First Tower Quest
The final golden words slowly faded, their light swallowed by the endless darkness.
The last record left behind by the Tower disappeared without a trace.
But its meaning did not.
It no longer existed as words or messages.
It had become understanding.
Lee Seo Jun stood in silence.
The truth he had uncovered weighed heavier than any weapon he had ever held.
The Tower had never been created to forge warriors.
It was built to give people a chance.
A chance to resist.
A chance to protect.
A chance that had slowly been stolen over countless years.
Seo Jun slowly lifted his gaze.
A thick gray mist stretched endlessly before him, hiding whatever lay ahead.
Behind him was the Realm of Creation.
The place where Dawn's Edge had been born.
The place that proved even in darkness, something new could still be forged.
But ahead...
There was only silence.
A forgotten land where even time seemed to have stopped.
Without hesitation, Seo Jun stepped forward.
One step.
Then another.
The gray mist drifted around Seo Jun, brushing against his body like a cold breeze.
Yet it showed no hostility.
It didn't feel like an enemy.
It felt... sorrowful.
As though it was mourning something that had been lost long ago.
Then...
A familiar blue window appeared before him.
✦ ✦ ✦
[First Tower Quest]
[Objective: Purify the Corrupted Tutorial Guide.]
[Target: Supervisor Krix]
[The guide has lost his original purpose.]
[Remove the corruption.]
[Restore the original function.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Seo Jun silently read the quest before closing his eyes.
Purify.
Not to kill.
Not to eliminate.
The Tower had chosen its words carefully.
Even after everything...
It still regarded Krix as a guardian.
A faint sigh escaped Seo Jun's lips.
"The cruelest thing about corruption..."
His quiet voice echoed through the empty mist.
"...is that the one consumed by it rarely realizes they've changed."
As if responding to those words, the gray mist slowly parted.
A vast chamber revealed itself beyond.
Cracked white marble stretched across the floor, while enormous bronze gears covered the walls.
Some still turned with slow, heavy groans.
Others had long since fallen silent.
The entire chamber resembled the inside of a giant clock that had continued ticking long after its purpose had been forgotten.
At the center of the chamber stood a dark throne.
Seated upon it...
Was Supervisor Krix.
Seo Jun came to a halt.
The goblin who had greeted candidates in the Tutorial was nowhere to be seen.
The smug smile.
The colorful suit.
The ridiculous top hat.
Everything that had once made him look like an eccentric guide had vanished.
The figure before him looked far older.
As though countless centuries had worn him down.
Scars covered his green skin.
His once-elegant purple coat hung in torn strips, while black corruption spread across his body like twisted veins.
A golden cane rested in both hands.
The very same cane he had once used to welcome new challengers.
Now...
It looked more suited for killing than guiding.
Slowly, Krix raised his head.
His dull purple eyes met Seo Jun's.
Silence filled the chamber.
Neither of them spoke.
Then...
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Each clap echoed through the broken hall like the ticking of a dying clock.
"You really came."
Krix's voice was calm.
There was no laughter.
No exaggerated performance.
No trace of the playful guide Seo Jun remembered.
Only quiet exhaustion.
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"You crossed the jungle."
Clap.
"You survived the Hall of Mirrors."
Clap.
"You defeated the Cosmic Hound."
His hands finally became still.
"And now..."
His gaze remained fixed on Seo Jun.
"You've reached this place."
A faint smile tugged at Krix's lips.
It wasn't one of joy.
Nor was it pride.
It was the weary smile of someone who had endured for far too long.
"I wondered..."
His fingers slowly tightened around the golden cane.
"...how long it would take."
Seo Jun narrowed his eyes.
"How long?"
Krix met his gaze.
"For someone to finally reach me."
Silence settled between them.
The ancient gears embedded in the walls continued to turn.
Grind...
Creak...
Each heavy rotation sounded as though the chamber itself was struggling to keep moving.
Then Krix rose from the throne.
The instant both feet touched the cracked marble...
BOOM!!
A crushing wave of pressure burst from his body, sweeping across the chamber.
Corrupted energy twisted through the air, making the space itself tremble.
Seo Jun didn't move.
His calm eyes never left Krix.
Krix looked back at him.
"You know, human..."
His voice had lost what little warmth remained.
"I used to welcome people like you."
A bitter smile crossed his face.
"I stood at the entrance."
"I explained the rules."
"I encouraged those who were afraid."
His gaze slowly lowered.
