Baek Jin-woo, who had been walking for a long time, suddenly stopped.

An empty space off the mountain trail, rarely visited by people.

A chill ran through him, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin.

“Ha.”

He still couldn’t believe it.

‘The world has turned into the game I used to know.’

The game he had played was completely gone.

The app itself didn’t even exist, as if it had never been there in the first place.

“Sigh.”

What could this all be?

It seemed that clearing the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials had acted as some kind of trigger.

‘Damn.’

It felt like a prank show, or maybe he was experiencing hallucinations due to the aftereffects of the accident.

But the wind brushing against his skin told him otherwise.

The world he was seeing was definitely real.

Gulp.

Jin-woo swallowed nervously and took out two summoning scrolls from his pocket.

These were things he had used thousands, tens of thousands of times over the past 10 years.

‘Yeah.’

In a way, this was better.

Honestly, my dad was right about everything.

The future had seemed hopeless anyway.

Maybe this world could be one that would come for me, just this once.

‘Of course.’

That’s only if I get a useful summon here.

The summon probabilities for the low-grade scroll were like this:

[F Rank: 94%]

[E Rank: 5%]

[D Rank: 1%]

This was one of the main reasons why 「Battle of Summoners」 was called a ridiculously hard, luck-based game.

The summoning rates were a complete nightmare.

‘Please, at least an E-rank.’

Let’s go!

Riiip!

He boldly tore the summoning scroll.

Wooooooong!

A bolt of lightning crackled and struck across the torn paper.

“Whoa!”

Startled, he quickly stepped back.

[You have used a ‘Low-grade Summoning Scroll’!]

[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX Rank)!]

What?

“……”

Wind Fairy?

Is it that Wind Fairy I know?

No, wait, before that…

…what did the rank say?

Jin-woo frowned.

Narrowing his eyes, he could see the dazzling platinum rank displayed.

EX Rank?

No way. What the hell?

* * *

The ranks of summons in 「Battle of Summoners」 went from F to S.

F, E, D, C, B, A, S.

There were a total of seven ranks.

Naturally, the closer you were to S rank, the more powerful the summon was, and the harder it was to obtain one.

An S-rank?

That was like winning the lottery.

Even Jin-woo had only ever drawn an S-rank once in his 10 years of playing.

Out of the Five Emperors, Rachel had managed to summon an S-rank.

A-rank?

By the time you had been playing for 10 years, you might have a few of those.

They didn’t even show up for the first three years after the game’s release.

Later on, they became more common, though.

At this point, a B-rank summon was considered the best you could realistically hope for.

‘Wasn’t there a 1% chance to get it from a high-grade scroll?’

If you managed to pull one, you had to thank the heavens and use it reverently.

But EX rank?

It was a rank he had never seen before.

Moreover, low-grade scrolls were only supposed to summon F to D ranks…

– Huaaam, what’s going on?

That’s when it happened.

A small girl, about the size of his forearm, appeared, stretching and rubbing her eyes.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock.

– What the—! Am I summoned? For real?

A small wand and a light green dress.

She had a pair of tiny wings.

Her name was ‘Wind Fairy.’

Jin-woo knew her very well.

How could he not?

Back when the game first launched, during his middle school years.

She had been an E-rank summon he had raised with affection.

He didn’t know why she now had an EX title, but…

“Are you… Lamba?”

– Yeah, I’m Lamba… No, I’m Wind Fairy! Wait a second, you…!

The Wind Fairy—no, Lamba—was startled.

– The only person who ever called me by that nickname was JinuGod…! Who are you?!

…

‘I should be asking that question.’

How is this happening?

Did Lamba used to talk?

As far as he remembered, summons couldn’t speak.

In the game, the nickname “Lamba” had come from a feature that allowed you to issue commands through chat, typical of games with AIs.

“You said it yourself.”

– Said what?

“That only one person uses that nickname.”

– Then…

Lamba’s face turned into one of disbelief.

– Could it be that you’re JinuGod?

Yeah, I’m JinuGod.

