Right after the Floor 71 clear,

Juhyeok met with Jeon Gwangil and handed over the Liberation Rune Necklace and the Ring of Appearance Transformation.

They were scheduled to be delivered to the French special envoy delegation through Jeon Gwangil’s hands.

The French government also faithfully carried out the contract.

Either way, climbing to Floor 71 and handing the necklace and ring over to the French government was the entirety of the main contract.

At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Korea’s cultural heritage items—already packaged in advance and waiting—departed for Incheon Airport by transport plane.

Over 900 pieces of old books and artwork, including Jikji (a famous early printed book), manuscripts from the Oegyujanggak Royal Archives, the travel chronicle Record of the Journey to the Five Indian Kingdoms, and paintings by Kim Hong-do....

All of them would become Juhyeok’s personal collection. The contract explicitly stated it that way.

The country would borrow them and display them in museums.

Since a private individual owning national treasures could be a problem, the public-facing framing was set as “returned to Korea.”

Even just this would more than cover the building price.

If he could sell it, that is.

The next day, Juhyeok used another Multinational Tower Use Ticket and entered a Tower again.

Temporary naturalization?

He had tried it once, and that was enough.

At first, the novelty made it fun—running around saying “bonjour” and “merci,” messing around like an idiot.

But it wasn’t very entertaining.

The naturalization process was annoying,

and it meant having to meet embassy staff again.

Deputy Commissioner Jeon Gwangil also looked like he would rather Juhyeok not do temporary naturalization.

How much of a burden would it be for the Administration?

The country’s top Player doing temporary naturalization again.

He could just get more tickets as rewards.

Surprisingly, they dropped well.

He had picked up one each from Black Tower (Korea) Floor 71 and Floor 73.

Was it because the reward odds had gone up?

‘If I really get desperate, I can rest and kill time matching rune shards or something.’

Black Tower (France) Floor 72.

The mission rewards included high-grade Magic Stones, weapons, equipment items, and more.

What, did he come for the rewards?

He came to rob the treasure vaults.

The superior magical beast Hydra and Necromancer Norma weren’t even threats.

Not in front of the Mad Demon when the Mad Demon got serious about clearing.

The problem was the treasure vaults.

Would it really...?

“HURK!”

Rajix threw both hands into the air, as if surrendering.

“LONG LIVE!!!”

“The cosmic master thief Rajix stands before you.”

“Truly the greatest divine thief under the heavens.”

“Supply Officer, CERTAIN VICTORY!”

Floor 72 Necromancer Dungeon treasure vault location-transfer complete.

And then,

Floor 73 Norton Kingdom treasure vault location-transfer complete.

Fortunately,

there was no mass slaughter from the “stands crescent-boomerang doing-the-wave” incident on Floor 73.

Only the king was killed.

That was the Mad Demon’s consideration, keeping Juhyeok’s mental health in mind.

*****

SPOT!

Juhyeok returned to the penthouse with the group.

Truly a majestic Tower band of thieves.

A measly 1.3 trillion won?

One big score and it was nothing.

“Are we becoming thieves?”

“Sir Cossack has been a thief since forever—no, a bandit, you mean.”

“Compared to the cosmic master thief Rajix, I’m nothing.”

“WAAH!”

“Look at that cosmic master thief face, arrogance piercing the sky. You really have to steal big if you’re going to steal at all.”

He felt a little guilty about looting another country’s Tower treasure vaults, but honestly, if it wasn’t Rajix, who else could even bring those treasures out?

Alright—start handing out merit and rewards, fast.

A badge award ceremony.

He decided to give everyone one each.

No need to be stingy.

The summoned entities’ skill upgrades were Juhyeok’s own upgrades.

This time, there were three upgrade recipients.

Cossack, Veronica, and the Mad Demon—five each.

What skill did Cossack raise to LSSR?

FWAAH!

Five badges seeped into Cossack’s body and vanished.

“It’s an upgrade to my stealth skill. Nobody can find me. Even the Mad Demon elder will struggle.”

Sluuurk,

Cossack disappeared.

“Oho! Perfectly hidden. You were right.”

“Ehehehe,”

There wasn’t even a trace of presence.

Sound could still be heard, but it was impossible to tell what direction it came from.

“If Meatshield wants to flick my forehead, Meatshield will have to find me first.”

Tsk, tsk.

So it was all to dodge a forehead flick in the end?

