Chapter 332 - Common area (Patreon)

By the time we reach the common area, our group consists of a hundred or so people. Channeler is even more reliable than I thought and keeps people from annoying me. He either saw through my personality or is scared of people pissing off Tacita or me.

At one point, I hear a weird noise in the sky, and when I look up, I see a drone flying there.

The heck?

Without thinking, I push myself up and fly towards it, where I stop to observe it.

It's a drone from Earth, that much I can tell. A bigger and probably a few thousand dollars' worth of drone. As it floats there, letting out an unmistakable noise, its camera moves and looks right at me.

The drone then moves up and down as if its operator is shocked, and then the camera looks down under my feet and then back up at me.

I am willing to bet 10,000 shards that its owner is someone from Easy difficulty. These guys seem to have a super easy time. What's next? Helicopter? Yacht? I wouldn't be surprised.

So, I snatch the drone, land back on the ground, and turn it on its back, which makes the propellers stop spinning. The camera continues to move and look around.

“You can fly?” Channeler welcomes me with a shocked expression on his face.

“A bit. Can you carry it? I will give you an uncommon item,” I offer.

“Will do so, boss!” the handsome man immediately takes the drone with a big smile.

When we pass through the tree line and enter the clearing on top of the mountain, the view opens up to hundreds of people already moving around.

The clearing is massive, with dozens of smaller or bigger grassy hills all over. There are plenty of buildings. Some smaller, others a bit bigger, akin to towers. Something where we can sleep between the events, maybe?

There are more interesting things, but the sheer amount of people having conversations all over already tires me. They talk, and some even fight with flashes of mana erupting into the air. Someone screams, and I hear a baby crying nearby. Did a baby get into the tutorial, or did they have one while within the tutorial?

It's all weird. Even though they are all real people from Earth right now, they don't feel that different from natives.

I examine that feeling a bit more but stop when I notice a car in the distance.

A goddamn, a fucking jeep with solar panels on its roof. Next to it are two more offroad vehicles with solar panels all over them. They are worn and slightly damaged, but they seem fully operational.

What the actual fuck. How did they even get here at the top of the hill?

As I detect and head towards where I sense signatures of my group, only Channeler and Tacita follow.

Passing through the people, I hear music playing nearby, either from a smartphone or a stereo.

It all makes sense with other difficulties not being that dangerous. Some people could even get into the tutorial while camping and with all their gear. Some could get teleported while in a shop and with a big chunk of it.

It's just that for us from Hell, we have nothing left from Earth. No clothes, no phones, not even rings. All of it either damaged, destroyed, lost, or left behind. Yet there are people with cars, drones, solar panels, and most likely smartphones.

I even notice an older guy moving around with a camera and recording everything. He is wearing clothes similar to what I saw on the second floor, and there is a sword on his waist. But he is holding a goddamn modern camera.

Deciding I've had enough, I push further, but after a few steps, I stop and backtrack. My head slowly turns to the right, and there I see a young woman holding a chocolate bar and carefully opening it while talking to people around her, all of them seemingly from the same group.

I take a few steps and enter their camp, which immediately gets their interest, and a few of them stand up, mana rushing through their bodies.

They are so weak.

"What do you…"

"I will trade you a rare item for the chocolate," I say straight away.

"What?"

"Two rare items, and even more if you have some other stuff."

Channeler stares at me with an expression that is almost funny, but I put my attention on the woman. "So?" I ask.

"Are you serious?" the older man with a beard answers instead of her and moves closer. I identify their group as either Normal difficulty or Easy. Hmm, maybe I could go up to an epic item for trade. I'm totally willing to do that. I still have a few smaller epic items I didn't sell to the shop, so I wouldn't be losing that much. I can sell these items for 1500-2000 shards each at most.

In answer to his question, I nod, and their group quickly puts their heads together, and a passionate conversation ensues. It takes a minute, and slowly they become louder, arguing.

When the man turns back to me, he says, "We can trade you three chocolates. One of them is melted, one is after the expiration date, and the last one has a small hole in the package. We also have a pack of marshmallows, two bottles of soda, and a package of crackers. These are in perfect state."

Sounds good for a start, but I will get more; let's just flash with my riches, "Okay, what do you want?"

He seems to be thinking for a while, but before he can say anything, a shout comes from behind, "That's my drone! Can you…"

Without turning, I use [Resistribution] and grab hold of the man shouting about his drone and his entire group. All of them freeze mid-movement, unable to talk or move, only blink and breathe.

"So?" I nudge the man.

