In the Chaos Tower’s 1st floor…

[Welcome to the Chaos Tower’s 1st floor!]

“Woah…! What’s with this place? An enormous city?”

“So they are even inhabitants living inside the Chaos Tower, huh? What a surprise.”

“What a busy city… I thought it would be just us here, but who would’ve thought there were already people existing on the 1st floor before us.”

The place everyone arrived was a massive city called “Eaglen,” city. In this city, there are two types of people: Players and Rankers.

What are Rankers? Rankers are basically inhabitants that are born inside the Chaos Tower. In a simple manner, Rankers are just Chaos Tower’s local citizens.

However, players could be Rankers too; for example, if two players happen to get married and have a child born on the 1st floor, that child will be a Ranker. Or if a player marries a Ranker and has a child, that child will be considered a Ranker as well. Other than, to become a Ranker, Players could also take the trial, which is required later for Players who wish to climb or enter the 2nd floor.

So what is the difference between Players and Rankers? There are not much differences except in terms of magic power, Rankers are generally stronger. That’s because the mana energy inside the Chaos Tower is many times richer and denser compared to the outside world, and because of that, it’s easier to train one’s magic power to the max potential.

Outskirts of Eaglen City, where the players are currently at.

[The next Tutorial will begin in 10 minutes.]

[Tutorial: Survive until the portal gate to the 2nd floor appears. The gate to the 2nd floor only spawns once every month, so try not to miss it.]

[Time Limit: No time limit for this Tutorial.]

When the Eaglen’s citizens saw the players, they began screaming to inform the Eaglen soldiers that the players had arrived.

“T-The players are here!”

“Quick! Inform the soldiers that the players are here!”

“Hurry! We can’t waste any time, or else the players might escape by the time the soldiers arrive!”

It seemed the citizens of Eaglen weren't too happy that the players were here. Based on their tone of voice, it sounded like they disliked the players and had a look of disdain on their faces.

Meanwhile, the players had no idea why the citizens of Eaglen didn’t like them, they assumed it was probably because they suddenly appeared out of nowhere and perhaps the citizens felt threatened as they thought the players were invading the city.

“Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you! How are y’all doing?!” a player said in a friendly voice.

“We just got here, do you mind helping us? We’re looking for a nice place to eat and rest,” a player asked a citizen.

“Yeah, we’re really hungry right now. Do you guys perhaps know any good restaurants nearby?”

It’s unknown whether the golds the players earned from the outside world could be used on the Chaos Tower’s 1st floor.

“Yo, what’s up with them? It seems like they have a problem with us for some reason,” a player said.

The players were confused as they couldn't understand why the citizens of Eaglen were unfriendly and unhelpful toward them.

“No idea. Maybe they felt threatened because we suddenly appeared out of nowhere and invaded their personal space, who knows.”

It has only been a few minutes since the players arrived on the outskirts of Eaglen city, and already they've been surrounded by the Eaglen’s army.

The strength of Eaglen’s army shouldn't be underestimated, because the average level of each soldier was at least Low Diamond-Rank. Keep in mind, these were just regular soldiers and they were already at Diamond-Rank level.

“Huh? What in the world is happening? I’m confused.”

“I’m confused too. Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. We should tell them we are friendly and not their enemy.”

Many players were confused and didn’t understand why they were getting surrounded.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Capture them! Don’t let them escape! If any players try to escape, kill them on the spot!” Darius, the General said.

[Name: Darius Aledor]

[Title: Eaglen’s General]

[Rank: Master-Rank]

Hearing that, the players immediately felt frightened.

“Calm down! We are not your enemy! Why are you doing this to us?!” a player said in a shivering voice.

Unfortunately, the Eaglen’s soldiers didn’t care what the players said and proceeded to capture the players by force.

It was at this time, suddenly, people could hear a loud thunder noise and before they realized, a powerful lightning from the sky struck down and killed one of the Eaglen’s soldiers.

FLASH!!

BUZZ!!!

BOOM!!!

“Holy shit! What was that?!”

Not long later, everyone could see a majestic person slowly descending from the sky, and that person was Valtan, the 1st floor administrator.

Seeing Valtan, Darius immediately yelled at his soldiers and said, “Stop! Don’t capture the players yet!”

