Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 433: Ninety-Second Floor, Waiting Room (2)

The final rest area, during the events on the ninety-first floor.

Kwon Su-Hyeok’s climb could be seen everywhere within the rest area. Plazas, shops, dining halls, and lodgings alike streamed the trial through holograms as vivid as reality itself.

Most climbers had gathered in the dining hall to watch his struggle.

At first, no one was concerned. They ordered beer and food to share, sitting around full tables with laughter and joy.

“How long do you think Kwon Su-Hyeok will take to clear it?”

“If he’s got twelve hours, I think he’ll have six left?”

“Don’t you have any faith in him, you idiot? I say he’ll do it with eight to spare.”

Their laughter was short-lived. It ended the moment the maze first struck.

The climbers fell silent.

“What was that? Something just flew by, didn’t it?”

These climbers had all reached the ninetieth floor. Though they couldn’t perceive everything fully, they had seen enough. At that moment, they understood that this trial wouldn’t be simple. From then on, not a single one touched their drinks. Hands slick with sweat and hearts pounding, they watched Kwon Su-Hyeok with reverent silence.

Still, the tension eased somewhat halfway through. Once Kwon Su-Hyeok adapted to the maze, his pace quickened, and he dispatched the monsters with relative ease.

Chants began from the Shadow Su-Hyeok fan club.

“That’s Light Su-Hyeok right there!”

The climbers resumed their drinking and chatter, though whenever Kwon Su-Hyeok was wounded, the hall fell utterly quiet. Their words failed them again only when he entered Saboden’s Chamber.

The spectacle of the fragmented void overwhelmed the climbers so much that their jaws dropped. Even Park Sang-Hyuk, the most fervent believer of Kwon Su-Hyeok who had never once lost hope, was stunned into silence for a moment.

They soon resumed cheering him on, only to be rendered completely speechless again when Kwon Su-Hyeok fell into the abyss.

“Ah...”

Aside from that short, stifled sigh, not even breathing could be heard. The climbers drowned in despair. The expected chorus of grief never came, however. Through that stillness, Kwon Su-Hyeok burst upward while riding Poong-Wol, piercing the abyss.

They immediately erupted into cheers.

“Wooooaaah!”

“Light Su-Hyeok!”

Fanatic belief swept away despair in an instant.

The climbers sensed something intangible binding them together, a subtle yet undeniable thread—a bond born of shared faith.

Even long after Kwon Su-Hyeok had defeated Saboden, the dining hall remained charged with fervor. Despite the broadcast being offline, the chatter didn’t cease. Half the voices praised Kwon Su-Hyeok’s feats while the other half exalted Kwon Su-Hyeok himself.

Meanwhile, Ha Hee-Jeong was secluding herself in her suite.

“Phew.”

She had quietly withdrawn not long after the trial began, right after the first spatial rend had almost struck Kwon Su-Hyeok. A short while later, she had managed to send him a signal with the support of her sponsor.

She simply couldn’t bring herself to watch his struggle while surrounded by others. Her breathing turned shallow, and her stomach knotted from the nervous strain. Though she had lived with anxiety for years, it felt different this time. It pounded against her brain, threatening to unravel her mind. Whenever Kwon Su-Hyeok faced danger, the suffocating feeling became unbearable. At times, she could scarcely breathe at all.

Only when the roar from the plaza reached her ears did her senses return enough to witness him astride Poong-Wol.

Tears came before relief.

After taking some time to calm her heart, she tried sending another signal through the necklace. It no longer reacted. She had only been granted that one message. Moreover, since she hadn’t received a message from Kwon Su-Hyeok, communication was seemingly blocked not only during trials but in the waiting rooms as well.

Ha Hee-Jeong sighed heavily. “Haaa.”

Now that the trial had run its course, a strange mix of emptiness and relief washed over her. She had no choice but to remain a mere observer. There had been times when her help mattered, and times when it hadn’t. However, ever since entering the tower, every fiber of her focus had been fixed on Kwon Su-Hyeok and his trials.

