A breeze rustled the golden-yellow grass. Lonesome trees dotted the landscape. Their trunks branched to flat tops with dark green leaves hanging. Small, blue hue mountain ranges screamed out of reach.

Ann spotted Chad as she was scanning her surroundings.

“Hey wait up,” Ann called out.

Chad stopped and turned to Ann.

“I thought we were going to go our separate ways?” Chad said.

“You’re going the wrong way.”

Chad tilted his head and furrowed his brows. “Which way is it then?”

Ann knew they had to travel west. She looked in the direction of the sun. The posted guides on the forum had said the floor started with the sun rising.

“We have to go west,” she pointed in the opposite direction of the sun.

“West should be more this way then,” Chad said. “What exactly is that way? And how do you know?”

Drox should be the one explaining the menu ability. Isn’t he supposed to be a guide?

Ann looked for the double doors, but they disappeared.

She turned back to Chad and sighed internally.

“Speak or think of the word menu,” Ann said.

“Menu,” Chad said.

He took a step back.

“That is the menu ability that the Tower grants us,” Ann said. “I got the information from the forum tab.”

Chad stared intently at the air in front of him.

Ann just waited for him to get accustomed to the menu ability.

“I see,” Chad said.

Ann opened the menu. This is a great time to test the message option. First I should add him.

Ann opened the message tab. There it is, the add function.

There was a nearby option that had Unnamed User with many below it with actual names. Unnamed User should be Chad, Added.

Error: unable to add unnamed user.

“Hey, can you go to the message tab and enter a username? It’s so I can add you to my friend list,” Ann said.

“Friend?”

“Yeah, we can communicate with each other whenever we’re separated.”

Chad stared into the space again.

ChadDelyan, there he is, added.

33333333333333333: Hi

“I sent you a message, see,” Ann said

“Your real name is 3s?”

“No. It’s Ann, that's just my username.”

ChadDelyan: Hi

Chad smiled slightly.

“Yup now you’re getting it,” Ann said cheerfully.

Chad gazed into space, fixated on something more distant.

“We should get going. I already read a guide on this floor, I'll fill you in as we walk,” Ann said.

He nodded.

Ann went on ahead and took the lead with Chad listening to her talk about the first floor.

They walked for some time and the sun was high above them. The sun blazed and scorched, there were no clouds, only the clear blue sky.

Ann wanted to veer off to one of the scattered trees in the plains, wanted for even a second to walk under the shade.

She drank from a water bottle until it emptied and threw it on the ground. This was just an illusory world, a fake, so she didn’t think it was too bad to litter here.

She struggled to walk and eventually stopped talking altogether, Ann focused on getting to their destination. She started to feel the backpack weighing down on her. She cursed inwardly at Bob, the person who sent her here, wondering why he had not made her stronger. Doesn’t he want that orb of whatever?

Ann and Chad were walking side by side and she caught Chad peeking at her from time to time until he spoke up.

“Let me carry that for you.” Chad scratched the side of his face.

Ann was relieved he had offered to take the weight off of her. But to keep appearances she hesitantly took the backpack off.

“Thanks,” Ann embarrassingly said.

Chad took the backpack from her.

“There are slimes up ahead. They don’t seem to be elemental or acidic,” Chad said.

She tried to locate the slime up ahead, but couldn’t see anything. Only the height of the grass shortened.

“You know how to kill them right?”

“Yeah,” Ann replied.

Ann had read up on the slime's weak spot: a dark blue fist-sized core inside of its blue translucent body. The slime dies when the core gets destroyed.

The grass in front of them reduced to dirt as they walked.

Oh, I see them now.

Roughly two dozen basketball-sized slimes rolled around by her count.

“Don’t be fooled by their looks, they can smother you to death with their bodies,” Chad said.

Ann didn’t know what he meant, the slimes were on the floor, and she didn’t think they could reach their heads before they killed them.

“Okay,” Ann said, unsheathing her dagger.

“Stay here,”

“We aren't going together?”

Chad shook his head. “It might be too dangerous for you and you need to rest.”

Chad walked towards the slimes drawing his sword. Shing.

Ann stood still and watched his back, he was still wearing her backpack. Is he going to be okay?

After he had strolled a couple meters towards the slimes they noticed Chad and inched their way towards him. The slimes were staggered, approaching not all at once when nearing him and then when one slime was within six feet, it lunged at him. Ann was surprised by the distance it covered to attack Chad.

Chad swung his blade, a diagonal strike from top right to bottom left. His blade cut through the air. Swish.

