A suffocating silence fell over the area.
Ari'mir had fallen face-first onto the ground.
Twenty seconds had already passed, yet she remained face down, not moving an inch.
Is she… dead?
Right as Taeho started to consider the absurd possibility that an administrator had just fallen to her death, Ari'mir awkwardly picked herself up and dusted off her clothes.
Doing her best to look composed, she brushed back her hair and forced a smile.
"…Impressive. To set a trap like this before the tutorial even begins. Even I was caught completely off guard."
"?"
Taeho stared blankly, dumbfounded by her nonsense.
But he held his tongue.
Though Ari'mir tried to sound nonchalant, her face was burning beet-red.
If he said the wrong thing right now, he felt they would truly become enemies.
It's infuriating that she took my core without permission… but she's still an administrator. Even if she can't directly harm me, she could still put me at a disadvantage.
Had he known her character, he might have acted differently.
But facing a tutorial administrator for the very first time, he chose to stay cautious.
Ignoring Ari'mir as she mumbled to herself, Taeho retrieved the core.
She glared at him, but soon let out a sigh.
"How truly mysterious. To think it wouldn't explode even after absorbing my Qi like that."
A core's capacity and output were proportional to its size.
The core Taeho brought was only the size of a pear.
It was on the smaller side compared to other cores in the Tower.
By contrast, the sheer volume and density of Ari'mir's Qi were absurdly immense.
Yet, not only did it suck in her Qi all at once, but it contained it effortlessly.
Even a core the size of a castle couldn't hold that much. What on earth is that thing…?
"Are you done checking?" Taeho asked, carefully wiping the core that had fallen to the ground before tucking it inside his shirt.
Just as Ari'mir was about to answer him, she noticed something strange and snapped her mouth shut.
"Your tone has become awfully blunt, human."
"Yeah. Is there a problem?"
It wasn't just his words—a cold aura radiated from him.
Ari'mir wore a dumbfounded look.
"To treat an administrator with such disrespect… You have quite the nerve."
"If you weren't an administrator, this wouldn't end so simply. You snatched someone else's property without asking, pried into it, and then threw it on the ground to return it."
"…"
Hearing his blunt breakdown, Ari'mir actually paused to reflect on her actions.
Honestly, even she thought she had gone a bit too far.
Was I really a bit too harsh…?
While Ari'mir struggled to respond, Taeho frowned and pressed her again.
"Since you're the administrator, shouldn't you also double as a guide? If there's no problem with the core, I'm going in."
He kept his eyes locked on her, waiting.
Still staring down at the core tucked against his chest, Ari'mir offered a reluctant nod.
"It is truly worthy of being called a divine artifact. Even so, there is no reason it cannot be permitted into the Tower."
As she rubbed her nose, which was still stinging slightly, her expression turned serious.
At first, Ari'mir hadn't come here because she wanted to, either.
She was a Tower administrator.
Because of that, whenever an anomaly was detected inside the Tower, she was forcibly summoned.
She merely had the duty to observe and judge the phenomenon firsthand.
Had the core been an illegal item smuggled in from outside the Tower, allowing it in wouldn't even be an option. The system would have blocked it from entering the main Tower, let alone the tutorial.
Yet, upon inspecting it, she found no such issue.
Regardless of the bizarre methods used to craft it, the core was merely an item with an abnormally massive capacity and Qi absorption rate.
It was definitely a permitted item created with the Tower's materials and technology, completely unrelated to any system error.
But it's still strange. How does a child who just Awakened possess a core like that…?
Ari'mir scanned Taeho with suspicious eyes.
Taeho merely endured her gaze with an annoyed look.
Although she disliked his attitude, Ari'mir held it in.
As long as she was a Tower administrator, she could not recklessly harm an Awakener.
On top of that, it was also true that her handling of things had been rough when she was forcibly teleported here.
Having made her decision, the administrator nodded.
"Yes. I have verified it. I will permit you to bring the core."
As Ari'mir raised her hand, the firmly shut Tower doors slid open smoothly.
Passing by her, Taeho walked inside the Tutorial Tower.
To Ari'mir, his blatant display of anger right up to the very end was utterly absurd.
She stared intently at his back with a peculiar look.
"Ha. Ignorance aside, anyone in their right mind would be paralyzed with fear after a taste of my Qi. What a fearless child."
Ari'mir's eyes deepened.
Calling him 'fearless' was just a nice way of putting it.
A human who didn't fear a dragon was rare enough—but treating her like this went even beyond that.
Is he fearless, or just thoughtless? Still… I find myself strangely liking this child.
In all the endless eons she had served as the Tutorial Tower’s administrator, Ari'mir had rarely been summoned.
Even among the handful of mortals she had encountered during those rare summons, Taeho gave off an indescribable presence—and that was setting aside the mysterious core altogether.
"Perhaps… his arrival at this exact time is fate."
Everyone held a secret, one they could never speak aloud.
Ari'mir was no exception.
However, the curtain masking that secret was about to be lifted.
Once Taeho left, not even Ari'mir knew when she would be summoned again.
"I will watch to see if you possess the qualifications."
Even for a member of the dragon race, millennia of administrative duty had taken their toll, slowly eroding Ari'mir's emotions until they had nearly withered away.
