Chapter 7: 2nd Floor – Base: Kingdom of Calibarium

[Tutorial Alert. You have defeated the boss monster ‘Gatekeeper’. The exit has been unlocked.]

[Time remaining until the exit closes: 23:59]

One way or another, I’d cleared the tutorial boss. 

I slid my sword back into its sheath and tried to calm down the panicking Yu Hana.

The golem had landed a hit, but I was completely fine. 

The first thing I picked up after regressing was pain resistance. 

The second was “getting hit without it hurting too much.” Sure, I got slammed into a wall, but there wasn’t any pain, much less any injuries.

Really, it didn’t make sense for a regression veteran to take damage from a tutorial boss. 

If I had gotten hurt here, I might as well have handed in my returnee badge.

Of course, the Tower would just forcefully convert me into an infinite regressor anyway, but that’s a different story.

Anyway.

I brushed off the dust from my hair and asked Yu Hana if she was okay. 

She realized I was in better shape than she’d expected and wiped away her tears, nodding.

“I-I’m okay…”

“You’re not having chest pain? Or dizziness?”

“No, no… I feel fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

The symptoms I mentioned were classic signs of mana depletion. 

She’d never dual-cast spells during the tutorial, so I’d asked just to be safe—but thankfully, she seemed perfectly fine.

She must already have a surplus of mana, which is crazy considering she only just started learning magic.

It felt a little unfair, especially when I had practically no mana circulating through me, but I’d long since learned to compromise with reality.

Average folks shouldn’t expect to stand on the same level as geniuses. 

That kind of thinking only turns you into average trash.

“L-let’s rest a bit before we head out. You’re tired, right, oppa…?”

“I’m good.”

“St-still… Overdoing it isn’t good…”

Yu Hana’s voice trembled with concern. 

That was new. 

Must’ve been the snowball effect from the golem incident.

Not that it was a particularly big snowball. 

We had plenty of time—after all, the door wouldn’t close until tomorrow. 

A short break wouldn’t hurt.

With a crooked smile, I nodded at her suggestion.

“Alright. Let’s rest a bit.”

“Y-yeah!”

As I sat down, Yu Hana summoned a breeze to dust off my clothes, then started poking at the golem’s corpse with her staff, muttering darkly under her breath.

“D-die. Die again even after dying. Y-you made oppa hurt? You have to hurt too. Die, die, die. Stupid, idiot, u-ugly freak.”

Watching her, I let out a sigh. 

Objectively, seeing someone mumbling like that with hazy eyes—eyes where you couldn’t even tell iris from sclera—wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. 

But having spent a fair number of years with her, it didn’t strike me as completely unpleasant either.

I’m not taking back my “we’re screwed” comment, though. 

We were screwed. 

The fact that my returnee party had more women than men was just a fact, and the power struggles between them were intense, even from my point of view. 

Yu Hana was one of the worst offenders.

Still, she genuinely cared about my safety. 

That much was reassuring. I owed her my life more than once.

She’d installed countless enchantments on me without my knowledge—eavesdropping, tracking, protection, emotional detection, sensory sharing, shadow pursuit, teleportation—all of which kept me remarkably safe. 

When danger came, she’d pop up out of nowhere and annihilate everything in sight.

Of course, there was also Rita, who acted as my personal guard on a daily basis. 

But I hadn’t met her yet in this round. 

For now, Yu Hana would serve as an excellent shield—and stalker.

Rita’s scheduled to show up on the second floor anyway.

Sigh…

I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.

Honestly, in the midst of endless regressions, there wasn’t much time for reflection.

I was too busy chasing hidden treasures, recruiting talented allies, gaining power, hunting monsters, and climbing the Tower. 

That alone filled out years’ worth of to-do lists. 

There were occasional breaks, but they were rare. 

If you didn’t reach the 100th floor before the Tower collapsed, everyone died anyway.

I’d spent 150 years as Ryu Yeon’s disciple, but that was after the Tower had already collapsed. 

I’d barely survived, wandering a ruined world. 

When I was reborn, I had one hell of a post-apocalyptic existential crisis.

But I’d already moved on from that.

I glanced at Yu Hana as she quietly sat down beside me and let out a small laugh.

“Are you done being mad?”

“Y-yeah… I’m satisfied now…”

The end of her staff was crusted with pieces of the golem’s flesh and blood. 

I casually brushed it off with my hand and wiped the gunk on my clothes. 

Yu Hana flinched in horror, but I ignored it and kept talking.

“I’m guessing the second floor has a town. 

You know how games always send you to a town after the tutorial? Probably like that.”

“Y-you think so?”

“I’m almost sure. Have you read a lot of web novels or webtoons?”

“S-some…”

“Then you’ll recognize some clichés. Like how a guild might try to recruit us, or offer to teach us the basics of this world.”

