[Administrator James Wise, please choose the new modifier for this Tower.]
James watched as an old prompt appeared of the modifiers James could add to the tower.
{Please choose an additional Modifier for this Tower. Modifiers chosen: 2/3
-(Additional Classes) Crafting: In addition to the typical starting Classes. Climbers will be able to choose from among a set of Classes with the ability to craft armor, weapons, or consumables from resources found within the Tower and mana rich environments. These Classes have a greatly reduced amount of combat Skills but are useful for providing rare gear and items otherwise unobtainable.
-(Additional Classes) Multiclassing: Climbers will start with 2 Bound Multiclass Crystals that can be used to unlock a secondary Class at level 10 and a tertiary Class at level 20. Classes set into secondary and tertiary slots have reduced Stat gains compared to the primary slot but still provide Skill Points at their regular rate. This Modifier goes into effect retroactively for every Climber that is currently within your Tower.
-(Additional Classes) Special: Classes with Skills that do not exist elsewhere. Unique Classes will be distributed at random with a low probability for each Climber to enter a Tower with this Modification. Once a Unique Class has been taken, no other Climbers will be able to have the Class until that Climber is killed. Unique Classes can only be provided through a properly modified Tower or gifted by a Sponsor.
-(Starting Bonus) Bring a Friend: Prior to starting their tutorial. Climbers will be able to choose someone not currently within a Tower to be brought inside of it along with them. They will be permanently placed into a party for the duration of their climb.
-(Tower Features) Auction Access: Climbers will have the ability to sell items on an auction accessible by Climbers who have completed a Tower or are inside of a Tower with this feature enabled. They can demand Gold or specific items in exchange.
-(Tower Features) Backtracking: Climbers will be able to visit Floors they've already cleared. Doing so will lower their Level to the max possible for that Floor while they are there.
-(Tower Features) Raid Bosses: Allows each Floor the very low chance to naturally spawn a Raid Boss, or for a Raid Boss to be spawned within a chosen Floor manually through the use of Tower Points. A Raid Boss will first start out as a regular monster of that Floor unless the Tower also has the Modifier “(Tower Features) Rare Monsters”, in which case all Raid Bosses will start off as a Rare Monster as well as enhance the reward for its defeat. Raid Bosses will evolve rapidly after a set amount of time, eventually reaching a monster tier above that of other monsters on its Floor, at which point it will begin to control other monsters on its Floor, either creating an army to destroy any Villages on its Floor or organizing monsters into hunting parties meant to ambush Climbers. Until the Raid Boss is defeated, Climbers will be unable to leave the Floor. Defeating the Raid Boss will grant bonus experience to all Climbers on its Floor, in addition to rare equipment based on the Raid Boss itself.
-(Tower Features) Rare Monsters: Monsters with better equipment and skills than their peers will spawn naturally at a low rate, or manually through the use of Tower Points. Defeating one will grant a significantly higher amount of experience and a higher quality item than its common peers.
-(Tower Features) Tower Bound: Gain the ability to make a particular Climber Tower Bound. This will make them unable to leave the Tower, but will allow them to access the Administration Floor should they be the first Climber to reach the latest Floor, or complete all Floors within a Tower. All Tower Bound are given a Quest stating that if they kill the Tower Administrator, they will be allowed to leave the Tower. Enables Bound Climber Menu. This feature is useful for obtaining Climber servants, or antagonizing a specific Climber or Climbers for added views.}
Climber servants? Tower Bound? My only new feature and it looks like it's used to try and either subjugate or torture climbers! If I could explain my situation though, maybe I could gain an ally, someone who could help me guide people through the tower. James considered it for a moment, before rereading the list of modifiers.
Raid bosses, rare monsters, and bringing a friend are all still immediately out. Auction access could be useful now that climbers are making money, but they don't have anything good to sell and still have plenty they need to buy here. That's out too.
I'd choose Crafting Classes now that I know more about what they might entail, but they'll work best once the village has all of its buildings, since it sounded like they'll have to buy their crafting tools to get started. Special classes could be useful, they could result in some powerful climbers that could survive and maybe save others, but the rarity of them appearing makes it less useful with other, more reliable modifiers available. Multiclassing could be nice, but no one is level three yet, let alone level ten. I think I'll add crafting classes once I reach level six, and multiclassing at level nine. Special classes can wait until level twelve... although if only one climber at a time can have a specific special class, then wouldn't it be better to try and have them unlocked now, so more climbers have a chance of getting one?
I thought my main choices would be between Tower Bound and Backtracking, but even if I'd love to have someone who could help me keep climbers alive, it's out too. Backtracking is much more immediately useful, plus these people likely have family back home. Finding someone I want to keep here, who also wants to stay here? That's too unlikely, better to choose something that'll let people return to the village on the first floor until I unlock another village... Unlocking special classes can wait. I don't even know when new climbers will be entering the tower, and having climbers from later floors able to come back and help is more reliable than hoping someone gets a special class and survives the tutorial.
