1.
A vast cavern.
In the residential area and rest stop on the 199th floor, only the intermittent sound of dripping water echoed.
Ore embedded in the ceiling—or things that could have been called gemstones—gave off a faint glow.
A woman sat on a simple chair beneath them.
Her right arm was not bandaged... but nearly every part of her body other than that arm was wrapped in bandages.
Blood-soaked bandages she had removed lay piled near her feet, and wet patches could still be seen amid the bloodstains.
Tug...
The feeling of being unable to tie a bandage because even her fingertips shook was... not as common an experience as one might think.
In the end, the woman bit down on the bandage and turned her head, pulling it taut.
Then—
Step, step.
Footsteps sounded from the cavern entrance.
"...Hah."
She closed the collar of the clothes she had left open.
"I have something to tell you."
The man stopped. He was dressed conventionally in a spotless suit and dress shoes.
"Go ahead."
The woman answered evenly without even lifting her head.
"Headquarters wants you to announce your challenge of the 200th floor."
Whether it was the company or headquarters, it was equally irritating news.
Her hand stopped halfway through fastening a button.
"Why?"
"It concerns the bizarre equipment your former colleagues have recently been using."
"..."
Only then did the woman look at the man.
As though choosing his words, the man kept his mouth shut for a moment before slowly continuing.
"Even headquarters cannot identify equipment at that level right now. We have yet to determine its source, either."
Creak... creak.
The hand wrapping her bandages moved a little faster.
"There is public opinion saying that you may soon lose your lead."
...Ridiculous. How many floors were still left?
Apparently, the company had no intention of letting even such trivial public opinion go unchecked.
"Do it."
"May we make the announcement?"
"Yes."
"Then we will soon finalize the schedule for your retry... no, your ‘official challenge’..."
"I know."
From now on, hers would not be a retry, but an official challenge.
"Headquarters also said it would spare no necessary support."
"Then can they bring me equipment like that?"
"That is impossible."
"Then tell them to keep their mouths shut."
She did not leave this rest stop, so she did not know.
What equipment was currently circulating on the market.
What equipment her friends... were wearing.
Perhaps from the recoil of having pulled the bandage tight in a hurry, her wound split open and blood seeped over her wrist.
"..."
She looked down at it... then rose to her feet.
The company would announce its sponsored climber’s challenge of the 200th floor...
She had not been with them so briefly that she could fail to understand what that meant.
To say she would challenge it meant she had to succeed.
The great ordeal of the 200th floor, the eighty-seven retries she had undergone over and over...
Would thus be transformed into a single ‘official challenge.’
A former Dawn Apostle.
Cordelia Rosenfelt headed for the 200th floor.
2.
Honestly, I wouldn’t know for sure, but...
I figured the ultimate dream and goal women are born wanting must be [Spring Breeze].
Dolores was probably the same. She was a woman before she was a duke.
Not that I was denying it, but first...
"I think the latter would be better, after all..."
"...Mm-hm."
The effect itself was vague, for one thing, and the most attractive proportions?
Honestly, she was already beautiful.
I was probably the person who had seen Dolores’s bare skin and figure from the closest distance.
Frankly, she did not need an effect like that. She was already perfect.
"You’re beautiful enough as you are."
"Really...?"
"Yes. It’s not an option you particularly need."
Instead of answering, Dolores fidgeted with her fingers.
I did not know why, but I soothed and coaxed Dolores toward the latter choice.
"And like [Knot of Serenity]... it might reappear even if you erase it."
"..."
Of course, it might not reappear.
Dolores nodded, then asked once more.
"...You’re saying I’m fine as I am now?"
"Yes."
It was a brief answer, but...
Fine...? It was far beyond merely fine...
"Ahem. Then give me the latter."
"Okay."
I immediately selected [Spring Bloom].
"Then I’ll continue."
"Mm, please do."
I gripped the hammer again.
There was plenty of powder, and the feeling in my hands was alive...
I had a feeling it would be over soon.
─────────────────
[Spring Breeze Carrying Fire] [★★★★☆]
[Enhancement +9 → +10]
─────────────────
"It’s going well."
I muttered without realizing it.
I usually did not check the intermediate latent abilities. I had planned to check them after reaching +20.
Clang! Clang!
─────────────────
[Spring Breeze Carrying Fire] [★★★★☆]
[Enhancement +15 → +16]
─────────────────
I seemed to pause my hand, then struck again.
Because I was feeling so good right now.
"Is it hard?"
"I’m having fun."
Games at dawn... no, enhancements at dawn were always more exciting.
And Yuna’s alarm was off today, so it was perfect.
After hammering for who knew how much longer—
─────────────────
[Spring Breeze Carrying Fire] [★★★★☆]
[Enhancement +19 → +20]
─────────────────
The last stretch gave me a bit of trouble, but...
