The treasure chest appeared where the Red Orc just died, and Anna immediately went through the stuff.

"The stuff isn’t bad, but... With the rewards we got from the King Angry Rat, all this isn’t that good, but you got some new spells, at least."

Anna said and tossed him a couple spell scrolls, and Fang Raon took a quick glance at them, and the information got sucked into his mind.

[You have learned the "Magic Shield" spell!]

[You have learned the "Finger Pistol" spell!]

Fang Raon faced the wall and summoned his gray grimoire, and then he pointed his hand towards the wall.

"Magic Shield!"

A holographic blue shield appeared in his hand. It was round-shaped, just like an ordinary round shield, and it was quite small.

’I assume the size of this shield will increase if I level up the skill. It is a decent Tier II spell, just like Finger Pistol.’

Fang Raon pointed a finger towards the wall and pulled his thumb back as if it were the trigger of the gun.

"Finger Pistol!"

Bang~! A magic bullet flew out of his finger and pierced through the wall like a real bullet, creating a small hole.

In that moment.

Stairways descended from the ceiling, and a door appeared. It had the words "2nd Floor" engraved in bold letters straight into the wood.

"The 2nd floor!"

Anna excitedly skipped up the stairs, but before she opened the door, she turned around and waited for her brother to come.

With a reserved pace, Fang Raon made his way up the stairs, and once he arrived at the door, Anna swung it open and shoved him inside.

"Wohoo!"

She jumped after him, and the door slammed shut behind them.

...

Swoosh~! Cold, biting air hit Fang Raon like a wave as they found themselves in a snowy, deserted forest.

’It is nighttime, and the temperature on the 2nd floor can drop to dangerous levels, and we have no warm clothes with us.’

Fang Raon forgot about this.

"IT’S COLD!"

Anna rubbed her arms, and her shoes got filled with snow as the soft snow ground under her couldn’t hold her weight.

So when she sank into the snowy ground, the snow managed to get into her shoes, making her feet freeze.

"Fireball!"

At that moment, Fang Raon summoned a fireball and made it hover right atop his right hand.

The fireball wasn’t all that hot, but then, Fang Raon infused more of his magic power into the fireball.

It became hotter, hotter, and hotter!

"Ahhh~!"

Anna snuck closer to the fireball and put her hands over the flaming ball, feeling the intense heat radiating from it.

The heat was so intense that even the snow under their feet started to melt off slightly.

In that moment.

Snow started to fall from the sky, but it quite wasn’t enough to kill off the fireball, which continued to burn fiercely.

’If only I had my Enchanted Compass with me. We don’t have any idea where the Safe Zone is, sadly.’

Fang Raon thought.

However.

In that moment, Anna took out something from her inventory. It was a paper bird. She whispered something into it, and it immediately flew off into the distance.

"Let’s follow the bird!"

Anna shouted and started running after the bird, and Fang Raon was surprised for a moment but then quickly ran after her.

"What’s up with the paper bird?!"

Fang Raon asked.

"Huh, you don’t know what that is? How did you manage to find the Safe Zones with your first character?"

Anna asked in surprise.

"I had another way! So that paper bird is capable of finding the Safe Zone?!"

Fang Raon asked.

"Yeah! This is called Scaredy Paper Bird. It’s scared of anything dangerous. It can sense where the safest place is, and in most cases, that safest place is the Safe Zone!"

Anna shouted.

"Ah..."

Fang Raon was surprised.

This was the first time that he had heard about such a strange item, as he had no need for the Scaredy Paper Bird before.

He had his Enchanted Compass that always pointed towards the Safe Zone.

Through the snow and cold, the Scaredy Paper Bird kept flapping its paper wings that were thin and short.

It was surprising that it could even survive through the harsh weather conditions, but it obviously wasn’t made of just paper.

’I don’t know whether this is an actual bird species in the tower or just a magical item.’

At that moment.

Scaredy Paper Bird flew out of the forest, and shortly afterwards, Anna and Fang Raon sprinted out of the dark forest.

And then...

They saw the Scaredy Paper Bird fly over the looming buildings, and it looked for an open window and quickly flew inside a warm house.

