CH 110

Chapter 110: Interim Closing (1)

「The messages from Administrators that had been blocked have been reactivated again.」

The moment I retrieved the Replica's soul with Necromancy.

"...?"

I remembered the messages that had appeared at the beginning of the Trial.

「To block helping messages, the Administrator's messages have been blocked temporarily.」

Now that I think about it, that was the reason why I hadn't received any messages while doing the Trial was because of the Tower.

Now that the Trial was over, that restriction would be lifted.

But...

「87 Administrators have looked at your Trial.」

「All the messages that had been restricted will appear at once.」

Unlike the previous floor...

An overwhelming amount of messages appeared in front of me.

「Administrator 'Knight Who Lost his King' is impressed by your talent.」

「Administrator 'Right Arm of the Vampire Lord is looking at you with curiosity. Asking from where a monster like you has appeared.」

There were some who were impressed by my talent or said that the difficulty of the Trial was monstrous.

「Administrator 'The Hero Who Died Seven Times' is looking at you in disbelief. Asking if monsters like you still appear on a floor like the 12th one.」

「Administrator 'The Assassin Who Killed the Emperor' is wondering if you're really someone who has just finished the 12th floor's trial.」

「Administrator 'Hero of a Fallen World' says that he isn't surprised anymore by your monstrous growth.」

「Administrator 'Fallen Heir of the Blood Demon Cult' is interested in you.」

「Administrator 'The Only One Who Serves the Holy Knight' has great expectations of you.」

「Administrator 'Seeker of Divinity' is looking at you cautiously.」

There were some who looked at me with great interest as if they wanted me.

'Even if you have interest in me, you won't be able to get anything...'

Of course, I've constantly been receiving interest from different Administrators.

Maybe the Administrators could get something from a challenger they hadn't signed a contract with.

'I'll have to think about that later on.'

I found it entertaining looking at these messages. 

But once I realized most were impressed or greedy messages, I stopped being interested.

'Just acting like I’m interested in Administrators like these should be enough.'

After a while, the messages finally stopped.

Lastly, messages from Administrators I knew very well appeared.

「Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' is smiling. She says that her eyes weren't wrong and is happy to look at the talent of her contractor.」

「Administrator 'Iron-blooded Monarch' says you've just recovered what should have been yours from the beginning.」

Unlike others, the 'Iron-blooded Monarch' and the 'White Crane Sword Saint' have reacted as if they were expecting this to happen.

Of course, that meant that they had that much trust in me...

But after thinking about it carefully, I thought that the reaction of these two Administrators was the result of numerous calculations.

The Iron-blooded Monarch had recognized in me a talent for martial arts. And even the White Crane Sword Saint had reacted as if she wasn't surprised.

'Maybe it was a correct guess.'

From the point of view in terms of effectiveness, it might be better not to consider the Administrator's comments as simple praise...

「Administrator 'The Only One Who Serves the Holy Knight' is looking at you.」

「Administrator 'Fallen Heir of the Blood Demon Cult' is staring at you.」

「Administrator 'Seeker of Divinity' is looking at you as if he is expecting something.」

"..."

The messages from Administrators that followed cut short my thoughts.

It was as if they were looking at me, expecting something from me.

'I'm not sure why they're doing this... But it seems like they definitely want something from me.'

Later on, the system would probably expand, and other Administrators would start asking me for things.

I became almost sure of that.

The main reason was how intensely the Administrators were looking at me.

I couldn't stand still if they wanted so much from me.

I wasn't sure what they wanted, but considering the Tower's tendency, it probably wouldn't be anything that could harm me.

So that's probably why the Administrators were looking at me in such an intense way.

At that moment, I felt an idea shine.

'If the Administrators are showing their interest in me for the future, could I also ask them things first?'

Up until now, there weren't that many Administrators interested in me, so I'm not sure, but...

If they were expecting so much from me, it would be more effective to answer them.

Trying to receive attention just from messages didn't seem very effective.

I felt too disappointed by going back just like this, with empty hands.

So...

"It seems like the system will expand in the future. And even non-contractual Administrators could receive benefits."