He looks between the newcomers and then at me and gulps, "At least a few rare items. I don't think you will find that many of them…" he tries to apologize for the high price.

But I already don't listen and from the bag, I take out five rare items. One pendant, two mana stones with interesting defensive inscriptions. Then a dagger I was learning from and a ring that offers a weak disruptive attack.

"Here," I say as I hand him the items.

His group moves closer, all of them excitedly reading the descriptions. They barely hide how happy with the items they are and hand me all the promised items, even adding an extra package of gummy bears.

Saying goodbye, I turn to the drone man and release him from the hold of my skill, which makes him stagger.

After a bit of silence, he just asks, "Can I have my drone back? Please."

I gesture to Channeler, who hands him the drone, and after exchanging a glance with Channeler, he asks instead of me, "Now that you have your drone back, I wonder, do you have any more items from Earth? Sweets, other technology, drinks, foods. My boss over here is willing to trade. He pays in rare items and might offer even more if what you have is worth it!"

With fascination, I watch as Channeler quickly catches up to what I want and slips into his new role. Under his social skills and innocent handsome face, the somewhat scared drone owner quickly calms down, and his eyes start glowing with greed as he thinks about what he could trade.

Group 4 can wait. Baller Nat is going to buy some stuff.

 ***

It takes a few hours longer. During that time, Channeler finds two of his friends from Easy difficulty and sends them to scout on the promise of rare items as payment.

While they go through the place, I stay to the side and observe the people here. Hundreds of them all around. People from Hell to Easy difficulty.

There are smaller fights, there are celebrations, and plenty of them talk with each other, no one too aggressive yet. I also notice groups of people from higher difficulties moving all over, stopping the fights and trying to set some order.

It's all fascinating to watch.

Channeler, walking near me, stops everyone who tries to get into a conversation with me, and even Tacita follows nearby, enjoying the shield that is the man from Easy difficulty.

I do not talk to her, and that seems to make her more comfortable, and I don't mind. I keep observing her carefully, curious about her skills and levels. She is also in Beyond, and from the short clash with two men, I got only more questions and curiosity.

So, we move from place to place, and I use my bag full of valuables to buy a few more things. A smartphone with a lot of songs on it and a small solar panel I can use to charge it, the most expensive of them all. Then there are more sodas, some foods, and sweets from Earth.

I get offered to buy a Jeep as well, but I have no need for it. At the moment, I'm sure most of group 4 can move at a speed higher than that car.

There is also a short conflict when a few guys from Normal difficulty are trying to do a similar thing to me and buy some stuff from another Normal difficulty guy.

Wanting to test them, I only use mana to strengthen my body a bit, and after a short clash, they end up with broken legs on the ground. Their wounds heal quickly, and nothing of note has been learned from them.

So, I take over and lead us to where I sense my marks, and gradually we reach a nice spot on the edge of the common area. There below, under nice trees in comfy-looking grass, are all of the members of Group 4.

“You are late, Noname,” Tess welcomes me.

“I come bearing gifts,” I gesture at all the things two guys from Easy difficulty carry.

They put them on the grass and stand there awkwardly. The poor guys are too shy to ask for their promised rewards! Or scared.

“Good job, boys.” From my bag, I take out two rare items and give them to them.

They look at it for a moment and then rush away while thanking me.

When I turn to Channeler, I notice that he is looking at group 4. Oh, I guess I didn't introduce them.

“Sset, this is Channeler, he is super useful. We have to hire him sometime in the future if needed.” While saying so, I gesture to Biscuit to come closer.

“Is he a model or something?” Maya asks, staring at the guy.

“I wanted to ask the same! Noname didn’t tell me group 4 girls are so beautiful!”

Half expecting the girls to react with annoyance, I look up. Instead of that, most of them have an interesting expression, happy for the compliment.

If someone not as handsome said that line, it would be considered extremely cheesy. Yet from the mouth of the guy here, it's taken in this way.

The world indeed is not fair.

“Biscuit, look what I bought.” While he sniffs near the bags, I take out a small package with a can of high-quality dog food. Just looking at it, I guess it's probably more expensive than what people usually eat on Earth.

At first, I'm worried he won't like it, but to my surprise, he sniffs a few times and then starts nibbling on it, letting out cute wet noises as a paste made of ground meats gets devoured by him.

For a few seconds, I listen to those noises and enjoy a great ASMR experience. Then I pet him and stand up, heading to two blonde boys sitting nearby.

Both Aaron and Dennis have old clothes that are dirty and filled with holes, barely rags. On their bodies, there are dozens of wounds, burns, cuts, and bruises. Things that would usually get taken care of by their natural healing.