He could just stop doing things that deserved one.

Still, it didn’t seem like it lasted very long.

Cossack reappeared with a sluuurk, and the Mad Demon gave a crooked smile.

“Premature. The duration is short.”

“Of course, is it not? An SSR grade using an LSSR skill makes the crotch tear apart.”

“At least you know your place.”

“Yes, sir!”

What about Veronica?

“Sergeant Veronica Caliber. It’s magical gunnery marksmanship. Overall attack power increases, accuracy gets corrected, and even ammunition consumption goes down.”

An efficient choice, fitting for Sergeant Veronica.

If you’re a soldier, you should shoot well.

“I like it. There’s only Sergeant Veronica.”

Veronica snapped heels together—CLACK!—then raised the right hand sharply—SNAP!—and saluted.

“CERTAIN VICTORY!”

Booounce!

Then the Mad Demon?

Something was a little strange.

For Cossack and Veronica, as soon as it hit five badges, the badges were absorbed into the body, but for the Mad Demon, nothing happened.

Why didn’t the Mad Demon absorb them?

Was an LSSR grade different?

“You need a skill to upgrade first. I have already reached the ultimate for them all.”

What?

If he didn’t even need them, why take them?

There was no reason to put them on him.

“Still, do not take them away from me. Someday, they will all have their use, won’t they?”

Hmm.

Use them for what?

That sounded a little suspicious.

It felt like there was something there.

‘Well. Maybe it’s just symbolic—wearing them around.’

If it was the Mad Demon, it was fine.

It wasn’t a waste.

Now the final remaining order.

A cumulative total of 91 Platinum Badges.

It was time to check the perk.

“Honestly, I don’t even expect anything anymore. It keeps giving me weird items and stuff.”

The Mad Demon tilted the head.

“Hmm? What did you receive as the previous perk?”

“...Uh, it wasn’t good. Trash.”

He couldn’t tell the Mad Demon about the Tower Occupation Proclamation Loudspeaker.

If he did, the Mad Demon would obviously insist on using it immediately and taking another country’s Tower.

“Trash, I see. I understand. Whatever comes out, it will not be the same as before.”

The Mad Demon’s expression turned heavy.

“Now that the Liberation Rune Necklace is being freed, the Tower’s mischief will reach its extreme.”

No—fine, even if it messes around, it still has to give something worthwhile.

At this point, shouldn’t Trait Enhancement show up at least once?

If it gave him dice or a loudspeaker again, he was going to flip the table.

A new family member was coming too.

With a tense heart, Juhyeok opened Inventory and checked the newly obtained badge.

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

“Please, Trait Enhancement!”

“Let Trait Enhancement come out.”

“Trait Enhancement, sir.”

“May you be victorious, Master Bong.”

“My lord! May you seize Trait Enhancement.”

“Hoa!”

[Perk : Trait...]

“Uaaagh, traaaaiiittt....”

[Perk : Trait Addition Rune will be issued to your Tower-Only Inventory.]

“...Huh?”

Not Trait Enhancement—Trait Addition.

He almost shouted the moment he heard the word “Trait” and then stopped.

‘...What is this now??

An item he’d never seen before.

<Trait Addition Rune,>

Effect: Adds one more Trait and evolves into a dual Trait.

Limit: The added Trait is random. If the same Trait appears, it enhances the existing Trait.

‘Dual Trait?’

It meant giving one more Trait.

For example, if he randomly gained a Trait called [Swordsmanship], then Juhyeok’s Status Window would become—

[Trait] : Summoning (Simultaneous Summons: 7) / Swordsmanship (Enhancement Stage 1)

Like that?

‘That’s... ambiguous.’

The limit almost looked better.

“If the same Trait appears, it enhances the existing Trait.”

If he got lucky, he might achieve Trait Enhancement one more time...

“What did you get?”

“A Trait Addition Rune.”

“Ah!”

“That?”

“Hmm.”

The summoned entities’ faces didn’t look great.

“Is this trash too?”

The Mad Demon answered for everyone.

“It is not bad. If a Trait is added, skills will increase as well, and the summoner’s power will grow accordingly.”

Right.

It wasn’t replacing or removing anything.

It was adding.

“However, of all times, it had to be now. At a time when the Liberation Rune Necklace is being freed... this may also be mischief.”

The Mad Demon continued.

