Chapter 17
But there were many comments asking just how many orcs I had killed for my score to reach 1,532 points.
How many had I killed? I had counted up to around thirty, but after that, I hadn't paid attention.
I hadn't felt any need to count them all.
The one thing I was sure of was that I had killed more than the number I had counted, so I had probably killed around seventy or eighty.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Not exact, but close to 80?
└ LMAOOOOOOOOOOO, Pandemonium sure is something.
└ Easy and Normal only have around fifteen orcs appear on Floor 2, holy shit.
└ I only got five.
└ Pioneer) What theㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even on Hard, forty is the maximum. Eighty is insane.
└ Shaman) Indeed, considering you killed that many orcs, as well as an Orc Legion Commander and an Orc Shaman, it's no wonder you got that score.
└ Dragon Demon King) Beltui—I'm impressed. Seeing the people in the Climber Gallery chattering about our Climber is making the dopamine flowww.
So that was how the Climber Gallery was reacting.
└ ㅇㅇ*) What's the general reaction?
└ They're being extremely wary of you right from the start.
└ Congratulations. You're only a Floor 2 nobody, but you've started attracting a great deal of attention.
└ Your life has finally turned around ㅇㅇ
└ Light’s Sword) Still, not many people will guess that you're in Pandemonium. They'll only be suspicious.
└ Great Mage) It doesn't matter much, since you'll be alone here during your climb anyway. You only need to be careful during the Exchange Gathering. The Exchange Gathering is currently the biggest variable for you.
That potentially biggest variable—the Exchange Gathering—was imminent.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Is there anything in particular I should watch out for during the Exchange Gathering?
└ You... still... trust people?
└ Be careful around people~ Men and women alike, be careful~~
└ Swamp Sword Saint) You can't just blindly trust people because you've been lonely.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Thanks to you guys, I don't feel lonely.
I was lonely, though.
I wasn't lonely. It sounded like nonsense, but that was how I felt right now.
The worst of my loneliness was alleviated to some extent simply by using the Transcendent Gallery like this.
└ Dragon Demon King) Gasp… Beltui—was that human just flirting with youuu?
└ Look at this climber bastard, bewitching everyone.
└ Shaman) I shall send you a blessed talisman so you won't feel lonely. So trade with me when the interdimensional trade cooldown ends.
└ Heavenly Demon) I was first in line.
└ Shaman) A line…? What are you talking about? The choice is up to Climber-nim.
└ Heavenly Demon) Begone! Begone! Begone!
└ Heavenly Demon, please, for fuck's sake, have some dignity…
There were more attempts to court me for the next interdimensional trade than I had expected.
└ Spear King) Didn't you say you acquired a short spear? I'll properly teach you spear techniques.
└ Absolute Sovereign) I can teach you spear techniques, too.
└ You old men are creepy, so stop it ㅇㅇ
They were a little creepy.
└ Great Mage) As I said before, you're alone because you're in Pandemonium, but people in the other difficulties can make ‘friends.’ And it's possible for them to be summoned together during the Exchange Gathering. You mustn't rule out the possibility that everyone there except you is friends with one another.
Every single one of them was telling me not to trust people.
└ Well, even so, it's only people from within the first ten floors gathering, so nothing will happen. They're still newbies; they won't all conspire to gang up on one person.
└ Pioneer) That's true. They're still on such low floors that there probably aren't any particularly hostile people like that yet.
Most people seemed to agree that nothing would happen.
Be careful around people.
That advice was not particularly meaningful to me. I had never intended to trust anyone in the first place.
└ ㅇㅇ*) When players encounter each other, they can't see things like level, right?
└ You can't see their level. You can see which floor they currently reside on. If you ran into me now, you'd show up as a Floor 3 resident.
A Floor 3 resident.
In other words, they would know that I was someone who had cleared Floor 2.
I closed the gallery for the time being.
A moment later, a notification window appeared.
[An additional reward will be given for placing first in the Floor 2 stage score rankings. Check your ‘Inventory’.]
Oh.
It seemed that placing first had earned me an additional reward on top of the normal Floor 2 clear reward.
“Inventory.”
When I opened my Inventory, I saw that two unfamiliar items had appeared in the two slots that had previously been empty.
First, I clicked the item on the right.
It was a dagger with a red glow.
The Pandemonium Floor 2 stage clear reward item.
[Blood Dagger]
Category - Weapon (Dagger)
Attack Power: +40
Effect: 30% chance of inflicting the status ailment ‘Bleeding’ on targets it damages.
Usable level: Level 10 or higher
Grade: B
Next, I clicked the item on the left.
A black bracelet.
This was the item I had received as the first-place reward for Floor 2.
[Anti-Evil Bracelet]
Category - Accessory
Effect: Maximizes resistance to mid- and low-grade curse-type attacks.
Usable level: Level 10 or higher
Grade: B+
The bracelet's effect looked excellent at a glance.
I photographed both items with my terminal and uploaded them.
Title : The two items I got this time.
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-These are the items I got this time. What do you think?
Attachment : 788239429.jpg
└ What do you mean, what do I think, you bastard? This is absurd.
└ Seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How are Blood Dagger and Anti-Evil in the inventory of someone in the Floor 3 waiting room???
└ ㅇㅇ*) When do they usually appear?
