[Defeat your future self from fifty years later. Time remaining: 24 years 364 days.]

I read the floor’s description, doing my best to understand it clearly. For a while, though, my mind refused to process anything, as if it had simply stopped functioning. My thoughts were frozen in place, locked in a haze of disbelief and shock.

“Mmm. Uh, so this is—”

It took some time for me to collect myself. Gradually, my thoughts began to flow again, grinding forward like they were rusted gears forced back into motion. Once I fully grasped just what the tower expected me to do, a loud and exuberant curse slipped from my lips.

I had to fight a version of me from fifty years in the future, and not only that, but the tower had allotted half that amount of time to clear the floor.

Fucking hell. How is that even supposed to make sense?

It wasn’t as though I had been told to cram two days’ worth of work into one, but rather to compress fifty years into twenty-five.

Hmm. That analogy isn’t quite right. Well, doing two days’ worth in one is practically the same, though it somehow feels a little different.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point. I had to grow at least twice as fast as this future version of me had to reach their level. Letting out a slow breath, I forced myself to calm down.

“Huuuuuuu.”

As always, no amount of frustration would change the situation. I hadn’t climbed all the way to the ninety-ninth floor by luck or carelessness. Trials weren’t things that could be bent by will alone; they had to be faced, endured, and overcome.

Feeling steadier, I turned my attention back to the message. I had already read it once, but since it was fairly long, I wanted to go over it again carefully. I couldn’t afford to overlook even a single line.

The challenge didn’t appear to have started yet. I quietly began organizing my thoughts as I reviewed the message once more.

Let me start with the smaller matters first.

The long time limit wasn’t a bad thing.

Twenty-five years.

Of course, it had felt overwhelming at first. One or two years seemed like a long time to me already, but I was only around twenty-five years old. Conquering this trial could theoretically double my age. Thankfully, even if the other climbers experienced the passing time—which they wouldn’t—it wouldn’t change much. I didn’t want Ha Hee-Jeong to wait that long, but ultimately, completing the trial mattered the most.

Hmm. A “me” from fifty years in the future. Albeit an alternate one.

That concept had confused me at first, but after some thought, it dawned on me how it might have done it. Although the tower had rewound time and granted me something of an indirect regression through Ha Hee-Jeong, in this case, it hadn’t summoned an actual Kwon Su-Hyeok from fifty years ahead. It was a hypothetical version of myself—what I would become after fifty years of steady growth at my current pace.

Upon realizing that, I let out a short sigh of relief. If this Kwon Su-Hyeok had conquered the tower, the challenge would have been far more dire. Facing a version that had spent fifty years as a god would have been nothing short of a nightmare.

As I gathered my thoughts, I slowly scanned the vast expanse around me. Even now, there was no sign of movement. The tower was granting me a brief moment of reflection, so I refocused on the message once more. One particular section caught my attention.

If you are defeated, you will not die and will instead respawn. However, one week will be subtracted from the remaining time for each defeat.

The first condition made sense. There was no way I could triumph over a version of myself that had an additional fifty years of training. Spending the entire twenty-five years training wouldn’t even be enough to surpass that gap.

After all, my opponent was me.

Though the version of me from fifty years in the future would surely function as a teaching tool, I couldn’t be entirely certain whether success was even possible. It sounded rather arrogant, but I was well aware of my own ability. My talent had always existed at a level that bordered on the absurd. Yet the trial before me demanded that I surpass that absurd talent, to grow at twice the pace of someone already so exceptional.

Faced with such circumstances, the second condition left me genuinely perplexed. I couldn’t make sense of it, no matter how many times I turned it over in my mind.

Seven days with each death.

At first glance, the penalty sounded rather trivial, but it was anything but. Losing merely ten times would erase seventy days, more than two months gone in an instant. Sixty defeats would wipe out over a year’s worth of opportunities.

For all I knew, my opponent would be able to slaughter me effortlessly every time I respawned. Even if killing me took a single second, a minute’s worth of death equaled a year. At that rate, the trial would end in failure in less than twenty-five minutes.

Of course, that was assuming the worst. Even disregarding that scenario, the trial felt undeniably unfair. No, unfair wasn’t even the right word. It appeared utterly impossible.

