The guards on the 71st floor didn’t even bat an eye at Nick as he walked on through. He looked across at the other ramp and saw a much more serious looking build up. The wall was much sturdier than when Nick and his family had passed through it. He saw a few familiar faces in the troops guarding it, specifically Kathy. He didn’t stop to say hello, he’d been making a few too many pit stops so far. So when Kathy noticed him he just gave her a wave and started jogging off towards the centre of the floor.

He passed through the central fort and continued on towards the hotel. During the trip he was just reminded again of how bad things were on the 72nd. There were teams of people patrolling the routes between the major areas, Nick even saw them dealing with a few monsters in the darkness. They weren’t as geared or well-manned as the 75th floor but it was clear they were doing their best to keep the floor as safe as possible. Nick really did feel that he’d gotten rather unlucky with his choices.

When he made it to the hotel he confirmed a theory he’d come up with during his trip to the 75th, the doors were different on every floor. Here, there was a sliding double door with two very short staircases leading up to it on either side. Nick walked up the stairs and into the hotel. He came face to face with a scene that was uncannily similar to what he’d seen so far, the same hotel decor in a nonsensical room. It was a large room with lots of wooden tables and chairs littered around, like a dining room of sorts. There were groups of people sitting around eating and playing games throughout the room.

Nick approached what he assumed were members of the militia of the 71st floor.

“Hello lads, I’m looking to have a chat with Doyle. Could you point me in the right direction?”

The group was friendly and pointed him in the direction of a kitchen, through a swinging door at the back of the room. As Nick got closer he noticed that there was a serving window looking into the kitchen. He saw people in aprons rushing around actually preparing food, then they’d serve it off to people waiting in line by the window. Were these people Chefs? As in, they had a class for their profession? What would the skills for that class be? Chop Vegetable, Boil Soup?

Nick chuckled to himself but kept it in mind to ask about. He was sure even if it was a terrible class his dad would likely be taking it. Nick entered the kitchen and realised how chaotic it was in there, people were running around between stations, preparing food and carrying out various tasks. His dad would absolutely love it here. None of the chefs even acknowledged Nick as he walked through, Nick just kept walking and eventually made it to a wider space with armed people littering it. It was very similar to the bar on the 72nd, the back of the kitchen was filled with comfy looking seats and spaces for groups to hang out.

Nick eventually found Doyle sitting around a table and made his way over to him. Doyle looked surprised when he saw Nick.

“How the hell are you here, I would have thought Tony would keep you locked in a cupboard or something.”

Nick smiled. “Well I convinced him to let me find some better loot on my own, he’s busy dealing with the aftermath of invasion right now.”

Doyle raised an eyebrow but didn’t make a comment. Nick wasn’t sure if Doyle had been involved in the invasion force, they had to have come from one of the floors. He had no doubt that the leaders of the other floors had a far more in depth understanding of the situation than his own.

“So what can I help you with today?” Doyle asked, changing the subject.

“Well, I heard that Maddy had some sort of potential plan arranged with you guys.”

Doyle’s face hardened a little, preparing to deny everything.

“I’m not here on Tony’s behalf, I want in. I have a family Tony’s keeping hostage, I want to join with whatever Maddy is doing.”

Doyle relaxed a little. “We’d be more than happy to accept the services of both a Healer and an Explorer. What do you want from the 71st?”

Nick hadn’t actually thought that far. He hadn’t realised that this was probably a pretty normal situation between the other floors, talents being poached and people moving across floors for benefits. From what Doyle was saying it felt more like a company transfer than the refugee status Nick had been imagining. What did Nick want?

“Right now, I just want to make sure that my family is safe. We can work out the rest once that’s been achieved.

Doyle almost looked offended. “That’s a given, protecting the noncombatants is a priority on this floor. How can I ask people to go out and risk their lives for me if I can’t guarantee the safety of their families.”

It was definitely a sales pitch, but goddamn it was effective. The difference between Tony and Doyle was almost enough to make Nick sick.

“In that case, I would love to get my family down here as quickly as possible.”

Nick and Doyle then discussed how that could be achieved. Nick quickly began to realise for the millionth time that Tony was down incredibly bad. The invading forces weren’t directly supported by the other floors but they were certainly taking no steps from stopping groups of people trying. Nick found out that there was limited incentive for the leaders themselves to make a move, Reggie wouldn’t allow a single person to rule more than one floor, even if a puppet leader was being used. It was one of the few rules that Reggie was very strict about enforcing. Each floor had their own leadership separate from each other and they all served beneath Reggie.

Nick realised that Maddy’s current plan was having Doyle send in a team of people stronger than Tony could deal with to extract her sister. In return Maddy would work exclusively on one of Doyle’s teams for two years. Nick wasn’t sure how good or bad of a deal that was but Nick didn’t want to do anything related to indentured servitude ever again. An exclusive contract like that was far too similar to what he was currently experiencing. Nick openly voiced his concerns about the deal. Doyle didn’t get angry or defensive.

