A Beginner's First Steps 4
White clouds drifted lazily across a brilliant blue sky. An endless expanse of green grassland stretched out, thick with vegetation of every height — from ankle-deep grass-like turf to waist-high reed-like thickets. A world overflowing with every kind of plant life.
"Wow… the scenery is seriously gorgeous."
A landscape that could have been lifted straight off a Windows desktop wallpaper unfurled before us without end. This was Floor 1 of the Tower: the Grassland. A few pretentious bards and full-of-themselves types liked to dress it up with flowery names like "the Infinite Prairie" or "the Meadow of Abundance," but most adventurers just called it the Grassland.
The higher you climbed, the more varied the terrain became, so people kept the names short. Grassland, Cave, Swamp, Snowfield — that sort of thing.
I answered the question she'd asked outside the Tower as Han Sea swiveled her head this way and that, mouth hanging open.
"That's why people who come in without the Adventurer's Guild's help end up dead."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because there's nothing in the Grassland that can serve as a landmark."
"…Now that you mention it, how do we even get out?"
You step into a dark tunnel, open your eyes, and find yourself standing in a vast grassland. Setting aside the Tower's bizarre habit of ignoring spatial constraints, the real problem was this: the exit door didn't look like a door.
Outside, we'd all crowded through something that clearly resembled a doorway to enter the Tower — but when we opened our eyes, there was no door, no wall, no tree, no rock. Just grassland. No matter which direction you walked, finding your way back to the starting point required some kind of tool.
"That's the terrifying part of the Tower. To leave, you have to return to the Grassland on Floor 1 — specifically, to the exact spot where we came in. Right here."
I pointed at the ground beneath my feet, and Han Sea's small head dipped down to look. What met her eyes was a kind of mystery circle pressed into the grass — a tiny ring barely a meter across, just big enough for one person to stand on.
"…We have to stand on this platform?"
"That's right. You wander this endless grassland with no landmarks at all, then somehow find this little platform hidden in the grass again if you want to get out of the Tower."
The sheer inconvenience of this system was one reason I didn't stake my life on climbing the Tower. You enter through the Grassland, climb to the upper floors, hunt until you've stockpiled Mana Stones, then descend all the way back down and somehow plant yourself on this tiny platform in the Grassland.
No teleportation, no minimap like a game system — just a magical compass made by the Adventurer's Guild, and you march around like you're on a military campaign. It was a pain.
On top of that, there was no inventory system, so the higher you climbed, the more food and water you had to haul. Unless you brought a porter party, most adventurers returned looking like homeless vagrants. That was why so many people emerging from the Tower looked so ragged. And since monsters spawned randomly, the return trip was often harder than the way up.
"At least they have the decency to mark it as a dot on the map. Same with the city earlier — it only maps the places I've actually stepped on. …You, the one who typed that I'm going to lose a 1v1 to a Floor 1 goblin — I'm memorizing your username."
Han Sea finished her exchange with her viewers while staring down at the pattern on the ground, then lifted her head. What shone in those pitch-black eyes was curiosity mixed with competitive fire. She was glaring around as if she wanted to fight a monster right that second — clearly a gamer with a strong sense of pride.
Of course, I also wanted to clear the quest for ten lowest-grade Mana Stones today, so I gave a slight nod of my chin and started walking in one direction.
"That's what the Adventurer's Guild is for. They take a hefty cut in fees, which is a bit of a downside, but without them, conquering the Tower would be impossible. The Adventurer's Badge has magic on it that lets you find the Tower's exit."
"Oh, it actually says here that you need the Adventurer's Badge in your inventory for the Tower's internal minimap to activate."
You have an inventory too?
I nearly let out a jealous scream but managed to swallow it back down my throat. Tower monsters all turned into Mana Stones, so one miscalculation with your food supply and you'd end up camping out, chewing on Grassland grass. Inventory was hands-down the ability I envied most.
Of course, the feature I was about to show her had nothing to do with game systems like inventory-minimap integration, so I pulled a golden badge from inside my coat. A hexagonal metal plaque engraved with a large shield, helmet, and mace in the center.
"Here — if you look at the badge, there's a tiny Mana Stone set into the central emblem. Press it, and a temporary landmark appears."
I pressed the little Mana Stone nestled naturally in the center of the shield, and an arrow rose above the Adventurer's Badge like a hologram. Since we'd only walked a short distance forward, the holographic arrow naturally pointed toward my chest — back the way we'd come.
