Vivian backed away. The King advanced, laughing quietly. Behind him, Kyung twitched again, but failed to get up.

Isa cowered behind a pillar. Noah ducked toward the pillars himself, eyes big.

Another step back. The vines shivered behind him, still cowering from the flames. Overhead, the chandeliers flickered with electricity.

“You think you can defeat me, but you cannot,” the King declared. His bones clicked against the marble floor. He stomped forward again. “You think you can become Players, but you cannot.”

“Says you,” Vivian snarked back.

“You are dead men. Dead men, revived by the Tower for the Tower’s own purpose. To think you can become anything but the Tower’s men is hubris,” the King rumbled.

“Bold for a guy who calls himself King to accuse us mere NPCs of hubris,” Vivian responded, quirking a brow. He backed away another step.

The King followed him. He loomed over Vivian. Blue flames blazed in the darkness of his skull. “I’ll be glad to silence you.”

“You’re not the only one,” Vivian replied. He took another step back.

The Lady’s Vine uncoiled, breaking free of its fear from the fire attack. Vivian flicked his fingers at it, mentally commanding them to move. The tendrils waved gently. Over by Isa, the nearest tendril tapped against her pillar.

Isa peered around the pillar at Vivian. He nodded subtly at her. The tendril gestured at her, reaching up.

She furrowed her brows, then widened her eyes. She nodded, understanding.

“You absolute prick. I’d really hate to let you by,” the King muttered.

“Too bad you don’t have a say in that,” Vivian said.

The King scoffed. “I think I’m the only one who has a say, in fact.”

Across the way, Noah peeked out from his pillar. Vivian nodded. He flicked his eyes upward. Hand behind his back, he made a gesture. Not yet.

“Enough. It’s time for you to die.” The King lunged. A flaming, bony hand reached for Vivian’s forehead.

The hand claw materialized in Vivian’s hand. He swiped up. The claw caught in the gaps of the hand bone. Twisting the claw to the side, he denied the King his attack. “Is it, though?”

The King frowned and pulled his hand back. Vivian held on to the claw, tightening his grip with all his might. He flew into the air, dragged by the King.

“Foolish,” the King stated. He clawed at Vivian’s stomach with his free hand.

Vivian watched the hand swoop toward him. He took a deep breath. Here goes. SPD, save me now!

As the hand flew, he yanked his legs up, curling away from the hand’s grab. The hand passed by, scraping against his back. Before the King could draw it back, he uncurled, stomped down on the King’s forearm and leaped upward. For a moment, he flew over the King.

The King glared at him.

The clippers appeared in Vivian’s hands. Two-handed, he brought them down on the King’s head, lodging them deep in a crack. The King’s skull creaked.

Blue light burned. The King stared at him, unbothered. “And?”

A massive claw bit into Vivian’s gut. He flew backward. Once, twice, thrice, he bounced over the marble.

HP: 2/13

Vivian skidded to a halt. He reached for a health potion.

The King stomped on his wrist. He looked down at Vivian. “Enough. I’ll see to it that you never wake up again.”

“Now!” Vivian shouted.

Isa pulled. Thin threads that the Lady’s Vine had drawn across the room drew taut, wrapping around the King’s ankles. His feet slid together, and he stumbled, struggling to stay upright.

Noah peeked out. He pointed at himself and mouthed, Me too?

“Yes, you too!” Vivian shouted, somewhere between laughing and crying.

Noah nodded. His expression turned serious. He reached out toward the chandeliers.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

BAM!

A bolt of lightning condensed and cracked out, coursing down the clippers directly into the King’s skull. Lighting singed the front and back of his skull, drawing a dark line in the pale bone. The blue fire flickered. The King swayed where he stood.

“This is… I can’t believe… how stupid!” the King muttered to himself.

“Yeah, yeah. You are pretty dumb,” Vivian said, pushing himself upright. He reached into his inventory and called out a potion, chugging it down. Phew. Nothing like a health potion after a nice fight.

With a sharp crack, the King’s skull broke apart, tumbling to the ground in two pieces.

Isa stepped out from behind the pillar. “Is he dead?”

Vivian glanced up.

CONGRATULATIONS! Defeated [Floor 1 Boss]

[King] defeated! [Level +5]

Legendary Skill Acquired!

[Kingkiller]

Slayer of a Monarch, killer of a ruler. You do 2x damage against enemies with [Royal] blood.

Vivian twisted his lips. “Useless skill.”

“Huh? How is that useless? It won’t come up much, but…” Isa said, shrugging.

He shook his head. “All the enemies with the [Royal] modifier have twice the health of any other enemy from this point onward. The Tower knows everyone who beats Floor One has the [Kingkiller] skill, and compensates for it.”

“Oh. That seems… a little…” Isa wrinkled her nose.

“Classic game design, is what it is. They just let you feel strong for a little while first by not hiking the HP for a level or two. The Tower doesn’t give a shit about making you feel strong, is all,” Vivian explained. Drawing out his makeshift bag, he gathered up the Lady’s Vine and set it back into the dark soil. The many pieces of Lady’s Vine withered away as soon as he picked one up, leaving only the one he picked. It settled into the soil, snuggling down into it as if it were human.

