Level Up Legacy

Arthur had nothing to do this day, so he decided to meet Whisker alone. The feline was the only one who sensed his presence from a distance away, and the two met in a distant alley. Since the secrecy made the feline confused, Arthur had to tell him about what Jonathan said.

“Is the Lord of Xeloria spying on us?” asked Whisker with confusion while sitting on an empty barrel. “Is it Haldor?” he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. Arthur knew that the past few days had made the three men grow closer, so he could not help but smile.

“I doubt he has such capabilities, but it would not hurt to assume that we are being monitored through him, even if he does so unconsciously. The Lord of Xeloria cannot know that I joined his army or about our plan to incite war.”

“I relayed the orders to the rest, but I have yet to tell them the plan,” said Whisker with a nod. “I heard about a monstrous new recruit in the Xelorian Army. Is that you, Seika?”

“It might be,” said Arthur with a smile. “Have you joined the army yet?”

“We will this evening. We have to finish the commissions we took to raise enough money for living inside Xeloria. Seraphine wants to join the army today, but Sarohan thinks it would be better if we had someone inside the city at all times.”

“Sarohan might be just fooling around, but he is right,” said Arthur as he closed his eyes. “Marshal Stormblade seems like a cunning man. He might be monitoring you to understand our motives and plans. If we all join the army, it would be clear that something is bound to happen on the battlefield.”

“Then, we would not join the army?”

“If we keep wasting time, he will get suspicious of us,” said Arthur with a frown. “If that is the case, we need to formulate a dummy plan that seems reasonable. You three will join the army and try to be promoted within the city. After that, start snooping around the castle without a reason. As long as we get closer to him, he won’t see the events unfolding outside the city.”

“…then, you would be the only one fighting on the battlefield,” said Whisker with a frown. “I heard that each lord is powerful enough to take down an entire city. If you come across one or even more of them, it would be troublesome.”

“I appreciate that concern, Whisker,” said Arthur with gratitude, but his confidence seemed to surge from his body. “However, there is no need to worry about me. I will not stop getting stronger inside this tower.”

Whisker smiled and gave a nod before leaving the alley. He would relay his orders to the rest and not hide anything from Haldor. This way, they could ensure that the Lord of Xeloria would be occupied with the wrong plan.

Arthur looked at his departing friend before he decided to leave as well. It seems that on the second floor, he would not be fighting alongside his friends. Although Seraphine still seemed distant, Whisker and Sarohan were sincere about their relationship with Arthur.

The demon did not seem to desire anything that he had, but she did consider him something he was not. Whisker and Sarohan followed him because they believed in his abilities to conquer this tower and allow them to go home.

“Everyone wants something,” muttered Arthur as he walked through the streets of Xeloria. “Once I conquer this tower, I will go home too. Then, I will have to rule Runera against the entire world.”

Arthur knew that this tower was not a punishment, but a reverie that allowed him to escape the responsibilities he had. This is the reason he was having fun, even if his end-goal was to kill the man he once considered an ally.

Yuvan was not a man that Arthur can understand, because he has yet to see the motives behind his betrayal. The cult he joined, whatever its name has been, was not something the world knew about. This made Arthur think of another possibility. It was a great possibility for the cult to originate from other worlds.

“Take your position,” said the examiner with a frown. Arthur did not like his tone, but he knew this was an army. If he wanted to rise through the ranks and cause the war, he would have to listen to their commands. “Since you are all here, follow me.”

The examiner then took them toward an open field, where a group of men stood at attention. Then, he ordered them to join the group, and he stood in front of them. His face seemed stern as he studied them one by one.

Each soldier faced a celestial pressure when they were stared at by the examiner. However, all of them stood strong, making the examiner smile. Then, he seemed to relax as he leaned backward and introduced himself.

“My name is Lieutenant Jia Huang,” said the man with a relieved smile. “I am in charge of the thirteenth platoon. At the current moment, we have fifty members, which is ideal. You are all the pinnacle of the fighters on the second floor.”

Arthur felt a headache coming on. Although he did not expect the same examiner to lead them, this would cause some unnecessary problems for him. However, what bothered him was the man kept talking about how they should consider serving Xeloria as more than just a chance to advance in the floors.

“If no one has imparted this knowledge to you, there are five known floors. The First Floor is Beginning Town, where you all started. The Second Floor is Eternal War, where the ten cities fight for supremacy. The Third Floor is called Harsh Climate, where you must survive the hardest ordeals to reach the Trial of Heroes. That trial is considered the Fourth Floor, where you must prove yourself against celestial beings from all around the universe.”

“What about the Fifth Floor?” asked one of the new recruits after noticing the lieutenant avoiding mentioning it. Instead of getting angry, Jia Huang smiled at him and answered his question.

“It is called Dreamers Land, because only those who dream of conquering this tower attempt to reach it. However, those who reached that stage never returned and are thought to be dead. Thus, in essence, there is only one floor where you can grow stronger with minimal risk: the second floor.”

Arthur was surprised that he managed to obtain so much information from this man, who seemed to be content with living in this place. Although he knew this tower did not have many floors, he also knew that they were vast.

“I know that many of you,” said the lieutenant while glancing at Arthur, “dream of greatness and of conquering this floor. However, all the ten lords are called Returners who saw how dangerous the higher floors are. They have chosen to create a paradise for people in this tower.”

Arthur could not help but laugh, making Jia Huang and the entire platoon turn their heads toward him. The smiling face of their lieutenant crumbled into an ugly sight as he

  stared daggers at him, demanding an explanation. Thus, Arthur provided one, “The paradise that we live in… is ironically called Eternal War.”

The entire field was quiet as no one could retort to his remark. Jia Huang looked to be trembling with rage and humiliation before giving a smirk of barely holding back his anger.

“Peace cannot be achieved without war,” said Jia Huang as he feigned calm. “Every month, the war lasts for an entire week between the ten cities. Whoever emerges at the top will receive the tower’s blessing of harvest, wealth, and power. It allows the city to prosper and for peace to be attained!”

Arthur had no words to answer a man who followed his lord this blindly. In fact, he looked down upon him, for this man has taken a home in this tower that broke his will to advance forward. However, his silence was considered defeat, and the man smiled in triumph.

“You will be divided into squads of five, and each one will be tasked with clearing a random area of monsters. You have an hour to form squads and draw from the box which area to clear. Then, you will have one day to finish the task.”

Arthur did not move, even after the entire team of recruits began asking the older members to let them join their squads. However, most of them already had squads, and those missing some members tried to make use of them.

“I don’t know if we can afford taking you with us… you would just slow us down. How about you take care of our drinks tonight as compensation?”

Similar talks went around the field, making this look more like a group of rogues than soldiers. Arthur looked at them with disdain as he watched from the sides.