The 50th Floor's Hidden Stakes

The next day.

The 50th floor. The forest where the elf had lingered before departing.

Hong Jehun and Seo Ian had formed a party and entered first, and I followed immediately after using Intrusion.

"Whoa..."

I let out a low exclamation.

"It's massive, isn't it?"

Our starting point was atop a sheer cliff. Looking around, my vision was filled with a feast of green. The scent of lush grass was so thick it felt as if it had conquered the space, replacing the air itself, and the horizon was dyed entirely in shades of emerald.

"Yeah. That’s exactly why it’s so damn annoying."

Seo Ian’s unfiltered, raw impression.

"Honestly, I agree."

Hong Jehun, who never swore, subtly copy-pasted Seo Ian’s sentiment.

"By the way, you really did come in, didn't you?"

"What do you think! My summoning ticket is top-tier!"

"Where did you even get that?"

"A hidden dungeon!"

As expected, Hong Jehun was suspicious of my entry to the 50th floor without clearing the 49th, and Seo Ian responded perfectly, just as we had rehearsed yesterday.

"Everyone has their communicators, right?"

"Yup."

"Yes."

For reference, this was the item Yoon Jinki had hurriedly handed over yesterday. It was almost immediate, as if he’d been waiting for me to say, "Parties are mandatory from the 50th floor up." It looked like a common wristwatch, but its primary function was communication. It also had a holographic video transmission feature. It was set up so that Team Leader Oh Wontaek could watch as well, in case of an emergency outside the Tower.

It seemed he was still worried about that time I’d urgently requested guard support.

Anyway.

"Do we have to wait to start?"

"The moment you step off this cliff, it begins."

Suddenly, Hong Jehun and Seo Ian exchanged a look.

"Master, you can just sit here and rest for a moment."

As I stepped onto a stone platform that looked like a footstool, it let out a low, rumbling kuguguk sound and began to descend.

"Is this that floor plate?"

The reason Seo Ian and Hong Jehun had been pestering me to reach the 50th floor as soon as possible. They said they couldn't clear it on their own. Because of these plates.

"Yeah. There are three plate locations, and a person has to stand on each one. Corpses don't seem to work. They said the soul has to be attached."

The "minimum of 3 people" requirement Rian Carter had mentioned was right here. It seemed it applied from the very moment you entered the floor.

"But what about the other two? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠You said there were three in total, right?"

"Don't you know?"

Seo Ian shrugged, answering my question with another question.

Right, Ian. You don't have to answer.

I naturally turned my head toward Hong Jehun.

But why are you doing it too...? The shoulder shrug...?

"I don't know either. They spawn randomly, so we have to find them ourselves."

"That's right. The locations change every time."

"...But, if I go down, can I not come back up?"

I figured I could safely descend by hitching a ride with Hong Jehun, but the problem was that it looked impossible to climb back up. The cliff was so steep that even a goat would spit and turn back, declaring, "That's not a path." It wasn't just a 90-degree angle; it felt like a negative slope. It looked like the kind of climbing where there wasn't a single place to put your hands or feet.

"Once you step off the cliff, this plate will descend to the bottom on its own. Just like the one you're standing on now. So, you can start exploring from there."

"Oh, then contact me on the communicator once you both step on your plates. I'm going to do a little preliminary scouting."

Below the cliff, everything was sparkling. The area was filled with harvestable zones; it would be a waste of time to just sit here and do nothing, wouldn't it? This was the 50th floor, the highest floor in South Korea. I’d use what I could first, and if there was anything left over, I’d give it to Park Siwoo—he’d be thrilled.

"Keep your ears open. We'll step on the plates and call you soon."

Seo Ian said triumphantly and clack! put on her helmet. Just then, Hong Jehun approached her and pulled a yellow potion from his inventory, holding it out to her.

"Do you want to drink this?"

Wait, my hard-earned item?

That was definitely the Agility Potion (True Name: Potion Infused with the Breath of the Wind Spirit) I had given them. It was an item I had distributed in equal quantities to all guild members.

"I'd love to!"

Seo ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ian accepted it excitedly.

"But why all of a sudden? Ah, well. You're a frost mage who fights from the back, so I guess you don't really need agility."

Her usual provocation. Hong Jehun, smiling calmly as always, opened his mouth.

"I just didn't want our Master to wait too long."

The nuance that "obviously, I'll be the one to step on the plate first" was buried deep in those words.

"Hey. Want to bet something?"

Seo Ian suddenly took off her helmet and started to make a very unfavorable hand gesture. I didn't know which finger would be extended or how many, but seeing her raise her hand like that, I could guess the gist of it. I quickly lunged forward and grabbed her fingers. The cold sensation of metal through her gloves felt strange, but I had to stop the conflict before it escalated.

"Well. What do you need?"

Hong Jehun seemed ready to accept the bet.

"I have everything, so I don't need anything."

"I don't really need anything either..."

And so, the bet fizzled out. But I knew instinctively that those two would start a pointless competition where nothing was at stake—or rather, where their "pride" was on the line.

"Don't get hurt, and take it slow, take it slow. By the way, you two. Squabbling even before you've started? Can you even manage the raid properly?"

I was genuinely curious.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"We have no choice but to manage it, right? We have to get our contribution points."

"We have no choice but to manage it. We have to secure our contribution points."

They were so in sync, yet why did they bicker so much?

"Anyway, we'll be going, Master."

