#
Announcement
I'm not sure how to say this, but here it goes…
*Very solemn and handsome face* (Don't forget the handsome part when you tell your friends about it~Mum says it, so it must be true).
"We managed to reach the top 200 in rankings. This means 2 chapters daily for this week!
Thanks for the support! The next goal is top 100 for 3/day ^_^v
Let's play the: Can we make a writer die from overwork game! Joke, we all know authors are suicidal anyway, haha."
(PS, this message isn't counted in Chapter cost ~Totally magic! Enjoy reading.)
#
****(POV)
Even after seeing such a horrific status screen, he instantly pulled himself together. Perhaps it was all thanks to his steady mind.
Did this mean the end? Was he better off rolling off to the side and giving up? Climbing would most likely be extremely tough for him. It would be akin to challenging the Tower on Hell mode. Yes, no one sane would ever try such a thing.
Floor 1 was supposed to be as easy as pie, yet it had almost killed him. He could already picture how it would soon turn out. He'd have to learn how to fight a literal legion of monsters. It was clear insanity!
Was such a thing even humanly possible? He went and began to research the topic seriously. He found that none would really fight all the monsters, but there were few tackling bigger packs. The goal was often to increase the efficiency of farming or straight up to test recruits.
Some guilds would apparently bring potential recruits to Floor 1 and observe how they fought in a real-life-or-death situation. The key takeaway was whether or not the individuals would let themselves become overwhelmed by fear.
The Serene Tranquil Monk resolved to try once more. He would be fine. Why? His goal had never been to become a Ranker. He simply wanted to earn a living, Credits! Many said that wealth didn't bring happiness. Well, poverty did bring misery.
He went back to the Tower plaza. There, he simply waited with a sign that could read: "Broke, will power level Floor 1 for admission. Will stay in it until I turn a profit for you."
Why hadn't he simply done that in the first place? He didn't simply want to beg and hadn't been that confident before. Instead of being traumatized from fighting so many cerberuses, he was instead more confident. If he had managed to fight so many solo, he'd be fine no matter how much the others screwed up.
There were dark tales of party members aggroing entire packs of monsters and causing everyone's demise. Wait, wouldn't that be dangerous for others to head inside with him?! Well, probably not that much. He'd just go on the front line, no issue.
As they saw his sign, pretty much everyone showed disdainful expressions while snorting. Why wasn't anyone willing to help at all? The Tower was relatively new, credits were precious, and he didn't have a UW making him look unprofessional.
He waited there for the longer part of the day, but then suddenly someone talked to him. There was a young girl. Radiant, beautiful, and full of hope. She stopped in front of him and looked at him from head to toe.
"You can help me Climb the Tower?" She was pointing at the sign.
"Indeed! I'll stay in there for however long you desire to help you farm. All I want is my admission paid and 5 credits as payment so I can keep Climbing myself."
"Oh? Are you that confident? Why should I believe you? No UW, messed up clothes, actually what's with that getup?!" she sharply observed.
"That? Some old monk clothing, don't worry about it. I just wore whatever was convenient." He brushed over it.
"Hmm, how many cerberuses can you handle at the same time? One, two, three, perhaps even more?"
He really wasn't sure how to answer that. "What do you mean by handle? Fight and kill or just keep busy? If it's the former, then my answer is about a pack."
"You're able to deal with a pack of 5 cerberuses alone? Are you serious?!"
He just went. "Yes, easily." A pack of 5? He meant 20! Oh well, as long as she was satisfied. She somehow seemed to believe him.
"Alright, I'll trust you. But you are only getting paid afterward if you do your part!"He simply nodded as he didn't have much to lose.
She kept going. "By the way, I'm Sarah if you need to shout a warning during battle. Alright, let's go, Monk!" she mischievously called out.
Since she had an actual UW, it made everything easier. She could simply confirm their Tower entry using it. Back on his solo run, he had to get a special one-time-use ticket from the MTA. It had been a real pain!
Anyway, they soon appeared in the oppressive and death-reeking atmosphere and …
"Wow! It's so pretty here! From now on, I am officially a Climber! Suck it, Dylan! Now, let me see my options…." Not only was she extremely joyous, but she was even slightly dancing in place!
"Hey, monk! What should I choose between Pink Princess, Death Dancer, and Valkyrie?"
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Heaven was so unfair. He had Cursed One as the only option while she had great-sounding ones. Actually, what was up with Pink Princess? Was it possible that the first Class option was always a joke? He didn't know, but he still seriously replied.
"You should probably pick Valkyrie. It sounds like a powerful combat class that will let you shine in the Tower. Death Dancer could be powerful too, but it's a bit more abstract. There is always the possibility it's a cool-sounding name for something actually bad. Then the princess one should definitely be avoided." He magnanimously advised her.
