Chapter 141
A moment later.
The team members had completely changed into native clothing.
Fortunately, the native shaman had brought them undergarments to wear, so there was no issue of bare skin chafing against straw.
“…Feels kind of empty.”
“Ah, so uncomfortable.”
“This has its own rustic beauty, I suppose.”
“Shield activation range is no problem.”
The team members changed into native clothing and each shared their impressions.
Having always worn gleaming high-grade equipment, they looked quite ridiculous in straw raincoat-like attire.
They resembled goblins from folk tales.
Seo-jin looked around at his team members’ appearance and chuckled.
“You all look absolutely terrible.”
“Hey, do you look any different?”
Even at Nam-gung Cheon’s reproach, Seo-jin just shrugged his shoulders.
“As long as you’re having fun, that’s enough.”
He had never cared about appearance or attire anyway.
“Still, look. The quest cleared and merit points went up.”
[Quest has been completed.]
[World Quest #1-1.]
The climbers’ appearance and clothing are too conspicuous. Take quick measures before incurring the dark god’s wrath.
[Quest completion rewards will be distributed.]
Sparkle-.
As he read the notification text, the frog statue’s eyes in front of the stone monument began flashing red.
Seo-jin approached it and placed his hand near the frog statue’s mouth.
Whoosh-.
What appeared to be quest completion rewards – white bead-like objects – poured out.
Rather than beads, they looked somewhat crude, like currency made from polished ore.
“So these are White Stones.”
“ekd lTt nRn fqk rhk rjs anf.”
As he examined the White Stones received as rewards, the shaman gestured for them to follow.
Seo-jin’s group followed him toward the market area in the village center.
Food stalls with structures similar to street carts.
It was a restaurant with aromatic scents and steam billowing out.
“wnjd kek awh atn rnr, rpq hdl.”
When the shaman said something, the stall owner ladled what looked like porridge into wooden bowls.
Eight bowls total, apparently for Seo-jin’s group.
Meanwhile, the shaman extended his hand toward Seo-jin as if asking for White Stones.
“Here.”
The shaman who received the White Stones pointed to text written on a wooden board beside the stall, then counted out Seo-jin’s White Stones to pay.
Five White Stones per bowl of porridge – roughly seemed like 5,000 won.
After paying, the shaman took out blue and gold stones from his chest and said something.
Based on the shaman’s subsequent gestures, the currency value seemed to be 100 White Stones to one Blue Stone, and 100 Blue Stones to one Gold Stone.
“Thank you.”
Seo-jin slightly bowed his head at the shaman’s explanation.
“di dlW mae hwj dl.”
The shaman giggled as if it was nothing and returned the change.
‘Quite kind.’
Usually tower natives show wariness or hostility toward climbers they meet for the first time, but this place’s shaman was very kind.
In such cases, there’s usually a tradition among the natives’ faith that external beings like climbers will save the world.
They probably harbor some expectations toward Seo-jin’s group.
“fkdkqke.”
Meanwhile, eight bowls were placed before Seo-jin’s group.
Looking inside, they were filled with something bubbling like oatmeal.
There were substantial ingredients like greens and meat – the identity was unknown, but the quantity was quite generous.
To put it nicely, oatmeal; visually, it looked exactly like pig slop.
“Leader, do we really have to eat this?”
“Let’s just hunt monsters to fill our merit points. We don’t need to eat native-style food too, right?”
Despite Francesca and Nam-gung Cheon’s complaints, Seo-jin sat in front of his porridge bowl and picked up a wooden spoon.
“No time to complain about food. In that time, we need to clear even one more quest quickly. The strategy team entered a whole month before us. To keep up with quest progress in time, we need to do whatever we can.”
Looking at the merit point accumulation structure, there was a set daily quota that could be filled.
Just continuously hunting monsters wasn’t the answer.
Like doing daily quests every day, they needed to establish a base here and spend time building relationships with the natives.
Food, clothing, and shelter were trivial matters – it was more beneficial to do something rather than waste time being picky.
“……”
Perhaps due to Seo-jin’s persuasion, Se-yeon was first to sit beside him and pick up her porridge bowl.
Slurp-.
Se-yeon immediately began drinking the porridge.
