“……That’s impossible.”
But my ability was telling me otherwise.
This really was an arrow made by elves.
Moreover.
[Elven Ritual Arrow]
─The arrow guides the way to the trial.
‘It leads me to a trial…….’
As soon as the message said it would lead me to a trial, the arrowhead began to glow.
A small cluster of light pointed ahead, as though showing me the way.
What kind of trial could it be?
Is it a trial in the literal, dictionary sense of the word?
And.
‘Does clearing the trial mean I’ll get something?’
I was curious.
Just like the Sage’s Workshop I had discovered before…….
Could I obtain some kind of reward this time as well?
I slowly pictured gold and jewels.
“I should go and see for myself.”
I followed the arrow’s guidance.
Toward the light.
I moved forward, using concealment to avoid the monsters, and gradually made my way higher.
As I continued onward.
I was currently on the ninth floor.
Fortunately, thanks to some kindhearted guild members, the ninth-floor boss was dead, so the path upward was open.
There was just one problem.
‘Just how far is this thing taking me?’
I had no way of knowing exactly where the light was leading me.
Moreover, above this floor was…….
The tenth floor.
A significant floor for every Hunter, no matter how one looked at it.
I was nervous because clearing it was the minimum threshold for being recognized as a proper Hunter.
“All right. Let’s go.”
Even so, I did not stop.
Hell, I’d knifed a Hunter above my level and beaten him. Why wouldn’t I be able to clear the tenth floor?
I erased my fear and continued onward, heading up the stairs.
A faint light began to seep into the dark cave, and gradually, I felt something like a refreshing breeze.
There it was.
The scenery beyond.
“Whoa, damn…….”
I could only smile quietly at the exclamation that escaped me the moment I saw the view.
It was a vast forest.
That was right.
Instead of the shitty caves I had seen until now, a vast forest unlike anything one could ever see in the city stretched out before me.
─WHOOOSH.
I enjoyed the refreshing breeze for a moment and thought to myself.
“So this is why they say you have to reach the tenth floor before you’re recognized as a Hunter.”
I had wondered why it had to be the tenth floor, but now I understood.
I could finally feel firsthand that everything I had seen of the Tower until now was merely a tutorial stage before the real thing even began.
The true adventure started here.
─Clench.
I simply tightened my grip on my sword.
***
I walked through the forest.
The scenery had changed, but just like on the floors below, I had to remain vigilant in every direction.
No, I had to be even more vigilant here.
‘There are too many places to hide.’
Unlike a cave, a forest offered far too many hiding places.
The tops of the trees, the dense undergrowth, and even behind the enormous trunks.
With so many places for monsters or people to hide, I had to raise my guard another level.
If I let my guard down…….
─Rustle, rustle.
“Hmm?”
I looked toward the sound.
Only the dense undergrowth was trembling.
Did I imagine it?
Just as I was about to turn away, thinking I had overreacted…….
Something caught my eye.
A small flower blooming beneath a tree.
“Wait. This is…….”
I did not know much about flowers or plants, but it looked familiar.
In that case…….
[The ability ‘Analysis’ has activated.]
[Pure Herb]
─A medicinal herb used to heal wounds.
─Highly effective at relieving pain.
“So it really is a medicinal herb? Is everything different from the tenth floor onward?”
Before the tenth floor, the Tower’s environmental features had consisted of nothing but rocks and useless mushrooms.
Analysis had been no use on those…… but now that the environment had changed, it seemed to have far more uses.
And this was not the only one.
“This one looks like a medicinal herb too.”
[Hemostatic Mushroom]
─Applying the mushroom’s juice produces a hemostatic effect.
“It’s a whole field of medicinal herbs…….”
When I looked down, I saw countless flowers and plants growing across the ground besides those two medicinal herbs.
It was enough to make me wonder.
What the hell were the Hunters doing, leaving all these valuable resources untouched?
Or am I the only one who can identify them?
It was a reasonable conclusion.
Hunters were nothing but money-crazed bastards. Would they really leave medicinal herbs that could bring money rolling in untouched?
It made far more sense to assume that no one knew what they were.
