The most important rule of the Tower is to not panic. No matter what happens; no matter what the Tower throws at you:

DO NOT PANIC.

Davies - Head of Climber Academy

Welcome to the Eternal Tower Floor 1 Hard!

Goal: Defeat all the remaining enemies

0/1,000 Normal Enemies

0/100 Sub-Boss Enemies

0/1 Boss Enemy

Time limit: None

Note: time dilation in effect.

I was fucked.

It wasn’t the fact that the Tower wanted me to single handedly kill over a thousand enemies. That just takes time, talent, and cunning.

I could even ignore the possibility that my best friend may have lied to me and tricked me into entering the Hard Difficulty. The Tower was notorious for tricking climbers and until proven otherwise, I chose to believe that he had chosen Hard and the Tower just changed what I heard.

The one thing that I could not ignore, was the fact that I was not only weaponless but also butt ass naked. Normally that would be inconvenient. Maybe even embarrassing if I had self image issues. No, the real problem was that I was stark naked in a shallow cave and there appeared to be three feet of snow on the ground. Add to it the rapid rise of my testicle into my body I was fairly certain that the temperature was cold enough to kill me.

“Remember the training,” I reminded myself. Don’t panic. First I needed to check my status:

Name: Miki Meadows

Age: 29

Race: Human - Earth

Level: 0

Exp: 0/1 to Next level

HP: ??? HP Regen ???/min

Stamina: ??? Stamina Regen ???/min

MP: ??? MP Regen ???/min

Strength: ???

Agility: ???

Endurance: ???

Intelligence: ???

Wisdom: ???

Luck: ???

Yep, I was definitely fucked.

Level 0? I didn’t even know there was a Level 0. In the other difficulties you couldn’t check your status until a combat floor. The first combat floor on the Easy Difficulty was floor 11, while the Medium Difficulty threw you into a one-on-one fight on the second floor. In both cases the climber would be at Level 1 at the start of the combat floor.

Don’t panic. I just needed to get a single experience point. I only had to find something that the Tower would deem worthy of a single point of experience. As far as I knew that only included completing floor goals, finding secrets, and killing enemies.

Do not panic. I ignored my Level as I needed to focus on the basics first: shelter, water, food.

The little cave I arrived in was not worth being called shelter. Truthfully it wasn't even a cave. It was little more than a v-shaped and a cliff wall.

I took a deep breath and decided to brave the snow and cold. The only thing standing here would achieve is some frozen fingers and toes, not to mention my other bits. My first two steps into the snow weren't too bad. I tried to keep my thoughts positive and remind myself that I could overcome this. Then the cold leached into my skin.

Damn it was cold. It tried to just ignore the numbing sensation and push through. Wasn't like I had any other options. After about 30 steps outside my little cave I realized I had made an error. The snow was 3 feet at the entrance of my cave simply because the wind blew it up against the wall.

Moving away from the cliff face the ground quickly entered into a gentle downhill slope with some snow laden pine trees not far off. Walking down the hill I found the snow became a little more than a dusting if I walked underneath the trees and no more than three inches in the bare spots without trees.

Don't panic, keep moving. I knew my body was generating heat by moving and that might be the only thing that keeps me alive. I looked for any signs of the enemies but didn't see any wolves, slimes, or goblins that I knew were starter enemies on the other levels.

Searching the ground as I walked, I was able to find a two foot long sharp stick a couple of inches thick. It was sturdy enough that I was sure it wouldn't break if I stabbed something with it. I couldn't be certain if the point would be sharp enough to break the hide of any animal, but I felt better having at least something that I could use as a weapon.

Walk slow but steadily. Keep your ears and eyes open. Be aware of any subtle movements. I kept the training tips and tricks in the forefront of my brain as I moved stealthily as I could down the hillside. Most of the starter enemies relied upon stealth and their quick speed to close the distance and attack. I knew I had to be hypervigilant in order to prevent a sneak attack.

Crack!

I hid behind a tree as quickly as I could, trying to put the tree between me and the noise I had just heard. Slowly I peaked around the tree trying to spot whatever animal had accidentally stepped on a branch.

Yep, I was definitely fucked.

An orc! Green and at least 7 feet tall, the monster stomped through the forest without a care in the world. The orc wore some of the roughest fur clothing that I had ever seen. Really it looked like it had just cut holes in the skin of some sort of wolf or deer and tied it to its body with strips of rough leather.

In the Climber Academy I had spent two grueling weeks learning how to mask my scent as well as being aware of how wind and position can give my enemies an advantage in tracking me. The orc clearly did not have any of this knowledge. It smelled like it bathed in sewage. Even 50 feet away I could smell it.

