It was early in the day, with the morning sunlight just starting to peek through the leaves of the canopy. The group was standing around a wooden billboard near the Selsine marketplace.

"Can you guys read this?" Kai tore a piece of paper from the billboard, staring at it with a confused look. "I can't read Mandarin."

Saira leaned over to get a look. "Nope."

"Bring it up next to your mote." Hena said.

Kai followed Hena's suggestion, conjuring his red and white mote and holding the paper next to it.

Mischievous Goblins (F) [Quest]

A band of goblins has cut the water supply in Selsine leading from the river. Get rid of the goblins and report back to claim the reward. Recommended party size of five.

Reward: 1 silver and 20 copper coins

Kristine's eyes went wide, shoving away Kai and looking at the pixie screen for herself. "A silver coin?"

"That hurts." Kai said, propping himself up from the ground.

"Yeah." Hena turned to the group, giving a nod to Jason by her side. "Now that we've been recognized as an adventurer group by the Selsine AO branch, we can finally take on official missions. It took me and Jason a while to set up the paperwork, but we're good to go."

"AO?" Nico said.

"Adventurer's Organization. An organization founded by the first group of people who were sent here."

"Right," Nico said. "I keep forgetting there were people that came before us."

"These people," Kai said. "How long ago was that when they first appeared here?"

"Thousands of years ago."

"Thousands?"

"Yeah. Many of them still climb the tower up to this day in hopes of one day reaching the very top."

"Hold on, they're still alive?" Kristine said.

Jason gave a nod. "As I told you all before, ranking up helps you grow closer to perfection. One said trait of perfection is immortality- among other things."

"Wow." Nico said with the others. "Imagine not dying, that'd be cool."

"Wait, no one's been to the top yet?" Kai said with a worried look.

"Not yet." Hena grimaced, glancing to Saira and Kristine. The tone between the group began to shift.

"Listen, the fairy queen lied to us." Kristine said to Kai, following Hena's lead. "No one knows if the top of the tower even exists."

"After thousands of years," Hena continued. "The top guilds have only reached the twentieth floor, with no signs of the end anywhere."

Nico put his hand over Kai's shoulder as if to console him, a silence festering between the group.

"Don't worry." Kai broke the ice, then turned to the rest with a grin. "I'm sure there's a top, it just means first place is still up for grabs."

"And if there really isn't?" Kristine said, earning a nudge from Saira.

"Then we'll just have to find another way back home. Easy."

Nico smiled. "You took that surprisingly well."

"It's not like sulking's gonna solve my problems." Kai said, landing a dry punch on Nico's chest. "It's better to just laugh my way through."

Kai's gaze then landed on the dog below him who was wagging its tail excitedly. "Hold on, why's Nico here?" He crouched and pat its head, earning a woff from the dog.

"We can't just leave him in the inn all day." Nico said, petting the dog's head. "And fuck you- don't call him Nico. We already agreed on Champ."

. . .

An arrow ricocheted off Jason's helmet.

"Focus the bow goblins first!" Jason shouted from the frontline. "They're gonna give us a very hard time if we don't do something about their arrows!"

Kai readied his fireballs while Kristine knocked an arrow to her bow. They were in the thicket of the woods, with barely any footing on the wet mud. The goblins were swinging and jumping around the trees like monkeys- hard to pin down even with Kristine's precise arrows.

"I can't hit them." Kristine said, readying another arrow.

"Then we'll have to go with the original plan." Jason took a quick glance to Nico as he then nodded to Kai. "Do it Kai!"

Kai set off his fireballs ablaze to the trees around- burning them as the white fire had started to spread to the other trees. One by one debris fell around them like burning rain, prompting a whimper from Champ who was hiding behind Saira. Black smoke rose from the fire.

Ony by one the goblins were starting to fall from the charred trees, burned and wounded by the explosions from Kai's fireballs. Nico and Jason finished them off as soon as they dropped, not giving any a chance to escape.

The burning soon settled, with only black smoke and ash remained. The air was heavy with the burnt smell of skin as the group combed the area for loot.

Nico glanced at the charred bodies of the goblins, now starting to glow a ghostly and ethereal form. He muttered a prayer to each of them as they then vanished into thin air, leaving loot behind. He knew now that this was reality- and all he could do was offer them his sincere thanks as he wished them well on their journey back to the Forest of Beginnings. Kai joined him.