I’m Jin-woo, you fool.

* * *

Wind Fairy, Lamba.

She was an E-rank fairy from the wind attribute fairy tribe, specialized in buffs.

In the early game, she had been essential for Jin-woo’s farming.

However.

She had disappeared in an unfortunate patch update during the first year after the game’s release.

Jin-woo remembered that time.

How frustrated he had been.

‘What was it they said?’

They claimed she had been overpowered and removed for balance reasons.

The summon he had painstakingly raised for a year vanished overnight.

Compensation?

There had been none.

Even contacting the customer service center had been futile.

They said the AI had determined that her removal was necessary, citing some terms in the user agreement.

The documents they sent drove him mad.

At first, he had been furious, but the anger quickly subsided.

‘It was true that I had been reaping benefits from her far beyond what was reasonable.’

Lamba.

Even though she had been an E-rank, if you understood her hidden potential and equipped her with the right runes…

She became a broken summon.

– JinuuuuuGod! Do you know how much I’ve missed you? Huuuuuu…

The Wind Fairy buried her small head in Jin-woo’s chest, crying.

It seemed she was actually crying, as his clothes gradually became damp.

– Sniff… I got dragged into some weird place and was trapped there, unable to leave…

Hic, hic!

Lamba’s tearful confession felt surreal.

There was no helping it.

Not only was this the first time he had seen her in three dimensions instead of on a mobile screen…

‘It’s been nine years.’

It was also the first time he had heard her speak.

Summons in Battle of Summoners didn’t talk.

‘Hmm.’

Jin-woo was curious.

Why had she come out of a “Low-grade Summoning Scroll”?

First.

“Status Window.”

Let’s check her information.

[Summon: Wind Fairy]
[Race: Fairy Tribe]
[Rank: EX (Isolated)]

– Isolated due to detected balance-breaking factors in certain situations.

[Level: 1]

[Stats]

Strength: 1, Intelligence: 1, Stamina: 1, Agility: 1
HP: 1,000, MP: 0
Critical Hit Rate: 20%
Critical Hit Damage: 20%

[Skills]

– Wind Pressure: Increases the attack speed of a single allied summon by 3% with every swing of the wand.

‘As I thought.’

It was the same as before.

A meager skill, just one.

But that one meager skill?

It would eventually cause a complete breakdown in balance.

As Lamba leveled up, her attack speed would increase, and if you equipped her with speed runes to push her attack speed to the limit…

‘It was just insane.’

She would exponentially boost the attack speed of nearby summons.

Each swing would increase attack speed by 3%, stacking with compound interest.

If the other summon was an A-rank?

It would boost their power to S-rank and beyond.

‘I farmed so much with that setup.’

– Anyway! Now that we’re together again, let’s never separate! Okay? Promise?

“Hold on.”

Jin-woo gently pushed Lamba off of him.

– Huh?

“I need to ask you something.”

– Ask me anything! You’re JinuGod, the one who summoned me after I was isolated! I’ll answer anything I can!

“What is this isolation? Who isolated you, and how does summoning work here?”

– Uh…

Caught off guard by Jin-woo’s barrage of questions, Lamba hesitated.

Then, suddenly.

– Agh! Ow!

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

– My head hurts so much! It must be some damned restriction!

…A restriction, out of nowhere?

She looked a bit awkward as she winced in pain.

– Sorry, but there’s not much I can tell you. We were isolated, and no matter how many players tried to summon us, we couldn’t be summoned.

“What do you mean, ‘we’? Were there others isolated too?”

– Yeah, I don’t know who they were since we were isolated in different places, but… there were definitely more. Maybe about ten.

Other isolated summons.

If there were around ten…

‘Damn.’

It was clear now.

‘These were the summons that were removed for being judged as bugs.’

Including Lamba, there were ten.

It seemed all those summons had been classified as EX-rank and isolated.

– Anyway, JinuGod, you’re definitely different from other players. When you tore that scroll, it felt like it gave us an opportunity. Even I was surprised. It had been so long since I’d heard a call from a low-grade scroll.

