When you get old enough you see that things happen in patterns. And everything seems to repeat itself.

Grandpa Miki

Welcome to the Eternal Tower Floor 4 Hard!

Goal: Help the Trader Cross the Wilds

Meet the Trader Crossing the Wilds in the Job Hall- Incomplete

Help the Trader Reach Tinder City - Incomplete

Time Limit: 10 days

Note: time dilation in effect.

You have to be fucking kidding me.

For the second time in my life I appeared outside of the Job Hall in Windgate.

I tried taking a couple deep breaths to calm myself before I went into the hall and met Kelly. I should have known the Tower would do this to me. Is this what made it the Hard Difficulty, having to confront the woman who crushed my heart?

I steeled my resolve and entered the Job Hall. I walked straight to where Kelly was on the last floor and found nothing. That area was empty. Looking around I searched for her mask disguise and couldn't locate her. Perhaps I was mistaken. Or maybe my delay had caused her to move. As I moved about the building, I heard a voice shouting above the general noise.

“I'm needing three others to help cross the Wilds. Any level will do.” The distinctly male voice echoed across the hall. Scanning the open area I found the man who continued to repeat himself about once a minute.

“Young man, are you looking for work? There's a gold piece in it for you if we make it across the Wilds.”

I thanked the Tower that it wasn't Kelly I would be accompanying on this trip. I wouldn't even know how to make the trip without it feeling extremely awkward on my side. Perhaps she would remember me or maybe she would have completely forgotten who I was, but at this point it didn't matter.

“What are you looking for?'' I asked. “A single gold doesn't seem like much pay for a mercenary crossing the Wilds.”

“It is a gold piece for anybody willing to help with the wagons as we cross the Wilds. While mercenaries are especially welcome, we also need others who can look after the animals and act as looked outs while we cross. Are you saying you’re a mercenary?”

“I am. I just arrived in Wingate seeking to enter the Wilds. I hear it's quite the challenge. Are you planning to go all the way to Tinder City?”

“Indeed we are. If you don't mind me asking, what level are you? The higher your level the more we're able to pay you.”

“I would rather keep my level to myself. How about an unconventional agreement? I will help escort your wagon across the Wilds and you let me keep any mana gem I harvest from the monsters I kill.”

“You are certainly confident. I must warn you that it's not a single wagon crossing the Wilds but a whole caravan. We have hired nearly all the experts and leaders of the local mercenary guilds to make the trip there and back. If you know anything of the Wilds, you should know that the larger the group crossing the more monsters there will be.”

“I know that. I also know that most times the merchant and the mercenary split mana gems found. If I come with you I want to keep all the mana gems from any monsters I kill and you don't have to pay me anything.”

“While that may be a good offer, I’m afraid that I can’t take your word for what level you are. How do I know you're not just a tag along who wants to ride in the safety of our caravan without actually contributing anything?” The fact that he kept a smile on his face as he expressed doubts about my abilities led me to believe this was more about negotiating than any doubts he really had.

“I will quickly prove myself on the journey. Until then, how about something you can hold as collateral.” I opened my coin purse and pulled out a dozen gold coins and mana cores placing them into his hands.

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“Fair enough. With this you could easily buy passage across with us. I'm not the leader of this caravan, I'm only acting as his intermediary. Be forewarned, my employer is not forgiving when he is lied to.”

“I understand. When do we leave?”

“The caravan is fully stocked and ready to leave as soon as we gain the last few helpers. We should be ready to leave within the next couple hours. If you need supplies you can grab them from the city now. With our arrangement I would not count on the boss wanting to feed you.”

I quickly agreed and made my way from the Job Hall to the gate leading to the Wilds. I was still fully stocked from my most recent time in Windgate and had no desire to be in the city a moment longer than necessary.

As soon as I arrived at the gate, I realized I had underestimated how large the caravan would be. From my time traveling the Wilds, I knew the largest caravan that routinely crossed were no more than five wagons. Any more and it attracted more monsters than could be feasibly defended against. Line up outside the gate were 15 fully loaded wagons.

I tried to introduce myself and that I had been employed to escort the wagons, but was told to wait for the foreman to return from the Job Hall.

