First Dungeon Experience (4)
The beautiful golden woodland had, at last, reclaimed a fleeting moment of peace. And at its very heart, as a matter of course, stood Zion.
Zion was lost in thought. The faint crease between her brows looked almost grave — though to anyone watching, it was nothing short of adorable.
Ifrit and Rin stood quietly at her side, certain that whatever she was doing, she had her reasons.
...The quest is done, and we've already collected the rewards. No need to rush her.
I wonder what Unnie is thinking so hard about.
How much time had passed? It was right at the moment the hatchling had wolfed down nearly half of a magic stone the size of a boulder.
"Fafnir."
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking about that child's name."
"So that's what you were agonizing over? A name?"
"To put so much care into choosing one... Unnie really is so kind!"
"Kkyu!"
The hatchling — no, the dragon who had just been given the name Fafnir — seemed quite pleased with it. His body, already twice as large as before, padded over and began rubbing his back against Zion's thigh this way and that.
Zion's eyes widened in disbelief. Fafnir, who had been about the size of a puppy, had more than doubled in an instant.
"What happened to his size?!"
"Looks like he grew from eating the magic stone in the meantime."
"Even for a dragon, that's an absurd growth rate, Unnie."
"This might turn out to be more of a headache than I thought."
Ifrit's face crumpled like a wad of tissue as she shook her head. A certain pack of nuisances had just sprung to mind.
The Tower was home to many religions. Some worshipped the goddess who bestowed divine power; others worshipped the Tower itself as a god. But if you had to name the most insufferable, most bothersome bunch of them all, it would be the Dragon King Heavenly Sect — the ones who worshipped dragons as deities.
"The second those guys find out about the hatchling — no, about Fafnir — they'll come swarming in droves."
"But does worshipping a dragon as a god even make sense?"
"Of course it doesn't. It's more like they worship an idol modeled after a dragon. I doubt those idiots have ever even seen a real one."
"If they'd ever actually seen a dragon, they wouldn't be able to say things like that, Zion Unnie."
Judging by Ifrit's scathing sarcasm and Rin chiming in from the side, Zion had a pretty good idea of what kind of outfit they were dealing with.
But the Dragon King Heavenly Sect was a problem for later. Right now, they needed to focus on clearing the forest. The three of them started making their way through the golden woods. They'd taken down the boss, but the dungeon wasn't over yet.
"Over there!! Look over there!"
Ifrit was the first to spot it. In the direction she pointed stood an enormous ancient tree.
The great tree that had once borne thousands of leaves now held not even a trace of life's warmth. It looked less like a tree and more like some grotesque shard of bone driven into the earth. Zion clicked her tongue. Had something like this been here?
"This must be the end of the dungeon."
"Shall we head back, then?"
"Please wait a moment."
The sight of the withered tree was certainly a melancholy one... but for the other two, that was as far as the feeling went. You couldn't exactly bring a long-dead tree back to life, after all. But Zion, at least, was different.
If the Dragon Heart had been nothing more than curiosity... this time, she stepped forward with conviction.
At last, Zion came to a halt before the enormous withered tree.
Revival
The moment the word left her lips, the world itself fell silent.
The primordial law that divided life from death was being declared — here and now — for the sake of a desiccated tree.
Dark clouds gathered across the clear sky, and a spiral of light overflowing with overwhelming vitality began to coil around the ancient trunk.
"Is that...?"
"Don't tell me... Unnie is trying to revive that tree?!"
The concept of resurrection certainly existed in the Tower. A High Ranker bearing the epithet Miracle could, in principle, even bring the dead back to life. But restoring a withered tree that had been dead for years — perhaps even centuries — had been impossible.
A day at most, and that was the end of it. That was the common sense of this Tower. And now... that common sense was being overturned.
Life began to flow through bark that had cracked like drought-stricken earth, and leaves unfurled one after another.
🌳 Yggdrasil has been revived.
🌲 The Forest of Divinity has been opened.
