The encounter

[Orion POV]

Orion was really happy, today he finally learned everything he could on the 10th floor, he was finally going to climb to the first resting area, he'll soon be able to relax a little bit. He intended to rest for a week before restarting his ascension. But a week of vacation for five years of hard work was something really deserved in his opinion.

While thinking about his future days someone interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey idiot, why are you smiling like a clown, have you finally finished your training ?"

"Who's smiling like a clown ?? If I'm smiling it's because of your funny face Left Hands!" He retorted.

"More seriously, is it really the end brother ? You finally perfected your technique to extract the essence of each ingredients ?" Said the man.

"Yeah, I thought it'll take me forever and that I'd never be able to complete this training."

Orion was talking to someone he knew since the second floor, That was a funny coincidence that they encountered each other since the artisanal tower was big enough to accommodate more than 10 billion people. What was funny was that he encountered him because he ascended two days after the foreseen day due to mana exhaustion. Had he not ascended that day, he would probably never have met him. But fate was something really unpredictable and since they met, they always pushed themselves to the limit before climbing. Sometimes Joel had the edge, sometimes it was Orion but the duo really liked each other even with the nicknames they gave themselves.

"So what are you planning to do when you'll be on the resting area ?" Said Joel

"I'll enjoy myself for a week, before climbing again, today is the third day of the fifth year, if I slack off too much I'll probably never clear the tower. I heard that that Allen boy established some districts and that he is managing that area. He even built a brothel, I might visit it, after all five years without the warmth of a woman is probably the worst punishment a man can face" Orion said jokingly.

"Hehehe, How can I blame you, I heard that the life on the resting area is quite expensive, how much have you saved ?" Questioned Joel

"About 1763 gold coins in total, I'm richer than a merchant don't underestimate me" said Orion.

"Oh god, you really are! You'll probably be a king for a week! When do you plan to ascend ?"

"Yeah a king without a crown, I hope that Allen bastard will not notice me, I'll play it low profile, I don't want this crazy bastard to come after me. I'll ascend in a few hours."

"So soon… you're right, better safe than sorry, you won this time but I'll soon follow you, it's a matter of time before I'll catch up to you don't be complacent brother! I'll miss you brother, be safe." Said Joel with a little smile while throwing a bag of 10 gold coins at Orion.

Since they met, they always bet 10 gold coins as to whom will ascend the first one to entertain themselves and to keep them motivated. Even if the gold coins were not what motivated them but that was more the representation of the bet. Catching the purse, Orion said "I finally got some of my money back, how could I become complacent ? I'm in a 30 gold coins deficit, I'll not become complacent, at least not before I'll take my money back. Be safe brother, I'll miss you too."

The score was 60 / 30 in favor of Joel after today, Joel was a blacksmith, he was like Orion, ready to give everything in this new life, ready to achieve greatness as he gave his all everyday.

Parting ways to take his stuff, Orion was not worried about Joel as he knew the man was a talented blacksmith. But he was concerned about avoiding the attention of Allen to not become his pawn as he knew the man was recruiting talented people for his guild.

If only he knew what awaited him, maybe he'd throw himself at Allen and beg him to protect him. But he was sure to discover that in a few days as the fateful encounter was approaching.

"Ascend" saying that Orion disappeared from the 10th floor with a look of anticipation on his face.

[Aaron POV]

Aaron was stunned since the moment he put a foot on the resting area, instead of being greeted by a forest or a mountain like the last five years, he was greeted by a lively village. The resting area was made of three sections. Outside the walls were the fields, for the people to grow cereals, vegetables and raise livestock if they were in possession of the propriety. The fields were blessed and everything that was planted here was sure to mature in the next week. The livestocks took only a month to reach maturity. Inside the walls there was the outside districts, where merchants could buy a mansion and revolt a rent for it or sell it afterwards also known as the residential area. And the last district was the inner area, there was a giant castle in the middle of that area, and there were the shops and a lot of stalls, that was the commercial district. Aaron appeared in the middle of the commercial district just in the middle of a big place close to the castle. The moment he appeared there was a golden light surrounding him. He didn't knew at that time but each climber will be surrounded by a certain light depending on the difficulty of the tower they chose.

