There is a place called the Infinite Prison.

A place filled with nothing but souls, not living people.

A soul was literally a soul.

Like a scrap of a picture—only the outline remained, and beyond that, there was nothing.

If you compared it to a game, NPCs you can see on a monitor?

Even so, communication was possible.

Not through words spoken from a mouth, but through resonance between soul and soul.

However, bound by inhibition, only up to the permitted range.

The souls there were all those who died in their past lives and, by some transcendent law, entered into contracts—so it was impossible to leave this place by their own power.

But there was a way out.

Someone simply had to call for you.

A summoner, in other words.

If a summoner called, you manifested with a body.

No different from being given life.

Being able to see with your eyes, smell with your nose, taste delicious food, hear, touch, move....

How enormous a blessing these trivial things were.

When souls—meaning summoned entities—were called into the world, they were assigned the mission of helping the summoner conquer the Tower.

Complete clearing of the Black Tower.

If you succeeded, you gained complete freedom.

But it wasn’t easy.

Because humans were weak beings.

In countless worlds like grains of sand on a beach, over tens of thousands of years, failure piled upon failure.

Inside the Tower, or outside the Tower, summoners died one by one.

What happens if the summoner who manifests souls dies?

Simple.

You can’t go out.

And the hope of gaining complete freedom disappears, too.

So there wasn’t much expectation this time either.

Just like always, the souls of summoned entities would lose their summoner, fall into despair, and wander the Infinite Prison, lolling about like lunatics.

But this time’s summoner was a bit different.

They said Kabalan’s curse was cleared safely.

Only one Tower collapsed because of the curse.

No idea if it was exaggerated, but rumors laced with hope were spreading through the Infinite Prison.

『They say he’s already summoned seven.』

『Seriously? You sure? Seven—and he’s still fine?』

『I didn’t hear it firsthand. I heard it through people, too.』

『Hoh. I knew the slick assassin, the stupid meat shield, and the ill-mannered shamaness manifested,』

『But you have to add the beastkin worker and the lazy magic gunner. They say they’re all being showered with the summoner’s love.』

『That crazy heretic inquisitor went out too. What a joke— even a piece of trash like that gets called.』

『Then who’s the last one? That’s six.』

『There’s a rumor Mad Demon succeeded in manifesting too.』

『Oh, so that’s why this summoner lasted. If you carry Mad Demon around, at least the 60s and 70s aren’t hard.』

『I don’t think it’s necessarily that.』

『What do you mean?』

『They said Mad Demon got treated like shit. He pissed off the summoner and got kicked out the moment he came out—satisfaction was rock bottom too.』

『...Mad Demon got treated like shit? Why the hell?』

『There’s also talk that this summoner’s disposition is different from the usual summoners.』

『Different how?』

『How would I know? The souls who’ve been with him would know.』

『I’m curious. Where are the ones who went out? I’d like to meet them.』

『No clue. This place has to be bigger, you know.』

『Anyway, won’t it be random summoning soon? Someone’s about to go out.』

『Whether there’s random summoning or not is up to the summoner. If Trait Enhancement doesn’t happen, they can skip it.』

『That depends on the summoner. There are people who just pull no matter what.』

『Right. A summoner I was with a long time ago was like that. Even though the simultaneous summon limit was only five, the catalog was twenty-five. I was one of them.』

『Getting pulled once and then never being called again is even harder to endure.』

『In any case, this time, I should go out in the random summoning. It’s obvious the summoner of Earth will soon become an emperor, so shouldn’t someone teach basic cultivation?』

『Don’t make me laugh. Emperor, my ass. He should become the world’s hidden hand—one who even takes the emperor into his palm and puppets him.』

『Hidden hand, my ass. You just smash everything. If a country doesn’t listen, you drop one meteor and they all go quiet.』

『Yeah, and because of you that summoner died after getting hit with ten nukes. You crazy wizard bastard!』

『Ha—don’t run your mouth! You piece of shit! Do you even know how many long years I lived in pain because of that?』

『Then don’t regret it—do better from the start.』

『If I go out, I can replace the slick assassin. I can make it so not a single enemy remains around the summoner.』

『Rule by force doesn’t last. You must seize human hearts with holy power. Only I can make the summoner into a god worshiped by humans.』

