🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 07
The Tower – Residential Floor 10 (2)
I skimmed through Agent K’s post on the community.
It started with a warning not to trust him, but the information Agent K provided seemed quite useful.
Of course, just like he—or she—said, I would have to take it with a grain of salt.
After returning to the 10th floor of the Tower, I immediately left the cathedral.
The city on the 10th floor consisted of European-style two- or three-story buildings.
The clothes of the people walking around who appeared to be Tower natives looked like something from around the Renaissance era.
Following the map in the guidebook, I headed to a blacksmith and weapon shop to sell the useless metal items: daggers and hand axes.
According to Agent K’s advice, weapon shops bought items based on their value as weapons, while blacksmiths bought them by weight as iron. So it was slightly better to sell chipped and rusty daggers and hand axes to blacksmiths who also operated as hardware shops.
Following Agent K’s advice to follow the community’s golden rule, I decided not to trust Agent K’s words and verify it myself.
“Hmm, the blacksmith gives 60 credits each, while the weapon shop gives 50 credits.”
Since the blacksmith and weapon shop were close to each other, checking the prices wasn’t difficult.
A new hand axe of similar size at the weapon shop cost 130 credits, but it couldn’t be helped that old used equipment was worth half as much.
Except for my spare weapon, the machete, and three hand axes as backup weapons, I sold everything to the blacksmith.
Including the 11 weapons I sold and the shield scraps (iron), I obtained 660 credits.
That was roughly equivalent to 66,000 won. It wouldn’t even be easy to stay for a single day with this.
“I should buy clothes first.”
Maybe because my digital-patterned combat uniform was unusual, the stares from those around me were sharp.
I wondered if some of the people looking at me might be climbers.
Seeing someone wearing a military uniform inside the Tower would naturally be strange.
For reference, ordinary enlisted soldiers who are not professional soldiers are ordered by the Minister of National Defense to immediately leave the Tower when they receive an invitation. If they refuse, their military service gets extended.
Following the guidebook, I entered a clothing store, and a middle-aged woman who seemed to be the owner looked at me with an interested gaze.
“Welcome. Feel free to look around.”
As I examined the clothes hanging inside the shop, they were more expensive than I expected.
The cheapest top was 500 credits, and the bottom was 600 credits.
A total of 1,100 credits.
The pants would probably attract less attention than the top, right?
I was wondering if I should at least buy the top first when the store owner spoke to me.
“Are you perhaps short on money?”
“Yes, well… a little?”
It wasn’t really a big problem since I could buy credits with points or sell potions at the potion shop.
“Then would you like to sell the clothes you’re wearing now? I’ll buy them for 1,500 credits.”
She seemed interested because my clothes looked different from those of ordinary climbers.
Well, dyeing a digital pattern would probably be difficult.
Rarity directly translated into price.
For a moment, I thought I had struck gold, but I pretended to think about it.
After all, I wanted to throw away these annoying clothes immediately.
And if I created another clone, the clothes would be created again too.
Ah, wait. If my clone disappeared, would the clothes disappear with it?
Then I shouldn’t sell them. It could accidentally become fraud.
“How about 2,000 credits?”
When I didn’t answer, the store owner raised the price, apparently wanting my clothes.
“Wait a moment. Could I use the restroom?”
“Yes, sure.”
Following the owner’s directions, I entered the restroom.
Surprisingly, the restroom had a porcelain toilet.
It was even connected to running water.
Unlike the Renaissance-like appearance of the city, the sewage and water systems seemed to be at a modern level.
Inside the restroom, I took off my clothes, placed them on top of the toilet, stepped away, and recreated my clone while wearing only underwear.
The new clone was wearing the exact same combat uniform as my original body, and the clothes I had placed on the toilet were still there as well.
“So when it’s separated from my body, it becomes an independent object?”
For now, there was no sign that the clothes would disappear.
If I observed the process of creating a clone, I could learn more details, but isn’t a person unable to even see their own face without a mirror?
I put the combat uniform into my bag and left the restroom.
“As you said, I’ll sell it for 2,000 credits. But I’ll remove the name tag.”
“Hmm… alright.”
The store owner accepted my offer.
I bought the clothes I originally intended to purchase and received 900 credits in change.
My current funds became 1,580 credits.
If I ran out of money, I could make clothes this way and sell them, couldn’t I?
Thinking that, I left the clothing store and headed toward a restaurant.
After creating a new clone just now, my body condition returned to that of the original, so my hunger had decreased, but I was still hungry.
My original body had only been inside the Tower for about 10 minutes.
Thinking about it, I had to eat with my real body too.
That way, when I created a new clone, I wouldn’t be hungry.
No, if it was based on the moment I entered the Tower, would eating with my original body keep things the same?
I wasn’t sure. Still, the fact remained that my original body couldn’t starve, so I needed to eat.
Looking at the clock tower in the center of the city, it was already close to 3 PM.
The 6th-floor maze and 8th-floor puzzle had taken a lot of time.
“Can I still get a meal?”
I asked because it was an awkward time to eat, and the restaurant owner said it was possible while pointing at the menu.
