Handcrafted enchantment production has been temporarily suspended.

Now it was time to prepare the transition to a mechanized, mass-enchantment production system.

To that end, a separate group chat was created.

The participants were the 9-circle mage Mackenzie, the homebody alchemist Aliamari, the magitech engineer El, the businessman Cossack, Commissioner Jeon Gwangil, and Jung Dong-hoon, CEO of Rajix Trading.

I think this every time, but the White Tower’s communications towers are seriously absurd.

People inside the Tower and people outside it can hold real-time conversations in an SNS group chat.

We didn’t spend the whole day just talking.

We also climbed the Tower.

There were things we needed to check.

First was Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.2), 84th Floor.

We needed to see whether Tower No. 2 also had the same high-grade Magic Stone vein, and whether naturally occurring top-grade Magic Stones existed there as well.

As expected, it was the same environment as Tower No. 1.

A snowy landscape, massive ice walls, a high-grade Magic Stone vein hidden inside a cave, and naturally occurring top-grade Magic Stones embedded in the cave walls.

Check complete.

I decided to leave this place alone for now.

Once the 84th-floor vein in Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.1) is exhausted, we’ll mine here then.

Next was Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.2), 85th Floor.

We needed to find out whether we could recover the mana core engine and other parts from the Gigant.

Naturally, El had to take another mana EMP hit.

I told him we could put it off, but El insisted that if we were going to do it anyway, we should just get it over with, so we decided to do the climbs back-to-back.

The vanguard was Rajix, El, Meatshield, Cossack, Mad Demon, and Bardin.

“The warrior is deeply moved. It finally feels like I’ve found my proper place.”

“I, too, can finally earn my keep, my lord. O Light.”

“Yes!”

Meanwhile, Cossack grumbled.

“Haah, I’m busy to death. We need to [N O V E L I G H T] finish this fast. I’ve got to go to North Korea and supervise a construction site. Time is money.”

He really had fully settled into his role as a businessman now.

Just a few days ago, he’d been throwing a huge tantrum about being left out.

He was unbelievably fickle.

And so, my summoned entities and I entered the 85th floor once more.

This was the prep for the raid.

Once again, El stepped forward.

Just one more hit.

There was exactly one mana EMP round left.

It was stored in the compartment on El’s left thigh.

Well, he said he could make more later anyway.

Next time, he’d probably modify it so the user wouldn’t be affected by the EMP.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

The Magnus Ego Gigant charged straight at us without hesitation.

Even though it had an Ego installed, it didn’t seem all that smart.

Its intelligence was far inferior to Earth’s AI technology.

BZZZ! FLASH! CRACK! POP-POP-POP-POP!

A wave of explosive light burst outward.

At the same time, both the Gigant and El froze.

“5 minutes. Let’s work.”

First, we removed the fingers.

The giantified Meatshield and Bardin grabbed the Gigant’s fingers and pulled.

ZIIING! SHWAAAAK!

Cossack’s sword aura flashed.

Along with the Mad Demon’s blood-jade energy.

CRRRRUNCH! CRACK! RIP!

They came off without much difficulty.

Even a single finger segment with the joint attached was the size of a car.

“Yes!”

Rajix stuffed it into his subspace backpack.

Next, we had to open the armor plates around the chest, where the core engine and the other key parts were housed.

There wasn’t much time.

We had to hurry before the raid-clear message appeared.

The close-combat summoned entities were active again for the first time in a while.

Working together, they carefully dismantled the parts and equipment.

What we took was only a tiny fraction of the entire Gigant.

But this was just the beginning.

Someday, we’d haul the whole thing out intact.

The mission-clear message appeared, and we returned to White Tower Floor 17.

Rajix laid out the Gigant’s fingers, the core engine, and the parts recovered from the 85th floor.

A little later, El, the magitech engineer, woke up after blacking out.

He stared at the pile of Gigant parts.

“Ahhh...”

His face still showed disbelief.

Now we had 10 mana core engines.

And they were cores from the Magnus Gigant, the magitech empire’s ultimate weapon.

“Surprised?”

“...There’s no way I wouldn’t be.”

