Ryan chuckled to himself as he stood by the window. From his office at the very top of the main building, he had a clear view of the square where the advancement exam began. His left wrist was brought up close to his mouth, so he could speak into his root bracelet with ease. “Yes, I guarantee he’ll become a future explorer. It’s not a matter of if but when.”

Ryan grinned as a line appeared in his vision, indicating his amount of geums had increased once more. “His name is Vur Besteck, and….” The mustached man’s eyes widened as an amber light flashed in the square. A group of five familiar people came into view when the light faded. “And he finished the advancement exam already! It’s only been five minutes since he stepped inside. If you don’t hurry to the fifth floor’s entrance, you might miss him!”

Ryan lowered his hand and gulped. As someone who had resided in the tower longer than most people had been alive, there was no way his discerning vision had failed him. Vur was strong, unbelievably so. Although there wasn’t an official record for the fastest clear of the advancement exam, Ryan was sure Vur’s party was among the fastest. In fact, the mustached man hadn’t finished contacting all the guilds he wanted to sell Vur’s information to. Although he’d get less geums out of it, it seemed like he’d have to send an impersonal spam message to his list of contacts; there simply wasn’t enough time to contact them all personally.

***

Vur looked around and yawned as he scratched his stomach. He reached over and tugged on Lindyss’ sleeve. “Are the other floors going to be like this one?”

Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Vur tilted his head. “I could’ve slept all day, and nothing would’ve changed.”

“You would’ve missed out on a meal,” Lindyss said. “And let’s not forget about how you were necessary for Melody’s education.”

Melody’s expression darkened. Turning into a tree was the type of education she could do without.

“Besides,” Lindyss said. “I think you’ll be interested in the next floor’s contents.”

“Really?” Vur asked and squinted at the cursed elf. “What’s it about? If it’s not interesting, I’m going to take a nap.”

“Gathering,” Lindyss said as she walked away from the square, beckoning for the group to follow after her. “The tower will teach you the most effective way to loot things. I know you’re not interested in mining ores or harvesting plants, but there’s lessons on butchering. You’ll learn how to take apart animals without damaging the best cuts of meat.”

Vur’s eyes widened upon hearing the last sentence coming out of Lindyss’ mouth. “I’ll learn to eat the best parts of an animal?”

Lindyss chuckled. “That’s not exactly what I said, but essentially, yes.”

“Gathering, huh?” Tafel mumbled.

“Why? Not excited?” Mary asked. She had been waiting for them to finish in the square, and as expected, she didn’t wait very long before rejoining their group. “You can come mining with me. Cutting rocks apart with a sword is a little more interesting than regular training. Of course, it’s not as fun as training against other people, but if we do it together, it definitely won’t be boring.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how you’re supposed to mine ores,” Tafel said.

Mary nodded. “That’s what the instructor said too, but he was also wrong.”

***

Ashley frowned as she sorted through the messages in her root bracelet. As the leader of a large guild, it was expected for her to receive a lot of messages. However, she had turned on the whitelist function; she’d only receive notifications from people she had personally approved. Despite that, there were still over twenty messages in her feed. Eighteen of them came from the same person, the Wind Lord, Jasmine.

“Hey, I received some top-secret, exclusive information about a strong candidate. Are you interested?”

“Did you mute me again? You better not have. I’ll cry.”

“I sent some people down to the fifth floor to see what this candidate’s all about, but that headhunter’s such a greedy toe sniffer! The recruitment managers from all the other guilds are there, and he actually dared to call his information exclusive!?”

“I’m going down to the fifth floor myself! You should totally come too. If all the other lords decide to show their faces too, it’ll be a huge hot dog hoedown. I need your support!”

“Hello? Ashley? I’ll buy you lunch if you show up. I know you’re not busy. I called Puddles, and he said you’re lounging around your office.”

“Girl, I know you’re there. Your root bracelet is literally attached to your arm. Don’t ignore me!”

Ashley’s expression remained unchanged as she went through the messages, her eyes skimming over them. However, a familiar name caught her attention, and she slowed her actions.

“What the hell! The headhunter just sent a spam message to all of us! He’s not even trying to pretend he didn’t lie to me anymore! Exclusive my left nostril! You must’ve got that message too, right? Don’t buy it! The candidate’s name is Vur Besteck, and he’ll show up on the fifth floor. Please come.”

Ashley lowered her wrist and stood up, the amber light disappearing from her root bracelet. It seemed like Vur’s group had never stopped behaving in an ostentatious manner. It was only a matter of time before the other lords discovered his presence.

A faint smile appeared on Ashley’s lips as she made her way to the residence’s wooden tablet. She raised her arm and spoke into her root bracelet, sending a message to Jasmine. “I’ll be there,” Ashley said. “Save me a good seat.”

Not even a second later, Ashley received a reply.

“Wow, really!? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you reject my invitations to do anything! I can’t save you any seat because we’re all standing, but I’ll clear some space for you. By the way, I invited Puddles earlier when I was asking him about you; I hope you don’t mind.”