"Phew."
I returned to my hideout and washed the sweat off my soaked body.
Before properly exploring Starpang, I first needed to collect my exhausted body and mind.
[★ Cleared.]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
(Proof photo of clearing Floor 10 of the Tower of Fate)
(Photo of numbers and a timer floating in midair)
lol
That was easy, lol.
Upvotes 258 / Downvotes 32
[Comments]
Anonymous: LMAOOOOOO fuck.
┗ Anonymous: I can only laugh because this is so absurd lol.
6373: It hasn’t even been thirty minutes since you made this post, has it?
┗ Anonymous: I looked it up, and it’s true; no, seriously, what the hell is this guy??
┗ Anonymous: This bastard is talking normally now too lmao.
Anonymous: Wow... Looking at the time, he must’ve bulldozed straight through everything from the first floor onward.
Not an Eraser: Wow... I guess you really are lucky too...?!
┗ Not an Eraser: Still, you need to pace yourself...! What if you get hurt and collapse for no reason...
┗ Anonymous: What if he does?
┗ Anyone Will Do: She’ll give you a kiss.
┗ Anonymous: Wait up, I’m off to do a no-breathing speedrun.
┗ Anyone Will Do: I will♥
┗ Anonymous: Fuck.
631: What was the Tower of Fate’s Floor 10 on the first run again? Anyone remember?
┗ Second-Run Newbie: I think it was Russian roulette against your own clone.
┗ 631: Ah, that one? How the hell did he clear that on his first try lol?
Anonymous: Did you really clear ten floors in every tower in a single day? Seriously impressive.
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: Are you maybe, like, on your second run through the towers? Maybe the Irregular was something you took a picture of long ago too.
┗ dd: That would explain both why he begged us to let him browse the gallery as an Irregular and how he climbed this much in one day, yeah;
┗ Anonymous: That’s some insight worthy of an archmage for once.
┗ KingGodWiki (Author): Nah, lol.
┗ Anonymous: That’s some insight worthy of a baldness addict instead.
┗ Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: You fucker, you’re that guy from last time, aren’t you?
"Heh heh heh."
The comments had exploded while I was showering.
I spent quite a while looking through the new posts and comments that had piled up in that short time before closing the gallery app.
[StarWiki]
[Starpang] - No search results found.
‘It probably doesn’t know because this wasn’t originally in the tower.’
The wiki had no information about Starpang.
The only thing Starpang’s appearance told me was that more ‘internet’ functions like this could appear in the future.
"All right... then..."
Information gathering through the wiki was over. There was no information to be gained yet.
[Food]
When I opened the Starpang app, the category I had been viewing last came into sight.
I quietly looked over the countless modern foods spread beneath the category labeled Food.
Grrrrumble.
I’d suffered enough to die yesterday and today. Maybe I really had died.
So I figured I could afford this much of an investment.
I had climbed forty floors when I only needed to climb two.
[TP Owned: 5,000]
I didn’t know how much more of these points I could obtain, but I was certain I would keep earning them as I climbed the towers.
[All-Time Fastest Clear of Every Floor Up to Floor 10 Bonus - TP +1,000]
I did feel like I should save them, but they gave me a bonus, so surely I could splurge for one day.
I’d just risked my life working, and all I got to eat was bread like rocks and lukewarm water?
If I had no choice, that would be one thing. But I wasn’t so devoid of desire that I could see paradise right in front of me and turn away from it.
[Golden Oil Chicken] - 200 TP
[Beer 1 L] - 50 TP
[Glass] - 50 TP
.
.
.
[Total: 500 TP]
[Would you like to purchase?]
Press.
"Hesitation only delays delivery...!!"
I immediately purchased the food I had already put in my cart.
I still didn’t know how valuable TP was or how much I could acquire, but it was fine.
Giving myself this much of a reward, at least for today, was reasonable.
[Your order has been completed.]
[Remaining delivery time: 5 minutes]
‘That’s fast.’
I smiled as I watched the coins—or rather, TP—rapidly drain from the upper-right corner.
I had expected it to materialize right in front of me, but apparently not.
‘Still...’
If it was only five minutes, I thought I could happily enjoy the wait too.
Thunk.
Just as I tossed the rock in my hand—no, the bread—into the basket and was about to lie down under the blanket—
"Ah."
One thought came to mind.
A brief comment someone had once left in the gallery.
[Remaining delivery time: 4 minutes]
Watching the little time remaining, I entered the gallery as if possessed.
