The Tower of Beginnings was filled with users who looked fairly experienced.
Well, “experienced” only meant they were around level 10, but in the starting city, that was still considered the highest level bracket.
“Looking for a party for the Trial! Shield-user here. Leave the tanking to me!”
“Seeking a mage! Going for the upper trial. Equipment must be at least ‘Rare’ grade!”
“Selling HP recovery potions!”
“Offering equipment repair services!”
Everyone seemed to be yelling at the top of their lungs, as if competing to be the loudest.
It felt more like a bustling marketplace than a training zone.
‘This is new.’
In First, the previous version, there had never been enough players for something like this.
But when you thought about it, it made sense that all the players in the starting city would gather here.
Everyone had to take the graduation trial here, so demand for and supply of items would be high. On top of that, the trial was originally designed for four-person parties.
You could try it solo, but the difficulty was steep.
That’s why players were desperately seeking party members to take the exam with.
As I looked around, intrigued—
“Hey, what’s your class? We’re trying to form a party for the trial. Want to join?”
Someone approached, assuming I was here to find a party too.
“I’m good, thanks.”
“Already got a party? Ours is really solid. We failed once, so we’ve prepared a lot more this time.”
I ignored the persistent guy and stepped forward.
There were four doors at the Tower of Beginnings.
From left to right: Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard.
Four doors in total.
As I stood before them, a guide NPC approached me as if they’d been waiting for new players.
“Hello! First time here? Let me explain the Tower of Beginnings to you.”
“Thanks.”
Even though I already knew all about it from First, this was Second. Things could have changed, so I listened.
“These four doors correspond to the difficulty of the trial. ‘Easy’ is the lowest, and ‘Very Hard’ is the most difficult.”
Nothing new so far.
On Easy, the best possible grade was C, no matter how well you did.
Normal capped at B, Hard at A, and Very Hard could get you an S rank.
“We recommend starting with a party and trying Easy difficulty first. You get five chances total!”
“Five chances?” I asked.
A change from First.
Back then, there were unlimited attempts—you could try hundreds of times to get the best score.
In Second, the attempts were limited.
Still, for me, five should be more than enough.
“I’ll go in through Easy.”
“Great choice! Uh, do you already have a party?”
“No.”
“Wait… are you going in alone?”
“Yes.”
The guide was clearly flustered by my confident reply.
Of course she would be. The graduation trial was designed for parties, and I was choosing to go in solo.
But I had my reasons.
‘Party play just isn’t my thing.’
Partly my personality, but mostly because in First, the lack of players meant I developed a solo playstyle.
I wasn’t used to hunting with others.
More importantly—
‘It’s hard to use my items or Luke’s power around others.’
My powers—including the items in Luke’s subspace and the Black Flame Flower—weren’t normal.
Using them in front of others would attract too much attention.
And you know what they say: the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
Revealing my abilities before I’m strong enough could lead to problems.
Lastly—
‘I should be fine at least up to Hard.’
Back in First, where the playerbase was small, I had solo-cleared the graduation trial on Hard difficulty.
Now?
I had all the items from First, had formed a contract with Luke, and even obtained the hidden class “All Master.”
There was no reason I couldn’t do it.
Seeing how confident I was, the guide seemed to come around.
“It’s not a bad idea to test your strength and get a feel for the trial solo! I’ll be rooting for you! Just head this way!”
Following the guide, I approached the door to the Easy trial.
I stood before it, doing some last-minute equipment checks.
Armor—already on. That left my weapon.
If the Easy trial was the same as I remembered…
“Luke, the staff.”
Fwoosh.
That should do nicely.
Gripping the staff that emerged from the black flame, I stepped through the door.
This wasn’t a physical door—it used spatial magic. Crossing the threshold instantly transported me to the higher floors of the Tower of Beginnings.
My vision flipped in a familiar way, fading from pure white and gradually returning to normal.
The place I arrived at—
[ Tower of Beginnings – Easy Trial ]
“Same as First.”
The area was mostly stone—less like a dungeon and more like a training hall.
It looked man-made and artificial.