No, this has to be it.
‘I only recognized them because I have Analysis. Who the hell would be crazy enough to chew on a flower and smear it over a wound?’
Exactly. No one but a complete lunatic would ever do something like that.
Naturally, this was great for me.
It meant I could monopolize all these flowers.
And.
“This means I can finally throw away this piece-of-shit, lowest-grade potion.”
The damn thing was so overpriced that my hands and feet trembled every time I bought one, but now I could finally say goodbye to it.
These medicinal herbs worked better, so there was no reason to use garbage like this. You’re officially banished from my bag.
For now, I would sweep as many as possible into my bag, and if I needed more later, I could come back here…….
─Tingle.
─CLANG—!
“That son of a bitch…….”
I raised my right hand, which held the sword.
“It tried to ambush me?”
─SKREEEE—!!
A gigantic spider stood before me.
No wonder something had felt off…….
‘Good thing I raised my stats.’
The instant I felt something was wrong, I had quickly swung my sword.
If I had been even a little slower…… I did not want to think about it.
[Giant Spider]
─A gigantic spider that inhabits forests.
─Its enormous maw secretes paralytic venom.
‘So it has venom…… I’d better avoid getting bitten at all costs.’
─!!
─SKREE! SKREEEE—!!
The creature raised its two enormous forelegs.
It swung them at me like a pair of swords, and I responded with a faint grin.
─SWISH—! SWOOSH—!
The razor-sharp forelegs swept past right in front of my nose.
They were faster than I had expected, but not so fast that I could not dodge them.
And.
[Using the skill ‘Enfeeblement (B).’]
You won’t be moving that fast ever again anyway.
─SKREEEE—!!
As though it realized it had been afflicted with Enfeeblement, the creature raged, but it could no longer move at its previous speed.
As it slowed, its strength weakened as well.
─CLANG—!
It had become weak enough for me to knock its attack aside easily with one hand.
In a textbook parry, I knocked aside its foreleg, then returned my sword to its sheath the moment the creature exposed an opening.
I lowered my stance and moved without pause.
[Using the skill ‘Demon Flash (A).’]
─SLICE—!
I bisected it on the spot.
I had defeated a monster on the tenth floor.
Put another way, it meant my combat strength worked here.
The implication was simple.
‘My combat strength is at least Grade 3 now.’
It meant I had risen to Grade 3, the same level as that thug bastard who had nearly killed me.
No, since I had skills, I might even be able to deal with someone one weight class higher—a Grade 2 Hunter.
[You have acquired experience.]
[Proficiency has accumulated in your skills.]
[‘Trained Body (E+)’ proficiency is 66%.]
[‘Light Footwork (E+)’ proficiency is 80%.]
“It’s piling up fast.”
The more experience I accumulated, the higher the corners of my mouth rose.
Even objectively speaking, my growth rate was abnormally fast.
Who could have imagined that someone who had struggled on the fifth floor would reach the tenth in only a few days?
Whether I should call it fortunate or not, even the rate at which I gained experience seemed to far surpass the growth rate of others.
If I kept pushing forward like this, I felt as though I could raise my skills another grade before the day was over.
‘I guess higher floors give more experience.’
It felt like I was at a low level but earning a massive amount of experience all at once by killing a powerful monster.
At this rate, I might reach Grade 2 before long.
No, I might even reach the stage beyond it that I had only ever dreamed about…….
“Come to think of it, what’s this thing going to drop?”
─SIZZLE…….
As though to show that it was dead, the spider lay belly-up while its body bubbled into black liquid and began to disappear.
Killing a monster produced materials corresponding to it.
It was practically a law, and my chest swelled with anticipation.
What would it drop?
The forelegs that had threatened me earlier? Or the spider’s menacing fangs?
Or perhaps even something like a venom sac…….
─Thud.
What dropped before me was a black plate.
“What the hell is this?”
The object in my hand was flat and incredibly hard.
It was hard enough to make my hand ache slightly when I knocked on it.
[Giant Spider Carapace]
─A carapace harder than steel.
