The Seeker's Room

"…The Seeker's Room?"

The message had appeared right after I received one more S++ Key as a hidden clear reward. I'd thought the key was the end of it, but apparently there was something called the Seeker's Room.

"Looks like this is the real deal…"

The true hidden clear reward seemed to be this. On top of that, it said I could choose an additional reward. Completely different from the usual payout.

I was about to hit O when the people still cheering caught my eye.

-Long live Hunter Kim! Long live Hunter Kim!

The whole village had come out and was shouting for me. They really seemed to think I was some kind of god. I no longer had the faintest idea where to even begin explaining. From the way things were going, these people would probably show up again someday.

Whatever. I gave up thinking about it and decided to leave.

"I'm going! I said I'm leaving!"

-Long live Hunter Kim!

Even when I told them I was going, they were too busy cheering to notice. I sighed and just pressed O.

A pure white light and a floating sensation washed over me as my body transferred into the Seeker's Room.

"Ugh…"

The light must have been stronger than usual; even after the transfer ended, opening my eyes was hard. I frowned and slowly lifted my eyelids.

Then I saw the scenery spread out before me and realized the difficulty opening my eyes hadn't been from the transfer light at all.

"Whoa… this place…"

I had arrived in a vast chamber made entirely of luminous jewels. No—calling it a chamber was an understatement. It was far too grand for that.

Soaring ceilings supported by jewel-encrusted pillars. The spectacle unfolding beneath them looked like something that deserved to be called a temple.

While I was making all sorts of faces in the glittering temple, the system message appeared. Check the Seeker's Room usage guide?

"Next time I need sunglasses, damn it."

Everything was jewels, sparkling so hard it hurt to keep my eyes open. After getting thoroughly blinded by the reflected light, I noticed a piece of paper stuck to a nearby pillar.

It was an antique-looking sheet with a slightly worn feel and gold trim. I read what was written on it.

"Oh?"

After reading the entire guide, my eyes lit up. So the S++ Keys I'd thought were useless were meant to be used here.

Looking around, I spotted a display case on the opposite side filled with all sorts of items. Of course it was also made of glittering jewels and glass, so my eyes still hurt.

"Might as well take a look."

I pushed through the eye-searing glare and examined the items in the case. There was a mix of familiar and completely unfamiliar things on display.

"So to exchange, you need as many keys as the number drawn underneath, huh."

Every item had something like a price tag attached below it. Each tag showed a different number of keys. If ten keys were drawn, you needed ten keys. That sort of thing.

I checked a few of the most eye-catching items.

The first thing that caught my eye was the Equipment Exchange Ticket.

The tower issued basic equipment to every climber at the start. I'd received the revolver I was still using. Most climbers in this world didn't stick with their starter gear. Take the Hero, for example—his original holy sword had probably been stronger.

But for me, tower-provided equipment was essential. Guns didn't exist in this world.

"It says Tier 2, so the revolver must have been Tier 1."

The first revolver I'd gotten was Tier 1. Buying this would mean getting a better gun than the revolver. I was curious what kind of gun it would be.

"Ten keys… not quite yet."

The Equipment Exchange Ticket cost ten keys. I currently had seven in total. Still short.

I looked through the display a little more.

"Nothing else worth exchanging for right now."

I'd scanned everything, but nothing seemed worth buying immediately. Plenty of items whose effects I couldn't even guess, and most were beyond the number of keys I had.

"I could buy a normal skill book, but… no real need. Skill books drop during climbs anyway."

A normal skill book cost five keys. But I already had a rare skill two tiers higher, so there was no reason to spend keys here right now.

"I can enter once per floor, and the list refreshes every n1 floors."

I'd never done it myself, but the tower allowed repeated clears of the same floor. Rewards ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just dropped sharply on repeats. The Seeker's Room, though, could only be entered once per floor. To come back, I'd need to clear the next floor's hidden conditions.

And the item list refreshed every n1 floors—meaning every ten floors: 11, 21, 31, and so on. If there was something I wanted, better to buy it before the refresh.

