In the peaceful conference room on the 99th floor of My Home Tower.
"Hehe... Let's see how many Tower Coins I've collected~~?"
[Tower Coins: 342,085]
"Woohoo!!!"
Tricia threw her arms up in celebration and danced with joy!
It had only been a week since My Home Tower appeared on Earth!
In fact, Climbers had only started entering in earnest just four days ago!
Yet! In that short time, Tricia had managed to amass an incredible amount of Tower Coins by running both her "business" and "trials" simultaneously!
It was such a large amount that other towers would faint from shock if they saw it!
"As expected, our tower's rest facilities are the best!!!!!"
...In reality, it was mostly thanks to the sales of expensive items like [Holy Water of the Majestic Angel], [Essence of Happy Dreams], and [World Tree Extract].
Still, the rest facilities were steadily generating revenue too, so it wasn't a complete lie.
Now that she had earned plenty of Tower Coins, she took some time to leisurely check her sales status.
'Come to think of it... [Tears of the Majestic Angel] isn't selling as well as I expected.'
Tricia glanced at the bottle in her hand.
[Tears of the Majestic Angel]
[Effect: Greatly enhances physical abilities based on the user's 'physical capabilities' and 'growth potential'. (Enhancement: Minimum 2.5x ~ Maximum 300x increase)]
[Duration: Proportional to the user's 'mental strength' and 'willpower'; higher enhancement values reduce duration.]
[Side Effects: When duration ends, severe muscle pain and respiratory difficulties may occur for a certain period. Excessive use may lead to death from shock. (Enhancement value × Duration = Side effect duration)]
Simply put, it was a conditional buff potion that produced explosively increased effects for those with strong potential and willpower.
For ordinary people who aren't Climbers, it typically provides a 3-5x enhancement effect lasting about 10 minutes, followed by 30-50 minutes of muscle pain as a side effect.
But what about for a Climber with some degree of strength?
For example, Kim Chun-sik with the [Soldier] class who entered early could expect a 7-8x enhancement with over 15 minutes of duration.
And a Climber with high potential like Otaku with the [Swordsman] class might see over 10x enhancement, but with his lacking mental strength, the duration wouldn't even reach 3 minutes.
Then what if Crow the [Gravity Mage] drank this?
- Physical enhancement: 72x
- Duration: 43 minutes
He would become practically invincible.
Of course, the muscle pain and breathing difficulties that follow could be completely resolved with a single glass of [Holy Water of the Majestic Angel].
But the real problem with this potion was something else.
"Even if your body becomes stronger, if your senses can't keep up... it becomes a liability."
While physical abilities increase dramatically, the brain can't keep pace.
You need to quickly adapt to your suddenly strengthened body, and if you can't, you'll expose huge vulnerabilities that make you even more vulnerable.
Plus, with the limited duration, the time spent adapting becomes wasted time, resulting in significant disadvantages.
Moreover, Climbers have no way of knowing how effective [Tears of the Majestic Angel] will be for them personally.
Since they can't know the effects until they actually buy and consume it, it's difficult to make the purchase.
"So I lowered the price to 2,000 Tower Coins... but it's still not selling well."
For reference, 2,000 Tower Coins is equivalent to about 10 million won.
In other words, this brat is bottling her tears and selling them for 10 million won each!
It seems like her conscience has fled beyond the universe, but considering the effects, it's actually quite reasonable.
"Then should I dilute [Tears of the Majestic Angel] about 100 times and rename it [Mild Angel's Tears]? I could adjust the price to around 22 Tower Coins?"
Tricia decided to sell a diluted version called [Mild Angel's Tears] to improve accessibility.
[Mild Angel's Tears]
[Enhancement: 1.2x ~ 3.5x]
[Duration: (Almost identical to the original [Tears of the Majestic Angel])]
[Side Effects: Very mild muscle pain, though it can worsen with excessive consumption.]
In summary, while the enhancement effect was drastically reduced, the duration remained the same, allowing users to somewhat experience the original's effects indirectly.
"Next is... [Essence of Happy Dreams]?"
[Essence of Happy Dreams]
[Effect: Upon consumption, allows the user to experience their most desired dream with all five senses activated for a realistic experience. (No pain is felt within the dream)]
[Side Effects: Forced awakening during sleep may cause mental confusion for several hours; excessive consumption may prevent awakening for days; long-term use may cause depression and withdrawal symptoms due to the gap between dreams and reality.]
[Price: 320 Tower Coins]
In short, it was a bewitching potion that allowed you to experience anything you wanted in your dreams.
About 1.6 million won.
While not a drug, its vivid experiences offered temptations sweeter than any narcotic.
Even Tricia herself would drink this potion and heal in happy dreams when feeling difficult or depressed.
However, this potion also had severe side effects.
"Fortunately, I'm also selling [Feather Amulet of the Majestic Angel] alongside it."
So Tricia sold [Feather Amulet of the Majestic Angel] right next to [Essence of Happy Dreams].
This amulet was a premium item made from Tricia's own plucked feathers!
