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100th Floor (2)

After knocking down the Blood Lich, the high-temperature hell on the 96th floor, the giant maze of the next floor after that, the nest of monsters that learned SS-Class stealth skill on the next level, and the stage where we had to fight illusions in the 99th floor… were more manageable than the 95th floor.

That was because the mission’s difficulty was rapidly reduced if the attack method and the means of resistance were thoroughly prepared.

Of course, it was a lot more difficult than the 95th floor’s challenge for those who weren’t prepared.

Hence, in conclusion, we broke through the 99 floors way faster than normal.

Nate, who was picking up Mana Cores by using his subordinates, asked me as if he suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, yeah. Jin-Wook, by the way…”

“Hmm?”

“When the main quest starts, are there going to be a great number of new Gates on Earth right away? Like blip-blip in an instant, out of control?”

I shook my head in disagreement.

If it proceeded that way, the natives of many worlds would have hesitated to enter the main.

The reality was nothing like that.

“It’s said that from the time that the dimensional bird hatches, the frequency of Gate occurrences will gradually increase.”

At first, it would slowly increase at such a pace that it would remain unnoticeable.

And after enough time had passed to ensure that humanity would’ve already adjusted to it, the pace would begin to hasten exponentially.

Adam said that such a phenomenon seemed to have a firm intention to expand the range of passages that could lead to other dimensions and vice versa rather than having the primary purpose of providing more dungeons to Clear.

As Euclid must have felt curious, she joined in the conversation.

“It’s an issue that’s been bothering me a lot lately, but what the hell is the main quest? It should be different from the tutorial that you guys are doing right now, right? But won’t the Awakened beings only be forced to Clear the dungeons like what they’re already doing and defend when they broke? Is that all there is?”

Hibiki added an assumption.

“Or is it like an upgrade to the screening quest we shared? Perhaps it’s a mission to meet special conditions?”

I hadn’t experienced it as well in my past life, but Adam already told me about it.

If it was necessary to categorize it, Hibiki’s guess was close to the truth.

“Think of it as the list of quests’ publicity becoming different. Although only a few can access it right now, all the hunters who have accepted the main quest will have access in the future. Of course, the level of difficulty will rise as well.”

More importantly, the same quest list was shared by all main-dimensional species.

Therefore, although I had been able to monopolize the screening quests that occurred within the Earth so far, in the future, I would have to compete with not only the Earth’s people but also the foreign dimensions’ Awakened.

In the process, the list of screening quests during the tutorial would disappear. That was why I had completed the most quests that gave me a lot of points before climbing the Tower.

“So… You mean that the message pops from the moment that the bird hatches from the egg, right?”

“Yes. The system will propose to all the Awakened individually, asking if they would accept the main quest.”

Since the world’s change would accelerate from that moment anyway, it was, of course, beneficial to accept it.

Was the only one who would kick that offer away be the only ‘immortal’ of my previous life?

Her goal was to only open more Gates as a side effect of hatching the Dimensional Bird.

While we were exchanging conversations in that manner, we finally finished sifting through the battlefield.

“Now, then…”

I stared at the tightly closed door that served as the entrance connecting to the 100th floor.

I looked at Hibiki unbeknownst to me. She asked, not knowing my intention.

“Is there something that I can help you with…”

I bitterly smiled and shook my head.

“It’s nothing.”

It’s just that I had suddenly remembered the event in my past life.

That door was the last among the puzzles encountered while climbing the Tower. Likewise, its difficulty was the most terrible of them all.

I wrapped my head around to figure out the contents in my previous life, but it was Hibiki, who was a ‘legitimate’ hunter, who opened the door. It reminded me of the memory of handing over the finishing touches to her.

Comparing what happened then and what was happening right at that moment, truly, a lot had changed.

I slowly raised my hand and aimed at the door.

Woo-ng!

Azure river-stream-like energy flowed from the tip of my finger.

Mana concentrated and changed its form dozens of times in a second. It tapped on multiple locations, sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly, like fireflies. Whenever there was such a collision, a spark would splash across the circuit of the door.

Some time passed, and finally…

Goo-woong-woo!

The tightly sealed door opened.

“Let’s go.”

Now, it’s time to finish it off- this short but prolonged climb.

The time consumed from entering the first floor to reach the 100th floor was about two months.

Comparing it to a year in the past life, it was an outrageously improved speed.

*

As the door opened, an unfamiliar humid air welcomed us.

“Huh? It’s warm!”

Although the surrounding was tightly sealed, leaving no openings, it was like a warm spring wind was blowing past us.

“You said that there would be no battle here, right?”

