Meanwhile, the entire safe zone was in an uproar currently.
Draco, who had disappeared all this while and was presumed to be cowed by the might of the top 3 had struck again. This time, he had cleared the second floor with an absurd score once more that left a great gap between first place and second place.
To many of the lower-ranked players, he was like the shining star in the sky. At the last moment of the trial, he just swooped in and upset the status quo so easily like it was nothing.
Those who had been oppressed by those at the top and their cronies were filled with schadenfreude. In just two floors, Draco had acquired almost 1/10th of the total score of the top three.
If he kept this kind of streak up until the 21st floor, he would surely surpass them with ease. These fellows who had been wronged and bullied for the past century were abnormally eager to see the expression on those fellows when they were kicked down their from their lofty positions.
Speaking of those fellows, they were wearing solemn expressions at the moment as they gathered their lackeys together. They had decided to ignore Draco because no matter how hard he tried, he could not become a threat to them given his ignorance.
When he had remained inactive for 2 months, the top 3 had even believed he had died during the ambush on the second floor, which was a place where many newbies either perished or were severely injured due to inexperience.
However, out of seemingly nowhere, he had come back and even cleared the second floor with such ferocity. This left them feeling worried as they started to have doubts about their own convictions.
After all, even though they knew exactly which floors would trip him up, it was a fact that they didn't know his range of abilities, his character, and how exactly he was clearing those floors that got him so many points.
As such, they began to feel that he might just be able to surmount any challenge that came his way, even though they personally knew that something might catch him off guard.
This was especially so when the words of Draco resound in their ears.
["So then, if that's the case, how would you rate my talent compared to yours when I have more than ten times the points when we all had the same starting point? If Gavin was able to keep his lead under the circ.u.mstances from day 1, shouldn't I be able to keep taking first place on every floor up to where you fellows are currently stuck at?"]
It was a laughable and outlandish claim, but after doing two floors and topping the leaderboard with such force, they had to start considering that Draco's words would be reality. Logically speaking, he was 100% correct.
If he had come in with them a hundred years ago and they had all been climbing at the same time, he would be the one in first place with such monstrous points. However, because they were ahead of him and knew what came next, they ad assumed that the floors that tripped them up would trip him.
This made the top three jerk up in their seats as their foreheads were filled with sweat. They had realized that after almost a century of being on the top, they had adopted arrogant mindsets that no one could topple them.
They were forgetting that Draco was toppling all common sense with how high he scored compared to them, so given the same starting point, would it not be easy for him to surpass them?
Realizing this, the top 3 became grave. Just like how Draco had realized his erroneous thinking process and corrected it, so too had these three. They realized that adopting a 'watch him fail' attitude towards Draco was foolish, and just giving him time to build momentum.
Once he reached a certain point, it would be far too late to stop him even if they could. As such, they had two choices right now. Try and befriend him to build rapport, so that in the situation that he surpassed them, he could give them pointers on how to go forward or suppress him at all turns so he couldn't easily make progress by preventing him from accessing most of the safe zone's facilities and especially blockading information.
They must choose those who could not be linked to them and pay quite a price, but it would be worth it in the end. If anything went awry on that side, it would not be traced back to them and they would still keep their beneficial relationship with the fellow intact.
Thinking like this, the top 3 began mobilizing forces that were not tied to them. What these three did not realize was that Draco had his Control active that could scan the entire safe zone.
He could easily see their actions, as well as those in the top 30. They took had reached the same conclusion as the top 3 and all of them were making movements that would shake the foundation of the safe zone up in time.
As for the fellow himself? He had just left his castle and was walking through the outskirts of the Safe Zone to reach the central part of the safe zone where the marketplace was.
He could see many eyes tracing his movements as they reported back to their masters, but he was not bothered. In fact, he was interested to see who those at the top could hinder him when any form of conflict was disallowed in the safe zone.
Soon, Draco reached the entrance of a long street that had many small kiosks that were styled in different ways. The kiosks were on either side of the road and were spread equidistantly from each other.
Some had fancier designs while some were minimalistic, but overall, it gave the place an interesting feel. Those trial takers who sat behind their kiosks did not call out to passersby as there was a screen before their shop that displayed what they had and what they wanted.
