Chapter Five

“Ah, we would be most pleased with that. We have the land to host a few hundred of your people, and if you are willing to help with the monster hordes we can claim more.”

Will smiled at Irikaz, taking another sip of the strange tea that the gellon Mayor had offered. It was mildly sweet, with a pleasing tingle, and apparently gave a very minor boost to Mind Depth. Okembe had already begun negotiating with one of the servants for a small personal supply, believing it would assist his Meditation. The others had all slept, for a few hours if not the entire night, but Will and Okembe had not. The sun was rising, and Will could feel fatigue even through his Stats, but they’d made good progress.

“Wonderful. I am not the most hands-on of administrators, I must admit, and so I would ask your permission to retrieve my Quartermaster. As I mentioned last night, more of my people will begin to arrive in your territory and that of the other natives of this Floor within the coming days, and the trickle will quickly become a flood. I intend to have my subordinates, and those we are allied with, manage this process as best we can, but time is of the essence for that. Unfortunately, not all humans are aligned with our goals or morals.”

Irikaz waved it away. Unlike Will, the Denizen didn’t appear to be in any way affected by having spent the entire night in animated conversation. Whether it was Stat based, or some quirk of his foreign biology, was uncertain. He wasn’t sure it would be polite to ask, and so had stuck to more professional matters. He’d managed to obtain a map of the nearest dozen settlements, which even had a few Dungeons and Events marked – though likely not all in the area – and information about the groups that lived there. Along with confirming that Irikaz and his people would allow Towerfall to build an outpost in the safe area.

“Of course. I must speak with my own subordinates, and I understand that you are adventurers rather than politicians. I hold no ill will towards it.”

Irikaz had dodged most questions about his personal history, and as with most low-Floor Denizens appeared incapable of properly grasping the nature of the Tower as a challenge for Humanity, but as Will had become more familiar with his expressions and voice tone he’d got the impression that the Mayor knew more than he was letting on. That was exciting, as the more aware Denizens were often the more powerful or useful.

With the most important matters settled, and after Will and his party had spent another hour or so interacting with the others in the village and taking the tour, he finally begged his leave and headed back to Floor 4. The others stayed, either to continue building rapport with the Denizens (Daphne) or to explore the nearby Dungeon (Metrodora, Okembe and Unk), since he wasn’t planning to be gone too long.

Concentrating on the tattoo that marked his right shoulderblade, he focused on the Floor 4 entrance area. It only took a half second before he blinked and arrived in his destination. Thankfully, there was enough movement that he was able to slip out of the area to the nearest HH outpost and avoid being crowded. He walked in, trying not to wince at the applause as the other Clan members recognised their founder and realised what his appearance meant, and addressed the robed woman who looked to be in charge.

“Pioneer, sir! Have you completed the Exit Dungeon?”

He nodded, and the woman let out a small “eep” sound as she clapped her hands together.

“I’m heading to the main outpost. Do you have a cart, mount or some other way to speed up the travel? A two hour sprint isn’t exactly what I’m looking for, right now.”

She seemed almost taken aback by the casual tone of his voice, but quickly recovered.

“Oh yes, we can help with that!”

She turned her head towards the open door into the back of the building and yelled out, sharply.

“Skipper! You’re needed!”

After a moment, a lightly armoured figure slouched his way into the main room, only a minor dusting of stubble on his chin indicating an age above his teens. His bored expression melted away and was replaced with shock as he saw Will stood there, and he stood up straighter.

“Whatdoyouneed?” He asked, almost tripping over the words as he fired them out.

The woman, who judging by appearances was a relative, let a smile show on her face at the boy’s reaction and gestured at Will.

“Pioneer is heading to the main outpost. Take the good wagon, and here-”

She took the Spatial Bag on her waist and handed it to the boy.

“-the potions in there should sustain the summon if you have trouble.”

Five minutes later, and Will was sat atop a small wagon beside Skipper, watching as they made rapid progress on the roads that Towerfall had laid as one of the first priorities upon reaching this Floor. They were being pulled by a horse that was roughly twice the size of an Earth draft-horse. Huge and thickly muscled, the equine glinted and shined with leaking mana while Skipper kept one hand on its’ spectral reigns and screwed up his face in concentration.

