I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents Chapter 24

I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

Chapter 24

The Transcender Gallery, where Han Yuseong disappeared, was still filled with stories about him.

Title: Did the gallery host leave? Did he?

Author: oo

– Ugh, it’s hard to pretend this is normal.

How is it that someone on just the 3rd floor killed a King Kobold? This is something I’ve never experienced before.

ㄴ Really LOL

ㄴ Why does this guy talk like this?

ㄴ A kobold using Sword Aura! Fight!

ㄴ Ice Queen) FREEZE, that’s impressive!

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) I expect we’ll soon see a period of level stagnation.

ㄴ Light’s Sword) I suppose so. I just hope he reaches level 20 before hitting that stagnation period.

ㄴ Archmage) Why are you even hoping? It’s something climbers have to breakthrough on their own anyway.

Han Yuseong kindly answered the Light’s Sword who asked about his stats before entering the 3rd floor stairway stage.

ㄴ Oh, right. When you exceed 100 in two or more stats, leveling gets disgustingly slow, right? But why is this crazy guy only experiencing this now? It’s the 3rd floor? I didn’t experience this until midway through the tower?

ㄴ Well, that’s because you… I mean, we.

ㄴ Pioneer) I wonder what will appear this time.

ㄴ Elf) But why is the climber the gallery host? Isn’t the gallery owner the host?

ㄴ That’s because the gallery’s theme revolves entirely around the climber, so that’s why we call him that.

ㄴ Gallery host, post something.

***

Forest of Beasts.

The forest with an obviously filthy name was actually ominous.

I sliced the beast that rushed at me baring its teeth as soon as I entered, using my counterattack sword Karnavalt.

The beast was huge, easily reaching at least 2 meters in height.

Its appearance resembled a wolf.

The dark red fur was clearly visible despite the darkness that had settled over the world.

This was possible because their fur emitted a subtle light.

SLASH!

I killed two beasts as soon as I entered.

I took out my terminal.

I took pictures of the corpses of the two dead beasts.

I went into the Transcender Gallery and wrote a post.

Title: 3rd floor stage is the Forest of Beasts.

Author: Anonymous*Attachment: 901903897.jpg

-But what kind of monster is this?

Comments started appearing frighteningly fast.

ㄴ Forest of Beasts? LOLOLOLOLOLOL

ㄴ For real you’re SCREWED! You got a troublesome place!!

ㄴ That thing is called a Malecanis beast. But that’s not what’s important right now.

I was about to ask what was important, when a comment appeared.

ㄴ Archmage) In the Forest of Beasts, you need to be more careful of the magical energy (magi) spreading through the forest than the beasts themselves.

ㄴ Archmage) Though that magical energy is ultimately emitted by the beasts.

ㄴ Anonymous**) Magical energy?

ㄴ Archmage) If you lose focus, you can become corrupted by the magical energy and harm yourself.

ㄴ Is self-harm the problem?

ㄴ For those with poor mental strength, there’s a high probability of getting stabbed and killed by your companions if you mistake them for enemies.

ㄴ I’m a normal player and my first entry to the Forest of Beasts was on the 35th floor, but you’re on the 3rd floor?

That level of surprise no longer shocked me.

Damn Pandemonium.

Rather, magical energy, huh.

Now I understand why the [Anti-Evil Bracelet] on my left arm started trembling slightly.

It seemed to be continuously exerting its effect.

[The level of skill ‘Composure’ has increased. Lv.6]

[The level of skill ‘Mental Barrier’ has increased. Lv.2]

‘Mental Barrier’ was a skill I acquired yesterday when facing the King Kobold, a passive skill that literally strengthened mental power.

Two passive skills related to mental strength leveled up simultaneously.

ㄴ Anonymous**) So do I need to keep being exposed to this magical energy?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Just eliminate the cause.

ㄴ Pioneer) The magical energy spreading through the Forest of Beasts doesn’t flow from the forest itself, but is released by powerful beasts. It means there’s a named beast nearby.

ㄴ Anonymous**) If I eliminate it, will the mental contamination stop?

ㄴ Pioneer) That’s right.

ㄴ Anonymous**) The quest I received is to join the rescue team and rescue the stranded members. Can I kill that beast first before meeting the members?

ㄴ Anonymous**) It doesn’t matter. You can’t even be sure you’ll rendezvous with the rescue team today or tomorrow.

