highest-floor climber.

That very item was now sitting imposingly inside his room.

Judging by its size and weight, he figured it would take at least three or four grown men to barely move it.

With an item like that taking up residence in his home like an uninvited resident,

it was best to hide his identity tightly if he didn’t want to die.

At least until he possessed the power to protect his own life, like Kim Taemin.

“Hmm… Shall I check things first?”

The most important thing here was information gathering.

The Summoning Stone was important, but given the Tower announcement, he needed to check the atmosphere first.

As expected, the Chat Room was being updated in real-time with posts about the recent clear.

└ Isn’t this insane? 1st floor clear time is 8 seconds? 8 seconds?!

└ They said Soma was the first to break the 9-minute mark and that a shorter time would never happen lol

└ I don’t know who Mirinae is, but they probably shouldn’t step outside their house for the next few years lol Better vanish without a trace.

└ I’m more curious about what their Exclusive Skill is. What kind of crazy skill wipes out 50 zombies in 8 seconds?

└ Mirinae! I know you’re reading this! Come out and say hello!

Hmm…

As expected, I should just lurk in the community.