Chapter 30: The Floor of Tests (10)
White ice covered the entire area.
The cold was so bitter that my breath escaped in white puffs on its own.
The Chief Examiner downed the wine like it was vodka, then tossed me the bottle.
"Want a drink?"
"Uh… thank you."
I took a sip and handed it to Hwarang.
It was my first time drinking wine, but it tasted pretty good.
At this rate, I'm worried I'll end up becoming an alcoholic someday.
After taking the bottle back from Hwarang, the Chief Examiner introduced herself as Khun Royal Roma, then gave us a side-glance.
"Why are you still here instead of heading to the 3rd Floor?"
"Uh… fishing?"
"Kids from the Ten Great Families are usually desperate to climb even one floor faster, but you lot are something else. Fishing in a 2nd Floor testing area…And that Tu Perie kid asking ordinary Rankers to teach him bang control…"
Ah. So this is a testing area.
I scratched my head, laughed awkwardly, and quietly steered the topic elsewhere—obviously, toward the Bulls.
The kind of biological invader that shouldn't exist on the 2nd Floor at all—a top predator that, if hundreds of them lived here, would wipe out all other life on the floor.
And the fact that there were hundreds down there, and nobody noticed—that was the strange part.
"We noticed. It's just that this area hasn't been used in ages, so we only inspected it the other day."
Ah. Negligence.
She must've read the meaning in my eyes, because she suddenly snapped.
"I save your lives and this is the attitude I get? I swear—! Anyway, fishing's over. Get out!"
"We're patients, you see… so could you maybe take us back, Chief Examiner noona?"
"Hah. Pass a test and suddenly the Chief Examiner's your personal taxi now…!"
She grumbled, but still wrapped us in shinsu bubbles and sent us upward.
The higher we rose, the brighter it became.
At last, we emerged from the underground cavern.
Fighting amphibians wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience anyway.
Once she confirmed we'd safely landed, Roma leapt upward in a single bound, returning to the surface.
"Let's go. Oh—those things? I'll deal with them."
She casually waved her hand, and an ice crystal formed in the center of the cavern.
It absorbed more and more cold, swelling in size until it filled nearly half the chamber—then burst with a resounding bang, sending a blizzard roaring in every direction.
The frozen Bull statues shattered instantly, pulverized by the storm.
We followed Roma back to the floating island, walking down the hallway exhausted.
Far ahead, we saw Luf approaching, then excitedly running toward us.
"Hyungs! The Lightbearer training course is all finished! When are we going up to the 3rd Floor?"
"Ah, Luf. Sorry, we're a bit tired to—… huh?"
It was his first class. How is it "finished"?
Apparently, since Luf wasn't even taking the exam and was only attending out of sheer academic passion, a Test Administrator whose position was Lightbearer literally took a full day off to tutor him one-on-one at full power.
Well, the chance to personally teach Lightbearer techniques to someone from the Tu Perie Family must've been tempting.
Anyway—like Luf said—when should we go to the 3rd Floor?
Honestly, we'd done everything worth doing on the 2nd Floor: drank with the supervisors, watched the sunset over golden reed fields, camped by the night sea with a bonfire…
Fishing—let's skip that. You can fish anywhere, not just on the 2nd Floor.
We'd done everything we wanted.
We probably could go up immediately if we wanted… but…
"Luf. We're really tired. Let's sleep first, then go to the 3rd Floor tomorrow or the day after."
After Luf nodded enthusiastically, I staggered to my room like a zombie and collapsed onto my bed.
Hwarang wouldn't be much different.
Under the blanket, I stared blankly and started thinking.
The image of someone freezing an entire space with just a snap of their fingers kept replaying in my head.
Chief Examiner.
High Ranker.
Khun Royal Roma.
The power she showed was overwhelming—undeniably so.
It felt like an insult to even compare us, but she was obviously on a whole different level.
How long would it take for me to reach the realm she showed today?
Hundreds of years? Thousands?
What if… I never reach it?
Hoaquin—no, White—is fundamentally a demon who devours souls to grow endlessly.
I rejected that path outright.
Even so, the "me" who possessed Hoaquin has such overwhelming talent that I may end up stronger than the original Hoaquin from the story.
Even now, I'm growing at a ridiculous rate—so much so that the phrase "today's me is stronger than yesterday's me" fits perfectly, day after day.
And yet, a lingering anxiety rises within me.
By giving up Hoaquin's original method of growth with my own hands,
I can't help but worry about the consequences of that choice.
The Tower is vast, and it's filled with monsters stronger than I can imagine.
So I become anxious.
Impatient.
No matter how much people praise me—Arie's greatest talent among the direct line, winner of the Tournament—none of it matters if I don't trust myself.
'…I am strong, right…?'
Anyone else hearing this would probably roll their eyes, but everyone has their own standard.
It's like a student who's always ranked first in the entire school panicking because they suddenly ranked third.
Now that I phrase it like that, I sound extremely obnoxious.
Pfft—
My thoughts drifted off, and I let out a helpless laugh.