"Enhancement to +20 successful."
"I believed in you, Lionel."
I made it safely from beginning to end.
And from this point on, the definition of +20, which I had called the end, would change.
Because it was no longer the end.
I was going to +25.
Then the latent abilities appeared before my eyes.
─────────────────
【Latent Abilities】
[Enhancement +5 — Spring Bloom]
[The fire energy dwelling in the equipment circulates through the wearer’s mana circuits.]
[Mana recovery and spell deployment speed increase, while recovery of damaged circuits is accelerated.]
─────────────────
[Enhancement +10 — Warmth Storage]
[Warms the wearer’s body and stores the residual warmth within the equipment.]
[When the wearer is injured, consumes stored warmth to heal their wounds.]
─────────────────
[Enhancement +15 — Ember] [Duration: 3 minutes]
[Leaves embers on targets struck by the wearer’s attacks, inflicting ‘inextinguishable’ burn damage.]
[Recovers a portion of the damage dealt by the embers as warmth and stores it in [Warmth Storage].]
─────────────────
[Enhancement +20 — Spring Breeze Carrying Fire] [Cooldown: 30 minutes] [Duration: 3 minutes]
[Releases stored warmth, raising a spring breeze in a 100-meter radius centered on the wearer.]
[The spring breeze grants [Ember] to every enemy within its area. The longer they are exposed to the wind, the fiercer the embers become and the more burn damage they suffer.]
[The spring breeze continuously heals all injuries except fatal wounds suffered by the wearer and allies.]
[For targets whose wounds have fully healed, remaining warmth accumulates as a shield.]
─────────────────
The specs of the +20 latent abilities so far had been incredible.
This one seemed to be no exception.
It inflicts inextinguishable burn damage...
"White phosphorus...?"
Persistent damage that could not be put out, damage that kept stacking and worsening.
And you guys burn while we heal. It even had an area-wide healing effect.
Though it could not heal fatal wounds, the fact that small injuries kept closing up seemed like a major advantage.
It preserved everyone’s condition.
And excess healing became a shield?
"Hmm."
No matter how I looked at it, choosing not to go with the body-shaping effect had been the right choice.
Was this really an effect that belonged on underwear rather than armor?
"...Dolores."
"Mm."
I calmly explained the effects.
She had made a grave expression when she heard that there was no instant figure correction, but after hearing the +20 latent ability, she...
"...May I try it on?"
With her face flushed, she curled up the corners of her mouth.
However.
"Of course. Let me know once you’re completely dressed."
"...Mm."
I rose from my seat and entered the storage room where I kept the ore.
It would be rude to tell her to go put it on elsewhere. I figured it was right for me to step out.
I shut the storage-room door, waited, and looked over the ore on the shelves when—
"Lionel...!"
Her voice came from beyond the door.
"Yes, I’m coming out."
I opened the door without a second thought.
Dolores was looking toward me.
Wearing [Spring Breeze Carrying Fire].
Mm, she had put it on.
She had not put anything else on yet.
Slam!
I shut the door.
No, I said to call me once you were completely dressed!!!
Dolores had looked perfectly calm just then. Was I the only one whose heart was pounding?
"Oh my... I’m sorry."
A voice with an odd hint of laughter came through the door belatedly.
"I was going to ask where I should put the clothes I took off..."
"Y-you can put them in the bag."
"Mm."
Fortunately, the next call was normal.
When I went out, I looked into the bag, but...
"?"
They were not there.
There was no underwear—only the cardigan Dolores had been wearing.
Then what did that mean about just now...?
No panties...
I shook my head for the moment.
"First, as Lionel said..."
Dolores raised a finger and snapped it.
Fwoom...
Her skirt fluttered slightly, and a warm breeze flowed toward me from around her feet.
"...Wow."
It was the cozy feeling of being covered by a large, fluffy blanket freshly dried in the sun.
The wind seemed to spread beyond the workshop.
"It feels nice."
Then a translucent film settled over me.
"...Huh?"
Since I was not injured, it went straight to giving me a shield?
So this was how it worked?
Dolores looked at me as though she were holding back a laugh.
Then—
Bzz...
A bug that I had no idea where it had come in from approached me.
Seeing it, Dolores immediately furrowed her brows.
Fwoosh...
"...Holy shit."
The bug burned up.
Wow.
So this was what it felt like.
"Lionel, ordinarily, when healing takes place during battle, the wounded person has to fall back and someone else has to fill their place."
"I see."
"But with this ability... it now prevents combatants from declining in condition due to injuries throughout the entire fight, doesn’t it?"
To summarize Dolores’s explanation in my own terms:
‘Equipment that puts all the mediocre healers out of work.’
