[Cleared the 1st floor—is it normally this easy?;;]
[Author: KingGodWiki]
(Photo of the run count and timer floating in midair)
[ 1 / 7 ] This is right, yeah? I entered the [Tower of Trials].
Also, did that fucking mod write the announcement like that and then tell people to read it?
Upvotes 141 Downvotes 21
[Comments]
Anonymous: ?? You cleared it already?? How?
Anonymous: If you’re this good at clearing the Tower of Trials, you’re gonna suffer in the Tower of Wisdom lol
Second-Run Newbie: I’m pretty sure it took me two hours during my first run...
┗Anonymous: That’s the average. This guy’s just insanely fast.
Rabbit Hops: Already...? That’s incredibly impressive...!!
┗Rabbit Hops: (Rabbit clapping emote)
┗Anonymous: (Dog barking like crazy emote)
┗Rabbit Hops: Why are you using that emote?!
┗Anonymous: Dog That Barks at Idiots wasn’t here, so I used it in their place.
┗Dog That Barks at Idiots: (Dog giving a thumbs-up emote)
Anonymous: Are you a wizard? Or one of the demihumans? You don’t have a weapon on your first run.
┗Anonymous: There was that guy with eight arms who cleared it in twenty minutes once. Maybe it’s something like that?
┗Anonymous: Oh, right. Could be a martial artist type, too.
dd: The mod’s announcement really is fucking annoying lol
Not an Eraser🔸: I’m sorry... But congratulations...!!
┗KingGodWiki (Author): I feel like I’ll be deeply disappointed if all the other announcements are the same.
┗Not an Eraser🔸: ......Should I revise them and post them again?
┗KingGodWiki (Author): Oh, that’s kinda hot.
┗Anonymous: You fucking lunatic lmao
┗Virgin Wizard: You really are the real deal of all real deals.
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: Where are you from? Are you human? Or from some other lifeform lineage?
┗Anonymous: Obviously not an ordinary human. How would a human clear the first floor of their first run this fast? lol
Orange Sex: So which do you think is cooler, fire wizards or water wizards?
┗Water > Fire: Fire, obviously hehe.
┗Orange Sex: Nah; water has way more original flavor, seriously.
"Nice."
I’d made the post without much thought, but it had become a featured post again.
I’d even changed my username, yet people still recognized me. That made me weirdly proud.
I hadn’t said exactly how many minutes it took, but the reaction would probably be even bigger if I told them the truth.
I considered telling them I’d cleared it in under a minute, but right now, I wanted information more than I wanted to hang around the gallery.
‘Wizards, demihumans, other lifeform lineages...’
I’d gotten the feeling just from the commenters’ usernames, but this place clearly wasn’t an ordinary Earth.
There were phones, galleries, even a wiki. I’d thought it might be a world set a little in the future, but apparently that wasn’t it either.
After all, a sci-fi setting didn’t necessarily have wizards in it.
Just because someone could perform something like magic didn’t mean they were the same as a fantasy-world wizard.
[Anyone else from around here?] (12)
[It’s seriously hard to find someone from the same region] (5)
[Whoa, I found someone from the same place as me in the gallery lol] (32)
‘This is all pretty vague.’
When I searched the gallery for "where you’re from," a few posts that seemed to be looking for people from the same hometown appeared.
I skimmed through the posts and comments, but couldn’t find any particularly useful information.
It felt like they were just talking about things only they understood and confirming they were from the same place.
As I kept trying countless search terms, wondering what would bring up proper information...
[☆ Revised) Information for Infinite Regression Gallery newbies...!] (999+)
[Author: Not an Eraser🔸]
I found a post the mod had just revised and bumped.
‘Hot.’
That perverted mod.
*
‘I see. I understand perfectly now.’
When I searched StarWiki for the terms "where you’re from" and "gallery," neat, comprehensive explanations came up.
To summarize:
People from countless dimensions and countless eras had gathered here.
From ancient times to the future, from worlds of swords and magic to sci-fi worlds.
