Chapter 98

The Greedy Seven (III)

The entrance to the second floor was a portal -- as almost all entrances to upper and lower floors were. It shimmered on top of a fairly wide, plaza-like platform perched on top of a stone-cast plateau, looming over a bottomless abyss. It was eerily made and clearly not natural, as it had far too much symmetry in its design. Though the floor of the platform itself was rugged and appeared aged, there were still signs that it used to be quite grand in a very, very, very distant past.

By the time Cain and others arrived, the entire place was swarming with people, some entering and a few even exiting, and quite a lot just lounging around. They were either looking for parties to go up with or were trading and selling items.

When the seven appeared, countless eyes veered over onto them, prompting everyone except Cain and Daniel to shrug back slightly and hide behind the two. They'd taken quite a few 'donations' on their way over and not everyone immediately left for the exit of the Tower which was why the rumors about them had begun circulating through the groups.

Chatter immediately emerged as people began identifying them to their friends who had no clue who the group was -- ‘the Masked Seven’, ‘the Greedy Seven’, ‘the Thieving Seven’... there were numerous nicknames and alterations of the ‘Seven’ despite the fact that most of the ‘donations’ were exclusively accepted by Cain and Daniel and that only Jamal was ever designated with fighting against other tollbooths on the road.

Though the other four felt slighted, they had no avenue of retreat and merely accepted the punishment, ever-grateful that they relented and wore masks before entering the Tower.

Cain came to a halt and looked around a few makeshift stalls to see whether anything caught his eye, prompting quite a few people to quickly pack their bags and leave. Smiling bitterly, he could only shake his head; in reality, after the first time, all other ‘donations’ weren’t prompted by their party -- they’d come across a ‘tollbooth’, beat whoever it was operated by, and people would just toss a few items at them without a warning. Oh well...

Shrugging, he turned toward the portal as his eyes lit up. The second floor... was special, in many ways. Not only would it be the first floor to become genuinely settled by Conquerors, but it would also eventually become sort of a 'capital' in the Tower with a population of nearly fifty million at its peak. This included Conquerors, their families, just ordinary people who preferred living inside the Tower, as well as numerous species of the Tower natives.

Furthermore, it was also a good spot to grind for classless skills as quite a few field bosses had a high chance of rewarding one on killing them.

“Let’s go,” he called out, already moving out. There was no need for them to stagnate around the portal as he already had a plan in mind on what they would do on the second floor.

Though for most others, he suspected, traveling through the portal would be a very stifling experience -- as evidenced by Lukas and Daniel keeling over right after landing on the other side -- Cain, Emma, Jamal, Diya, and Senna had all experienced these journeys quite a few times by now, rendering them practically immune to the aftereffects.

Following the temporary blindness, the group opened their eyes to the scene that they certainly didn’t expect; Cain, after all, couldn’t just as well have told them what to expect as, technically, he hasn’t been in here either. Yet, even he, who had seen this place countless times before still paused for a moment to admire it.

They stood on top of a crystal-clear lake, ripples emerging underneath their feet as they landed. They didn’t need to use Mana to actually remain afoot -- it was just one of the ‘features’ of the lake beneath them that was promptly named ‘Mirror Lake’ due to the fact that it perfectly reflected the world above and around it as though it was a highly-stylized painting.

The centerfold, however, didn’t belong to the lake but to the triage of structures at the heart of the massive lake surrounded by outward-bounding mountains, appearing as though made by an explosion that pushed them out.

Two massive steles, each at the very least five miles tall, mirrored each other in parallels, rotating slowly in place, colored in golden-gray. The two steles framed the centerpiece itself -- the City of Mirrors, the first truly massive city in the Tower. Though the first floor had smaller villages and towns in spades, it had no genuine cities -- and especially not of the vertical type, which the City of Mirrors was.

It floated a good few hundred feet off the lake's surface, though, unlike steles, it didn't rotate. It looked like it was built in layers, thinning out as it went toward the top, with countless extruded platforms, most of which were walled, appearing around it. Golden, silver, and white colors dominated the scenery, and magic circles abound ensured it looked entirely unreal.

