Chapter 42: Speak, Pygmy (2)
I knew as well as anyone that there was nothing on the 2nd floor.
But the fact the 2nd floor has been opened
ant that soone had opened the 2nd floor. I knew who the first person to open the 2nd floor was. The Demon Kingthe Player Seo Joohwan had served, whose identity had still not been discovered after ten years. No one knew if he was even Korean, only that he started Playing in Korea and later beca the leader of the Demon King Army, aka Nightmare.
Not much is known about the Demon King.
It was known that he had the capability to easily face the 8 Heroes all on his own, and he was always involved, in one way or another, in wars, gate breaks, and big incidents like large-scale massacres.
One thing that is known is that he was the very first person to open the 2nd floor of the Beginner Tower.
The bonus he received from doing so was also public knowledge.
The first three Players to enter are given a bonus.
It could be that the Demon King was still sowhere on the 2nd floor. When that possibility occurred to , my heart began to thump. What did the current Demon King look like? I already considered Yoohyun and Yeonseo as genius enough, but the supre commander of the Demon King Army far outstripped them. Could it be that he really was on the 2nd floor?
Could it be that Im stronger than the current Demon King?
Suddenly, Eye of Perception picked up on sothing, a feeling different from usual. It felt like sothing heavy was going over my eyelids.
[A powerful presence has been detected.]
[Eye of Perception has been temporarily disabled.]
My eyes hurt.
I closed my eyes. Or rather, my eyes closed involuntarily.
I feel like I saw soone just now.
What I rembered was only a black afterimage, the re feeling that a black fog appeared before my eyes before disappearing. If not for Eye of Perception being disabled, I would have thought that I had only imagined it. But I could tell.
I ca face to face with soone just now.
It was just my hunch, but I had the feeling that soone might be the Demon King. I didnt know who the Demon King was, but what I did know was that he definitely existed in this world, sowhere. If that pressure I felt just now really was from the Demon King, then?
If we faced off, what would happen?
I didnt know yet. While a thousand thoughts went through my head, the status abnormality faded.
[Eye of Perception is no longer disabled.]
Will I ever end up confronting the Demon King?
That didnt have to happen. Even if we never t, I could live perfectly well.
Lets think about it later.
I decided to focus on what I could do right now.
[Escalator Going to the 2nd Floor]
I went up to the 2nd floor with the escalator.
* * *
[You have entered the Beginner Tower 2nd Floor.]
The 2nd floor of the D-Tower, which was now the Beginner Tower, was once the place where I fought the magic troll. But now, there was nothing. It was just a dark and empty lot. Even though it wasnt underground, the air was humid and damp. The whole place gave off the impression of an empty underground parking lot.
Item Shop.
[Item Shop
Beginner
Potions & Return Scrolls]
Beginner Constitution Potion 300 CoinsBeginner Mana Potion 300 CoinsBeginner Cure Potion 400 CoinsBeginner Safe Zone Return Scroll 3,000 CoinsBeginner Healing Potion 400 Coins
Currently, I was on the Potions & Return Scrolls tab. That wasnt important. The important thing was that right now, I was on the 2nd floor of the Beginner Tower.
I wish to open the Hidden Item Shop.
The Strear Senia stared blankly at . The Hidden Item Shop?
She was staring at
with no expression, but the tips of her wings were trembling. Though she appeared expressionless on the outside, it seed she was extrely flustered on the inside. My Eye of Perception couldnt read Senias state yet, but despite that, it was as clear as day to .
Looks like youre very taken aback.
That my low-proficiency Eye of Perception could read her shock indicated the degree of her emotional upheaval, the degree to which her emotions were showing.
Look carefully through the manual.
Such cases, where Players shared tips and strategies amongst each other and knew sothing the Interdiate Administrator in charge of them didnt, happened occasionally. I understood. Senia was a beginner. It was because she was a beginner that it was easy for
to manipulate her. But as easy to manipulate she might be, she also had disadvantages like this.
Several Guardians seed to find the ti it took for her to read the manual boring.
[The Naless Observer is observing.]
[The Lady of the Scales is waiting.]
[The Courageous Lion King is impatient.]
I was idly wondering when that courage-lover would leave this channel when Senia opened her mouth again, five minutes later.
A Hidden Item Shop exists.
Yes, and it could only be accessed here. It required 50k Coins to open, an impossible hurdle for a real beginner. It was out of the question for a beginner to have 50k Coins.
It requires 50k Coins.
Those 50k Coins, Ill give them.
[You have requested the opening of the Hidden Item Shop.]
[Opening the Hidden Item Shop requires 50k Coins.]
[Will you open the Hidden Item Shop?]
[The Hidden Item Shop can be accessed for 60 seconds.]
[All items in the Hidden Item Shop are limited to 1 in stock.]
Before you could even peruse the items, it required 50k Coins simply to open the shop for a pathetic 60 seconds. As long as you didnt have bricks for brains or had a crazy amount of money rotting in the bank, not going ahead with such a cost was the right call. In addition, there was only one of each item. Even if the item I wanted was there, it was over if soone had already purchased it.
[Opening the Hidden Item Shop.]
