WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈
Chapter 66
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“What is that?”
“A leather collar?”
“… Isn’t that a taming item?”
At the sharp-eyed observation, the Master slowly nodded.
“Just now, Juggernaut, sir… um…”
“Why are you stuttering? Did you break?”
“Why are you adding ‘sir’ after his name?”
“An… envoy? Someone like that came to see me.”
An envoy, out of nowhere?
But it seemed related to the taming item in the Master’s hand, so everyone focused on the Master.
“An envoy said Juggernaut also regretted what happened, then delivered a consolation gift and told us to rebuild what remains of the Clan well.”
“That’s a consolation gift?”
“What is it?”
“Isn’t it a Wolf? Juggernaut has a ton of Wolves.”
“Come on. He’s settling it with one Wolf?”
“It’s still better than nothing. Wolves are expensive too.”
“They rarely show up on the marketplace.”
But the Master’s expression was strange.
As the Clan members’ expressions became similarly strange, something appeared beside the Master.
Grrr-
“Ah, fuck!”
“You scared me!”
It was a Bear.
A Bear like the ones that had torn people apart the night before.
But looking at it, it seemed a little smaller than the ones they had seen last night. The Master said that was because it had only just been tamed.
“The one we saw yesterday had been evolved.”
“No wonder it was strong.”
“Then is this one weak?”
“It doesn’t look that weak.”
“Still, doesn’t the first evolution only take one Key? Let’s evolve it.”
“You have a Key?”
“Not me.”
“What were you doing instead of collecting Keys?”
“What about you?”
In any case, Juggernaut had clearly given them a consolation gift beyond anything they had expected. Excited, people began touching and petting the Bear.
“Wow… He gave us something like this?”
“Has anyone tamed a Bear before?”
“I don’t think so. That’s why we were scared shitless yesterday.”
The Clan had gained a Bear.
They had fought its evolved form the night before, so they knew very well how strong it was.
“I’m planning to use my own Key first.”
The current Master said that since there was no such thing as a pet belonging to a Clan, the Bear had no choice but to count as the current Master’s personal property. It was only right to invest in it directly.
“But.”
Then someone spoke.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is a little excessive, even as a consolation gift? Is Juggernaut really the kind of person who would give something like this?”
“Really? I don’t think it’s excessive.”
“No, doesn’t that Bear seem more expensive than the compensation Juggernaut received?”
“Hmm.”
The Master raised one hand.
There was something Juggernaut’s envoy had proposed when they gave him the Bear.
“There are people who got hurt for taking Juggernaut’s side on the boards or social media.”
“A list went around.”
“It’s probably still going around.”
“The envoy asked if our Clan could protect people in this area who were on that list, if they wanted it, and I gladly agreed.”
“Well, that much is fine.”
“What kind of protection? Just keeping them safe, or having them join the Clan?”
“I think we can leave that to the people involved. If they want to go north, we can protect them here until they take an Eagle taxi.”
“That isn’t difficult.”
“We don’t have to go find and bring them here, right?”
“Not that far.”
“Hmm.”
That much was not a burden.
If anything, it still felt absurd that they had been given a Bear for so little.
“Maybe he gave it instead of loot?”
“Could be.”
“Ah. There was one more thing.”
“What?”
“They said it eats a lot.”
“… Ah.”
“We were told to get in touch if we can’t handle the meat. Wolf Meat will be sold at cost.”
“Does Wolf Meat even have a cost?”
They tilted their heads.
Still, it was better than having nothing. They went back to petting the Bear and feeding it whatever meat they had.
The Master did not hesitate any longer and evolved the Bear. Starting that very night, it did its part.
It beat down Wolves and minor monsters that came near their base. It also helped stop the schemes of nearby forces trying to invade their territory while they were weakened.
For the survivors, it was a blessing in disguise. With the only Bear pet in Giant Lake Field at the center, they defended their base and gradually recovered the assets and pride they had lost.
* * *
Juggernaut quietly returned north.
But social media did not quiet down.
If anything, it became louder after he left.
Videos and photos from the battle, along with footage taken afterward, were uploaded from several angles. Short clips spread again and again.
‘They filmed it clearly despite it being a night battle. Maybe they have some kind of skill.’
An Eagle dropping rocks.
A Wild Boar ramming a wall.
Wolf Riders carrying rifles, each directing Wolves as they moved, and their forces pouring through gaps in the collapsed wall like a wave.
[Isn’t this a little too much?]
Did they have to wipe out an entire Clan?
- They didn’t wipe them all out.
└ Looks like about half got wiped.
- Then why did they provoke him?
└ Is destroying a base because a few pets died really right?
└ It wasn’t just a few. They deliberately hit the hunting teams and manipulated public opinion too.
└ Didn’t they try to take hostages as well?
└ They said that was only some of them.
