Chapter 28. Tower - Escort (1)

“Let’s challenge the 11th floor!”

At Lee Suyoung’s suggestion, I asked back, “Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. We’ve already spent about a week on the 10th floor, so it’s time to push higher. Besides, I saw how you fought alongside me, oppa. I trust your skills!”

Lee Suyoung suddenly paused, as if she’d realized something. “Ah, you said you only arrived on the 10th floor yesterday, right? Should we spend a little more time in the city first?”

“No, it’s fine. We can explore the city properly after we come back from the 11th floor. Let’s grab a meal, sort out our gear, and head straight up.”

Lee Suyoung had originally carried a shield, but she’d been forced to abandon it while fleeing from goblins. That meant she needed a new one, along with more arrows.

“Sounds good! There’s a restaurant nearby that’s really tasty. It’s affiliated with the Association, so we can get a discount using contribution points.”

I followed Lee Suyoung’s lead. We ate, then made our way to the weapon and armor shop. She purchased a new shield and three quivers, each holding twenty arrows. The shafts were made of bamboo—sturdy yet light, with each quiver weighing only two hundred and fifty grams. She clipped one to her belt and stored the other two in her inventory. The shield, meant for close combat, was strapped to her back like a turtle shell.

“Your archery is surprisingly good. Did you train professionally?”

Unlike me, her accuracy was consistently high. When I asked, Lee Suyoung shrugged it off as nothing special.

“I practiced archery until middle school. In elementary school I even won bronze medals at regional competitions pretty regularly. But once I reached middle school, the country was suddenly full of archery prodigies. I felt the limit of my talent and quit.”

Her real dream, she told me, hadn’t been to become an archer but a Hunter who closed Gates. When she was young, an Outbreak had forced her family to evacuate from monsters. A Hunter saved her that day, and the memory left such a deep impression that she decided to follow in his footsteps. She had wanted to attend a martial arts dojo run by a Tower returnee to learn how to use Aura, but her parents opposed the dangerous Hunter profession. Instead, she was enrolled in taekwondo, kendo, and archery classes. The taekwondo and kendo schools were more like after-school programs for children than serious dojos, so she quit them quickly. Archery, however, had been a proper athlete-training facility, which was why she continued until middle school.

Once she entered high school, she changed her plans to follow her parents’ wishes and attend university first. But fate had other ideas. She received an invitation from the Tower and ended up here.

“Jiwoo oppa, what are you going to buy?”

Her question made me pause and think for a moment.

“Hmm. I don’t really have anything I need to buy right now.”

The one-handed sword I currently used was a little short, but it was still serviceable. If my strength or internal energy grew further, a longer blade might suit me better, but it wasn’t time to change weapons yet. More importantly, none of the blades in this shop looked better than what the Tower Shop offered. To be precise, the Tower Shop’s swords were thin and durable, mass-produced with factory precision, while the weapons here were thick, heavy, and clearly hand-forged. They were certainly better than the jungle machete the hobgoblin had used, but even these one-handed swords seemed to weigh well over a kilogram.

One might assume a craftsman’s personal touch would make them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠superior, but human hands simply couldn’t match the consistent pressure and even surface compression of machines. It was obvious which method produced more precise results. Still, the added thickness made them sturdy, and at only two thousand credits each—about twenty percent the price of a Tower Shop sword—they were tempting. But my current blade wasn’t broken, so there was no need to replace it.

Instead, I turned my attention to the armor section. I had roughly forty-five hundred credits on hand, about four hundred and fifty thousand won. That was enough to buy a decent leather jacket and nothing more. I could convert shop points into credits, but it felt wasteful. As someone from the Galaxy Murim, spending money on heavy armor that would weigh down my body was simply unacceptable.

“This should be enough for me.”

I chose a pair of hand-and-forearm guards from the armor selection. They weren’t quite gauntlets, lacking full glove coverage, and were closer to bracers.

“I can use these instead of a shield.”

“Will that be all right? The surface area seems too small to block with.”

“It’s fine. A shield would actually hinder my movement. These are better.”

Even then, wearing them made my wrist movement feel slightly unnatural, so I planned to equip them only on my left arm—the one that didn’t hold a sword. Since they were protective bracers, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wearing the right-arm version on my left wouldn’t cause problems. I simply bought two left-arm versions. The price for the pair was twenty-six hundred credits, but with a twenty-percent Association contribution ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠discount, it came to twenty-three hundred and forty credits.

“If you’re short on credits, I can lend you some,” Lee Suyoung offered. Having arrived a week earlier, she seemed to have accumulated quite a few shop points from hunting horned rabbits and blade-fighting roosters.

“It’s okay. I earned some shop points earlier too. I already have proper protective gear ready.”

The genuine Cheonjam Treasure Robe was far too expensive, but the latest aramid-fiber Pseudo-Cheonjam Combat Suit was something I could afford by saving my allowance. I had already ordered one fitted to my real body’s size on the day I decided to climb the Tower. All I had to do was put it on. After the amusement park kidnapping incident, buying things behind Siwoo’s back had become impossible. When I told her I would wear it later, she had simply replied “Understood,” but her eyes had clearly been suspicious. She didn’t say anything, but my internet access had become slightly more restricted afterward.

