369 - Broadcasting Genius Han Se-Ah 4


    TL/Editor: raei


    Schedule: 5/week


    Illustrations: Posted in discord


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    As the saying goes, humans are adaptable creatures, and Han Se-ah seemed to have evolved as well.


    "Ugh, I thought leaving about 2% would be fine," she grumbled. "Since you faint when mana hits zero, I tried to leave just a tiny bit, but it suddenly sucked up all my mana..."


    -Teacher, are you familiar with the concepts of exhaustion and overwork?


    -Looks like they implemented condition levels for this VR game too. She nearly copsed like she had anemia lol


    -Seems mages treat their mana pool like their health bar, ready to keel over when it runs out -Even high-rank warriors get lethargic if they recklessly use up all their mana


    -How the hell do you know that, you noob?


    Still, she''s improved fromst time - thanks to the tiny bit of mana she left, she avoided fainting and just needed support to stand.


    But mana was the energy that sustained the bodies of those who''d reached higher levels. Just as a smartphone goes into emergency power saving mode at 2% battery, a mage''s body wouldn''t function properly either.


    It seemed she hadn''t learned much from all that chit-chat with those tower geezers. Maybe they thought it was too basic to tell a genius mage.


    "You sure you''re okay, Hanna?"


    "Well, she didn''t faint, so I guess she''s fine?"


    Thanks to that, she spent some quality time stumbling along, sandwiched between Grace and Irene like a flower in each hand.


    From what I could guess, the centaur cavalry seemed to have less health than expected. Despite being infused with mana, they were all wiped out after getting caught in the Ice Storm, which was close to an AoE CC skill. It appeared they were monsters with keen senses and quick mobility in exchange for low health.


    They might have had sturdy horse lower bodies and muscr human upper bodies, but their actual stats were closer to a rogue''s.


    Then, thinking in game terms, goblins would be like basic infantry with small hexagonal stats and no standout abilities, relying on numbers. The orc javelineers acting asmanders would be more like tanks with disgustingly high health, making up for low attack power with various alchemical bombs.


    The bnced basic infantry would push forward, the tankymanders would break formations with CC bombs, then the centaurs circling nearby would rush in to tear apart the exposed rear.


    "But their charging speed was incredibly fast," I noted. "It''ll be tricky if they appear alongside other monsters."


    "If their senses rival Grace''s, they might be able to nk us mid-battle."


    -lol for real, nothing more annoying than getting nked during a fight


    -They''re clearly designed for nking, right? Their detection ability is on par with 5★ archers ffs


    -Still, getting wiped by one AoE skill shows the bnce is there


    -For real lol. Imagine if they had warrior-level health with archer-level detection and rogue-level speed


    -But with magic damage fluctuating based on mana used, it''s hard to calcte


    Both teammates and viewers seemed to have simr concerns after learning about monsters on the journey to the 50th floor.


    Until now, battles were initiated after we found enemies first and chose whether to fight. But from the 51st floor,bat was unavoidable the moment we detected each other. When there was just a group of centaurs it was fine, but if other monsters were nearby and they all swarmed us, it would obviously be a pain.


    "The open ins will make it hard to avoid battles," I said. "We''ll probably have to fight to advance in the direction we want."


    "True," Han Se-ah agreed. "We could hide in caves on the teau and avoid slow undead in the marsh, but not anymore."


    The open ins was also an issue on the 51st floor. As open as it was, if we spotted enemies, they''d spot us too.


    The silver lining was that enemies moved in armies, so battles were less frequent. Well, if hordes of goblin infantry kept popping up like horn rabbits, progressing through the game would be impossible.


    We''d encounter centaur scouts most often, and it was probably best to avoid goblin armies when possible.


    "Shall we stop exploring for today?" Han Se-ah suggested, ncing at her watch. "It seems risky to continue without a safe zone."


    "Ah... right. There''s no safe zone."


    As expected, after several battles with centaur scouts, Han Se-ah spoke up while collecting some hefty mana stones.


    Since we were the vanguard of the 51st floor, not following a path paved by other adventurers, we didn''t even know where the gate to the 52nd floor was, let alone a safe zone to rest at night. If this were the 1st floor ins, we''d find a spot and light a campfire, but...


    "Grace, if we lit something like a campfire on this ins, how far away could you spot it from?"


    "If lit at night, I could see and find it even from the next city over," she replied. "Even a campfire on a mountain at night is visible from another ridge. On an open ins... maybe thousands of centaurs woulde running?"


    The monsters here were centaurs with 5★ level detection abilities. Light a fire and more half-man half-horse monsters than moths would probably swarm us.


    So we decided to quietly retrace our steps.


    ---


    Raei Trantions


    ---


    Breaching unexplored areas of the tower had always been like this.


    Choose any direction based on intuition, then move forward praying to the Goddess this was the right path. Whether it was beautiful ins, dense forests, dark caves, or damp, muddy marshes, you just had to keep walking aimlessly.


    As you advanced, you encountered the Demon King''s minions who hated humanity. Now that gates existed, there was no struggle for supplies, but you still had to explore on foot all the same.


    So what made adventurers endure this arduousbor?


    One was faith, the other was money.


    "Huh, monsters with horse lower bodies and human upper bodies?" one mage mused. "If they''re not just human-like orcs butpletely human-like, they''d be worth researching."


    "Tattoos on the upper body, do they have magical effects?" another wondered. "Or are they just religious tattoos?"


    "Bombs? Goblins and orcs make and use bombs?" a third eximed. "If you bring back a sample, I''ll give you its weight in gold!"


    Word of the tragedy on the 51st floor must have spread to the magic tower, as suspiciously suspicious mages flocked to the guild with bags of gold coins.


    Come to think of it, centaurs on the continent were a half-human half-horse race with human-like appearances, but the tower''s centaurs seemed to be an enhanced version with upper bodies like Indian warriors... It was only natural for entric mages who wrote dozens of papers on such minor differences to go crazy.


    Hell, they even wrote papers just on regional goblin skin colors.


    "A lot of adventurers are going to die for a while," I muttered.


    "Huh? Why?" Han Se-ah asked.


    Having left their dignity in theb, diminutive mages jingled money bags in the adventurers'' guild lobby as adventurers'' eyes glittered.


    Not content with just posting designated requests for me and other famous senior adventurers, as well as public requests visible to all adventurers, they were going wild handing out business cards with theirb addresses, demanding anything be brought back from the 51st floor.


    Thanks to that, mid-rank adventurers were flooding to the hignds, and I clicked my tongue in dismay at the noisy adventurers'' guild that had been quiet with the city emptied out.


    "Adventurers are going to die?" Han Se-ah pressed.


    "There''s always a culling when a new floor opens," I exined. "Gold coins cloud adventurers'' eyes. Those bastards probably don''t give a damn that forty people died at the entrance to the 51st floor, they''ll just rush in droves."


    Our party had alsoe to the guild to see if there were any suitable requests for the 51st floor. Han Se-ah eagerlytched onto my pessimistic muttering amidst the chaos.


    Of course, these were mid-rank adventurers who crawled up to the stone dwarf underground city in the hignds for money. In the past, they wouldn''t have darede up for fear of the lizardmen in the marsh, but now they''d tasted gold all the way up to the 40th floor''s rear areas.


    Guys who should be on the 20th floor had sneakily crawled up to the 49th. How could they not be greedy for the 51st?


    "But is it okay for adventurers to die like this..." Han Se-ah wondered aloud.Toggle New Ads


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