Chapter 6
Just before going to eat a hearty meal, I remembered that I should ask about the <Tower Exchange>.
Title : Ah, what do you do at the Tower Exchange?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-It says on something like an electronic signboard that there are 21 days left.
└ Head Mod) It takes place on the 25th of every month. Players are summoned to the same space regardless of Tower difficulty or Tower number. The maximum number of participants is 120, but before Floor 30, it's rare for there to be more than ten people. Oh, except for the Sparring theme.
└ Head Mod) Of course, there are criteria for the players who get summoned. Floors 1 through 10 are grouped together. Floors 11 through 20 are grouped together. It works like that. The last group is Floors 91 through 99. Floor 100 is the conclusion, so it's excluded.
└ ㅇㅇ*) So is it something like this? A Hard-mode Floor 3, a Normal-mode Floor 10, and, say, an Easy-mode Floor 5. They can all be mixed together like that?
└ Head Mod) That's right. As an exception, if they're in the same numbered Tower, they can add each other as ‘friends’ and be summoned together.
Hmm.
It sounded like they could form a team in advance.
In a difficulty like <Pandemonium>, where I might be the only one there, I couldn't form a team beforehand.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Can players physically attack each other…in other words, is it possible to kill one another?
└ Light's Sword) It is possible. The Exchange has three themes in total: Sparring, Dungeon, and Mission. Ironically, killing is fundamentally prohibited only in ‘Sparring,’ which is explicitly designed to have us fight each other. Killing is possible in the Dungeon and Mission themes.
So that meant people could be killed in the Dungeon and Mission themes, which were designed for players to cooperate with people from other Towers and clear them.
└ Head Mod ) Murder generally doesn't happen. Especially in Exchanges for the lower floors. But the odds are never zero.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Right. I've already been royally screwed over by probability games, so I can't let my guard down just because the odds are low.
└ LOL, look at him roasting himself.
└ Great Mage) You can think of the Mission theme as being similar to a quest-type stage.
└ Chance! Pandemonium! Zero-percent survival rate!!
└ Head Mod) Should I block him?
└ ㅇㅇ*) Yeah, for about two days.
└ Head Mod) Okay.
└ Ah, fuck, save me.
The Head Mod was fond of me.
If I swore carelessly, I'd get killed. Though it was probably fondness born of pity.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Is there any information the people at the Exchange can learn when they meet me? Can they see which Tower I'm from?
└ Head Mod) Nope. They can see the floor you're currently on. They won't know your Tower or level unless you tell them yourself.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Even if I clear Floor 2 and get summoned to the Exchange from Floor 3, they'll look down on me.
└ Head Mod) Well…we'll see what kind of people you get matched with when the time comes. What's important right now is your growth.
He was right.
└ Light's Sword) Eat a meal and come back in. I'll set you on the right path for training.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Okay.
└ ㅇㅇ*) But how much time do you think I should devote to training before entering Pandemonium's Floor 2?
└ Great Mage) I don't know what Light's Sword is planning…but even if you give yourself fifteen days at most, that should be enough. You need to fully clear Floor 2 before you go, so you can participate in the Exchange safely. You're not planning to clear Floor 2 after the Exchange ends, are you?
Of course I wasn't planning to do that.
The Tower Exchange.
I had to clear Floor 2 before I went.
Even if I cleared Floor 2 and went to the Exchange as a ‘Floor 3 climber,’ there was a good chance I would still be the person on the lowest floor there.
└ Light's Sword) If you properly understand what I've organized for you, that amount of time will be enough.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Got it. But what happens if the Exchange starts while I'm in the middle of Floor 2?
└ Head Mod) You'll be forcibly summoned to the Exchange while progressing through Floor 2. Unless you have the item <Exchange Veto>, you'll be summoned without exception.
The Tower Exchange was practically no different from a thug.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Then if I suddenly vanish and, when I return, hostile NPCs or monsters are surrounding the spot where I was, wouldn't I be as good as dead?
