Lavish Staying

WHEN WRIK WALKED OUT of the residents of Tanya and Sophia, it was already pitch dark. Unknowingly, he had spent more than a couple of hours there. Time passed quickly when you involve in something deep. His mood became quite heavy after he stomached everything that Sophia said.

He sighed and looked at the night sky. There were few stars in the sky, there's few that were glittering while most were silent, lost. A soft breeze blew in the path as he calmed his mind to not think about the problem he didn't have to bother for a long time. He hasn't even climbed the first floor of the Tower. Why worry about the 60th now. With a few deep breathing, his mind became calmer than before.

Now there's more light on the path compared to the evening. There were big limelight lamps a few distances away on both sides. And then he remembered he didn't know this place at all. Without much consideration, he walked back along the path—Tanya brought him in.

With a bit of effort, it was not much difficult for him to remember the path. Moreover, he scrutinised most of the signs coming here, which was a big help on the way back.

'Sophia mentioned all participants were issued with their own compartment. I guess I have to check that out.' He walked a long way to the medical ward he had stayed before to notice Anton and others were there. 'I've to look for the tallest building.'

After walking for a few minutes more, Wrik came in front of the medical ward and found a few familiar faces waiting there.

"Where were you? I couldn't find you anywhere?" Anton asked, as he was the first one to notice Wrik's arrival.

Apart from Anton, there's Davin, Evan and the Archer—Jacob. Davin and Evan waved their hands at him while the Archer nodded. He looked rather awkward among the group of tall fellows. This was the first time none of them was wearing any armours or weapons. They all looked rather relaxed than they were at the trial.

"It's a long story," he said. "What were you looking for here?"

"We're going to check out the training facility here, guess you wanted to go there too," Ton said, then he recalled something. "Have you eaten anything yet?"

"Yes, let's go. I'll tell you some good news on the way."

The five walked towards the indoor training facility as Wrik told them that Sophia invited them to train with them and would help them with her knowledge and expertise.

"Wait a minute, that means you have dinner with her. I was worried about nothing." Anton almost shook him off by the collar. "You could have asked me too."

"I went there unknowing, Ton. Well, that's not the issue here." He looked at the others. "Davin is one of her associates, so you would be there, right?"

"Well, of course. Mistress Sophia already told us, she would help in some areas in our training . . . though I didn't know she would include others as well." Davin said.

Wrik nodded at Davin. "How about you, Evan?" Wrik eyed the former Inquisitor acolyte. "You could bring Lillian and Lan as well, you know they needed to train as well."

Evan waited for a bit to ponder before saying, "Thank you. I'll have to discuss this with the other two for their confirmation. You know I can't decide for them."

"Alright," Wrik nodded, then looked at the last remaining one of the group. "That's left with you Jacob, are you . . ."

"Yes," Jacob said before even listening fully to Wrik. "Whatever it is, I'm in."

Wrik looked at the archer and others. "That settles it then. The only one who remains is Michelle. Jacob, can you inform her?"

"I can," the short fellow nodded. "I think she wouldn't mind coming, she's almost every time at the ward looking after An Byul."

"Excellent." He nodded and looked to notice that they arrived at the facility as well.

It was a tall building, the tallest in the Sanctuary, to be specific. It was over a hundred metres tall and stood on a few hundred square metres with over two dozen floors. Like most other buildings here, it's painted in white as well, with limelights flickering from the glass windows of the building.

"Let's go in." Davin took the lead and brought the group inside the building. "Apparently, the ground and first floor are for physical work out. While for other special training you got to pay credits to enter."

The floor was as smooth as others; the limelights were lit brighter here as there were few fellow training. There were rows of equipment and appliances laid out on the floor. There was everything from dumbbells, weight lifting, even something that they did not recognise. Wrik saw a few in a weird-looking appliance to train legs and other different muscles.

"There is private training rooms as well, but those needed credits as well." Davin showed them the way around here. "I guess no one wants to train now, let's go to the second floor then."

Then took the general stairs to the first floor, which had a similar build to the ground floor, though the light was dimmer. Not many were present here, as most of the space here was for duelling or training with weapons.

"Wanna have a match?" Davin asked, looking at the others.

