Chapter 41 - Floor 2 Is Too Suspicious (2)

“You know what we want.”

“...”

“The token. Hand it over. You’ve got the skills. Can’t you just get another quest?”

The men were still threatening the woman.

To sum up what I could glean from a quick look at the situation...

First, that woman had obtained a Gold token.

How did I know? Something was flashing gold over her head. You’d have to be an idiot not to notice. Apparently, obtaining a token came with a feature that advertised it to everyone around you.

And second, violence wasn’t allowed here.

I didn’t know exactly what counted as violence or what would happen if you used it, but that woman was reluctant to shove past the men.

There was just one thing I didn’t understand... Couldn’t she simply jump over them?

I wasn’t the type to leave my curiosity unsatisfied. I addressed the man in the middle of the trio blocking her path.

“Excuse me.”

“... What?”

Hearing a voice behind him, the man reflexively started to shove me away, only to stop himself just in time.

“Why doesn’t that woman just jump over you?”

“What?”

“I mean... You’re blocking the way, sure, but couldn’t she just zip over your heads?”

“Ha. You just got here, huh? Quit bothering me and fuck off.”

The man turned back around without giving me a proper answer.

Since he didn’t want to tell me... I’d just have to try it myself.

“Hup...”

According to an internet search I’d done, the world record for a standing vertical jump was 155 centimeters. But with my stats pumped up by my achievement level and the Berserker’s Pill, my physical abilities surpassed that. I had exceeded humanity’s existing limits.

I tensed my leg muscles, then released all that pent-up force in an instant. The moment my feet left the ground, my body shot upward so fast that my surroundings blurred into afterimages.

This was what a superhuman saw. This was the world a superhuman lived in. This was what I had to get used to...

THUD!

“Gah!”

A flash burst before my eyes, followed by intense pain in my neck and the back of my head, and my vision pitched forward.

“What the hell?”

“Did that bastard jump?”

As the men turned around in surprise at the sound my head had made, I saw the woman seize her chance, squeeze through a gap between them, and run toward the angel.

[You have taken damage.]

[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 2.]

* * *

“... Okay.”

Who would’ve thought they’d physically blocked off the ceiling?

If I’d known, I would’ve tried a gentler jump. But what really felt unfair was that I’d jumped with my arms above my head and still hit my head.

Seriously, my arms could pass through the invisible barrier... but my head couldn’t? That felt a little unfair.

I took off one leather shoe and tossed it overhead. It bounced off something about three meters up.

“Hey, bud—”

Before the loud Black man could strike up a conversation, I walked over to the angel enthusiastically holding forth beside the fountain.

“And as for the rewards for each grade...”

“Excuse me, angel.”

“Please wait a moment! I’m in the middle of explaining!”

Only after finishing the explanation did the angel turn to me.

“Yes, what is it?”

“There seems to be some sort of barrier overhead... but my arms seem to pass through it.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“... Isn’t it strange that my arms can pass through, but my head can’t?”

“Not at all! A human is still human without arms! Or without legs! But without a head, they aren’t human! All barriers use the head and chest as their reference points! At least on the floors overseen by Lord Raphael! To explain the reason in detail—”

“Thank you.”

So these barriers blocked your head and chest.

Leaving the angel behind as it tried to launch into another rambling explanation, I hurried toward one of the alleys connected to the square.

<Floor 2>

-Clear Conditions: Earn a city resident’s recognition and bring back a token of that recognition to clear the floor. However, you must not leave the city limits. Climbers, get along with one another!

-Clear Reward: Varies depending on the token’s grade.

I’d verified the part about not leaving the city limits. My body had confirmed that they’d physically blocked the way out. I’d also more or less confirmed the condition about getting along.

I’d need to experiment to learn the exact rules and punishments... but at least I knew that the people who’d arrived on Floor 2 before me were reluctant to use violence.

What I wanted to investigate now was quests. I needed to see how these quests actually worked.

“Coming through.”

“Oh, sure.”

Just then, someone with a silver symbol floating overhead emerged from the alley.

Unlike the woman with the golden symbol, he walked straight up to the angel without anyone interfering, presented his token, and vanished.