└ Heavenly Demon) Correct. That is why one must be transported to the Exchange from the safest space possible.
The conclusion was clear.
Clear Floor 2 and reach the Floor 3 waiting room within the remaining 21 days.
Then participate in the Exchange.
I closed the Transcendent Gallery and opened the [Coin Shop].
It wasn't some kiosk. Images of the food were displayed, like product examples.
Chaofan seemed to be Chinese-style fried rice, as I remembered…and in the end, I chose number 1.
Ramen and a small amount of kimchi.
I had considered eating a hearty bowl of pork gukbap, but unfortunately, pork gukbap was what I had eaten two days ago after my convenience-store shift.
This was a period in which I had no choice but to eat everything at least once.
Pop!
Suddenly, light shimmered in midair, and a box dropped down.
Thud!
The purple-hued box looked extraordinary even at a glance.
A sticker was attached to the very top of the box.
Menu - 1. Ramen and a small amount of kimchi
Delivery coordinates : 666.666.66.532
Payment amount : 10 coins
What was this?
Was it a delivery receipt?
A paltry slip of paper on top of a luxurious box.
Feeling the contrast, I opened the box's lid.
I carefully took out the item inside the box.
I could feel the surface of a transparent container against my palm.
I took out the object.
When I opened it, I saw a bowl of ramen and kimchi in a very small dish.
I gently lifted the noodles with my chopsticks…
I took a picture with the terminal.
Hmm, it came out beautifully.
I pressed Write a Post and attached the picture.
Title : Do you guys know what ramen is?
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-Isn't it gorgeous?
Attachment : 852903862.jpg
[Ramen I just received and photographed, with steam rising from it. And kimchi on the side.]
After posting it, I took a bite of the ramen.
Slurrrp-
Mmm. Ramen really does taste incredible after putting my body through hell.
It tasted just like the ramen my friend and I used to boil and eat while squatting at a campground.
I was eating ramen with the <Transcendent Gallery> open, so I could see comments appearing on my post in real time.
└ Ah, that. I already saw it in Climber Galleryㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ You took a pretty good picture, though.
└ Heavenly Demon) What is that…? Those bizarre strands of noodles and that broth that appears to have no foundation…!
└ The martial-arts fossil is furiousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ But the noodles really do look a little strange.
└ But seriously, what the hell is that?
└ Quite a few people haven't seen ramen. When people from other dimensions are incorporated into a Tower, their food gets stocked in the Coin Shop. It's food eaten by twenty-first-century Earthlings.
└ Shaman) Hawawa, I am curious about the taste. It does not look very appetizing, though.
└ Great Mage) Wow…people eat something that looks like that…?
Fools.
└ ㅇㅇ*) Ramen is a great food forged through countless fields of study. Tsk, tsk.
└ I'm really curious what it tastes like. Want to trade across dimensions with me?
└ LOL, what can you give the climber?
└ What else? The Dretpekkan Spear Art of a Great Family.
└ The name alone sounds lame.
└ Where the hell do you live, you bastard? Medieval Earth? I'm a knight of the Rompelt Continent.
I had no intention of mocking that gentleman's spear art.
Whether it was Easy or Normal difficulty, if he had finished Floor 100, then his spear art must have had something profound about it.
But my problem was that I needed the most perfect lifeline imaginable right now.
A sturdy lifeline that could save me.
In that sense, I had no choice but to pass on that gentleman.
After finishing my meal, I made another post.
Title : Light's Sword, cross-dimensional trade ㄱㄱ
Author : ㅇㅇ*
-I don't know anything, so you put in the offer.
└ Light's Sword) I'll put it up.
It was right after Light's Sword commented.
Another window appeared beneath the Transcendent Gallery.
[User ‘Light's Sword’ has requested a ‘cross-dimensional trade.’]
[Would you like to accept?]
I pressed the circular button beside the text.
[You have accepted the trade request.]
A slot appeared on the screen where it seemed I could place items, like an empty space in my Inventory.
There was also a small chat window.
