Chapter 40 - Floor 2 Is Too Suspicious (1)

[You have entered Floor 2.]

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a stone fountain.

A large square. A fountain in its center. Countless narrow alleys branching off the square in a tightly packed network.

At the center of the circular fountain, two adorable cherubs aimed bows at each other. Jets of water spouted from the tips of their bows, crossing in midair to produce beautiful colors.

Beside the fountain, an angel had set up a large wooden board and was delivering an impassioned speech. Three or four men in brown clothes listened, nodding repeatedly.

"... Hmm."

Looking around, I saw a medieval fantasy city. Wooden houses. Stone paving. Narrow alleys. Blue skies and crowds of people.

I had literally come to my senses in the middle of a medieval city.

"..."

Slightly tense, I kept a wary eye on my surroundings, but everyone was too busy going about their business to pay me any attention.

Come to think of it, something felt a little unfamiliar against my skin.

"... My clothes changed?"

Instead of my familiar modern clothes, I was wearing a full leather outfit: leather top and pants, leather protective gear, and leather shoes. Anyone would have called it a starter set at first glance.

I had been wearing jeans and a hoodie when I entered the portal, so my clothes must have changed automatically on the way in.

Judging by the missing phone from my pocket... it seemed everything you carried disappeared when you entered Floor 2.

"... But this is still here."

Correction. Almost everything had disappeared. The Berserker's Pill I had stuffed into my pocket was still there.

Apparently, you couldn't bring things from Earth... but you could take items obtained in the tower to the next floor.

I was wondering whether there was some way to take advantage of that when I sensed someone behind me and dodged without thinking.

"... Huh?"

A huge Black man froze with his hand still extended toward my shoulder. He didn't seem to have meant me any harm, but all my practice dodging had made me evade him instinctively.

"... You've got some quick moves, buddy."

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Like me, he was wearing a full leather set. Between the men by the fountain and the others I kept spotting in the same clothes, it seemed to be standard equipment issued to every Player.

"Well, that's fine."

He stopped scratching his head and broke into a broad grin, showing a set of brilliant white teeth.

"Hey, friend, you just got summoned, right? I saw you appear out of thin air. I think I beat you here by about ten seconds. My name's David Trout. Nice to meet you."

"..."

He held out his hand for a handshake, but I didn't take it.

I was worried that if he suddenly decided to squeeze hard to establish dominance, I might regress. I mean, the guy looked about two meters tall.

"Not a fan of being touched? Sorry, sorry. That was inconsiderate of me."

Despite my refusal to shake hands, David laughed it off cheerfully.

He was speaking fluent Korean, but when I looked closely, his lip movements didn't match his voice. The tower probably came with some convenient feature like automatic translation magic.

"Anyway... I was going to suggest we stick together for a bit. Have you gotten the stage objective yet?"

"... No."

"Same here. They really ought to have told us by now. If this were an online game, it would've gone under ages ago. Talk about user-unfriendly."

David shook his head, keeping up his banter. It had only been a brief conversation, but I could already tell. This guy... was an extreme extrovert. And I was the kind of introvert who got completely drained around extroverts.

"Hey, friend. Where are you going?"

"... Go away."

Leaving David and his relentless attempts at conversation behind, I approached the angel holding forth beside the fountain.

"Understood? Just bring back a token!"

The explanation seemed to have ended just then, as the men listening to the angel scattered in different directions.

"Oh, hello, climber! Welcome!"

"..."

The angel bounced up and down on the spot, displaying the same insane energy as David.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you? Honestly, I have no idea what that guy who designed Floor 0 was thinking. I mean, didn't he basically build it to kill you? They don't call him a fallen angel for nothing!"

"..."

"But rest assured! Archangel Raphael, who oversees Floors 1 through 5, loves humanity! We won't be forcing you into deadly situations!"

Beaming, the angel clapped once.

A familiar message window appeared before my eyes.

<Floor 2>

-Clear Conditions: Earn the recognition of a city resident and bring back a token of that recognition to clear the floor. However, you must not leave the city limits. Get along with your fellow climbers!

-Clear Reward: Varies according to the token's grade.

"Ooh..."

David let out an impressed exclamation behind me. When had he gotten there? The problem was that his reaction sent the angel's energy soaring even higher.

"Approach the residents, and they'll each give you a suitable task! A quest, as you call it these days! Anyway, once you complete a quest and return here with your token...!"

