Chapter 3 – Uninvited Guest
Jack struggled against his bindings. Translucent black rope bound him tight against a chair, his arms and legs strapped down. Another rope ran across his mouth, gagging him. He glanced nervously at the group of people in the room. A large green man with a pair of intimidating tusks that did him no favors in the drool department stared daggers at him. He looks a lot like Shrek. Jack breathed out in relief when he spotted another human leaning against the wall, he had black graying hair and a salt and pepper beard. A large scar ran across his face. He was picking food out of his teeth with a dagger. Jack flashed him several desperate looks, but the man seemed wholly uninterested in what was going on. So much for species comradery, thought Jack.
Try as he might, avoiding eye contact with the creepy eyed woman was impossible. She paced back and forth, a frustrated look on her face.
“Ready to talk?” she asked, staring into Jack’s soul. He nodded his head quickly in response. The gag disappeared and he let out a few haggard breaths.
“Speak.” She demanded.
Jack looked at the black ethereal ropes binding him to the chair, and then up at the woman. “You are incredibly efficient at binding people. You practice bondage, don’t you? I mean, that leather outfit alone reeks of—”
Before he could get the rest of the sentence out, the woman disappeared before his eyes, only to reappear a split second later, her hand in his mouth pinching his tongue.
“Owwwww” groaned Jack as she held his tongue taut.
“Enough with your games. I will rip out your tongue and watch as you bleed out on my floors.” She said venom in her words. “Now. Are you ready to cooperate?”
“Yesh mommy,” Jack tried to say through a mouthful of fingers. The woman cocked an eyebrow at him and then let his tongue go, walking back to her spot leaning against the desk.
“Explain how you got here.” The woman said.
“I told you. I received an invitation. One I am very much regretting accepting.” Jack said, leveling his gaze at the woman.
“Who invited you?”
“Hell if I know. I killed some douche and got it as a prize. I didn’t want to come here either, but my options were… limited.” He finished.
The woman stared at him a moment, as if considering what he said. Jack attempted to stare back, but there was an unnatural pressure to her gaze. Plus, her eyes were so creepy.
“Who was it you killed? He must have been important to earn you a visit to the Hall of the Black Centipede.” She said said, curiosity in her voice.
Jack felt his stomach twist as she said the name of this place. Not only was she creepy, but the name of this place was gross as well. At least the motif was starting to make sense, he thought, sparing a glance at a flag that hung on the wall. A spiraling black centipede.
“His name was Chuck. General strategist and heir apparent to his father’s drug empire. And again, a douchebag.”
The woman took a deep breath, huffing out air through her nose. “I’m going to need you to start from the very beginning. What were you doing before you killed the man? A quest of some sort? What rank was the quest?”
“Quest?” Jack asked, stifling a laugh. “Listen, they're called contracts. Don’t go roping me into some weird nerd shit lady.” That earned him a slap across the face.
“You will speak plainly or not at all.” She said, her curiosity replaced with fire.
“I don’t know!” Jack screamed back. “One moment, I’m doing my thing, killing Chuck. Then the world goes black. Some weird shit popped up in my vision saying ‘Welcome to the Tower’, whatever the hell that means. Suddenly, I’m not in Kansas anymore and reality is fucking remaking itself before my very eyes. Which I realize may just be another Tuesday for you, but it was no fucking picnic for me! Though, despite all of... whatever that was, I AM still a professional. So, I followed through and finished the job, putting a knife through Chuck’s heart. I got some kind of a warning for killing him and suddenly I’m transported to the Cursed dungeon of dick-bag skeletons who hate you.” Jack finished, exasperated.
This drew a few shocked gasps from the peanut gallery. Even the knife-for-toothpick guy was paying attention now.
“No. He lie.” said the green guy.
“Shut up Shrek.” Jack spit back, drawing a confused look from the man.
Curiously, the woman didn’t say anything, only staring at Jack, confusion painted across her face.
“Did you say your realm was just integrated? Removed from the tutorial village? That still doesn’t explain how you ended up here?”
“Oh yeah, I got an achievement or something.” Jack said, suddenly remembering the message that had popped up when Chuck died.
“What’s the achievement say?” Asked all three of his interrogators in unison.
“I don’t remember.”
“Pull it up.” Said the man with the dagger.
“Pull what up?” Jack asked, confused
“Your achievement, imbecile.” The woman said, her patience growing thin.
“He probably has no idea what we’re talking about,” offered the knife guy who stepped up beside the woman. “Said you got kicked out of the tutorial, right? Likely has no idea what the system is, or how to work it.”
The woman only nodded at this. Shrek let out a groan.
“Urgul tire of this. Call Urgul if I need smash talky man.” Shrek-no-Urgul said as he left the room.
“OK” said the woman, leveling her gaze at Jack. “I want you to think of the phrase ‘Tower Menu’” she said, looking at Jack expectantly. Jack did.
“Woah…” he said, a screen appearing before his eyes. He scanned over it. The menu he was on showed some sort of statistics page.
Statistics / Quests / Tower Store / Achievements
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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Name: Jack Atlas
Race: Human [Common]
Floor: 1st Floor
Level: 1
Class: Hitman [Rare] [+1 Str +3 Dex +1 Foc per level]
Core Type: [Error: No Core Detected]
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Stats –
· Strength: 2 - [Novice – Low]
· Endurance: 1 - [Novice – Low]
· Vitality: 1 - [Novice – Low]
· Dexterity: 4 - [Novice – High]
· Focus: 2 - [Novice – High]
· Willpower: 1 - [Novice – Low]
Free Points: 4
Achievement Points [AP]: 340,000
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Abilities [1/3] —
· Dual Strike [Uncommon, Novice - Low] [Error: No Core Detected]
Passives —
· Multiverse Common Tongue [Non-Upgradable]
· Dual Wielding [Uncommon, Novice - Low][Error: No Core Detected]
· Sneak [Uncommon, Novice-Low][Error: No Core Detected]
“Ok, now at the top you should see something that says achievements. Focus on that.”
