Near the towering Fire Dragon structure—
The air shimmered faintly with heat, as if the massive carved beast radiated a silent, ancient flame. Its eyes, though made of stone, seemed alive—watching, judging, waiting.
In front of it stood Park Gun.
Still.
Unmoving.
Regulars rushed past him in waves, their footsteps hurried, desperate—like ants scrambling toward scattered sugar. Some bumped into each other, some cursed, some didn't even notice him standing there.
But Park Gun didn't move.
His gaze was locked onto the dragon's eyes.
Cold.
Focused.
Unshaken.
A thought surfaced in his mind.
Do I really need another technique?
His fists tightened slightly.
I already have my Kyokushin Karate.
The discipline.
The power.
The control.
Everything he needed—he had built it himself.
Or so he thought.
Then—
A faint flicker appeared before him.
A translucent blue interface materialized in the air, hovering silently.
---
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
〔 SYSTEM NOTICE 〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Your current technique — Yamazaki-Style Kyokushin Karate — is classified as Lowest Grade.
To progress, the Host must acquire higher-grade techniques within the Tower.
This Tower was constructed by the ancient cultivator Xuan Yuan Immortal, a being who surpassed all known realms and established a path beyond recorded cultivation limits.
All techniques within this structure originate from his legacy.
Guided learning and optimization protocols can be activated.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Initiate Assistance?
[ YES ] [ NO ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
The interface hovered in front of him.
Silent.
Waiting.
Park Gun's eyes narrowed slightly as he read through it.
Xuan Yuan Immortal…
A name unfamiliar to him.
Strange.
Heavy.
Who the hell is that…
He had never heard of such a figure.
Yet the system spoke of him like a god beyond comprehension.
His gaze shifted briefly toward the Fire Dragon.
Then back to the glowing options.
Only a second passed.
Maybe less.
Without hesitation—
He raised his finger.
And pressed.
YES.
The moment his finger made contact—
Everything changed.
A force surged through his body.
His feet lifted off the ground.
Gasps erupted from nearby Regulars.
"Hey—what the hell—"
"He's floating!"
"What is happening?!"
Park Gun's body rose slowly into the air, suspended as if gravity had lost its hold on him.
His eyes closed.
His breathing steadied.
Inside—
Something began.
A process.
A transfer.
A reconstruction.
The Fire Dragon behind him seemed to glow faintly, as if responding to his acceptance.
Energy gathered.
Condensed.
And then—
Ignited.
---
Time passed.
No one could tell how long.
But suddenly—
A surge.
A violent outburst of spiritual energy exploded from his body.
It rose upward like a pillar of blazing force, distorting the air around him.
Regulars nearby were pushed back instantly.
Some stumbled.
Some fell.
Some cursed loudly.
"Fuck—what the hell is this!"
"Move back!"
"His energy is insane!"
Park Gun's eyes snapped open.
Sharp.
Cold.
Alive.
The air around him trembled.
And then—
The system appeared again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
〔 SYSTEM STATUS WINDOW 〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Yamazaki Gun
Title: Shiro Oni — The White Ghost
Age: 20
Rank: F-Class ★★
Special Ability: Ultrainstinct (UI)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Combat Techniques:
• Yamazaki-Style Kyokushin Karate (Lowest Grade)
• Inferno Fist (Mid Grade) — Three Forms
Note: Your other techniques fall below the minimum acceptable threshold for your system.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
---
At the very center of the Public Area—
While chaos had already shifted toward order, and millions of Regulars rushed toward the towering beast structures—
Yang Kai remained exactly where he was.
Unmoved.
Unbothered.
His body sat perfectly still, cross-legged, as the crimson-black energy around him thickened into something far more sinister.
The rotation accelerated.
The transformation deepened.
Spiritual Qi twisted… compressed… corrupted into something darker.
Death Qi.
It grew denser with every passing second.
Heavier.
Colder.
More lethal.
The air around him began to distort slightly, as if reality itself rejected the nature of that energy.
Then—
A surge.
The crimson-black Death Qi erupted upward like a towering pillar, spiraling into the sky with a violent, suffocating presence. The ground beneath him cracked outward in jagged lines, unable to withstand the pressure leaking from his body.
And then—
His eyes opened.
Sharp.
Dark.
Alive with something terrifying.
A slow, creeping smile spread across his face.
"Hahaha…"
His laughter echoed lightly.
"Now… people lower than me are nothing but ants."
With that declaration, Yang Kai rose to his feet, his robe fluttering behind him as the remaining Death Qi settled slowly into his body.
He lifted his gaze.
Expecting—
Eyes.
Shock.
Fear.
Admiration.
But—
Nothing.
No one.
Not a single soul stood near him.
His expression froze.
"…Huh?"
He blinked once.
Then slowly turned his head.
Left.
Right.
Toward the massive structures.
And there—
He saw them.
Everyone.
Millions of Regulars.
Sitting.
Grouped.
Facing the statues.
Trying to learn techniques like obedient students.
Yang Kai's face twitched.
A deep disappointment washed over him.
Damn it…
I thought they were still watching me… thinking wow, he's amazing…
He let out a long sigh.
Who the fuck told them about the statues…
The moment of grandeur he imagined—
Gone.
Completely fucking wasted.
Clicking his tongue, he scratched his head lightly before shrugging it off.
"Well… who cares."
His expression shifted.
A familiar, shameless grin appeared.
"I'll just look around… and flirt with some girls."
His eyes gleamed.
With this face…
A hand brushed lightly against his cheek.
I'm hell handsome.
---
After walking for several minutes—
He reached the base of the Earth Turtle.
The massive structure loomed above, its ancient, immovable presence casting a heavy shadow across the ground.
But—
There was a problem.
Crowded.
Too fucking crowded.
People sat everywhere.
