Before Alice could collect herself, she was face-to-face with the metallic barrel of a gun. She felt the tower and herself bristle, responding to the sudden fear at facing down a weapon, and the anger at whatever accusation was behind the gesture.

“Release her, now.”

[Threat to the Defier detected]

“That is quite the quick accusation for someone who just got here and didn’t even see everything.” Alice stared at the man, her green eyes narrowed.

“I have visited another tower. I know it’s not safe,” he snarled. “Don’t think I won’t shoot you. I don’t know how you monsters hack the ROOT system to tell everyone still alive to come here, but I don’t care.”

Alice focused on the man for a moment, just enough to see his name.

[Vincent Zosimos]

[Class: Gunner]

What an apt class for his fighting style.

Then, Alice remembered where she had heard that family name before.

“So, you’re one of the richest people in this world, because your family figured out how to manipulate the ROOT system everyone is born with to some extent, allowing your family to add features and charge people for using them,” Alice said. “Calm down, and we can talk about this like fellow adults, I didn’t hurt your child. Would you rather she gets hurt from the stronger monsters outside? She chose to train here.”

“They appear at the same time as these towers do. I have reasons to suspect that you were the one summoning them to lure people here.”

An instinctive dread pooled in Alice’s gut as the man finished his accusation. She moved to the side, right as Vincent pressed the trigger.

Bang!

He fired the first shot.

The bullet had grazed Alice’s face, stinging for a moment before the scratch wound repaired itself. The bullet buried itself into tree bark, accompanied with the sound of hissing fire as the resulting hole blackened at the edges.

Alice had no time to consider how her body have changed since she obtained the tower.

For now, time to put her abilities to the test.

“That’s enough!” Alice said, while using the momentum of her movement to kick the gun out of him. The weapon landed on the ground, and as Vincent reached for it, she manipulated a stray vine from the ground, lifting the weapon until it was out of reach. Undisturbed with the loss of his weapon, Vincent grabbed the air, conjuring an identical weapon, before firing again.

She dropped her body backwards, letting the bullet harmlessly pass, before landing on one knee on the ground.

“As I said, we can talk things out. You have a voice, right? Use it.”

Under her mental command, more vines slithered out from the bushes and trees, binding all of Vincent’s limbs in a spread-eagle position. The man struggled and gritted his teeth in anger.

[Threat neutralized]

She ignored the notification.

“You monster—“

“First of all, I am the administrator of this place, with full authority even on the very ground you are standing on, so if I want to end you or your daughter, you’d be mauled before you even see me.”

“Dad, yeah, she is right. I fought monsters, but she was there the whole time,” Clara, the indirect cause of the problem, finally spoke up. “I knew what we were going to face before the fight happened. I’m just exhausted, really.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes, doubt still evident in his stare.

“Besides, why are you so against this? You are one of the people who knows about the ROOT system and can alter it, but even now no one in our family could fix it, and all we could access was our own stats and the storage system, while all other features were cut off. Can you say for sure when the molecular food generator would be restored? Shouldn’t we learn how to defend ourselves and look for other food sources?”

Both Alice and Vincent went silent, for different reasons. She was right, however, Alice hasn’t felt even a bit of hunger, or any biological urges, since she received the system.

Right, it was not a pressing question right now. She turned to look at the middle-aged man currently bound in vines, and clicked her tongue.

“I don’t know what tower you went to before coming here, but I know that I have no reason for wanting you, or anyone else coming here, dead,” Alice said, her lips forming a thin line in distaste. “I can let you go, and we can start over, but the moment you continue the whole hostility thing, I don’t mind strangling you right where you stand.”

For a moment, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he decided to keep quiet and nodded in response.

“Good. I’m Alice, and I manage this place. Do you want to train, as well? Your daughter and her friend is resting right now, and the next fight will be at the tower itself.”

“Alice, I want dad to stay behind,” Clara spoke up. In that moment, Alice saw the contrast between the proper, if messy, looking brown-haired father and the daughter. “I can’t have him follow us and do everything for us both.”

“Okay, understandable, then you can wait here, Mr. Zosimos.”

