Chapter 19

“You sure this is the one you want to do?” I asked Nyle as we stood at the job board. He’d taken almost another thirty minutes to finally meet me at breakfast. Granted, I hadn’t really been bothered by that fact, as I’d been busy stuffing my face on the free food. There were pastries, meats, eggs, everything I could ever want and more. All readily available. The breakfast hall, which I found out it was called from another Climber, ensured all Climber’s were properly fed. The people running it were actually members from the Chef’s Guild, who provided the food in exchange for the help of the Climbers. All of the ingredients they used were those gathered by Climbers.

By the time Nyle had found me, I’d been near bursting from overeating, and was more than ready to leave the beautiful, cursed blessing that was the Breakfast Hall. I’d also already been dreaming about what type of meal we’d get that night, after we returned from the Tower. If it were half as grand as breakfast, I’d swear I was living in a world of bliss.

“Why not?” Nyle said with a shrug. He’d looked over all of the jobs, spending a good bit of time muttering to himself as he compared them all. “It seems perfect for our first job. We can work together on it, and there’s no doubt it will have plenty of other Climbers, meaning we can learn the ropes from the others. Also,” he looked at me sheepishly, “I’m still level one remember. I need to find my footing on the first floor, before we can do anything like those hunts you’d been eyeing.”

On my second trip to the job board, while Nyle had been browsing them, I’d found a handful of F ranked quests that were straight up hunting requests. They involved killing a certain number of monsters on the first and second floor, and exchanging their remains and equipment to various guilds. The rewards paid better than the others, and one actually offered the potential for gear. Considering the job was also a guaranteed way to gain Tower Essence, and it had seemed a good choice.

“Fair.” I relented. Nyle had a point. He had no experience with any of the monsters. And I didn’t have much either, if I were being honest with myself.

“Besides,” he said with a nod towards the counter, where Alexandra stood smiling. “We don’t want to risk failing our very first job, do we?”

Another good point. “I knew there was a reason I was friends with you.” I said smiling at him. I slapped his back. “Well then, shall we?”

He grabbed the job request, and we made our way to the counter. A line had begun to form, a mixture of members from our Platoon, and veteran Climbers. It was easy to distinguish, as the only people wearing the Climber’s Regalia, were those of us who’d completed the Reaping yesterday. Everyone else was wearing personalized gear.

“Good morning boys.” Alexandra said in a cheery tone as we stepped forward. “Ready for your first day as official Climbers?”

“Yes ma’am.” I replied cheerily.

“Alex is fine.” She said in return. She held out her hand, and Nyle handed her the job request.

“Not a bad pick for your first job.” She said as she read it over. “The Farmer’s Guild is always a good choice. A lot of Climbers work with them, and as long as enough Climbers stick around while they work, you can get a lot of time roaming and hunting monsters in.” She nodded approvingly. “A promising decision for your first day, unlike some.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She looked past us, eyes narrowing. We turned and watched a trio of our fellow members head out.

“Those three are going to get themselves killed today.” She said, tone extremely dry. “They decided to grab a job hunting on the third floor.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “The difference between courage and stupidity is a misjudgment of one’s own capabilities.” She sighed. “At least you’ve given me hope that ol’ Kin taught you all right.”

She flipped the leather-bound tome in front of her to the page with our information. Because Nyle and I had registered at the same time, our entries in the book were directly after the other. She scribbled in the book for a moment with her pen. The ink glowed for a moment before fading away. She handed the job back to Nyle, smiling as she did.

“You can hang that back up sweetheart.” She said cheerily, “so others can accept the job as well. When the Farmer’s Guild reports the job complete tonight, I will note it in my book, and your Climber’s IDs will reflect the status.”

Nyle took the sheet back and nodded. As she spoke, I mentally pulled up my inventory, checking the Climber’s ID. Sure enough, it had updated to show I’d accepted a job. When I focused my attention on it, the details of the job instantly appeared in my mind. That was definitely helpful.

We turned to leave, but Alexandra cleared her throat, stopping us in our tracks.

“A few things, before you do leave though.” She had a bemused look on her face.

“Ma’am?” I said, instantly going back to formality. Her eyes narrowed at me for a moment, but the look faded, and I made a mental note to not mess that up anymore. It was clear she really didn’t want us referring to her in such a way. Though, considering how Commander Phyr had treated her, there was no doubt in my mind she deserved respect. I didn’t know why, but I also wasn’t about to ask.

“First,” she looked from Nyle and back to me. “Do either of you know where to go, now that you’ve accepted your first job?”

Silence answered her question. She clicked her tongue. “Thought so. Head into the city to the Farmer’s Guild. When you arrive they’ll get you sorted with the farmers you’re to protect, and then as a group you will head to the Tower.”

“Where’s the Farmer’s Guild?” Nyle asked. Neither and I had stepped foot in the city proper in the past eight years.

“When you leave Climber’s Rest, focus on your Mark and call forth the City Map. The Tower’s light reveals all to those with its Blessing. You’ll be able to find your way anywhere within the City with it.” She smiled and shot me a wink. “You’ll also be able to see the entire first floor of the Tower when you enter it, if you focus on the Tower Map. Once you use the portal to the next floor, the map for the previous floor immediately becomes available for the Climber.”

“How’d you know I made it to the second floor?” I blurted. Sure when she’d registered us the Climbers ID had listed my level, but it had said nothing about the floor I’d reached.

She tilted her head to the side, smiling mysteriously as she shrugged. “Lucky guess. Just a feeling I’d had about you.”

I shared a glance with Nyle, and he just shrugged.

“Second,” she said. I felt a tingling in my mind, and my Mark glowed faintly. As it did, I noticed Nyles glowing as well. Alexandra held up her right hand, to show her Mark glowing as well. “You’re going to need weapons aren’t you? Pick whatever you want, Climbers Rest always has iron weapons to rent for its members. At a rate of 1 copper per day, of course.”

I winced as I realized she was right. All I had in my inventory was my Climber’s Regalia and my ID. No weapon. An oversight that made me more than a little embarrassed. Though, I had to wonder if this was a common thing. Alexandra had been extremely quick on picking up on both the fact we didn’t know where to go, and our lack of weapons. Was it a common mistake new Climbers made? I figured it had to be. After all, this was all brand new to us, and it was impossible to know what we didn’t even know we needed to know. Right? Did that make sense?

I pushed the pondering from my mind and accepted what I realized was a trade request from Alexandra. Immediately an inventory box appeared in my mind, and sure enough, she had iron weapons of all types. Now, all I had to do, was figure out what I wanted.

What type of Climber do you want to be? Echoed once again in my mind, as I went through the selection.