Ann arrived inside the city.

She had finally gotten out of the farmland that smelled of manure. Although the air here wasn’t pleasant, her nose acclimated.

The city mostly looked like it was from the medieval era, but not. Some of the buildings looked modern as if they were from Earth. Other buildings had strange architecture Ann didn’t recognize.

The people in the city looked, for the most part, human; some of them had furry tails and cat ears.

She could understand everyone as she walked. It was a bit odd to Ann since they all seemed to be from different cultures and backgrounds. Shouldn’t they be talking in their languages?

As she was walking she saw children running into and out of homes to play with the other kids.

There were buildings with signs that spelled out what they were. Weapons, armor, and potion shops that had images of a sword, shield, and a round bottle respectively.

Growl.

Ann wanted to find a restaurant but had to do something first.

She wanted to add shops to her shop ability. But she didn’t know how it worked. She had many questions like what qualifies something as a shop, and how close she needed to be for it to register as being visited. Did she need to be near one or enter the building? That jerk didn’t tell me anything.

Ann noticed no one was tapping in the air as if to use the menu ability. Did they not have it?

She stood near a weapons shop.

“Menu,” Ann whispered.

A blue transparent screen appeared before her.

Ann looked around. Nobody can see this right? It doesn’t seem so.

She tried her best to discreetly tap on the interface.

Recently visited. On the interface, there were stores from Earth with their names on it and thumbnail pictures of them.

Ann looked up. It was a weapons shop with the name, weapons shop. I have to use the picture to differentiate between stores with the same names huh? I wonder if I can change the name. Oh, I can, but I don’t think I need to. The search function in this thing works like magic in more than one way.

Ann then looked at the screen. It wasn’t registered. So I have to enter the building to add it.

Ann entered the building while looking at the screen. Added. Then left the building

She did it many times, entering and leaving stores.

“Welcome—”

“Sorry, wrong store,” Ann said.

“Hello what can—”

“Sorry, I got a little lost, wrong place.”

“Howdy—”

“Sorry, I thought this was my friend's house.”

Ann was feeling guilty. No, I shouldn’t, I’m not stealing or anything.

She caught a whiff of food. Her mouth was watering. Bacon?

There was a street vendor selling food.

Growl.

Ann didn't want to show her shop abilities in the city so she refrained from using it for a meal. I should have eaten before coming to the city.

“What can I get you?” the street vendor asked, pointing at the food menu to the side of the stall. “The name is Kenji.”

Ann thought that people here seemed friendly. Why is he telling me his name?

She glanced at her blue transparent screen that had the recently visited tab opened. It registered this as a store.

“I’ll get the crisp fire strips with water please,” Ann said.

“Coming right up.”

“Wait, do you take these as payment?” Ann asked, showing him the copper coins she had taken out.

Before coming to the city she had already confirmed how to take out a specific denomination; Ann had to think of it and then grab it from her coin purse.

“Ah, you still haven’t completed the first floor,” Kenji said.

Ann tilted her head.

“Well, you sort of get a bank once you do complete the first floor. You can put all your gold, silver, and copper coins in the menu ability and transfer money that way. Kind of handy if you ask me,” Kenji said, taking the copper coins from Ann’s hand. “See here.”

Kenji dropped the copper coins in mid-air in front of him then they disappeared.

That must be the menu ability, so it’s invisible to others.

Ann was finally glad she had confirmed the menu ability was invisible. She didn’t want to be the weirdo walking around with a glowing rectangle screen in front of them.

The street vendor gave her some information while she ate. 

Kenji told her about the currency used here. One silver coin was equal to 100 copper coins, and likewise with the gold and silver coins.

He warned her to watch out for other challengers within the challenges. The gods had eyes only on the residential floor, but not within the illusory world of the challenges. If a god backing a person got hurt or died, they would smite the aggressor.

This information put Ann at ease. Is Bob looking after me? Probably not. He still has me blocked.

Kenji had noticed Ann using her fingers to interact with the menu ability and told her she could use her mind.

Finished with her meal she had tipped him a silver coin and ran off before he could refuse.

Ann was walking around, entering and leaving more stores with a full belly.

The sky was orange, and the lanterns on some streets started to emit a faint white glow.

Ann avoided dark places that had harsh shadows and opted to follow the lit areas.

*

Ann had managed to find an inn with plumbing.

“I’m beat,” Ann said, sprawled out on a bed.

Menu. Forum.

A screen popped out in front of her. She was using her mind to navigate it.

Ann planned to collect information about the challenges. She found a couple of guides on the first floor. She aimed to tackle it the next day.

Best Guide For First Floor

Guide: first floor

How to navigate the second floor

Don’t trust the goblin guides - My experiences with them

Guide for early floors

Looking for party members

Beware fanatics - Movement on the lower floors

Healer needed

Ann scrolled through the posts, wondering why no one had conquered the Tower yet. As she searched she noticed something. The higher the floor, the fewer the guides.

