[A special trial has been triggered for the holder of the Seal of Domination.]
[This trial is different from the existing trial on Floor 61.]
[If you pass this trial, the seal will be secured and additional authority will be released.]
Having arrived at Floor 61, I immediately sensed an anomaly.
The surroundings were completely silent.
Normally, the foundation of knowledge, the basic trial area of Floor 61, should have unfolded.
But this place was in a different dimension.
A boundary of chaos, as if the sky and earth were mixed together.
An endlessly twisted black library.
Space itself writhed alive, as if to swallow me.
[The Administrator’s trial is triggered.]
[This trial is not open to existing climbers.]
[Only a special challenger in possession of the Seal of Domination may enter.]
“Thud. Thud.”
A black silhouette emerged from the gap.
With the number 61 engraved on his forehead, he was the administrator of Floor 61.
A being standing at the boundary of illusion and reality.
“Kim Si-won. So you have finally touched the boundary of the administrator.”
He knew me.
Well, it would be strange if he didn’t.
Just as they knew Nepas, they must have been watching me, who defeated the Floor 60 administrator and obtained the Seal of Domination.
Perhaps all information about me had been transferred to their hands.
From the past to the present, and maybe even the future.
That was how almighty this Tower was, and how exceptional the administrators who governed each floor.
“But do not think that simply obtaining the Seal of Domination allows you to pass everything.”
The administrator’s voice echoed.
“One who receives the Seal of Domination must undergo a qualification test.”
It was different from the path of destruction that Nepas conducted.
The moment I received the Seal of Domination, I had to pass the tests imposed by other administrators and prove my qualification.
The capability and qualification to maintain the seal.
And at that moment.
“BOOM!”
An overwhelming pressure, different from the existing floors, enveloped me.
I could clearly feel it.
This was not a simple battle.
[Administrator’s Trial, Phase 1 begins.]
“CRASH!”
Space twisted and before me another version of me was generated.
It was not my past, present, or future self.
-WHOOOOOSH!
The aura emanating from it.
What I could discern through that…
‘…A parallel world version of me.’
Past, present, and future—their fate changes even with the flutter of a butterfly’s wings.
The one before me now was a completely different parallel world version of me, altered by such changes.
[Personality Erasure State]
[Cold-Blooded Nature]
The cold-blooded version of me, who once hated humanity and had even emotions erased, opened its eyes.
Insight Eye told me.
This was not a simple illusion.
It was a perfect replica that had copied all my combat data, all my experience, and all my power.
“You have been corrupted.”
The other me spoke.
“For humanity? For a mission? Foolish acts of driving yourself into crisis while falling for a sense of justice.”
-SHRIIING
It drew its sword.
No, the moment the blade was revealed, it was already striking.
A cold, efficient, emotionless slash.
A collection of pure efficiency.
A killing intent as precise and flawless as a machine.
‘Absolute Calculation—’
Slash after slash, calculated like mathematics, came raging.
I watched that sight.
Mind Intent.
That thing had reached Mind Intent in a state where its personality was erased.
Slashes armed with thorough calculation and murderous intent, solely for the purpose of killing someone.
Each one fell as perfectly sharp as a line drawn by a god.
I silently stared at those slashes.
What I saw was myself but this was not simply myself.
It was another me who had removed emotions and maximized all hatred toward humanity, embodying the extreme of ruthlessness.
Perhaps those slashes were the ultimate path I had been pursuing.
But at that moment, something deep inside me awakened.
‘Absolute efficiency.’
‘Erasure of emotions.’
‘Cold reason.’
All these were things I had once longed for.
“No.”
But I firmly denied it.
“That is not what I pursue.”
-SWOOOOOOSH!
Space was torn in reverse.
Facing the self armed with absolute calculation, the real me, armed with emotion and will, stood opposed.
Confronting the True Self
The sword cut through the air.
That slash was not filled with cold efficiency, but with infinite will and the will of life.
Life’s Mind Intent.
What I pursued.
It was not the Killing Sword, but the Living Sword.
To repay the debt I owed humanity.
To save humanity from the Unknown, from the great evil called the Tower.
“CLANGCLANGCLANG!”
That sword, carrying my true intention, pushed back the darkness.
Then…
“…Foolish. Emotions are defects and weaknesses. You don’t know that, and you’re still walking while carrying a burden.”
The emotionless me spoke as if warning.
I smiled and replied, “Yeah, emotions are weakness. But that is also my strength.”
A fierce light burned in my eyes.
“I am human. Because I am human, I can become stronger. Because I have weaknesses, I can climb higher.”
There was a time when I thought removing defects was the ultimate.
That’s why I underwent experiments by Nepas and had my personality erased. I even benefited from it.
But…
“I will prove it.”
I took a step forward.
And surging from my body was not pure killing intent nor cold efficiency, but infinite will.
“My martial art is not calculation. It is faith. Faith is the power that even removes limits.”
With my body as the center, the Mind Sword took shape.
