The thirty fifth floor was a vast crystal city, bound on all sides by glowing green towers. There was a main tower in the center which was twice the height of the others. Tendrils of light sometimes left the top of the central tower and moved to one of the peripheral towers. This must have been a defense system, which meant that there were a lot of monster mobs roaming about the place. Bon unequipped his armor, and walked around in the white cotton shirt and pants that the Tower had provided, letting his skin breathe a little. Some players equipped their armor only before a battle, but most of them wore it almost everywhere. With their enhanced strength and agility, the equipment didn’t constrain them much.

Kill the Nether Owl

An owl from the netherworld has been spotted. As with any creature born in the netherworld, the owl is very dangerous, and must be killed before it brings harm to the inhabitants of this mini-world. Gather a group of players and eliminate the threat.

(Quest requires a party of at least four members)

Completion of this quest will give players access to the 36th floor Rewards: 1 Epic Accessory, 500 Gold, 75,000 EXP

The quest didn’t say where the owl was spotted. It always missed out on this most crucial piece of information, as though encouraging the players to interact with the ordinary populace of the mini-world. There was the familiar call of the street hawkers, crying out their wares. There was the familiar smell of fried food, which Bon longed to sample. There would be time for that later. Elves and humans walked side by side with no animosity towards each other. Some smiled and nodded at him.

He passed by crystal buildings, light reflecting off their walls. The walls weren’t transparent, giving the people inside some privacy. There seemed to be another layer behind the outer walls preventing Peeping Toms from having their fun. He wondered why they used such a strange material to construct their buildings. The crystal probably had some special property that suited this world’s environment.

In front of the Central Tower stood several city guardsmen.

“Hero,” the captain of the guards said. “We are blessed. Welcome to our fair city of Tinu.”

“Hello,” said Bon. “Your city is very beautiful.”

“Of course it is,” the captain stuck his chest out with pride. “It was designed by the great architect Olander with the Tower’s assistance.”

“I noticed the watch towers,” said Bon. “Do you have trouble with monsters?”

The captain nodded vigorously and said, “They’re everywhere in this region. They usually do not bother us non-hero folk, but they’re pests. They sometimes destroy our structures because it’s in their way. They trample through fields and spook people. As long as we don’t attack, they don’t attack, but the economic damage is enough to cause us some strain. We’d be grateful if you could thin their numbers a little.”

Tomato had said there was a side quest on this floor. Bon decided to ask the captain, just to sate his curiosity.

“Are there any immortals living among you?”

“Immortals,” the captain scratched his head, “Only you heroes. And the monsters of course. You’re probably looking for that owl, right?”

“Yes.”

“It’s in the Atar Woods. You need to take the Southern road. The road is not in a good state though, thanks to the monsters. You will have to travel for a day and a half and then take a left at the first major crossroad you come across. You’ll spot it easily. That’s the only place with tall trees in the area.”

Bon used his Mana Sense and found the Boss right where the captain said it would be.

“Thanks,” he said. “Do you recommend any good inns in the city? Preferably with a good cook.”

“The Princess and the Pony has the best food,” said the captain. “It’s cheap too. At least it used to be. The prices of everything are going to rise, now that heroes have come. You need to go down that way,” the captain pointed down a road, “And take the first left. You’ll find it next to a fountain.”

“Thanks.”

He saw his friends approaching from his vantage point. Errel and Bojana were together. The rest were coming from different points in the city. The Tower’s teleportation points were really random.

“It was a pleasure talking to you,” he bade goodbye to the captain, and then met up with his friends.

“Errel,” he asked, “Are you familiar with your skill tree yet? Do you know what path you’re going to take?”

“More or less,” the half-elf answered. “I’m level twenty now. I don’t have that many skill points to spend, but I’ve got most of it planned out. I don’t need to learn Heal and some of the Blessings, since I already know how to cast them, but a few paths to the blessings I want require some overlapping skills.”

“That’s a bummer,” Bon said, looking downcast. It was hard for anything to work out with hundred percent efficiency. There would always be some wastage. “Don’t bother with learning Resurrection. That only works within the Tower.”

“It will be a long time before I can even get near such a high level skill.”

“Sooner than you think,” said Bon, gesturing for everyone to listen. “What do you say we speed run all the bosses? As long as there are no regional quests we should be able to move up the Tower quickly.”

“I think we should take it slow,” said Phil. “We need to increase our levels, even if we’re all wearing Legendary gear.”

“We can do that on one of the upper floors, where the monsters are more of a challenge,” Bon pointed up to the sky. “Training here on these low level floors is a waste of time.”