"It only shows one direction, though, so outside the Grassland, parties usually hire professional guides. That's why most parties always bring a thief or an archer."
On the open grassland you could just follow the arrow straight, but in a maze-like cave, blindly following an arrow would leave you as a skeleton propped against a dead end — a career change from adventurer to landmark. Han Sea seemed fascinated enough that she reached into the pouch at her waist and pulled out her own Adventurer's Badge. Was that leather pouch her inventory, or just a sleight of hand?
Engraved on the small badge of common iron she produced were a long staff and a witch's pointed hat crossed in an X. The material was different, but the Mana Stone was the same, so when she pressed the stone at the intersection of the staffs, an arrow floated up from her badge as well.
"Mine has a different design?"
"Well, the Adventurer's Badge doubles as a kind of ID. It's so a mage doesn't go around carrying a warrior's badge, that sort of thing. …Actually, the blacksmith who first made these badges just thought plain ones looked boring and carved designs into them on a whim."
"Really?"
"It's a well-known story among adventurers. It's not like names and ranks are written on them — does engraving a sword or a staff really count as identification?"
In short, a blacksmith who'd received a bulk order from the Adventurer's Guild had slapped on fancy designs for the hell of it, and it had accidentally become tradition. Since they weren't made from a single mold, the designs varied wildly. Even for warriors alone, you got everything from swords to maces to axes to helmets, shields, and armor — all kinds of arrangements.
That was why Advanced Adventurers with some clout at the Guild sometimes had their own weapons engraved on their badges just to show off.
…Like me.
When I'd finally clawed my way to Advanced Adventurer rank, I'd been so overwhelmed with emotion that I'd requested my own gear be engraved on the badge. It was a little embarrassing to say out loud, but back then most Advanced Adventurers were making custom badges for themselves.
"Now that we've checked the badges, let's find some monsters. Everywhere in the Grassland is the same, so just walk wherever you feel like."
"Uh, anywhere?"
"Wherever your heart takes you."
I nodded and crossed my arms, and Han Sea swallowed hard, angled slightly to one side, and started walking forward. The way she gripped her staff with both hands as she advanced made her look thoroughly tense.
On the surface, the blue grassland looked like it might only have rabbits. But this was Floor 1 of a fantasy game Tower, so of course there were monsters. Floor 1 was basically a tutorial, so no single monster was truly dangerous — but Han Sea, on her first playthrough, wouldn't know that.
Soft, squishy slimes you could kick to death. Rabbits and foxes with horns the size of a fingertip. Old, sickly, frail goblins. Slimes were so weak they sometimes didn't even drop Mana Stones — fragile monsters whose purpose for existing was a mystery. Rabbits and foxes would bite or stab with their horns, but they couldn't pierce leather armor, let alone thick padded armor.
The only real threat was goblins charging with rocks or wooden clubs. And even those — as long as you didn't panic — anyone could easily beat one down.
"Is that a goblin?"
"Yep. We ran into one sooner than I expected."
Well, they were incredibly weak. Whether the lore was that they'd grown old and sick and been banished to Floor 1, they were far smaller than the goblins you'd see higher up. Gaunt bodies hunched at the waist, looking tiny and frail.
Kieeeeek!
"Uh, it's coming?!"
We hadn't bothered to hide our presence while walking through the grassland, so the goblin had spotted us long ago. A short, green dwarf came crashing through the rustling brush — a shabby little creature whose dangling lower half was barely covered by a tattered rag.
…From goblins to trolls — is the reason they spawn wearing underwear because this is a game world?
While I was having that random epiphany, the goblin and Han Sea locked eyes and charged at each other. Of course, the one with the overwhelmingly longer reach was Han Sea. No matter how petite she was, she was still twice the size of a hunched dwarf under a meter tall. And then there was the difference in weapons — a rock versus a staff.
"Hyaah—!"
She'd learned well in that short time. Han Sea thrust her staff out like a long spear. From the stomping footwork of her forward step to the twist of her waist as she drove the staff forward, the strike was quite powerful for a woman.
"Uh, huh?"
"Hmm, nice form."
The staff cut through the air with a whoosh and jabbed the defenseless goblin right below the Adam's apple. That alone ended the fight. The goblin let out a final "Kek!" and, with a peculiar poof, transformed into a pebble the size of a fingertip.
Acquired lowest-grade Mana Stone on Floor 1 while partyed with Han Sea
1 / 10
Quest progress: looking smooth.