“... Hmm.”

I was sure I’d seen a group squatting beside the alley I’d entered.

Did even those path-blocking thugs pass on Silver?

Putting those idle thoughts aside, I hurried farther into the alley.

After I followed the narrow alley for a while, the road opened up again.

“... Hmm.”

If Floor 2 was a city, this was a residential district of sorts. A bedroom community. Modestly sized houses stood packed together on one side, while the other was lined with shops: a bakery, a smithy, a grocery store, and more.

A resident happened to pass by me.

How I knew he was a resident was simple. He wore cloth clothing rather than the climbers’ leather armor.

“Hello?”

“... Hello.”

The resident returned my greeting with a look of utter annoyance. Undeterred, I decided to ask what I’d intended.

“This is my first time here... Would you mind showing me around?”

“... Sure, I guess. I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”

He nodded with surprising willingness and motioned for me to follow.

“You’re a climber, right?”

“...”

“No need to hide it. Everyone here knows. We know this is Floor 2, too. We came here under a contract with God in the first place.”

The resident spoke matter-of-factly.

“... I see.”

“We were enthusiastic at first, too... but doing the same things over and over got tiresome. It’s not as if we get any extra reward. We just give out the same tasks every time now.”

He led me to the bakery.

“For example... the owner here will give you a silver token if you bake and hand in a loaf of bread. The owner supplies the ingredients, of course.”

“... It’s that easy?”

“There are even easier ones.”

This time, he led me to a beggar lying in front of a small alley.

“This man will give you a bronze token if you give him anything to eat. Even a failed attempt at bread from that bakery should do.”

“...”

“Don’t look at me like that. There’s no limit on how many tokens we have anyway... and we don’t get anything out of giving away more or fewer of them.”

The resident shrugged. If what he said was true, getting Silver- or Bronze-grade rewards sounded like a walk in the park.

But that hadn’t answered all my questions.

“What do I have to do to get a Gold or Platinum token?”

“Hmm...”

The resident tried his best to keep his face blank, but couldn’t stop his brow from furrowing slightly.

“Would you look over there?”

I turned as he asked and saw an extravagant mansion at the far end of the long road.

“That’s where the ‘self-proclaimed nobles’ live. Even with things the way they are, those bastards are still making a fucking fuss about maintaining their dignity.”

“... Oh. Right.”

“As I understand it, earning their recognition gets you a gold token. They’ll even give you a platinum token if they really like you, but unlike the other tokens, which are unlimited, each person only has three platinum ones.”

“Oh...”

“But... I wouldn’t recommend going for a gold token. Those people are absolute assholes. Useless bastards, every last one. If it were me, I’d just get a silver token and be done with it. Ptooey.”

Apparently, just thinking about them had soured his mood enough to make him spit on the ground.

“I see... Thank you for kindly showing me around.”

After parting ways with the resident, I began walking around and looking over the streets.

There were a huge number of residents, with the occasional Player among them.

So all these people could give out Bronze or Silver tokens...

“Hmm...”

My mind was a jumble.

The first questions that came to mind were whether I could complete a resident’s quest more than once, and whether I could bring back multiple tokens.

The second was about the enormous gulf between Silver and Gold.

Getting a Silver token was too easy. They were practically giving them away.

It was almost a push for anyone who wanted to survive the tower, or become stronger, to try for Gold.

Was that intentional? Or was the angel who designed Floor 2 just hopelessly naive?

Third was the conflict between the residents who gave bronze and silver tokens and those who gave gold ones.

There seemed to be some history there.

But a question even bigger than those three was gnawing at me.

“Suspicious... Way too suspicious...”

I didn’t know whether it was because I was an avid web-novel reader... or because this tower encouraged flexible thinking.

But personally, I didn’t think it made sense for the rewards to stop at Platinum.

“... No matter how I look at it, there’s got to be something.”

A Diamond-grade reward. Or a hidden reward that could only be obtained once.

With the way this town was structured... it would be stranger if there wasn’t a hidden reward.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Thank you for reading!

Read Next Chapter