“That’s… oddly specific…”

“I learned it in the army.”

“O-oh, I see…”

Yu Hana nodded solemnly, murmuring, “The army sounds mysterious…” 

She’d realize later that 

I was full of crap, but that was a problem for another day. 

For now, getting her to accept it was good enough.

There were better ways to explain, sure—but they took too long. 

It was just easier to drop the “I learned it in the army” bomb.

As I wiped a smear of blood from Yu Hana’s cheek, I added,

“If a guild offers to recruit you, don’t accept. Just get all the free training you can and bail.”

“O-okay. Are you going to do that too, oppa?”

“Yup. I’m doing the same.”

I smiled and patted her head. 

She giggled and leaned into my hand, rubbing her head against it.

“The training should end in about a week. Let’s meet in the town square then.”

“Huh? We’re not going together?”

“They’ll probably separate guys and girls into different training groups. If we’re lucky, we’ll be in the same one. If not, well… we’ll just wait a week.”

“Ugh… I don’t wanna be apart…”

She grumbled as she gripped her staff tightly. 

I gave a wry grin and ruffled her hair.

“Don’t worry. We’ll see each other soon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I promise.”

“…Okay. I’ll trust you.”

She mumbled while lightly bumping her forehead against my shoulder. 

I let out a quiet breath and lowered my head.

“Skip the training, scoop up all the hidden treasures on the 2nd floor. Should take about a week. Then bring in Rita and start the climb.”

A plan I repeat every regression so I don’t forget. More a self-hypnosis ritual than anything. 

Whenever I didn’t do this, I’d either fall into the “I’m the only one who suffers” syndrome, or the “screw everything” phase.

Both were in remission for now.

Sigh…

After a while, I glanced sideways at the system window still hovering in my vision.

[Time remaining until closure: 22:50]

It had already been over an hour since we killed the golem. 

I’d made full use of my regression-honed ability to zone out.

That was enough of a break. 

I tapped Yu Hana’s shoulder as she nodded off.

“Hana, let’s go. Time to leave.”

“Wh-wha? H-huh?”

“Wake up. We’re heading out.”

“Ah! R-right! Okay, let’s go!”

She scrambled to her feet with an awkward smile. 

I gave her a soft smile in return, then walked over to the exit that had once been tightly shut.

Now, it was cracked open—slightly ajar. 

Just a gentle push was enough to open it fully. 

I glanced back at Yu Hana and saw that she looked ready. 

I pushed the door.

Creeeeaaak—

The massive door scraped against the floor as it opened, and a blinding flash of white light engulfed us.

[You have escaped the Tutorial.]

[Party]

[1. Baek Siyoon]

[2. Yu Hana]

[Fastest record achieved. Reward: Mana awakening.]

[Correction: Both parties already possess mana. Reward substituted with increased mana capacity.]

[Tutorial completion reward: Beginner’s Package granted.]

[You have earned the right to challenge the Tower.]

A barrage of notifications filled my vision. 

That voice—so flat and mechanical—was so familiar it was practically boring. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“W-whoa…”

Yu Hana was overwhelmed by the rush of notification windows.

Meanwhile, I calmly swiped them aside and walked forward. 

She snapped out of her daze and quickly followed.

A space bathed in light. 

The first time I came here, I honestly wondered if I’d accidentally opened a gate to heaven.

But this wasn’t any sort of divine passageway. 

Even if the Tower had something called “heaven,” it was no real paradise.

It was a place worse than hell. 

A factory and banquet hall made to fatten up angels and gods. 

When I first entered, even after so many regressions, I couldn’t help but retch.

But that’s a story for another time.

These white spaces in the Tower were essentially transfer zones. 

Think of them like escalators. Just imagine the floor you want, and you’ll arrive at its entrance.

For now, though, we were on autopilot, headed to the second floor. 

No need to think—just walk.

Sure enough, the light around us began to fade, and the world’s colors returned.

In a blink, Yu Hana and I found ourselves standing atop the ruins of some ancient site.

As soon as I realized that, voices rang out from all sides.

“Oh! They’re out!”

“Both of them survived? There were only two transfers, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Wait, how’d two people clear the first floor? That’s not easy.”

“Maybe the Tower lowered the difficulty?”

“You idiot, when has the Tower ever done us any favors?”

The noisy chatter hit my ears. 

Yu Hana frowned at the sudden commotion and clung tightly to my clothes. 

I pulled her in closer to reassure her and turned my gaze to the woman approaching us.

With every step she took, her metal armor clinked. 

I recognized her face instantly and smiled inwardly.

Guildmaster of the Crow Guild.

A guild specializing in managing freshly-transferred climbers right out of the tutorial. 

And now, their leader stood before us with a bright, welcoming smile.

“Welcome to the Tower, both of you.”

[You have entered the 2nd Floor – Base: Kingdom of Calibarium.]

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