I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents
Chapter 47
The 6th floor was cleared in two days.
The theme was a simple dungeon.
The enemies were orcs that relied on sheer numbers, so they weren‘t particularly difficult to deal with.
Of course, fighting the boss monster was still no easy task.
The Orc King was a bit tough.
As befitting the king of a species, he was slightly stronger than Kylas, the 5th Rank knight I faced on the 5th floor.
Still, I succeeded in killing him.
My body was slightly crushed, but I restored it by levelling up after the kill.
I chose to keep climbing without rest.
After receiving as much attention from the constellations on the 6th floor as I did on the 5th floor,
I blocked all constellation notifications until the end upon entering and clearing the 7th floor stage.
The 7th floor.
The 7th floor was cleared in four days. The theme of the 7th floor was defense.
It involved fending off monsters called Murgans, which had crow-like heads.
Fortunately, thanks to the hard-difficulty seniors who knew Murgans‘ weaknesses, I was able to deal with them relatively easily.
It was a relief that the stage was littered with plenty of javelins for throwing.
I hesitated about whether to climb to the 8th floor.
There were only four days left until the Exchange Meeting.
It wouldn‘t be a problem to train a bit and then be summoned to the Exchange Meeting, but I decided to climb up to the 8th floor.
My level was just about to reach 36.
My experience was at 94%, after all.
In the end, after clearing the 8th floor and arriving at the 9th-floor stairway waiting room,
My current level is now 37.
And then—
*BEEP— BEEP—*
March 25th
11:46:21
Only 14 minutes remained until the Exchange Meeting entrance.
The 8th floor involved helping citizens evacuate from a natural disaster—an earthquake.
So, for four days straight, I had to keep moving.
Fortunately, on the last day, the earthquake had completely stopped, and I was able to sleep in a safe place, so my stamina was fully restored.
Since I hadn‘t reached the 11th floor yet, according to the tower’s rules, I would once again face players from the 1st to the 10th floors in the <Exchange Meeting>.
I opened my inventory.
I equipped the Mask of the Red Night, which I received as a reward for clearing the 4th-floor stage.
[Mask of the Red Night]
Classification – Mask
Effects:
1 – Opponents facing the user wearing the mask cannot see the user‘s “eyes.” Therefore, immunity to most skills that activate through eye contact.
2 – Provides vision in darkness.
Grade: B+
The Mask of the Red Night, which I hadn‘t used until now.
I had been saving it for the Exchange Meeting.
SWOOSH—
I put on the mask.
On my left hip, I sheathed Mundum Exstinguit.
On my right, I equipped the Blood Dagger discreetly so it wouldn‘t be visible.
After finishing my preparations, I meditated briefly.
Soon, my vision was filled with light.
[The Tower Exchange Meeting has begun.]
[Tower Exchange Meeting Server #1401]
[Tower Exchange Meeting Theme: Mission]
[Participants: 10]
[Entering.]
My vision fully restored.
A few more notifications popped up.
[Automatic language translation system activated.]
[Cooperate with the gathered participants to clear the dungeon.]
Participants: 10.
The number itself was higher than the last Exchange Meeting, but unlike before, no one was immediately visible in front of me.
The place I was in wasn‘t just ground—it was atop a fortress wall.
I briefly gazed at the clouds spread across the sky.
The <Exchange Meeting> was said to be a stage invisible to the constellations.
Well, if they could see it, I would‘ve been receiving notifications nonstop since the first Exchange Meeting.
I faintly expanded my Qi sense. I could sense the presence of six people below.
Expanding Qi sense didn‘t mean I could precisely pinpoint their locations like X-ray vision.
But I could definitely tell how many there were.
When I first started using Qi sense on the 5th floor, even that was uncertain, but now I could confidently gauge the number.
Though if someone of a higher Rank deliberately hid their presence, I‘d be in trouble.
“Just drop all the useful items you have. If you‘ve got any rare belongings, hand those over too.”
A rough voice.
The fortress wall I stood on wasn‘t very high.
That was my current position.
“O-okay…”
A deflated voice reached my ears.
“You think we‘re gonna kill you? It’s a mission-type event, so we gotta cooperate. Just lay out all your useful weapons and items. Then, the people who can actually use them properly will take charge. That‘s the idea.”
What a load of nonsense.
Four people intimidating two others.
Above the heads of the four, two had <10> and the other two had <9>.
After clearing the 8th-floor stage and arriving at the 9th-floor stairway waiting room, the number above my head was also <9>.
The two being pressured had <7> and <8> above their heads.
Including me, there were seven people nearby.
The remaining three seemed to be farther away.
Even with Qi sense, I couldn‘t sense their presence.
Or maybe it was related to the theme of this Exchange Meeting: “Mission.”
*CLANG—*
*THUD—*
The sound of the two surrounded by the four dropping their items reached me.
Those four were probably like Baek Jin-young and Sun Haoran, whom I killed in the first Exchange Meeting—a pre-formed party.
