Chapter 3
Fortunately, the healing potion was a somewhat viscous liquid. When I applied it to the wounds, it seeped in as if melting into them.
“Phewww….”
The wounds hadn't healed completely, but the bleeding had stopped.
I carefully stripped the leather clothes off the dead [Fleeing Citizen]. It definitely felt unpleasant, but wearing these was better than going around in clothes that were practically rags.
I picked up the cellphone—the gallery terminal—again.
Just as I was about to tap the Transcendents' Gallery app,
the app beneath it caught my eye.
“…A camera?”
An icon shaped like a lens, just like the camera app I'd had in the modern world.
I clicked it.
It really was a camera function.
There was no lens on the front, though.
It didn't seem to work the same way as a smartphone.
I had a subject to photograph right away.
I had to let them know I'd nearly died.
I took a picture of the giant ant with three heads.
Thankfully, it didn't make a clicking sound or anything. Looks like the default is silent mode.
If something appeared in an emergency, I could take a picture from a distance and ask the people in the Transcendent Gallery about it.
I entered the Transcendent Gallery.
Before I could press the Write a Post button, I couldn't help glancing at the gallery's posts.
Title : No way, is this ‘*’ bastard dead?
Author : ㅇㅇ
-He suddenly stopped posting and commenting, and it's already been ten minutes. No way….
└ No way, he probably just passed out because he was hungry.
└ If that happens in the Tower, you're dead, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ He becomes a monster's meal right away.
└ Light's Sword) Seeing how he suddenly stopped posting and commenting, it does seem like something happened.
└ 天魔) …Someone who came here through such a fortuitous encounter doesn't usually die this easily, do they…? That would go against reason. Surely they aren't really dead….
└ You've got a 魔 in your handle, and you're seriously quaking in your boots, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Are you worried?
└ Ah, I merely fear that the amusement I finally found might disappear right away.
└ Ice Queen) Frozen solid! You must still be alive!
└ Closed-Room Theorist) What if we all just happened to get hypnotized as a group for a moment? Common sense says there's no way a climber could enter the Transcendent Gallery.
└ Elf) It's pretty convincing when the demon managing the labyrinth starts talking about hypnosis. But couldn't something really have happened?
└ Swamp Sword Saint) Climber, write a post as soon as you confirm you're alive.
└ Yeah~ You can't write a post if you're dead, right?
└ Shaman) Hawawa, the climber didn't look like he had such a short life expectancy.
└ Pioneer) The Hard climber on Floor 40 whom you previously singled out in Climber Gallery as someone with a long life died immediately on Floor 41, though.
└ Shaman) .,!;
└ Pioneer) You seem pretty flustered.
└ Shaman) Anyway…the Transcendent Gallery will be ruined without you, climber….
└ For real, that's a fact. All the fixed-handle users who appeared so unusually have crawled back into hiding, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I could tell that everyone's attention was focused on me.
└ Great Mage) Tsk, I thought an interesting diversion had shown up for the first time in ages… Is he dead?
…Hmm, an interesting diversion.
Well, most of them probably thought the same way as Great Mage. I'm still alive, you bastards.
I closed the post and pressed the Write a Post button.
I attached the picture I'd just taken.
Then I uploaded the post.
Title : I nearly died
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-I nearly got killed by this bastard.
Attachment : 348593408.jpg
[A photo of a giant ant with three heads attached where its head should be, lying on its side]
└ Ohㅋㅋㅋㅋ I haven't seen that ant bastard in ages.
└ Swamp Sword Saint) Was that monster's name Ansranthrop, or something?
└ That's right. But it's impressive that you killed it without dying. A twenty-first-century Earthling, too. Did that thing usually show up on Floor 1?
└ Nope, that thing never appears on Floor 1 in Easy mode. You only get rats and stuff.
└ This guy definitely isn't in Easy mode, lolㅋㅋㅋ. I'm leaning heavily toward Normal. If his luck is insanely bad, maybe Hard.
└ For real, Easy mode has so many people that there are always people from the same cohort on Floor 1. Even excluding NPCs, there's no way he could be alone.
└ Even in Easy mode, people who are going to die still die when they let their guard down.
So the Tower I'd been summoned to definitely wasn't Easy mode? Damn.
└ I'm from Normal, and that thing did appear on Floor 1 for me, but I don't know. I think the one I killed was a little smaller.
