Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 204
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 204. The Tower — Distribution
The moment I stepped into the Bank, Lee Su-young asked me a question.
“Didn’t you say you were attending a trial? Why are you here already?”
Diana answered Lee Su-young’s inquiry.
“I finished observing it. The courtroom is apparently on the Upper Floors, so the time flow seems to be different.”
If the courtroom was on Floor 70 in the Upper Floors, the time difference would be roughly 304 times compared to the Lower Levels located on Floor 10.
That meant one second in the Lower Levels would be about 304 seconds in the Upper Floors—roughly five minutes.
Since the trial took about five hours to observe, only about a minute should have passed here.
Diana recounted the scenes she’d witnessed during the trial and recommended that I attend an observation session if I ever got the chance.
I pulled a queue number and spoke.
“Since we’re at the Bank, I should take care of business first.”
At my words, Lee Su-young and Rachel also drew their numbers.
“The reward was supposed to be transferred to the Bank account, right? We should verify that.”
Now that I thought about it, that was true.
I’d forgotten about it—the trial proceedings involving the statue had been too shocking.
Diana had forgotten as well and drew her number. We filed through the door as our numbers were called in sequence.
As I took a seat in the personal teller window, I spoke to the Bank Employee across from me.
“I have some items to deposit, and I’d also like to confirm some transfers.”
“Of course. Which would you like me to help you with first—deposits or transfer confirmations?”
I chose the latter.
While I could view transferred items through my personal account on the Tower Shop interface, I’d left so many things in storage that it was difficult to tell which items had actually been transferred.
“Right away. Oh? There’s a transfer made under the Tower’s name. I’ve only heard rumors about transfers coming directly from the Tower rather than the Association, but I never thought I’d actually see it happen!”
The Bank Employee checked the details and looked at me with wonder.
Come to think of it, was this Bank Employee perhaps one of the Tower’s Messengers?
The Association seemed to employ the native inhabitants, but the Bank Employee had a different air about her than the Guild Staff Members.
“Excuse me—are you one of the Tower’s Messengers?”
I’m the type who can’t help asking about things that pique my curiosity, so I asked directly.
The Bank Employee smiled slightly and answered.
“Something like that.”
What kind of answer was “something like that”? Either she was or she wasn’t.
At that moment of confusion, the Golden Dragon suddenly came to mind.
“If you’re ‘something like that,’ then is your superior the Tower’s Messenger, and you’re his subordinate? And now that I think about it, the magical power embedded here feels similar to the Golden Dragon’s.”
At my guess, the Bank Employee jumped up in surprise.
“What?! How do you know that person?!”
What? For real? Well, there was no creature more suited to a bank than a dragon obsessed with gold.
“Ah, I happened to see him once while climbing the Tower.”
The Bank Employee looked startled at my response.
“You’re still a Lower Levels climber, but that’s impressive! Ah, the transferred items have arrived. Would you like to verify them in person?”
I nodded, and the Bank Employee went to the large vault behind her and retrieved the items.
“Here is the itemized list of transfers you’ve received.”
I checked the manifest against the physical items.
—25 Million Credit (2.5 Billion Won)
—10 Million Climbers’ Guild Merit Points
—Inventory Expansion Pass (Floor 40)
—Inventory Expansion Pass (Floor 50)
—Mini Map Expansion Pass (Floor 40)
—Mini Map Expansion Pass (Floor 50)
—Special Auction Hall Entry Ticket (Mid-Tier)
—Ghost Horse Exchange Voucher (Floor 40)
—Growth Equipment Exchange Voucher (Floor 40)
—Magic Tower Spell Book Exchange Voucher x100.
Credit and Merit Points were familiar, but Expansion Passes, Entry Tickets, and Exchange Vouchers were all new to me.
From the descriptions, the Expansion Passes waived the quests and Merit Point costs needed to expand one’s Inventory or Mini Map.
The Special Auction Hall Entry Ticket granted access to exclusive auctions that couldn’t be entered through ordinary means.
The Tower Shop had a standing auction house where climbers could register their items through the Bank, but this special auction must be selling items that were impossible to obtain through normal methods, much like the Golden Market.
The Ghost Horse Exchange Voucher was an exchange token that allowed you to obtain the common ability “Ghost Horse Summoning”—obtainable on Floor 40—without requiring any special quest.
According to the Community, the ghost horse seemed to be a standard mount for mid-tier climbers.
Naturally, as you ascended the Tower, your range of activity had to expand, so they were providing transportation.
The Growth Equipment likely referred to the sword or magic staff I’d purchased from the Golden Market.
Right—they hadn’t sold growth-type weapons, and anyone who’d passed the Golden Trial already possessed their own growth-type weapon, which explained why they didn’t bother.
What caught my eye most was the Magic Tower Spell Book Exchange Voucher.
According to the description, it was an exchange token that obligated the Magic Tower to provide any spell book you requested.
The blind spot was that you couldn’t know what spell books were available at the Magic Tower.
This seemed like something I should save for later use once I reached the upper floors, rather than use it immediately.
To be honest, I’d acquired most spell books worth having through Andromallius, so I didn’t feel any particular need for it.
“Will you be withdrawing?”
At the bank employee’s question, I hesitated briefly before shaking my head.
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
On the Common Floor, I could use my check card, though it was often unusable while ascending the Tower—but I’d left some Credits and gold coins on Tower Floor 1 as emergency funds.
I retrieved the haul I’d obtained from my Subspace Cube.