“I can understand that. We can work something else out, don’t stress about it.”

Doyle’s attitude was so refreshing that Nick thought he might fall in love. The two continued to try and hammer out a deal. Nick found that Doyle was being rather fair in the dealings. Nick was asking that Doyle send his own men to risk their bodies and lives to help Nick’s family. While he had to accept that fact, Nick wasn’t going to settle on a bad deal for himself. He really wished he had Lily with him, she was so much better than him at things like this.

Eventually the two came to an agreement. Nick would enter an exclusive contract with the 71st floor. Not one for his labour but one for the exclusive right to buy his finds. Whatever Nick found on his explorations he’d have to sell directly to the 71st floor, if they couldn’t or didn’t want to purchase his find then he was free to go anywhere else with it. The contract would only be for a single year and it seemed pretty good for Nick. He didn’t have to sell for reduced amounts or anything. It was so good for Nick that he began to think he might be missing something. Nick wasn’t really in the environment to openly question it though. After weighing it up for a while Nick decided to accept the deal. There didn’t seem to be a major downside and it would guarantee the safety of his family.

Doyle and Nick shook hands and decided on a date, three days from now. Maddy’s plan, which hadn’t actually been confirmed yet, was roped in after Nick vouched that he could represent Maddy’s interests. He was sure that Maddy would be pretty pissed if Nick arranged to extract his family and didn’t bring her along for the ride. He wasn’t sure if he’d screwed her over before she’d had the chance to negotiate a better deal for herself, but he was sure that getting her sister safe was much more important to her.

Once the details were confirmed, Nick relaxed. It was a done deal, he’d done what he could to secure his family’s safety, next was just properly carrying out the plan. Nick then asked Doyle about the kitchen. Doyle explained that they were all Chefs or similar classes. Nick was then introduced to a new concept of the power system here, skill levelling. Just like the classes, individual skills could be levelled up. It also required a special item but they weren’t hard to get a hold of. There was another step though, skill experience.

He’d found it, the exp component of this game element. Just as his hopes were getting up, Doyle explained it further and poured some rain on his parade. Apparently using a skill increased the experience a little bit, once it was used enough you’d be able to use an item to level the skill. Levelling the skill would improve its effects. Doyle tried to explain it in a way Nick could understand.

“Let’s say you levelled Hasty Escape, from what I know, you’d get a bigger buff and it lasts for longer with each level.”

This raised an important question in Nick’s mind. “What does levelling Treasure Sense do?”

Doyle just raised his hands in mock defeat. “Not a clue, I don’t think any Explorer’s have ever given a straight answer. If you ever come across one and find out, I’d love to know.”

Nick asked how he could check his skill experience and Doyle said he could see it in his status you get when you interact with a button. Doyle then treated Nick to a meal, as a way to celebrate a successful deal. Nick was treated to the best meal he’d ever had. It was a simple stir fry but the flavours exploded in Nick’s mouth in a way that he’d never experienced before. He was ashamed to admit it, but it was even better than his own father’s cooking. Doyle laughed at him before explaining that a Chef’s skills made their food much better and even added buffing effects.

Okay, Henry would certainly not be missing out on this class. If Nick had the opportunity to eat meals like this often he’d never say no. Buffs be damned, the taste alone made it worth it. No wonder people were lining up for this stuff.

Finally it was time for Nick to leave to do some actual exploring. He’d have to keep this farce with Tony running for another two days, so he’d have to bring something back today. Nick asked Doyle if it was actually okay for Nick to take on his challenge rooms and Doyle just laughed.

“They’re not mine. Nobody is allowed to stop the free movement and access to hotel resources to anyone. You’re a Latecomer so you wouldn’t know, but we fought a whole war over this stuff. Go explore to your heart's content.”

Now that was a bit of history Nick was interested to hear. There had been a war over the rights to accessing the hotel, that explained a lot. Nick would have loved to sit around and ask more about the history of this place but Nick was getting itchy feet and wanted to get out and explore. While Nick was paranoid that it was his class making him feel that way, Nick couldn’t do much about it and just decided to get a move on.

Nick had a level two class to pick up. So Nick went out to the dinning hall room and started walking through the left door, and kept walking. Gareth hadn’t actually given very precise directions, just head left until you found a certain room. Nick noticed that the demographics of people he encountered in each room was quite different to the 72nd floor. While on the 72nd most rooms were filled with average looking people just eating or playing games, the people here looked like fighters. There certainly were the average people in there, just lounging around but there were still obvious teams of people. They were geared and had weapons, they were using maps and walking in certain directions. These were organised teams.

Nick tried to look as low key as possible. He suddenly realised that he was very alone in a place filled with groups. He’d heard from Maddy what these groups were willing to do to each other, let alone a solo dude just walking around. Maybe this hadn’t been his brightest idea. He then realised that he didn’t even have a bag, whatever loot he did find would either have to be held by him or stuffed into his pockets. Nick was going to be a walking magnet for trouble.

Maybe having a team was the better play. Goddamnit.