[Warning! The cross-dimensional trade opportunities provided by the ‘Dimensional Exchange’ are available twice every 30 days! Once both opportunities have been used, they will become available again after 30 days!]
[Warning! An item trade can only be completed when both parties register one item each!]
[Warning! Only one item can be traded per transaction.]
[Hold the item you want to send and say ‘Designate’!]
“Twice a month?”
[Light's Sword : Sorry, but you'll have to use both opportunities. There are two items.]
Just as I thought, this damn Tower.
Was it incapable of cutting me a little slack, like giving me unlimited uses or not requiring me to trade anything?
[ㅇㅇ* : Yeah, as long as I can properly survive, that's all that matters, right?]
[Light's Sword : Don't worry about that.]
[ㅇㅇ* : What should I send you?]
[Light's Sword : One is that thing you just posted, the ramen. For the other, send me the cheapest thing you have. Oh, and don't open the food's container. I can only receive it safely if you send it in the container.]
Even if he told me to send something I had…
The Nameless Knight's Longsword might break too, so it seemed awkward to send the sword I was currently carrying.
Everything else was useful as well.
I didn't have to think for long.
Along with the ramen, I decided to send the jerky, which was the cheapest thing I had apart from water.
I placed both hands on the ramen and jerky, still inside their containers.
“Designate.”
The two items vanished without a trace before my eyes, then appeared in the trade slots as shrunken icons.
[Trade completed.]
Crack-
Two items shot out from the space that had split open.
One was a thick book. The other was a square box.
“…What is this?”
* * *
The Arcamer Empire.
-Her Grace, Grand Duchess Brinière.
The silver-haired woman furrowed her brow at the sound coming from beyond the door.
“What is it?”
-His Majesty the Emperor wishes to see you. He says he absolutely wants to invite you to this banquet….
“Tell him that if he comes looking for me one more time, I'll blow his head off. Don't change my words.”
-…I will remember that, Your Grace.
The Grand Duchess.
Elena de Brinière's red eyes were fixed on the translucent window to her left.
It read as follows.
【Climber Gallery】
She clicked on the most conspicuous post.
Title : Don't act rashly. Stay calm, and we can clear Floor 62. That's what our 《Strategy Alliance》 is for.
Author : Alliance Leader
-There will be no betrayal. We will reach the summit without leaving a single person behind.
└ For real, it looks doable.
└ Have we ever suffered so little damage in Hard mode before?
└ Sword Emperor) At this rate, aren't we going to clear Floor 66 without taking a single casualty?
Elena was displeased.
It was like looking at a shattered mirror.
Like seeing herself from the days when she had been filled with hope.
This was a picture destined to collapse.
“You don't know the essence of Hard difficulty.”
She couldn't understand why not one of them had left a record of Floor 66.
Elena wanted their fantasy to collapse, yet she also hoped it wouldn't.
“Get stronger quickly, climber.”
A disruption.
She wanted to cause ripples among them.
Starting from the very bottom.
《 Floor 2 - Score Rankings 》
1st - Alliance Leader : 784 points
2nd - In Pursuit : 583 points
3rd - Sinclair : 575 points
⋮
The score rankings only announced the scores of active climbers currently progressing through the Tower.
That was why Elena's name could not be there.
She was someone who had already completed the Tower and left it.
Elena gave a faint smile as she looked at the purple storage container that had appeared before her.
“So this is ramen?”
She opened the container.
“…It doesn't smell bad.”
Imperial Sword Saint (劍星).
Dragon Slayer (龍殺者).
Demon King Beheader.
All of them were epithets referring to one person: Elena de Brinière.
That was why nothing happened even when she uttered such outrageous words to the Emperor.
Slurp-
“Mmm…!”
A satisfied smile spread across her face.
Elena pushed the Climber Gallery aside to the right and opened another gallery.
【Transcendent Gallery】
The only pleasure in life these days that brought her any amusement was here.
She made a post.
Title : It's edible.
Author : Light's Sword
-It looks strange, but it tastes good.