Judging from how difficult Skipper was finding maintaining the Spell, he was a good way below Daphne in terms of Stats, but he hadn’t complained and was even managing to keep up strained conversation, which spoke to some grit. Will had offered Caster’s Reinforcement, but impressively the young man (for he was 21 years old and not as young as he’d appeared at first glance) had turned him down to get more practise for himself.

Sure, Will had made clear in all of his guides and reports that taking risks, pushing yourself, and breaking your own limits would make a huge difference in your growth, but even among his own Clan members he saw many who discarded the advice and were content with far less. Skipper didn’t appear to be that way, and so Will made note to speak to Brunjar and see if they could do any more to support his growth.

By the time they pulled into the compound, they’d drawn close enough for Will to reach Brunjar and Dane via the Clan Chat. It wasn’t anywhere near as effective as Party Chat, yet, but the ability to speak to people outside of your own Party was beneficial enough on its’ own. Along with alerting them to his presence, they’d also passed many Climbers on the roads. Some, including a small group wearing the grey/green colours of the Bold Explorers, noticed Will atop the wagon and waved or called out. He expected the fact that he had cleared the Floor to be spreading already, which only made speed more necessary.

“Welcome back. Are the others all okay?”

Dane was waiting for them at the gate, as Will hopped down from the wagon and thanked Skipper for his help. Will nodded as he walked with his Head of Security into the main structure, passing through the simple halls to his office. Inside, along with Brunjar, were a number of the other senior members of his Clan, the people he was trusting to handle the things he had neither the time nor skill for.

“Floor 5 is open, and we’ve begun establishing contact with the Denizens. I have with me 250 Sigils that will allow you to bypass the Exit Dungeon. Obviously, everyone in this room will need one, but I’ll leave it up to you to distribute the rest.”

He waved a hand over the nearest table, and the sigils poured from his spatial ring into a pile. Each was a tiny scrap of paper, half the size of a playing card, with the number 5 in a stylized glyph marked on them. He turned back to the members of his Clan and settled into his chair, allowing them to begin asking their questions.

Thanks to the “special Skill” he’d acquired to learn information about future Floors (which Brunjar and Dane alone knew was just a cover for his future knowledge), he’d been able to prepare his senior Clan members for the necessary duties on Floor 5 and the existence of the Denizens. Now, as he looked over the assembled group, he began to lay out the specifics of his goals for the next few months.

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Brunjar, his Clan Overseer, in charge of running the Clan at the macro-level and linking its’ disparate parts together with Will’s goals and knowledge.

Dane, his Head of Security, splitting his time between working with the other Clans and training his “Daneguard” to protect weaker Climbers, keep the temporary settlements on each Floor clear of dangerous monsters and protecting the other senior members of the Clan directly.

Jen, the new Head of Research, who he’d convinced of his good intentions and recruited to lead the efforts to expand and exploit everything he knew about the Tower. Mainly focused on recruiting new researchers for her team and translating Will’s fragments of knowledge into full Guides suitable for release to the public.

Last among the faces in the room was Domovoi, his Quartermaster, a man he’d spoken to only a few times. He knew from Brunjar had obtained a useful Wizard based Elite Class which improved his mental abilities and granted useful Skills for administration. Will had never heard of the Arcane Administrator Class before, and it went to show that there was always more to be found inside the Tower’s walls. He handled loot, Coins and rewards for all of the Clan members and the various teams that Towerfall sent out.

Whether building waypoints and outposts, keeping monsters back from these same locations, or just exploring and reporting their findings, Domovoi kept a precise ledger of everything they earned and spent, ready for when they would begin properly building a Clan economy. Without the powers of an Ascended Clan, it was tough to do this, but the elderly Kazakh man had taken to the task with aplomb by all accounts.

There were others of import within the Clan, of course. It had thousands of members, and would only grow larger in time. There were heads of scouting, exploration, Clearing, monster suppression, Item farming and a dozen other roles besides. Still, these four were the lynchpins, the ones who truly ran Towerfall, as much as Will lead it.

“Our first priority should be organising more teams to Clear the Dungeon. Do you expect that every Clear will obtain these Sigils?”

Will nodded at Domovoi’s words. He knew the old man was probably focused more on the prospect of more Dungeon Loot to categorise and distribute, but he wasn’t wrong.

