187 – The Returner Reflects (2)
“Nice to meet you! Junho!”
“Why are you here?”
Anael, a white-haired angel smiling at me. I thought our relationship, which started on the 2nd floor, ended with this guy helping me on the 11th floor… He never dreamed that they would meet again on the 16th floor like this.
“No, do angels really move around this often? “What are you?”
“That is… It’s a tinkering! “First of all, there are a lot of eyes watching, so let’s go that way!”
Anael smiles brightly and flaps her wings. She grabbed my wrist and led me to a remote temple.
“… “
“Uh, uh… “
I could see Choi Ji-won’s face darkening in real time, so I grabbed Choi Ji-won’s wrist with the hand that was not being held by Anael. The three of us head somewhere as if we were playing trains.
“We have arrived!”
When we finally arrived inside the temple, Anael sat down cross-legged. Her posture also resembles that of the Buddha depicted behind her.
“So, what are you curious about? “I wouldn’t normally be able to, but since it’s Junho, I’ll tell you everything!”
“First of all, why are you here?”
“Like I said, it’s a tinkering! “I came here because of an unfortunate incident that occurred a week ago!”
“Unsavory incident?”
“To explain that, I must first explain the task of this floor! “This is an explanation that all climbers should hear!”
As Anael twirled her hands around the imaginary sphere, as if touching it, a white light began to glow between her palms. It’s like making a spiral ring.
“Now, this is the ‘stone’ that is the core of this floor! You can call it a rock, or you can call it a rock!”
What Anael created was the large rock she had seen a little while ago. In the first place, the goal of the 16th floor itself was to make scratches on this rock.
“In order to scratch this rock, you must become strong!”
Anael speaks while tapping the rock made of light with her index and middle fingers.
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“There is no point in being strong from the beginning! After entering this floor, you will only be recognized as strong as you have become! Because the rock has divine protection! Usually, climbers survive the crossroads of life and death and naturally become stronger, but they never really train themselves! This floor can be said to be a floor for training such climbers!”
She picked up one of her old books from near the Buddha statue behind her and put it down in front of me.
“We are not simply forcing you to become stronger! On this level, we provide a variety of support for effective growth! You’ll get stronger much faster than if you train outside! All you need is one thing! A strong will to abuse oneself! “Only those who have let go of themselves can overcome this level and move on to the next level!!!”
I feel sorry for Anael, who gives a passionate speech, but… I already understood the concept of layers.
“So, you’re saying that if you’re stronger than before you came in, you can hurt the rock?”
“Yes!”
“… “Now then, can you explain why you came here?”
To be honest, training is my specialty. I am not a genius, but a person who struggled with the flow of time to overcome the barrier of talent. For your information, Choi Ji-won is a genius who works hard, so it can be said that he is truly an unreasonable being.
So what is important to me now is how Anael came here.
I… I was a little, very slightly suspicious of this guy. I can understand the angel on the 2nd floor coming to the 11th floor, but if he comes to the 16th floor… Suspicion naturally arises as to whether there is some kind of conspiracy lurking around.
“Ah! It’s that simple! Because the previous angel made a huge mistake!”
Anael smiles brightly, not knowing whether she knows my doubts or not.
“Because the previous angel set the power settings incorrectly, an incident occurred in which the entire rock, which is the core of the 16th floor, was stolen! “It was said that a person with subspace abilities put a rock into subspace!”
“… “Stolen?”
“Yes! “It’s a rock with mysterious blessings, but I guess I never thought about pulling it out and taking it with me!”
“Oh my God.”
“So they say they got the rock back in exchange for a special reward! “I, who had a good performance review, came here instead of the former angel who made such a big mistake!”
“… “
First of all, the doubts were immediately lifted. Because I knew there was a good reason for that.
It’s theft. The first thing that came to mind was Dok Su-hee, who has inventory skills. I don’t know the exact limits of her abilities, but… Assuming your abilities have advanced, it might not be unreasonable to put that large rock in your inventory. They say it was a week ago, so the timing is roughly correct. (It makes sense to say that while I was shaking on the 10th floor, I worked hard to climb the tower.)
“Well, he’s like the main character.”
Are you thinking of stealing that rock in its entirety? Isn’t this an idea that only the protagonist of a web novel would think of? The same goes for watching shobu with that and getting rewards.