“There are countless kinds of Player Traits. Among them are many Traits that influence human emotions. [Berserker], [Blood], [Heavenly Slaughter Star], [Monstrous Strength and Uncanny Gods]—if such things are added as Traits?”

Ah.

He understood.

“I reason cannot defeat emotion. Humans are emotional animals, are they not?”

If Juhyeok used the Trait Addition Rune and the random added Trait was [Berserker]?

He would become a summoner who went crazy and rampaged.

The kind of summoner who charged out first the moment a battle broke out.

And he also wouldn’t be able to invest in Trait Enhancement.

If he had enhancement runes, he should use them on the Summoning Trait—why would he use them elsewhere?

“It doesn’t seem very necessary.”

“Exactly. You can use it for killing time, but as I said, if this is mischief, a strange Trait could be added.”

No matter who those bastards were, they were laying traps everywhere.

Inside the Tower, and in reality.

Right now, focusing on his core Trait was more urgent.

What would he even do with one extra Trait?

‘Don’t use it right now.’

If the same Trait came out and it led to enhancement, nothing could be better.

But the odds were slim, the risk was big, and just like the loudspeaker, this was going to the Inventory pile.

‘Tsk. At this rate, do I have to do some kind of ritual cleansing for the next perk??

Anyway, he’d checked everything.

He would hand over the looted items to Deputy Commissioner Jeon Gwangil for sales agency, and rest hard.

Until the random summoning reuse cooldown reset.

And time passed quickly.

*****

The landscape of Tower clearing across the world was changing.

The collapse time limit no longer mattered.

Toward the Floor 71 where milk and honey flowed—

At the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Minister MacMillan and Director Antonio were also seriously agonizing over this change.

Originally, the plan was to push only the East Coast Tower up to Floor 71.

They had judged that the West Coast Tower would be disastrous if it collapsed, so it shouldn’t be raised too high.

Truly, the West Coast Tower was a headache.

So what if there were multiple Towers?

What was good about that?

There was no benefit.

It just added one more collapse time bomb.

Even high-grade Magic Stone production—

It depended purely on the number of Players and their activity level.

So there was some benefit you could get when there were multiple Towers.

The four-item gift set you received upon reaching Floor 71.

Anyone who climbed first received it.

The only Player who could currently reach West Coast Tower Floor 71 was Gerald.

Because the undead section around the 60s blocked the way.

It served as a kind of defensive line.

They said the difficulty had dropped a lot compared to before, but it was still extremely hard for ordinary Players to climb through that section.

And it wasn’t like they loaned out holy swords to just anyone.

But lately, the atmosphere wasn’t normal.

Player activity was exploding.

Especially after the full opening of the Korean Player Shop.

All over the world, it spread like a fad for Players to visit the TOWER PLAYER AWAKENING ADMINISTRATION, Korea Player Shop and buy items.

There was no need to explain what a gear advantage did to a Player.

Players whose abilities improved.

There were even Players appearing who were breaking through the undead section using only Holy Water.

Because of that, the undead section’s defensive line was collapsing.

A major threat to America.

What if an uncontrolled Player climbed to Floor 71?

“What about Gerald?”

“Repeating Floor 71 clears.”

The Korean government distributed information to the world.

If possible, they said to stop after doing only the basic missions on Floor 72 and Floor 73. And if a conditional clear appeared, never proceed—absolutely.

They explained the detailed reasons as well.

For that reason, they were currently blocking Gerald’s Floor 72 climb.

“Is Gerald complying?”

“Not a chance. Gerald was offended. Gerald said it was treating Gerald like a joke.”

Of course.

A Korean Player had cleared up to Floor 73 with an S+++ rank.

“Hm. Then we’ll clear the West Coast Tower to Floor 71 as well. Approval came down from the White House. Tell Gerald.”

Director Antonio nodded and asked.

“What about borrowing a holy sword? Should we prepare to go to Korea?”

“No. This time, with holy water. I want to verify whether it truly works without a holy sword.”

“It will be possible. As long as there’s enough holy water.”

The U.S. government was feeling a sense of crisis.

There was still a four-item gift set remaining on West Coast Tower Floor 71.

Before someone else snatched it, the U.S. government had to secure it first.

Peaceful daily life continued.

Lazing around at home, and if he got bored, going outside to laze around.

Sometimes he went into Black Tower (Korea) too.

Just in case the treasure vaults had regenerated—

But while all the clearing targets had respawned, the treasure vaults had not.

