***Author's Note***

For anyone interested, the manga was Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. And now we return to tower antics~

And look, I kept the chapter short! I'm so proud of myself.

Day 24

***POV Change***

Gillette organized the messy papers on his new desk, doing his best to ignore the incessantly ringing of his phone. Since coming to the 5th floor, he had been inundated with calls from individuals from outside the tower’s employment who were eager to convince the freshly risen administrators to sponsor their chosen challengers, featuring them in a storyline.

During a rare lull, he had left his own office to go visit Jen and Kettle. Jen was crying in the corner, while her many tentacles fluttered about the room, answering phones, taking notes, sorting papers, putting her seal of approval on documents relating to their transfer….

After cheering her up as best he could, Gillette went to see Kettle. The office was immaculate. She also already had two secretaries, who could have been, and probably were, Kettle’s mother and younger sister.

“Oh, thank you for your concern. Everything here is under control,” Kettle said calmly, adjusting her glasses. The mother adjusted her glasses. The sister then adjusted her glasses. Gillette fled.

A sharp knocking cut through the phone buzzing, and Gillette silenced it and exercised a bit of his improved administrator’s power, unlocking the door. Swinging open, the door revealed three individuals.

The one on the left was an Asian human, his hair cropped short. His entire body was strapped with different weapons. Katanas, knives, hatchets, kotachis, needles, stilettos… Gillette guessed that if you weighed him, he would be more metal and less flesh.

The man on the right was tall, slim, and dark skinned, wearing nondescript clothes and bright pink sunglasses. But it was the figure in the middle that had Gillette’s attention.

“Ah. I’ve heard of you. The group of humans they call “The Strongest Trio”. What can I do for you?”

The central figure smiled. Her long red hair was braided and fell down her back. She wore a modest green dress, but was still stunningly beautiful. The perfect poster child for humanity

“You can become our administrator.” Ketlia said.

***POV Change***

Contrary to what he had told me yesterday, the controller opened up the portal up to Floor 3 without much hassle, herding the large group of us through the portal. Apparently they split you up by original planet, so I was surrounded by them, and followed them into the swirling portal.

A huge wave of nausea struck me as I went through, almost causing me to topple over.

-Ugh, that human food really kicks you in the morning. Let’s stick to fresh meat from now on.

I squeezed my eyes closed, fighting the vertigo. Then all at once it passed.

“Welcome humans! You are the first group of your race to come to my floor. Congratulations~” A strangely androgynous voice echoed out, filling my ears.

Looking around, I could see that I was standing on a dirt road. It was completely dark, a dazzling array of stars overhead. Beyond the road was the desert, prickly cactuses undulating in an extremely strange manner in rows parallel with the road.

Around me were about 20 other individuals, standing still in clusters. I tried to shift my weight, but most of my body was frozen. Only my head could move. In front of us, along the road, I could see bunches of building lighting up the horizon.

-So where did Whipman go?

-I assume to a test with all Tellites. Hopefully we can meet up with him shortly.

“Floor 3 is the game floor! Prepare to have fun! The first game is one I learned from watching your human world; a variation of red light green light. I put belts on you all. Red means you can’t move! I’m holding you still this first time, but next time, if you move while the light is red, I’ll just kill you. As long as you don’t move, I won’t do anything!

“Floor 3 has 3 rounds. You are currently in the first round, and you just need to survive there until there are only 20 of you remaining~ Then you will move on to the second round get mixed in with everybody else. Isn’t it fun that you get to kill each other before having to fight other people? That’s true brotherhood.

“Now of course, when the light’s green, you can move however you want. But you can’t just run away. If you haven’t killed at least one other person every day, you will die~ So let’s get our hands dirty shall we?

-So I just have to stay still while the red light is on, right?

-Yes, but what you’re planning is-

I checked my essence, which had refilled at the rate of 1 Essence per hour. Likely a flat, constant rate, so it will become increasingly difficult to increase the max. Luckily, we had spent 8 hours watching the Greater Infernal rampage yesterday, and combined with sleep and the time preparing the portal, Essence was now full.

“Explode.” I gathered the air around me with Lesser Air Affinity and and threw it outwards at the bodies standing around me, fueling it with my bit of essence.

BOOOM.

Most of the force dispersed within 10 m, but there were 7 people whose bodies were smashed to a pulp by the powerful explosion. Notification popped up.

