Returning to the tower we meet up and talk of the last floor we will be on together, we were told it is a floor to test adaptability, after all of us are ready we wait for the notification.
--Your team leader has chosen to go to the nineteenth floor, if you agree to the test do so if anyone disagrees then you will not be able to begin the test.
[Yes]
[No]
{Choosing no will make it so you can't attempt it for another week}---
We all agree and disappear, I appear alone on a platform with a hallway in front of me when the tower task is announced.
---You have a week to meet back up with your teammates, you will not die until your teammates are all together and will respawn at the last checkpoint, you will complete each task as fast as possible and the team to get all members together the fastest is rewarded ten tower coins but will only count as a successful task if all members are together and alive by the end of the week.---
[Get to the end of the hall without injury, if injured in any capacity you will be sent back to the beginning.]
I look at the hall but see no indications of were any attacks could come from, neither the ceiling or the floor have any indications and the other end of the hallway is 200 ft. long luckily this is not timed or it would be even worse.
I take off in a sprint so for any falling floors or ceilings can be avoided, the first thing is arrows which I dodge, then is a collapsing floor pillar jumps, followed by climbing over the collapsed ceiling bit in front of me, next is kunai thrown and finally a mix of collapsing floor and needles being thrown.
Making it through with no injuries I come out to a room filled with weapons.
[Defeat the coming enemies with any weapon in the room, each weapon used to kill ten enemies solo will count as a point. You only need one point to move forward but the points will have more worth later in the task but at the cost of time.]
I pick the spear first, the things that appear in the open center are white dolls with a stone in their chest.
I kill them with ease that even slimes would be trickier, they are slow have little response and lack the ability to use energy attacks at all. They are so simple that I continue through different weapons just to get more points as it shouldn't take to long more to do so.
I use an axe, daggers, sword, hammer, bastard sword, rapier, kunai, needles, katana, bow staff, bow, Kamas, scythe, even a ball and chain.
Over all I get 80 points from all the different available weapons in the room using every single one, I take nearly four hours going through them all to do this, after doing this I sit to take a break and a system message pops up.
{You have completed hidden mission jack of all trades, you are rewarded an extra 100 points for your effort.}
I smile and head to the next room that I can't see inside of despite the door having opened after succeeding with my first weapon challenge, entering to a room filled with botanical items and a book on the table.
[Your mission is too name ten plants present in this room, the rarer the plant and more obscure it is the more points rewarded along with the more plants you are able to name, for each one wrong you will be deducted ten points.]
I start to write the most of the rarer ones I know the names of then the more common and finally the basic ones, I have all but two herbs recorded by the time the task is finish and am sure they are right. I get a total of 150 points for the 50 plants I successfully guessed with none of my guesses being deducted.
I go to the next room and it is filled with metal and weapons in varying degrees of broken and repair.
[You will put these weapons in the designated spots based off whether it can be repaired, doesn't need repair, and unrepairable. You will also sort the metals into order based off how damage repellent they are, the harder it is to damage a weapon made with the metal the higher and the easier it is the lower. You only need ten right on each section to pass, with additional guesses being rewarded or reduced points based off difficulty and accuracy.]
So I begin to sort as many as I know and I get all but three of the weapons and five of the metals, being rewarded a total of 300 points I enter the next room that is filled with vials of potions.
[Your task is to name the potion based purely off smell, color, and consistency you only need ten right to go on. More points are rewarded for each extra vial guessed correct and the harder the bottle you guessed is.]
I spend another three hours sorting all the bottles in the room not missing a single one, I score a total of 200 points for all of them in total. The next room is filled with hospital beds and people with injuries, rashes, and energy fluctuations all over with only basic items all over the room.
[Your job is to save at least three lives in this room, each consecutive life saved following those three will be rewarded with a point.]
So I get to work looking over if they are actually in any life threatening danger, who needs most help first, then take out those to far gone or do not have the required stuff to save them and begin to give aid and help to the remaining 150 patients. I stitch, bandage, reset bones and ribs, hook up IV's and perform CPR and emergency aide to those I need to heal using energy, by the end all but one of the 150 are saved scoring me 146 points.
