“Do... do you need healing?” She questioned carefully, seeming like she wanted to help but being quite taken off guard.

“No, I’m good. I leveled afterwards so I’m healed. Just dirty.” Sam replied honestly. He was quite amazed at how it felt to have genuine worry towards you, it had been so long since he felt compassion that it hit harder than it should have.

“Oh, that’s good, then.” She smiled with a nod before she returned to talking to someone else.

This short interaction felt strangely honest and real. It was honest and real but it just felt like more than that. A simple question of how he was doing and if he needed assistance. He got help from others like Toren and Janik, but it didn’t feel the same.

The rest of the outing was surprisingly calm and collected, especially compared to the chaos he was in with the Goblins. It was somewhat as Toren stated, they might be weak... comparatively, but they were a problem. At least to a Level 1 scrub as himself. However, he made it out, with just under half his health left as well. The level-up came at a good time but realistically he lost half of his health in that fight.

Sam reflected on what happened as he walked in the forest, doing his best to harvest materials. The first attack on the sleeping Goblin turned out great. The one that came walking in was also decent, he missed the first attack but got the next. The same miss happened with others when other angles were considered. Though using the Psyhands was incredibly intuitive, attacking from weird angles made identifying distance through depth a problem, at least to pinpoint accuracy. And when the Goblins moved around he didn’t hit their eyes as easily as he hoped. All of this felt somewhat what would have happened had he used his normal arms as well, meaning he just needed to get better at determining angles and distance. Alternatively, compensate somehow.

It all boiled down to him needing to train, and get used to weird angles, range, moving targets and so on. Something relatively easy to do with an ally, not something he had at the moment but he could make up something if needed.

One thing that made the whole situation more satisfying was seeing the kid who talked shit during the testing, look at him with horrified eyes, this amount of gore didn’t sit well with him. And since it didn’t affect Sam that much, Sam took it as a win.

As time went on, they collected more and more stuff, Sam felt something was a bit off. It should have started getting dark at some point now. Even considering if they got her first thing in the morning, the sun hadn’t moved in the sky, it never hit its zenith nor was it setting. He knew they were inside the Tower’s bullshit, but he expected there to be a day/night cycle at least. In a way, it was very interesting, but in another, it was just... not right.

The earpiece activated and one of the instructors spoke. “We’re hitting evening on Earth, we should head back and end this.”

Sam felt a bit better hearing that, at least it meant that they had control and that he wasn’t just imagining things. Most of the kids reacted like they had completed a long day's work, which was pretty close to the truth. They had been gathering materials for a while, the instructors had killed some creatures and showed how to get the important materials, like the cores or other useful parts. They had learned how to harvest the most common of things in the forest, at least enough to get the basics. Most of the newbies who gained quests had completed them, but nobody had accepted the rewards on the recommendation of the instructors, as Toren stated to Sam, they all did to the other kids.

The trek back took a bit longer than the one here, most likely as they had walked deeper into the forest, passing through the same little village as before there were similar reactions. Sam got a few more eyes on him due to now being covered in dried blood and gore. He needed to clean up once they got back.

Exiting the other side of the town, they walked to the rough spot they landed in, Toren again spoke over the earpiece. “When we get there you’ll get a window asking if you want to leave the Tower, just accept it and we’ll meet on the other side.”

Almost as if on cue the window popped up.

[ Do you wish to leave the Tower? ]

Selecting Yes, as instructed, the same pleasantly warm white light engulfed him and as it pulled back he found himself in a late-evening New York, not far from the point they got the question about entering the Tower.

The instructors told the group to follow them back to TAC, they would debrief, and explain some things as the materials they gathered were counted. Everyone would get their cut in cash or into an account of their choice, the ones who had completed quests would complete them there so their first full day could be properly ended.

Most of the kids looked excited about this, with happy and intrigued eyes as they got closer to the building, the happiest kids might be those in the same situation as Sam who had quests or needed the money.

Soon finding themselves back in the large room they had the intro course in, they were told to put everything gathered on some dedicated counters in the main lobby. Everyone went through the process in a long queue as the instructors explained that this was for the first-day training and should be split up among the students.

Sitting down in the auditorium seats, the instructors informed everyone with quests to accept them now. It didn’t take many seconds before a lot of people vocalized their surprise. Sam focused on the window about the completed quest and chose to accept it.

The same warm pulse of energy washed through him, and the window explaining that he had levelled popped up in his view before fading to the side. At the same time a collection of items manifested from nowhere on the desk in front of him.

[ XP to lv.4: 5 / 40 █░░░░░░░ ]

It felt nice seeing that increase, and though we now saw that the needed XP to level up doubled, it sort of made sense in a progression style. He would have refilled his health had it not been for it being full already, and he now had another point to spend, for a total of two.