If I were in my opponent’s shoes, I wouldn’t grant myself a moment of respite.

Since he was me, I shouldn’t expect mercy, either.

Out of nowhere, light rippled across the void about fifty meters ahead of me. A gleaming streak of blue and gold radiance shimmered against the boundless expanse of the cosmos.

When that luminous flare dimmed, “I” emerged.

The face before me appeared eerily identical to my own, as if I hadn’t aged a day. If anything, his skin seemed even smoother and almost younger than mine. It was like looking in a mirror, albeit with the knowledge that the other side was fifty years my senior. Still, his appearance hardly mattered. He was nothing more than a fabricated being and hadn’t truly experienced fifty years more than I.

Two features stood out as distinctly different, however. The first was his eyes.

Completely emotionless.

They were cold, sharp, and devoid of life. They locked onto me with not even the faintest flicker of thought or feeling. Perhaps it was because he was merely an illusion, a construct brought into existence by the tower. Yet despite that, he radiated an indomitable and immeasurable aura. It wasn’t that I could sense his strength, but rather, the complete absence of a discernible presence made it feel all the more overwhelming.

It reminded me of the time I had faced Thunder Axe. Instead of power, I felt like I was standing before an immense, unscalable wall that extended endlessly beyond comprehension. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The second difference lay in his equipment.

He is equipped with all of the same items.

Soulbound, armor, gauntlets, boots, earrings, and Cloak of Dominion. Every single piece of gear mirrored mine, though it appeared slightly faded as if it had dulled over time. As I looked closer, I noticed other subtle disparities like that in his appearance. Perhaps it was the tower’s way of easing the dissonance of facing oneself.

Not quite a doppelganger, but close enough.

Just imagining spending twenty-five years locked in battle with a perfect replica of myself made me wonder if I would have gone mad. At some point, I might no longer know whether I was truly me or if I had become the reflection standing before me.

Of course, it was only an assumption, but somehow, it felt plausible.

A flicker of unease welled up within me. Even as my thoughts churned, my gaze remained fixed on him, muscles taut and coiled like drawn wire. I had to be prepared for a sudden strike. If our roles were reversed, I would have attacked the instant my opponent appeared.

However, the other me didn’t move.

What is this supposed to mean?

It immediately crossed my mind that he would only react once I made the first move. That did make some sense. Earlier, the worst case I had considered featured him attacking me immediately. Evidently—and thankfully—that wasn’t how this trial operated.

I nodded inwardly.

Yeah, this setup makes sense.

In truth, it was the fairest arrangement possible. If the tower had granted him the initiative, then the trial would have been impossible as I had feared.

Twenty-five years.

Instead, I had half the time he had been given, and I was meant to challenge him only when I deemed myself ready. That realization brought a strange sense of relief, coupled with understanding.

At the same time, I began to grasp how Kalain had managed to ascend to the rank of a first-class god in record time. If he had faced this same trial, he would have spent decades of accelerated growth, far surpassing what was available to normal gods. I had already sensed it during my climb, but the tower forged its challengers into beings that defied logic.

Of course, the challenger-specific floors are also ridiculously difficult.

In a way, this was simply the natural progression of things. A challenger bore extraordinary risk to claim power beyond reason, earning rewards in direct proportion to the danger endured. Well, existing gods would never see it that way.

Anyone who cleared the tower as a challenger would inevitably face suppression from all sides afterward. That would explain why the tower seemed so intent on forging bonds with existing gods during the climb.

Even then, it wasn’t enough.

As Kalain had proven, a challenger stood apart, transcending even amongst transcendants. Those same gods, who had gone so far as to obstruct the birth of new ones, would naturally move to restrain any challenger who posed even the remotest chance of ascending. There would always be far more who opposed than those who supported.

I shook the thoughts away.

For now, I should test myself.

I obviously couldn’t win as I was. Regardless, that didn’t mean I could simply remain idle. Training alone in an empty void wouldn’t allow me to overcome a fifty-year disparity. I needed to confront the future me to study him firsthand, to witness that overwhelming power, and to find a way to reach it.

He was modeled after me, after all. Therefore, he embodied the potential I could one day achieve. From how the tower phrased it, it wasn’t a possibility; it was a given.

