Chapter 2

 The Tower – Tutorial (1)

“So my ability is called Multidimensional Avatar.”

I focused on my ability.

A translucent window appeared before me, just like the Status Window.

[Multidimensional Avatar]

[Avatar Points: 10]

[Avatar Slot 1]

It was just as simple as the Status Window.

Yet somehow, instinctively, I could vaguely understand how to use it.

When I selected the avatar slot, another translucent window appeared.

[Searching Dimensions…]

[Search Complete]

[Available Dimensions for Avatar Creation:

1. Earth
2. Tower Floor 2]

Once the search completed, it displayed the dimensions where I could create an avatar.

There were only two available, but I understood the concept immediately.

“A dimension, huh… If I select Earth, does that mean a clone of me appears back in Korea?”

If my instincts were right, this ability allowed my consciousness—or perhaps my soul—to enter a duplicate body and move it as if it were my own.

Though hopefully it would appear in Korea.

It would be a disaster if my clone spawned in some random foreign country or the middle of the ocean.

“And Tower Floor 2 is listed as a selectable dimension… Does that mean the stories about each floor having different worlds and time flows are actually true?”

Tower Returnees claimed they had spent years inside the Tower, only to return and discover that merely days—or at most months—had passed outside.

Many stories told by Tower Returnees sounded unbelievable or lacked credibility, and everyone already knew the WPTO heavily censored information about the Tower after its establishment.

Because of that, the only information released to the public was the same material from ten years ago when Returnees first appeared, along with the government-approved safety information covering Floors 1 through 10.

As for me, I’d never really wanted to enter the Tower in the first place, so I only knew the basics.

“What are Avatar Points?”

Creating an avatar didn’t seem to consume points, but I couldn’t figure out what they were actually for.

Well, since I currently had enough points, there was no need to worry yet.

“It’s a shame it’s not some flashy, straightforward superpower… but from a survival standpoint, this is actually pretty good.”

Even if the avatar died, I wouldn’t.

And even if it did die, I could simply create another.

That was an enormous advantage.

As long as my real body stayed safely on Floor 1, this ability was practically immortality inside the Tower.

I opened the Tower Shop and spent points on a one-handed sword and a shield.

The sword looked to have an 80-centimeter blade with a 20-centimeter handle, and the blade itself was around 5 centimeters wide. The shield was circular, about 60 centimeters in diameter and 3 centimeters thick, made of wood reinforced with an iron rim.

“The shield’s heavy.”

Throwing it around like some movie superhero definitely wasn’t happening.

Still, a shield needed some weight to feel reliable.

My 10 points dropped to 8, but that wasn’t a problem.

As far as I knew, defeating monsters awarded Shop Points.

People said that below Floor 10 was basically a tutorial zone. Even ordinary people could clear it without much trouble as long as they had weapons and had practiced using their abilities on Floor 1.

I set down the backpack I’d bought at the military PX during basic training and tightened my combat boots.

I’d already brought my spare uniforms home before discharge, so the bag was practically empty—which somehow made it even more annoying to carry.

“Create Avatar. Tower Floor 2.”

The first slot filled with Tower Floor 2, and my vision changed.

* * *

The endless white space vanished, replaced by a room built from ancient-looking stone bricks, like some kind of ruin.

The crystal from Floor 1 stood nearby.

Two choices appeared from the crystal.

[Proceed to Tower Floor 3?
— Requirement not met. Hunt 1 Horned Rabbit.]

[Leave the Tower?
You will never be able to enter the Tower again, and all Common Abilities will be revoked.]

I skimmed over the message and checked my body.

“So this is the avatar?”

It felt exactly like my real body.

There was no sense of alienation whatsoever.

It didn’t feel like a clone at all.

“Wait. Where are my sword and shield?”

The moment of panic delayed my reaction to the white blur charging at me.

If I’d simply thrown a punch, I probably would’ve been fine.

