The world's reaction was swift and loud.
News outlets, online communities, YouTube, and real-time trend analyzers—all screens were endlessly repeating the name "Tricia."
"Do you see the photo next to this? This angel girl is the Tower Administrator known as the 'Goddess of Holy Water,' Eriel Tricia!"
"Wow... is that a real photo? I thought she was an anime character..."
"She really is a goddess! Reality and graphics are completely different!"
As real photos and AI-generated fan art flooded the internet, illustration sites were quickly plastered with images of Tricia.
However, some of these images were rather revealing or potentially controversial.
The government censorship team had already entered emergency meetings. They were seriously debating whether they should impose restrictions on creating explicit images of Tricia.
---
Meanwhile, in a room at the Blood Demon Guild branch.
Crow sat with his arms crossed, quietly looking at the My Home Tower Gallery on his computer.
Before his eyes was a beautiful real-life photo of Tricia.
This meant that electronic devices had already been unlocked inside My Home Tower.
"...If I don't deliver these soon, she might get angry."
Crow saved the photo under a different name, then opened a large box beside him.
Inside were the latest smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, monitors, speakers, and gaming consoles!
Over forty boxes containing premium electronic devices that were hard to find on the market, all neatly packaged!
"This should be enough. [Wormhole]."
As he sliced the air with his finger, a spiraling portal opened on the floor.
The boxes were instantly sucked in, leaving nothing behind.
Delivery preparation complete.
"[Silent Gravity Field]."
-Click!
After that, Crow deployed a gravity field to block sound and pulled out a black hole-shaped sphere floating in the air.
Though it appeared to be one of Crow's skills, it was actually an ordinary communication crystal easily obtainable in the tower.
However, Crow's version had a black hole design mixed with a slight gravity field to mislead people.
To prepare for any contingency, he made even the communication crystal look like a skill, and thanks to this, those around him still mistook it for some kind of ability.
After looking around one last time, Crow spoke into the crystal.
"Blood Demon Guild Master, are you busy?"
"—Not particularly. What do you need?"
"How's that favor I asked for coming along?"
"...Don't worry. We're handling it quietly. We've registered them as 'Special Tower Immigrant Citizens' in the records, and we've bypassed identity issuance through our personnel. The government won't dig too deeply."
"Is there any possibility of the government secretly tracking them?"
"Their information is encrypted and stored on our guild's internal server. It's impossible to extract secretly. And even within the guild, I've set restrictions so no one can access it without your consent, so rest assured."
"As reliable as ever. I'll repay this favor soon."
Crow paused the communication and thought to himself.
'If the Guild Master hadn't helped... things would have gotten extremely complicated.'
The residents of My Home Tower, including Tricia, were all foreigners from the dimension called Eriel.
Issuing Earth resident IDs for them was, from the beginning, an impossible task.
Accepting them as members of civilized society might seem like protection on the surface, but it also created the possibility of placing them under government control.
That's why Crow asked Blood Demon, the master of the Blood Demon Guild, for help.
To quietly create a new identity called "Special Tower Immigrant Citizen" using his connections and influence.
Of course, it was an unofficial process far from formal administrative procedures, but with the government having just signed a diplomatic treaty with the tower, there was no reason to make an issue of it.
Tricia and the Guardians' information was stored on the Blood Demon Guild's encrypted internal server, and no one could access it without Crow's explicit consent.
Crow continued the communication.
"Has there been any attempt to investigate Tricia from outside?"
"Of course there has, especially from Japan and the United States—they've been constantly trying to hack our guild server. Our government is probably busy blocking hacking attempts too."
"If we had left this entirely to the government, a major incident might have occurred."
"But we're not omnipotent either; it's actually getting a bit dangerous. So we're planning to strengthen security, but..."
"I see. I'll ask Yun Seo-jin from the Glory Guild for help with that part. Would that be alright?"
"Hmph, no reason to stop you. Do as you please."
Click.
Blood Demon ended the communication with those words.
"He still dislikes any mention of the Glory Guild."
Crow smiled slightly and placed the black hole crystal into the wormhole.
---
In a shabby lodging somewhere in Seoul.
Seeker Park Do-yoon, lying on his bed and browsing his smartphone, noticed new posts on the My Home Tower Gallery and his eyes lit up.