“This is the Boss Summoner’s tower-clearing method. We eat it raw.”

That’s right.

We swallowed it whole.

Who would’ve thought there was a strategy like this?

“From now on, we need to complete the mass-production system for the anti-obesity escape bracelet. You need money to eat, drink, buy clothes—you need money for everything.”

“Don’t worry. With these parts secured, it won’t even take a month.”

“Oh my, our factory manager’s ambitions are impressive. I’ll gift you some top-grade lubricant later.”

At the time, I thought the first joint product of the Magitech Research Institute would be the anti-obesity bracelet.

But the first mass-produced product was something completely unexpected.

Chongqing, China.

A megacity of 30 million people.

In Chongqing alone, the number of registered ordinary players ranged from 3,000 to 6,000.

Haoren lived in Chongqing.

A Level 58 ordinary player.

He was talented enough that he had even received an offer to become a state-sponsored player.

However, because he disliked being tied down, he signed a relatively free ordinary-player contract instead.

Lately, Haoren’s dissatisfaction had reached its limit.

Because of the excessive surveillance and interference from the Chongqing Public Security Bureau.

They showed up at his house at all hours, checking his whereabouts, asking whether he had entered the Tower, and if so, what reward items he had received.

They came again today.

Two armed officers.

“Haoren, so you were home.”

“I have to be. If I go out, I’ll obviously be tailed.”

“Hmph, still prickly. Can’t you be a little more cooperative?”

“More importantly, why do you keep coming? You were here yesterday too. Isn’t this too much?”

“You’re the highest-level ordinary player in Chongqing.”

“Hoo...”

He felt like his insides were churning.

If you were high-level, you should’ve been respected.

Instead, he was treated as a surveillance target.

To the public security officers, high-level ordinary players were objects of suspicion.

If their inventory contained a Liberation Rune Necklace, they would be extremely dangerous.

At first, he understood.

But hadn’t this gone too far?

When had this oppressive crackdown on players begun?

A long time ago.

It started when China’s top player, Bai Long, first climbed to the 71st floor.

Using a Tower Floor Intrusion Ticket, Bai Long obtained a set of 4 gifts from the 71st floor.

At the time, Chairman Wang Yuan of China tried to seize the items by force.

Resenting that, Bai Long killed Chairman Wang Yuan and fled.

Then came the explosion at the Beijing Crisis Management Headquarters.

From then on, players were no different from potential threats to China’s political elite.

That was why suspicion toward players had reached its peak.

What if they received a Liberation Rune Necklace as a reward?

What if they hid it in their inventory and waited for a chance to overthrow the state?

“What floor did you climb today?”

“I didn’t climb.”

“...Today as well?”

“Yes.”

“That’s suspicious.”

Haoren was dumbfounded.

“This is ridiculous. If I climb, you tell me to open my inventory and check whether I got a C-rank reward. If I don’t climb, you say that’s suspicious.”

The Chongqing officer smiled thinly.

“There are plenty of people who hide the fact that they climbed so they can sell high-grade Magic Stones to foreign brokers. High-grade Magic Stones are national assets, you know.”

“...”

Now anger was beginning to rise.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“What else? You should know how to conduct yourself.”

He knew.

They wanted money.

Another reason the public security harassed players.

There were government directives involved, but most of them were just trying to make a quick buck.

Players made good money, after all.

“How much do you want?”

“Hm, are you openly offering a bribe?”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“You insolent migrant-worker trash. You get lucky and awaken, and suddenly you think you’re above everyone else?”

“You picked the wrong day. We’ll teach you a lesson. Cuff him!”

Something felt off.

Normally, they would’ve taken the money and left.

CLACK!

Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.

They even put shackles on his ankles.

“Check his neck! Is he wearing any items?”

“None.”

“Is that so?”

That was when it happened.

As if on cue, armed troops flooded into his home.

They must have been waiting outside.

“Huh? ...Why?”

The atmosphere suddenly changed.

“Haoren! Chief of the Chongqing branch of the Chinese Player Association! Did you think we wouldn’t know?”

“Ah...”