But caught off guard, I couldn’t respond at all and was slammed directly.

“Ghk!”

Something sharp pierced my chest, stealing my breath.

The white furball kicked off my stomach while struggling, yanking free the long horn protruding from its forehead.

The horned rabbit, now drenched in my blood, looked down at me mockingly.

“Piik.”

You little bastard…!

That was my final thought before I returned to my original body.

* * *

Back in the endless white space containing only myself and the crystal, I clutched my chest and gasped violently.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

It didn’t hurt.

But it hurt.

The sensations had been so vivid that, despite knowing it was merely an avatar, my body trembled from the phantom pain of having my heart pierced.

In my hands were the shield and sword I had purchased.

“Damn it! So it recreates my clothes but not my weapons and shield?!”

I gritted my teeth.

Relief at surviving mixed with lingering phantom pain—and above all, rage and humiliation toward the horned rabbit that had mocked me.

I died to a damn rabbit?!

Han Jiwoo had never been the type to let something slide.

Forget everything else.

That little rabbit bastard was dying before I left this Tower.

First, calm down.

The bald man’s heart burns with fury.

…No, keep a cool head and a burning heart.

I analyzed the situation.

“What determines what the avatar copies? Why weren’t the weapon and shield recreated?”

In the chaos, I hadn’t noticed earlier, but the avatar had been carrying the backpack I’d left on the ground.

Which meant the avatar was created based on the state I’d been in when I first obtained the ability.

The Common Abilities had appeared first, followed by my Personal Ability.

If so, did the avatar also possess the Tower’s Common Abilities?

No idea.

I’d need to verify it through the avatar itself.

When I opened the ability window, I noticed changes in the slot.

[Multidimensional Avatar]

[Avatar Points: 10]

[Avatar Slot 1: Tower Floor 2 / Time 00:00:08 — Status: Deceased]

[Required Points for Avatar Recreation: 1]

So that’s what Avatar Points were for.

A previously unseen timer had also appeared beside the slot.

And the timer wasn’t moving.

“Wait… does time stop in other dimensions?”

I’d have to test that too.

I recreated the avatar on Tower Floor 2.

* * *

My body was lying on the ground.

Judging by the warm, sticky smell of blood behind me, the avatar had respawned exactly where I’d died.

The hole in my chest was gone.

The horned rabbit, completely unaware I had revived, was proudly wiping my blood off its face with its adorable little front paws.

Without moving, I first checked whether I could open the shop window.

The moment I confirmed it worked, I immediately bought a one-handed sword, sprang up, and swung at the horned rabbit with all my strength.

“Piiiit!”

The damn rabbit sensed me rising and tried to dodge, but its vision must have been blurred by my blood.

It failed to evade completely and was sliced apart by the sword.

“That’s revenge for Avatar Unit No. 1, you damn Bugs Bunny!”

Yahoo! I won!

I raised the sword high in victory.

Now that I’d won, though, the blood soaking my back felt disgusting.

“…No way to wash this off, huh?”

My pants were clean, but my shirt and backpack were drenched in blood.

The wound Avatar No. 1 suffered hadn’t actually been that large, but getting stabbed in the heart apparently caused a lot of bleeding.

I wanted to wash up and change clothes immediately, but apparently that wouldn’t be possible until Floor 10.

According to what I’d heard, Floor 10 contained a shared area with an actual town.

You couldn’t revisit cleared floors, but you could return to communal residential floors.

The crystal’s message had changed as well.

[Proceed to Tower Floor 3?
— You will never be able to return to Tower Floor 2.]

Before advancing, I extracted a tiny magic stone from the horned rabbit’s corpse, about the size of a pinky nail.

Magic stones were a new energy resource discovered after the appearance of the Towers and Gates.

As I picked it up, I noticed another stone beside the blue magic stone—a green one.

“Were there originally two magic stones?”

I felt something strange from the green stone.

“Wait… could this be an Ability Stone?”