"I should grab the Equipment Exchange Ticket first. It'll probably show up again even after a refresh, but still."

My first purchase target was obviously the Equipment Exchange Ticket. The revolver was already this strong—something even better? Maybe a machine-gun type would appear. That would make clears a whole lot easier.

I relied heavily on guns, so I'd keep needing better equipment.

"Ten keys shouldn't take long to gather."

Just three more and I could buy it. First goal set.

I was about to leave since there was nothing to buy right now when a few items caught my eye.

"They sell bullets too."

The same bullets the tower gave as rewards could be bought here. Regular rounds were thirty for one key. Enhanced rounds were three for one key.

"So they work in any gun?"

The "universal" label suggested they could be used in any firearm. What I was using now was revolver-specific. If I got a different gun, those wouldn't fit.

"A bit expensive to buy with keys, though."

Purely by quantity, it matched what you got for clearing one floor. But if I obtained a new gun, I couldn't load revolver rounds into it. Would I have to buy these then? I'd think about that when the time came. My gut said the tower would just give matching ammo as a reward for a new gun.

"But what's with the empty spots next to them?"

What bothered me were the empty spaces beside the regular and enhanced rounds. Nowhere else on the display had empty slots. Only next to the bullets.

"Does that mean there are other types of rounds?"

Regular rounds, then enhanced. There could be a next tier after that. Maybe the empty spots were reserved for those. Another thing to figure out later.

There was nothing more to look at, so I decided to leave. I'd have to gather keys before buying anything anyway. More importantly, my eyes were killing me.

I pressed O. My vision flipped and the floating sensation returned. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the inn room.

"Whew…"

I sorted my rewards and flopped onto the bed. Nothing much seemed to have happened while I was clearing the tower.

"Overall, the floor content seems pretty similar."

I'd worried that after the tower reset, only my clear conditions ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would be different, but that wasn't the case. Hidden clear conditions had been added, sure, but the normal ones looked about the same as other climbers'.

But after the full reset, that message had appeared. It meant the more hidden clears I did, the more the tower would change somehow. Whether that influence kicked in every floor or only after clearing several, I had no idea. At least nothing like last time—three days locked out of the tower—had happened. Small mercies.

"Been a while since I cleared a floor, so I should do the usual. Heh heh."

I'd finally caught up on the backlog. I opened the Climbers' Plaza.

…

The Climbers' Plaza was already flooded with news of my climb. Updating the rankings again must have sent notifications to the previous top ranks. Throw in the leftover Founding Festival drama and my share of the plaza was skyrocketing.

…

"Heh heh heh. This is so much more relaxing."

I rolled around on the bed to my heart's content while browsing the plaza. Posting during the Founding Festival had always felt uncomfortable. Now there was no risk of being watched, so I didn't have to worry.

"More than that, this Sword of the Lord guy is seriously persistent."

The urgent comments from the climber called Sword of the Lord stood out. Judging by the username, he was probably from the Madiba Holy Kingdom.

The Madiba Holy Kingdom was a small religious city-state made up of clergy of the Goddess faith. The territory itself was only about the size of a single city. But as the theocratic state of the continent's largest religion, its influence was far from small.

"I think I heard the Madiba Holy Kingdom's tower collapse isn't far off."

Most of their high-ranking climbers were clergy—holy knights, saints, and the like—so their individual power was considerable. But the Madiba Holy Kingdom was simply too small. The absolute number of climbers was low. Climbing the tower had apparently been full of hardships for them. Even so, the tenacity of those who had survived this far was nothing to sneeze at.

But even that seemed to have reached its limit now.

"But I'm only on Floor 6."

Whatever the situation, my response stayed the same. Post as usual and don't get involved beyond that. In a world where having my identity exposed carried so many risks, this was still the best approach.

"Hope we get home soon."

The next day we set out early in the morning. Running the carriage day and night, we arrived at the family estate sooner than planned.