I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents-Chapter 47: The Second Exchange Meeting (1)

Floor 6 was cleared in just two days.

The theme was a simple dungeon.

The enemies were orcs pushing forward with sheer numbers, so they weren’t too difficult to deal with.

Of course, that didn’t mean fighting the boss monster was easy.

The Orc King was a tough opponent.

As the king of a race, he was even a bit stronger than Kailas, the Fifth-Rank knight I fought on Floor 5.

Still, I managed to kill him.

My body got a little mangled in the process, but I leveled up after the kill and fully recovered.

I chose to keep climbing without rest.

After attracting just as much attention from the constellations on Floor 6 as I had on Floor 5,

I activated constellation-blocking until I cleared Floor 7 and the effect fully ended.

Floor 7.

I cleared it in four days. The theme was defense.

It involved holding off a raven-headed monster named Myrgan.

Fortunately, thanks to advice from Hard Mode seniors who knew Myrgan’s weakness, I was able to take it down without much trouble.

There were plenty of short spears scattered throughout the stage for throwing, which helped a lot.

I hesitated a bit about whether to go up to Floor 8.

Only four days remained until the exchange meeting.

Even if I stayed here and trained until I got summoned, it wouldn’t be a problem.

But I decided to climb to Floor 8 anyway.

I was just shy of reaching level 36, and my EXP was already at 94%.

In the end, I cleared Floor 8 and reached the staircase waiting room on Floor 9.

My current level is 37.

And now—

Beep—beep—

March 25

11:46:21

Only 14 minutes remained until entry into the exchange meeting.

The eighth floor had involved helping citizens evacuate after a natural disaster—an earthquake.

So I had to keep moving nonstop for four days.

Still, I managed to get a full night’s sleep in a safe zone after the quakes stopped on the final day, so my stamina was fully restored.

Since I hadn’t reached Floor 11 yet, I’d be matched again with players from Floors 1 through 10, per the tower’s rules.

I opened my inventory.

I equipped the Mask of Crimson Night, a reward from the Floor 4 stage.

[Mask of Crimson Night]

Category – Mask

Effect:

1 – Those who face the wearer cannot see their eyes. Grants immunity to many skills that activate through eye contact.

2 – Allows clear vision in darkness.

Grade: B+

I hadn’t used the Mask of Crimson Night up until now.

I had always planned to wear it during the exchange meeting.

Swish—

I put on the mask.

Mundum Exstinguit was sheathed at my left hip.

On the right, I concealed the Dagger of Fresh Blood so it wouldn’t be seen.

Once fully armed, I entered a brief meditation.

Soon, my vision was filled with light.

[Beginning Tower Exchange Meeting.]

[Tower Exchange Server #1401]

[Exchange Meeting Theme: Mission]

[Participants: 10]

[Entering.]

My vision returned to normal.

A few more notification windows popped up.

[Language auto-translation system activated.]

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

Ten participants.

That was more than the last exchange meeting, but unlike last time, I didn’t see anyone in front of me.

The place I stood wasn’t ground level—it was atop a fortress wall.

I glanced up at the clouds drifting across the sky.

The <Exchange Meeting> was said to be a stage invisible to the constellations.

If they could see, I would've been flooded with notifications from the very first meeting.

I lightly deployed qi sense.

I detected six presences below me.

Using qi sense didn’t mean I could pinpoint exact positions like clairvoyance or psychic powers.

But I could clearly count how many were ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ there.

Back on Floor 5, I wasn’t even sure about that much, but now I could at least confirm numbers with certainty.

If someone of a higher rank than me deliberately concealed their presence, I’d be in trouble, but—

“Just drop all your useful items. If you’ve got anything rare, lay that down too.”

A menacing voice.

The wall I stood on wasn’t that tall.

This was where I currently found myself.

“A-Alright...”

A subdued voice drifted up to my ears.

“It’s not like we’re gonna kill you, right? Since this is a mission type, we have to cooperate too. Just lay out all your useful weapons and items. Let the people who can actually use them put them to use—something like that.”

What a fresh load of bullshit.

Four people threatening two.

Above their heads hovered numbers—two with <10>, and two with <9>.

Since I had just cleared Floor 8 and was in the Floor 9 waiting room, the number above my head was also 9.

The two being pressured had <7> and <8> floating above them.

Including me, there were seven people in the immediate vicinity.

The remaining three must have been farther away.

Even with qi sense, I couldn’t detect their presence.

Or perhaps it had something to do with the “mission” theme of this exchange meeting itself.

Clank—

Thud—

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The sound of the two surrounded by the four dropping their items rang out.

They were probably part of a pre-formed party, just like Baek Jin-young and Sun Haoran, whom I killed during the first exchange meeting.

There was a staircase going down from the wall where I stood.

