Chapter 449: Ninety-Fourth Floor, Waiting Room

Natalie smiled faintly. “

Mmm

, the rewards are straightforward. Nothing complicated, simply self-explanatory.”

She didn’t outright declare whether they were tied to future trials or not, but the implication leaned toward the latter.

I had assumed Gehenna and Hyang were here because she couldn’t talk about the rewards, but perhaps that wasn’t the case. It seemed neither the ninety-third floor’s intended solution nor its reward had any deep connection to the tower itself.

Well, that made sense.

Saving a barren world wasn’t exactly grounds for a dramatic event that would dictate future trials. Unlike some of the earlier trials, this one hadn’t been linked to another being, nor had it revealed some monumental secret. Even after completing the trial, I hadn’t noticed a meaningful shift in divinity.

Knowing the tower as I did, it wouldn’t have left individuals to die on that planet.

Natalie continued, “Put plainly, the tower rewarded you for an unexpected outcome. From its perspective, the world was doomed if you hadn’t intervened, so there was no harm in giving it to you.”

“I see.” I nodded.

It felt almost anticlimactic, less significant than I had imagined before coming here. My earlier concern felt unnecessary. In truth, most of this overthinking came from my experiences while climbing the tower. The vast majority of my rewards had found their use sooner or later. Hidden missions had reshaped future floors more than once.

Looking at it that way, it wasn’t strange why things had shifted. There were only seven more floors. From here on, rewards would undoubtedly correlate less to the trials themselves and more to my future after conquering the tower.

Thinking back, I had noticed this pattern emerge as early as the floors in the eighties.

“So in the end, it isn’t immediately important.”

Natalie smiled faintly, as if hesitant to make any definitive statement.

“If you’re in a hurry, you can return to training,” she kindly added.

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. It’ll only be a moment anyway. Let’s just have some tea.”

Natalie didn’t refuse. A black tea table and four chairs materialized in the snowy garden. We settled into our seats. Although the weather appeared wintry, it wasn’t cold. That was thanks to the world Natalie had created more than my resilience, however.

Either way, we sat and enjoyed our tea.

Little conversation passed between us. Gehenna was naturally quiet, and Natalie never really liked to talk at length. Hyang found it difficult to speak up for herself as well. It wasn’t unusual, just the way things usually were. The only times Natalie’s world grew noisy were when Ha Hee-Jeong visited—others grew chattier and laughed more easily around her.

As for me, I didn’t mind whether the atmosphere was lively or quiet. Compared to the waiting room, where training and compulsory rest cycled endlessly, I sometimes found myself craving this stillness.

Of course, visiting Natalie’s world wasn’t only about enjoying leisure or gathering information. Part of me simply wanted to spend time with others. Spending time alone on Earth and spending time alone in the tower felt very different. The ninety-first to the hundredth floor didn’t account for much of my life, at least from a numbers standpoint. That didn’t mean it hadn’t taken a mental toll.

I had to endure the anxiety and dread of upcoming trials entirely alone.

I missed Ha Hee-Jeong’s presence deeply. Having Natalie, Gehenna, and Hyang here helped me stay sane. People drew strength from people.

If I hadn’t saved Natalie during that trial, I would be in real trouble.

Both mentally and while conquering floors.

From the ninety-first floor onward, Natalie’s help had either resolved or eased matters. Without her, I would have been even more lost, burdened with questions I could never answer. Even her inability to reveal something was better than silence.

It was only at this point that I registered what saving Natalie truly entailed. In some ways, it felt like fortune had shone its favor on me.

Just then, snow began to fall in the midst of the quiet—Natalie had called it down. I smiled faintly and leaned back into the soft chair. A snowflake landed upon my teacup. Soon enough, I would return to the waiting room for training. For now, though, I chose not to think about it. I simply wanted to savor this peace.

***

[2 minutes 36 seconds until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

Once I had returned to the waiting room, time trickled by monotonously. Training and the brief, obligatory rests left me in a haze.

My achievement points had piled up to a ludicrous degree, but I didn’t bother to buy elixirs from the shop. It wasn’t about cost-effectiveness—they were simply too inefficient a use of my time compared to training.

Of course, there were plenty of high-quality elixirs, but my stats continued to rise simply by conquering each floor and through training.

As for mana, the causality I gradually drew from Seorden’s Forest, along with my steadily increasing divinity, supplemented it more than enough. Therefore, as long as those resources never ran out, I would have sufficient mana.

The elixirs really are meaningless.

Not only did swallowing elixirs result in negligible gains, but they also forced me to rest and wasted time I could spend training. That didn’t even factor in how satisfying training felt. I hadn’t spent enough time after the ninety-second floor to internalize any inspiration I had gained while fighting Eternal Feast, so this last training session had been fruitful.

Unfortunately, since the ninety-third floor hadn’t taken much time, the waiting room’s time had been insufficient for what I desired.

For what little time I had, I made decent progress.

Part of me wished I could practice at a more leisurely pace, but that was impossible. I was already running out of time.

I checked my gear out of habit, something I had already done dozens of times. Everything was in perfect order. It was time to proceed to the ninety-fourth floor.

