The wyvern swarm came diving in the moment Seo I-an fired those two arcs of sword aura into the sky.
Once she’d cleared them all, the boss appeared not long after — the Great-Horned Wyvern.
As if to say in actions what words couldn’t: that was me going easy.
Seo I-an began pouring out skills at an intensity that wasn’t even in the same universe as before.
The pinnacle of spectacle, of ferocity, of pure catharsis.
Woo-joo didn’t even think to pull out his phone and record it. He was too completely, helplessly transfixed.
And at last.
The moment the Great-Horned Wyvern plummeted from the sky —
— Ding!
A sound he’d never heard in his life, and then he was standing in a room blue in every direction.
“Hewwo?”
The voice came from below.
He looked down. A ragdoll cat with blue-striped fur was looking up at him.
That was when it clicked.
Her — Seo I-an’s — Floor 40 clear had gone off without a hitch.
The tension drained out of him all at once. He exhaled and looked at the cat.
“Are you the Tower Merchant?”
“That’s right-nya. The name’s ‘Ragcho’-nya.”
Honestly, it was cute. A talking cat.
Even the name was cute.
But there was no way he could imitate this.
For one — the appearance. He couldn’t turn into an animal.
And the -nya at the end of every sentence? His mental fortitude wasn’t strong enough. Absolutely not.
Decision made in an instant: wandering merchant, human form, mask on, relatively normal way of talking. That was the concept he was going with.
“Anyway, come collect your rewards-nya.”
Ragcho’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Right after, a [Floor 40 Reward Basket] floated up in front of him.
He reached out and touched it.
— Flash!
Bright enough to be a little uncomfortable, but bearable without closing his eyes.
[Floor 40 Contribution] — 5%
[Reward] — 10,000 TC
If 5% was 10,000 TC, then 100% would be 200,000 TC?
His jaw dropped.
It happened so naturally that it took him a moment to even register that his mouth was open.
“So Seo I-an — she walked away with 200,000 TC? No wait, I took 5%, so it’d be 190,000?”
He asked Ragcho on the off chance she’d know.
“That’s right-nya. Woo-joo-nim does arithmetic fast-nya. Smart-nya.”
Oh. But.
“…Does Seo I-an’s notification show 95% contribution……?”
This mattered.
This mattered enormously.
If it did, Seo I-an would go looking for the missing 5%. And it would take her about two seconds to figure out it was him.
Just tell her it’s a service fee?
And if she didn’t buy it and came at him doing a sword dance with both blades?
He was empty-handed.
No way he was winning that.
On top of that — tracksuit versus full plate armor.
Who was going to crumble from a graze was pretty obvious.
“If the contribution shows up and tips her off, that defeats the whole point of being a hidden party member-nya. I take back what I said about you being smart-nya.”
“Then what?”
“A hidden party member’s contribution gets processed as ‘hidden addition’-nya. Right about now, Seo I-an-nim is probably looking at a notification showing 100% contribution-nya. That’s all because Woo-joo-nim’s 5% got hidden-added on top-nya!”
He had the rough idea, but——
“Since apparently I’m not smart like you said — there’s a part I’m not following. What happens if there’s a full party and a hidden party member intrudes? What then?”
Ragcho gave a little hmph.
An actual hmph.
“Let me give you an example-nya. Say it was a three-person party, and they had 40%, 40%, and Woo-joo-nim took 20%-nya.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“Then on each of the two people’s notifications, Woo-joo-nim’s 20% gets hidden-added, so it shows as 50% and 50%. But the reward only pays out based on the original 40%-nya.”
Now he understood.
In other words — to everyone else, the total minus his contribution still looks like 100%.
Which meant even if he was siphoning contribution, nobody could tell.
Phew. That was almost a one-time-use trait.
“And Seo I-an-nim is probably more interested in the loot box than the TC anyway-nya!”
“Loot box?”
“Only appears for whoever has the highest party contribution-nya. Usually has extra TC reward vouchers inside, but in rare cases there’s really excellent gear that even we can’t sell-nya.”
“What’s gear?”
“You don’t know that either-nya? Weapons, accessories, armor-nya.”
……A cat that uses internet slang.
Anyway — a loot box that only goes to whoever contributed the most.
That’s why Awakened are out here risking their lives to solo.
Come to think of it, he’d seen posts about it in the Awakened Community. People showing off what dropped from their loot boxes. He’d assumed it was something the Tower Merchant sold at a rare rate — completely wrong.
Better late than never.
That aside — he now understood firsthand how Awakened could drink those pricey recovery potions like water.
If this is how much they’re earning, 100 TC is pocket change.
Stockpiling made complete sense.
It felt surreal.
And thinking that this was going to be his future — even more so.
“Oh, but Ragcho. I didn’t actually do anything — how did I end up with 5% contribution?”
A genuinely curious question.
He’d been standing behind her, doing nothing but watching while she killed the monsters.
