Leona turned her head to look at the menu on the side of the small wooden hut.
Coarse Grain Hardtack: It might not taste that delicious, and it's even a bit tough to chew, but eating it can keep you from going hungry for a day. Price: 10 Remnant Pages
Root Seep Water: Watery sap oozing from tree roots. Drink it, and your tongue will taste bitter for an entire day, but you can't live without it. Believe me, there's no cheaper water source. Price: 20 Remnant Pages
Healing Potion: Whether you're missing an arm or short a leg inside an instance, it can solve your troubles. If it weren't impossible to bring into instances, its price would easily soar a hundredfold. Price: 20 Remnant Pages
...
An Ordinary Tomato: Displayed only to boost your motivation; no one on this floor will ever be able to afford it. Price: 300 Remnant Pages
As she expected, food and water were precious supplies. Even a power as absurdly useful as a healing potion was priced equal to something that barely qualified as a water source.
She traded for two pieces of Coarse Grain Hardtack and one bottle of Root Seep Water, and then exchanged for a bottle of Healing Potion.
It cost a total of 60 Remnant Pages, leaving her with 140 Remnant Pages.
The Coarse Grain Hardtack was made by compressing many crops, but Leona had never seen any of them before. They seemed like a product of mixed sand and dirt, each piece only the size of a palm.
She tried taking a bite.
All she could say was that the taste wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either—it tasted like dirt-flavored plastic. If she had to eat this every day, she would find it hard to bear.
Having eaten the butter cake earlier, she wasn't very hungry right now. She stuffed the rest of the hardtack into her jacket and looked at the bottle of Root Seep Water.
The water was contained in a hollow wooden tube with a thin cap on top. Unscrewing the cap revealed a dark-green liquid inside.
Just as Leona was about to taste it, Aria stopped her.
She unhooked a potion bottle from her waist, used a spoon to scoop a bit out, and stirred it into the wooden tube.
"What's this?" Leona asked in surprise.
"A little trick to keep your tongue from tasting bitter." Aria giggled, giving the hand Leona used to hold the cup a gentle nudge upward.
Half-doubting, Leona took a sip. The water was slightly viscous with a touch of sweetness, likely due to the potion's effect. All in all, it wasn't too bad.
Right after, she downed the healing potion in one gulp.
Strangely, her body showed no change whatsoever.
She lifted a corner of her bandage, but the sharp pain in her left eye flared up again, forcing her to drop her hand. Because of the sudden wave of dizziness from her eye, her body swayed slightly.
Seeing Leona's pained expression, Aria stepped forward to support her.
"What's wrong?"
"This potion doesn't work on my eye." Leona pushed Aria's hand away and steadied herself.
"Strange. Even lost limbs can regenerate after drinking the potion, yet it fails on a single blinded eye." Aria furrowed her brows, resting a hand on her chin as if deep in thought.
A lightbulb suddenly went off in her head. She raised an index finger into the air and said, "Right! The King's situation is very similar to yours. He lost an arm in a Nightmare-level instance, and after that, no potion or item could work on him."
"It's just... how could a newcomer like you have been to a Nightmare-level instance?" The tension returned to Aria's face just as her brows had unfurled.
"Nightmare-level?"
Just as Leona was about to ask for more information, the sound of a drum beat echoed, drawing her attention.
Then, wooden doors swung open one after another, and a diverse crowd of people stepped out.
Among them were soldiers, chefs, scavengers, flower girls... but without exception, they were all supporting characters. It seemed Leona was the only protagonist on this floor.
Or had everyone who drew a protagonist identity already gone to the Upper Floor?
Yet all of their gazes were focused in one direction: the far end of the corridor directly facing Leona.
There sat a man wearing a red bandanna behind a rawhide drum; the drumbeat from moments ago had come from him.
To his left was a small wooden table with a crystal ball resting on it, and an old woman sat behind it.
"That's Granny Hilda. She's the fortune teller here who can predict the instance we'll enter seven days from now." Aria walked over to Leona's side, also looking at the elderly figure.
"This place is for exchanging instance intelligence, right?" Leona said after pondering for a moment.
That was the only explanation for why there was so much commotion around here, with almost everyone pouring out.
They undoubtedly wanted to learn which instance they would enter next so they could prepare in advance.
"You over there, little newcomer girl, come here first." Granny Hilda opened her mouth, her voice weathered with age, yet her eyes were like those of a young woman in her twenties.
Right now, they were staring intently at Leona.
The eyes of the people around them also slowly focused on Leona.
"That outfit, that attire... I can't believe it, is that Little Red Riding Hood?"
"How long has it been since a protagonist appeared on our floor? The last time was years ago with the brother and sister who came out of Hansel and Gretel."
"Man, she'll probably head to the Upper Floor before long. None of these protagonists are easy to mess with."
...
Listening to the chatter around her, Leona pulled her hood back up over her head.
She didn't like crowds.
She lifted her head to meet Granny Hilda's gaze and pointed a finger at herself.
"When you said 'little newcomer girl' just now, did you mean me?"
"Of course, unless there's another Little Red Riding Hood here." Granny Hilda bowed her head, concentrating intensely on the crystal ball floating above the table.
"Go on, Leona. Granny is always very kind to newcomers. Maybe she can give you a hint," Aria said softly.
Leona nodded and slowly walked right up to the table.
The surrounding people didn't stop her. They watched her silently, like students in a school surrounding a newly arrived novelty, eager to observe it together.
"Tell me your name."
Seeing Leona step closer, Granny Hilda slowly closed her eyes, holding both hands hovering in midair near the crystal ball.
To Leona, the scene in front of her felt like a fortune-telling session, yet slightly different.
"Leona," she stated her current name.
"Very good, Leona. Tell me, do you yearn for the light or the dark?"
"The... the light, I suppose." Leona was thrown off by the sudden question.
Light and darkness covered far too much scope—it could refer to literal light, or serve as a metaphor for various concepts.
Like abstract concepts like justice and evil, or specific roles like police and thieves.
But no matter which aspect it was, she still leaned toward the side of light.
"An honest child. You did not lie, and indeed, the light has chosen you."
Granny Hilda was smiling at first, but as if sensing something, her smile froze.
"Strange. Darkness has chosen you as well."
Just as she was bewildered, the crystal ball shuddered violently, bursting with a dazzling ray of light.
Everyone clearly saw the words within that white light—the exact instance Leona would face seven days later.
Snow White
Rate on N.U.
