Grand Lust Sovereign-Chapter 119 : Floor 27

Floor 27.

It was a wasteland with shifting dunes and hot weather.

In the floor's center was a colosseum and Players could be seen moving towards it.

Julien and his party stood a few kilometers from it. Around them were scattered monster bones and nothing much of note.

"Why do these floors seem so post-apocalyptic?" Julien wondered out loud.

The past few floors had reminded him of nothing but an apocalypse. These floors seemed more like a fragment of an actual world than a Tower floor.

There did not seem to be many NPCs around, and it did not give off a feeling of RPG.

"It could be a theme, perhaps." Jackie commented, unsure.

"Is it?" Julien said and scratched his chin. 'Or could it be that this was an actual world that got absorbed by the Tower after its doom?'

There was no proof to back his hypothesis, and he thought this way because it all felt too real to just be a Tower floor.

"Let's get going." Amelia began walking and called the two.

There was nothing around them that needed attention.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Julien walked beside her and Jackie stayed ahead, scouting the sandy area.

…..

"Kill 'em!"

"Wooooooo!"

"Get him! Get him! Get him!"

Within the colosseum, two bulky men fought.

Spectators, who were none other than the Players of the Tower, cheered.

Julien, Jackie, and Amelia reached the seating area and watched the fight.

"Popcorn! A bucket of popcorn for ten coins! A bucket of popcorn for ten coins!" A vendor with a popcorn cart moved about the stands, offering popcorn.

"Water for five. Water for five."

"A pound of bread for five! A pound for…"

There were many such vendors roaming about and the aroma of food permeated the air.

Nobody would be able to guess that outside this arena was a wasteland, a world completely in ruins.

It was quite lively here.

Julien took hold of the vendor selling popcorn.

"Good day, sir. What would you like? Caramel? Salted? Cheesy? Spicy? Or a mix of all four?" The popcorn seller, a young adult, asked with a jolly smile.

"I'll take the mix." Julien said. "How do I transfer the coins?"

Coins weren't physical, so he had no clue how to transfer those.

"Oh? Sir doesn't know? Well, no problem." The vendor was slightly surprised. Julien seemed wealthy and to not know how to transfer coins was amusing.

The vendor tapped in air a few times and a blue screen appeared before Julien, with the line of words in silver stating:

[Transfer ten coins to the Player Iliad?]

[Yes/No]

Julien tapped on yes and immediately had ten coins deducted from his account.

"Pleasure doing business!" The Player Iliad said happily and handed Julien his popcorn.

"You're a Player?" Julien asked, surprised.

The popcorn seller laughed in amusement. "Why? Yes. Do I not appear as one?"

"Pardon my ignorance, gentleman." Julien shook his head and said. "I was merely taken aback by the change on this floor. Why is a capable man like you selling popcorn and not trying to ascend?"

Jackie and Amelia turned their heads to Julien.

'What in the heavens…' the two thought.

Was this the same Julien, their Master, they knew of? Why was he suddenly speaking like that?

"Good sir, this is a great way to pass time and make some extra fortune. The floor lacks side quests and to ascend through the stairways is a long wait." The popcorn seller Iliad said.

"Must I inquire why?" Julien said calmly.

Such a formal and old-fashioned tone made Jackie wonder, 'Did he lose his mind trying to defeat that ghost? Or has the ghost taken over his body?'

Amelia went beside him and held his hand. It felt warm. 'Hm… he isn't possessed. But why is he speaking like that?'

"Haha, do you see those men battling? They are competing to ascend the stairway. Battling in this colosseum is the quest required to trigger the appearance of the stairways." The popcorn seller answered and stated the reason.

The Stairway of Ascendance on this floor would only appear for one single person at a time.

There could also be only two people fighting in the arena, and this was the main quest to clear this floor.

One had to register for it at the south entrance and the Tower's system would place the Player on the list of competitors.

