Ch 105

Chapter 105: Divinity (3)

「Entering the waiting room of the 12th floor.」

「Challenger Han Sungyeun’s trial observation restriction has been lifted.」

「The system is expanding.」

「Earth has been registered as an official climbing dimension of the Tower of Trials.」

「As a benefit of being registered as an official dimension, it will be partially protected from dimensional invasion.」

「Now, beings from other dimensions will have a penalty while moving to Earth.」

「As a benefit of being registered as an official climbing dimension, other people besides the challenger can obtain a halo.」

“…”

As I returned to the waiting room, I received numerous messages saying the system had expanded.

“Registered as an official climbing dimension…”

Did that mean it was now at the same level as Ares or Murim?

Anyway, the system expansion was, for me, a huge benefit.

‘Since it’s a small dimension, it was quite bad in terms of invading other dimensions…’

Now, challengers from other worlds like Namgung Hyuk wouldn’t be able to come to Earth easily.

Up until that point, there wasn’t any penalty. But now that it had been registered as an ‘official climbing dimension,’ it would start being protected from invasions.

I was feeling relieved when new messages began appearing.

「Administrator ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’ looks at the contractor that has returned and asks if he’s safe.」

「Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ is checking out the contractor’s state with teary eyes.」

This time it wasn’t dull system messages but ones from the administrator.

It was at that moment when what the God of Proof had said passed through my mind.

-Pseudo-divinity.

I mean, according to the language of the Tower— ‘administrators’? I wondered if they were beings that had obtained a pseudo-divinity after making a contract with the Tower.

That’s right.

The administrators that were worried about my status were some kind of Gods.

Although according to the God of Proof, they weren’t real gods, but rather beings that had obtained a pseudo-divinity…

But still, it didn’t change the fact that the administrators had a kind of divinity inside them.

According to what I’d heard in the Temple of Proof, the system that let me buy the powers, which were the administrator’s abilities, was most likely ‘God’s Power.’

‘Taking that into consideration, what the God of Proof had said about the administrators being entities with pseudo-divinity isn’t a lie.’

While I was at the Tower’s beginning, I wondered whether the administrators were really Gods or not.

‘But the situation has completely changed from that time.’

Now I know that the Tower is a kind of high-conscious entity.

Even if they were pseudo-divine beings, to think they could resurrect the challengers with their divinity…

Not even Gods could easily deal with this Tower. Why had this Tower created the administrator, and why was it raising challengers?

And—

‘What is it trying to do by making the challengers reach the top of the Tower?’

I began wondering about why the Tower of Trials was making the challengers try to reach the end of the Tower.

Of course, this wasn’t something I could find an answer to, no matter how much I thought about it.

So…

「Administrator ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’ is inviting you to the territory of the administrators.」

I will figure out the truth, little by little.

For the Me that’s going to reach the end of the Tower.

* * *

What I saw as he opened my eyes was a white sword graveyard.

One of the two invitations I’d just received was from the administrator, ‘Iron-blooded Monarch.’

The Iron-blooded Monarch was the first being who’d made a contract with me. She was also the administrator who had made an apostle contract with me.

If there was something I wanted to know, I should ask her first.

Probably.

“…”

「Entering the Iron-blooded World.」

I’d gotten used a bit to the territory of the administrators, but now I found it weird.

‘Maybe the territory of the administrator is, in theory, similar to the territory of God?’

Maybe it’s because I’d learned that administrators are pseudo-divine beings…

But I’d started associating everything related to the administrators with God.

I stopped thinking about those things and walked through the garden full of snow and entered a hut.

And—

“Han Sungyeun!”

The moment I entered the hut, the ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’ came walking toward me.

The ‘Iron-blooded Monarch’, who came with her hair fluttering, was in an excited state.

“Are you hurt…?! Didn’t the God of Proof put a curse upon you!?”

The Iron-blooded Monarch was someone who always looked calm…

But it seemed like after hearing that someone who’d made a contract with her had been forcibly summoned by God, she’d been worrying.

After seeing her reaction, I felt my doubts become diluted.

I thought the Iron-blooded Monarch would interrogate me.

But seeing her worried this much about me made my negative emotions blur out.

I was feeling confused after seeing an unexpected side of her.

“Ah… Something like that didn’t happen.”

“…Are you telling me the truth? You aren’t hiding anything from me?”