└ The Vice Master’s side was the one that told those people to bring them to the base.
└ There’s never a clean case where someone pulls the “only some of us” line.
[So he just took 25,200 Points and left?]
Did he seriously just take the money and go?
- Yeah.
└ It’s funny that he said the loot was separate.
└ Isn’t that just correct?
└ Why would what they lost in a fight count as compensation?
- They should’ve just paid from the beginning.
└ Seriously. Then the base would still be intact and people probably wouldn’t have died.
[The problem is that Juggernaut got too strong.]
At that level, does it even matter who was wrong? If Juggernaut says you’re bad and deserve a beating, you just have to stand there and take it.
- If he’s that strong, people should avoid provoking him even more.
└ So strong people can do whatever they want?
└ The side that struck first tried to settle it with strength and lost, didn’t they?
└ Yeah. They ended up giving him justification too.
There were quite a few opinions that said he had gone too far.
But more people said they should never have provoked Juggernaut in the first place.
Besides, it could have ended if they had paid as soon as the demand for compensation was made.
Even after missing that chance, they could have reduced the damage by opening the gate and talking when he arrived at their base.
But they chose to fight.
There might have been orders from higher up, but if the people involved had wanted to, they could have avoided the fight.
Instead, they thought Juggernaut would be weaker than expected. They believed they could win in a defensive battle.
And they lost.
In the end, they had given Juggernaut justification.
Similar posts flooded the boards for a while.
But particular issues tended not to last long in the community. As other posts went up, stories about Juggernaut and the Clan gradually got pushed down.
Then one post began gaining views especially quickly.
[The Tower Is Descending Again]
The author was a user who had returned home.
The attached photograph showed a gray city and the lower portion of the enormous Tower covering it. It looked much like the photos posted before.
But next to the older photo attached for comparison, the difference was obvious.
The Tower had descended further.
It was closer to the ground.
- Isn’t that just the angle?
└ They said it was taken from the same rooftop in the same direction.
└ There’s a video too.
└ How far did it come down?
└ No one knows exactly, but they say the military restricted zone has expanded.
- What happens if it touches the ground?
└ Who knows?
The post’s author said they took photos from the same spot every day.
The Tower had always been descending little by little, but this time it had moved enough for the difference to be visible after only one day.
There were also reports that the military and police were expanding the restricted zone around the Tower.
When would it reach the ground?
What would happen if it did?
No one knew for certain.
‘Hmm.’
Seo Hajin stared at the photographs for a while.
He was curious about the situation back home, but he was even more curious about what would happen when he returned there.
‘My original body probably won’t be in good condition.’
According to those who had already experienced it, their physical bodies were no longer the same as before they entered this place.
They did not become as strong as their Avatars, but they were at least stronger than before.
On the other hand, some users said that existing illnesses could worsen.
One person claimed it had happened to them. Their previously mild hair loss had become much worse.
‘Cancer and hair loss aren’t quite the same thing.’
Still, the bigger problem was that his original body had not remained unchanged.
Even before coming here, he had been told that cancer had spread throughout his body. After all this time, what would have happened to it?
‘They said it had spread strangely fast even then.’
Would he die the moment he returned?
He did not have to worry about that immediately.
According to the stories of those who had returned, they initially went back in their Avatar state, not their original bodies.
But when the time limit for Avatar Manifestation ended, they returned to their original bodies. If he did return, he would need to find out more or take some kind of action before then.
‘The remaining stay time for the return conditions is gradually growing shorter too.’
The seasons still had to change several more times.
But Seo Hajin felt he needed to start preparing.
[Nanobot Treatment can cure cancer too.]
But it’s consumable, so one might not fully cure terminal cancer with just one.
It was a post uploaded by someone who had also returned home.
He opened the saved screenshot again and became certain that the Nanobot Treatment mentioned there was the same kind he had been collecting.
“I need to gather more.”
They occasionally appeared on the marketplace.
They were not cheap. Most people listed them at high prices, assuming they would take them home rather than use them here.
Through messages from home, everyone had learned how much money otherworldly medicine and machinery could be worth.
Of course, there were also people desperate for Points. If they got an item like that from a box, they would sell it immediately to fill their pockets instead of worrying about home.
Whenever Nanobot Treatment appeared on the marketplace at a price that was not too high, with the feel of a quick sale, Seo Hajin bought it without hesitation.
Including what he had originally possessed, he had gathered more than fifty Nanobot Treatments. His first goal was one hundred.
He did not think that was excessive.
No. Even if it was excessive, he thought it was fine.
‘If it barely comes out of boxes, it must be valuable. And since it’s consumable, it’ll become even more valuable over time.’
If he did not have enough treatment and failed to get rid of the cancer properly, nothing would be more unfair than that.
‘Autumn is almost over. For a while, I should focus on logging rather than hunting.’