Vincent was about to open his mouth when Alice cut him off. The tiny fangs from her shapeshifting gave her words a cutting, dangerous edge.

“I don’t have to entertain your coddling behavior. Unless you want to wait in a glass box or held up by vines, you will do what I say. Trust me, I can and I will make you stay, and I will know when you decide to still not honor your daughter’s wishes.”

The man’s lips pursed in a thin, angry line, but he stayed silent.

“That is what I’d like to see. You can rest here. There will be nothing hostile in this place.”

With that, she turned to look at the two girls and said, “I’ll see you both at the tower.”

Alice opened a portal beneath her feet, and she emerged inside the now empty tower. She leaned on the wall, pinched the bridge of her nose in exhaustion, then ordered the system to recreate the previous setting, with reduced amount of enemies to account for the smaller group. As for the second floor, after some deliberation, she decides to put a pair of constructs made from stone.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Even one would most likely prove a bit difficult, considering the constructs were made to resist attacks. At least, though the constructs were powerful, it moves slowly due to its cumbersome body.

A quick check revealed that just like before, her energy had increased from both the battle and the passive recovery, though the higher upper limit seems to make her unable to feel the absorbed energy as much.

“I’m keeping an eye on him. That aside, do you want to keep the challenge’s difficulty level as is? The puzzle room is kind of easy, too.” Vuer asked.

“Let it be, for now, if anything, this gives them a break. It hasn’t been too long since this whole thing happened.”

Alice felt something move, but before she could check, the two of them have already arrived. The tower door was already open, showing them the smaller kobold crowd, though they still hesitated on the door before coming in.

“Do you have enough rest, or do you want to take the challenge right now?”

“Give us a couple minutes, please,” Amelia responded first.

“Then, can I ask you two a question?”

“I don’t mind,” Clara answered in her stead, “What is it, Alice?”

“I just want to know whether you know what this creature is,” Alice answered, before waving her hand. In response to the gesture, the tower conjured a glass sphere, and within it, there was a projection of the three machine-like creatures. “These are called Pseon Replicators, according to the system, does the name ring any bells?”

“I never saw those before,”

“Neither do I,” Clara added. “So far, we’ve encountered several monsters, but there aren’t anything that looks like that. Most of the monsters outside look more like mutated pets. From cats, dogs, to even birds and reptiles, there are a lot, but nothing that looks like that.”

“I saw those,” a voice piped up, and the two immediately whipped their head to look at the source.

“Dad, I said—“

Alice turned her head towards the source of the voice. Her eyes narrowed, creating a terrifying look thanks to her green slitted eyes.

“I’ll just sit back here. Calm down, I’m not going to attack you again.” Vincent raised his hands to show that he was not holding anything.

“You are aware that I can kill you should you step out of line again, are you?” Alice fired back.

“I am, but you don’t seem to be the type to do that,” Vincent replied, his tone more relaxed than before. “Anyway, I can tell you what I know, but only after my daughter and her friend gets out of the place safely. Can you do that?”

“No problem.”

That was her aim, anyways. She had no problems agreeing to that.

“Good. Then, I’ll be watching here. I’ll try to not interfere. Can’t promise anything, though.”

“Don’t worry. I’m enforcing it in fact. Oh, for you two, do you want the explanation for this creature?”

“Sure.”

“The gist is, these things move in packs, and it has some rudimentary intelligence, enough to work together and have a synergy, so you have to be careful. Just like before, you’ll risk injury with this one, but you’ll get a reward.”

“This isn’t just a training place?”

“It is, but there’ll be rewards in place. The difficulty has been adjusted for you two, so no need to worry.”

“Okay, I’ll get to it, just give us a bit,”

Clara opened her book, and summoned the fish-like spirit with rainbow scales from within. Alice watched as the spirit acted like a playful pet, and when its scales brushed their skin, the scars knitted closed bit by bit. Meanwhile, Amelia kept trying to touch the spirit, her fingers passing through its body every time she tried.

“Vuer?”

“Yes?”

“How is the progress on the analysis?”

