The Second Floor Is Too Suspicious (2)
The Second Floor Is Too Suspicious (2)
"You know. What I want."
"..."
"The badge. Hand it over. You're capable, so you can just get a new quest, right?"
Same as ever: men threatening a woman.
A quick glance told me a few things.
One. That woman got her hands on a Gold Badge.
How did I know? There was a gold badge floating above her head, flashing. You'd have to be blind not to see it. Apparently, the badge advertises itself in every possible way once you acquire it.
Two. No violence allowed here.
I'm not sure what exactly counts as violence, or what happens if you commit it, but that woman is reluctant to shove past the men and walk through.
One question, though. Can't she just... jump over them?
I'm not the type to let curiosity go unanswered. I spoke to the man in the center of the trio blocking the road.
"Excuse me."
"...What?"
The man reflexively moved to shove me when he heard a voice from behind, then barely stopped himself.
"That woman. Why doesn't she just jump over and walk past?"
"Huh?"
"I mean... you're blocking the road, sure, but couldn't she just zip over the top real quick?"
"Ha. New arrival, huh? Quit bothering me and get lost."
He turned back around without giving a proper answer.
If he's not going to tell me... I'll just have to try it myself.
"Hup..."
When I looked it up online, the world record for the sergeant jump was 155 centimeters. But my physical ability, pumped up by my Achievement Level and the Berserker's Pellet, is beyond that. I've broken the limits of ordinary humanity.
I tightened my leg muscles and released the gathered force in an instant. My body shot upward so fast the scenery around me blurred into afterimages the moment my feet left the ground.
This is how a superhuman sees. This is the world a superhuman lives in. This is what I need to get used to...
Thud!
"Agh!"
Light flashed before my eyes, violent pain shot through my neck and the back of my head, and my vision pitched forward.
"What?"
"Did that bastard just jump?"
As the men turned around, startled by the sound my head had made, I saw the woman seize the opening to slip between them and sprint toward the angel.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 2.]
***
"...Okay."
So they physically blocked off the ceiling, too.
If I'd known, I would've jumped a little more gently. What bugs me, though, is that I jumped with my arms raised over my head, but it was my head that hit.
I mean, arms can pass through the invisible barrier... but heads can't? That feels a little unfair.
I took off one leather shoe and tossed it overhead. It bounced back at about three meters.
"Hey, frien..."
Before the loud black man could finish talking to me, I walked over to the angel, who was orating passionately beside the fountain.
"As a bonus, each grade's reward..."
"Angel."
"Please wait a moment! I'm in the middle of explaining!"
Only after finishing the explanation did the angel finally look at me.
"Yes, what is it?"
"It looks like there's some kind of barrier on the ceiling... but it seems like arms can pass through."
"What's the problem?"
"...Isn't it strange that arms can pass through but heads can't?"
"It is not strange! A human without arms is still a human! A human without legs is still a human! But a human without a head is not a human! All barriers use the head and chest as their reference points! At least on the floors supervised by Lord Raphael, that is the rule! If you'd like a detailed explanation of the reason..."
"Thank you."
So this barrier blocks the head and chest.
I left the angel, who looked ready to launch into another ramble, and hurried my steps into one of the alleyways connected to the clearing.
<Floor 2>
-Clear Condition: Obtain the recognition of a city resident and bring back a badge proving that recognition. You must not leave the city zone. Climbers, get along with one another!
-Clear Reward: Depends on the badge's grade.
'You must not leave the city zone' — I'd confirmed that rule. I'd confirmed it physically, by learning that the area is physically blocked off. The "get along" condition, I'd confirmed that too.
The specifics and penalties would need testing... but at least I now knew that people who'd reached Floor 2 earlier were reluctant to resort to violence.
Now, what I wanted to look into was the quests. I needed to figure out exactly how these quests work.
"Coming through."
"Oh, sure."
Right on cue, a person with a Silver Badge floating above their head walked out from deeper in the alley.
Unlike the woman with the Gold Badge, he walked right up to the angel without any interference, presented his badge, and vanished somewhere.
"...Hmm."
