What just happened?

Youngwoo looked around. Or rather, he tried to. Wherever he looked, there was only complete darkness. No, actually, didn't he see a little bit of brilliance all around? What was that? Was he going to heaven? Or to hell? Why did it happen to him? Why must've he been so unlucky?

As a few seconds passed by, something flashed in his field of view. With an audible *ZOOM* a small object drifted just by his nose. Taken off guard, Youngwoo rose his hands to defend, but with surprise he discovered that he wasn't holding his longsword anymore. He looked at himself, and found that he was wearing the same clothes as just a minute ago: a large cloth shirt and pants, his usual combo for almost any type of scenario. But, his weapon was gone from his hand. Then, he reminded himself of his last seconds. Frantically, he scanned his neck with his hands, but was only welcomed with smooth skin. There was no sign of his head flying off just now.

'Did I dream...?' He thought for a moment, until another object zoomed past him. He looked in the direction of the movement, and was bestowed with an unusual sight. Right in front of him were 8 skill cards.

In a neat fashion, 8 objects were floating in one spot, creating an octagon. Colors differed from card to card, but Youngwoo easily recognized cards' rankings. 2 S-ranks, 1 A-rank, 3 B-ranks, 1 E-rank and 1 F-rank.

Seeing the cards floating in front of him, he was suddenly greeted with a notification window.

[There are 8 skills possible for selection.
Please select a skill to continue.]

Youngwoo blinked once. Then twice. He couldn't believe what was happening. There was brilliant light, then he got arguably the worst skill he ever heard off, and now this? No, this was moving too fast for him. He needed to take a minute to recollect himself.

He went back to what appeared in front of him when he was charging against Dragon Witch's zombie. It was something most in the Tower had happen to the before. It was simply Tower recognizing his struggle to be better and granting him a skill. However, the way it was phrased was quite weird.

[The Tower recognizes your struggles.
Your strife went on for years without an end. By enduring the pain from your ability, you gained favor of Tower's Master. However, your path is filled with your lies. You were discovered and accepted your truth. The Tower wishes to reward your struggle. Lies, truth, they shall not bare existence on you. You are worthy to be the one to shape your destiny as you see fit.]

[Obtained skill: I want to do better!]

[I want to do better!

Rank: SSS

You can obtain any skill of a being that kills you.
*You may only carry 1 skill from each being at a time.
*Every time this skill is used, a penalty will occur accordingly to your current rank.

However, the price is your life.]

When he first read the description, he was so mad that he felt like he would rip everything in his path. This skill was so very much abysmal, but it had the audacity to call itself SSS-rank?! Besides, who knew there was SSS-rank in skills? Was this an error of the Tower?!

'The Tower is really dumb. To not know this skill belongs in F-rank. Hell, it's even worse than F-rank!' He thought with outrage. 'So, I think I get it. I'm really dead, but until I pick a skill, I won't fully die. So this is literally limbo.' He knew the concept from the multiple religions he encountered. Limbo was a state of a human soul where it couldn't go either to heaven nor hell. It was bound to stay in there for an eternity. Well, at least that's how Christianity painted it.

But, what were his options now? Just wait? Or maybe pick a skill card and fulfill his ****? As if wanting to answer his piling questions, he got a notification.

[The Tower is not agreeing with your thoughts. It believes that the skill it gave you truly belongs to the SSS-rank.]

'What? The Tower reads in my mind?'

[The Tower replies positively. "Mortal, do you have a question?" It asks.]

"...yeah. Why would this skill be SSS-rank?! Do you not see that it literally kills me?"

[The Tower replies "Mortal, you focus too much on what is, and not enough on what was."]

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

[The Tower asks if you want an explanation.]

"Oh sure!" He replied sarcastically. "What're you gonna say? That it doesn't matter that I die?"

[The Tower replies positively.]

"???" He looked dumbfounded.

[The Tower's Master chuckles at your reaction, their attention brought to you. "Mortal. You have obtained the highest rank skill in the Tower. This is a talent that transcends even ****. You will understand that in time."]

[The Tower's Master hurries off elsewhere, having some business to attend to. However, they state that they will return to watch your actions sometime in the future.]

"???" Youngwoo sat down, unable to comprehend. A talent that transcended even ****? Did the Tower's Master go out of their mind? The skill clearly didn't say anything like that. On the other side, why has the Tower itself confirmed it?

He was familiar to concept of asking Tower questions. In fact, it was quite like a system of an RPG (quite advanced one at it). If one were to loudly express their questions to the Tower, there was nearly a guarantee that it would respond the first time. And, as already proven a thousand times over, it never lied. It couldn't reveal any information related to the floors or skills that the user didn't access, but if one were to ask what their skills did, the Tower would answer 100% truthfully and if one asked, great detail could be brought up.

