Let's Have a Pleasant Conversation

In the middle of a garden bathed in warm sunlight on the 33rd floor of My House Tower, a monochrome tea table sat quietly. Crow was updating Tricia on the current state of South Korea, explaining what had transpired on Earth over the last five years.

"I spent decades in Eriel, but only five years have passed on Earth?"

"It seems so. As far as I know, smartphones certainly didn't exist before the twenty-first century."

"Whoa! Then do people still play that 'Luxury Watch' shooter game these days?"

Having received a general overview of Korea's situation from Crow, Tricia began to ask about various minor curiosities.

"No, its popularity has waned a bit. Instead, a game called 'Valorax' is all the rage."

"I see. Could you tell me how other games are doing? I was a huge gamer in my past life!"

"Understood. I will tell you about them one by one, starting with whatever comes to mind."

Crow, too, was enjoying the conversation, answering Tricia's questions with earnest sincerity.

"...Wait a minute. Faker won another championship?"

"It was practically a clean sweep this season. I watched the broadcast myself."

He caught her up on the latest news of Legend of Leagues.

"Maple Story? That game is still alive?"

"It's not just alive. The game suddenly got 'normalized' and its popularity is soaring again. They even released a new character for the first time in two and a half years."

"What a trip down memory lane. I wonder if I can play it again once I get out of this tower?"

They chatted about a game that practically demanded an immediate chant of "normalization."

"Ah, and Catchmon bread is trending again."

"...Why?"

Apparently, children and adults alike were still buying Catchmon bread just to collect the character stickers.

"Recently, a new model of the Switch came out, so people are playing Plumber Kart again."

"Really? Speaking of Plumber Kart, that reminds me of KartRacer."

"Ah, that... That game is already gone. A sequel called Drift took its place, but... I heard its performance has been rather poor."

"That's a real shame. It was so much fun."

"So, they recently announced they're shutting down Drift and bringing back the classic version of KartRacer."

"...???"

Tricia nearly lost her mind at the utterly chaotic state of recent gaming news. Her expression went half-blank; she looked as if her soul might drift right out of her body.

"Why does it feel like the world is moving backward...?"

Realizing that things popular in her past were trending once more, Tricia began to deny reality, muttering that the world was spinning in reverse.

Crow watched her for a moment before speaking.

"That is what we call a trend. It goes around and comes around, like a magnetic field."

"No, it went way too far back."

However, many things had indeed changed.

"First of all, the world changed drastically with the appearance of the towers. Just becoming a [Climber] gets you support from the government or guilds. If you grow strong enough to bring back monster byproducts or resources, you can make a fortune."

"That's interesting. How do other towers usually operate?"

"I don't know everything, but..."

Crow explained the other towers he was familiar with.

The first was the Hunting Ground-type Tower. In this type, warp points are unlocked at set floor intervals from the start. Climbers hunt monsters to train their skills and stats, earning a living by collecting mana stones and materials. Additionally, [Boss Monsters] guard certain floors; defeating them unlocks the next zone. To put it simply, if you can climb up to Floor 7, defeating the boss there opens Floors 8 to 14, and defeating the next boss opens Floors 15 to 21, and so on.

Next was the Dungeon-type Tower. The entire tower is structured as a dungeon with several specific themes, crawling with monsters and traps. You must defeat the [Elite Monster] or [Boss Monster] on each floor to proceed to the next. Fortunately, you can use the [Warp Points] located on every cleared floor to escape and retry whenever things go south.

And finally, the Trial-type Tower. This one... barely has any warp points to begin with. Even if they exist, they only appear every ten floors, or you might finally spot one after climbing halfway up the entire tower. Instead, this tower presents climbers with 'tailored trials.' Of course, on rare occasions, it throws ruthless trials that far exceed human limits.

While there are several other towers with unidentified structures, they are currently categorized into these three types.

"Currently, they are divided into these three... If you don't mind me asking, which type is this tower?"

"I'm not really sure myself. It was a Trial-type at first, but now that I've installed warp points on every single floor... if I play my cards right, I might be able to run it as a mix of Hunting Ground and Dungeon types?"

"Is that... even possible?"

"Think of it simply. Like a restaurant that sells black bean noodles, pork cutlets, and pizza all at the same time?"

"...Put that way, it makes sense."

Tricia handed her empty teacup to the bartender, who swiftly refilled it with black tea.

"Shall we talk about something else then? Is there anything else you're curious about?"

"Something does come to mind. Before coming here, didn't you defeat that monster, the [Silence of the Deep Night], in a single blow? How on earth did you catch it?"

"Ah, that guy? Actually, once it enters Phase 2, all physical attacks pass right through it, and it even absorbs every single ranged attack. But its 'soul' is left completely exposed, so you can just beat it up to win!"