As Draco walked through, he saw that the wares were a mixture of resources that could be acquired from the tower, finished products crafted by the kiosk owner, it items from outside that they were trading for various purposes.
Some accepted on specific goods, some accepted anything as long as it interested them, some wanted Aether Crystals, Divine Crystals, and the like, while others wanted hard Platinum.
The latter was strange, but since the tower was about to end, it was best to convert these resources into money, lest they bring a calamity outside. Of course, these NPCs didn't know that they would crumble to pixels and disappear once Draco so much as took a step out of the tower, which was one of the reasons why he had not taken them seriously.
After taking a look, Draco found that he had little interest in things aside from those raw resources that the others had traded for. As such, he focused his attention on such things and cross-checked between what they had and what he needed to expand his Inner Universe and Eva's Inner Sun.
To his benefit, he did find some of both. Right now, he was standing before a pinkish kiosk that was manned by a beautiful young woman who wore brocade robes with large sleeves and had a hairpin that tied her hairdo.
She looked like some mystical Chinese Empress descended upon the mortal world, and her cold disposition proved that she had her nose up in the air. Her wares were only resources from the tor and she definitely had good stuff, but her asking prices made it such that almost no one frequented her store.
｢System to Player Announcement
Welcome to the store of Helia Nuer, 8th Ranked Trial Taker!
1. Solar Core - Cost: 3 Legendary Items or 300,000 High-grade Aether Crystals
2. Fire Source - Cost: 5 Legendary Items (Equipment only)
3. Light Dragon's Blood Essence - Cost: 12 legendary Items (6 Equipment and 6 Consumables of the following categories: <Click here to see list>)
4. Phoenix's Blood Essence - Cost: 10 Legendary Items (6 Equipment and Consumables of the following categories: <Click here to see list)
6. …
7. … ｣
Draco rubbed his chin as he gazed at her things, realizing that this high-ranked tower climber really traded for good stuff using either her tokens or her score points. He had chosen to sort her list out based on the criteria he put out, and the top 5 things were items he or Eva needed.
She also saw Draco approach her kiosk, but paid him no mind. Like all others, he would grimace and walk away when he realized he couldn't meet her terms, which despite her nonchalance, greatly frustrated her.
After all, she had firmly halted her climb on the 69th floor and had used all her tokens to redeem these goods, as well as her 90k score points. She had no interest in reaching the top of the tower as she was the Princess of the Luo Yue Dynasty outside, so what she wanted was to enrich herself for the soon-to-come battle for the throne.
While a hundred years had passed, that meant nothing since her Royal Father was a Rank 7 entity that could live for another 500 years at least. If she went out with these resources it would be hard to turn them into something useful for her situation and might even attract greed.
However, if she could get armaments and useful items at the Legendary Rank, she could equip her own special force that would guard her life and complete missions for her. This was her plan.
Yet, how could she have known that her fellow trial takers were even less able than her, unable to even payout one Legendary item? She assumed some Rank 6 and 7 fellows would appear here, but the highest had been those top three at Rank 5, and they certainly did not need what she had to offer as they could get it themselves.
To Draco, these resources in the tower were godly things that could not be gotten outside. To the other trial takers, they were certainly precious, but not as useful as Legendary items that could change their lives outside.
Especially since the tower was about to close, more and more stopped climbing as they didn't want to risk their lives, rather changing their score points for resources then setting up kiosks.
If Draco had come here 50 years ago when everyone was still steadily climbing, he might not have even seen 5 kiosks, all of them minimalistic too. Now though, this was the best time to come to the marketplace as those who couldn't reach the top settled for the next best thing, turning their acquired rewards into useful things before leaving.
To them, Legendary items were all they wanted, among other things. To Draco, Legendary items would only take some Common Rank materials and a few Aether Crystals to make.
As such, when he indicated that he wanted to but the top 5 things on her list, Helia Nuer was understandably shocked. She first gazed at Draco suspiciously to see if he was sent by the top 3 to come and cause trouble here, but realized that his face was familiar.
Her eyes widened when she realized that this was the fellow who caused the uproar a few months ago and insulted the top 3 in public. She and almost everyone else had been there, so she had only forgotten his face because it had been 2 months since then.
She remembered how he had sacred almost 10 times the points of first place, and just recently seen that he had destroyed the second floor too. As such, she was more willing to believe that he was special and just might be able to satisfy her requirements.
