chapter 18

Ten years have passed since the earth joined the tower and in that time people have rapidly adapted and grown within the tower though none are even close to me, it wasn't until I saw the drastic differences in the cultivation levels reported to the governments on how much the mana crystals where truly worth.

Most people took at least 5 years to get to the merging part and that is for the average talent within the tower, for the ones with lower talent or like me who bought a cheap cultivation book some still haven't reached that stage.

But here I am at the grandmaster level and soon to be a epic person, the mana crystals saved me years.

Many asked me how I advanced so quickly and I told them of the sponsor and deal made with someone in the tower which made many jealous, but after that first year he stopped sending tasks or speaking making me worried over the support of him leaving.

He told me he was dealing with a personal emergency which worried me but seeing the question of how long was he gone made me stop, he is a permanent tower person then.

He doesn't respond but that is fine as long as he is still there and hasn't forsaken me then he can go silent for as long as he wants, I see Selie cultivating as she is now entering the epic ranks. Selie has already finished her tower sentence but has remained a constant partner to me as a repayment for my kindness to her, she was officially welcomed as a citizen of earth three years ago and has come to love our accepting culture.

She has told me she is actually a dragon descendant, she tells me that dragons kill any newborns that are tainted as they end up being driven insane due to their own energy and the dragon cub being to young to handle it.

It is why other cultures also began to renounce and even kill tainted children as a act of imitating and following the dragons, well I guess it is a understandable case for the dragons as the few tainted dragons to grow up all went insane as their own energy overwhelmed them.

Still the other races have no such excuse for the act of infanticide and the tower cracked down on them so they instead just discard the children in dangerous location so they die by creatures hands.

Anyway the towers appearance has brought drastic changes to our world and the biggest is the kids who are now raised on the knowledge of how to go through the tower and how to cultivate properly, I personally brought many different methods that I purchased out of the tower for the sole purpose of letting others use them.

My own cultivation style and Selie's is not there so as to keep our privacy but most of the ones there are the lower grade ones that can only let on reach the master and grandmaster stage.

Once I reach the epic grade I intend to go to the next level of the 101st floor as I have remained stagnant on this floor for to long making many on earth ask me why, I have told the government of the dragons and the cults but many at that point had already made contracts so all they can do is keep it quiet and prevent the higher up people and the talented children from taking a contract.

We had specialized training locations for the kids proven to be talented in cultivation as they start to learn it at the age of 10, some slip through but most are taken in and trained early for their future and safety.

Building a army of those not in contract with anyone so as in case of an attack we can protect ourselves has taken a lot of supplies and materials that I brought out of the tower using the spacial bag, they have tried to make more but as of now there is only 100 spacial bags that can fit around 1 item in them meaning supplies are prioritized based on worth and need.

Society has also changed a from the monster flood brought about from the mana release and towers appearance, the amount dead or missing presumed dead was around 20% of the worlds population.

Right now my country of Sedrel has the highest number of advanced tower climbers due to my aid but some other countries have begun making their own task forces and information gathering parts, although we have given some information away we still hold quiet a bit close to our chests.

People also now all live in protected areas as although we can predict their appearances, guilds deal with them as so to lay claim to the resources they bring so if one wants safety they need to be in a guilds range of influence.

The military deals with the ones not wanted or out of the way but there are so many they can only prioritize the most important and dangerous ones first leading to a few erupts in areas not watched by guilds, the kill counts for monsters still increase everyday even after we have done as much as we can to limit it.

Adaption is the key to many things and the Evans company has boomed from this as apparently their son was a big share holder in gear making companies due to his adventurous nature and now most those gear companies make tools for hunters, I personally have met with them and seen the photos and pictures of their son that they donate large sums in the name of as he was one of the people lost of the towers appearance.

I met their daughter born three years ago, they loved her to death but feared for her to the point of over protectiveness as they lost their son so violently and suddenly they don't want the same for their daughter.

