Didn’t she say just before that she hadn’t found anything suitable? Well, I guess being late is fine so long as it works. "Is it a Consumable? How much does it cost?" Even the highest-quality Health and Mana Potions available in the Shop were 1,250 World Stability, but considering the effect of something like a ’Body Strengthening Elixir’ would probably be more permanent, I shouldn’t be surprised if it’s more―― "―3,000 for the cheapest version." "Um, but that’s only for the ones I was talking about earlier! So fret not! There are cheaper ones that work instantly, but the effects are only temporary...!" So that’s how it was. Scrolling through the Consumable section in the Shop, I soon came across the item she was referencing. Item - [Battle Spirit Essence] Pure spirit essence harvested from the heart of a dying battlefield. Consume to be reinvigorated, empowered by the fighting spirit of those who shed the blood and lives of themselves and their enemies. "It could be promising... I’ll take one." ’Not like there’s much else to spend my money on, but I should probably save at least a little for the permanent enhancements. ’ With that being said, I couldn’t deny playing on the cautious side this time. [Battle Spirit Essence] added to Storage ’Alright, I think that’s all...’ Checking over everything once again, I called without looking. "Librarian, can you transport me to the Tower?" Original content can be found at NovєlFіre.net ’I wonder if stopping by the First Floor first to gather some information about the other Challengers could be worth it, or maybe I should just go straight to the Fortieth Floor...’ Just as I was casually thinking that, I didn’t hear a reply back from her. Closing the Assistance Menu, my attention turned to the desk, where the Librarian stood up on her seat as usual. However, something about her expression seemed awkward―twiddling her index fingers together through the flowing fabric of her oversized robe, her head was turned slightly away from me. "Librarian? What’s wrong?" ’Why is she suddenly acting like she did something wrong...’ Somehow, it caused a bad premonition to sprout at the back of my mind. "Um... Well, you see..." Eventually, the truth came out. "What are you talking about? You mean you can’t transport me? Why??" "Mmh... That’s complicated..." Turning her head away to avoid my gaze more, and shrinking herself to appear even smaller than she already was, her voice likewise lowered to become almost inaudible. For a short while, I continuously opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and it closed. In the end, the thing that broke the silence was unexpected even to me. "...Leinth. Explain." ―A calm, yet firm voice, directed towards the Librarian as if she was a child that had committed some minor wrongdoing. Unintentionally, I even used Leinth’s name. As a result, she faced me again, but with a look as if about to cry. "Mnh... Certainly... Th-there’s no transportation anchor set at the Tower anymore, so... I don’t know the coordinates..." In fact, listening to her wavering voice, I wasn’t sure if she had already started. It was hard to tell without seeing her eyes. In any case, her answer was not as bad as what I was expecting, calming my nerves. After all, she only said transportation to ’the Tower’ wasn’t working. Of course, it wasn’t good that this was happening right now regardless, but... Well, I’m sure there was a solution. "The anchor was there when I went last time, what happened?" "Actually, it wasn’t... I think I explained it that time too, but when Enki first visited the Tower, it was saved as a Contract Anchor. When you came back and accepted another Contract in the middle, it was changed to the Earth Anchor, and changed back when you continued the Tower Contract after that..." "That... Wait, so it changed back to a Contract Anchor, but because I cleared the Contract last time, that Anchor was erased? Can’t it just be changed to the Earth Anchor again?" To my question, perhaps only naturally, she shook her head. "When the Earth Anchor was overridden by the Contract Anchor, it returned to its previous location. That’s why you were able to visit Earth last time in the same place as aaaaages ago." ’Then, because I visited Earth last time, the place I returned from would be the location saved as the Earth Anchor until now. Right...?’ Suddenly, Leinth’s words about the dragon’s forces surrounding my last location became a lot scarier. "Well damn. If that’s how it is, doesn’t it mean I’ll have to get to the Tower from across the world...?" I could always use the id I received as part of my disguise when I accepted John Pierce’s Contract, so I didn’t have to worry about getting in. The troublesome part was just the distance, and even then, not due to something outrageous like hating travel. ’She’’ll find me in a matter of hours...’ "Hmmm... If Enki’s magic energy didn’t flow through the bloodstream, I could have taught you how to suppress it for a disguise..." "I didn’t even think about that... Oh! If that’s what I need, maybe levelling up Sneak..." I had just enough points for it thanks to being conservative with the essence purchase. Of course, there was no guarantee it would help, and in fact it could be said to be more unlikely thanks to the Skill already increasing magic imperceptibility at Level 3, but it was worth the gamble. Combined with Draconic Shadow, it should buy me at least some amount of time. Although, considering the opponent was a dragon herself, I’m not sure if that meant anything. Skill - [Sneak] (Level 4) (Passive) Level 4 - Your life energy is harder to detect when sneaking. Not exactly what I wanted, but well, what could you do... To be honest, I wasn’t sure what the difference between that and ordinary ’presence concealment’ was, but since it was locked behind Level 4, I could only assume it was that much rarer. ’Whatever. Let’s just go.’ "Librarian, send me over. I’m starting from where I last left off, right?" "Certainly... Enki, are you certain? It’s an emergency, but if you need more time to prepare, there should be more than enough time to take on a low-level Contract before--" Closing the Status window, I turned to see her having come out from behind the desk at some point, standing just before me with her hands clasped together; subtly downcast, her expression was one of evident concern. "What’s with you all of a sudden? Don’t you say it yourself all the time?" Reaching out, I lightly placed my hand on her head. The thin fabric of the white Library robe’s hood was surprisingly soft, and the fact I could tell that despite my hands also being covered by the scale gauntlets of the Draconic Shadow was telling. Internally, there was no way for me to know what she was thinking at that moment, but I could only hope my reflection of her own words could serve to ease her concerns. "Alright? So send me over. I’ll be done and get back real quick." And, maybe it was because I just cleared a 5-star Contract with no more than a few close calls... For some reason, I was filled with absolute confidence that I would win.