WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 60
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Not everything can be stopped.
Some did not know that. Others knew, yet still tried desperately to stop it somehow.
But their efforts interfered with other people's daily lives and progress. As a result, Giant Lake grew noisier by the day, and increasingly hostile.
The problem was that their efforts to prevent it, obstructing people’s fishing and even occasionally killing them, achieved nothing at all.
Information that Boss Mobs could appear in the tributaries was only released after the Field Level had already risen well above 90. By then, it was too late to do anything.
No. There had never been enough people to block off that vast lake and all its tributaries in the first place. The effort had been futile from the beginning.
As ridicule and criticism poured in from all sides, Giant Lake Field finally reached Level 100.
Then came Area integration.
Some stopped what they had been doing and withdrew to somewhere safer. Others kept fishing as usual.
What happened afterward varied widely.
Some were lucky enough not to be near monster spawn points, allowing them to continue their ordinary lives without much change.
Others could no longer remain where they had lived before.
The new change created further conflict.
Fights frequently broke out as people tried to drive out those already settled in relatively safe locations and take those places for themselves.
Of course, even a place gained that way was not safe forever. Monster spawn locations were not fixed.
In the end, unless people gathered in sufficiently large groups to guard the surrounding perimeter and kill monsters, they could not return to their former peaceful lives.
Crocodiles settled along the once-quiet lakeshore. Wolves, Feral Dogs, and even Wild Boars roamed the land beyond it.
Naturally, some people had prepared in advance.
The representative monsters of each field were already known, so preparing for the new changes was only natural.
They built thick, tall wooden Palisades in advance. Or they established isolated bases resembling bunkers or shelters.
The more organized the group, the larger its base naturally became. Some further strengthened their existing hideouts by enclosing their perimeters.
But some people overlooked the fact that monsters could spawn in an empty clearing.
They fenced in wide areas in an effort to claim more land, but left the ground inside empty. Monsters then started appearing within those enclosures.
They seemed to be trying to deal with it somehow, but they had naturally made enemies around them while claiming that land. They could not expect outside help.
“Both of them are all right.”
Seo Hajin checked in on acquaintances from the lake field through social media.
Hogu said Crocodiles had appeared, but only one or two at a time, so there was no real problem.
Miyu-chan's location was deep in one of the tributaries. Perhaps because it was narrow and shallow, there were no Crocodiles there.
Other monsters spawned instead. Since it was closer to the mountains, Wild Boars seemed to appear most often.
Of course, the Wolf Beastkin under her command could handle Wild Boars.
What made her clever was that she had not simply left everything to the Beastkin. She had also built traps around the area.
She had said she thought this was supposed to be a relaxing game about planting flowers and farming, but it turned out that her skills were better suited to trapping than fishing.
Thanks to that, her hunting results had actually improved compared to when she only fished. If they adapted well, most lake users could probably manage something similar.
Users who failed to adapt were naturally pushed out over time. Some headed for the tributaries after hearing they were safer, but tributaries were not completely safe either.
Unless they had separate combat power like Hogu or Miyu-chan, at least three people needed to live together.
Those who left late naturally had neither homes nor anything else prepared. Unless they got along well, their groups soon fell apart and scattered.
Huff. Huff.
Juggernaut alternately lifted dumbbells made from compressed wooden bars with similarly compressed stones fitted onto either end. Each one weighed around thirty kilograms.
If this were a gym, there should have been at least a large mirror in front of him. But thanks to his separate fields of vision, he could see whether his form was good or bad.
He could even use his other Avatars' eyes to check from the front or side. It felt rather strange.
‘It’s similar to having someone watch you work out, but also different.’
Vulcan had been doing burpees beside him for ten minutes. Behind them, Stone hung from a pull-up bar with one hand and did pull-ups.
Poor form or overexertion would naturally lead to injuries. Fortunately, this was a place where most injuries healed on their own as long as one did not die.
‘Maybe this is a gym rat’s paradise.’
It had already been around a month since he began placing more emphasis on physical training and Physical Enhancement than hunting himself.
But the Wolf hunting teams had increased instead.
There had been ten teams. Now there were nineteen, nearly double. There were enough reserve Wolves that he could increase the number to more than twenty immediately.
“Is this really the right direction...?”
His arm muscles bulged as he repeatedly lifted the stones and muttered to himself.
