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Chapter 637 - Meeting spot
🕑 Added 2025-06-09 08:34:14 +0000 UTCThis time I didn’t meet my handler. I just straight up appeared near the sphere. My best guess is that she either didn’t want to or couldn’t meet me. Part of me understands. Probably nothing good would have come from it anyway.
Now that I’m here, my 30 days in Beyond are about to start. All the meetings I had planned with Leticia, and maybe Jean, are too late now because of the 8th floor situation, when we couldn’t come here.
The safe area I just left still lingers in my mind, there was no mark of what happened here before. Almost as if all that happened was just a product of my imagination.
Fully exiting the safe zone, I head deeper into the 1st floor, toward one of the larger safe zones, based on the information and maps I got during the tournament and previous visit here.
This floor´s quest is still just as dumb as always.
1st floor quest:
???
Rewards:
7-day Stay Token
???
It all feels like it’s meant to push you to explore the floor and maybe share what you find. Handlers and Guilds seem important here, along with the dozens of outposts and safe zones where you can meet other Beyond attendees and locals, buy items, gather information, and so on.
I already know of three ways to clear this floor.
First, you can hunt for a rare reanimated lurker or monster. On rare occasions, they have a special crystal inside their body. That crystal acts more like coordinates, and with the right items, it can create a temporary entrance to the second floor. Sometimes, that entrance only allows one person through. Other times, it’s more. The crystal can be traded and is fairly expensive.
The second way is to find one of the hidden entrances to the second floor. These are well hidden and usually guarded by a powerful monster, stronger than lurkers, even the named ones. Even so, I still think it’s possible that there are very powerful lurkers. Maybe people from the 13th floor of the tutorial who were assassinated on this floor just before they were sent back to their planet.
As for the monster guarding the portal to the 2nd floor, it often takes hundreds of attendees to bring one down. Sometimes they don’t even try to kill it. They just distract it long enough to get through the entrance.
These hidden entrances tend to shift and don’t stay in one place for long, maybe a few months at most. People are usually invited to raids like that, and for free. Everyone understands the info was shared so they could help act as a distraction for the monster.
I doubt those monsters are Champion rank, but they’re probably stronger than level 400. I'm not entirely sure. I have a hard time estimating the power levels of monsters. Sometimes, it's possible to defeat a monster that's 100 levels higher because, even though it has incredible stats and abilities, it lacks intelligence. It doesn't use those abilities optimally or combine them effectively with other tactics.
I start to jog, weaving between pillars and scanning the area to keep my mind busy.
The average attendee on the 1st floor isn’t very high level, and I’d say I’m on the stronger end. So maybe these raid monsters are around Vice Director level, or possibly higher. I’m sure she could, with some preparation, take on dozens of people just entering Beyond.
The third option to enter the 2nd floor is to head toward the center of the 1st floor. Something is there that causes the reanimation of monsters and attendees, turning them into lurkers. No one has made it there in the past few hundred years. That includes people from the lower floors of the Beyond dungeon and even attendees in their 4th year of the tutorial, about to return to their planet.
I also believe that whatever is at the very center of this floor is its main quest, which is currently marked only as ???.
On the edge of my detection, I catch a presence, and as expected, monsters start appearing soon enough. Not lurkers, though, this zone seems to be free of them. These are skeletons of ancient monsters, long dead, maybe even killed by the first attendees or the Rulers themselves.
Their bones grind and shift as they move. Each one is unique. A patchwork of skeletons, cobbled together and moving in a jerky, clumsy way. Some have fused limbs. Others have too many, with bones hanging uselessly. Many have multiple heads or mouths. Some even have mouths where their chests should be. Like something threw them together in a rush.
[Reanimated Beast - lvl 316]
[Reanimated Remnant - lvl 331]
[Reanimated Beast - lvl 346]
[Reanimated Beast - lvl 334]
[Reanimated Beast - lvl 326]
Their levels don’t worry me, and I have fought them before, so I know what to expect.
The first lance fires ahead.
[You have defeated Reanimated Beast - lvl 346]
I land and use Wraith Dance to reposition, dodging a barrage of attacks. I rise again and fly around a massive stone pillar stretching to the ceiling of this enormous, cave-like expanse that is the 1st floor of the Beyond dungeon. More projectiles follow, always just a moment too late, slamming into the stone.
Another [Empyrean Lance], another monster down.
Armor surrounds my body as I teleport along the line I created. The moment I appear, I launch myself forward and crash directly into another monster. It moves quickly, with dangerous, sharp bones on its forearms, attempting to pierce through my armor. But I grab them with my hands and pull to the sides, powering myself further with kinetic energy.
The skeletal monster is torn into two pieces, each still moving and trying to kill me. A blast of thermal energy melts the surface of the bones, and I push further, redirecting some of the cycling heat into the area around me until the heat causes the bones to melt and drip down.
The bone projectiles that try to pierce me from behind meet the same fate, and I spot the attacker half a mile away. I push further and finish off the monster I'm holding.
[You have defeated Reanimated Remnant - lvl 331]
My armor disappears, and I move again.
One Wraith Dance. Two. Three.
I use them quickly, straining my body at such a quickly following applications, and pushing myself as I make each leap as long as possible, something I have been experimenting with.
At the last moment, armor forms around my body again, and I slam into the Remnant just as it’s about to move and reposition. It’s caught off guard by my speed.
With a burst of kinetic energy flowing through me, I tear it apart. I stomp on the pieces and release a blast of kinetic energy that sends small earthquakes through the area, and debris into the air.
