As soon as Lilly Rose appeared, I gathered my mana in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.
According to the original story, Lilly Rose was a potential “red player” in this test.
She might suddenly attack me, so I had to be ready.
However, Lilly Rose greeted me cheerfully, waving a massive chunk of meat in one hand.
“Wow, what a coincidence. I was just bored, so this is perfect.”
She approached me as if we were close friends.
I stared at her, wondering why she was acting like this. Of course, I didn’t let my guard down.
“Oh, you’re tense because you think I might rob you? Haha. Don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing that—at least not right now.”
Lilly Rose grinned slyly, as if to say that she could take everything from me if she wanted to but was mercifully holding back.
It was a bit absurd, but that was just her character, so I let it slide.
“Why?”
“Nothing, really. You’re just the first person I’ve seen since entering the tower, so I was happy to see you.”
She stretched her back and yawned.
“It’s about time to sleep. Have you figured out where you’ll stay for the night?”
“More or less.”
“Really? Oh, right, you got a perfect score on the theory exam, didn’t you? You’re smart, so I bet you’ve got this part all planned out. Then how about we work together for a bit?”
Cooperate? Her unexpected proposal made me tilt my head.
“What kind of cooperation?”
“I’ll share this meat with you, and you provide the sleeping space. We’ll take turns keeping watch. How about it?”
“Hmm.”
Food and alternating night watch—it wasn’t a bad deal. Especially since I didn’t have any food prepared.
And with Lilly Rose’s skills, I could trust her to keep watch.
The only concern was that she might betray and rob me. But I decided not to dwell on it.
If she intended to rob me, she would have attacked already.
“Alright, sounds good.”
At my response, Lilly Rose smiled brightly.
“Glad we can understand each other.”
And just like that, our sudden alliance began.
When I led her to the cave I had scouted earlier, she looked satisfied.
“Oh, you really found a nice spot.”
“Let’s just sleep. Who’s taking the first watch?”
“Huh? You’re not eating the meat?”
“It’s late. I’ll eat it tomorrow.”
The time was 12:15 AM.
A midnight snack sounded nice, but with a busy day ahead, I didn’t have the luxury.
Lilly Rose nodded.
“Alright. Then… I’ll take the first watch. That okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll sleep first, then.”
“Sure. Just sleep soundly—I’ll wake you up in about four hours.”
“Got it.”
I lay down immediately.
The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but after gathering some fallen leaves, it felt a little better.
Sleep came quickly.
I needed to conserve my energy for tomorrow’s events.
The next morning.
I woke up groggily and sat up.
Looking toward the entrance of the cave, I saw the bright morning sunlight streaming in.
Across from me, Lilly was leaning against the wall, fast asleep.
“…What the.”
I blinked and stared at her.
For a moment, I was confused.
She was supposed to wake me up for my turn on watch.
We had agreed to take turns.
Did she… stand watch the whole time instead?
“No way.”
Judging by her posture, she had probably thought, I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute… and then passed out.
I could picture the whole scenario in my head, and it was ridiculous.
“Tsk.”
She really lives carefreely.
It was a relief that we weren’t attacked—otherwise, things could have gone very wrong.
At that moment, Lilly’s eyes began to open.
“…Hmm?”
As soon as she woke up, she looked at me with a dazed expression.
Then, realizing something, she gave me an awkward smile.
“Oh, you’re up?”
“…”
“You looked really tired, so I took watch the whole night. Haha. No need to thank me.”
Now she was blatantly lying.
It was absurd, but since nothing bad had happened, I decided to let it slide.
And in the end, I got a full night’s rest, so it wasn’t a loss for me.
I got up and started tidying the area.
As I moved, Lilly picked up the large chunk of meat beside her and spoke.
“Aren’t you gonna eat breakfast?”
“I am.”
“Good, I’m starving. Let’s eat now. You’re gonna cook it, right?”
“Of course. Get the fire going.”
At my words, Lilly snapped her fingers, conjuring a flame that ignited the firewood.
“Oh…”
I let out a small exclamation of admiration.
Lilly smirked.
“You’re impressed by something this small? You’d be shocked if you saw my real skills.”
“…”
A short while later, we started eating.
The meat wasn’t bad.
Actually, since I was starving, it practically melted in my mouth.
As we ate, Lilly casually threw questions my way.
“So, what’s your plan for today?”
“I need to earn points.”
“By hunting monsters?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“…You rude little—”
Lilly scowled at my curt response, clearly annoyed.
Ignoring her, I finished my meal and stood up.
“I’m heading out now.”
“Already?”
Lilly looked up at me.
“Yeah. You’re busy today too, aren’t you?”
“…True.”
She nodded, then said with a smirk,
“See you around, then.”
I responded with a light laugh.
When I said see you around, I naturally meant as enemies.
6:00 PM, with about 18 hours left until the test ended.
Lilly was on the 18th floor, deep in the forest zone, participating in the fourth event.
The event was called Hidden Treasure Hunt.
As the name implied, contestants had to find hidden treasures scattered throughout the field to earn points.
The challenge was that illusions and barriers appeared throughout all floors, making it extremely difficult to locate the treasures.
“Found one~”
But despite the harsh conditions, Lilly was quickly collecting gems.
Thanks to the rigorous training she had undergone since childhood, she was used to adapting to environments like this.
“Wow, this one’s pretty.”