The next room is an arena room with a weapon rack and a fighting mat surrounded by a coliseum like structure, I grab the spear and the rack disappears and a group of ten dummies like in the second trial appears.
[Go through three rounds getting progressively trickier the most rounds you get through before dying will add points to you.]
They are the same slow easy to deal with dummies from earlier and I finish them off easily, the next are like a newly awakened, and the next are an awakened at the mid F-rank. I make it through to the peak E-rank before I stutter for more then ten minutes and the dummies stop before getting tougher without me destroying them, low D-rank another ten minutes and another increase in strength.
I make it to the low C-grade before I got hit and Low B-grade to die, in total I made it to round 14 and made 110 points ten points for each extra round.
The eight room is a room filled with pictures and sound boxes.
[Name the monster and their respective sound, name ten to pass and extra points will be rewarded for extra.]
I name all the monsters easily and get 300 points for the task.
Entering the ninth room it is pitch black and no noise is around, I also begin to float and gravity has clearly been removed from the room.
[Your task is to survive the attack in ever changing and evolving terrain it may even change mid fight, last ten minutes to continue and each minute after will be rewarded extra points.]
I feel enemies appear in my area but see nothing but they are like the puppet from room two and so easy to deal with, at the five minute mark the room changed to a desert and I can now see the puppets. Every five minutes the room change until the thirty minute mark then it changes randomly, one second you are floating next second hurtling through the sky and next on the ocean.
I survive two hours before I die at the hands of the puppets due to terrain change, they may be easy to deal with but with enough of them and a optimal terrain dealing with them for hours on end they can eventually overcome you. I get a total of 110 coins one coin for each extra minute I survived past the required time.
Finally I enter a room that is like a military area with a fence surrounding a clear training field with people running around and a lot of sparring and people practicing, a person in a uniform approaches and says.
"You are the 1,896th person to reach this spot from your spawn group and are the last of your team to arrive, you team is in the 300th position in finishing and you may now remain here for the remaining 5 days that are set aside for the task takers."
I follow him as he takes me to the barracks with the team and I can see them looking at me in question as I should have been able to complete that quicker then that.
"I took as much time to get extra points as I figured they would have a great worth or the tower wouldn't offer them in exchange for tower coin reward. I understand if not pleased but wait to see what they are-"
Wyatt cuts in, "They are to increase ones ranking and take time off the score, one point equals ten minutes off the time, so how many points did you get as I alone can take our 40 hour time to negative three. The rest put together can get it to negative 646 but as the points can be used to buy items on the twentieth floor that has no other way to get it is best if we all have a large amount."
I have 1,386 points and can get us even further down if need be, exactly 231 hours less but I agree I need to wait so as to save points.
"I have 1,386 points so no need to worry about most others as I guess the max is probably 1,500 points. As long as no team that is close to me we should be fine." I say to him.
I see his approval and feel the same stuffy feeling of pride from being praised by such a capable person, it is clear we are more combat oriented so most probably think our numbers are limited but we have plenty for when it is needed. I join them for basic training drills and practices designed for each persons current Grade and abilities.
When the seventh day rolls around and all 5,000 teams are here and are waiting in their designated area to get their final score, as the points will be deducted evenly from all members until first place is attained and only then will the points stop leaving.
We wait and finally the score board starts to change and the numbers drop dramatically as they enter negative numbers and finally ours stops at negative 543 with me now with 750 points.
---Your team has completed the task with the least time, rewarding ten tower coins to all members, your team will now be sent to the next floor when ready---
[Team Asher:
Contribution list:
1st-Aadi
2nd-Kian
3rd-Amara
(Expand to see full list)
Team ranking:
1st-Team Asher
2nd-Team Donner
3rd-Team Nuka
(Expand to see full list)]
With that I appear at a open area near the center of the twentieth floor with my team, I look at them and wait for a minute as it is time for me to cancel my position in their team, Wyatt takes me to the guild and we sign a paper that says both sides agree to allow me to leave the team but am still unable to speak of the others secrets.
With that I head home with a certain sadness to part with the team but knowing it is for the best.