All Essence used at once! Max essence +1.Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Lesser Air Affinity Lvl 9”. Degree of control improved. Ability to condense air has improved. Insights into the nature of air come more easily to you.

“Hey, you.” The voice echoed out again.

“Yes, you, air boy. I’m pleased that you took the initiative and so easily killed those people, but I’m annoyed that you interrupted me. So those kills count as today’s kill for you, but… let’s add some extra rules. The effectiveness of spells cast with Essence will be decreased to 0% while you remain on my floor. And anyone who kills Air boy here… gets instantly sent on to the 4th floor, skipping all of this tedious culling of the weak. Everyone ready? Green light!”

-Uh, what.

-I think we just became public enemy number 1.

The lights on our belts switched to green. The dozen remaining people on the road near be walked forward with narrowed eyes.

-...and I’m not sure if it’s because we are a free ticket to the next round, or because we so callously killed those few humans.

-Racial loyalty is so annoying. Let’s talk in a few days, where they have had to kill 1 person each day to survive.

*****

At other me’s urging, I left those people alive, dodging weapons and thrown icicles, fleeing into the desert past the line of cacti.

-After all, we will have to kill 1 person a day until this ends. Might as well leave a few easy pickings alive.

- Won’t they just get killed by others?

-Which will let those others survive, to be killed by you. Besides, we took the day off of training yesterday, what would Whipman say?

One thing I noticed was that there was a timer on the belt, slowly ticking down on the belt. It currently had a little over 9 hours.

-Perhaps the time until the color switches to red?

-Or until the day ends.

Setting that aside, I was pleased to discover that the desert was full of relatively weak giant scorpion. I crushed their skulls and drank their blood, savoring the refreshment. I found a cave where I could hide from the sun, which also seemed to serve as a nest of scorpions. Clearing out most of them by the entrance, I decided to let the ones hiding deeper inside the cave be for now, so I would have something to eat and drink tomorrow.

Then I settled into Thunder Stance, moving through the 4 forms that I knew.

“Wrath,” I whispered to myself in the darkness, hands flexing.

Surge of Thunder.

Clear Sky, Sudden Bolt.

Rolling Thunder.

Forking Bolt.

As I practiced, other me adopted the role of Whipman.

-Horrible. You are not a cloud bank, scooting in. You are thunder! Surge!

My hands blurred, lashing out at the air.

-Impossible, how did I become stuck with a disciple without any talent?

Running forward, I stopped abruptly before the stone wall of the cave. I remained there for several seconds, arms relaxing. Then they shot forward, smashing into the wall.

-Pathetic. I should have taken Tim as a disciple. He would have-

My eyes narrowed to slits. Anger surging I stepped forward, approaching an imaginary opponent head-on. My heart was pounding, my vision turning red. Then, at the last moment, I stepped right, ducking into the opponent’s blind spot.

But I didn’t not stop there. My knees aching, I cut back again, even faster, hands lashing out as I passed. Then again to the other side. And again. And again, my body moving too fast for vision to follow.

By the time I reached the far wall, my knees were in agony, even the cartilage on my vastly improved body unable to handle the cuts I was making with the fourth form of thunder stance. As I collapsed, breathing heavily, I looked at the notifications that had appeared.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Thunder Stance Lvl 2”. Strength and speed of your strikes while in the stance has improved. Ease with which you may switch between the forms has slightly improved.Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Physicality Lvl 6”. Resiliency of bones and joints as improved. Your tendons, nails, teeth, and hair improved with “Path of the Dragon” have increased synchronicity with your body. A small percentage of their toughness spreads.

I was gloating on my gains when other me spoke, still playing the part of Whipman.

-You have now been resting for two minutes. If we wait any longer to continue, a gut will form from extended laziness. Stand up.

Grumbling, I stood.

*****

The rest of the day was primarily spent training with the other cadences. Squats and slow movements to feel the growing power of my base for the cadence of earth.

-Resentment

Sticky, swirling, flowing movements for the cadence of water.

-Hatred.

Quick, slippery movements for the cadence of air. Slight cutting motions, rapid accelerations, light touches that were capable of slipping past an opponent’s defense.

-Fear

I could tell that I was closest to a breakthrough in air cadence, but when the countdown displayed 2 hours remaining, I switched to training something I hadn’t done in a while: Knife Throw. My mana pool was big enough that I had other me pick up rocks with air, 7 stones buzzing about, trying to slam against me, and would drop to the ground when I hit them with a knife.

