Those Worth Recruiting
With no idea what was unfolding inside Terra, Yujin rode out through the east gate at a leisurely pace.
He could feel the stares of NPCs and players locking onto him.
Mostly, he figured, because of the horse.
In time, most players would be able to get one of their own—but not yet. Not at this stage of the Tower.
Coins aside, most of them didn’t even know mounts existed in the first place.
So the NPCs were startled that Yujin already had a horse, and the players were startled that horses could be obtained at all.
A few of the more curious ones drifted toward him, clearly intending to ask questions.
He ignored every last one of them.
None of them were useful, and chaff like that wasn’t worth the breath it would take to answer. Better to spend that time killing one more monster for experience.
Tuning out the stream of questions around him, he rode clear of Terra—and a quiet stillness settled over him like a welcome cloak.
“Finally. I can breathe.”
Just not having to listen to those insects buzz was enough to ease both mind and body.
“I need useful ones, not trash like that.”
People like the Sword Empress. Like the Fighting Demon.
At the very least, he needed people with enough talent to move as his hands and feet.
“I’ve already seen the Sword Empress once, so finding her again shouldn’t be hard. The Fighting Demon, though…”
Yujin’s brow furrowed.
That battle-crazed lunatic was going to be difficult to track down. He had never actually seen the Fighting Demon in person—only heard the rumors.
Rumor said the man had soloed a 70th-floor boss.
It had cost him his life in the end, but anyone with that kind of power had to be found, no matter what.
“Still, he’ll make a name for himself soon enough.”
The Fighting Demon had been famous from the start. While other idiots were still struggling to adapt to the Tower, he had already been picking fights with players and hunting monsters.
Even if Yujin didn’t find him right away, once the rumors started circulating, he could look then.
“The real problem is the third one.”
He needed at least three allies.
The Sword Empress and the Fighting Demon were all but locked in. The third was still undecided.
America’s Zygote.
China’s Flame Emperor.
Japan’s Blade Sovereign.
Russia’s Human Weapon.
And beyond them—the Wizard, the Polar Mage, the Lion King, the Blood Lord, and more.
Names that had shaken the first timeline rose unbidden in his mind. After himself, they were the ones who had actually been worth something.
“They’re all about the same, though.”
If he had to pick one, Zygote was the strongest of the lot, but…
“That bastard’s just disgusting.”
Eliyah Ventrick.
Known by the moniker Zygote, he had been strong enough that—Yujin aside—people called him the greatest of the Tower of Light’s conquerors.
But he was a madman.
To grow stronger, he would use any means, any method, without a shred of restraint. There was a reason people had started calling him Zygote.
If he hadn’t at least put in the effort to clear the Tower, he almost certainly would have become one of the Ten Evils.
“Yeah. Pass on that one.”
The power was tempting, but just thinking about the man turned his stomach. You didn’t keep a creature like that at your side. You cut its head off and moved on.
“Anyway, no point deciding on the third right now. I’ll pick whoever looks useful later.”
There was no way to know how much value someone actually had without seeing them with his own eyes.
He was still turning that over when a low, guttural growl rolled out of the brush around him.
Grrrrrrrrr—
“Hm? Already here?”
He must have been lost in thought longer than he’d realized.
Blinking, he scanned the area—and found them, murderous intent already laid bare.
Red-skinned bipedal monsters, roughly a meter tall.
“Red Goblins.”
They nested east of Terra, past the Sulfur Deer grounds. Roughly level three to five.
Compared to Sulfur Deer, they were pitifully weak—and for a level-10 Yujin, they barely spat out meaningful experience.
He’d chosen this direction for one reason only.
Because this is the fastest way to level.
Under normal hunting, Sulfur Deer would have grown him far faster. Higher level, pack animals—you could drive them and farm them in groups.
But with a certain method, Red Goblins offered a leveling speed that left Sulfur Deer in the dust.
A thin smile cut across his face.
Yujin dropped from the saddle, rolled out his wrists, and walked straight toward them.
“Come on, then. You pint-sized bastards.”
“…Do you really think we can handle this on our own?”
The boy—Park Ji-hoo—asked, worry plain on his face.
“With numbers like this, we should be fine. You don’t have to be that scared.”
Lee Sia answered with a carefully casual expression.
After taking the Fighting Demon, Park Ji-hoo, as a companion, she had gone ahead and recruited a few more. Five of them in total now—all people who had taken an interest after watching her and Ji-hoo put those men down.