Wrik shook his head, while the others weren't interested as well. They were not dressed in their combat costumes; it would take more time to dress up then have a duel, then change again. So nobody bothered about it.

"Well, then how about checking out our compartment?" Davin was more excited than his usual self. "If I'm not wrong, it's in this building as well."

Nobody declined this time, as they all went up the stairs again.

Even till the third floor, everything was about training and stuff. Wrik still couldn't get over all the appliances he was seeing. It was nothing like where he used to live. This place gave off the vibe of a more futuristic civilization. 'Well, it's the Maha Tower, we're talking about. I need to get used to it.'

"Davin, please tell me you know where we're going." Anton grimaced with an annoyed expression on his face. Apparently, all the climbing made him bored.

"Well, I don't know, but Evan does," Davin said, looking at the former Inquisitor acolyte. While the other looked at Evan as well.

"You have to move to the top floor if I'm not wrong," Evan said. "But before that, you have to collect the key from the fifth floor, let's go there first."

"Great, more stairs," Anton said.

"So you've been here before?" Wrik asked a dumb question, though he knew it. Where else would Evan go? He should have visited his two other companions here.

"Yes," the tall man answered. "I'm staying on the 12th floor with Lillian and Lan. Let's go. I think you would like this place."

After climbing another floor, they arrived at the fifth floor as Evan took the lead to bring the group to collect their keys. And it was quite close by. Evan brought them to the reception, where a middle-aged man was sitting in the unusual white employee getup. He was actually reading something, not any book or physical paper, but in the virtual Omega window. He dismissed the window immediately, noticing their arrival.

"Let me guess, keys?" The man said. Well, it's an easy guess, as people usually come here for the first time to collect the keys. "Give your name, one by one."

"Anton Blaciel."

"Davin Mckain."

"Wrik Everknight."

"Jacob Wield."

They announced their name one by one as the man noted their identity.

"Wait a minute," the receptionist said, not looking at them. He inspected or verified their names on the Omega window again as he nodded, looking at them this time. "You fellows were quite good, A+, A, B+ and B." He searched under his desk for a moment to bring out four crystal cards. "Here."

Anton collected the cards before inspecting them. They were white, with dark golden runic marking on them. More importantly, the four cards were not the same, there were four apparent distinct marks on them. And something was written there, something he couldn't read. Anton was about to ask the Receptionist who carried on with his reading when Evan answered for him.

"The quarters are differentiated by the grade you got on the trial. The higher your ranked, the lavish your suite will be," Evan said. "Let me see."

"Can you read it?"Anton gave the cards to Evan, who started to inspect it.

Evan nodded. "It's actually compulsory to learn at least the ancient Elnin scripts for the acolyte," he said as he read the cards. He gave the card back to each of the person before saying. "Wrik and Anton were on the 18th floor while Davin and Jacob at the15th."

"Crap, even more stairs," Anton scowled, giving another look to the card.

"You won't complain after you look at your compartment," Evan laughed, gesturing in the direction of the stair.

"How lavish is it?" Jacob couldn't help but ask as they climbed the stairs again.

"More than you can imagine actually, I'm only staying at the B- grade ones and it's already top class. I can't imagine the effect A graded ones would have," Evan continued. "It's the best place for resting. The bath was amazing."

"By the way, Evan, isn't your rank higher than B-?" Wrik asked. "As far as I know, your contribution in the underground dungeon wasn't any less than mine."

"Yes, I got an A actually, but I integrated my quarters with Lillian and Lan, so it downgraded to B-."

Wrik nodded. Only Tanya and Anton got A+ on the Trial as far as he knew, though A was similarly rare enough. The guide had said that it's almost impossible to rank A or above without being the main contributor to the main quest, so A was already top of the class. He had no complaints there.

But climbing all the stairs made him complain a bit.

They climbed on the stairs one by one, Anton Even threatened to mess this place up if his suite was not worth the stairs—he was climbing.

They're actually more people here than Wrik guessed. After asking Evan he found out that most of the people did not even take part in Phase-II of the trial, almost 80% of them gave up after the first phase. Well, after thinking about it Wrik found it to be fair, considering what they encountered in phase II.

"The stairs are not going to end, are they?" Anton scowled, climbing onto the tenth floor of the building. "I would be happier if they just gave a suite on the ground floor. At least I don't have to climb these many freaking stairs.