"I told them they could become stronger."
He fell silent for a moment.
Then he quietly added,
"...And I believed every single word."
Seo Jun's eyes shifted ever so slightly.
There was no mockery in Krix's voice.
Only regret.
Krix tightened his grip on the cane until his knuckles trembled.
"Do you know what the worst part was?"
"It wasn't the pain."
"It wasn't the fear."
"It wasn't even watching countless candidates die before my eyes."
The purple light flickering within his eyes grew unsteady, as if buried memories were trying to break through the corruption.
"The worst part..."
Krix's voice became barely more than a whisper.
"...was knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it."
Silence filled the chamber.
"I watched worlds disappear."
"I watched entire civilizations vanish."
"I watched countless people enter the Tower, believing they still had a chance."
His voice grew quieter with every word.
"And every time..."
"They failed."
Seo Jun remained silent.
But now...
He understood.
Krix hadn't been consumed by hatred.
He had been consumed by despair.
Despair that had lingered for so long, it eventually became conviction.
A quiet laugh escaped Krix's lips.
It wasn't mocking.
It was the hollow laugh of someone who had long since given up.
"Then they came."
"The beings beyond the stars."
"The ones you call the Outer Gods."
His expression slowly twisted.
"They showed me everything."
"The endless cycle."
"The countless worlds that fell."
"The futile struggle repeated over and over again."
His gaze darkened.
"They showed me what they called the truth."
"Hope is nothing."
"Resistance is meaningless."
"Life does nothing but delay the inevitable."
The corruption surrounding him surged, filling the chamber with suffocating darkness.
"Humanity isn't special."
"Your world isn't special."
"In the end..."
"Everything is destined to be consumed."
Seo Jun listened without interrupting.
Then he took a single step forward.
"Is that what they told you?"
Krix froze.
Seo Jun's unwavering gaze remained fixed on him.
"...Or is that what you needed to believe?"
The chamber fell into complete silence.
Even the ancient gears embedded in the walls stopped turning.
For the first time since Seo Jun had arrived...
Something changed in Krix's expression.
The certainty in his eyes wavered.
A small crack had appeared in the madness consuming him.
"You don't understand."
Krix's voice turned ice-cold.
"You weren't there."
"You didn't watch everything disappear."
"You didn't hear entire civilizations cry out for salvation."
"You didn't have to bear the weight of that failure."
Seo Jun met his gaze.
Calm.
Unshaken.
"I did."
Krix fell silent.
For the first time, his expression stiffened.
Seo Jun's hand slowly rested on Dawn's Edge.
"I've seen a world destroyed."
"I've seen people lose everything they held dear."
"I've seen heroes walk into certain death, knowing they would never live to see victory."
His grip tightened around the hilt.
"But they still chose to fight."
The stars within Daybreak shimmered softly, like distant lights refusing to fade.
"They fought because they believed tomorrow was worth protecting."
Krix's eyes trembled.
It was only for an instant.
But Seo Jun saw it.
The doubt.
The hesitation buried beneath layers of corruption.
"That belief..."
Seo Jun's voice remained steady.
"...is why the Tower was created."
Silence grew heavier.
Krix slowly looked away.
As if those words were too painful to face.
"No."
His voice was low.
Almost pleading.
"No."
"The Tower exists because everything is hopeless."
"Because no matter what anyone does..."
"The end never changes."
Seo Jun quietly shook his head.
"No."
A brief silence passed before he spoke again.
"The Tower exists because someone refused to accept that."
"Because even if the odds were impossible..."
"They still chose to leave behind a chance for those who came after them."
For a long moment...
Krix said nothing.
Then...
The corruption erupting from his body exploded outward.
Black energy flooded the chamber like a raging tide.
The ancient gears screamed under the pressure.
Cracks raced across the white marble floor.
The golden cane in Krix's hand began to change.
Dark metal spread across its surface before extending into a long, black blade.
He lowered his stance.
The brief crack in his expression disappeared.
Only emptiness remained.
"If that is what you believe..."
An overwhelming pressure descended upon the chamber, making the air itself feel heavy.
"Then prove it."
His purple eyes blazed like cursed flames.
"Show me."
"Show me that hope still exists."
The entire chamber trembled.
The corrupted guardian slowly raised his blade.
"And if you fail..."
Darkness spread through the hall, swallowing every trace of light.
"...then I will finally be free."
Seo Jun said nothing.
With a steady motion, he drew Dawn's Edge.
