Long ears twitched amidst the middle of a forest. The perennial trees' shade perennially stopped the sunlight from penetrating to the petrichor-filled ground. The pensive rain's patchy puttering was the par for the forest.
The twitching ears felt a palpability in the air, filled with peril like they had never perceived.
***
All the people in the tower received the same words at the very same time.
[The Sixth Floor of the Tower is now open. The Tower wishes you courage]
And in the blink of an eye, the group of seven that we had formed was transported to the middle of a giant forest.
There was barely any surprise on anyone except the regressor. He constantly placed his hand on the back of his neck and looked at it again, almost as if he was expecting to be stabbed once more.
When he realized everything around him was real and not changing anymore, he turned toward me and chuckled.
"I guess we managed."
Consider my surprise when the same punk who couldn't speak more than two syllables at once without getting knots in his stomach suddenly started talking like a human.
I watched with narrow eyes as the wizard and the Mignon started smiling brightly.
"Luck stats…" I heard the Blade of Darkness say something while the colonel wore a fairly satisfied smile.
This was the sixth floor.
Everyone in the tower must have received the same message at the same time. Trees all around us, everywhere. All of them were filled with fruits. The eye could only see a few feet far as the grand trees covered everything else.
Forest of Abundance.
Just as the name suggested, it was a place filled to the brim with natural resources. Even clearing in the forest was amazing when it came to growing crops and getting a yield. No matter what went down here, it would bring great results.
The moment its name was announced, I was greatly surprised.
Because the Forest of Abundance was the Eight floor of the novel's tower and was also the trickiest to get through.
I took in a breath and crossed my arms.
"Let's go check the place out."
"Finding the boss quickly would be good—"
"Halt," I said.
The people almost about to set off all stopped and turned my way. The Regressor donned a cold face as compared to his usual stupid blank mouth. It was a clear display of how much he had grown.
"The theme has changed. There will be something different."
I, of course, knew things but only up to the eleventh floor. Even before then, the number of possibilities the land could end up with was endless. I could try over and over with the regressor, but if something better came up, there was no way I was going to let go of it.
"What do you mean?" Asked the wizard, her mood as sour as always.
"U-u-uh…" the Regressor suddenly stuttered over his words. It seemed he hadn't completely grown a spine yet.
"Maybe there are no bosses, right?" Muttered Mignon as he wrapped his arm around the Regressor's neck. "The linguist and Ativan are right. I think it's too risky to just move on. We've only cleared five floors, it's too early to get used to things."
It was quite the realistic mindset for someone who had been accustomed to these circumstances for the last ten years. Five floors was too soon.
It was then, another window opened up in front of our eyes.
A window that made the wizard fall over and the others take many steps back, while I and the Regressor remained firm in place, though I could tell he was too shocked to move.
[Huhu, I congratulate on figuring it out. My fun was ruined too soon.]
"W-who!? Who is it!?" Screamed the Wizard.
"The tower…. Is the tower speaking to us?" The Dark Blade was just as shocked.
The contents of the window changed right then.
[Nope. I believe I am what you would call an overseer. A manager of the floor. A constellation, even, if you will.]
"The manager… of the floor?"