Even on the My Tower community, healers were often treated like nobility.
Though there were also people who disliked that excessive noble treatment.
‘They’re washed-up healers who can only heal, yet they get treated like royalty?’
Of course, by washed-up healers, I did not mean healers on an entirely different level like Camilla.
And that meant the equipment I had made was equipment that castrated those washed-up healers.
Dolores was incredibly delighted. She said it changed the paradigm of battle or something, and that even the burn itself would be impossibly troublesome for enemies...
"Yes, and..."
"Mm."
"This is only the beginning."
Sorry, but I had not even started yet.
"...Ah."
As though she had only just remembered, Dolores nodded.
"Should I take it off?"
"Yes, but I’m going inside."
I retreated into the storage room again.
A short while later.
Dolores’s underwear was laid out on the workbench again.
"I’m coming out."
Of course, I knew Dolores was wearing nothing right now.
That fact kept lingering in my mind, but...
─────────────────
[From Enhancement +20 onward, no ‘base success rate’ is provided.]
[On enhancement ‘failure,’ there is a chance the equipment will be destroyed.]
─────────────────
The warning message appearing before my eyes sent a chill down my spine.
"Whew..."
Let’s do this.
Clang!
I scattered as much powder as possible and struck with my hammer.
"...Fuck."
The hit circles pouring in so frantically made my vision swim, but...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
My mindset was that every rhythm game I had played until now had all been for today, for this very moment.
Today, one of us dies—you or me.
I gritted my teeth...
And with grim determination, I succeeded in clearing every single hit circle of unprecedented difficulty.
"Fuck, say my name."
─────────────────
[Calculating success probability...]
─────────────────
Starting after +20, where there was no base success rate, it seemed I built up the chance of success according to how well I hammered.
And the result was...
─────────────────
[Enhancement +20 → +21 Base Success Rate] [0%]
─────────────────
[Marvelous: 207] [Excellent: 0] [Normal: 0] [Poor: 0] [Terrible: 0]
[Marvelous Bonus] [0% → 10%]
─────────────────
[Superior Enchant Powder Bonus]
[10% → 13%]
─────────────────
Are they insane?
Even with a perfect run and Superior Enchant Powder, the success rate was thirteen percent...?
─────────────────
[Success Rate: 13%]
[Failure Rate: 87%]
─────────────────
The failure rate was eighty-seven percent. At first glance, it looked like there was no destruction chance, but...
It appeared that if I failed, it would then determine whether the equipment was destroyed.
So I first had to break through the thirteen percent.
But perhaps it was beginner’s luck.
─────────────────
[Spring Breeze Carrying Fire] [★★★★☆]
[Enhancement +20 → +21]
─────────────────
Bang!
I succeeded in enhancing it to +21.
"Aaaaaah!"
A rush of dopamine shot straight up my spine.
"?!"
Startled, Dolores rose along with me.
"+21 enhancement successful!!"
"G-good job, Lionel!"
We bounced up and down, high-fiving with both hands.
"Shall we go for the next one?!"
"Yes! Do it!"
It was clear that both of us were fucking thrilled.
I raised the hammer again and brought it down.
The first time was difficult, but I had already gotten the hang of this level of difficulty.
Bang!
─────────────────
[Enhancement +21 → +22 Base Success Rate] [0%]
─────────────────
[Marvelous: 215] [Excellent: 0] [Normal: 0] [Poor: 0] [Terrible: 0]
[Marvelous Bonus] [0% → 9%]
─────────────────
[Superior Enchant Powder Bonus]
[10% → 12%]
─────────────────
[Success Rate: 12%]
[Failure Rate: 88%]
─────────────────
"Let’s fucking go!!!"
But like everyone else—
─────────────────
【Enhancement Failed】
─────────────────
"..."
No, it’s f-fine.
It had not been destroyed yet.
And then.
─────────────────
[Determining whether the equipment is destroyed...]
[Even number: Equipment destroyed / Odd number: Equipment retained]
─────────────────
Rattle, rattle...
A die rolled through the air.
Wait... an even number meant destruction?
Hey, then the destruction chance was...
"That means it’s forty-four percent..."
You absolute fucking lunatics.
Click.
The die stopped...
It showed a six.
An even number.
─────────────────
【Equipment Destroyed】
─────────────────
Riiip!
The clothes tore apart before my eyes.
Like everyone else.
No one takes on a challenge expecting failure.
And I had imagined even less that it would happen to me.
"Ah, fuck."
I slowly turned my head to look at Dolores.
"...Huh?"
Dolores slowly opened her mouth as she stared at the torn underwear.
The light that had clearly filled her eyes just moments ago...
"Ah...?"
Went out.
This was bad.
I had turned Dolores into a menhera.
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