I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

Among the items the King Kobold had, the only useful thing was, as expected, just the sword.
The King Kobold had used two swords.

What caught my attention wasn’t the great sword that seemed too inefficient for me to use, but a straight sword of suitable size.

[Sword of the Fierce King]
Classification – Weapon (Sword)
Attack Power: + 50
Effect: Increased resistance to the power of light
Usable Level: 17 and above
Grade: B+

It seems it’s time to let go of the Nameless Knight’s straight sword.

I’ll use the great sword Karnavalt as my main weapon.
And this sword can be used as a secondary weapon.

There were no other notable items.

I pressed the flashing text in the lower right corner of my vision.

[Do you want to leave the exchange meeting and return to your floor?]

[Yes / No]

Everyone who disappeared must have vanished with this operation.
I expected a lot to happen at the exchange meeting, but more happened than I thought.

I pressed the left side with my index finger.

A circular light rose from beneath where I stood.

“……”

My vision, which had been dyed with light, returned to normal.

[Entering the 3rd floor waiting room.]

It was back to the dreary world of the waiting room.
It was still about the size of a high school auditorium, but it seemed subtly larger.

Seeing that the ‘Exchange Meeting Return Scroll’ I had acquired didn’t disappear, it seemed to be an item that could be used if I were to enter the hidden boss room alone in the next round of the exchange meeting.

Although it didn’t disappear, I’m not sure if I’ll ever need to use it.

I looked at the clock attached to the center of the right wall.

Current time, February 26th 14:53

The next Tower exchange meeting was on March 25th.

I should try to ascend as many floors as possible before the exchange meeting.

Title: I’ve returned. It’s the 3rd floor waiting room.
Author: ㅇㅇ*

-A lot happened during the two days of the exchange meeting, more than I expected.

ㄴ Good job.
ㄴ There’s still no post about you taking out two guys at the exchange meeting in the Climber Gallery.
ㄴ SpearKing) I’ll let you know right away if it’s discovered.

Very reassuring.
But killings at the exchange meeting aren’t a one-time thing, and I didn’t think I’d be specifically identified.
I even used the alias Jung Woohyun just in case.

ㄴ I’mAnElf) Ah, I finally normalized the Elf Kingdom… I couldn’t see the climber taking 1st place on the 2nd floor ranking in real-time.
ㄴ So that’s why you weren’t seen until now??
ㄴ As expected of a pointy-ear. Not caring about humans dying.
ㄴ I’mAnElf) You non-pointy-ears don’t care either!

ㄴ ClosedRoomTheorist) Aren’t you in a quite high position in the Elf Kingdom society? Why are you doing the purification? – This world is made up of a giant closed room

ㄴ I’mAnElf) That’s because I’m a noble elf who rolls up my sleeves and gets involved, not an evil boss like you demons.
ㄴ ClosedRoomTheorist) Why are you suddenly picking a fight? – This world is made up of a giant closed room
ㄴ Theorist, you know that’s how they’ve always been.
ㄴ ClosedRoomTheorist) It seems to have gotten worse. – This world is made up of a giant closed room

ㄴ It’s because they’re getting old.
ㄴ I’mAnElf) In the name of Mother World Tree, I pray for your short life.

ㄴ Speaking of pointy-ears, wasn’t there another weird pointy-ear in the Transcendent Gallery?
ㄴ That one’s a different kind of pointy-ear. Got blocked for posting too many selfies. They would have been flooding posts with dopamine rushes watching the climber grow, but they’re blocked now, right? Can’t post, right?

ㄴ DragonKing) Kyaaah! Beltui- Welcome cute elf. Come here.

The elf showed no reaction to the demon ClosedRoomTheorist.

ㄴ Why does that one beat up the theorist but show no reaction to DragonKing?
ㄴ They’re in the same world, those guys. Along with LightSword.

ㄴ I’mAnElf) No, you’re talking about me like I’m some guy who only acts up in his room, but I can beat up demons even if they’re right next to me.
ㄴ DragonKing) Beat up Beltui- too.
ㄴ Look at how they’re gritting their teeth and pretending not to know.

ㄴ LightSword) Good job. Let’s go up to the next floor without resting at all.
ㄴ ??? Crazy… I thought I misread “Let’s rest a bit and then go to the next floor” so I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but I read it right the first time.

ㄴ ArchMage) 7 days left on the inter-dimensional trade cooldown?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Yeah, 7 days left.

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) Don’t forget that I was the first in line….
ㄴ No, there’s no such thing as a line.
ㄴ He’ll trade with humans who can provide the necessary strength for the 3rd or 4th floor stage.

ㄴ Then if they don’t trade in the waiting room but on the stage, do those humans have to eat only jerky and nuts from the climber when they inter-dimensionally trade?

ㄴ This one has completely lost their memory of the Tower, the food stays fine for a day when it’s in the special storage box.
ㄴ You just need to trade within 24 hours. But this time there’s a 7-day cooldown left, so the timing just doesn’t match.