His ordeals had deviated greatly from her expectations. Hence, she had spent her strength simulating countless outcomes, sifting through all the information at her disposal to extract even the smallest details that could prove useful to him.

That was the same reason she had deliberately withheld information in the early stages of the tower. She hadn’t wanted to keep things from him—it pained her. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable.

In this infernal place, knowing what could come was as much a hindrance as it was a help. After a long deliberation, she had decided that anything she shared had to be kept strictly within what she judged as the bare minimum.

His path was out of her control now, though. She had fulfilled her part, giving her a measure of relief. On the other hand, she felt hollow knowing that she could no longer support him. All she could do was wait.

That didn’t mean her worries had disappeared, however. Ha Hee-Jeong grumbled internally as she leaned back against the bed.

Still... since it is a god’s necklace, why can’t the tower at least allow us limited contact?

She closed her eyes and prayed for Kwon Su-Hyeok’s safety, for him to conquer the tower alive and whole.

At that moment, she realized she no longer knew who she was praying to. If Kwon Su-Hyeok conquered the tower, he would be Earth’s god. Even now, he carried divinity. In the end, she prayed directly to him, hoping her wish would reach him. After a while, a faint smile touched her lips.

***

[71 hours, 25 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

I stared at the ceiling of the training room while waiting for the tower to respond. It didn’t.

Hmm. Well.

Having half expected as much, I wasn’t completely disappointed. The tower wasn’t about to answer just because I happened to be lying naked in a hot spring.

It simply wasn’t the right time. I had yet to conquer the tower.

Huh?

At that moment, an intense, crystalline surge of thought reached me through my divinity. In truth, I had faintly sensed such thoughts before, but they had always been too vague to decipher, more so mere fragments of emotion rather than a complete idea.

This time was different. I could precisely understand what the thought conveyed.

Is it because of the insight I gained while defeating Saboden, or because I have absorbed so much divine energy?

I couldn’t say. Perhaps the sender’s will was strong enough, or perhaps the Primordial God’s power was influencing my divinity. It could even be all of the above.

She wishes for me to survive, whole and unharmed, and to conquer the Tower of Ordeal.

A smile spread across my lips.

The will behind the message was so strong that I instantly recognized it as Ha Hee-Jeong’s. Even if we couldn’t communicate through the tower’s system, this kind of divine resonance was apparently still possible.

Hmm.

I wondered if I could respond through the same mechanism. I poured a message into the current, telling her I was fine and that she shouldn’t worry.

The message seemingly reached her.

Now that I had recognized her will, countless weaker threads of thought became clear as well. The stronger the will, the more distinct it was, which explained why so many came from the Shadow Su-Hyeok fan club.

—O’ Light Su-Hyeok, please conquer this trial and bestow upon us blessings as vast as the sea.

It was Park Sang-Hyuk’s prayer.

Even hearing it privately through divinity didn’t lessen my embarrassment. I chuckled awkwardly and sent him a thought in return. Considering his faith was so vivid that it was second only to Ha Hee-Jeong’s, I could tell that he held a truly immense amount of devotion toward me.

Still, I didn’t wish to maintain the connection continuously. I kept the connection faint, only letting through the strongest wishes, like those of Ha Hee-Jeong or Park Sang-Hyuk. A community had its place, but I needed some time to myself the most right now.

I can respond to the rest whenever time allows.

Looking at it now, there was nothing strange about people offering such earnest prayers. Countless individual did the same on Earth, and I had seen plenty of species across different worlds do likewise during their trials.

Even without any direct response from their gods, they had prayed.

Back then, I hadn’t understood why. Now that I stood close to inheriting the faith of multiple worlds, I finally did. Their will, sharpened by desperation, clearly reached those they prayed to.

I rose from where I sat.

The hot spring had served its purpose. I planned to eat, sleep a little, and then return to training. Afterward, I wanted to visit Natalie’s world and Seorden’s Forest. I had to greet Poong-Wol and offer the forest my gratitude.