Somehow, he had ended up investing enough Keys in that direction to unlock the Level 50 lock.
He had not spent them all at once. He had simply used them little by little until the total became that large. Still, he could not help wondering whether it might have been better to just raise Juggernaut to Level 60.
Even so, that question would soon be answered.
He had more hunting manpower than most Clans.
Spoils poured in.
Most of it was junk, but Boxes occasionally gave him useful things. And Keys appeared from time to time.
Before he knew it, the number of Keys was approaching what he needed to unlock the Level 50 lock. Naturally, Juggernaut would be the first to use them.
“At this pace, maybe tomorrow. If I’m lucky, it could happen today.”
If he had not increased the number of Companion No. N workers managing Subspace, it might have been possible yesterday.
But as hunting spoils increased, he needed more hands to organize and sort them. Investing there had been unavoidable.
‘Subspace has been steadily expanding too.’
That alone was truly good.
If anyone asked for something that improved in proportion to how much he invested, Subspace expansion would be a prime example.
It had been expanding before, but the growing number of hunting teams had raised his earnings accordingly.
He could now afford to expand it directly in addition to the automatic expansion. Aside from the Points he saved as a reserve, he invested most of them there.
As a result...
“Wow.”
His Subspace had grown to the size of an aircraft hangar.
‘Not a large passenger plane, but it could definitely fit a small private jet that rich people use.’
The space was not merely large, either.
A considerable portion of it was filled with all kinds of supplies.
“It was a good thing I divided it into sections beforehand.”
There was a section for food supplies, including meat. Another stored monster byproducts such as leather and bones.
There was also a cultivation section using mana-supplying planters.
Various mechanical devices and miscellaneous items from Boxes were piled together in another area. Beside them was a modest workout space.
He had also assigned separate space to the pets.
Otherwise, even this enormous space would have felt cramped with their current numbers.
Fortunately, Subspace did not have to be shaped like a rectangular prism or cube.
If necessary, he could raise or lower only one side. At the moment, the storage areas were taller than the areas where the pets stayed.
The Arc Recycler and Arc Sustainer sat between the food supplies and monster byproduct storage.
Even now, the Companions hurried back and forth, feeding all sorts of things into the machines for dismantling and storage.
‘This would have been impossible with only me.’
Even with five Avatars, he did not have enough hands. The amount of supplies coming in from outside was absurd.
That also meant a large amount of material was discarded.
Leather that was too poor to sell or use. Meat that had spoiled or seemed poisoned.
He fed those into the Recycler to be broken down. If something was too questionable even for that, he gathered it to one side and eventually dumped it outside.
“It would be really nice to have one more Recycler. No, two.”
Having even one was fortunate, but there was so much to dismantle now that the work kept piling up.
At least the Condition Maintenance Effect kept things from deteriorating. Otherwise, he would have been forced to throw away a considerable amount.
Gulp. Gulp.
He now had enough shake powder to mix and drink all year and still have some left.
It tasted better than before, and its toxicity had disappeared.
The first reason was that he no longer needed to mix poison into even his shakes before drinking them. Another was that poison-free shakes were better for listing in the marketplace.
‘Sales are still nothing special, but they keep increasing.’
Perhaps one day, they might bring in more profit than ramen, which still sold out every day.
‘But I’ll probably leave before then.’
The mandatory stay period was gradually shrinking.
Most users endured by looking forward to that. More and more of them now prioritized survival over hunting.
Raids were indefinitely suspended.
Even if someone tried to gather people, there was no one willing to come. Unless major Clans pooled their strength, no successful raid notification would appear.
‘At least Giant Lake can still do it. It’s brutal there, but solo raids are possible.’
Perhaps that was why its level was beginning to surpass the other fields.
Naturally, the monsters spawning there were correspondingly higher level. The place once called the only safe zone had become somewhere people needed to survive day by day.
* * *
[Our Clan Is Moving]
The brass whispered among themselves and decided to relocate.
- Where are you going? Is there even anywhere to go?
ㄴ Rocky Cliffs.
ㄴ That place is a nightmare to settle.
ㄴ The Field Level is still the lowest, at least. Sounds like they’re building a base before winter, then moving once it’s finished.
ㄴ Watch out for Eagles. If one grabs you, you’re done.
