Micky was still dead tired and sore from his episode of smithing for the next few days.  He wasn’t even as tired from his hell training that was still going on.  But life goes on and so does his cram session.

So far, what Micky had been learning had been relatively interesting and he had been invested in it.  Even enchanting was interesting despite his teacher being a complete jerk that was entirely uninterested in teaching him.  Something told Micky that he was not ‘requested’ to teach Micky, more like voluntold.  

It was fine though, he did his thing and Micky read his things.  Even if the man was completely uninterested he was at least competent and Micky was learning a lot from the books he had so far.  Alchemy had peaked his interest in more ways than one.  And, while blacksmithing was hard work he was enjoying himself with the act of creating.  Even though Micky was pretty sure that he was outright crappy at it.

Then came the rest of his studies.  And that was a whole new hell.  They started with edicute and then went into the esoteric studies of noble heritage of the nobility two kingdoms over.  Micky didn’t understand why his brain hurt so much, just that when these people talked at him they were performing some kind of mental attack.  He didn’t see it in his status but he was very sure that was what it was.

Of course Micky didn’t mind some of these classes like dancing, since he got to dance with some of the pretty girls they had lined up for him as dance partners.  Equestrian studies was also entertaining since they went over some of the finer points of horseback riding as well as some of the games he may or may not play with his fellow ‘nobles’.  This was fairly likely though, since nobles did enjoy their games and their feasts.

Then there was the history lessons which were a mixed bag.  These were both boring as no other and also tantalizing as they led him toward unexplored ruins of frozen time and wondrous places.  There were many mixed bag courses that Micky wasn’t sure if he wanted to take or leave.

But what Micky was ready for was the [Tower] at the week’s end.  This was the tower of some wizard or mage or sorcerer or something that had gone dungeon and had a mana leak.  Now it had more floors than it should and all sorts of interesting abominations and manalogical inconsistencies that happened in [Dungeon]s.  

Of course it was also ancient as all get out and classified as ruins in and of itself.  When a tower first goes dungeon it isn’t really all that different from originally.  It is even highly encouraged by the magical class in question due to the fact that they are usually the default dungeon master.  This affords the magical entity in question many innate advantages over other beings inside their tower and also in their research.  Of course it’s still a dungeon and an uncontrolled dungeon that would attack it’s master.  But it still was very useful to them.

However a new [Tower] wasn’t all that useful.  Just some manalogical hijinks and maybe a few rooms that are a bit too large for what they should be.  On the other hand old [Tower]s are true dungeons in all ways.  They may appear to be but a short watch tower, but they are always many floors, each one a labyrinth of rooms on their own.

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Micky and Co. were not going to claim this tower for themselves.  They were just going to conquer the first floor and it’s boss.  The goal was to explore the tower in small groups and then meet up in front of the boss room.  Once there the entire group would raid the boss with the teachers tanking the boss for them.  Apparently the boss was some lab experiment gone right… a few thousand years ago which caused it to go horribly horribly wrong, and also extremely insane.

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Micky, Prin, and Squishy stood in front of the [Tower].  It was… well towering over them.  Although Micky and Co. knew that it would be many more floors inside then what it was outside it was at least ten floors outside.  Micky shivered at the thought of taking the tower.  It would be best if they conquered it and then smashed the thing from the outside with siege weapons.  Of course even that would take the army, doubtful that the baron could take the tower one his own.  And from the records this tower had yet to explode, which was a long time considering the age of the tower.

Micky got into his new group, a boy girl combo by the name of Histopher and Dysela.  The boy was a ranged bowman of some kind and the girl was a water and ice mage.  Micky would plac her almost as a [Blue Mage] but she was from outside the kingdom and came from a completely different but integrated [System].  So Micky couldn’t place her class as easily as he could the others.  Tch, the lucky bitch.

Either way Micky was jealous but got along well enough.  Prin just snickered from the side.  Micky carried a pack with him this time, it had foodstuff and survival gear as well as some [Bandages] that he had soaked in medicinal herbs and made on the way.  [Bandages] was a good trick for anybody to have, and Mathew had shown the group how to make good ones on his way over here.

All prepped and ready Micky and Co. took the first step on their intrepid adventure.  And Prin quickly tripped on that first step over an exposed root.  Micky laughed at her until she kicked him in the shin, knocking himself over.  Histopher and Dysela couldn’t help themselves and laughed at the two goofballs.  

It was at that point that Micky and Prin shared an intricate plan through their eyes.  And then they tackled their chosen partner to the ground.  Micky took Histopher and Prin took Dysela.  And that was how they got zapped by a ‘stray’ lightning bolt from their instructors.  “Stop goofing around and get your asses inside!”  They screamed.

Micky and Co. entered the spooky green tower and started walking.  While labyrinthian the first floor was straight forward and didn’t have any real traps or mystifying gimmicks to confuse newbie adventurers.  This was why they chose the tower for the second [Dungeon] even though it would be a jump in difficulty.  

The first fight came across them as they made it into some kind of laboratory.  With pickled brains and cowboy oysters on display they were attacked by a wandering arm.  Micky quickly used a directed [Grand Lotus Technique] on them.  It was a new skill he developed from the lineage and from the help of Yolanda.  It was basically throwing a bunch of throwing daggers in the direction of the target and hoping you hit something with enough force to deal DMG.

Grand Lotus Technique:  Through a large number of [Weapon] in all directions. Or fewer [Weapon] as a directed throw.  This technique was first mastered by...

It was hilarious that the techniques inventor was so pompous as to put their name and history into the [System] description.  Especially considering that it was just a grand euphemism for throwing all of your thrown weapons out at the same time.  But because it was a technique it was easier for Micky to apply [Accelerated] to the weapons since he just had to channel it through the technique instead of the weapon itself.

Micky’s daggers shredded the Zombie but didn’t put it down.  He readied his staff but he didn’t think he would need it.  Prin was already there and Squishy was engulfing the dead thing.  The two girls, one zombie match was quickly over.  Double teamed the beast was outmatched, it didn’t even have the stamina for one let alone two.

The group then started exploring the lab.  The best part about [Dungeon]s in particular [Ruins] types like the [Tower] was that they could always be relooted.  The tower would automatically repopulate the items taken from the tower and even create new ones.  Yet another reason that wizards and such would encourage their towers to go [Dungeon].  So there was effectively infinite loot to grab.  Of course Micky started with the beakers and alchemist gear.  If he was going to become and alchemist of some kind he would need them.

The others also found random trash loot that they could drop for more valuable loot later on or sell later.  But they quickly looted the place and moved on following the murder hobo creed “Loot fast, loot quick, and Leeeeerrrrrrooooy!!!!”.