It wasn’t exactly the same as the First version. That one felt older, more worn down. This one looked new, like it had just been built.
As I reminisced…
[ The trial is beginning. ]
[ Defeat all enemies. ]
With the system message announcing the start, I scanned the area—and spotted a pool of water at the far end.
Too opaque to be just water. And more importantly…
Squirm.
The water began to move, almost as if alive.
“Found it.”
Dash!
I sprinted straight toward it.
As I neared the puddle, I understood why it was moving.
It was made of countless slimes.
Water Slimes, to be exact—monsters with bodies as fluid as water and quick movements, making them annoying to fight.
Normally, as soon as the trial began, they’d rise and split into dozens of slimes to swarm the challenger.
But since I ran over immediately, I got there before they could split.
Without hesitation—
Plop.
I stabbed the tip of my staff into the puddle.
“Guu?”
The slime made a deflating sound, confused by the blunt tip of a staff—not a blade—being jabbed into it.
But this wasn’t any ordinary staff.
[ Branch Struck by Lightning ]
(Untradeable)
Type: Staff
Grade: Rare
Requirements: Level 20+, Mage-class
Description: A staff made from a branch struck by lightning. Greatly amplifies the power of lightning magic.
A lightning-attribute staff.
Normally, it could only be used by mages who had class-changed, but my class, “All Master,” ignored that limitation.
Level restrictions too—didn’t matter.
Of course, the staff couldn’t shoot lightning on its own.
It just enhanced lightning magic.
And I was “All Master”—capable of using every weapon and magic in existence.
Most importantly, I had brought with me from First a skillbook that taught nearly every known spell.
[ Lightning ]
(Untradeable)
Type: Spellbook
Grade: Intermediate
Requirements: Level 10+, Mage-class
Description: A basic 1st-circle lightning spell, foundational to all lightning magic.
And for this very moment, I had learned “Lightning” in advance.
It was just a basic spell that created a spark in your hand. But when funneled through a lightning-conductive staff plunged into a slime…
CRACKLE—!
GURRRRRGLE—
The 1st-circle spell’s power was massively boosted.
And for Water Slimes, whose weakness was lightning?
They didn’t stand a chance.
Especially since they hadn’t yet split—they were all still one mass, which meant…
They all got zapped in one chain reaction.
With my high INT stat and the rare, level-20 staff’s magic boost, coupled with the monsters’ elemental weakness—
SZZZZT—
Their cores disintegrated in seconds.
[ Achievement Unlocked: Early Graduate ]
Condition: Clear a Tower trial in the shortest time recorded.
Reward: Movement speed +5%
An achievement message popped up in front of me.
Meanwhile…
As Mir stepped into the Easy Trial, the tower guide watched him go, wearing a worried look.
“A staff…? So he’s a mage? That trial’s way too dangerous for a solo mage…”
It wasn’t that rare for people to try the trial alone.
Some underestimated the difficulty. Some couldn’t find a party. Some wanted to test their skills. Others were livestreamers looking for content.
But this one was a mage.
Usually, solo challengers were melee combat types.
Mages needed front-liners to protect them during casting.
Most mages who entered solo failed and came back, shoulders slumped.
And sure enough—
Click.
Less than a minute later, the challenger exited the trial.
The guide tried to console him.
“It’s okay. It’s hard for mages to fight alone.”
“Huh?”
“If you form a party with the others over there, you’ll clear it in no time! I’ve seen lots of mages do really well!”
But the challenger only looked confused.
As if thinking, What are you talking about?
The guide tilted her head. He didn’t look like someone who had just failed.
“Sir…?”
And then she saw the record update.
[ Trial Cleared ]
[ Grade: C+ ]
[ Clear Time: 9 seconds ]
“…Huh?”
He had cleared it.
Not just with a passing grade, but with the highest grade possible on Easy—C+.
But more shocking than the grade—
“N-nine seconds?!”
He had cleared the trial in under 10 seconds.
That was…
“NINE SECONDS?!”
It wasn’t just the fastest time she had ever seen.
It was an utterly insane, nonsensical record.
