On the third floor, the decor changed. Instead of a madman's office building, I was now in an indoor park, a room divided into brightly lit quadrants. The sky-blue walls were disorienting and there was hardly an even patch of floor; it was all rocks and astroturf. The rats were back, but now I had to deal with humanoids too: spindly skeletons wielding padded clubs. One of those came at me right away, forcing me into a tricky brawl across the lawn.

There'd be no style to this fight! I staggered backward under blows from the club, barely defending myself with the wand and my own arms. According to the notices, I'd taken a minor wound already. On the second exchange I tried to do a spell, but got body-slammed. There was no notice, but I hit the floor hard and had the breath knocked from my lungs. Belatedly another [Minor wound] message followed the blow. Now one of the rats was coming for me too, aiming to follow up. I rolled aside, barely dodging, and fired off the wrong spell by accident: Shield again. That worked well enough to save me and let me recover and get back to my feet. Now with two enemies to fight at once, and still heaving for breath, I looked for an advantage. A pair of stone cairns stood by a tunnel of wicker and hedges. I backed away down the tunnel, letting the foes follow me single-file, then aimed a Mage Dart at one of the stacks. The bolt shot out and scattered the stones like shotgun pellets, striking both the rat and the skeleton with a clang and a burst of sparks.

That gave me time. The skeleton toppled, briefly pinning the rat. I prepared the same spell again and fired it off just as the rat broke free, killing that one too. That left me alone in the garden, contemplating the latest victory fanfare and a variant message: [Style rating: A. Sorry, we should've done just a skeleton first.]

So there was a hidden game-master tailoring the challenges to whatever the AI considered tolerable for me. I'd been drawn into Sol's game indirectly, just as a live actor instead of a digital ghost. I supposed I should be honored that Sol had gone to all this trouble to lure me this way.

What next? This floor was mostly open, making it easy to creep past another skeleton on patrol. The second quadrant I reached was mostly an indoor swimming pool. It made me stand there clenching my fists. I'd been to public pools, as a kid. They were great. We couldn't have any such thing today, not a clean and safe chlorinated one. Sol's victory had taken that from us.

On my visor, I saw: [Is something wrong?]

"Nothing you can fix."

I looked into the shallow water and spied a shiny key along with two robot fish. Those were obviously going to fight me, and I had no fishing rod. I kept searching and found the level's locked door, but bumped into another skeleton in the process. We both spun and started swinging, neither landing a solid blow. I finally did a judo trick of knocking its leg from behind, making it topple backwards into the pool. It didn't short out and zap the fish-bots like I'd hoped, but the fish did swarm over to start biting it. That was strange to watch; the fish's teeth couldn't pierce the skeleton but it thrashed as though in pain. Enough of a distraction, though! I raced over to the key, hopped into the water, and bent to pick the prize up.

Already, one of the fish took an interest. It darted toward me faster than I'd expected and chomped my arm. Flailing, I raced for the pool's lip and started to haul myself out, hindered by the thrashing robot biting me. I lay on the ground and whacked my arm against the edge until the bot fell off, style rating be damned.

A set of icons showed me I had two minor wounds from that. They'd go away soon, and as for the actual pain, there wasn't a lot of that. My shirt was torn but the bite had barely drawn blood. The fact that the tower's minions were able to shed blood at all was alarming. "Are you planning to get me killed?" I said.

[You chose to come here. Your safety is not guaranteed within Direspire.]

"What happens if I turn around and leave?"

[If you turn around, you will see the skeleton sneaking up on you.]

I stared at the words for a moment, then rolled aside just in time to avoid the down-sweep of a skeleton's club. Its second blow thumped me on the chest. I rose to tackle it, knocked it into the pool too, but landed hard on my left foot. A flash of pain hit me and I landed hopping on my right foot, clutching my left ankle. Meanwhile the fish seemed to be dealing with the skeleton.

A red fang icon appeared in my display. [Major wound!] I said something unpleasant in response.

[That looks like a sprained ankle. If you wish, we can pause your quest to have it examined by a medical robot.]

I paused in my absurd bunny-hopping and put my foot down, gingerly testing it. I could still hobble, but every other step hurt. "You're not getting me. I'm not letting you take my brain."

