CHAPTER 69: 2ND FLOOR

[POV: ]

"That guy’s pretty good so I guess he’ll do a good job." He had good skills for a headhunter. If it’s those people I know they will do a good job.

"I know that. I was the one who told you about them, remember?" Iz shrugged with a proud smile and continued with her packing.

We were going to the 2nd floor early tomorrow morning so she had been preparing for a while now.

"Well, they are good. Now if only they do a good job..."

"Ah, you worry too much. It’s not like there’s any people out there who’d snatch them away if they don’t reach them first."

Izzy knew the demand for the production type and non-combat players was not high right now. Even if there were some big guilds with enough foresight to invest in them, they were still not searching for them aggressively.

We clearly had more information, resources, and ways to nurture them. They weren’t useful when it came to combat directly, but there were all kinds of skills in the tower.

’Of the many years I have spent in the Tower of Beginning, I have seen more than a few thousand different kinds of skills.’

There are skills for mundane tasks like cleaning, washing clothes, and complex skills that only activate under certain conditions and possess a power that scales as the level of the skill increases.

’The {Halo of Pure Light} was one such conditional skill.’

The skill could only be used against someone that is evil, by someone that possesses Holy power or a Positive power similar to that as well as Purity. Unless someone understood the nature of Purity, they cannot use the skill either.

The skill was pretty tricky but once you understand the skill and increase its level, you will get to use a power that all evil, especially demons would fear.

"I’m not worried or anything. But it’s a first come first serve kind of situation out there. We are only on the second floor right now but as we clear the floors and climb higher, things will only get more complicated."

People are running after resources right now but there will come a time when they will have to stop that and protect this world we live in.

Once the tower progresses to a certain stage, the beings of the tower start interacting with the world outside of the tower.

’The higher beings on the higher floors will start coveting this world soon as well.’

The higher beings are granted resources according to the authorities that they possess. These resources are used inside of the tower to maintain their authorities and powers that come from the floors and the residents of the floors.

There are different uses of these resources but the higher beings use the majority of it to invest in people of different worlds.

’Just like how dungeons become a source of entertainment and fun for them, the world that the tower materializes into becomes their primary target.’

The tower isn’t a simple entity. Even the Tower of Beginning had a backstory similar to this... the tower materializes in different worlds and is called different things in those different worlds.

As if to present a challenge as well as an opportunity for growth, the tower invites players for a climb. As they grow, the people become part of the tower’s floors and the native lands.

If their worlds get destroyed by the tower– which happens most of the time since people cannot climb more than a certain floor in most of the worlds– the tower even provides them an opportunity to relocate in one of their floors.

’And then the cycle continues as the tower moves on to a different world.’

However, this just used to be a myth within the Tower of Beginning. I didn’t think much about it back then, however as things stand right now, that story makes more sense now.

"Done?" Izzy knew about how dangerous it would get as we climbed the tower, but even she didn’t know what kind of dangers we would face exactly.

"Yei~. We will be fine for a few weeks with this much." With the kind of packing she had done, it was enough to stay within the tower for a few months.

She was the kind of person that’d over-prepare for every expedition however small it may be. She’d have everything you could think about, from food to items that may not even be necessary– she would have it all.

"Since we are going to stay in the forest, I also got a few bug repellents, hehe." She seemed really happy right now.

Since she didn’t get to spend much time on the 1st floor, she was looking forward to the second floor for a while now. And since the two of us are going together thanks to a certain blessing, she was even more excited.

"Don’t be all excited like that. It’s not like we are going on a date or honeymoon." The lower floors weren’t that fun for those kinds of things.

Once we climb higher, there will be many places for dates.

’Second floor just wasn’t it.’

Unlike the maze on the first floor, the second floor was divided into three zones: the forest side, the mountain side, and the valley.

The place wasn’t that special, it was similar to what we would find in our world as well. There were monsters and creatures of low and fairly higher level in these three zones.

’The objective was simply to hunt down a certain number of monsters for everyone, so it wasn’t that difficult.’

There weren’t any natives and there weren’t any specific boss monsters. However, there surely were field bosses: powerful monsters governing a certain large field that do not respawn.

"I know it’s not a date, but the only reason you’re taking me there is thanks to your blessing. Starting on the 3rd floor, we aren’t going to meet much anyway so isn’t this better to just consider this floor a date?"

She knew how things would be once we had the natives in the picture.

’A lot of things will change once again on the 3rd floor.’

Players still did not know how to use their powers and the system so they would interact with the natives and learn about the new things.

They will learn more about the tower, and once we are ready, we will have to give a test.

’The clear conditions on the 3rd floor should be similar to the second floor where the number of people passing will matter more.’

But then again, there are ways to bypass that and clear the floor sooner, something the early Tower of Beginning players should be well aware of.

"Don’t be like that. It’s not like that blessing is the only reason I’m taking you with me." Hugging my sad Izzy, I kissed her forehead.

"There’s a lot you can help me with, you know? We will have fun there~."

Well, she knew what kind of fun I was talking about.

"Hmph. You’re only going to use me as a grunt. I know it all! Don’t sugarcoat it!"

Now she was upset... She’s so cute when she’s like that, kek.

"Don’t be like that~. You know we will have fun~."

I was obviously lying. She knew that as well.

’The 2nd floor is going to be one of the most boring floors in this climb.’

But then again, it’s a necessary floor for the upcoming floors and the challenges we will face.