Ignoring the smell as best I could, I could tell that the orc was not concerned about attracting attention as it seemed to make more noise than I thought possible for something just walking through the hillside. If I didn’t know better I would think that it was making so much noise on purpose.

But I did know better. On the final floors of the Easy Challenge orcs were commonly used as boss monsters. The average orc was fast and strong but had the intelligence of a dog. Seeing the orc proved that I had no luck. Without a doubt the orc was the boss monster of this floor. If things were different I would let it walk away and try fighting it later after I had gained a couple of levels after killing a few of the wolves or whatever were the normal enemies of this floor.

The problem was that I might freeze to death before I found a wolf. Additionally, while the wolves might be easier prey if I had a standard weapon, the stick I held would really only be good for a single attack and wolves tended to hunt in packs. I would not bet my life on taking down three wolves with only an improvised weapon. With any luck I could sneak up on the boss and take him down without having to fight. And if I was really lucky the orc might have a knife though fought barehanded, in the Easy Difficulty.

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. I waited for the orc to move further away before circling around to come from behind it. Using trees as cover I slowly made my way to catch the orc. As I closed in with the monster I realized I was wrong, the orc had to be closer to eight feet, not seven.

Each step closer I noticed additional details. The way the orc moved was more of a slow shuffle. It appeared to be injured, as its right arm hung limply at its side. Needless to say that the smell became more pungent the closer I got. When I was within 10 feet I could hear its breathing and grunts as it took every step.

As I entered the range where I could attack the orc suddenly spun around and whipped its right arm towards me. My reflexes took over as I took a step back and raised my makeshift weapon in defense. It turned out the orc’s arm wasn’t injured at all, it was simply holding some sort of weapon that appeared to be a mix between an ax and a sword. The weapon was a million times better than mine as it easily cut the last couple of inches off my stick.

The orc quickly raised the weapon over its head and swung down at me like I was a log to be cut in half. I was slower and weaker than the orc so I did the only thing I could and dove between its legs. As I dove forward I stabbed my stick toward its inner hip. The stick made contact with something and was ripped from my hand. As soon as I could I rolled into a somersault and back onto my feet.

Coming to the quick realization that attacking the boss had been a very bad idea, I decided to be smart and try to run away. If I had managed to hit the muscle, the orc could be slowed down just enough to give me a chance to get away. I managed to take a few steps before I heard a muffled grunt from the orc. I turned to look back just in time to see it release a dagger in a throw toward me. Before I could react the dagger hit me hard in the back, throwing me to the ground.

This was it. My end. I was fucked from the start.

I wanted to fight but I knew it was over. With a hit that hard, the dagger had to be buried in my back. There was no way I would be able to push myself up from the ground and out run the stronger and faster monster.

Enemy defeated. 10 exp awarded.

Level up! You are Level 1, +1 to all stats

Level up! You are Level 2, +1 to all stats

What the fuck just happened?

Moving slowly I turned over and found the dagger laying on the ground. I guess I had a little luck. While the orc’s aim was true, it was the handle of the dagger that hit me, not the blade.

I grabbed the blade and stood, slowly walking toward the orc which was laying on the ground not far from where I dove through its legs. As I approached I was sure the orc was dead. There was a large amount of blood on the ground surrounding the orc. After inspecting the orc, I realized what happened.

I was actually really lucky.

The orc had accidentally cut a sharp point onto my stick when I tried to block the first streak. Then I had managed to hit the major artery in the groin and severed it enough that the orc quickly bled out.

Maybe I could survive this. With the boss down, it was just clearing up the normal enemies. It would take some time but it was doable. Feeling better I decided to check my status.

Name: Miki Meadows

Age: 29

Race: Human - Earth

Level: 2

Exp: 3/8 to Next level

HP: 126/130 HP Regen 1.08/min

Stamina: 122/148 Stamina Regen 1.23/min

MP: 100/100 MP Regen 0.83/min

Strength: 14 -> 16

Agility: 17 -> 19

Endurance: 18 -> 20

Intelligence: 18 -> 20

Wisdom: 8 -> 10

Luck: 30 -> 32

The stat gains were impressive, quickly pushing me towards 20 which is what most believed to be the normal human limit.

Before I moved on I decided to check the status of the first floor challenge. Seeing the boss defeated would only motivate me further.

1st Floor

Goal: Defeat all remaining enemies

1/1,000 Normal Enemies - Orcs

0/100 Sub-Boss Enemies

0/1 Boss Enemy

Time limit: None

I felt my stomach drop. The orc was a normal enemy, not the boss. I would have to face almost a thousand more of the same monster that nearly killed me in a 10 second battle.

I was fucked.