“Yes, although I wager that they will receive far fewer than 50. In the initial surge, competition for slots will be fierce, but over time we should be able to build a stockpile.”

First time round, there were enough Sigils on the market that Will and the Companions didn’t need to complete the Dungeon at all. He was hoping to encourage as many people to Clear Floors for themselves as possible, to forge stronger Climbers in the process, but as the population swelled and the Floors got more complex and difficult there would be a place for less combat oriented people as well. Jen and Domovoi both were examples of this, and as more people met requirements for crafting and support Classes there would be value in helping non-fighters reach higher levels and new opportunities.

Conversation continued, and after a few hours they had planned all they could.

“This next part will be crucial. I’m taking my Party up to the 10th by the end of the year, and it’s going to be down to all of you to keep the lower Floors running.”

A chorus of agreement, and then his subordinates began to leave the room and make their preparations. The entire leadership of Towerfall, save for Jen (who would be staying at the main outpost until things were safer on Floor 5) would be joining the Chancers in the coming hours, and both their teams and the first movers of the other Clans would come soon after.

Brunjar was the last to leave. In the first timeline, the man had been the leader of a Clearing Team with the Inexorable Advance Guild, and surprisingly that hadn’t been where his talents were best spent. Will was sure that once they reached higher Floors, and multiple teams were required for each Clear, Brunjar would cede to the call and return to Climbing, but the fact that the IAG had overlooked his talent for management and people-skills was surprising. Not everyone that Will had worked with, had assisted, so far had been as much of a value-add. They’d had to kick several people out of the Clan, mostly for minor but unacceptable acts of thievery or similar.

On top of that, he could see the beginnings of the same exploitative factions from the first timeline, as well as new ones, benefiting just as much from his changes as his allies. That was the problem with sharing information widely – there was nothing stopping a bandit from taking advantage of the same build guides as the Climbers he targeted. Still, Will couldn’t regret the decision. He’d be on a higher Floor if he’d gone solo, or even if he’d just stuck with the Chancers alone, but it would have been a short-sighted move. The Tower wasn’t built for a man to conquer, nor for a small team. It was built for a species, and Will had to unite as many of them as possible to have a chance.

“You’re going for your Elite Class next, right? Once you reach the 6th?”

Will inclined his head at his Clan Overseer.

“Yes. I expect it to be at least two weeks of absence, maybe longer. In the first timeline, there were not many War Enhancers, and I never learned the exact nature of their training. I do know the rough location of the Class Tutor, and I am confident I will meet his requirements.”

Brunjar took a small box from his Spatial Bag and passed it over to Will.

“One of Dane’s teams caught the crew that had been harassing the unaffiliated camp, and they had this. I had planned to give it to you before you went to 5, but we were waiting on delivery.”

Will took the small wooden box, opening it and smiling widely.

“Perfect. I do not know if I will be able to use it whilst I am in training for the Class, but it will make it easier for me to go on ahead long-term.”

“We’ll keep looking for more. Now Domovoi’s seen one, he’ll be able to talk to the Fences and see if any more come up for sale.”

Once again, Brunjar and his other recruits proved their worth.

Removing the ring from the box, he pricked a finger and Bonded it before sliding it onto his finger and activating its’ Skill.

“Clan Connection. Clan Overseer.”

Immediately, he heard Brunjar’s voice in his head. It was a wholly different experience than receiving messages through Okembe’s Telepathy or the Party Chat, but Will had anticipated that.

“I think it’s working.”

He replied mentally, watching as Brunjar nodded to confirm he’d received the message.

Now he had a way to keep in contact with his second-in-command, as well as the members of his Party, across Floors. There would be better options soon, but this low, coming across a Clan Connection Ring [C] was very lucky. Whoever the bandits had stolen it from would likely have made a significant profit had they lived to sell it. The thought was upsetting, but there was little he could do. His Clan members had already dealt with the threat, and precautions were being taken to deal with more of the same.

He’d accomplished his goals on this Floor. The rest of its benefits could be extracted by the Clans themselves. Before heading to the 6th for his Elite Class, he wanted to help Daphne and Metrodora improve their own builds with the opportunities available on the 5th. Concentrating on his Recall Sigil, he allowed himself to return to the Eastern Desert, and began the journey back to Dunebed Village, his Clan, and the future.