Liam looked at the blue window screen of Luke’s new summon, but the lazy green snake with a brown-striped underside was too distracting.

“Me don’tsss likesss hairy foodsss! Me likesss sssmooth onlysss!” Epistle threw a hissy fit, rolling around like an angry two-year-old.

Liam sighed and gave Luke a look of pity. He understood his frustration well. Their second summons proved to be unique finicky personalities.

“Stop your acting and go! You don’t have to eat it but just kill it! Use your ‘ensnare’ skill to bind the bear’s extremities, and then use ‘Burrow’ for a sneak attack on its neck! That’s it!”

“Butsss thatsss no funsss!”

Luke glared at Epistle, and it slithered away, vocalizing its complaints.

“Whysss do me havesss to do thisss! Me only needsss sssleep!”

The bear walked in a line from the slopes away from their group, minding its own business. Epistle hissed out its frustrations with its eyes glowing a noxious green. It used ‘Ensnare,’ and thick roots erupted from the ground, binding the bear's four legs together. It tipped over and fell to the ground with a thud. Another set of roots sprung out, wrapping its mouth shut and strapping its body firmly to the floor.

Epistle used its ‘Burrow’ skill, enveloping itself in soul energy and dug in a wriggling motion into the ground. Staying close to the surface, it pushed up the dirt and gravel as it approached the bear.

Sensing the trembling vibrations from the resisting bear, Epistle identified the distribution of weight of its body and located the neck. It dug down and wriggled speedily, rushing up and clamping its powerful jaws around the neck of the bear. Using the weight of its body, it pulled the neck down while undoing the last set of roots.

The bear let out a choked groan as it attempted to roar. It fought back, trying to break free of the roots restraining it, but its excessive use of energy only further depleted its oxygen levels and quickened its death from suffocation.

Epistle wiggled up and pushed the dead bear to the side. Luke ran over and stabbed the bear in the chest to ensure it died. He took no chances after Sardonia’s injuries. Luke withdrew his sword, and suddenly Epistle chomped down on the bear, starting to swallow it.

“Hey! Why are you eating it?! I thought you said you don’t like hairy food!” Luke grabbed the bear on the opposite end of his summon and tried to pull the bear out of Epistle’s mouth.

“Itsss minesss! Me killed itsss!”

“No! I need to take out the origin core first! Let go!

“No-sss!”

The two played tug of war, and Darrel laughed at the ridiculous scene and teased Luke. “Looks like you need to do some training. Or is Epistle training you? Haha! Finally! Someone needed to tame your unruly jokes!”

Hansel looked at his new entourage of disciples and wondered what he got himself into. He rubbed the area between his eyes and huffed out an air of frustration. Liam noticed and felt the need to apologize.

“Vice Sect Master, I…”

However, Ordinance’s voice in his mind cut him off.

“Master. Beta upgrades are now complete. You may now summon it out.”

Hansel’s face arched in confusion as Liam froze in place. “What is it, Liam? Did you sense something else?”

Liam understood Hansel caught on to his ability. He said ‘sense’ instead of saw, but Liam knew he couldn’t hide them much more as he consistently notified the team.

“…uh. No, Vice Sect Master. My summon is ready now.”

Hansel’s eyes lit up. He finally got the chance to see what about Liam interested Lady Gwendell. He bobbed his head, excited to see Liam’s new summon.

“Well, don’t keep me hanging, young Liam! Show me! What does it look like now?”

Liam sensed Hansel’s enthusiasm but did not know how to answer his second question.

“I, uh. I actually don’t know. Beta’s new form will be a surprise for you and me both.”

Hansel nodded in understanding, and Liam called out his summon.

“Come forth! Beta!”

A fracture split the space in front of Liam. A small thin leg stepped out of the crack. A young girl encased in a metallic robe walked out and stumbled on the ground.

The familiar metal coils encircled down her neck and continued to her feet. Her fleshy body intertwined with the mechanical bits giving her a cyborg vibe. Beta’s deep manly voice oddly belted out of the small mouth of the young girl.

“Ow! That hurt! What is this body?” Beta’s legs trembled unstable, trying to control his new body. But his knees shook as he wobbled around.

Darrel, Luke, and Epistle came over to look at Beta’s new form, but the two new disciples came running.

Luke and Darrel rushed forward. Luke especially fought Darrel and quickly kneeled before Beta.