He’d been exposed.

They had clearly come knowing everything.

The pointless questioning about whether he had climbed earlier had just been a ploy to get restraints on his wrists and ankles.

‘How did they find out?’

There were only two possibilities.

Either the public security’s investigation had been exceptional, or there was a traitor inside.

Haoren closed his eyes.

Took a deep breath.

Enough.

He had endured enough.

If he was taken away now, it would be execution anyway.

Rather than die meaninglessly, he would make the first move and leave China.

SWISH!

He opened his inventory.

Unnoticed by anyone, a Liberation Rune Necklace appeared in his hand.

You didn’t actually have to wear it around your neck to use it.

‘Activate.’

Suuuuuk!

A powerful surge of mana erupted.

Mana.

The clearest difference between inside and outside the Tower.

Whether mana existed or not.

Now he was a player who hunted monsters.

And here—

the public security were monsters outside the Tower.

Haoren opened his eyes again.

Terrifying killing intent overflowed from them.

The officers flinched in shock.

They had sensed the sudden change in atmosphere.

“Haoren, you—”

CRACK! CRUNCH!

The restraints on his wrists and ankles snapped apart in an instant.

The public security officers hurriedly aimed their pistols at Haoren.

“Kill him!!!”

BANG! BANG! RATATATAT!

The armed troops with automatic weapons also held down their triggers without stopping.

RATATATATATATAT!

But Haoren was already gone.

SLASH! SLASH! CRUNCH! RIP!

Haoren’s saber flashed from every direction.

This, too, was an item without a Tower-only modifier.

Which meant the options attached to the saber could be used at full power in the real world.

Thud, thud.

Thump-thump-thump.

Severed heads rolled across the floor of Haoren’s home.

Level 58.

Haoren was a player who climbed while hunting terrifying wyverns.

How could ordinary public security officers possibly withstand his liberated power?

“Ghk.”

Haoren wasn’t unscathed either.

Several bullets had hit his chest and thigh.

He pulled a bottle filled with red liquid from his inventory.

He poured it over the wounds.

HISSSS!

Then he drank the rest.

Gulp.

A healing potion without a Tower-only modifier.

That was why it worked in the real world as well.

The bullets lodged in his body were pushed out.

The bleeding stopped.

His body returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

“Hoo...”

Blood had finally been shed.

But spilled water couldn’t be gathered back up.

And it wasn’t over yet.

There were armed troops outside the house as well.

“Everyone, get a grip!!!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

“No need to capture him alive. Kill on sight!”

The Liberation Rune Necklace lasted 1 hour.

He still had 2 uses remaining.

He only had 1 spare healing potion left.

No matter what, he had to get out of here and leave China.

Blood vessels bulged in Haoren’s eyes.

SPOT! PATPATPATPAT!

“There!”

“On the roof!”

“He’s running!”

RATATANG! RATATANG! BANG! BANG!

A hail of bullets poured down.

Dozens of helicopters filled the sky.

That day,

the entire city of Chongqing was thrown into chaos because of a single liberated player.

As many as 50 armed public security officers were killed in Chongqing alone.

Haoren didn’t make it out safely either.

In the end, he was shot to death.

No matter how liberated a player was, on the ground he couldn’t evade the pursuit of hundreds of public security troops and dozens of helicopters in the sky.

The Chongqing Massacre.

But this was only the beginning.

Similar incidents occurred all across China.

And news of the incident spread across the world,

through foreign media and SNS.

White Tower Floor 17.

I wore a grim expression.

It couldn’t be delayed any longer.

Rajix’s rank breakthrough.

At the shortest, I might not see him for 7 days—at the longest, even 14.

But just because it was regrettable, was I supposed to hold him back forever?

Then when would the breakthrough ever happen?

Was I going to leave him as an SSR forever?

I had to send him off now.

In the lobby of the landmark high-rise on White Tower Floor 17, a Platinum Badge award ceremony was held.

Rajix currently had a total of 23 accumulated Platinum Badges.

Just 2 more would make 25.

These weren’t handed out randomly.

They followed the summoner-approved system of merit-based rewards.

