#1
Hwanung watched the fight, his palms slick with sweat.
The Novice Swordsman.
There was only one, but how difficult this run would be depended on whether that swordsman survived.
Ten minutes.
He couldn’t draw another summon on this stage, but he would be able to once he moved on to the next.
“Krrk!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The swordsman’s hit-and-run tactics were clumsy but effective.
The idea was clearly to take the goblins down one at a time, making sure each was finished.
Right. Good choice.
After lopping off a goblin’s head with a sudden strike, the swordsman remained wary of being surrounded.
The goblins couldn’t approach recklessly either. They merely circled the swordsman.
Was it the skill’s effect? Every last goblin’s aggro was focused on the swordsman.
One minute felt like an eternity.
‘Twenty seconds left now.’
Another clash broke out.
The swordsman kicked back the first goblin to approach, then struck the head off another that was hesitating nearby.
A clean hit.
Three goblins remained, and one of them was sprawled on the ground, defenseless.
“Kieeeek!”
“Now two.”
The swordsman rushed over and stomped on its skull, getting drenched in goblin blood.
Perhaps the remaining goblins sensed the danger. They faltered, their will to fight wavering.
As the swordsman prepared to charge, Hwanung called out encouragement.
“Keep it up! Take those two down and you’ll have more comrades!”
“Yes, Master!”
It was almost time for a new summon to appear.
Seemingly heartened by the news, the Novice Swordsman hacked down the remaining goblins with renewed vigor.
[Stage Clear]
[You will advance to the next stage shortly.]
“So this is what it’s like.”
That first battle had given Hwanung a feel for things.
Building up his summons and evolving them to higher ranks would take a very long time.
But as time passed, his forces would naturally grow stronger.
Stronger than anyone else’s.
“Good work.”
“Thank you.”
He had thanked the Novice Swordsman on reflex.
The words came out without thinking, a deeply ingrained habit.
The swordsman bowed respectfully to Hwanung.
Was this what it felt like to be one of those conglomerate chairmen in movies or TV dramas?
Hwanung had never been treated with such deference in his life.
He had always been a Sherpa, providing support from the rear.
‘Wait. Doesn’t this mean I don’t need a Sherpa? Or a Climbing Club, for that matter?’
There was a reason people formed Climbing Clubs.
Towers were fundamentally designed to be impossible to clear alone.
Countless Climbers had already attempted solo runs, and every one of them had failed.
Even World Rankers with stats in the nineties needed crewmates to climb towers suited to their grade.
But what about him?
‘It’d be stranger if I didn’t go solo.’
For a summoner with 100 Mana, solo play was the only way.
He was smiling at the thought when the next stage began.
[Stage 2]
[Eliminate all enemies.]
[Goblin Count: 10]
[Time Limit: 5 minutes]
The second stage.
[Draw]
[Low-Level Mage has been summoned.]
“Come forth.”
“I shall serve you.”
A mage this time.
With both melee and ranged damage covered, this should be much easier.
Appearing in a flash of light, the mage spotted the enemies and swung a staff.
[Mana Cannon]
A sphere of pure white mana gathered at the staff’s tip, then shot toward the goblins at the mage’s command.
BOOOOM!
The Mana Cannon landed squarely between two goblins, blasting them both away in a massive explosion.
There were only two summons, but he had a working party composition.
The Mana Cannon threw the goblins into disarray, and the swordsman finished them off.
He didn’t forget to keep drawing summons, either.
“Everyone good on mana? Let’s keep moving.”
“Understood.”
A longer time limit meant more time to draw summons.
It wasn’t a factor yet, but longer stages would work to his advantage.
The goblins were swept away like leaves in an autumn wind.
[Stage 3]
[Eliminate all enemies.]
[Goblin Count: 20]
[Time Limit: 5 minutes]
He cleared the next stage without trouble, too.
This time, a shield bearer had been summoned. The shield bearer held the goblins back.
The perfect combination of tank, melee damage dealer, and ranged damage dealer was complete.