Not by choice — the wyverns were simply too fast. He wasn’t confident he could even graze one. They were airborne on top of that. Completely out of reach. And he had no combat skills. Say no more.
“Contribution doesn’t lie-nya. Give me a moment-nya.”
A brief silence.
Ragcho, who had been staring fixedly into the air, met his eyes again and spoke.
“Awakened Kim Woo-joo’s contribution this time came from the ‘Encouragement’ effect-nya.”
“Encouragement effect?”
“The ‘low-grade recovery potion’ and ‘Boss Damage increase elixir’ that Awakened Kim Woo-joo sold to Awakened Seo I-an gave Awakened Seo I-an the feeling of ‘I can actually do this’-nya. That triggered the Encouragement effect this time, which allowed contribution to be distributed-nya.”
Sold items.
Gave the floor’s owner the feeling she could do it.
Encouragement effect triggered.
Contribution distributed.
So that’s how it works!
In short — whatever the method, as long as he helped the floor’s owner clear, he’d receive a share of the contribution.
And on top of that, Ragcho had said this time it was Encouragement.
Which meant——
So unlike this time, where I was just a cheerleader watching from the sidelines — there are other ways too!
Truly, the more he dug into it, the more this looked like a trait perfectly designed for growth. A new player’s dream.
“Anyway, are you buying anything-nya?”
Ragcho’s sharp little voice stabbed through his thoughts and into his ear.
“Can you show me what you’re selling?”
Instead of an answer, a window appeared in front of him.
Shaped like a 5×5 inventory grid, but with a blue border.
“Only two items?”
The grid was mostly empty — only the first two slots were filled.
“We know what heavy means-nya. Can’t go around with a pack stuffed to the brim-nya. Carrying a full load is rare-nya.”
“Fair enough. Rough life.”
He offered some vague sympathy and reached toward the first item.
It looked exactly like what it was — a Tower-specific pickaxe.
“Is a pickaxe a weapon?”
“A pickaxe can be used as a weapon, but it’s actually an item for the Gather skill-nya.”
“I’ve been gathering just fine with my bare hands.”
“Depends on the map-nya. In most cases, bare-hand gathering doesn’t work-nya.”
Tower Merchants don’t lie.
That was accepted wisdom among Awakened.
“How much?”
“5,000 TC-nya, nya~!”
Ooh. That’s steep.
His brow furrowed of its own accord.
He held off for now and moved his hand to the second slot.
A ring, by the look of it.
One that gave you an extra life.
[Ring of Instant-Death Immunity (1 Use)]
— Negates one instance of certain death!
Even just reading the effect — wasn’t this massively useful?
“Ragcho. How much for the ring?”
“Exactly 5,000,000 TC-nya!”
A number beyond all dreaming.
Which at least made it easy to give up on quickly.
“Do I even need the pickaxe?”
The only skills he currently had were Gather and Synthesize.
But what if he bought combat skills outside the Tower later?
If those became his main tools —
did he really need to buy a pickaxe that only served Gather?
“You absolutely need it-nya! The pickaxe is a massive help for earning TC-nya! Which means it’s something that will let Awakened Kim Woo-joo grow much faster-nya!”
As mentioned before — Tower Merchants don’t lie.
They simply go quiet when they don’t know something or find it uncomfortable to answer.
“I’ll take the pickaxe.”
“Thank you for your business every time-nya~.”
Half a day’s earnings, vaporized.
But the Tower Merchant recommended it, so buying it was probably the right call.
What do I do with the TC I have left?
He was tired right now. He’d figure it out once he got home.
He was planning to head to the Association tomorrow anyway.
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
[A record change has occurred for Tower (Korea) Floor 40!]
— 1st place: Seo I-an. 36 minutes 24 seconds 04.
— 2nd place: Hong Je-hun. 48 minutes 11 seconds 09.
Current Korean floor record: Floor 41.
And until just now, only one name had ever appeared on the Korean Floor 40 leaderboard.
Hong Je-hun.
He had been the only person in Korea to have cleared Floor 40 or above.
But not anymore.
“Yeah. This is how it should be. Obviously my name belongs above Hong Je-hun’s!!”
A 34-pyeong apartment that felt a little large for one person.
One entire wall of the living room was floor-to-ceiling glass, and beyond it, the Han River stretched out wide and unobstructed.
The interior was clean and sharp — black and white accented with red, every detail reflecting the owner’s taste.
And on the sofa in that apartment.
Seo I-an, scrolling through the news on her phone, let a broad smile spread across her face.
A lead of over ten full minutes.
All thanks to that rabbit from earlier.
But——
“Oh for the love of — Seo I-an, you absolute idiot! Boss tunnel vision!!”
She suddenly started slapping her own cheeks.
Both her palm and her face stung, but it did nothing to ease the regret.
“A wandering merchant. That’s not something that just shows up every time, is it?”
Her brow creased with the question.
Seo I-an was one of the early Awakened — she’d Awakened almost the moment the Towers appeared. Which meant she had far more Tower experience than most.
