Chapter 237: Sixty-Third Floor, Test (1)

[Welcome to the sixty-third floor of the Tower of Ordeal: Test.]

My vision brightened as a notification window materialized before me, accompanied by the tower’s usual dry mechanical voice.

Interestingly, the description was lengthier than normal.

Hmm.

Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the words before me. A lengthy message often meant there was something hidden within.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok is required to choose one of the five doors ahead.]

[Beyond each door, entities who have reached a certain level of mastery in a specific field have been summoned at random.]

[To conquer the sixty-third floor, Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has to earn the recognition of the entity beyond the selected door.]

[Warning: Choose carefully.]

[Select one of the five doors. Time remaining: 29 minutes 59 seconds.]

Once I had finished reading the description, I gazed around just in case I noticed a discrepancy. Other than the five doors, the room was surrounded by earth on all sides, bearing a striking resemblance to the one on the sixty-second floor.

The doors all appeared the same, whether it be in color or size. Much like the previous floor, they were all iron doors without any distinct markings or irregularities.

Choose a door and earn acknowledgement. How straightforward.

Given that the floor’s name was “Test,” I couldn’t think of any obvious hidden meanings. Of course, I couldn’t be entirely sure.

Still, the task itself was simple—gain recognition.

The real issue lay in selecting the right door.

Why would the tower, which delights in deception, go out of its way to include a warning?

From the way the description read, if I chose the wrong door, the entity behind it would either kill me or refuse to acknowledge me.

Specific fields. That has to be the key.

The tower wouldn’t have mentioned it if it weren’t crucial. I had climbed this far as a warrior, but that didn’t guarantee the five doors contained five combat-related experts.

If my luck ended up being particularly rotten, I would be forced to gain the recognition of a legendary blacksmith—I knew nothing about the art of smithing.

Considering the time limit, if I had to learn blacksmithing from scratch... I would be doomed.

My lips pressed into a thin line.

The trials had steadily grown more difficult as I climbed, but this was different. Back-to-back trials had now presented me with a seemingly straightforward trial that would turn deadly with the slightest mistake. To make matters worse, this one involved an element of luck.

The difficulty had spiked abruptly, independent of my combat abilities.

Although I did feel somewhat stressed, I wasn’t overly concerned. This time, I had Doppy by my side. He was my lucky charm when it came to making decisions.

I immediately turned to him, noticing that he was gazing up at me with his usual calm expression. He had been waiting patiently for me to finish sorting my thoughts.

Once our eyes met, he asked, “Su-Yeok! Have you figured out the trial?”

“Yeah. I have to choose one of the doors.”

“

Hmm

, I had a feeling it’d be something like that!”

His small nose twitched slightly as he gave an approving nod, seemingly pleased that his prediction had been correct.

Well, given the five doors in front of us, it would have been strange not to expect that. Still, nitpicking wouldn’t get us anywhere.

“Do any of the doors seem more interesting? Choosing the right one is important.”

“

Hmm

. I’m not sure yet. Give me a moment!” Doppy replied before striding toward the doors.

He seemed intent on getting a closer look.

“Alright.” I nodded and followed closely behind.

While Doppy deliberated, I might as well examine the doors myself.

Though there had been no apparent differences between them at first glance, careful observation could reveal something.

In fact, my failure to find any clues on the previous floor would work to my advantage here. The tower could have deliberately primed me to expect nothing, only to hide vital hints this time.

It thrived on such trickery.

By emphasizing the terms “random” and “warning,” it could have been trying to lead me to believe this floor was mostly luck-based.

Leaving Doppy to his contemplation, I stepped closer to one of the doors. “

Hmm.

”

Extending a hand, I infused mana into it. The iron surface glowed faintly, but just like on the sixty-second floor, nothing happened.

I moved on and repeated the process with the other doors, receiving the same lack of response as the first on each one.

“

Hmph.

”

Doppy was still frowning at the doors, taking longer than usual to decide. Normally, if he couldn’t find an answer quickly, he simply admitted as much—his connection to Fenrike wasn’t conveying anything right now for some reason.

A nagging unease settled in the pit of my stomach. If even Doppy was struggling to make a choice, then perhaps I really would have to pick at random.

I still had Sixth Sense as a secondary safeguard, but it would have been nice if my primary failsafe—Doppy—had found a solution.

Then again, if Sixth Sense isn’t warning me, maybe all five doors are actually safe? Is that why Doppy was hesitating?

No. That was too optimistic. A climber should always assume the worst. There could be something outside the doors that hinted at what lay beyond them.

Regardless, we shouldn’t decide just yet. Doppy was still deliberating, and I had nothing concrete to go off of.

***

[Select one of the five doors. Time remaining: 23 minutes 24 seconds.]

We had scoured the room for another six minutes but found nothing.

Feeling certain that there were no hidden clues, I halted my search. Doppy still stood before the doors, lost in thought. It was time to give up.

I called out, “Doppy, what’s wrong? Can’t decide?”

“

Hmm

. It’s unclear!”

“Unclear?”

“I don’t think we should enter any of them!”

“What do you mean?”

For a moment, I wondered if he was saying all five doors were traps.

Noticing my confusion, Doppy turned back to glance at them once more, his expression clouded with uncertainty. “I can’t see which one we should go through! Instead, they all emanate a faint sense of foreboding!”