『All of you, wake up. Who knows who’s going out.』

『This time, my premonition is good. I think I’m going out.』

『Me too.』

『At this point, I’m curious about the administrators’ reaction.』

『Why bring up those unlucky administrators?』

『Because those bastards won’t stay still. During Kabalan’s curse event, only one Tower collapsed, didn’t it?』

『Right. They’ll throw a fit saying it’s not fun—then start shrieking about an emergency patch or adding new content.』

『Vermin bastards.』

『Someday I’ll definitely kill those bastards. My last lingering regret is avenging my former summoner.』

『Me too.』

*****

Juhyeok’s Namyangju villa.

For three or four days, he ate and played with truly no thoughts in his head.

Mostly with the existing summoned entities.

As for Mad Demon, he only called now and then—basically as a drinking buddy.

Honestly, there were times Mad Demon felt burdensome.

If he laughed and chatted with Mad Demon, suddenly he’d sink into thoughts like, ‘Maybe world conquest is worth trying?’

Mad Demon was a smooth talker.

Just how well he talked.

‘I need to be careful.’

For one moment of carelessness, he might end up experiencing the moment when the President of America was subdued by Mad Demon and bowed their head before him, saying, I will offer you America!

He absolutely did not want that.

He hated it just imagining it.

The truth was, Juhyeok also had his own values and goals in life.

But they weren’t all that firm.

Shallow values that could always change.

Ah, a weak man with a flappy ear, whose heart flipped back and forth like a reed.

So sorry, but he called Mad Demon only once in a while.

He spent a lot of time on the existing summoned entities who made him feel at ease.

He followed Rajix around and cleaned, traded bland jokes with Cossack, lay in a hammock and took naps, and when he got bored, he’d go into the Tower too.

They said the item restrictions were lifted. They said reward probability had greatly increased. He was curious whether it was really true.

[You are entering Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 59.]

The Electric Wyvern—said to have the most beautiful hide among wyverns—and since they were flying monsters, they wouldn’t come down unless you pulled them.

“HURK!”

CHOPCHOPCHOPCHOP!

Start with Rajix farming.

Rajix dug into the ground with ferocious momentum.

When he jabbed a rock or hard ground with the golden pickaxe—poke, poke—CLUNK! a blue-glowing pebble would catch on the tip one by one.

‘...What is that?’

Cossack picked one up and examined it.

“High-grade Magic Stone, sir.”

Oh! Even gathering gives high-grade Magic Stones?

So it really did change.

“CERTAIN VICTORY! It’s cosmic-bald-farmhand worker Rajix. Applause!”

Clapclapclapclap!

“Hoee...”

A beautiful high-grade Magic Stone about the size of a fist, with a deep blue glow.

“Staff Sergeant Veronica.”

“Staff Sergeant, Veronica Caliber!”

“If it’s a high-grade Magic Stone, does magic-gun power increase?”

“Of course. A magic gun’s power is determined by the quality of the Magic Stone.”

“Ah!”

But there was no need to use it as magic-gun ammunition.

Regular Magic Stones were enough.

So the amount of high-grade Magic Stones he mined in a single clear was about 30 kg.

He’d sell it all at once later.

‘Now, should I start hunting wyverns?’

A mission to catch fifteen.

He skinned them as he caught them and stuffed everything in, and when he caught the last one—

[You have succeeded in the Floor 59 mission.]

The reward?

[Reward : Magic Stone 2.9 kg / high-grade Magic Stone 3 kg]

[Reward : Tower-Only Healing Potion(4) / Healing Potion(1)]

‘Hm.’

The Magic Stone reward changed too.

Regular Magic Stones and high-grade Magic Stones at the same time.

About half and half.

But?

‘...Huh?’

What’s a Healing Potion?

Four Tower-Only, and one Healing Potion without the Tower-Only modifier.

‘Don’t tell me...?’

<Healing Potion>

Effect : Heals «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» external and internal injuries sustained not only inside the Tower, but also outside the Tower.

Limitation : Unlike a Tower-Only Healing Potion, it has no effect on poison or disease.

‘....’

Holy shit!

‘So this is what it meant by the restriction being lifted? It wasn’t just that the types got more diverse?’

