Progress

Following the instructions of the guide in his pocket, Kaizen only took about three minutes to reach the room for the fisherman classes.

This room was quite big, with golden colored walls and ceilings and a big chandelier on the top, it seemed more like a place where on would stay on a vacation. That is if they didn't mind the many training dolls, shelves filled with needles, reels, arm inventories, reel inventories and a bunch of other equipment. At the right end of the room, a white board along with some chairs could be seen.

As Kaizen entered the room, he was a bit surprised at how luxurious it looked, but having seen even more luxurious things in his previous life, he didn't hesitate to head to the far right, the place where a few of the regulars were gathered.

Seeing that only the five front most places were left, Kaizen chose to sit on the middle chair as he watched the other regulars talking to each other. Although, he wanted to try to talk to them, he ended up staying quiet since he did not know how to enter their conversation.

A few more minutes passed and Endorsi came with the last three regulars. Then, sitting next to Kaizen, she asked, "Hey, aren't you one of the regulars who have passed the test? How come you didn't choose to go the next floor, but instead stayed here?"

Looking at Endorsi's eyes for a second, Kaizen replied, "I just thought that the lessons here might be helpful later on."

Staring a bit at him, Endorsi nodded and stayed quiet.

A minute later, a woman with black hair styled in twin tails which was wearing a white mask and a pink and white shirt along with a pink skirt that reached her ankles along with pink shoes walked to the front of the board as she spoke, "Hi, I am Hex, the ranker in charge of teaching you guys."

Then, while placing her hands on her waist, she said, "I will be giving half of the session of the first five days to explain all the theoretical knowledge you need to know. The rest of the time will be given to practical exercises and exams."

Then, she moved closer to the regulars and raised her index finger as she said, "You will earn points in two ways, the first is by attending classes every day, while the second method will be by doing well in the exams and practical exercises."

"Lastly, later today, I will be giving a needle along with a basic arm inventory along with a reel inventory to each of you here. But be careful, if you break any of them, you will have to use your points to earn them back at double the usual price." Said Hex as she lowered her hand and walked to the board.

Then, she grabbed a marker and started to write on the board "Shinsu contract" as she started to say, "Today, you all will have to perform a shinsu contract. So, hear me well as I explain it."

"As you all know it, shinsu is a vital element to life in the tower. It is needed so that we can breathe, and it also provides us with water. But, that is not all, shinsu is an important weapon that all those in tower should be able use if they want to reach its top. Not only wave controllers, but all classes need to be able to use shinsu to make a baang. Light bearers use it to control their light house. Wave controllers rely on it to make all kinds of attacks. Scouts need it to control their observers. While spear bearers and fisherman both need it to enhance their bodies so that they can fight better." Said Hex as she wrote a few of the main ideas on the board.

"But we cannot use shinsu just like that, the shinsu itself is part of the floor guardian's body. So, to be able to control it, we need to make a contract with the guardian so that we are given a partial authority over it. Even the items that use shinsu can only work on the floors where a contract has been established during its making. hat is the shinsu contract that you all will have to do today. From what I can see, only Endorsi has made one among all of you." Explained Hex.

"Now to make a contract yourself, you will have to close your eyes, change your pocket to visible mode and then say, contract with the administrator. But beware that your E-rank pockets can only be used to make contracts till the fortieth floor." Said Hex as she then looked towards all of the regular and asked, "Any questions?"

"E-rank pocket, aren't there F-rank ones?" Asked Kaizen remembering that Headon said that his was an F-rank one.

"Nope, pockets only range from E-rank to A-rank ones." Answered Hex before waiting to see if any one else had any questions.

{But mine is F-rank, are there any reasons for it?} Thought Kaizen, as he was not able to discover any differences between his pocket and the other ones.

"Now then, you all should try to form a contract. We still have a few other things to cover before we move to practical lessons." Ordered Hex.

Closing his eyes, and saying, "Visible mode", Kaizen pocket appeared as he said, "Contract with the administrator."

After doing so, he opened his eyes to see that a huge turtle whose eye was larger than his whole body appeared in front of him as Kaizen seemed to be floating in space right in front of it.

"Here for a contract, aren't you?" Said the turtle, before he paused for a while. Then, his partially opened eyes suddenly opened fully as he said, "You are not allowed to make a contract with me."

"What? Why?" Replied Kaizen bewildered at this development.

His eyes returning to normal, the turtle answered, "Those with your kind of pocket are not allowed to make contracts with the guardians. But fear not, whenever you enter a floor, you can choose to make it so that it appears like you have made one to the administrators overseeing you."

Then, pausing for a while, the turtle said, "Also, beware that from the twentieth floor onwards, your only method to advance to the next floor will be by passing a test given to you by the floor guardians. Now, you can leave."

Just as the turtle said the last bit, Kaizen's surroundings suddenly changed as he returned to the classroom.

As if his words were carved inside of his mind, Kaizen could remember every word the guardian said clearer than how he could hear in the real World.

Thinking about them, Kaizen was barely able to keep his composure as he remember that he had used shinsu without a contract multiple times in this floor, and so, the administrator could potentially discover that he is an irregular.

Thinking till here, Kaizen said to himself that he will be more careful in the later floors as he hoped that he will be able to reach the next floor without any problems.

"Now, show your pockets to me." Said Hex, as Kaizen instinctively obeyed along with the rest of the regulars.

Seeing that all pockets had contract established written on them, Hex nodded and said, "Now, let's move on to the next topic…."

After another hour had passed, Hex had finished explaining the basics of shinsu enhancement, and the methods to use a needle and a reel. Afterwards, she gave each of the regulars a needle along with both an arm and reel inventories as she said, "Since today is the first day, each of you will only to make five hundred stabs followed by one hundred swings using your needle for the first and your reel for the second so that you are allowed to leave."