“No, why would I hide something like that?”

There wasn’t even time to be cursed.

The God of Proof just talked to me without even showing himself.

Not only that, but the meeting only took a short time.

I told that to the Iron-blooded Monarch.

“The God of Proof just talked with me.”

“…Well, I guess not even the God of Proof can do anything to a challenger inside the Tower.”

The Iron-blooded Monarch calmed down after I explained things to her.

“Ehem… Anyway, I’m glad you aren’t hurt.”

The Iron-blooded Monarch blushed. Then she turned around and sat in the chair in front of the table.

“You’re probably going to have a hard time explaining things while standing up, so take a seat and continue.”

The office resembled a cabin from the middle ages, so it went very well with the Iron-blooded Monarch.

“Okay.”

I nodded and sat on the sofa that was next to the table.

As I did that, the Iron-blooded Monarch frowned and looked at me in disbelief.

“You’ve shown a scarily impressive growth rate… but to think that a God would show interest.”

I opened my mouth after seeing her reaction, as if she really hadn’t expected the God of Proof to intervene.

“Do Gods not intervene in the trials?”

“In most cases, yes. It’s just that this was a special case.”

“…”

“Usually, Gods from other dimensions have a hard time trying to see what’s going on in the Tower.”

“Then why did he summon me to God’s territory after analyzing me?”

“Because the place of the trial was the temple of the God of Proof… Although it was a replica, that doesn’t mean that a God can’t exercise his strength in his own temple.”

“I see. So he was able to exercise influence because it happened in his temple.”

***

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Daniel Shin ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

With that, I was able to solve most of the doubts I had.

A God interfering in a trial, like what happened on the 11th floor, was a special case.

Gods probably wouldn’t be able to interfere in future trials.

I nodded and looked at the Iron-blooded Monarch.

“There’s something I wanted to ask… Is that okay?”

I had answered a few doubts I had, so I decided to talk about the main topic.

“Obviously… You’re quite careful, considering we made a disciple contract. You can treat me more comfortably…”

The Iron-blooded Monarch agreed while making an expression that made it seem like she didn’t like that.

‘What should I ask…’

To be honest, there were numerous things I wanted to ask.

Why did the Tower of Trials send me a message saying that it had high hopes for me as if it were an intelligent being?

Why did the Tower of Trials create the administrators— pseudo-divine beings —to raise challengers?

Why did the God of Proof say that other Gods would start having animosity toward me now?

There were many other questions I had…

But among all those questions, there was something I had to ask first.

“Did you know that the Tower is trying to make me achieve something through you?”

* * *

At the end of the 11th floor’s trial, the God or Proof had said to me—

-To create a ‘real’ by becoming a disciple of a pseudo-divine being… So that’s what happened. I see… Challenger Han Sungyeun, so you weren’t a normal being.

The God of Proof said that as if I were a special being who was being raised through an administrator.

I wasn’t sure what the ‘real’ I heard that time meant…

But if there’s something I became sure about was that the Tower was trying to make me achieve something through an administrator.

Because of that, I thought of a certain possibility.

‘That something is if the administrator Iron-blooded Monarch and the administrator White Crane Sword Saint aren’t deceiving me.’

Of course, both administrators had a good opinion of me.

But thinking that maybe the reason behind that was because of the Tower’s intentions made me a bit uncomfortable.

So that’s why I didn’t hesitate and asked them directly.

If they knew about the Tower’s intentions and had been acting dumb until this point while deceiving me.

And…

“Are you asking if the Tower is expecting something from the challengers through the administrators?”

The Iron-blooded Monarch narrowed her eyes as if she couldn’t understand my question.

“It isn’t something grand like that. I just wanted to know if there’s something it wants from me.”

“I don’t know. No, in the first place. There’s no way the Tower wants something from an individual challenger.”

“…?”

“No one knows the intentions of the Tower. That’s also the case for me, an administrator.”

“Then, the Tower wanting something from me…”

“It’s something that can’t be true. Up until this point, the Tower has never revealed its goals to a challenger.”

After saying that, the Iron-blooded Monarch kept talking while touching her soft chin.

“So there’s no way the Tower is expecting something from a certain challenger.”

But I definitely felt that there was something the Tower wanted from me.

‘There’s no way all of that was a lie.’

