Alex hopped out of the portal and looked around at the environment that much resembled a modern day city. This was the first haven, and after a long journey through the first three floors, this familiar sight brought a mixture of emotions. On one hand, he’d finally get to experience some relief from the endless monsters he’d encountered so far. On the other, this floor always brought a slight discomfort that he could never shake off. There was a certain eeriness to the first haven. After going through the strange worlds of the first three floors, seeing an environment that so closely resembled the outside world was surreal.

At the very least, this place was safe. The early climbers had long since explored every inch of this floor, and after three years of existence, a monster had not once spawned here. For the first few explorers, it must have been quite a shock to see the stark contrast between the haven and the dominions before. They probably thought they’d returned back to the real world when they first stepped foot on this floor.

Compared to the previous floors which were littered with monsters, this one only had people; and there were a lot of them. As Alex walked through the bustling streets, he did his best to avoid the dense crowds sprawled throughout. He had something very important to do, and unlike the spiderwing dominion, this time he knew exactly where he was going. As he walked he decided to go over what he’d done so far. Now’s a good time to review.

Stats

Level: 4

Rank: Apprentice

Strength: 19

Stamina: 14

Agility: 21

Resilience: 11

Spirit: 26

Not bad. Let’s see the skills and talents.

Skills Mastery Level

Description Spirit Punch

Beginner

Concentrate your spirit energy into your fist to unleash a powerful punch. Pulse Dash

Beginner Shoot your spirit energy in a pulse behind you to perform a lightning-quick dash. Spirit Blast

Beginner

Concentrate your spirit energy into the palms of your hands to let out a powerful blast of energy. Tiger Form

Tiger First Adept Channel Tiger Energy into your first, enveloping them with energy in the shape of a biting tiger Dragon Form

Dragon Head Beginner Channel Dragon Energy to create two energized constructs in the shape of a dragon’s head around your arms. Talents Mastery Level

Description Unarmed Combat

Adept

Increases your proficiency in unarmed combat. [+15%] damage from non-weapon attacks. Tiger's Heart

Beginner Increases total Tiger Energy and regeneration rate. [+20] Tiger Energy and [+5%] regeneration rate.

He’d made good progress. The only thing that he wasn’t happy about was his low level and rank. The low level made sense since he’d rushed through the first three floors, but he was confused about his rank. It should’ve increased by now.

Next he looked inside his inventory ring. It was almost full with the various monster drops he’d collected. Out of all his items, the only one he really cared about was the Golden Spiderwing Egg.

As Alex walked, he took stock of the people around him. It was always strange to see people’s attitudes inside the havens, especially this soon since the tower’s emergence. The early days were filled with fear and mistrust, and understandably so. The early explorers had learned to stay on their guard inside the tower, and expected monsters to pop out at any time and wreak havoc. But that moment never came. Three years later and people had started to accept that this was a safe space. So much so that they started using the haven to do various things from staging lavish parties to conducting business without oversight from the outside world. And for those criminally minded, this place was heaven sent.

But it wasn’t always like this. When the haven was first explored, it was completely vacant. Shops were open and clearly labeled but there was no other living beings inside to operate them. It was as if the entire floor had been set up for humans to occupy. Over time people started migrating into the haven, some going so far as to reside here full time. Other opened up businesses from restaurants, to protective services.

There was money to be made from the tower, both legal and illegal in the eyes of law. And it wasn’t just the first haven, either. All havens had their fair share of criminal activity lot. After all, there was no law in place here and no official body to enforce it. Luckily, most of the underworld stuff happened behind closed doors and there was a level of respect and civility that most people adhered to. Those that pushed pushed their criminal activity too openly or too strongly would gather the attention of high level guilds. These guils did their best to maintain some semblance of order despite the lack of strict hierarchy.

With all these measures in place, things somehow kept running. Maybe it was the sense of exploration and survival that people had shared to get through the first three floors that helped them cooperate.

Alex stopped at a nearby indoor market and sold all his loot apart from the golden egg. This netted him 4 coins, which was about $4,000 USD. The conversion rate was something that Alex never understood, and he never bothered to look into it as economics was never his thing. He was just happy that he could make a living exploring the tower.

With those coins he now had seven in total. He shopped around but only bought two new Communication Bracelets, leaving him with five coins at his disposal. As he made the transaction, he overheard a conversation from a man and a woman who stood just behind him.

“Who’s your money on to win Magic Ball tournament this year?” the man asked.

“It’s obviously gonna be the Green Sea guild.” The woman said. “They crushed it last year.”

