Pay Up! The Wyvern Egg and Tower Secrets
"Pay up!"
"Huh...?"
Without any warning signs, a wyvern egg suddenly materialized out of thin air, tilting Haron's head. It was a natural reaction—something the size of a grown man's torso had plopped right in front of his eyes. But my amusement at his fresh response didn't last long. Haron, whose guild master title wasn't some poker hand he'd lucked into, scrapped his dumbass expression in an instant and leaned his upper body forward at lightning speed. There I was, face-to-face with the repulsive mug of the dwarf geezer. His eyes gleamed maniacally, burning with the ironclad belief that a powerhouse like me wouldn't spout bullshit, though a tiny spark of doubt still flickered at the outlandish claim of taking down the tower's top-floor boss wyvern.
Does that master vibe ever fade...? If I were in charge, I'd tell him to shove his nonsense up his ass...
I was inwardly smug about my decision to shake hands with Haron, chuckling to myself, when he couldn't stand my silent grinning any longer and urgently opened his mouth.
"L-Look here. Th-this is definitely a wyvern egg, right...?"
"What else, a dragon egg? You ever seen an egg this big, old timer?"
"Uh, well... Truth be told, I've only seen one once as a kid, and with no whiskers on your chin, I was just double-checking..."
No, he'd issued the request himself and now he was second-guessing if the delivery was legit... The faint spark of respect I'd felt fizzled out like a shriveled old man's dick.
"Jeez... Fuck, what kind of guild master pulls this shit? Ugh... Tsk."
Setting aside his guild master status, Haron—whose kind boasted superhuman appraisal skills—hung his head, his dignity utterly crushed. The stubby, hairy little fucker shrank into a pathetic heap, the very picture of ugliness. Women pulling that look might be cute enough to pin right there... But the revulsion was too much; I swore to myself never to sling speciesist jabs at this geezer again as I opened my mouth.
"Gramps. Save the penny-pinching for home with your old lady and let's get to the settlement already."
His beard twitching at my words—which felt like an insult but weren't quite—Haron let out a defeated sigh and scratched his head vigorously.
"Sigh... Fine. Since you're asking about guild business, your entry must be logged, so you're not bullshitting..."
"Heh. C'mon, don't be like that... Do I look like some lying sack of shit to you?"
"Ugh..."
For him, it'd just been a skeptical glance and tone about the item, but in a situation no one else could handle, I'd cleared it faster and cleaner than anyone. With the alpha-beta dynamic firmly set, Haron just nodded at my snide remark without batting an eye.
"Alright. The one I saw as a kid was probably the last, but I vaguely remember it. Comparing, this is definitely a wyvern egg."
From his position, requesting a skip of the early layers to hit the layer boss straight away must've been a huge burden. Caught between imperial pressure, adventurer survival rates, and insane difficulty—his frontline admin woes had been solved in a flash thanks to me. Clutching the wyvern egg I'd handed over, he stroked it carefully, a slow smile creeping onto his lips.
"Oh! Speaking of, I've got a question about the tower. Mind if I ask?"
"Hm? Fire away. When it comes to the tower, no one knows more than guild masters from way back."
Shoulders shrugged, chin up like he'd never been a drooling mess. Cocky as hell and not to my taste, but I recalled the baffling situation and voiced my question.
"Normally, the tower's divided into floors, climbed layer by layer, right?"
"Ah... Yeah. You're wondering why the layers were merged this time, letting you nab the boss right away."
"Uh... Yeah. Is there some special reason?"
The standard tower climb: conquer floors one by one, taking down layer bosses every five levels. That's how it'd always been, and Tier's party fumbling around inside now was probably doing the same. So I'd questioned this anomaly, and Haron—seeing my skills as monstrous but my tower knowledge as total noob—chuckled and explained.
"Well, those details came from prophecies when the gods first made the tower, so there's no hard proof. But from what past guild masters passed down orally: it's about capacity."
"Capacity?"
"Yeah. Just look at this egg you brought—even it shows the wyvern you fought was castle-sized."
"Yeah, pretty much..."
"What kind of space do you think a monster like that needs to feed and claim territory?"
Haron's words flashed me back to the ravine where that stone pillar entrance had stood.
"...About the size of the layer where I fought today's wyvern."
He nodded in agreement and continued.
"In short, that's the scale needed for a layer boss to live normally... We've even had reports from the eastern floodplains—outside imperial or kingdom lands—of similar ecosystems mimicking the tower."
"Whoa..."
"Anyway, to sum up: for layer bosses ranked 30+ floors up—classified as massive powerhouses—the tower shifts from layer-by-layer climbs to exploring one vast domain. That's the structure."
I nodded along to the old dwarf's steady explanation.
Fair enough. Monsters are living things too—doesn't make sense for 'em to starve alone on a single floor.
Low-floor named mobs like goblins, trolls, orcs could scrape by with some wildlife around. But a house-sized wyvern? One meal would devour dozens or hundreds of boars. No way that works.
That's why the wyvern nest was littered with harpy bones?
The food chain clicked: low-tier flying mobs like harpies feeding on ground trash mobs and wildlife, higher tiers gobbling harpies. Perfect.
Though digging deeper, feels like the devs just got lazy designing layers...
A convincing theory flitted by, but I snorted and shook my head. Tower layout or terrain didn't matter—the monsters and bosses I'd face stayed the same.
Might even be harder without per-layer rest stops.
Low chance, like this time with the mob horde or wyvern, but a boss smart enough to swarm with minions? Lips pursed at the thought. Good thing Sahonroeju's performance was top-tier—I could handle it. Memories of my primitive unarmed brawler days brought a swell of nostalgia, no AOE or range back then.
With everything wrapped up, the mood settled into calm. Haron smiled, rising as if it was time to close business.
"Whew... Anyway, hit me up anytime for questions. Honestly, taking down a wyvern..."
Trailing off mid-ramble, the old dwarf went suddenly quiet. Worried he'd stroked out or something, I stared blankly—then his head creaked mechanically toward me like a robot. Trembling eyes and quivering beard made for a hilarious sight.
"...You took down the wyvern... right...?"
"Yeah, beat its ass."
His eyes flashed—I got what he wanted instantly. But alpha-beta lines must be drawn firm. Unlike his ragged breaths, I smirked leisurely, chin high.
"D-did you... grab the parts...?"
"Heh... Parts? You think I'm that bored?"
Spotting my inventory reveal while pulling the egg, his eyes bugged out, body shaking like a leaf.
"Just neatly sliced the neck vertebrae and stored it whole. Full wyvern corpse, you know... Heh."
I could already see my future packed with endless handshake demands.