"Scouting and Challenges"

A few hours after the earthquake, people convened inside a large room with a broad discussion table. Sitting across each other were the high leaders of the city of Elysia. The guild master of the adventurers guild Rynn Hawker and the captain of the knight division stationed in Elysia Aaron Syfel.

"Thank you all for coming despite the short notice."

"It's nothing Sir Farrell as the guild master of the adventurer's guild answering a summon from the city lord's office is one of my duties."

"The same goes for us, my lord. We are knights ordered by the crown to serve you."

"Thank you, master Rynn and captain Syfel. Now onwards to the reason for this meeting, as you know an earthquake just struck our city a few hours ago and we have a reason to believe that it was the result of a mana phenomenon. Just a few kilometers of our southwestern wall is a huge tower higher than the walls themselves. We cannot even see the peak of this tower as clouds are obstructing it. Nevertheless, we are keeping vigilance over it, and I already asked the guards on the wall to report back any activity that happens in the surrounding areas."

"As far as we know from the witnesses, the tower emerged from the ground when the earthquake started and stopped precisely when the tremors stopped. Reports state that a huge amount of mana seems to be gathering there."

"What are your opinions about this?"

"I have been an adventurer for a long time now, so mana phenomenon is not new to me, but usually when they do occur, they cause a large amount of fauna and flora in the area to turn into monsters. However, it has been a few hours, and we have not a single report of any monster activity coming from the southwest."

"It is not normal, but I would rather scout ahead than wait for something to happen."

"I'll handle it; jobs like these are for adventurers anyway. I'll have to trouble Sir Farrell for a suitable reward, though."

"That's fine; the more we know about that mysterious tower, the more my mind will be at peace."

"Alright, I'll personally gather some trustworthy brats for the job."

"I will be going as well. I would need to include this incident on my monthly report for the capital."

"Yes, of course, please do. You should inform the capital of something that ridiculous."

In the adventurer's guildhall, a blonde woman was stacking papers on a table inside a very spacious office when a voice called out her name.

"Sofia!"

"Yes, master?"

"Can you call that brat for me? I got a job for her from the city lord."

"Do you mean Miriam?"

"Yeah, and make it quick."

"Alright, I'll send her to your office right away."

Sofia then came down from the office and went into the mess hall, where he spotted four adventurers eating their lunch on a circular table. She went straight towards them and called their names.

"Miriam, come with me; you have a requested job from the guild master."

"Eh? Again? It better not is cleaning up after someone's failures; I'm already sick of doing that."

"Hurry up, and it seems pretty serious."

A few minutes later, in Rynn's office.

"You called?"

"Yeah, sit down."

"I have a big job for you; I want you to explore the tower that appeared on the southwest side of the city. We have a reason to believe it is tied to the earthquake this morning, and also, there's a possibility of a monster horde forming there."

"So a mana phenomenon, huh?"

"Exactly, we don't know the cause of it, though."

"Any useful information?"

"None."

"Of course."

"The tower is about half a day away from the walls; prepare your gear and go to sleep. we leave first sunlight."

"Wait, what do you mean we?"

"I'm coming with you; meet me at the south gate tomorrow."

"Ok."

"Good morning Avalon!"

A good night's sleep in a fully furnished home is the best. Now that the Everlast tower has been built, I need to design the floors the challengers will be going through. I'm confident that I still have time; after all, the tower is still quite far from the city of Elysia, at least when you are not flying, but just in case, I placed a sealing barrier in the entrance until I complete the first floor's design. After eating breakfast and using the shower, I went straight to the control room.

Now then, attracting challengers should be easy enough because I live in a gigantic tower; making them stay and encouraging them to re-challenge a floor is the more complicated part. I have to make the first floor easy enough to pass for people who have experience fighting but complex enough that it gives a challenge.

"Let's see, a classic first-floor boss would be like an ogre or goblin king, but it's not exactly my taste."

I kept racking my brain for a perfect boss, but I decided with a spider in the end. My reason well first spiders monsters are typically weak but can do a lot of damage or deal status debuffs. Also, it's way easier to design a dungeon floor with spider monsters; it just needs three things walls, ceilings, and a lot of cobwebs.

The first floor would be a sanctuary for spider-type monsters. Five species will populate it: giant spiders, poison spiders, assassin spiders, trick spiders, and queen spiders. I will create areas where their species will be concentrated, and the entire floor would be a labyrinth of corridors, dead ends, and trap doors. The boss monster would be a humanoid spider queen that can control all five species.

I started to implement my plan and created the first floor of the tower, and as soon as I started filling them with monsters, I noticed something. It looks like the monsters already know how they fight, kind of like how animals instinctively know how to use their claws and teeth.

I was relieved because I didn't have to create strategies and ways to fight the challengers; they would naturally know how to do it. I also designed rooms filled with treasures like gold and raw materials or weapons and equipment.

I was having way too much fun designing the first floor that I forgot to eat lunch and only noticed that the entire afternoon had already passed when I finished. I ate dinner and made the finishing touches, including the rules for earning [Trial Token.] I made it so that you acquire one token for every monster slain except for the floor bosses, which gives a hundred tokens, which applies to all challengers. I also made the manifest of items you can exchange for using the tokens.

The next day after I ate breakfast, I planned to work on the plans for the second floor, but I was alarmed by someone trying to break into the barrier.

"Curious people sure are fast, but this is fine; if I see any problems with them trying the first floor, I can fix it before a larger group of challengers arrive."

Miriam and I traveled from Elysia since the first light and finally arrived where the mysterious tower was. It was more domineering up close. It had a simple but elegant design comparable to buildings from the capital. A large area has been flattened out around the tower, seemingly to give a sense that the tower has always been here.

"We're finally here."