There was a logging camp and workers, but they could not match the speed at which he could fell trees himself.
Logging with Heavy Attack.
He could bring down dozens of trees a day, or even a hundred giant trees if he pushed himself. Processing them and stacking them in the drying yard took longer.
‘How cold will this winter be?’
Some people thought it might be a little less severe than last year. The Wasteland Field had been integrated, after all. Perhaps its geothermal heat and wind would affect other Areas.
No one had experienced it yet, so they would not know until winter arrived. Still, Seo Hajin personally did not think that would happen.
‘Even if the Fields are connected, I don’t think something that far away will affect this place.’
Besides, the Wasteland’s heat came from lava underground. Unless the boss was defeated, it remained suitably contained beneath the earth.
“Now that there are Eagle taxis, plenty of people will probably head to the Wasteland this winter.”
He had already heard that some Clans were building what amounted to branch bases in every Field.
One in Giant Lake, one in Logging Forest, one in the Wasteland. They were expanding into multiple locations as needed.
But building a new base was not easy, and they first needed to secure the materials for it.
Even though winter had not yet made Firewood essential, lumber prices had not fallen that much. A considerable amount was likely being drawn into those projects.
‘They’re probably setting up bases in Logging Forest for their own supplies, but I heard the Bears have multiplied there too. It isn’t as efficient as it used to be.’
In the end, they had to become stronger.
Or they needed pets powerful enough that monsters could not approach them.
‘Won’t any more high-grade taming items appear?’
It was not just his imagination that good items seemed harder to find as time went on.
Everyone said the same thing.
He had also examined it himself while settling the daily hunting loot. The efficiency compared to hunting time had steadily declined.
At least the growing number of pets meant he received more loot in the same amount of time. But with boxes, the problem was that there was no telling what would come out.
“It feels like the chance of getting junk keeps increasing.”
He had discovered that even junk had its uses lately, but that did not make it any less disappointing.
For now, he decided to focus on steadily increasing his pet forces. As he did, the territory he could call his own in Northern Forest grew wider by the day.
Autumn passed. Frost settled. By the time white snowflakes began to fall one by one, his territory had expanded enough to meet the territory of the D-Day Clan, which had once been some distance away.
Near Hogu and Miyu-chan’s homes, hunting teams came and went so often that it had become difficult even to spot a monster.
Boss raids had stopped at some point.
Everyone was keeping their heads down and strengthening their foundations day by day.
Even so, some people returned home after desperately gathering Points and paying one million Points.
‘Hmm.’
It seemed wasteful, but Seo Hajin understood that everyone had different circumstances and thoughts.
They had likely decided it was better to return home now than remain here for over another year.
‘It’s been made somewhat comfortable here, but compared to modern conveniences back home, it’s still lacking in so many ways.’
Seo Hajin opened the system and checked his current Point balance.
“Hmm.”
He had spent Points where needed, and sometimes a little too freely. He had made impulse purchases and expanded his Subspace more than usual.
Even so, his balance had already passed one million Points by a large margin.
That was possible because his pets hunted hundreds of Wolves and all sorts of other monsters each day, nearing a thousand.
There was so much leather that he listed it on the marketplace for prices that were practically free. He mixed the meat with other ingredients, processed it, and used it as food for his pets.
The Wolf hunting teams, now numbering fifty, consumed an enormous amount of food every day.
Whenever they had to pause hunting for unavoidable reasons, the food supplies stacked in his Subspace visibly dwindled in real time.
But he no longer operated reserve units like he had at the beginning. He deployed his full force, and nearby teams supported one another whenever problems arose.
His Subspace had grown to the size of a large aircraft hangar, and the Rest Area had expanded by just as much.
Compared to the days when he had tried to make every bit of space count by squeezing in bunk beds, it was a tremendous improvement.
But as it grew, there were more things that needed to fill it.
The bathroom and several other facilities that had once needed to remain inside the Subspace had been newly added to the Rest Area.
“Now, at least from the outside, it looks similar to where I lived back home.”
There was no television with something always playing whenever he turned it on, but he could browse the community through system windows instead.
There were no cold sodas or beers, but there were fruit juices and fermented liquor made by other users.
Well-insulated walls.
A ceiling covered with compressed glass that showed the sky.
A properly rebuilt fireplace.
A kitchen larger than the one he had before, along with a wood-fired oven that could even bake pizza.
‘It might actually be better.’
Of course, he could use these things even after returning home. Awakeners were said to retain their abilities, skills, Inventories, and everything else afterward.
‘Still… I can’t go yet.’
He could pay the Points and return even now, but his goal remained distant.
Nanobot Treatment.
It seemed it would still take quite some time to gather one hundred, his first target.
‘Luck will have to be on my side too.’
He had the impression that opening a large number of boxes at once gave better results, but he could not be certain.
‘The snow is getting thicker.’
Outside the Subspace.