‘Infinite Mind Sword — Humanity’s Martial Extreme.’
Through the administrator’s test, I witnessed the extreme that my personality-erased self could reach and gained enlightenment.
And I realized.
The extreme my personality-erased self had reached was by no means the ultimate.
It was incomplete.
I learned success through failure.
Now, I was the true, complete form.
The ideal I had never stopped seeking in my dreams—I could attain the complete ultimate intent.
That was Infinite Mind Sword — Humanity’s Martial Extreme.
I contained the ultimate intent of the Living Sword into the blade.
Not for killing, but for saving.
“CRASHHHHHH!”
When that sword split the air, the barrier of Absolute Calculation created by the emotionless me shattered.
“CLANG!”
Tearing apart each number and formula.
CLANGCLANGCLANG!
The Mind Sword stretched endlessly.
“The path I have walked is a path that cannot be calculated.”
What I truly realized was: ‘The infinite potential that comes from being human.’
I did not deny myself.
I did not deny my weaknesses.
Instead, I accepted them and transcended.
Overcoming the Trial
The emotionless me unleashed slashes of absolute efficiency.
But its attacks were already meaningless.
The moment it entered the domain of the Mind Sword, all calculations crumbled before the variable of infinite will.
And so.
It vanished.
The slashes perfected through Absolute Calculation.
“…Why…!”
The emotionless me wavered.
That was impossible.
The me with emotions removed did not feel doubt or fear.
Yet it wavered so much because it faced a result that could never be predicted by calculation.
The emotionless me, who had removed personality to surpass humanity, collapsed before the will that only humans could possess.
“You chose only efficiency and gave up being human. That is why you stopped here.”
And my final declaration echoed through the space.
“But I am human. Because I am human, I continue to move forward.”
-STAB!
At last, my sword pierced the emotionless me.
-WHOOSH!
The entire space filled with light, and the emotionless me born from a parallel world scattered within the light.
[Trial cleared.]
I had passed the trial too easily.
Easily?
‘No.’
But it was not easy.
The personality-erased me, the parallel world me, was a being that surpassed the current me.
If I had not gained enlightenment on that ultimate path, it would have been the current me, not the emotionless me, who fell.
That was how vast the gap in skill was but I overcame that vast gap.
And.
-SZZZT!
The administrator revealed himself in the distance.
“Magnificent!”
Until a moment ago, there was hostility and contempt in his voice.
But the moment the trial was passed, everything changed 180 degrees.
“The one you faced was my judge. A mirror that reflects the world. A false being that creates another version of me.”
Ah. Only then did my questions resolve.
Previously, I had faced judges who protected the administrator.
But no matter how much it was the administrator’s test, I wondered why I had to face another version of me.
That emotionless me was his judge.
To be precise, the mirror that reflects the parallel world of all beings—that was the power of the Floor 61 judge.
“With this, you have transcended both efficiency and emotion.”
That test was not a simple test.
It tested whether one had the qualities to become an administrator.
I passed the test of whether I was a being capable of maintaining the seal.
“You have now truly proven your qualification as an administrator, beyond the limits of humanity.” The administrator’s voice carried a deep resonance.
His figure gradually faded as he added one more word.
“Kim Si-won. I look forward to the path before you. Pioneering a path humanity has never walked. As an administrator and an observer, I will watch until the end.”
With the acknowledgment of the Floor 61 administrator.
[The Seal of Domination awakens.]
Along with the message.
-WHOOOOOOOSH!
A tremendous light burst forth.
At the source of that light was the Seal of Domination I had obtained from the Floor 60 administrator.
‘This is…?’
The Seal of Domination was a kind of voting right.
So I thought that if I passed the administrator’s test, I would obtain another Seal of Domination.
But no.
There is only one Seal of Domination given and it awakens the power of other administrators within it.
“With you… perhaps you can accomplish what we could not. May you reach that ultimate, which only the Great One, only He, could achieve…”
With those final words.
Fssss—
The administrator’s body, his silhouette, began to scatter into black ash.
But the next moment.
[The Seal of Domination exerts its power.]
[The Eye of Truth attempts to glimpse a portion of the hidden truth.]
[The power of the Seal of Domination is insufficient.]
[Failed to glimpse the truth beyond.]
I had been curious.
The truth beyond the silhouette and the awakened Seal of Domination showed the possibility of such power, but unfortunately, it failed.
But with this, one thing became clear.
‘By continuing to awaken the Seal of Domination, I can reach the truth.’
The truth that even the administrators could not reveal.
That was also included at the end of this journey.
Perhaps that truth was something vast that I could not handle.
But it didn’t matter.
There was a big difference between not knowing the truth and knowing it and preparing for it.
As I was lost in such thoughts.
-Shushushu
The administrator completely vanished.
Floor 61 returned to its original form.
I quietly exhaled and slowly raised my head.
At that moment.
-HMMMMMM!
I emitted a majestic and clear vibration that all beings in the Tower could sense.
Now, my climb had entered a realm that no one in human history had ever experienced.