Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

CLANG—!

This time, the impact carried a little differently.

From inside the rock wall, it was not metal— it was the sensation of hard stone grain cracking.

He inhaled.

Cold air touched his lungs, and his throat scraped once.

‘Dust….’

He forced down the cough that tried to rise.

If he coughed now, his rhythm would break.

If his rhythm broke, his stamina would drain faster.

Muttering that to himself, he brought the pickaxe down one last time.

***

Some time later.

“Lumina.”

Jin-woo looked at the Mana Stones he had gathered on the floor and spoke.

“I got about twenty Mana Stones now. How long can we last with this much?”

A brief pause.

Soon, a dry voice returned.

[Mana Stone Quality: F.]

[Energy efficiency low.]

[Operation possible for 24 hours with optimized distribution.]

[Priority Maintenance Targets: Blocking, Lighting, Basic Purification]

[Suspended Targets: Forge, Additional Facilities, Convenience Functions]

“…So there are separate priority maintenance targets.”

Jin-woo read down the message with his eyes.

Lighting.

Purification.

Blocking.

It was an arrangement that left only what was needed to ‘not die.’

‘Arcanist… you really only thought about survival.’

One day.

To be precise, a one-day ‘extension.’

It was less that he had lived through today, and closer to borrowing tomorrow as debt.

The thought that this was the Tower after all came naturally.

“One day….”

Jin-woo exhaled briefly.

He had put out the immediate fire.

In return, it meant he had to mine the same way tomorrow too.

“Let’s stop at about this much for now.”

Shaving away any more stamina would be dangerous.

The Tower was a place where he never knew when something might happen.

“Where do I move these?”

[Main Room Fuel Tank.]

Jin-woo nodded.

He picked up the Mana Stones one by one and headed to the main room.

One side of the main room wall was glowing faintly.

“…Is it here?”

A small hole.

It looked like a fuel inlet meant for inserting Mana Stones.

Jin-woo pushed the Mana Stones in one by one.

At that moment—

[Energy charged.]

[Priority reallocation.]

[Remaining Energy: 15% -> 89%]

[Note: ‘Basic Functions’ restored first.]

“Phew….”

The moment he saw the number rise, the tension caught at the nape of his neck loosened.

‘If possible… I’d like to get more.’

The problem was stamina.

‘If I do any more, I might end up so exhausted I can’t do anything.’

He never knew when something might happen in the Tower.

To survive, he always had to leave himself with at least the bare minimum of stamina.

It absolutely was not because he was tired.

This was a decision born from rational judgment.

“Then….”

That was when it happened.

Ding!

《Energy supplied for the first time.》

《Safe Base activated.》

《Magic Tower Stability: 32%》

“What the….”

Seeing the message window that had suddenly appeared, Jin-woo narrowed his eyes.

Something was happening.

《Forming contract.》

《Buffs are granted according to Stability.》

《Current: Inactive》

‘Stability, buffs?’

He was flustered, but information gathering came first right now.

《A penalty will be applied if Magic Tower Stability falls below 25%.》

“Below 25%? What penalty gets applied?”

《Physical Ability Reduction》

《Magic Tower Energy Efficiency Reduction》

If efficiency dropped, he would have to mine more.

‘And if my physical ability drops, mining will get that much harder too.’

“Tch.”

Jin-woo lightly clicked his tongue.

However, he could still try to run the positive-thinking circuit.

‘It said there are buffs, right?’

“What are the buffs?”

《Upon reaching 40% Magic Tower Stability》

《Physical Ability Increase》

《Magic Tower Energy Efficiency Increase》

Not bad.

The higher it rose, the stronger he would become.

Jin-woo waited for a moment.

That was the end of the message window.

Jin-woo calmly organized his thoughts.

“Lumina.”

[Awaiting response.]

“How do I raise the Magic Tower’s Stability?”

[Magic Tower Stability]

[Facility Repair]

[Repair or production of required Magic Engineering devices.]

“So that’s how it is.”

Jin-woo nodded.

He had planned to use this place as a base anyway.

“Reserves. Roughly how long will they last?”

[Related records lost.]

[Reserve calculation impossible.]

“…That’s not good.”

In the worst case, mining itself might be impossible tomorrow.

That was a situation he absolutely had to avoid.

“Can’t you estimate the reserves through some other method?”

[Measurement impossible.]

[Related device damaged.]

“Urgh….”

He needed the reserves.

But in the current state, there was nothing he could use to calculate them.

Jin-woo stood for a moment and steadied his breath, then shook his head.

‘Not now.’

“I have to find some kind of method….”

The longer he clung to a problem that would not give an answer, the more his stamina would be shaved away.

He neatly folded the thought away.

“Lumina. Is there a place to rest in the Magic Tower?”

[Temporary rest space present.]

[Recovery efficiency low.]

[Long rest not recommended.]

“Really?”

That was a relief.

After entering the Tower, he had not once rested properly.

If he stopped, he died.

That was a sensation ingrained in his body since before his regression.

“Then where is it?”

[Beginning guidance.]

A faint arrow appeared on the floor.

“…Navigation, huh.”

[Please follow it.]

Jin-woo followed the arrow.

On the opposite side of the main room.

At the end of a dimly lit passage, there was a small room.

Unknown characters were engraved above the door.

“It’s not Japanese or English….”

After climbing up to the ninety-eighth floor, he had been able to read most things.

But this did not catch any meaning at all.

“Lumina. What does this say?”

[Translation: Rest Space.]

“So it’s the Arcanist’s language?”

[Affirmative.]

[A language independently researched and created.]

Jin-woo nodded.

“For now….”

He pushed the partition aside and went in.

