Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Return Visit
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I got home and flopped face-first onto the bed.
Strength drained from my entire body.
No, more precisely, I had strength—and then it vanished.
Just moments ago, a new kind of power had existed inside me. Faint, but definitely there.
"My faith...."
The tiny speck of faith I'd gained the instant I entered the 36th floor.
I'd burned through every last precious point of it.
The more I thought about it, the more it stung.
Sure, that was what let me clear the floor. No denying it.
But this method was absurdly inefficient.
Power from thousands of people, all to take down a single mob?
Cost-performance in the toilet.
"I need a fundamental solution."
I couldn't keep burning through accumulated faith like this forever.
Situations where I could luckily gather faith devotion like this time wouldn't come every round.
Whether snagging attack magic or hunting down related items.
I had to prepare a proper countermeasure.
"Items-wise, if I dig around, there should be one or two decent ones...."
That's when a single sheet of paper on the nightstand next to my bed caught my eye.
[Previous Floor Re-entry Ticket]
[Allows re-entry to a previous floor.]
[Meet rewards and connections again.]
[Tradable/One-time use]
The iffy consolation prize I'd taken instead of the skillbook.
I picked up the ticket and examined it closely.
"Maybe this could be useful...."
Where would using it be most efficient?
It should let me meet the NPCs inside or revisit specific spots.
Maybe even uncover a clue to solving my problem.
"Hmm...."
I started seriously pondering where to spend this precious ticket.
Three candidates surfaced in my mind.
First candidate: the 30th floor. The dwarves' massive smelter.
Master craftsmen, those guys.
They might have special weapons or items that could actually hit spirits.
"But kinda wasteful, huh?"
Anything they could make, I already had the blueprints for.
Though I'd need to level up more first.
Too bad to blow a one-use ticket on them.
"Next up, the elves."
Second candidate: the 20th floor's purified world tree, home to the elves.
Elves.
Fantasy world staples.
Usually portrayed as a race with deep magical insight.
Living alongside the world tree, they had a high chance of knowing how to deal with spiritual entities.
"Last one... that old geezer?"
Final candidate: the 5th floor.
Where the magic-discount old man hung out.
He might know something about souls or ghosts.
No—definitely did.
But I shook my head hard.
"...Hell no."
I recalled our first encounter.
Couldn't call it a good time.
Sure, now with memory-transfer magic, some communication might work.
But if it didn't? That was the issue.
The old man was uniquely deranged.
Plus, his middle-aged version had heard the old man's tale and just said, "Failed."
If something went sideways, I had no way to handle it.
"Belt's time magic could get me out in an emergency, maybe...."
But that'd waste the one-use ticket *and* time magic.
Two precious items down the drain.
"Try a different version?"
That left the middle-aged guy on 35 and the young one on 15.
Either should know solid countermeasures.
Come to think of it, both had tolerable personalities.
"So, which of the two...."
The answer came quick.
Obviously, the 15th floor.
If the 35th-floor middle-aged guy had anything to offer, he'd have handed it over right then.
Plus, unlike with the youth, I had nothing new to offer a magic-discounter.
"Alright. 15th floor it is."
I firmed my resolve.
***
The next day, I tore the re-entry ticket without a second thought.
Sure enough, the system window popped up right away.
[You have used the Previous Floor Re-entry Ticket.]
[Which floor would you like to re-enter?]
"15th floor."
[Re-entering.]
[Press the button if you wish to exit.]
[Exit? Y/N]
The ticket dissolved into grains of light that wrapped around me.
Familiar spatial-transfer sensation.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them to a vast forest.
The forest from my memory.
Definitely the 15th floor one.
"Oh... the air's different?"
I remembered fighting swamp slimes here.
A forest choked with pollution.
Without the world tree seed, even breathing would've been tough.
But now? No trace of that filth anywhere.
"Did reviving the world tree on 20 affect this place?"
Floors were supposed to be isolated, though.
How could they influence each other?
I shelved the questions and pressed forward.
Looking for the massive tree where the magic-discount youth lived.
I found it quick.
Sand piled everywhere around it.
"It's still here?"
I remembered now. This was the mess I'd made sprinkling sand everywhere to ward off the magic-discount old man.