Just as I was about to get lost in my worries, Anael stood up, shaking his butt.
“Ah, an additional player just came in… I guess I’ll have to go explain! If you have any further questions, I will be happy to let you know at any time!”
She started flying towards the top of the large rock at lightning speed, and only Choi Ji-won and I were left in this temple.
“… “
“Jiwon?”
“Why?”
“Shall we look outside a little more? “Look at what other people are doing.”
“… Okay.”
I led Choi Ji-won, who was slightly upset, out of the remote temple and looked around the other buildings.
After taking the time to look around this temple, it seems that this temple is largely divided into three areas.
First, the ‘Hidden Piece’ area. To be exact, it is an area with temples surrounding a rock.
The characteristics of the buildings in this area are… There are many meaningful things.
Suspicious marks carved on a wooden wall, an old book lying near the floor… An old scroll stuck in a crevice in the ceiling.
Looking closely at the contents, they were all ‘hidden pieces’ containing some kind of martial art. The types are as diverse as the types of weapons, and even within each weapon, a wide variety of martial arts are depicted.
“Can you just show us this?”
“It’s Choi Ji-won, so what? And it was originally like this. “It looks like the people who came before completely overturned it.”
What is unusual is that almost all of the excavation has been completed, which does not live up to the title ‘hidden’. Among the players who previously cleared the 16th floor, there was one who was convinced that a legendary martial art was hidden here, and it is said that he stayed on the 16th floor for a month and searched the temple. The non-essential books scattered around here are traces of that.
“This doesn’t seem like a very high-level martial art.”
“… Okay?”
“Uh. Junho, you won’t become stronger just because you learn.”
And according to Choi Ji-won, the martial arts here are just basic martial arts. They may be useful for people who don’t know how to fight systematically, but they are useless for people who have passed a certain level.
Therefore, we naturally passed on the temple in the central area.
The next thing we visited was the large training center that can be reached by climbing the hill.
There were many players here who were still honing their skills, but I didn’t look around in detail. To be honest, it was just a large playground.
The last place I went to was a cave that appeared after walking along the forest path. There were several small, shallow caves dug here, which were said to be currently used by players as personal training rooms. It’s usually the last place you stay before leaving the 16th floor.
“What about eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom?”
“An angel gives food regularly when the time comes…” To sleep, just go to any temple and sleep. “There is a separate toilet for toileting.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, there are a lot of clothes in that building in the corner, so take note.”
After receiving information about staying here from a passing player, Choi Ji-won and I sat on the forest path and looked down at the temple from above. The scenery of the temple, colored with the scent of fall, is very beautiful.
“Well, it will be over soon. “You just need to become a little stronger, right?”
This floor looks pretty easy. Of course, it is a floor where there is no life-threatening danger, and the floor itself forces you to become stronger. It is safe to say that she is a so-called ‘Hyeja’.
However, since the tower only gives out money like this starting from the 11th floor, I feel a little uneasy. I’m doing this so that there will be a difficult task later. Or are you telling us to prepare for the monster on the 15th floor?
“Wake up quickly and go to the 17th floor… “
“… So, what does it mean to become strong?”
“Hmm?”
Choi Ji-won suddenly asked me a philosophical question while I was drawing up my future plans.
“I don’t really know what it means to become stronger in the first place. Your muscles may become stronger, your characteristics may become familiar, or your weapon skills may become more sophisticated. What if I could just hit that rock harder? “I think that’s ambiguous too.”
She seems to be obsessed with the exact definition of the word ‘strength.’
“For example, if a person who has fully grown enters this floor… Is that person going to be gone forever? That’s strange too. “I think the ‘strength’ mentioned here is not just strength.”
“That… “Jiwon.”
“It’s more conceptual than that… huh? Why?”
However, as I listened to Choi Ji-won’s words, an ominous thought began to bloom in my head.
“The standard for becoming stronger… “You said it was the moment you entered this floor?”
“Right?”
“But if I return… “Won’t you become stronger every time you return?”
“Huh.”
“Then I…” “
No, this is not a sinister imagination. This is the reality that has faced me.
“Isn’t the standard for beating the 16th floor continuing to rise…? ?”
This floor… I think we need to escape as quickly as possible.