“This is so weird…” Jack said, completely ignoring her and focusing on the tab that said [Tower Store].
[Unable to access tower store. Complete current quest for access.]
So much for retail therapy, Jack thought to himself, disappointed.
“Hello? Are you on the achievement page yet?” the woman asked.
Jack looked at the tab that said achievements and focused on that. A list appeared with only one field populated [Achievement: Fastest Kill]. He focused on the achievement.
Achievement: Fastest Kill
In all the towers storied history, never has a murder taken place so quickly into integration. Congratulations killer.
Reward:
+500,000AP,
+Invitation to the Black Centipede.
Jack read off the achievement to the two-remaining people.
“This idiot killed someone in the tutorial village,” the man said, palming his head. “Where exactly did you say The Tower sent you? The cursed dungeon of… skeletons?”
“Dick-bag skeletons who hate you,” Jack said, correcting him.
“I’m going to assume that isn’t the real name. Check your quests and tell me the real name.”
“How?” Jack asked
“Do we have to explain everything? Open your menu, look at the quests tab.” He said, growing impatient.
Jack looked at his quests.
Quest: The Cursed dungeon of Andurian.
Quest Tier: Rare
Quest Sponsor: The Tower
Objective: Traverse the dungeon within the allotted time and lay claim to the cursed treasure within.
Time: 120hrs.
Reward:
10,000AP
+1 Level
Jack told them what the quest was.
“A cursed dungeon… and a time limit. Sheesh, I always wondered what happened to people who broke the tutorial rules. Worse than I thought.” The man said, exchanging a knowing look with the woman.
“Anyone care to clue me in?” Jack asked, growing impatient.
“It’s… complicated.” Offered the woman.
“Complicated like this math problem is hard or complicated like I just got caught having an affair with my secretary?”
“Complicated like you're fucked.” Said the man with an eye-roll.
“So the secretary thing…” Jack mumbled under his breath.
The woman leaned against her desk, remaining silent. Chewing on her cheek, lost in thought.
“You want me to take him out, Min?” the man asked.
Finally, a name. Jack thought to himself.
“Min, huh? That short for something?” Jack asked, feigning nonchalance. The man froze in place and Min’s unfocused eyes trained on Jack.
“Shit, sorry Min, I just assumed we were done with this guy.”
“You assume far too much, Kade.” She said, stressing his name.
Another tense moment passed. Jack staring at Min. Min staring at Jack. And Kade staring pointedly at the ceiling. Then Min waved her hand. Jack found himself shrouded in shadows and gagged at the mouth yet again.
He felt his heart pounding in his head. He’d been in a few “black bag over the head” situations during his time as an assassin. It was almost never a good situation to be in. Typically, this was the prelude to torture or death. He performed terribly in torture situations–he hoped for death.
His thoughts drifted to Sarah. He didn’t want to think about her. He couldn’t think about her–not now. Was she going through something similar? Was she ok? His heart beat faster at the thought, and he strained against the ropes again. God, I hope she’s ok. A chill ran down his spine as he heard faint laughing at his request. Then the world returned, the mask of shadows pulled back. Focus, Jack told himself as he stared into the pitch-black eyes of the woman across from him. He was going to kill her. He heard the laughing in the distance even louder this time. Min squinted at him.
“I’ve decided to let you live. The Hall of the Black Centipede is going to train and assist you in clearing the cursed dungeon.” Min said.
“Why?” Jack asked, confused.
“Why is of no concern to you. The only thing you need to focus on is training. Provided you do well, prove yourself resourceful, more information will come.” She waved her hands and the bindings released. Jack felt a knot unwind in his stomach.
“I am Mindalia. The Black Centipede. Terror of the night and Queen of the shadows. You will serve me, or you will die here.” She said, shadows bleeding out from her and darkening the room.
Jack carefully stood up from his chair and gave something between a bow and curtsy, unsure of what etiquette dictated here. She rolled her eyes in response. That’s when Jack noticed someone new had entered the room.
A very small man with a very large moustache was sitting on the table, feet dangling in the air. He smirked at Jack.
“This is Cumberlin. Our master at arms and your new instructor. I take it from your shocked look your realm has no Gnomes?”
Jack stared at the smirking… Gnome thing… for a long second before smiling at him. “Sorry, Cumberlin was it? I didn’t mean to stare; I was having trouble deciding between a short joke or a cum joke.” He said with a smile.
The gnome leaped across the room and punched him in the face, sending him toppling head over heels and knocking him out against the back wall.
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“I don’t like this,” said Kade, staring at Jack passed-out on the floor.
“Normally I’m opposed to anything Kade suggests on principal alone, but I must agree with him on this.” Cumberlin said “It’s a bad idea. Nothing good ever comes from a cursed dungeon. Much less a human.” He said with a disgusted look at Kade.
“Have either of you figured out how to break into the integration floor?” Mindalia said, staring at the two men. Silence was their only answer. “This is our only connection. Our only hope of reaching Fatebreaker. Train him, don’t let him die. But also, do not stop searching for a way in. I refuse to let this idiot be our only hope for success.” She said, eyeing Jack.
Kade merely nodded, opting to dismiss himself from the room. Cumberlin drew on the shadows and had them drag Jack’s body behind him, bowing to Mindalia as he left.
Mindalia returned to her seat behind the desk, staring up at the ceiling and letting out a long sigh. She had long since grown tired of the tower’s games. Yet here she was, playing another one.