"A large portion of the area is flattened on purpose, but I can't sense any monsters."

"Let's make a camp here first so that we have a place to run back to in case anything happens."

"Alright."

We set up a simple camp and ate our rations. We were trying to stay vigilant at all times, but so far, there was only silence, not a single monster or any sign of danger. We approached the tower with weapons in our hands, ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice.

Soon we arrived in front of a large entranceway; we could not see the inside of the tower because we were stopped by a barrier when we tried entering. We also tried to break the barrier by attacking it, but the barrier didn't budge. We were going to scout the surroundings when suddenly a voice called us in.

"Welcome, challengers."

We immediately stepped back and raised our weapons; we saw a young woman walking towards the entrance. She had black hair, a beautiful face with snow-white skin. She was wearing a long black dress assorted with red laces. Her demeanor was proper, and the most striking feature of all is her aura. Miriam and I instinctively knew that this woman was extremely dangerous.

"Please proceed inside for your identities to be registered."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Ai, and I am the attendant of the Everlast tower."

"Everlast tower?" Miriam asked.

"Yes. Please follow me."

The barrier suddenly broke down, and Ai gestured us to follow her. I was sure both of us were hesitant to go inside, but we couldn't ignore what could happen if we refused this woman. We stepped inside the tower and saw a vast hall with a reception desk at the center; we also saw a lot of tables, chairs, and what seemed to be a massive board with no writings on it. Ai proceeded to get behind the reception desk and took out two small emblems shaped like a tower. She then placed the emblems in front of us.

"This is?"

"This is an [Identity Emblem]; this would record your identities, floor record, and the number of tokens you own.

We were at a loss of what was happening, and before I could say anything, Miriam asked first.

"Floor record? Tokens? What exactly is this place? Do you mind explaining those first before you give us these emblems?"

"Certainly, This is the Everlast tower, and my name is Ai; as I said before, I am the attendant of this tower. The Everlast tower is a dungeon with a hundred floors created to challenge brave individuals such as yourself. Challengers who brave the tower are then rewarded for their achievements with "Trial Tokens." The challengers can exchange these tokens for various weapons, materials, medicine, and types of equipment. The ranking board over there displays the top 100 with the highest floor record."

We were dumbfounded by the things Ai told us, and it took a while before we regained our composure, but we still didn't know what to say. The things she said were undoubtedly outrageous, but her composure while telling them made us sure they were true.

"There are also a few basic rules that you have to follow while inside the tower's premises."

"Rules?"

"Yes, First, no challenger is allowed to kill another challenger within the tower. Second, fighting is prohibited on the lobby floor. Third, each challenger can only have one [Identity Emblem,] which can only be used by the person registered in the emblem. Fourth, no challenger will be exempted from these rules. ; lastly, breaking the rules will result in the challenger's immediate death."

Ai's aura skyrocketed as she said the last rule causing the hair on our arms to stand on end. There was an eerie chill in the air, but it was immediately dispersed, and everything returned to normal. She then smiled and gestured to us the emblems on the table.

"Now, please register your identities using these emblems; they will be yours to keep afterward."

Miriam and I took the emblems, and as soon as we touched them, we felt a small amount of mana transferring from our body into the emblem, and then our names appeared on the ranking board.

Rynn Hawker | Floor: 0 | 0 Tokens

Miriam | Floor: 0 | 0 Tokens

"Congratulations, you are now official challengers of the Everlast tower."

"Ai, can I ask a question?"

"Yes, of course."

Miriam was a bit nervous but decided to ask anyway.

"Are we allowed to leave the tower?"

"Yes, we would not impede your freedom, and you may come and go as you please."

"I see."

"Are there any other questions?"

"You told us these tokens can be used to exchange for certain items. Can we take a look at what kind of items we can exchange it for?"

"This is the current manifest available to you. the higher the floor you can complete, the more items will appear in this manifest."

Miriam looked over the manifest, and she was shocked by what she saw. The list contains magic weapons from a dagger to a broadsword and all sorts of enchanted armor for warriors, archers, and even mages. There are also rare minerals like [Mythril] and [Orichalcum], which blacksmiths would beg to have. There are only a couple of medicines available, but their effects are still quite impressive. Overall the contents of the manifests are desirable, especially to adventurers; even Rynn had sparkly eyes looking at them.

"Can we exchange the tokens for these items?"

"Yes, you can. You earn one token for each monster you slay inside the dungeon floors, and this applies to all individuals who helped take down the monster. The floor boss, however, gives a hundred coins to all who slew it."

Most of the items in the manifest were only worth a few tens of coins, so it was very tempting for them to try and earn tokens right now. Claiming one of the items would make better proof than words alone.

"If you excuse us for a moment."

Rynna and Miriam walk a few meters away and discusses their options.

"Should we try claiming one of the items in the manifest? There is one that only costs ten tokens."

"Are you not worried that all of this could be a trap?"

"Why would she need to trap us? Did you feel the pressure she was putting on a while back? That's enough to kill us both 100 times over! So she wouldn't need a trap to kill us."

"Think about it if what she said is true, then this Everlast tower is a treasure trove. We need to go back and report this to the city lord."

"Which is why I suggest we try to claim one of the items in the manifest to get more information."

"We don't know what kind of monsters we will face."

"Maybe we can ask her?"

"Ai, what kind of monsters will we face on the first floor?"

"I cannot divulge information about the structure of the dungeon."

"Guess that's a no"

"However, I am obliged to inform you that we would be giving challengers an "Escape Talisman." You would simply tear it apart, and you will be teleported back here in the lobby from any floor."

"Let's go back first and report, and then we can bring a team to try the first floor."

"No, we have to try first; otherwise, this trip would have been for nothing."

"Ugh, fine, but the first sign of danger we pull out."