After looking at some guides on the first floor, Ann got up from her bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Oh, they even have a mirror.

Ann noticed her appearance had changed from what she remembered. The thin, gaunt look from overwork was nowhere to be seen. The bags under her brown eyes had vanished, and her shoulder length black hair looked more voluminous. At least that jerk did something right.

In the morning, Ann was organizing her thoughts about the first floor. She didn't see many differences between the posts so the information was accurate.

The guides said it was a three day journey to reach a magic circle in the plains. The things getting in the way other than food were the weak monsters, goblins, and slimes. Should I go with a party?

Ann’s heartbeat raced.

She realized that she was putting her life at risk. She signed the contract and can’t back out now. I should have talked about the Tower more with that jerk before signing.

She opened the shop tab and searched for weapons.

Ann was wondering what the tier of the item meant. She browsed through the list of weapons, it only went to the second tier. She decided to stick with the first tier items.

There were only primitive weapons as well as wands, staves, and books. She didn’t know how to use any of those. She purchased a 52 gold, tier 1 dagger. Why is this so expensive, a kitchen knife is only 40 copper.

Next, she searched for armor. She purchased a tier 1 set of leather armor for a total of 110 gold.

She packed a backpack with some canned food, beef jerky, and water bottles. She would buy anything else she needed.

*

She entered one of the doors surrounding the Tower.

The Tower was tall, thin, and black. The only colors within were from the challengers. Their footsteps echoed on the white and black marbling; The floor gave a sense of vertigo.

Ann kept her eyes up. She saw lines of people in front of a desk. The challengers were being vanished into a flash of light in front of the receptionists.

She waited in line.

When it was her turn, Ann approached one of the receptionists—a floating goblin. He was naked, only an undergarment that a sumo wrestler would wear, covered his privates. The goblin was one meter tall with pointy ears and green skin.

“Floor?” the goblin asked.

“First floor,” Ann replied.

The goblin examined Ann, “The teleport spell won’t work if you already completed the floor.”

“I haven’t challenged the first floor yet.”

“Is that so, are you going alone or with a party?” the goblin asked.

“Alo—”

“Party,” someone beside Ann said.

Ann looked to her side. It was a black haired man with simple linen clothes, brown pants, and black boots. The only thing on his person was a sword strapped to the left side of his belt.

“I heard your talk, I’m also heading to the first floor,” the black haired man said. “I’m in a rush.”

“Very well, hold still,” the goblin said, holding out his right palm.

Before Ann could say anything their surroundings changed. A cave-like structure came into view. Blue ores illuminated the surroundings. You can hear a splash of water further in the cave. A giant metal double door stood in front of them. No handles.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Ann said.

He was examining the doors.

The man turned to Ann. “What do you mean?”

“I was going to do this solo and you butted in. I don’t even know you.”

He leaned against a wall with arms crossed.

“We can just separate and do it by ourselves. We don't have to move together, do we?”

Ann had nothing to say.

Could he be trusted though?

“The name is Chad, Chad Delyan hailing from the Veterra Empire, and you are?”

Ann paused, “It’s Ann.”

“Ann, it’s nice to meet you,” Chad moved to the doors. “Do you know how to open this door?”

He doesn’t seem dangerous.

“No,” Ann said.

She had yet to research the mechanics of the Tower.

“I can answer that,” a voice from somewhere said.

Ann and Chad searched for the source of the voice.

“Up here,” a floating goblin said as he descended. “I noticed you're not keen on tackling this challenge together. I can send one of you back to the lobby.”

The goblin leered at Ann.

“Who are you,” Chad said.

“Me? I am Drox, one of the guides in the Tower. I allow entry to any challengers, once they are ready, of course. But you guys don’t seem so?”

“I’m still thinking about it,” Ann said.

“Take your time, take your time, I’m here to accommodate the challengers,” Drox said then turned to Chad. “I also sell information on the challenges, would you be interested?”

Sell information? Can’t you look for that on the forums?

“How much?” Chad said.

“50 gold coins,” Drox said.

“That’s too much.”

Drox smiled, “That’s too bad.”

Chad doesn’t know about the forums? He might have beeline here after arriving.

Wait, hold on, he sells information?

“What else do you sell?” Ann asked.

“I sell potions, but only starting at the 11th floor. It requires a certain, currency.”

“Can I see your wares?”

“Nope, sorry regulations and all,” Drox moved closer to Ann. ”So what will it be, Ann, ready to leave this place?”

Goosebumps.

Drox was so close to Ann, that she could feel pressure on her head.

Ann glanced at Chad. She thought he didn’t look prepared at all for the 3 day journey. Did he even know what to look for?

“I’m staying,” Ann said.

Drox laughed.

“Okay, okay,” Drox clapped both hands together. The double doors opened.

A grassland came into view. Mountains in the background.

Drox flew next to the opened doors, and gestured, urging them to enter.

“Good luck on your journey.”

Ann followed Chad who had already passed the threshold.