James watched the climbers cook their dinner, many of them doing so quietly. The news of the goblin hunters and their ability to ambush people at the same time, as well as other tactics from the goblins, were making many people anxious. A few spoke their worries aloud, that the river would become unobtainable and they'd lose their only source of water before they could get the bathhouse or canteen built. The knowledge that they could survive at least two days without water was of little solace, as few climbers had experienced such a thing before, and the idea of trying to fight for your life while suffering from severe dehydration was unpleasant to say the least.
Others focused on trying to share information about the monsters, from the slime's ability to bounce around and melt the flesh of their enemies, to the magic deer's ability to shoot magic arrows. The large birds were generally considered the weakest of the monsters thus far, holding no special skills outside of swarm tactics.
The cooked eggs helped cheer some people up, as did the berries that some climbers spread on the meat they were eating to add flavor. It was clear the lack of spices or seasonings was getting on people's nerves, along with the lack of actual soap, or beds to sleep on.
Some people tried to cheer the others up, talking about the only benefit to come from the tower. Namely, the fact that the stat growths obtained from leveling up were helping them to become stronger, faster, and more resilient than before. Sleeping on the ground was unpleasant, but anyone who had put a few points into resilience suffered no pain from a night on the hard surface. Outside of injuries caused by monsters, chronic pain was a thing of the past now, and some who hadn't been athletic previously enjoyed the new strength and agility they had now, with one rogue showing off by taking a running start to the village wall, running up the wall for three steps, and jumping off with a back flip.
With the second wave of climbers having arrived in the middle of the previous night, and with the need for food on everyone's minds in the morning, questions from the first wave climbers about the outside world had been delayed. Now that the day was over, and people had little to do besides talk, many questions were asked. The most important among them being:
"What happened?"
"There was a video about a game, talk of tutorial towers, which we're apparently in one now, and something about not being able to leave the planet?"
"How is our country handling this?"
"Do you think the government will be able to break through the towers, or stop the aliens from forcing us to play this game?"
A party of second wave climbers looked at each other as they and about a dozen first wave climbers all stood around a fire. After talking among themselves, one of the second wave climbers tried to provide answers.
"For a while no one could find a copy of the video the aliens sent us, everything on the internet returned to normal right after it ended. Eventually someone on the internet said they were live-streaming when the video appeared, and uploaded their recording of the video. The aliens said they'd put up a barrier around the planet to prevent us from escaping, and that it'd cut off our access to the satellites. Phones and internet are still working, but only the internet slowed down a lot, and people are saying that calls to other countries aren't going through."
"It turns out everything connected to the GPS stopped working once the barrier went up. Traffic became a nightmare, all the traffic lights blinking red. A lot of planes had to do an emergency landing, and I think there was news that two planes crashed into each other in the air? No flights have been taking off since, and with the traffic lights not working properly, and long distance calls often dropping, a lot of people panicked. Most just went to the nearest store and tried to buy everything they could. Some tried to withdraw everything from their bank accounts. There were a lot of messages to stay calm, but not everyone listened. There hasn't been anything like what's going on in here though, no monsters or people getting special powers, just people worrying about losing power, money, or food, with people saying the lack of satellites will hurt international businesses and supply lines or something. I didn't hear about any rioting in the streets, though a lot of people were mourning the loss of life caused by the towers crashing into the earth."
"The towers look like they have doors on the outside, but last I heard no one managed to open them. People tried shooting at the tower, and even using explosives, but it didn't look like the towers had taken any damage. I don't know if they know the towers are kidnapping people yet. While the video said people would be taken to go through the tutorial, it's hard to tell if someone's been kidnapped or died from all the other things like the towers crashing into buildings or the planes unable to land where they were planning to."
"The aliens haven't said anything else to us, and I haven't heard anything about us managing to send a message to them. The government hasn't said much beyond asking everyone to stay calm and that 'we'd work together to pull through this unprecedented tragedy' or some such. I think most people still don't know what to do and are trying to go through their lives like normal outside of trying to hoard money and food."