“Fine,” said Phil. Everyone else agreed as well.

“Let’s relax before we begin our speedrun. I’ve found us an inn for the night.”

Toby who had been looking sad, cheered up when he heard that. “Let’s eat, drink and make merry.”

“The rest of that saying is ‘For tomorrow we die,’” said Bojana. “Don’t jinx us, Toby.”

“We won’t die,” Toby swatted her words away. “We’re way too OP for the Reaper to take us. I bet that we’ll breeze through another thirty floors before we even meet a challenge.”

“That’s right Toby,” Bon smiled. “Don’t let Bojana get you down.”

Bojana made a face at Bon and then pinched his arm. She could act very childish sometimes. She then joined Siobhan, and they whispered many secrets among themselves.

They went to the inn and sat at a table, ordering all the specialties—roasted quail, braised lamb shanks, potato buns, herb fried rice, and some ale. Phil and Toby drank a little rum as well, enough to make them happy but not drunk. Bon couldn’t get high even if he wanted to. His qi would purge out all the poisons from his body, including alcohol. Tian Bu Ru had said that there was something called ‘Monkey Wine’ that could make even Nascent Soul cultivators drunk. Bon wished he had a flask of it at times like these.

“You’ve really become a glutton,” Toby said, watching Bon eat in fascination.

“Look who’s talking,” Bon shot back. “You’ve eaten half the table empty.”

“I’m three inches taller than you. I require more sustenance,” Toby said, with a matter-of-fact expression.

Many other players had wandered into the inn by this time. Nobody was in a hurry to beat the Boss first, so Bon wasn’t worried. Steve would be busy with the side quest and everyone else would be busy grinding their levels. It was a pity that the Tower had removed the First Discovery bonus for Bosses in the current version of the Tutorial. That would have been an easy way to enhance his party’s strength. The Alpha Test hadn’t been balanced at all.

Bon closed his eyes and smiled. It felt good to relax with his friends every once in a while. It helped calm the nerves. Fighting monsters all the time was very stressful. He and his friends chatted and clowned around for hours before finally going to their rooms to rest.

They woke up at dawn and walked down the Southern Road. There was a lot more traffic on the road than in the other floors he had been to. Bon could smell the horses as they passed by, pulling their carts of produce, mixed with the smell of the grassland that stretched for as far as the eye could see.

They came across several different types of monsters that Bon didn’t bother to identify. One looked like a giant toad, lashing its tongue out at everyone. Its skin was poisonous and it spat out a green acid that did damage over time. Another monster looked like the werewolf boss they had fought, a wolf’s head on a man’s body, but it was much weaker and didn’t transform. There were brown bears that attacked them as well. Some real bears were among them. Bon could tell from their qi. Had the Tower so perfectly replicated these monsters that even their real life counterparts couldn’t tell the difference? Siobhan nuked most of these monsters to oblivion before the others could get a chance to fight. The bears were a little hard to deal with, mainly because they were built like tanks. Bojana’s daggers worked best against them.

They camped for the night, staring up at the stars. The night sky was beautiful out there, the alien constellations shining brightly. Bon wondered if these stars were real, or just an image that was being projected in the sky by the Tower.

The next day, when they were almost at the Boss’ location, Bon saw a strange icon flashing at the corner of his vision. It was the image of a ring. It must have been the Ring of Teleportation that Bon had got during his first side quest. It allowed communication between the members of his old party, and teleportation to a member’s location. Bon put on the ring and heard Steve’s voice.

“Bon, put on the damn ring already.”

“It’s on,” said Bon. “What’s up?”

“We’re having trouble taking down a Miniboss. It’s trapped us in an old abandoned watch tower. The only way we can get out is to use the rings and teleport. Get to a safe location and let me know. We’ll teleport once you give the go ahead.”

“Where is the Miniboss?” asked Bon.

“Near the Konaka Lake.”

“How far from the Atar Woods?”

“About half a day east, according to the map. Why? You aren’t thinking of coming here, are you? It’s useless. The Miniboss is too strong. If we can’t handle it you definitely can’t,” Steve laughed bitterly.

“I thought you said my party was strong.”

“Not relative to ours.”

“Just wait and watch,” said Bon. “It would be a waste if you didn’t get the side quest reward.” He decided he would do Steve this favor. It might come in handy later, the pragmatic part of him thought.

“No! Just let us teleport,” Steve yelled angrily. Bon took off the ring.

“Change of plans,” he said to everyone. “We’re going to go and rescue Steve. He’s trapped in a watch tower.”

“Alright,” Phil said. Everyone else was fine with it too. Bon gazed at the Atar Woods. The Boss was so close, but he would come again soon.