It was all automated and one just had to show up in the arena and fight.

This wasn't a tournament and there was only one win needed to ascend.

It might sound easy, but everyone wanted to ascend and gave it their all, resulting in a tough competition.

The process was also slow and it would take a long time before one's name was called.

Not showing up during the designated time would put the Players at the bottom of the list again.

Hearing this made Julien question what the fuck was wrong with this Tower's system.

This was hindering their progress unnecessarily and stopping them from advancing.

The popcorn seller also stated that one did not have to wait on this floor. They could go back home and do whatever they wanted. The system would notify them a day prior to their fight. It would keep sending notifications every hour until the Player reached the colosseum. There was also a heavy penalty for not showing up.

"Tell me more, young gentleman. I am interested in this funny business." Julien said and ate a handful of popcorn.

'Master please stop speaking like that…' Jackie thought internally. The level of cringe was astounding. If it wasn't for the fact that Julien was her Master, she would've smacked him in the head to turn him back to normal.

The popcorn seller was more than happy to answer.

Ten coins was a lot for some popcorn and people did not usually buy it. He thus had a lot of time to chat with Julien and continued to state everything he knew about this floor.

Floor 27 was all about testing one's strength with other Players.

It was perhaps the only floor which did not require one to be in a team.

It did not have a floor boss and from the start, every Player just had to compete with the opponent the Tower's system gave to ascend.

Since there were two challengers and naturally one would fail to ascend, the system did not punish them. It took some coins as a penalty and put them at the bottom of the list to try again.

If one did not possess enough coins, they would see negative balance in their account.

After learning everything there was, Julien went with Jackie and Amelia to register.

There was a grimoire floating in the air. It was in the middle of the entrance and many Players flocked around it.

Julien patiently waited until he could reach it.

As he did so, the Players, specifically the males, diverted their attention towards him and his party.

They had to wait for their turn, and having nothing to do, were looking around and found his party.

Amelia became the center of attention really quickly.

She was in red priestess robes that had a normal fitting. It did not show off her curve, but it also did not do a good job in hiding it.

The black blindfold that covered her eyes made her appear more mysterious and alluring. Everyone's eyes were delighted when they saw her supple cherry-red lips.

Julien frowned.

He put himself in front of his lady, and feeling the lecherous gazes, Jackie appeared at the front too, ready to protect Amelia.

So far, Julien had never been in places with such a high concentration of Players.

Amelia did make heads turn, but nobody was so free to come and strike a conversation or try anything funny.

This place though, it was something else entirely.

"Fiuuuu~" A man with an unkempt beard whistled and approached Amelia.

"Miss priestess, you should be careful wandering in these desolate lands all alone." The man said warmly as he neared Amelia.

Julien stepped forward. Without hesitation, he swung his sword and placed the tip right at the man's neck.

"A step more and you'll find out whether she's alone or not."

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Slow down there, little buddy. That thing's dangerous, you might get hurt." The man took a few steps back and said with an amused chuckle.

"What's going on, leader?" A few men approached this man and asked.

They were probably his henchmen, thought Julien.

"Nothing. Nothing. That young man is fierce and thinks everything can be solved with violence." The man waved his hand and said, as if it was nothing of importance.

"Hm?" The men turned to Julien.

In their eyes, he looked like a kid who hadn't even hit puberty.

His stature was small too, so it was even more so that he appeared like a kid to them all.

Julien grit his teeth.

While such an appearance made him loved by the ladies, it also made the men severely underestimate him.

As of this moment, Julien was even shorter than Jackie, and it was no wonder the men in front did not take him seriously.

[The constellations of channel JL #29-157 are watching the stream with interest.]

'These constellations…' Julien clicked his tongue.

Sometimes the attitude of the gods to find entertainment in everything was quite annoying.

Julien ignored that and focused on the men in front.

"Haha, young lad, you have quite the fierce gaze. You should be more careful, otherwise…"