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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Nuisance
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I roamed the cliff, digging up whispering silver grass like a madman.
"Arrrgh!"
People kept dying and desperately trying to climb up, but I paid them no mind and diligently bounded across the cliff face, eyes scanning every rocky surface.
Like performing wire action stunts, I secured my anchors firmly, then leaped from one wall to the next, harvesting the grass rooted in spots all over the rocks.
'This side's done. Now from here all the way over there.'
I didn't climb up at all, just kept moving sideways. Whenever the rope wouldn't reach, I'd retrieve it, reset it, and continue sideways.
The reason was simple.
This grass only grew from 500 meters and up.
Conversely, harpies started interfering from 700 meters.
'Prioritizing the naturally growing grass between 500 and 700 meters.'
Even so, there was plenty of it. It clung densely to spots all over the cliff, swaying in the wind. Somehow, there seemed to be more of it than people.
'Oh, looks like even this cliff has an end.'
But eventually, I couldn't go any farther sideways even if I wanted to. Just like in the tutorial, an invisible wall blocked my path.
'Fine, head to the other side then.'
So I backtracked the way I'd come and went the opposite direction. Tadadadot. My antics bounding around the cliff must have looked ridiculous.
"What the hell is that guy doing? Climbing the walls like a pro. Not shooting a movie or anything—did he train professionally?"
"Thought he was a cockroach."
People gazed up at me as if watching circus animals perform tricks.
A few quick-witted ones caught on to what I was up to.
"But what's he harvesting?"
"Is that stuff valuable? Should I grab some?"
Those who saw me farming started collecting grass around their own spots. But they all gave up soon after.
"Damn it, this is impossible."
"Why risk my neck for one lousy blade of grass...?"
"Screw this!"
Even trying to mimic me and harvest along the way—but where were we? On a sheer, dizzying cliff.
Our current spot was around 600 meters above sea level. Higher than our country's tallest skyscraper, the ○○ Tower—we were dangling there.
In a do-or-die situation where one slip meant death, who had the stamina to spare harvesting grass for points? It was too risky, so everyone quit fast.
Unless you had Strength and Stamina over 100 like me, pulling off stunts like this was impossible.
'Yep, blocked on this side too.'
After pressing on, I hit another invisible wall and reluctantly turned direction slowly. Returning to my starting point, I glanced around.
'Whew, even with high stats, two straight hours bounding around a cliff wears you out.'
Hanging from a rope and shifting sideways isn't easy. These were fall-prevention tools, not meant for propulsion.
Stamina drain was higher than expected. More importantly, sunset was approaching.
Nightfall in just a few hours.
'Call it a day here, sit on that ledge for a break. Then scout a spot to spend the night.'
I checked how much grass I'd gathered.
'87 roots...!'
Not bad. No, great.
Holding out until each fetched 100k was an option, but even at 10k apiece, that was 870k points.
In just two hours, no less.
'How many people's blood, sweat, and tears worth of earnings did I snag solo?'
I couldn't help laughing. Just imagining what this money could buy made me happy.
"Um, excuse me!"
"?"
A voice called from below.
"Could we use this rope you've dropped down?!"
About 50 meters down, a group had gathered. One shook my rope and shouted up.
For reference, I had three ropes attached to me.
The two-hand-span rock ledge was plenty safe for one person to sit and rest on, but always better safe than sorry—I'd securely fixed three ropes to my harness.
One dangled all the way down in front of the other players.
I unclipped it from myself and called down.
"Sure, use it freely."
"Th-thank you!"
Everyone's time was precious, so I had no intention of helping directly. But lending a spare rope during a break was no trouble.
With that settled, people clustered at the rope and began climbing up one by one.
The chaos unfolding higher up made them desperate to conserve strength for the ascent.
Hanging from a rope beat free-climbing the rock anyway.
"Thank you so much."
"No problem."
They climbed to my level, passed by with thanks.
"Planning to head straight up?"
"Yeah, that's the idea. Any issues?"
I turned to gaze at the sea. More precisely, the sea dyed red.