The location itself had disappeared entirely.

He wasn’t disappointed.

There were 145 Black Towers on Earth.

Someday, another chance would come.

The four treasure vaults Rajix had looted,

the high-quality items that came out of them,

they were selling at a terrifying speed.

Juhyeok’s account grew rich along ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ with it.

And was it only good for Juhyeok?

Players’ abilities rose explosively.

Repeated clearing became safer, and climbing uncleared upper floors went smoothly.

The UAE also bought dozens of items at the Player Shop.

While already there, the UAE borrowed a holy sword and cleared Floors 60 and 61 without Juhyeok’s help.

Crown Prince Bin Salah had left a gift for Juhyeok with Deputy Commissioner Jeon Gwangil as a sign of gratitude, but he could receive it later.

With nothing but good things happening like this—

Juhyeok’s penthouse, of all places, was a sea of tears.

“Meatshield, let’s definitely meet again in two weeks.”

·A warrior is the summoner’s shield. Just wait a little. The summoner is the warrior’s reason and meaning for living.”

Aaaah!

How could anyone hold back tears?

Juhyeok slowly pinned badges onto Meatshield’s chest, until it reached 25.

Then he put the Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune (conditional) into Meatshield’s hand.

Now it was time to leave, for the LSSR breakthrough.

Gyeon Dallae lowered the head and dabbed tears with a sleeve, and Lucius Bardin clutched Meatshield’s hand and wouldn’t let go.

Veronica and Rajix stood at attention and saluted, paying respect to Meatshield as Meatshield left.

Even the Mad Demon patted Meatshield’s shoulder.

Only Cossack wore a sullen expression.

“Someone would think we lost the country. We’ll see Meatshield again in two weeks, won’t we?”

“You’re really cold. At least pretend to be sad.”

When Juhyeok shoved him, Cossack did it reluctantly.

“G-go safely.”

“Take care of the summoner in my place.”

“...Fine. Trust me.”

Even if he acted like that, he had to be worried about Meatshield.

Then—

“Dismiss Meatshield.”

SPOT!

With Meatshield gone,

he wiped away the depressed mood completely.

“Shall we welcome a new family member?”

The random summoning reuse time had come back.

Let’s call someone quickly.

First, take out the ticket.

“I’m excited.”

“I believe a fine person will come.”

That’s right.

RRRIP!

Juhyeok tore the ticket.

[You have used an LSSR Guaranteed Summon Ticket.]

[On your next random summoning, an LSSR-ranked summoned entity will be summoned with certainty.]

“Random Summoning!”

It started.

Hwaaaaaaat!

Clusters of light blooming here and there.

Vivid, multicolored hues—

In an instant! Papapap!

The lights vanished.

Did it appear?

Where was it?

It wasn’t there.

He rubbed his eyes and searched again, but still couldn’t see anything.

“Um... can summoning fail too?”

“That cannot be. Who would dare refuse Master Bong’s call?”

But what was this?

It wasn’t there.

Right then!

“WAAH...”

Rajix lifted a short arm and pointed in a direction.

And then someone came into view. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

A person crouched with the head shoved into the corner of the living room.

He couldn’t see the face.

Only the back was visible.

From the hairstyle and clothes, she seemed female, but—

<Catalog: A wildly social-anxious shut-in alchemist, holed up in a room.>

Name: Aliamari,

Rank: LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare)

Type: Alchemist (Elf)

Manifestation Time Limit: 3 hours

Satisfaction Evaluation: None.

Resummon Cooldown: 6 hours (applies after dismissal)

‘...What on earth??

An LSSR shut-in loner?

And it’s an elf, too.

“Um....”

When Juhyeok spoke.

Flinch!

She trembled all over—

then slid a piece of paper with writing on it across the living room floor.

Of course, it was in Korean.

The paper said:

Sorry. It’s hard to answer. It’s been too long since I spoke out loud.

Hmm.

What should he do?

So Juhyeok wrote on that paper too.

Nice to meet you, Ms. Aliamari. Welcome.

He slid it over.

Scritch scritch, she wrote again and slid it back.

-I’ll work hard. Please call me Mari.

Well, she could communicate. That was a relief.

It didn’t look like a serious personality disorder.

More importantly—

An alchemist.

‘A production-class type?’

And for some reason, he liked it.

Maybe it was solidarity.

Like recognizing another weak man.

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