‘So usernames like Ninth-Circle Archmage and elf were all real.’
Some people came from even further in the future, while others had come from further in the past.
There was no way to know exactly what worlds they had come from, but...
‘The Earth I lived on was... roughly modern-day?’
This place had literally dragged in all sorts of people.
What purpose it served and why it had brought them here were all restricted, so there was no way to know.
‘And I figured out how a gallery used by all those people could exist together, too.’
[Gallery]
Born from the wish of (Restricted), who held a star in their hand in the distant past.
┗A virtual space where one can communicate with others in order to overcome loneliness.
┗All language used here is automatically adjusted for the user, and the interface is likewise changed to the optimal form.
According to the wiki, this gallery had been created from someone’s [Irregular].
Long ago, someone suffering from terrible loneliness had made a wish, and the star had created the gallery.
‘They probably didn’t know the star would send them outside either, just like I didn’t.’
If they had known, they surely would have asked to be sent home instead of asking for a gallery.
"This is daunting."
It was a tower made by someone I didn’t even know. I had no idea how to escape from it.
I had to keep repeating and climbing the tower until an [Irregular] appeared...
‘Hmm, it’s not all that different from my original life.’
No, now that I thought about it, it really wasn’t much different.
In the end, I was just hunting alone in some dark, dreary place.
The room had gotten a little bigger, that was all. I had the gallery, a home, and a walkthrough guide, so what was the problem?
‘As long as I have these, maybe I won’t die?’
Right now, I had faith that the wiki would somehow take care of things.
-1-
[End 364:15:58:48]
[Segment 6:15:58:48]
[ 1 / 7 ]
To be honest, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t scared.
Talk of the end and death scared the shit out of me, but what could I do? It had already happened.
Rather than sit around doing nothing and denying reality, climbing the tower put my mind more at ease.
‘Wiki! Do something!!’
For the record, I read exactly three lines of the mod’s post before skipping it.
It had been revised, but, um...
No matter how I looked at it, the wiki was better.
KingGodWiki: Looks like you have no talent for writing..
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): I did my best...ㅠㅠ
┗KingGodWiki: I’ll read it slowly later.
┗Not an Eraser🔸 (Author): (Bizarre creature nodding emote)
*
"Squeeeeeeal!!!"
Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!!
A massive boar was chasing me from behind. I was running for my life from a boar at least five times my size.
"It’s fucking fast—!!"
On the tenth floor of the [Tower of Trials], the condition written above the door had ordered me to hunt a boar.
[Tower of Trials]
┗First-run 10th-floor walkthrough: Lure its attacks toward the wall. After it crashes into the wall three times, you have five seconds to attack.
Boom!!
‘Wiki!! This isn’t a walkthrough!!!’
I understood what it meant. The walkthrough was simple and easy: dodge the boar and make it slam into the wall.
The problem was the reality that a shut-in loser like me couldn’t possibly pull that off over and over.
"Squeeeeeeal!!"
Hearing the boar’s insane cry, I sprinted toward the wall.
I didn’t know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that the space wasn’t very large. The wall was close, but there wasn’t much room for me to dodge its attacks, either.
Craaaash!!
"N-now!!"
I had barely dodged the boar’s attack three times.
As the boar buried its head in the wall and fell onto its side, I rushed over and swung my fist at it.
Thump!
"Damn iiiit!!!"
My attack didn’t work at all. I’d struck with all my strength, yet the boar didn’t even twitch.
Of course it didn’t. It was five times my size—would a measly fist of mine really hurt it?
I didn’t want to die. I’d breezed through the first nine floors so easily that, even knowing the tenth floor would have a floor boss, I’d underestimated it.
The wiki had seemed so all-powerful that I naturally assumed the tenth floor would be easy too.
"Snort...!"
"Eek!"
As the boar got back on its feet, I readied myself to run.
This was already its third stun, yet I’d dealt almost zero damage.
If I could see a health bar, it would surely still be completely full.
"Wiki, please!! Isn’t there anything else?!"
I shouted at the charging boar again, but there was no response.