└ Yeah, I'm Normal too, and I thought the same.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, it appeared on Floor 1 at exactly that size, and I crushed it to death with sorcery. A thumb that eradicates ill omens!
…Geez.
What are you Normal-mode big shots saying? That's creepy as hell.
Even with my awful luck, I still think it's Normal mode. Don't say such unlucky things.
Why is everyone saying things that raise the odds of me being in Hard mode? It's pissing me off.
└ Light's Sword) Judging by the three human-shaped heads, that thing must have eaten at least three people, whether they were NPCs or climbers. Good kill.
└ Great Mage) Whew, you're not dead. Don't die.
└ 天魔) So you were alive. Did you level up or acquire any skills?
└ Translation: Did you level up or acquire any skills.
Oh, right.
└ ㅇㅇ*) I haven't leveled up yet. Three skills appeared: Pain Suppression, Composure, and Cover.
└ Great Mage) Pretty ordinary.
└ Ord?inary. I can count on one hand the number of times I've gained two or more skills in a single battle.
└ As expected of an Easy-mode normie~~
└ I'm from Normal, you bug.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, it's common in Hard mode, but it's unusual for something like that to happen on Floor 1. How fascinating.
You keep piling up evidence for Hard mode.
└ Swamp Sword Saint) Check your status window once. Then you need to reach the entrance to Floor 2 first.
└ Light's Sword) Once you get to Floor 2, I'll teach you spear techniques in the floor's waiting room.
└ 天魔) ??? You have a sword in your fixed handle, yet you're talking about spear techniques.
└ Light's Sword) Judging by the shape of the puncture wounds in Ansranthrop's heads, it was a spear. We should teach the climber skills for the weapon he's carrying. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get a sword.
└ Light's Sword) Clearing Floor 1 and checking the difficulty comes first.
└ Gaspㅋㅋㅋㅋ I've got to admire the climber for constantly turning Sword Parrot into a normal person.
└ He was just spamming 'sword, sword' because hanging around the gallery was boring as hell, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Light's Sword) Of course, if the climber gets a sword, swordsmanship is a certainty.
└ 天魔) Ahem…I shall teach you at least how to throw a punch. In a way you can understand.
└ Great Mage) You need to build up at least a little mana before I can teach you anything. Hm.
Two of them had stepped forward to teach me. I appreciated the offer, but
I wasn't sure I'd be able to understand them.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Thx thx
I replied as passively as possible.
Before the Ansranthrop appeared, I'd written the question I'd been wondering about.
└ ㅇㅇ*) But why does everyone who uses a fixed handle come from Hard mode?
└ The system itself doesn't let Easy- and Normal-mode nobodies like us get fixed handles in the Transcendent Gallery, lol.
Then why was there no one from Pandemonium? It was a higher difficulty than Hard.
└ ㅇㅇ*) But there is a Pandemonium difficulty, right? It's higher than Hard.
└ Head Mod) No one's finished it yet.
└ Everyone dies while climbing it. So there can't be any fixed-handle users from that difficulty.
└ Great Mage) The clear rate there is 0%.
Ah. I see. Everyone had died.
Another very fundamental question occurred to me.
└ ㅇㅇ*) But what's the criterion by which they're divided into Easy, Normal, Hard, and Pandemonium?
└ Head Mod) The Tower system has never directly revealed that. We can only speculate.
└ Great Mage) We speculate that the Tower summons beings who have even the tiniest chance of clearing that difficulty.
But one thing contradicted that speculation.
└ Great Mage) You think Pandemonium doesn't fit that theory, right? Well, I can't say that for certain…but even if everyone summoned there ultimately died, I believe the people summoned to it did possess the possibility of conquering Pandemonium.
A Tower with a zero-percent survival rate, despite summoning people who had a chance.
The thought alone filled me with revulsion.
For now, I should clear Floor 1 and check the difficulty, just as Head Mod and Light's Sword had said.
First, I should wring out every scrap of information I could learn before setting out.
My hands moved busily.
Title : Do all the Tower's floors just consist of fighting monsters?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-At least Floor 1 seems to.
└ Head Mod) Floor 1 is a warm-up and a tutorial, which is why. Starting with Floor 2, the formats alternate. Floor 1 isn't explicitly specified, but technically speaking, it's dungeon-type.