ㄴ Spear King) That’s right. If you’re late, it could take 7 or 8 days to rendezvous.

ㄴ Pioneer) My personal record is miraculously making contact after 20 days. I thought I was going crazy.

ㄴ Archmage) Anyway, the main focus of such quests is rescuing the members rather than the rescue team. As long as you accomplish that, it doesn’t matter if the process changes a bit.

ㄴ Archmage) Assuming you properly complete the main point, there’s more freedom than you might think.

Indeed, even on the 2nd floor stage. I didn’t get heavily involved in the fortress defense, but I cleared it by killing the Orc Wizard who was the more fundamental villain.     
When I think of the second floor stage, I recall Risellin, the leader of the Lukerna mercenary group, and Yunez, who served as both guide and magic shuttle.

– Anonymous**) Is the world I experienced on the second floor unrelated to here? Or is it the same world?

– Light’s Sword) It’s most likely the same world. The world with the Ermein Empire, which you protected on the second floor, also has the Forest of Beasts. The timeline should also be mostly the same.

– Archmage) But we won’t encounter the ones we met before this time. The continent with the Ermein Empire and the continent with the Forest of Beasts are different.

– Ice Queen) FREEZE! The continent with the Ermein Empire is Valtera! The continent with the Forest of Beasts is Noxis!

– But is the forest really vast? It doesn’t seem that substantial?

I briefly took my eyes off the terminal to carefully survey the surroundings.

It’s far from insubstantial. It’s extremely dense. The black undergrowth is completely abundant.

– Anonymous**) The forest is very wide and lush.

– This also seems to be at a point later than when we were progressing. It’s disappointing to hear that after we nearly purified the Forest of Beasts, it’s returned to this state again.

– SERIOUSLY, Decan and I purified it with blood and sweat. Well, even then they did say that it had already been purified before I purified it, but it grew back because of the remaining magical beasts.

I see.

There’s just one more thing I’m curious about.

– Anonymous**) But how do we find the magical beast that’s spewing magical energy nearby?

– Heavenly Demon) Go in the direction where unpleasant memories keep continuing.

What does that mean?

– Priestess) The magical energy from intermediate and higher magical beasts makes those exposed to it recall past failures or memories they wanted to forget… scenes that are quite painful to the subject.

– Elf) Crappy things like the pain from serious past injuries also come back.

I was wondering why my right shoulder suddenly started to ache.

So it was because of the magical energy.

– Priestess) Even if you try not to recall it, you keep recalling it. It’s meant to break your body and mind and collapse your mental state. UUUGH… if it weren’t for the cooldown on inter-dimensional trading, I could just give you my personal talisman and everything would be neutralized… how unfortunate.

– Light’s Sword) NO NO, doesn’t your mental skill level increase? As long as you don’t die from them, it’s a good opportunity to build mental strength.

– Even in this situation, all you think about is growth! WOW! Psycho!

– As expected, full of fighting power.

– Dragon King of Demons) As expected! Beltui’s friend who only speaks the truth! BEEP BEEP

– Light’s Sword) Die.

– Archmage) Anyway, even if trauma comes back, don’t let your thoughts spiral. That’s when the magical energy properly infiltrates. Then your physical and mental strength will collapse in an instant. When you think you’re getting close to a magical beast, turn on Magic Body Enhancement.

– Tower Master) Intermediate and higher magical beasts also hunt monsters in the forest. If you suddenly see a lot of monster corpses, that could also be a trace of a magical beast spewing magical energy.

– Archmage) Don’t get consumed by the past.

I’ve obtained all the information I needed.

I turned off the gallery and started walking again.

The tingling sensation in my right shoulder intensified.

It must be a recreation of the shoulder injury that played the biggest role in ending my baseball career.

A headache also surged.

Voice-like hallucinations seeped into my ears.

– That mere ball game. Look, once someone like him gets a taste of it, they lose everything, don’t they?

– He should have just studied from the beginning. Look at him sitting there pretending to study after wasting all that time.

It was an unpleasant memory.

– What are you going to do now, you need to earn a living somehow.

But these weren’t emotions that amounted to fear for me.

The pitcher’s mound.

Me allowing a hit. Me allowing a home run.

The teammates and spectators looking at me.

When their faces and the baseball ground itself all appeared tilted like a crescent moon.

That was when I was most afraid.