Shing!!
The black blade emerged from its sheath.
Countless stars shimmered within its edge, their faint light reflecting in his calm eyes.
There was no anger.
No hatred.
Because he understood now.
This wasn't a battle against an enemy.
It was a battle against a tragedy that had been left to fester for far too long.
A guardian who had forgotten the reason he once protected others.
A protector who had become the very thing he was meant to stop.
Seo Jun lowered his stance.
His grip on Dawn's Edge became firm.
"Then I'll remind you."
The stars sleeping within Daybreak slowly awakened, filling the blade with a quiet radiance.
"Of who you were meant to be."
The instant those words left his mouth...
For a split second, a blue window flashed before Seo Jun's eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Supervisor Krix]
[Status: Corrupted]
[Tutorial Restriction Applied]
[Strength: 40]
[Agility: 40]
[Stamina: 40]
[Magic: 40]
✦ ✦ ✦
Seo Jun's eyes narrowed.
Those numbers were not Krix's true strength.
They were a seal.
A restriction imposed by the Tutorial itself.
A being meant to guide candidates through endless trials had been forced into the same limits as those he once tested.
The Tower had bound him.
The corruption had twisted him.
And yet...
Even after all of that...
His attributes still reached the absolute ceiling allowed within the Tutorial.
This was not a normal opponent.
Krix was not a monster born for a single trial.
He was something far older.
An existence that had witnessed countless generations pass before his eyes.
Every sword technique.
Every martial art.
Every spell.
Every strategy.
Every mistake made in desperation.
Every last struggle for survival.
He had seen them all.
A living record of humanity's fight against the impossible.
A guide who once watched over challengers...
Had eventually become the one who ensured their failure.
Seo Jun's grip tightened around Dawn's Edge.
A bitter thought surfaced in his mind.
The greatest tragedies were not born from pure evil.
They were born the moment something with a purpose broke.
"I've been watching you."
Krix's voice pulled him back.
The corrupted goblin stood with a faint smile.
Not one of joy.
Not even pride.
Almost... regretful.
"You really are strange."
The golden cane in his hand began to shift.
Metal plates unfolded with a mechanical sound.
A dark blade emerged from within.
SHING!!
Purple energy surged across the sword, coating it in unstable light.
"You move like someone who has already walked this path."
Krix's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You carry memories that don't belong to this time."
Seo Jun did not respond.
He only watched.
Krix let out a quiet laugh.
"There it is."
"That look."
The faint smile on his lips deepened.
"The same expression I've seen in countless candidates."
"Someone who believes they can change their fate."
Purple energy surged around his body, growing heavier with each passing second.
"But every world says the same thing."
"Every civilization thinks it is different."
"Every hero believes they are the exception."
His expression slowly emptied.
"And every single one of them... breaks in the end."
Seo Jun finally moved.
Without a word, he reached into his spatial storage.
A small container appeared in his hand.
Spiritual spring water from the forge.
Along with several recovery, strength, stamina and agility potions gathered from Stage 3.
It wasn't a proper elixir.
Not something any trained alchemist would approve of.
But Seo Jun had never relied on "proper" methods.
He drank it.
The moment the liquid entered his body....
BOOM.
Mana erupted inside him like a breaking dam.
His breathing steadied.
His muscles felt lighter, as if the weight of the world had been slightly lifted.
Every movement became clearer.
Sharper.
His newly awakened Dexterity flowed through his body, not as raw power...
But as perfect control.
Control over breath.
Over timing.
Over every fraction of motion.
Krix watched in silence.
"You are preparing for a battle you cannot win."
Seo Jun said nothing.
He slowly pulled Daybreak from its sheath.
Shing!!
The black blade emerged, cutting through the heavy silence.
Inside its dark surface, countless stars shimmered faintly, like a night sky trapped within steel.
A quiet radiance.
A blade born from darkness.
Yet created for the sake of a new dawn.
Krix's expression shifted slightly.
For a brief moment, something human surfaced beneath the corruption.
Recognition.
Even now, he could tell.
This was not an ordinary weapon.
It carried the same principle the Tower once stood for.
Hope.
"…That sword."
His voice lowered.
"It shouldn't exist."
Seo Jun lifted Dawn's Edge.
"It does."
A simple answer.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
Only certainty.
Krix stared at him in silence.
Then...
He vanished.
BOOM!!
The throne behind him exploded into fragments, shockwaves ripping through the chamber as the battle finally began.