“Dodge!” Koren yelled, completely unnecessarily.

The Titan-class monster rising up in front of us was more than enough impetus.

We all poured mana into our wings, shooting straight up into the air and out of its reach. The monster was giant—well, Titan—but its height wasn’t unlimited.

“We need to get him the key and get to town!” Koren shouted.

“No kidding!” Vyrania shouted back.

Despite flying through the air, the wings seemed to make it so that the wind didn’t steal away our words.

I glanced behind us and was dismayed to see the dragon charging after us, collapsing giant trees with unnerving ease as it plowed in our direction. It would soon reach a clearing, and then it was open land until the cave entrance where the key—and subsequent portal to town—was located.

For some reason, there was a familiarity in the dragon’s mana. I at first attributed this to the fact that I was pretty sure I’d briefly seen it before, back when I first arrived, right after discovering the golems making runes on the trees.

I had only caught a glimpse as it had soared overhead, but it looked like the same one.

I sure hoped there wasn’t more than one of them.

But it turned out this was not the familiarity I sensed. All it took to place it was one statement from Vyrania: “It’s him.”

I didn’t need to ask who. Now that the idea was in my head, I could recognize the mana that I was growing all too familiar with.

Of course he wasn’t gone.

Like he’d said, he was rich. He could afford to take a monster avatar. A different one than he already was, in any case.

“Who?” Koren asked. “Rilen?”

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Koren glanced back, using his own manasight to confirm. “Appears he found a way back in.”

“How did he know where we were?” I asked.

“He would still have his ‘unofficial’ map, and he knew we were coming out of the event. Or maybe he watched us on the broadcast.” He glanced back again. “We’re not losing him.”

“And he’s gaining on us. Can he not fly?”

“Doesn’t appear so. I don’t see any wings.”

“You don’t always need wings to fly,” Vyrania pointed out.

“We just have to make it to the portal first.”

“And get Noah the key.” Vyrania looked over her shoulder. “Are we going to be able to make it in time?”

Koren gave me a look I didn’t like.

Unlike the two of them, I was at the limit of how much mana I could draw on, while they, were not.

“Sorry about this.” He veered to the side, slamming into and wrapping his arms around me, then accelerated so quickly that it felt like we were taking off from a standing start despite already having been flying through the air at the limit of my abilities.

My stomach dropped and the skin on my face felt like it was going to peel off, the mud from our trek through the swamp flinging itself off in gobbets.

The cave entrance in the distance swiftly grew large and not so distant.

Then we were inside.

Koren spun and we hit the wall, his legs taking the brunt of the force, pushed off, then flipped, landing hard on his feet, but he didn’t stumble or falter despite our combined weight.

Vyrania soared past us, then halted at once midair with instantaneous deceleration, her hair fluttering forward extravagantly as she lightly landed beside us.

The benefits of Iron, and not being weighed down by organs.

“Showoff,” Koren muttered, and shoved me in the direction of a rounded golden triangle, glowing on the wall of the cave. “Touch it, you’ll get the key.”

I did, and the key went straight into my key storage, a portal appearing at the location Vyrania and Koren were already standing at.

It had already been there, but I hadn’t been able to see or use it without the key.

The cave shook as the dragon slammed against the entrance. It stuck its head inside, opened its mouth, and breathed a stream of ice.

Koren grabbed me and hurled us both through the portal.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

When we came out the other side, we instantly collided with someone, though I seemed the only one jostled.

“Apologies sir,” Mattias said in his baritone voice, not seeming that surprised at us popping in from nowhere. He must have been used to it.

Vyrania stepped through right behind us.

The three of us were coated in frost, but otherwise uninjured.

Koren smiled at the man. “Not at all. A little collision never hurt anyone.”

Mattias looked at me, still in Koren’s arms. “Newlywed? You’d be surprised how often people find love in the towers. All that danger and excitement.” He looked up at Koren. “You got yourself quite a pretty one there.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Vyrania stifled a laugh.

“What?” I grunted. “No. Put me down.”

Koren did and I studied Mattias. “You have that on your Earth? Carrying across the threshold?”

“Threshold? You mean the consummation portal?”

“Uh, never mind,” I said, looking around, then back through the portal. “I know that looks too small, but could that thing fit through?”

“No,” Vyrania said. “We’re safe. Monsters can’t attack us here.”

I nodded. “Oh, right. Town’s a safe zone.”

Koren tilted his head back and forth. “That was a Titan-class monster. Rules become suggestions at that point. Vague ones.”

Vyrania glared at him.

“I’m only being honest with the boy.”

“Titan?” Mattias asked in surprise. “Really? On the first floor? That would mean…”

Koren nodded. Smiling for some inconceivable reason. “This is a Titan-class tower.”

“Isn’t this place just full of surprises,” Mattias said, now also smiling.

These people are insane, I thought.

“I don’t suppose one of those surprises is the keymaster turning up, is it?” Koren asked.

“No, he’s still missing.”

“Have any clue what might have happened?”

“Can’t say that I do. To be honest, no one has really tried to find him.”

“Less work for you?”

Mattias pointed at Koren with a grin. “Exactly.”

“Is no one going to talk about the fact that this tower is Titan class?” Vyrania asked.

“Nothing to do about it now,” Koren said.

“Titan,” Vyrania emphasized. “There’s no way we can complete even the first floor.”

“Oh I don’t know, we’ve done okay for ourselves so far.”

“We almost just died to a Titan-class dragon!”

“Almost being the key word.”

“I’m with her,” I said. “There’s got to be some other way out of here. I mean, I didn’t even agree to enter this place.”

“We can work on getting you to Iron,” Koren said. “With the three of us at Iron, we can handle the first floor.”

