Chapter 247: The Starting Floor (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 247: The Starting Floor (3)
Land in Arcana is expensive.
With a steady stream of new players and an infrastructure that was among the most developed on the lower floors, the population was constantly growing. But the city's area was limited, so it was inevitable.
My total assets amounted to 76,127 WP.
Combined with the other three's WP, we had about 100,000.
I didn't know the exact market rates, but this should be enough to get a clan house without any issues.
It might not seem like much since I earned it in just a week, but on the lower floors, even 10,000 WP was a considerable fortune.
Of course, that didn't mean using WP to buy a single building was a wise choice.
The Tower's basic currency is 'Lua', not WP.
You can exchange 1 WP for 100 Lua, but you can't exchange it back.
Since 1 Lua is worth 100 won, a simple calculation would value 1 WP at 10,000 Korean won.
But that wasn't the reality.
The fact that you couldn't exchange it back meant that, depending on the situation, you could have hundreds or thousands of Lua and still not be able to get even 1 WP.
Unless it was a real emergency, exchanging WP for Lua was insane.
But I couldn't just not get a clan house, either.
People form clans for all sorts of reasons, but the top priority is usually recruiting companions for the Tower's trials.
Now that I'd reached the 5th Circle, I probably wouldn't have any trouble climbing to the middle floors in one go.
But after that, it was a different story. According to Lucifer, some floors practically forced you into party play.
It would be too late to look for companions then.
Nine out of ten people would already belong to a group, and the rest would be defective in some way.
It was far more cost-effective to find trustworthy companions on the lower floors and raise them myself.
‘The rear guard will be me and Lee Serin, and the vanguard will be Lucifer and Yoo Ah-rin, but it bothers me that we don't have a single pure tanker.’
On top of that, I needed someone with administrative skills to manage the clan's operations.
Considering all that, a clan house was essential.
Of course, we'd have to get a new one once we reached the middle floors, but until then, it was best to use Arcana as our base of operations.
Fortunately, I had a way to get a clan house without exchanging any WP.
*
Clans were divided into regular, official clans and Under Clans that engaged in illegal activities.
Black Roar.
They were an Under Clan based in Arcana, involved in loan-sharking, smuggling, and gambling.
The reason a clan like that could have its house brazenly located in the commercial district was simple.
Here in Arcana... no, within the Tower, loan-sharking and gambling weren't illegal.
Smuggling, of course, was.
If there had been solid evidence, not just the clan leader but the entire executive team would have been dragged off to prison.
‘The clan leader, Christopher, is a player, wasn't he?’
I managed to gather some minor information from a bar on the outskirts of the commercial district. Nothing significant, though.
For the record, I had the other three stay at the hotel. It was easier to move alone in situations like this.
As I wandered around the commercial district, I noticed I was being followed, just as I'd expected. Their presence was faint; they were pretty good at tailing someone.
But the moment I stepped into an alley, they revealed themselves as if they'd been waiting for it, and I realized I'd overestimated them.
Did it not occur to them that I might have lured them in?
After that, I casually tortured them to dig up information on Black Roar.
At first, they kept their mouths shut, but after a few rounds of bone-breaking and muscle-twisting, they were all tripping over themselves to spill everything they knew.
I'd been practicing it lately, and seeing how effective it was gave me a sense of satisfaction.
“Is this the place?”
“Ye-yes...!! This is our Black Roar clan house!!”
I dragged the guy, whose limbs were half-dislocated, by the scruff of his neck toward the edge of the commercial district.
A total of five had attacked me, and I'd chosen this one as my guide because he seemed the sharpest of the bunch.
The rest? Hmm, last I saw, they were collapsed on the street.
They probably won't be getting up again. Ever.
“...Weren't you guys an Under Clan?”
“Ye-yes! We are!”
“Then why is the building so clean?”
Honestly, since they were an Under Clan, I'd expected the place to be covered in messy graffiti with trash rolling around everywhere.
But what was this?
The exterior walls were a clean white tone, and there wasn't a speck of dust in sight.
“Heh, heheh... The clan leader always said that an unmanaged building leads to a drop in real estate value...”
