The orc’s eyes lit up. He would never refuse an opportunity to earn points, especially if the task was so simple. “We’ll take one thousand points if you want to hire this small team. But considering that there are fifty humans to escort, even if the trip will take an hour at most… We may need to ask for back up from…”

“Just go straight to the point. How much?” I cut him short, knowing that he just wanted to rip me off. Nevertheless, I did not care about the price he would quote since I would not be the one paying for it and did not want to waste time negotiating.

“2000 points.”

“Good. Listen to me you all.” I addressed the humans who gathered in a small group. “Listen up. Although you are temporarily safe here, you won’t be able to stay here. I am not able to look after you and you can imagine what will happen to you if you choose to stay. These bounty hunters will escort you to the teleportation portal to the upper floors but like before, you will need to pay for it. There’s fifty of you, so forty points per person should be fine.”

“Hold on.” A man stepped out of the group and spoke. “Although I am grateful for your help, why do we need to leave so quickly and be escorted by the very people who captured us in the first place? Are you not pushing us into the lion’s den?”

I understood his concerns but did not want to start an argument while being observed by all the craftsmen invited to the conference. Furthermore, I was certain that the staff members of CRAFT were going to force them all out very soon. I was allowed to enter the complex because of my status, but the other humans were not invited to the conference.

“They won’t attack you or sell you to others. They can trick you but not me because as a member of the Healing Temple, some of the trade rules extend to me. I saved you but did not ask for anything in return. You are free to do what you want; you can listen to me or you can choose your own path. It is up to you but make up your mind soon.” I said with a serious tone.

The humans felt my sense of urgency and while most seemed to agree with my suggestion, a few stood out, looking unconvinced. In their mind, since I managed to enter the city and obtain a certain status, why could they not do the same? The city was a place full of opportunity and if they took the risk, they may be rewarded. Some even believed that I was just trying to keep all the benefits available in the city for myself by chasing them away.

Xia Shiyu belonged to this group. She recovered and regained her confidence once her shackles were removed. “I am grateful to you for saving us, but I will have to refuse your request to be escorted by the same people who captured me in the first place. Now that I am inside the city, I would like to look for my own opportunity.”

I gulped down as I faced the familiar woman once again. I thought she would try to hide from my sight, but I was wrong. “It’s you… Don’t think that I forgot how all the hunters chased after me on the zeroth floor. But you are lucky that I don’t have time to deal with you. Do whatever you want but make your choice fast. In fact, I am quite happy with your choice.”

“Are you threatening me?” Xia Shiyu narrowed her eyes.

“Interpret it as you wish.” I shifted my attention to the other humans and prompted them to make a choice. I was pressed for time and I wanted them all gone as soon as possible. The majority of the humans, about forty immediately agreed to listen to my suggestion and leave this town. It resulted in each one paying fifty points but at the very least, they were able to get out of the city and go to a different floor outside of the Union’s territory.

The ten remaining individuals on the other hand, expressed their desire to stay in the city. They thanked me for my help but wished to walk their own path. Xia Shiyu and the two other Chinese men stood among this group. They displayed an awkward look, torn between envy and gratitude.

I waved my hand disinterestedly and urged them to leave. I had no intentions of holding them back. Knowing how the city operated, chances were that these ten individuals would all be dead by the end of the day. I did not think much of Xia Shiyu either; she was going to pay the price for her arrogance very soon. I would not be the one dealing the final blow but her ending would be a lot more tragic and painful.

I confirmed the mission with the orc and the whole group left very quickly, just in time before another group of researchers walked out of the building. Their outfit indicated that they had high positions in CRAFT. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that my cousin was now on his way to the eleventh floor. Our meeting has been short such that we did not even get to bade each other farewell but it was the best way to keep him alive. I pushed them all away knowing that the snow elf was bringing his superior to complain.

The person leading this new group was a Heracross. I have personally always stayed away from these giant beetles because of their repulsive appearance. They looked cold and intimidating, especially with their shiny compounded eyes and buzzing antennas. This new group was naturally hostile toward me. They were displeased to have lost a batch of humans, but they knew that they could not harm me directly. However, if I were to stay here, they feared that they would not be able to purchase a single test subject today.

“So you are the human who joined the Healing Temple.” The Heracross spoke, moving its mandibles threateningly.

I gasped in fright and shifted my gaze toward Eliss and the other healer. Fortunately, my mentor did not ignore my call for help. “Why are you so curious about my student?” The dark elf stepped forward after receiving a nod of approval from the other healer. She walked to my side and put herself between the Heracross and I.

“Your student? I am not interested in him but rather what he has done. This is not the Healing Temple. We invited you all to attend the conference, not to meddle around and disrupt out operations. I heard from some researchers that this human stole a batch of human from us.”

“Stole? That is a strong word. He simply purchased the humans from the bounty hunters who came. It is not his fault if your representative was unwilling to offer a higher price.” Eliss said in a provoking manner.

