“The… Scenario?” Ikara asked.

“Wait, this is part of the game?” Rowan added.

Just as they asked, white text appeared in front of their eyes, floating in a green box.

Welcome to the Second Floor! Clone Game Begins!

One hundred clones of yourself are scattered across the city. Every clone you kill gives one point in the game and adds one temporary point to your stats.

To win, a team must gather 1000 points. The three teams with the most points at the end of the game receive a special bonus reward!

You can kill rival clones for zero points. Clones killed by anyone but yourself respawn after a short delay.

If you have zero points at the end of the day, you will be eliminated.

Scan is disabled for the duration of the Scenario.

Special caveat: Team Game. Single climbers will be formed into independent teams or placed onto smaller teams.

Special caveat: Team Game. Teams with more than four players will be broken into teams of four. Teams with fewer than four players may be randomly assigned a fourth player.

Special caveat: Low Floor Warning. Murder is still illegal. Disabling attacks strongly preferred. Enforcers will intervene if excess illegal action takes place.

Excess illegal action? So one or two murders is okay? Rowan wondered.

“How are we supposed to get one thousand points? We can only get a hundred each. That’s three hundred,” Ikara pointed out.

Rowan glanced at Kaidu. “That warning about killing players… we can hunt other players for points, can’t we?”

Kaidu nodded. “Precisely.”

"One point, or... all their points?" Ikara asked.

"All the points they've gathered," Kaidu confirmed.

"Damn," Ikara muttered.

“Only we can kill our own clones meaningfully, so there’s no rush there. The more clones we kill, the more powerful we become, but the harder it is for us to hide from other players,” Rowan finished.

Kaidu nodded again.

“So?” Ikara asked, tilting her head.

“Then… isn’t the dominant strategy to hunt other players first, while we’re low-power, then kill our clones at the end? That way, no one can steal our points, but we steal others’ points?” Rowan rubbed his chin. “But… early on, the other players won’t have many points, so it’ll be pointless for us to steal their points. So…”

Light flashed in Kaidu’s eyes. He grinned.

“So the best strategy is to lay low, hide amongst our clones, and only strike at the end, while the other players have points.” Rowan bit his lip, hesitant. It’s not a plan without downsides, but…

“Wait, but won’t all the other players have a bonus one hundred temporary stat points by then? That’s… even for a combat class, that’s like ten to twenty levels!” Ikara pointed out.

“That’s where the training comes in. Hide. Ambush. Take them down before they can use their superior strength,” Rowan said, realizing. "High risk, high reward. If we pull it off, we’ll pass this game with minimal fighting. But if they’re too powerful once they gain those stat points…”

“We’re putting our lives on the line here, aren’t we? Anyone with zero points at the end of the day gets eliminated. Doesn’t that mean…” Ikara trailed off.

“And what happens to teams that don’t get one thousand points? It’s risky. But I don’t think we can openly compete with combat classes in a game like this.” Rowan shook his head. “We need to be smarter about it. Come at it from the right angle.”

Ikara rubbed her hands together, nervous. “Ugh. But it’s totally possible that they’ll be so powerful we can’t possibly beat them, isn’t it?”

“Don’t look down on the power of an ambush,” Kaidu replied. He nodded at the air in front of him, where the rules still floated for Rowan. “Look at the caveats, as well.”

“Low Floor Warning? Wait—the teams one?” Rowan asked.

Kaidu nodded. “The first teams warning. Some teams will be made up of single climbers thrown together at random. At worst, they won’t understand how each other’s attacks work, and will get in each other’s way. At best… they might underestimate the game, and decide to wander alone.”

“Oooh,” Ikara said, bouncing in place.

“Three against one. Even if they’re a combat class, they’ll have a hard time against the three of us together,” Rowan deduced. Like how Ikara and I teamed up in the stadium.

“Precisely,” Kaidu replied.

“Alright. So we need to stake out the other teams, first of all. Get a feel for which ones are strong, and which are weak. Find our own clones, but not kill them, yet.”

“Kill one,” Ikara interjected.

Rowan pointed at her. “Right. Kill one clone, so we don’t get eliminated. And then… when the time is right, strike against the other teams.”

“Some of the teams will have their own strategies. Be aware of the possibility and avoid those. We want the teams that don’t form a strategy and thoughtlessly charge into the game, tempted by the temporary stat-ups, or the lone wanderers,” Kaidu said.

“Right.” Rowan took a deep breath. He brushed off his apron nervously and jumped in place, ready to go.

“Do we split up? For the scouting phase,” Ikara said.

Rowan looked at Kaidu, who shrugged back at him. My choice, huh. He took a deep breath. “For the first day, let’s do it. Most teams should only be scouting out the Scenario on the first day, same as us. Even if they realize we’re rival players, they shouldn’t come after us, because we won’t have many points to give.”

“What if they decide to eliminate rival players anyways?” Ikara asked.

“That would be stupid.” Rowan paused. Okay, but for example, Terry is stupid. I could see him trying to eliminate us from the game before we have any points to ‘get rid of the competition,’ not realizing that he’s removing a hundred points from his own chance of success by eliminating us before we can kill our clones. He shook his head at himself. “It’s a possibility. But I think scouting is important enough to take the risk.”

Kaidu snorted. “We’re in the Tower. Everything comes with risk. From a certain vantage point, staying together is risky, because we gain less information about the other teams if we huddle together.”

“The real danger is other teams thinking of us as lone wanderers, aka prime targets, by not appearing together. But hey, we’re already prime targets as support classes, so I wouldn’t worry about that too much. And there's plenty of clones to blend in with.” Rowan shrugged.

Ikara took a deep breath, then nodded. “Whew! The second floor is way scarier than the first, huh? I could just run away in the first. But here, we’ve gotta fight.”

“No matter what, we will have to fight combat classes if we intend to defeat the Tower,” Kaidu replied.

“I know. I know. It’s just… phew!” Ikara shook her head.

Rowan took a deep breath. "Everyone good with the plan?"

Ikara nodded. Kaidu tossed his head, throwing his ponytail over his shoulder.

Looks like a yes to me. “Meet back here at the end of the day?”

“Sounds good!” Ikara gave him a thumbs-up.

Kaidu nodded.

“Then… good luck!”