America’s top Player, Gerald, borrowed a holy sword from Korea and cleared the East Coast Tower Floor 70 Kabalan Copy.

And the next day.

He entered East Coast Tower Floor 71, received the four-gift set—Ring of Appearance Transformation, Potion of Disease Treatment, Rejuvenation Elixir, and Liberation Rune Necklace—and handed them over to Director Antonio.

The West Coast Tower was still on Floor 68.

They would decide whether to clear it after checking the situation.

It seemed like they would have to clear the West Coast Tower soon, too.

Because someone might climb the West Coast Tower first and snatch the four-gift set.

The Floor 70 boss, Kabalan... was easier than expected.

Not only that.

Floor 68 and 69, too.

It felt like the overall difficulty had dropped sharply.

Then what about Floor 71?

“Antonio.”

“Hm? Gerald, what is it?”

“I’m thinking of clearing Floor 71... what do you think?”

“Ah! Clear it outright?”

“Either way, the Collapse Countdown stopped meaning anything. It stacks now.”

Director Antonio hesitated for a moment.

It was something they’d discussed already.

They had received information about Floor 71 from the Korean government, too.

And it was true—since the Collapse Countdown stacked, there was no reason to put it off.

If they’d climbed to Floor 71 anyway, trying to fully clear it wouldn’t be bad.

Depending on the difficulty, they could decide about the West Coast Tower clear as well.

“...Can you do it? You know it’s kind of unusual.”

“Hah. What’s the problem? It’s basically a game anyway.”

“Fine. I’ll submit it.”

Director Antonio relayed Gerald’s intent to Minister MacMillan, and Minister MacMillan reported it to the White House.

And so, with White House approval, America’s East Coast Tower Floor 71 clear was decided.

[You are entering America Black Tower (NO.1) Floor 71.]

The safe zone was inside a log cabin.

He opened the door.

Sliiiide.

A mission appeared.

Last time, he’d only taken the gifts and exited.

Now it was a full clear.

In Gerald’s eyes, the village was a hellscape.

<Pommelle Mercenary Company member> slaughtered villagers with name tags floating above their heads.

The stench of blood and screams spread through the entire village.

Children were being kidnapped.

Adults tried to block them.

Even so, Gerald remained calm.

He checked his gear, and even layered buffs over his body.

In the middle of that, a middle-aged woman trying to protect the children was cut down by a mercenary’s blade.

A grown boy who charged with a rock after his mother died had his throat cut, too.

Gerald didn’t even blink.

That kind of thing was all scripted.

What reason was there to save them?

Just think about the mission.

If you show pointless sympathy and rush in, you only put yourself in danger.

Alright, then—start the clear.

First, the mercenary members roaming around looting alone.

Gerald didn’t hesitate.

Humans?

So what?

Maybe it’d be different outside, but this was the Tower.

Monsters or humans.

They were clear targets that had to be killed.

FWOOOOSH!

He killed them with fireballs,

Slice!

and killed them with his sword.

‘Easy.’

It was nothing.

Even easier than orcs.

He killed them steadily.

Even the ones who ran—he chased them to the end and killed them.

[Pommelle Mercenary Company members defeated 20/20]

[You have succeeded in Floor 71 Basic Mission.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Reward : Magic Stones 1.1kg/ high-grade Magic Stones 6kg]

“Seriously.”

It was absurd.

This was a Floor 71 mission?

[Would you like to continue the Additional Choice Mission?]

[If you refuse, you will exit the Tower with a mission success judgment.]

Additional Choice Mission?

Of course he should do it.

<Vice-Captain James of the Pommelle Mercenary Company>

He killed him in a single stroke.

[You have completed the Additional Choice Mission.]

[Reward : Tower-Only Holy-Power Holy Water]

He got the reward, too.

‘...Holy water?’

A new item.

He’d check it after getting out.

[Would you like to continue the High-Difficulty Choice Mission?]

He would continue no matter what.

Abandon a mission this easy?

<Captain Pommelle of the Pommelle Mercenary Company>

‘The boss?’

Seems like it.

He even used sword aura.

He looked like he had around a jungle troll’s level of martial power.

But.

Slice!

Gerald took his head without much trouble.

[You have completed the High-Difficulty Choice Mission.]

And then?

[Reward : Liberation Rune Necklace.]

‘Huh?’

