Pook had said that in the next leg of the quest I would have to protect the tower. That, coupled with the latest info from Fono that Pook had offered quests to the elf king and to others, made me suspect I might have to protect the tower—and myself too— from the elf king and his followers.

“These are quite a few stone slabs,” Fono commented, after I covered the area with piles and piles of building material. “They are not going to team up on their own and form a tower, Vicky. While you can imagine anything in the mist, you can’t ignore some basic rules, like stones don’t have a life of their own.”

Had someone else spoken these words, they would have made sense. But coming from the mouth of a stone giant, who was very much alive, they couldn’t have sounded more nonsensical.

“Erm, actually I was hoping that you might help me in putting all of them together into a tower,” I said to Fono.

“I would be glad to help,” Fono said, “but wouldn’t it take a long time if I was the only one working at the tower?”

I grinned at him. Fono didn’t know that there were some perks of being the king of the Eviluns.

“Don’t worry. You will have helpers. Lots of them.”

***

I made sure that the foundation of the tower was very strong. My legions of eviluns placed the stone slabs as per my orders. All I had to do was sit back, relaxed, as I watched the tower rise.

To send a command I didn’t even have to utter a single word, since I easily had access to the minds of the eviluns and I could broadcast my views regarding any adjustments to the building directly inside their heads.

Since the mist world and the game world were in a state of fusion the tired workers could smoothly exit and new eviluns could enter the construction site without facing any hindrance.

In less than a day, the ground floor was completed.

It was big, at least half the size of a football field and stood thirty meters tall as per Pook’s demands, looking not different from an aeroplane hangar. A staircase led to the yet-to-be-built second storey.

Bono and Bui were among the monsters who had come at my calling to help erect the tower.

Fono had done some chit chat with his son, but after that the senior stone giant stuck with me.

Fono seemed to consider himself a notch above the rest of the eviluns. I didn’t have a problem with that. He had a quick eye and noticed any flaws in the construction ahead of me, which was quite helpful.

There were many familiar faces among the builders. Lots of Skhites and the Hornies that I knew. Nora and Nadir were missing, and I wondered if they had succeeded in maintaining their neutrality. Everyone regarded me with the highest respect, but nobody could recall that I had been their king in the past too.

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“Should we proceed to the next storey?” Fono asked me once the ground floor was done.

“I think we can allow the monsters to rest for a while,” I told him, looking at our progress thus far, “But I was just wondering, if the tower is attacked and if the attackers are able to infiltrate the tower, then wouldn’t many of the monsters be killed?”

The idea of players killing monsters had always unsettled me since my day one in Dharti.

Fono hung his head and mused.

“They will be,” Fono said. “But remember, you can change which parts of the game world are merged with the mist world. You can simply change the location anytime there is the possibility of an attack. There will be no bloodshed then.”

“But wouldn’t that be unfair for the attackers?”

I surprised myself with this question. After all, whose side was I on?

But if it was that easy to protect the tower by simply merging a different part of the game world, the point of the quest seemed rather silly.

New notification.

You have asked an important question.

As such you are now eligible to receive the rest of the code of the mist world.

Would you like to receive it?

Note that if you choose to receive it then certain undesirable factors too would be activated.

Would you still like to receive the rest of the code?

Yes/No

‘Undesirable factors’.

I didn’t like the sound of that.

Hesitantly, I chose ‘yes’.

You can achieve things through sacrifices! As the acceptor of the quest, you have certain privileges. For example only you can think things into existence in the mist world. Only you can change which parts of the game world are merged with the mist world. Only you can decide to completely cut off the mist world from the game world or fuse them back together.

You can sacrifice these privileges to quicken the building of the tower. You can also sacrifice these privileges to make the tower as attack-resistant as it can possibly be.

Undesirable factors that have been activated:

The tower must be completed within twenty four hours!

If you cannot achieve that you will be evicted from the quest.

No legs for you then!

Reading the message I felt like someone rude had just sneezed intentionally on my face. Pook had bulked up to no avail. His quests remained as stupid as always.

I felt a strong longing for Kiara. She could have made a far better tower than me. She had much better brains in matters like these.

There was no way I was going to sacrifice any of the privileges. Doing so would be highly disadvantageous.

I felt bad for my monsters, but I would have to force them to work harder. Work every minute for the next twenty four hours. No rest for them, or me either.

Six unimaginably big storeys in twenty four hours. Was it possible for humans? No.

But for monsters? Well, we shall find out.

***

The hours hopped by like bunnies.

I was constantly running up and down steps (there were a lot of those), to keep a better eye on the construction going on from within the structure, consequently my limbs were aching.

Gradually the tower climbed upwards. Everyone was drenched with sweat. Glistening bodies labored away at the building. But no one ever grumbled.

As the day matured and aged and night fell, I could clearly see that the poor monsters needed some sleep. Had I laid down at a spot, I too would have slept like a dead man. Too bad, that simply couldn’t be allowed. It would lower the morale of the monsters if they caught their leader napping while they toiled.

It was a pure race against time.