I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents-Chapter 17: Tower Exchange Meeting (2)

There were a lot of comments asking how many orcs I had to kill to reach a score of 1,532.

How many did I kill again?

I had counted up to around thirty, but after that, I lost track.

I hadn’t felt the need to count anymore.

What was certain was that I had killed more than the number I had kept track of—probably around seventy or eighty in total.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Not exact, but close to 80?*

ㄴ LOL Pandemonium is built different.

ㄴ Easy and Normal Mode only spawn about 15 orcs on the second floor, wtf.

ㄴ I only got five on my run.

ㄴ Pioneer): LMAO even in Hard Mode, the max spawn is 40 orcs. 80 is insane.

ㄴ Shrine Maiden): Indeed, considering that number plus the Orc Legion Commander and the Shaman, that score does make sense.

ㄴ Dragon King): Beltui, I'm impressed. Seeing those Climber Gallery kids talk about our climber is making my dopamine levels go crazy!

The Climber Gallery’s reaction, huh.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) What’s the general opinion over there?*

ㄴ They’re wary as hell of you already.

ㄴ Congrats, you’re just a second-floor noob but already attracting a ton of attention.

ㄴ Your life just got interesting now.

ㄴ Sword of Light): Still, hardly anyone suspects you’re from Pandemonium. Most of them are just confused.

ㄴ Archmage): Doesn’t really matter. You’re alone for most of your climb, so it won’t affect you much.

Your only real variable right now is the Tower Exchange Meeting.

And that major variable was happening soon.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Anything I should watch out for at the Exchange Meeting?*

ㄴ Do you... still trust people?

ㄴ Be careful. Men, women—doesn’t matter. Be careful of everyone.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman): If you’re feeling lonely, don’t go trusting people just because of that.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Thanks to you guys, I’m not lonely.*

Well.

I was lonely.

But at the same time, I wasn’t.

It sounded ridiculous, but that’s exactly how I felt.

Just talking in the Transcendent Gallery like this was enough to push away the worst of the loneliness.

ㄴ Dragon King): Huh... Beltui—did I just get flirted with by a human?

ㄴ Look at this climber charming everyone.

ㄴ Shrine Maiden): I shall send you a blessing talisman to ward off loneliness.

So, when the interdimensional trade cooldown resets, make a deal with me.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon): I’ve already called dibs.

ㄴ Shrine Maiden): Dibs? Such a thing does not exist.

The choice belongs to our dear climber.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon): GO! GO! GO!

ㄴ Heavenly Demon Lord, please, for the love of god, keep your dignity.

The number of people trying to pull me into interdimensional trades was getting ridiculous.

ㄴ Spear King): You got a spear, right? I’ll teach you real spear techniques.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch): I can teach you spear techniques too.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Old men, please stop. You're being weird.*

Yeah, it was kind of weird.

ㄴ Archmage): Like I told you before—you’re alone in Pandemonium, but in other difficulties, people can form friendships.

And when they’re summoned to the Exchange Meeting, those friends come with them.

That means, at the Exchange Meeting, you could be the only one without an ally.

Everyone was saying the same thing.

Don’t trust people.

ㄴ Well, the meeting’s only for climbers under the 10th floor. It shouldn’t be too dangerous. Newbies aren’t cutthroat enough to gang up and take someone out yet.

ㄴ Pioneer): Yeah, that’s true. It’s still too early for those kinds of schemes.

The general consensus was that nothing major would happen.

Be careful around people.

That advice didn’t really mean much to me.

I never planned to trust anyone to begin with.

ㄴ *ㅇㅇ) When players meet, we can’t see each other’s level, right?

ㄴ You can’t see levels.

But you can see what floor the player is from.

If someone sees you, they’ll know you’re a third-floor resident.

A third-floor resident.

That meant they’d know I had cleared the second floor.

I closed the gallery for now.

A few moments later, a notification window appeared.

[As the 1st place scorer in the second-floor stage, an additional reward has been granted. Please check 'Inventory.']

Oh.

So because I took first place, I got an extra reward on top of the usual second-floor clear rewards.

"Inventory."

When I opened my inventory, I saw two new items in previously empty slots.

I clicked the one on the right first.

A dagger glowing red.

A Pandemonium second-floor clear reward item.

[Bloodstained Dagger]

Category – Weapon (Dagger)

Attack Power: +40

Effect: 30% chance to inflict 'Bleeding' status on hit.

Required Level: 10+

Grade: B

Then I clicked on the left item.

A black bracelet.

This was the first-place reward for the second-floor ranking.

[Bracelet of Defiance]

Category – Accessory

Effect: Greatly enhances resistance to medium and low-level curses.

Required Level: 10+

Grade: B+

Even at a glance, it was a damn good effect.

I took a screenshot of both items and uploaded them.

Title: Got two new items. Thoughts?

Author: ㅇㅇ*

Got some new stuff. What do you think?

(Attached file: 788239429.jpg)ㄴ What do you mean, ‘what do we think?’ This is insane.

ㄴ LMAO how the hell does a guy in the 3rd-floor waiting room have a Bloodstained Dagger and a Bracelet of Defiance???