“Darius! You dare to go against the rules?! You realized the Tutorial hasn’t started yet, right?” Valtan said.

“My apology, administrator! Please, forgive me! I was impatient and didn’t even notice that there are two more minutes left before the Tutorial starts,” Darius replied.

“Administrator?”

This was the first time the players had heard about the existence of an administrator on the 1st floor.

“Tch! I can’t even enjoy my lunch because idiots like you keep breaking the rules. Listen! The next time this happens again, you better be prepared for the worst! Do you understand?!” Valtan yelled.

“Yes, administrator! I promise I won’t do it again!” Darius replied nervously, ‘Phew! Thankfully none of the players were hurt, or else I’ll be dead by now.’

“Hmph! You’re lucky none of the players were hurt, that’s the reason why I’m lenient to you. Had you harmed any of the players before the Tutorial started, you wouldn't be talking to me right now,” Valtan said.

“Thank you for sparing my life, administrator! I promise to keep in mind to not make such silly mistakes again!” Darius replied.

As Darius and Valtan were talking, at this time, two minutes had already passed.

[The Tutorial will now begin.]

“Oh, looks like the Tutorial has started. Welp, I’ll be taking my leave now to continue my lunch. Alright, good luck, everyone! I’ll be watching, so I hope y’all don’t disappoint me!” Valtan said.

After saying that, Valtan suddenly vanished from everyone’s sight and went back to his personal room.

Valtan’s personal room is located somewhere high up in the blue sky, a floating room.

‘Whew! Now that the administrator is gone, I don’t have to hesitate now.’ Darius thought. Without mercy, Darius ordered his soldiers to capture the players right away.

“What are you guys doing?! Capture them now! Kill them if they dare to escape!” Darius yelled.

Just like that, the battle between the players and the Eaglen's soldiers started.

In the beginning of the battle, the players were able to hold off against the Eaglen's soldiers pretty well, but it was only for a short period of time before the Eaglen’s soldiers had the upper hand and began dominating the players.

“What the hell?! How are these ordinary soldiers so strong?!” a player was surprised.

“Fuck! At this point, they are even more powerful than those demons we fought in the outside world.”

As time passed, more and more players gave up and were captured.

Couple of hours later…

By this time, most of the players have already been captured and locked up in prison. As for the rest who tried to run away, they were either killed or barely managed to escape into the forest outside of Eaglen City. Among those who successfully escaped were Sol and some other high-level players.

[Population: 526 >> 525 Million Players remaining]

Roughly 1 million players have died, especially the ones who tried to escape but failed.

In Eaglen’s prison, many players were furious and desperately pleaded with the prison guards to let them out.

“Arrrgh! You bastards! Let us out of here now!” a player said.

“Fuck you!!! Let us out!”

“At least give us a clean prison you motherfucker! What the fuck is this filthy prison! There are even cockroaches and rats in here!”

The players complained nonstop to the prison guards and demanded to be released right away.

“Shut the fuck up, you noisy monkeys!” One of the prison guards was annoyed and couldn’t take it anymore as he yelled at the players.

“Hell no, bitch! How about you shut up and let us out now!” a player replied angrily.

“Son of a bitch! I dare you to say that to me again!” a prison guard said furiously.

“You’re a dog shit! Fuck you!”

A few players displayed their middle fingers at the prison guards.

“Hehehe! Hahaha! Very well, you assholes ask for it. Fine, for one week, I won’t give any of you guys food to eat.”

The prison guards threatened the players using food.

“You asshole! You dare to threaten us with food?!” a player complained.

“Booooo! Sounds like you’re scared to fight us fair and square, huh?! Is that why you’re using food to control us?”

The players mocked the prison guards.

“That’s right! What a pussy! Learn to fight us like a man, bitch!” a player said.

“You know what? I changed my mind. Not only no food for you guys for one week, but no water too. Hehe! I can’t wait to see you guys suffer and start begging us for food and water like a beggar.”

The prison guards laughed evilly.

“Y-You! Aarrrrghh! Grrr!! Get me out of here now! I want to kill all these prison guards so bad!” a player was mad.

“Hey, calm down! You’re wasting too much energy, you won’t survive even a week at this point,” a player was trying to convince his friends to preserve energy.