Tower of Origin
[Mission Rewards....Rank 1 mid grade dual swords and rank 1 mid grade skill book steel hands...]
Alex was once again baffled. Was this how the missions came in according to circumstances? This was a question that he would get the answer as time goes by and he gets used to the golden system. Now, what kind of circumstantial mission was he given this time? Fifty monsters that are a stage above him? Is this a joke or what?
Alex was in a stiff condition now. What was this? How could he fulfill such a mission within forty eight hours? Fifty monsters, one stage above him, forty eight hours. Those were his mission conditions that had to be fulfilled in which case that either of the three isn't fulfilled, the mission would be a failure.
The rewards, that's what Alex was thinking of now. How can such a big mission have such small rewards? just rank 1 mid grade for both of them. Despite being that he would also gain money from selling the cores, it would be really hectic dealing with something a stage above him.
He would need to face the monsters one at a time as they are stronger than he is. And that being the case,there was only one place in Kravon town that could fulfill this condition. This is where people would go to for horning their skills and increasing their battle experience. It was the tower of origin. This tower was there mainly for people from rank 1 to rank 2
The tower of origin. This was the name it was given as no one knew of its origin and it appeared there about sixteen years ago. Same towers appeared in different locations within the kingdom with varying levels with the capital having one that goes up to rank 9, the rank with only a few experts in it.
This tower of origin can enable one to choose the type of battle that he or she wants. A one on one battle or one man against an army of monsters. Basically, one could chose the number of opponents that he or she could face. Despite being a good place for horning skills, it wasn't popular in the backwater town like Kravon.
The entrance fee to the tower was ten gold coins per day. That was the charge for those that are rank 1 initial and mid level. Those at late and peak stage would have to pay a total of twelve gold coins. This price was astronomical to an awakener who can barely fight several monsters at a time.
A good example would be Alex whose gold coins could barely pass ten. This implies that he would have to pay almost three thirds of his income. The basic explanation that the authorities gave was that, the tower wasn't a hunting ground but a training ground. Furthermore, this was mainly to discourage people from using it too frequently and leaving the dungeons alone as this would cause a dungeon break which had severe consequences.
To make matters worse, the tower was only usable to those ranging from rank 1 to rank 2 at the peak. It was useless to those in the third rank and above. Most of the experts in these sides of the kingdom came from the capital and were mainly there as authority representatives and for protection incase of an attack either from neighbouring kingdoms or from dungeon breaks.
A good example was the guild master of the adventurer's guild. He was from the capital and he was in charge of the region in which Kravon town belonged to. For someone to reach as far as rank 7, that was a huge hill that would take years to finally reach it. And that was the case with the old man as he was at that rank in such an old age.
Alex now wondered how he was going to handle things. This would somehow be troublesome for him. First, the tower conditions were that you pay before you enter. No entry before payment, after all, no one would know if the person going in would kick the bucket after going inside. This was a rule set after several people who had overestimated themselves were killed by the monsters inside the tower. This was a period where the officials would take cores as a form of payment.
According to what Alex saw, he believed that he needed to visit the dungeon at least once to gain the cash that he would use to pay to be allowed entry into the tower. He needed cash and there was no way that he could borrow the money anywhere as the only person he knew slightly well was Jane. Furthermore, he didn't like having unpaid debts as that would make him uneasy from the feeling of always being humiliated after failing to pay the debt.
That option was crossed out the moment it appeared in his mind. Alex knew that his only way out of this was going to the dungeon to do the hunting for the cores so that he could gain enough money to enter the tower. After that, he would start selling the cores he would be earning from the tower for coins so that he could pay for the next day.
He wasn't after coins, he was after the mission rewards that he would gain. He could consider that all his coins are well spent as he would be training as well as get a hold of Rank 1 mid grade rewards. It may only be rank 1 but for a beginner like Alex who had no decent equipment apart from the dagger, that was okay.
After coming to this decision, Alex decided to stay for the night and wait until the following day. The mission would only begin after the first monster is killed, regardless of the rank. Since there was still a hangover of tiredness from the system awakening, Alex was still not in his peak condition.
The following morning, Alex went downstairs to leave the inn. When he reached the reception, he found that Jane was already at work. Therefore, he moved forth and greeted her. They had bern seeing each other for over three years now and they had created a friendship where Jane treated Alex like her little brother while Alex took her as a big sister.
"Hey there jane, it's nice to see you," greeted Alex.
"Morning Alex, how was your night?" Jane greeted back with a smile.
"Ok. Well, I'll be heading out to the dungeon now, I need to grow my experience further," stated Alex. He didn't want her to know that he needed money at all. He knew that she would try to help him but he didn't want to trouble her at all. Her job wasn't giving her that much money after all.
"Already? It is only around five thirty!" Jane was surprised to hear that Alex wanted to head to the dungeon at such a time. It was really early that only a few people would be entering the dungeon at this hour.
"Yeah, I would need all the time I can get," replied Alex nonchalantly.
"By the way, you seem somehow slim than I saw you yesterday. Did something happen to you?" Jane asked with concern visible on her face.
"Slim?" Alex asked back and looked at his body. It was true, he had somehow grown slimmer than he was the previous day. This even surprised him as he had no explanation for this situation. "I am not sure at all, I've just noticed this now." continued Alex.
"....okay. But be careful," said Jane as she saw Alex was already leaving.
"I will," and with that, Alex left the inn and made a bee line towards the dungeon. He had all he needed for the quick tour in the dungeon. All of them were in his inventory and he could get them with just a simple thought.
After reaching the dungeon, Alex walked straight to the teleportation stone and placed his hand on it. Five seconds later, he vanished and appeared where he always entered, the safe area. After taking a deep breath, Alex walked straight to the door and placed his hand on it and waited for it to teleport him inside.
Once inside, Alex saw what he was up against today. A black tiger, just like the one that nearly killed him on his journey to Kravon.An agility type monster. Without wasting time, Alex retrieved his dagger as he knew that agility type monsters needed Instant attack or one would miss the target.
When the tiger saw a human in front of it, it immediately sprung forth with speed with the intention of tearing apart its enemy. Alex had a grudge against the black tigers after the near death experience. Now, he wanted to vent all his frustrations from that day to the monster before him.
When the black tiger was about to reach him with its claws, Alex sidestepped and swung his dagger downwards towards its head. Being only an initial rank 1 martial monster, its speed was still low. When the dagger connected, it cut through the skull of the tiger like tofu. The force from the swing led to the monster being pinned to the ground with an explosive force and the head burst into pieces.
Alex was slack jawed. A single attack and the monster was dead? "Well.....that was easy?"