ㄴ Yeah. Heard they drop people from the sky.
- Our Clan is relocating too, apparently.
ㄴ A lot of Clans have been talking about moving lately.
ㄴ We’re going to the Wasteland.
ㄴ Isn’t that place even harsher?
ㄴ Heard a water vein opened near the Mine.
ㄴ There are a ton of monsters there.
ㄴ Where isn’t there?
There were signs that the large-scale user migration, which had quieted down for a while, was about to begin again.
Eagle taxi drivers became busier as well.
[TrueFinal: There’s been talk like this before, but I think they really mean to do it this time.]
[TrueFinal: I’ve already been going back and forth quite a bit. How are things in the north these days?]
[Me: Nothing special. Not good, not bad.]
[TrueFinal: That’s probably only because it’s you, Juggernaut... Anyway, quite a few people have been showing interest in the north lately.]
[Me: Really?]
[TrueFinal: Yes. It used to be considered the most dangerous place, but now a lot of people say the Logging Forest in the east is even more dangerous.]
[Me: There are more Bears there now.]
[TrueFinal: Exactly.]
[TrueFinal: People who know what it’s really like don’t think that way, but people who have never been there and only know a little seem to think the north will be easy.]
[Me: They’ll understand if they come.]
[TrueFinal: It seems some Clans are considering relocating there. I thought I should mention it, just in case.]
[Me: All right. Thank you. See you next time.]
TrueFinal had been right.
More people had come north because of Rainy Season Pull Hunting. Even as the rain gradually stopped and the ground dried, their numbers did not decrease.
Some were moving deeper into the forest, but their purpose did not appear to be hunting.
They looked as though they were examining the terrain.
They were probably searching for a place to build a new Clan base.
Some groups already seemed to have decided on a location.
He had not heard it directly, but his pets told him how far they had come and how long they had stayed.
There were large and small clearings throughout Northern Forest where trees did not respawn.
It seemed they were choosing places he did not use as logging sites or lumber drying yards.
“If they touch the logging sites, I’ll have to do something. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter.”
Other people settling in Northern Forest?
He did not particularly dislike the idea.
The forest was vast. Even he had not properly claimed all of the northern area yet.
‘I almost could have, but more monsters appeared as the Field Level rose.’
Whether others settled, hunted, or logged in the south, it did not cause him any damage or loss.
But if they moved farther north than the places they had originally marked out, things might become different.
‘Should I put up a marker?’
Would it be better to establish a boundary telling them not to go beyond a certain point?
But that would be little different from controlling a hunting ground.
‘For now, I’ll watch. Honestly, the north is farther from water sources and harder to live in. There’s no reason for them to come all the way up here.’
* * *
He was partly right, and partly wrong.
Some people came all the way north, even into the territory where his pets operated.
He could tell their destination just from their direction.
One of his logging sites.
For the first time in a while, he directed some of the hunting teams by will alone and sent Wolf hunting teams to the site.
He sent three teams, each made up of one Wolf Rider and twenty Wolves. After adjusting the positions of the remaining teams so he could deploy them if necessary, he climbed onto Sangun.
If it had been farther away, he would have ridden an Eagle. But it was not far enough to require that. Sangun was sufficient.
When he arrived, he saw logs drying on one side.
They were piled nearly as high as a small hill. A waterproof cover made from low-grade leather and fiber cloth had been placed over them to keep off the rain.
‘It’s about time to repair that.’
When it rained, the rain damaged it. When it did not, sunlight did.
He needed to replace and repair it regularly.
Otherwise, the wood he had worked so hard to dry could get wet.
‘Getting wet briefly is fine. I just need to avoid Rainy Season-level downpours as much as possible.’
The approaching people slowly appeared from the far side of the logging site.
There were three of them.
Perhaps the person in front had not expected someone to be waiting. They hesitated briefly.
But they soon fixed their expression and walked forward again. They stopped around ten meters away from Juggernaut, who remained mounted on Sangun.
“Hiya, Juggernaut, sir.”
Those were strange first words from a taciturn-looking man who resembled an Italian model.
A woman behind him smacked the back of his head hard enough that the sound rang through the logging site.
‘That must have hurt.’
Actually, it was a greeting he had grown accustomed to.
People who thought of this place as a game often greeted others that way.
“Hi.”
He raised a hand in response.