“Yes. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

I mumbled inwardly. In my current life, truly, we didn’t have to worry about anything.

“The atmosphere somehow… It makes me feel relaxed, huh?”

So far, if we looked at each floor of the Tower that we climbed, there were places where space was connected to other sites to form a field. There were also places where space was twisted like a complicated maze. Likewise, there were ordinary rooms similar to the size of the Tower as observed from the exterior of it…

What was felt in common on all of those floors was tight tension and high pressure.

But in that place, on the last floor, there was no sense of such feeling.

Among us, the one that felt the unique atmosphere most vividly seemed to be the dragon.

“Ah… Melancholic. This place definitely reminds me of my past…”

“Memories of your past?”

“Yup, it’s similar to the baby days when I was still in an egg.”

Did it really reach a point where it reminded me of a place where dragons would lay their eggs?

Indeed, the purpose was similar.

All of our glances stopped at the same location. An oval sphere was placed on top of the small altar. It was the Dimensional Bird’s egg.

As I stared at the altar…

Crack!

I grit my teeth without me knowing.

“Mr. Jin-Wook, are you alright?”

Hibiki asked me with a worrisome face.

I barely suppressed the memory resurfacing in my mind and replied to her query.

“Ah, don’t worry. My thoughts just wandered for a bit.”

Looking at the altar, I couldn’t help but think of what happened back then.

The last moment of the life I lived as Choi Seung-Hyun, the past life. Those memories left a scar in my soul.

The scenery of reality and nightmares of the past connected.

“···”

Although it had become a dust-free altar, there was a scene that overlapped in my vision, like an apparition, where blood flowed on it.

I remembered the old man, Choi Seung-Hyun’s scream… the awful reverberation of flesh being pierced and bones disconnecting.

Randy pushed the blade of the devil’s sword against his neck with a blank expression. Hibiki tossed her body around as she made a vibration wave. Nate allowed his very own subordinates to kill him with their bones.

All of that was followed by the stench of blood… the too-pungent stench of blood.

“… Jin-Wook?”

Nate cautiously called out to me.

I barely managed to shake off my thoughts.

“Sorry. Let’s get this over with already.”

It ended in tragedy in my past life, but I would reach the end of the absolutely opposite direction of that moment.

It felt new. Instead of anger, it filled my heart with anticipation and fulfillment.

I had been doing many things since I was reincarnated, but I felt like only then was I taking the right first step.

A lot had changed already, and more things would change from then on.

However, it would be in a much more positive direction than in my past life!

As I thought to myself in silence, we slowly walked towards the egg.

‘Thinking about it, I couldn’t even touch it when I came here as Choi Seung-Hyun.’

That was a matter of course since Angelica controlled us to kill us and snatched the egg in the middle.

Woo-ng!

As I went closer, it became vividly visible in my eyes.

A life form was asleep in the thin shell. I could sense it’s Mana Core.

What was only a tiny illustration of light gradually added clarity and wrapped around the whole egg.

‘It must be programmed to start preparing to hatch when a climber comes near.’

It was reasonable when I thought about it.

If the Dimensional Bird hatched by itself there even before the climbers of the dimension reached a decision, it would make the reason for their climb meaningless.

I placed my hand over the shell, allowing me to feel its warmth.

Then…

I knew it from the strange feeling that had nothing to do with [The Successor’s Eyes].

The presence inside that egg was looking at me.

At that moment, the Dimensional Bird that hadn’t been born yet recognized me.

– …Huh?

Telepathy flowed out from the gray-white eggshell.

But within it, a slightly unstable emotion was mixed in.

The mental wave continued. That content almost sounded out of the blue.

– … Could it be that you want to kill me?

It spoke in a way that was like crying, frightened whispering, or even like pleading.

Would it have reacted the same way when Angelica in my previous life touched it?

While I was lost in thoughts and did not answer right away, it spoke again in a voice that only I could understand.

– I realized it as soon as I became conscious. The purpose of those who come all the way here is one of the two: to break me or to hatch me.

“…”

– If I’m right about what I’m worried about, I hope you wouldn’t. It’s only been 30 seconds since I gained my consciousness. I think it’s too sad to die after the 30 seconds that you have given me cognition. I haven’t even seen the world outside of this shell.

Considering that it was begging for it to be spared… And that it had only been 30 seconds since it gained awareness, it was very calm telepathy.

Only then did I speak to it in return.

“I won’t break you. I came all the way here to hatch you.”

A brief silence transpired before it could reply.

-Ah, really?!

There was a delight in its words that asked me in surprise.

As if the bird in the egg was genuinely relieved, it let out a giggle-like mental wave.

In an instant, the texture of emotions changed 180 degrees.