I have many items on me made by the companies they sponsor from potions to climbing gear and even emergency rations for hunters, another thing for them was prosthetic limbs they had also began to fund before the end has made a lot from the mass injuries and new inventions brought by the new materials and energy.

One would think one can just heal a lost limb but the points needed for such a thing was astronomical making many have to simply live with the loss, he has heard of only one person using all ten years to earn money for a regrown left arm.

The rise of hunter items and the fall of daily ones made many big businesses fall out of favor due to them no longer keeping up to date with the new inventions that hunter based ones can, after all many small business owners where out and about when the attack came and some where now even pioneers and had great sway due to their positions.

The entire physical, economical, and social structure has been up ended in these past ten years and no one has been truly untouched by it.

I finally advance as the 11th year comes to and end and am now ready to enter the 101st floor with a strength only meant for higher floors but needed as I am not in a contract with anyone and once my act of defiance to normal structure within the tower is realized I will become the target of all.

I pass the test of either needing a support of someone on a higher floor or beating the boss of the 100th floor, the boss is at the grandmaster stage despite being on a floor meant for one transitioning into that level.

Killing it with a powerful crushing blow I go to the next floor wondering how it will be, I appear and see a city around me.

I know that Selie is at a town after coming up here the day I set out to beat the boss and we met up outside of the tower so as to make finding each other easier, I ask for the location of sawer town and learn it was attacked by a anti-tower group known as the huntsmen.

I feel my stomach drop as I now need to rush there to see if she is safe, I run for her location as I am faster then the transport they offered at the city, I arrive to see a mass of black covering the area and the feeling of Selie's power.

Whatever took place here was not whatever they had claimed as clearly I know Selie's energy and it feels angry beyond belief and I doubt the anger was because of some anti-tower group, looking for any signs of what may have happened I am approached by a man in a scale uniform.

"Are you here for a relative or here simply to see the anti-tower terrorists?" The sound of sarcasm in his voice stunted me for a second but I speak anyway.

"I know this isn't a anti-tower persons doing and you are going to tell me what took place here or I will force it out of you myself." The man froze at my words as he seems shocked both at my threat and at my certainty it wasn't a anti-tower group that did this.

"What if I said I was one of the anti-tower people who did this, still think it isn't us?" I freeze then look at him, he knows where Selie is if he wants to claim it is himself that did it.

"Where is Selie." I do not bother hiding this anymore as clearly this man knows more then he lets on.

The man freezes and looks wary as he stares at me while reaching for the sword on his hip, I take out my dagger and he stares at it before also looking at the armor and asking me a question, "Are you Salman Amin?"

Nodding in agreement he lets his hand fall to his side and tells me Selie is waiting for me, he leads me to a still standing building and all I can think is what has Selie dragged me into because the men here are all clearly violent men as they look ready to fight me at any moment.

I see Selie sitting at a couch with another man and immediately sit next to her while checking her over for any injuries or signs of torture, finding none the man with us finally speaks.

"Have you heard of the fight for freedom from the higher ones of the tower." I freeze and stare at him, looks like this isn't just a basic matter after all.

I listen to him explain their purpose of helping those in unequal terms and near slave like contracts break them or if they can't be broken then buy them when they become a slave from the action, most of the people are tainted ones like her but there are many form new planets like my own who don't realize the true weight of the things they agree to.

They ask me if I am up for joining them and all I have to do is sign a contract of non-discloser for joining them, I look to Selie who is practically begging me with her eyes and agree.

I sing the contract and am given a room to stay in here at the current emergency rest area after they found the town to be a contract slave place, they killed as many of the contract holders they could to force terminate the peoples contracts but for the others they have simply taken them as their own slaves.

I didn't see anyone in slave outfits or collars and they said that contract broke slaves can be released by their owner at will, I sigh and smile as clearly this is why Selie wants to stay here.

Laying in the bed I wonder just how much change we can truly bring for the tower.