“

Hmm.

”

I had no reason to doubt his words. Every single time that Doppy’s instincts had alerted him to something, they had been correct.

I glanced at the five doors. I couldn’t feel anything... yet.

Will Sixth Sense activate when I commit to opening one?

Steadying my breath, I reached for one of the handles.

I am going to open this door.

As soon as my resolve strengthened, an inexplicable sensation crept over me. It wasn’t my intuition warning me, but just a faint, almost imperceptible unease, exactly as Doppy had described.

Is it simply because Doppy mentioned it?

It could have been a placebo effect. For now, I withdrew my hand from the doorknob.

If all five doors are traps, is there another option?

No, that wasn’t possible. The tower had explicitly stated that there were five doors. Although it often tried to deceive climbers, it had never outright lied.

“

Ugh.

”

A heavy feeling settled over me due to the uncertainty of the situation.

Now that I thought about it, the trial had mentioned that it randomly selected the skilled individual behind the door. I wondered if it genuinely summoned masters in certain fields—like blacksmithing, magic, carpentry, or even cooking—or if it created replicas of them.

Having heard my sigh, Doppy turned to look at me. “Sorry!”

“No, you don’t need to apologize for anything. This fucking tower is the one who should apologize.”

I couldn’t afford to waste time dwelling on my frustration. Every word wasted was another second wasted, and the clock was ticking down. I needed to think fast.

If all five doors are truly a trap, then which one should I enter to maximize my chances?

I had to pick the best of the worst.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s sponsor, ‘Omniscient Thunder Axe,’ wishes to provide support.]

[If Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok accepts the sponsorship, one of the skilled individuals behind the doors will be replaced with a skilled individual of his sponsor’s choice.]

[Accepting the sponsorship will increase the sponsor’s shares by 32.83% of Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s total shares.]

It had been a long time since I had seen one of these messages. Not too long ago, I had even joked with Ha Hee-Jeong about whether my patron deity had died, considering how silent they had been.

But no, they had been watching all along.

A smile tugged at my lips.

Just when I found myself in a tight spot, they reached out a helping hand. It was a welcome surprise.

Of course, something about it struck me as odd. I had been inside the trial for eight minutes already.

Why are they only offering me this now? Were they just not watching what I was doing? Or have they been deliberating about how much they should support me? Either way, this doesn’t seem like a bad deal.

The increased share percentage didn’t worry me—I could reduce my stats to offset it, and if this pattern of mental challenges continued, reduced stats wouldn’t impact me much.

Moreover, since my patron deity was in charge of replacing whoever was behind the door, they wouldn’t put me in an unfavorable position.

[Would you like to accept the sponsorship?]

Judging from my past experiences with my sponsor, their sponsorships always had a purpose. The second one had allowed me to clear four floors at once, and the first had helped me save Seo Ho-Su. Though I appreciated my sponsor’s help, I still wasn’t entirely sure why my sponsor had saved Seo Ho-Su.

Regardless, I nodded. “Yes, I’ll accept the sponsorship.”

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s sponsor’s shares have increased by 32.83% of Kwon Su-Hyeok’s total shares.]

A ripple of mana swept through the room. Even without seeing anything, I could tell that something had changed.

I turned toward the doors. Outwardly, they remained the same.

Same color, same size. What, so it really only changed one of the doors? I still have to choose one?

That felt merciless. My patron deity had taken almost a third of my shares, and yet...

No, wait. This means that telling me which door to pick would have cost me even more. More than would be worth it, at least.

My sponsor knew about Sixth Sense and Doppy’s instincts after all. They had probably tried to minimize how many shares their sponsorship would cost me, trusting that we would find the right path.

As I mulled over the situation, Doppy suddenly shouted, “Su-Yeok! The energy surrounding the rightmost door has changed! That’s the one we should enter!”

My guess had been correct.

I nodded and patted Doppy’s head. “Good work.”

“

Hehe

, thank you!”

“Shall we go in?”

Doppy, wearing an excited grin, nodded firmly.

I allowed a faint smile to cross my lips before turning toward the rightmost door.

Reaching my hand toward the knob, I pulled it open without the slightest bit of hesitation. I had received support from my patron deity, and Doppy’s senses had given the green light.

Clang—

The metal door swung open with a heavy creak, revealing yet another colosseum-like arena that reminded me of previous boss rooms.

Someone stood at its center, her head adorned with ram-like horns, and she gripped a massive double-headed axe in one hand. Covered in thick, curly fur, she bore an uncanny resemblance to a human-sheep hybrid.

Her gaze locked onto me. “So, you’re the one Lord Omniscient Thunder Axe has taken an interest in.”

It seemed that because of my patron deity, she already knew who I was.

However, her eyes held no warmth. There wasn’t even the faintest trace of goodwill.

She spat on the floor, and in an irritated and dismissive tone, she said, “You look pathetic. I can’t fathom why They would bother with someone like you.”

Her pupils, filled with undisguised hostility, fixated on me.

What the hell is this bastard’s problem?

I scowled instinctively. Something about her—her words, her attitude—was deeply unpleasant. I felt a sharp twinge of irritation.

“Today, I’ll expose your worthlessness. Don’t even dream of conquering this place with your meager skills.”