Step, step.

I began descending the stairs.

The ones below finally started looking up at me.

The four pressuring the other two had a wide variety of hair colors.

Two males, two females—an even gender split.

“...What’s with that mask?”

A mask.

Nice.

This time I wouldn’t even need a fake name. I’d just have them call me “Mask.”

Step—

As I finished descending the stairs and set both feet on the ground, the four who had surrounded the players marked <7> and <8> approached me.

The man in front, with <10> floating above his head, had light brown hair and pale blue eyes.

“Take out any useful weapons and all your rare items from your inventory.”

He threw those words out casually and gave me a once-over from head to toe, a smirk curling on his lips.

“Actually, just hand over everything at your waist. Looks like you’ve got a lot. Let’s start with that red mask.”

I understood why they were acting so absurdly.

They were clearly excluding the possibility that I might be a Pandemonium climber.

With the <9> above my head, they must have figured that two Floor 10 climbers and two Floor 9 climbers could take me down, regardless of which tower difficulty I came from.

The man kept talking.

“No need to be scared stiff. I’m not planning to kill anyone. I know that the mission-type themes are all about teamwork. And if I lower the headcount before we even know the mission, who knows what could happen, right? Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Not planning to kill, huh.

“I just want to check what items everyone has. I simply want to be the proper leader of this exchange meeting. You get what I’m saying, right?”

“Your name.”

“...Huh?”

“I asked what your name is.”

He answered honestly.

“Matthew Bennett.”

“American?”

“Yeah, I’m American.”

I put the sword, Mundum Exstinguit, back into my inventory.

I had strapped it on in advance to prepare for monsters—not for dealing with other climbers.

Slide.

I checked to make sure the battle gloves, which reminded me of military-grade equipment, were securely fitted.

Just before entering the Floor 8 stage, I’d chatted with the Transcendent Gallery seniors about this second exchange meeting.

Title: Relative to my floor, my level’s on the high side, right?

Author: ㅇㅇ* freewēbnoveℓ.com

– I think I’ll enter the exchange at around level 36 or 37.

ㄴ Of course that’s high.

ㄴ That Baek Jin-young guy you killed was level 15 on Hard Mode Floor 8. He was basically the average back then. Even someone who broke through Floor 9 and lives on Floor 10... even if they’re abnormally high, they probably won’t be over level 20.

ㄴ The people you’ll meet won’t include Murim-born or otherworlders—not yet.

ㄴ You probably won’t see those types until you pass Floor 30.

ㄴ Archmage) Among the Earthlings from the 21st century you’ll meet in the exchange, none will pose a serious variable for you.

ㄴ Sword of Light) Control your strength.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) A careless tap from you could blow someone’s head off.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman) You’re operating at that kind of disparity now.

Not planning to kill me.

That much did seem to be true.

They’d robbed the two beside them of their items, but hadn’t killed them.

“Leader,” if you put it nicely.

But in reality, they just wanted to play king.

All four of them.

In the center of the area where we stood, there was a glowing blue pillar.

That meant this zone served the same role as a staircase waiting room.

Beyond it, the waiting room zone would end.

I made up my mind.

“Attention.”

Matthew furrowed his brow and tilted his head at my command.

“...What?”

“I’m not going to kill you either. But I will give you a bit of education.”

“The hell are you saying, freak? You think this is okay just because we’re in a recovery zone?”

SWREEEEEEECH!

I dodged the wild arc of Matthew’s axe and slammed my fist into his right shoulder.

Crunch—

A sharp crack rang out. Matthew’s mouth gaped wide.

“W-Wait—”

I kicked his stomach before he could recover, knocking him to the ground.

BOOM!

Then I stomped on his chest with my right foot.

CRACK!

A loud, clear sound of ribs shattering.

“Aaaarghhhh!”

Next, I stomped down on his left collarbone.

SNAP!

Another crisp sound of bone breaking.

That nose of his was a bit too high, huh.

CRUNCH!

I gently stepped on his face too.

The zone with the glowing blue pillar had the same recovery capability as the staircase waiting rooms.

But like those waiting rooms, there was a delay before healing kicked in.

We’d talked about that timing in the gallery, just before I entered Floor 8.

ㄴ Archmage) Even in the exchange meeting, it takes 10 seconds to start recovering after leaving the waiting room.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman) Different from the staircase waiting rooms, which are almost 3 seconds.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) If you want to kill, there’s more than enough time.

Ten seconds.

Plenty of time to feel pain.

“Guh... ugh...”

Still lying on the ground, Matthew clutched his face and curled up like a shrimp.

The other three—one platinum-haired woman with <10> and two others with <9>, a man and a woman—stood frozen, weapons in hand.

“What are you doing? Kneel.”

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The sound of three weapons hitting the ground echoed around us.