"At least they could build some lift."

"Ooh, I forgot, there are lifts here. But it isn't anything you have seen before. Besides, it costs credits to use it." Evan mentioned as Anton's expression turned even darker.

"Cost? How much?" Anton asked.

"I don't know. It should be similar to the cost of food."

"But we have 90% discount on everything," Anton cried out. "You could have said that earlier."

"Sorry," the former Inquisitors Acolyte apologised. "Actually, I never used it and could it uncomfortable so I forget to mention that."

Anton could only sigh at that comment. 'You don't feel uncomfortable in teleportation, but in a freaking lift?' He did not know he should cry or laugh at that comment.

On the 12th floor, they left Evan at his suite, though he was quite fine with helping them to the last floor. But Wrik insisted they would be fine without him. Moreover, Evan had to discuss about the proposal Sophia gave. At last, the former acolyte left hearing that.

Now the four of them left and a few more floors to climb.

"Let's go to the 18th floor first," Jacob said to the rest three. "Michelle was there, I think we should tell her about the proposal first."

"Alright," Wrik said, he then looked towards Davin. "Davin, are you coming?"

Davin was not sure about the answer; he was about to decline as he was quite exhausted after climbing to the 12th floor.

But before he could decline, a taunt came to his ears.

"Are you tired of climbing the stairs?" Anton said. He continued giving a head to toe glance at Davin. "Well, if so, it's totally understandable."

Davin's lips twitched. "As far as I recall, you're the one complaining about the stairs all along." Davin didn't rest there. "Did your brain get short-fused climbing only about a dozen floors?"

"Who said that, I'm as fit as a fiddle," said Anton.

"Doesn't look like it."

"Your eyes might have declined after all that night activity," Anton smiled. "Give it a rest chap, before you go fully blind."

Davin's face turned red, hearing that. "Are you talking about yourself? I bet all the dexterity in your palms comes from playing with yourself."

"Then how about we have a race?" Anton proposed, looking at Davin."Let's race to the 18th floor, see who is the boss."

Davin couldn't back down now, said. "Why not? But what's the prize?"

"Guys?" Jacob tried to stop the two, but they didn't even put his words to their ears.

"Um, the loser has to buy meals for the rest of the trial," Anton pondered a moment before answering. "How about that?"

"Fine by me," Davin agreed without thinking.

"Um, guys," Jacob said again, but found an arm on his shoulder. He turned to notice, Wrik was laughing at the two of them.

"Well, why are we waiting, then?" Wrik said, giving a long look at the stairs upwards. They had been tense up for a couple of weeks. It should be an excellent opportunity to release some steam.

"Alright then, let's start," saying that Anton ran off first, not looking back.

"Hey, that's cheating," Davin yelled, his legs moved as well, but Anton was already a dozen meters away.

Wrik looked at the two figures running ahead and shook his head while smiling. He started running as well as he spoke to Jacob. "Well, then we should get going as well."

Jacob with a sigh followed him as well. After covering the floor, they noticed that they couldn't see the two figures ahead anymore. They were really taking this seriously.

"Looks like we have to pick up the pace as well," Wrik said as he changed the easy run to a faster one.

"I thought you're the responsible one?" Jacob asked Wrik from behind.

"Of course I'm," Wrik said. "Don't worry, just run or I'll leave you here."

"Are you sure there would be no consequences," Jacob asked again. "You know this place isn't for playing around."

"This should not get us into any mess." Wrik continued, he was already a dozen steps ahead of Jacob.

Jacob didn't want to leave behind, tried his best as well.

On the other hand, Anton galloped on the steps with large strides. He already covered three floors by now approaching the 15th floor.

"Davin, where are you?" He yelled while panting slightly. "Have you gone to your room for a rest?"

"Don't worry, I'm right behind you," Davin's voice came from behind. "You should see where you're running off to or you might trip off your step."

"My eyes are always bright, unlike you who wasted those good eyes playing with yourself." Anton couldn't help but smile. He slowed his pace by a bit and said. "Be ready to prepare my trophy, cause I'm not stopping."

"Who asked you to stop," Davin ran just beside Anton, yelling. "You better prepare to spend your credits as I have an enormous stomach to fill."