She examined a shimmering violet gemstone.
That made twelve.
It had been nearly an hour since the event started, meaning she had been finding a treasure roughly every five minutes.
With this pace, first place was practically guaranteed, she thought with a grin.
“How much time is left?”
She checked her smart student notebook.
About 30 seconds remained until the event ended.
Since the event was almost over, there was no need to search for more.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
[Event ‘Hidden Treasure Hunt’ has ended.]
“It’s over!”
[Announcing rankings.]
[1st place: Kim Sunwoo (22 treasures found)]
[2nd place: Lilly Rose (12 treasures found)]
[3rd place: Yoo Ara (8 treasures found)]
…
…
[Lilly Rose has ranked 2nd.]
[You have discovered 12 treasures and earned 520 points.]
[You receive an additional 320 points as a ranking bonus.]
“Wow! First place! …Wait, what is this?”
Lilly stared at the ranking board floating before her, doubting her own eyes. Someone else’s name was listed at the top instead of hers.
Kim Sunwoo.
“What? Who’s this guy?”
Seeing an entirely unexpected name, she blinked blankly. Kim Sunwoo? Why is he here?
And more importantly, the number of treasures he found was outrageous.
“…22?”
Thinking she must be seeing things, she rubbed her eyes and looked again.
But no matter how many times she checked, it was still 22. Nearly double the number of treasures she had found.
“Is… is this even possible?”
Even with her own eyes confirming it, Lilly couldn’t believe it.
Logically speaking, was it really possible to find 22 treasures in just one hour? She had been sure she would take first place in this event.
What the hell…
“Kim Sunwoo…”
Now that she thought about it, there had been records of Kim Sunwoo outperforming Lee Seo-jun in certain subjects at the Korean Academy of Magic.
She had dismissed it as a sign that the academy’s standards were simply lower. But looking at this ranking, she realized that wasn’t the case.
There was a reason Kim Sunwoo was in first place.
“This is just ridiculous.”
Can I even take first place at this rate? Right now, the most likely top-ranking student is probably Yoo Ara, not Lee Seo-jun. And if the news spreads that someone other than Lee Seo-jun took first place…
She didn’t even want to imagine it.
“…I guess I’ll have to start plundering.”
There were 18 hours left until the exam ended. By now, the other students must have accumulated a decent amount of points.
It was the perfect time to start stealing them.
“But seriously, where the hell is Lee Seo-jun? He hasn’t shown up at all.”
Lilly scrolled through the ranking list again.
No matter how much she searched, he wasn’t there. Even after checking the top 100, his name was nowhere to be found.
“…Don’t tell me he’s aiming for the 30th floor?”
No way. That place had only been cleared once in the past 50 years. Would he really try for it?
“….”
Then again, it wasn’t entirely impossible. Someone had managed to reach the 30th floor once before, even if it had been half a century ago. And Lee Seo-jun was considered the greatest genius in history.
If it were him, he might actually do it.
“…Ha.”
In that case, what could she do?
…Nothing.
All she could do was hope he didn’t make it to the 30th floor.
11:50 PM.
With about 12 hours left in the exam, I was steadily accumulating points by clearing the 19th floor’s themed stage and hunting monsters.
Since not many students had reached this floor yet, I could monopolize the point-gathering zones, making for a rather profitable session.
I also scored highly in the occasional events that popped up, and before I knew it, my total points had exceeded 2,700. At this rate, I should at least be in the top 20.
But as always, my limited mana was frustrating.
If I had even a little more mana, I could have earned far more points.
And if only I could drink mana elixirs freely without worrying about people watching…
“Oh well.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d felt restricted by my lack of mana. Shaking off the thought, I started moving again.
That was when the Tower’s Will echoed in my mind.
[A new ‘Red Player Leader’ has emerged!]
Red Player Leader. The title given to the person who had stolen the most points among all Red Players.
I opened my Smart Student Notebook and checked the ‘Red Player’ rankings.
[Red Player Rankings]
[1. Lilly Rose – 5,200 Points]
[2. Park Inhwan – 4,500 Points]
[3. Jo Minseok – 3,900 Points]
……
……
As expected, the new Red Player Leader was Lilly Rose.
She had racked up a staggering 5,200 points purely through plundering.
Most likely, around 3,000 of those points came from robbing students of the Korean Magic Academy.
The “next time we meet, we’ll be enemies” comment she had made to me before—this was what she had meant.
“Hm.”
But soon, the final event would begin—an event that would completely overturn the rankings of all students.
Right now, Red Players like Lilly Rose were in the lead, but once the event started, the situation would change dramatically.
Of course, this part hadn’t been covered in the original story.
At the time of this event, Lee Seo-jun had been challenging the 30th floor, effectively playing a completely different game from everyone else.
“It should be starting soon.”
I checked the time.
11:59 PM.
Only one minute left.
Then, the Tower’s Will echoed in my ears again.
[Soon, the final event, ‘Night of Reckoning,’ will begin.]
It was finally here.
The event that would massively shake up the rankings.
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1…]
[The ‘Night of Reckoning’ has begun!]
[For the next six hours, plundering other students will not register you as a ‘Red Player’!]
I tapped Lilly Rose’s name on the Red Player list.
Immediately, her real-time location appeared on my screen.
[Lilly Rose]
[+Red Player Leader+]
[Current Location: 12th Floor, Spirit’s Lake]
“Let’s go.”
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