Hwanung folded his arms and watched his summons slaughter the goblins.
“Well done, Master.”
“Your command was superb.”
“You did all the hard work.”
What was so superb about it?
He hadn’t done anything.
Hwanung smiled sheepishly at their lavish praise.
Even so, he was already picturing what came next.
‘A tower with lots of stages would be good. I need to build up my numbers fast.’
There had to be towers with stages longer than ten minutes, or ones divided into lots of short stages.
Looking forward to his next climb, Hwanung finished his first.
It really had been no harder than a stroll up the neighborhood hill.
#2
Back in the real world, Hwanung headed straight home, looking things up on the way.
First, whether anyone else had a summoner avatar like his, one that fought with sheer numbers.
Second, which tower would be worth tackling next.
He scoured YouTube, forums, online community groups—every corner of the internet—but there didn’t seem to be any avatars like that.
Other people’s avatars cast spells, swung swords, or wielded telekinesis like superheroes.
None fought by summoning things and overwhelming the enemy.
“Maybe I should post about it.”
To keep anyone from identifying him, he would have to dress it up as some idle fantasy, a twist on a familiar hypothetical.
Hwanung opened a forum and wrote a question.
〈〈Could you solo if you rolled a summoner avatar?〉〉
[If you fought by swarming everything like a necromancer or a bunch of gangsters, you honestly wouldn’t even need a Climbing Club. Right? Anyone got an avatar like that?]
Comments poured in as soon as he posted.
Emboldened by anonymity, people let loose without restraint.
Their replies were savage, and they stung.
—Quit fantasizing.
—Another basement loser at it again;; An avatar like that would eat World Rankers alive.
└ Nah, you’d run out of mana anyway. lol
└ True, you could at least do without the Climbing Club members.
—Do those avatars even exist? Never heard of one.
└ Not as far as I know.
└ Why would anyone with that stay under the radar? They’d already be a famous streamer. lol
└ Upvote for facts.
└ That’s like winning the lottery. Who could resist streaming?
Right. Exactly what Hwanung already knew.
At least so far, there were no avatars like his.
He deleted the post and flopped onto his bed.
“Ha… This is seriously insane.”
Everything had changed while he slept.
He had even become the owner of a one-of-a-kind avatar.
Streaming, success, celebrity…
He had thought those things belonged to a world that had nothing to do with him.
‘I should set some goals. For starters, do a little more for Mom, Dad, and my younger sibling.’
His mother ran a small shop.
His much younger sibling was studying for entrance exams.
It would be nice if he could help them out, even a little.
Though being a good son was still a ways off when he had to scrape together the rent first.
To do that, he would have to farm Lux, skill books, and items.
At times like this, being unable to learn skills actually made things simpler.
He could turn them into cash without a second thought.
Hwanung picked up his smartphone to choose a tower.
“Should I follow the standard route, too? No.”
Another farming tower it was.
What he needed now wasn’t recognition. It was money, items, and summons.
Since he needed to draw summons, somewhere with plenty of stages would be good.
That made this place a perfect fit.
[Miner’s Tower]
[Stages: 10]
[Difficulty: Bukhansan]
[Expected Rewards: Lux, Stamina-related accessories, ‘Breath of Mana’ skill book]
The rewards were generous for its difficulty, and occasionally someone landed a jackpot item.
Above all, it was a place where he could obtain the [Breath of Mana] skill book.
With money so tight, Hwanung had no choice but to go where the rewards were plentiful.
If he could only run each tower once anyway, he was better off farming safely and strengthening his summons than jumping straight into competitive content.
For now, it was time to lie low like a sleeping dragon.
‘Soon. Just you wait.’
When he finally made his streaming debut, the whole world would be in for a shock.
Until then, Hwanung decided to quietly build his strength.
#3
[Entering tower.]
[Miner’s Tower]
[Stages: 10]
[Grade: Bukhansan]
Quite a crowd had gathered in the Miner’s Tower lobby.