Yet for the first time in ages, her eyes sparkled with amusement and hope.
* * *
Slam!
As soon as he stepped into the Tutorial Tower, Taeho smashed his fist against the door.
He had succeeded in bringing the core inside.
Despite encountering a Tower administrator for the first time, he had entered the Tutorial Tower without any issues.
Even so, only a single scene kept replaying in his mind.
Damn it! I couldn't do a single thing even when it was snatched right in front of my eyes!
When Ari'mir had casually taken the core away, he had been completely helpless to stop her.
At the same time, his mind conjured images of the traitors using the items he had crafted as if they were their own.
Power…! I need power! Power so no one can take what's mine. Power to stop them from being exploited against my will!!!
Taeho raised his head.
Before him lay a vast, empty wilderness.
But he had been here before.
And with the intel he had gathered on the other Awakeners, he understood the tutorial far better now than he had the first time.
"Start tutorial."
His words were barely audible.
But since the system responded to his intent, that was more than enough.
Unclassed Awakener confirmed. Beginning the tutorial.
Please select a weapon to use for the tutorial.
In an instant, the empty space filled with countless weapons.
Taeho walked among them, eyes scanning the vast collection.
As he inspected their condition, his expression darkened.
"Damn it. They're all scrap metal."
The items displayed in the tutorial were all common-grade.
It was only natural, as they were items prepared to match the weak enemies in the tutorial.
Taeho knew that much too.
But even so.
Was common-grade gear always this awful?
Taeho had forged legendary gear himself, once earning the title of Transcendent Blacksmith.
To someone like him, common-grade equipment was no better than trash.
This won't do. These weapons will definitely reach their limit by the time I hit the tenth floor.
He pondered.
Of course, walking away from the tutorial was always an option.
Despite its name, the difficulty was so brutal that not a single Awakener had ever reached the end.
Yet Taeho had no intention of abandoning the climb.
Even if I give up now, I should still receive a class. But if I back down, it'll almost certainly be Blacksmith. No—worse. I might not even receive the Blacksmith class.
The first time he climbed the tutorial, he had reached at least the second floor.
However, he couldn't be satisfied with just two floors now.
Trying the exact same method as in the past while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
Retaining his memories as a Transcendent Blacksmith, he needed to secure a class built for combat.
Maximizing that synergy was the only way to conquer the Tower with his own hands—and rewrite the damn future he had already lived through.
Taeho fell deep into thought as his eyes swept over the endless rows of gear.
As he brainstormed ways to break through this situation, his eyes suddenly flashed.
Without hesitation, Taeho tested the idea that came to mind.
"System. How many items can I take from here?"
The items you can take are limited to 1 weapon and 1 piece of armor.
"What if I take more than that?"
In that case, only two randomly selected items from those in your possession will remain, and the rest will be destroyed.
So I can't carry a ton of items out with me, huh?
Taeho pondered again.
As he looked around searching for an answer, a weapon with a familiar shape caught his eye.
It was a one-handed hammer.
A hammer. A hammer, huh?
Since it was the tool he had handled up until his regression, the hammer felt familiar in his hand.
Of course, he had no intention of choosing the hammer.
Using only a short-range, one-handed hammer carried far too much risk for someone who already lacked combat experience.
Instead, a completely different idea—one he was far more confident in and held much more potential—came to mind.
"You said earlier that I can only bring up one weapon. In that case, can I use the weapons here as much as I want before I climb up?"
……
The system, which had always answered instantly, hesitated.
Though it had received countless questions until now, even the system was encountering this kind of inquiry for the first time.
Having finally found the answer, it replied.
There are no restrictions on the number of items you may use within the weapon selection area.
Got it.
Having finally obtained the answer he wanted, Taeho smirked.
"That's more than enough."
Taeho got to work.
He stripped wooden grips, cloth wraps, and bowstrings from the scattered weapons, stockpiling raw materials.
Thanks to the infinite supply of items, materials piled up in the blink of an eye.
The preparations continued.
Laboriously dragging thick, heavy shields over, Taeho stacked them on top of each other like building blocks.
He stuck a stick into a bowstring and spun it rapidly.
A long while later, when smoke rose from the groove, Taeho quickly brought the gathered cloth over.
Woosh!
The cloth caught fire.
Tossing the burning cloth into the stacked shields, he added the wooden pieces from the broken items.
As the firewood caught, the flames finally began to burn steadily.
"Good."
Drenched in sweat, Taeho grinned as his eyes shone.
It was an extremely crude forge compared to the past, but it was enough to do basic work.
Gathering more firewood, he retraced his memories.
They said you don't feel hunger or fatigue in the tutorial.
On top of that, the Awakener who stayed the longest in the tutorial had reportedly lasted a full twenty days.
Granted, that was only because they had panicked upon entering and spent the entire time holed up in the weapon selection area.
Which means I can stay here for at least twenty days.
A body that doesn't hunger.
A timeframe of over twenty days.
A crude, makeshift forge.
And an infinite supply of items, even if they were only common-grade.
This is enough. No, it's more than enough.
Taeho firmly gripped the one-handed hammer.
Firelight glinted in his eyes as he locked onto the endless array of weapons—like a predator sizing up its prey.
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