Bon didn’t bother hanging around in the waiting room. He walked through the door to the thirty second floor. It was night. As he had suspected, he had been teleported to a city once again.

Slay the Werewolf

In this world of eternal night, where the full moon is in constant radiance, the werewolf is at his most dangerous. He roams the plains, looking for unwary victims to slaughter. Gather a group of players and neutralize this threat to the world’s inhabitants.

(Quest requires a party of at least three members)

Completion of this quest will give players access to the 33rd floor Rewards: 1 Epic Accessory, 500 Gold, 30,000EXP

This city had strange architecture. The first thing he noticed was that all the walls glowed with a blue light. The houses were built like tapering towers, each at least two floors tall. The biggest building was not in the center of the city, but towards the north. This city didn’t have any walls. Monsters were probably rare in this area, if the city didn’t need any walls to defend itself. There were not many people roaming the streets. Bon walked past towers and even a small block of pyramids, and eventually reached the massive tower. It seemed to be a religious structure. Even at night, people were going inside with bowed heads.

A man in ceremonial clothing came out, “Greetings,” he said. “Are you here for the sacrifice?”

“Sacrifice?” Bon asked aghast. “What are you sacrificing?”

The priest laughed, “Don’t be alarmed hero. It is just some fruits and vegetables that is offered to our god. After that, everyone has a feast. We do this every week.”

“I’m just waiting here for my friends. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” the priest nodded. “It has been a long time since we last saw a human hero. You are the first to come here from the new batch.”

“You’ve seen other heroes then?”

“The Modeans,” the priest sighed. “Some of them are still here, reluctant to journey upwards. They kill the werewolf every day, becoming stronger and stronger.”

“Every day?” asked Bon. “I thought it was always night here.” That’s what he had gathered from the quest description.

“There is a slight brightness in the sky that happens periodically. We call it day then.”

“How do plants grow without light?”

“They adapt. The mana stones are abundant throughout the land, casting their soft glow, which is enough to sustain life.”

Bon remembered what Gimli had said about mana stones, “I thought they were very difficult to mine and use.”

“They are, but there are rituals passed down in the Temple that tell us how to mine and shape it. With the great Mitr’s blessing we are able to use them for our purposes. The machinery and the Great Furnace was given to us by the god himself. The Holy Book of Crafting was given to us by his sister Zoran. Why don’t you come in, and learn more about them?”

“Maybe later,” said Bon. “My friends will wonder where I’ve gone, if I don’t stay put. By the way, where can I find this werewolf?”

“Follow the Great Southern Road. When you find the broken carts, go up onto the hill. You will find his lair near the top. It is time I left.”

The priest said his goodbyes and went back into the temple. Bells resounded from within a few minutes later.

“Hey Bon,” Toby was the first to reach. “I can’t believe we’re all together again. After everything we’ve experienced, it feels so unreal.”

“I know what you’re saying,” Bon grinned as he made place for Toby to sit on the mana stone stairs.

“This place is so weird compared to the other floors,” Toby looked around.

“Yup. Looks like the others met up. They’re coming together,” Bon said, peering in the distance. “What was your experience on the previous floors like, Toby? Was it tough?”

“Yeah, it was. It took me some time to adjust, but once I did it was smooth sailing. That level where I had to walk undetected through the garden though—”

“What garden?” Bon asked. Did everyone get different scenarios during the solo floors? “Which floor was that?”

“The fourth floor. You didn’t have to do it?” Toby was struck by surprise.

“Nope. I had to do something different. Why didn’t you pick Rogue then? If you were getting stages like that, it was probably to train you into becoming one.”

“Rogues didn’t seem like fun. Don’t tell Bojana I said that.”

It looked like the Tower had tailor made each person’s program to fit them. With a million players being in the Tower, that was a pretty impressive feat. Even the group stages must have been different for many players. The three hundred players Bon had met with before, was too low a number. Had they all been distributed to different worlds, with different bosses? If that was the case, he was really lucky to have met up with all of his friends.

Had the Tower arranged their meeting, knowing that they were buddies? Was it really omniscient? How powerful would something have to be to be able to do all of this? If the Tower was evil, would anyone stand a chance fighting against it? Tian Bu Ru had hinted that the Tower was a benevolent entity, which was a real relief.

