The fairy said in a bizarre tone.
[Fr om no w on, fir st co me, fir st ser ved ?]
And mechanical voices rang in his ears one after another.
-Tingling!
[Tower rules apply]
[Vikir, 'Warrior of Level 1' has been made part of the 'Leveling System']
[Your status window powers will be unlocked]
Vikir nodded.
'That's why I didn't stop the Hell Tree from appearing.'
With that, Vikir opened his status window.
Within this tower, his physical body is quantified and visualized in numbers called 'stats'.
-LV: 1 (%)
-Title: (none)
-Stats
↳Strength: 178
↳Agility: 203
↳Stamina: 207
↳?: (Locked)
↳?: (Locked)
↳?: (Locked)
The levels of combat power were displayed at a glance, as if they were characters in a TRPG board game popularized in the Imperial Capital.
Vikir's attention was drawn to the section labeled 'Level'.
'It's said that you can't properly demonstrate the power of reality inside the tower, and the amount of power you can demonstrate is about 1%... per level, but as you level up and get closer to 100, you'll be able to use the power of reality.
Importantly, when you return to the real world, the extra power you've gained here is added as a bonus perk.
In other words. If you level 10 here, you'll be able to use about 10% of your real-world strength, and if you escape the tower and return to the real world, you'll be about 10% stronger in the real world than you were before you entered the tower.
Similarly, if you level up to 100 here and return to the real world, you'll get a 100% power-up.
This means that the combat power is doubled.
'It means you can forcefully break through the stagnation in the real world.'
Vikir remembered the Gate of the 8th Form, which he had forced through with Dolores' buff not long ago.
If he could get out of here safely, he might be able to reach the 8th level without Dolores' buffs.
'First, I have to leave this room and go downstairs. There was also a saying that it was first-come-first-served.'
Vikir discovered that there was a long, winding hole in the black floor leading down.
It looks like a bizarre looking slide.
He climbed down it and found himself in a slightly more spacious room.
Unlike the room upstairs, it wasn't empty.
[kiiig- kiyaaaag!]
Several angry monsters were pacing around the room at high speed.
Vikir recognized them immediately.
Danger Rating: F
Size: 50 centimeters
Found in: All continents
-A rat that has been transformed into a hideous creature by magic.
Full-grown adults have the intelligence and size of a small dog, making them an object of disgust for women and girls.
They are surprisingly edible when gutted and roasted over a fire or boiled in water.
Tutorial Monster.
The average student at the academy would be overwhelmed by the sudden change of location and 100x weakened body, and would be unable to deal with this creature's attacks.
... But not Vikir.
Vikir was a Swordmaster before he was sucked into the tower in the first place, so even if he was weakened by a hundredfold, there's no way he'd be defeated by a rat.
Crack! Woof!
Vikir reached out and snapped the necks of every single one of the rats.
Only then did he realize that the ceiling above him was slowly descending.
Gigigigigigeek...
The ceiling is coming down very slowly.
But if he stayed here, he would one day be crushed to death by that ceiling.
'Either way, I can't stay in this room forever.'
It's not just this floor, it's every floor of the tower.
There's some sort of device that keeps you from staying in your room because you're afraid.
You can't feel safe at any moment, you can't feel comfortable in any place.
It's a world where you have to run for your life. If you stand still, you'll be wiped out in an instant.
This tower was such a cruel world.
…snap!
Vikir has just snapped the neck of the last rat.
-Ding!
The notification sounded again in his ears.
[Vikir, a 'Level 1 Warrior', has successfully hunted the 'F Rank Monster Gutter Rat Norvegicus' for the first time in the Tutorial Zone!]
['Rare' achievement rewarded!]
The grotesque flesh fairy from earlier reappeared before Vikir's eyes.
It dropped its wrinkles in an unpleasant beat and opened an embarrassing hole that could hardly be called a mouth.
[Oh? Is th is the fir st ti me I've ev er se en su ch a fa st pas ser, I'm so go od, th ere mu st be a rew ard for a go od stud ent, rig ht?]
Having finished speaking, the creature gaped open the hole from which its voice came, and began spitting out a vomit that looked harmful at first glance.
…Gweapug! Gweapug! Gweapug! Gweeeelg-!
Most of the disgusting vomit that flowed from the fairy's mouth was blood and bits of guts.
But there were also the odd glittering orbs mixed in.
Vikir stooped down and picked them up with a careful look.
Most people would have been offended and hesitated to touch them, but Vikir didn't hesitate at all.
Chiiiiksss-
His fingertips burned as he touched the vomit.
The vomit is extremely acidic, and the moment it touches his flesh, he feels a fierce pain.
