"I said hand the points over!"
I stepped to the side, the piercing strike missing me. It was aimed at my heart. A fatal blow that would have killed me if I had not dodged.
Narrowing my eyes I crouch and lunge. My fist came into contact with the center of her breastplate.
With just a glance I had already seen the weak points of the armor. I almost scoffed when I first saw it.
The whole thing was just decorative, why she even thought that it would be proper protection was beyond me.
I weaved back, dodging the enraged swing of her sword. She was clumsy and the sudden movement caught her foot on something.
Taking advantage of this I reach my foot out and trip her all the while moving behind her in order to put my leg on her back.
Once on the ground she looked up and with a red face swallowed her protest. Yet I was upset.
Not at her attack but at the armor and weapon she was using. They were a blasphemy to my own personal philosophy.
I thought of blades and armor in terms of utility first. Decoration could come last if you were able to but this armor.
Whichever smith had made it was clearly an amatuer and focused more on design than function.
"Eek" She squeaked seeing my intense glare.
"Wha- what do you want you- you"
I just sighed again and softened my gaze.
"That armor… its a scam…"
"What- I paid good points for this!"
"Then you got scammed. This armor is trash, whatever amatuer made it clearly was focused on looks than functionality. It couldn't even survive a punch. Tch-"
She looked indignant before she slowly turned red. From her reaction she was clearly embarrassed by however much she was scammed out of.
"You mean that… that I paid for nothing"
"Basically."
I was about to say more before I was interrupted by the ringing of a bell. It drew the attention of all the participants, willingly or not.
It had this mystical attraction to it that seemed to draw the attention of the eyes and ears.
Yet as quickly as it was used it was put away as the same man that introduced this trial stepped up.
"TIME!" He yelled the barrier around us shimmering for a moment before I felt a weightless sensation overcome me.
A moment later and I was in line, the girl with the defective armor behind me as one of the man's subordinates walks up to me.
"Points?" He questions.
I hand him the bag and he raises his eyebrows at the amount.
"Do you want the tour for an extra 800 to be taken or would you rather go off on your own?"
I think for a moment before I shake my head. He nods in response and the bag shimmers for a moment before being given back to me.
"Just do this and that and the points will be deposited in your account." He gestures for a moment before handing me back the bag and shows me the exit.
Idly I notice the glare from behind me but I ignore it in favor of asking a question that I needed an answer to.
"Do you know what this is"
I show him the card that was given to me by that woman. For a moment he seems a bit shaken before he tells me to just tap on the number in order to call them.
I nod before exiting into the city.
…
A cup of tea was placed in front of me, the points taken from my status as I watched the initiation test.
It had been half an hour since it had begun and the kid that I had taken notice of had found himself quite a haul.
I placed the tea cup back down onto the small plate and leaned over the railing. Watching as he was teleported over to the exit.
'Ah good memories'
It had been decades since I had first been taken to this tower. Yet still I was unable to cross that final barrier.
The fiftieth floor. A place that many had passed.
I frowned as I thought of it. A test so deadly that even the greatest of talents would fall there. The ones that did make it made it past through use of strategic class equipment.
Weapons and armor that were rewards from the first place rankings of the individual floors. Something that was almost impossible to do.
They were records that had been placed there for almost centuries before I had come here. Not something that the average could take.
It was why I was investing in something new. The weapon at the kids side. It was not one given to him by the system.
Those from the tutorial were all scams that only barely worked in their respective tutorials but what I had seen was a rank 2 weapon. One that could be used up to the fifth floor before breaking.
And he had made it in the tutorial. A truly talented one.
My heart pounded at the thought of it.
If I could nurture this talent then when it bloomed I could take advantage of said talent and cross that final hurdle.
I smiled to myself. 'Yes… this would work'
BZZT
I felt a jolt from the piece of card on the table. The smile on my face grew predatory as I recognize the number that had called.
It was the kid that I had given it to earlier. Just as I had expected, he would call me immediately.
I press a button on the card and immediately a spark flies from the paper and grows into a hologram of both our faces.
One for me to see what I looked like and the other for me to see him.
"Is this… wait actually you never gave me your name"
"Oh I'm sorry little one, my name is… well you can call me Nia"
"Nia then… I was wondering if you could give me a tour of the city, you know the lay of the land and all."
For a moment I just close my eyes and sit back, the purpose of which was to give him a sense of nervousness that I may not accept.
I took that moment to myself and about ten seconds later I nodded and told him to meet me at this cafe.
I had already ordered enough food for him anyways.