To climb the Tower is to defy the heavens.

Glenn Smith - First successful climber of Medium Difficulty

Welcome to the Eternal Tower Floor 9 Hard!

Goal: Deliver the message to the Ice Hammer Sect

Time limit: None

Note: time dilation in effect.

Stepping through the portal seemed to have cleared my thoughts as my mind was still recovering on the last floor. Now that my mind was clear, something about that last floor did not make sense.

“Are you the messenger they sent? How good is your formal Galactic Common?" I didn’t even realize there was a man dressed like a butler standing in front of me until he spoke up. He wasn’t happy that I was distracted and his expression was cold when I finally got my bearings enough to respond to his question. Oddly it looked like I was inside a small stone room with two doors.

“I guess I am the messenger and I don't speak Galactic Common.”

“Your friends may find you funny, but the sect will not tolerate that kind of insolence. Is Galactic Common your first language?”

I started to ask what he meant as we were conversing in Marcosian but I realized something was off. My skill translated speech into Marcosian for me but I still knew it was a different language. Marcosian had a distinct cadence in a conversation. The language we were now talking in did not have the sounds and flow that I had come to expect with Marcosian. I pulled up my status and took a look at the language section.

Languages:

Orcish - Tamerish

Marcosian

Treant

Galactic Common

When did I get the Treant and Galactic Common languages? I didn’t even know that the Treants had their own language. As for Galactic Common, it had to have been on the last floor. That was the only time I had encountered it so far. Those villagers and Grego spoke Galactic Common. Did that mean…

“If you do not have the necessary language skills then I am sorry, but you are not qualified for the job,” said the butler interrupting my thoughts.

“I’m sorry, I was distracted. I am fluent in Galactic Common. I would say that I can speak it as well as anyone.” Which was true, skill really made it easy.

“Does the young master know the formal version as well?” There was something different about his works and structure. I had no idea what the formal version was. Trying to wing it, I willed the language to make me speak more formally.

“This one thanks you for asking. This one does know how to speak to one's betters.” That is not at all how I tried to respond but the words I meant to say were changed as they left my mouth. I just wanted to say ‘thanks for asking, I do know the formal version’. In the end the butler seemed satisfied with my words.

“That will make our work much easier. Do you have any experience dealing with members of the Ice Hammer Sect or other cultivators.” How did he know I was a cultivator?

“I can't say I've ever met any of these sect members. I don't even know what a sect is.”

“That is as good of a place to start as any other. I will accept you for the job. As mentioned in the posting the reward is one gold upon successful delivery of the message. Follow me to a more private room and we will begin your education.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He let me through one of the doors and down a hallway. We had to be in a castle or some other great stone building. A short time later we stepped into what could best be described as a study. We took seats at a table before he began again.

“The information I am going to give you will keep you alive while dealing with the sect. If you follow these directions you should have no difficulty in keeping yourself alive until you deliver the message. If you do not follow my instructions you are as good as dead."

If it wasn't for the butler's serious expression I would have thought he was joking. Instead his serious attitude made it clear that my life was on the line when dealing with these sect members, whoever they were.

“We will start with the basics. A cultivator is a human who somehow is able to surpass all known level caps and experience requirements and gain immeasurable strength, speed and endurance. The more advanced cultivators are able to use magic in their fighting as well. A sect is a collection of these cultivators who come together to increase their individual strength along with the strength of the sect.” I guess he didn’t know I was a cultivator. I needed no information on what cultivators were capable of achieving but these sects were not something I had encountered before.

“So they are like a club?”

“They are more like a family, school, military training academy, and country all wrapped into one. In fact our country is powerless against the strength of the Ice Hammer Sect. It is for this reason why we must maintain good connections with the sect and why you are being employed to deliver the message.”

“I still don't see why delivering a message would be so dangerous. Is the message something that is going to make them angry?”

“The message is fairly routine and concerns information they requested us to supply periodically. The danger lies in that cultivators are known to be zealous about customs and formalities. Respect for those who are superior to you and for those in the sect are held in the highest regard. If you do something that they deem disrespectful or that will lose them face they will be quick to punish you. While punishment among cultivators might lead to some minor injuries, the same punishment dealt to you would likely be death.” I could probably take whatever punishment the cultivators would give, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“What do you mean by losing face?”

“It is complicated. It is almost as if there is a measurable amount of respect or honor that they carry with them at all times. If you do something that would lose in this respect, you are said to lose them face. If you ignore their disrespect or something that would cause them to justly be dishonored it is called saving them face. Again it is their terms not ours but it matters when dealing with these monsters in human form.”

“So I just have to be respectful. I can do that.”

“Formal Galactic Standard is only just the first step. Their customs dictate what's respectful, not what you believe. We're going to spend an hour going over standard customs and respectful manners of speech and body language. I will not lie, they have already killed six messengers this year for behaviour deemed disrespectful. If it did not take so long to find a suitable messenger, I would spend a couple days coaching you on the correct way to act and speak.”

I will skip a play-by-play montage of the butler training me. Honestly it was kind of boring. There was a lot of bowing and speaking in ways to make the other party seem better than me. When in doubt, I was to show subservience and flatter a cultivator. I listened to the butler's descriptions and repeated back the information but it was all kinds of bulshit. I mean, I am a cultivator too. How powerful could these sect members be?

Finally after demonstrating the correct method of bowing and speaking for the millionth time, I was deemed passable. He wanted me to leave my sword with him as carrying a weapon when meeting the sect was viewed as insulting. Instead I put my new weapon away in my storage bag. It was Gregor’s sword after all and I didn’t want to leave it laying around. After all, he was dead now. He was killed. My thoughts started to think about his death and I quickly asked to get started to distract myself. Once me we entered the hall but this time we took a different route.

This had to be a castle with how large it was. Truthfully I had no idea what country I was in, let alone where I was in the world. Was this Marcosia after the fall of the royal family? Was this even on the same continent as Marcosia? Was this even the same world? I had no idea and I didn't want to ask the butler and have him suddenly deem me not worthy to deliver the message.

We moved to an exit and the butler left me there while he went to get the message. Ten minutes later he returned with a group of men in armor.

“These men will escort you to the sect and ensure the message is delivered.”

“Where is the message?”

“The message is too valuable to have you carry. The guards will escort you to the entrance of the sect and at that time you will be given the message. You will knock and greet the sect member who answers, reporting that you have a message. It is hard for us to predict if they will take the message from you directly or have another come to get the message as it seems to depend on their mood and the one who answers. I cannot say this enough, be respectful regardless of who you talk to or whether they appear strong. One misstep and you will die.”

With that he turned and left me with the guards. So my whole job was to go with the guards who were carrying the message then move the message from the guards to the sect member at the entrance? They must really be concerned about the messenger getting killed or they could have just trained the guards on the customs. Suddenly this floor seemed like it was going to be more complicated than it initially appeared.

“Come on son,'' said the man who appeared to be the lead guard. “It's only about a 40 minute walk from here.”

The guards surrounded me and we turned to head into the city proper.