She happily clicked a screen in front of her before giving a satisfied moan. He could confirm that was not the normal reaction to receiving a Class.
"Thank you for your advice! It helped a ton!", she said turning toward him.
"No problem, my pleasure to help. How is Valkyrie?"
"No idea. I went for Pink Princess. I don't want to end up like you, a boring monk, so I went with the opposite. Smart, isn't it?!" She sounded so proud of herself!
"…."
"Alright! Let's slaughter some…AH! What the hell?!" She gasped and suddenly exclaimed.
As he came closer, he could see in the distance a pack of 15 cerberuses. He could see her eyes open in disbelief. This was the first time she saw real monsters in the flesh, so it was understandable.
"Why are there 15 of them together?!"
"That's a pack. We are lucky there are only so few of them. It may not sound like it, but just a few more and it becomes increasingly more troublesome." He sighed as he reminisced about the hardships he had gone through before.
"No! This isn't right! There are supposed to be 5 only!"
"Alright, shall we begin fighting?"
"Y-you! Are you crazy? There are 15 of them! We'll die! There is no way we can survive this! We're going around!" She was panicking and expecting this to be easier elsewhere, but he knew. This was normal.
"This is the worst! Why did the Tower have to change just as I'm entering? How is this even possible?!" He followed her as she kept complaining about how ridiculous this all was. Eventually, she gave up and simply sat on the ground.
Except he wasn't here to follow a princess around (literally). Thus he began walking on his own, heading directly for a pack of bloodthirsty monsters.
"You madman! Where are you going?! Come back. You'll die! Wait!…that dumbass!" Even while insulting him, she got up and ran toward him to stop him, but it was too late. The monk was already fighting.
As a Serene Tranquility Monk, his specialty was sitting in a courtyard doing jack shit. He was clear about it himself. That had trained his patience over the years. This was also the way he fought.
He waited for the creatures to bite him, patiently. Eventually, they would mess up and tumble to the ground from time to time after colliding with one another. That is when he chopped their spines.
How was he able to do that? Well, all things he had learned as a monk. Note that it was meant initially to chop wood bare-handed and nothing else. There was no secret purpose or the likes. They simply used to do it this way because the only axe in their temple was broken.
He couldn't help but give a wry smile, thinking about how peculiar the world was at times. His whole childhood had seemingly prepared him for this moment. Now that he thought about it, that's how he had learned martial arts quickly.
The scene looked completely different to a bystander. Cerberuses surrounded the man. Not only did he not despair, but he was also efficiently lowering their number. The frightening thing was that he was smiling all the while, a kind smile.
This kind smile of his chilled Sarah's very bones and made her tremble. She couldn't help but picture herself having to fight 15 of these monsters and how horrible it would be. She could also picture herself fighting him and felt an even greater fear!
Just as it was about to come to an end, another pack passed by.
"Careful there are more of them quick run and …" He was bound to be exhausted. He was bound to be having issues. No, he was actually taking the initiative heading toward the monsters.
"Madness, this is madness!" she mumbled under her breath. He was acting as if all this was normal! How was he not freaking out?!
Just as she was already shellshocked, she heard him exclaim happily: "Good thing there are so little this time around. This is way more relaxed!"
How bad was it the last time he came in the Tower then?! She couldn't believe both her ears and her eyes. The whole thing felt like a dream. He kept killing, and she followed behind as if a lost puppy.
At some point, she joined too, but even then, she almost died many times. Each was a reminder that she was in way over her head! Every claw that almost ripped her face off, every maw that almost closed on her slender neck, every time she almost died crushed to death…
That is when she resolved to stop Climbing. This shit was way too difficult and dangerous! This was only Floor 1 too!
"Let's just leave! I don't feel like Climbing anymore. I'm too young and pretty to die!" She kept urging him. But every time, he would go:
"No, let's keep going until we drop an item, just a little bit." In fact, he kept repeating that same sentence over and over. So much that she felt she had boarded a pirate ship!
But no matter how many monsters they killed, no items were dropping whatsoever. She wasn't even in the mood to note that fact. But he was.
Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. Her body could still keep going, but her heart and spirit were completely crushed. She just went: "We're leaving! I can't stay here anymore. This place is horrible. I'm never coming back inside!"
He glanced at her at a loss. That's when she teleported out directly, running away.
Then he looked at all the corpses of the creatures that were disappearing. That is when he noticed something glowing on the ground. He instantly felt his heartbeat accelerate as a smile blossomed on his face.
That's what he had been waiting for!...
Comments