And yet she’d met a “wandering merchant” for the first time just yesterday.
The eyes she’d glimpsed through the rabbit mask — deep and still, like the surface of a lake.
Those quiet eyes were still circling in her head.
“And the things he was selling — way cheaper than what the Tower Merchant carries after a clear. More useful, too.”
The Tower Merchant after a clear basically only carried recovery potions and equipment items worth buying.
But recovery potions were easy enough to get outside the Tower, and equipment items were outrageously expensive.
The price-to-value ratio was brutal.
And yet — that Boss Damage +20% elixir the rabbit had sold.
The percentage was the key.
No matter how expensive the equipment, it only boosted stats by a fixed number. The elixir blew up your total stats by a percentage.
“Is there any way to find him again……? Or some way to call him back……”
If there was.
She’d have sold her soul without a second thought.
And at that very moment.
Woo-joo was sitting with his back against the wall of his musty basement room, looking over his status screen.
“Floor 40 must be something — even 5% contribution gives solid EXP.”
A grin spread across his face on its own. His cheeks lifted.
This was what it felt like to be full just from looking at something.
[Name] : Kim Woo-joo
[Level] : 4
Already level 4 just from breathing.
“Heheh. Better put some stats in first.”
Awakened earn one stat point per level.
No set formula — spend them however you want, apparently.
[Strength] : 0
[Intelligence] : 0
[Agility] : 0
[Luck] : 0
Strength did what it said — raised damage output.
Intelligence did the same for magic-type Awakened.
Agility sped up movement — evasion being the main example.
Luck, he’d had to look up: increased item drop rates and the odds of rare items appearing from the Tower Merchant. Essential stat for Enchanters, apparently.
Anyway, the standard play early on was to dump into Strength or Intelligence first.
Get strong enough to climb, then once you had breathing room, branch into Agility for speed or Luck for drops.
“Hm…. What should I put points into?”
Thing was, he had zero combat skills.
He’d pulled up the skill purchase screen after leaving the Tower — blank.
More precisely:
[Certain conditions have not been met. Skill purchases are not yet available!]
Certain conditions.
This was exactly the kind of thing that made Awakened curse the system for being unfriendly.
Which meant he had to use his trait as the basis for deciding where to put stats — but looking at Intrude, he had no idea whether it leaned physical or magical.
“Whatever. I’ll call it investing for the future. Leaving them unspent feels like a waste.”
He moved his finger without hesitation.
[Strength] : 0
[Intelligence] : 0
[Agility] : 4
[Luck] : 0
All in on Agility.
Strength or Intelligence put in wrong would become a sunk cost he couldn’t recover.
But Agility?
More and more people stacked it deeper into the Tower. There came a point where the monsters inside moved faster than you could keep up with.
“If I can’t tell whether I need Strength or Intelligence, putting points into something I’ll need anyway isn’t a bad call.”
And his trait was Intrude.
First thing he had to do after entering was find the floor’s owner.
Only by finding them could he help them, and only by helping them could he earn contribution.
The key was: finding the floor’s owner.
Finding Seo I-an today? He was fairly certain he would have had a hard time if she hadn’t climbed up to the top of the cliff herself.
He’d seen Awakened complaining in the Community about “wasting all my time just wandering the floor” — and today he understood that completely.
Even the space at the top of the cliff had been that wide. What about other floors?
They’d only be wider. Narrower than today would be the exception.
That was his read. Which made it easy to put those points into Agility with no regrets.
More speed meant finding the floor’s owner faster.
He spent the points — and with a clear chime, a system message appeared.
Ding~!
[Skill Bloom!]
[Skill ‘Featherweight’ obtained!]
[Featherweight] — F Rank
Passive Skill
Body feels oddly light!
Out of nowhere? And what kind of description is that?
Another moment of marveling at the system’s unfriendliness. He’d lost count today.
But humans adapt.
Small and precious newbie Awakened that he was, he immediately picked up his phone and pulled up the Awakened Community.
Typed ‘Featherweight’ into the search bar.
Quite a few posts came up.
Apparently it was a passive skill that formed when Agility was overwhelmingly higher than all other stats — but if you leveled other stats to balance things out, it disappeared immediately.
In most cases Agility couldn’t realistically outpace everything else — so it was a skill that Gatherer-type Awakened, meaning Enchanters, occasionally ended up with early on when trying to move quickly through Towers. A “mistake” skill, by general consensus.
Ah. Enchanters. You people……
Though he was in no position to feel sorry for anyone.
He’d gotten the same “mistake” skill as them.
Still — skills are always better than no skills. Better to have it than not.
It’d at least make searching for people inside Towers he intruded on more manageable.
He set his phone down, tapped both cheeks to clear his head, and checked the time.
Already 9 PM.
He ate quickly and lay down.
He had to go out tomorrow. Early to bed, early to rise.
Why?
He hadn’t gotten a combat skill today. So tomorrow, he’d at least have to go find a weapon.