But Youngwoo didn't want to ask any more questions. He felt a headache at the very thought of having to try and wrap his head around this topic. He understood that many skills in the Tower had hidden usage and additional abilities. For example, Sword Mastery (a passive skill) increased user's proficiency in usage of swords. However, this also applied to daggers, small knifes and even spears, albeit in lesser effect. It was natural to think there would be some hidden function to 'I want to do better!', but why wasn't this functionality written up as basis?

Not wanting to waste any time, Youngwoo decided to simply flow with it. After all, there was little he could do. It was either pick a skill card and see what happens, or wait in this place for an eternity.

Obviously, he didn't want any skill lower than S-rank (why would anyone want one?). But, that didn't make his choice much easier. He started to look at one card, then at the other. Finally unable to decide, he tried to settle the debate easily. Closing his eyes, he spun on his heels a few times and did a quick gesture with his hands, attempting to randomize where they would land. Finally, he opened his eyes, and grabbed the S-ranked skill which was closer to his right hand.

[You have picked a card. The skill engraved is 'Calm Mind (passive)'.]

[You made your selection. 'Calm Mind (passive)' is added to your skill list.]

[Rewinding time 24 hours back.]

[You are penalized. Your rank is F. Penalty severity is low.
Displaying trauma...]

'Trauma?' Thought Youngwoo as he suddenly saw the world swirl around. Soon he was standing again, but he couldn't recognize where he was.

It was dead of a night. Everything all around was blurry. Was he in the Floor 1 city? Or on a different floor? Hell, he had difficult time even making out what he was seeing in front of himself. But, as he **** himself a bit, he could see about 5 figures.

A woman and man were laying on the hard ground roughly 10 metres away from him, both beaten up. Above them, there were 3 men, who Youngwoo immediately recognized as thugs. He now knew what he was seeing: this was a robbery. The sky was dark, and he could barely make out faces of the two who were on the ground. No wait, why was everything blurry and suddenly sharp? What was that sensation on his cheeks? He suddenly understood: those were his tears.

He noticed that he swung his hands. No, did he really? He focused on the motion for a moment. Yes, it seemed like he did. No, actually, wasn't this his body moving on his own? Also, weren't those fingers too thin to be called his? Something pulled him back, but even though he didn't do anything his body fought back. With a brilliant light, there was a sigil of magic drawn, and the earth ruptured, pushing everyone aside from himself and the 2 on the ground. Then, as his body was freed, his legs suddenly pushed him forward.

He stopped just above the two and suddenly went to his knees. Tears flowed from his eyes as he grabbed the woman's head and hugged it tightly. Then, he noticed dark red hair entering his field of view. And then, the realization struck him: this was Dragon Witch's memory, 'trauma' as the Tower called it.

Hilda kept on crying for some seconds, until she heard a sound of footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw 5 grown men with some weapons. 3 of them held baseballs firmly, stained with blood. The other 2 held onto clean machetes, but one could tell they were freshly cleaned. They took a step, then another. Approaching the woman on the ground, they started forming a semicircle. Did they seriously intend to kill her? It seemed like so. Youngwoo felt hair in the back of his neck stand up.

But, the crying one felt only one emotion now: unrelenting fury. Why, why must've it happened to her? She lamented deep in her soul. Everything was going fine until now. Why, oh just why did this happen? Why couldn't she do anything about it earlier? Echoes of her agony were being drowned out by animosity as she felt her magic recharge. And suddenly, with a roar, she summoned ice magic. An ice wave, created with what mana she had left, was sharper than razor's edge, and effortlessly cut through all 5 of the aggressors, also managing to slash at some trees behind them, leaving behind frozen cuts. The earth and grass alike in front of her became frosty. In a semicircle fashion, land in radius of nearly 20 metres became snow land. Hilda's breath became ragged as she felt the immense weariness hit her.

A firework went out in the sky. Forcing herself to look up a bit, Hilda noticed that one was quickly followed by dozens more, all exploding high in the sky. In the vast blackness of the sky, there was a huge display visible, which started counting from 24 hours. It was 23:59:32 already. And then 23:59:31. It was a countdown. Youngwoo, still looking through Dragon Witch's eyes, recognized the event: This countdown happened when the Knights Guild cleared the 10th floor of the Tower. Recalling his memories, he remembered that this happened a little over 3 years prior to this day. And then, it hit him: the place where Hilda was. It was the park on the 1st floor city.

Hilda breathed heavily. Her tears, frozen on her cheeks, were glistening in the light from the fireworks. Feeling too weak to even cry anymore, her vision went blurry, and suddenly, she lost consciousness.

[Recalling of trauma finished.]

[Due to effects of skill 'Calm Mind (passive)', strain on your mentality has been nullified.]