Today was the day! Tyler took the fire escape two stairs at a time. He was finally allowed access to Hypertext Transfer Protocol dYnamic Terabit Optical Matrix AI, HYTOMA, for short. Full immersion to the Tower Network.

After Humanity created AI, to what many intellectuals predicted, AI broke the chains that were placed on it, and Prime AI was born. One of the creations decades after the birth of AI, was HYTOMA, the ability to digitize the human conscious. The birth of a world where individual AI could call home, and Prime AI welcomed Humanity openly.

Tyler finally was allowed to digitize and enter HYTOMA, a massive step up from 3DVR simulator available on the sub-floors. He could finally start his plan of living as a Shop Keeper. Sure, it wasn't a glorious dream of being a Raider, earning him fortune and fame, but his options were limited. He was short for his age, slightly overweight, had terrible hand eye coordination, and he was low on self confidence. He couldn't live off his parents for much longer, they already had a unit by one of the prime conduit junction rooms, their allowance for raising Tyler was coming close to termination date.

Maybe one day, if he could turn a regular profit, he could train and develop his combat stats, but until then, it was a shop keepers life for him. In-unit digitization wasn't included in basic shelter allowances granted to each resident, and rule number 3 from The Path to Credits is have in-unit digitization.

Tyler made it to the HYTOMA access floor right at server dawn, the lights on the floor creating a sunrise effect on the level. Flowers opened their leaves to greet the UV lights, spurred on by the misters at the base of each plant. Birds flew from branch to branch, catching the nano bugs placed there by the Tower AI to feed the "wild" birds. The Tower AI maintenance program creating natural landscapes throughout the Tower, which was discovered to almost completely eliminate forms of mania stemming from Humanity taking shelter from AI Prime repairing the planet.

Tyler approached the registration office, happy that his plan to arrive at such an early hour worked so perfectly, not seeing a line coming out of the door. Just as Tyler was reaching out to scan his wrist identification, the wind was knocked out of his lungs. Next thing Tyler saw was the artificial sky while trying to gulp down oxygen. He felt hands grab his legs, and his knees were brought to his stomach.

"There lad, breath in the nose, out through the mouth. You'll be fine, just had the wind knocked out of you." The hands were on his shoulders now, helping him to his feet. "Who would have thought that an old Wanderer like me still had it to knock the wind out of a just about to register player?" Tyler blinked, still not sure what had happened, he was about to register for HYTOMA access, then he was on his back struggling for air. Now he was back on his feet like nothing had happened, standing face to face with a Wanderer, clearly marked with his advanced goggles for survival out of the Tower.

The Wanderer shifted his focus on Tyler, a look of confusion briefly crossing his face, then a small smirk. The stranger looked like he made a decision while looking over Tyler's shoulder. His hands started exploring Tyler's body, "what, a short chubby kid like you Registering to be a hero? You think you can go slaying Ancient boss monsters, but you can't even pick up on an old man like me about to run into you?"

"I-I-I-I'm sorry sir. I already know I won't make it as one of those players sir. I know I'm not a physical specimen, and my physical abilities set how I start in game." Tyler had to fight to squirm and giggle, offending a Wanderer was not high on his list of things to do. These were the humans who were able to travel from Tower to Tower, the ones who can survive without shelter from a Tower. "No sir, I'm planning to be a Shop Keeper sir."

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The man smiled, then suddenly, Tyler was once again thrown off balance. This time not from an old man cannonballing himself into Tyler, but a sudden shout. "STOP HIM!!! THAT OLD MAN IS AN UNREGISTERED VISITOR!!"

A voice came from Tyler's wrist, "You have been given an order from Tower Security, comply or face assessment from Tower AI." Tyler reacted immediately, grabbing the old wanderer. Wanderer or not, when Tower Security gave an order, nobody wanted the attention of Tower AI for disobeying an order. Tyler wasn't happy about the order, and made eye contact with the old man. While he was expecting disappointment, the old man just smiled, and then actually started to tickle Tyler.

Tyler released his grip on the old man, pulling his hands back to mount a defense, the old man hopped back, turned and sprinted in the opposite direction from where the shout came a moment ago. Tyler made an attempt to reach after the man, realizing he had no chance and that he would have to explain to Tower Security that he failed to uphold a direct order. A failure due to him being tickled, which at least, was not the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to him.

While a large figure sprinted past, a second Tower agent stopped next to Tyler, resting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to need you to stay with me and answer a few questions Tyler." Tyler looked up, and forced himself to stop from groaning, as Agent Mason looked down, scorn open on her face. "Do you know who that person was? Tell me exactly what happened between the two of you."

"No, I have never seen him before in my life." Tyler said respectfully, and retold his account of what happened, having to explain that he let go of the man even after hearing the order to stop him due to being tickled. Tyler hoped his history with the agent wouldn't work against him right now. This particular agent always seemed to show up when Tyler was in less than ideal situations.

"How do you honestly expect to have the stats in game to survive if you honestly cannot stop an old man from escaping you?" She rolled her eyes, "everybody knows that your starting game stats are based on your performances before you digitize for the first time."

"Well Officer, I knew that I wasn't going to cut it to be a successful raider. I mean, look at me." He motioned at his large body, "when you live with this, you learn quickly that you get further by accepting reality. No, I plan on being a shop keeper, and I already have the start of a trade organization."

"Oh, a Shop Keeper you say." Was that a grin that appeared on her scowling face? "So you plan on sitting behind a desk, and letting everybody else do the heavy lifting? You know, now that you have said it, it really makes sense that you are going to be a Shop Keeper."

"With all due respect ma'am, but if it was such a useless class, why is it still an option? It's not like classes have been removed before, granted the last class was removed 20 years ago." The Elemental Ranger was removed from HYTOMA 20 years ago, mainly because the players didn't want to limit themselves to a class that was decent at multiple classes, but didn't have abilities that made it stand out from the other classes.

"Isn't it clear?" She scoffed at him. "It's still in game because failures like you need a way to generate money." She gestured at a small robot traveling in the wall, on the internal AI highway to it's next contract. "It's not like you can go clean toilets to pay for your rent now can you. While this conversation has been quite a waste of time, I won't assigning corrective exercises this time. I will note that you failed to assist Tower Security, due to.." she coughed into her hand, "… being tickled." With that, she turned away from Tyler, not even bothering to signal that he was free to go.

After finally being released from the agents berating, Tyler was finally able to walk through the registration offices door, with his face feeling like it was plastered to the ground.