Gerald jolted.

‘The reward...’

A Liberation Rune Necklace?

‘It was that common?’

No doubt.

It was that necklace.

An item that liberated a Player’s abilities even in reality.

‘Hmm.’

What should he do with this?

Hand it over to the U.S. government?

Not a chance.

Why would he hand it over?

The reward process wasn’t captured on a bodycam. There was no way to know what was inside his Inventory.

He would keep the Liberation Rune Necklace.

He couldn’t give it to anyone.

This was his.

‘This is fun.’

Gerald’s face was full of anticipation.

The day he tested his power in reality wasn’t far away.

Then came the final, extreme-difficulty choice mission of Floor 71.

A voice came from above.

“Oh dear? What do we do—now I’m going to get scolded by my master again.”

A woman’s voice from the empty air.

Necromancer Kate Loreang, using fly magic.

Gerald, a magic swordsman, hadn’t learned fly magic.

Maybe he could learn it if he did Trait Enhancement a few more times, but—

“You look kind of strong. Right?”

Did he need to listen to ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) her rambling?

Gerald immediately launched a fire spear.

FWOOOOSH!

But casually—

SPOT!

Necromancer Kate Loreang dodged with blink.

“I memorized your face, you know. I’ll come with Master Norma and kill you—tear you into pieces and throw you to my pet chimeras. See you next time. Bye.”

Damn it!

SHWAAAK!

Kate fled fast.

He fired spells like crazy and even shot a crossbow, but—

“Lost her.”

If the fight had actually happened, it wouldn’t have been hard.

But her escape speed was fast, she had a barrier and blink—he could never catch her.

[You have failed the Extreme-Difficulty Choice Mission.]

But it was fine.

Just getting the Liberation Rune Necklace as a reward was satisfying enough.

[You may challenge Floor 72.]

[Exiting America Black Tower (NO.1).]

Gerald exited the Tower.

“Hm? You came out faster than I expected. Wasn’t it hard?”

“It was way too easy. It wasn’t even as hard as the thirties.”

“Really? Then what about the rewards?”

“High-grade Magic Stones, and this.”

Gerald handed the Tower-Only Holy-Power Holy Water to Director Antonio.

“It’s called holy water. Send it to the lab and verify it.”

“Oh! A new item.”

Of course, he didn’t mention the Liberation Rune Necklace he had obtained as a reward.

*****

Namyangju villa.

The Mad Demon’s manifestation time limit ran out, and he returned.

After showing the force-crescent boomerang wave on Floor 73, that is.

The spectators who had believed they were safe—sitting comfortably in the stands, enjoying bloodsport—were swept away in a single wave.

“Old man, that’s hot. The scale isn’t even comparable.”

Right.

The Mad Demon—the ultimate mass-killing monster.

Floor 73, where the difficulty suddenly spiked.

Still, there was nothing to worry about.

I didn’t know what missions would come next, but with the Mad Demon alone, even if an entire division swarmed us, there’d be nothing to fear.

Anyway, there was too much to check.

In three hours, I’d summon the Mad Demon again and we’d have to do the badge award ceremony.

First, the Multinational Tower Use Ticket from the Additional Choice Mission reward.

That made... five total? Or six?

A decent reward.

The more, the better.

The more you have, the better.

Keep it.

Then the High-Difficulty Choice Mission reward.

Liberation Rune Necklace (2).

Two at once.

“Why is it dropping so much? It’s not like I can just smash them.”

“I am worried. It feels as though the Tower is openly distributing the necklaces.”

“We should start getting tense.”

Melt them down in a smelter?

No.

Maybe I’d need them someday.

So I kept those in my Inventory, too.

My level was 74, so I had plenty of Inventory space.

The highlight was the Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune.

But before checking it—

Clearing Floor 73 at S+++ earned me two more badges.

So what was my cumulative total now?

Eighty-five in all.

Then?

That meant I could receive a perk.

“Alright! Let’s check the perk.”

“Should I shout the drumroll?”

“Shout it loud.”

“Do we do a ritual?”

“That’s after we hit one hundred.”

“For that day, I shall prepare with utmost sincerity.”

Please let it be something good.

[You will receive a perk for accumulating 85 Platinum Badges.]

“Dududududududududu...”

[Perk : Tower Occupation Proclamation Loudspeaker will be issued to your Tower-Only Inventory.]

