WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 54: 054
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Spring had spread throughout the land.
Except in the highlands, snow had become difficult to find. By then, the world had changed quite a bit.
-Stop killing bosses already, you bastards.
ㄴFor real. Let low-levels breathe ㅠㅠ
The overall Field Level had passed 50 percent.
Even the central Rocky Cliff Field, where bosses had been difficult to defeat, had passed Field Level 10.
The Giant Eagle had only become possible to defeat because users could now tame Eagles and ride them.
Now, they could chase it even when it flew into the sky. Whether they could properly fight in midair was another matter, but at least it was different from before, when they could only watch without being able to touch it.
Of course, the cost had been high.
The raids that followed caused considerable damage, including deaths from falls. Only after several failures did they finally succeed.
The problem was what happened as the levels in each Area rose. It was not unexpected. They had experienced it several times already.
Still, the increase in monster numbers had reached a level that was genuinely difficult to handle.
More users gathered in Giant Lake Field.
In other fields, it had become standard practice to build houses or resting places high up in trees, like in Logger Forest.
What if there were no tall trees?
They built tall structures themselves.
By then, users had grown considerably stronger as well.
People who used magic or skills to alter the terrain were no longer rare. Some piled up hills or erected massive pillars, then built homes on top of them.
While some users continued surviving and growing however they could, many others had now fallen completely behind and lived off help from those around them.
Most of them lived around the edges of Giant Lake Field. Some were so weak that they could not properly reel in a catch even when a fish bit.
They worked part-time by watching established fishermen's rods and immediately telling them when they got a bite. When they could not even find work like that, they survived by begging.
There were no field monsters around the lake, so they could live like that somehow. But in other fields, anyone who failed to leave in time would have a truly difficult life.
That was why people who picked them up and rescued them had started appearing. They were called Eagle Taxis.
Eagle Taxi.
Short for Eagle Taxi Service.
It began when someone who rode Eagles thought, 'I could probably carry one more person if I tried.'
At first, they reinforced the saddle so a rider and passenger could ride together.
But that method quickly disappeared after passengers suddenly attacked their riders in the sky, or riders deliberately dropped their passengers.
Now, they hung baskets or small carts beneath the Eagles to carry people. It looked somewhat like an air taxi, and there were quite a few customers.
'If you want to hunt in another field from Giant Lake Field, traveling by land takes too long.'
Just because they had made a home there did not mean they could live by catching fish forever. To earn experience and Points, they ultimately had to go to other fields.
So clans and guilds also tried to secure Eagles of their own, while private taxis increased quickly.
It was impossible to verify anyone's qualifications, so accidents never stopped happening. Still, accounts of victims were shared on SNS and public boards, and some names ended up on blacklists.
“Phew... Done.”
And around that time, Seo Hajin reached Level 50 with every Avatar.
It was not only Brown, his youngest Avatar.
Once Brown reached Level 50, another Viewpoint Slot truly opened. Steel, the additional Avatar he made afterward, had now reached Level 50 as well.
“It isn't increasing this time. Well, expecting more again would be too greedy.”
He had six Level 50 Avatars.
Even the executives of a large clan would likely not have reached that level.
The average levels shared on the boards ranged from around 20 to 30. Even those who reached Level 40 had generally done so because a guild or clan had gathered Keys and pushed them up.
Most ordinary users could not break level locks, so they usually stagnated at every tenth level.
Wars had even broken out over Keys.
Some people were raised with their clan's support, then caused trouble by moving to another clan. There were also cases where a user in charge of a warehouse sold the Keys they had collected and ran away.
'The more I think about it, the better it is to be alone.'
Seo Hajin felt that way more strongly than ever. Yet no one considered him to be alone.
There were the six Avatars he had accumulated, as well as the pets whose numbers had steadily grown in the meantime.
People now knew that Werewolves with Beastkin appearances were pets rather than users. Still, it was difficult to imagine that one user controlled six Avatars at the same time.
'Besides, I don't think this is the end.'
There was no basis for it.
He simply felt that there would be more.
More than anything, six was an awkward number.
'Five or ten would be cleaner.'
Of course, there seemed to be idol groups with six members too. It was possible that it would truly end at six.
'I hope more Keys drop.'
Keys had already been scarce.
So how had he even gotten a new character to Level 50?