I could already feel the invisible sparks flying between the them. The two sides wanted nothing more than to fight each other and were only maintaining their calm because the entire crafting community was watching.

The more I watched Eliss and the healers’ behaviour, the more I believed that they had long planned for me to be a thorn in CRAFT’s operations. I might have done it differently, but I did successfully annoy them.

The whole point behind these petty moves was simply to tarnish the reputation of the Healing Temple’s main competitor. The races of the Union took their reputations very seriously; some valued it even above their own life. Since physical and magical fights were forbidden in the Union, the different organisations could only get at each other through a war of words. I was certain that this small incident would without a doubt be known by the entire city by tomorrow. All the citizens of Tussock would hear about how CRAFT was long past its prime and could not even outbid a human when purchasing their materials.

A single taint on an organisation did not have much impact just like a single crack could not bring down a dam. However, as the crack grew and merged with other appearing cracks, even the sturdiest dam would eventually give in.

The Heracross was furious but there was nothing he could do to remedy the situation. “We agreed to let this human in but because of his actions, we have to kindly ask him to leave.” He eventually said with his loud voice.

“How can you ask him to leave when he never broke any rules?” Eliss argued defensively.

“He did not break official rules, but you cannot deny that he negatively impacted our operations.”

The potioneers of the Healing Temple and the researchers of CRAFT faced each other in yet another argument. It was not the first time the crafting community was observing such a scene and it was certainly not the last time it would happen.

They finally came to a decision and I was allowed to return to the Healing Temple with Eliss and a few other healers to act as my guardians. Unsurprisingly, the selected healers looked delighted to not have to attend the conference. The rest were forced to stay since the Healing Temple also had to present the results of its research.

I was delighted by the outcome since I had no interest in the research of CRAFT and could be a lot more productive at the Healing Temple. Our horses were brought back by a few slaves and we were coldly escorted out of the complex.

We remained silent for a while but a few moments later, one of the healers let out a chuckle. “Well done, human. Not only did you mess with these bastards, thanks to you, we also don’t need to attend this stupid conference.”

“…”

“Is something bothering you?” Eliss asked as she noticed my apathetic behaviour. “Is it because the of the humans you met?”

“Partly. I knew some of them.”

Eliss raised an eyebrow. She felt that something was wrong with her student who has never shown much emotions before. ‘Is he shaken because of what happened?’ She thought. After a brief moment of silence, she asked with concern. “Were they that important to you? From your conversation, it does not seem that you were friends with that woman.”

“That woman is someone I would consider a nuisance. She bothered me a bit on the zeroth floor, but it is also thanks to her actions that I climbed to the first floor so early and was able to join the Healing Temple so quickly. If she did not act against me, I might have waited an additional week and the situation on the first floor would have been like it is now. However, one of the humans in the group was my cousin.”

“Your cousin? I see… You would have probably wanted to provide him with a shelter, but you knew that the Healing Temple would not protect him like it is protecting you. Still, you acted appropriately and got him out of CRAFT before the senior researchers came.

“Something along those lines.” I replied vaguely. I satisfied my mentor’s curiosity but only revealed half of my thoughts. During that encounter, while I maintained a calm facade, I realised a lot of things. I have been very satisfied with the last few weeks of my life; having a safe place to live, food and even the opportunity to learn a craft. This was a dream life considering the situation of the humans in the tower but as one of the tower’s saying goes: Comfort breeds weakness.

The Healing Temple would not hesitate to use me to achieve its goals; I was just a replaceable pawn in the grand scheme of things. I thought I had already gone past this phase since I was no longer asked to wander around the streets to act as bait. I thought I had secured myself a position in the organisation, but I could not be more wrong.

Furthermore, even though I was protected, I was unable to protect anyone else. I gave myself the goal of meeting my parents and helping them live quietly in the tower but with my current authority, the best I could do was to help them reach the eleventh floor outside of the Union’s reach. The eleventh floor was not safe by any means.

At the end of the day, it all came down to a single factor. I was way too weak; right now, I was just an insignificant human. My current life would have been fine if I only considered myself; I could endure it and slowly increase my strength while building a good reputation inside the Union. However, if I continued to do so, what would happen if I ever met my parents in the same setting that I encountered my cousin John? Although I only had vague memories of my parents, I could not bring myself to simply ignore them.

I went with the flow but at this rate, things might not turn out how I wished them to. ‘That’s right… I got too complacent. So many weeks have passed, and I am still so far from reaching the second circle. I forgot about myself and relied on others to become stronger and raise the status of humanity. The conundrum I am facing is to whether continue to live my current life but to be at the mercy of the Healing Temple or to take matters in my own hands, but this will require a lot of work. To escape the fate of being a simple political tool, I would not be able to just focus on potion-making and ignore my skill tree. At the end of the day, one’s skill tree was the most decisive factor of one’s status.’