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) When do these usually drop?*

ㄴ Pioneer): Hard Mode? Bloodstained Dagger usually drops around the 15th floor.

Bracelet of Defiance? You won’t see that until around the 20th floor.

ㄴ That’s for Hard Mode.

In Normal and Easy, the dagger drops around 18th floor and the bracelet around 25th+.

ㄴ But are you even level 10 yet?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Level 12.*

ㄴ You leveled up so damn fast.

ㄴ Level 12 on the second floor, LMAO.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch): That kind of level isn’t unheard of in Hard Mode, but it depends on how much your stats increased.

ㄴ Archmage): True.

Stats.

I opened my status window to check my current stats.

<Player Status>

Name: Han Yuseong

Race: Human

Lv. 12

Strength: 71

Agility: 65

Stamina: 68

Mana: 44

Skills:

Pain Suppression ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Lv.4

Composure Lv.4

Cover Lv.2

Crisis Detection Lv.3

Field of Vision Expansion Lv.2

Focus Enhancement Lv.3

Warrior’s Movement Lv.3

Magic-Enhanced Body Lv.2

Doombringer Lv.1

I had leveled up more than I expected.

I reopened the Transcendent Gallery and made a post.

Title: My Current Stats

Author: ㅇㅇ*

Strength 71, Agility 65, Stamina 68, Mana 44As soon as I posted, comments flooded in.

ㄴ ??

ㄴ What the hell?

ㄴ The average starting stats for 21st-century Earthlings is like 10 to 13, right?

ㄴ ㅇㅇ) Yeah, I was at that range when I was level 1.*

ㄴ But how the hell did you get this much growth on the second floor?

ㄴ Archmage): So this is Pandemonium...

ㄴ Room Conspiracy Theorist): I have wasted my life! This world is just a closed-room mystery—

ㄴ Dude, you’re literally not even human.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

ㄴ Sword of Light): At least now I can worry less about you.

ㄴ Worry less? More like zero worries. You’re only going to meet other 21st-century Earthlings at the Exchange Meeting anyway.

ㄴ The ones who should be worried are the people who have to meet him.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch): Seeing you grow so well makes me proud.

ㄴ Bro, you didn’t even do anything.

Judging from the reactions, my stats were abnormally high for my floor level.

I read a few more comments before closing the gallery.

Now, let’s see what’s available in the shop.

[3rd-Floor Coin Shop]

FoodDrinksPotionsThe first two categories were the same as on the second floor.

Follow current novels on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.

But the third category—Potions—had been added.

Now, this is progress.

Low-Grade Health Recovery Potion – 5 CoinsLow-Grade Mana Recovery Potion – 6 CoinsLow-Grade Poison Resistance Potion – 8 CoinsPain Suppression Stimulant – 15 CoinsEven potions weren’t cheap.

But I had received 600 coins as a second-floor clear reward.

My total remaining balance: 726 coins.

I had plenty to spend.

I went all in.

15 Health Potions15 Mana Potions5 Poison Resistance Potions3 Pain Suppression StimulantsAccording to the Transcendent Gallery seniors, I would receive another coin reward after returning from the Exchange Meeting.

I didn’t need to worry about what to do for the next two days.

Just reading the Dragon Slayer’s Sword manual from my inventory would be enough to pass the time.

I reflected on my fight against the Orc Legion Commander and the Orc Shaman.

Killing the Shaman—that was all me.

But the Legion Commander—luck played a major role.

If I hadn’t acquired Doombringer, I would have died.

Maybe it was because I had gone through such a long battle on the second floor.

I felt like I was finally gaining a proper combat sense.

How to swing my sword.

How to position my body for the most efficient attack.

As I replayed my past battles, I started to develop my own combat style.

Of course, the foundation of that style was still built on the Dragon Slayer’s Sword techniques that Sword of Light had given me.

I trained in swordsmanship and even some of the martial techniques written in the later sections of the manual.

There would come a time when I wouldn’t be able to draw my sword.

I had to prepare for every scenario.

In that sense, the Bloodstained Dagger I had obtained was a valuable asset.

Eat. Train.

Eat. Train.

Two days flew by in that routine.

And then, the time arrived.

Current Time: February 25th, 12:00 PM.

[The Tower Exchange Meeting is starting.]

[Tower Exchange Meeting Server #1298]

[Tower Exchange Meeting Theme: Dungeon]

[Number of Participants: 7]

[Entering.]

Flash—

My vision was consumed by light.

***

[The Automatic Language Translation System is now active.]

[Communicate with the other participants and clear the dungeon.]

A man with the number <7> above his head approached me.

"Haha, nice to meet you. You’re still new to the Tower, so you must be overwhelmed by suddenly being summoned to the Exchange Meeting. My name is Sun Haoran."

Chinese. 7th Floor.

I could understand why he reacted this way.

Everyone in this matchmaking group was from the 6th floor or higher.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too."

Meanwhile, above my head...

The number 3.

A fresh newbie from the third-floor waiting room.

To them, that’s exactly how I looked.