Elang: The Strongest Hunter in the Tower

The damp, rancid stench of the school restroom was always the scent that marked the end of Elang's day. This time, his back crashed hard against the cold tiled wall, his uniform collar gripped tightly by a figure twice his size.

"Hey, are you deaf?!"

Thud!

A heavy punch landed squarely in Elang's stomach. He coughed violently, the oxygen instantly violently ripped from his lungs.

"Why didn't you give me the answers during the exam earlier?! Are you playing deaf, or do you want me to actually make you deaf?!" roared Redi, the school bully who constantly tormented him.

Elang could only look down, offering no resistance. It wasn't because he couldn't fight back, but because he knew retaliating would only prolong his torture.

After a final, brutal kick connected with his shin, Redi and his lackeys sauntered away, their mocking laughter echoing through the boys' restroom.

Elang coughed, his saliva laced with a trace of blood. He picked up his backpack, now soiled with muddy boot prints, and limped out of the school.

This wasn't his first time enduring such abuse. Yet, he could only swallow his pride and pretend none of it had ever happened. As desperately as he craved vengeance, he lacked the power to stand up to them.

"If only I had the power of the Sovereign... that game character. I would definitely kill them all!" he muttered, his voice trembling with suppressed rage.

Elang’s steps were heavy and sluggish as he entered his house. A hollow silence welcomed him. There was no one home; his parents were always busy with work, leaving Elang long accustomed to living in isolation.

"I'm home," Elang muttered softly, knowing full well no one would reply.

The moment his bedroom door clicked shut and locked, Elang collapsed onto his bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, its screen slightly cracked at the corner.

This was the only place where he truly felt alive.

He tapped the app icon—a black tower enveloped in a golden radiance.

[Welcome, Sovereign!]

On the screen, a magnificent character clad in pitch-black armor materialized. Sovereign, the ultimate protagonist of the game, and Elang's main avatar.

Elang had poured thousands of hours into optimizing this character, turning him into the most lethal unit in existence. Here, he was no defenseless loser easily trampled and bullied. Inside this game, he was a feared Pro Player.

His fingers danced across the screen with nimble agility. The blunt, sluggish reflexes he possessed in the real world transformed into pure predatory instincts. One by one, he slaughtered the monsters on the 99th Floor with merciless, surgical efficiency.

"Just a little more," he whispered, his tired eyes suddenly gleaming with fierce ambition.

As the night grew deeper, Elang ignored his hunger and the throbbing aches in his body. He focused entirely on one single objective: clearing a hidden quest that no one in the game's history had ever accomplished.

[FINAL BOSS DEFEATED!]

His phone screen erupted into a magnificent display of dark-purple visual effects. The Sovereign stood atop a mountain of monster carcasses, thrusting his sword toward the moon.

Elang breathed a sigh of relief, a faint smile tugging at his lips. A deep sense of satisfaction washed over him; he was now the absolute king of the strongest tower.

However, something bizarre happened.

The phone didn't return to the main menu. Instead, the screen abruptly went pitch black, before rows of unfamiliar golden text began to surface.

[Congratulations. You have fulfilled the hidden condition: 'The One Who Mastered Loneliness'.]

Elang knit his brows. "A new event? Or an update?"

The next text appeared, accompanied by a violent vibration that made his hands go numb.

[Would you like to enter the real Tower?]

[YES] / [NO]

The phone in his grip vibrated even more frantically, its temperature skyrocketing until it felt like it was burning the skin of his palms.

Elang tried to mash the power button, but there was absolutely no response.

"What on earth is this?!"

Elang’s heart hammered against his ribs. He felt the very reality around him begin to fracture. Inadvertently, his thumb drifted toward the [YES] option.

Before he could process the situation logically, his consciousness was violently sucked into the screen. The world around him shattered into countless pixels of light.

Elang blinked, staring at his completely foreign surroundings.

[Welcome to the Tower, New Player.]

Thump!

Elang's heart skipped a beat as he took in the environment and the bizarre creature before him—a massive, dragonfly-like entity.

"T-this... is inside the tower game? The first floor?" he shrieked in absolute shock, scanning the area. "How did I get pulled into Tower Ascension?"

Suddenly, a status window materialized, displaying his identity.

[Status Window]

Name: Elang Wicaksana            Stamina: 3

Gender: Male                     Intellect: 4

Age: 17                          Talent: 7

Race: Human                      Willpower: 7

Achievements: None               Luck: 6

"Are these stats for real? Even a common farmer has 5 Stamina!" Elang was utterly dumbfounded.

"It’s like God is playing a cruel joke on me!" Elang groaned, pressing his temples. He was a loser in the real world; was he doomed to be a loser here too, destined to die instantly on the very first floor of the tower?

"Hey, you! Human in the weird clothes!"

The shrill, piercing voice snapped Elang out of his daze. In front of him, the dragonfly creature was glaring at him. It was a low-tier Guide, hovering low while twirling a small wooden staff.

"Don't just stand there daydreaming! Hurry up and grab your weapon from that beginner chest. The synchronization time is almost up. If you aren't ready when the gate opens, you'll end up as nothing more than fertilizer for the first-floor monsters!"

Elang turned his gaze toward a weathered wooden chest resting in the corner of the dimly lit stone room.

He took a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady his racing heart. 'Calm down, Elang. This is insane, but you know this place better than anyone else,' he told himself.

He approached the chest and lifted the lid. Inside lay nothing but a rusted sword and a rotting wooden shield.

[Item: Rusted Sword (Grade F)]

Attack: 1–3

Effect: Grants a 1% chance to cause a mild tetanus infection.

Description: Better than bare hands, but not by much.

"Damn it! Are you mocking me?! Giving me a piece of absolute garbage like this?!" Elang cursed, his frustration boiling over.

"Oho! Throwing a tantrum won't change your trash-tier stats, kid!" the Dragonfly Guide fired back with a mocking laugh, its wings buzzing noisily. "Take it quickly, or I'll assume you forfeit and leave you to be torn to shreds by the Grey Wolves!"

Elang gripped the hilt of the rusted sword. It felt coarse and heavy, a stark contrast to the controllers or smartphones he was used to holding. With a measly Stamina stat of 3, merely lifting the blade sent a wave of fatigue through his arm.

'Shit, if I step out there right now with this gear, I'm dead in seconds,' Elang thought rapidly.

"Hey, kid. Your time is running out. Are you going to give up now?" the guide chimed in again, disrupting Elang’s train of thought as he desperately racked his brain, trying to remember how he had cleared the first floor in the game.

"You only have ten seconds left!"

"Ten... nine... eight..." The Dragonfly Guide's countdown sounded like a death knell.

Elang closed his eyes, squeezing every ounce of his brainpower. 'Think, Elang! Think!'

In the game, Floor 1 wasn't just about slaughtering wolves. There was a hidden secret meant specifically for those who entered with the absolute worst stats.

"Five... four..."

The exact moment the number three left the guide's mouth, Elang didn't run toward the gate.

Instead, he spun around and drove his rusted sword squarely into the stone pillar behind him—right where a faint, fang-shaped crack was hidden.

Crack!

The blade snapped in half, but the sound of an ancient mechanism shifting echoed through the room.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot?!" the Guide shrieked in absolute hysteria.

***