“Yeah, but that was a year ago.” The man said. “There’s fresh blood out there and there are a few new guilds that are looking good this year. You should put some money on the Rapiddog guild, they’ve got the best payout for their odds.”

The woman snorted. “Never heard of them. You really follow every team don’t you?”

“That’s right.” The man declared confidently. “And it isn’t just Magic Ball either. I got my eyes on every event in the Dominion Games.”

Alex took note. The Dominion Games are happening, huh? That might be fun to try out. But first, I need to handle some business.

After completing the transaction, Alex headed back out to the street. He kept his map open as he walked, using it to refresh his memories of where everything was located. After climbing to the higher havens in the previous timeline, he’d rarely returned to the lower ones. Thankfully, there was no fog of war in the havens so even newcomers had the entire floor layout available to them.

Twenty minutes later he arrived at a run-down street which somehow looked more busted-up than the others. The entirety of the first haven looked rickety and battered, and few people took it upon themselves to clean it. But this street was even worse than the rest. He continued down the street until he found the building he was looking for. Above the door, a sign hung from the second floor: Manny’s Information Services.

Alex entered inside to find a small, dingy office with a man seated behind a counter. Stacks of paper were scattered all around the dirty, unswept floor. It wasn’t exactly the peak of professionalism, but Alex didn’t have much choice. All the good information brokers were on the higher floors, so he’d have to make use of what he had available at this time.

He walked up to the counter and the man on the other side finally dug his nose out of his books and looked up at him through large, circular glasses. The mad had been so focused on his paper work that he hadn’t noticed Alex enter.

“Uhh, welcome to Manny’s Info Services.” The man said in a disinterested and bored tone. “I’m Manny. What do you want?”

Really? Alex thought. So much for putting your best foot forward. “I’m looking for a certain person. I’d like you to help me find their location.”

The man took out a blank piece of paper and placed it on top of the huge stack that was already in front of him. “No problem. Gimme the info?”

“Her name is Emma Bennett. Eighteen years old, brown hair, green eyes.”

“Mhm.” Manny nodded as he wrote the information down. “Is she important to you?”

“Not at all.” Alex said. “I need to find her for business purposes.”

That was a lie. Emma had been his girlfriend in the previous timeline before she’d died. But he didn’t want to reveal that information. He’d probably be charged more for the info or possible blackmailed somehow.

“Mhm. Any leads? The more info you give me the quicker I can find her.”

“She’s a member of the Blitz Shield guild.” Alex said. “They should be operating among the lower floors at this time.”

Manny continued to take notes. “Alright. That’ll be seven coins.”

Alex frowned. “Seven coins? That’s way too much.”

“That’s the price of business, my friend.” Manny said with a shrug. “I have people to pay to keep this whole thing running. Besides, I’ll give you my signature guarantee: If I don’t find any info within a month, I’ll refund half the cost back to you.”

Alex shook his head. He didn’t have the coins and the last thing he wanted to do was sell the golden egg. It had a much greater purpose to serve than generating money. “I can’t do seven. I’ll give you five coins, that’s all I have.”

Manny shrugged. “Sure. Five it is.”

Surprised with how easy the negotiation was, Alex handed over the five coins and gave Manny the number of his communication bracelet. He then left the building and continued walking to his next destination. As he walked, he contemplated his next few moves.

That takes care of Emma for now. Once I find her I’ll convince her to leave the tower for good. That’s the only way to guarantee her safety. Now I should turn my focus to recruiting the others. I should start with-

“Alex.” A voice called out.

He turned to his left to find a hooded figure about half his size standing a few feet inside a dark alleyway. The figure waved him over. He thought to ignore the invitation but ultimately decided to oblige. What could someone that small do to him, anyway?

As he approached, the figure took down the hood, revealing a bright green face. Alex jumped back in surprise. “What the hell!? What are you?”

“I am Dea, the squire of Raphelia.”

Alex scanned the strange creature with curiosity. It had a feminine, human shape, but its body was entirely green. A strange kind of energy seemed to fluctuate throughout her body, adding to Alex’s confusion. “Uhh. Raphelia’s squire?”

“That is correct.” Dea said. “She sent me here to meet with you. There are important matters that we need to attend to.”

“Important matters? Like what?”

“Everything will be explain in time.” Dea said. “For now, please follow me.” She turned around and marched deeper into the alleyway.

Alex hesitated for a moment. What is this thing, and is she really working with Raphelia? Do I refuse? Can I refuse?

Ultimately, his curiosity got the better of him and he sped up to catch up with her. “Can you at least tell me where we’re going?”

“Of course.” Dea said. “We’re going to the Shadow Tower.”