Since she said nothing, it seemed to suit her taste.
Or perhaps her palate was ruined from the terrible food at the orphanage.
Previously, she had said it was her first time eating something like tteokbokki.
Seo-jin also began eating the porridge.
Smack smack-.
“Mm.”
It was hot and starchy – despite its strange appearance, the taste was savory and refreshing.
It felt like nurungji soup from outside; among native foods encountered on floors 30 and above, this was reasonably decent.
When the tower collapsed, they had filled their stomachs with monster meat due to lack of food.
Compared to nauseating, tough rubber-like monster meat, this was much better.
Moreover, in Seo-jin’s case, he had been trained by Circe’s bizarre cuisine for a long time, so even if it were more terrible than this, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Starting with Se-yeon and Seo-jin, the group all sat in chairs in front of the stall and began eating.
“It’s surprisingly decent?”
“It’s edible.”
Nam-gung Cheon and So-yul’s taste evaluations.
Francesca, Nam-gung Rin, and Austin also continued moving their spoons as if finding it reasonably acceptable.
“Is there any meat by chance?”
Zieg, like a growing boy, looked for consumable protein.
Seo-jin stood up and looked inside beyond the stall.
There were skewers placed beside the fire pit that clearly looked like meat.
When Seo-jin pointed at the skewers and mimicked eating meat, the owner asked.
“cl Rh?”
When Seo-jin nodded, the owner raised both hands showing eight fingers.
“r oej fqd?”
It seemed to mean he would provide skewers according to the number of people.
Seo-jin nodded and took out White Stones from his pocket.
‘Let’s see.’
While counting White Stones with his hands, he turned his head to look at the menu board.
Though it was an unfamiliar script, the repeating patterns showed it was phonetic writing.
Combining this with the natives’ pronunciation patterns, he could roughly figure out which characters corresponded to which sounds.
He had obtained much pronunciation information when the shaman explained currency values earlier.
Moreover, numbers seemed to be marked by the number of slash marks, making them easy to understand.
Eventually, Seo-jin looked away from the wooden board and spoke.
“Three White Stones per skewer.”
Seo-jin handed the owner 25 White Stones for 8 servings of skewers.
One was a tip.
The owner grinned and began grilling skewers soaked in sauce over the fire.
“Seo-jin-nim, how did you know how much that cost?”
At Nam-gung Rin’s question, Seo-jin shrugged.
“I roughly guessed.”
When encountering unknown languages and scripts, the only way is to somehow communicate through gestures and gradually adapt and learn.
After finishing the grilled skewers the owner brought out and completing their meal, the shaman came again to guide the group.
“fkd hkf kEk”
The shaman toured the village, introducing various facilities one by one.
Starting with the well in the central square, they were introduced to the blacksmith, the herb house that served as a hospital, the tall tower that was the shaman’s residence, fields for growing crops, and the village hall.
Looking around roughly, the population was around 500.
Even smaller than the village on the 4th floor that had been ruled by the Lich King.
However, the village’s wall structure, though old, looked much more solid.
Moreover, the natives’ levels were similar to the monsters inhabiting this place, giving them a much tougher impression.
After finishing the tour, the shaman led the group to an empty lot.
Thud– Thud-.
He mimicked digging the ground with his staff and pointed to the surrounding huts.
Then he took out a golden stone from his pocket.
So-yul said.
“Does he mean we need to buy land and build a house to live here?”
“Seems like it.”
Given the quest volume and progress speed, they would need to stay here for at least a month.
‘World quests to open new floors typically take a month or two.’
Moreover, the latest floor, the 37th, made it difficult to obtain teleportation stones, making it hard to establish bases on other floors and move around.
The All-Floor Teleportation Stone Seo-jin possessed could only be used by Seo-jin himself.
It seemed more efficient to build a house for future questing.
After finishing that explanation, the shaman led the group to a residential house.
Apparently recommending they board there, they paid 50 White Stones per person for lodging.
About 50,000 won – quite expensive.
‘The Gold Stone needed to buy land converts to roughly 10 million won.’
400,000 won per day for eight people to sleep – after just 25 days, they could afford to buy land.
As Seo-jin calculated the cost of purchasing land.
