4th floor,
The Primordial Tower
Kai came out of the flashes of teleportation, with a rational mind and full of expectations.
Unlike before, now he knew what he would face before entering the city itself. So the moment he looked down and found himself in a white shirt, black pants, and black shoes, he nodded to himself.
"A very good afternoon, sir," a sweet voice entered his ears.
Kai looked to his right and saw a teenage girl dressed in a long, blue soiled frock patterned with small red flowers below the waist. There was a large, thin hat over her head, shading her face from the golden, burning rays of high afternoon. Her eyes were common brown, her hair black, and her face simple.
A resident?! Kai reflected. There was no way to sense if a person was a Contestant or not unless his Perception were to sense some kind of danger, or there was an enormous gap between the two Perceptions. Yet, Kai just knew this girl was no Contestant. He could feel her emotions, a tinge of warmth mixed with her happiness. More often than not, Contestants lacked this warmth for other unknown Contestants.
"Yes?" Kai said, smiling.
The girl blushed, her cheeks becoming rosy. "Are you a newly ascended Contestant?" she asked as if she had become familiar with the question. "If you are, may I have the honor of showing you around and giving you a tour before you depart for the City of Leisure? Of course, all this is for just 100 MC."
Kai looked at her as the girl bit her lips, nervous about hearing a refusal. Meg had already told him about the City of Leisure while they were within the Random Worlds. If the 1st Set represented all that was poor and filthy about the Primordial Tower, then the 4th floor represented only one thing — Leisure.
Meg had given him a clearer picture of how things stood in the Primordial Tower.
The sizes of floors varied with Sets, but within a particular Set, they were almost of equal sizes.
The first floor was the biggest, with a size comparable to a minor planet, and the poorest, lawless region as well. As one left the 1st Set, the quality of life enhanced drastically. The 2nd and 3rd Sets were mainly based on the late 1700s to early 1900s, she had told him. The sizes of the 2nd Set's floors were comparable to the continents of Asia and Europe combined. Meg had then drawn comparable sizes to give Kai an idea.
It kept on decreasing from there onwards with every subsequent Set, the technology and quality of life increasing along with it as if one was moving down the river of time and not ascending floors of a tower.
That's why millions of Contestants are in a race to reach the 4th floor, Meg had said. Not only do they leave a sick society behind but also get to live in comfort for the rest of their lives if they don't dare to go out in the Random Worlds anymore.
It was also the reason for it being named the City of Leisure.
It had the highest concentration of non-Contestants if one didn't count 1st-Set at all.
"OK," Kai nodded and then bowed. "I am in your care, my lady."
The girl beamed. "Please come with me," she said, gesturing with her hand. "My name is Lucy."
"Desmond."
Lucy took him away from the spot where Kai had teleported. He looked around and saw many flashes. In hundreds, to be exact. But unlike the 2nd floor, there was no hubbub and no forced conscription. Large tents were raised all around, with numbers on them in enormous lettering. People were going in and out of those tents in a scant, chaotic manner.
"You must get a City-pass before leaving this Arrival Zone, Mr. Desmond," Lucy said, looking up at him from under her hat. "You are seeing the largest tent in the distance with the banner of the Royal Coat of Arms, right? That's our destination."
Kai could see it. How could he not? Largest wasn't a word to justify how big it was. It was more like a castle atop a hill than a mass of cloth, the banner at its canopy fluttering like some white cloud. With every ripple, Kai could see the hideous sign of convoluted red-blue Yin and Yang, with a thousand different weapons jutting out from the red one's periphery.
"Use of Skills, Abilities, or any supernatural strength, is forbidden here and within the City to harm others," Lucy told him.
Is she warning me? Kai thought, amusingly. All these things he had already known. But just marching by himself, especially when he was a newly ascended Contestant with no organization to back him up, would have been playing into the hands of his enemy. He was already on the hit list of the Temple of Hastur. No need to make things more difficult than they already were.
Lucy led him to a road laid with granite pavement, horse carts running up and down on it. "If you want to join an Organization, Mr. Desmond," she said, walking on the side of the road, "then you can do so by entering the numbered tents. You can also trade materials, Items, and miscellaneous things within the numbered tents as well. Otherwise, you can just go to the Royal tent directly."
Kai listened to everything, gawking at the tents lined on both sides of the road. Signs of scuffles, magic, and even death were there, just for the experienced eyes to see. It was quite a regulated place, he realized, remembering that, unlike the 1st Set, there was considerable Royal presence from the 2nd Set onwards.
"Are we going to just walk?" Kai asked, eying the royal tent a few miles down the road. "Can't we hire a horse cart?"
Lucy blushed again, but this time, the colors were bordering on shame. "They cost extra MCs," she said meekly. "I…"
Kai laughed. "I will pay, of course," he said.
"You will?!" Lucy exclaimed, but then remembered her manners and apologized. "I am sorry, Mr. Desmond. I shouldn't have assumed things beforehand. Let me hire a carriage then."
