"Tell me, what's the news about the guy and the girl he was carrying?" Pavarotti was sitting at a desk while looking at two of his subordinates.
"Boss, when we entered the reception we didn't see anyone, I'm sorry."
"That's right boss, we went to see if the boy was still there to threaten him so that he would give us the girl, but when we arrived there was no one there."
"Shit, it's impossible for them to have disappeared, that boy was clearly a newcomer. I already talked to the person who introduced him to the tower, his name is Luka, he lives in the common area and from time to time he accepts this type of not so dangerous missions to earn a living in the tower. First I offered him a few coins to tell me everything, then I beat him to confirm if what he said was true, so the fact that this boy is someone experienced is completely ruled out, therefore, it is impossible for him to have rewards. from the tower to exchange for a room or enough spiritual stones to rent it."
"We're sorry sir, but we really didn't see anyone there."
"Bah! Get out of my sight, useless people," Pavarotti said, with an angry expression.
"Yes sir!"
"Yes sir!"
He had missed a good deal. The last time he caught such a pretty girl, he sold her to one of the apprentices for 10 spirit stones. It was very difficult to get spirit stones for mortals, mainly because the tower never rewarded spirit stones in its quests, so you couldn't do simple quests and accumulate the rewards to ask for said spirit stones. The main uses of spirit stones are for trading, but what gives them intrinsic value in the magical world is that the mana they contain can be absorbed to accelerate cultivation and not only depend on breathing techniques. They could also replenish mana if needed. Pavarotti was accumulating favors by doing a few herb gathering quests and trading to buy resources that the tower requires for years, so when he has enough, he could exchange the 10 spirit stones in his treasury plus the accumulated favors for a breathing technique that would make you quickly become an apprentice. He had already been in this tower for 10 years, and he climbed little by little until he built a small gang that was dedicated to extorting and threatening women to work in his brothel. Once many women in the tower saw how the women in his brothel made a living so easily, many wanted to be his employees, so demand grew, and Pavarotti became more selective. And precisely because he was very selective, when he saw that purple-haired girl he knew he had obtained a treasure, until it slipped out of his hands.
...
Marlon took a long sigh and placed the girl on the floor while he observed the surroundings of his apartment. There was only a bed, a desk with a chair and an empty shelf. It was a large space of 80 square meters and the entire place was open without any type of room. Marlon deduced that he could change that in the modification option that the strange creature had mentioned.
"Well, you're safe now, although it all depends on your next course of action. Come on, I know you're awake."
The surprised girl opened her eyes. His face had swollen even more and he could barely open his left eye a little.
He stared at Marlon, saying nothing.
"You speak little, from what I see. Are you mute?"
The girl continued to stare at Marlon, without moving even a bit.
"Why did you bring me here? If you want to do something to me, I'll let me... and when you least expect it I'll tear off that thing you have there with my teeth, so it's better for you to kill me directly" Said the lilac-haired girl while continuing to look Marlon in the eyes, without an iota of fear in them.
"Calm down, I'm not going to do anything to you. If you didn't serve me, I wouldn't have brought you and sold you to that pimp, but I'm new here and I don't know the market, so I was afraid they were scamming me. I had never sold a pretty girl before, only truffles and occasionally some skin from an animal that fell into my traps" Marlon paused, but the girl did not respond.
"I brought you because that makes you owe me a favor. You see, I'm new here, so I need someone to explain to me how to get around this place without them trying to kill me, or worse yet, steal everything I have," Marlon said with an expression of dramatic grievance.
"Speaking of which, you tried to rob me and so you owe me 2 favors... no, 100 favors. Although no one here can actually try to kill me because of the rules, I have to protect myself from thieves like you, so consider explaining to me how I should move around this tower with caution as a half-favor repaid."
The girl didn't know how to respond. Was this guy really serious about it?
"There is not much to know. The vital thing is to recognize that force is what rules, and that valuable and shiny things are kept hidden to avoid thieves and criminals."
"So that's why you hid that adorable face of yours, and that's also why you make a living targeting newcomer rations. I have to admit that you are intelligent, that blow caught me by total surprise, if it had been someone weak you would have robbed me completely, and that is precisely the main reason why I brought you here. You seem like someone intelligent, so you can be useful to me in making my first move in this tower."
The girl was staring at Marlon again, but this time she saw him with some intrigue in her purple eyes.
"You see, having wealth is the basis for obtaining power, and having power is the basis for protecting those wealth. If this place is a jungle, you have to take every step with caution, that's why I thought about it during the minutes I was bringing you here and I thought it would be a good idea for you to help me. It's obvious that I have much more strength than the average mortal, and you evidenced it firsthand. "Show me good places where we can raid people and take everything they have, and I promise we will divide the loot fairly."