The walk back to the living area was not so lengthy. If Neal had to guess he would say they had spent at most twenty minutes walking back. Even though this was the case, they had more than enough time to talk with one another.
During that period of time, their conservation circled around nothing but the tower. Besides, there was no point in talking about anything else.
They spoke about several things; however, four things stood out to Neal. Knowledge that he believed was best to have in mind for the future.
For starters, everyone around had decided to call the structure the Forge tower. According to them, it just felt like the right thing to call it. Neal naturally believed there was some kind of meaning to this; however, Evans dismissed his thoughts early on.
Evans and the rest were not the first people to arrive in the tower as well. From what he was told, a large number of people had come to the tower. Apparently, he was the 50th person to be dragged into it.
During the period of time they were trying to adapt to the new environment, the monstrosities outside had gotten the better of them. Though knowledge was acquired from their sacrifice.
However, it seemed that majority of them had passed on as a result of suicide. This was the last option those people who fell into despair resorted to. If nothing else, it was the easy route out.
Neal understood the reason as to why they did such a thing, but he did not feel it was a valid reason for taking away their lives.
Secondly, was the fact that it was impossible to bring forth any offspring in the tower. According to Evans, they had been here for more than ten years now. And he wasn't even among the first to be summoned. That was an ample amount of time to test this theory out. Apparently, crystals were used to keep track of time, not that he knew how.
'I wonder how they came to this conclusion,' Neal could not help but give off a mischievous smile.
Though if he was being honest with himself, Neal believed that most of them would have seen that as good thing rather than bad. He did not need to think about the reasons why having kids in the tower was a bad idea.
Evans also enlightened him about the door that lead to the monster area. Apparently, it had some kind of invisible barrier that kept the monsters from entering this particular area.
Even though Neal detested the tower, he could not help but feel that the structure was rather generous. It did not force anyone to fight. One fought monsters only based on their decision to escape it's interior.
The last information Neal received was the most important one in his opinion. During the years the others had been in the tower, they noticed that they did not age in anyway.
They did not even get sick during that duration of time. Some of them even believed that if this was the case, most likely they could live forever in the tower. However, that was only a theory.
This brought along the belief that the only way to escape the tower was to commit suicide or be killed by a monster. A finding that was partially responsible for the high suicide rate.
From the fertile and green landscape around them, Neal did not dismiss the hypothesis that they could live forever here. The environment was brimming with resources just for that. Plus it seemed like something the tower would do.
All in all, majority of the information he had received only made him feel bad. It only made it seem like the tower was made just for the purpose of crushing people's hopes and leaving them in despair.
Upon reaching the base area, Evans showed Neal some important places like where the food was kept, their water source, where he and the others stayed, as well as where he himself was going to be staying from now on.
None of this structures looked like anything special. They were made out of wood, vines and what looked like some kind of adhesive.
Neal did not really see any problem with the structures though. He believed that as long as he had access to food and water, he was fine.
"Hey, Neal. There is one more place we have to go to," Evans stated before walking in the opposite direction of his new home.
This rose some curiosity in his mind; however, he did not bother asking any questions. Jogging over to him, Neal followed closely behind.
After another walk of about ten minutes, the two arrived at what appeared to be a pond. From the azure color of the water though, Neal believed it to be something else.
"Weapons we create ourselves have no effect on the monsters out there. It didn't take us too long to find that out. Only weapons given to us by the tower are capable of doing that," Evans explained as he looked at the pond. "This is the Forging pond, it will give you what you need."
After taking several stares back and forth, Neal eventually moved up to the water body, squatting before it. Dipping his pinky finger into the liquid, he quickly drew it out. A quick observation made him realize his pinky was not wet at all.
A bit of courage sipped into him before he put his two hands into the pond. At this point, he was just doing what he felt was right. A chill passed through his spine after completing his actions. It felt as if he submerged his hand in icy water.
After some seconds however, the ponds temperature began to rise so much so that Neal wanted to remove his hands. To his greatest surprise though, his body did not allow him to do so. It was almost as if he had being turned to stone.
The mark on his palm turned red and then black as it moved around his hand like dissolved ink in water. Eventually, portions of it came out of his body, sipping into the pond.
The Forging pond eventually turned back in color before swirling the ink like substance together. In front of his eyes, two daggers formed beneath the pond's depths, far from his reach.
Soon after, the pond returned back to normal, Neal's hand included. Staring at the daggers beneath, Neal's body moved on it's own as he dived into the pond to retrieve it. Pleasantly surprised that he could swim in the strange liquid, he swam to the bottom of the pond, acquiring both daggers.
Not to long after, he emerged from the Forging pond, holding his new weapons in both hands. Neal could not explain why, but he felt as if these weapons were part of him. Something he did not want to let go.
Laying on the ground, gasping for air, Neal closed his eyes in relief. Evans shadow soon caught his attention though, as he walked up to him.
"Welcome to the Forge tower, Neal. From here on out, things will only get harder. Tomorrow you will fight your first monster. Prepare yourself."