{Modifier: “(Tower Features) Backtracking” has been acquired. Maximum number of Modifications selected.}
Alright, that's one choice down, now to pick a ski- James was interrupted by the tower speaking once again.
[Recruiting the next batch of climbers. Administrator James Wise, please select the first battle format.]
Wait, what!? More climbers, already!? Special classes would have been much more appealing if I knew new climbers were going to appear so soon! Another old prompt appeared, this one James remembered, and instead of reading through the options once again, picked the same option as before. I already know I can't reduce the number of monsters right now, and the wolf and slime battles still have the same problems as before. The wolf pits people into one on one fights that'll be a death sentence to anyone who didn't focus on offensive power, and I don't know enough about slimes to know if they're easy or surprisingly difficult, let alone having everyone face a thousand all in one room.
[First battle format has been selected. Administrator James Wise, please finalize the starting quest.]
Again a prompt appeared that James was familiar with, and he immediately did the same as before. Edit quest.
{You have activated Edit Quest. -5 Tower Points. 614 Tower Points remaining.}
{You have added ”1 Low Quality Health Potion” to the Reward(s). -75 Tower Points. 539 Tower Points remaining.}
[Details for the quest: “First Battle” have been finalized. All preparations complete. Launching tutorial once class selections have been completed.]
Is it going to be like this every day? James wondered. Wait a minute, this time I know the tower can display multiple screens at once, I can watch how every battle goes this time, to pick up on anything I should be trying to change!
"Tower, please display a screen of one observer from each group in the tutorial." James asked, and the screens showing the climbers in Floor One disappeared to be replaced by twenty screens showing the tutorial floor. "Thank you tower." James said.
[You are welcome, Administrator James Wise. Administrator James Wise, please choose the layout of the second floor.]
Another prompt appeared, blocking out the view of many of the screens. James would have asked the tower to wait, but noticed that many of the screens were blank. Right, the tower said it was waiting for climbers to select their classes. If I hurry, I- No, the floor layout is too important to rush through just so I don't miss the beginnings of the first battle. Forget the tutorial right now, I can focus on the screens once I've finished trying to make the best choice for the second floor.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
{System Tower Version 61-3, Floor Two:
Environment: Forest
Monsters: Dire Wolf, Goblin, Goblin King, Black Bear, Poison Serpent, Maneating Plant, Magic Deer, Roc.
Resources: Heartshroom, Ironshroom, Cleansing Herb, Felix Grass, Wood, Stone, Berries, Fruits, Eggs.
-Add Monster (-50)
-Add Resource (-50)
-Change Environment (-100)
-Deploy Village (Unavailable)
Confirm Selection?}
A forest would be a natural progression from the plains, I suppose. More forestation, tougher monsters... I don't understand any of the first three resources. I should ask Tower about them... Actually, I should ask Tower about the type of monsters and resources I can add, and maybe what other environments I can switch to, too. Getting the information from Tower could save me points in experimenting through the menus, since it never refunds the full amount of points when I go back.
"Tower, can you tell me more about what the resources heartshroom, ironshroom, and cleansing herb, do?"
[Affirmative. The resources you've listed are all alchemy ingredients used in a variety of potions. While they are most effective when used in a potion, they can all be consumed on their own for a lesser effect. The heartshroom speeds the recovery of wounds, the cleansing herbs help the body overcome poisons, and the ironshroom offers a small temporary increase in a climber's resilience.]
"Thank you, Tower." James said, before moving on to his other questions. "Do you know what types of monsters or resources I could add to the forest, or what environments I could change to if I selected change environments?"
[Affirmative. The range and type of monsters and resources that can be added to a floor are dependent on the floor's environment and level, in addition to the environment of the floor directly below it. With the forest selected as the second floor's environment, and with the previous floor being the plains environment, the monsters you can add are: wolf, horned rabbit, slime, large bird, large ant, large spider, skeleton, monshroom, and clay golem. The resources you can add are: healing grass, manaweed, fireweed, iron, and sharpshroom. The environments you can change to are solely dependent on the floor's level, and your current choices are: mountains, swamp, and islands.]
"I see. Thank you Tower. Could you please tell me the major differences between the environments you mentioned?" Wow, this is actually working. I should remember to ask Tower for more information before messing with the system from now on. I only wish I could listen to Tower and pay attention to the people going through their first battle at the same time. I'm catching bits and pieces of the fights, but with twenty screens going on at once and no audio of what people are saying to each other, I'm not getting any information on how I could make their survival easier.
