I probably cut an interesting sight as I appeared in the middle of the Tower’s massive lobby.

In addition to ten F-rank Interdimensional Pouches attached to my belt, I had a large, tarp-like bag full of armor, weapons, and accessories.

As I approached the store, the old man’s hologram appeared behind the counter. He simply raised an eyebrow at my assortment of loot, making me wonder if he had seen worse.

Samantha said.

“Congratulations, young challenger,” the old man said, in a warm tone. “I see you brought quite the spoils. Place your hand on the stone, and you will see your total accumulated points.”

I put every point of mana into Luck, and then I touched the same Information Crystal that I had used last time.

The first thing I did was sell the massive amounts of weapons and equipment that I had collected, including the majority of the mana beads and F-rank Mana Potions as well.

“Congratulations, challenger,” the man on the opposite side of the counter said. “You have two achievements. First, you have defeated a hidden boss on the first level, a rare feat indeed. Second, you have entered the top 1% of all challengers for total points gained for the F-rank floors. Would you like to convert your achievements to points?”

Samantha said, immediately.

I passed on the hologram’s offer, and I glanced at my updated number of points. I had 710 points total.

How do the points work?

Shouldn’t I get extra points for killing the Evolved Spider?

Samantha said, adopting her patronizing voice again.

With 710 points, I took a look at what the store had to offer.

After fighting F-rank creatures, I now had the option to buy E-rank weapons. Once again, despite my greatly increased Luck, there was nothing D-rank or higher for sale.

Each E-rank item cost around 500 points.

Should I buy a pouch? I asked Samantha, glancing back at the makeshift tarp that I had painstakingly created and added on to during floors 1-5. The old man had refused to purchase the tarp I had made, and I couldn’t blame him for it.

It was obvious that to Samantha, the missions were the key part of the Tower. I clicked on the “missions” tab on my Information Crystal’s interface. I could have sworn that tab wasn’t there the first time I opened the Information Crystal.

As Samantha had hinted, each mission cost Achievements.

There were two missions available. The cheapest mission cost one Achievement, and the more expensive one cost two.

Samantha said.

What is a mission? And why would it cost achievements?

Something about the way Samantha said it reminded me of how she had urged me to travel through the Hell Mode Tutorial.

But the Infinite Tower wasn’t real, anyway. So, there wasn’t really anything I needed to be afraid of…

I glanced at the mission that Samantha suggested:

Rise of the Human Empire: The war between humanity and the Metan Empire is coming to a head. The Metan Empire has been researching a bioweapon that is capable of forcibly converting humans into Metans. You have been transported into the Metan Empire’s research facility as a test subject.

Your mission: Obtain any information crystals with information about the Metan Empire’s bioweapon, transport it across enemy lines, and deliver it to the general in command of the human forces.

Samantha said, in my head.

Why are they fighting?

Samantha said, dismissively.

Do you really need to emphasize the time every time you’re trying to rush a decision? What aren’t you telling me?

Samantha said.

I didn’t know you liked to gamble, I said. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. You did want me to challenge Hell Mode.

Samantha said.

I sighed. On your head be it.

I purchased the mission, “Rise of the Human Empire.”

The old man raised his eyebrows. “Good luck.”

I said goodbye to the man at the counter, and then walked through the black wall ahead of me.

For a moment, I thought the teleportation magic had gone wrong. A second after walking through the black wall, I still couldn’t see anything. I felt weightless, suspended in darkness.

Mana Sensing showed me that I was inside what seemed like a liquid-filled human-sized capsule. The capsule was glowing with runes. My F-rank Personal Mana Shield was glowing, keeping the liquid from touching me.

Samantha said.

I sent mana outside my body, and started forming the runes that Samantha demanded, sending them to seemingly random locations of my capsule.

I had no idea what I was doing, but I trusted Samantha’s knowledge of Rune Patterns.

Samantha said, after we had worked for five minutes.

I heard a light click, that sounded somewhat distant.

Samantha said, proudly.

I pushed against the lid of the capsule gently, and it opened easily. I rose, out of the capsule, an oil-like liquid dripping to the ground lightly as I slightly splashed it over the edge of the coffin.

I had been placed inside the capsule with all of my equipment. I had a full set of F-rank equipment, from Magician’s robes, an F-rank Personal Mana Shield, F-rank Interdimensional Pouch, my spider’s leg, a belt of throwing knives strapped over my robe, boots, a helmet, and an F-rank cloak that supposedly would let me cling to the shadows.

It seemed I was in a storage room. There were two other black coffin-like capsules, identical to mine, inside the room.

The storage room looked like a fortress. The walls were made up of E-rank Terrin Bricks, fastened together with mortar and with runes. Just the abundant use of E-rank material to build this building showed me the importance of my location.

Using Mana Sensing, I could tell that I was in the basement of a very large facility.

There were no people around, and it didn’t seem that I had set off any alarms.

There was only one exit from this room, and I could tell that it wasn’t going to open easily.