It wanted to escape the terrifying cold, and the Scaredy Paper Bird perched on a cozy fireplace mantle and curled up to rest.

The wooden walls surrounded the Winter Village. Heavy-clothed local guards stood watch outside.

"Hello!"

Cheerfully, Anna greeted the local guards, who were stunned by the beauty of the young woman, and awkwardly replied back.

As Anna walked past them, their eyes followed her like a magnet, and therefore, they didn’t even notice Fang Raon sneaking in through the gate.

"Hmm~! Hmm~! Hmm~!"

Anna hummed, with a smile on her face, as she looked around the beautiful Winter Village.

It had been a long while since she’d been here, and it was even more beautiful than she remembered.

She felt that it was such a pity that the Newbie Floors weren’t accessible by the rest of the tower, as there were some really beautiful floors.

If she could come to the 2nd floor whenever she wanted to, she would most likely spend most of her time here.

Maybe she would’ve even purchased a place in here.

"There’s the tower."

In that moment, Fang Raon pointed at the tower, which stood at the center of the village, just like he remembered.

’Maybe that old man is still here with that Heroes of the Tower book. I’d like to take a new look at that book.’

Fang Raon thought to himself.

"Yeah..."

Anna seemed to think of something, and she then looked at her brother and saw him going straight for the tower.

They had already discussed it, and she knew that Raon wanted to clear the 2nd floor straightaway once they got their hands on the Tower Key.

However.

Anna didn’t want to leave just yet.

It wasn’t every day that she got to visit the second floor, and she wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the Winter Village before moving on.

But she wasn’t sure whether that’s what her brother wanted, as he obviously just wanted to climb the tower as fast as possible.

"Hey, brother..."

"It’s him."

As she tried to speak to him, he suddenly stepped forward and approached some old man sitting under a snow shelter.

The old man had three books laid in front of him on top of a short table. One of the books was the Heroes of the Tower book.

"Old man, long time no see."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

The old man looked up at him.

’I am not sure whether he even recognizes me anymore.’

Fang Raon thought, but then, he saw the old man’s eyes have a look of recognition, and an elderly smile spread across his lips.

"Well, well, well... I’ll be damned. I did not expect to see you again. A hero such as yourself should be higher up in the tower, no?"

The old man chuckled and rubbed his chin.

"A hero?"

Fang Raon raised an eyebrow.

With a laugh, the old man opened the Heroes of the Tower book, and on one of the pages, the name "Fang Raon" was written down on several different occasions.

"This is the new print of the Heroes of the Tower. Your name was added after all those Solo Clears you did... Since your name is now in the book, it means that you are one of the Heroes of the Tower!"

The old man said with a laugh.

"Brother, who is this?"

At that moment, Anna walked over and looked at the old man.

"Just someone I met when I came to the second floor for the first time. He told me all about the Heroes of the Tower book. First Clears, Solo Clears, etc."

Fang Raon said.

"I know about that book. You can purchase that book in basically any bookstore on any floor. Some players’ lifelong dream is to get their name added into that book."

Anna said.

"Who is this?"

The old man asked as he looked at the pretty young woman, and he didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that she was dangerous.

He was a seasoned hunter, and whenever he was out in the woods hunting, he developed an ability of Danger Sense.

There were occasionally dangerous beasts that he hunted and beasts that weren’t dangerous at all.

He could tell that Anna was an apex predator.

"My sister, Anna."

Fang Raon said.

"Nice to meet you."

Anna bowed.

People often bowed to show respect, but she really wasn’t respectful and just wanted to get the pleasantries over with.

She saw that her brother seemed to like the old man. Otherwise, she would’ve just shrugged him off.

As he was just a local at the end of the day.

And Anna did not care about locals.

"My daughter is actually making food right about now. Would you like to join me and my family for a dinner, Raon?"

The old man asked with a smile.

"Sure."

Fang Raon said, but then he remembered that it wasn’t just him and turned to look at his sister to ask her.

"What do you think, Anna?"

"...Sure, we can go."

Anna said.

It worked for her. She wanted to stay on the floor longer. Even though she didn’t like that there were going to be other people beside her and her brother.