Yes, just like the memory playing in my head right now.

[Skill ‘Mental Barrier’ level has increased. Lv.3]

But one thing, even that memory is just a memory now.

It was only fear when I couldn’t fulfill my role.

Now I don’t have time to wallow in inferiority.

There were too many things I had to do right now to survive, to climb this cursed tower.

I don’t have the luxury to indulge in past sentiments.

CRACK-

I slowly rotated my right shoulder to release the tension.

All the heavy sensation disappeared.

STEP.

[Magic Body Enhancement Lv.4 – Activating skill.]

The sight of what appeared to be dead goblins caught my eye.

Beyond them, I could see a one-eyed monster.

It was a beast with a tiger-like lower body. The upper body was humanoid.

But because its body and face were all covered with red fur, it was far from human.

“Is it you? The one making me have these strange thoughts?”   “…….”

The one-eyed monster didn’t give me an answer.

My gaze shifted.

I noticed a long-eared being tied beneath a huge tree next to the one-eyed monster.

A crimson-furred long-eared being, limp as if dead.

Not an elf. It appeared to be a demi-human that looked like some sort of feline race.

『You have encountered one of the rescue targets! Please safely hand over the target to the rescue team!』

That’s right.

It wasn’t specified that the rescue targets were human.

SWISH-

I adjusted my grip on the great sword Karnavalt.

I stepped forward toward the one-eye.

***

Hard difficulty 64th floor.

Hard difficulty tower numbering # 35.

A woman with long purple hair approached a blonde man sitting on a park bench reading a book.

“Union Leader.”

The leader of the Strategy Union, Targon, lifted his head from the martial arts book he was reading.

“We had a casualty at the exchange meeting for those below the 10th floor tier.”

Targon frowned at Raid Leader Bellasia’s words.

“Who?”

Bellasia opened her mouth again to answer.

“8th floor, 21st century Earthling. Baek Jin-young.”

The report had come up through the mail system to another 8th floor resident like Baek Jin-young.

Saying that Baek Jin-young had died.

The probability of a Hard difficulty player dying at an exchange meeting is low.

That’s because the difficulty experienced at exchange meetings is slightly easier than the difficulty they usually climb.

And it’s even more so for exchange meetings below the 10th floor tier.

“Did he die alone? Didn’t he enter the exchange meeting in a party state?”

Form parties of two or more within the same numbering tower in preparation for being summoned to exchange meetings.

That was the directive issued as the Strategy Union Leader.

Bellasia shook her head at Targon’s question.

“He refused, saying he already had promised party members in Normal difficulty. So he was on the watch list because we suspected he might be refusing parties from the same numbering tower to hide that he was doing PK.”

1. Player Kill.

It referred to murder between tower players.

“If he wasn’t killed by a monster, then he must have been trying to PK and got killed instead.”

“Yeah.”

Targon recalled the 2nd floor ranking score.

The very person who made him pay attention to the lower floors that he hadn’t been caring about.

1st – Private: 1,532 points

2nd – Union Leader: 784 points

The existence above himself.

Targon shook his head.

‘One, even if Private is a Hard difficulty player, the level difference between the 2nd and 8th floors is too great.’

Targon didn’t think for a moment that Private might be a Pandemonium player.

However, if they took first place above him in the 3rd floor ranking as well, he was determined to somehow obtain their personal information.

After crossing Private off the list of suspects in Baek Jin-young’s murder, Targon spoke indifferently.

“Have you secured the name of the Normal difficulty player who said they partied with Baek Jin-young?”

“Yeah, though I don’t know if they told the truth.”

“Then post an official notice on the Climber’s Gallery. See if there’s anyone who knows something. If it seems like it’ll take too much time, just leave it.”

Maintaining balance across all floors from the 1st floor of the tower.

That was the purpose with which the Strategy Union Tower was launched. But they had neither the leisure nor reason to perfectly take care of floors before the 30th floor, which couldn’t even access the Climber’s Gallery.

The reason they continued to create the perception of adequately looking after them was because of the <Tower>, which was only available for joining from the 30th floor and above.

It was just a design operation to maintain influence as the #1 <Tower>.

“Got it.”

After Bellasia left, Targon, alone again, murmured as he opened his book.

“I am curious.”

Whether you will surpass me and reach first place on the 3rd floor as well.

Targon’s eyes flashed sharply as he thought about ‘Private’.