Pop. The blue translucent body of a slime exploded to the left of him, covering the ground, as its core split in two.

Another slime lunged at him.

Chad swung from top left to bottom right. Swish, pop.

The three slimes got in range and lunged at him.

Chad took a step back. Swish, pop, pop, pop.

Then he repeated. Swish, Pop. From the top right, Swish, to the bottom left, pop.

Like the swing of a pendulum, he kept the same cadence of his swing, letting gravity do most of the work.

He took a step forward when the slimes were too far. Swish, pop.

Then a step back when there were too many. Swish, pop, pop.

Ann was mesmerized by the sight of Chad’s effortless swings The backpack didn’t seem to encumber him at all. She saw the periodic glints of his blade from under the sun. Swish, pop, pop, pop.

The slimes didn't have the proper instinct to run away, as if they could overwhelm him with numbers.

A glistening pool of blue was on the ground.

Ann felt something tug at her left leg. She looked down to find a slime there.

It crawled upward.

She gripped her dagger tightly and thrust at the core. As if anticipating, the core moved first behind her leg, to the back of her knee, along with its blue body. She had missed only to strike its body. The core can move?

It started up to her thighs.

She tried to twist her body to get a good angle, but the slime’s body was hidden behind, creeping up on the hills and valley. She stabbed blindly behind her only for her to feel it on her upper back now.

She looked over to Chad. He was still swinging.

Before she could say anything her face was covered in slime and everything was a blur.

She dropped her dagger trying to get it off. She tried scraping, pushing, slapping it away, but nothing worked. It slipped through her fingers. It wouldn’t budge.

She fell to the ground flailing her hands around her head. Her hands were grabbed and then her world burst.

Cough. Cough.

Ann spits out the salty, gelatinous substances.

“You okay?” Chad said.

Her heart was beating rapidly while her whole body was shaking.

Ann wiped slime off her face and rolled over to find herself staring at a pair of black leather boots.

“Ann.”

Ann noticed a hand in front of her.

Chad was kneeling, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Ann grabbed his hand and got up.

“Here, you dropped this,” Chad handed her dagger.

Ann accepted it while she wiped her eyes.

“The slimes are gone, we should get going,” Chad said.

The sun was about to set. The sky was a madder red.

As they traveled the plains Chad dealt with slimes. Ann close by had her head down, looking at the grass. The view in front of them was blinded by the sun directly in front of them.

Chad slowed down his pace for Ann to catch up.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, what did you do before coming here?” Chad asked, standing right beside her. “Are you from nobility? Or a merchant's daughter?”

Ann shook her head, “No, I’m just a normal civilian where I’m from. What about you?”

“I’m just as well. We should get camp ready before it gets too dark. Let’s head over to that tree.” He pointed.

Camp, an idea popped into her head.

She knew now that to climb the Tower she needed allies. She didn’t know how strong Chad was compared to the other challengers, but strong is what Chad was to her after that display with the slimes. She bought tents for camp. Poof, poof.

Two small gray and green colored tents appeared near the tree.

“What’s that?” Chad asked.

“That’s my ability and these are tents we can use to camp out. You open them like this.” Ann unzipped one of the cheap camping tents.

“Your ability is to create tents at will?”

“No, I can buy items, I can buy items from stores I’ve visited.”

Ann demonstrated by dropping coins on the menu screen. To Chad it looked like silver and copper coins were disappearing in mid-air then she picked up the item sticks from out of nowhere.

Ann broke several of the sticks and threw them. Poof, poof, poof, poof, poof.

It was boxes of firelogs. That should last us through the night, I think. It might be too much though.

“Amazing right?” Ann said.

“Yeah, that ability is amazing. It would have been handy in my travels back in my world. Why do you need this bag then?” Chad pointed to his back.

“It was to hide my ability, but since we are traveling together I thought I should let you know. Well, I was planning to do this floor by myself in the first place.”

“You aren't strong enough, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

Ann couldn’t retort, her mouth agape.

She had overestimated her abilities and read that the monsters on the lower levels were easy to defeat. I need to get stronger, maybe he can teach me how to use the sword, or rather this dagger.

“Teach me then.”

Chad gave a puzzled look.

“Teach me how to use this.” Ann unsheathed and showed him the dagger.

Chad had his hand to his chin. “Okay, but tomorrow. It’s too dark right now.”

Ann beamed.

“Oh, I forgot to say this, thanks, for saving me earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chad paused. “I sort of knew there was a slime nearby and was testing your strength.”

Ann pouted a little and didn’t complain too much because she needed him.

