Chapter Four

He didn’t manage to make it to the inner ring before darkness, though without knowing exactly where in the cycle he’d entered the Tower that fact didn’t necessarily indicate 12 hours spent so far. It was tough to gauge how far he’d managed to travel, especially given that he’d taken a much more direct route and skipped over any obstacles whenever he came through the Floor in the first timeline. Later Floors had still required you to properly Climb, but up to the 10th had basically become a direct transit route for those with money or reputation. He’d only been able to afford fast-tracking to 3, but it was enough to leave him unsure how long it should have taken to get as deep into the second ring as he had. In fact, he wasn’t even sure how deep he’d actually gone. He estimated it to be at least halfway, given that he’d covered quite a bit of ground and been lucky to avoid more than a few clashes with low-powered fodder monsters – 6 Tower Coins earned in total, a paltry enough sum that he might not have stopped to pick them up if they weren’t automatically added to his Sheet. Still, he could be wildly off in his guess, and as he found a reasonably safe seeming clearing to rest he hoped he was under and not overestimating his progress.

Sleeping in the Tower, as a Solo Climber, was pretty much one of the stupidest things you could do. At least when you were doing it camped out alone in monster-filled woods and not in some safe location or tamed part of the Floor. Even though he hadn’t been a genius or prodigy like some Climbers, Will had known that even before he’d linked up with the Companions and started Climbing in earnest. But without having acquired the Recall Sigil for this Floor by clearing it once, he’d have to make the whole trip from another random start point if he left to get some shut-eye. This was one of the big reasons Solo Climbers hadn’t been very successful in the early days, and those who did see success were either particularly talented or spent long periods grinding in between clear attempts. With the Sigil, while he wouldn’t be able to just teleport anywhere in the Floor, he would at least be able to select the general area of his entrance. He leant up against a tree, took off his mail shirt, and pulled some rations and the waterskin from his pack.

Even if he couldn’t properly sleep, after he’d fed and watered himself he did manage to catch a few quick snatches of rest. He was still partially alert, a state of guarded recharging he’d become adept at in the later stages of the first Climb, and though the helmet wasn’t exactly a comfortable pillow it did add some crucial Endurance points that would help these pseudo-naps have any benefit to his tiredness. After what he guessed was about four hours, he felt sufficiently ready to keep on with the first Floor. His wounds weren’t completely gone, and the blood matted his basic clothes to his body in ways that made for uncomfortable pinching sensations as the fabric stuck and unstuck to the hair on his skin. Still, unless he managed to wander into another Miniboss in the next few hours, he’d be back to working order after a proper meal and sleep. The rations from the gear pack weren’t particularly great, but they did satisfy hunger and provide base nutrition. A real meal would make all the difference.

A lot of researchers had been interested in the idea of sleep and recovery in the Tower, first time around. One of the reports that the New World Foundation had put out early had been a comparative study which showed that there was a passive alertness benefit to being within the Tower. Not much, but enough that people who’d normally struggle to march for 3 hours would instead be able to march 5 or 6 before they gave in. With that and his Stats, he felt good about his chance of hitting the inner ring before the lights came back on.

Thankfully, this time his prediction was correct, and after gaining another 12 Tower Coins from Vicious Squirrels and a Rabid Badger that he managed to almost step on hiding near its’ burrow, he saw the parting of the trees and the telltale deep green grass of the inner ring. He cast a quick look back at the forest, making sure nothing was trying to follow him, and then stepped into the open area. It was still dark, though despite there being no light source he could still see as though moonlight was provided. It made for a strange feeling, being able to see despite not knowing how or where the light came from. The Tower was full of oddities and things that violated the natural laws of the world as Will had once known them, and though most people were adaptive enough that they didn’t stop to let it overwhelm them, things like moonlight with no visible source did still cause Will to pause momentarily.

There were still some trees and bushes here in the inner ring, more vegetation than in the outer, but it was far from the dense canopy and twisting roots of the forest. This meant he could travel even faster, and he headed in a direction that he hoped was either north or west, looking for a few landmarks that would help him get oriented. Dungeons, Event Locations, things like that. None of the ones he knew of would be worth going for now, given that he wasn’t at a level where he could wipe them out easily yet but they did serve to help him navigate. After a few more minutes of jogging, he found a small pond and took the moment to refill his waterskin, which had long since emptied in his travels. It held more than you’d think, but it wasn’t infinite. He’d have to get a bit higher if he was looking for one of those. He started to recognise the general shape of the area, after a while, meaning that he was either falsifying his own memories or had been lucky enough to end up in the half of the inner ring he was familiar with.