Kai wanted to say she had assumed correctly. As of now, he was poorer than most Contestants ascending to the 4th floor. Still, many things became easier if you just acted like you had money, even if you didn't possess it, he had learned. Not to mention, he always had information to trade at the Primordial Tower Trade Market, especially after gaining those new Stats.
Lucy hurried away from Kai, taking small steps in quick succession.
She returned with a Barouche behind her heels, the driver eying Kai in confusion and doubt.
"50 MC to the Royal Station of Stantonharold," the driver said, demanding the payment affront, and taking out his Credits Storage Card.
Kai paid him easily.
Once he got the payment, the driver's entire personality turned about. He smiled, jumped off his seat, and opened the door to the carriage. Kai climbed up, and let out a breath, taking a seat under the shade of a collapsible roof.
The driver shut the door then.
"Huh?" Kai looked down and found Lucy staring away back to where they'd come from. "You aren't coming with me, Ms. Lucy?!"
The driver spun his head, planting his fat eyes on him. "She's a fucking resident," he spat, assuming that Kai didn't know. "Let her run off."
Meg told me nothing about this, Kai thought. He couldn't relate how Lucy was any different from this driver, who was an old Contestant from the way he had just talked. Kai could kill them both if he wanted to, and that made them both equal in his eyes. So, the driver's reasoning felt neither here nor there to Kai.
"Come up," he said, opening the door with a kick. "Your voice is sweet."
Kai couldn't have bothered about Lucy if the driver hadn't tried to force his ideals on him as well. Now that he had, it amused Kai to irritate him a little. Let's see what happens; curiosity tickled him, whispering in his mind.
Lucy looked up at him in disbelief, and climbed up in a stunned stupor, taking a seat opposite Kai. Behind her, the driver fumed. "That's another 50 MC," he said. "Now."
Kai threw the mission credits. The whip snapped once the ugly business was done. Kai felt the surge of emotions coming out of Lucy. He licked his lips, almost on the verge of sucking out her bubbling happiness, but thought better of it upon remembering the enchantments.
"Continue," Kai said, looking around as the carriage picked speed.
"Yes… Yes, Mr. Desmond," Lucy stuttered and then took a deep breath to compose herself. "The City of Leisure is divided into 100 nations. Generally, Set Lords of the 1st Set are given the presidency of the nations. With time, each nation has come to hold a sizable number of noble families. Strong Contestants and these nobles hold many important diplomatic positions. But it's the royal family that truly rules the city."
The driver snorted as Lucy's speech ended.
Kai ignored him and nodded at Lucy, urging her to continue. "There are 307 major gates spanned across the City of Leisure, Mr. Desmond," she whispered, leaning forward. "The royal tent where you are going is the Train Station of Stantonharold nation. Steam locomotives depart for the nation's gate hourly, and you can buy yourself a ticket just for 5 MC. If you want to go to another Arrival Zone outside the city walls, then you can do so from the royal stations as well. The Royal Wizards have established portkeys, linking the stations among themselves. You can pay 20 MC to go to any Royal Station you want. But you must get your City-pass first."
Kai amused himself with the thrilling emotion dancing across Lucy's eyes. He and Meg had decided to meet at the Royal Station of Buckfastleigh, before heading for the nation together. The reason was simple. Buckfastleigh had a major Temple of Byagoona hidden within it, and Meg had ways to find out its location without Kai breaking the Iron Coin.
Lucy kept saying random things, her eyes brimming with enthusiasm, and by the time they reached the station, she was almost laughing. The driver didn't spend over one second, opening the carriage's door, and throwing a condescending look at Lucy as she stepped out, followed by Kai.
He craned his neck up, seeing the royal tent reaching towards the sky like a lance. The flutters of the banner reached his ears like the flaps of a thousand Great Redshanks' wings.
As the driver drove off the carriage, Kai looked at the entrance of the royal tent; a huge flap of cloth, parting in the middle. Outside the tent, on the entrance's flanks, there were two guards in white armor, a thin slit in their visor, letting them peek out at the world. Each had a greatsword in their hands, the tip of the swords pointing down. White cloaks hung down from their shoulders, and as an occasional gust lifted them, Kai saw the royal coat of arms on them too.
A steaming whistle reached him suddenly, crawling its way up the tent.
"The White Guards of the Royal Police Force!" Lucy shouted over the whistle's sound, seeing in the same direction. "I have heard some Contestants say that they are very strong."
They are strong indeed, Kai thought, sensing the pulsating Mana around them. Almost as strong as Yannis, but with those armors on them, I can't say with certainty.
"Mmm…"
Oh, yeah! I forgot, Kai recalled. "100 MC right?"
Lucy nodded, taking out her Credits Storage Card. When Kai had paid her, she bowed as low as her hat allowed her. "Thank you, Mr. Desmond," she said. "I will remember your name."
Giving Kai a last deep look, Lucy stole her eyes away, turned around, and stalked off, keeping herself to the side of the road. Kai's gaze followed her as her figure became a blue speck of light, before disappearing altogether, heading once again to Contestant's arrival spot.
After some time, Kai looked up and stared at the sky, thinking of a fate that could've been his if his mother had been alive.
"If…".
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