“Send me to the ninety-fourth floor.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the tower created a notification and announced the transition. A moment’s weightlessness washed over me as my vision darkened.

“

Haaaaa.

” Exhaling slowly, I steadied my heartbeat.

I knew from experience that when the tower granted a longer respite than what seemed fair for the previous trial, the next floor would be harsher—not that the previous floor had been a piece of cake. It had required thought, and if not for exploiting another method, it would have been far more complicated.

In broader terms, however, it still counted as a reprieve.

Whenever I take a break from fighting, my next opponent tends to level up.

On the ninety-second floor, I had faced a third-class god, albeit a restricted one. Perhaps a first or second-class god awaited me on the next floor. Although my next opponent could be a full-powered third-class god.

As I pondered, the darkness stirred before light coalesced into a new message.

[Welcome to the ninety-fourth floor of the Tower of Ordeal: Multiple Realizations.]

The name struck a familiar chord.

Multiple Realizations. Where have I seen that name before?

An answer quickly came to mind: the fifth floor. It had been the final floor in the tutorial, right after I had consumed Lightning Essence and lost consciousness. When I arrived in the floor, a message had appeared commanding me to seek inspiration.

Hmm.

It was the same type of trial. The ninety-first floor had mirrored the first. Now the ninety-fourth was repeating the fifth. Of course, that wasn’t guaranteed, but judging by the name alone, it seemed likely.

Still, it wasn’t quite what I had anticipated. I had expected a trial that demanded brute force, but if it mirrored the fifth floor, then the ninety-fourth was closer to a respite. Though only in the sense that combat was absent.

It may even prove more difficult.

At my current level of growth, attaining enlightenment was hardly a simple task.

Of course, recalling the fifth floor, it didn’t have to solely be about fighting. Back then, I had passed by realizing that I bore responsibility for the consequences of my choices.

The tower had then granted me the title Seeker of Crossroads, which later shifted to Seeker of Answers after I met The Meticulous Architect.

Perhaps the ninety-fourth floor is tied to divine titles.

I had long suspected that the title in my status window was a precursor to the divine title I would earn, such as Omniscient Thunder Axe, Master of the Five Carriage Wheels, and Sky of the Nine Heavens.

Divine titles usually reflected the god’s powers. If I were to gain enlightenment, it was likely to be about one of my abilities. The fact that the ninety-fourth had brought forth a trial identical to the fifth only reinforced that likelihood.

If I want a title that carries the weight of my abilities, will I have to surpass myself?

It was absurd to have such thoughts after coming this far. Still, if I were to receive a title, I wanted it to be grand. Certainly not something like The Campfire God, which Ha Hee-Jeong had once teased me with at a tavern.

In the end, though, any enlightenment would suffice.

[Gain enlightenment in more than one area. Time remaining: 11 hours 59 minutes.]

Oh, twelve hours.

That was more than I had expected. On the fifth floor, I remembered only having six hours after waking up.

Perhaps I was simply unconscious for six of them.

Regardless, this time I had twice as long.

The trial’s description and setting appear the same.

Darkness stretched all around me, unbroken by even the faintest glimmer of light. The tower’s message was the only thing visible, and it felt like I was drifting in water. Having faced this trial once before, I knew not to waste any time. I immediately focused on what kind of realization I would seek.

What shall I choose?

It didn’t take long for me to realize I had been mistaken. Earlier, I had assumed that I could repeat what I had done on the fifth floor, but when faced with the trial, I realized how much harder that would be.

Since entering the tower, I had firmed my resolve, values, and convictions. The tower wouldn’t deem a reaffirmation of beliefs I already held as enlightenment.

Hmm.

It wasn’t an easy floor. In truth, the fifth was far simpler, since I had been ignorant and weak. That explained why a similar trial had appeared again on the ninety-fourth.

So it comes down to my abilities.

Achieving a spiritual realization now would be nigh on impossible. That wasn’t exclusive to me, either. Any climber who reached this far would end up in the same position. Even if their spirits had been worn thin, their convictions would be firmly set. The tower didn’t allow weak-minded individuals to ascend this far.

Twisted or righteous, each held values of their own.

True, experience could shift those beliefs, and a climber could stand at a crossroads upon reaching this floor. However, in most cases, that wouldn’t happen.

Maybe this is why gods’ titles are generally tied to their power.

If they had faced a similar trial, then they would have most easily found enlightenment through their own abilities. The same applied to me, but of course, that didn’t make it any easier. The core of my abilities centered around axemanship and lightning. My wind spirit was too ambiguous to count, and between the two, my axemanship was the true core of my strength.

The problem is, I already reached enlightenment with the axe.

On the ninety-second floor, I had awakened the Heart Sword. It had been only a short while since then, and I was still in the process of fully internalizing it. For the tower to demand another path of enlightenment within twelve hours struck me as absurd.

How can anyone achieve an enlightenment worthy of the tower’s recognition in such a short time?

If anything, with everyone watching, it only made it harder. Even as I considered how much more difficult this trial was becoming, the time continued to slip away.

I exhaled softly into the silence.