"Hello customer, how can I help you?" She asked gently as she rose to her feet and curtsied. Just because she was a Princess didn't cloud her judgment. She knew that some others here had more terrifying backgrounds than her despite ranking low, so she had long learned to be humble in front of those who were capable.
Even better, it had the lovely effect of leaving a good impression on others and making them more favorable. To be honest, Helia didn't understand why people just couldn't be polite first then arrogant later.
It had all the benefits without the detriments. But well, that was not her matter anyway, rather, she began negotiating with Draco on what items she wanted to receive. From the way the fellow spoke, it was as if he would be able to acquire anything she wanted, so she didn't have to hold back.
This left her curious, and she couldn't help but ask. "How are you going to get all these items, Dear Sir?"
Draco smiled winsomely. "I'm going to make them."
Helia blinked with confusion, then her mind clicked. Suddenly, her expression changed as she shuddered as if someone had tazed her. Her gaze towards Draco was no longer filled with polite respect, but horror and anticipation.
She too was frustrated with the top 3 and how they handled things. She was one of the few top rankers who did not build a force of her own or take in underlings, so everything she had was gained herself.
She knew that the top 3 would likely soon suppress Draco after his performance on the second floor, and she knew exactly how since many others had been through it over the years.
However, she distinctly realized that those at the top had kicked an iron plate and fallen face-first into shit this time. After all, the way they would deal with Draco was to bribe some store owners to refuse to sell to him by using a mixture of benefits and force.
That was not even counting those store owners who were part of their group. If they also refused Draco, he would be left frustrated that he could acquire information or goods he needed urgently.
However, when the victim in question - Draco - could produce something far more valuable than what these at the top could offer, why would they have to listen to them? They could directly raise the middle finger to Gavin Guy and co then bathed in the Legendary items Draco would make for them.
No, even Gavin Guy and co would drop all hostilities and run ahead of their lackeys to curry Draco's favor!
Helia gazed at Draco with a strange look. They had all assumed that this fellow would topple the status quo of the entire tower, but Helia now understood that it wasn't going to be through his tower climbing alone.
This fellow could likely conquer the entire tower and the safe zone if he went all out!
"Hello, Miss Nuer?" Draco called with a raised eyebrow.
Helia then snapped out of it and realized she had been staring at his face while thinking. She shoved down her embarrassment and curtsied once more, moving on to discuss the details of her requirements.
Draco jotted them down and nodded. After spending some time talking, Helia and Draco reached a consensus. The duo signed a contract under the system, so Draco claimed the items in case someone came and tried to compete with him for them although Helia knew this was impossible.
However, she realized that Draco was truly new to the tower and didn't understand the commons sense here. With this in mind, her eyes flashed as she called out to Draco who was about to leave.
"Hm, what's the matter?" Draco asked curiously.
"Sir, are you also looking for information on the tower? That is, the floors, their objectives, the tricks to completing them, and the general common sense of the safe zone?" Helia asked with a beating heart.
Draco frowned. "While I am interested, I am not willing to bother with the politics of the safe zone and ally with anyone."
Helia shook her head vigorously. "No, no! I don't want any of that, I am not stupid like those 3. All I want is some small payment, maybe just one Epic item or some Aether Crystals in exchange for what I provide you. In fact, you can decide what you will pay me depending on how valuable you feel what I share with you is."
"Oh? That does sound good. I am interested." Draco turned around as she said with shining eyes. After all, Helia was ranked number 8 and was on floor 69, just two floors below the top 3.
Whatever info they could give him, she could also give most of it except for floors 70 and 71. This was fine with Draco though, as he originally planned to find some lowlife who could give him details up to floor 30 so he could gauge the nature of the tower.
Helia was excited by Draco's acceptance as she felt this was a great way to get into his good books. Once the tower closed, she could invite him to her kingdom, specifically her faction, which would guarantee her rise to the throne.
Poor Helia was unaware that she would disappear after this quest was done, as the real her was still in her dynasty battling against her siblings for the right to the throne. Even then, she still wouldn't be able to invite Draco as her Dynasty was located on a continent in the Unmapped Zones.
After all, the king of a mere Dynasty being at Rank 7 was impossible in the Mapped Zones, so the area she came from was far more powerful than any area on the known lands.
