[Mission Failed: Punishment, half a day in the mirror realm.]

"….Motherfucker! Are you shitting me?!" 

Then Josh was sent back to what felt like a timeout punishment with the enemy shrooms. Fun fact, these little creatures were nicknamed the nightmare shrooms on the Net. The reason for that appellation was indubitably their countless teeth. Well, they had exactly 72, not more, not less. 

How did Josh know? He counted. He played the tooth fairy with the mushrooms. He relaxedly did it to satisfy his curiosity. Let's just say the scene was very graphic and would have traumatized many. 

All their lives (aka 3 days), the creatures had lived with the instinct to charge at their prey to devour them, sinking their teeth violently into their flesh. But Josh's victims were now extremely confused. 

What were some toothless small shrooms supposed to do? Ram the enemy? Their whole body was soft. It was not like they were black dragons that could tackle an enemy to death. Use a weapon? They didn't have limbs. It turned out that despairing shrooms would literally commit suicide in a poisonous explosion. 

Josh watched it all happen with keen interest. Was this biology or technology? After all, the whole Floor seemed to be some kind of simulation done by the Tower Protocol. But did it really matter? After all, this was his new reality. 

While asking himself that philosophical question, Josh went to sleep. He simply lay in the middle of a defeated evil shrooms circle. His head rested on the soft and vibrant grass, enjoying the atmosphere. He kept slumbering until the mission reset. 

What about the roaming enemies? No, seriously, what about them? He didn't know, for he hadn't been disturbed at all. 

That's how he found himself back to the dead world, in front of the newly revived friendly shroom. It seemed to recoil in fear and… Yep, Josh didn't care. He grabbed the target and began running. This time he knew perfectly where to go! Right after the trees, right there would be….more trees?! 

That's when Josh realized that the terrain had already completely changed. Oh well, he kept roaming, and about an hour later, he had found his objective. The Boss appeared in an impressive fashion and died like a bitch. Before long, it was finally all over. 

[Mission successful: teleport out available.] 

"Teleport me the fuck out of here! Thank you!"

A few instants after he came out, Josh could hear a deep voice addressing him. "Oh, it's you! Are you waiting for your team?" There stood a muscular middle-aged man, one he had seen before. He was that berserker from the tutorial. Then he solemnly uttered, "Thank you for what you did before, all of it…."

All of it, was it? Josh had no recollection of ever helping the man. Would he act humble and refuse the praise? No. In this world of ours, every little action had consequences. Perhaps he had helped him indirectly and unknowingly. He wouldn't dwell on it. 

Josh smiled slightly. "Glad to see you're doing well." He truly meant it. Weird, wasn't it? Josh wasn't one to care about irrelevant people. Still, knowing that other fellow earthlings were doing great brought him a small satisfaction. 

Humans always were like that: social animals. Yes, even the loneliest of loners. From time to time, a feeling of belonging was vital. If anything, what Josh cared about the most were his memories back on Earth. Perhaps this was why he couldn't help but have a soft spot for earthlings? 

The man kept going as he smiled teasingly. "There is someone that has been dying to meet you for a long time now. I think she may even have a crush on you, you know—" only to be interrupted by a voice coming from behind him. 

"This is no time for jokes! Brother, I saw the news! You are about to die, right?! We'll help you Climb!" Apparently, the young girl from the tutorial was there too. She simply had been hidden behind her giant companion. Still, it was peculiar that Josh hadn't noticed her at all. 

She seemed extremely concerned and was looking at him as if an endangered species. That is when the man ruffled her hair gently as a father would do. "Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine." Then he turned to Josh once more. "But what she says is true. If you need help just ask us. We are part of Immortal now. You can rely on us." 

Was that a renowned guild? Josh shrugged. "Alright, I'll keep it in mind. For now, I'll just continue Climbing. I still gotta clear Floor 13."

The kid kept going worriedly. "Brother, is your team good? You guys have a scout, right? What about antidotes? That Floor can be dangerous without preparations. I'm not going to let my savior die that easily!" 