It was thanks to those who had generously given and departed.
'It was dangerous.'
There had been one visitor who came openly, and an assassin who arrived without a sound.
They were different, but their goals were similar.
They wanted to loot him somehow.
And they had nearly pulled it off.
'The Charm skill was definitely dangerous.'
There had been a woman with an exceptionally attractive appearance.
But he was not so easily taken in by a face. He already understood that the figure before him was closer to an Avatar in a game than a real body.
The problem was the skill she possessed.
It seemed to be the kind that charmed a target and controlled them however she wished for a certain time.
'It seemed like the duration changed depending on the target's mental strength or level difference.'
If the difference in their caliber was too great, it might not work at all. He did not know whether her level was higher than expected or whether the skill itself was high-grade, but the charm itself had succeeded.
Still, she had failed to achieve her goal.
Amazingly, Seo Hajin had six layers of mental defenses.
Even he had not known that.
The system was not structured so that one Avatar could be charmed and controlled separately.
She had to break through the mental defenses surrounding all six Avatars, then charm Seo Hajin's main consciousness beyond them.
'It's impossible.'
To begin with, all six Avatars rarely operated outside at the same time.
And even if she charmed all six one by one, by the time she reached the last one, the first Avatar would already have recovered.
Unless she captured all six, tied them somewhere, and did it all at once, it was impossible.
Of course, he had no intention of letting himself be captured so easily.
“W-Wait! That's not... Aah!”
The woman paid the price for her reckless attempt.
She had apparently been so confident that she had not even emptied her Inventory properly before coming.
'Looks like she made quite a profit through Charm.'
Not long after that, an assassin with an invisibility ability came.
He did not know whether it was magic or a skill, but it did not merely make the assassin invisible. It seemed to erase their scent and presence as well, since even the Aggressive Mob Wolves did not react.
'I almost missed them.'
He had spotted them thanks to an unexpected skill.
[Health Visualization]
It displayed the remaining health of a target within roughly 20 meters as a gauge. Normally, it was useful for identifying small animals hiding in the forest besides Wolves.
But at some point, he saw something strange.
A health gauge in a different color from the ones normally around him.
It was just under 100 meters away.
It should have been outside the range and impossible to see. But rabbits, which he usually let loose to roam above and below the ground, were nearby.
'It's thanks to Soul Resonance.'
Even from far away, if a pet was close to the target, he could sometimes see a faint display.
Just as the pets used Heavy Attack at the level of a minor copy, the effects of other skills were manifesting in weaker forms too.
That was how he discovered the hidden person.
If the health gauge had not been a different color, and had resembled the surrounding animals, he might have simply passed by.
Of course, it would have become clear if the person came closer. Still, if he had noticed too late, he might have allowed the first strike.
'But I saw them first.'
He only judged the user to be an assassin after dealing with them and checking their Personal Effects.
Strictly speaking, they had only attempted an assassination. But they left quietly, without any excuses or protests.
'They had quite a few things in their Inventory too.'
Nothing impressive.
They were either useless to Seo Hajin or difficult for him to use.
But Keys were a different matter.
Afterward, he dealt with several more people who approached with similar intentions. Thanks to that, he secured additional Keys and raised his newest Avatar to Level 50.
'It won't be easy from now on.'
If he only had one Avatar, it would not be such a major issue. But having six made it no joke.
'And that's before considering the pets' evolutions...'
As Field Levels rose, the chance of regular monsters dropping boxes had increased as well. Even so, it felt like he had to open around ten boxes just to see one Key.
'It feels like more and more junk items are coming out.'
It was a topic frequently mentioned on general boards and SNS recently. Compared to the beginning, rewards were becoming worse over time.
-The Field Level went up, and monsters got stronger. So why are the drops worse than before?
ㄴI think Points and experience have increased, but the rewards are strangely bad.
ㄴNothing subtle about it. They straight-up suck.
Some users compiled the items they had obtained and uploaded comparison charts.
They separated simple drops from items found in boxes. The difference was obvious to anyone.
-Aren't you just killing fewer monsters because they've gotten stronger?
ㄴNo, look at the chart. It isn't divided by time, it's divided by the number of monsters killed.
ㄴOh.
-Basic materials still drop fine.
ㄴThat's why it's less noticeable.