For a bunch of criminals, they were surprisingly economically minded.
Stab-
「You have killed Josh Nelson.」
「+601 WP」
I casually tossed the guy I'd brought as a guide onto the ground and walked toward the clan house.
There were men who looked like guards standing in front of the building.
The moment our eyes met, they drew their swords. It was as if they knew who I was.
“Stop! You know this is the Black Roar clan house and yet you still-”
CRASH!
Before he could finish his sentence, the guards were sent flying, crashing into the clan house's main entrance.
“What kind of manners is it to draw your sword when someone's just here to look at the building?”
The interior of the building was thick with stale cigarette smoke.
As I stepped over the collapsed guards and walked inside, murderous gazes poured down on me.
Just as you'd expect from a den of criminals, every last one of them looked filthy. Their ugliness was one thing, but it was like they had "I kill people for a living" written all over their faces.
“What the hell?!”
“That bastard killed Jack!”
“An attack! It's an attack!”
“Everyone, get out here, now!”
“Who are these bastards with a death wish?!”
“How many of them are there?!”
The sight of the guard crushed beneath my feet sent the commotion escalating. Soon, members of Black Roar poured out from all over the building.
They were like cockroaches.
A few of them, apparently used to this kind of disturbance, were aiming at me from the second-floor railing, arrows nocked on their bowstrings.
I ignored them and activated the barrier I had prepared in advance.
From now on, no one was leaving this place without my permission.
During the brief standoff, someone leisurely descended the stairs.
He was easily over two meters tall, with a hulking build and tattoos covering his entire body. It was Christopher, the clan leader of Black Roar.
“A new player who's lost his damn mind.”
The man, who had come down to the second floor, glared down at me, radiating killing intent.
Ding-
「'Incomplete Moon's Eye' has been activated.」
「Name: Christopher
Age: 43
Contracted Constellation: -
Affiliation: Black Roar
Authority: -
Exclusive Trait: Cursed Tattoo (B)
Exclusive Skill: -
Traits: Murder (B), Brawling (B-), Swift Movement (C+), Stealth (C), Poison (D+)...
Skills: Bombardment (C), Explosive Fist (C-)」
As expected, he was far below my expectations.
Well, an Under Clan was, after all, just a group of losers who had given up on climbing the Tower.
There was no way a guy strutting around on the first floor would be strong.
It went without saying, but for a player who had given up on climbing the Tower, there was no further growth.
Sure, they could use WP to buy traits, skills, or elixirs, but even that had its limits.
Besides, rumors were circulating that their scale had diminished since the new Lord of Arcana took office.
The source of those rumors?
The guys I'd used my bone-breaking and muscle-twisting technique on, of course.
“How dare you ignore my-”
Splat.
At that moment, the heads of the archers aiming at me from the second-floor railing exploded simultaneously.
Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.
I decided not to worry about the bloodstains. I was planning to gut the place and redo the interior from scratch anyway.
“Hold on, I'm looking at the building.”
“...”
「Name: Kang Hyun-woo
Age: 21
Contracted Constellation: Fallen Star (Temporary Contract)
Title: Snake Hunter
Affiliation: -
Authority: Black Flame (C)
Exclusive Traits: Path of Magic (S), Formless Vajra Art (A-)
Exclusive Skills: Fire Magic (A) New!, Lightning Magic (A) New!, Light Magic (A) New!, Dark Magic (A) New!, Incomplete Moon's Eye (B-), Crimson Cloud Thunder Art (C), Close Quarters Combat (C), Killing Intent (C)...
Trait: Magic Resistance (D-)
Skill: -」
Upon reaching the 5th Circle, I had become capable of handling the elements of light and darkness. The light magic was what had just blown the archers' heads off.
I still couldn't use earth and wind, but it was only a matter of time.
“...Who the hell are you?”
“You know the answer. You just called me a new player yourself.”
Unlike a moment ago, the man now looked visibly tense. The same went for the other clan members.
They were all darting their eyes around as if they'd realized something was terribly wrong.