But Vikir persevered, sifting through the vomit and picking out the beads.
'Thank goodness. I got them before they melted.'
These turned out to be candy. If he had been deterred by the ghastly appearance of the fairy, the disgusting smell of the vomit, or even the acidic air that burned his fingers, these candies would have simply melted.
Even.
"Hey. Give me the ones stuck between your teeth, that's my reward too."
Vikir grabbed the disappearing fairy and opened her mouth, pulling all the candy out, including the ones stuck between her pointy fangs.
[...A re y ou fru gal ? ]
The fairy stuck out its stubby tongue as it watched Vikir retrieve every last bit of candy that was stuck in its teeth.
Then, as abruptly as it had appeared, the fairy vanished, and Vikir examined the contents of his hand.
Beaded candies. They were colored red, green, and blue.
-
A candy that increases your Strength stat by 1.
Tastes salty.
– Strength +1
-
Candy that increases Agility stat by 1.
Tastes bitter.
– Agility +1
-
A candy that increases Stamina by 1.
Tastes astringent.
– Stamina +1
'...Is this stat candy? It looks exactly as I heard.'
A candy that can be obtained as a reward for clearing the floors of a tower.
Eating them will increase your body's stats.
The more you collect, the better, as it's a simple way to increase your stats, and it's separate from your combat power gains from leveling.
Naturally, the stats gained from these candies also apply outside of the tower, so in some cases you can get a truly massive boost in combat power.
Moreover, this candy also functions as currency in the later stages, so the more candies the better.
'Perhaps this tower is not a trial, but an opportunity.'
Amdusias built this tower to test the humans, but that's a result of his lack of understanding of the human race.
Some humans actually feed off of trials and tribulations to become stronger.
Humans are the only creatures that can turn a crisis into an opportunity.
Perhaps this is the land of opportunity where those who are unlucky enough to be born with talent, those who don't have an early advantage in the race after birth, can turn their lives around.
Right now, Vikir doesn't have a lot of natural talent. He's only gotten this far through hard work and practical experience.
'At least I was able to handle the difficult time because I received the blessings of the River Styx.'
However, Vikir have never thought, 'It would be nice if I had been born with talent in the first place.'
If Vikir had something more innate, wouldn't he be at an even higher level than he is now?
'Let's find out here.
Vikir put the obtained candies into Andromalius's barrier.
With his usable mana reduced to a hundredth of its value, he could only use it to store things.
Not having to lug around heavy equipment is a great privilege.
'...There are currently three types of stat candy available.'
Strength, Agility, and Stamina. The most basic core abilities within this tower.
But there were more types of stats.
Vikir checked the status window once more.
-LV: 1 (%)
-Title: 'Gutter Rat Hunter' (NEW)
-Stats
↳Strength: 178
↳Agility: 203
↳Stamina: 207
↳?: (Locked)
↳?: (Locked)
↳?: (Locked)
A new title has been created.
-Title: 'Gutter Rat Hunter'
↳ Deal small additional damage to creatures in rat form.
Taunt, Confuse, Blind, Bleed, Burn, Poison, and other status conditions last a bit longer.
Perhaps a small ability to deal extra damage when killing a rat-shaped monster will be granted as a perk.
But what was important were the letters 'Locked' that appeared in the stats section.
Stats other than strength, agility, and stamina.
'These are the 'three major stats' that cannot be obtained in the tutorial zone. Candy that can unlock and raise those stats is needed first.'
It was most likely a reward for completing more difficult tasks.
Vikir thought back to before the regression.
'...Most of the heroes who were active during the Age of Destruction were from this Hell Tree.'
Among the students who were trapped in the Hell Tree and forced to play a game of survival, there were some who became exceptionally strong.
They later rose to the ranks of great heroes through the levels and stats they gained here.
Familiar names like Tudor, Bianca, Sancho, Dolores, and Camus were among them.
And of course, the triplets, Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro.
And in this life, Vikir was aiming for more than half that.
'Camus's failure to enter Hell Tree is a factor, but she's already strong enough that she doesn't need it.'
After absorbing the power of the Demon King Seere and acquiring Morg's sacred item, the 'Wraith Tree', her potential is already comparable to her pre-regression prime.
Perhaps as time goes on, she will grow stronger and stronger, surpassing her pre-regression level.
She's strong enough that she doesn't need to be in the Hell Tree, so she won't have to lament it for long.
'However, before the regression, Camus destroyed the Hell Tree and saved everyone. In this life, I'll have to do the same.'
Since it was Camus who had destroyed Amdusias's plans before regression, Vikir was a fitting replacement.
Through her memoir and the reviews of many others, the strategy is already well-known.
Now all that's left is to keep pushing forward.