After all regulars had moved to the practice area, Hex said, "Before we start remember to activate the automatic counter by saying "On" before you start, also, for the swings with the reel, you will have to hit one of the dolls for it to count."

Grabbing his needle with both hands and saying "On" Kaizen started to practice stabbing with the needle. After hearing the words of the guardian regarding his need to having to take the guardian's exam later on, along with the discovery of a new skill as he checked his status before starting, Kaizen's was full of drive to become stronger as fast as he could.

So, even though the five hundred stabs had tired him out a lot, He still somehow managed to reach one thousand stabs before taking a short break and moving on to the reel practice.

[Curse of the F-Rank Pocket]

Rank: S

[Passive]: Forbids the user from making a shinsu contract with any floor guardian in the tower.

[Passive]: Forbids the user from advancing to the twenty-first floor or those above it without taking the floor guardian's test.

[Passive]: Forbids the user from using any other pocket than the current one.

[Passive]: Forbids the user from leaving the tower before he reaches tier 5.

[Passive]: Impossible to be removed without the help of a tier 6 being.

[Active]: Allows the user to display on his pocket and the administrator's system that he has made a shinsu contract on any floor.

After finishing one hundred and fifty swings with the reel, Kaizen was barely able to reach his room.

Then, after taking a bath, he went to eat dinner and returned to his room where he kept on training his shinsu till he fell asleep.

After two more days of studying, eating and training, Kaizen had managed to become proficient enough to be able to make a baang in less than three seconds. He also had gained both, the needle technique skill and reel technique skill, although, both skills were still at F-rank.

The day after, Kaizen decided to try and learn how to transform his baang into ice since it was one of his qualities. So, after dinner, instead of just making a baang, reinforcing his body with it and then dispersing it, he tried to meditate after forming the baang attempting to transform it into ice.

Still, the task proved to be too difficulty for now as he had yet to have any success on it after two days had passed.

This time, on the sixth day since he started having classes, his class would be undergoing a special exam. So, instead of going to class, all of the seventeen regulars on this class along with Hex went to a teleportation array so that they could reach the place of their exam.

Arriving atop of an empty white pillar located in the special test spot number one, Kaizen could not help looking at the hundreds of other ones where some were near each other while others were quite far away from each other. Each of these pillars seemed to be as high as a ten-floor apartment, and just looking at the crevices between them gave rise to the feeling of fear in the hearts of most people.

With each regular being moved to different pillars, Hex sitting on a flying green cushion full of pink and orange dots chose to begin the exam as she said, "Welcome to the stage, for those of you who are in the fisherman class! Today, we will take a simple test instead of having a lecture. The aim of the test is to be the last one standing."

"You get it? Starting now, jump from pillar to pillar and make the others fall until only eight of you remain on the pillars. The only weapon that you can use is the needle that I gave you, and the result of this test will have a big impact on your final results. So, any questions?" Said Hex while floating in the air.

"I have got a question! People could die if they fall from this height. Is there any protection?" Asked Endorsi with her hand raised.

"There is, but it is not perfect. If you fall, there is a high chance that you will become so injured that you won't be able to take the next class. In other words, if you fail this test, it is almost the same as failing the class. Then, let's start the test. Ready, go." Said Hex not eager to keep answering any other questions.

Looking to see that Endorsi's pillar was far away from his, Kaizen sighed out of relief knowing that he would probably not be kicked down by her. He had already acquired the right to advance to the next floor, so for him, this test was nothing more than a place to compare himself to others and earn more points.

Seeing that the nearest regular next to him, Kaizen quickly created a baang before using it to reinforce his body. With that, he was able to jump to the next pillar that was about three meters away from his.

At the same moment, Anak had jumped into Endorsi's pillar as their game of tag began.

Although normally, he would have avoided fighting, knowing that his opponent wasn't going to die along with the stress he got from training for all day long for a week already made him lose some of his inhibitions.

So, while the other regulars were looking at Anak run after Endorsi while she knocked opponents out opponent after opponent with her bare hands, Kaizen had already arrived at another regular's pillar.

This regular had short black hair and a slim body. His face looked like a kid's even though his overall being gave the impression of someone older. Also, he was wearing a black t-shirt along with black pants.

Upon seeing Kaizen's arrival, he grabbed his needle tightly as tried to make Kaizen fall as he was still near the border of the pillar after jumping to it.

Although normally, this would have been enough to either make him fall into the crevice or get stuck in a disadvantageous position, his self-enhancement allowed for him to move fast enough to dodge his opponent's stab as he quickly attacked with his needle intent on making the other regular fall.

While his opponent was still able to block his attacks with his needle, Kaizen's strength while reinforced gave him an advantage which made the other regular move slightly back after taking each hit.

So, just as the regular had reached the border of the pillar, Kaizen struck his needle towards his opponents' chest, something he was able to dodge without falling. But, while he was only paying attention to Kaizen's needle, he barely saw as Kaizen immediately jumped towards him the moment he had dodged the blow, then, before he could react, Kaizen had kicked him out of the pillar.

Just as Kaizen had finished his fight, he was able to see both Anak and Endorsi fall down together after Endorsi had taken care of seven other regulars.

So, just like this, the test ended with only seven people surviving out of the seventeen, one less than the goal.

As all ten regulars who fell down were taking to the infirmary, Kaizen returned to his room to take a shower.

Alternative titles: Kaizen's First Straight Fight – The F-Rank Pocket Mentioned a Few Chapters Ago Was Intentional – Body Enhancement May Be OP