Chapter 1575: Chapter 1575

[Congratulations! You and your Party have completed the {Floor 49 Trial}!]

[You have successfully completed all Trial Requirements and Challenges, including those that were hidden.]

[You have received the following Trial Rewards: [+100,000,000 System Points], [Floor Skipping Ticket (Party)] x1, [+5 Weapon Enhancement Ingot (SS Grade)] x1, [Soul Elixir (SS Grade)] x1, [Azure Star Astral Key (S Grade)] x1, [Random Skill Creation Card (SS Grade)] x1, [Dream Heart Spirit Crystal (SS+ Grade)] x1]

Whew, the rewards were quite intriguing, honestly not bad, but I expected something grander. I suppose the true rewards were consuming the Nightmare Curse, entering the Void Dimension, my evolution, and the Divine Throne I gained.

The System Points are appreciated, the floor skipping ticket seems to work only with our entire party, the enhancement ingot looks promising, and the soul elixir is intriguing. The key… that key, I think it lets us move to Azure Star whenever we want.

The Card offers a new Skill, but do I even need more? Then there's that strange crystal. A quick check revealed it could help awaken Dream Hearts in those with potential, though it drains my divine power to function.

The rest of my party received most of these rewards too, except for the ticket and the crystal, which were given only to me, which is… interesting. I guess there are Leader-only rewards as well.

I'll keep them stored for now.

"Alright, everyone, it's over here," Splex said, readjusting his cowboy hat. "I'll go first, I'll wait for you at the entrance! Floor 48 is pretty busy."

"By the way, what are the people here waiting for? Floor 49 is sealed, right?" I asked.

"It usually was a trial that most people abandoned, it seems sealed now, but players can skip sealed floors to the next accessible one," Splex explained. "Why? Wait, do you come from Floor 49?"

"Nah," I said. "We don't even know what that world is, right, Alma?"

"Uh? Y-Yeah…" Alma nodded nervously.

"Well, alright!" Splex said. "See you on the other side, friends!"

As he walked away, everyone glared at me with worried expressions.

"Seriously, Maria? Did we have to befriend the weird talking slime?" Lucifer asked. "He's obviously shady."

"He is indeed super shady; there's no way he's not!" Nia agreed. "Listen, Maria, I have a lot of experience with people like him where I came from… You have to learn to detect these kinds of people."

"I knew he was shady from the beginning," I said. "But so what? I'm so strong it doesn't matter. I want to play along, learn about him and the tower in the process, and maybe see if he's really bad or not."

"Well… Splex might be weird, but he was friendly," Alma said. "Let's hope for the best then."

"Hmmm…" Partner groaned, glaring at me and Alma. "Okay, but if he tries anything on us, I'll just crush him and splatter his body."

"Sure," I said. "But make sure not to destroy that cube, I want the items inside."

"Oh, so that was your plan…" Partner smiled viciously. "Heh~ Not bad, master!"

I tried to ignore her wicked smile as we walked into the portal, teleporting simultaneously due to being bound as a "party," which worked in many mysterious ways.

As we teleported, we noticed the toy-like player slowly walking toward us, seemingly teleporting shortly after we did.

"Well, here we are— Woah!"

Upon reaching Floor 48, we were stunned by the sight. We found ourselves in the middle of a large temple, the white portal behind us, surrounded by wooden statues and altars resembling something straight out of a Japanese Shinto Temple.

"Wow, what's this place?! Is this Floor 48?!" Nyx exclaimed.

"Wow, so many people are wearing Japanese clothes for some reason…" Alma observed. The most update n0vels are published on novel•fire.net

As we looked around, we noticed all kinds of people bustling about, most wearing festive Japanese yukata, which seemed to be sold at low prices in various stalls.

Yes, stalls. Right outside the temple, a festival stretched across hundreds of meters, with vendors selling products from this world.

Clothes, food, items, gems, and more.

"Hm? Is it night already? No, perhaps it's night here," Lucifer noted.

"Yeah, we'd better be careful, even if the place seems festive and relaxed," Jonathan pointed out.

The sky was dark, stars visible, while the surrounding landscape consisted of mountains bordered by small forests, with an active volcano not far away.

