For the first three days, nothing eventful happened to Ark. He would sometimes sleep on top of the train in the morning and fight the horde of monsters at night. The hordes were still manageable. Every time he killed the monsters, he would gain a certain amount of coins. It seemed that only one thing was fixed, every time the monsters came in hordes, there were exactly one thousand in number. It was not a big deal for the weaker monsters but as they got stronger, it would be a problem.

Unlike the Zoogs, the next monsters on the second and third days did not retreat even after Ark killed the majority of them. It seemed that the compulsion of the Tower was stronger on the stronger monsters. Ark did not care about any of that as he continued to slaughter. Overall, he had gotten a total of 10,000 coins from the haul on the second day and 30,000 coins on the third day. None of the monsters had retreated and Ark was more than happy to kill them all. 10,000 coins seemed to be used every day just for buying weapons that would last the entirety of the battle.

Ark's perception allowed him to hear what others were talking about. It seemed that Anthony, the boy from whom he had taken the money earlier was spreading rumors about him. Ark really didn't care. After he was on the first floor of the tower, he would leave all of them behind, except maybe Adam.

There was something strange about Adam. Ark was pretty certain it was his story card. It might probably have been an epic story card, just below his legendary one. There were some unspoken rules of the tower. Namely, that if you had a story card, you began to subconsciously affect your surroundings. Ark had the story of a thousand men which would make him unapproachable at first glance. It was only the case for the weak though. Those who were strong to a certain extent could somewhat negate its effects.

Ark deduced that Adam's story card had something to do with ruling and protecting. It made sense in context. It let him cast a safe room around him that was invulnerable to attacks. That was the protection ability that must have been displayed in the card itself. What might not have made it into the card was certain mind altering techniques that allowed Adam to know what to speak when and know when his actions would put him or other people in danger. It would almost be like an extra instinct.

It was somewhat like a mind manipulation card that would allow Adam to rule like a benevolent king. Ark could feel its effects from a mile away. The mind altering effect was not nearly as strong as some of the other ones he had seen. Still, Ark had a certain gut feeling that Adam could be trusted. His gut had never led him in the wrong direction. Even though Adam’s story card might have been subconsciously influencing Adam himself, Ark could feel the sincerity of his words as well as his actions.

There was no reason to not gain new allies. It had been a long time since Ark had a friendship. It probably was shallow right now, just on the basis of the same beliefs. Ark wholly believed that as they climbed up the tower together, their friendship would deepen. Some might call Ark optimistic but after what he had been through in the Tower, optimism was the only way he could cope with the sadness. All these thoughts about the effects of story cards spurred something inside Ark’s mind. His story card probably had a passive effect too. He only needed to think for his card deck for the card to come out.

[STORY][5 SLOTS][1 CARD]

‘An Army of Thousand Men’ : You who have persevered through thick and thin and did something deemed impossible. This is your story…Killing monsters at first glance is no easy feat nor is the protection of humanity from vile monsters. You have achieved something not achieved by a thousand men. May you continue to do so. The Tower wishes you the very best of luck

Active Effect: For Five minutes, increase any one of your stats by 50

Passive Effect: Casts an aura of thousand men around you

Cool down period: 2 weeks

Type: Legendary Active Type

And there it was, a passive effect Ark had not seen before. Ark could probably guess what the Aura of thousand men was. It was probably one of the reasons, most people were afraid of approaching him for anything. Ark thought about the passive effect for a few seconds and almost instinctively knew what it did.

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

It cast an aura around Ark which simply screamed “I am strong”. That might not have been a problem in the Tower itself but in the second scenario where most of the people were weak, it would probably feel like an oppressive aura pressing down on them.

Ark didn’t like it one bit. He liked to be alone sometimes, but humans were social animals too. Ark would have liked it if someone did approach him. It was lonely being all by himself. Chronos had sent Ark back, it was correct. During the planning stages, everyone had extensively told him that the weight of humanity did not rest on his shoulders alone.