I didn't hold myself back and calmly opened my mouth.

"Everyone, don't you think you can do better than just send messages? As if you were testing the waters?"

I said it as if I didn't care about the results.

"If you want something from me, give me a Power. If you do so, once the system expands, I will take you into consideration."

And—

「Administrator First Dragon Slayer Born in a Thousand Years' seems surprised.」

「Administrator 'Fallen Heir of the Blood Demon Cult' snorts and says there's no way.」

「Administrator 'Hero of a Fallen World' asks if you aren't being too egocentric. And says you should cam down.」

As expected, he was hearing the Administrators complain. But I wasn't too worried about that.

Because...

"Oh, by the way. I just want 3. First come, first serve."

After I said that, the Administrators stopped caring about how they looked in front of others.

「Administrator 'Fallen Heir of the Blood Demon Cult' wants to add Powers to the contractor-exclusive shop.」

「Administrator 'Hero of a Fallen World' wants to add Powers to the contractor-exclusive shop.」

「Administrator First Dragon Slayer Born in a Thousand Years' wants to add Powers to the contractor-exclusive shop.」

* * *

「You've entered the waiting room of the 13th floor.」

「The system is expanding.」

「All the communities of Earth that had been divided by countries have been unified.」

「Now you can use the community of other difficulties.」

「Now the teammates assigned in the trials won't be divided by countries.」

「All the rankings that had been divided by countries are going to be unified.」

「Now you can see the difficulty ranking of other countries.」

After returning to the room after receiving different Powers as support, I began reading messages that had newly appeared.

'It's a system increase that has nothing to do with me.'

It had been a while since I’d used the community. Not only that, but rankings from other countries had nothing to do with me.

The only thing that caught my attention was that the group Trial members wouldn't be selected by country.

'But I also don't care about it that much.'

Though it seemed like that wasn't the case for other people.

「You've entered the unified community.」

「Difficulty - Hard」

「13th Floor Community (2182/3121)」

- TeokRamyeonMandooStew (Korea): Fuck... What kind of nonsense is this? Why unify a perfectly good community?

- Grieff (U.S.A): Everyone, calm down. The communities being unified isn't that much of a big deal.

- Maymay (China): I have a lot of complaints about using the community with inferior people like you all.

- Radin (Russia): Stop saying bullshit. You're probably the useless one. Seeing people like you talking high and mighty makes me want to give everyone a good punch.

- Maymay (China): LOL? If you're mad, come to the common area. Sending off a guy like you is probably going to take only one hit.

- Radin (Russia): Okay. Wait for me there. If you escape because you're scared, I will beat your ass off if I meet you in a future Trial.

- Maymay (China): I'm also going to beat you in a Trial. So I'm not sure what nonsense you're saying.

- TKP1870 (Netherlands): Woah. So there are people that still fight in the communities even at this point.

It seemed like most people hadn't gotten used to the unified communities.

After looking at that, I realized what would happen later.

'Don't tell me... Is the community going to get mixed with one from another dimension from the 20th floor onward?'

It seemed possible.

It seemed like before inter-dimensional issues happened, they were testing the waters by fusing the communities of different countries.

I didn't think it mattered that much, so I turned off the communities and opened the inventory.

Instead of things like that, I should put more effort into personal growth.

'There's still a lot of things I need to take care of. So I have no time to waste.'

Of course, leaving the community's issue aside, I became interested in the unified rankings.

I was wondering how many people as strong as me there were on Earth.

I couldn't resist the urge to see the rankings and opened it.

And—

"...?"

I looked at the rankings with a blank expression.

The reason was...

「12 floor's Trial ranking board」

1st. Hunter (SSS)

2nd. Great Sorcerer (SS+)

3rd. Kim SeungHoon (SS)

4th. Katherine Bennet (SS-)

5th. Bloody Lightsaber (SS-)

6th. Clock Tower's Magician (SS-)

7th. Andrei Tarkaposki (S+)

"What the..."

It was because the nickname I had selected was on top of the list.

"..."

After looking at the ranking board for a while, I accepted reality.

That's right.

I had come closer to becoming the strongest challenger from Earth. 

——