Ah.

I think I understand now.

This means I’m the only one in this world who has the chance to summon EX-rank units?

Lamba responded to the low-grade scroll because she used to be E-rank?

This is huge.

“Why do you think that is?”

– I don’t know either.

Hmm.

Could this be some kind of reward for clearing the 100th floor of the Tower of Trials?

In any case…

Rip!

Jin-woo tore the other “Low-grade Summoning Scroll.”

Then.

[You have used a ‘Low-grade Summoning Scroll’!]

[Player ‘Baek Jin-woo’ has obtained the summon ‘Furry Gorilla’ (F Rank)!]

Ah.

The Furry Gorilla.

He knew it all too well.

No matter how you used it, there was no redeeming it—it was mostly used as level-up fodder.

This confirmed it.

‘So tearing the scroll doesn’t guarantee an EX-rank.’

In other words, if I want to recover the summons I lost in the past…

I’ll need to open a huge number of scrolls.

If I could gather them all and get them working?

A player far stronger than the One Heaven could be born.

Thump, thump-thump!

– Urgh…

The gorilla approached, placing its hands on the ground as it knelt.

What the?

Is it swearing allegiance?

“Lamba.”

– Yes! JinuGod!

“Stop calling me JinuGod. Just call me Jin-woo.”

– Ehh? Why?

The name JinuGod had spread worldwide.

Among the Five Emperors.

Those veteran players had worked hard to spread that name over the past three years.

‘It’s not time to draw attention just yet.’

It was true that Jin-woo possessed a lot of knowledge and experience, but the gap between him and them had grown to more than three years.

Plus.

‘Judging by the situation, it seems I’m the only one who can utilize EX-ranks in this world…’

Becoming a target of jealousy at this point would be too dangerous.

If I were to become a target?

It would have to be after I had already become the best.

“Just do as I say.”

– Ugh, fine. You’re still as cool as ever. Hehe! I’m so excited to climb the Tower of Trials with you again! We only made it to the 10th floor last time, right? It was so tough!

“The Tower of Trials?”

– Yeah!

“I’ve already cleared it, all the way to the 100th floor.”

– Whaaat? For real? That impossible tower?

“Yeah, I definitely cleared it.”

In the game.

Though this was reality now, things would be a bit different.

– I guess it has been a long time since we were separated…

Lamba looked at Jin-woo with a somewhat incredulous expression.

Her chubby cheeks were much cuter in reality than they had been on the screen.

“And you know, with your current specs, it’s not just the 10th floor—you wouldn’t even be able to clear the 1st floor.”

– That’s true… Sniff. I’m completely reset. No runes, and I’m stuck at level 1.

“So we need to focus on leveling up. Start by guiding me to the synthesis station.”

That gorilla over there.

I plan to use it as material to level up Lamba.

– Wait, Jin-woo!

“Hm?”

– How am I supposed to know where that is!

“What?”

– I told you, this is my first time here. It’s your world, so you should be the one guiding me.

Huh?

At that moment.

[You have obtained a summon.]

[Proceed to the next step.]

The tutorial message appeared.

Rumble!

Blue light surged from the ground, accompanied by noise.

[A basic beginner’s dungeon has appeared.]

[Please enter.]

‘A dungeon.’

Gulp, Jin-woo swallowed.

He had cleared countless dungeons in the game and conquered the 100th floor of the tower, but…

Facing a dungeon in reality was a first.

Was this real?

Was he really expected to go in there?

[Please enter.]

Damn it.

Of course he was scared.

Wasn’t the monster in the tutorial dungeon the Gray Wolf (F Rank)?

In the game, it was weak, but how often did people encounter wolves snarling at them in real life?

Then again, maybe there was no reason to be afraid.

The summons were going to do all the fighting anyway, right?

‘A world turned upside down.’

He would just have to adapt.

After taking several deep breaths for about 10 seconds, Jin-woo shut his eyes tightly and hurled himself forward.

It was his first dungeon entry.