“The one thing I’m sure of is, that creature is a perfect fusion of biological and machine. The tendrils collect complete information of anything it absorbs, then it basically creates copies of the absorbed subject with the divine essence as fuel. There are traces of materials that can be found in this world, but as for the rest, it’s unknown.”

“Continue the scan. I have plans to reuse the material.”

“For the Creation skill? Got it.”

The tiny dragon disappeared just as the two finished their healing process.

“Wait, Vuer, tell me, how did you not notice him moving?”

“I did the moment he left, but he has a speed increasing skill, and with our current territory size, I can’t warn you fast enough before he arrived.”

“Okay, that’s fair. I’ll just keep an eye on him.”

“We’re ready, Alice.”

Alice nodded, then she made a line on the floor with her foot. “The moment you step past this threshold, the enemies will notice you, and the battle will start.”

She gave a sincere smile at the two, before saying, “Good luck.”

Amelia conjured her shield, while Clara opened her book, this time calling upon two pairs of fiery spirits. The spirits looked a bit similar to hummingbirds, embers of fire dripping from their fast moving wings only to disappear into nothing within less than a second. As they flew around their summoner, fiery trails could be seen along their movements for a split second.

Clara pointed forward, ordering the spirits to attack, while Amelia once again used [Bastion Enrage]. The moment Amelia slammed her shield, it was as if all the kobolds could only look at her, their eyes glazed over with rage that blinded them towards everything else. Three of the kobolds ran towards her in focused anger, while the four spirits grazed them over and over. Fire started to burn on the spots where the birds grazed them, starting as tiny embers that ate the surface of the creatures’ tattered armor.

Unaware of the fire, the creatures solely focused on the shieldbearer, their eyes glinting with burning rage as they swung their clubs and swords as hard as they could in an attempt to breach through the shield.

The kobold behind the other three raised its crude staff, and a reddish aura enveloped the other three. Before Amelia could prepare, the three slammed on her shield at the same time, their combined strength enough to shatter her concentration and the shield along with it. She jumped back and shuddered, her arm still shaking with pain. From her expression, she could feel that something was broken.

“Mel!” Clara shouted, and with that, the enemies shifted their focus towards her. She opened her book again, gritted her teeth, and ordered the fire spirits to come back into her book, before summoning a couple of earthen spirits. Their appearance looked almost like an effigy, featureless rocks arranged to look like a facsimile of a human with a pair of glowing golden eyes.

The two spirits slammed the floor right as the three kobolds attempted to attack, creating a massive wall. As the creatures stumbled back, dizzy from slamming face-first to a slab of rock, Clara used the chance to catch her breath before calling upon the water spirit, directing it to envelop Amelia’s trembling hand.

As the shieldbearer stood back up, Alice continued observing their battle. They have a decent synergy, in no small part thanks to Clara’s versatility. She glanced at Clara’s father, and he saw the man’s fists trembling.

Though she knew it was for good reason, Alice told Vuer to keep an eye on him and prepare to restrain him should he decided to interfere.

For a few minutes. Clara acted as bait, luring the three kobolds to attack her, while defending herself with the earth spirit. She ordered one of the earth spirit back, then she called upon the wind spirit, ordering it to slash over and over at the burn wounds the kobolds have suffered.

Though her body trembled from exhaustion, and her brow turned damp thanks to the exertion, Clara’s efforts paid off, as the kobolds shouted in pain. While the three was distracted, Clara ordered the wind spirit to focus on the kobold hanging out behind the other three, disrupting its concentration and dispelling the red aura enveloping the other three.

Finally, Amelia stood up. With a great deal of effort, she conjured her shield again.

“That… is… enough! Come at me!”

Another use of [Bastion Enrage] baited the three kobolds to focus on her. Clara recalled the water and earth spirits back, then called for a couple of fire spirits from her book. Her hair looked matted with sweat, the summoning clearly took significant effort, but she persisted, even biting her bottom lip to keep herself awake.

“Come… on!”

The spirits immediately started attacking under her command. The wind spirit now harassed the three kobolds, while the fire spirits ignited the skin, fur, and clothes of the kobold caster, causing it to be unable to conjure the red aura around its teammates.

