Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Secret Floor
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I think I had a dream.
I don't remember exactly what it was, but I do recall being with some woman.
...No, don't get the wrong idea.
It definitely wasn't anything lewd.
We were just sitting together on a grassy field, having a peaceful conversation like any ordinary dream.
But isn't that weird?
It was just a plain dream like that, yet it somehow felt incredibly pleasant and happy.
I must have really liked that woman in the dream.
Right before waking up from the dream, it seems like she said something to me.
It felt like it was really important, something I absolutely shouldn't forget...
"...Hm, I don't remember at all?"
I slowly sat up on the pristine white floor after opening my eyes.
Looking around, it was a space that felt less like something I'd seen before and more just... familiar. A pure white expanse.
It was the field of the Trial Tower's 1st floor.
"Why am I here... Ah!"
Right. I said I'd challenge whatever this Secret Floor the system suggested was, and it only moved me.
I could still picture Thunder's panicked face from the last thing I saw.
"But how did I manage to dream in that split second?"
I'd been instant-transported by the system, after all.
Maybe it wasn't a dream but some hallucination from the teleport shock?
Either way, thanks to that dream or whatever it was, my mind felt at ease even in this confusing situation.
Who the heck was that woman, anyway?
In my 23 years of life, I'd only had one dating experience, and even that wasn't a great memory.
A woman I liked that much... Hm, doesn't ring a bell?
No matter how hard I try to recall, nothing comes up.
So that means?
I shouldn't dwell on it.
Instead, I started with the most important thing in this situation.
"...Summon Ramju Thunder."
"As expected."
I tried it once, but sure enough, I couldn't call Thunder.
Well, yeah.
If I could challenge it with Thunder, they wouldn't have moved just me in the first place.
"But why the Tutorial Tower's 1st floor? This isn't the Secret Floor, is it?"
"Now it's holding conversations? ...Fine. So what do I do here?"
"..."
The system wasn't even hiding its personal bias anymore.
I didn't love being dragged around by this thing's whims... but right now, I had no other options.
At least how I climbed was up to me.
"Let's see. Inventory... Ah, there it is."
What I pulled from the system's inventory was the Savage Club I'd gotten from clearing the 5th floor—the Hob Goblin's weapon.
A brutal thing that boosted attack power by a whopping +35.
A level 10 me like the original didn't need something like this in the Trial Tower... but you think the system sent me here for no reason?
There had to be something.
...Or so I thought.
"I'm ready, so let's get this started. What's the mission here?"
"What?"
Right after the system's message, something appeared in the corner.
A familiar creature.
"Chirp chirp."
"No way... It's really that guy?"
The system's message drove the nail in.
The mission was to hunt just that one Mountain Squirrel.
Exactly the same as the original Trial Tower 1st floor.
...Is this seriously the Secret Floor?
I trudged over to the Mountain Squirrel in disbelief, and another message popped up.
The mission complete message appeared without me even hunting the Mountain Squirrel, and a portal to the upper floor generated.
Ever since Thunder became my companion and couldn't fight squirrels anymore, it had been like this.
Which ultimately meant...
"...This really was just the Trial Tower's 1st floor, wasn't it?"
Hey, wait... Secret Floor?
What the hell?
This wasn't a prank, right?
I wasn't sure if I should feel deflated or stupid for tensing up.
Still, just in case, I went up without letting my guard down... and yep.
"What the...?"
I'd half-expected it, but there it was: the original Trial Tower 2nd floor mission, slime hunting.
The slime popped with a light tap from my foot.
With the Savage Club and all, it was almost embarrassing to carry such a monstrous weapon for this.
After that, the 3rd floor had plants, the 4th had toads... a parade of the same weak Trial Tower monsters.
I hurried up thinking maybe the final 10th floor would have something... but nope.
Even the 10th floor mission was identical.
A human-shaped wooden dummy that doesn't attack; you clear by accumulating a set amount of damage on it.
Newly awakened Hunters with low stats have to beat on it for a while to complete the mission.
And without rest, too, since the damage accumulation decreases over time.
In simple terms, a test of patience and stamina.
On average, newbie Hunters spend a full hour pounding this thing.
But for me right now...
"Hyaah!"
BAM-!
I'm level 10 now, wielding the Savage Club.
One-shot clear was a given.
"What the heck was even the point of these missions..."
They dragged me to the Secret Floor just to give me Trial Tower homework all the way through.
I waited to see how the system would respond now, but no message appeared.
...The change happened elsewhere instead.
Crack.
Crack crack.
"Huh...?"
The wooden dummy cracked and started breaking apart.
Did I hit it too hard and shatter it?
No, more importantly... I could see something flesh-colored inside the dummy?
The shell fully shattered with cracking sounds, spitting out a person.
Thud.
"A woman...?"
Out of the broken dummy came someone with long black hair, dressed in something like a white shroud.
Judging by the curves, probably a woman...
Her face was covered by what looked like a mask, so I couldn't see it.
What to do?
Should I wake her?
As I pondered that, the system's message finally appeared.
Rumble.
Groan.
Groooan.
Along with the message, the 10th floor room's scenery began to change.
The space shattered like glass, only for an entirely different landscape to overlay it.
And... the fallen woman rose to her feet.
In the hands of the woman wearing a hahoe mask over her face was a finely honed sword.
The system displayed one final message.
The Tower Climbing Gallery exists in every tower.
Typically one per nation, by tower count.
Factoring in extras proportional to population or land, even more.
And naturally, all those countless tower galleries have administrators.
The admins' nicknames are the gloriously named Orange Light.
In English, Orange Light.
In hanja, 朱黃光.
...Huh? What a coincidence?
Every tower's admin name translates to 'Orange Light'?
No way that's random.
The reason all tower admins—aka the mods'—nicknames are uniformly 'Orange Light' is simple.
Because the admin of every tower is the same entity.
How can one person manage that many towers?
Can a human even do that?
Of course.
Because the Tower Climbing Gallery mod isn't human.
The administrator of every tower gallery on Earth—and a transcendent existing beyond the material world.
One of the Attuners who maintains the world's balance, 'Orange Light', was venting in the meeting channel today as well.
The other Attuners welcomed Orange Light's entrance.
There was some snark mixed in, but Orange Light ignored it.
The channel got a bit chaotic.
White Light began to organize.
South Korea's #3026... Orange Light recalled.
Orange Light raised a question.
Blue Light suddenly spoke up.
Orange Light fell silent for a moment before revealing the truth.
White Light calmed the heated channel again.
The channel stirred.
The Attuners in the meeting channel began agreeing one by one.
With majority Attuner agreement, White Light wrapped it up.