I look at the bone white dagger with a crimson insignia along with a bronze leather handle, but it is the feeling of the dagger that is off putting as it almost seemed alive, I see the note to name it and also hinting to use a name like that of a bull I decide since I am naming it might as well go along the lines of mythology.
Only 36 days have passed since the first people entered the tower and we are all stuck here on the first floor trying to find any advantage we can as those that have been here longer take all the good things, we are the bottom feeders and have realized that there are many people on higher floors as that is what a question mark means when you are talking with a person like that.
Many species from elves and dwarfs to fairies and elementals have proven their incredible capability and the other humans that exist in the tower all seem to just bow down and do as told for them.
That is when I saw the offer for getting the space cat, at first I thought to just scam them of the 200,000 coins but then saw the weapon offer and couldn't hold back as such a weapon is worth a fortune otherwise, so I took the offer, and it wasn't too tricky with my long-time training in the military and the space lock.
I got the dagger nearly the second I sent the finished request in despite the person claiming it should take longer than the promised time, but he has heard of time dilations and maybe it just took one week, and the person just finished quicker than they thought. Truly if he had known of the time dilation, he would have stayed in the tutorial longer as he would have spent years there by this point.
No use for regret, he looks at the blade and finally the name comes easily enough, Kujata from his home's belief.
He suddenly had a screen similar to the status screen appear, he is shocked as he goes back and reads the message sent with the dagger telling him it's attributes and the binding for the name.
-Kujata-
-This is a blade using both the body and mind of creature but has been purified before completion, this blade is bound to Salman Amin
-durability 100/100 (can self repair amount of damage dictates time to repair)
-strength 5
-sharpness 5
-mana enhancement 10
-mana type earth
-weight: 20 pounds
-evolution level 0
-Ability: earth wall, strength increase
A blade that as long as he doesn't get completely crazy with the blade it will repair itself, he has thought of any of the ways he could make such a heavy blade, but this is an incredible thing.
He found an old martial art for earth types like him in a grave that had been revealed in a mudslide and hid it for himself to practice, but the problem was none of the blades he has found are heavy enough or aligned with the earth mana type for him to truly use it.
Now he has a dagger perfect, and the message said with enough time it should evolve like the monster it was made of, he knew this blades worth was far beyond the current stats or even abilities which shocked him.
He knew no one can know of this blade and so he decided to hide it though the horn to make a sheath with later was something he would look into only when he is certain of his own strength, he now had something that would allow him far better chances and opportunities then ever before.
He was honestly curious on who the person was that could give something like this for what is without a doubt a basic task since the cat couldn't teleport, it was simply a matter of trapping it and that was simple.
He leaves the forest that he has just hunted the cat in and takes the fur he got to go make a spacial bag for himself, he not only got a lot of money and a completely one-of-a-kind blade, but the fur of the space cat is useful for making spacial pouches that cost 200,000 to make.
He got both the money and material needed for this now and so heads towards the central region to get one.
He arrives there two days later and sees people whispering and can hear their talks of someone having completed the space cat task, on the first floor 500,000 coins and a unique mana blade is worth more then most peoples lives and so it is no surprise that they may be contemplating stealing from him, after all when you die you drop all the items on you many use this to steal where they normally can't due to the systems storage space.
You may ask why I want a storage bag if the tower gives a storage space, well you can't take things out of the tower without it though most storage bags are only able to hold one or two items at a time and it takes a week stay before you can return to the tower after leaving it.
He knows people will think he did the task when they see him purchasing a space bag but knows that he already is finished with the first-floor task and can go to the next floor afterwards, so as long as he remains in town, they can do nothing to him.
He enters the old shop and the old hag running it seems shocked when I sit both the coins and fur on her counter.
He knew for a new world no one from his planet should be even remotely close to getting the things needed for the thing but he got lucky and did so in the second month of their arrival.
She tells me to come back in two days and I head to a good inn to stay the two nights, I shop around look at all the weapons and armors around and notice that even by mana blade standards the blade he has is incredible even ignoring it's ability to regenerate and grow.
He soon realizes that the person who made it is without a doubt a master at least in blacksmithing as all the daggers he sees are like a pebble to a boulder, completely different levels.