“Heya Bonnie boy, Toby,” Bojana waved at them.

“Hello,” Bon said loudly. Phil and Siobhan were walking together, looking at one another like lovesick puppies. Bon’s ‘hello’ brought them back to their senses. “I’ve got some gifts for you all.”

He gave Bojana, the rogue, the right and left daggers of the Dark Herald. He gave Phil, the lancer, Athena’s Pride. He gave Toby, the berserker, Frederick’s Zweihänder, and lastly gave Siobhan Hecate’s Staff. He also gave them various armors that would suit them. He gave Bojana the Boots of Skadi. The movement speed buff would be handy for a rogue to have. He equipped himself in Legendary items as well. He wanted to look cool too, at least when he was with only his friends.

"Equipment screen."

Earrings of the Fall The Helm of Awe The Cloak of Invincibility Sword of the Sun Upper Plate of Papaios Empty Gauntlets of Papaios Belt of the Magi Ring of Cocytus Elysian Ring Lower Plate of Papaios

Boots of Papaios

The four piece Papaios set looked the coolest among all his equipment, dark red with some very nice looking pteruges. It perfectly complimented his blue cloak and golden helm. He activated many passive aura skills and everything around him started to glow.

“Let’s go,” Bon said, after everyone stopped marveling at their equipment.

“Tell us about the bug,” said Phil, as they walked down the city’s main road. “How did you get all of this?”

“I was stuck with hundreds of thousands of bosses, in a place where time moved very fast. I had to kill them all to get out of there.”

“That sounds rough,” said Bojana. “I don’t know how you managed to kill bosses from level one.”

“With smarts and cunning,” Bon tapped his head. It made a clang as his gauntlets hit his helm. He didn’t want to tell them about Tian Bu Ru just yet. He needed to get Tian Bu Ru’s permission first, before he could open up the world of cultivation to them.

“How long did it take you to get out of there?”

“Don’t ask.”

“That long?” Bojana said in amazement. “No wonder you’ve changed.”

“I haven’t changed,” Bon protested. “I’m just the same. Now, let’s kill the boss and move on to the next floor.”

“Kill the boss?” asked Phil, coming to a halt. “It’s too early. We need to go to some dungeon and kill some ordinary monsters first. After we gain about five levels we can go kill the boss. That’s how the General did it during the last two floors, and it worked.”

“Fine,” Bon shrugged. “Let’s go towards the Boss’ lair and stop at a dungeon along the way. I’ll use my Mana Sense to find the location.”

“How far does your Mana Sense extend to?” Siobhan asked in surprise. “I have it too, but I can’t see further than a hundred feet.”

“I can see about a hundred miles now,” said Bon. He had been training his Mana Sense ever since he skilled it. It was in its advanced state and almost level ten. Using qi, he could see much further.

“Wow!” They all said together.

Ha! It felt good to show off every now and then. Bon, with his chin up, walked proudly out the city. He led them towards the werewolf’s lair, constantly scanning for any dungeons on the way. They rested for a while, and ate some bread. It would be the thirty third floor next, where Bon would be able to sample more of the Tower’s various culinary delights. He soon found a confluence of mana that indicated a dungeon’s location.

“Follow me,” he said, leading them into a valley. They came to a little clearing within which there was a portal. “The dungeon is through there,” he led his friends through the portal and got teleported to a grassy plain. On the plain were several dinosaurs that looked like triceratops, munching on grass. They didn’t look like they would attack, as long as one kept their distance.

“Show us how strong you are, Bon,” said Toby.

“Alright,” Bon drew his flaming falchion and walked to the dinosaur. He didn’t bother to identify it. It would be dead soon anyway. With a single strike the dinosaur died and fell to the ground. It had happened so quickly that everyone was dazed, staring incredulously at the big corpse.

“That was just a normal att—attack,” stuttered Phil.

“Yeah,” said Bon, “That was with only a little of my strength. Do you want to see my most deadly weapon?”

“Ooh! Show us,” Bojana’s face lit with excitement.

Bon picked up a stone and showed it to everybody. He then threw it at a group of dinosaurs. It fell into their midst and exploded with a shower of stony shards. The dinosaurs instantly died. There was a deep hole left in the ground.

“That’s insane,” laughed Toby. “Wish we had all got stuck in that boss room with you.”