Vivian stared at it, then shrugged. It is a magic vine, after all.

Noah wandered over, standing beside the other two. “Still, it’s good we got it.”

Vivian nodded. It’d be pretty tough to deal with [Royal]’s 2x HP buff if we didn’t get it, after all.

Pulling up his stats, he quickly allocated his points. I already knew what I wanted to do.

Level +5

[Status]

HP: 2/13 > 15/15

SP: 0/5 > 8/8

STR: 5

MAG: 1

SKL: 7

SPD: 16

MDEF: 5

DEF: 5

Skills

[Tiptoe Through the Tulips] Lvl 1

[Gardenational Awareness] Lvl 1

[Plant Appraisal] Lvl 1

[Splice] Lvl 1

[Dig] Lvl 1

[Claw] Lvl 1 > Lvl 2

[Rake] Lvl 1

[Trim] Lvl 1

[No More Human Meat] Event

[What is Lost Cannot be Found] Legendary

[Kingkiller] Floor 1 Clear

Oooh, I got a skill level for that? In Claw, too? I guess I did use the claw in the fight… but if that’s the reason, why didn’t I get a level for using it on the Lady of the Lost? Why didn’t I get a level in Trim?

Vivian shook his head. No one understands the System. No point spending too much thought into it.

Across the floor, Kyung twitched. Still dazed, he sat upright, eyes staring into the middle distance. He sat there for a few seconds, then blinked. His eyes focused. He poked at the air a few times, then leaned in. “We won?”

“Oh, yeah. Didn’t need you at all. Just beat the King casually allllll on our own,” Vivian said, smirking.

Kyung narrowed his eyes at Vivian.

“Ignore him. You were a big help!” Isa said, nodding earnestly.

A low hum emanated through the room. Vivian straightened up. He faced the score board and the now-empty throne. “It’s about to open. Everyone, get close.”

“I haven’t finished leveling up yet,” Noah complained.

“Don’t worry about that. You can level up on Floor Two,” Vivian said, gesturing for everyone to gather around.

Noah nodded. Isa drew close, and Kyung reluctantly stood near the rest.

“Time to find out if NPCs can climb the Tower,” Vivian murmured.

“Wait, you didn’t know? You challenged the boss without knowing if we could climb the Tower?” Isa asked, startled.

“We’re on Floor One. How was I supposed to know?” Vivian asked.

Isa opened her mouth. She started to say something, then closed her mouth. “Huh.”

Black appeared over the throne. It strung out, streaking through reality. Swirling together, the black streaks spun into one large black hole, growing larger and larger moment to moment. In a few seconds, the black formed into a human-sized portal. Still faintly swirling at the edges, it gaped open, waiting.

Vivian glanced at Noah, then gave the boy a friendly nudge. “You go first.”

“Why?” Noah asked.

“Ordinarily I’d have one of us go first, since between Floor One and Ten, all the floors in between are battle floors—floors with just wild beasts and monsters, but no plot, bosses, or secrets. But I don’t know if we NPCs can go through. We might destroy the portal if we touch it, and then where will you be? Stuck on Floor One forever. Go on ahead of us. We’ll see you on the other side,” Vivian said, smiling gently.

Noah took a deep breath. He looked at Vivian, then nodded. He strode into the portal.

“If we don’t make it, run for your life!” Vivian shouted after him.

Noah’s eyes widened. He startled, backing away, but the portal had already begun to suck him in. His body grew long, then swirled away, vanishing into the darkness.

Vivian chuckled. He shook his head. “Gets ‘em every time.”

“It isn’t funny,” Isa said, rolling her eyes.

“What? It’s good advice. Battle floors are boring, but they’re no joke,” Vivian said.

Kyung nodded, pointing at Vivian.

Isa sighed. “You could be gentler about it.”

Vivian glanced at the three of them. “So? Wanna hold hands, or…?”

Without a word, Kyung strode into the portal.

Vivian held his breath. The moment of truth…!

The portal drew Kyung in, the same as any Player. In a moment, he’d vanished entirely.

Vivian furrowed his brows. It’s really that easy? Why hasn’t anyone else ever done it before?

Can people with Roles not cross without the System’s permission? It explains why the System forces every NPC into Roles so hard. But… if that’s the case… surely we aren’t the first NPCs to climb the Tower.

Something tickled in the back of his mind. He pressed a hand to his forehead. What is it… something about that…

“See you on the other side!” Isa said, following Kyung.

Vivian shook his head. Ah, well. If I can’t remember it, it’s probably not that important. He stepped forward as well.

The blackness gripped him. It drew him in. The world swirled and twisted, then faded to black.

Drowsiness fell over Vivian. He fought it, but it forced his eyes shut. Afloat in the void, he slept.

In the darkness, pale hands reached for Vivian. A familiar face glowed out of the darkness. She smiled at him, then pulled him into her embrace.

Vivi… I’ve been waiting.

END BOOK ONE