“My Lady! Did you turn young!? I would recognize you no matter what form you took!”

Luke attempted to grab Beta’s hand for a kiss, but Darrel slapped his hand away.

“You fiend! Don’t touch Lady Gwendell so intimately! You’re being disrespectful!” Darrel looked back at Beta and apologized, “I apologize on behalf of this uncultured swine. Please take no offense, my Lady.”

A manly laugh burst from the young miniature version of Lady Gwendell. “Hahaha! See master! This is how you should treat me! These two know how to treat me well! Go, my minions! I want a bear next! Make sure its meat is cooked well-done!”

Luke and Darrel both jumped in surprise. They backed away slowly at the imposter of Lady Gwendell.

Luke pointed and jabbed the air at Beta. “Who is this cross-dressing man?! How dare you desecrate the holy image of my goddess?!”

Darrel, too, quipped in. “How is this possible, Liam?! Explain!”

Hansel nodded seriously. He, too, wanted to know, but Liam only understood that a Sepharath would appear. However, he didn’t expect a younger version of Lady Gwendell’s would specifically appear, let alone Beta controlling the body of Lady Gwendell’s look-alike.

“I… I’m not too sure either. It’s part of my summon’s ability, but I don't know why Lady Gwendell’s form appeared.”

Ordinance explained to Liam telepathically.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Master, the ruler and management of the Ivory Tower is handled by Lady Gwendell. Each tower will be slightly different depending on the being handling it. As Lady Gwendell is the one modifying the beasts and monsters of this tower, she probably infused some of her unique energy or properties into the monsters of the Tower. Beta used his skill, Devour and Extract, to extract those aspects leading to his current form.”

Liam was astounded by the revelation and asked Ordinance to display Beta’s new status window.

“Displaying now, Master.”

Ding!

System Function: Analyze

Name: Beta002

Stage: 1

Species: Anti-Corruption

Subspecies: Sepharath (modified)

Stats:

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Dexterity: 7

Intelligence: 12

Willpower: 9

Aligned Elements:

Wind: 3 Water: 3 Earth: 3 Fire:3 Wood: 3 Metal:3 Light: 3 Dark: 3 Space: 3 Time: 3

Non-Aligned Elements:

Chaos: 5

Skills:

Devour stage 1

Extract stage 1

Smite by Lightning stage 1

Elemental Barrier stage 1

Blessings of the Elements stage 1

Elemental Enhancing (locked stage 3)

?

Evolution Paths / Ratings:

?

Liam stared unmoving at the blue screen. However, the others viewed his frozen actions as some sort of guilt. Luke again questioned Liam.

“So your summon is a Lady Gwendell look-alike?! What the heck, Liam!? That’s not fair!” Luke was uncertain if he was happy or jealous. Probably both as he smacked Liam’s back. “Hey! Let’s trade, yea? My snake for your miniature version of the Lady. You saw how powerful Epistle was, right? Com’on, let’s trade! Deal?”

Epistle hissed and chipped in its thoughts. “Yesss! Me like the sssmooth man! No more hairsss! Hairsss bad-sss!”

However, Beta was not so enthused with their thinking. “No! You only obey me, hairy-faced man! I don’t need another master, only minions! Take your snake and do my bidding!”

The orders rubbed Epistle the wrong way, and it hissed back at Beta. “Me listen-sss to no onesss! Me goingsss to eatsss sssmooth girl!”

Hansel broke their conversation. “Alright. All of you, calm down. No one is becoming a minion or eating anyone else. Trading is possible, but not right now. Not until you reach the fifth stage.” Hansel eyed Beta’s new form and commented on his thoughts to the group.

“Besides, I doubt anyone can handle Liam’s summon. It is definitely unique. Hahaha! That damn Kai will have to give me a raise now!”

Hansel grabbed Liam by the shoulders and shook him in his excitement.

“Good going, Liam! I don’t know how powerful your new summon is, but let’s try it out! It may look alike, but we shall see if it has the power of the creators of the towers!”

Darrel’s eyes gleamed with expectations. “The power of the Tower in one summon?!” He placed high expectations on Liam’s new summon.

With all eyes on Liam, he felt a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but he led the group down the fourth floor to find their next opponent.

The group descended the mountains, but oddly they never happened upon a single creature. The events troubled Hansel, but he didn’t mention anything just yet. He attributed the strange lack of beasts to the other group of guilds that went ahead of them.

