Chapter 95
“…Chaos?”
Why am I Chaos?
“I never arrive late to class, and I beat up bad guys!”
No matter how I looked at it, I wasn't Chaos.
Oh, is Chaos not a bad thing?
‘So Evil is the bad one?’
[The Apostles of God are enraged!]
[The Servants of Demons are enraged!]
[You cannot receive assistance from either army until Floor 15!]
[You must undertake the hidden neutral quest until Floor 15!]
[The difficulty has changed to Hell difficulty!]
[Rewards are permanently set to maximum!]
Hmm.
Well, whatever.
If the difficulty gets harder, I can just clear it more leisurely.
[A reward will be granted! Touch the shimmer!]
A white, wall-like object appeared in front of me.
When my fingertips touched the floating object, three rewards appeared before my eyes.
[Stat Enhancement Selection Ticket (SR++), Staff of the Dead (SR), Hidden Piece Random Search Ticket (SR)]
“Hmm. A solid, dependable reward.”
But the caliber was different.
The lowest reward was SR-rank.
Nice, nice.
First, I used the Stat Enhancement Selection Ticket to enhance my endurance.
This was much more important than I had expected.
Even getting tired when using dragon mana was apparently affected by this stat.
[Endurance has increased! (D → D+++)]
As expected of a mid-floor Stat Enhancement Ticket, it increased quite a bit.
One more time and I'll hit C.
Then I examined the other rewards.
[Staff of the Dead (SR)]
You can now use black mana!
“…Is that all?”
I wish there had been more explanation.
I should ask Mr. Karnarof later.
At least when it came to magic, he'd know far more than people in the modern world.
Then I looked at the next reward.
“Oh? That one came up.”
A Hidden Piece Random Search Ticket.
An item that lets me discover one of the Hidden Pieces on any floor.
‘Hell difficulty has no information, so I can't even get the Hidden Pieces.’
One reason I joined a guild was the Hidden Pieces.
Unless you happen to find one, like in a speedrun, they're almost impossible to discover.
Most of them also have to be completed within a set time limit.
But unlike the other difficulties, which have at least hundreds to tens of thousands of players tackling them, Hell difficulty supposedly has fewer than a few dozen players attempting it at most.
‘That's why they aren't found.’
Even when someone finds one, it isn't shared.
[The hidden piece on Floor 2, the Trap Floor, has been revealed!]
[Try avoiding the rolling boulder in a different way!]
“…What? That's Floor 2.”
“Come to think of it, that was there.”
A Retry Ticket.
I had meant to use it later, but I'd forgotten.
In any case, I wasn't in great shape after using dragon mana just now.
I'll just get the Hidden Piece and call it a day.
“Before that, first…”
[The Minion's Reverse-Edged Sword (SSR)]
[The Apostle's Light (SR)]
[The Apostle's Armor Set (SR)]
Let's take the artifacts first.
The Reverse-Edged Sword was SSR-rank, and the Apostle's Light seemed to be a brooch-shaped buff item.
Of course, I didn't really need it.
It was a healer item.
I'll just pass it to Aris.
And I can sell the armor set.
“Shall we go?”
I'd collected everything worth taking, and I was done here.
[Using the Retry Ticket! Which floor would you like to use it on?]
“Floor 2.”
My body immediately moved to Floor 2.
[Entering Floor 2—Trap Floor.]
[Trap Floor (1/3). Rain of Arrows]
Does it teleport me directly like this?
Pretty convenient.
I heard something being launched in the distance.
The arrows had been genuinely threatening in the past, but I was different now.
Last time, I passed through while deflecting them all with my sword.
This time, I intended to use magic more actively.
“Casting, Bullet, Deca, Explode.”
Ten mana bullets exploded in the air.
That was all it took.
Nearly every arrow flying at me was caught in the explosion and knocked off course.
—Whooosh.
The remaining arrows flew at me, but
I simply snatched them out of the air and tossed them aside.
Once my durability had surpassed a certain level, these were nothing more or less than fast-moving sticks.
[Trap Floor (2/3), Pressure Plate Room]
This was another narrow, pitch-dark passage where I was supposed to avoid pressure-plate traps scattered throughout, but…
“Leokan.”
“Yes, my lord.”
—KRAKAKAKAKAK!!!
Leokan advanced, smashing everything in sight.
Once a trap had been triggered, it wouldn't activate again.
As long as I replenished his mana, any damage he took would heal on its own.
Besides, ordinary attacks couldn't even scratch Leokan.
Leokan was pretty useful, even if he'd become a mere mortal these days.
[My lord, I am not a mere mortal.]
Oh, he heard that.
Thoughts were shared whenever I summoned Leokan, after all.
“But Karnarof beat you in one move.”
“……”
Of course, that was because Karnarof was absurdly strong.
[If you pour your mana into my orb, I should be able to help you a little more.]
“You mean I can enhance you?”
[Yes.]
I see.
“Then it works with other mana too, right?”
[If it is mana of high density.]
“Really?”