"Ah, damn it, you starting first is a foul!"

Just as Hong Jehun stepped off the cliff:

A time-attack mission had triggered.

"...They'll figure it out. They're the top two in the country."

I sat peacefully on the slowly descending cliff. Jumping off like those two to gain speed was out of the question—the height was terrifyingly high. Trusting my glove's defense to jump down felt a bit... well, it was a precarious height, wasn't it?

* * *

Hong Jehun threw his body into a downward arc.

Whoosh!

The wind whipped against his face, and just as the howling sound in his ears began to fade and his hearing grew muffled:

"Hey! Wait!"

At the urgent shout from above, Hong Jehun glanced up. It was Seo Ian.

Hong Jehun couldn't hide his shock. Normally, they were supposed to jump in opposite directions. The two plates, excluding the one at the start, existed at opposite ends of the area.

"What? Why did you jump this way?"

"Who told you to fall first as you pleased!"

They shouted almost simultaneously. One out of bewilderment, the other out of rage. But air resistance and gravity had no interest in their debate. The ground was rushing toward their faces every second. Hong Jehun hurriedly froze water vapor into a parachute and changed his falling posture.

"Are you a child? Are you really trying to steal the plate I'm supposed to step on?"

"Depends on how you act."

Seo Ian, smiling fiercely through her helmet, unleashed sword energy upward, and her body began to fall toward the ground at high speed.

Hong Jehun, who had looked surprised for a moment, shook his head, converted his ice-membrane parachute into a paper-airplane shape, and banked backward while picking up speed.

If I do all this and still step on the plate late, my pride will be hurt.

The gap in stats had widened significantly thanks to the special floor rewards. He had a safe and powerful ranged AoE skill set. Even the special floor national reward was cooldown reduction, which was advantageous for a mage like him. Hong Jehun never thought he would lose this childish competition.

"Still, just in case..."

Even if he won, she would be furious, but if he won overwhelmingly, she would throw an even bigger tantrum. It was a small revenge for her stealing the spot he had jumped into first, without any professional courtesy. While gliding, he downed a potion. It was an Intelligence stat-boosting potion. Before Im Hyunjin joined, he was the only guild member who primarily used the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Intelligence stat. It was an item Uju had cleared out and given to Hong Jehun, keeping only a few extras.

Ten. It might seem like a small number, but considering his current total Mana stat of 225, it wasn't a negligible amount. Now, he really didn't feel like he could lose to her.

* * *

And that was the same for Seo Ian.

"Ah, that hits the spot!"

Seo Ian had an expression like she’d just drunk liquid rubber. She kept muttering "hits the spot" as if trying to trick her own brain, tossing the empty potion bottle to the ground. It was an Agility-boosting potion. In fact, when Uju had handed them over, he had warned her, "Don't just use them willy-nilly, except on special floors, before bosses, or when you're in real danger of dying! Materials are hard to come by!"

But Seo Ian judged that this was exactly that "real danger of dying." A corpse meant a dead person. That is, it meant "death." And she was a corpse without her "pride." To stay alive, she had to protect her pride, and since she had already secured the initial advantage by chasing Hong Jehun away, she absolutely had to find and step on the plate before him.

...And do it with an overwhelming time difference!

As Seo Ian clicked her helmet back on, holographic letters floated above her head.

[Shadow of the Benefactor]

The title she had obtained in the hidden dungeon last time. The title came with a dedicated skill. It was called "Shadow of the Benefactor." The skill, which clearly showed that the creator was too lazy to name it, had performance so peerless that one might think they named it poorly just to focus on its power. When the skill was used, she entered a stealth state, and during that state, all skill damage was multiplied by 1.5x. Of course, there were handicaps: the first was that it could only be used once a day, and the second was that the "benefactor" who helped her obtain the title—Kim Uju—had to be present in the same space.

"That just means I use it now and don't get hit even once until the boss!"

That was the reason she had downed the Agility potion instead of a Strength one. And it was also the reason Seo Ian didn't feel like she would lose to Hong Jehun here.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that moment.

The "Title" system I had forgotten about. I had seen Seo Ian get it in the last hidden dungeon. No, I had heard it because the system had announced it loudly for everyone to hear.

"What is this? This is really good?"

A new category, "Title," had appeared in my status window. Inside was the title-equipping skill, "Shadow of the Benefactor (Copy)." I could see the skill name, which hadn't even been given the effort of a dice roll. Setting that aside, I read the description and it said I could enjoy effects similar to what Seo Ian received.

'...Hey. This is half?'

If my skill damage was multiplied by 1.25x, did Seo Ian get 1.5x? Anyway, it meant it was applied even more strongly. When she received the title, she hadn't shown any sign of liking it, so I hadn't known it was this good. It wasn't that she had acted to hide it from me; she had probably just put off reading it to check it slowly later, but anyway.

I continued harvesting.

The "Random Elf" accessory that could be made by collecting "Elf Essence." Since it was the 50th floor, it was certain that a 5-star accessory would be created.

'Today, I'm only aiming for this...!'

How much time had passed?

There had clearly been nothing there before. But in the distance, I saw something shimmering in five-colored rainbow light. It looked like a harvest zone, but you never knew. It might be a trap that would drop me to the floor, like back in Lumen. I wouldn't be fooled this time.

I activated Hawk's Eye to verify it in advance.

Oh. Just how good of a "material" is it to be marked with question marks?!