The second wave climbers finished their explanation, and James watched as the one observer he was watching looked over the faces of first wave climbers. The look concerned, but less worried than I expected. I suppose with hours to think of the worst case scenario for the world outside, hearing that things are getting worse, but haven't gotten terrible yet, is something of a relief. Combined with the knowledge that if they beat the tower, they'll be out in three weeks, they must still have hope they'll be able to return to their friends and family.
"Now, I know you said we'll probably get the quest later tonight, but could you go over the time limit quest one more time? I'd like to know what we're dealing with as soon as possible." The spokesperson for this party of second wave climbers asked, and the dozen first wave climbers looked among themselves before one pulled up the quest on their system, and showed it to the second wave climbers.
"A bit before you all showed up, we received a quest saying we had three weeks to defeat the boss of the third floor, and that doing so would allow us to leave the tower. The quest doesn't say it outright, but it also heavily implies that failing to beat the boss before the three weeks are up will kill us somehow. I haven't seen the quests do anything more than give items, but with how much the world as I knew it has been turned on its head in the past few days, I don't doubt the system could kill us for failing a quest."
"I don't know if you'll have the same quest, if you'll have more or less time, or have to get to a different part of the tower, but it's likely everyone who gets brought into the tower will be given a time limit within the first day." The first wave climber explained.
With that, the discussion transitioned to less important things. One first wave climber pointed out that the system they interfaced with had a setting that allowed them to turn off any notification when receiving a quest, and those who trusted the people around them or were simply too tired to care otherwise turned off the quest notifications to allow themselves to sleep through the night. Others chose to sleep early, and eventually take shifts patrolling the village at a time that would coincide to when the second wave climbers had first appeared, wanting to ensure they could help any potential third wave quietly adjust to their situation.
Hours passed, until finally James received the notification he was waiting for.
[Administrator James, the day has ended. Tallying rewards.]
{End of Day Results:
Climbers Survived: 76/200 (42, 34)
Highest Viewer Count: 900,296
Longest Single View: 37 Minutes
One Viewer has donated 5 Credit(s) for a job well done!
One Viewer has donated 1 Credit(s) for a job well done!}
{You have earned 937 Tower Points through Viewer acquisition and retention!}
{You have received 6 Credits through Viewer donations!}
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
{Credit Store Now Available!}
{You have provided enough entertainment to reach Tower Level 4! 400 Tower Points have been rewarded!}
{Management Skills available!}
937 tower points, and a 400 point level up bonus… combined with the points I had before the end of the day, that’s… 1369 Tower Points! I can add the carpentry shop to the village, refresh all of the explore floor one quests I made, and still have… Let's see, the mana potion and five gold quests each cost 60 tower points, and the health potion is still 85... Minus the 500 from the village menu, I’d still have 664 tower points left!
But do I even want to recreate all of the same exploration quests? The daily quests for health and mana potions are a must have, people are already having a hard time ending the day with any potions in reserve, but is five gold the best use of the five hour exploration quest?
I'll think about that later. I have all night to come up with the appropriate quests, and I should wait until morning before adding any shops to the village anyway. With all the noise and moving lumber the bathhouse and canteen had, it would be a bad idea to create it when people are trying to sleep and visibility is low.
More importantly, I need to get the recorded viewing skill. James decided. Character sheet, new skill available.
{Choose your new Management Skill! Available Skill Points: 1}
James reread the list of skills. The pop up when I reached level 4 said 'management skill available' instead of 'new management skill available'. Reading everything confirms there's no new skills, so I'll continue with my plan like before. Recorded Viewing.
{Skill: “Recorded Viewing” has been acquired. You have no more Skill Points remaining.}
{Recordings and Editing Menus are now available!}
Alright, now I'll be able to ensure the outside broadcast transmits genuinely useful information. Records Menu.
{Records Menu:
Available Memory: 00:01/24:00 (Upgrade Memory (-25 Tower Points per hour))
View Recording?}
James paused as he reread the information. "61-3, I just bought the recorded viewing skill, do I have any access to things the observers recorded before I took the skill?"
[Negative. While the recorded viewing skill holds information from every observer you can access within your tower, you can only access the latest 24 hours since the skill was obtained. Upgrades can increase the duration of time observer data is available, but cannot extend to any time from before the skill was purchased.]
