My stomach grumbled in protest. I lost track of the time I spent on the meditation platform, but my body knew it was time to eat. My mana pool has absorbed as much mana as it could but there were still a few specks trapped by the meditation platform.

I closed my eyes and visualised my skill tree. Its size increased considerably and could now be described as a small sapling. Its leaves became larger as my mastery over the spells they represented deepened. I observed it for a moment before turning my attention to my mana pool. Judging by its size, I could now cast Heal thirty-four times in a row.

My afternoon session on the meditation platform has been very fruitful. I made more progress in these few hours than over the past few weeks when I focused on potion-making. However, I also ended up spending almost a thousand points on mana stones. The mana stones could naturally not be compared with the fermented wine, but my heart ached every time I would refill my waterskin.

The fermented wine was as effective as a mana crystal which was typically used by fourth circle creatures. Considering how rare mana crystals were, I knew I could not waste all my wine while I was still at the low circles.

‘A thousand points went down the drain. It feels like a waste, but it is the only way to advance without climbing the tower. And even if I started climbing, it would take a few months for the humans to join hands and clear the floors.’

‘If I remember correctly, low quality mana stones are abundant on the first fifteen floors or so. It is why the Healing Temple can afford to give these stones to all healers to refill their mana pool. But Intermediate mana stones only appear after the fifteenth floor. Right now, I should be the human who has progressed the furthest toward the second circle.’

‘Such a big waste of points but it is a necessary step if I want to improve my status and have the power to save the people who are important to me. D*mn… My retirement will have to wait for humanity to get a footing in the tower.’

My stomach woke me up from my thoughts, prompting me to head to the dining hall. I wasted no time and picked up my empty waterskin. I would have to refill it tomorrow or the day after and I would take the opportunity to purchase more Intermediate mana stones for my advancement.

Walking through the large corridor, I nodded at a few healers I recognised in a friendly manner. I was well-known in the Healing Temple because of my race and fortunately, most of the healers were friendly or at least indifferent toward me.

I picked up the strong wild aroma of roasted boar meat. It was going to be a feast. I served myself a large portion and sat down at a relatively quiet place. I was already salivating and could no longer wait. I bit down into the thick boar leg. The satisfying crack of the crispy skin echoed through my ears as my teeth sunk into the fatty and juicy meat. My hands were quickly covered with the fat oozing out, but nobody cared about table manners in the tower.

As I was enjoying my dinner, a thin silhouette sat down at my table, carrying a plate identical to mine. I raised an eyebrow and to my surprise, that person was none other than Robb, the other human I recruited alongside Park Sungjun.

“Alex. How are you? It has been a while.” Robb said enthusiastically.

I quietly continued to munch on the meat in my mouth and only replied after swallowing the piece of meat properly. “Yes. As you probably already know, I have been spending a lot of time at the Medical Hall, just like you spend your day at the Lovers Hall.” I replied casually.

“Let’s not talk about this. I am merely enjoying life while you are working hard to make things happen.” Robb said. He picked up a knife and started slicing the boar meat.

“Make things happen?” I asked curiously; I knew he was deliberately being mysterious but could not help but ask.

“Yes. I heard that some changes are going to take place very soon.”

“Changes?”

“Because of what you did at CRAFT, I heard that many important people have gathered at the city hall to discuss measures to take. First, the people you ‘purchased’ have all safely reached the teleportation portal, except for the few idiots who wanted to try to survive in the city. All of them have been killed or captured within a few hours. The Healing Temple even dispatched a few members to cause some trouble, claiming that these humans were your property and therefore, they had the right to punish the people who attacked them.”

“Oh?” I have already expected this outcome but did not look into it because of how busy I have been juggling my schedule, potion-making and the preparations to use the meditation platform.