─Flexible yet extremely tough, making it an excellent material for armor.
“A carapace……?”
It was the carapace that had covered the creature’s body.
Since I was the one who had cut through it with a sword, I knew exactly how tough it was.
‘Is armor the best use for it?’
I held the carapace against my chest.
It was larger than I had expected, large enough to cover my chest completely.
Its size brought a smile to my face.
I had made my decision.
“I can roughly make some holes with my sword…… then tie it so it covers my front and back…….”
Do you know what a life of crushing poverty teaches you?
You naturally learn how to make and mend clothes.
After all, if I had not done at least that much, I would have had nothing to wear.
I strapped the crudely patched-together protector to my chest with cord.
“Oh…… So this is why people wear armor.”
─THUMP, THUMP.
The sight of the sturdy protector made the corners of my mouth rise higher and higher.
I could not believe I had made and donned the first piece of armor in my life with my own hands.
Buying something like this outside would set me back several million won at least…….
I could not help smiling at my handmade armor.
Exactly. Why waste money buying it?
If I gathered the materials and made it myself, it cost zero won.
And…….
“A chest protector alone isn’t enough.”
Now that I had one piece of armor, I wanted even more.
Since I had already made one, would it not be nice to have armor for my arms, legs, and thighs as well?
─SKITTER.
─Skree……?
I looked at the spider stealthily approaching me from a tree.
“Come here, motherfucker. I’ll fuck up every last one of you until your kind goes extinct today.”
Don’t I need a full set if I want to look the part?
***
“I feel like a completely different person.”
The spider armor covering my body made me feel like someone important.
Clothes make the man, as they say.
No, was it that clothes are wings? Whatever.
Clothes and armor really were important.
Simply wearing them sent my self-esteem soaring through the roof.
At this rate…….
─DRIFT…….
“This is…….”
The deeper I traveled into the forest, the thicker the fog became.
My field of vision gradually narrowed, and I felt the temperature around me dropping because of the fog.
Anyone who was not a fool would have realized it.
‘This is the place.’
This was where the light had been guiding me.
And something peculiar to this place was beginning to grip me.
I forced aside the illusion that the dense fog was making me slightly short of breath and continued onward.
Something gradually came into view within the thickening fog.
“Is that……?”
Beyond the fog, a black silhouette stood amid the white haze.
A tall figure with pointed ears.
A sharply angled, statue-like face that I could make out even from a distance.
Even its benevolent gaze as it stood still and watched me.
It was an elf.
There was an elf beyond the fog.
Was there really an elf inside the Tower?
The thought made me quicken my pace until I was running.
Alongside my anticipation that it might truly be an elf, I had quite a few questions I wanted to ask.
And one more thing.
I longed to see the gentle, beautiful elf up close.
I ran while clutching my chest as it swelled until it felt ready to burst.
“Huh……?”
As I drew closer, the number of elven silhouettes began to multiply.
There was more than one.
Could they have built a village in here?
And had the light guided me all the way to it?
Once I had drawn close enough, I waved at them and shouted.
“Excuse me!! Are you really……?”
─Stop.
My footsteps halted.
My eyes trembled.
My feet grew heavy.
And beads of cold sweat gradually began to trickle down my back.
What is this?
The elven silhouettes had looked normal from afar, but something was strange now that I was closer.
They were far too angular to be people.
And.
─BZZT—!
A red point of light glowed in the center of each face, glaring at me.
“Uh……?”
Just as my mind began to freeze in confusion…….
─WHIZZ—!
─BANG—!
“Urgh…….”
An arrow flew in and struck my shoulder.
Fortunately, the armor I had made prevented any injury, but now I could see their true forms with my own eyes.
Those were not elves.
Their faces and bodies were so angular that they appeared to be made of metal.
Something like a red core was embedded in each chest, and each pair of eyes had been replaced by a single red light.
The moment I reached that conclusion…….
[Welcome to the Trial of the World Tree.]
“The trial……?”
[Survive the golems.]
─HUMMM—!
Golems.
They’re not elves—they’re elven golems?
“This is fucking bullshit.”
Fuck.