"...?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention! I can directly strike an opponent's 'soul.' Normally, a soul is protected by the body and mind, making it hard to hit directly, but the [Silence of the Deep Night] didn't have a physical body to begin with."

"...I wondered what you meant."

"So, back in Eriel, that guy absorbed an entire moon to use as its body. That's why I struggled a bit when I first fought it. You have to break the shell to reveal the true body, but that shell was ridiculously massive..."

Tricia casually explained an otherworldly, mind-boggling power inflation that defied all common sense. For the record, Eriel's moons are slightly larger than Earth's moon!

"...How did you win against that?"

"So I brought my friends along, folded the surrounding space about 1,024 times, and then fired a Demon King Death Beam to erase the entire moon. After that, the true body popped out, and I finished it off."

"No, but erasing a moon just like that..."

"It's fine. Eriel had seven other moons left. Well, we broke two more later, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so now there are only five."

"...?"

To add some context, the one who folded space was Rudiel Shephid. The one who fired the Demon King Death Beam was Azmo Lilysis. And the culprit behind breaking the other two moons was Asahina Yurining.

"...It definitely wasn't intentional. I just mentioned that there was a scene where you destroy a moon in a building-destruction game, and I had no idea she'd actually go and break it."

"Let's... stop talking about this..."

Even Crow, ranked 9th among the world's Climbers, would honestly admit it was impossible if asked if he could erase an entire moon. The sealed [Silence of the Deep Night] had taken the form of the night sky, but that was actually just wallpaper(?) with a night sky pattern. At most, it was only large enough to cover a single decent-sized city. The power of Crow's [Supernova Explosion] was merely enough to blow away two or three cities.

Of course, a mere [Climber] possessing a skill capable of wiping out two or three cities was already far beyond the realm of humanity... But even with that kind of power, wouldn't Crow have to use [Supernova Explosion] hundreds or thousands of times to completely erase the moon next to Earth? Naturally, if it were a real supernova explosion, not just the moon but Earth and all the other planets would be obliterated, but unfortunately, Crow's skill fell far short of that level.

"Ah, there's one more thing I should tell you."

Tricia said, looking Crow straight in the eye.

"About the information I gave you regarding the tower—it's totally fine if you share it with the outside world."

"...Is it really alright?"

"Yes! In fact, it's even better! It serves as proof that My House Tower is much safer than other towers. You can promote it for me while you're at it!"

The corners of Tricia's mouth curled up slightly.

"However..."

Her expression turned slightly mischievous.

"Please keep the story of my past life a secret. That... is my own private business."

"......Understood. I promise."

A brief but firm promise was made. Smiling as if satisfied with his answer, Tricia moved on to the next topic.

"Anyway, it's so frustrating that I can't leave the tower! It keeps blocking me, saying I lack authority, but the system won't even tell me what kind of authority I'm missing!"

"...If there is anything you need from Earth, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could bring it to you."

"...Really?"

At the mention of modern goods, Tricia's eyes sparkled.

"Then a smartphone and a laptop! And chargers too! I can probably handle the outlets with lightning magic!"

It didn't matter if there was no internet. Just having them to play with was what mattered!

"By any chance... do you know that electronic devices do not work inside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the towers?"

"?"

Wh... what the fuck?!

"I guess you didn't. Inside the towers, all electronics go completely dead. Some smartphone models even exploded the moment they entered."

"......"

...You son of a bitch tower!!! You piece of shit!!!!!

Furious at this useless, piece-of-shit tower that couldn't even handle electricity, Tricia cursed up a storm in her head.

A few hours later.

"I should head back soon... If I stay away too long, my guild members might think I'm dead and file a death report."

"Wow, it's already way past lunchtime. I really enjoyed our chat today!"

With that, Crow took the portal with Tricia to Floor 1, preparing to exit through the main gate. However, Tricia asked him to wait a moment, vanished somewhere, and returned carrying a box of drinks he had never seen before.

"Take this! A gift from me!"

"This is...?"

"Uh... a twelve-pack of potions with effects like the potions in Catchmon?"

What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on earth is that?

Curious about what Tricia had gifted him, Crow peeked inside the box. Inside were twelve potion bottles engraved with the image of an angel, the liquid within glowing brilliantly and sloshing beautifully.

Crow was about to use his [Appraisal] skill to read the effects, but... he decided to save that 'pleasure' for later.

"...Thank you. I will put them to good use."

At Crow's genuine words of gratitude, Tricia smiled and spoke.

"Ah! Let me cast a blessing on you too!"

As Tricia placed her hand on Crow's shoulder, a warm light gently enveloped his body.

"How's the effect? You can already feel the vitality coursing through you, right?"

"......"

In the end, Crow stopped thinking.