Tower Walks On
p>“Let’s start by checking how many B Points I have.”
p>I scan the B Points stacked in my inventory. Last time I poured everything into creating a colony bug. The grade is lower than Silver Wing, yet the points it consumed were ridiculous… I originally wanted to summon one more bug, but I couldn’t manage it because of that. Even the tower reward from last time didn’t include a class-related skillbook, so my B Points were plenty. But I couldn’t say they were enough either.
p>“I guess the more complex the bug, the more points it drains. I have to be really careful.”
p>The simplest bugs used the fewest points. That much was obvious from the Sword. I had just summoned a sturdy beetle-like bug, so it only cost one point. After that I gave it commands and it sharpened itself through tower rewards. Originally it was just a regular sturdy bug. Thinking about it now, the Sword was truly amazing. With so few points, it could achieve such efficiency… What about the other bugs?
p>“Sigh. Should I mass-produce them or make something special?”
p>It wouldn’t be bad to create duplicates of the same thing, but then I’d basically be revealing myself as the maker. That was why I preferred the special route—things like colony bugs. Considering the traits they carried, it had to be…
p>First I listed the bugs I already knew. Thanks to the Metamorphosis skill I now understood how far I could push them. Because the skill showed evolution directions, everything inside was treated as an insect—bugs. Even though spiders and scorpions weren’t technically insects, they were still called bugs. Snails and leeches had evolution paths too. Was the tower deciding what counted as a bug, or was it following common sense? Honestly, I didn’t mind. It meant I could summon more kinds.
p>“Special ones, then.”
p>Among the bugs I knew, only spiders and scorpions really stood out as special.
p>What if I made a murder snail? [Not enough B Points.] “Huh? Can I summon a murder snail?” It wasn’t impossible, but I couldn’t think of any use for it right now. If I had a murder snail while climbing the tower, it would be fast. Anyway, it was just another thing to kill. But it wasn’t actually a murder snail. Instead, summoning a snail to give me abilities related to snail homes might work. “Sounds good. Not bad.” I could use the bag or storage space as a snail house. But snails leave sticky slime. The inside would get coated in mucus. I really struggled with the decision. I couldn’t find anything truly useful and special right away. Even when something came to mind, I worried whether it would match the items people wanted these days. Recently, besides weapons, higher floors emphasized defense. I already had weapons, so I needed a bug that could tank hits.
p>“Are bugs sturdy? Hmm…” They weren’t that sturdy. With colony bugs I could create armor, but durability wasn’t the point. It was more like constantly summoning duplicates. They were quantity-based, not durability-based. Still, the Sword was surprisingly tough. But the real problem was whether I could make armor that wrapped around a human body. A bug the size of a person? “That sounds hard even for me.” Seeing something that big in person would be tough. Making it as an item right away might work, but summoning it didn’t guarantee instant equipment, and I didn’t know how large the egg would be. Thinking back, even the Silver Wing bug had made the house messy. A larger bug would be worse. Big bugs meant moving house? “Ugh. I don’t know. First, I have to gather some points.” I wasn’t feeling the climb was too hard, so today I planned to go deep. Continuous ascent was allowed, so I could just keep going until stamina ran out or I hit a wall.
p>“Then let’s enter the tower.”
p>With the familiar instant teleport, I stepped into the tower’s forest. The fact that it was still a forest meant goblins were likely waiting. When I checked others’ tower climbs, the start was usually similar. Basic monsters like goblins. Some wore armor, some carried staffs. I hadn’t seen that on my tower, but…
p>[3rd Floor (Extreme) Tower Mission] - Defeat the forest threat. (3/0) - Defeat within the time limit. (05:00 / 00:00) “Three goblins this time?” Floor one had ten, floor two had one, floor three had three. No obvious pattern. The time limit was also unusual. I heard it varied by class, but… without a class, how was I treated?
p>“First, the Sword… oh right, it’s not here.” I used the Sword’s help every time I found monsters in the tower. But with Metamorphosis active today, I couldn’t get that help. That was annoying. I should make a bug to find monsters for me. But which one tracked well? “Well, I have no choice. I’ll have to walk through the forest myself.” Thanks to Eyesight the forest was clear, but searching was still hard. I saw trees everywhere, some rocks too. I worried I might not finish the quest before the time ran out. To get the good reward I had to finish inside the limit… I really needed a tracking bug. “Ah, found one.” While searching I spotted something. A figure in black robes. Looking closer it seemed to be a goblin. It was investigating the ground, checking footprints, talking to itself. Its intelligence felt pretty high. On the first floor it had seemed intelligent too… I wanted to take a closer look. I spotted dried blood on the ground and signs of a fight. “Huh?” The more I looked, the stranger it felt. A déjà vu. The broken trees, the marks carved into the ground, the spilled blood, and the hole in the floor where something had been stabbed. It was exactly the spot on the second floor where I had killed a goblin. No doubt about it. My memory hadn’t been wrong. If I only looked at the blood and hole, it could have been somewhere else, but the mark where I had stabbed the staff… “The floors are connected? Is that how it works?” It was hard to believe the tower was real. The forest I thought was different was actually the same one. But what changed just because it was the same place? I guess you just beat the monsters. “Oh, did I mutter too loudly?” A goblin slowly approached. I relaxed my shoulders and ordered the colony bug to wrap me in armor. After confirming the armor covered my body I looked at the goblin. This one was different. The first had been a knight, the second a mage, the third… black robes, exactly like the one that had been investigating. “What the—” Even though I had seen it with my eyes, I had missed the movement. It split into three directions and disappeared. Assassin! That was why it wore black robes. I searched around with my wide view, but the colony bug couldn’t see the goblin. Had it really disappeared? I was about to worry when—
p>Clang! A goblin stabbed toward my blind spot. I stepped back in surprise, but someone moved faster. The colony bug spread out instantly and slammed the goblin down, pinning it to the ground. It was amazing. My blind spot was already protected by the colony bug. It covered my whole body, so no attack could reach me. The goblin was out of the fight. The colony bug swallowed it. I shifted my gaze to the swarm. Whatever was happening, it didn’t look pretty.
p>“… Where did the remaining two go?” I had handled one, but two were left. I scanned the surroundings, looking for anything strange. Even if they hid, they couldn’t hide everything. One had been taken care of, so the others were being careful. The colony bug couldn’t react fast, so I had to move first. “Found them.” I ordered the colony bug and swung my arms. Crack! The bug stretched like a whip, grabbed the hidden goblin, and pulled it out. No matter how well they hid, they couldn’t hide everything. The moment they moved, leaves rustled and bushes were disturbed. I grabbed the captured goblin by the head and looked around again. One was left. “I knew that would happen.” In a flash I turned and grabbed the dagger aimed at my back, crushing the hand holding it. With one goblin caught, the remaining one would try to attack from behind. I had thought it would be distracted, but… was I really that simple? The goblin looked up at me in surprise. I smiled down at it. “You should have just run. It would have been hard to catch.” “Y-You monster!” “You’re the monsters.” The goblin shouted at me that I was a monster. I couldn’t believe it. They called themselves monsters yet called me one. … Annoying. I lifted the caught goblin and slammed the one who had called me a monster to the ground. I never thought I’d hear that from tower monsters. Next time I’ll just kill them without talking.