"Nightfall's coming soon."
"Oh."
"Don't push it—find a spot to wait out the night."
They should get the picture.
But after murmuring among themselves, they looked troubled. First-timers here—who knew the hiding spots?
Gazing despairingly at the vast cliff, I snorted and spoke up.
"Ladies?"
"Y-yes!"
"Head left—there's a cave. See that spot where it indents then juts out? Right there."
Roaming for whispering silver grass meant I'd mapped every viable rest point. The woman lit up and bowed repeatedly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much."
"Gentlemen."
"Y-yes."
"You go right. Round that bend, and you'll find a bigger cave."
A man tilted his head.
"Why not all pile into one...?"
"Not enough room for everyone in a single spot. Besides, the right one's farther—too much for the ladies."
Level-up bonuses were equal, but Earth-to-here initial stats varied wildly.
Women all had low stats across the board. Strength and Stamina especially.
"If you insist on sticking with friends, I won't stop you. Just know someone might risk their life covering the distance."
Only then did the men nod in understanding.
Women headed left, men right—to caves suited for rest.
"Found it! Thanks!"
"Ours too!"
The vanguard waved, confirming safe arrival.
"Thanks for the help. We'll repay the favor someday."
More passed by, expressing gratitude.
All I'd done was lend a rope and share spare rest spots. But after clawing up from the bottom, they knew the value bone-deep and thanked from the heart.
And it wasn't bad for me either.
'Better to save who you can. More future customers to buy my wares.'
On-site customer acquisition and relationship building, basically.
No guarantee they'd survive to the end, but it'd pay dividends come sales at the rest area.
'Anyway, sun's dipping. Little over an hour left?'
Glancing down, numbers had thinned noticeably.
Not just my advisees—everyone knew night was deadly and ducked into caves at first sight.
Gazing at the world easing into twilight...
"Hey, why aren't you climbing up?!"
Bickering erupted from below.
"Shut it! Can't you see my baby needs a break?"
"No—we let you cut ahead, but stopping dead in the middle of the rope? What about everyone else trying to follow?!"
From the chatter, here's what happened.
Near the rope's dangling end stretched a long, one-span ledge—perfect for leaning against the wall to rest.
So before grabbing the rope, people lined up there, rested to build strength, then climbed one by one.
But a couple, itching to reach a rest spot and stretch out, skipped proper recovery and grabbed the rope anyway. Trouble ensued.
Strength failed midway.
Those trailing behind ended up dangling helplessly in midair.
'Of course, the rope stretch has no rest ledges to lean on.'
True catch-22.
One woman's screw-up endangered everyone.
And sure enough, she slipped from exhaustion, landing squarely on her boyfriend's head.
"Urk."
Her boyfriend—shielding her—buckled under the sudden weight, lost grip, and sat on someone else's head.
From there, pure chaos. Like dominoes, people tumbled downward in a chain.
"U, aaaah!"
"S-save me!"
In the end, the nuisance couple doomed 11 climbers trailing below to plummet off the sheer cliff.
They survived by using the others as a human cushion, barely clinging to the rope's end.
"Whew, that scared me. Honey, let's rest here a bit before we go."
If they'd rested at the start like everyone else, no one dies. But only after the accident did they decide to chill there.
And so brazen.
"Damn, if those jerks hadn't whined, we could've recovered and kept going. Got me so pissed my strength gave out. Sorry for landing on you."
"It's fine, it's fine. Shit happens. Listening to them pissed me off too. Who do they think they are, bossing my baby around? Ptooey—good riddance, assholes."
...Not your average lunatics.
Staring down while thinking that—hmm? Faces looked familiar.
'That couple from before. The ones who snapped my rope.'
Wow, same old them, no matter where they go.
How do people turn out like that? Even I—10 years grinding the selection process—was left speechless.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's."
After a breather—or spooked by the sunset—they grabbed the rope again.
'Anyway, let's see. Situations are reversed now.'
Watching the psycho couple climb up, an amusing idea popped into my head.
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