I Don't Need To Log Out

Arlon was happy.

No—he was more than happy.

He felt powerful.

He felt alive.

This wasn't just another level-up. It was something else entirely. A threshold. A line crossed into a new realm of existence.

He had never seen anything like this before. Not in this life, not in the last.

In his previous life, he'd made it to level 250. That had felt like a miracle at the time.

A limit that few could even dream of reaching. But now—this was different.

Level 300 wasn't just a number.

It changed something inside him.

He could feel it in every breath he took, in the way his mana surged through his body, in how the world around him seemed just a little slower now, a little more within his grasp.

There were many more things he could feel after reaching this level.

It was exhilarating.

And yet…

That thrill came with something else. Something darker.

A thought. A whisper.

You're the strongest.

It crept into his mind like a trickle of water through a crack—slow, but constant. Harmless at first. Easy to ignore.

But it stayed. Lingering. Growing.

You're stronger than anyone. You don't need to listen. You don't need to follow. You can rule.

Arlon froze.

The thought wasn't his. At least, it didn't feel like his. But it had come from inside his mind, and that made it even worse.

Hubris Syndrome.

The Arrogance of Power.

A name he had learned about in school. A condition that afflicted only the most powerful—those who reached a point where their strength began to rewrite how they saw the world.

He felt ashamed.

He'd never been the type to lust after control. He had never wanted to dominate others or stand above them as some kind of ruler.

He just wanted to survive.

So why, now, did this idea grip his mind like a lover?

Was it always there, buried beneath the surface?

Was this who he really was?

Am I… a bad person?

Arlon didn't have time to dwell on the question.

A sigh cut through his thoughts.

"You should know," Jiroeki said, stepping forward with its usual calmness, "you are the only one in the history of the Towers to see me twice."

Arlon blinked.

"And," Jiroeki continued, "you are the only one to ever pass a floor without actually going through it."

That made Arlon pause. He hadn't even considered that.

"But," the Caretaker added, "unfortunately, you cannot climb the Tower for a third time. So, I'll only be giving you the reward for reaching Floor 100."

There's a reward?

That caught Arlon off guard. He'd thought survival was reward enough. He didn't expect more—didn't need more.

He'd already decided not to climb any further. Not with his potions gone, his body on the edge, and more deadly floors waiting.

Even now that he was level 300 and could probably climb higher, he didn't want to keep climbing.

If he had been to another 10 floors like the last one, he didn't know if he could complete them.

Still, hearing that there was a reward stirred something warm in his chest.

"Thank you," he said, his voice soft. "That's more than enough. What… what is the reward for Floor 100?"

Jiroeki tilted its head slightly, almost in amusement.

"Hmm. We'll talk about that in a moment. First, we should address your level."

"My level?"

"You've become an SSS-level existence," Jiroeki said, watching him closely. "Be careful. It is not just power. It comes with its own tests."

Tests.

The word lingered in Arlon's ears.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, his mind circling back to the thoughts that had started clawing at him the moment he leveled up.

"It depends on the existence," Jiroeki explained. "But all of them are tested. When you become an SSS-level existence, the ascended ones begin observing you."

Jiroeki's eyes narrowed.

"For example… I can now observe you whenever I choose. That means I can bring you to my side or eliminate you when you ascend, depending on your actions."

That should have been terrifying.

But Arlon was still stuck on another word.

Test.

"Tested for what?" he asked. "Is it about actions? Or thoughts? Because… I think I've already felt it. The moment I leveled up, something changed. A thought came to me. One I didn't ask for."

Jiroeki remained silent, waiting.

Arlon exhaled.

"I swear it's not what I want to do, but… the thought was there. It said I should rule over the people of Trion and Earth."

Jiroeki's expression didn't change. Not even slightly.

"I see. You've received the Test of Arrogance."

Arlon's stomach tightened.

"You don't need to justify yourself," Jiroeki said. "These tests aren't about morality. We—if 'we' is even the right word—can't define what's good or bad."

It stepped forward, walking slowly past Arlon like a teacher circling a student.

"You can act on those thoughts. You can rule over Trion and Earth if you wish. If you become a good ruler, one who brings prosperity, then history will call you a hero. A savior."

It turned and looked him in the eye.

"But if you rule with the same hand and lead them to ruin, they will call you a tyrant."

Arlon frowned. "So the same action can be good or bad… depending on the outcome?"

"Yes. But the test isn't about the outcome. It's about your actions. Your choices. Your intent."

"Then what am I supposed to do to pass it?"

Jiroeki shook its head. "You'll understand better in time that no one passes the tests, and no one fails. And there is no reward or no punishment for it.

If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this: don't overthink the test. Just be who you are."

"Then what's the point of the test?" Arlon asked. "And who's the one testing us?"

"...I can't answer that."

The silence that followed was louder than anything Jiroeki could've said.

Arlon understood.

He might be SSS-level now, but he hadn't ascended.

He wasn't even close.

And Jiroeki—whatever it was—wasn't obligated to help him. Not even this much.

It had already done more than he could've asked for probably just because they were there together by chance.

So he bowed his head, quietly thanking it in his heart, and decided to return to something more grounded.

"If you're not going to kill me," Arlon said, half-joking, "can I ask… what's the reward?"

He still didn't know if he would also be killed as the one to bring the thing that attacked the Tower.