“I’d like to deposit these. Oh, would it be possible to include the weight on the statement?”
I recalled that the bank employee had weighed the gold last time I’d stored it here, so I asked.
The employee nodded as though such requests were routine.
“Yes, of course. Shall I record the quantity and weight for each item?”
“I’d appreciate that very much.”
Fortunately, since climbers regularly processed income distribution through the bank, such requests were apparently common.
The bank employee placed the treasures I’d removed into a box using magic, then entered something into her terminal.
A receipt-like statement then printed out from the printer.
Given how much had filled the cave, the length of the printed statement was absurdly long.
“As I mentioned before, the bank does purchase gold from you.”
Knowing that the bank was connected to the Golden Dragon, the statement seemed to carry a different weight.
There was something subtly pressuring about it, I had to admit.
I examined the itemized list on the statement.
Crakshar Gold Coins, 13,000 pieces—21,450 grams.
Crakshar Silver Coins, 84,000 pieces—222,600 grams.
Gold Rings, 12 pieces—120 grams.
Diamond Rings, 31 pieces—62 grams.
Glory of the Sun Necklace—250 grams.
Golden Goddess Statue—12,000 grams.
100-Gram Gold Bars, 1,120 pieces—112,000 grams.
…
The list was filled with all manner of treasures, though none appeared to possess any special power.
“Hmm… how am I supposed to divide all this?”
The gold bars appeared to be pure gold, but I couldn’t tell how much other metal was mixed into the coins or the goddess statue.
I placed the statement in my inventory and stepped out of the bank window.
Since I’d been the last to deposit my items, Rachel’s expression brightened when I emerged—she looked like someone who’d succeeded spectacularly at an investment.
Like someone who’d hit the jackpot, really.
“Let’s go to the library and hold a meeting first.”
Rachel looked puzzled at my suggestion.
I rented a conference room at the library with my party members.
“I didn’t know the library had a place like this.”
She probably could have discovered the secured conference rooms with a few visits, but perhaps she hadn’t come to the library often enough.
Then again, the library charged Credits for entry, so it made perfect sense that Rachel—who had to use Credits strategically—would avoid visiting unless it was truly necessary.
I handed each person a copy of the statement, blank paper, and a pen.
“This statement is what we received from the bank when we deposited the items. I’d like to try distributing things the way Rachel suggested back on Floor 33—does anyone have objections?”
No one raised their hand in response.
“Rachel’s proposal on Floor 33 included distribution ratios but no method, so I’ve been thinking—what if we use a turn-based system?”
I wrote out the distribution method on the conference room’s whiteboard.
-1. Review the statement and rank the items you want in order of preference. For small items like coins, specify the weight you desire; for jewelry or large statues, specify by count.
-2. Each party member chooses their turn order.
-3. Go in turn, with each person taking their highest-ranked item. If someone ahead in turn order took your first choice, you take your second choice instead.
-4. Repeat step 3 until distribution matches our agreed ratios.
The party members nodded approvingly as they reviewed the distribution method I’d proposed.
“With your approach, we can prevent any one person from monopolizing expensive items while carrying less weight,” Lee Su-young said.
Of course, this distribution system wasn’t entirely free of potential disputes.
While it wouldn’t happen this time, there could be instances where everyone wanted the same precious item.
But that was something to worry about when it actually happened.
A party that would fall apart over mere possessions wasn’t worth keeping together anyway.
Rachel nodded in agreement with Lee Su-young’s words, then asked, “How do we decide the turn order?”
“Since this is our first distribution, let’s keep it simple—rock, paper, scissors. There’s nothing particularly special in this haul anyway,” I said.
My party members agreed and spent time carefully studying the inventory list.
The order I determined by rock, paper, scissors was: me first, Diana second, Lee Su-young third, Rachel fourth.
I’d always been lucky with rock, paper, scissors—I rarely lost—so I’d snagged the first pick.
I participated in the distribution despite taking the remainder precisely because items varied in value.
If among all the piled gold and treasures there were only a handful of items with true intrinsic worth that money couldn’t buy, and I sat out the distribution, I’d be denying myself any chance at those genuinely valuable pieces.
More money was always better, but honestly, for Climbers, currency didn’t hold much worth—unless you were in Rachel’s unusual situation.
A single Horned Rabbit hunted outside the City could net you 1 Shop Point, and that’s just baseline for us Climbers.
1 Shop Point could purchase 1,000 Credits—a hundred thousand won in real currency.
If the Tower’s economy were functioning normally, hyperinflation would’ve set in long ago.
So what mattered as you climbed was developing an eye for what was truly real.
After we’d settled the order that way, we continued distributing until Lee Su-young, Diana, and Rachel collectively walked away with ten percent of the total weight.
Rachel looked over the details of items transferred to her account and smiled faintly.
“At this rate, I should be able to cast Magic freely on the Mid-Tier without worrying about Credits running short.”
Rachel had negotiated to receive items weighted toward gold—easier to liquidate.
Jewelry like gem necklaces required either extensive legwork finding a buyer or might not find one at all, but gold had a reliable buyer: the Bank.
Depending on the purity of the gold Rachel received, prices would vary, but even if it wasn’t pure gold, she’d cleared over hundred million Credits in a single stroke.
…Wait. With earnings like that, why would Rachel insist on staying with our party at all?
The thought flickered through my mind, but Rachel seemed even more committed to this party now.
Well, if that’s how it was—
If the party was truly invested, I’d only give more in return.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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