Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Tower - Tutorial (3)

I created a new clone and entered the Tower’s 4th floor.

Since 10 seconds had passed, I was lying on the ground, and the Goblin that had killed me had thrown away the nicked hand axe it had been using and was gleefully swinging my one-handed sword through the air.

It was a one-handed sword to me, but to a Goblin the size of a child, it was practically a two-handed sword.

The moment the Goblin became so absorbed in my one-handed sword that it let its guard down and showed me its back, I picked up the hand axe lying on the ground without hesitation and brought it down on the Goblin’s skull, just as it had done to me.

“Skull bash!”

CRUNCH!

Just like I had, the Goblin died without showing any real reaction.

I collected the Goblin’s magic stone and weapons.

One nicked dagger and two hand axes.

Including the hand axe I had looted on the previous floor, I had three axes alone.

I overlapped the heads of the three axes, loosely wrapped the axe blades once with the leather skirt the Goblin had been wearing, and shoved them roughly into the right pocket of my combat pants.

Maybe because the hand axes were not that large, even with three axe heads inside, they fit well enough into the cargo pocket.

The handles hit my thigh and clattered every time I walked, which was annoying, but bearable.

Since I was not used to using the Inventory yet, I left the axes where I could pull them out of my pocket and throw them at any time.

“Tsk, the weight limit is annoying.”

The one-handed sword also weighed more than 500 grams, so it did not go into the Inventory.

Still, the dagger seemed to be under that, so it went in.

I placed my hand on the crystal and moved on to the next floor, the 5th floor.

---

When I arrived on the 5th floor, unlike the previous open chambers, a narrow, straight passage appeared.

[Reach the end of the path.]

The 5th-floor quest was to reach the end of the path.

According to the information I knew, it was not that long.

At most, about 1,000 meters?

According to what a Tower Returnee had written on the internet, the path would be blocked by walls at intervals of 200 meters, with doors leading to the next section.

I walked forward as the Tower instructed.

Naturally, simply walking was not the end of it. There was a Goblin in front of that door.

“One Goblin, huh.”

For now, it seemed what I had read on the internet was correct.

One Goblin appeared in each section three times, then two Goblins once, and finally three Goblins at the end. It was consecutive battle practice.

The Tower’s 1st floor was an ability practice room, the 2nd floor was practice killing living creatures, the 3rd floor was full-fledged combat practice, and the 4th floor was practice fighting multiple opponents alone.

Seeing it this way, I could really understand why people called it a tutorial section.

“Grrrk!”

The Goblin let out a strange cry and charged at me.

Still, perhaps those deaths had not been for nothing, because I felt less nervous.

I lowered my body, thrust my shield forward, blocked the Goblin’s hand axe, and knocked it away with the shield.

When the Goblin’s body tilted, I immediately swung my sword and cut into its body.

I picked up the hand axe and magic stone, then immediately passed through the door and walked down the path.

One-on-one against a Goblin was no longer difficult.

Like that, I passed through to the third section and arrived in front of the two Goblins at the 800-meter mark.

I considered throwing a hand axe, then stopped.

It would be convenient to throw a hand axe before the Goblins could react and make it a one-on-one situation, but that would not be practice.

I would pass on three-on-one, but I should at least try two-on-one.

Thankfully, the passage was not very wide, so as long as I did not let my guard down, there was no way they could get behind me.

I struck the Goblin charging from the left with my shield, as if forcefully shoving it away, and swung my sword toward the Goblin on the right along the trajectory of Bluewood Sword.

The Goblin on the right panicked and retreated, so the tip of my sword only lightly scratched its arm.

Without missing the moment when the Goblin on the left, which I had shoved hard, fell on its rear, I immediately closed in on the Goblin on the right, thrust my shield forward, and blocked its axe.

Then I swung my sword and cut into the right Goblin’s neck.

This time too, I could not cut it off completely, but the Goblin on the right died instantly.