“It would have been nice to have had some company,” Bon said with a sad smile. “Okay. Now it’s your turn. Go level up. Let me watch how you deal with them.”

The four of them had good teamwork, thought Bon as he watched them fight a dinosaur. “Toby,” he shouted, "watch your positioning. You’ll mess up your footwork if you stand over there. Siobhan, you need to stand further away. You’ll still be in range if you take ten steps back. Bojana, you need to be faster and more economical with how you move. Phil, you’re doing great.”

With all their Legendary weapons and armor, the party members didn’t ever need a heal or a break. They started grinding the dinosaurs with great enthusiasm, until their levels were all in their forties.

“Phil, how do you level up so fast?” Bon asked. He was just like Steve, getting more experience than he should have. He was level forty five, while everyone else was forty two.

“It’s my Title,” said Phil. “Quick Killer.” I got it for killing the first boss within a certain time limit. It gives me a 2% increase in stats, as well as 5% extra damage against bosses. 5% increased experience from monsters and 10% from bosses.”

Bon checked his own titles and found that he too had Quick Killer. There were a few other titles as well. The notification for gaining the titles hadn’t shown up for some strange reason. The titles were also all grayed out, except for Boss Slayer, which meant that he couldn’t equip them. Was this a way for the Tower to nerf him? He didn’t use titles anyway, so it didn’t make any difference, one way or another.

“Let’s go kill the boss now,” said Bon, leading them out of the portal.

They traveled for a while until they eventually reached a graveyard of caravans. There were toppled carts and the skeletons of dead horses on the road.

“We turn to the hill here,” said Bon.

They left the road and started climbing the big hill to the east of them. Near the top, they found a large group of blue skinned players surrounding a raised stone platform. These players had tails coming out from under their red kilts. Bon deactivated his auras. He liked to be underestimated, and the aura effect coupled with his new equipment looked too dazzling.

“Who are you?” One of them shouted as soon as he saw their party approach. “Oh?" He jumped off a rock and walked towards them. “A new bunch of players. That probably means inflation is going to rise again. Did you come here to kill Scarlag the Werewolf?”

“Yes,” said Bon.

“Give us five thousand gold and we’ll let you join our raiding party. The boss will be respawning in a few hours.”

“Five thousand gold?” laughed Toby. “That’s robbery. I should know. My ancestors used to be pirates, or privateers as they liked to call themselves.”

“Then just stay here and don’t kill the boss,” the tailed man laughed. His laughter sounded strange, like a buzzing bee. “We’ve been living here for centuries. It takes some getting used to, but you’ll eventually get to like it. You’ll always miss the sun though.”

“Why haven’t you moved on?” asked Bon. “You must be strong enough to beat the next floor.”

“Maybe, but we like it here. It’s a lot more comfortable than outside the Tower.”

“What’s happening outside the Tower?” Bon asked urgently.

“Death and destruction. Pay me twenty thousand and I’ll tell you more. Or give me that fancy helm of yours.”

“I’ll give you my sword instead,” Bon laughed. They were players. If he killed them they would just resurrect. He didn’t want to do it that way though.

“Funny man,” the tailed man said. “I like you. I’ll give you a ten percent discount.”

“What do we do?” Bojana whispered.

Bon led his party a distance away and started discussing their situation.

“I don’t think we should pay them,” said Bon.

“We don’t even have the money,” said Toby.

“I do. We should probably split what I have between ourselves now,” Bon started transferring his gold to the others. He gave them five hundred thousand each. “Eat something nice on the next floor. I recommend the moussaka.”

“So,” said Siobhan. “Do we pay them? We have more than enough now.”

“I say we fight,” said Bojana. “I don’t like bullies. How strong could they be.”

“There are at least a hundred of them,” said Phil. “And they’ve been grinding the boss for God knows how long. Their levels must be high.”

“I could just kill them all with a meteor,” said Bon, “But I think it’s better to wait, and watch the entertainment.”

“What entertainment?” asked Bojana.

“You’ll see,” Bon smiled mysteriously. “Let’s set up camp here.”

The boss soon respawned. Bon and his party went to watch the tailed people kill it.

“Identify.”