I wished it would give a little ding-ding and save me, but it was a cold, useless app.
Craaaash!!
"Huff... huff!"
The one fortunate thing was that the boar was getting tired too.
It had slowed down quite a bit. I was slowing down faster, but at least I wasn’t the only one getting exhausted.
Boom!!
Craaaash!!
When I barely dodged it three more times, the boar collapsed to the ground—and...
"......!"
Beside the boar, I spotted a sharp shard of stone that had fallen when the wall broke apart.
This was it. This was the only way.
I immediately ran toward it, picked up the sharpest stone, and drove it down at the boar’s face.
Smack!! Smack!!
Wincing at the unpleasant sensation, I struck down twice. The boar twitched.
"Did I get it?"
Thinking I would subvert the cliché here, I deliberately said it out loud once, but...
"Squeeeeeeal—!!!"
"You motherfuuucker—!!"
It looked even more vicious, as though it had grown enraged, and I had no choice but to run straight for the opposite side again.
*
"Huff...! Huff...!"
After seeing it enter a stun two more times, I finally, barely managed to bring the boar down.
"...Is it dead?"
I cautiously approached to check, and its breathing had stopped completely.
The sensation of killing a living creature felt unfamiliar.
I’d killed tens of thousands in games, but this was different.
The feeling of something once warm turning cold. The sticky texture of blood coating my hands.
‘...If I hadn’t, I would’ve died.’
Trying to reassure myself, I wiped my hands on its fur.
"Haa..."
Though honestly, it seemed like it had died of a concussion more than anything I did.
The wiki said it would be stunned for five seconds, but at the end, it stayed down for around twenty.
It had smashed its head into the wall dozens of times, so that was probably understandable.
Rumble...
[Tower of Trials]
-10-
The firmly shut door opened.
Seeing the number 10 beyond the door, I let out a hollow laugh and barely forced myself upright.
Click!
After taking a quick photo for proof, I dragged my powerless legs and barely stepped into the darkness beyond.
-1-
[End 364:14:28:07]
[Segment 6:14:28:07]
[ 10 / 7 ]
Had it taken around an hour and a half to reach the tenth floor?
I smiled faintly as I looked at the numbers floating in the air.
A sense of accomplishment... maybe that was what it was.
Thinking that I, someone who had only ever hunted from my room, had done some real hunting made my heart pound for no reason.
I wanted to go take a look at the other towers while I was at it, but...
‘Whatever. I’m resting now.’
I’d pushed myself enough for today. They said I only needed to climb one floor a day in the first place, and I’d climbed ten, so I’d done plenty.
The hand holding my phone was trembling, and my legs had already gone so numb that I couldn’t even feel myself walking.
I’d breezed through the first nine floors, but I’d still fought a battle where my life was on the line, in my own way.
‘I’m gonna go shower and browse the gallery.’
Planning to look up more information and eat some of that hard bread, I headed toward the hideout for a while.
Ding—!
"?"
I lowered my head at the sudden notification.
‘Is the wiki about to tell me something again?’
With that hope in mind, the moment I tapped the internet...
[Gallery] [StarWiki] [???]
‘...What’s this?’
Beside the two icons I was already used to, one unfamiliar icon had appeared.
An unidentified question mark, dimly displayed in gray.
‘Did it appear because I cleared the tenth floor?’
Tap.
[???]
-The function is currently restricted. Once the conditions are met, ‘???’ will become available.
-Rewards continue to accumulate even while it is restricted.
I could only blink blankly at the words that appeared the instant I tapped the icon.
A restricted function. Available once I met the conditions.
‘The rewards accumulate?’
I stared at the screen for a moment at those incomprehensible words.
[Tower of Trials 10/10]
[Tower of Wisdom 0/10]
[Tower of Mindscape 0/10]
[Tower of Fate 0/10]
"...Okay."
I snickered at the screen that had appeared, telling me these were the conditions.
‘Tower climbing? I’ll give it a try.’
If climbing the towers unlocked the function, then all I had to do was climb them.
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