🌿 The growth rate and grade of all plants on the Floor of Beginnings have increased by 30%.
✨ All harmful effects have been removed from plants harvested on the Floor of Beginnings.
"...I guess that's a Legendary NPC for you. The scale of the quest is on a whole other level."
Ifrit was genuinely impressed. They had cleared a single hidden quest, and the influence it carried was this overwhelming. So this was the great Saintess of legend who had aided the hero in vanquishing the Demon King... she found herself newly aware of that majesty once more.
Unfortunately, a problem had arisen that none of the three people gathered here had anticipated. Namely...
🌳 Yggdrasil has been revived.
🌲 The Forest of Divinity has been opened.
🌿 The growth rate and grade of all plants on the Floor of Beginnings have increased by 30%.
✨ All harmful effects have been removed from plants harvested on the Floor of Beginnings.
"?? What is this supposed to mean?"
"The Forest of Divinity? What's that?"
"Y-Yggdrasil? I've never even heard that name??"
The same system window had appeared in the field of vision of every single adventurer on the Floor of Beginnings. Not just the novices — even the spies that other High Rankers had quietly planted there for surveillance and information gathering.
In truth, claims that a hidden dungeon existed on the Floor of Beginnings had been circulating for years. People had simply never found it. This was the starting point of every adventurer in the Tower, after all — surely, the logic went, there had to be at least one hidden dungeon somewhere. It might have been a serious argument once. By now, it had long since become a punchline.
"A hidden dungeon appearing on the Floor of Beginnings would have been trouble enough — and now there is a permanent buff on top of it. This has become rather a serious matter."
A fortress buried in cold snow. In a study within its walls, a man reading a report crumpled the letter in his hand.
His skin was bloodlessly pale, and his black hair, swept neatly back, was threaded with silver strands that sat among it like frost. Presently those deep, transparent eyes — glacier-blue — grew clouded with concern. The man was thinking.
"The Floor of Beginnings has little of value. That is why no High Ranker has ever set their sights upon it."
It was not rich in resources, nor was it developed for commerce. Even the transportation was poor. Of course, it held a certain distinction as the hometown of every adventurer — but that was not something one could simply seize at will. If anyone ever monopolized all the novice adventurers, every guild in the Tower would unite to wipe them out.
"The dungeons are not particularly dangerous, either, and there are not even any Named. One could well have called it the safest place in the Tower."
The Floor of Beginnings. On every other floor, monsters appeared not only inside the dungeons but outside them as well — Named on par with bosses among them. Thanks to that, not a single guild had ever completely conquered a floor. And that included the 21st Floor this man currently managed. He let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself.
"Rankers who failed to claim a floor, or who were driven from one, will come flooding onto the Floor of Beginnings."
The reason the major guilds had never bothered managing the Floor of Beginnings was simple: it did not generate enough money to sustain a guild. But now a hidden dungeon had been cleared, and an absurdly powerful permanent buff had been laid upon the floor besides. Throw in a Legendary NPC, and any guild that ran the numbers and decided it was profitable would come flocking to the Floor of Beginnings.
"Humans are more terrifying than monsters. That much never changes, no matter the floor."
His deliberation did not last long. He wanted nothing more than to protect the path of the only family he had left — but circumstances were poor. In terms of profit alone, the 21st Floor he currently managed was even worse than the 1st.
A barren floor if there ever was one. Even its name was cold and hard: the Frozen Land. And he was its sole manager.
"There is still a little time before those hyenas swarm the 1st Floor. I suppose I have no choice but to bring her back before then."
No sooner had he reached his conclusion than the anguish in his eyes vanished in an instant. All that remained was a ruthless will.
The man gazed out the window. It was snowing again. A hellish floor where snow fell a full 150 days out of 365 — and that was precisely why, paradoxically, it was also the safest. A floor no one but he himself coveted.
"I had best prepare to receive my daughter."
The man's name was El Roscadi.
High Ranker #39, manager of the 21st Floor — and an adventurer who bore the epithet Ice Emperor.