Two hours later the foreman returned, escorting three young men who clearly had no idea what they were getting themselves into. I walked up to the foreman and he quickly introduced me to the mercenary leading the defenses of the caravan. After ensuring the head mercenary understood that I would get to keep the mana core of any monster I killed, he left us alone to prepare to head out.

“You seem oftly confident. My name’s Phillip.” He offered me a hand and when I easily returned his crushing grip he seemed to relax.

“I’m Miki. I didn’t want to tell the foreman, but I have made the trip across the Wilds a dozen times by myself.”

“And why didn’t you want to tell the forman?” He seemed to not believe my statement.

“Simply put, I will make more in keeping all the monster cores than he would pay me. Now seeing the size of the caravan, I know that I was underestimating the number of monsters we will face.”

“That is definitely true. I have a feeling most of the monsters we face will be at least level 25. Do you have a skill to see their level?”

I was about to tell him I could when I saw the foreman go over and talk with a person I did not ever expect to see again. It was Anderson's son, Seth. On the last floor that dickhead put a bounty on my head and joined a group of murderers who attempted to ambush me. Naturally I easily defeated all of them including Seth. Since I distinctly remembered removing his head during the scuffle, I was a little surprised to see him in the caravan.

“Don't worry about him,” said Phillip. “Judging by your look, I can guess that you know who he is. Just do your job and you won't even need to have contact with him. The guild approved this expedition so he will be on his best behavior and follow my orders while we cross.”

This was top grade Tower bullshit. That answered it for me, the city and everybody in it was fabricated by the Tower. All my time spent with Kelly was nothing more than the Tower distracting me from continuing the climb. I wasn’t really in a relationship for half a year. Instead it was more akin to a form of high quality masturbation. I didn’t like that thought and realized I did not want to go searching for more answers. It was time to just complete the goals and try not to read between the lines of what the Tower told me.

With my thoughts further solidified, we made our way into the Wilds.

More monsters than I had ever seen appeared and attacked the caravan. While I was confident I could defeat them all by myself, I wasn't sure if I could do that without any of the caravan being damaged. All my other times crossing the Wilds monsters would appear about once an hour to attack, now it was almost every half an hour with three times as many monsters. Better yet all of the monsters were above level 25 which allowed me to gain a mana gem from each. Just by the nature and the frequency of the monster attacks, we could not stop while fighting and instead had to clear the monsters as quickly as possible while the caravan continued moving.

Interestingly, monsters above level 30 started appearing when I had never seen those in the past. Every time one would appear I would dash over to it and kill it quickly and harvest the mana gem before the other mercenaries had a chance to engage it. I had little confidence that the mercenaries could easily defeat monsters that strong.

After an hour of fighting, Phillip called for the groups guarding the caravan to switch and several mercenaries who had been riding amongst the wagons hopped down and took up guard posts. Naturally I continued to fight without needing an additional rest. My stamina had far exceeded any need to rest from such easy fights at this point.

As the sun started to set, the wagons formed a tight circle with guards stationed outside it to protect against the nightly monster attacks.

“Miki, don't you need a rest?” ask Phillip. “You've been fighting non-stop for over 8 hours. Trust me when I say that you have proven yourself.”

“I get paid by collecting mana gems from monsters I kill. Resting means I make less money on this trip. How about you let some of the other guards rest and I will guard half of the perimeter overnight?”

“Exactly what level are you? Normally I would say that sort of request was arrogant boasting, but from your current ability and the fact that you're not even winded I can see you are serious.”

“I don’t know if you will understand what I am saying, but would it help if I told you that I am a cultivator?”

“A cultivator? I have heard of your type before but dismissed all the rumors as nonsense. For one so young to be so powerful… I'll tell you what, I will take the first shift with you. If I'm confident you can handle half of the guard on your own after the first two hours, I will turn it over to you until you're tired.”

I quickly agreed. The night soon became a pattern of rushing about various monsters, returning to harvest the mana cores before the next wave appeared. Part way through the night I had managed to level up. With the pace I gained experience I would reach a cultivation bottleneck before I reached Tinder City.

Level up! You are Level 51, +1 to all stats