BOSS Scarlag the Werewolf HP

25,000/25,000

MP 10,000/10,000

Scarlag was a notorious bandit, making his fortune by stealing from merchants traveling the Grand Road trade route. One night, he tried to steal from the wrong man, a wizard who cursed him to be a werewolf. Even now, half deranged, Scarlag continues to rob merchants on the same route.

Powers Orb of Clones Split into three clones with reduced health and mana and decreased damage Howl Increases strength and speed by 50% for a brief duration Fury Claw Swipes five times in fast succession, each dealing double the damage of the previous swipe Alpha Summons a pack of astral wolves Golden Fur Increased armor. 10% of damage is reflected Berserk Transformation Transforms into full wolf form, with double the movement and attack speed Level Playing Field Increase in level depending on the number of foes faced

The tailed people seemed to be old hands at killing the werewolf. They lured it to the center of the platform with finesse, and started attacking it. The werewolf’s clones and the astral wolves were destroyed as soon as they appeared. When Scarlag tried to Fury Claw they always backed out of reach, or controlled its movements through stuns, sleep and bashes. When it used its Golden Fur, only the tanks attacked, keeping Scarlag’s focus on them. When it went berserk and transformed, they unloaded all their heavy duty spells. The boss soon died. Nobody entered the portal, and it fizzled out after three hours.

“Let’s go back,” said Bon.

The next day, a few hours before Scarlag was due to respawn, a huge band of human players appeared, led by Steve.

“The entertainment has arrived,” said Bon. “Let’s see what they do.”

“Bon,” said Steve, seeing him standing there, “Where did you get all that armor and that high level sword?”

“From a friend.”

“What’s going on? Who are all those blue people?”

“They’re camping the boss,” said Bon. “You have to pay a price if you want to participate in their raid. They seem to have been on this floor for ages.”

“What the fuck!” Steve led the human players forward and soon found the tailed people’s leader.

“The next boss spawn is ours,” declared Steve.

“A hundred thousand gold and it’s all yours,” the tailed person smiled. “You young ones are never polite.”

“A hundred thousand gold? You’ll get death instead,” Steve roared. Word must have spread that human players were coming, for there were about four hundred tailed people there this day. “We have resurrection shrines. I doubt you have them too. There are no Tower stores on this floor.”

“There are,” the tailed person grinned, “If you know where to look. We do not waste our money on Resurrection Shrines though. We don’t need them. We outlevel and outnumber you. Do you really think your threats are going to work?”

Steve looked at Yuri, the Spetsnaz Major General, who just smiled back. “You’re the leader for this floor,” Yuri said, obviously enjoying Steve’s predicament. “What will you have us do?”

“Kill them all,” Steve roared. Yuri and Steve began shouting orders at the same time. The human players seemed to have trained a little, for they were a lot more organized than before. A few players set up a resurrection shrine behind the group, where it would be safe and protected. The two sides drew their weapons and attacked.

“What do we do?” asked Bojana.

“Join the fun,” said Bon. “They will resurrect anyway. Stick close together. I’ll play the role of the bard this time.” He buffed everyone with his music and they ran onto the battlefield. Many humans died, but they came back with a vengeance from the Resurrection Shrine. Whatever experience they lost here, they would gain back with the boss kill. Bon surreptitiously killed the strongest opponents on the battlefield. The Modeans were soon outnumbered and had to flee.

“We’re at half strength now,” said Yuri to Steve, while Bon overheard. “Can we still take on the boss?”

“I think I can help,” said Bon. He then explained the Modeans’ strategy in taking down the boss.

“We can do it like that,” said Steve. “I’ll go and instruct everyone.”

The boss respawned an hour later. Everyone was already in position. With Steve’s high perception and his timely commands they were able to follow the Modeans’ strategy and gain victory without losing a single person.

You have killed (Boss) Werewolf Quest ‘Slay the Werewolf’ completed Reward: 1x Gold Fang Earring, 500 Gold, 30,000EXP

Two epic items dropped from the werewolf’s corpse. Bon didn’t bother to find out what they were. Steve would probably compensate the fallen players with something extra. That was what a good leader would do. Bon didn’t stay to find out.

“Eat something nice,” Bon said to his party, “After that, let’s meet up in front of the tallest building on the thirty third floor.”

They walked through the portal while the other players bid for the boss’ loot. There were just sixty eight floors more to go, and then he’d be home at last.