[I’m scared he’ll hit Floor 400 in a month and post proof]
[I feel so deprived that I’m taking a break for a while]
[For real, he’s got the talent to reach four digits]
[One or two towers would be one thing, but I’ve never seen anyone climb all four at that speed;]
[I’m a newbie who’s barely been here half a year... That’s my peer...?]
[Whaat; how is forty floors in twenty-four hours even possible? I can’t climb four floors in that time, fuck]
I lightly skimmed the list of posts, which was still plastered with stories about me, then pressed the button to write a post.
Normally, I would have checked them one by one, but I had something more important to do right now.
[Holy shit; newbie, urgent;; question;;]
As soon as I posted it, comments flooded in instantly, as though they had all been waiting for me.
One person, two people, three people....
Countless people, including the gallery moderator, all gave the exact same answer.
Grin.
"Just as I thought, right?"
I beamed as I read the comments I wanted, the answers I had been hoping for.
This was fun. I was so, so excited to see how they would change from here on out.
Ding!
[Delivery complete.]
[Delivery location: Outside your door]
‘Calling it outside the door really does make it feel like an online shopping mall.’
With the notification that it had arrived, I slowly headed out of my hideout—
Gulp.
"Wow... That smell is insane...."
As if bewitched by the scent of chicken filling the central common area outside the hideout, I gaped with my mouth open.
*
[★ A successful gallery bro.. Celebrating a full clear through Floor 10 with a hot FLEX~]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
(Sticker of a grotesque creature crying)
A newbie who successfully fully cleared through Floor 10.
After suffering all day and finally getting back, do I have to eat another chunk of bread?
(Sticker of a twintailed character in sunglasses holding a golden green onion)
I showered, lay down, browsed the gallery, then said screw it and just FLEXED~
(Photo of golden chicken steaming hot)
The SEXIEST FOOD in human history has arrived lmao.
What happens if you take a bite out of this crispy-looking skin right here?
(Photo showing white meat, oil, and chicken skin all at once)
The juices and the oil just...
Look at how tender~ tender~ this pale meat is lmao.
(Photo of a thumbs-up beside chicken with only the bones remaining)
The drumstick vanished in the blink of an eye;;
I wondered who the hell stole it, but then I felt that warm sensation sliding down my esophagus lol.
And just as happiness fills you from your esophagus down to your stomach...
(Photo of cold beer with white foam rising on top)
This guy must be nervous, sweating buckets outside the glass like he can’t hold it in lol.
Before taking a gulp, I pressed it to my cheek first, and that icy chill just hits you all at once!!
(Photo of cold beer reduced by half)
I forgot to even breathe and chugged half of it until the carbonation stung my throat lol. (It’s a half-shot, not a one-shot, because I only drank half hehe.)
(Photo of a chicken wing smothered in seasoning sauce)
Just as the chill of the beer sends a tingling numbness from head to toe, I chomp this before it can fly away! Lol.
Look at that spicy-sweet sauce dripping down, huh? Lol.
(Photo of chicken with only the bones remaining)
(Photo of a container full of pure white pickled radish)
I immediately trap it in my stomach so it can’t escape, then pop these tiny cute friends that have been waiting just for me into my mouth in one bite!
And slurp down the broth that cleanses my mouth full of oil lol.
Of course, I can’t end it here, so right away──
.
.
.
Dreams☆Come True
DREAMS★ CUM TRUE
Upvotes 1,375 / Downvotes 256
[Comments]
Anonymous: ???
Anonymous: What the fuck is this?
6373: ? Food?
Long-Eared Noble O, Elf X: Fruit... How long has it been since I last saw fruit that looked that fresh...!!
┗ Long-Eared Noble O, Elf X: Where in the world did you get it?!
Superiority of Dual Swords: Chicken...? What is chicken... What in the world is that?!?!
┗ Superiority of Dual Swords: Please give some to this one too! How can I eat it?!?!
MAGA: Fucking Kentucky Fried Chicken? Oh my God...
Man Hotter Than Flames: Beer...? Could it be alcohol? Alcohol cold enough to make your body tingle in a place where even water is nothing but lukewarm...?
Rabbit Hops: Wait, wait, wait!! What is this?! Please share some with me too!!
┗ Rabbit Hops: (Sticker of a rabbit staring wide-eyed and blinking)
┗ Dog That Barks at Idiots: (Sticker of a dog barking like mad)
┗ Rabbit Hops: Can’t you see those pictures?! Leave proper comments already!!
1547: Ah... I’m seeing actual food our ancestors supposedly ate for the first time... Wow, it looks fucking delicious...
Anonymous: Cake...? That’s cake...? Then what the hell was the cake I knew supposed to be...?
Drip.
"Siiiip...."