First 7, then 11, then 20.

I spun and ducked, almost instinctively entering into the cadence of air. I was light and floating, cutting between the rocks and flicking out knives. In what I consider to be a cheating move, other me used Wind blade to cut one of the stones in half, splitting it apart around my approaching knife.

Grinning, I used air affinity to adjust the thrown knife, angling it so the knife hit one of the stones, and then ricocheted off and hit the other one.

-Cheater

-You’re one to talk, other me.

Several notifications got both of our attentions.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Knife Throw Lvl 10”. The skill “Knife Throw Lvl 10” has morphed into the title “Master of Throwing Knives”: The feats which you can accomplish simply by throwing knives are unrivaled. You gain the skills “Silent Kill Lvl 1” and “Sneak Attack Lvl 1”. When attacking, you may passively gain the bonus from one of these skills, but not both.Silent Kill Lvl 1: When attacking an unaware target, there is an increased likelihood that the target will perish without a sound.Sneak Attack Lvl 1: When attacking an unaware target, your strikes will do 8% increased damage.

Both were only useful when ambushing targets, but I was still pleased. Every little bit helps to close the gap. Clenching my fist, I remembered the man who could wave his hand and leave me completely helpless. I walked deeper into the cave, wanting to test my new skills out on the scorpions.

***POV Change***

“Surely you have administrators knocking on your door constantly. You are currently the most promising group of humans. As a new race, humans will be a hot commodity to be featured in storylines by administrators. Why do you want me? As I’m sure you’re aware, I am freshly promoted from the 1st floor.” Gillette's eyes glowed as he used a skill to raise his mental defenses.

The woman, Ketlia, only smiled, making no attempt to probe his mind. “I had originally planned on selecting someone else. That administrator appealed to me for a number of reasons. One of which…”

Ketlia walked over and sat down on the low couch in Gillette’s office, making herself comfortable. “Was his naivety in regards to my power. He didn’t bother hiding his cards at all. Perhaps he thought it would make him stand out from the crowd.” Ketlia shrugged.

“It just made me think he was an idiot. But then, just as talks were beginning to progress more smoothly, he abruptly became more agitated a few days ago. And when I investigated…” She wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “I felt his fear that someone was about to come who could steal me away. A creature who had worked very successfully as an administrator, orchestrating a storyline that lasted from Floor 10 all the way to that group's ascension.

“At which point he was cast aside, and mostly retired from Administer work. He only returned recently, to oversee a freshly hired errand girl, a seemingly completely normal slime named Jen. I can’t help but wonder what the connection between the two of you could be~”

Gillette remained silent, his glowing eyes becoming even brighter. Ketlia continued, “And that slime is now an administrator alongside you? That likely puts you in a very difficult decision. Administrators who sponsor different people on the same floor are competing very directly for attention by the viewers. So I thought I could generously offer my own services.”

Ketlia spread her hands wide. “Because while administrators on the same floor are competing…”

“...it is very common for administrators on different level to tie their storylines together, benefiting each other greatly….” Gillette murmured, his eyes slowly dimming back to normal.

“So,” Ketlia looked at him expectantly. “Do we have a deal?”

***POV Change***

It seemed like one skill or the other was on at all times, and switching between them took but a thought. I was walking back towards the front of the cave, munching on a scorpion. I checked the time on the belt: almost exactly an hour.

I looked up, noticing that abruptly, the light produced from my belt had changed from green to yellow. I slowed down, and after a bit of thought, lay on the ground, trying to find a comfortable position.

Within 10 seconds, the light had turned red.

The voice boom out, giggling. “Ahahaha! Whoops, I guess I accidentally set the timer wrong. Sorry sorry. But it really must be frustrating for the ones among you who were pussy footing around. If you don’t manage to kill someone soon, you will die. But you can’t move! Anyways, the light will stay red until midnight, after which you can move freely until 9 am tomorrow morning~”

The hours to midnight crept past, laying on the uncomfortable ground. A stone was digging into my back. But I kept my eyes closed and focused, practicing air affinity while other me felt the strength of the earth, attempting to understand the cadence of earth better.

At midnight, the voice spoke again. “That’s it! Free to move~ Oh, I should mention that there are 12,036 of you remaining. Better start killing tomorrow, or you are going to be stuck with me for a while!”