“That’s awfully optimistic,” Vyrania said.

“Is Iron even possible?” I asked in amazement. “How long did it take you two to reach it?”

“Comparison robs you of agency. Focus on yourself, not others.”

“So a long time.”

“Well that depends on your definition of long.”

“A long time,” Vyrania confirmed.

“Any improvement is better than no improvement,” Mattias said.

“Noah!” someone called out.

I turned to see Olivia running toward me.

She skidded to a halt in front of me, looked me up and down, then threw herself against my chest, wrapping me in a hug.

“Whoa,” I said. “Hi.” I patted her back.

Koren gave me a sly look over her shoulder, then exchanged glances with Mattias, who was also smiling.

Olivia pulled away. She was grinning like a maniac. Also, crying. “It’s good to see you alive.”

“Yeah.”

“I just thought, you know. Your corpse and all.”

“My… corpse?”

Olivia nodded eagerly. “Oh yes. Don’t worry, no one touched it. Luckily it was out of the way, so no one really tried.”

“My corpse,” I said again, having a hard time with the concept.

She took my hand. “Come on. I’ll take you to see it.”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

“It’s like a glass sculpture of me.”

I was staring down at my ‘corpse’, which was like a translucent version of me, one wearing the clothes I’d died in.

“It’s not your actual corpse, obviously,” she assured me. She’d been staring at Vyrania for some reason, but now turned her attention to me. “You’re not dead, after all. Corpses in towers can be different, so I thought your real one was outside the tower or some such.” She smiled. “But you’re alive. You had a rez token?”

I nodded, still staring at the corpse. “Yeah.” I motioned at the portal tunnel ring. “I tried to use that and it killed me.”

“Oh you shouldn’t try to use a keymaster’s portal tunnel.”

“I noticed. The thing executed me.” I looked at Koren and Vyrania. “Why didn’t I have a corpse when I died in the event?”

“Probably because it was an event,” Koren answered. “But this tower is Titan, so, who knows what rules it has.”

“I’m still worried we’re not going to be able to complete the floor,” Vyrania said. To me, she asked, “How many more keys are there?”

“Oh, right.” I’d forgotten about that. I opened up my map and checked the legend on it. “It says I’m at twenty-five percent.”

“Only three left,” Koren said. “Not bad at all.”

“We have to find them with a Titan-class dragon after us,” Vyrania reminded him. “One controlled by Rilen.”

“Yes, that is unfortunate.”

“How are we going to avoid him?” I asked.

“Maybe we don’t. Maybe we kill him.”

“Kill a Titan-class monster?” Vyrania said. “Two Irons and a Copper?”

“Noah has that ability that makes him somewhere between Steel and Silver in raw power.”

Vyrania shook her head. “That’s still not going to be enough.”

“Maybe it can be. I think it’s time to do some shopping.”

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

Of course, we never got a chance to do any shopping.

I looted my corpse, which only required me to touch it and my items appeared in a neat pile, the corpse vanishing.

I had just picked up my folded clothes and was wondering what to do with them, since they wouldn’t go into any of my storage abilities, when the message appeared.

Greetings to all in Whitehall Tower. It has come to The Corporation’s attention that the keymaster has gone missing, preventing completion of the tower.

Due to this, in accordance with the Non-interference Treaty of Self-governance, we will be closing the tower until an investigation can be completed.

As such, all prospector and staff inhabitants of Whitehall Tower will be given a complimentary escort out of the tower and into the local Village, known as Byron Bay.

Tower staff will continue to be paid their normal salaries while the investigation is ongoing.

Please be aware the standard restrictions on tower staff participation on host Corporate Civilization still remain.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

The tower staff celebrated, but I was disappointed. It wasn’t how I wanted to leave the tower.

I felt cheated: I was just starting to get powerful. And maybe I was a little anxious at the prospect of seeing what had become of my world.

More than that, though, I was annoyed. I was the owner of the tower, why did I have so little control?

The tyrant system read this thought and presented me with a message.

If you have a complaint about how The Corporation is running your integration, you are entitled to an attorney and review by the Oversight Committee. Would you like to initiate this process?

I didn’t get a chance to respond, because at that point we were removed from the tower. Not via portal, we simply disappeared, and reappeared in Byron Bay.

It makes you think about the rules, how no one can leave until the floor is complete. It’s not an inherent thing, it’s not impossible. It’s just not allowed. Yet they can even stop a Gold-ranker from leaving.

Usually. I did manage to eject Rilen and I wasn’t even Copper at that point.

As soon as I was outside the tower, another message appeared:

Broadcast revenue earned: 158 low-potential fragments (110L sponsored, 48L premium).

45 low-potential fragments have been deducted to settle your line of credit balance (40L principal, 5L interest).

Remaining fragments have been added to your card storage.

It seemed a low amount for three million viewers. And also a really high interest rate.

“Well this is different,” Koren said, looking around. We were in the middle of the street, near the center of downtown, a couple blocks away from my store. We were surrounded by tower staff, a few who looked quite surprised at the sudden change of scenery, but the street was otherwise empty.

I was concerned about getting assassinated for my position on the Hero Board, but it appeared we were alone, at least for the moment.

I didn’t even want to be number one. I had enough to worry about already without being para— concerned that everyone was out to get me.

I noticed Olivia staring intently at me.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

She smiled. “I like your outfit.”

I was surprised she hadn’t noticed it before now. “Thanks. It’s from my hobby. It’s actually summoned. It used to be more than just pants and boots.” I frowned, wondering how I was able to use my hobby outside of a broadcast area. Was this considered a broadcast area now?

An ocean breeze kicked up at that point, and I frowned. It was a little too breezy.

I looked down at myself. “Ah. Balls.”