Monsters were more of a threat here though, which meant he had to dodge a few fights to keep up the pace. He could handle any of the creatures that he found wandering in the darkness, but it would waste time and probably get him injured again. If he could find his way to one of the caves or shelters in this ring, he’d be able to rest properly and use the light once it returned to navigate to his goal. As he was tripped by a Crawling Root that lunged from a particularly overgrown section of grass, he cursed the lack of insight he had into this Floor. It had been so thoroughly cleared and tamed by the time he’d entered the Tower before that he wasn’t anticipating quite as much resistance getting to the next. He lashed out with his sword, tearing the root in half and ignoring the “ping!” of a Tower Coin being added to his Sheet. Still, he kept up a fierce progression, not wasting any time.

Finally, as he saw the shape of a cave entrance in a hill up ahead, he also noticed the first other humans he’d seen since starting to Climb. Five of them, arranged in a small camp with basic tents and a campfire, all wearing a mix and match assortment of Base Gear and low levelled Items. As he came closer, one noticed him and they all jumped to their feet, grabbing and drawing weapons. Throwing his hands into the air, Will called out clearly across the mostly quiet night.

“Not a foe! Friendly, just looking to camp out the darkness in that cave!”

It was a bit of a risk, trying to approach them without knowing anything about the group, but since they’d noticed him right as he had spotted them it wasn’t as if he could easily have avoided making contact. Thankfully, the one who’d noticed his approach called out in response with a voice that held a hint of a Scandinavian accent.

“Cave is a Dungeon, we plan on clearing it in the morning. You okay, you hurt?”

The Tower translated all human languages natively, leaving behind only a vague accent to tell someone’s origin, and as Will came closer to the now relaxing group of men he tried to place the man’s tone. Definitely Scandinavian, but he’d never been good at distinguishing between the different nations in that region.

“Sorry to startle you, I wasn’t expecting to see people. I was just looking for a cave or a shelter.”

He reached the group’s camp, and as he looked at the faces of the men who now sat back on rocks and logs and continued to talk in low voices, he could see that they were all mid-twenties and looked tough. Military, if he had to guess. That made sense, since they were fairly well equipped for this early stage, clearly having reached Floor 2 or even 3 before. He shook the one who’d remained standing’s hand, assuming he must be the leader of this particular group, and introduced himself with his chosen pseudonym.

“So, you guys look like you’re a bit more experienced than I am! Name’s Pioneer, or at least that’s what I’m using in here.”

He was hoping they wouldn’t react negatively to using a false name instead of giving them his actual identity, since it wasn’t like the practice had become normalised quite yet. Still, there were plenty of obvious reasons why someone – this early on, when entering the Tower was of dubious legality – might not want to be shouting their real name that could be used to find them on Earth.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to bother the tall man, who placed a broad hand-axe back on the ground and gave him a smile. He gestured to the fire, and let Will join the group’s circle as he responded to the unspoken question.

“We’re members of PETEF. Investigating the Tower and reporting back. We all used our assigned codenames as pseudonyms, so it’s Explorers one through five. The Pan-European Tower Exploratory Force, that is. Since you looked so confused by the acronym, I take it you’re a private citizen and not with any of the official teams?”

As he named the group, he panned a finger around the circle to indicate himself as Explorer one and the others as the lower numbers.

Will felt a little bit of apprehension at that, though he’d already guessed something similar as their origin. They looked to uniform and too alert to be a group of random friends or allies that had met in their Climb by accident. Still, he’d heard rumours and conspiracy theories about what Governments did to people they found Climbing the Tower in the early days to get information. The last thing he needed was to be arrested and taken to be interrogated by MI6 or something!

“Don’t worry, orders are not to engage private civilians unless they initiate aggression. We’re here to figure out what’s going on, not mess with anyone else. Honestly, even telling you where we’re from was technically outside of regulations, so we’d appreciate you not sharing it. Anyway, maybe it’ll be made illegal to enter without a license or something in the future, but right now we’re not going to stop you exploring as you see fit. Word of warning though, you look and sound pretty new. This place isn’t a fun adventure, it’s not a videogame. It’s real, it’s deadly, and if you try and go higher there is a real threat to your health. We lost a member the first time we came in, and other teams have lost even more.”