BAM! BAM!

The angel slapped the wooden board standing nearby.

"You'll have cleared this floor! As a bonus, you can choose one of the rewards for your grade! What's more, you'll receive your reward only after you've been safely transported to Floor 1! No risk of anyone taking it from you! It's truly like letting your cake go and eating it too!"

"...?"

Was that really how the saying went?

Anyway, the wooden board listed four grades: Bronze / Silver / Gold / Platinum. I decided to read the details later.

"Archangel Raphael loves all of you humans! There is only one thing you need to do! Make an effort! Pursue endless self-improvement! Envisioning a better future is the very essence of humanity! Show us your potential!"

"Oooooh!!!"

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

Leaving behind the angel, now completely absorbed in the speech, and David, who was applauding furiously with emotion, I decided to explore the fountain square a little more.

For now... perhaps the archangel really did love humans, as the angel claimed, because I saw no sign of any immediate threat. What worried me most was getting trapped in an endless regression loop, unable to get away from the entrance... and that didn't seem likely here.

Of course, I couldn't let my guard down. I might go to an inn to sleep, only for everyone to turn on me at night.

And... I could see ways someone might exploit the rules if they wanted to.

I could also feel eyes on me from here and there.

Doing my best to ignore those gazes, I quickened my pace.

I headed toward the place where the men who had been listening to the angel had gone. They were reading a large notice posted along one side of the square. Though it was in English, I could read it with ease.

<I recommend obtaining a Bronze or Silver token and exchanging it for a potion. On Floor 1, you can create duplicates of items you already possess. Naturally, this makes consumables far more valuable. With unlimited healing available, you can train much more aggressively. Make good use of Floor 1. -M.Z.>

"So... this is the M.Z. everyone's talking about..."

"That's M.Z. for you..."

"...?"

The men talking over the notice were all white, and at first, I thought I had misheard them.

But then I saw the signature scrawled at the bottom and understood. Seriously, his initials were M.Z.?

"... Michael Jeter?"

They had to be the initials of Michael Jeter, the man who would later be hailed as America's greatest Player. Since he held my coin's fate in his hands, I remembered his name very clearly.

"Oh, you know him too? I thought he was only known in the American community... You Asian fellows sure get news fast."

A middle-aged white man turned to look at me.

"... There's already a community?"

"Hmm? Of course. It's not an official one, mind you... but ordinary people can't hear what we're talking about anyway, can they?"

Apparently, America already had an unofficial community of climbers. Actually, thinking about it, Korea probably had one too. The precursor to PlayerNet must already exist somewhere on the web.

"... Stock up on potions, huh."

Michael Jeter seemed to have run the same experiments I had, because he was recommending acquiring a potion first.

What Michael Jeter was recommending was a "potion training method": train like crazy until the muscles throughout your body tore, then gulp down potions to recover.

"... That's clever."

If getting injured didn't make me regress, I would have trained like Michael Jeter too. They said torn muscles became much stronger as they healed.

For me as I was now, though, the advice was utterly useless. What good was supercompensation when tearing my muscles too badly would make me regress in the first place? I was destined to get stronger purely by raising my stats.

"Well, I should get going..."

Just as I was about to look around the city to get a feel for the quests...

"Hah, hah..."

"...?"

A woman with a large golden symbol floating above her head was sprinting desperately down a narrow alley toward the square.

"Huff, huff!"

Her stats seemed fairly decent, judging by how fast she was running, but...

"Where do you think you're going?"

When three men waiting nearby blocked the alley with their bodies, she had no choice but to stop.

"..."

There was no violence whatsoever. They didn't seem to be using any abilities, either.

They were simply blocking the alley with their bodies.

And the men blocking her path... had pretty sloppy stances. They were definitely not strong fighters.

Judging by what the woman had just demonstrated, she could probably leap right over them or simply shove her way through...

"... What do you want?"

Instead of using violence, she chose to negotiate.

Watching this little farce unfold, I became certain.

<Floor 2>

-Clear Conditions: Earn the recognition of a city resident and bring back a token of that recognition to clear the floor. However, you must not leave the city limits. Get along with your fellow climbers!

-Clear Reward: Varies according to the token's grade.

Get along with your fellow climbers.

Violence was forbidden on Floor 2.

A Word from the Author (Author's Afterword)

I've revised it to say he regresses if his muscles tear "too badly"...

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