"I see. Thank you, 61-3." So I have a time limit, but not an observer limit? If the tower gets a thousand climbers, and therefore a thousand observers, I'll still be able to view the last day's worth of information from all of them? It's annoying that I can't view anything from before I took the skill, and the fact that there's a limitation at all, but this is still a good deal. The problem is having the time to go over everything as more and more people are taken by the tower.
At least I bought the skill before the next first battle happened. I'll be able to view the battle from the very beginning, from the perspective of as many people as I have time for. Until then, there's one more thing I want to check out...
Credit Store. James thought, and true to his prediction, a new menu appeared before him, showing what he could buy with the credits he had been given.
{Credit Store!
Available Credits: 6
Purchase 100 Tower Points (-1 Credit)
Purchase Bonus Modifier 1 (-200 Credits)
Purchase Bonus Village 1 (-100 Credits)
Purchase Bonus Management Skill 1 (-50 Credits)
Purchase Outside Observer 1 (-10 Credits)
Purchase Amenities: Administrator Respawn (-1000 Credits)
Purchase Amenities: Level Up to Level 1 (-100 Credits) (Currently Unavailable)
Purchase Amenities: Bonus Skill Point 1 (-100 Credits) (Currently Unavailable)
Purchase Amenities: Bonus Stat Points 1 (-100 Credits) (Currently Unavailable)
Purchase Amenities: Furniture Catalog (Variable) (Currently Unavailable)
Purchase Amenities: Weapon Catalog (Variable) (Currently Unavailable)
Purchase Amenities: Armor Catalog (Variable) (Currently Unavailable)}
I... Wow... I didn't expect to see options like these. I remembered 61-3 telling me about being able to purchase villages with credits, but I didn't know I could buy modifiers or skills with them as well. That's not to mention how...
"I can buy a new body!?" James asked, saying the end of his thought out loud.
[Affirmative. While this feature is automatically available for those of an Administrator Tier of 1 or higher, a Tier 0 Administrator can buy the ability to recreate a physical body for themselves for 1000 Credits. Multiple purchases can be banked, and doing so is advised should you enter combat with a climber, as you will not be returned to a Soul Core upon death. Tier 0 Administrators are only placed within a Soul Core should they be sent to a tower without a body, as a Soul Core is otherwise used to house higher Tier Administrators in the event of a respawn error.]
"I... see..." James said, half distracted by the awe of such a revelation. I could buy a new body. I doubt I'll ever get a thousand credits, but the fact that it is an option... Character Sheet. James thought, pulling up his status on another screen.
{Name: James Wise
Admin Tier: 0
Credits: 6
(Physical Stats Unavailabe)
Class: None
Level: 0
(Skills Unavailable)
(Abilities Unavailable)
Acting Administrator of System Tower Version 61-3
Tower Level: 4
Tower Points: 1369
Tower Management Skills: Create Quest (-10), Edit Quest (-5), Spawn Monster (Variable), Customize Village, Outside Broadcast, Recorded Viewing}
Buying a respawn from the credit store should unlock the physical stats of my menu, and then I could pick a class and buy level and stat increases as well. It's interesting that administrators can fight climbers, does this mean if I buy a body and get the right class, after enough levels I could eventually leave this floor and go down to help the people within the tower survive? For a moment, James daydreamed of doing such a thing, before finally letting out a sigh.
It doesn't matter if such a thing is possible, I only earned six credits after two days, and any credits I get should first go to unlocking more modifiers and villages, maybe more management skills as well. Having a body would also mean I have to sleep and eat again, which would take away from time I'm already spending to watch over everyone and manage the tower. It might be possible to help the climbers survive in person one day, but it's far off if so. I shouldn't get so fixated on the dream of getting my body back that I make mistakes that cost people their lives.
Regardless of which options from the Credit Store I should prioritize, the fact of the matter is I can't buy anything but tower points at the moment, and I have enough of those for now. James said, closing out of both his character sheet and the credit store menus. Maybe someday I can get my body back, until then- James was brought out of his thoughts by an announcement from 61-3.
[Recruiting the next batch of climbers. Administrator James, please select the first battle format.]
"Understood." James said, before finishing his thought. Until then, I have work to do.