What the.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) ?? Is it possible to put the whole storage box in the inventory? Then why have I been carrying around only nuts and jerky in my inventory?
ㄴ GalleryMaster) Ah, right. We were too busy in the 2nd floor waiting room to tell you lol.
ㄴ ArchMage) For real lol

‘Lol’ my ass.
They knew but didn’t tell me.

ㄴ We can’t easily tell you what we learned through trial and error. At least not about food.

Look at this.

ㄴ LightSword) More than that reason, the floor stage is a battlefield. Eating too abundantly will only have adverse effects. That’s why we didn’t tell you.
ㄴ Stubborn.
ㄴ IceQueen) Freeze! Stubborn!

I got goosebumps for a moment.
It was because I could feel through the text that LightSword sunbae’s comment was completely sincere.

ㄴ Even so, the opportunity for inter-dimensional trade doesn’t come to ordinary people like us.
ㄴ Why. If you have an amazing item that the great Hard guys don’t have, you can trade with the climber.
ㄴ Aren’t you saying that because you don’t have such a thing?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Give it a try, I’m open-minded.

Of course, I probably won’t trade with Normal or Easy seniors for any ordinary items.
What can you do, they’ve openly divided the ranks in the gallery.

I’m going to rest for a day.
Although a day is less than half a day now.
If I entered the 3rd floor stage right now, I felt like I would collapse unless the stage background was hell or something.

Both my body and mind needed rest.

The swords were in decent shape, but the armor was a mess.

When I put my hand on the armor, an unfamiliar window popped up.

[Nameless Knight’s Armor Set – Do you want to repair it?]
[Repair cost – 15 coins]

I repaired it immediately.
While the weapons had been quite upgraded, it was disappointing that the armor was the same as on the 2nd floor.
If the 3rd floor stage is a place where I can get armor, I should try to get some.

When I posted about the repair, a comment was added saying that repairs with coins are only possible in the waiting room.
It also added that during stage progression, repairs are only possible when there’s a blacksmith NPC or when the player directly repairs at a forge.

I closed the gallery for now.

Lying in the sleeping bag, I gradually fell asleep while reviewing my fierce battle with the King Kobold.

My eyes opened.
My body felt refreshed and my mind clear.

Strength: 107
Agility: 97
Vitality: 101
Mana: 70

Skills: Pain Suppression Lv.5 Composure Lv.5 Cover Lv.3 Crisis Detection Lv.3
Visual Field Expansion Lv.3 Concentration Enhancement Lv.4 Fighter’s Movement Lv.4
Mana Body Enhancement Lv.4 Doombringer Lv.2 Mental Barrier Lv.1

It was a new feeling to see my Strength and Vitality stats enter triple digits.

If I had reached level 20, I would have trained sword energy thoroughly here in the waiting room before entering the stage, just like I practiced intensively in the 2nd floor waiting room, but I was still one step away from 20.

As someone wrote in the gallery yesterday, I guess I’ll receive necessary items through inter-dimensional trade according to the needs of the 3rd or 4th floor stage.
I doubt the 3rd floor will take a week, no matter how long it stretches out.

I organized my thoughts and opened the coin shop.
Coins were overflowing.
Thanks to earning 1000 coins at the exchange meeting.

[3rd Floor Coin Shop]

I bought the potions again that I had used well at the exchange meeting.
Then I went to the food section.
Last night, I ate ramen and a small amount of kimchi as a gift of hometown flavor for my hard work.

For breakfast, I chose pork bulgogi rice bowl, a new menu item in the 3rd floor coin shop. It was quite expensive at 13 coins, but it came with a small side salad and soup.

At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder who was making and providing this.
I asked the Transcendent Gallery seniors, but even they didn’t know.

I wrote one more post.

Title: Entering the 3rd floor stage with cream bacon pasta, pork bulgogi rice bowl, and sandwich in my inventory.
Author: ㅇㅇ*

-With this, I can have proper meals for about two days in any situation.

ㄴ Look at how his habits are getting bad right after we told him.
ㄴ Well, it would be troublesome if he lands somewhere with nothing to eat.

ㄴ LightSword) You should eat moderately.
ㄴ GalleryMaster) Wishing you good luck.

ㄴ AbsoluteMonarch) Write where you are as soon as you enter.
ㄴ I’mAnElf) Phew, now I’ll be able to follow your progress in real-time.
ㄴ IceQueen) Heart-pounding!

I closed the Transcendent Gallery and put the terminal in my inventory.

Just like on the 2nd floor, when I opened the gray door at the end of the waiting room, the scenery changed completely.
As if the waiting room itself had never existed.

『Welcome to the Pandemonium difficulty 3rd floor stage.』

This time, the scenery was a forest.
An unclean forest where trees and undergrowth were suspiciously dark in color.

Whoosh-

Even the sound of the wind blowing is strange.

『The Pandemonium difficulty 3rd floor is quest-type.』

A quest-type like the 2nd floor.
The slight difference is that this time, the quest window popped up immediately.

『Quest! – Join the rescue team dispatched to rescue stranded members in the Beast Forest, and together rescue the stranded members.』

The black undergrowth shook.
Something huge with glowing red eyes jumped out and rushed towards me.

There’s a smell.
A smell that this won’t be easy this time either.