Arthur dropped the broken branch he'd been holding, its splintered remains joining the growing pile at his feet. Taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from his brow with his arm, Arthur made his way over to the lake. Crouching down, he cupped his hands bringing the water to his lips, the water cold and refreshing, easing the burning in his throat and chest.
He stared at his rippling reflection, his thoughts a tangled mess of frustration and regret. He'd spent days training, climbing trees, swinging branches, and trying to prepare himself for whatever the tower might throw at him next. But no amount of preparation or distraction seemed to help him forget Eric's desperate cries and sudden death.
A chime interrupted his thoughts, pulling him back to the present.
CONGRATULATIONS!
DUE TO PUSHING YOUR STRENGTH TO ITS LIMITS, YOUR STRENGTH HAS INCREASED BY 1 (9 → 10).
DUE TO CONSTANTLY WORKING YOUR HAND-EYE COORDINATION, YOUR DEXTERITY HAS INCREASED BY 1 (8 → 9).
Dismissing the message with a wave of his hand, Arthur then opened his PROFILE to review the progress he had made so far.
PROFILE
NAME: Arthur Hale
LEVEL: 2 (42/200 EXP)
HEALTH: 200/200
MANA: 8/95
STATS:
- Strength: 10
- Dexterity: 9
- Endurance: 10
- Intelligence: 9
- Wisdom: 7
- Luck: 5
STAT POINTS: 5
His health had increased significantly thanks to his rising Endurance and levelling up, which was a good thing to see and definitely something Arthur intended to keep improving. The more health he had the less likely he was to die and Arthur was very eager to survive through this hellish existence.
His mana, which had been drained completely during training, had only partially recovered. He'd been testing his Blade Flurry skill repeatedly, leaving his mana pool in a constant state of depletion. But he was becoming familiar with the puppet-like feeling his body experienced when using the skill. It was no longer as disorienting as it had been in the beginning and while still weird, was more comfortable.
The five stat points he'd gained from levelling up Arthur had decided to keep unallocated for the time being. He had debated a few times where to invest them, mostly in Endurance but he had held off for the time being. His reasoning had been that it would be better to invest them into whatever stats needed boosting the most depending on the situation inside the Floors.
It would be a good way to adapt and respond in the moment, giving him a boost in strength, speed, health or mana depending on what his opponents might be like. 'It makes more sense to keep them for emergencies,' he had reasoned to himself. 'I have no idea what's waiting on the next floor. Better to adapt on the fly."
He then clicked on the Skills tab, checking the progress of his skills and their proficiencies.
PASSIVE SKILLS:
SWORDSMANSHIP (BASIC)
- DESCRIPTION: Click to expand
- MANA COST: None
- PROFICIENCY: 52%
CLIMBING (BASIC).
- DESCRIPTION: Click to expand
- MANA COST: None
- PROFICIENCY: 48%
HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT (BASIC).
- DESCRIPTION: Click to expand
- MANA COST: None
- PROFICIENCY: 19%
ACTIVE SKILLS:
BLADE FLURRY
- DESCRIPTION: Click to expand
- MANA COST: 10 MP
- PROFICIENCY: 49%
SHIELD BASH
- DESCRIPTION: Click to expand
- MANA COST: 8 MP
- PROFICIENCY: 1%
Arthur frowned slightly as he looked over the numbers carefully. Besides for Shield Bash progress in his other skills had gone well, but he had quickly realised that as his proficiency in them neared the halfway point it slowed dramatically. The only exception was the Climbing (Basic) skill he had gained, yet for Swordsmanship (Basic) and Blade Flurry upon nearing fifty percent, it became harder to gain even just an extra percentage.
"There has to be some kind of wall." Arthur muttered to himself, scratching his head.
His eyes then drifted to Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic), the skill he'd earned from throwing random punches and kicks. He hadn't focused on it much, only practising occasionally, which explained why it hadn't grown as much as the others. He didn't really know much of any martial arts and was just simply throwing random moves he had seen in UFC fights, boxing matches and from movies. Nothing all that good, but just like with Climbing (Basic) repetitive action had given two new passive skills.
Arthur clenched his fists tightly. "Maybe if I'd had these skills before; maybe things would have been different." He cursed the Tower for withholding information in the way it did, not even giving him and others a Tutorial on how to use the gamer system or a guide on its mechanics.
No.
Instead, he was left to try and figure out everything himself.
-X-
The next day, Arthur sat by the lake, eyes scanning the treeline as he waited eagerly for the arrival of another person. He would not lie, Arthur had been counting down the days for the week to go by. Eric had only been in the Tower a few hours before his death, but those few hours had reminded Arthur that while he had always liked being alone in his past life, in the Tower, isolated the way he was, having human connection was a treasure in itself.
Hearing movement, Arthur spun to see a man in his mid-thirties, wearing jeans and a leather jacket stumbling out from the darkness, catching himself on is hands and knees. His head snapped up a few moments later, looking around at his surroundings in confusion.
Arthur stood and approached cautiously. "Hey. Are you okay?"
The man turned toward him, wide-eyed. "Where… where am I?"
"The Tower, I think?" Arthur answered. "My name's Arthur. What's yours?"