“Hoo... Fine. I'll give you the three clan members who picked a fight with you and 1,000 WP. In return, join our clan. Then we'll consider this matter closed.”
He was certainly perceptive for a clan leader.
But that was also the wrong answer.
Splat.
This time, the heads of the men closest to me exploded. They were all broke-asses without even 100 WP to their names.
At the sight, the men who had been cautiously watching screamed and backed away.
“I don't need that kind of chump change. Just hand over the building deed.”
“...The building deed?”
Christopher's face twisted.
“That damn Lord...!!”
THUD!
He grabbed the railing and leaped down from the second floor.
Up close, his size was truly immense. His veins bulged as if he'd taken some kind of drug.
“Get lost, you dog of the Lord. I have nothing to give you. If you're not gone in three seconds, I'll kill you.”
Black smoke began to rise from his tattoos. It seemed he had no intention of leaving quietly.
‘Haa... I didn't want to damage the building.’
With things having come to this, further conversation was meaningless.
Even if he had handed over the deed peacefully, I was planning on dealing with them later anyway.
I'd just have to think of it as doing the job ahead of schedule.
I just needed to be careful not to destroy the building.
The moment his massive fist flew toward me, a flash erupted, and streaks of light whipped through the air.
“Gah?!”
An instant later, the man was on the floor, bleeding.
His arms and legs were riddled with holes and completely shredded. It was a grievous injury by any standard, but he was better off than the others.
At least he was still alive.
「'Dweller of the Swamp' is ecstatic at the sight of the blood-filled room and the slaughter of kin.」
「'Dweller of the Swamp' sponsors you 3,000 WP.」
「You have massacred a large number of humans.」
「+2,311 WP」
「Evil (惡) Karma increases.」
「Evil Karma: 1」
As Christopher struggled to look up at me, his eyes were filled with undeniable terror.
“H-How...?!”
I began putting the corpses into my inventory one by one.
Cleaning them up individually would be a pain, so I figured I could just burn them somewhere suitable later.
“Is there any need to overthink it?”
Memorize.
It was a magic that allowed you to store a pre-cast spell and use it in battle without any further calculation.
I could store a 3rd Circle spell like Shining Ray up to ten times.
Of course, for any other mage who had just reached the 5th Circle, once or twice would be their limit.
“It's because I'm stronger than you.”
“Why is a monster like you a new player...!!”
Stab-
I had no obligation to answer his final question.
「You have killed Christopher.」
「+3,217 WP」
“Oh, a clan leader is a clan leader, I guess?”
Killing people was certainly a simple and lucrative way to make money. But it came with its own risks.
If you kept killing, your Evil Karma stat would accumulate, just like it did now.
It might be fine at first, but once your Evil Karma surpassed a certain threshold, you could be thrown in prison or have a bounty placed on your head. Not to mention the restrictions on entering and leaving cities.
Of course, there were upsides too.
While you might be shunned by constellations of the 'Good' alignment, your chances of attracting the attention of 'Evil' alignment constellations would increase significantly.
But just because they were of the Evil alignment didn't mean you could expect them to be normal.
In fact, many of them would gladly push a player to their death.
Lucifer had repeatedly warned me that it was best to avoid getting involved with them as much as possible.
“Is this it?”
While searching the office, I found a suspicious-looking locked drawer.
Snap-
Without bothering to call a locksmith, I ripped the lock right off.
Jackpot.
“He hid the building deed in his office drawer?”
Was he being careless, or was he going for the "hiding in plain sight" approach?
Inside the drawer, besides the building deed, were various documents and a small key. It was probably the key to the safe next to it.
Click... Creeak-
As expected, it was the key to the safe.
Inside the safe were bundles of cash.
Not only did I get a building as compensation, but I also got an unexpected bonus income.
I felt good about the satisfying results.
“Is it about time to finish up?”
There was still a lot of matching time left, but I had achieved my goal of reaching the 5th Circle.
All that remained was to reach the Transcendent Realm.
My calculations told me it would be better to return to Earth for a while to achieve that.
[Would you like to end the matching?]
[Y/N]
“Yes.”
And with that, I returned to Earth.