The fortress wall I stood on had a perfectly intact staircase leading down.
THUD THUD
I began descending the stairs.
The people below finally noticed me.
The four pressuring the two had hair colors of all sorts.
The gender ratio was exactly half and half.
“…What‘s with that mask?”
The mask.
Nice.
This time, I didn‘t even need to use a fake name. I’d just let them call me “the mask.”
THUD—
After fully descending the stairs and planting both feet on the ground, the four surrounding the <7> and <8> approached me.
The man with <10> above his head was at the front.
He had bright brown hair and blue eyes.
“Hand over any useful weapons and all rare items from your inventory.”
The man, who bluntly threw out those words, scanned me from head to toe and then smirked.
“Just give us what you‘ve got on your waist right now. You’ve got a lot. Start with that red mask.”
I understood why they were acting so unreasonably.
They were probably disregarding the fact that I was a Pandemonium climber.
Even though the number above my head was <9>, they likely thought that with two 10th-floor residents and two 9th-floor residents teaming up, they couldn‘t possibly fail to kill me.
The man continued speaking.
“No need to freeze up like that. We‘re not planning to kill you. Mission themes are all about cooperation—I get it. Who knows what’ll happen if we reduce our numbers without even knowing the mission? Right?”
No plans to kill me, huh.
“We‘re just checking everyone’s items. I just want to properly lead this Exchange Meeting. You get what I‘m saying?”
“Name.”
“Huh?”
“What‘s your name?”
The man answered my question readily.
“Matthew Bennett.”
“American?”
“Yeah, I‘m American.”
I stored my sword, Mundum Exstinguit, in my inventory.
I had sheathed it earlier to prepare for monsters, not other climbers.
SWOOSH
I only checked if my combat gloves, reminiscent of military gear, were properly equipped.
Before entering the 8th-floor stage, the topic I discussed with the Transcender Gallery seniors was the second Exchange Meeting currently underway.
Title: My level‘s pretty high for my floor, right?
Author: Anonymous**
- I‘ll probably enter the Exchange Meeting at around level 36 or 37.
ㄴ Of course it‘s high.
ㄴ That Baek Jin-young guy you killed before was level 15 on the hard-difficulty 8th floor. By current standards, he‘d be the average hard-difficulty player. Even if someone’s cleared the 9th floor and is on the 10th floor… they probably wouldn‘t exceed level 20.
ㄴ The guys you‘ll meet now aren’t from Murim or other worlds, not yet.
ㄴ You‘d need to climb past the 30th floor to see those kinds of people.
ㄴ Archmage) Among the 21st-century Earthlings you‘ll meet in the Exchange Meeting now, there’s no one who could pose a variable to you.
ㄴ Light‘s Sword) Control your strength properly.
ㄴ Heavenly Demon) If someone carelessly provokes you, their head might explode.
ㄴ Sewer Sword Sage) You‘re at that level of disparity now.
No plans to kill me.
That seemed true.
They had robbed the two next to them but hadn‘t killed them.
To put it nicely, they wanted to be leaders.
They were just playing king.
These four.
In the middle of the ground where we stood, a blue pillar marked the area.
That meant this place served the same role as the stairway waiting room.
Walking further would take me out of this waiting area.
I decided what to do.
“Attention.”
The man, Matthew, furrowed his brow and tilted his head at my words.
“What?”
“I won‘t kill you either. But I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”
“What the hell are you talking about, you psycho? You‘re doing this in the recovery zone?”
CRACK!
I dodged the messy trajectory of Matthew‘s axe swing and punched his right shoulder.
CRUNCH—
The sound of bones shattering echoed, and Matthew‘s mouth fell open.
“W-wait.”
I kicked his wobbling abdomen, sending him tumbling.
BANG!
I stomped on his chest with my right foot.
CRUNCH!
The sound of ribs breaking was unmistakable.
“ARGHHH!”
Next, I stomped on his left collarbone.
SNAP!
The sound of bones breaking rang out clearly.
Such arrogance.
CRACK!
I lightly stepped on his face too.
The area with the blue pillar had the same recovery ability as the stairway waiting room.
But like the stairway waiting room, there was a delay before recovery kicked in.
I had discussed this timing in the gallery comments right before entering the 8th-floor stage.
ㄴ Archmage) Even in the Exchange Meeting‘s waiting room, recovery takes at least 10 seconds.
ㄴ Sewer Sword Sage) Unlike the stairway waiting room, which is almost instant at 3 seconds.
ㄴ Heavenly Demon) More than enough time to kill someone if you want to.
10 seconds.
Plenty of time to feel pain.
“GUH… UGH.”
Matthew, still on the ground, clutched his face and curled up like a shrimp.
The three remaining—a platinum-blonde woman with <10> above her head and a man and woman with <9>—stood awkwardly, weapons in hand.
“What are you doing? Kneel.”
The sound of three weapons hitting the ground echoed.