"Tom," the man said. "Tom Harris. What the hell is this place?"
Arthur sighed, the conversation feeling eerily similar, a replay of his first meeting with Eric. "I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I do know."
Over the next hour, Arthur told Tom what he knew of the Tower, making it clear that he didn't really know whether this was or not. He still didn't though it made the most logical conversation based on what Eric had told him of the Towers back in the real world. Arthur explained about the Safe Zone and how it healed any injuries and the Floors. He still had no idea whether the ten portals around them were all that needed completing in order to return to the real world, but Tom had understood quickly that Arthur knew only a little bit more than the governments of the world did.
After Arthur had finished explaining what he knew of their circumstances, Tom had explained what had been going on outside in the Tower. Two weeks had gone by and all that had really changed was the Towers being quarantined and put under lockdown. No one was allowed within a ten-mile radius of them, the militaries setting bases surrounding it.
Yet for the most part, the world had moved on like nothing had happened. There was still plenty of speculation about what the Towers were and where they came from, but other than that, most people had just moved on with their lives.
"So… you've been here for two weeks?" Tom asked after a moment's silence where both had digested the information they had been told.
Arthur shook his head. "From what I'm aware." He replied. "But I'll be honest, time just feels different here. Don't get me wrong, the days go by the same as they do outside based on what's been said. But it just feels, weird."
Tom nodded his head, not quite understanding but accepting the answer. "...Have you tried the First Floor yet?"
Arthur's stomach twisted and the silence was all the answer Tom needed to know that he had. Though Arthur had mentioned the monsters, Giant Rats and Splinterlings, he had not explained in great deal about the Tower itself. But what he had, had painted a vicious picture that Tom instinctively understood.
"You shouldn't go." Arthur eventually told him as he stared at the portal. "The First Floor. It's not something two people can handle. I know. I tried before with one other person, Eric Collins."
The fact that Eric was not here and what happened to him did not need to be said, Tom just lowered his head slightly. "...We can't just stay here forever though." Tom eventually replied, Arthur nodding his head.
"That's why I've been training. Improving my stats and proficiency in my skills." He said, Tom, smiling.
"Then surely, with—"
"No." Arthur said firmly, cutting Tom off before he could continue. "You'll die. We both will. The First Floor needs more people than just the two of us."
-X-
The rest of the day, Tom had simply wandered around the Safe Zone, limited though it had been and despite Arthur explaining the boundaries and what happened when one went past it, Tom tried it anyway. Though he had not been aware of how he had gotten back when he had tried it, Arthur had been to see what happened when Tom tried.
Just like he had first arrived at the Tower, Tom had stumbled through the treeline and collapsed to the ground unconscious before awakening a few moments later. After that first attempt, Tom had simply just sat down while Arthur went to work on his training.
He continued alternating between climbing up trees to gather new branches, swinging said branches by using his Active Skills until he had drained his mana, then continuing to swing his one remaining branch to work on his passive skills. Though due to its slow progress, Arthur had ditched improving his Swordsmanship (Basic) to work on his Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic). But only his newly acquired passive skills showed any real improvement with Climbing (Basic) not seemingly having the fifty percent wall like the other combat-oriented ones.
Eventually though, Arthur lowered his arms, to take a break having spent a good few hours working on his training. It was then he looked around, only to notice that the Safe Zone was empty, Tom nowhere in sight.
"Tom?" Arthur called out but received no response.
For a few moments, he looked around the treeline, expecting Tom to come tumbling out. His initial thought was that Tom had once again tried to wander beyond the boundaries of the Safe Zone in which case he would be back in a few seconds.
But as a minute ticked by and Tom didn't arrive, Arthur frowned heavily. "Tom?" He called again.
Still nothing.
It's then Arthur's gaze drifted toward the portal to the First Floor and his heart sank.
It was gone.
Slowly, Arthur approached the spot where the portal to the first floor had stood. "Did he go in?" Arthur muttered and reached out with his hand, hand passing through the air where the shimmering purple aura would once be. It had disappeared without a trace, leaving the air still and empty. "Idiot. Why didn't you tell me?" He clenched his fists, anger bubbling in his chest.
The realisation of what happened when someone entered the First Floor hit him hard.
It closed.
Thus, preventing reinforcements or allies from arriving to help those inside.
"Is this how the Tower works?" Arthur asked aloud. "Does it make everything harder on purpose? Is it supposed to be some kind of sick game?"
As if in response, a notification appeared.
CONGRATULATIONS!
DUE TO UNCOVERING A NEW ASPECT OF THE TOWER, YOUR INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED BY 1 (9 → 10).
He had no idea if the new discovery of the Tower was about it being nothing more than a sick game or the understanding of the portal, but Arthur didn't care. He just angrily swiped at the notification, dismissing it.
Only for the portal to then reappear moments later, shimmering faintly in the air like it had always been there. Arthur remained rooted to the spot, waiting for Tom to come through, maybe a big notification saying that he had done the impossible and cleared the First Floor.
But once more, time ticked by without pause.
Tom didn't return.
Arthur's chest tightened.
He didn't need the system to tell him what had happened.
Tom was dead.