Aside from Ji-hoo, every one of them was still level 1, but…
He said five or six people could take one without much trouble.
That was what the Information Guild’s Terra Branch Manager—Mullen—had told her.
And Ji-hoo is strong.
For all his timid nature, he had the combat skill to drop three grown men. On top of that, those massive gauntlets of his looked like an item in a completely different league from her own Crimson Lotus [E].
And she herself…
I took a head off in one stroke.
She had cut down the man who’d been waving an axe around. A swing thrown in pure anger had, somehow, sheared clean through flesh and bone.
For someone who had never so much as held a sword before entering the Tower, that was an absurdly difficult thing to pull off.
At least the shock wasn’t as bad as I expected. Small mercies.
Murder.
Lee Sia—who had never even hit another person—had killed someone here. By all rights, the trauma should have been crushing.
And yet she was strangely calm. Honestly, it would be more accurate to say she felt nothing at all.
They jumped us first, so they deserved to die. That was as far as the thought went.
Even she found the reaction a little unnatural—but she decided it was better this way. Surviving in a place like the Tower demanded that kind of steel.
If killing people barely registered, hunting monsters probably wouldn’t either.
Whether they could actually take one down was the real question.
“You saw this big sister swing a sword earlier, right? Monsters go swish-slice the same way. So stop panicking already.”
Sia laughed—a loud, forced hahaha!—trying to put him at ease. Ji-hoo nodded slowly.
“Y-yes…”
How could a boy that small and timid fight like that? The question niggled at her, but she shelved it for later. What mattered right now wasn’t that—it was the monsters.
“So… it should be around here.”
Sia unfolded the map Mullen had given her and checked the terrain. The spot marked as Sulfur Deer habitat was right in this area.
“Ah. That way.”
She found ground that matched the map’s sketch exactly. With Ji-hoo and the other three players in tow, she approached carefully.
“Those must be the Sulfur Deer.”
A slightly frightened voice came from behind her—the only other woman among the new recruits.
She hadn’t gotten much from the Tutorial Floor, but she had picked up a skill: Healing [E].
A healer’s the most important role in party hunting.
Thinking of the online games she’d played a few times before entering the Tower, Sia had accepted her without hesitation.
“They don’t look that strong.”
“Right? I figured monsters would look vicious, but they’re just… slightly oversized deer.”
The remaining two were men. One carried a shield; the other, a long spear. Both had come up from the Tutorial Floor with at least one item each, so they had to have some skill. Or so Sia chose to believe.
“Still, don’t let your guard down. I heard you need to be at least level 7 to take one solo.”
She passed along the warning Mullen had given her.
“L-level 7?”
Every face went pale. None of them knew exactly how high that was—only that, as level 1s, they didn’t stand a chance one-on-one. Tension settled over the two men who had been dismissing the deer a moment ago.
“It’s fine. I also heard five level-1 players can take one down. And we’ve got a healer. We can do this.”
“Mm…”
“Can we really trust that information?”
“The map got us here, didn’t it?”
That much was true. They had navigated the empty wilds outside the city with nothing but a map. The intel seemed at least somewhat reliable.
Even so, it didn’t make anyone feel lighter.
“Another thing—we have to take them one at a time. Only go for the ones that’ve strayed to the edge of the habitat, away from the herd.”
“R-right.”
Everyone nodded. There were five of them. Even if a Sulfur Deer was level 7, with numbers like that, they felt sure they could handle it. They had already seen what Sia and Ji-hoo could do. If those two brought even half of that to the fight, it ought to be enough.
“…You’re still in, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I am.”
She had worried they might change their minds the moment they actually saw a monster. Relief washed through her.
“Then let’s plan this out.”
Fortunately, the party balance wasn’t bad. A shield-bearer for tanking, a healer, and damage dealers with sword, spear, and gauntlets. A ranged attacker would have been nice, but this should be more than enough for a single Sulfur Deer.
“I’m the lightest on my feet, so I’ll draw one out.”
The deer scattered around the outskirts ran in loose groups of two or three at most. Now and then one wandered off alone—those were the ones to bait.
“Will you be all right?”
The others asked, concern in their voices. But they only watched. Not one of them volunteered to go instead.
Sia didn’t blame them. Fear was fear. They were all in the same boat.
“I started this. I should take responsibility.”
She was the one who had gathered them. Luring people into a hunt and then shoving someone else out front just wasn’t her style.
“I’ll be right back. Get ready here.”
Sia drew Crimson Lotus [E] and started forward, one careful step at a time, toward the Sulfur Deer.