Just as Joo Yeon-woo said, the door to the next floor appeared not long after.
A white hole shaped like a game portal, showing the scenery on the other side.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
I let him go ahead and crossed through the portal.
The moment we passed through and the door vanished, the familiar voice from before began broadcasting again.
<Alright, looks like the last person finally arrived! Thought I was gonna die waiting!>
Letting out an annoyingly cheerful laugh, it declared things unilaterally as always.
<Anyway! You’ve all gotten used to things by now, right? From here on, check your missions in your status window by yourselves! If you don’t know something, ask your Constellations!
—Ah, wait, guess the ones who weren’t chosen can’t ask? Not my problem!>
It burst into laughter as if something was wildly funny.
<Then! I’ll be waiting at the top of the Tower!>
With that final message, the buzzing sound quickly faded.
“…….”
And soon, everything was quiet, as if it had never been loud at all.
“For now, let’s check our status windows.”
“Okay.”
I called up my status window, and a familiar translucent screen appeared.
[Chae Noeul]
[Job: None]
[Title: None]
[Talents: Intelligence, Agility, Mana, Mental Strength, Observation]
[Skills: Energy Ball (F), Analysis Eye (D), Attribute Imbuement (F)]
The new “Attribute Imbuement” skill became usable only after I finished the book he gave me.
With this skill, I could change my Energy Ball into fire, water, wind, etc. It was surprisingly useful.
“Did you get any new skills?”
“Nothing except Attribute Imbuement.”
“I see. Then it seems new magic or skills require some other conditions.”
“There was a magic shop and skill books in that ‘Grace Store’ earlier. I’ll check it later.”
“That would be best.”
Before we came to this floor, he had said:
‘Forming a contract with a Constellation is unwise, but collecting the Grace they give you is beneficial.’
‘What’s Grace supposed to be?’
‘Currency in this place. Collect as much as you can.’
He wasn’t willing to let me contract with Constellations, but taking their money was apparently fine.
So… keep a safe distance but accept the benefits?
‘Alright… but didn’t you chase away all the Constellations who wanted to give me Grace?’
You can’t collect anything if no one’s giving.
But he answered calmly:
‘Don’t worry. As soon as we enter the next floor, they’ll cling to you again.’
Apparently, he was right.
[The Harmed Sister says she finally resolved her errors.]
[The Harmed Sister happily greets you, saying it’s nice to meet you again!]
“You survived.”
Seeing their messages appear again felt oddly reassuring.
[The Harmed Sister says she doesn’t die that easily.]
[The Manager of the Planetarium says it was quite an interesting phenomenon.]
[The Abandoned Princess says she’ll be observing you for a while.]
[A Goddess of Fate heard the rumors and is now watching you.]
“Your Constellations?”
“Yes. They’re asking about the error… but I don’t really know anything.”
Ironically, it seemed the error earlier had only piqued the Constellations’ interest.
Should I call this a blessing in disguise?
“I see. Since this was everyone’s first time, we can’t even guess what went wrong.”
“Right.”
He said that without blinking—this damned regressor.
“But my Constellations are telling me to move inside quickly. From what they’re saying, following this path will lead us to the real trial of this floor.”
Joo Yeonwoo pointed to the road ahead.
We were standing on a beach—white sand, and beyond it, a thick forest.
The underbrush looked dense and difficult to pass through, except for the one path he pointed at.
That single trail was unnaturally clean, as if someone had carved it out on purpose.
Almost like it was guiding us.
“There are a lot of footprints. Do you think someone went ahead of us?”
“That’s likely. Just in case, let’s keep our guard up.”
And so we decided to follow the path.
It was a conclusion drawn by “using the provided information” and “thinking things through naturally.”
[The Harmed Sister is thumping with excitement!]
[The Abandoned Princess agrees, calling it a wise decision.]
Well, this too…
…is a prearranged act.
‘Please keep the fact that I’m a regressor hidden.’
…That’s what this regressor insisted on.
Why reveal it to me but not others?
Why act like a weirdo in the first place?
Who knows.