Ah, wait.

I stopped short on my way to eat when I noticed my armor, which was lying sadly beside the training room.

How foolish of me.

I still hadn’t sent it for repairs. I should have taken care of it immediately upon arrival, but I had been too focused on training, chasing after the moment of inspiration.

Hopefully, it isn’t too late.

Thankfully, only about an hour had passed. Three days ought to be enough, though I had no idea exactly how long repairs would take.

All the more reason to send it off quickly.

I opened the shop and followed a straightforward process.

Good thing I kept the fragments.

The base repair cost 180,000 achievement points, but with the fragments, it dropped to 150,000.

Alone again, I found myself recalling the early days of the tower. What had once been an unimaginable sum now felt oddly trivial, something I could spend freely.

Lightning Essence only cost 45,000 points back then, right?

Prices had risen steadily as the trials advanced. At present, it would likely cost hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million points.

Ha Hee-Jeong had mentioned that someone had bought Lightning Essence in her previous life, but he had ended up not having enough for anything else, even dozens of floors later. He had managed it solely through clearing a hidden mission. Otherwise, for a lower-ranked climber, such a purchase was nearly impossible.

I myself had rarely spent points, but unlike others, I hadn’t truly needed the enhancements they provided.

That kind of resolve, though, was worthy of respect.

Of course, I had purchased Lightning Essence based on Ha Hee-Jeong’s advice. At the time, I had felt a trace of lingering regret since my choice could hinder another’s growth.

Later, I asked Ha Hee-Jeong about it.

She told me she made sure to help him.

Since he was also a mage, she had offered him conveniences, shared knowledge vital to a mage’s growth, and answered his questions. Sadly, he died on the twentieth floor.

His life had taken a different trajectory, the new path born from the butterfly effect that Ha Hee-Jeong and I had wrought. When I had expressed my regret, she had simply told me to conquer the tower and save him.

She wasn’t wrong.

Better that than letting him climb all the way to the ninetieth floor only to perish.

The value of a single life couldn’t be weighed, but in truth, we had already saved far more people than we had failed.

Now then, time to focus on conquering the tower.

Rest was but another form of training. With the armor sent for repair, it was time to eat, then stretch out on a bed and sleep.

***

[69 hours 40 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

I woke up after barely an hour of sleep, yet I felt surprisingly well rested.

Something had changed within me since I had obtained the Primordial God’s power. My believers’ prayers reached me more clearly, and resting had improved qualitatively. Even the shortest of respites was enough for me to recover.

Usually, after exerting myself as much as I had when I had killed Saboden, I would require at least five hours of sleep. After the change, an hour of sleep refreshed even my mind.

My newfound gains were proving greater than I had imagined.

Hmm.

Feeling significantly more clear-headed than before, I delved deeper into some of my previous musings.

Communicating directly with the tower in the training room hadn’t worked, but I was beginning to glean its intent. Even if I still wasn’t confident about all of its goals, the tower had undeniably led me to fragments that the Primordial God’s demise had left.

Is a challenger inherently related to the Primordial God?

If so, then Kalain would have received the same opportunities I had.

Thunder Axe had told me I was special, but perhaps the trials allotted to us weren't so different. If Kalain had gained the same powers, then facing him would become all the more difficult.

With that question in mind, I set out for Natalie’s world. I wasn’t sure if I would find an answer, but her reaction could serve as a clue.

After I crossed into her world with Two-Way Portal, Natalie warmly greeted, “How have you been?”

“Long time no see.”

I looked around for Gehenna and Hyang, but didn’t spot them.

“Well done. You are doing great.”

“There’s something I need to ask—”

Before I could even finish, Natalie smiled awkwardly, a trace of unease flickering across her expression. She already knew what I was about to say.

Still, I couldn’t leave the question unasked.

“It’s about the Primordial God, the tower, and what ties me and Kalain to them.”

Natalie hesitated, fidgeted, then finally answered.