Unlike Natural Awakeners, Tower Returnees possessed multiple abilities.

One came from entering the Tower itself, while others came from Ability Stones like this.

I’d heard Ability Stones were incredibly rare.

Never thought I’d get one myself.

The problem was that you couldn’t know what ability it contained until after absorbing it.

Apparently there were items called Appraisal Scrolls somewhere in the Tower that could identify unknown items.

No sign of one in the Tower Shop, though.

“Hmm. Guess I’ll just learn it and see.”

Ability Stones were considered lottery-tier treasures alongside high-grade healing potions.

But abilities were obviously better than money!

Still… how was I supposed to absorb it? Eat it?

As I wondered that, the Ability Stone reacted to my will and dissolved from solid into vapor.

At the same time, unfamiliar swordsmanship engraved itself into my mind.

When I checked my Status Window, a new ability had appeared beside Multidimensional Avatar.

[Azure Wood Sword Lv.1]

I swung the sword according to the techniques etched into my head.

My body couldn’t quite keep up with the movements perfectly, but it was undeniably different from the crude slash I’d used against the horned rabbit earlier.

I’d never learned swordsmanship before, making the experience both fascinating and bizarre.

“Azure Wood Sword doesn’t display a separate ability window like Multidimensional Avatar… Is Avatar special because it came directly from the Tower? Or are abilities just all different?”

Even Tower Returnees never explained their powers in detail since those abilities were basically their greatest secrets.

So I had no idea whether my ability was unique or not.

I opened the Inventory to store the blood-covered magic stones.

Inside was the commemorative military discharge cap I had stored earlier with my real body.

“Huh?! Wait… are Common Abilities shared between the avatar and the main body?”

If so, my real body wouldn’t need to waste expensive Shop Points on food.

As I was about to store the magic stone, I suddenly remembered the issue of time between dimensions.

Instead, I lightly tossed the stone into the air and returned my consciousness to my real body.

After counting roughly twenty seconds there, I returned to the avatar and saw the magic stone still falling through the air.

“So time really does stop between dimensions.”

I picked up the magic stone, placed it into the Inventory, and opened the ability window in the avatar body.

[Multidimensional Avatar]

[Absorption]

[Main Body: Tower Floor 1 / Time 00:02:48]

Instead of avatar information, it now displayed the location and time of my main body.

And where it had originally said Avatar Points, it now read Absorption.

When I selected it, an explanation appeared.

[You may absorb the avatar’s abilities into the main body.]

There wasn’t much detail, but I immediately understood the general idea.

It allowed the avatar’s abilities and growth stats to transfer to the main body.

The avatar would disappear after transferring its power—but since avatars could be recreated endlessly, “disappear” wasn’t really the right word.

“I see… so this is the structure for growing stronger.”

I pressed Absorption.

The instant I did, my consciousness returned to my real body.

* * *

[Name: Han Jiwoo / Age: 21]

[Strength: 8 / Agility: 11 / Vitality: 9 / Intelligence: 15 / Mana: 1]

[Condition: Normal, Hungry]

[Abilities: Multidimensional Avatar Lv.1, Azure Wood Sword Lv.1]

Back in my original body, I checked the Status Window and saw that Azure Wood Sword had indeed transferred over.

Then another notification appeared.

[You have gained 10 Avatar Points through Avatar Absorption.]

[Multidimensional Avatar has leveled up. It is now Lv.2.]

[You have gained 100 Avatar Points from leveling up Multidimensional Avatar.]

“So Avatar Points are earned through absorption and leveling up?”

It seemed the ability’s level and points depended on how much the avatar had grown.

Fortunately, simply absorbing and recreating avatars didn’t appear to consume Avatar Points.

Otherwise, absorption itself would have been severely limited.

I transferred my consciousness back into the avatar and placed my hand on the crystal leading to Tower Floor 3.

Surely my sword wouldn’t disappear again this time… right?