"Welcome to Floor 48, Players! I see you're new faces! Would you like to buy yukata from my store? We have them for all sorts of people, in every color we can extract from the mountains!"

Suddenly, a small creature floated to our side. At first, I thought it was a ghost, completely white and no bigger than a cat, with a cute smiley face and two tiny dots for eyes, wearing a conical straw hat and a red and blue yukata.

But I quickly sensed it wasn't an undead creature, but something made entirely of Spirit Energy.

They were Spirits! And as I noticed, they were everywhere, most stall owners being these mysterious beings.

"Ah, yes, it is," Emeraldine nodded.

"It's quite a wonderful place! But what's this steam everywhere?" Nia asked.

"Aha! I see! Welcome to our world, a small realm known as Onsenkai! This place has no competitions or challenges, it's a haven where you can relax and spend your system points on all sorts of activities, delicious food, and products!" the little spirit explained. "And of course, our greatest attraction, you can visit the Onsen, or Hot Springs as some call them, and enjoy their skincare properties! It's said they can even make you younger and heal old wounds and scars!"

"Oh, so this entire floor is a tourist spot? That's so nice! I didn't know the tower was too!" Alma said happily. "Um, how much do the yukata cost?"

"A thousand system points each! They adjust to your size and body proportions, and you can choose from a hundred colors, five hundred color combinations, and twelve different themes!" the spirit insisted. "Please buy! Please buy it from me! Cheapest in the market!"

"Okay, okay, calm down, we'll consider it," I said. "We just got here, lil' guy."

"Hmph! If you're not buying, then goodbye!" the spirit huffed, flying away.

Whew, it was so cute and so rude! What's wrong with that thing?

"W-What? So rude…" Alma muttered, echoing my thoughts.

"That's how all merchants are, they're only nice to you because they want you to buy their stuff," Nia explained. "Once they realize you don't want anything, they get really mad and can even insult you."

"Honestly, that little spirit got mad, but it didn't say anything too bad, it could have been worse," Lucifer laughed.

As we looked around, Splex appeared, sliding across the floor toward us, leaving a slimy trail that caused some people to slip and fall.

"Hey, Splex, so this is Floor 48, huh?" I asked.

"Yes, it is! Isn't it wonderful? It's warm and wet, just like home," Splex said, readjusting his hat. "Though the hot springs aren't for me, I melt in them…!"

"Ah, that's a pity," I chuckled. "So, what sort of favor did you want?"

"Oh, yes, it's over that mountain, my friends and I are mining for resources," he explained. "These mountains have secret areas full of ores imbued with magical properties, used to make Upgrade Ingots and Upgrade Crystals, necessary for improving weapons and armor."

"Interesting," I nodded. "You almost got me there, but… wait, don't these mountains belong to the people here? Is it right to take from them?"

"A-Ah…" Splex stammered, visibly nervous. "Y-You see… well, it's land that isn't owned by anybody! So you don't have to worry about anything."

"Is that so?" I asked skeptically.

My friends mostly shrugged, so we decided to go along and then visit the stalls and shops.

"Hey, Splex, can you fly?" I asked him.

"Fly? Well, I haven't learned a Skill for flight yet," he said. "But I can travel through water really fast— Woah?!"

He gasped in disbelief as we took off into the skies, my Aura grasping his slimy body as we soared with ease.

Some people flew with wings, like humanoid bird people and bug-like beings, while others, strange levitating entities made of granite, floated about. All were people, not monsters, mostly minding their own business.

"Tell us which mountain, and we'll fly you there."

"Y-You can levitate?! All of you…! A-Ah… uh, of course…"

We flew toward the mountain he indicated, and I noticed he grew increasingly nervous for some reason.

Did he not expect us to fly and display this level of magic?

"And here we are… yes… here," he muttered. "Ahem."

We landed in front of a cave, surrounded by a dense forest next to a flowing river with fish swimming about. Nyx ran there with Celes, catching a fish with her mouth and eating it adorably.

"Hey… g-guys… I brought… the newbies."

Splex muttered softly into the cave, and a group of six people emerged. Three resembled beast people, leopards, likely siblings. Another was a burly red ant with large, sharp claws, the fifth a shark-like fishman with a fearsome face, and the sixth a figure made of… paint? It was as if a person had been painted on a canvas and was walking before us.