I immediately turned around and swung my sword at the Goblin getting back to its feet.

“Whew! Good. Looks like I’ll be fine as long as I don’t get too nervous.”

I had hunted two at the same time.

As long as I did not get overly tense, I could manage well enough below the 10th floor.

I wrapped the magic stones and the Goblins’ weapons in the leather skirt I had stripped off and packed them into my bag.

I was collecting weapons and magic stones I would not even use so I could sell them.

According to Tower Returnees, magic stones could be exchanged for Shop Points through the Tower Shop window, and weapons carried by monsters or materials taken from monsters could be sold in the city on the common floor.

Using the Tower Shop only required points, but food, clothing, and shelter in the city required the common currency called ‘Credits.’

“Hmm, there’s some weight to it.”

It was not heavy. At most, I had added only three hand axes and two daggers.

Each one felt like it weighed less than 500 grams, so....

“Ah, I can just pass them to the main body.”

I did not know whether time flowed inside the Inventory or not, but no time flowed at all on the main body’s side, and there was plenty of space, so it was perfect for storing items.

Of course, the passage through which I could send things to the main body was narrow because of the 500-gram limit.

There would probably be a way to increase the Inventory’s capacity later.

Then I would be able to use it more comfortably.

I went back and forth between my main body and my clone, moving the miscellaneous luggage.

Then I passed through the door and arrived at the crystal guarded by the final three Goblins.

The moment I arrived, I threw a hand axe before the Goblins could react.

The first hand axe I threw sank deep into the left Goblin’s thigh, and the hand axe I threw next lodged between the eyebrows of the Goblin on the right.

“Damn, I aimed both of those at the one in the center.”

It seemed I did not have any talent for throwing.

Even though I had scored perfect shots a few times before.

The third hand axe flew accurately toward the one in the center, but the center Goblin knocked my axe aside.

While it faltered from knocking it away, I cut down the Goblin in the center and blocked the axe swung by the left Goblin with my shield.

“Kieeeeeek!”

“Wow! Dual axes! That’s cool!”

The left Goblin bastard pulled out the axe I had gifted it and swung axes with both hands.

I blocked with my shield and swung my sword.

It was my first time facing one that wielded weapons in both hands, and it was quite troublesome.

It was swinging them wildly, so I could see openings, but when it came time to actually thrust into them, I was not skilled enough with the sword.

However, because its leg had already been hit and it was bleeding badly, it soon exhausted itself on its own. Cutting down the exhausted Goblin was easy.

After farming the weapons and magic stones, I sat down and rested for a while before placing my hand on the crystal and going up to the next floor.

---

The 6th floor had a similar environment to the 5th floor. However....

[Pass through the maze.]

From here on, it was a maze.

Naturally, I did not know the correct route through the maze.

“It’s a shame I don’t have a ball of thread.”

In Greek and Roman mythology, they returned through the Labyrinth of Crete using a ball of thread.

Well, I was not trying to return the way I had come, but to pass through, so maybe a ball of thread would be meaningless.

I took a notebook and ballpoint pen out of my bag and slowly moved forward while drawing a rough map.

Using the lines in the notebook as squares, I drew one square of line for every ten steps I took.

When I reached a fork in the road, I marked the fork in the notebook, and on the wall in the direction I had taken, I marked it using the blood on the leather skirt I had used to wipe the Goblin blood off my blade.

Since it was blue, it stood out well.

When choosing a direction, I chose the right side using the right-hand rule.

The right-hand rule was one method of passing through a maze. The theory was that no matter how complex the maze’s shape was, if there was an exit, it would eventually be connected as one surface, so you would come out if you walked with your hand on the wall.

“Are there no monsters in the maze?”

No sooner had I muttered that after walking for quite a while than I ran into a Horned Rabbit in the passage.

Naturally, the Horned Rabbit charged at me, and I blocked its headbutt with my shield.