The Tower had said it had high hopes for me, and the God of Proof had reacted as if he found that funny.

Most of the things the God of Proof said were probably true.

It seemed like the Iron-blooded Monarch read my expression, so she opened her mouth again before I could say anything.

“But seeing you talk like that… I guess you’ve heard something from someone.”

“Yes. The God or Proof said that it thought the Tower wanted something from me.”

“God…! As expected, so that’s why you’ve asked me that…!”

The Iron-blooded Monarch looked at me with her eyes wide open.

“Leaving aside the intention of the Tower, I didn’t receive any indication as an administrator…”

“So you didn’t know that there’s something the Tower wants from me?”

“Yes. After all, most administrators just follow the Tower’s indications silently.

“…”

“I think I know why you’re asking me that… I’m also a subordinate of the Tower. But that isn’t something I know.”

“I see…”

I was relieved and a bit disappointed at the same time.

If administrators knew more about the Tower, I might have been able to answer my doubts easier.

Of course, I left such disappointments behind and asked other questions I had.

“Now that I think about it, the God of Proof said that administrators are beings that have signed a contract with the Tower and have obtained pseudo-divinity. What does that mean?”

“Pseudo-divinity… It’s some sort of immortality. You use the title given to you by the Tower as your God name and become an entity similar to a God.”

“…”

“It’s used to revive the challengers that died. Although it’s called pseudo-divinity, it can’t be compared to real divinity.”

“Then, could I also get immortality?”

“I’m going to say you can’t. The divinity inside you doesn’t have the requirements to obtain immortality. Unless you sign a contract with the Tower, you won’t be able to get it.”

After hearing the explanation from the administrator, I realized that the pseudo-divinity wasn’t actually that impressive.

‘Leaving the immortality factor aside, it doesn’t seem to have much difference from a normal challenger.’

Of course, being immortal by itself is a huge merit, but…

The God of Proof had almost killed me just by looking at me.

Not only that, but he had used his divine power to summon me to God’s territory.

Considering those things, I realized there was a huge difference between real divinity and pseudo-divinity.

I nodded and opened my mouth while making a serious expression on my face.

“Then, there’s one last thing I wanted to ask…”

“What is it?”

“Didn’t you say there’s a wish you wanted to realize?”

“Yes…”

“The administrator White Crane Sword Saint said that’s something the Tower gave administrators.”

“…”

“He said that administrators can achieve through the challengers what they wish.”

“I see… so that guy has already talked about this.”

The Iron-blooded Monarch smiled bitterly while looking at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

Unlike the questions I asked before, this was just because of curiosity.

Why had the Iron-blooded Monarch had hidden it from him, unlike the White Crane Sword Saint.

‘Seeing her reaction, it seems like she didn’t intend to hide it from me…’

After a short silence, the Iron-blooded Monarch explained it to me.

“The reason I didn’t tell you about that is that I was afraid…”

She said while smiling bitterly.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Afraid?

“What does that…”

“You underestimate yourself too much and are obsessing too much about growing.”

“…?”

“I thought you might fly like a fire moth to the trials to grow forcibly.”

“You were scared about that…?”

The Iron-blooded Monarch nodded while blushing, which wasn’t something that suited her.

‘Even if I obsess too much about growth, that’s…’

It seemed like everyone saw me as a crazy person obsessed with growth.

But I didn’t think I was trying too hard to achieve growth.

I just did enough so I wouldn’t get killed. And the fact I was here without having died was evidence for that.

When I said my honest thoughts, the Iron-blooded Monarch frowned and denied it.

“That line of thought is dangerous. Saying that it’s okay because you’re only trying enough so you don’t get killed. Unknowingly, you’ve been pushing yourself to the edge.”

I couldn’t help but agree with those words.

But still, I didn’t agree with everything.

“That might be true… but I don’t have talent.”

“…”

“If I try hard enough only within safe parameters, I won’t grow fast.”

“You thinking that is the problem. You don’t have talent? Out of the question..”

“…?”

I had to wonder, what was she talking about while frowning like that…?

“I’m not sure what you think talent is but… soon, you’re going to realize that you’ve underestimated yourself too much.”

The Iron-blooded Monarch said with a sharp voice.

“Because…”

She even…

“The trial of the 12th floor is a fight against yourself.”

…told me details about the trial of the 12th floor.

——