The second floor was a safe zone known as the city of beginnings.
There would be safe zone floors such as this every 10 or so floors.
No monsters would spawn here, and players would buy equipment and whatnot here.
The second floor was also where one would begin to see some of the inhuman races, such as dwarves, intelligent goblins, elves, and more.
Many races, even if their homes were on higher floors, would begin from here when they truly began climbing the tower.
And of course, those living on the outskirts of the tower would also start from here.
As for the first floor, only those summoned to the tower could ever access it.
Naturally, it would be unfair if for example, an elf, who had been training with magic for dozens of years, was allowed to compete with humans who had never fought a battle in their life.
Anyway, I was surrounded by thousands of people as we were all summoned into the main plaza of the city.
A massive screen appeared above all of us.
[Welcome to the city of beginnings!]
You may rest and relax here, as this floor is a safe zone!
You have been given 1000 credits to survive.
Earn more credits by completing quests granted by inhabitants or from yours truly, the system.
It is recommended to buy some equipment and rest before moving up to the third floor.
From the third floor to the tenth floor, you will experience the beginner trials.
The beginner trials were something I was familiar with.
Many high floor players considered the first ten floors to be an extension of the tutorial.
They were pretty much right, as after clearing the first ten floors, you would be unable to return to them.
This prevented high level players from interfering with new players too much.
"H-h-h-hey, a-aren't you t-the D-dragon guy!?!"
A man to my left shouted out loud upon seeing my face.
As soon as he said that, all eyes were on me.
Just like that, people began to run in opposite directions.
'Maybe hiding my identity would've been good? But that's not really my style.'
I only knew how to hold my head up high.
My ego prevented me from skulking around in the shadows with a mask.
Whatever.
I brushed my white hair backwards and was about to begin walking through the city.
"Hey. You!"
A girls voice echoed through my ears.
I turned around to see an Asian girl wielding a sword against me.
'Right.. there was one particularly notable person to come out of my tutorial batch.'
Most tutorial batches would have several talented people, but the most exceptional ones to come out of my batch were of course, myself, albeit my talent would only be noticed later on, and this girl.
"What's up with you, there's no need to shout."
I responded calmly.
"How.. can you be so cruel?! I saw on that screen, you killed everyone! Are you even human!?"
Oh right.
Seo Ahrin was an idealist.
The further one travelled up the tower, the more unhinged one would become.
It seemed that this general rule did not apply to her.
"I didn't kill them, I only eliminated them, anyway, I'm not interested in fighting right now so I'll let it slide."
"Y-y-you... Really?! L-listen... I may not be as strong as you now, but I'll remember this."
She scurried off after that.
It was an irritable interaction.
But at the same time, it was amusing.
There were far worse things one would have to worry about in this wretched tower.
I left to go find an inn to rest in.
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The next day, after resting and eating properly, I was ready to go to the 3rd floor.
Honestly, as it stood, the third floor would be an easy challenge for me.
Upon entering the third floor, one would be transported into a fortress alongside 49 other players.
There were two fortresses, the red fortress and the blue fortress.
Each fortress would receive 50 players and they would receive 6 hours to play a game of capture the flag.
I opened the system and immediately continued to the next floor.
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49 Players and I summoned to the courtyard of a fortress.
It seemed I was on red team.
But I didn't exactly plan on following the rules of this floor.
The map of this floor was a forest with 2 fortresses situated on either end with a hill in the middle of the forest.
The secret of this floor was that if one were to steal both flags and plant them on the hill, and then successfully keep control of the hill for the duration of the floor challenge, they would receive an extra reward.
In other words, transform the game from capture the flag to king of the hill.
"-You must retrieve the fortress of blue's flag, it is situated at the very core of the fortress and you will have to steal it, some players may stay back to protect our own flag, although this will give lesser rewards."
The commander of the red fortress, Sir Crimson, explained our task.
I stood in the back and let my mind wander as I already had my plan.
...
After a while, I offered myself as a guard for the red flag.
Naturally, there was no suspicion of me stealing the flag, although some people did recognize me and feel fear.
4 other people than me were guarding the flag.
We were standing in a small room with stone floors at the center of the fortress.
Their faces seemed a little familiar, most likely from the same phase 3 arena I was in.
'Doesn't really matter anyway.'
I leisurely walked up to the flag and felt my teammates gazes move onto me.
I grabbed the flag and began tying it to my waist.
"H-hey, what are you planning?"
A teenage boy, most likely a high schooler, asked me with a shaky voice.
"I'm taking this flag."
I smiled at him and told him clearly.
"W-w-wait we're meant to protect it, what are you planning?!"
A girl, who seemed to be another highschooler, asked nervously.
Honestly, I could kill all of them, but it would alert the fortress guards quicker and could be problematic.
"Alright, let me put it like this, I'm taking this flag, and you guys can't stop me. If you have any problems with it, you can fight me!"
I smiled at them whilst activating the fear effect from my gauntlets.
Drip
Drip
"Ew! What the fuck!"
I let out an unintentionally loud shout.
The boy from earlier peed himself.
It seemed nobody wanted to fight me, instead, they were all trembling.
I left the room before the smell of pee would get onto my clothes.
Naturally, there were several non-player fortress guards taking rounds throughout the fort.
I saw two guards walking in the direction I needed to go, and quietly approached them from behind.
Snap!
"Hey, Tommy, what was th-
Snap!
I snapped their necks before they could raise any alarm.
I opened another door on route to the back exit of the fort and saw two guards eating lunch.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!"
They threw their sandwiches away and pulled their swords.
"Honestly fuck this stealth bullshit!"
I was too strong to be scurrying around like some sort of rat anyway.
"Dragon Crush!"
I blasted through the guards as well as the stone brick wall, finding myself outside in the main courtyard.
"It's an intruder! Get 'em boys!"
Several guards attacked me at once.
My speed was not at a level where I could dodge or parry all their attacks, and instead several slashes landed on me.
My tough skin absorbed the majority of the impact, and whatever injuries left were healed by my bloodslayer trait.
"Raagh!"
I let out a dragon roar and the guards were all temporarily stunned.
In that moment, I punched through the chests of two of them and ran to the main exit.
The gate was closed and so I made a hasty decision.
"Accelerate!"
My speed doubled and I smashed straight through the gate.
I continued running away from the main base, leaving the guards in the dust.
I disappeared into the forest, and began approaching the blue fortress.