After the battle was over they settled by the creek; the one where they always go to after every monster encounter, pooling their loot as usual by the bank in front of the fallen tree.

Name: Nicholas Atkins

Race: Human

Rank: Iron

Affinity: Green (Nature)

Strength: E-

Mind: F+

Spirit: F+

Skills: Living Armor (E-), Well of Life (F+)

Living Armor (E-) [Skill]

Tier F

Reassembles the structure of your skin and body into that of magic wood, gaining increased defenses and the ability to shapeshift parts of your body with the exception of the head. While in this form, natural regeneration increases and severed body parts will heal over a period of time. When enough damage has been taken, the living armor will wear off and will lay dormant for a time, not being able to be used again until fully recharged. Consumes a medium amount of mana to cast.

Tier E

A small plant grows on your back when conjuring the greenwood armor. This plant bears fruits that remain dormant until picked up and thrown, which explode upon physical contact.

"That's pretty awesome." Nico muttered as he stared at the pixie screen. His eyes then fell to his strength stat, then glanced over to Hena who was with Saira and Kristine- washing their face by the creek.

"Hey Hena." Nico called as he headed towards her.

"Yeah?" Hena said, turning to Nico with her face dripping with water.

"How high is your strength stat?"

"Higher than yours. Why?"

"Really?" Nico grabbed Hena's arm, fondling it like he was checking for something. "You don't look and feel muscular at all though?"

"Wanna try me?"

. . .

Nico put his swollen hand underwater, staring daggers at Hena who was sitting beside him- giving him a mischievous smile. "You could've taken it easy, you know. What if you broke something?"

"Then I could just heal it back up."

"You're a monster." Nico nudged her with an elbow.

"I can rank up now." Kristine said as she was staring at her pixie screen. She then turned to Jason who was sitting beside Champ, combing the dog's fur with his hands.

"Sure. Hold on, let me get the ritual ready." Jason reached for a leather bag, bringing out a white chalk and book from it. He then drew a magic circle on the rocks on the ground- referencing the book he was holding. "I'm not good at drawing, but that'll do."

He then called Kristine to stand on the magic circle and set her to a kneeling position. Jason then started to chant a foreign language- although not without stutters and pauses.

"What are you saying?" Kristine said, peeking through closed eyes.

"It's the language of the fairies." Hena said, arriving with Nico and Saira who were watching the ritual unfold. "He's been studying a lot of fairy rituals. He even got the basic grammar of the language down, albeit poorly. He could've asked me to chant the ritual for him."

After a few minutes, Jason finished the chant. Kristine then started to take on an ethereal glow, with a giant gray symbol shining above her like a corona. The symbol gleamed in radiance until it dissipated into thin air as Kristine's skin then turned back to normal.

"Congratulations, you're now Iron rank." Jason held out his hand for Kristine. "Feel any difference?"

"I do feel kind of... sexier." Kristine took his hand to help herself stand up. "Quick, hand me a mirror."

"We don't have that." Kai said, gesturing to the creek. "But we do have water. Go fawn over yourself there."

. . .

"I got another skill." Saira said to Nico, with the both of them sitting atop the fallen trunk. The sun was starting to set, with light showering the clearing with an orange undertone, settling on their skin.

"A new summon?" Nico looked over Saira's pixie screen.

"Yup, I'll show you." Saira said, conjuring her mote onto her hand and chanting a spell. Black miasma seeped out from the mote and gathered in the air to form a black ball that floated around her. The ball had one giant mouth but no eyes, although it looked like it was staring right at Nico.

"Cool." Nico said as he held his hand out to touch the ball, prompting it to gently bite his finger. "That's cute. What does it do?"

"This little guy eats incoming projectiles coming at me."

"So it's like a shield."

"Yup. A cute shield."

"Damn that's cool." Kai said, butting in between them. "The second skill I got only boosts the firepower of my other spells. Pretty simple."

"But your attacks hurt like hell though." Nico said, eyeing Champ who was running back and forth playing with Marsh and the new summon. "I still remember you hitting me with it when we met Champ the other day."

"If I didn't stop you, you could've killed him."

"Fair point."

"You guys are back to buddies now?" Saira said, a grin unfolding on her face.

"Not friends, more like a conditional agreement to get along." Kai said, nagging his finger. "That said- Saira, are you interested in someone right now?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because Nico was wondering-"

A punch from Nico connected to Kai's face, sending him tumbling on the ground.

"He's joking."