Serum pulled out a written oath.
“Before we start, I’ll need your promise to keep this a secret. And anyone not directly involved should please leave.”
Evan sensed that something was off.
A conversation that required everyone else to leave—there must be something important to discuss.
If it was just about the Guild stock listing, there was no need to be this secretive.
‘People with something to hide always start off conversations like this…’
Rozi seemed to sense something strange as well and asked him cautiously.
“I came here regarding the Guild’s stock listing. Is all this really necessary…”
Serum narrowed his eyes and said,
“Yes. That’s what I think as well. But unless you accept our terms, the listing will be impossible.”
“…Excuse me? Wait, what do you mean by that…? We can’t even go through the screening?”
Rozi was so taken aback he was left speechless.
This time, Evan asked him,
“What does that mean?”
To their questions, Serum continued calmly.
“As you know, Evan, your influence in the Southern Region is considerable. It appears you’re connected to the Rozi Guild, which puts us in a difficult position. However, if you accept our terms, we’ll gladly support you as much as we can.”
“Ahem…”
Rozi perked up at the mention of support.
It was a very tempting offer.
Receiving support from the Adela Guild was an unimaginable benefit.
At a time when even being listed was difficult, such an opportunity was not to be missed.
“May I hear what those terms are?”
Rozi signaled that he’d like to hear more.
Serum pointed again to the written oath and spoke.
“You must pledge to keep this confidential.”
“Understood.”
Rozi and Evan took the oath, checked that nothing was amiss, and signed.
At that, a smile crept across Serum’s lips.
“You’ve made the right choice. You won’t regret it.”
He tucked away the signed oaths.
And then, calmly, he began to speak in earnest.
“We’re planning to lower the floors of Adela’s Main Transmission Tower soon.”
For a moment, Evan couldn’t believe his ears.
Rozi blinked at those words.
“Pardon?”
“It’s simple. We’re going to collapse the very top of the Transmission Tower.”
“Wh-what are you saying?”
Ordinarily, a guild would do anything to raise the value of its currency.
But what he was saying sounded like he intended to lower its value.
That would mean considerable losses for the Adela Guild as well.
Unable to understand, Rozi asked,
“Is that even possible? More importantly, wouldn’t the Adela Guild suffer major losses if the currency value drops?”
Evan also looked curious at the question.
Serum replied with a genial smile.
“To be honest, we’re severely understaffed for constructing Adela’s Main Transmission Tower as it is now. Our ultimate goal is over 10,000 floors, but for that, we need cheaper and far more labor.”
Rozi still couldn’t make sense of it.
“But wouldn’t it be better to raise the currency’s value and profit that way? And what about all the people who’ve invested in the guild currency?”
Serum shook his head firmly and handed Rozi a document.
“First, here’s the outline of our plan. Please take it and look over it in detail. I’ll briefly explain the contents.”
Suddenly, Serum took out a round disk.
“We pursue efficiency.”
He placed the disk on the table.
Pa-bat!
A holographic image of Adela’s Main Transmission Tower sprang up from the disk.
“This is a magical tool recently developed by alchemists in the Southern Region. It hasn’t been widely distributed yet, so only we can use it. Anyway, this is the current state of Adela’s Main Tower.”
The Adela Tower looked small, but its floors soared high, like a vertical rod.
Green dots were displayed alongside, from the base all the way to the top of the tower.
“What’s that?” Evan asked.
Serum pointed to the green dots.
“These are our customers. People who purchased Adela Guild’s currency on each floor. Most are at the very top floors now.”
As he spoke, he clenched his hand over the top of the tower and crushed it.
The tower crumbled, and its height was instantly halved.
Green dots floated in the air.
“We’re going to forcibly hold onto them. If we can’t build the tower higher, they’ll become our most loyal supporters. They’ll be desperate to get their money back. And, not only will they work to rebuild the tower, they’ll strive to stack it even higher for the sake of compensation.”
A devilish, sly smile appeared on his lips.
“In any case, the Main Tower will continue to be raised. It’ll just be temporarily knocked down. With the price lower, new customers will flock in—there’s no greater efficiency than this.”
Knowing the full picture, Evan and Rozi let out bitter laughs.
‘It’s ruthless to the extreme.’
Rozi clicked his tongue.
He could already tell what would soon happen in the Southern Region.
It was obvious a storm of blood would sweep through the South before long.
“I understand. But won’t that negatively affect us as well?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of things on our end. We’ll divert everyone’s attention with Rozi currency for a while. I promise there will be no negative impact—at least not for you.”
Having sealed the contract, Rozi and Evan followed Serum.
Leaving the Guild’s Main Building, they arrived at a special tower managed by the guild.
It resembled the Main Transmission Tower Serum had shown, but it wasn’t nearly as tall.
It was just an ordinary tower, about the height of a manor.