The price—a whopping 20,000 Tower Coins!
That's about 100 million won!
"...But isn't this affordable enough? Why isn't it selling?"
This one's conscience must have fled to some alternate dimension in outer space.
...That said, this amulet's performance actually matches its price.
Tricia's feathers provide permanent mental healing and mental fortification effects just by carrying them, and by consuming the feather's power, they can continuously block powerful misfortunes.
As long as no near-death calamity occurs, you can use that effect almost permanently!
"Since feathers grow back quickly anyway, maybe I should lower the price a bit to 18,000 Tower Coins?"
Her conscience seems to have returned at least as far as the Andromeda galaxy.
"[World Tree Extract]... is too bothersome to go through, so what else has been selling?"
While she was checking through the product list and reviewing sales one by one,
Cyan Nightmare approached Tricia's side.
"Yaaawn... What are you doing?"
"Work...?"
"How dreadful."
"But you need to work too. You still have floor trial settings left to do."
"That's even more dreadful..."
Though she was grumbling, Cyan eventually sat down next to Tricia, opened her system window, and started working.
"Oh, you've already drafted everything?"
"Yeah, just look it over and register it as is if it looks good."
"Hmm... this one's fine, this one needs a slight adjustment..."
Though Cyan still had sleepy eyes, her hands moved precisely, efficiently setting the difficulty and rewards for the trials.
But her next words were unexpected.
"...Lady Tricia."
"Yes?"
"How does it feel... to be back on Earth now?"
Tricia stared blankly at Cyan for a moment, then slowly shook her head.
"I can't really say I'm back, since I can't leave the tower, I haven't properly experienced anything yet."
Cyan nodded casually, but
her fingers were fidgeting nervously.
"Then... when will we be able to go outside and see things?"
"Earth... you mean modern society?"
"Yes. Libraries, cat cafes, PC rooms, game consoles, processed foods... all those things you told me about."
Tricia smiled and nodded.
"I'll definitely show you. Real modern culture, real game consoles, real processed foods... everything."
Until now, what Tricia had shown Cyan were just fake experiences through dreams,
Cyan had never experienced 'real modern culture' yet.
"So, I promise. Someday we'll all go outside the tower together—and have fun."
"...Sounds good. I'll look forward to it."
Cyan's eyes softened warmly for just a moment.
It was a rare expression that she wouldn't normally show.
After a few minutes had passed.
"Hmm, this looks good enough. I'll register it as is."
Cyan showed Tricia the system window, got her approval, and pressed the registration button.
The trials for the 87th, 88th, and 89th floors were registered all at once—
Finally, the trial settings for all floors of [My Home Tower] were complete.
At that moment, a system window appeared before Tricia's eyes.
[Congratulations! All floor trials and reward settings have been completed!]
The system suddenly sending congratulatory messages.
"Hey, what's there to congratulate..."
[You have completed the first tutorial necessary for tower operation!]
[As a tutorial completion reward, 10,000 Tower Coins will be given to the administrator!]
"?"
What? What's this?
10,000 Tower Coins?
[The second tutorial will now begin. Complete all quests below!]
[[Climber] Total 100+ entries: Achieved]
[30+ [Climbers] clear 5th floor trial: Insufficient (Currently 17)]
[Reward: 20,000 Tower Coins + Tower Administrator Authority Level Increase]
"???"
Wait,
Hold on.
Could it be...?
All my hard work until now was...
just a 'tutorial'?
I spent all day designing trials, guiding Climbers, making potions, and even running a business to prevent [Tower Collapse]...?
"All of that could have been done with just one click of [Auto Trial Setting]?"
Of course, even knowing that, she wouldn't have clicked auto trial setting...
But if she had known—she could have just set up the trials first and taken her time with Tower Coin acquisition!
Filled with a mix of emptiness and self-loathing, Tricia sank into deep despair.
Then another window appeared before Tricia's eyes.
[P.S.: When your authority level increases, you can enjoy various additional benefits provided by the system.]
"...So when the tutorial ends... can I go outside?"
Tricia asked the system with hope and expectation.
Thump! Thump!
[Answer unavailable - Insufficient authority.]
"You bastard!!!!!!!!"
Extremely pissed off at the system's tricks, Tricia fired a [Super Ultra Hyper Eternity Maximum White Shine Boost Evolution Angelic God Requiem] from both hands at the system window!
...But of course the system window had no physical form, and the [Super Ultra Hyper Eternity Maximum White Shine Boost Evolution Angelic God Requiem] flew straight into the wall.
"Oh."
-KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The blue planet Earth was thus destroyed—!
...Not really, the tower just shook a little.
Of course, the 99th floor interior was completely reduced to ruins.
This left a completely unharmed Tricia(?) and a bomb-haired Cyan Nightmare.
"...Was that too much?"
"What did I do to deserve this..."
"I'm sorry..."
Tricia used Tower Coins to restore the 99th floor,
And gave Cyan three homemade 'Angel Puddings' as an apology.