They lit a campfire. Ann purchased blankets and pillows for each of the tents.

“I’ll take the first watch and wake you up later,” Chad said.

“Do we need to? The tents can protect us from the slimes, I don’t think they can enter inside.”

Chad shook his head, “It’s best not to become complacent, people I know have died because of it.”

“Okay, I’ll head to bed first then, night.”

“Night.”

The journey all morning took its toll on her even though the sun had just set, she was exhausted.

The next morning Ann was looking at the gray ceiling of her tent. It’s morning?

She had thought that Chad was going to wake her up for the second watch.

Ann opened the tent to look outside.

“Morning,” Chad said with bloodshot red eyes. “Sleep well?”

“You didn’t wake me up?”

“I couldn’t wake you up, you just kept sleeping.” Chad was rubbing his ribcage.

Was I that tired?

Ann scratched the back of her head.

“Sorry,” Ann said, feeling a tiny bit guilty.

“It’s fine, let’s start moving. Next time you take the first watch.”

As they walked Chad taught Ann how to use her dagger. Occasionally Chad dealt with slimes as she practiced.

“You need to swing with your body more, don’t just swing with your arms,” Chad said.

Ann breathed heavily.

“Like…this?”

“Sort of, also when you change the direction of your swing, your blade needs to point in that direction. The angle isn’t quite right.”

He instructed her on how to kill slimes with a horizontal swing.

Chad carried the backpack with replenished food and water. They had decided to leave the rest of the camping gear behind.

“Rest for now, I think you are ready to fight slimes.”

Ann sheathed her dagger. I’m so tired.

The sun was high above. Ann had applied some sunscreen this time.

She walked behind Chad to grab a drink from the backpack.

“There are some slimes up ahead, I’ll lure some in for practice,” Chad said.

Ann gulped down the water from the water bottle before discarding it.

“Are you ready?” Chad asked.

She zipped up the backpack.

Ann readied herself. With a shaking heart, she nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” Chad went on ahead.

Ann took several deep breaths. The slime that attacked her from yesterday was still on her mind.

Even after she drank, her mouth still felt dry.

Ann looked at the ground. Every time there were slimes nearby the grass height lowered which made it easier to tell when they were near. Are they eating the grass?

Ann shook her head. Focus.

Chad ran up to her.

“I lured one, get ready,” Chad said, running past her.

Shing. Her dagger gleamed in front of her.

Her eyes were locked on to the core of the slime. It floated around within the gelatinous membrane. He said I needed to strike it quickly with a slash or else the core would move out of the way.

Chad had taught her the basics of how to kill slimes and only slimes.

She readied to strike with the dagger and waited.

It inched closer and closer. The slime was almost within its jumping range—it lunged at her.

Now.

She sidestepped. Her blade pierce the membrane sliding right through.

Did I get it?

“It’s still alive,” Chad yelled from a couple of meters away.

Ann turned to look for it. Found it.

The slime lunged itself at her. Ann wasn’t ready, instead of sidestepping she took a step back to avoid it. She tried swinging but failed to strike anything.

Ann turned to face it immediately. Panting she readied herself again.

Measuring the height of its lunges she lowered her aim. She determined where the core would be.

It lunged itself at her again. She felt a bit of resistance this time as she swung her blade.

The slime burst into gelatinous bits spraying all over the ground. Blue pieces slid off her dagger.

Chad was clapping, “Well done. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Thanks.” Ann gasped for air.

Ann sheathed her dagger then looked at his back and wondered.

A campfire burned in the night. Ann and Chad were sitting on the grass next to each other with the fire in front of them. Tents behind them. There were tin cans, plastic bags, and bottles lying near them on the opposite side.

It was Ann’s turn to take the first watch in the night. She didn’t know how she was going to manage the first watch as she looked at the digital wristwatch.

“I’ve been wondering, are you using magic at all in combat?” Chad asked.

Chad’s words had snapped Ann out of her thoughts.

“No,” Ann said.

“Why not, can you not use it? You have that shop ability don’t you?”

“I acquired that ability recently. Back in my world, there’s no such thing as magic.”

Ann saw what magic can do such as teleportation, but never in combat. She didn’t even see Chad use any during his fights with the slimes that she knew of.

“Can you use magic?” Ann asked.

“Only for physical enhancements. Nothing special, really,” Chad said. “You said there is no magic in your world right? Maybe you guys just didn’t know how to wield magic. Can I check?”

Ann didn’t know what he meant by checking but she gave a nod to him.

Chad turned and reached out with both hands. “Give me your hands.”

