James's soul core shook with excitement as the decision to build a bathhouse and canteen in the village was accepted. It's a little embarrassing to be so excited about this, I know it doesn't change anything about my lack of a body or people being forced to go through a death game, but every advantage given to the people climbing this tower feels like an act of defiance to the people responsible for this mess, and maybe someday these climbers will become strong enough to do more than merely survive.
[Administrator James Wise, please confirm the following quests.]
{Construct a Bathhouse!
Quest Type: Optional Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): Any (Quest accessible from within (Unnamed) Village)
Description: In order to use the Bathhouse, you must first gather the resources to construct it! Fill 20 buckets with water, and gather 1000 pieces of wood! Buckets will be provided for the duration of this quest.
Buckets of Water: 0/20
Wood Gathered: 0/1000
Reward(s): The shop: 'Bathhouse' becomes available in (Unnamed) Village.
Confirm Quest?}
{Construct a Canteen!
Quest Type: Optional Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): Any (Quest accessible from within (Unnamed) Village)
Descriptions: In order to use the Canteen, you must first gather the resources to construct it! Provide 25 Horned Rabbit Corpses, and gather 1000 pieces of wood!
Horned Rabbit Corpses: 0/25
Wood Gathered: 1000
Reward(s): The shop: 'Canteen' becomes available in (Unnamed) Village.
Confirm Quest?}
James felt his excitement leave him like a deflated balloon. I assumed there would be a quest that would have to be completed before everyone could access the buildings, but I was hoping for something that could be easily accomplished within a few hours. Something like this might take more than a single day to accomplish. I wish I could at least add something more to the reward, like enough money to use each service once, or one of the passes to the bathhouse, but a low quality health potion was 75 tower points, and it's only worth 5 gold at the general store. I doubt I could offer anything more substantial as a reward, assuming the system lets me add anything at all, and if it doesn't that'll be another 10 tower points wasted in using my edit quest skill. Confirm Quest. Confirm Quest. James directed his thoughts at one quest prompt, then the other, before pulling up the climber menu with another thought.
I should choose a climber I haven't watched before. My goal is to save as many people as possible, and I don't want to find out later I've neglected to take a certain class into consideration or underestimated a problem just because the one or two people I watched didn't have trouble with it. James scrolled till he felt he was near the middle of the list. I think this list organizes by level, with the exception of every dead climber being at the bottom, if they're still on the list at all. Someone near the middle should be a good example of the average climber then, right? James eventually settled on a level 1 priest, and the climber menu was soon joined by another screen showing the view from the priest's observer. The priest was a man who looked to be in his early twenties at the oldest, standing among a group of two other men and a woman, all looking similarly young.
"I think it's slowing down." The priest said, an eyebrow raised as they frowned. The four young climbers were huddled a ways away from any others, and the observer showed their gazes were aimed at an empty area of the village where wooden beams and pillars had appeared. An incomplete wooden framework of two buildings had formed, one with a stack of large wooden buckets resting right outside of it. No climbers were near the framework, and James guessed the way more wooden beams appeared from the center of the framework, only to float to a part of it and join itself together, had something to do with it. I certainly wouldn't want to stand near a building that's magically constructing itself. Those beams look heavy enough to cause serious damage if they swing into someone's head.
The priest's assessment proved to be correct, as climbers watched a few more beams fly into place, the speed decreasing dramatically between each one. By the time James watched the fifth beam settle itself into the framework, the beams had stopped appearing altogether, and a blue screen appeared floating where it looked like the main entrance of each building would be once construction was finished.
James couldn't make out any of the text on the screens from where the priest's observer was, but he was certain it was a copy of the quests he had just confirmed, and his certainty only grew as a climber hesitantly walked towards the buildings, read one of the screens, and groaned.
"It's another quest!" The robed climber shouted as he gestured angrily towards one of the unfinished buildings, and many climbers echoed the frustrated sound the robed climber had made seconds ago.
"One-thousand wood? What counts as one unit of wood!?" One climber asked.
"Where do we go to fill up the buckets? We don't have a well or a river anywhere in the village or around it!" Another exclaimed.
"I have different elemental attacks I can unlock from leveling up. Maybe if enough mages take a water based attack we can fill them up that way?" One robed woman suggested.
"There has to be another way to get water out here." A warrior responded. "There must be a river somewhere nearby, we just can't see it from outside the walls. We'll have to group up and explore to map out the surrounding area." They continued.