A narrow space.

Metal walls.

A single thin mat on the floor.

In the corner, there was a folding cot.

The frame was old, and the sheet was rough.

‘Better than nothing.’

It was not comfortable.

His back remembered the floor.

Still, right now, having a place where he could collapse was enough.

[Rest environment confirmed.]

[Recovery Efficiency: Low.]

[Risk increases during prolonged activity.]

[Recommendation: Hydration / Respiratory Purification / Body Temperature Maintenance]

‘I know.’

Lying down, Jin-woo curled and uncurled his fingers.

His joints were stiff.

The insides of his arms were hot, and his wrists were heavy.

The impact from mining still remained in his body.

‘At this intensity… before my regression, I would’ve done it without even warming up.’

Back then, his level had been different.

His stamina had been different.

His recovery had been different.

The current him was not at the point where “one more” divided survival, but where “one less” did.

Jin-woo slowly exhaled.

The smell of dust still lingered in his breath.

‘Purification equipment… I need to restore it quickly.’

Jin-woo closed his eyes.

As he slowly settled his breathing, he organized the day.

He had revived the fire.

He had made tools too.

He had left himself room to calculate tomorrow.

‘Today… ends here.’

Thinking that, he let his body sink.

***

He opened his eyes.

A ceiling.

A dry, metal ceiling.

‘…I’m alive.’

That thought came first.

He tried to stretch, then stopped.

His body was heavy.

It did not feel fully recovered.

《Survival Assessment Complete.》

It was an unfamiliar message.

Jin-woo blinked for a moment.

Still half-asleep, he stared at the message, then raised his upper body.

《DAY - 1 ended.》

《Survival EXP accumulated.》

“…What?”

This time, he saw it clearly.

It was not a dream.

Jin-woo checked the message again.

The phrase was short, but its meaning was not light.

‘Survival EXP.’

It was an item that had not existed before his regression.

The Tower had only recognized fighting.

But now, choices made to endure were being recorded.

《Survival EXP accumulated.》

Accumulated.

It did not rise immediately right now.

Instead, it kept stacking.

Jin-woo let out a long breath.

A chill ran down his spine.

‘This Tower isn’t looking at results… It’s looking at endurance.’

Before his regression, a day like today would have been treated as ‘a day where nothing happened.’

There was no combat log, no level-up, and no achievement no matter who looked at it.

But now, it was different.

The Tower was calculating “choices made to survive.”

Jin-woo picked up the pickaxe.

Its weight felt different.

To be precise, it was not the weight— it felt as though he himself, holding it, had changed.

“I start again.”

This time, it was survival without running away.

***

“Haa….”

The mining was over.

This mining had not been work to save the Magic Tower.

It had been repetition to keep himself alive for one more day.

The total number of Mana Stones he had obtained today was eighteen.

‘Still… it’s tight.’

When he put down the pickaxe, his fingertips trembled faintly.

Before his regression, this was work he could have endured for half a day longer.

His current body was that weak.

He had not expected the fact that his level was low to feel this stark.

“Lumina. With this much… we can last today, right?”

[Affirmative.]

[Current state maintenance baseline: 20 Mana Stones per day.]

It was the minimum.

A calculation made with no other facilities running and rest minimized.

In a word.

If he was short even one day’s worth of Mana Stones, the balance would collapse immediately.

It was not a good structure.

‘Maintaining the status quo.’

In an ordinary place, it would not be a bad phrase.

But in the Tower, it was different.

Changing nothing meant standing in place and waiting.

Maintaining the status quo here was no different from slowly dying.

‘I’ll have to find some kind of method for this too.’

“By the way….”

Cough….

A dry cough slipped out.

The sweat he had shed while mining was cooling.

He could not swallow.

His mouth was parched dry.

It felt as though Mana Stone dust was clinging to the inside of his throat.

The more he tried to swallow, the rougher it felt.

“Ah.”

Jin-woo stood still for a moment.

Only then did he realize it.

Since coming here, he had not drunk water even once.

The first thing to run out in the Tower.

It was not stamina, nor Mana Stones.

‘…It’s water.’

Jin-woo tried to wet his lips.

Nothing came.

The tip of his tongue was rough.

The inside of his throat stung, and the taste of dust rose every time he inhaled.

‘Without water….’

If concentration faltered, he died.

He raised his head and looked inside the Magic Tower.

“Lumina.”

Jin-woo rolled his dry mouth once more.

This time, even his saliva would not go down properly.

“Where can I get… drinkable water in this Magic Tower?”

***

‘Water is important.’

Water was different.

In one day, he would grow dull.

In two days, he would collapse.

His hands trembled faintly.

He tried not to be conscious of it, but his body reacted first.

‘Well… I did sweat that much.’

As he steadied his roughened breathing, Jin-woo exhaled briefly.

“Phew….”

His throat burned.

His saliva had dried up, leaving his tongue stiff, and the inside of his throat scraped every time he swallowed a breath.

This was not simple thirst.

It was a ‘signal.’

If he dragged it out, his hands would start trembling first, and his judgment would break down first.

Something similar had happened before his regression too.

After drinking the wrong water once, his judgment had collapsed.

Since that day, he had never been optimistic when it came to water.

‘So this time is different.’

Jin-woo gritted his teeth.

For future survival, what he needed to secure before anything else was water.

He could make a water purification facility.

The problem was materials.

They were not on the first floor right now.

The Purification Core.

Something that dropped only after killing a Siren, on the twenty-fifth floor at the earliest.

At the current point in time, it was not a realistic option.

In other words, he had to find another way right now.

“Phew… something….”

That was when it happened.

[Search complete.]

[Water Purification Facility discovered.]