[The Hidden Item Shop has been opened.]
In addition to this, the bonus for the first three was applied.
[You have succeeded in being the second to open the Hidden Item Shop.]
[You are given an opening bonus.]
[The opening bonus Bargain Sale is taking effect.]
The Bargain Sale took effect, halving the prices of the items.
[Hidden Item Shop
Beginner
Assist Scrolls]
Low Advancent Assist Scroll 14,000 Coins
7,000 CoinsInterdiate Advancent Assist Scroll 26,000 Coins
13,000 CoinsHigh Advancent Assist Scroll 40,000 Coins
20,000 Coins
The shop was beginner grade, and within the Assist Scroll tab, there were only three items that could be purchased. This was what I had thought long and hard about.
High Advancent Assist Scroll.
[Purchase the High Advancent Assist Scroll?]
[20,000 Coins will be used.]
My original plan was to have 70,000 Coins. Thanks to reaping an unexpectedly large harvest from the Turtle Nest, I still had 13,000 Coins left, even after purchasing the High Advancent Assist Scroll.
I have more left over than expected.
I felt like Id profited greatly sohow, seeing as I had 13k Coins left over when I had expected 0.
There was no ti to look through the other tabs. Sixty seconds had passed in a flash.
[High Advancent Assist Scroll]
A scroll enchanted with magic that assists in advancent. Has a high chance to increase the grade of the class the Player advances to.
Used: 0/1
The High Advancent Assist Scroll is an item purchased from the Hidden Item Shop.Cannot be traded or transferred.
After confirming the item, I shared all of the information to my Interdiate Administrator, Senia, telling everyone that I had just purchased a High Advancent Assist Scroll. In other words, I was considering advancent.
My level is currently 26. As you know, its about ti for
to start considering my advancent, right?
I said last ti that I would advance at level 30.
Thats why Im trying to Play with a slightly more advantageous thod.
There was, of course, a thod behind the madness. When I reached level 30, it would be ti to choose the Guardian I would contract with. Through this contract, a close relationship would be established between
and the Guardian, and I would be able to receive a great deal of support from this Guardian.
Though you said you would be waiting last ti What is your reasoning for waiting? That Players advance at level 25 is a universal process. Just what kind of belief is behind your actions?
I grinned on purpose, knowing that many Guardians had their eyes on .
A feeling? Or maybe a dream?
If Players advanced through their Guardians, they could get a class of at least rare grade.
For them, hypotheticals arent important, anyway.
To the Guardians, things like how I knew all of this, or whether it really was a feeling or a dream, werent very important to them. What was important was how fun and enjoyable a Play I could show them could be. That was what mattered to them.
Thats why
The Guardians would overlook my current actions. But just then, I heard a notice.
* * *
[The Interdiate Administrator Neptunes Bug Investigation Request has been received.]
In this dark place where only Senia and I were standing, soone else appeared.
The Interdiate Administrator Neptune.
He was a pygmy with skin sowhere between green and erald. The one-eyed Strear was So Yoohyuns Interdiate Administrator.
It really is too strange. Dont you think so too, great Guardians? This Player, sothings fishy about him for sure. Even for a Precognitive Dream user, this is simply too much. Theres a high chance of a System bug or error. Thats why I have submitted an Investigation Request. Oi. Is your na Kim Hyukjin? Staring at , Neptune continued talking with an overbearing attitude. Co closer.
A feeling similar to what I felt in front of the escalator earlier washed over .
[Eye of Perception is temporarily disabled.]
[Interdiate Administrator Neptunes coercion is activating.]
[The Forced Submission power of the Interdiate Administrator Neptune is taking effect.]
I was forced to walk to Neptune, regardless of my will.
Thud.
And then, I knelt. Like the na Forced Submission implied, it was a humiliating power.
Senia, you dunce. Say sothing, goddammit.
Senia wasnt able to say anything to Neptune. As one would expect from a real beginner Strear, she couldnt handle Neptunes unexpected actions.
Thats why shell be eliminated.
She was being suppressed by Neptunes aura. He likely held a far higher rank than her in the Strear world.
You wont survive like this, Senia.
I decided to speak for her.
Feel free to scan .
I didnt do anything that was forbidden by the System. To begin with, there was no way a Player barely in their mid-level 20s could use the bugs that would appear only five years from now. Neptune had to know this fact very well. This was what was commonly called stirring the pot, or aggroing.
Probably to promote his channel.
Since he couldnt independently stream , he was slandering with , the center of attention for the Guardians right now, as his target. You could think of it as sothing like marketing buzz.
And the current
is an easy opponent.
I was way weaker than him. That was an undeniable fact.
But.
If marketing buzz was what he wanted, and he was trying to use
for his own gain, then he should have looked a little more into the person he was trying to use.
What is your reasoning for accusing
of using a bug? How do you plan on paying the price for threatening and treating a completely innocent Player like a criminal?
I might be kneeling under the effects of Neptunes power, but I was confident I could overco this situation better than anyone else. There was no need to cower. I already knew about Neptune, as well as why he was doing this.
On top of that, I even knew Neptunes weakness.
I said one more thing.
Speak, pygmy.
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