I just let it go.
We’d decided to cooperate, after all.
Though honestly, I fully intended to threaten him with it later if necessary.
“Do you think Chae Saebyeok is here too?”
“That voice earlier said we were the last ones to arrive, didn’t it? If that’s true, he’s most likely ahead of us already.”
“Yeah… I hope we meet up. I’m not sure that idiot can handle being alone without getting himself into trouble.”
“As your brother, it’s understandable you’re worried.”
[The Harmed Sister finds your sibling affection charming.]
[You have received 100 Grace.]
“Oh—thank you for the donation.”
It seems the Constellation The Harmed Sister really likes seeing warm family relationships.
I wondered if the Grace Shop might have something like a tool or skill to contact someone far away.
I was just about to search when Joo Yeonwoo stopped walking.
“This looks like the end.”
“It’s an altar.”
At the end of the path stood a stone altar.
Made of pitch-black stone, the altar had three carved indentations.
They looked like places meant for setting something down.
Getting closer, I saw letters similar to the ones I’d seen on the first floor.
As expected, I could read these too without issue.
[We’ll pick up your sacrifice!]
Such a lighthearted title for something carved into a creepy altar made a dumb laugh escape me.
If you offer three sacrifices, you'll receive the key to ascend to the next floor.
Requirements for the sacrifice: the heart of a bipedal creature, the skull of an omnivore, and the eye of a creature that possesses pain perception.
My laughter vanished instantly at the grotesque requirements that followed.
A heart, a skull, and an eye?
“…The requirements are pretty disturbing.”
“Yes. Quite tasteless.”
“And these requirements…”
Bipedal. Omnivore. Pain perception.
This was clearly—
“It’s basically pointing to humans.”
“That’s right. Offering a human would satisfy all the conditions.”
[The Abandoned Princess grimaces.]
[The Harmed Sister is horrified.]
Honestly.
“…This place is really malicious.”
[The Goddess of Fate agrees with your words.]
If Joo Yeon-woo hadn’t explained this floor’s general outline beforehand, I might’ve reacted much more violently.
“For now, I’m not planning to kill anyone. What about you, Yeon-woo?”
“My thoughts are the same as yours.”
“Good. Then let’s find other creatures that meet the conditions. And maybe we’ll find my idiot brother along the way.”
[The Harmed Sister likes your conclusion.]
[You have received 100 Grace.]
[The Abandoned Princess praises your wise decision.]
[You have received 100 Grace.]
“Thank you for the donations. Anyway, since we’ve decided, let’s—”
I was about to say we should pick a direction when the bushes nearby rustled unnaturally.
“…!”
“Oh dear, we’ve been found.”
A chilling sense of danger washed over me.
I took a step back—and a dark figure leapt toward me.
“Die!”
My body froze for a moment.
Before I could react to the blade rushing toward me—
A sword shot out from beside me and deflected it.
Chaaang—!
“Urgh!”
“Yeon-woo!”
Joo Yeon-woo moved faster than thought and blocked me with his body, kicking the shadowy attacker away.
Thud, crash—!
The sprawled figure groaned for a moment, then clenched their teeth.
“What are you doing?! Surround them!”
At that shout, more hidden attackers revealed themselves.
“Miss Noeul. Stay behind me.”
There were three of them in total.
They surrounded us with the altar at our backs, each holding a blade.
“…All of their weapons have dried blood on them.”
“I see.”
If their weapons showed signs of use, then they had already injured or killed someone with them.
They weren’t amateurs.
And they clearly outnumbered us.
Troublesome.
Feeling anxious, I clenched my teeth—when Joo Yeon-woo spoke.
“Noeul. Do not worry.”
“…What?”
“I told you, you don’t need to worry so much.”
His words didn’t match the situation at all.
I froze, unable to respond right away, but he didn’t seem bothered.
“They’re not much of a problem.”
“What the hell is that bastard saying?! Attack!”
“I’ll finish this quickly.”
Those were his last words before he charged straight toward the three attackers—
Without a moment of hesitation, with a face frighteningly calm.
