Grand Lust Sovereign-Chapter 76: Clearing Floors
Julien and his companions walked through the medieval town-like Floor 1. It was cleared so there weren’t any monsters. What was left was an underdeveloped town consisting of wood and stone buildings, and some hidden quests which would be triggered randomly upon one’s luck.
There seemed to be quite a lot of people moving about, doing their daily menial jobs. These were NPCs. They felt too real, however.
Half an hour’s wandering around brought the party to one of the Crimson Night Guild’s branches.
Calling it a branch would be an overestimation as it was nothing but a small shop in a market area, selling tomatoes.
If it weren’t for a wooden nameplate beside the shop having ’Crimson Night Guild’ carved on it, Julien’s party would’ve never been able to find it.
"Excuse me, gentleman, is this really the Crimson Night Guild?" Julien stepped forward and asked.
The old gentleman nodded faintly while sprinkling water on the tomatoes.
"It is indeed the place, sire. How may I help you?"
"Do you have information on quests?" Julien went straight to the point.
The man shook his head and said, "I’m afraid there’s none. Quests are hard to come by these days. Maybe you can find opportunities on the higher floors."
Floor 0 had a lot of action as the trial and rewards there refreshed every time a new batch came in.
From Floor 1 onwards however, there was no such thing.
If a floor was cleared, then it would permanently stay that way. No additional monsters would spawn or scenarios would start.
"There are exceptions to this at some floors where monsters would keep spawning due to their being a spawn point or it would be mandatory to do some quest to ascend to the higher floor," Jackie said as the party moved past the cobblestone streets, towards the floor boss’s room.
"…most cleared floors don’t require us to do anything other than walk the Stairway of Ascendance. There’s also signboards everywhere leading us to the boss room on the lower floors, so our journey to Floor 10 should be smooth."
What Jackie was saying was common knowledge. However, she had a feeling that Amelia might know this, so to her, she was explaining everything in great detail.
Julien was briefed about this by his mother during his rest. There was a lot of information she gave him, half of which he couldn’t remember anymore.
Still, the important ones stayed, one of which was that he couldn’t jump to the higher floors randomly.
He would be teleported to a fixed place in the floor he was yet to clear via portals outside the Tower.
A floor would be considered clear only after walking up the Stairway of Ascendance, manually.
This staircase would only appear when certain conditions were met.
Once one ascended these stairs, they could move to the cleared floors through certain tokens or simply by exiting the Tower and re-entering it through the portals outside.
The portal would ask for the floor’s input and the Player could state the number and enter them easily.
’It is for sure a fascinating place…’
The more Julien saw things with his own two eyes, the more amazed he was.
"…by the way, not all cleared floors are safe," said Jackie.
"They are not?" Amelia asked, curious.
"No. I’ve heard stories that some Players got ambushed by random bandits or criminals on some floors. The floor’s people aren’t pre-programmed golems but actual living beings that have their own set of thoughts and emotions. It is thus necessary that we are cautious and behave normally."
Jackie dropped some great information while walking, amusing Julien further.
This did look like a fantasy role playing video game but, after choosing a route, there was no going back and redoing it.
This meant, if someone selected the rude route, they might actually get killed.
’That’s really crazy…’
"How do you know all this?" Amelia wanted to know the source behind the information. She wasn’t the type to take everything at face value despite appearing innocent and gullible.
"My constellation told me…" Jackie said in a neutral tone.
"I see..." there was not much proof needed than this.
"…and you see, we might not be able to make as fast of a progress as we thought due to this."
Julien already knew that the path to ascendancy was one filled with thorns. His luck was a major factor that held him back.
’Due to me, they might not be able to ascend faster either…’ Such a thought struck Julien randomly.
Shaking his head, he decided to stop thinking about things which aren’t in his control.
With Jackie and Amelia, he soon reached the floor boss’s room. It was in a cave in the middle of a forest.
There was a flight of stairs leading to a bright opening. Nothing could be seen beyond it and it was very flashy.
This was the Stairway of Ascendance.
Julien and his party climbed these stairs and upon reaching the top, had a bright light flash in front of their eyes.
The next thing they saw was another forest and heard a system notification.
[Ding!]
[Floor 1 - Cleared!]
[Welcome to Floor 2!]
What the system stated could also be read on a wooden signboard right in front of them.
There were directions available for them to follow from here. It led to the second floor’s boss room where there was another staircase leading to nowhere.
The three continued this monotonous task until they finally reached Floor 5.
It was dusk, and the three stood before a labyrinth’s huge metal doors.
[The Beginner’s Paradise]
Contrary to the eerie vibe it gave, the signboard in front of it said something else.
"This labyrinth has no boss, only a constant stream of low-level monsters." Jackie stated once again. "The stairway is at the center of it, so we need to enter it."
Jackie made it sound easy, which in turn made Julien uneasy.
Given his history of bad luck, there was bound for some mishap to happen.
’But well, now that I do know that something bad will happen, I’m more mentally prepared. It surely can’t be that bad on such a low level floor, right?’
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
’…right?’
The three walked inside the labyrinth.
…..
An hour later.
BOOOOOM—!
"Runnnnnn!"
A deafening explosion collapsed the escape pathway. The only way out was to move forwards, towards further danger.
Julien, Jackie, and Amelia could see tiny goblins jump and run towards them with explosives in their hands.
They threw it near them time after time, not to hurt them, but to make them run in a specific path so that triggered the labyrinth’s traps.
Julien was thankful that there was Amelia in his party. Being blind was disadvantageous, but the rest of her senses were severely heightened. She could feel the traps before they emerged and warned them beforehand, helping them dodge it.
Though, she was starting to get overstimulated and was feeling burnt out.
’"…I… I can only run for ten more minutes… my sincerest apologies…" Amelia said in between her ragged breaths.
[The constellation ’Demonic Inquisitor’ is cheering for their incarnation.]
[50 coins have been sponsored.]
[The constellation ’Light of the Primordial One’ is having their tail sway slowly in worry as they watch their incarnation.]
[50 coins have been sponsored.]
[The constellation ’Eternal Flame of the Sky’ feels this is a minuscule threat.]
[The constellation ’Sovereign of Shadows’ idly trim their nails, watching the scene with mild interest.]
[The constellation ’Rebel Sage of Heaven’ is rubbing his ear and yawning.]
Amelia and Jackie’s constellations cared for them whereas Julien, who had no constellation contract, could only helplessly stare at the constellation messages that stated how bored they were.
If they were bored, why not sponsor at least a few coins so that he can get motivated?
Curse those constellations!
"Master, Amelia, something is at the front!"
Jackie’s voice made Julien and Amelia further alert.
Looking ahead, Julien could see a faint blurry figure of a giant monster.
’Shit. Are we stuck in a narrow passage now? Is that a dead end?’
Having no other choice but to run, Julien and his party soon saw the figure properly. It was a giant troll, holding a spiked club in hands.
If that club hit them, even their bones would turn into a fine powder.
"Fuck!" Julien cursed out loud as the darkness of limbo began faintly appearing in front of his eyes.
"Jackie, hold Amelia’s hand!" Julien quickly assessed the situation and tried to come up with a solution.
Jackie did as asked and held the running nun’s hand.
"On count of three, duck and slide, then jump with Amelia to the right and continue running without looking back!"
"Understood!?"
"Understood!"
Jackie did not question his master and followed the instructions. This was not the time for her to make her own decisions as she had another life with her that she had to protect.
"Okay… three… two…"
"…one!"
"Duck now!"
Swisssshhhh!