That only made the other three look awkward. Especially the woman who had hit the first man.
The woman then stepped forward and gave a slight bow.
“Hello. I’m sorry for coming here without telling you in advance. It was so urgent that we didn’t have time to contact you.”
She added that she had actually sent him a social media message, but he had not checked it yet.
‘Did she?’
He received so many messages that if he did not recognize the name, he often left them unread.
After asking her name, he found her message in the list.
‘Ah. Here it is.’
3SecondsMissJi.
A female celebrity’s name with “three seconds” added in front of it.
He roughly understood the meaning. He also understood why she looked embarrassed when saying it aloud.
‘At least it isn’t one second.’
The message was not long, but it was polite.
They had not come to claim the logging site. Nor had they come to steal the logs that were still drying there.
The logs were their goal, of course. But they intended to pay a fair price for them.
‘They must need wood badly.’
Giant trees grew everywhere nearby.
But cutting them down and processing them took ages.
Even if dozens of people rushed in, it would take considerable time. It seemed they had decided to buy logs whose branches had already been removed and which were properly drying.
If there had been nothing like that nearby, they would have had no choice. But there was a large quantity of lumber right here.
“So you’re customers.”
He nodded lightly.
All three of them stiffened in a similar way.
“They aren’t completely dry yet. If you have the Woodworking skill, you’ll need to work on them further.”
“That’s not a problem. The problem right now is...”
“The price?”
The man flinched at that.
His gaze had gone to Juggernaut’s fist.
‘Not that kind of price.’
He did not bother explaining.
The woman seemed to understand properly.
After some negotiation, he sold them the logs. The price was lower than what he would have received by processing them into Firewood and selling that in winter, but handing over a large quantity at once was not bad for him either.
“By any chance... do you offer delivery too?”
He understood.
Their inventories had limits. From what he heard, their Clan only had two Eagles.
Not many people could move through the Wolves by personal ability alone. Transporting this much material would take a very long time.
“It’s not far, so I’ll deliver it for free.”
“Thank you!”
The lumber delivery took place over three days.
He could have done it faster if he completely emptied Subspace, but that had been impossible from the start.
Besides, even if he delivered too much at once, they could not use it all immediately. They still needed to dry it further and process it for its intended uses.
“Just in case you were wondering, we have absolutely no intention of going beyond this line.”
It was somewhat surprising that 3SecondsMissJi, who had come to the logging site and led the transaction, was the Master leading the current Clan.
There was nothing unusual about a woman being a Master, but she did not look particularly combat-oriented.
‘Well. You can’t judge people by their appearances.’
Besides, she had probably customized herself. Her original appearance might have been different as well.
The Clan’s name was D-Day.
When he asked what it meant, she explained that they would do their best to survive and help one another while they were here, then disband cleanly once they returned home.
‘A fixed-term Clan.’
He wondered whether relationships between people could end that easily. But she said they were only disbanding the Clan. Their personal friendships would not disappear.
Still, from the look in her eyes and the nuance of her words, there seemed to be some people in the current Clan who did not want to maintain their connections after returning home.
‘Everywhere is probably the same.’
When people gathered, some became close and others did not. Perhaps it was wiser to disband the Clan while letting individuals decide for themselves which friendships to maintain.
“You already split once?”
“Yes. People had different opinions... and factions formed as we expanded at one point.”
3SecondsMissJi said that many tiring things had happened while the Clan was settled in Giant Lake Field.
“At least people won’t wear you out here.”
“There aren’t many people here.”
People with similar views had gathered and become independent. But since they did not know what might happen among themselves later, they had set the condition that the Clan would only last until they returned home.
“You don’t seem to like power.”
“Power? Oh, please. It’s not like being Clan Master is anything special.”
Clan members would not absolutely obey the Master’s orders just because they belonged to the Clan. It was little different from a club with a name.
“I didn’t become Master because I wanted to. I got picked in a random draw.”
“Ah.”
As their conversation came to a natural close, she took something out and handed it to him separately from the payment for the lumber, saying she hoped they would get along well in the future.
“Hmm?”
It was a gun.
Footnotes:
“Three-second” before a celebrity name is Korean slang for someone who resembles that celebrity only at a glance. 3SecondsMissJi’s username plays on this, hence Seo Hajin’s thought that at least it is not “one second.”
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