The three, too, we’re perplexed by the peculiar events. Luke was the first and always the first to voice his opinion.

“Hey. What’s going on? Why aren't there any bears or boars around? We should have come across one by now.”

Darrel was thinking along the same lines as Hansel and replied to Luke’s question. “Maybe they were taken down by the other guilds? They did leave ahead of us, and Fortuna was here too. That guild leaves nothing to waste. They take and sell everything, just like a certain two individuals here.”

Luke took Darrel’s jab as a compliment. “Haha! You now know how great minds think alike! You should learn to harvest everything too, and not be so wasteful! If you take the time to clean the innards and roast them with herbs, they actually taste pretty good! I’ll show you my favorite recipe!”

“You oaf! Who’d want to eat that?! Yuck!”

Liam nodded his head. He was not fond of the innards of anything.

“You two are the dummies! You guys are missing out on the best stuff! I’ll make some, and you’ll see!”

Seeing how the winter sun began to set on the horizon, Hansel stopped their usual bantering.

“You three, stop it. We need to make it to the closest safe spot.”

Hansel took the lead. They followed the path squished between two mountains, forming a canyon. Their goal lay hidden, dug out by the Adonis Guild on the vertical side of the ravine. Hansel trekked up a small ledge purposely left too small for the boars and bears of the fourth floor to walk on.

However, he abruptly stopped midway up the upwards-sloping ledge. The three disciples almost knocked into his back but stopped and went on high alert.

“We’ve got company.” Hansel hoarsely whispered. “I’ll go in first. You three follow at a distance. Beware of your backside.” The three nodded as Hansel took out his sword.

Swift but quiet like a ninja, Hansel pushed his back against the rocky corner of the entrance into the cave. His face brushed against the jagged rocks, and he peeked around the corner as his blood pumped slightly faster. He readied his sword with both hands, about to strike down whatever stayed inside.

But he sighed and relaxed his grip but still held it out. Flicking his hand, he motioned for the three to follow and enter the cave. The three stopped at the entrance, shocked by those already inside.

Luke being Luke, immediately yelled at the unwelcomed squatters of the Adonis Guild’s safe spot.

“What the hell?! Why’s the stuck-up fake saint doing here!? Go back to your own cave!”

Liza snapped back. The events that forced them here were already too much for her.

“Shut it, peasant! Who’d want to stay in a dingy untreated cave?! This moisture will seep up at night! Fortuna’s safe spot is a million times better! They left food and Orbs of Warding!”

She pointed to the others of her team in bad shape and shouted out her rage, “You poor bastards don’t even have that much! And look around, dimwit! Do you think we want to be here?!”

Luke looked at Reld and his enormous body laying on the ground. He held the side of his body, dried with blood. “Hey, what happened to you? That’s surprising you got injured, Reld. Did you fight the beasts bare-handed?”

Hansel stepped in. His face turned solemn, and he seriously eyed the group. The dry crumbles of ash and charcoal left on Reld’s leather vest were reminiscent of fire damage, not customary of the beasts on the floor. The possibilities filled his mind and demanded answers. He looked at the Vice Guild Master of Fortuna, sitting oddly disheveled with her back against the cave wall.

“That’s a new look, Mia. You look like a mess. Is this the side you hide when away from the public eye?” Mia glared and said nothing.

A grievous look stuck on her face, and she did not bother retorting Hansel. He knew something was wrong. For Mia to not care about her looks and jabs at her insecurities meant something larger was wrong.

“Explain, Mia. Did the Polaris Guild attack you? No. That can’t be. Antwon wouldn’t stoop so low, even if you antagonized him and deserved it.”

Mia shrieked, but the volume of her voice came out muffled. Exhaustion and a subtle masked sound of fright sounded from her speech. “Damn you, Hansel! I deserve nothing of the sort! You’re the one always going too far! If I wasn’t in such a state, I’d give you a beating now!”

“If not them, then who? Who else could have inflicted such damage to a Vice Guild Master of the three main guilds of our kingdom?”

“Dummy, did you forget the Kingdom Tournament coming up? We exchanged tokens with the other Towers, remember? It was the climbers of the Ruby Tower. Vice Guild Master of the Cardinal Guild and his group of newbies.”

Lines of resentment ran through every corner of Hansel’s face. He had a bone to pick with Damion of the Cardinal Guild.