I approached the tree, tension creeping in.
The weird door was still attached to it.
I knocked carefully.
"Hello... Huh?"
Creeeak.
My knock swung the door open feebly.
Not locked, apparently.
"What? Nobody home?"
The room was empty.
Not just no people.
A single desk. A single sheet of paper. That was it.
Nothing else existed.
Impossible to imagine anyone living here.
"Hmm...."
I stepped inside.
No magic traps springing up or anything.
No magical traces at all.
I hesitated, then approached the desk.
"Not just regular paper...."
I picked up the lone sheet on the desk.
Plain as could be. Nothing written on it.
But no way that was true.
The magic-discount youth wouldn't leave something meaningless behind.
I cranked up Insight first.
The flow of the world sharpened in my vision.
But this paper? Zero mana traces.
"Hmm...."
Not magic, then. Some other method?
An old internet article on secret messages from my kid days popped into my head.
All sorts of wild techniques.
Classic one first.
I took the paper and stepped out of the tree house.
Found a spot blazing with sunlight and held it up.
Nada.
"Smudging over a candle flame, right?"
No candle on hand, though.
Scraping the surface with a pencil? No pencil either.
I clicked my tongue and carefully folded the paper before shoving it deep in my pocket.
Nothing more I could do right now.
"No way this is a total bust?"
A sigh slipped out.
Wasted a precious ticket for some mystery scrap.
"Where the hell did this guy go?"
Frustrated, I left the house and started wandering aimlessly.
Head back like this?
Pure ticket burn. Anger bubbled up the more I thought.
Trudging along a forest path like that.
I glanced up on impulse—and froze in place.
"...Huh?"
I doubted my own eyes.
Sky peeking through the leaves.
And in that sky, a massive tree.
So enormous it blended into the heavens—the world tree.
"Why's that visible here?"
This was the 15th floor.
I'd planted the world tree on 20.
Floors were blatantly separate, independent spaces.
Didn't make a lick of sense.
But I recalled something from the mage gallery lately. Fridge's post.
After I'd met the elves and dwarves in the 10s and 20s.
Other hunters tackling towers started seeing them too.
My actions rippled beyond just my tower—to every tower out there.
So influencing other floors in *my* tower? Not so weird.
'Purifying the world tree on 20 changed the environment here on 15?'
Explains the crisp air.
I walked toward the world tree like I was mesmerized.
A thought flashed by.
"If the world tree's reach extends here... maybe the elves are around too?"
They'd shown up with it on 20.
Wouldn't be odd if they were wherever it grew.
My original goal resurfaced.
Finding a way to handle ghost-like spirit monsters.
Magic-discount youth was gone, but elves might hold the answer.
"Yeah. Let's check it out."
Fresh hope sparked.
I used the sky-scraping world tree as my guide and started walking.
***
How long had I been moving?
Finally, the world tree loomed in the distance.
And the child elves romping around it.
Exact same scene as my last glimpse.
"Whew. Not a bust."
"Huh?"
"Black-haired elf!"
"Dummy, that's a human!"
A kid elf spotted me and yelled.
Every eye locked onto me.
"Waaaaah!"
Dozens of elf kids shrieked cheers as they charged my way.
I yelped in panic.
"Don't come near!"
Fat lot of good it did.
Instantly, I was swarmed.
"Still rocking those weird clothes?"
"Ears haven't grown a bit!"
"Damn it...."
The little punks hadn't changed a jot.
Yanking my hair and ears for fun, same as ever—enough to make my head spin.
Their boundless energy was still overwhelming.
"Right. Time for Super Go-ki to play."
I pulled the soundly sleeping Super Go-ki from my pocket.
Left at full size, it'd end up a toy—so I shrank it to kid-elf scale.
"Intellect seems about matching."
They'd make great pals.
"......Sand human?"
"......!"
The elf kids and Super Go-ki stared at each other.
First sand human they'd ever seen—elf eyes went round.
Super Go-ki's first time facing so many beings its size.
It cocked its head in wonder too.
"...!"
Mutual fascination lasted a beat.
Then they merged into one big happy group.
Super Go-ki shot to instant celebrity amid the kids.
"Having a blast."
I slipped away in the chaos.
Time to meet the group's sole adult.