She also reached out and they held hands. She saw him close his eyes.

A moment later Chad’s eyes opened, “Well you have mana. You should be able to use magic.”

Ann was surprised to hear that and didn’t know why she had mana.

“Can you teach me magic?” Ann asked eagerly.

Chad shook his head, “No, you’d have to find a teacher for that.”

Ann was determined now to learn magic, though she didn’t know how useful it would be. She’d have to find a teacher on the residential floor.

“I’m off to bed, wake me if you can’t keep yourself from sleeping. Don’t push yourself.” Chad stood up.

“Right, night.”

Chad waved as he got into his tent.

Ann looked at her watch again, it was 11:36 p.m. She didn’t know if the time was accurate because she had simply set it to 6:00 p.m. when the sun had set. She wanted to stay up until 4.

Ann’s eyes were heavy from their journey. Her gaze moved from the fire into the darkness of the plains and wondered if it would be alright to just rest her eyes for a bit. She forced her eyes open, looking at her watch again. Only fifteen minutes had passed since Chad had gone to bed. There shouldn’t be any danger.

She looked to her left side, a tree, then turned enough to see behind her to find the tents they had plopped down. There was only a small gap between the three, enough to give her some level of comfort.

Looking forward again Ann tried rubbing her eyes and temple, anything to keep her awake. But the weight of exhaustion was overpowering. I just need to rest my eyes for a bit.

Her eyes closed.

She opened her eyes to find a gray ceiling in front of her.

It’s morning?

She panicked and opened her tent to look for Chad. He sat under the tree with his back leaning against it.

“Morning,” Chad said with bloodshot red eyes.

“Sorry, I accidentally fell asleep.”

“It’s fine, we have a lot of ground to cover today.”

Ann didn’t see any blue bits on the grass.

As they were traveling to their destination Chad dispatched most of the slimes leaving only a handful to Ann. She had gotten the hang of killing slimes with one pass of the swing.

The sun was about to come into view.

Fatigue built up as they moved at a faster pace. The only thing on her mind was how to kill the slimes most efficiently. The slimes were practically driving themselves into her dagger near the end of the day. So they are weak, I just didn’t know how to handle them.

“I see the goblin camp,” Chad said. “We should be able to make it before the sun gets too low.”

Ann couldn’t see the goblins, the only thing that she could make out in the distance was small structures. The magic circle was ahead, beyond the goblins. They were almost at their destination to complete the first floor.

She sees them. The goblins in the distance were next to huts. There were pigs tied to wooden poles and near them a pile of bones.

As they got closer Ann saw that they looked nothing like the floating goblins working for the Tower. The goblins at the Tower had a more refined look, although ugly, they had an aura of elegance. The goblins before them were more rugged. Their huge bumpy nose stood out, their skin was a dirty green. They were carrying obsidian shanks. Ann was glad that they at least had clothes to cover themselves with.

The goblins noticed them.

“I’ll leave one to you,” Chad said.

“What, I don’t think I can.”

“You can just do what you have been doing with the slimes. Your vitals are protected, just keep it from stabbing your neck.”

The goblins were approaching them and a stray goblin, ahead of the rest.

Chad surged like a gust of wind to the group of goblins. He passed by the stray goblin. Both Ann and the stray goblin were stupefied.

So fast.

The stray goblin turned his attention to Ann and then started to charge at her. She was caught off guard by its sudden movement and soon after readied herself with a dagger in hand. It’s too small to reach my head. No, I shouldn’t underestimate it like I did with the slime.

As soon as it closed in, it leaped at her.

Ann reflexively sidestepped. The arc of the shank would have cut her face up if she stood her ground. She didn’t have time to think she just swung her dagger like she had with the slimes. There was less resistance than she thought as she cut through the left shoulder of the goblin. It was a shallow cut.

The goblin bled yet it still moved, aiming for her face again. It constantly hopped, trying to reach her head. The pointy end of the obsidian shank was all she saw.

Ann was on the back foot, constantly retreating, careful not to trip. She eyed the goblin’s neck.

The goblin's movements slowed and it stopped trying to go for her face, instead it started to slash and stab her arm and body. It futilely attacked her leather armor only to leave slight scratch marks and depressions.

She timed one of her sidesteps with one of the goblin’s strikes. The goblin stumbled. Then just as she had practiced with the slimes, a horizontal arc flew in the air. It went through the goblin’s neck, but not deep enough. Its head hung to the side as blood spurted out right before its whole body fell over to the ground following the weight of its head.