It meant it applied to wounds sustained outside the Tower.

Which meant even non-Players could use it.

The world was going to get loud again.

That aside, this Healing Potion...

‘I should give it to Dad.’

They said the hip fracture from before was fully healed, but just in case.

*****

Another day passed.

Juhyeok still hadn’t gone back home.

Because today was a special event.

The random summoning event.

The day a new family member joins. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A moment ago, the random summoning cooldown ended.

Before summoning—

“Should I use the Summoning Attribute Change Ticket, or not.”

If he used it, one of golem, spirit, magical beast, divine beast, sacred beast would come out. If he didn’t, just like now, a summoned entity would be summoned.

“I’m in favor of using the ticket, sir. Our holy sword has come to its senses now, but if another weird one comes out...”

A weird one.

Him?

Anyway, Cossack was in favor.

“I agree. In the meantime, how uncomfortable has Master Bong’s mood been because of Cossack and Bardin? Even if they are but lowly creatures, all things have their uses, so please use the ticket.”

Gyeon Dallae told him to use it too.

“You’ll be able to make diverse tactical changes. Even in our magic empire, we tamed magical beasts and deployed them to battle.”

The other summoned entities, including Veronica, had no objections.

Then he should use it.

What would be good to get?

Juhyeok had done some research beforehand too.

Through an internet gallery frequently visited by Summoning-Trait Players.

They said everything had pros and cons.

However, they shared the common point that they were all hard to handle.

The higher the level, the worse that tendency got.

Why couldn’t Summoning-Trait Players live the easy life?

Even Summoning Players in the 50-level range were rare.

Because it took a very long time to properly handle summons.

You think a golem’s good? It’s so stupid I feel like my insides are going to explode. If you don’t give it proper orders, it’s no different from a broken robot—when I was in a crisis and about to die, it just stared blankly at me.

A bipedal golem, similar to a human.

But its intelligence was extremely low.

When I first summoned a spirit, I was really happy. I thought the clear was basically done. But they’re slippery. They don’t have anything like affection for their owner. Cocky little bastards, kekekeke.

Spirits had high utility.

But building loyalty was hard, apparently.

Magical beasts—yeah, they’re great, insanely strong. Stuff like a basilisk, they just grab and slam it. But when they fight, they stop seeing anything—berserk? That’s the trait of magical beasts. Sometimes it even charges at me. Their temper’s fucking filthy.

Magical beasts were too violent.

Sometimes to the point of being uncontrollable.

Divine beasts are interesting. They use magic too. But they’re unpredictable. Sometimes they listen well, and other times they don’t even pretend to listen.

Divine beasts had a tendency to act however they pleased.

Sacred beasts—it means a spiritual beast. They’re lofty summons, so they look down on their owner. Sometimes I can’t even tell if I’m carrying a sacred beast, or serving one.

Prideful sacred beasts.

If it got bad, there were even cases where the owner-summon relationship reversed.

Like this, all summons relied on loyalty and intimacy.

So at first, you learned each other’s faces, built rapport through simple commands, and then made them hunt.

They said if loyalty was 100, you had to raise it to at least 80 to hunt.

Well, so what? Anything was fine.

Kabalan was dead. The Curse of the Average was over. Taking a break once was fine.

“Let’s do it.”

The summoning location was the Namyangju villa.

Evening, but not dark yet.

By the roaring campfire, he tore the Summoning Attribute Change Ticket.

RRRIP!

“Random summoning.”

FWOOOOSH! BAAANG!

Something blood-red appeared.

Not a golem, not a spirit.

‘A wolf?’

About the size of a large dog.

Small for a summon.

But he felt an overwhelming aura.

To the point his skin prickled.

What type?

Magical beast, divine beast, sacred beast?

<Catalog : Blood Wolf>

Rank : Stage 1 (Level 71)

Type : magical beast

Manifestation Duration : 10 hours

Resummon Cooldown : 3 hours (applies after Dismiss Summon)

It was a magical beast.

Juhyeok finally pulled a summon that wasn’t a person.

Perked ears. A bristling mane sticking out in every direction. A red, bloodlike color. Black pupils with no whites. Big paws—sharp claws jutted out from the split gaps.