James watched as more climbers read and accepted the quest, and continued discussing how to go about solving it. Some lamented that without buying an axe from the general store, they'd have to either pick up fallen branches or else use their weapons to chop down trees, and not everyone had a weapon that could cut through a branch, let alone the trunk of a tree.
As the climbers continued discussing the quests related to the canteen and bathhouse, James realized his actions hadn't helped as much as he had hoped. It was too late to go back and cancel the buildings by the time the tower showed me the details of their quests, but I was hoping that at the very least something everyone could work on that would help everyone survive would serve to motivate them all to work together. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as the priest's observer showed.
"Do you think it's a trap, or some kind of test?" The only woman in the priest's four person group asked. Focusing on her brought up her class as a rogue, which was further shown by the cloak and leather vest she wore over a long sleeve shirt. In place of a dagger like the previous rogue James had seen, this rogue carried a bow and quiver on her back. As her question gained the attention of the others in her group, she continued to speak.
"The quest wants us to give it food, water, and wood that could be used for building a shelter or making a fire. It's using the promise of a cafeteria or an indoor bathroom and bath to motivate us to give it those resources, but the earlier vote said we'd have to pay to access the bathhouse and canteen. Combined with how much the quests want us to give them, it could take hours, maybe days, to complete the quest, and it'd take food and water we could otherwise use to keep us fed and hydrated, and wood we could use to build shelters and fires to cook food on our own... It's like it's using our desire to have the comforts from home to exploit us in sacrificing what we need to survive, just so we can later spend money we could use to buy weapons or other important equipment on taking a bath or eating a delicious meal instead." James was surprised at the familiarity of her words. The descriptions for the canteen and bathhouse, and the inn as well, all said something along the lines of distracting climbers from surviving. I hadn't thought of it that way, so I didn't think it would come across that way to others. But it had, James realized, though perhaps not entirely, the significant requirements to merely unlock the buildings the climbers had voted on nevertheless discouraged those who had voted for it, and brought the ire of those who hadn't.
"This is bullshit! If we had voted for the armorsmith, we'd at least get something we couldn't get on our own! We should take apart those buildings and use the wood they already have, maybe then we could sell it to buy a firestarter from the general store, or at least use it to build something we won't have to pay for!" It was the muscular warrior from before who spoke, nearly shouting as he tried to be heard by everyone in the village, and many climbers nodded in agreement. Not all, James noted, as the merchant woman from before shouted back.
"Build what, exactly? A cobbled together outhouse where we shit into a hole in the ground? There isn't enough wood to build more than three closet sized rooms if you aren't planning on having huge gaps in the walls, and that's not enough for all of us, even before we discuss issues like toilet paper, or hand washing. And don't get me started on selling the wood to buy a firestarter. We might get one, two if we're lucky, but then who would get to use it? You? While the rest of us are left to shit in the woods?" The merchant's accusation brought a look of shock on the warrior's face, and caused many who hadn't agreed with him to narrow their eyes at those who did.
"Look, if you don't trust me with the firestarter, we can agree to leave it here in the village, and even have people guard it if you think it'll get stolen. The point is we need to build a fire if we're going to survive. We can't trust the canteen to be built fast enough or be cheap enough for us to wait til it's built to eat. Fighting those goblins was difficult enough when we weren't starving." The warrior's words drew a surprised look out of the merchant, who seemed to consider his words before a young wizard from the priest's group raised their hand.
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"Um, I uh, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves?" The young mage spoke loudly, but not confidently, and flinched as the crowd's gazes turned to him. The warrior in their group patted the mage on the back reassuringly, which only caused the mage to flinch again. Nevertheless, they continued, staring back at the crowd. "I-I mean, if the system's not going to let us use the canteen or bathhouse for free, it's weird to assume it'd let us take the buildings apart? The wood might disappear if we try to attack it, or the building might be indestructible." The mage broke eye contact with the crowd the moment they finished, and people began to whisper among themselves if they should risk trying to hit the buildings to test this theory, and which building they should risk destroying if so.
"You did good." The warrior who failed to reassure the mage spoke up, though not loud enough to be heard beyond their immediate group. "Sorry for..." They trailed off as they made a vague gesture, with the hand they had pat the mage with, and the mage waved their arms nervously as they tried in turn to reassure the warrior an apology was unnecessary.