“...”

What the hell...

“...Occupation?”

What?

“...Tower?”

In what way—

“...Loudspeaker?”

An item I’d never heard of.

But the effect was at a jaw-dropping level.

<Tower Occupation Proclamation Loudspeaker>

Effect : Using the loudspeaker, you ‘proclaim’ Tower ‘occupation’ in [World Notice] format. Ten days after the proclamation, you forcibly occupy a specific country’s Tower and incorporate it into the user’s nationality. Midway cancellation is possible. There is no limit on the number of uses.

Limit : You may only proclaim to countries below the average Tower clearing progress. In addition, the target country is granted ‘defense rights.’

“What is this, even?”

Doesn’t this mean forcibly stealing another country’s Tower?

It was a truly insane item.

Of course, it wasn’t unrestricted.

There were limits.

Only countries below the average Tower clearing progress.

And defense rights granted.

I didn’t know the exact details of “defense rights,” but—

It looked like a toy.

Click! I flipped the switch on.

[Tower occupation proclamation is available.]

Click! I turned it off again.

“No, seriously. This is...”

Only now did I realize.

World conquest—the thing the Mad Demon talked about.

It wasn’t some vague, impossible fantasy.

The summoned entities looked shocked, too.

But their faces also said, it finally came.

“...What do we do?”

“I am sorry, but this girl has nothing to say. I will only follow Master Bong’s decision.”

And Cossack?

“...I’ll stay by your side to the end.”

What did “stay by your side” mean?

If I used this wrong, I could die.

“Senior Veronica Caliber, before using the loudspeaker, you need a preemptive strike. It would be best used after crushing the enemy’s will to resist, to plant the final flag.”

War?

Well, if I used it, war was guaranteed.

This was more grotesque and terrifying than a Liberation Rune Necklace.

A Tower standing on a country’s territory would no longer belong to that country.

A country that lost its Tower would no longer be able to claim the byproducts—Magic Stones and everything else.

If it didn’t like that, it could even stop climbing the uncleared upper floors and force a collapse.

A Tower imperialism item.

A colonial occupation item.

A colonial exploitation item.

A colonial oppression item.

And an item that provoked war.

My head was a mess.

Did they really make this for me to use?

I would seal it. No matter what.

No one could know about it.

“Let’s... act like that perk never existed.”

The summoned entities nodded.

“Keep it secret from the Mad Demon, too.”

Nodnod.

Forget it all.

“Let’s check the highlight reward.”

The Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune.

I checked the info immediately.

<Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune (conditional)>

Effect : Evolve 5 skills of an SSR-ranked summoned entity into LSSR to break through the rank. On success, the SSR-ranked summoned entity rises to LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare).

“I knew it.”

A rune that makes a summoned entity LSSR.

But instead of raising the rank itself in one shot, it evolved five skills to LSSR.

That seemed to be the standard for LSSR.

Five LSSR skills.

So what was the condition?

Condition : Only Barbarian Meatshield may use it.

‘Ah...’

Well, I expected that, too.

The mission itself had been tied to him.

There were limits as well.

First limit—

Limit : When the rune is used, Barbarian Meatshield will be unable to be summoned for about 2 weeks.

‘Mm. I don’t like that.’

How am I supposed to live without seeing him for two weeks?

Second limit—

Limit : 25 Platinum Badges are consumed as breakthrough materials. The current number of badges needed for Barbarian Meatshield is 22.

‘...’

The rune should’ve been enough—why do badges have to be required, too?

Such a waste.

Should I just not do it?

But something was strange.

It said the breakthrough material was 25 Platinum Badges, but the number needed for Meatshield was 22.

“...Hm. Maybe.”

The total number of Platinum Badges I had obtained so far was 85.

And how many badges had I awarded to summoned entities?

Meatshield 3, Cossack 3, Gyeon Dallae 3, Mad Demon 3, Veronica 4, Bardin 3, and Deputy Commissioner Jeon Gwangil 1.

Rajix had quite a lot.

He absorbed five badges he’d received before into his body to upgrade one skill, and right now he was wearing three—so eight total.

That made 28 in all.

Fifty-seven physical badges remained in my Inventory.

Meatshield already had three badges I’d given earlier.

So maybe that was why only 22 were needed.

‘Let’s test it.’

