- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): That sounds good, let’s proceed with that plan.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Yeah, just don’t forget it.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): Okay.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Oh, and I think it’s time we post about you in the Community.

Post about me?

She seemed to be referring to my refusal to open the status window during the tutorial, which made my individual challenge floors significantly more difficult than other climbers.

To be honest, it took me by surprise. Not long ago, she had mentioned we should discuss it later and this was far sooner than I had expected “later” to be.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): Didn’t you suggest we wait until later?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Originally, I intended to reveal it after the sixteenth floor, but your performance on the fourteenth floor was far too impactful.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): Hmm, fair enough.

It was undeniable that my contribution had been so remarkable that it defied belief. First, I had summoned lightning to single-handedly slaughter every enemy crossing the river. After that, when Sarkeiz sealed the river, I descended to the riverbed alone, holding the front line for an hour.

Moreover, as seen from the colossal, dragon-shaped tidal wave that crashed into the enemy, even the dragon that once ruled the battlefield had been brought under my control.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Things went much better than expected because of the overwhelming level of prowess you displayed.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): So, you think it’s better to do it now?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Definitely. Considering how many lives you saved during the battle, it’s only sensible. Since the other climbers currently view you favorably, now is the perfect time.

Her reasoning was sound. The Community had been flooded with posts praising and adoring me. At this point, the other climbers would even believe me if I told them I could perform miracles. The best course of action would be to shape public opinion while the overall sentiment was still positive.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): Alright, I’ll prepare something now.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Fifteenth Floor): Once you’re done, show it to me. I’ll proofread it for you.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Fifteenth Floor): Will do.

I immediately began drafting a statement for the Community. Although somewhat fatigued, the exhaustion wasn’t so great that I couldn’t write. With the fifteenth floor fast approaching, the sooner I made the post, the more people could see it. ȓ𝐚ΝŏBΕs̈

***

Community.

[Kwon Su-Hyeok here.]

Greetings, fellow climbers. This is Kwon Su-Hyeok.

First, I would like to extend my congratulations to everyone on successfully conquering the fourteenth floor. Facing an enemy force more than double our size—assisted by a dragon, no less—made this a grueling battle and trial. Everyone worked incredibly hard.

The reason I am writing this post is that I feel there’s something I need to address. There’s been a lot of talk about me recently—my first-place ranking, my seemingly abnormal strength, and the occasional delays I have caused on certain floors. There have also been baseless rumors and wild speculations.

So, I wanted to take this opportunity to share the truth.

Contrary to some theories in circulation, I do not possess knowledge of the future, nor do I have a secret alliance with the tower.

…

Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long post. Finally, the fifteenth floor will likely occur on the same planet as the fourteenth. Although we will be moving in separate parties, don’t forget that we are all comrades here.

I wish you all safe passage through the fifteenth floor.

***

I kept the post as concise as possible, omitting unnecessary details to avoid raising additional questions.

It focused on three key points:

1. I refused to open the status window during the tutorial.

2. Since I didn’t open the status window, I couldn’t increase my stats in the typical manner. Instead, my stats grew proportionally based on my actions.

3. My individual challenge floors were incomparably more difficult than the floors other climbers faced.

Though the summary seemed simple, its subject was anything but. My main goal behind sharing this information was to highlight that, instead of receiving special treatment from the tower, I had faced even harder trials.

The message emphasized that because I had overcome more difficult trials on my individual challenge floors, my performance during the shared floor challenges seemed even more impressive by comparison.

The Community’s reaction to my post was overwhelmingly positive.

[Haha, I made a mental list of all the idiots who spread rumors.]

[After hearing Kwon Su-Hyeok’s explanation, everything makes sense now.]

[Yeah, after watching him on the fourteenth floor, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.]

[Seriously, some people are just built differently. Why would anyone refuse to even look at the status window once at the start?]

[Also, why would refusing the status window make things harder?]