What I notice is a mark left on their forearms that seems to affect their regeneration.

“Is there a reason why Lily didn’t heal you?” I ask them.

Aaron answers, “If we return with healed wounds, they will punish us even more and start asking who healed us or why we removed the mark,” he shrugs.

“They?”

“Black Tower. The vice guild master didn’t like that we tried to escape a few times and likes to… to do this. It’s his mark that stops natural healing, and he will notice if we remove it.”

“I see.”

“I wanted to heal them, but Tess said it would cause more problems. I hate it, but we still don’t know where they are on the 6th floor.” Lily also comes nearby.

“We also asked her not to heal us, so do not blame her or anything,” Dennis looks at me, his blue eyes smiling even with the wounds on.

Dennis' disciple died. Aaron followed him to the 6th floor so he is not there alone, and then they got treated like this by some trash. It looks like I will be busy even after the tournament and someone will be very dead.

“I’m glad you two are otherwise fine. When we return to the 6th floor, we will find you. So just hold on until then.”

The two of them exchange a glance.

“We already have a plan, but we won’t mind fucking up the guy a bit more with your help,” Dennis smiles brightly.

“That guy only? The entire Black Tower will end up in the trash,” I say.

“Even better! Maybe we can try to blow it up,” Aaron laughs as if thinking I'm joking.

So silly.

These fuckers who did this to them are done.

But anyway, “Here, a welcome gift.” I hand a snack to each one of them. “I’m glad you are safe and… sorry about your disciple, Dennis.”

After spending time with Vega, I have a hard time imagining what I would feel if she died, so the poor boy must have felt terrible.

He thanks me, somewhat taken aback, and then I move around Group 4, giving time to every member of the group.

Biscuit, done with his food, floats near me and boops my nose with his front paw. Isabella hugs me, and some other members are already stuffing their faces by the time I return to Tess.

“For you,” I tell Tess, handing her chocolate. “You liked milk chocolate, right?”

“I want to hug you for that, but Lily would get mad,” she says as she takes my offering and puts it away.

“I would not!” Lily sulks, joining nearby.

“In such case,” Tess swiftly moves closer and puts her arms around me in a short hug, the entire time keeping a teasing expression on her face as she looks at Lily.

She quickly takes a step back after a second. “Anyway, Channeler left to find his group, so you better pay him back later and add some extra. I would like to keep him around.”

“Planning to take over the world when we get back to Earth?”

“Just a few places with nice weather where our group can go on holidays. Will you help me?”

“If it's not too annoying. Just point me at who to beat up,” I answer, and it's not even that dishonest.

“Sounds good! Anyway, is that girl who followed you who I think she is?”

“Yes, it was Tacita.”

To my answer, Tess nods, and Lily becomes curious, looking for the girl that already sneaked off somewhere.

“I met Gareth, and Lily here bumped into Savant.”

Right away, I turn to Lily, who is looking up at me with a smile. “I healed his right arm in exchange for this.” The petite healer shows me a mana stone with an extreme amount of data inscribed inside, “It’s from the 2nd floor. Research notes on the use of regeneration-type skills made by Champion Tristan and his disciple Hella, who was a healer.”

Oh, the guy who, according to the Floor quest, destroyed the world with the Sword of Aeons, the strongest mana battery in the world, and his skill [Dawn]. But how did Savant get his hands on it?

Lily smiles brightly yet somewhat shyly, “It’s useless to me; I'm plenty of a good healer! But I got it for you; I know you have been trying to get an active healing skill or something similar. Savant asked me to regenerate his arm in exchange for this and I refused at first. Then he said I should agree and give the mana stone to you. He must have seen me complaining about your weak passive in the community.”

Damn, did she get scammed by that guy already?

Still thankful, I take the stone and decide to pay her back later.

“But Nat, if you fight him, be a bit careful. We fought, and I lost. Of course, It was only because I wasn't fully serious; I didn’t want to kill him!” she defends herself, gesturing wildly, and then slumps down and sighs, “But I got angry during the fight and by reflex used [Disintegration]. He let it hit him and…”

That’s where I stop her, “No need to say more. I don’t want to know.” Even this is a big hint, and learning more would take some fun out of it. I would be able to prepare, and I might become able to win just because of that fact. But I don’t want to.

That guy has been someone I want to fight for a long time, always wondering which of the two of us is stronger. And now, hearing that he resisted [Disintegration], I feel my hopes going even further up as I'm not even sure if I would be able to do that.

This tournament will be fun.

***

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