The first thing that took his focus was the items on his desk. There were three Arcane Crystals, they were larger than the ones they found in the forest, and another crystal that was more rounded and seemed to have a faint light source in its centre was the skill crystal. The last item was an almost jewellery box-like container that begged to be opened, black lacquered exterior with a dull metal latch on the front.

Picking up the Skill Crystal, he wondered what skill was in it, and as he did a System Window popped up.

[ Skill Crystal: Plant Growth - E.

The Player can make plants grow faster by channelling mana into it.

-Not Usable by the Telekineticist Class due to [ Telekineticist’s attributes ]. No available mana. ]

Sam realised a few things here. First of all this skill was incredibly situational. Perhaps some herbalist cultivating hard-to-grow plants would like it, but it felt too niche to be amazing. The second was that due to the skill [ Telekineticist’s attributes ] that changed interaction with Attributes, probably what gave him the weird Energy also removed mana. This meant that for any skill he might want to get, it would either have to be compatible with Energy, or not need any mana at all...

If nothing else it made it easy to decide what to do with this crystal. Placing it back on the desk his eyes were drawn to the Random Box. His hand reached out and opened the latch. The box sprung open almost as if it were a trap before fading away in a dim light, leaving behind its contents.

Looking at the pile of stuff left there, he saw what looked like some leather and cloth bundled up, three small vials with red fluid inside and what could best be described as a metallic-glass-looking lump of molten glass with blue and purple iridescent colours to it. Almost looks like volcanic glass, just with some metallic highlights and blue and purple instead of the darker colour expected in volcanic glass. As he moved his head around the internal refraction of the lump almost scintillated with various blue and purple hues. It was about the size of a golf ball.

Confusion spread across his face, but as it did the System helped him, over each object a small window opened, explaining what he was looking at.

[ 3x Healing Potions - D: When drunk, heals approx 50% HP. ]

[ Simple armour - D: Defense 5. ]

[ Material: Aetherium Ore ]

He was happy that it explained what everything was, and also glad that he didn’t need any appraisal skills or something. Might be because it was the System that rewarded these specific things to him, it might be throwing him a bone and explaining them. Surprised that the potions healed percentages rather than a fixed amount, it would make them more useful for higher health drinkers. Though they were still very welcome. The armour at first didn’t seem to be that much better than the starting TAC gear, considering the damages he took against the goblins he would have taken practically no damage fighting them, so for his current level, it was plenty good.

One of the instructors came walking over as he looked through the things, focused more on the Aetherium Ore.

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“Oh, you’re lucky, if you don’t plan to use the ore yourself, TAC will gladly buy it from you.”

Sam was glad for the info, but he checked what the ore was before he answered.

[ Aetherium Ore

Rare resource.

This material has high magical conduction, often used in magical items or gadgets.

Refining it will dramatically improve its conductive properties. ]

Though he couldn’t use mana, nor was he good at crafting, he could use it if someone else crafted something for him. But the promise of more money was high on his list, he desperately needed it at the moment as he was nearing broke.

“How much would this sell for?” His mouth asked the question without him having properly thought about it.

The instructor thought for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure, but a lump this size usually goes for around $600.

He reacted almost as if dollar signs flipped in his eyes. $600 was massive for him at this point, it was about six times what he had in total. He didn’t even know what the price of everything else there was. Should he sell the armour as well? The potions? No. Those were life-saving and not something he should take for granted. If the fight today was just a little worse he might have needed the potions. The armour with a higher defence rating would also have helped him negate the use of potions altogether. He would keep those, but the ore he didn’t need at the moment.

“I would like to sell it.” His brain decided for him before he had properly thought about it. Not that he had any arguments against it, but it felt a bit odd when his desperation just decided.

She smiled and nodded at him as she double-checked something on her phone. “Trainee Sam Carter, right?”

Nodding he confirmed that he was indeed Sam. The instructor took the lump of ore. “I’ll get this appraised and added to your share of today’s work.” She smiled at the end of her statement before she left without him needing to react.

He sat back with a strange satisfaction on his face, he didn’t know how much today’s cut would be, but he should get at least $600 or so. He was going to get a proper meal before turning in today. Or perhaps he should get a shower and a change of clothes first, he was still caked in dried Goblin. His eyes went back to the Armour, he had a set of clothing there. Though it didn’t seem like it would be everything he needs, at least it would be a better set to use instead of the TAC one. That meant that he could sell the TAC one as well, right? Was it even his to sell?

“Wait, hold on.” He commented at the instructor who was off to get his Aetherium Ore appraised.

She stopped and came back with a questioning expression.

“The TAC armour I’m wearing, does that belong to TAC or is it mine to sell?” His question was hesitant and uncertain. After all the way things were explained earlier was that this was their gear. But it was branded gear so he didn’t know if it had any proper sell value.