“Excuse me, could this be exchanged?”
So-yul took out a magic stone from her chest and pointed to the Gold Stone the shaman was holding.
She seemed to want to check if magic stones could be exchanged for local currency.
The shaman received the magic stone, examined it this way and that, then shook his head.
Seeing this, Austin shrugged.
“This is the first time I’ve seen natives refuse magic stones.”
“Indeed.”
Seo-jin, who had been lost in thought, opened his mouth.
“……It might not simply be about value.”
The magical power contained in magic stones inevitably holds value for all living beings in the tower.
This applies to the 37th floor as well.
So the reason the shaman refused the magic stone exchange was either some shamanic meaning separate from value……
‘Or it could be rules regarding Lunaris and merit points.’
Anyway, seeing them refuse magic stones, other items or materials would be useless too.
No choice but to steadily collect currency and merit points.
Finishing his thoughts, Seo-jin pointed inside the house and said.
“You must be tired, so let’s go in, wash up, and sleep.”
***
Naturally, there were no facilities for washing inside the house.
For natives who drew water from the central village well, bathing would be a luxury.
But they couldn’t sleep covered in mud and sweat, so they urgently borrowed Austin’s help.
“At times like this, I must step forward. Come out, Undine.”
The water spirit Undine summoned in response to Austin’s call.
During tower climbing, basic hygiene management is often difficult due to various problems, making Austin’s Spirit Arts extremely useful.
“Ladies first.”
So-yul expressed gratitude on behalf of the women.
“Thank you. But please stay far away.”
“Hey, if you peek this time too, you’re dead?”
When Francesca glared with fierce eyes, Austin shook his head and stepped back.
“……I would never commit such an impious act. Previously, it was just an unfortunate incident when I accidentally encountered you at the stream while trying to wash dishes. Please wash comfortably.”
Afterward, thanks to the water spirit Austin summoned, the group was able to wash cleanly and go to bed refreshed.
***
The men’s room where Seo-jin, Nam-gung Cheon, Austin, and Zieg gathered.
After finishing showers and arranging their beds.
“I’ll turn off the lights. Sleep well.”
The youngest, Zieg, blew out the candle and offered his greetings.
Nam-gung Cheon lay sprawled on the blanket spread on the floor and said.
“Yeah, sleep well. And don’t snore.”
“……I’ll try my best.”
At Nam-gung Cheon’s words, Seo-jin, lying on the bed, threw his pillow.
“Don’t bother the kid. And you snore the most, you bastard.”
Meanwhile, Austin, lying next to Zieg, stared blankly out the window and spoke.
“It’s remarkable when I think about it. That we’re on the same top floor as the strategy team.”
Austin seemed moved by the sentiment. Seo-jin answered calmly.
“It’s thanks to working hard.”
After the special training on the 29th floor and battles with assassins targeting Seo-jin.
Reverse Heaven Society climbed the tower without a moment’s rest.
It was no exaggeration to say they devoted all their time to climbing except for eating, sleeping, and fighting.
Due to their too-rapid climbing speed, their levels were somewhat lacking, but for Reverse Heaven Society members who had built solid foundations, level no longer held much meaning.
Just as it had been for Seo-jin.
Nam-gung Cheon threw the pillow back to Seo-jin and asked.
“What’s your purpose in climbing the tower? It doesn’t seem like you want wealth and glory.”
Having observed him closely for nearly a year, he knew Seo-jin had no interest in wealth and glory.
A crazy bastard whose every action principle centered on tower climbing.
Seeing him form a team like this to chase after the frontline strategy team, there seemed to be some clear purpose, but he never revealed that purpose.
Could his goal really be to reach the tower’s end and save humanity?
He didn’t seem naive enough for that.
Austin and Zieg also waited quietly for Seo-jin’s answer with curiosity.
“Well.”
Seo-jin gazed blankly at the ceiling with both hands behind his head.
He had never revealed his reason for climbing the tower to his members.
Not even to Hyeon-wol, who had been with him since early climbing.
Currently, only Nimrod, and broadly speaking Circe, knew about Seo-jin’s regression.
Seo-jin let out a small sigh and slowly parted his lips.
“I want to change the predetermined ending.”