If it didn't have to be my mana specifically,
maybe I should try pouring dragon mana into him.
Leokan silently dealt with all the traps, then was unsummoned.
It's been a while since I've heard him speak properly.
‘I guess men really get prickly when you call them weak.’
I get extremely prickly about it too, for the record.
If Robert called me weak, I was confident I'd immediately raise my wand and fire a spell.
“This is the last room.”
[Entering Floor 2, Trap Floor—Final Room.]
—Rrrrrrrrrr…
I heard something heavy rolling toward me.
When I turned around, a boulder the size of a house was rolling down at terrifying speed.
I just ran away last time, but this time was different.
When I observed the area above, I saw a gap I could probably jump over.
They probably wanted me to jump through there, but did I really have to?
“Casting, Bullet, Peni, Deca.”
—KWA-AAAAAANG!!!
The boulder shattered into pieces.
I lightly leaped over the rolling fragments and walked on.
As I continued walking upward, I saw something resembling a stone pedestal.
Resting there was a stylish ticket.
[Trait/Ability Enhancement Ticket (SSR)]
“A Trait Enhancement Ticket?”
It was an item that had appeared before.
But the difference was that it was SSR-rank.
The corners of my mouth rose.
‘Nice.’
Honestly, there were plenty of things I could enhance.
“Then obviously—”
[Use on Oz Caster (???)? Success rate (0.1%)]
“Pardon?”
I had tried to enhance Oz Caster, but the success rate was atrocious.
Just what kind of insanely powerful grimoire had they given me?
I'd been planning to enhance the Inventory to increase its capacity, but an SSR Enhancement Ticket didn't seem remotely sufficient.
‘The Inventory merged with Oz Caster, so I can't enhance it separately.’
Well, I could just enhance something else.
I still had abilities such as Nature-Friendly and Mathematician of Magic Circles.
“But first, this.”
[Enhance Observation Eye (SR) to Observation Eye (SSR)?]
“Yep.”
[Congratulations! Observation Eye has been enhanced!]
It's not like anything had to become visible.
These days, whenever an item rose to SSR rank or higher, I couldn't see it.
I couldn't even see my classmates' mana values.
Perhaps because they were students at a magic school, every last one of them was S-rank or higher.
[Observation Eye (SSR)]
You can now view information on other people and items!
Viewing limit (SS, UR)
The information of beings with powers above a certain level may be restricted even within the viewing limit!
Oh.
I could finally inspect humans above S-rank.
Just you wait, Karnarof.
‘I'll lay everything bare.’
Thinking that, I cleared Floor 2 and immediately exited the Tower.
* * *
“You got quite a lot in that short time.”
I sold all the artifacts.
That brought the total to roughly the right amount.
“Hmm.”
I stared at Sera and used Observation Eye.
[Isera]
Ability: Divine Sword Fusion (SSR)
Trait: [Weapon Inventory (SR)],
Stats
[Durability (B)] [Endurance (C)] [Strength (S)] [Agility (A+)] [Mana (A++)] [Technique (C)]
…I might actually have a chance of beating her.
But her Strength was S-rank.
I had an S-rank stat too, but it wasn't a stat that directly helped me in combat.
Sera's style was actually to cover for her low Technique with high Strength and Mana.
“I already placed the order with my money, so just give me the artifacts. I'll use what I can and sell the rest.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“But you're buying the drinks this time, okay?”
“Obviously.”
“Heh.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“No, I was just thinking that the day I'd get you to buy me a drink had finally come.”
“I never thought the day would come when I could buy you a drink, either.”
We had been equals during our days at the training camp, but the gap had widened when I couldn't enter the Tower.
Only now did I finally feel as though we'd become equals again.
At that moment, Kim Hana cut in.
“Um, may I ask a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you have an engineer over there too? The generator is an unfinished model, and it should be about time for it to start breaking down…”
“Yep. We do.”
We had a top student who also did unpaid labor for us—a really good worke… no, senior.
“Really!? Is that true!?”
Kim Hana's face brightened at once.
“Would you like me to introduce you?”
I think Senior would like her too.
People like this should be put together; that's how you get synergy.
“Yes, gladly!!”
***
The next day, in the eastern forest.
Unfortunately, anything that wouldn't fit in the Inventory couldn't be brought through.
Still, we brought over the refrigerator, washing machine, microwave, desk assembly kit, generator expansion materials, and so on.
A one-person sofa, TV, computer, induction cooktop, water purifier…
I just grabbed everything in sight, and Sera hauled it over with a cart.
The power of an S-rank Strength stat was greater than I'd expected.
Even while suffering from a hangover, we finished moving everything in less than half a day.
So.
“How are we going to get all this out without anyone noticing?”
A ridiculous amount of supplies had piled up in the cave in the eastern forest.
…We can bring all this inside, right?
Should I go back and bring Sera over in the Inventory?
And wasn't the electrical capacity already absurdly insufficient?
“W-what is all this…?”
Even Aris was cowed by the absurd quantity.
Looks like I have more work to do.