People who didn’t belong to Climbing Clubs sometimes formed casual [Trekking Crews] for their climbs, so meeting up in the lobby was essential.
Hwanung, however, was walking toward the stage alone.
“Looks like that guy’s going solo.”
“He’s obviously a newbie. Leave him. He’ll be dead soon anyway.”
“Should we take him along? He might be a Driver.”
“Are you nuts? We can barely manage ourselves. Who are we taking along?”
Hwanung heard conversations like that all around him.
They scoffed at the sight of him about to enter a stage alone, freely offering their opinions.
It was only natural.
Solo play was utterly impossible in a tower.
There were, however, a few people who climbed towers for others in exchange for payment.
They were called [Drivers].
The term came from “bus driver.” In gaming slang, they were carries.
‘Oh, right. A lot of Drivers come here. Still, you need some pretty serious stats and gear, don’t you?’
Even a Bukhansan-grade tower required substantial stats, player skill, a solid skill set, and equipment, so very few people offered carries.
Forming a Climbing Club and reliably clearing higher-grade towers was far more profitable.
It simply wasn’t worth their time.
“Let’s go.”
His second tower—and the start of some serious farming.
[Stage 1]
[Reach the destination.]
[Monsters drop Lux or items.]
[Time Limit: 10 minutes]
“Draw. Then Summon.”
All the summons he had collected so far poured out.
They had only done this once, but they took their positions with practiced ease.
Hwanung stood at the very back.
The mage was in front of him, the swordsman on the flank, and the shield bearer at the front.
The newest addition was a [Monk].
A look at the skill set revealed a dedicated healer.
That completed his tank, damage, and healer composition.
Without needing any specific instructions, they settled into formation and awaited Hwanung’s orders.
He kept it short and simple.
“Let’s wipe out everything on the way.”
“Yes!”
They began surging through the tower like a raging wave.
The purpose of this climb was to farm items, so he intended to fight every monster they encountered.
“Chweek!”
“Fire! Don’t let it get away!”
[Mana Cannon]
BOOOOM!
The enormous sphere of mana blew an orc’s head off.
Despite being N-rank, the summons seemed capable of handling orcs without trouble.
As the orcs died, they spat out small white crystals.
This was Lux.
A new resource found in the towers.
“Lowest grade. Still, that’s fine.”
Even the lowest grade had plenty of uses.
The batteries in phones and other consumer electronics all contained this lowest-grade Lux.
Even this was something. Let’s keep moving.
Stuffing the Lux into his avatar’s inventory, Hwanung tore through the tower.
Each stage had a ten-minute limit, leaving him just short of being able to use Draw again after its cooldown.
A shame, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Skill cooldowns reset at the start of every stage.
After clearing nine stages that way, he had twelve N-rank summons.
Even if he used up ten, he would have two left. Time to give it a try.
Hwanung activated his skill.
“Evolve.”
[Please select the summons to evolve.]
‘Which ones do I have the most to spare…?’
“Three swordsmen, three archers, one monk, two shield bearers, and one mage.”
[Evolution in progress.]
The summons Hwanung selected turned to light and merged into one.
A single blond knight appeared.
His ornamented longsword looked well made, and his plate armor lent him an air of dignity.
The presence radiating from the handsome blond man seized Hwanung’s attention at once.
Hwanung faced his summon, delight written all over his face.
[R-rank Summon: ‘Apprentice Knight Lucas’]
[Strength: 34 / Mana: 15 / Stamina: 28 / Agility: 20]
[Skills: ‘In the Name of the Knight,’ ‘Kingdom Swordsmanship – Requihner,’ ‘Kingdom Swordsmanship – Schneiden’]
“I have answered your call, Master.”
An R-rank summon had arrived.
His stats alone put him beyond comparison with the N-ranks.
They were on par with an ordinary Climber’s avatar.
Hwanung smiled brightly.
“Let’s go to the next stage.”
[The boss stage will begin shortly.]
His uncontested run had only just begun.
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