Clatenis shook it and laughed jovially. “I think I’m starting to like your attitude. I look forward to seeing how well you ‘play with the big boys,’ then.”

The rest of the meal was taken up with discussion of contract details, and by my carefully reading it once it had been drawn up. Grosstin, with its vast resources, would be in charge of training and strengthening me, as well as enabling me to clear up through the 4th Floor within two years. At that point, I would either join the special alliance team, (as part of this, I’d train with them during the 2 years when they could arrange it) or if somehow I was determined to not have strengthened enough for them, I’d be heavily penalized.

After the two year period, I’d be a full member of the alliance team for ten years, during which time I’d be assigned solo missions, as well as teaming up with other members, either some or all of them as required. Also during that time, we’d clear through the 9th floor together, which would strengthen us further.

Finally, Edwin gave me directions to and an access pass for Grosstin’s main compound on Satslik. He left on pressing business, telling me to get Mewi as soon as possible, and he’d have a hovercar wait at the teleportation square to take us there. I found the nearest bank and wired him enough money to teleport to Satslik, and was able to include a brief message that the negotiations went well but the two of us still have a lot to discuss.

Mewi hugged me, a feeling that was becoming happily familiar, as soon as he emerged from the teleporter. “Kept me waiting, didn’t you?”

“Sorry, we didn’t have a chance to get some method of FTL communication huh...”

“Let’s make that one of the first things we fix. So, what's up?”

On the way to Grosstin’s hovercar, as well as in it, I told Mewi all about my experience on the first floor, and what happened after. “So, basically, it’s up to you. If you want to stay away from harder difficulties, that’s fine. This is a big chance, but of course I could never make you take on something you don’t want to, here.”

Mewi was silent for a short while. “I...”

“I want to do it. I want them to train me to be stronger. I don’t want to just be someone you worry about, a target, a possible guy in distress to get to you. I—I want to fight alongside you.”

“You’re really okay with that? Some pretty horrible stuff goes on in the Floors. I don’t want you to—to get traumatized and lose your light.”

“Dude, that’s not going to happen. I have you, don’t I?”

My heart melted. “All right. We should let them know to make the arrangements. But, you’re seriously sure that doing as much violence as you’ll need for even say, High difficulty won’t affect you?”

“I’m not sure it can, in the way you’re talking about,” said Mewi, “I noticed it during the Constant Competition. Some of my opponents that I beat ended up pretty messed up, but I just...felt nothing. Like it wasn’t a big deal, wasn’t even mentionable. I think the Tower does something to us, when it takes us, that desensitizes us. Kind of like, what was that web series you liked? The one where fictional characters fight to the death.”

“Death Battle. Yeah, they had a rule that characters that had strong feelings against killing would ‘have them removed’ for the purpose of their fights. But if that’s happened to us for real, that’s creepy as hell.”

I blanched a moment later, when I realized what I just said. They had a rule. Death Battle was gone. Nintendo was gone. EVE Online and YouTube and Twitch and DeviantArt and TV Tropes and even webnovel.com and royalroad.com were gone. I was gone from them and I was likely never getting them back. All that stuff that just happened...the hunting, the killing, the fighting, the running...that was my life now, or at least something that would regularly be a part of it.

Even though Mewi and I were united at last, it was a sad, sobering thought.

Be strong...

Once we arrived, we were led to a suite-like living quarter and told to use the time until tomorrow morning to settle in. The Guild would send people to retrieve anything left behind in the flat on Erkolls-13, including and especially the training pod I’d already purchased. Another would be provided for Mewi as well, also at the top membership level. It was mostly the time it would take to arrange this that got us the respite.

“So, what rewards did you get this time?” said Mewi.

“Rewards?”

“You know, from clearing the first floor!”

I facepalmed. “I completely forgot!” I immediately brought out the rewards, for us to examine and inspect them.

First, the spell book:

Provocative Words

1st Circle Spell

Required Intuition: 69

Induce hostility through speech. Those who are hostile to you will be induced to target you. An unfriendly target or targets of your words will experience a strong desire to attack you.

“Tch, that’s not going to do me much good without more ways to attack them back, I think. Plus I can’t even learn it yet...or anytime soon.”

Next was the Mana Storage Tank and the Psionic Amplifier Helmet. Trying to Identify the strange avocado proved fruitless, so we moved on to them.

Bronze Grade

Can store 20,000 mana points indefinitely. Must be equipped to use.

“Twenty thousand? Okay, that’s pretty freakin’ sweet. I had to restrain the power I put into my Lesser Fireballs pretty carefully on the first floor. With a good e-tank like this, I’ll be able to cut loose a lot more.”

“Yeah,” said Mewi, “it says ‘must be equipped to use’ though? I’m not sure it’s a piece of equipment by itself...”

Silver Grade

Magic Power +2%

Mana +200

Regeneration +5

Special Active

Analyzes a hostile target, and displays the information on the helmet’s HUD.

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Special Passive

Increases all Magic Power damage bonus percentages for Circle 1 spells by half.

I whistled. “Now THIS is equipment right here! I wonder what the deal with Enemy Scan is...a better version of Identify, maybe? Wearing it will probably take some getting used to, though.”

“Yeah, and it even looks pretty cool.”

There would be a lot of work ahead, and I was missing something that in my old world had greatly helped me deal with life.

“Hey Mewi?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss video games.”