I could've sworn I saw a group of people huddled down in the alley next to the one I came from.
So the punks who block the road filter out Silver Badge holders, too.
Setting aside that pointless observation, I quickened my pace into the alley.
As I walked along the narrow alley, the road abruptly opened wide again.
"...Huh."
If Floor 2 is a city, then the place I'd arrived at was a residential district. A bedroom community. On one side, modest houses sat packed together; on the other, shops lined the street — a bakery, a general store, a grocer.
A resident walked past me.
How could I tell he was a resident? Simple. Unlike the climbers, he wasn't wearing leather armor. His clothes were cloth.
"Hello."
"...Hello."
He returned my greeting with the most utterly put-upon look in his eyes. Unbothered, I decided to ask what I'd wanted to ask.
"I'm new here... could you show me around a bit?"
"...Sure, whatever. It's not like I've got anything better to do."
He nodded surprisingly willingly, then gestured for me to follow.
"You're a climber, right?"
"..."
"No need to hide it. Everyone here knows. We know about Floor 2, too. After all, we're here because of a contract with God."
He said it matter-of-factly.
"...Ah."
"We were enthusiastic at first, too... but doing the same thing over and over gets tiresome. It's not like we get any extra reward. We just hand out the same assignments every time."
He led me in front of a bakery.
"For example... the shop owner here will give you a Silver Badge if you bake a loaf of bread and hand it in. The owner provides the ingredients, of course."
"...It's that easy?"
"There are even easier ones."
This time he brought me to a beggar sprawled in front of a small alley.
"If you give this man anything to eat, he'll give you a Bronze Badge. You could probably just give him a failed byproduct from that bakery."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. There's no limit on the number of badges, and... it's not like handing out more or fewer makes any difference to us."
He shrugged. According to him, getting a Silver or Bronze-grade reward was basically a cakewalk.
But that still didn't resolve all of my questions.
"What would I have to do to get a Gold Badge or a Platinum Badge?"
"Mm..."
He tried to keep his face as blank as possible, but he couldn't stop his brow from creasing slightly.
"Take a look over there, would you?"
I followed his gaze to the far end of the road, where a grand mansion stood.
"That's where the so-called nobles live. The bastards who, even in a situation like this, are still putting on airs about maintaining dignity."
"...Ah. I see."
"I hear that if you earn their recognition, you can get a Gold Badge. If they really take a liking to you, they'll even give you a Platinum Badge. But unlike the other badges, which are unlimited, they only hold three Platinum Badges per person."
"Oh-ho..."
"Still... I wouldn't recommend going for the Gold Badge. Those pricks are genuinely unbearable. Utterly useless bastards, every one of them. If it were me, I'd just settle for a Silver Badge and be done with it. Ptui."
He spat on the ground, as if the mere thought of them had spoiled his mood.
"Ah... thank you for the kind guidance."
After parting ways with him, I began walking the streets, taking a good look around.
There were a lot of residents. I spotted players scattered among them here and there, too.
So all of them are people who can give out Bronze or Silver Badges...
"Hm..."
My head was starting to spin.
The first thought that surfaced was: can you stack the quests from residents? Can you hand in multiple badges?
The second question was the massive gap between Silver Badges and Gold Badges.
Getting a Silver Badge is just too easy. They're practically giving them away.
It was practically a shove in the back, telling anyone who wanted to survive the Tower — anyone who wanted to grow stronger — to take a shot at the Gold Badge.
Was that intentional? Or was the angel who designed Floor 2 just an airhead?
The third was the conflict between the residents who gave Bronze and Silver Badges and the ones who gave Gold Badges.
It felt like there was a story behind it.
But more than those three, a much bigger question was eating at me.
"Suspicious... way too suspicious..."
Maybe it's because I'm an avid web novel reader... or maybe this Tower is designed to encourage flexible thinking. I don't know.
But personally, I think it's absurd that the rewards stop right at Platinum.
"...I can't shake the feeling there's something more."
A Diamond Badge. Or a hidden reward you can only get once.
The structure of this town... it would be weird if there *wasn't* a hidden reward.