– Is that true? That’s a relief. Good thing. I didn’t want to die. I thought it would be too sad to die as soon as I was able to think.

Since the bird was also a systematic entity, it seemed that it was already aware of its duties and the situation it was in.

As if to prove that point, the Dimensional Bird asked me a question.

– Then… As of now, how many experience points do you have?

I answered calmly.

“Enough to hatch you.”

Adam’s experience points were used up while purchasing various items, but after that, as I went steadily collecting it, I gathered enough points to hatch the egg.

The bird in the egg then raised another question.

– Then… When can I go out? When can I take a look around the world?

It was like a child pestering for toys. I exuded a mixture of impatience and anticipation.

The Dimensional Bird did not hide its unstable joy.

– Hmm? When are you going to hatch me?

I replied firmly.

“Right now.”

*

A few days before Seo Jin-Wook reached the 100th floor…

Secretary Kim entered the office without the owner and was spreading documents on Seo Jin-Wook’s desk.

All of those were a work report form for his time of absence used by the Celestial Dragon.

It had already been two months since the Tower exploration team had started the climb.

There was no exact promise of when he would return, but Secretary Kim was updating the reports every day so that he could immediately check the status of the guild as soon as he got back.

“Phew.”

After cleaning up, he sighed with a slightly grim look.

‘When in the world will the Guild Master come back?’

Secretary Kim knew that they planned to go back and forth between the Earth and the Tower a few times after determining if they would return on a 25-floor basis. That was also the case with the official exploration plans announced to the public.

He knew so, but he was still continuing his work with the hope of ‘perhaps.’

Two months later, the world was still boiling up with news about Seo Jin-Wook and the Tower, and the government and the media collaborated to come up with a rosy outlook for the future. There was a voice of high expectation of what the future would unfold after the tutorial ended.

And, of course, everyone’s attention was focused on speculation as to what floor Seo Jin-Wook would have climbed by then. Experts and non-expert experts poured out their assumptions.

– It’s already been two months. Wouldn’t they have climbed to around the 20th floor at least?

– Come on, that’s too much. Australian aliens said it took more than five years to get to the 50th floor. If so, would they have gone up one or two floors based on simple arithmetic?

– Why do you calculate that so simply? They said that the difficulty level would get higher as they go up. The lower floors must have been broken through quickly. Wouldn’t they have climbed at least ten floors by now?

The experts’ opinion also said that they might be staying between the 5th and 10th floors.

The gate they entered was closely monitored by the government every day, and they were always checking and sharing to the public that there was no change in the ‘Current Number of Entrants’ that the system message showed.

‘But it’s been two months, and it would be nice if he would return at least once.’

At that moment…

Knock-knock.

A visitor drew Secretary Kim’s attention by knocking on the door that was already open.

As he turned his head, a happy light enveloped his face after such a long time.

“Mr. Adam!”

The being in front of him was Adam Abrams that hadn’t shown himself in a while.

Having just returned from his hometown, he suddenly asked a question first.

“How about Seo Jin-Wook? Isn’t he back yet?”

“Yes, he hasn’t come out even once yet after he went inside the Tower.”

Adam calculated the time they had been in there based on Earth’s concept of time in his head.

“Hmm. Two months…”

“Don’t you think he would be on the 10th floor by now? If they were to reach the 25th floor, which is the point of return, they’re still…”

But Adam’s assumption was utterly different from Secretary Kim’s.

“Then they should be almost done by now.”

“… Huh?”

He talked to secretary Kim, who was standing with a puzzled look on his face.

“I think he’ll be back in a few days anyway, so I’ll stay here for a while. My room is still there, right?

“…Ah, yes. It’s remained in the same state as you left it.”

As if he thought it was a joke, Secretary Kim called without further questioning and checked the room’s cleaning status.

Then the alien thought, drawing attention from him.

‘I brought him some good news, but our timings were a bit off.’

The news that time was also about Mercadius.

After the audit, the Union sent a group of skilled beings to Earth to capture Mercadius.

They watched him in a different way than the [Observer’s Eye], and it was unknown what kind of analysis they ended up with, but it seemed that they finally decided to strike Mercadius.

The bizarre species was said to still be living on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean, disguised as a human with brown skin.

‘They’ve already lost an employee, so their members must have been sharpened before being dispatched. We should look forward to hearing them finishing their work properly this time.’

However, while thinking about it, anxiety remained in the corner of Adam’s heart.

And the extraordinary foreboding became more and more intense when he saw the special news that aired a few days later.

An emergency report reported that a tsunami was caused by an undersea volcano erupting near an uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean. It swept through neighboring countries, causing terrible damage.