[Wait, he had to defeat goblin assassins, warriors, and even a goblin paladin on the first floor?]

[And apparently, he even had to face an orc paladin on the second floor too. 😂]

[lol, is that even a problem? A dragon appeared on the eleventh floor!]

[From now on, I’m just going to follow whatever Kwon Su-Hyeok says during the shared floor challenges.]

[Haha, given his overwhelming combat experience, it only makes sense to follow his lead.]

Seeing how many climbers were willing to follow my lead on future floors, it was clear the post had been a success. I was glad I had heeded Ha Hee-Jeong’s advice and posted at the opportune moment.

Not only had I managed to justify my unusual strength and explain my previous actions, but I had also earned the support of the climbers.

Good. With this, the next floors should go smoothly.

Of course, before making the post public, I had informed my party members. It wouldn’t have been right for them to learn about it through the Community like everyone else. They might have felt slighted otherwise, given that we were comrades, and it was only proper etiquette.

As expected, no one seemed particularly shocked after hearing my explanation.

- Cole Grouse (Fifteenth Floor): So, that explains the unusual strength you displayed on the sixth floor just after we met.

- Seo Ha-Rin (Fifteenth Floor): Wow... you encountered such difficult challenges on the first and second floors? How did you even make it through, oppa?

- Cole Grouse (Fifteenth Floor): Even though Su-Hyeok’s on another level, Hee-Jeong is just as impressive. She faced the same trials we did, but still possesses that level of magical prowess... that’s pure talent.

- Seo Ho-Su (Fifteenth Floor): Yeah, something always seemed off. I didn’t say anything, but I honestly thought you and Hee-Jeong had regressed like characters from a fantasy novel, haha.

Hearing Seo Ho-Su’s remark, I couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty. He had suspected all along that Ha Hee-Jeong and I were some sort of time-traveling regressors… His instincts were sharp. All those fantasy novels he had read clearly honed his perception.

Thankfully, my explanation also absolved Ha Hee-Jeong of any lingering suspicions.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be more cautious moving forward. Well, I could maybe use Ha Hee-Jeong’s “foresight skill” as an excuse every now and then...

***

「 Invisible message: Combat training has raised Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s stats. Strength, agility, and stamina increased by 0.2. Mana increased by 0.6.」

「 Invisible message: Combat training has raised Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s stats. Strength, agility, and stamina increased by 0.2. Mana increased by 0.6.」

***

After a night’s rest, I resumed combat training. I continued to select the lizardman guardian as my opponent, although it was now more powerful. Despite this, I still found its strength somewhat lacking, likely because I had already faced it numerous times.

However, it wasn’t as though I had any other suitable opponent.

A dragon would be too much.

Sarkeiz was overwhelmingly powerful, and Herkest, on the other hand, lacked the intelligence to be truly threatening. Summoning the legion commander wasn’t viable either, as I couldn’t accurately gauge her combat prowess.

By default, enemies I encountered during my individual challenge floors were stronger anyway. There was no point in wasting resources on a weaker foe. Therefore, the lizardman guardian remained the best adversary I could train against.

It would be nice if there was a difficulty setting beyond “advanced.”

After discussing combat training with Ha Hee-Jeong, I learned that selecting a difficulty above “advanced” wouldn’t be possible until after we conquered the twentieth floor. That felt frustratingly far off.

With no better alternative, I helped Doppy with its training. Contrary to my initial disappointment, Doppy approached it with far more enthusiasm than I had expected.

Doppy’s picking things up faster than I thought it would.

Seeing Seo Ha-Rin’s impressive growth with melee weapons had likely skewed my initial expectations. However, Doppy managed to corner a goblin paladin by itself today, even without my assistance. It seemed to perceive its own growth, as I noticed it train even harder, its excitement tangible as it immersed itself in the practice.

[The fifteenth floor of the Tower of Ordeal requires all climbers to enter as a party.]