This was Explorer 3, the shortest of the group and a man who seemed to have picked Caster as his Base Class. Although he wore the same sturdy base clothing available from the Base Gear and for cheap in the Store once you unlocked it, he did have a glowing amulet on his chest and a slightly silly looking wizards’ hat perched on top of a mop of brown hair. His voice was unmistakeably tinged with a German accent, and confirmed the other man’s story that they were from a pan-European organisation.

Will nodded at him seriously.

“I know, thanks for the warning though. I’m not planning on taking any big risks. I’ve got a bit more experience than you might think.”

Explorer 3 shook his head and spoke again, though Explorer 1 held up a hand to stop him before he got far.

“You’ve already taken dozens of big risks to reach this point kid. My advice is to leave now, and wait till it’s either made safe or made illegal to come in. You-”

“Hey, we’re not here to interfere, you said it yourself. He’s made it to the inner ring, and that helmet’s definitely an Item. We have no right to tell him what risks he can take.”

Will gave a thankful glance at Explorer 1, but shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“No, I understand. I’m planning on leaving fairly soon anyway, I just want to wait till it’s light so I can explore a little more so I know my way around a bit if I do come back. If I do, it’ll be with a group though, let me tell you that!”

He was hoping that the group would let it drop and not try to make him leave, and his story seemed to do the trick. This was why he needed to Climb to at least Floor 3 before he started trying to make big changes. At this level, people either wouldn’t trust him or would be too suspicious. Once he had some visible power he’d have a much more plausible explanation for his knowledge and skill.

“Well, it’s roughly 6 hours till the lights come on. We’re camping cause we want to enter that Dungeon when it happens, so you’re welcome to pull up a sheet near the fire and get some shut-eye. We’ll keep you safe.”

Could it have been a trap, to get him to lower his guard so they could kill him and take his stuff? Sure. Did it seem likely? Not really. Will gave him a thankful smile, and nodded.

“I may do that. I do want to know a bit more about the Tower though, and it seems like you guys have explored it way more than I have. I know it’s not safe to stay here much longer, but it’s so interesting!”

Playing the excitable rookie was his best guess of how to get the group to tell him about their own progress and anything notable he might be able to use. Accepting a meat skewer from Explorer 4, who had thick black eyebrows and a distinct French accent, Will sat cross-legged and listened to the soldiers as they debated what was acceptable to reveal to a civilian. Every so often, as they remarked on their theories or the things they had found, he tried to drop in small hints in the form of questions. While he couldn’t just sit and tell them everything, he could at least try to help out where possible.

The light came quicker than expected, and Will had managed to spend the entire 6 hours in conversation instead of taking advantage of a shot at real sleep. It had been worth it though, and as he thanked the group for the camaraderie and information before leaving them to make their final preparations to assault the Dungeon they’d discovered, he grinned at the useful morsels of information the night’s talk had provided. A part of him debated sticking around to see how they did, but it would be a waste of time and they looked more than capable of handling the thing.

“Well, I hope we don’t see you here again, just because I hope nobody tries to Climb this thing without some training and a group, but if we do I hope you’ll be healthy.”

Will chuckled at Explorer 3’s remark, saluting the man and shaking hands with Explorer 1 – who’d revealed his real name to be Julian and his country of origin to be Sweden – before turning around and heading north. As well as telling him the details of the Dungeon – standard Floor 1 stuff from what he could tell, too hard for him to take on alone and not really worth trying anyway – they’d also given him a Tower Timepiece [F] so he could track the time properly and directed him to where they said there were a cluster of shelters. From their description of the area, he thought he remembered how to get from there to his goal, and even though he wasn’t able to pay them with Tower Coins for the timepiece till he’d reached Floor 2, he did feel obliged to offer some kind of repayment. They’d refused, since it was a cheap Item that would decay fairly rapidly.

Jogging away from the group, he felt emboldened by the light and the positive interaction enough to start activating Conditioning in spurts, only turning it off to recover a bit and whenever he ran across a monster. F to D Rank wasn’t too far for a Skill, so it was worth using it whenever he could. They spawned less in the day, and the inner ring was always more focused on Dungeons and particular spawn clusters than random spawns. He still ended up having to fight three times before he reached the area Julian had pointed him to, and accumulated 22 more Tower Coins from the stronger monsters in this location. They were still the same woodland and plains creatures, warped and aggressive thanks to the Tower’s influence, just larger and more vicious this deep in.

Still, as he came over the last hill and saw the cluster of six small log cabins in a little valley where the grass receded to orange-brown dirt, he checked his timepiece and saw that the fights had barely cost him any time. He still had 10 hours of daylight left, more than enough to get from here to his goal and clear the Floor.