“Mel, can you,” she took a sharp inhale, “… finish this?”

Amelia gripped the handle of her light shield until the tips of her fingers turned white. Determination burned behind her gaze as she replied.

“Yes.”

She forced herself to move as fast as she could while maintaining her skill, forcing the kobolds to all focus on her. Without the red aura, the creatures were weaker, allowing her to deflect them with ease. This time, fueled by desire to protect, she slammed down the shield towards a distracted kobold, cracking the floor and turning the creature’s head into mush.

Despite the blood loss from lacerations and the burning wounds, the other two still has not stopped attacking. Their attacks were a bit weakened, but they continued in their single-minded pursuit to take down the two.

Though the creatures were capable of rudimentary teamwork, there was little to no technique behind their attacks. If they did not have any weapons, they might be indistinguishable from a wild animal. Clara lifted her hand up, and as one more kobold stumbled thanks to Amelia’s shield bash, she made a crushing gesture, prompting the wind spirit’s tail to turn into a crescent sickle.

[Spirit Order - Whirlwind Sickle]

[Order a summoned spirit to execute its strongest attack. The power, type, and element of the attack changes depending on the type of targeted spirit]

Within a split second, the kobold’s severed head rolled on the floor, its expression frozen in a snarl.

The two friends looked at each other and nodded. Amelia focused on the remaining sword-wielding kobold, while Clara focused on the one wielding a staff.

In an attempt to retaliate, the kobold raised its staff again, gathering purple wisps Alice recognized as dark energy into a small sphere. Upon a swing of the staff, the sphere dashed towards Clara with the speed of a bullet.

Clara directed one of the spirits to stand in the bullet’s way, and a fire spirit intercepted the attack.

Both the spirit and the dark energy bullet disappeared at the same time.

Clara focused on the other fire spirit, and she made a crushing motion with her hand, executing the same technique as before.

[Spirit Order - Cleansing Fire]

The burning wounds on the kobold all started to blaze even brighter, before merging and engulfing the kobold into an agonizing death. The sizzle of cooked meat could be heard before the creature crumbled into a rain of black ash with no trace of bones remaining in the pile.

“And this is for Clara,”

Amelia spoke with a tranquil rage towards a pinned kobold; then brought her shield down several times, turning the creature into a smear on the ground.

With that, it was over. Clara walked with unsteady steps towards Amelia, then she slumped next to her friend, closing her eyes and sighing.

[Mana capacity: 193.215 / 200.000 (Rank F)]

Combined with the passive gain, Alice had managed to recover most of the tower’s energy. While the two rested, Alice gave Vincent a quick glance, a silent warning, then she opened a portal to the treasure room beneath her feet.

As she landed in the treasure room, she created the spirit stones again as a reward. In a smaller stone box, she made around 60 stones for them, totalling 30 points should the two decide to share the loot equally. After she placed the box, she noticed a new option on the system screen.

[Create item]

She tried to open the option, and she was greeted with another notification.

[No material options available]

[Analyze materials with the ‘Fragmentation’ option available in the system menu to add material options.]

Alice thought of the replicator’s shell material and decided to try again later. She opened another portal back into the first floor to check on the two.

Clara had fallen asleep from the exertion, but at least, her complexion looked a bit better. She was no longer pale or trembling. Vincent was sitting close to her daughter, patting the sleeping girl and clearing her sweat-matted hair out of her face.

That was odd. How did she recover so fast.

The last group has a dedicated healer. However, this pair only has one person with a versatile ability. Did she use her summoning skill?

Alice shook her head slightly. That was impossible.

“Vuer?”

“What is it?”

The dragon replied, but this time, it didn’t appear. It only spoke as an echo in Alice’s mind.

“Can you check whether there’s any alteration to her body? She was back to normal really quick for someone who just exhausted herself.”

“The Vuerga system has no recovery ability, at least not for anyone other than the Defier. My theory is, the ROOT system has been altered in some way to allow this.”

That makes sense. Most likely it has something to do with the newfound abilities everyone acquired.

For now, there was nothing to do but wait. The tower fell silent, the only sounds were the calm breathing of the four people there.