[You have defeated Reanimated Beast - lvl 334]
Before the debris and dust even settle, I charge out from the epicenter and rush toward another monster.
***
A day later, I sit on a small terrace-like platform of rock jutting out from one of the humongous pillars. The first floor stretches ahead of me as I take a bite of a protein bar and sip on a sugar-free energy drink I bought during the tournament. The guy asked for an upper rare item in exchange for just a few bars and cans.
Quickly, I redirect my attention back to the area, watching a movement in the distance that turns out to be only the wind knocking over one of the burned trees. I observe it for a while longer and cycle through my other senses, just in case it was meant to be a distraction.
Only then do I return to entertaining these thoughts, while one part of my mind continues scanning the area and another modifies the Restrictive Training Emblem etched over my heart. I’m doing it to make it more, well, restrictive, to increase my physical stats even further. I’ve kept that emblem active since before I left the ninth floor.
As for the items and their value, some people with an economics background tried to estimate the worth of each rarity tier during the tournament. Of course, it was all very rough estimates. An upper epic weapon, the kind that can save your life, might be far more valuable to someone than a low arcane weapon they can't even use properly.
The current consensus in Earth’s tutorial is that a new Champion typically has access to upper arcane items and often something from the next tier as well. Mid arcane items are considered a lucky find for even someone around level 400, while low arcane items are still highly valuable for anyone below that level.
That’s all, assuming the system hasn’t nerfed the items during the tutorial phase, so attendees don’t get overpowered gear that could trivialize the challenge.
There are a few cases that might support this theory. Take the Sword of Aeons, for example. It was considered one of the best items in Eladore. Even after it broke and was classified as a damaged arcane-grade item, but I refuse to believe something of that caliber could drop down to low rarity. It had to be at least upper arcane or even a low-grade item from the next tier.
It’s also possible that the nerfs are stronger on the early floors and get relaxed later.
Even so, as of now, mid arcane items are estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Billions, with a B. Yeah.
I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.
But I’ve heard people discussing the value based on more than just the rarity. They consider how usable the items are for regular people who might have that kind of money. I can imagine a normal or low leveled person dying just from getting too close to certain arcane items.
Some even argue that the real market won’t be for the items themselves but for hiring the attendees who own them.
All of that, of course, only works if everything doesn’t go entirely to hell before we return to Earth. If the Pairing is already in progress, things might already be shifting. So, anyone saying that an upper rare item is worth half a million and an upper epic is in the tens of millions might just be talking nonsense.
Still, it’s a fun thought.
I take the last sip from the can and toss it toward the ground, littering the first floor of the Beyond. I watch as the now-empty can slowly sails through the air, twisting before it hits the pillar, bounces off, and continues falling.
If those wannabe economists are right, then each can I bought for an upper rare item is worth about fifty thousand dollars. One side of this trade got seriously scammed.
After looking at the can one last time, I leave my spot. I stretch a line forward and teleport along it, following up with Wraith Dance a few times. I cover a few miles before the can even hits the ground.
***
Later that day, I enter the safe zone I was looking for. It’s carved into one of the massive pillars, forming a perfect cube-shaped space filled with hundreds of smaller buildings made mostly of wood. The entire place is softly lit by moss that emits a faint green glow.
It’s surprisingly empty. When I ask one of the locals if it’s always like this, he tells me most people have gone to the gathering space for an expedition. Apparently, they discovered a portal to the second floor, guarded by a powerful monster.
After paying him in shards, he gives me more information.
He tells me where the expedition group is gathering and that they plan to leave for the portal in three days.
Apparently, most Beyonders just head to the meeting spot in the safe zone closest to where the target is, return to their tutorial worlds, and re-enter at the scheduled time to avoid wasting their stay tokens.
The date of this expedition has been known for two weeks now, which has allowed more people to prepare and gather.
I check the map he shows me, compare it to the area I’ve already passed, and estimate that I’ll need about a day to reach it, even if I get slowed down by monsters. I make sure to transfer the timing into my personal countdown so I don’t mess it up.
After a quick look around the safe zone, I head back out to train and level up before making my way to the meeting spot.
***
Comments
Javen
man I really hope Sophie comes back from this stronger. I always thought she had the second highest potential out of everyone in group four since the first floor. its her defeatist and self hating mindset holding her back.
vEnviouz
TFTC!!!
Marwolaeth
Are we gonna see a time-skip-esque chapter where we see week/few days updates of nat in second by second clips?
baggytoques
Thanks! Beyond Nat is gonna be a demon. I think his final test for himself will be the center of the floor.
Tsunami
Nat could use the monster guarding a portal as a litmus test. I need to see what's at the center of the floor. The plot bait is simply to tasty. Anyway, the entire experience should prove cathartic.
Andrew
Thank you!
zoarian
Ooh, exciting! The raid will definitely get wiped lol. Still, I'm excited for Floor 2. First floor is pretty cool with Lurkers but the monsters aren't as appealing. Plus I want that juicy guild politics.
Ivan Jelenić
Nice, love the theorycrafting on the prices on Earth! And yeah, now that Earth is getting integrated, those estimates will probably keep dropping.
Vinnie
Great chapter !
Val the mysterious Jedi
Baller nat, spending a couple 100 grand on sugar free drinks and granola bars
Adrian Rake
Solo leveling it is🙂👍
Morgs
Tftc!
Borbino the great
Love getting to see more of beyond it’s something I’ve been super curious about since he first went there
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Andrey Barragan
Thanks for the chapter
Subliminary
Thanks!!
Niclas Elmers
Tftc
