A Place Full of Stars 5
Adventurers who had pushed as far as the 45th floor retreated back to the 40th.
While adventurer parties that packed food via magic tools and freely roamed between the 41st and 45th floors could come and go as they pleased, those ghost-like bastards who'd been living in the Tower for half a year or a full year, using the safe-zone caves halfway up the mountain as their base, had no choice but to come out of the Tower seething with frustration.
Even a Highest-grade adventurer who could clear the Tower's top floors didn't have infinite gold coins in their wallet. Even if the harpies hadn't completely cut off every supply wagon, when the volume of supplies dropped by about half, there was nothing to be done about it.
If premium bottled water costs five thousand won while you're climbing a mountain, you'll grit your teeth and buy it — but if a single bottle costs a hundred and fifty thousand, what lunatic would drink that? Adventurers weren't special forces operators bankrolled by the United States of America.
Even if the mages of the Magic Tower were obsessed with papers and research, they still intended to make money off it — they weren't the type to pour their entire fortune into something irrational. Though with those foul temperaments of theirs, if they decided to dump their life savings into research to drive harpies to extinction, that might be another story.
"First, the Guild's official statement. Recently, the adventurer-mage Miss Hanna received the Goddess's oracle and ascended to the status of Hero, which the royal family has recognized. Accordingly, the Adventurer's Guild elevates Miss Hanna not from Intermediate-grade to Upper-grade, but from Intermediate-grade to Highest-grade—"
As I was thinking that, Elise pulled one of the many documents stuffed in her arms and began reading. It seemed she was about to rattle off the story cutscene for the 41st floor intro — what kind of status a player who'd become a Hero now held.
Through Elise's mouth came the various minor benefits of becoming a Highest-grade adventurer: reduced commission fees on requests, introductions to nobility, priority on private commissions, the right to request information, and so on.
Listening to Rebecca beside me, who couldn't wait even that long and was chatting with her subordinate, it seemed the benefits were better than those of an ordinary Highest-grade adventurer. Even so, they weren't spectacularly good — I could hear her subordinate grumbling next to her.
"They're giving us something, but it's nothing special, huh?"
"Right? That's the Guild for you — you suffer through all the hard work, but the benefits are... underwhelming."
Upper-grade, Highest-grade, Hero-grade — something like that, I suppose.
Even so, it wasn't the kind of jaw-dropping package of benefits that would leave anyone speechless. The Adventurer's Guild made its living off commission fees, and once you left the city their influence was practically nonexistent, so it couldn't be helped.
The only potentially controversial point was that she'd just arrived at the 41st floor and was already receiving Highest-grade benefits or better.
"Hmm, Miss Hanna, is it? I took note of her when she was asking questions with such enthusiasm on the carriage last time."
"Haha, while our students write a single paper, that young lady has climbed forty floors? And in the process, she personally confronted and overcame four Mysteries. The more I look at her, the more I want her as talent."
"I'd love to bring her into our research lab... Once she conquers the Tower, perhaps we could form a collaborative relationship based on her experiences."
The reason even that didn't seem like a problem was that the old mages were licking their lips and eyeing Han Se-ah hungrily.
Every single Highest-grade mage was showing goodwill while scheming to snatch her into their labs as a research assistant — wanting to ruin Han Se-ah with papers and research — so it didn't look like there'd be any real issues.
Most mages were lunatics, and everyone knew that once you hit Upper-grade or Highest-grade as an adventurer, it was best not to get involved with them.
"Uh, hey, this is scary in a whole different way. That lightning mage grandpa over there, and the rest of the mages — they all look like people we saw on the carriage or who visited our inn. I'm not gonna wake up one day chained up in the Magic Tower writing papers like crazy instead of being in the Tower, right?"
A bizarre situation where she was drawing more gazes of desire and pity than of jealousy. Whether Han Se-ah trembled under the wild-eyed stares of the old mages or not, the exhaustion-soaked Elise simply grabbed another document and began reading.