I told Vicente not to get impatient—yet here I am, impatient myself.
Talk about hypocrisy.
Unlike Vicente, I don't have some grand dream like surpassing Arie Hon.
I just want to live comfortably and happily.
In a way, someone like me—with no dramatic turning point or lofty ambition like Albelda or Vicente—
chasing strength might be nonsense.
Chasing strength with nothing more than
"Well, I'd rather be strong if I can be," then getting anxious over it—when I look at myself that way, it does feel ridiculous.
"..."
…Ridiculous?
No. No, it's not.
It's not mere vanity.
Anyone living in the Tower—any Regular climbing upward—naturally seeks strength, even without a grand reason.
And someone like me, who possessed Hoaquin and now lives in a situation I once only fantasized about—
of course I dream.
A childish fantasy: "I'll become a strong one in the world of the Tower."
But I can actually make that fantasy real.
Something others can only dream of—
I can achieve it here, in this Tower, with this life.
I think that's enough.
With that justification, no one has the right to laugh at me.
I finally resolved the worries that had been occupying 60% of my mind and reached a conclusion.
My head feels clearer.
The reason I want to become strong is simple:
"Just because I want to be strong."
There's no need to overthink it.
No need to force some noble, dramatic motivation.
I want to be strong for no particular reason.
It's not going smoothly, so I get anxious.
And nobody has the right to say anything about that.
This is just who I am. So what?
Worries: over.
Thud, thud, thud.
I got up from the bed and headed toward the underground cavern.
Solving a question I'd unconsciously carried for four years at such an unexpected moment made my heart feel light.
I walked with a spring in my step and corrected my earlier thought.
I may get impatient, but I won't doubt myself anymore.
The Chief Examiner noona?
Obviously, there's no comparing us.
She's a High Ranker, and I'm just a 2nd Floor Regular.
She's overwhelmingly stronger.
But what about her control?
Is her shinsu manipulation overwhelmingly superior too?
I descended into the underground cavern and felt the lingering shinsu she had left behind.
Her shinsu control was flawless—perfect and polished.
Definitely superior to mine.
But not overwhelmingly so.
I thought back to when I first arrived at the Tower,
when I fought Barracuda on the 1st Floor.
Back then, the first time I sensed shinsu, I could feel each droplet of shinsu vibrating around me—one by one.
And eventually, I even spread my senses throughout the entire 1st Floor, feeling all the shinsu of that entire layer.
'Even though I haven't been able to do that again since.'
If I could reach that same level again—feeling the flow of shinsu across an entire floor and controlling it freely…
I clicked my tongue lightly and flexed my fingers as I moved the shinsu around me. I could definitely sense the flow better than before, but it still wasn't that feeling. That overwhelming sensation of spreading "roots" across an entire floor…
A fun theory suddenly came to mind, and the corner of my mouth lifted.
Looks like I won't be sleeping tonight.
"Since I've come all the way into the Tower, I should at least aim for a two-digit rank."
…..
The next day at noon, Hwarang finally woke up after a deep sleep and stretched.
When we headed to the cafeteria, we found Luf eating lunch with the test administrators.
Even the Chief Examiner—Khun Royal Roma—was sitting there with them like it was the most natural thing. The gap between yesterday's ice-wielding monster and the woman calmly having lunch now was so big it almost gave me whiplash.
…Well, either way, she seemed like a surprisingly decent superior.
"You know, our Luf here is an absolute genius! A genius! Anything he sees once, he can copy it perfectly! I've never seen a kid like this! And it's not because I taught him, no! Isn't that right, Roma?"
One of the test administrators enthusiastically thumped Roma's back while rambling. She could get away with it because the two were academy mates on this floor, and childhood friends before becoming Regulars.
Roma, who nearly choked mid-bite from the sudden back-slap, glared and grumbled irritably.
"Cut it out with that weird tone. Acting like some old man just because a kid got you wrapped around his finger…"
"Hah! Old man? I'm younger than you."
Hwarang approached Luff and glanced at the man.
A strange shinsu ripple.
A High Ranker.
A High Ranker working not as a Head Examiner, but just a regular test administrator?
So the rumors were true—the Rankers on the 2nd Floor really were all weird.
Is this the reason Luf insisted on taking training?
"Hey! You must be Hwarang! Haven't eaten yet, right? Come sit! Join us!"
Hwarang was practically dragged into a seat beside the administrators by the boisterous man.
"Hey, where's Hoaquin?"
"He's not awake? Must've been exhausted."
Speak of the devil. Hoaquin appeared from the left hallway, spotted us, and walked over with a faint smile.
"Hm?"
The moment Hoaquin approached, every test administrator turned to look at him. Even Roma glanced at him, eyes widening slightly, before quickly looking away.
"Oh…?"
Amadeus—the one who trained Luf—had clear curiosity in his gaze.
All the administrators looked at Hoaquin with a mix of surprise and interest, but Hoaquin didn't care. He simply greeted them politely before walking over to Luf.
"Luf, I'm thinking of going up to the 3rd Floor tomorrow. What do you think?"
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