Leaderboard?
Dawei's senses tingled with a sharp surge of competition. He opened the Infinity Tower Rankings, expecting to be at the top after cutting through 58 floors like warm butter.
But what greeted him?
He blinked. Then blinked again.
[Rankings – Infinity Tower (Dragon Route)]
Iris Liuli – Floor 72
Dawei – Floor 58
??? – Floor 41
??? – Floor 29
"...What the actual hell?"
Someone named Iris Liuli had already reached the 72nd floor—14 levels ahead of him, despite Dawei's god-tier setup and lightning-clear speed.
Dawei lit a cigarette in silence, brows furrowed.
"Not only am I not number one, but someone's so far ahead… there's no way this is a fluke."
The name wasn't familiar from any of the usual top player lists. Not a known figure on the forums. Which made it worse—an unknown dark horse was quietly dominating a dragon-exclusive zone.
"So I'm not the only one who made it into Dragon City. And I'm not even first…"
That revelation settled like a cold stone in his gut.
Worse yet, they weren't just inside—they were far ahead.
He paused before teleporting to the third floor. Instead, he stayed put, using the break to analyze everything he'd seen so far.
The trial structure was clear now.
Each sub-level within a floor raised the monster's level by +1. By that logic, Floor 30 of Layer 1 would feature Level 30 enemies. The deeper he went, the higher the monster stats—and no matter how broken his gear was, his own level was still just 4.
"Even with my busted dagger," he muttered, "I can only reliably overpower monsters up to Level 10. After that, it's not strength—it's survival."
Which meant that even the first layer might be impossible to clear unless he changed something.
That's when the kill value system clicked.
He pulled up his kill value total: 158 points. He tapped on the Broken Old Sword, selecting the option to redeem it for 100 points. The interface for equipment exchange unlocked immediately.
Just as expected, it featured gear ranked from 1-star to 4-star, with wide gaps in stat ranges.
"The Broken Old Sword isn't bad," he muttered, "but this shop gear is just… scaled. Linear. Flat growth." Useful for farming weaker mobs, sure. But Dawei already outclassed the early waves. Buying stronger equipment to keep up with the mob level scaling meant burning kill points on short-term upgrades—gear that vanished the moment he left the tower.
Then there were attribute points. At 100 kill value per point, it was clear this system catered to high-skill players—those who could grind efficiently and convert kills into permanent, stat-neutral dominance.
That was the trap.
Exchange gear = fast short-term progress
Exchange attributes = slow start, but long-term dominance
And Dawei? He needed both, but had to choose now.
He tapped a finger against the desk.
"Dammit… if I go the gear route, I'll clear faster now, but I'll fall off later. But if I go attributes, I'll die before I even get to the halfway point. What kind of torturous design is this?"
The longer he sat, the more irritated he got.
Even his Red Dragon Queen quest was on the line—he needed to pass this tower to gain her trust and move to Stage 3 of the Black Dragon Invasion chain. That was plot-critical. And here he was, forced to min-max a stat tree in a time-limited combat tower.
I need an edge. I need a guide. I need…
He opened the leaderboard again and stared at the name Iris Liuli.
He didn't recognize the name—but she clearly didn't just stumble into Dragon City.
"She must've triggered a hidden path too… or got recruited early by another dragon faction."
A sudden thought hit him. Could she be connected to the Black Dragons instead of the Reds? Or a spy like me, working the same angle from the opposite side?
Regardless, 72 floors meant she knew something. Strategy, scaling, reward thresholds, gear rotation—something.
Dawei hovered over her name, hit "Send Friend Request", and followed it with a private message.
Dawei:"Yo. Saw your name on the Tower leaderboard. Respect. I'm stuck on Floor 58. Mind sharing a tip or two? Happy to trade info."
He stared at the screen, waiting.
A few seconds later…
[Friend Request Accepted – Iris Liuli]
Then:
Iris Liuli:"Nice to see someone else made it this far. Most just die by Floor 20. You must be the other one that came from the bounty path?"
Dawei's eyes narrowed.
So she knew about the bounty hunter path too.
He typed quickly.
Dawei:"Yeah. Triggered through the badge. Red Queen sent me here to prove myself. You?"
Iris Liuli:"Black Dragon Bloodline. Triggered a legacy chain before the war began. But once the factions lock, only one side survives."
Dawei smirked.
So the race had already begun. He wasn't the only one working the infiltration game—but now he knew he wasn't alone.