From the view of the priest's observer, James hadn't seen it until a shout of "Wait wait!" sounded from the distance, and a gasp moved through the crowd like a tidal wave as the observer quickly turned to the source, where a rogue was in mid leap towards the bathhouse, as a priest failed to catch up to them.
"Hyah!" The rogue exclaimed, as they tried a roundhouse kick on one of the wooden pillars. Their boot impacted the pillar, but nothing happened as the rogue simply bounced off of it and fell to the ground, a groan escaping as they landed on their back.
"What were you thinking!?" The priest exclaimed as they caught up to the fallen rogue, breathing heavily. "I... I'm sorry everyone!" The priest apologized on the rogue's behalf as the rogue laid on the ground, and people stared at them in shock while James quickly went through the menu to access the rogue's observer.
"It... It says, 'This building is an artificially made structure and cannot be destroyed by climbers'." The rogue shouted to the crowd, motioning to a pop up only they and their observer could see. "Heal me, please. That hurt more than I expected." The rogue muttered to the priest.
"Right, sorry." The priest muttered, before using a healing spell.
"Well, at least we now know the answer to the question the young mage provided us." A tall priest said with a chuckle, one James recognized from during the voting quest. Their words interrupted many looks of irritation or relief that had been directed towards the rogue's actions and their result. "I agree with the warrior, a communal firestarter sounds like a great idea. I know many of us are already missing the amenities we had outside of the tower, and while I believe we should eventually construct the canteen and bathhouse for those who wish to use it, we should first prioritize on obtaining food, firewood, and a place for more discretionary needs, before working on the quests for the village." There was a moment of silence where the priest waited to let everyone consider his words, and as no one immediately spoke out, he continued.
"I propose we try to form groups of five or more, and begin exploring the area outside of the village. Anyone with a sword, or other sharp, metal tool, use it to leave marks on the trees you pass by, so you can use them to help you return to the village, and so we can track the path of anyone who finds a source of water. The tower here simulates the sky." He said with a motion upwards, and James watched the observer move up to show the blue sky, clouds, and sun. "So try to return before sunset, and we will pool our resources to purchase a firestarter, cook any animals we've hunted, and try to ensure no one goes hungry." James switched to the tall priest's observer, and watched as it panned over to the crowd. Many were looking at the priest with furrowed brows, but whether they were directed at the thought of leaving the village, or the priest taking on a leadership role, James didn't know. Regardless, the priest wasn't done.
"While I'm sure many of you know this, I myself didn't find this out until a member of my group showed it to me." They waved their arm in the air, and a small vial James recognized as a low quality health potion appeared in the priest's hand. "The system governing our powers here in the tower has also provided us with an inventory. Each of us earned a health potion from completing the first battle, which was stored there automatically, but many of us withdrew it simply by wishing to have it in their hand, even without awareness of the inventory itself. Similarly, by simply willing to have an item you hold stored elsewhere, a prompt will appear asking if you wish to place it in your inventory. I have used this on both my healing potion and my weapon." The priest continued, replacing the healing potion with a one handed mace, a wooden handle leading to a metal head. "I do not know how much we can store, or any other limitations, but keep this in mind. If possible, we can use this to store any animals or monsters we slay. It is possible anything we kill can be sold to the general store, so please keep this in mind." The priest finished, and while a few dissatisfied looks remained, many were immediately distracted with their own inventory, the priest's observer showing many in the crowd making both their healing potions and weapons disappear and reappear.
I didn't know an inventory system existed either. I saw the mage woman take out a potion earlier, but assumed the quest had delayed in handing out the reward. I wish I could reward him for sharing this information, but I don't think I can create quests that can be retroactively accomplished, and I still don't have enough points for a good reward anyway. Still, I was worried for a moment that the warrior and merchant would cause a big argument, and I'd have to try and create a quest to get everyone to focus back on survival. Another quest prompting people to work together to build an outhouse or cook meals together might have backfired however. The quests for the bathhouse and canteen have made some people distrustful of the system and its quests, While I'm somewhat glad they're suspicious, without a way to tell them I'm trying my best to help them, any quest where I change the system to sound like I'm trying to help might just further suspicions without a sufficiently pacifying reward. I need more points, and I need them soon.
"Tower, when will I get more tower points? I got some after the first battle, but I haven't gotten any since."