They were badges granted by mutual agreement.

Only rewards that the summoned entity itself also felt it had earned.

Rajix would be the first summoned entity to receive 25 badges.

Everyone else had taken shortcuts and raised their rank with breakthrough runes.

Honestly, there was still no absolute certainty.

Could a breakthrough really be achieved with just 25 badges and no rune?

Well, if it didn’t work, I could just hand him a breakthrough rune.

Instead of the main ceremony,

we started with the pre-ceremony awards.

“Diamat, defector and convert, please step forward.”

“Yeees!”

Her contributions had been considerable as well.

“You assisted in the conquest of the Magnus Gigant through the deployment of the Dream Domain, thereby providing a decisive opportunity to recruit the magitech engineer El. For this merit, you are awarded a Platinum Badge.”

Diamat grinned broadly, twisted her body slightly, and subtly pushed her chest toward me.

At that point—

“Y-y-you seductive thing, don’t use your skills!”

“...I didn’t use anything?”

Diamat widened her eyes innocently, as if asking what the problem was.

“What? You didn’t use anything? Don’t be ridiculous. Then why are you twisting your body like that?”

“Guess you can’t change your habits. What else would you expect from a succubus?”

“Does she think she’s some kind of swimsuit model?”

“She’s trying to bewitch our pure Boss Summoner and squeeze another badge out of him later.”

“Our Boss Summoner has the lowest possible resistance to women. He can’t even date, lifelong solo. He hasn’t even gotten his shots yet. If a skill goes off, it’ll be a disaster.”

Attacks from all sides.

To be honest, Diamat felt wronged.

Seduction was a succubus’s instinct, so what was she supposed to do?

“Hey! What’s wrong with all of you? Huh? What do you mean no resistance to women? Huh? Am I really that easy?”

When I burst out angrily, the summoned entities fell silent.

“Ms. Diamat.”

“Yes!”

“Please come closer. I’ll attach the badge for you.”

I brought the badge toward Diamat’s chest.

A seductive fragrance stabbed into my nose.

My mind reeled.

My hand trembled.

Sweat poured from my forehead.

“Ugh.”

This was impossible.

Not the chest—

the side instead.

Click!

I attached it there.

“See? Totally fine.”

“...”

...

“Next, Cosmic Farmhand Rajix.”

“Yes!”

Once again, he had rendered tremendous service.

Honestly, even 3 badges would’ve been justified, but—

“You discovered an enormous high-grade Magic Stone vein on the 84th floor of the Black Tower, and even mined naturally occurring top-grade Magic Stones, laying the foundation for the future development of the White Tower. For this achievement, you are awarded a Platinum Badge.”

“Yes!”

Thunderous applause erupted.

Unlike with Diamat, the reaction was explosive.

Now he had 24.

One more.

“You recovered the mana core engine of the Magnus Gigant from the 85th floor of the Black Tower using a subspace backpack, rendering immense service to the future development of Earth’s magitech science. For this achievement, you are awarded a Platinum Badge.”

“Yes.”

What would happen?

Would the breakthrough begin immediately?

The moment he reached 25—

FWOOOOSH!

Rajix’s body lifted slightly into the air, wrapped in light.

“WAAH!”

It resembled the radiance Bardin emitted.

No—

it was even more brilliant and dazzling.

The light continued.

At the same time, a circular halo gathered behind Rajix’s head.

A nimbus.

He looked like a saint.

Time passed,

and the body floating in the air descended back to the ground.

Rajix toddled forward on his own.

His destination was the elevator in the lobby of the landmark tower.

It seemed he was trying to go up to the top floor where Veronica Caliber had undergone her breakthrough.

Then he hopped up and pressed the button with his short hand.

Slide—

The elevator doors opened.

He hopped again, pressed the button for the 61st floor,

then waved cheerfully.

I’ll be back.

Wait for me.

I waved back.

Have a safe trip.

Slide—

The doors closed.

The elevator rose toward the top floor.

“Hoo...”

Regret flooded in immediately.

I shouldn’t have sent him.

How was I supposed to live without Rajix?