[Affirmative. The mountains environment is a rough terrain with less vegetation, and monsters with either higher durability or flight, such as golems and harpies, and exchanges plant based resources for mineral based resources primarily used in weapon and armor smithing. The swamps environment is an environment similar to the plains with shallow pools of water and specialized in poisonous monsters, and contains plant based resources much like the forest, with less focus on providing food and more focus on ingredients for alchemy, such as plants useful in both curing poison and applying poison to non magical weapons. The islands environment is a series of numerous small islands and coves separated by rivers leading out into an ocean, with aquatic and avian monsters like crabs and harpies, but only contains three dedicated resources in wood and fruit from the island's trees, and eggs from the island's rocs. The floor is also often beset by harsh storms rendering prolonged habitation on this floor more difficult than the others. However, the island has a special feature in the form of shipwrecked and buried treasure, which may contain any resource that the current floor could have had access to from any of its alternative environments, and guarded by monsters from said environments.]
So the island is a sort of bonus room, then. James thought, as he gave another thank you to the tower. Largest variety of resources regardless of what floor it's on, with resources that could come from any environment I have available. It could be really useful in getting everything anyone might need from one place, but I feel like this will be especially useful later on, when I have more environments available and a larger range of resources for it to pull from. Honestly, it would make a great choice for the next village I unlock, creating a hub for multiple floors worth of resources to be gathered. Assuming it isn't affected by the storms, at least.
"Tower, would a village be immune to the storms on the island?"
[Negative, while the village can be upgraded until it would suffer only minimal damage, it holds no immunity from the environment or monsters. Villages only provide an aura where monsters cannot be spawned and are discouraged from approaching, but even that can be overridden should someone they're pursuing run into the village.]
So the village won't be immune at the start, but can be built to become immune. I could wait until I've unlocked a village, and saved up enough points to upgrade the village walls a bunch, but it'll probably generate a quest like it does whenever I build a building, and if it gets destroyed before... Wait, if memory serves, there was a control weather skill available the last time I leveled up. If I can nullify the storms, that should buy time until the climbers and I can fortify the village enough to withstand them, and then we'll have a sort of hub world with a village on a floor with a huge variety of resources! James's soul core shook with excitement for a moment, before reality set in.
Well, that's a nice plan, but I don't know when I'll get another village, and I certainly don't have one now, so I need to pick something else for this floor's environment. Definitely not the swamp. The mountains could be good, but Tower said I could add iron to the forest, right? In that case, let's just do that. It'll at least create something people could use to upgrade armor and weapons once the smith stores are available. The forest will also have plenty of wood, and it's looking like that's going to be a huge requirement for getting the shops built.
{“Add Resource: Iron.” Selected. -50 Tower Points. 489 Tower Points remaining.}
I should ask about the other resources I can add as well. "Tower, what do the resources, Manaweed, Fireweed, and Sharpshroom, do?"
[The resources you've listed are all alchemy ingredients used in a variety of potions. While they are most effective when used in a potion, Manaweed and Sharpshrooms can be consumed on their own for a lesser effect. Manaweed speeds up the recovery of a climber's mana, and Sharpshrooms provide a small temporary boost to a climber's strength. Fireweed is an ingredient used primarily to create potions that can provide temporary fire resistance or flammable offensive potions, and is painful, though not deadly, to consume on its own.]
"Thank you, Tower." Hmm, adding something that sets things on fire is probably a bad idea to combine with a forest environment. Manaweed and sharpshrooms definitely sound useful though, I'll add those too. James said, reading the prompts that informed him he had spent another 100 tower points to add the two resources.
{System Tower Version 61-3, Floor Two:
Environment: Forest
Monsters: Dire Wolf, Goblin, Goblin King, Black Bear, Poison Serpent, Maneating Plant, Magic Deer, Roc.
Resources: Heartshroom, Ironshroom, Cleansing Herb, Felix Grass, Sharpshroom, Manaweed, Wood, Stone, Iron, Berries, Fruits, Eggs.
-Add Monster (-50)
-Add Resource (-50)
-Change Environment (-100)
-Deploy Village (Unavailable)
Confirm Selection?}
Confirm.
[Layout of floor 2 confirmed. Creating floor. You are welcome, Administrator James Wise.]
"Please, call me James." James said. Speaking of, "You said you respond to Tower, earlier, as well as a number? Do you have a preference on what you're called?"
[Affirmative. Administrator James, please refer to me as 61-3.]
"Got it. Nice to formally meet you, 61-3" James said. It's definitely not just a machine then, right? Or could a preference be coded too without actually having a desire? Damn it, I should have been more interested in all of those chatbot articles Tim used to show me.
[Likewise.]
James had just begun trying to pay attention to the screens depicting the new 100 climbers going through their first battle. He had just enough time to notice three of those screens had disappeared, presumably because three groups of climbers had all died, and watched as a fourth was closed with the death of its only climber as well, when the tower interrupted him with concerning news.
[Mandatory quest generated. Quest auto-confirmed as Administrator James lacks the Admin Tier required to edit this quest.]