He wonders if the person will do armor as although his sight only shows him doing normal nails, normal weapons, and mana weapons he sees nothing like his dagger in any of the many and he does mean many items the person has sold, he sends the request and gets a reply back immediately, yes.
He is overjoyed and decides to send the request but is stopped when the person quoted the price, 700,000 coins.
He collapses in sadness but realizes he can afford it if he trains hard enough and kills enough monsters, here on the first-floor goblins are only worth .1 coins compared to their tutorial counterparts worth 1 coin it is a drastic decrease that once more made him wail about not staying in the tutorial longer.
He looks at others asking the person for more information on the armor they will sell as well as on the dagger they gave me, I sigh in frustration but get a private message request from someone with question marks as their name proving they are a higher floor person.
I click accept and the first message is if I do more task for him then he may be willing to cut a deal for the armor, I grin as anything he gives in deals is worth a lot.
I agree but he says that I am at to low of a floor to even think of helping him anymore but says that since I didn't try and scam him then he will offer me both advice and help to reach the floors he needs things on, he says the items he wants will be compensation for the information.
I freeze and ask how much he knows to make such an offer and he asks at what level my cultivation is, I tell him I entered the tower only 38 days ago like all the others from my planet due to being newcomers.
He says that I wasted the opportunity that is the tutorial then, I feel myself flush as that is probably common knowledge for planets that have been inside the tower long enough, I tell him my cultivation isn't even at 20 mana yet and I am still using mana cores to grow but they are costly and often have to little mana to make any real growth with.
He tells me don't even bother thinking of the second floor as the second I enter I will die, he says the second floor is meant for those that are about to merge their energy and it is best to enter only after merging the energy, I don't understand what merging the energy means as the cultivation book for 100 coins on the first floor only explains gathering energy until you sense the energy of the universe and absorb it into you.
The man explains that it is absorbing the energy in small portions and integrating it with your body through training like martial arts and fighting, then once it is at balance you absorb more and more until saturation around 100 mana you find the part within your body that matches with your mana type for earth it is the stomach and merge the mana however you can though some used unique cultivation methods passed down that teach such things.
He says once you do that then it all depends on the type of cultivation and innate mana you have, he says that I had to either buy a rip off or the cheapest book on this concept and that if I want to go far in the tower, I need a better means of cultivating.
I am shocked as I know many people using this means of cultivating now and although few have reached the point of feeling the mana in the air it still is quite a few and yet it could mean permanent ruin if they don't change their paths.
I ask him to tell me everything he thinks imperative to the tower and in exchange I will get whatever he asks of me on the floors to come, he send back the explanation on the fact powerful enough creatures can descend floors to force lower creatures to act as their servants and that the first floor is still effected by it though through proxy as they can't come this far down.
He says that a dragon is at the lowest grade a legendary creature and if I won't to do more than smudge it's scale, I need a weapon of equal power, he mentions if I can get the blade, he gave me there then he will be quite pleased.
Bit by bit the information provided was worth more than any coins could afford, the fact all creatures are backed by a more powerful one on higher floors, the fact that no human has reached past legendary, even the ever increase of the cost of items through the tower as it will cost 10 times the current one on the second floor.
But he finds the winning spark is that the person offered to help me develop in exchange for getting him things, I understand this person needs nothing from me but entertains me anyway.
I hear one advice from him that stands out the most and that is to focus on my cultivation as he will give me the mana cores and so as long as I make a completely unique cultivation style when the merging part comes I will advance well, easier said then done but I know having this person guide me through the towers early floors will be a saving grace for me and many others as I intend to make full use of this persons information to forge the most powerful team possible to rise within the tower.
I look at the space bag and know the worth of it is far greater as the person promised the mana crystals he gave would be perfect for me and that if anyone saw them it would be bad, but I can't remain within the tower forever as my sister needs me to care for her.
I will get all I can and sell the things I don't need, I tell him to send the mana crystals and the ones before me are small like the lowest grade ones but when I start using it their is earth mana within it that melds seamlessly with my own without the so called balancing needed, I know the worth of such a crystal is unimaginable and so I grin as I am sure that as long as I put in the effort that my path from this point forward is clear.
Praise be for protagonist level magically gifted a mentor.