“Let’s hurry. I’ll bless you with increased movement speed,” Bon buffed them and they moved forward.

Bojana wore her Boots of Skadi, and skated around to scout their way ahead and kill any small fry monsters that might bother them. She was so fast when she wore the boots, that she left after images when she was at full speed.

The watch tower came into view three hours later. Outside the watch tower was a big lava monster standing at its entrance. The air around it was shimmering with flames. It did not try to destroy the Tower itself, which would have been the best way to get at Steve’s party. It had probably been programmed not to damage that structure. If this was a real fight, Steve would have been turned to ashes a long time ago.

“Identify.”

MINIBOSS Lava King Longroth

HP 50,000/50,000 MP 10,000/10,000 The ruler of the Sati Volcano. None dare stand in his way. Wherever he walks he leaves a trail of fiery destruction. Blessed by Ign, the god of fire, he is able to wield mystical flames that devour all life. Powers Soul Fire Damages an enemy with mystical flames that removes all buffs, auras and Title effects for 30 seconds Volcanic Eruption Spews out lava onto an area Flame On Activates an aura that damages anything within 30 feet of it Simmer Down Summons a fiery rope that deals damage over time to the selected target and restricts all movement Broil Blasts an area with fire dealing devastating damage Mystic Shield Reduces the effect of all control skills

Steve must have had trouble with this monster because of Soul Fire. Bon wondered what its cooldown time was. If it was less than a minute, then it would be impossible to kill for most people before level fifty.

“Watch out for Soul Fire,” Bon told his party. “Try to control its movements only, after it reaches 60% health. We’ll let Steve’s party take the kill. They need it for their quest.”

“Okay,” everyone said together.

They got into their usual formation, with Phil and Toby up front, Bojana sneaking in behind, and Errel and Siobhan positioned so that everyone was just within range of their skills. Bon watched from behind. He would be able to stun the monster even if it was miles away, so there was no harm in staying back.

Phil and Toby made their attack, while Bon walked to the watch tower.

“You can come out and fight now,” Bon shouted. “We’ve taken the Boss’ attention away from you.”

“You’ll all die, but let’s try anyway,” he heard Steve shout from within. About half a minute later, Steve and his party came out, charging at the Lava King.

The two parties coordinated well with each other. Steve shouted out orders with authority. Bon only had to correct his orders once, when Steve made the bad decision of making Nia retreat.

“This is my party,” Steve shouted with rage. “Stay out of it.” He was being unreasonable in his words, but he ordered Nia forward to fight again.

When the Lava King had 30% health remaining, it started using all its skills consecutively.

“Use your stuns,” Bon shouted.

“Out of mana,” Toby and Phil shouted back.

“Cooldown, 30 seconds,” shouted Siobhan.

Bojana hadn’t taken any control skills yet. She had promised to choose one when she reached level 45 and got a skill point.

“What do we do?” shouted Steve. “This monster is impossible. Let’s run,” Errel and Lucy were constantly healing everyone, but it wasn’t enough. Bon breathed out heavily and took out his guitar.

“What use is your music going to do now?” Steve growled. “Let’s retreat.”

“Keep fighting,” Bon said. He played a Lullaby. He then played the Aria of Annihilation, modifying it such that it only stunned without doing any damage. It required very fine control over mana, but he managed it. He then played Stunning Scales which was a channeled stun like the Aria but it lasted longer. Mixolydian Madness followed this, which disarmed the monster and made it roam around randomly, as though in a drunken stupor. Dorian Doorway banished the Boss for twenty seconds. This was enough time for everyone’s mana to somewhat recover.

“What level are you?” Steve asked. “The number of skills and their effect! That should be impossible for anyone at our levels.”

“Hundred and fifty,” Bon gave him a reasonable number. This time Steve believed him.

“You’ve been faking being weak all this time?” he asked, in a rage. When the Lava King came back, he fought it as though he was berserk.

“I wasn’t faking,” said Bon. “You just didn’t need all my power.”

“We could have saved a lot of time and trouble if you had been honest with us.”

Bon didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had been honest at the beginning, but nobody had believed him. He admitted that it had been fun playing being weak.

“I like being low key,” he said to Steve. “Will you keep my secret?”

“Just fuck off. We can handle the Lava King from here.”

Steve was really angry. Bon and his party left. Kara mouthed a silent thank you to them as they left, and Jim and Aisha nodded at him, before concentrating once more on the Miniboss.

“What a fucking asshole,” Bojana said with anger. “We came all this way to help him and that’s the way he treats us?”