"Next is the Temple's declaration. Having appointed the adventurer Miss Hanna as Hero, the Temple states that the adventurers who had been striving to spread the Goddess's word have been forced to fall back by the Demon King's schemes—"
The next thing the weary-looking Elise picked up was a pure white letter that carried a faint fragrance all the way over here. Whether it had been steeped in holy water or not, the white paper seemed to glow softly in Elise's hands.
A few devout adventurers bowed their heads slightly and made the sign of the cross at the mere sight of that gentle light, but Elise, thoroughly steeped in fatigue, paid it no mind and opened her mouth.
She began reading the Temple's declaration slowly and bureaucratically — less like the Guild's beautiful receptionist and more like an office worker on a drained Monday afternoon.
"Therefore, the Temple declares that, following the 35th floor, it shall purify the 40th floor as well and use it as a foothold to aid the adventurers."
"Whoa, the Temple's pretty serious about this, huh?"
"I thought they'd just sit on the 35th floor, but they're actually pushing forward?"
If the Guild's declaration was about the benefits for a player who'd become a Hero, the Temple's was a statement of intent — that they wouldn't be satisfied with the 35th floor and would keep pushing onward. Well, the difficulty had permanently gone up, so if the Temple only helped once, the balance wouldn't make sense.
The adventurers who'd personally felt the impact of the Temple knights, priests, and nuns during the assault on the corrupted swamp looked quite bright. A few of them seemed to think Holy Power wouldn't be of much use against harpies, though.
The royal decree that followed was nothing special. Just words about looking forward to the Temple's progress and providing financial support. This felt like background lore that didn't particularly involve the player.
Whether receiving Hero-grade benefits had made commission fees more lucrative, or whether they'd finally filled that deep pit with Holy Power and begun purifying it — none of that particularly mattered.
"Unnie, are those things still there?"
"They're circling overhead. No sign of them coming down, and none of them have flashy colors either."
No matter what benefits we received, the harpies had no intention of entering our range. They weren't even attacking, so we advanced through the 41st floor under their oppressive gazes. Han Se-ah's minimap steadily expanded and safe zones throughout the area got marked, but the combat count so far was zero.
Even a seasoned hunter would start getting restless around now — so how much more so for Han Se-ah, a streamer-slash-player who had to show her viewers something?
"Ah, seriously! What kind of game bleeds a person dry like this? Those things have zero intention of coming down."
"At this rate I'm a little scared we might actually clear all the way to the 45th floor — if not the 50th — without a single fight. If I level up alchemy a bit more and make flash arrows or something, I feel like I could knock them all down... but the problem is they show zero interest in engaging. Is this also some kind of bug from being a natural-born 6★?"
We walked and walked and walked some more, lost entirely in conversation. The situation was so absurd that the viewers didn't seem particularly upset, though a few complaints did trickle out. From Han Se-ah's perspective, it had to be frustrating.
What was she supposed to do about monsters that were too scared to attack? There might be some ultra-wide-area taunt among the magic or skills, but you couldn't taunt something beyond arrow range. So for now, we just walked, searching for safe zones.
Praying that the quest clues would start from the 41st floor rather than the 45th. Going by average timing, Grace should be finding the passage to the 42nd floor any moment now. With no combat, exploration naturally sped up.
"Here — a new safe zone. But this cave... something feels off."
Had Han Se-ah's desperate wish actually been answered?
The new cave Grace discovered was different from the previous ones. Not only was it far more spacious the moment you stepped inside, but it didn't dead-end into a wall after just a short walk. Following the breeze that drifted gently from somewhere deeper, Grace crept inward, and everyone followed her deeper in.
And what appeared as we headed into the depths of the cave was a narrow staircase — utterly, absurdly out of place.
A cave from which a cool breeze somehow blows from within
Sensing something strange and examining the interior carefully, a deep staircase comes into view
In a cave high in these mountain ranges — who carved these stairs, and for what purpose did they create a secret space?
"Yes! This is it! I believed in you, Vivi Games — jeonjaang~!"
Han Se-ah let out a bizarre cry of delight at the quest window that popped up with a cheerful chime. With excitedly bouncing steps, she stuck right behind Grace and, without a moment's hesitation, set her feet toward the narrow staircase.