Robb smiled as he continued. “But that is not the important part. Your actions caused a change in the way the bounty hunters handle their captures. Instead of selling the humans to the organisations like CRAFT, they instead went to look for the other humans who joined the organisations, including me when I was working at the Healing Hall. There, they asked us to do the same thing; to purchase the humans while the humans paid for their freedom themselves. Instead of selling the captured humans for 50 points each, they are now earning a lot more. The word spread out and now, almost all the bounty hunter groups are selling to the organisations that are friendly to the humans.”

‘That is something I did not expect. I should have known that the greedy bounty hunters would do everything they can to maximise their gains. I started a trend and I am not even benefitting from this.’ I paused for a moment and placed down the boar leg I was holding. “That is not a bad thing though.”

“Not bad for us or the Formalist side but bad for the Purist organisations like CRAFT. They lost their chain of supply and complained to the city hall. The other organisations all agreed to escort the humans safely to the teleportation portal if the humans completed certain tasks. For example, the Spatial Bank guaranteed the humans safety if they opened a bank account there. The Dream Merchants and the School of Thoughts would ask to explore the memories of the captured humans. Now, only the city guards are capturing the humans to sell to the Purist side which only account to like 20% of the original amount.”

“I see.” I nodded quietly as I realised the impact of my actions. The tides have changed, and they no longer favoured the city hall and the Purists. Their goal has been to reduce the number of humans to secure a larger portion of the available resources but now, the majority of the humans were able to get away after paying what could be considered as a tax for entering the first floor. More points were entering the pockets of the bounty hunters and by extension, the treasury of the city hall. However, this was just a short-term benefit that could have disastrous consequences in the future. Sadly, they could not force the hands of the Formalist organisations who supported the ascension of the humans. A difficult balance needed to be achieved so that the humans would be able to collect enough resources from the upper floors without draining the Union of its own resources.

“You seem to know quite a bit about the situation. So, tell me what kind of insider information you obtained.” I said calmly.

“Hey hey. I heard that the city hall is planning on passing a few laws around humans. But they first need to discuss the situation with the other cities. This situation has yet to spread to the other cities, but it is only a matter of time.”

“New laws?” I raised an eyebrow and silently stared at my plate of rice swimming in the boar fat. ‘The same chain of events as my past life is taking place. But it seems a bit early. The new laws should be to formalise the tax and allow the humans to move to the upper floors. This way, the city hall would take all the revenue and would leave the bounty hunters with no jobs. Then, the bounty hunters would again be hired to capture the humans. Laws do not stop theft and murder; they simply label them as a crime and make people commit these acts in secrecy. Of course, the biggest trap would be that this law only applies to the first floor. Countless people would perish when going to the other floors of the Union.’

“Where did you even hear all this information?” I asked curiously.

“Well. You know. People are usually a lot more talkative in bed right after the act. And you would be surprised by how many females are curious about how a human taste like in bed.”

“Anyway. I suppose that you are not here just to inform me of the situation, right.” I changed the subject as the conversation was slowly drifting toward a topic I did not want to talk about.

“Of course.” We exchanged meaningful smiles before Robb finally revealed his true intentions. “One of the laws that are being considered is about trade. I met a person when I was at the Healing Hall and he has an idea in mind that could rake in a lot of points. He is looking for investors to get started and I was thinking on getting you on board.”

“Someone look for investors to start a business?” I said without hiding my doubts.

“Yes. Not sure if he is trustworthy but he has joined the Spatial Bank and seems to be doing well for himself there. He did say that he would wait for the trade laws to be passed before starting anything. Right now, he is just passing the word around for the humans who would be interested.”

‘Spatial Bank and someone who is trying to start something big… I can only think of one person.’ I said to myself.

“Why are you telling me though? You do not look like someone helps your peers.”

Robb was not offended by my last comment. He simply laughed it off. “In truth, that man came looking for you. The rumors about a human beating the House of Fortune have already spread to some extent and he heard of you. You know how hard it is to earn points here. Right now, you are probably one of the richest humans in the tower.”