“He must feel betrayed,” sighed Bon. “All this time he thought he was carrying me and being generous. It must have made him feel good. To find out that it was all unnecessary must have upset him. It really hits hard when you find out a friend has been lying to you. That must be how he’s feeling.”

“You always think the best of people,” sighed Phil. “That’s your problem. Steve is just a jerk. A very handsome and charismatic jerk.”

“He’ll cool down after a while,” said Bon. “Now, let’s go and kill an owl.”

It took them longer to go back to the Boss. They weren’t in a good mood. Towards nightfall, they reached the Boss’ lair.

“Do we camp for the night?” asked Bon.

“Let’s just kill the Boss and go,” said Siobhan. Everyone else felt the same.

“An owl is in its element in the night,” said Bon. “That will make it good practice for you. Don’t let your guard down.”

They walked into the woods and soon found a gigantic brown owl sitting at the top of a tree.

“Identify.”

BOSS Toohoot the Nether Owl HP 50,000/50,000 MP 40,000/40,000 Toohoot was once a denizen of the Netherworld. Nourished by the river Styx and the souls that fell into it, Toohoot grew in size and power. During one of the battles between the deities of Winter and Spring that took place within the Netherworld, Toohoot escaped. It now roams the lands, feasting on the souls of the living. Powers Soul Drain Drains HP and MP of up to 3 targets Spray of the Styx Nether water washes over an area, causing paralysis and infecting the target with three nether worms that multiply with time. Nether worms leech off the HP of their host. Cloak of Hades Feathers turn into metal that can be used offensively or defensively Eyes of Hypnosis Target attacks the closest person to it Level Playing Field Increase in level depending on the number of foes faced

Bon observed the HP and MP increase of the owl as soon as they attacked, and Level Playing Field became active. The total increase was about 1.5X, which wasn’t too bad.

Toohoot took to the air after fighting on the ground for a few minutes. It kept swooping in on Toby, causing him endless trouble. The three front liners had their HP and MP drained all the time, and they had to attack the nether worms quickly before they multiplied and got out of hand. The nether worms were the size of Bon’s fist, and were easily killed with less than three strikes. The problem was reach. Bojana’s daggers were best suited for the task, which meant she was constantly on worm patrol, and not attacking the Boss.

The owl cast Hypnosis on Siobhan and she began attacking Errel with regular attacks. Errel understood what was happening and had to start healing himself as well as everyone else. Feathers shot out towards them like arrows, and Errel almost died. Bon changed places with him in just the nick of time, with the Paladin’s Teleport Exchange skill and took all the damage.

“We can’t hit the fucking bird when it’s flying,” shouted Phil. “What the hell do we do?”

“Siobhan,” said Bon, when she was out of her hypnotised state. “It’s all up to you.”

“Yeah, no pressure,” she wiped some sweat off her forehead. “My spells keep missing.”

“Don’t use the targetting reticle. Use your own senses. Try to see where the bird will be in the time it takes your spell to reach it. Cast a few fire balls to get some practice.”

The owl then attacked Bon for some reason.

“I’ll show you,” Bon said, to both the owl and Siobhan. He pointed with his finger and then launched a tiny fireball into the air. Even though it was the tiniest fireball he could make, when it hit the owl about half its HP disappeared.

“I got it,” said Siobhan. She tried for a few times, and finally her fireballs started hitting their target.

“Now use a stun.”

Siobhan cast a spell called Stone Smash at the owl. A wave of pebbles pelted the owl one after another. It fell to the ground, and the party took advantage of the five seconds stun to do as much damage to it as they could. They chained their stuns, one after another. Now that the owl was on the ground, it was easy. When it took to the air again, Siobhan hit it with fireballs again, and when everyone was ready, another stun—Filaments of Light. It did damage as well as stunned for two seconds. Toby and Phil chained their stuns again, and the Nether Owl, went back to the nether world.

You have killed (Boss) Nether Owl Quest ‘Kill the Nether Owl’ completed Reward: 1x Earrings of the Magi, 500 Gold, 75,000 EXP

It dropped a hat, which they gave to Errel. Bon also supplied him with some other Legendary equipment. His inventory was nearly empty now. He had a Legendary Gunslinger set left, and a few Summoner items. He also gave Phil the Arachnid Queen’s Bracer that he had gotten in the Alpha Test. It was useful as a utility item, which was why he had kept it with him all this time.

“Take an eight hour break. Eat well and rest,” said Bon. “Our speedrun will begin as soon as we meet next.”

They walked through the portal and reached their thirty sixth floor’s waiting rooms where their guides awaited them.