After sitting down, I ordered a chicken leg set meal. It seemed they already had one prepared because it was only reheated and came out quickly.
A salted, yellowish roasted chicken leg with the thigh still attached, a piece of bread slightly larger than a fist, some pickled vegetables, and a clear stew were served.
“You’re carrying weapons and wearing an unusual bag. Are you a climber?”
The restaurant owner showed interest in me. I answered while eating.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I see. They say your world has machines made of metal flying through the sky. Is that really true?”
It seemed he wasn’t interested in me, but in the world I came from.
“Yes. There are machines called airplanes.”
“Ha! How can a lump of metal fly in the sky? Is it magic after all?”
“I don’t know either.”
Just as the restaurant owner was interested in my world, I also became curious about the Tower and asked several questions.
“By the way, climbers should earn quite a lot of money, but the prices here aren’t very high?”
“Well, the Tower controls things to a certain extent, so it can’t be helped. If we don’t follow the guidelines, it controls the supplies coming into the city, so what can we do? If prices get too high, it becomes difficult for us too.”
So the Tower really was like a country, and it seemed there was an actual ruling power.
The restaurant owner asked me more questions about our world, and I answered honestly.
“Come to think of it, people living in the Tower are called natives rather than residents. Why is that?”
The priest had referred to themselves as natives.
Some Tower returnees called them natives, but more people called them indigenous residents.
“Ah, that? I don’t know either.”
“You don’t?”
“My father, my father’s father, and his father before him were all called natives, so it naturally stuck.”
After saying that, he seemed to remember something and added:
“Come to think of it, my ancestors—or rather, the ancestors of the people in this city—are said to have lived in another world like you climbers. Maybe they’re called that because they migrated here. Well, maybe that’s just what people believe.”
People who migrated from another world into the Tower.
Then were the people of this city descendants of ancient climbers from another world?
After that, we exchanged a few more questions and answers, but the restaurant owner didn’t know much either, so I couldn’t find out anything.
“Thank you for the meal. How much is it?”
“70 credits.”
As expected, the prices were cheap compared to the earnings.
After finishing my meal, I put the bag I bought from the noticeable military supply store into my inventory and transferred it to my original body.
Then I walked around the city like I was sightseeing, learning the layout.
I didn’t know how long it would take to reach the 20th floor, but until I reached it, this place would serve as a supply base and resting area.
If Agent K’s information was correct, time in the Tower supposedly moved about 10% faster every time one climbed a floor, so it seemed fine to take things slowly.
If Earth’s time was “1,” then the time on the 10th floor of the Tower was “1.1 to the 10th power.”
Calculating it, time on the 10th floor of the Tower passed about 2.59 times faster than on Earth.
That meant what the priest said was correct: although 10 years had passed since the Tower appeared on Earth, about 25 years had passed on the 10th floor of the Tower.
The Tower had appeared 10 years ago by counting calendar years, but not quite 10 full years had actually passed yet.
“It’s 3:20 PM here, so it should still be morning on Earth.”
Also, climbers who entered the Tower apparently did not age while inside, unlike the natives.
Among the posts on the Tower community, there was even a rumor that there was a climber who had lived in the Tower for 7,000 years, so I didn’t trust it at all.
If someone was going to talk nonsense, they should at least keep it reasonable. 7,000 years? Was he an elf from a Tolkien novel or something?
However, seeing that there were surprisingly many people on the community claiming they had lived in the Tower while maintaining their youth for over 30 years, maybe it wasn’t completely impossible.
Of course, claims like that weren’t very believable on a community where photos couldn’t even be uploaded.
While walking, I approached a suspicious old woman dressed like a witch.
“Is this the place that expands the inventory?”
The guidebook contained an introduction about the old woman.
The old woman, who had been dozing off, answered with a yawn.
“That’s right. Those world-whatever guys are good at their jobs. Originally, I had to sit around all day in that annoying cathedral, but now I only have to sit here during certain hours.”
The guidebook said she appeared here between 3 and 5 PM. Was this because she had an agreement with WPTO?
“I heard you can increase your inventory through a quest. Is that true?”
“That’s right. It’s written in the guidebook. On the 10th floor, you just pay 10 shop points. From the 20th floor onward, there are annoying errands attached, but I don’t expect that from a nobody who just reached the 10th floor.”
A nobody? That was too harsh.
“How do I transfer the points?”
“A handshake.”
I grabbed the hand the old woman extended. Then a transaction window appeared.
“It’s one of the shop’s functions. Teaching you this is the extent of my job.”
I placed 10 points into the transaction window.
Then, along with a notification that the transaction had been completed, a message window appeared.
[The common ability ‘Inventory’ has expanded to 1 kilogram.]
“Well, if you’re done, leave. Don’t block the sunlight.”
The old woman waved her hand as if telling me to get lost quickly.
I had things I wanted to ask the old woman, but she seemed to be saying not to bother her and used some invisible force to drive me away.
“Hmm, I guess I should visit the library after all.”
Agent K said the library was the place where all information in the Tower gathered. It might be an exaggeration, but it was definitely worth visiting once.
(To be continued)