If he continued down that path, then everything would come crashing down. Ark was only a single person and he could do only so much. He could not be everywhere all at once. For that, he needed reliable allies and for that to happen, he needed to make friends and make himself approachable.

Ark decided to turn off the passive effect of “An Army of Thousand Men”. It would probably not be much but it was something that he could do. Ark laid down on top of the train and thought about things to come. The plans slowly formed in his mind.

It was sometime later when Ark heard someone calling for him. At first, he thought that the person was Adam but Ark was pretty sure Adam did not have the tone of a little girl. Ark looked down and saw a little girl in a flowery dress. She had a little basket in her hands and was calling for him.

“Mr. Ark Mr Arrrk Uncle Adam wanted me to give you some food. He said that people become angry when they are hungry. Are you angry Mr. Ark? Are you hungry Mr. Ark?”

Ark smiled. It was a long time since he had seen any children. The battlefield of the Tower was not a place for children after all. In some ways, the little child reminded him of Demeter who always had the form of a child.

“Hi there! Did Adam send you?” Ark said as he climbed down

“Yes, Mr. Ark. Uncle Adam worries you a lot. He worries about all of us. Mama says he is a hero!”

“He sure is! What’s your name though? You know my name but I don’t know yours!” Ark had a thinking pose as he stood in front of the little child

“Mama says my name is Eliza but I prefer Adam you know” The girl whispered

“Do you want to be a hero like Adam then?”

“Yes, Mr. Ark! The very best like him”

“That’s good then. I hope you become the very best too!”

“But Mr. Ark, I don’t understand” The girl frowned as she spoke, “Everyone said that you were scary! But you are not scary at all!”

“Ah!…Well…” Ark scratched the back of his head. Adam probably had an idea about what Ark did, his sixth sense would probably have told him something… but what could Ark say in response? He decided to avoid it completely and deflected the question

“Hey is Adam doing okay though? I heard he has been overworking himself…I should probably go and take a look right”

“Yes Yes! I’ll take you to him Mr Ark…I heard you defeated all the scary monsters… Are you strong like Uncle Adam too?”

“You could say so…”

Soon Ark arrived at the place where Adam was overworking himself. There seemed to be a dispute about food rations. This was when Ark realized that he had not eaten food for two days straight. He felt fine though…probably some magic of the System

Ark decided to let Adam finish the discussion as he looked around. Most people had a safe room now. The safe rooms he had marked earlier, the ones with no numbers also seemed to be occupied. He needed to tell Adam that

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of intense negotiation, both of the parties came to a mutual accord. This was when Adam noticed Ark standing in the corner with Eliza with him. Eliza was munching on the chocolates Ark had given her. They were in the basket and Ark did not particularly like sweets.

Ark smiled, “Adam let’s talk!”

Adam smiled too, they began walking together. As Adam was out of earshot from the rest of his group, he frowned

“I can’t keep doing this anymore…every single time there seems to be discussions about murdering people. It is only because of the story cards that they have not killed anyone yet. You have not come here but this place will be up in flames if something is not done about it” Adam said all these in the span of a single breath.

Ark contemplated for a few moments before asking Adam to take the latter to the people who were causing trouble. Adam had obliged and as soon as Ark activated the passive effect of his story card and stared at them for a few moments, everything went back in order.

Ark said in the same soft tone, he always used, “I have always believed a little force goes a long way to manage people like these. You play the good cop and I will be the bad one”

That was that but Ark also emphasized that the green squares with no numbers would probably become casualties if and when a monster went past Ark.

“We should probably make a plan”

“Yeah! Safety is the first priority after all” Adam sighed. The days had certainly taken a toll on him

“You have your story card right? Use it when I call for it. The cool-down is not long for an ultimate ability. You could probably use it every day if I managed to hold them off”

“Yeah probably” Adam conceded. This was the best plan they could come up with

“The fourth horde will attack today. It is going to be a bloody battle”

“I wish you luck then”

“Thanks... Adam! I will probably need it”

Night fell almost too soon and the fourth horde of monsters reared their ugly heads.