Lee Suyoung looked puzzled when I mentioned already having protective equipment.

“Then why didn’t you wear it outside the city?”

I avoided her gaze. “…It’s pretty uncomfortable.”

There was a reason cheap gear stayed cheap. Being combat equipment, it was light and the joints moved well, but once properly fastened it created considerable pressure across the entire body. I had heard the real Cheonjam Treasure Robe felt like wearing nothing at all, but one set cost more than three years of living expenses, so that remained out of reach.

At my answer, Lee Suyoung narrowed her eyes and said, “Put it on.”

“…Yes.”

Thirty minutes later, after briefly separating from Lee Suyoung at the weapon and armor shop, we met again at the central plaza where the crystal for ascending to the 11th floor waited. She had taken a shower in the meantime, probably because the sweat she’d worked up felt unpleasant.

“Oh! Is that the protective gear you mentioned? It looks much more stylish than I expected.”

My Pseudo-Cheonjam Aramid Combat Suit resembled a police special forces uniform. I had never worn one, so I couldn’t be sure, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but the suit was capable of stopping not only swords wrapped in sword qi but even a few rounds from a 20mm anti-tank autocannon. To be exact, that was its performance when reinforced with internal energy at the second-rate realm. For someone like me who had only reached third-rate, it was simply an excellent stab-proof and bulletproof outfit.

The suit’s structure used pseudo-Cheonjam polymer fibers that created non-Newtonian fluid properties between the weave to absorb initial impacts, then tangled the fibers together to disperse force in a secondary layer, preventing further penetration.

“It’s tighter than I expected. A bit uncomfortable.”

Even if it was uncomfortable, loosening it would reduce its defensive power, so I had no choice. Since it wasn’t genuine Cheonjam silk, I still had to endure any physical force it failed to completely neutralize. Still, it was far better than clunky metal armor. The only sensation was the compression; it didn’t hinder movement at all. It was fascinating that something this tight allowed completely natural motion. Was this the power of future technology?

“It’s better to be safe even if it’s a little uncomfortable. Did you buy this from the Tower Shop? It must have been expensive.”

“Well, yeah.”

The Tower Shop’s catalog was so vast that browsing manually was exhausting. Thankfully, it had a search function.

“Let’s head up right away.”

“Okay.”

Lee Suyoung and I placed our hands on the crystal and ascended to the 11th floor.

The quest that appeared above the 11th floor’s crystal was simple.

As soon as we arrived, we saw a boy who looked about fifteen praying in front of the crystal. When we suddenly appeared, he jumped in surprise.

“A-are you the climbers sent by the Tower?”

At the boy’s question, Lee Suyoung nodded.

“We are climbers, yes. Is your name Millio by any chance?”

The boy—Millio—looked startled. “That’s right! The Tower really granted my wish!”

I asked at his words, “Wish? What kind of wish did you make to the Tower?”

Millio’s eyes darted around. “Didn’t you come here to grant my wish?”

“That’s what I’m asking. What wish? All we know is that we’re supposed to protect you while you go to the forest.”

At my answer, Millio’s expression brightened again. “Then you really are here to grant my wish! My wish was to safely go to that forest and return!”

He pointed beyond the wooden palisade. Naturally, no forest was visible from here.

“Explain in detail.”

“Well…”

Millio seemed slightly nervous and his explanation was a bit jumbled. To summarize: his mother had fallen seriously ill. His father had gone to a city two months’ round trip away to obtain medicine. In the meantime, his mother’s condition had worsened; she was now delirious with a high fever. To bring the fever down, they needed a medicinal herb that only grew in the forest. The forest was the territory of a pack of monstrous wolves led by an alpha, a place even the village’s strongest adults refused to enter alone. The wooden fence surrounding the village had been built in case the wolves ever approached.

“Do you know where the herb is?”

“Yes! Before Father left for the city, he took me into the forest several times to gather it!”

There were hardly any proper adults left in the village. They had all gone with Millio’s father to obtain supplies from the city. The village’s main source of income was the medicinal herbs that grew at the forest’s edge and in its middle sections. They would periodically travel to the city to sell the herbs and buy daily necessities. Because the distance was considerable, the adults traveled together for safety, leaving only enough people behind to guard the village. With no adults available now to accompany Millio into the dangerous forest to gather the herb, he had apparently prayed to the Tower for help.

“You prayed to the Tower and we came?”

“Yes. Father told me that if you pray desperately to the Tower, it will send climbers to fulfill your wish. I thought it was just a legend, but you two really appeared!”

Millio looked overjoyed that he would be able to obtain the herb.

“Don’t villages usually keep some medicine in reserve?”

“Well… the medicine Mother needs is expensive, so they only left the minimum amount of herbs. We’ve already used up what was saved for emergencies.”

“Then we have no choice. Let’s go quickly.”

Since this was an escort mission, as long as we moved carefully, we probably wouldn’t encounter any monstrous wolves unless we were extremely unlucky.

…Probably.

(To be continued)