I called Meatshield.

Then I removed the badge pinned to his chest again.

“S-Summoner... did the warrior do something wrong?... Sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll put it back on.”

Now Meatshield had two badges pinned.

Then I checked the breakthrough rune limit again.

Limit : The current number of badges needed for Barbarian Meatshield is 23.

‘So it includes the ones pinned to his chest—making 25.’

Then was the rune really necessary?

Before, when I pinned five badges onto Rajix, his exploration skill had gone up to LSSR.

If I pinned 25 badges onto summoned entities too, and evolved five skills one by one—

That meant rank-up to LSSR was possible without the breakthrough rune.

But I couldn’t just pin them on recklessly.

There was a restriction: when awarding a badge, the giver’s and receiver’s feelings had to align.

They had to earn enough merit for both sides to accept it.

So if I assumed I pinned one badge each time they earned merit...

‘It would take a very long time.’

Probably months or more.

‘Is that why the breakthrough rune exists?’

The Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune skipped that entire process—as long as you had 25 Platinum Badges.

Along with two weeks of time, that is.

On the other hand—

‘It might be useless for Rajix.’

Probably.

How much merit had our cosmic bald farmhand earned?

Even now, if he received just two more badges, he could raise another skill to LSSR.

‘Either way, I’m going to need a lot of badges.’

Should I retrieve the one badge I gave Deputy Commissioner Jeon Gwangil?

No. That was shameless.

There was nothing more petty than giving something and taking it back.

I needed to obtain badges another way.

Temporary naturalization, or Multinational Tower Use Tickets.

Now I understood exactly what the Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune was.

An item that helps an SSR-ranked summoned entity rise to LSSR in a short time.

Then what would Meatshield choose?

After I explained the breakthrough rune in detail—

“The warrior understands.”

Meatshield pondered for a moment.

Then—

“The warrior will use the breakthrough rune. And become LSSR, to protect the summoner.”

It was basically decided already.

But I wasn’t going to send him off in a hurry.

“If you use the breakthrough rune, I won’t see you for two weeks, so play all you want first, then use it.”

“Until when?”

“Let’s see... the random summoning day isn’t far, so... right before random summoning?”

“The warrior will follow the summoner’s words.”

Random summoning.

It really wasn’t far.

And this random summoning already had an LSSR-ranked summoned entity decided.

If it happened like this, how many would that be?

The existing Mad Demon, Meatshield after rank-up, and a new summoned entity joining—three total.

The best possible combat power.

It was basically a balance collapse.

Anyway, Meatshield becoming LSSR was only a matter of time.

Everyone congratulated him.

Except Cossack.

“How am I supposed to look at Meatshield from now on?”

“...Just look at him normally.”

“I’m joking. If I mess around and get flicked on the forehead, I’ll seriously die.”

That’s true.

An LSSR forehead flick wouldn’t be ordinary power.

“Meatshield, when you become LSSR, you won’t flick me on the forehead, right?”

“...”

“You won’t, right?”

“...”

“Please say you won’t. Please. I was wrong.”

Gyeon Dallae snickered, too.

“I’m looking forward to an LSSR forehead flick. I want to hear that exhilarating explosion again.”

“...Then the Princess can take one, can’t you?”

“Surely Meatshield wouldn’t flick a fragile young girl on the forehead?”

Meatshield went stone-faced.

“The warrior is fair to everyone. Except our summoner.”

“...”

Now only the badge award ceremony remained.

I had to summon the Mad Demon again, too.

By the way—Rajix?

No way he came back empty-handed, right?

Maybe I was being greedy, but—

“Rajix.”

“Huh?”

“This time, you didn’t get anything?”

In that moment—grin!

Rajix loosened the Subspace Backpack from his shoulder with a greasy smile.

“Huh! D-Don’t tell me?”

“Waaah....”

He flipped the bag upside down and shook it.

Thududududududududu...

Items poured out endlessly.

“My god...”

You looted another treasure vault?

I wondered why you took Cossack with you.

“HURK?!”

Bandit Rajix.

It was insane.

So much I couldn’t even speak.

The Necromancer’s Dungeon treasure vault wasn’t even comparable.

How many badges do I need to award?

‘If I award Rajix just two more badges...’

Ten total.

Then another skill upgrade.

It was certain now.

For Rajix, the Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune was completely useless.

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