Gulp.
I roughly wiped the drool streaming from the corner of my mouth and refreshed the newbie’s post.
As the long post and photos appeared again from the beginning, my fingers moved as if possessed.
"......"
I couldn’t understand what I was looking at right now.
I had no idea what any of this was. I wasn’t sure whether I was dreaming or whether I had somehow been trapped in the Tower of Mindscape by mistake.
Midway through the post, which contained well over ten photos.
[Video]
Press.
[Rattle, rattle, rattle... Clink, clink, clink, clink...]
"W-Wow...."
Ice poured into a clear glass.
Pitch-black cola—real cola from the old era before the apocalypse—filled the glass to the brim.
"N-No, you can’t...!"
Brown foam ran over the edge of the glass.
Cola was spilling outside the glass, which couldn’t hold it all.
[Ah, shit...!]
The video ended with the newbie’s voice as he belatedly realized it was overflowing.
Perfectly refrigerated S-rank cola.
‘With just one of those, you could trade for several weeks’ worth of canned creature meat....’
I could still vividly remember those days when a person’s head could burst, but a can of cola was made so it never could.
I still couldn’t forget the old man who died hugging a cola in a street where bombs were exploding.
Drip.
"Siiip...."
What kind of person was this damned... no, this awful newbie?
Was he really a newbie? Did he even know what he had just done?
Did he know what kind of bomb he had dropped in front of gallery users who had spent hundreds, thousands of years drinking nothing but hard bread and lukewarm water?
"Haa...."
He had to know. He had done this because he knew.
[Holy shit; newbie, urgent;; question;;]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
Do I seriously have to eat nothing but this rock-like bread and lukewarm water for the rest of my life?
[Comments]
Not an Eraser: Yes... You should consider yourself lucky they even give you that...
┗ KingGodWiki (Author): Oh dear... How unfortunate...
┗ Not an Eraser: Unfortunate??
Grit.
If he hadn’t known, he wouldn’t have written a post like this!
"Haa...."
I was angry. I belatedly understood what he had meant by unfortunate.
If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have answered him.
I would have just blocked him and never unblocked him.
‘No, wouldn’t that still be too cruel...?’
Someone would have answered him even if it wasn’t me, so there was probably no harm in replying.
He hadn’t broken any rules, and there was nothing particularly wrong with it.
I was just a little jealous.
[Rattle, rattle, rattle...]
I was trying to stop watching, but my finger moved on its own again.
As if possessed, I played the video that was like the dream of a lifetime once more.
I shouldn’t be doing this.
I had to manage the gallery.
[New comment from KingGodWiki]
[New post from KingGodWiki]
Even when comments were left for the newbie, even when the newbie made a new post.
I couldn’t do anything at all.
‘Seriously... Seriously, what kind of person is he...?’
How could he drive people this crazy?
[Rattle, rattle, rattle... Clink, clink, clink, clink...]
"Ah...!!"
*
[First one here gets chicken, go go]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
Congratulations to you, the person reading this post!
You have become chicken!
[Comments]
Chicken: Ah.
┗ KingGodWiki (Author): Congratulations! Just change your username lol.
┗ Chicken: Thank you.
Anonymous: Is this guy actually insane?
Anonymous: Ah, I came in expecting so much.
Anonymous: And wasn’t that comment written by him too? He got blocked yesterday and made a fuckton of accounts.
┗ Anonymous: Seeing him say thank you, it really does seem like it’s him; is he fucking crazy?
"Too bad."
They caught me.
There probably wasn’t even a concept of burner accounts here, so I suppose people didn’t survive in this tower just for show.
I polished off the chicken, which was incomparably more delicious than usual, along with dessert, which I normally didn’t even eat.
‘Why does something like this make me so happy?’
I could have enjoyed things like this whenever I wanted in my original world.
Yet simply because the place and circumstances had changed, the happiness I felt was on another level.
It felt as if my happiness had doubled—no, increased tenfold.
[I want to eat food from my hometown too..] (4)
[Chicken? If anyone’s tried that, give us a review] (12)
[I’m seriously so jealous. If you’re in alchemy, can you make food too?] (7)
[Can you even drink that black stuff?? It looks fucking dangerous;] (10)
Was this what they meant by loving thy neighbor?
Just seeing them made me smile. Well, not their faces—their usernames.
After smiling as I watched the gallery for quite a while—
[Remaining delivery time: 1 minute]
‘It should be here soon.’
Right before the delivery arrived, I left my hideout.
Clench...!
‘This is how I escape.’
I had enjoyed my reward enough. Now it was time to check the results of the Starpang experiment.
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