The Horned Rabbit whose headbutt had been blocked failed to land properly and fell over, and I cut it down just like that.

After encountering 6 Horned Rabbits and 2 Goblins that way, I reached the exit about 3 hours later.

“Three hours means it wasn’t that big of a maze.”

I went up to the next floor.

---

The 7th floor was a wider and shorter path. Roughly 500 meters or so?

[Break through the trap path and reach the end.]

So it was a trap path after all. Since there were no monsters, I had thought that might be the case.

Posts by Tower Returnees cursing out the trap path were common on both social media and online communities.

I carefully took a step forward. As I was slowly moving ahead, I heard a mechanical sound go “Whirrr~!”

I raised my shield toward the hole where the sound had come from.

THUNK!

An arrow embedded itself in the shield. The impact transmitted through the shield was quite strong.

At minimum, it was about as powerful as the hand axes the Goblins had swung.

“So the structure is that if I step somewhere, arrows fly out of those holes. At this speed, wouldn’t it be better to just run?”

Once I made my judgment, I ran without delay.

Whirrr~! Whirrr~! Whirrrrrrr~!

Mechanical sounds rang out all at once, and arrows flew toward where I had been.

“Aaagh!”

Tsk! Were there holes behind me too?!

An arrow struck my shoulder, and I fell forward. At the ominous mechanical sound I felt from behind me, or more precisely, from the ceiling, I got up and protected my head with my shield.

THUD THUD THUD THUD!

A shower of arrows poured down over my head. The shield became heavier by the number of arrows embedded in it.

“Gah!”

And from time to time, arrows flying from the left diagonal struck my forearm and butt, while arrows flying from the right diagonal struck my side and thigh.

I gritted my teeth and kept running.

Following the direction the sounds came from, I sometimes blocked the arrows and sometimes simply took them with my body. In the end, I crossed the 500-meter path.

“Fuck, was this really made to be cleared? What kind of rain of arrows is this?”

I grumbled complaints with my mouth, but let us admit it.

I had been somewhat stupid.

If I had walked forward one step at a time and responded to the traps slowly, it would have ended with me getting hit by a few arrows. Instead, I had become a hedgehog.

Still, thanks to the shield, I had been able to protect places where getting hit would mean instant death, such as my head and heart.

At this rate, I would die from blood loss or metal poisoning.

Without hesitation, I opened the ability window and selected [Absorb].

---

When my consciousness returned to my main body, the ability window’s notification messages welcomed me.

[You have acquired 120 Avatar Points through avatar absorption.]

[Multidimensional Avatar has leveled up. It is now Lv 7.]

[You have acquired 2,000 Avatar Points through Multidimensional Avatar’s level-up.]

[Current Avatar Points: 2,230.]

Did reaching the 7th floor mean its level became 7?

No, when I checked the Status Window, my Strength, which had been 8, had become 9 at some point, and the level of Bluewood Sword had become 7.

It seemed the ability [Multidimensional Avatar] also leveled up according to how much I grew the clone before absorbing it.

Since it was probably still the early stage, and since the rewards were things like Avatar Points that had no immediate use, its growth seemed fast.

Once its level rose and uses for Avatar Points appeared, it probably would not level up easily.

Honestly, right now, there was no particular difference whether the level was 1 or 7.

“But why did my Strength go up?”

I did not know why my Strength had risen.

Strength had been my lowest stat, but I had not done any strength training.

“Oh, it looks like absorption has no penalty, unlike death.”

Unlike when I died and the slot became gray and inactive for a while, after absorption, I could immediately create a clone and enter, and time did not flow either.

In the new clone, the arrows stuck all over my body were pushed out and fell to the ground.

When I checked the ability window to see if I could absorb repeatedly, Absorb had turned gray and become inactive.

“Tch, looks like I can’t use a tactic where I deliberately get injured and recover repeatedly.”

I thought it might be useful in battle too.

I grumbled and went up to the next floor.