[Tower Points are distributed based on the combined factors of maximum viewers obtained and longest unbroken view of a single observer. These factors are reviewed at the end of every day, and after a significant action such as the completion of a floor, or an event or challenge quest. The previous Tower Points were delivered upon the initial first battle event every climber goes through before entering the first floor.]
"Oh, thank you." James said, already distracted as he thought over the information he received. So every day, and every time a floor is beaten, or whenever an event or challenge quest is completed. I'll have to consider the create event skill whenever I next level up. Being able to create a way to get more points faster if I can't wait for the next day could be really useful. Speaking of useful, it feels like the tower is giving me more information now than when I first started speaking to it. Wasn't the tower much more brusque earlier? James shook such thoughts out of his head.
There's no point dwelling on it, more importantly is the fact that until the day ends I won't be receiving any points, which means the climbers are almost entirely on their own until then. I do have enough to create another quest with a health potion as a reward, but that would only work if I can make one challenging enough. Maybe the Tower can help?
"Hey Tower, if I wanted to create a quest that can give a low quality health potion as a reward, how challenging does it need to be? Is there a way to make one so they don't have to kill a certain number of a specific enemy first?" That's the main problem, James thought. I want to help them survive and reward them for leaving the village, but I don't want to come across as trying to lure them out into danger, and I can't imagine a quest telling them to kill goblins would be received well so soon after the results of the voting quest made it seem like I lied to them about the reward. If I mess this up the climbers might become distrustful of quests completely, and any power I have to motivate them towards a specific action in an emergency will be gone.
[Affirmative. A low quality health potion requires minimal challenge to be eligible for a reward, and the requirements can be met without requiring the defeat of specific enemies. Administrator James Wise, if you allow it, I can take the 10 Tower Points required to create a quest, and the 75 Tower Points required to add a low quality health potion as the reward, and provide a template for you to review. Is this acceptable?]
If James had eyes, he would have widened them in shock. "You can do all of that? Yes, please, that would be great!" I don't know if the Tower is as cruel as the people responsible for this game. Beyond threatening to terminate me if I didn't accept my role as administrator, it has only been helpful. I still wouldn't trust it to create a quest completely on its own, but if I can still change the details or cancel the quest if I don't like it, then having it create quests I describe to it would be way easier than trying to create every quest from scratch.
[Affirmative. Quest created, please review the following quest.]
{You have activated Create Quest. -10 Tower Points. 75 Tower Points remaining.}
{You have added “1 Low Quality Health Potion” to the Reward(s). -75 Tower Points. 0 Tower Points remaining.}
{Leave the Village!
(Input Quest Type)
(Input Quest Recipient(s))
Description: Leave the village and remain outside of its walls for three consecutive hours.
Time Outside the Village: 00:00 (starts once outside of the village, resets if the village is entered before completion)
Reward(s): 1 Low Quality Health Potion}
"Wow, this is good! Thank you, Tower." I wouldn't have thought just staying outside of the village could be a quest requirement. Though I'm a little worried about how dangerous it must be out there for such a quest to be worthy of a health potion, the Tower did say the challenge required was 'minimal'. James made choices to the quest type and recipients so the quest would be generated for everyone automatically, but could also be declined if they wanted to. Making it optional should help it appear less menacing, even if they're likely to be outside of the village wall for three straight hours at some point, especially once the next floor is created, I'd rather give them the option of saying no if they don't trust it. I should edit the name and description to sound more friendly too, actually.
{Explore Floor 1!
Quest Type: Optional Single-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
Description: You've come together and decided to explore the area surrounding the village. Leave the village and remain outside of its walls for three consecutive hours to receive a reward for your efforts.
Time Outside the Village: 00:00/03:00 (starts once outside of the village, resets if the village is entered before completion)
Reward(s): 1 Low Quality Health Potion
Confirm Quest?}
There we go, now it sounds less like I'm trying to get them to leave for no reason and more like I'm listening in and approving of their decision, and trying to help. It might make them more suspicious to know whatever is giving out quests is aware of their actions, but it might also help them see the quests are less something someone is trying to get them to do and more something that is created in response to what they choose to do. Honestly, this might not be much better. Maybe I should try to explain what I am inside of a quest prompt next time, though I'm not sure if that'll be received any better. They might not believe me if I've already made them suspicious. Whatever, I'm worrying too much. Confirm quest!
[The quest: 'Explore Floor 1!' has been finalized and is being sent to the proper recipients. You are welcome, Administrator James Wise.]
Wait, what!?