"Whoa holy sh*t electronic devices unlocked in My Home Tower!+!+!+!+!"
"Triciaaaaaaaa lololololol"
"My Home Tower maid photo.jpg"
"...Oh?"
Apparently, electronic devices and internet could now be used inside My Home Tower.
This meant that data collection and real-time analysis through the internet were now possible inside the tower.
"As expected, this tower is full of content to enjoy...!"
Incidentally, he hadn't climbed My Home Tower for over 10 days.
...To be precise, he only visited the rest floors and didn't climb the trial floors.
So what exactly had he been doing all this time?
Let's go back to the past briefly to find out.
---
A few days ago, on the day of the diplomatic meeting between the government and My Home Tower, entry to the tower was restricted all day.
That day, Park Do-yoon quietly spent his time organizing gallery reactions and creating graphs of Tower Coin market fluctuations after the holy water trade.
And the next day—he set foot in the Tower Coin Casino that had newly appeared on the 91st floor of My Home Tower.
A dreamlike castle with golden pillars and glass chandeliers, and succubi in bunny girl outfits with amazing figures.
Simultaneously, an abyss of despair mixed with endless madness and pleasure.
A rather unremarkable man entered... Park Do-yoon disguised as an ordinary person.
"I don't particularly like gambling... but with the data I have, I can break through its weaknesses."
As he confidently went to buy chips, a recently added system alert appeared before him.
"Warning: Chips cannot be exchanged for Tower Coins and can only be used in a limited capacity within the tower."
"...What an unreasonable system."
Saying that, Park Do-yoon checked his Tower Coin balance.
"Tower Coins: 831,072"
Although he had used some while experiencing the tower's recreational facilities, he still had a large amount of Tower Coins left.
"Alright, I'll exchange four hundred thousand Tower Coins for chips."
"400,000 Tower Coins have been exchanged for 40,000 casino chips."
The Tower Coins were immediately exchanged, and a large number of chips came into his possession.
"Now... let's start earning."
Park Do-yoon put all the chips in a huge pouch and immediately headed for the slot machines.
"I'll prove that even unreasonable probabilities are ultimately just predetermined calculations."
...30 minutes later.
[Heart / Cyan / Watermelon]
[Watermelon / Rukki / Cyan]
[Cyan / Cyan / Cyan]
"Arrrgh-! Stop giving me 'Cyan'!! This is so 'Cyan'!!!"
Probability was not a predetermined calculation, and the results were devastating.
Twenty thousand chips vanished hopelessly right there!
On top of that, Park Do-yoon, who had obtained over 100 useless "Cyan Cards," stood up and said:
"As expected, information gathered from the gallery lacks reliability. This time I'll trust my own judgment."
Making such self-justification, Park Do-yoon moved to the roulette table for his next game.
"Black number 1, single square bet."
The probability of hitting was only 1 in 37.
But the payout was a whopping 35 to 1!
"Exploration is sometimes interpreted through extreme methods."
Park Do-yoon watched the roulette spin with a premature victory smile after placing a large number of chips.
The result was 33, red.
"Hah, I won't be fooled twice."
He said, betting on black again.
After a total of five attempts, another 10,000 chips disappeared hopelessly.
"...Failure is the mother of success, as they say. I'll definitely succeed next time."
Deciding there was no more hope with roulette, Park Do-yoon headed to blackjack as his last resort, but...
"Buuuuust~♥"
The dealer was Rukki.
"......"
When he finally came to his senses, he had been subdued by the Angel Guardian and thrown outside the casino.
Park Do-yoon had lost all his chips.
Staring blankly at his empty chip pouch with a dejected expression, he soon muttered quietly.
"...Gambling really can't be trusted."
He had been completely defeated.
Now he had to admit it.
Further gambling would only be a shortcut to ruin.
"I should conduct more meaningful exploration with my remaining resources..."
And so, Park Do-yoon quietly left the casino.
All that remained were hundreds of Cyan Cards that somehow seemed to symbolize misfortune.
It was truly... a "Cyan" day.
---
And back to today.
With news of electronic devices being unlocked in the tower, Park Do-yoon began putting on his equipment after a long time.
Purple robe, giant shield, numerous auxiliary items, and his identity-defining green goggles and staff.
"Ready perfectly, preparations are complete."
It was time to return to his main occupation.
His endless exploration and climbing toward truth was not over yet.