Packed tightly.
Shoulder to shoulder.
Eyes closed.
Trying desperately to cultivate.
Yang Kai stood there, staring.
"…Seriously?"
He scanned the area.
Not a single opening.
Not a single gap.
And more importantly—
No one worth talking to.
He sighed again.
Damn it… not even a decent girl to talk to.
Completely uninterested now, he turned his head toward the distance.
The Wind Crane.
"Let's go to another one."
Without hesitation, he pivoted and began walking again, hands behind his back, posture relaxed as if he wasn't in the middle of a life-and-death tower at all.
---
Meanwhile—
At the Entrance of Floor 1.
A completely different atmosphere.
Silence.
Stillness.
An endless blank space stretched in all directions, devoid of life, sound, or movement.
And within that emptiness—
A massive stone gate stood tall.
Ancient.
Covered in intricate patterns that seemed to pulse faintly with an unknown power.
In front of it—
Jin floated calmly in the air.
His expression neutral.
His presence steady.
As if he had been waiting.
Then—
His eyes shifted slightly.
Without turning his head, he spoke.
"What brings you here?"
A voice answered from behind.
Cold.
Sharp.
Carrying restrained anger.
"Sir Jin… shouldn't you explain what you did?"
A figure stood a few steps away.
Clad in black.
Hands behind his back.
His green eyes glowed faintly in the empty void.
Jin slowly turned around, his expression polite—almost respectful.
"Sir Satan… what do you mean?"
There was no fear in his voice.
No urgency.
Just calm.
Too calm.
Satan's eyes narrowed, irritation flashing clearly.
"Still pretending?"
His voice dropped slightly.
Dangerous.
"Do you want me to report you to the Administrators?"
For a moment—
Silence stretched.
Jin said nothing.
He simply looked at him.
Unbothered.
Unmoved.
That indifference—
Only fueled the tension further.
Satan exhaled sharply, his figure beginning to fade into darkness.
"This is your last warning."
His glowing eyes lingered for one final second.
"If it happens again…"
His voice turned cold.
"I'll execute you without hesitation."
And then—
He vanished.
The space returned to silence.
Jin remained where he was.
Floating.
Expression unchanged.
As if nothing had happened at all.
---
Three days slipped by inside the Public Area, though the passage of time felt strangely compressed—as if the Tower itself had bent perception to suit its purpose.
During that period, the transformation among the Regulars was undeniable. One after another, bursts of spiritual light erupted across the vast arena—pillars of energy rising like beacons as individuals successfully resonated with the ancient statues.
Roughly seventy to eighty percent of the survivors had managed to grasp at least one technique. Each success wasn't just symbolic—it came with a tangible reward. Their bodies strengthened, their aura stabilized, and most of them stepped cleanly into F-Rank One Star.
The remaining group struggled. Some sweated endlessly in meditation, others forced their consciousness into the statues again and again, failing each time. Frustration, desperation, and silent rage simmered among them.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai… had entirely different priorities.
For three whole days, instead of diligently cultivating like everyone else, he wandered across the Public Area with a very specific goal—finding beautiful women.
And failing miserably.
Now he sat casually atop the massive head of the Earth Turtle statue, legs dangling over the edge, chin resting on his palm. His crimson-black robes fluttered slightly in the ambient spiritual currents.
He let out a long, dramatic sigh.
"Damn it… these Earth girls have no sense of taste. Can't they see how fucking handsome I am?"
His sharp eyes scanned the crowd below again, hoping—against all evidence—that something would suddenly change.
Nothing did.
No admiring glances. No shy smiles. No flock of admirers.
Just people grinding their teeth and struggling to survive.
Yang Kai clicked his tongue in annoyance.
In his past life, he had been surrounded by celestial beauties—immortal fairies who would wage wars just for a glance from him. But here?
Not even a second look.
Unbeknownst to him, the dynamics of this world were brutally pragmatic. On Earth, admiration wasn't handed out for appearance alone—power, dominance, and utility dictated attraction.
And right now, Yang Kai… hadn't demonstrated enough of that publicly.
He leaned forward slightly, scanning again—and then his eyes paused.
Not on a beauty.
On a familiar figure.
Below the statue, a muscular young man stood amidst a small cleared space.
Jhon Leothan.
Jhon's body was wrapped in a faint green glow. His hands moved in controlled, deliberate arcs, guiding the energy around him. Slowly, that energy condensed into form—
A semi-transparent armor.
It covered his chest, shoulders, and head—solidifying into a protective shell. The lower half, however, flickered inconsistently, unable to stabilize.
Even so, it was impressive progress.
Yang Kai's lips curled into a smirk.
"So I couldn't find beauties… but I found something interesting instead."
He rose to his feet atop the statue, balancing effortlessly despite the height.
Then, without warning—
He bent his knees and jumped.
His body cut through the air like a falling blade.
Several Regulars nearby noticed the sudden movement and instinctively looked up.
"What the—"
"He's falling!"
"Move, move!"
They scattered quickly, creating space as Yang Kai descended rapidly.
Jhon, still focused on stabilizing his armor, didn't notice anything.
Not until—
Boom.
Yang Kai landed directly in front of him.
Dust exploded outward from the impact, spreading in a circular shockwave that forced nearby people to step back even further.
Jhon's concentration shattered instantly. The green armor flickered and collapsed into scattered particles.
He blinked, disoriented, then looked forward.
Standing before him—
Yang Kai, completely composed, robes swaying slightly, a smug expression plastered across his face.
Jhon stared for a second, then frowned.
"…Who are you?"
Yang Kai grinned wider.
"Think about it?"
The contrast between them was almost absurd—one drenched in effort and discipline, the other radiating effortless arrogance.
Around them, a few Regulars paused their cultivation, watching with curiosity.