Approaching this from a different point of view, I can quickly absorb fifty years of experience that I would have otherwise spent struggling to find the right path.

Observation, imitation, and adaptation were things that I had already confirmed I was talented in through my encounters with both Angelina and Thunder Axe.

I could do this. I was certain of it.

My only lingering concern was whether he would move as soon as I moved. As in, not merely when I chose to challenge him, but continuously, as though mirroring every motion.

On second thought, that seemed unlikely, simply based on how illogical it would be. The tower’s trials were designed to be conquerable, even if only barely so. That sort of assumption would imply the entire trial was inherently impossible.

Even if I remained motionless, it would only postpone the inevitable. The end result wouldn’t change.

“Phew.”

I gripped Soulbound tighter, feeling the familiar hum of power within my palms. Without moving, I activated Lightning Transformation, then Flash Strike, followed by my domain. The last two I activated four times, and their strength overlapped into one seamless current.

I drew upon every last fragment of causality, divinity, and mana available to me, amplifying them until they reached their absolute peak. As that immense force surged through my body like a living current, I hurled myself forward, charging straight toward the version of me from fifty years in the future.

And then—

My vision went dark. I only saw a blinding flare of blue and gold. It lasted only for a brief instant before I opened my eyes again. Against the endless backdrop of the universe, the notification window updated.

[Defeat your future self from fifty years later. Time remaining: 24 years 357 days.]

I had seen nothing but that blue-gold radiance, but seven whole days had already passed. As soon as I realized it, I quickly turned toward him. The other me still stood motionless in the distance. It was clear now that he would only strike once I initiated an attack.

Still, there was something I needed to verify first. Without looking directly at him, I swung Soulbound through the air as if I were training.

He didn’t react.

Good. So training is still permitted.

I recalled the instant before—the moment everything that blinding flash had consumed everything.

Well...

I hadn’t perceived anything else. I couldn’t tell whether the other me had moved, remained still, or even how I had been struck down. Even with my heightened senses, I hadn’t felt pain or pressure; only the sharp brilliance of that light remained vivid in my memory.

At least there was one small mercy. When I revived, there wasn’t a single wound on my body, and the divinity, mana, and causality I had used were fully restored.

Huh, it looks like this trial passing in an instant doesn’t affect the supply of faith.

Whether it was the tower’s intent or its leniency, divinity and causality continued to pour into me. That meant I could continue to grow.

Even so, it frustrated me to lose an entire week without gaining anything in return. The only thing that I had obtained for my efforts was information I would have learned anyway. I clenched my jaw. Never once, throughout my climb, had I felt such a profound sense of helplessness.

He may be me, fifty years ahead.

Despite that, I hadn’t learned a single thing. The fact that my opponent was me only made it worse. Such a loss was inevitable, yes, but inevitability didn’t make it any less infuriating.

Even so, I remained calm. The problem was clear: I had been too arrogant.

I had placed too much faith in my own abilities. Even without knowing the extent of his power, I had assumed I could at least perceive something. That same overconfidence had shown itself when I faced Thunder Axe as well.

Perhaps reaching the ninety-ninth floor had made me too dependent on my own talent.

If I want even the slightest clue, I will have to use Thunderbird.

I hadn’t used it before, partly out of pride, but mostly out of caution. I was concerned that it would weaken me for the rest of the trial.

Respawning didn’t necessarily mean that I would return perfectly intact. Now that I had experienced the process, however, Thunderbird was worth using, even if success wasn’t guaranteed. Moreover, even if I spent weeks recovering, I had to witness anything that could lead to a new insight.

Once again, I simultaneously drew upon my causality, divinity, and mana. My core emptied, and the three forces intertwined, accelerating the flow of energy through my circuits. My inner world blazed to life, illuminated by a brilliant, azure light. Thunderbird had evolved alongside my growth.

My perception expanded to its utmost limit, sharpening until I could perceive even a fragment of a moment. It was the smallest, most fleeting unit of time I had experienced. I charged toward the other me once more.

It ended with the same result. Another blinding surge of blue and gold erupted. This time, however, I managed to trace, albeit only faintly, the path of Soulbound’s swing.