Though it was difficult to estimate just how tall the city was, Cain knew from top to bottom it was actually whole eight miles, with the livable area encompassing seven and a half of those. This was one of the reasons it was able to house fifty million souls and still have some extra spare room for just the visitors.

There were hundreds of people strewn about the lake, most newcomers too caught up in awe to care for much else while others likely had no clue how to actually enter the city.

Cain let the other six enjoy the sights while he looked around at the surrounding mountains. Generally, the second floor was split into seven areas -- the City here in the center, Xelon Forest, Masashi Desert, Fiery Lakes, Hallowed Graveyard, Underworld, and Stairs of Light. Every other region existed beyond the mountains and the entire floor itself was much smaller than the first, so much so that Cain suspected the ‘edge’ would be discovered within a couple of months.

The easiest region, by far, was the Hollowed Graveyard with the hardest being the Stairs of Light. In fact, Cain even wanted to entirely skip the latter but knew it would be difficult to sate his greed since the Shard of Eternity was one of the rewards for climbing to the top. First things first, however.

“Wanna go to the city?” Cain asked the group, dragging them out of their stupor.

“T-the city...? You mean... you mean that thing?” Emma asked.

“Yup.”

“But how?” Jamal frowned. “Looks like others wanna do the same but have no clue.”

“I have a quest...” Cain made up a quick lie.

“Ah, of course you do.” Senna scoffed.

“Fine, you guys can stand outside and stare around like a group of sheep--”

“We’ll go, we’ll go; don’t get your panties twisted immediately, geez.” Emma interrupted with a sigh, pushing him forward. “Won’t others just copy us?”

“Well... they can try.” Cain smirked mysteriously as the group slowly sauntered toward the steles and the city.

“What are the two big rocks for?” Daniel asked. Everyone immediately turned toward Cain who, despite having his back turned, could feel their eyes piercing at him.

“Uh... I dunno. Maybe they hide Titans or something?”

“What?”

“... never mind.” Cain sighed, somewhat saddened that nobody picked up on his reference.

“What is... what is the quest about?” Lukas asked suddenly.

“To meet up with someone and get more quests.” Damn, I’m really good at his lying-on-the-spot thing...

“Oh...”

“Yup, everyone’s staring at us.” Jamal said as the group stopped just below the city. There were quite a few other groups already here whose attention drifted toward the seven. Cain ignored them all, however, instead looking up and noting a peculiar shift in spacetime.

“Are you too shy?” Cain quizzed. “You can just beam us up, you know?”

“Uh... who are you talking to?” Emma asked.

"What are the chances of the answer to that being 'a God'?" Senna chimed in. "I feel he is insane enough for it.”

“I--” a beam of light descended from the bottom of the city and encompassed the group of seven for a moment before vanishing... alongside them as well. The other groups shot onto their feet and scurried around, wondering just what the hell happened.

On the other hand, Cain’s group appeared on the bottom level of the city; unlike before, the six others weren’t prepared and found themselves rolling out of the portal and onto the ground while he landed squarely, looking around curiously for a moment.

The world around them was rotting; houses were in disrepair, the roads had so many holes they may as well be made out of cheese, the light was faint and barebones, and the whole place had a peculiar stench reminiscent of one specific thing back on Earth -- a sewer. It was nothing strange, however, since one of the main points of the second floor was that all humans started here -- at the bottom -- and had to claw their way to the very top of the city... where the very last challenge for clearing the floor resided.

Finishing up, he glanced to the side and focused on the figure that ‘beamed’ them up -- he hadn’t changed, Cain mused, since the last time they met. A pair of yellow eyes still appeared indifferent and distant, the hood hiding most of his facial features, the tattered robe a spitting image of someone poor rather than perhaps the richest entity of the entire tower.

“Hello,” Cain greeted the man with a smile. “We meet again.”

“Indeed, we do, Time Thief.”