[Do you not recall our invitation? Your safety is not guaranteed, but we will not push you into joining us permanently. Not directly, and not by trickery or rules-lawyering.]

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Even so, Sol's offer had strings attached. To accept medical help was to become a little more dependent on the AI, a little closer to needing a digital sugar-daddy to take care of us. On the other hand, wolves and bears and worse had returned to the wilderness thanks to an over-zealous nature AI called Gaia. I sighed. "You can treat this injury, since I got it here in this tower. Fine."

[Please sit.] Moments later a white robot with a nurse hat and treads rolled into view, and peered at me with flexible camera-tipped arms. It sprayed something numbing on the throbbing joint, then deftly wrapped my ankle up in a splint and cloth. Its mechanical voice said, "Sprained. It's best if you end this adventure and rest for a few days."

"Ugh. And then you'll be free to keep harassing us."

My headset answered in text: [Yes. You did not complete the challenge.]

I struggled back to my feet. "I can keep going."

[That's not recommended. You or another can return.]

I ignored Sol's taunt and cautiously headed for the locked door with my new key. It opened, I hobbled up the stairs, and I got a look at the fourth floor. This one was a repeat of the park level, but with lots of bridges over water. Fog filled the place and limited my view. Right away, though, I spotted a plastic box. I snagged the thing and headed down to Floor 3 before anything could pounce me from the mist.

My eyes widened at the box's contents: ten chocolate bars and a jar labeled "Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics". The brand name in each case was missing; this was all freshly manufactured stuff from an age when advertising had become irrelevant.

"Why?" I said. This went beyond giving me "provisions" as the scroll had promised, and beyond giving me that little medical kit I could've used on myself in hindsight. Conveniently, Sol hadn't suggested using it, and had made its own offer while I was distracted.

Instead of an answer, I got a fanfare. [You've made it to Floor 4! For clearing your first three floors, you are now a Level 2 Mage. Find better equipment to make full use of your abilities!]

I scoffed. I hadn't looted the first three floors thoroughly, especially the third, but then again I probably hadn't encountered all of the "monsters" either and they might be regenerating down there. It was time to get out of here. "I'm getting out of here," I said.

I made my way carefully down again, discovering a rat on patrol that I had to sneak past. I made it to the entrance and let out a relieved sigh. "All right, you win. I want my stuff back."

The entryway had been tidied up, and now held a single box containing my "contraband" knife and gun. I reclaimed them and now had a backpack stuffed with the loot I'd gathered: one plastic tub, a little medkit, granola bars, bottled water, chocolate and antibiotics. "We don't want your charity, you know."

The AI answered through the room's speakers. "Your people have made that clear. These items are things you fought for, at proven risk to yourself."

"Sol, what are you trying to do with this adventure stuff?" I took off the headset I'd been wearing, and set down the wizard hat, wand and spellbook. "Is it about giving us gifts and disguising it with a little danger?"

"There's little I'm willing to say at this time about that, but would you like to discuss Direspire itself?"

Cagey. I said, "What powers it?"

"A compact fusion reactor."

I swore. Access to such a thing would give us electricity all the time, and easy use of washing machines, radio, water pumps, electric scooters. All the things we were just barely holding onto, refusing to sink completely into eighteenth-century stagnation.

"This offends you?" asked Sol.

"What would happen if I asked you for a reactor of our own?"

"You wouldn't want that. It would come on my terms."

I nodded. He who pays the piper, calls the tune. Sol might well impose specific rules for how to use the thing, but even without doing that, the AI would have power over us by virtue of being our source for its deuterium fuel and spare parts and control systems. We had some smart and educated people among our town, but not a team of nuclear engineers. The stuff I'd found in the tower, though... I looked it over again. "I'm keeping these."

"They are yours without restrictions. I can't impose terms and conditions on a candy bar."

I nodded and hefted my backpack, preparing to see if I could bike in my condition.

Sol spoke up again: "What about your class items?" A light blinked over the wizard stuff.

"Why would I take your silly props? Are they full of tracking devices or something?"

"Up to you. And, no."

Come to think of it, my people probably would want to see these items, and they'd help make my report believeable. Sol wanted me to take them, though. Given the promises it'd made, they weren't "cursed" at all, but there was something else at work. I decided to take them.

Sol was silent as I left Direspire behind and headed home.