‘So this is the Subspace World where the Guild’s Main Transmission Tower is located.’
He’d heard it was a special world created by magic.
Not only Adela’s Transmission Tower, but all guilds’ Transmission Towers were located here.
But getting into the tower wasn’t easy.
They had to pass through several checkpoints before finally arriving.
Guards surrounded the area, keeping watch all around the tower.
‘They guard this place like a fortress. Does Adela consider this place that important?’
If they paid this much attention to it, it could very well be an important weakness for them, Evan thought.
He began to think about how to deal with them in the future.
‘We’re not enemies yet, but a day may come when we stand opposed.’
He still didn’t know which gods or world administrators these people served.
He didn’t know the details, but it was almost certain they would become enemies.
After all, what they were planning was already outside the bounds of normalcy.
They were about to shackle every human in the Southern Region.
‘Calling it knocking down the Transmission Tower is just sugarcoating. It’s practically enslavement!’
They would stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
Furthermore, the plan to build Adela’s tower even higher weighed on his mind.
‘They can’t be doing all this just to build the tower higher. There must be something else.’
His mind kept warning him about the situation.
He felt an odd sense of discomfort and déjà vu.
‘The tower…’
Just then, Evan remembered something.
The murals he’d seen in the Ancient Ruins.
Countless humans stacking a tower high and dropping the sun.
‘I thought it was a symbolic representation of some experiment or catastrophe.’
The murals seemed to merely depict the times, but one thing was certain—ruins related to those events never had a happy ending.
And there were no further records after those events.
In the previous world, they interpreted it as the end of the world.
Whatever it was, he was sure it wasn’t positive.
Evan felt an uncanny connection to these events.
If it was connected, then building the tower high wasn’t the true end.
‘Their real goal must be to bring down the sun.’
While Evan was lost in these thoughts, they arrived at the entrance to the tower.
The guards snapped to attention and greeted them respectfully.
“Deputy Guild Master? What brings you here?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to show our Adela Tower to our guests.”
“Understood! Please, go on in!”
The gatekeepers saluted again and opened the entrance.
Though the huge double doors swung open, nothing could be seen inside.
“Please, come in.”
Serum led the way inside.
The moment he stepped across the threshold, his figure instantly vanished.
“Master, unless you’re specially permitted, it’s hard to get in here. I myself have only been in once. Make sure to take a good look while you’re here.”
“Yes. I intend to.”
Evan stepped through the entrance with Rozi.
The moment he entered, his vision flipped as if he’d stepped into another world.
- You have discovered the Central World.
- Achievement ‘Savior of Yggdrasil’ has been linked.
- A Hidden Quest has occurred.
- Seek out the Mediator of the World.
The contents of the messages that popped up before his eyes were unusual.
‘This is the Central World…?’
Evan’s eyes widened as he looked around.
A dim, dark-blue sky.
A strangely empty horizon.
And upon it, hundreds of towers stood.
Overall, it felt desolate, even dangerous.
‘If this is the Central World, then this should be where Yggdrasil is…’
Seeing the center of the world, Evan remembered something.
He’d suffered through Yggdrasil-related quests in the previous world.
He’d scoured every nook and cranny to find the Central World.
And now, even his achievements seemed to link him to Yggdrasil.
“A hidden quest, huh…”
“Hm? Master, something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Rozi pointed at the towers and spoke.
“How does it feel, seeing it in person? Isn’t it amazing?”
Evan nodded.
Rozi looked at the towers as if gazing at gold, an enraptured look in his eyes.
“Our Rozi Guild’s Transmission Tower will finally enter this place. The height of a tower speaks to a guild’s value. Isn’t it a magnificent sight?”
Listening to Rozi, Evan realized things weren’t looking good.
‘Is this the flow that will lead to the towers being built ever higher?’
If the South was heading in this direction, then it was just like those murals.
Serum, who’d been leading the way, stopped and pointed high above.
“That’s Adela’s Main Transmission Tower. The tallest of all the towers here, and our guild’s pride.”
After saying that, Serum slowly continued.
“It’s a shame, but for the next goal, we’ll pause here for a bit. Even if I wanted to go higher, I can’t. As you know, you must have heard that there’s a resisting force in this world where guild transmission towers are built.”
Rozi, listening, turned his gaze to the tower.
“Yes. I’ve heard there’s some kind of resisting force in this world.”
“Right. In truth, it’s because of that resistance that we can’t build the tower any higher. There are resistance zones at every height, and if we keep stacking floors, we’d just be stuck in a cycle of collapse and rebuilding. That’s why we need to prepare thoroughly to break through the resistance. Here, take a look.”
No sooner had he spoken than Adela’s tower shot up in height.
And the moment it reached a certain point—
Abnormal approach detected.
System defense functions are activating.
“…What is this?”
A message window with an ominous message appeared before Evan’s eyes.