Kousuke and the others moved to the 59th floor and decided to investigate the springs on that floor as is.
As a result, there were a total of five springs on the 59th floor.
All of them contained only water.
“Perhaps the 58th floor was just a coincidence?”
Kousuke tilted his head in front of the Teleport Gate leading to the 60th floor.
“I wonder~?”
“We won’t know until we properly investigate the other floors again,” Peach and Ririka said, also tilting their heads.
The locations of springs in the floors they had passed through so far were properly recorded.
It wouldn’t take months to thoroughly investigate all the springs they found.
“Well, it can’t be helped. There’s no point in agonizing over it here, so let’s move on.”
With that said, Kousuke first proceeded to the 61st floor, beyond the 60th floor, as per their original objective.
Even aiming for the 61st floor didn’t mean they wouldn’t investigate the springs on the 60th floor.
Like the other floors, they thoroughly investigated the 60th floor, but found a total of three springs.
However, like the 59th floor, it was a bust, and they all contained only water.
Kousuke once again furrowed his brow at the same result.
“Hmm. I wonder if the special springs were just concentrated on the 58th floor?”
He couldn’t say for sure without investigating the other floors, but he couldn’t help but wonder.
However, Kousuke wasn’t the only one curious; the other members felt the same.
“I don’t quite understand. The number of springs itself varies on each floor.”
“It doesn’t seem to be based on any particular rule~”
Ririka and Peach said this while thinking about what they might be overlooking.
What they knew so far was that springs were distributed on every floor from the 52nd to the 60th floor.
As Ririka mentioned, the number of springs varied and there was no particular commonality.
Furthermore, all they knew so far was that the 58th floor yielded two types of water with special effects.
Kousuke, for his part, was thinking about whether he could create some interesting tools using those two types of water.
However, it might be more accurate to say they were medicinal rather than for tools.
The only use he could think of at the moment was how tea would taste if made with the collected water.
Kousuke shook his head, realizing he was thinking about trivial things.
“No, my thoughts are straying. Let’s head to the 61st floor first.”
When Kousuke called out, everyone moved to their positions for the journey.
“Positions” here simply meant getting into the wagon or onto the driver’s seat.
Kousuke alone did not get into the wagon, as he needed to operate the Teleport Gate.
After confirming that the wagon had reached the Place with Teleport Gate, Kousuke himself entered the gate and activated it.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
Upon arriving at the 61st floor, Kousuke and the others immediately teleported to the First Floor.
This was to confirm if their original objective had been achieved.
He quickly removed the cover from the card outside the Tower and checked the recorded information. The result was as Kousuke had hoped.
The Tower’s highest reached floor still displayed as the 56th floor.
Although they had confirmed this result on a lower floor, the real question was what came next.
He covered the card again and re-entered the Tower to confirm if they could teleport to that floor.
The result was that they could teleport to the 60th floor.
This was also within Kousuke’s expectations to some extent.
However, Ririka beside him tilted her head.
“The card is stuck at the 56th floor, but we can teleport to the 60th floor?”
“That’s right. In other words, the operation of the Teleport Gate and the display on the card are not directly related. Well, strictly speaking, they are related.”
“……What do you mean?”
Not understanding Kousuke’s words, Ririka tilted her head.
Incidentally, Kousuke and the others were currently on the 60th floor, so there were no other adventurers around.
They could talk about matters related to the Tower’s secrets without anyone overhearing.
Given the circumstances, Kousuke spoke to Ririka without hesitation.
“Basically, looking at other Towers, you only need the adventurers themselves to conquer the Tower. The Tower’s Teleport Gate operates solely on the conqueror’s Magic Power.”
The only Towers that use cards for conquest are Gazenran Tower, where Kousuke and the others are now, and Amamiya Tower, which uses a Crown Card.
Amamiya Tower can be conquered even without the Crown Card.
The Crown Card simply allows them to restart from previously conquered floors, similar to Gazenran Tower.
In that sense, the Crown Card and the Seichun Tower Conquest Guild’s card have similar functions.
“However, like the Crown Card, only the user’s Magic Power is required, so the card isn’t actually necessary.”
“Eh!? Really?”
Ririka, surprised by what she didn’t know, was met with Kousuke’s nod.
“That’s because the Teleport Gate, or rather the Tower itself, registers and distributes the Magic Power of each conqueror. The card is merely for management convenience on the Crown.”
“I see.”
Ririka looked convinced, and Kousuke continued.
“So, I suspect this Tower is the same. In Amamiya Tower, shortcuts are only available to those with a Crown Card, but here, everyone can use them.”
“I understand. That makes sense.”
Ririka nodded vigorously at Kousuke’s explanation.
Peach, who had been listening to the conversation, posed a question to Kousuke.
“In that case, what’s the purpose of this card in Gazenran Tower~?”
Kousuke nodded at Peach’s perfectly reasonable question.
“I don’t really know. It might have simply been created to make things clearer for the conquerors.”
When you’ve been conquering a Tower for a long time, the scenery becomes repetitive, and you can lose track of which floor you’re on.
Kousuke suspects that the card displaying the floor was created to prevent such confusion.
“Huh? But the current floor isn’t displayed on this, is it?”
“That’s why the display probably disappeared over time. There are unnatural blank spaces.”
As Kousuke said, there’s an unnatural gap between the highest reached floor and the usable shortcut Teleport Gates.
If you were told from the beginning that it was supposed to be blank, it would look just like a blank space, but now that it’s pointed out, there’s enough space for something to have been displayed there.
“I see~”
“Well, it’s just a guess, of course. If that’s really the case, then the disappearance was probably too long ago, and the records are likely lost.”
“That’s possible~”
Although what they had discussed was purely speculation, Kousuke believed it was somewhat accurate.
It made more sense for the card to have a purpose.
“Well, we’ve achieved our objective, so let’s head back to the Guild.”
As Kousuke spoke, the members, who had been lost in thought, began to move, perhaps due to various realizations.
Besides the objective of examining the effects of the tools they created, unexpected results had also come about, causing them to take more time than anticipated.
Kouhi’s match is also only a week away.
They haven’t decided what to do in the meantime, but Kousuke and the others have decided to watch the match.
With this conquest, they confirmed that the tool to disguise their progress in conquering the Tower also functions properly.
Thanks to this, they could now begin investigating the higher floors in earnest without worrying about drawing attention from others.
Kousuke and the others completed their preparations for the full-scale investigation of the Tower.
However, before the full-scale investigation begins, there is Kouhi’s match.