High above Juggernaut, after he felled another tree, someone looking out over the world from the sky truly felt that winter had arrived.
‘If I get through this winter and one more, I should fulfill the required stay.’
It would not be easy, but it was not hopeless.
He was improving every day.
It was not only the strength and variety of his pets.
“By tomorrow, even the youngest should be ready.”
Steel, the youngest of his Avatars.
Everyone except Steel had reached Level 60.
If he had not used Keys to strengthen his pet forces, Steel would have already unlocked the lock. But Seo Hajin had chosen pet strength over immediate Avatar growth.
He did not think that was the wrong choice.
Thanks to it, the amount of monsters they hunted had increased, giving him more loot per hour.
‘Keys come out more often than Nanobot Treatment.’
Monsters began to respawn.
But hunting teams passing nearby dealt with them immediately.
Thwack!
Only one Bear that respawned close by had its skull split by his axe before it slowly vanished.
“I want more Bears too…”
Bears did not listen as well as Wolves.
They would do what they were told, but they were slow and wandered around, which was frustrating.
They were almost useless for hunting while moving around. They were more suited to serving as guards for important items or locations.
“And they eat too much.”
They ate an enormous amount, like they were preparing for hibernation, except it continued every day.
They ate every day even when he had nothing for them to do. They were like military heavy equipment with terrible fuel efficiency.
“Hmm. The insulation measures are sufficient… Still, I should check again just in case.”
Wolves struggled with the cold in winter too.
He had made extra clothes for them to wear, but he would still have to accept that their hunting efficiency would decrease to some extent.
“I need to finish this soon too.”
Besides the clothes, he had prepared something else. While researching guns, he had stumbled upon a heating device.
He had initially thought he might be able to make something like hand warmers. After working on it in his spare time, it had reached a fairly useful stage.
“If it were just a Mana Heater, it wouldn’t last very long.”
He added something else to it.
A portion of the powder made from the giant stone he had obtained in the Wasteland.
The stone absorbed mana and generated heat. It had an effect similar to the Mana Heater he had made, but rather than overlapping, the two effects complemented one another.
The powder absorbed mana from the surroundings, reducing the battery’s mana consumption while allowing the heating effect to last longer.
He was still having trouble regulating the temperature, but once he solved that problem, he could begin producing prototypes immediately.
Even if he began mass production, he would not have enough to sell outside. He planned to supply his hunting team commanders and workers first.
‘If there’s any left… I can give it to people I know as gifts or sell it to them.’
The snowfall had already grown heavier.
He took out a coat and put it on, then stored the large axe in his Inventory.
And so another winter began.
The world froze, and users made use of the things they had prepared.
Was it because they had experienced it once before?
At least, he did not see anyone suffering from a lack of winter clothes. Perhaps because of that, more people were active outside than last year.
That made the situation at Giant Lake interesting.
The Crocodiles naturally disappeared with the arrival of winter.
The frozen lake held scenes resembling the ice-fishing grounds of last year, but one side now had sights that had not been there before.
Sleds and skates that made one wonder how they had been made.
People bundled in so many winter clothes that they looked like shaggy animals laughed and skated in the bitter cold.
Some played ice hockey. Others used structures of unknown origin to go sledding down snow-covered slopes.
Last winter, people had survived by digging burrows, shivering inside, and rationing their meager Firewood.
But this year was different.
People were cheerful.
There were almost no monsters roaming around, and even when there were, they were too intimidated to be threatening.
Even those who constantly competed, watched one another, clashed, and fought seemed united during this time as they enjoyed themselves together.
It was like a temporary truce.
As if they were saying that life was hard enough already, so they should rest for a while. They gathered together and played.
Of course, they knew that time would not last forever. Just as spring would come after winter, they would once again have to make choices and act according to their own circumstances.
But for now, they laughed.
Perhaps it was because their warehouses, Inventories, and Storage Crates were packed full of Firewood.
- Wow. Juggernaut, seriously.
└ Why?
└ Hahahaha.
A considerable amount of Firewood had appeared on the marketplace.
A few stones had been added as freebies.
- Are we starting with rocks again this year?
└ They say it’s flint.
└ This happened last year too.
└ Surely no one is falling for it again?
└ But the Firewood is cheap.
└ Damn it, hahaha.
- This really is flint.
└ No bullshit.
└ No, why is this real?
- Huh? It’s not just flint. There are fire starters too. How did he make this?
└ At that point, it’s worth buying.
└ Yeah, sold out.
└ Fuck.
└ It’s fine. I went near Northern Forest before, and there were tons of trees piled up there. He’ll probably keep processing them and listing more.
└ Oh.
Perhaps, unlike last year, people had some room to breathe because someone had released fur pelts for almost free, or listed Firewood cheaply.
That was how they welcomed their own winters.
And in their own ways, they lived through each day.
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