“Oh, that’s yours to keep. If you want to sell it we can take it back in, clean and fix it if needed and use it again. It’s still functional even though it’s used before.” She smiled back at him as she replied, he couldn’t tell if this was a practised flat smile or if she was genuine.

“In that case, I’d like to sell it as well, I got a better one in the box earlier so I don’t need two.” He got up and started to peel the armour off himself. It was slightly stuck to his clothing due to the gore and goop spread across him, that had dried a long time ago.

“That’s not a problem, though due to its condition, the price will be a bit lowered... I hope you understand.” Her smile faded a bit, almost like she was trying to persuade him to not do it now.

However, he didn’t mind. He guessed that there would be a baked-in cleaning fee, this also meant that he didn’t need to do that himself. Nodding he continued talking as he worked the armour off. “I also got this skill crystal I don’t need, can you please get that appraised for me as well? I’d like to sell it.”

Taking a glance at it she nodded after picking it up, waiting patiently for him to finally get out of his armour. He ignored the looks he got as he worked on that until he finally got the thing loose, needing some aid from his Psyhands. Even though they were weak everything helped in this case. Handing her a dirty ass piece of armour she hesitantly took it, using as few fingers as she could to lift it before she left with less of a skip in her step than last time.

Not wanting to goop up his new gear, he decided to wait to put the new armour on, his hands were relatively clean as he had rubbed them against wood and moist moss in the forest, but a lot of the rest of him was far from it.

Another instructor came walking over after this was done. “I recommend using the showers here at TAC before you leave. It’s probably better than walking in the city like that.” His voice sounded supportive, almost like he knew from experience how annoying that was.

“Oh, that’s a very good idea. I’ll go find them and clean up after we’re done with all of this. Is... Is there somewhere I can wash my clothes as well? I don’t exactly have a shift with me.” Sam had changes of clothes, luckily he had been able to afford that earlier, he just hadn’t brought any with him today.

“Not a problem. We don’t have underwear but there are simple tracksuits and towels in the changing rooms you can borrow, just return them tomorrow.”

Sam was incredibly happy, this place was so nice to him. Sure, it was probably a part of the cut they are taking of everything he does. After all the 600 dollars, before the 20% cut is probably somewhere around 700-something. His math wasn’t great, but assuming just 100 dollars in difference, that’d cover the tracksuit and facilities alone. And this wasn’t counting the cut of the dirty armour, or from whatever they all gathered today.

Feeling very good about today, he sat there and waited for the others to be done. Taking a glance around he saw that others had gotten some neat things from their quests, he didn’t know what everything was but he assumed that would come in time.

Half an hour later the instructors came back in a group, there were five of them now in addition to Toren, who were all carrying a tablet as well as a wallet. They walked around to the different students as Toren walked up and shouted for attention.

“Well, I suppose this is the time you’ve been waiting for. After TAC’s cut and all of that stuff, since you all were so efficient and good at gathering the materials, you all leave with a rounded-off $650. Not bad for a day's work, no?” He had an expression which raised a few questions but mostly masked through happiness. Sam wondered if that sum was legit or not, but like everyone else the sum of money blinded them from questioning further.

One of the instructors came up to him at this point. “As Toren stated, your share today is $650. The Aetheric Ore sells to TAC for 700, the armour due to its condition only gets you 50, and the Skill Crystal nets you 100 due to its niche nature. So a total of $1500. You want that in cash or deposited to an account?”

The sentence was extremely practised, the list done as she looked at her tablet, but all Sam could hear was 1500 dollars for just today. That was more than he’d earn in a month at the corner store. His eyes almost blacked over at the thought of this.

“I.. Err... Bank... please...” He used several hard seconds to process this. Though normally the danger of today’s work was much higher than working at the corner store, given the visitor he had the other day he was safer today... He couldn’t get over how fucked up that felt.

“Can I have your card, then?” The instructor requested as she held a hand out.

He fumbled in his wallet and opened it, his hands still relatively clean he took out his card. She used a device on her tablet to read it before doing a few things on her side.

“There, it should be available for you in a few minutes.” Without resting much, even letting him end with a polite thank you, she went for the next person.

Needing a few minutes to process all of this, he opened his backpack and put the remaining items in there. He needed to clean the outside of it, as well as his daggers, but the inside was clean so there were no problems doing it that way. Leaving the room after many others had done the same, he followed the signs and floor lines until he found the men’s changing room. A plaque explained the simple rules, a lock box with key and lock was provided for your thing as you clean yourself, soap and conditioner were provided in dispensers, and towels and clothing were available in there as well. In a dedicated corner was an area where you could clean gear and stuff if needed. All in all, it was pretty simple, behave and respect each other and everything was fine.

Sam entered an almost empty room, starting the process by cleaning his backpack and daggers, which took a while but wasn’t super problematic. He put them into a lock box, undressed, took the key, fastened its band around his wrist and with a towel around his waist he entered the shower.