That was exactly what someone had said.
Byproducts a monster would naturally give, such as leather, bones, and meat, continued dropping without issue. So while it seemed suspicious, it was difficult to complain openly.
But now, people were even saying that the boxes dropped by bosses gave poorer rewards than before.
What users wanted were better skills, or special devices that seemed to come from another world.
Seo Hajin had also obtained several mechanical devices from boxes in the past, including an Arc Recycler. Recently, though, he had barely seen such items.
'Junk items are still dropping quite often.'
Metal scraps that looked like they had been picked up from a scrapyard, or wires that seemed to have been torn from machinery.
He considered putting them into the recycler and processing them into resources. But in case they became useful later, he stacked them in one area of Subspace instead.
Perhaps because of that, one corner of Subspace had truly begun to look like the corner of a scrapyard.
'If this is a game, it's probably a kind of nerf.'
Maybe it was a balance adjustment.
Users were growing stronger as their levels rose. Perhaps the system was reducing outside factors like items to maintain overall balance.
Still, he had a strange feeling that it could not be explained by that alone. No one could point to exactly what felt wrong.
-The items weren't supposed to drop on this map in the first place.
One person's comment received quite a lot of agreement.
Seo Hajin agreed that things had seemed strange from the beginning.
'We're only annoyed because they gave them to us, then stopped.'
That was when it happened.
A Field Boss defeat notification, which had become familiar by now, appeared. Then a message he had never seen before followed.
[Condition 1 has been fulfilled for the first time.]
[Those users may leave this place and return to where they originally were at any time.]
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, the boss defeat notification that had appeared just before was from the central Rocky Cliff Area.
It had only just passed Field Level 10. If the condition had already been fulfilled, it meant there were people who had steadily participated in most of the raids so far.
'That meant they had defeated bosses at least ten times while making rounds through other fields too.'
Every board was incredibly noisy.
Some people had apparently expected it already. They had not acted as openly as the Expedition Force had in the past, but those who knew, knew.
The First Clan.
The name alone made them seem obsessed with rankings. But since they had truly become the first, there was nothing to say.
-Are all 50 of them going back?
ㄴThere's no reason to stay.
ㄴTrue.
The clan was known to have 50 members. The number who participated in the raids was the same.
The users belonging to that clan were only now pouring out all kinds of posts, as if an embargo had finally been lifted.
But other users frowned at their behavior. Rather than showing the honor or generosity of pioneers, they were merely bragging in a game and teabagging people.
'What can you do?'
Seo Hajin felt nothing in particular.
He was not especially jealous.
He was only curious.
'What happened to home?'
People had different expectations.
Some thought time had stopped and their homes would be waiting for them. Others thought time might have moved faster, leaving their homes far in the future.
Some said their homes could have already been destroyed and disappeared. Others believed they might be in the middle of a war with another world.
Opinions varied.
But there was one claim many people seemed to agree with. No one would remember them.
People had long suspected that only those who would not be missed had been selected and brought here.
'There might not be absolutely no one waiting...'
He did not know about his mother.
But his younger sister might be.
'Mm.'
Seo Hajin turned his attention back to SNS.
After the bragging went on for a long time, The First Clan made one final post, saying they would all leave together.
[It was disgusting being with you. Let's never meet again.]
Even the clan master's post carried no weight.
All kinds of insulting comments followed beneath it, but Seo Hajin did not add a line of his own.
'Things will get noisier from now on.'
That was what he needed to pay attention to.
People had loudly bragged and left. Among those remaining, more users would likely start joining raids more actively.
'I've already given up on Condition 1.'
There was no need to rush.
Points continued to accumulate. If it felt wasteful to spend them, he could simply take his time and wait until he filled the required stay time.
Many people thought similarly.
But many did not, as he could see from the boss defeat notifications that began appearing quite often afterward.
Naturally, some of them were notifications for bosses in the north. Since he did not go there to control or interfere with them, that was only natural.
'What will happen?'
Clans and guilds similar in size and level to The First Clan seemed to be jumping into raids one after another.
The number of users would probably decrease quickly from now on. It would fall sharply for a while, then eventually stabilize.
Seo Hajin thought about that as he split a charging Wolf in half.
The First Clan had all left.
About a week later, a user from that clan made a post on SNS again.
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