She gulped saliva that wasn’t there, her heart raced. All she heard was her rapid breathing. The smell of the goblin’s musk and blood assailed her. She looked away from the sight of the now deceased goblin and walked away from the corpse with her arm covering her mouth.

Ann noticed blood all over her. Nauseated she wandered the plains as she cast her eyes down onto the soil.

“Over here,” Chad called out.

Ann looked up to find Chad with bodies of goblins lying on the ground. She steeled herself and walked over to him. As she got closer she found there were only pools of blood coming from the goblin corpses, no splatters on the dirt or the few grass scattered. Not even a speck of blood was on Chad.

If she is to reach the top of the Tower she has to aim to get stronger. Seeking allies wasn’t her priority before, but now she realized that’s not the case.

“Hey, why do you want to reach the top of the Tower?” Ann asked.

Chad gave a quizzical glance, “Same reason as anyone else, to have a wish granted.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? From just this floor it could take years to get to the hundredth floor. Besides, you can make any wish, do you have to be in such a hurry?”

“I guess not, I thought the challenges in the Tower would be different. Let’s go, the magic circle is ahead.”

Ann was about to say something, but she didn’t know how to convince him to join her without sounding shameless. He had done all the work on this floor while she just tagged along.

“Right, let's go.”

As they walked past the huts they saw a stone slab on the floor the size of a tennis court. It had geometric shapes and lines with a circle around it, painted in white.

They stood in front of the magic circle. Chad extended his hand to Ann.

“Hold my hand just in case, we don't know where it will take us, when it will activate, or even if it's the right magic circle.”

Ann was certain it was the right place and Chad was just being paranoid. She took his hand anyway and they walked on the magic circle. He crouched down to place his hand on the stone slab. Flash.

Blue ores illuminated the cavernous environment. They spotted a double door.

Ann peeked at Chad. Now was the moment for her to convince Chad to climb the Tower alongside her.

She clung to his hand tighter as he got up. “Chad—”

“What a coincidence, we meet again.”

Ann and Chad let go of their hands and looked up to find a floating goblin descending slowly. He twirled around like a ballerina until his body was at their eye level.

“Congratulations on passing the first challenge. As it is my duty I must now tell you about the menu ability,” Drox said.

“We already know about that,” Ann said.

“Yes yes, but I must tell you about the new function at the very least. You can now store your money within it so drop a couple coins and try and see for yourselves.”

Ann was waiting for this function. She didn’t have to worry about her coin purse getting lost or stolen.

Opening the menu she took out her coin purse and dropped it on the menu screen. There were 4 numbers at the top right corner 0, 839, 85, and 11 with purple, gold, silver, and copper colored coins next to them.

Chad repeated the actions of Ann, but the coins fell to the ground.

Drox faced Chad. “Apologies, it only accepts coins with divinity energy within them,” Drox said then he continued to explain the other functions of the menu. “If you ever buy information from me, a map and objective tab may open, depending on the challenge. Now then, ready to go on to the second floor?”

“No, I’m tired,” Chad said.

“So the lobby it is.” Drox clapped his hands together and Chad disappeared. “What about you?”

“The lobby please,” Ann said.

“Are you sure you don’t want—”

“I’m sure, take me to the lobby.”

Drox laughed at her outburst and then clapped. Flash.

Ann searched for Chad among the challengers entering and leaving the Tower. Outside was dark when she peered beyond an open door. I can send him a message.

“Hey.”

She saw Chad approach her.

“Let's party up from now on,” Ann said.

“Sure.”

“Sure?” She was taken aback by his answer.

“Yeah I've been thinking and I can see your ability will come in handy in the future. It would’ve been nice to have that sort of ability on my adventures, back home,” Chad said. “And you saved me back there. I would have probably not found the magic circle if it weren’t for you.”

“Yup, I sure did save you.” Ann held back a smile.

“You would have also been in trouble without me. I had to channel my mana into the magic circle to activate it.”

Ann froze. It didn’t occur to her that she needed mana to activate the magic circle. The posts on the forum didn’t say anything about that in the guide. Is it that common to use magic?

“Before we go on you need to learn a bit of magic. You have mana within you so you should be able to use it,” Chad said.

Ann had an idea of how to find a teacher using the forums. She saw some posts talking about other things besides the Tower. There should be postings about people teaching magic.

Chad tried to hand her the backpack Ann had given him since the beginning of their meeting.

“Wait, I'm spent,” Ann said as she backed away heading for the door. “Follow me. I know a great inn we can stay at.”

Chad followed after Ann.