└ Pioneer) On Hard, around Floor 15. Blood Dagger appears then, while Anti-Evil doesn't show up until around Floor 20.
└ That's only because it's Hard. On Normal and Easy, Blood Dagger appears at Floor 18 ㅇㅇ Anti-Evil doesn't appear until after Floor 25.
└ But did you reach level 10?
└ ㅇㅇ*) 12.
└ You're leveling up ridiculously fast.
└ Level 12 on Floor 2ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Absolute Sovereign) There were a few cases like that even on Hard. What's important is how much your stats have increased.
└ Great Mage) That's right ㅇㅇ
Stats.
I opened my status window and checked my current stats again.
<Player Status>
Name: Han Yoo-seong
Race: Human
Lv.12
Strength: 71
Agility: 65
Vitality: 68
Mana: 44
Skills: Pain Suppression Lv.4, Composure Lv.4, Concealment Lv.2, Crisis Detection Lv.3
Expanded Vision Lv.2, Focus Enhancement Lv.3, Warrior's Movements Lv.3
Mana Body Enhancement Lv.2, Doombringer Lv.1
My level had risen much more than I had expected.
I opened the Transcendent Gallery again and made a post.
Title : My current stats.
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-Strength 71, Agility 65, Vitality 68, Mana 44
Comments appeared rapidly as soon as I posted.
└ ??
└ Insane.
└ Aren't the average starting stats for twenty-first-century Earthlings around 10 to 13?
└ ㅇㅇ*) Right, mine were like that at level 1, too.
└ But you increased that much on Floor 2???
└ Great Mage) Pandemonium… is this what it's like?
└ Shut-In Theorist) I've wasted my entire life!
└ That's not a life, demon. Life is the exclusive property of humans.
└ This guy is unnecessarily philosophical…
└ Light’s Sword) At this level, I can worry a little less.
└ It's not just worrying less; shouldn't your worries have evaporated? Even if we meet at the Exchange Gathering, you'll only be meeting other twenty-first-century Earthlings.
└ You should be worried about the people who are going to meet that bastardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Absolute Sovereign) It warms my heart to see you growing by leaps and bounds.
└ The old man hasn't done anything, though.
Judging from their reactions, it seemed certain that I had abnormally high stats for my floor.
I looked through the comments a little longer, then closed the gallery.
Let's see, what does the shop have?
[Floor 3 Coin Shop]
1. Food 2. Drinks 3. Potions
Items 1 and 2 were no different from those on Floor 2, but a third category, potions, had appeared.
Now that's a major upgrade.
1. Minor Health Potion - 5 coins
2. Minor Mana Potion - 6 coins
3. Minor Poison-Attribute Recovery Potion - 8 coins
4. Pain-Suppression Booster - 15 coins
The potions weren't particularly cheap, either.
But I had received 600 coins as my Floor 2 breakthrough reward.
My current remaining coins totaled 726.
I had some room to spare.
I went ahead and splurged.
Fifteen Health Potions and fifteen Mana Potions.
Five Poison-Attribute Recovery Potions, just in case.
Three of the most expensive Pain-Suppression Boosters.
According to the veterans in the Transcendent Gallery, I would receive more coins after safely completing and returning from the Exchange Gathering anyway.
There was no need to worry about what to do during the two days remaining until the Exchange Gathering.
Two days would pass quickly if I took the Dragon-Slaying Sword manual out of my Inventory and read it.
I mulled over my battles with the Orc Legion Commander and the Orc Shaman.
Killing the shaman had been entirely due to my own abilities.
But luck had played a part in killing the Legion Commander. If I hadn't obtained Doombringer, I would have died right there.
Perhaps it was because I had fought such a long battle on the Floor 2 stage.
Only now did I feel like my combat instincts were beginning to settle into place.
Which direction to slash my sword in, and how to twist my body to achieve a more efficient result.
I reflected on the battles I had experienced so far and began establishing my own style of combat.
Of course, the roots and foundation of that combat style could only have been the ‘Dragon-Slaying Sword’ that Light’s Sword had given me.
I practiced swordsmanship in my own way and also trained in some of the hand-to-hand techniques described in the middle section of the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
Someday, there would be situations where drawing my sword was impractical.
I needed to prepare for every possible situation.
In that sense, the Blood Dagger I had obtained this time was meaningful in many ways.
After repeating the cycle of eating and training, eating and training, the two days passed quickly.
The time had come.
Current time: February 25, 12:00
[The Tower Exchange Gathering will now begin.]
[Tower Exchange Gathering Server #1298]
[Tower Exchange Gathering Theme: Dungeon]
[Number of Participants: 7]
[Entering.]
Whoosh—
My vision was flooded with light.
* * *
[The automatic language translation system is now active.]
[Communicate with the gathered participants and clear the dungeon.]
A man with the number <7> above his head approached me.
“Haha, nice to meet you. You must be flustered at being summoned to an Exchange Gathering so soon after entering the Tower. My name is Sun Haoran.”
Chinese, Floor 7.
I could understand why Sun Haoran had reacted that way.
Everyone matched with me was at least on Floor 6.
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
By contrast, the number above my head was, naturally, 3.
I could only look like a total newbie who had cleared the Floor 2 tier and was residing in the Floor 3 waiting room.