└ Head Mod) There are also quest types with stories… narratives. And defense types with time attacks. There's a wide variety. Most of them do assume combat as a basic premise, though.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, you mustn't get too emotionally invested in the NPCs in quest types. I've seen people lose their judgment and die several times because they were swept up in the NPCs' emotions.
└ Elf) One of my friends died that way, too….
└ ㅇㅇ Especially don't ever trust what pointy-eared NPCs say. Betrayal is basically their species trait.
└ Elf) I sincerely curse you in the name of nature.
└ Yeah~ I'm not scared of elves~~
The term pointy ears seemed to be a derogatory term for elves.
What the hell.
Since no one seemed to be taking the elves' side, was there really something wrong with them?
Speaking of which, a quest type.
I figured I'd only understand what they meant after experiencing one myself.
I would experience it sooner or later if I survived and made it to Floor 2.
Title : Anyone have Ansranthrop appear on Floor 1?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-I still can't guess what difficulty Tower I'm in, so list all the monsters that appeared on your respective Floor 1s.
Their characteristics too.
Oh, and give me any other information besides the monsters.
All kinds of information came pouring in.
To summarize the information:
Floors where only monsters appear, without a narrative, inevitably have a boss monster.
In other words, if I reached and killed that thing, there was a high chance the Floor 1 stage I was currently progressing through would be cleared.
Many climbers in Tower difficulties other than Easy had experienced a ‘trap’ on Floor 1.
Watch out for the chains that slam straight down when you press the pressure plate installed in the floor.
Watch out for the iron arrows that shoot out of the walls.
The iron arrows pour out from whichever direction a slight breeze suddenly blows.
…But would I be able to notice that?
Two monsters in particular could appear: Goblins and Demon Hounds.
Since two Ansranthrops had already appeared, they said the odds were also high that a boss monster from the same family would appear.
The comments from Light's Sword left the strongest impression on me.
└ Light's Sword) You should remain tense, but there's no need to be too afraid. In any case, the fact is that you killed two Ansranthrops, so I think you have the instincts to survive Floor 1.
The first one I killed had been almost entirely a matter of luck, though.
I definitely needed to think positively.
└ Light's Sword) How much potion do you have left?
└ ㅇㅇ*) Half?
└ Light's Sword) If iron arrows come rushing at you, hide behind cover to avoid the ones you can. Bat away the ones you can.
That sounded entirely reasonable up to that point.
The problem was what came after.
└ Light's Sword) Endure and take the hits you can't avoid. Your Pain Suppression skill's level might go up, too. You need to adapt to pain so you can prepare yourself.
└ You do tend to endure better after you've been hit.
└ Light's Sword) Even if you level up, injured parts of your body regenerate, and clearing a floor restores you to your original condition. So there's no need to hold back.
└ Pioneer) You're putting things way too positively. Recovery or no recovery, if you fail to clear it and die, you're really dead anyway, lolㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Shaman) Hawawa, if you get careless while running your positive-thinking engine, you'll die.
For a moment, Pioneer's short post made me think it might actually be doable.
Right. That's reality.
One slip and you die.
But it was also true that every comment Light's Sword had written was high-quality advice.
I committed it all to memory.
“Status Window.”
<Player Status>
Name : Han Yoo-seong
Species : Human
Lv.1
Strength : 12
Agility : 13
Vitality : 11
Skills : Pain Suppression Lv.1 Composure Lv.1 Cover Lv.1
When I tapped a skill with my index finger, its description appeared.
Pain Suppression was a skill that suppressed the ‘pain’ received from physical damage.
Composure was, as its name suggested, a skill that helped me maintain my composure as much as possible in any situation.
Cover was a skill that partially concealed my presence when I hid behind cover.
I opened the gallery again and placed my hands on the keyboard.
Title : I'm back after clearing Floor 1.
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-See you alive.
I'd check the comments on this post after I got back.
I closed the Transcendent Gallery and slipped the terminal into the pouch on my lower back, which was securely fastened around my waist.
Crunch-
The food that had been inside the citizen's pouch.
I walked on, chewing nuts such as walnuts and peanuts, along with a small amount of jerky.
Let's do this.
Me, Han Yoo-seong.
I have no intention whatsoever of dying in a bizarre place like this.