Josh couldn't help but chuckle. Her tiny high-pitched voice didn't fit the seriousness of her discourse. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"That's what someone unprepared would say! That's totally a death flag!" She retorted sharply. 

"How about this: I promise to survive as new challenges appear in the Tower, I promise to survive as new worlds collide into ours, I promise to survive even the fall of our own universe as I watch it crumble in pieces, and I promise to survive until I've had a good "chat" with the gods. Better? 

She was simply watching him in stupefaction. That was a megadeath flag! Not only one for himself, but he had somehow dragged the entire universe into it! But just as she wanted to retort some more, he winked at her, nodded at the berserker, and entered the Tower in a flash of red light. 

That's when she began panicking. He had entered alone! Why?! He was going to die. He could also get stuck in a never-ending loop of trying to clear the mission forever until his life was over. This was a crisis, and…— "Don't worry. He'll be fine. I have no idea why. I just know he will." The man reassured her…

****

"Possible!" 

[After analysis, difficulties have been renamed: Normal, Hard, and Hellish.]

"…"

[Please select a difficulty.] 

Talk about a fickle system! What was next? Perhaps a 'vote for the name of your difficulty' poll? Perhaps even a random surprise difficulty? Josh wouldn't suggest such dumb ideas, for he was worried it would truly become a thing. 

"Hellish." 

[Hellish difficulty selected. Have fun!] 

How wholesome of the Tower it was to gently wish him to enjoy himself. It almost made him forget that its entire purpose was to slaughter the various races across the multiverse or something like that. 

Josh simply waited while leisurely walking. Before long came the awaited failure message and the teleportation to the mirror realm. He could already see a big difference. Instead of about 30 evil mushrooms, there were about a hundred awaiting him in ambush.

Now, there was only one thing that he wondered. Would their skills be more potent? Were their numbers the only thing that had changed? As he kept slaying and slaying, he came to the conclusion that they were WEAK! 

The creatures barely knew how to fight. As long as one could deal with their AoE ability, they were pretty easy to defeat. Josh felt like he was a high-level player bullying low-level mobs. After all, their only move was to angrily throw themselves mouths first. 

Actually, this lineup of monsters would have easily caused the demise of many. The main issue was being surrounded by all sides. It made it close to impossible to foresee where the next attack would come from. Then, there was the issue of the only escape being to step on the creatures directly. 

Attempting such a bold action was, however, extremely risky. As a natural reaction, it seems like they would instantly use their mist attack. It would then weaken (hypothesis) the opponent, making them fall right inside the pack of hungry shrooms. That was game over. 

Was there any way to survive being thrown in there? Short term? Possibly. Long term? Hell no! Even Josh wouldn't dare remain stationary in their midst. Josh was convinced there would be countless methods to deal with such enemies, but he was quite satisfied with his own hit and run tactic. 

After dispatching all these enemies, Josh managed to find his target. He shattered the peace of a peaceful group of friends that wanted nothing more but to teleport into another realm to kill some guy. 

Then, happened the same scene as before with Josh meeting the scared shroom, him fighting off assassins and all. This time, the difference was that there were three groups of the annoying teleporting bastards. 

One thing for sure was that working as a bodyguard was tough work. Josh had always found it to be a cool-looking job, but it turned out to be pretty shitty in this specific case. He even noted to himself that living shrooms were simply assholes. 

Why was Josh so angry at it? Well, it turned out that he was immune to poison, but not the damn shroom! Guess who willfully threw itself in a poison mist? Yes. Sadly it did. That made this nice message appear once more. 

[Mission Failed: Punishment, trip to mirror realm.]

Ah, for some reason, the Tower had stopped displaying the exact time of the punishment. Had it changed, or had the Tower simply decided to give less information? Oh well, it couldn't be helped. 

The main issue was that there were so many enemies. Josh wasn't able to 100% cope with them all while defending his "client". But would such a problem stop him? Oh, no. In fact, Josh already had a new plan. 

He simply called it operation PTSD…