Chapter 18

I was up early. Excitement washed away exhaustion. Fear and anxiety were replaced with anticipation and eagerness. I dressed quickly, pulling my Climber’s Regalia from my inventory instantly to my body. It was strange, using the Mark’s strange magic to dress in such a manner, but honestly, the convenience was staggering. After a lifetime of dressing and undressing manually, this new method, though utterly trivial, was nothing short of amazing.

Once dressed and ready I knocked on Nyle’s door, though unlike me, he didn’t seem quite as eager to go. I left him grumbling in his room, begging for a few more minutes of sleep, and headed downstairs. A few Climbers from my platoon were already up as well, and we made small talk as we half walked half skipped down the stairs.

“Good morning, Climbers.” Alexandra’s voice greeted us as we exited the Dusk marked door. The massive entrance hall of Climber’s Rest was empty, save for Alexandra, myself, and the handful of my peers. “Eager to start your first day?” She was smiling brightly at us, her hair elegantly braided behind her ears. She was dressed in a rich, emerald shirt, with dark brown pants, both of which clung tightly to her body. She held each of us in her gaze for a moment.

“Figured we’d get a look at the job board.” A girl, Lyla, said. She was one of my squad members. She’d reached level three like me.

“Not a bad plan for your first day.” Alexandra gave her an approving nod. “If you’ve any questions, feel free to ask. Also,” she pointed towards one of the doors on the side of the room. “After you’ve figured out your job, remember to eat up. Can’t have you working in the tower on an empty stomach, and truly the food here is…” her smile widened, “to die for.”

She laughed at her own joke as we headed to the job board, though not before my stomach let out a slight grumble. Now that she’d mentioned food, my nose had picked up the scent of something delicious. When we’d been recruits, we’d had the same, standard meals every day. Meals designed to keep us fit and healthy, optimized to ensure we were in peak health for the Tower. The scents wafting into the room from the door Alexandra had indicated, were sweet, tantalizing, and foreign to me. And, just as Nyle knew, I was a sucker for discovering and experiencing new things.

I walked over to the job board with my peers, and noted they were organized by difficulty. It was also immediately clear that there were many more low ranked jobs than there were high ranked jobs. I grabbed one of the F ranked ones at random and looked it over.

Protection Request

Rank- F

Floor- 1st

Guild- Farmers

Famers Guild seeks Guards to protect Farmers from Dawn to Dusk

Expected Duties:

Ensure monsters are culled around the livestock and fields while the Farmers work.

Provide stationary guards to accompany individual Farmers while they work.

Provide roaming guards to ensure any monsters that stray too close are dealt with.

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Provide additional services as requested.

Reward:

1 gallon of fresh milk

2 chickens

15 copper

Additional rewards at the discretion of Senior Farmer of the Day

I put the job back, and grabbed another, curious to see how it may differ.

Gathering Request

Rank- F

Floor- 1st

Guild- Apothecary

Apothecary seeks ingredients

Expected Duties:

Accompany an Apothecary to gather vital ingredients

Provide protection as the Apothecary seeks out and gathers various ingredients

Gather assigned and identified ingredients on behalf of Apothecary when indicated *Some ingredients are dangerous to collect*

Ensure Apothecary leaves first floor safely

Reward:

A quantity of potions determined by the amount of ingredients gathered

1 copper coin per 10 ingredients gathered

Additional rewards at the discretion of accompanied Apothecary

I set the job down, thinking about the mushrooms I’d burned when I used fireball on the goblin on the first floor. The job sounded more meticulous than the job from the Farmer’s guild. It also seemed like more of an individual basis job, while the Farmer’s request seemed to just want a lot of Climber’s for added protection. If I was going to pick a job with Nyle, I’d want to make sure it was something we could do together.

Curious, I put my quest to find a good job for the two of us on hold and moved to the far side of the Job Board, to look at the SSS ranked jobs. How different were these, from the F ranked jobs?

Request for Materials

Rank- SSS

Floor- ???

Guild- Blacksmiths

The Blacksmith Guild request artifact class materials

Expected Duties:

Hunt down artifact grade materials for crafting

Acquire new materials of artifact grade quality

Discover veins of artifact grade ores

Return with artifact grade crafting materials

Reward:

Artifact grade weapon

100000 gold

My hands shook as I put the request back. Commander Phyr’s sword was an artifact, one he’d gotten from the 75th floor of the tower. Was this job one that required a Climber be capable of reaching that floor? Did that meant Commander Phyr was a rank SSS climber? I eyed the gold reward once more as I stepped away from the job board.

Being recruits we’d not had to deal with money. Even still, we knew the basics of it. 100 copper coins equaled a silver coin. And 100 silver coins equaled a gold coin. According to our trainers, basic iron weapons ranged around 10 to 20 copper coins. Steel weapons got closer to costing a silver coin, and then from there the price jumped. One-hundred thousand gold though, was impossible for me to fathom. What even did someone do with that much money? What was the point? What could you purchase with that much gold, what did you need to buy, with that much gold?

Past that, the fact the guild was offering such a staggering amount was telling in and of itself. Surely that wasn’t a sum of money the guild would easily be able to part with. Was a SSS rank job that difficult, that the reward needed to be so astronomically high? Looking back to the Rank F jobs, with their 15 copper reward, the gravity of the difficulty between the two finally took hold. Reaching that level, reaching the heights of Commander Phyr, and acquiring legendary, much less artifact grade equipment, now seemed a monumental dream. A childish dream.

What type of Climber do you wish to be?

The thought drifted into my mind, and pushed at my wavering determination. I may not have the answer to the question, but one thing was certain. I didn’t want to be a Climber, who backed down from a challenge. I’d never reach those heights, if I let uncertainty and doubt keep me from even trying. I’d be damned if I gave up, before I even took my first steps toward my dreams.

The lingering doubt clinging to me faded away as I turned away from the job board, my stomach no longer content to merely sustain off the scents coming from the side room. I’d feed my ambition soon enough. For now, while I waited on Nyle, I needed to feed my body.