[Climbers whose parties have disbanded must join a party before the rest period ends.]

[14 minutes 31 seconds until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

With nothing left to do except await the beginning of the fifteenth floor, the party chat buzzed with Seo Ho-Su's predictions about what lay ahead. Given his track record of accurately foreseeing the upcoming trials, everyone was visibly eager. He, in particular, was analyzing the tower’s message like an experienced profiler, dissecting each word for potential clues.

- Seo Ha-Rin (Fifteenth Floor): Dad, what do you think will happen next?

- Cole Grouse (Fifteenth Floor): I’m curious too. Haven’t you been right almost every time so far?

- Seo Ha-Rin (Fifteenth Floor): Yeah! You’ve never been completely wrong.

- Seo Ho-Su (Fifteenth Floor): The key to this floor seems to be the phrase describing how all participants have to join as a party. Hmm...

Seo Ho-Su paused for a moment and considered his thoughts carefully.

- Seo Ho-Su (Fifteenth Floor): Since the party system’s introduction, the tower hasn’t included competition between teams as a part of a challenge. Now that we’re entering the floor as a party, I expect parties will be ranked against each other. Maybe the ranking will be based on how many enemies we defeat, or, as I speculated last time, on which party reaches the stronghold first.

Wow...

With how consistently he predicted the next floor, Seo Ho-Su might as well set up shop as a fortune teller. Even I grew curious about how long he would continue with his accurate predictions.

***

[Welcome to the fifteenth floor of the Tower of Ordeal: The Path to the Fortress.]

[The arrow in the sky points toward Fort Pogoren. Follow the arrow. Enemy invaders will attempt to stop climbers from reaching Fort Pogoren and are approaching from everywhere except the fort.]

[Parties will be ranked based on the time they require to reach Fort Pogoren. A quicker traversal will result in a higher floor score.]

[Along the path to the fortress, climbers will encounter refugees and stragglers. If they are successfully rescued from invaders and arrive safely at the fortress, the responsible party’s floor score will increase.]

[Your party’s floor score will determine its overall ranking, which will then result in additional achievement points and advantages on the sixteenth floor.]

[Follow the arrow toward Fort Pogoren. Time remaining: 7 hours 59 minutes.]

As my vision cleared, the first thing that struck me was that it was the dead of night. Thankfully, the moon was once again unusually bright and cast its silvery light across the plains, making it easy to see.

High above, a large and luminous blue marker floated, already pointing in the direction our party was facing. Interestingly, a colossal statue stood before us, easily towering over nine meters tall.

The moment I recognized where we had been summoned, I let out a quiet sigh.

“Ah…”

According to Ha Hee-Jeong, the statue marked the summoning point closest to the fortress. I suspected our party's average ranking influenced where we had been summoned.

This is good news for the party, but...

According to the plans Ha Hee-Jeong and I had carefully prepared, it was less than ideal. Glancing at her, I noted she wore a similarly conflicted expression.

Haaa...

Though I had anticipated such a possibility, that didn’t stop it from mildly frustrating me. Now that things had played out this way, we needed to move even faster than originally planned. Suddenly, Seo Ho-Su let out a booming laugh.

“Haha! Oops! I’ve hit the nail on the head again!”

“Wow, Dad, you figured it out again. Both the mission and the ranking system were exactly as you predicted!”

“That’s... really impressive.”

Cole was wide-eyed in disbelief, and he glanced at Seo Ho-Su. Seo Ho-Su’s smug grin showed just how pleased he was with himself.

Even I, despite knowing what the next floor would entail, had been taken aback by how accurately he had predicted it at first. I was confident the other party members were likely even more astonished.

However, Seo Ho-Su’s usual playful banter quickly lightened the mood, and the party’s atmosphere became more relaxed.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have the luxury to idle around. Feeling the pressure, I interrupted the conversation.

“You all go ahead. I’ll move separately.”