“Grrrrr...”

Blood Wolf growled and stayed on guard in the changed environment.

‘Mm. Big dogs are scary.’

Small dogs were one thing.

Still, do the owner’s duty.

Juhyeok met Blood Wolf’s eyes.

They met for the first time, so he should at least greet it.

“H-Hi, Blood Wolf.”

But—

Whip!

As if it didn’t care, Blood Wolf turned its head away.

‘What’s with it?’

Is it sulking?

Should he pet its head?

To get close fast, skinship was best.

So he walked up and tried to place his hand on its head, and in that moment—

“Grrrrrrrr...”

Blood Wolf bared white teeth and glared at Juhyeok with eyes full of aggression.

Like it was saying, Who the hell do you think you are, touching my head?

“Uh...”

“Grrk!”

CHOMP! Blood Wolf’s mouth opened wide, sharp teeth flashing.

What? This bastard’s going to bite the summoner?

That was when—

“Hey, you little shit mutt! Where do you think you’re flashing teeth?”

WHAM!

Cossack drove a kick straight into Blood Wolf’s face.

Blood Wolf sensed danger and tried to turn its head to dodge, but—

WHAM!

Like that would work.

Who did it think Cossack was?

“Yelp!”

With one hit, Blood Wolf’s head snapped aside.

At the same time, Meatshield transformed with Enlarge and grabbed its tail.

GRAB!

“A beast that lunges at the master must be hit.”

He lifted it, BWOOOOONG! spun it once—

WHAM! slammed it straight into the ground.

“Yelpyelpyelpyelp!”

There was no time to stop them.

Rajix pulled out his pickaxe and started fuming too.

“HURK?!”

STABSTABSTAB!

It got stabbed with the pickaxe too.

The summoned entities went into a frenzy.

Veronica was already loading her magic gun, and Gyeon Dallae’s eyes were icy.

‘...At this rate it’s going to die.’

Then Bardin Holy Sword—

“Light!!!”

—manifested Radiance and placed his hand on Blood Wolf’s body.

“Whiiine.”

Its wounds began healing.

Blood Wolf’s unfocused eyes regained focus, too.

‘Hm.’

These days, Bardin changed a lot.

Like he was reclaiming the holy knight’s calling.

Yeah. If it was holy-attribute, it should be like that.

Blood Wolf’s gaze softened, as if moved.

As if to say thank you for healing it, it rose and tried to lick Bardin’s hand—

“This bastard! Where do you think you’re putting that filthy snout!”

Bardin pulled his hand back and cracked Blood Wolf over the head.

“Get lost! You ill-mannered beast!”

WHAM!

“Yelp!”

Then, to Cossack—

“When it’s about to die, I will heal it, so educate it thoroughly. So that it never bares its teeth at my lord again.”

“Okay!!!”

The education resumed. No mercy.

Veronica joined too, grinding Blood Wolf’s body here and there with the magic gun butt.

Gyeon Dallae even started smearing fermented soybean paste on Blood Wolf’s body.

“Yelp! Yelpyelpyelp! YELP!”

Juhyeok felt bad for the magical beast, but he decided to endure it.

Because it wasn’t the kind of dog people think of.

Not a cute puppy that just wags its tail when it sees a person, wanting to love and be loved.

It was a magical beast.

A scary thing that, if it went crazy, would rip the summoner apart.

It almost did earlier.

“Yelpyelpyelp!”

So the training(?) continued.

After time passed—

“Loyal! Magical beasts are excellent. There are no bad magical beasts in the world. The lonely magical-beast trainer, the Magic President, Cossack here trained it perfectly, sir.”

Is beating it training?

“Summoner Bong, give an order, sir.”

Hm. What first?

Start simple.

“Sit.”

THUMP!

The moment the word fell, Blood Wolf planted its butt on the ground.

“Down.”

THUMPTHUMP!

“Oh!”

It listens well?

“Roll left.”

FLIP!

“Roll right.”

FLIP!

“Bang!”

At the gesture of firing a gun—

“Kek!”

It even played dead.

Lastly, he threw a stick.

“Fetch.”

THUMPTHUMP!

Even an ugly magical beast gets pretty cute when it listens well.

How is this thing supposed to go berserk?

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