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Tafel stared as Leechy retreated into Mary’s root bracelet. The root bracelet reminded her of a mouth while the black and red bush reminded her of noodles, Leechy practically being slurped away. “Where did you get Leechy anyway?”
“From the eleventh floor,” Mary said. “You’re given a seed, and you have to help it grow by feeding it nutrients. The major guilds led by the lords each had their own resources centers where they traded items for nutrients, and people traded with them often.”
“Oh, so everyone gets a bush that can take people’s skills?” Tafel asked.
“No,” Mary said. “Mine’s special. I robbed all the resource centers and fed every single nutrient they accumulated to Leechy.”
Kim Hajun’s face paled. “You did what?” he asked before Tafel could say anything. “You robbed all of them?”
“Every last one,” Mary said and nodded. “Also, when I’m talking to my best friend, don’t interrupt.”
Kim Hajun’s expression darkened as he stared at the ground. Mary must’ve been a variable introduced along with Vur’s group. The eleventh floor was a major hub for the elemental guild alliance. If it had been destroyed in his prophetic dream before the Oebu Sin arrived, he would’ve remembered it.
Tafel scratched her head, her fingers bumping against the bat skeleton in her hair. “Well,” the demon said. “It’ll be a while before we hit the eleventh floor. Auntie doesn’t want us to go out in public after Vur trounced the lords, and I don’t blame her. It’s annoying to be stared at.”
Mary nodded. “When I first became empress, I was stared at a lot too,” she said. “It made me uncomfortable, but after beating all the people who gawked at me, people suddenly stopped staring. Even now, people don’t dare to look me directly in the eye.” She gestured towards the cloaked man staring at the ground behind her. “See?”
“Yeah,” Tafel said. “I don’t think I want to take that route. Since Vur’s the new ruler of the tower, we have to avoid doing bad deeds in the public eye.”
Kim Hajun frowned. Shouldn’t they try to do good deeds, not just avoid doing bad ones? Not only that, but just because Vur defeated the lords didn’t make him the new ruler of the tower. He had to climb to the very top of the tower, the hundred-and-first floor, to become the ruler. How could he take charge of something within experiencing its inner workings?
Mary shrugged. “It’s fine if you take it slow,” she said. “Since I already robbed all the resource centers of their nutrients, it’s going to take a long time for them to replenish their stock.”
Tafel rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to rob anyone,” she said. “With Vur around, I don’t need to rob anyone. It’s more like we have to get people to stop giving their valuables to us as offerings.”
“Must be nice,” Mary said and shook her head before glancing at their surroundings. The pile of wounded people lay in front of the cave, traces of evidence showing they had been dragged out from the inside. “We cleared the ore deposit, and Leechy got a snack. I think you can break the dimensional monument now.”
Tafel nodded her head. The mission she had accepted with Mary was a simple one. There was a place with an ore deposit, and two towers—including the one she occupied—were fighting over it. As the attacking party, Tafel’s group had to break the dimensional monument, which would disconnect the opposing tower from the deposit and return them to their tower. She reached into her robes and took out a piece of glowing green wood. The glow was faint, barely noticeable under the sun. She took one last look around before snapping the dimensional monument in two with her bare hands.
The ground trembled, and an amber light washed over the sky before striking the ground, covering everything with an amber hue that grew in intensity until it was impossible to see anything. Tafel closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was standing in front of the wooden tablet she had taken with Mary and Kim Hajun on the third floor. Alongside them, a group of injured people lay on the ground in a heap.
Tafel glanced at the wounded. “You shouldn’t need any help transporting these people to the Virtuous Hand’s residence, right?” she asked Mary.
Mary shook her head. “But you should come with me anyway,” she said. “Vur’s probably sleeping still. If you go back to your place, you’ll just be bored.”
“Okay,” Tafel said. Although she wouldn’t be bored because there were still tons of things she had to study, it was true Vur was probably still sleeping after tiring himself out with that fight against the lords. She placed her hand on the wooden tablet, and she furrowed her brow. “Huh, that’s odd.”
“What is?” Mary asked. She peered at the demon, but Tafel was too focused on reading the message displayed in her vision. “Did something happen?”
“Yeah,” Tafel said. “There’s a lot more options to choose from. I can enter any floor I want.”
“The tower must’ve realized you were Vur’s wife,” Mary said and nodded. “Since he’s the new ruler, it makes sense you get benefits too.”
“I don’t know if it’s just me,” Tafel said and scratched her head. “There’s a big announcement saying advancement exams are no longer necessary because it’s every dog’s right to jump on couches and go on walks wherever he wants.”
Kim Hajun’s brow furrowed, and he sidled to the side, going around Tafel and Mary in an arc to reach the wooden tablet. He placed his hand on it, and it was as Tafel had said. The option to enter any floor had appeared, and the nonsensical announcement was indeed quite large. Kim Hajun’s eyes lit up. Even though this was a huge change, he could take advantage of it. He didn’t have to climb the floors chronologically anymore; since that was the case, if he could obtain the hidden piece on the thirtieth floor, he’d be able to hunt the creature on the seventeenth floor right now. His current itinerary had to be scrapped, and whole new plans had to be made.