The two of them ran crazily on the stairs while trash talking to each other. Even the bystanders on the way thought, are they idiots?

Davin and Anton reached the limit of their speed as they reached the 17th floor. Good thing not many ranked in the A's, if not they might have collided with somebody by now.

"We're about to reach. Davin, are you there?" Anton opened his lips to ask in between the pants.

Davin, who was only a step behind, responded with a loud grunt.

Then a girl with red hair came into their vision. She was holding a couple of packets on her arm.

"Isn't that the finishing line?" Anton asked as he moved with the same momentum.

"Guess so," Davin confirmed and ran after the redhead girl.

Michelle, who just bought a few clothes and food after the meal at the restaurant, noticed the two familiar faces running straight at her as well. Her mind raced, seeing their frantic run. With a panic, she pulled the maha mana inside her body as a ball of flame appeared before her.

. . .

When Wrik and Jacob turned up at the 18th floor, they saw no glorious scene of victory.

It was a scene of two idiots sitting against one another in tattered clothing, with burned marks all over their bodies. And a considerably tall lady with crimson hair lecturing them.

"You two idiots. Are you still kids?" Michelle shouted at the two miserable figures. "You did not find any other place to play. There is a freaking playground in the sanctuary, yet you have to run like idiots on the stairs. And you two were holding nothing back as well. There are tracks for that. What would have happened if any of you slipped? Have you thought about it?"

Anton and Davin did not answer, only looked below with their heads downwards in shame.

"You said there will be no mess," Jacob said to Wrik.

Wrik could only laugh at the comment. "So, who is the winner?"

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End of the Chapter: Lavish Staying.

Next Chapter: The First lesson.

This book would go premium from 19th August. All the chapters from here will be locked.

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Check our the OTHER BOOKS BY Author. 

Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis. (Fantasy - LITRPG) GENIUS regreessd mc.

Apocalypse Guardian: Mythwalker. (EASTERN - FANTASY - LITRPG) Desperate Mc.

Chaos Gene. (SCI-FI - EASTERN - LITRPG) Lecher and unprincipled MC.

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THERE HAS BEEN SOME PROBLEM WITH LOCKING THE CHAPTER. I DID MY BEST MERGING THEM, THOUGH ITS STILL LESS THAN WHAT I PROMISE.

I wanted to say a few words here.

If you're not sure about continuing the story, or you are continuing, please spare a couple of minutes to read the following words.

The first time I started writing was not long ago, about six months ago. I started without much knowledge of the craft, and that was a disaster.

The story I tried that time was titled "OMEGA: The First Swordsman", yes now it turned into Broken Tower Saga. But I made a lot of changes. For instance, there was no tower on the first try. It was supposed to be a Space opera (Starwars like stuff), moreover, the background was Earth (futuristic earth).

Then I took a two months break, studied the craft, tried out a couple of more ideas before turning back to the First Swordsman again. ('cause it's my first book.)

I can say only the characters were the same, though I changed many of their features, manners, bio. I introduced more characters and made sure most of the characters have a past, a story about themselves.

Enough talk about the past. Let's talk about Broken Tower Saga now. As you can see I took my time in building the world, and I still feel there's more to write about. The first volume will describe the world's background properly. I will showcase how broken the system is, how cruel the world(tower) can get. (major world-building is coming on the third part)

What I'm saying is, it ain't gonna be a climb a floor, and level up run mill, (But be sure there will be LITRPG part, but it won't be a lot, it's one of the minimalist RPG setups.) it will be slow, but it'll pull pace abruptly 'cause shit can get real at any time in the tower.

The first three-part of volume one (about 80% of vol. one) is slow. I used these there volume for character introduction, explaining the magic system and omeganet, and world-building, while the main plot comes in the third part when they arrived at the tower. And the fourth(last part) is the payoff.

For my first ever book, I wanted to write compelling characters, a well-described world, an easy to follow the magic system, and cool fight scenes. ('cause shit can turn ugly if I try more than I can handle)

I know I have a lot of faults (slow update is one of them), and I'll make mistakes again, but I'll always try to deliver the story to the best of my abilities.

And English is not my native tongue, I know its sounds like an excuse, (and it is an excuse) please forgive me if you find any problem in the flow.

Thanks for reading my books. Stay safe.