The moment he appeared and was surrounded by that golden light, he was greeted by a guard.

"Hello sir, I am a member of the Protector Guild, I am in charge of this floor identification process and I'll explain you everything about the functioning of this resting area. Follow me please I'll explain everything while we walk to the identification center" Said the guard while making a sign so that someone could replace him while he was gone.

"What ? Identification process, what is that ?"

"Sir, when our guild leader Allen took charge of this floor, he built something similar to Earth, like an identification card to record the criminals and protect the people"

Hearing that Aaron was sure that it was bullshit, why would someone create something like that in an environment where the weak were always wrong.

"Oh, what a kind heart, how did they manage to make something like that ?" Said Aaron

"When our guild master built the guild, he chose to separate the guild in three, The fighting force, also known as the protector, the Merchant Union who regroups the merchant under him and the Crafting Organisation who are the artisanal tower climber. And that identification card is the work of a magic engineer." Said the guard.

After asking a lot of questions, to get a better grip of the situation, he understood that Allen was not that benevolent. It seems that Allen and the Merchant Union only managed to buy 2 out of the 20 fields and that food was a scarce ressources. They kept the price "low" but still made a killing because there was a high demand and they couldn't feed everyone so they gave priority to the workers and the guild members. The people not affiliated with them and this not under Allen only got the crumbs.

The working force consisted of people too scared to climb, and they were working for a couple of vegetables and a little bit of meat after a 12 hours shift. He also understood that this identification card was a freaking spying tool and that was a robbery. That card cost one silver coin each month, and if they didn't have it, they will be prohibited from getting any stuff associated with Allen guild. So each time he bought something there will be a report of him, he'll be spied upon and he didn't liked that. Luckily they didn't had all the fields and only got a little of food to offer otherwise all the tower will be tied by this system. So while it was good to have this card, it was not something necessary, at least for now as they couldn't provide ressources to outsiders of their guilds members for the time being.

It really was something praiseful in Aaron opinion, this system was really a good means to control the information and he reevaluated his impression of Allen, from a strong one to a really dangerous individual.

"But rest assured, for the primordials climbers there is no such a monthly fee." Said the guard to Aaron.

Aaron told the guard that he was not interested in the card as he'll only stay a couple of days here, before parting with the guard and going on his way.

He went in a direction of a pub as he wanted to enjoy himself a little bit before starting to make preparations to put a leash of the so called Protector Guild because he didn't liked the turned of the events. As he didn't wanted them to be unstoppable in the future, he needed to stop them now. Putting that aside for now he entered a pub with only two people inside, one being the owner of that place and the other a customer. He was in a quest of social interaction after passing 5 years alone so he decided to join them on the bar. He approached them and after a minute decided that it was time to speak as the two of them were to immersed in their discussion to even remark his presence.

"Hum hum…. Hello, I'd like a beer please." Said Aaron while putting a gold coin in the corner of the bar.

"Oh hello, as you are so casually throwing golds like my friend here you must be a newcomer too! Sorry I was just complaining about the robbers who are in charge of this floor and I didn't even remark you. You'll get a hundred beer with this gold coin Sir, and I'm afraid that I can't give you the change as a gold coin is too much for my business to handle." Said the bar owner.

"No problem with me, I'll share the hundreds beers with both of you, I'm not a gold coin away from bankruptcy. By the way my name is Aaron, I'm sorry for my social skills but I didn't saw anyone for five years so I might be a little rusted."

"Okay friend, my name is Jacob and the one next to you is Orion, he came today like you and since then he is really down because of those Protector bastards!"

After the 60th beer, Aaron got a better understanding of this duo, it seems that Jacob was a merchant and that he bought this place before the arrival of the Protector to make some money. But since they came, they wanted him to sell his business to them at not even 10% of his value, as he was situated in the place of the Arrival. And since they had the hands on the ressources they refused to sell him anything for his business. So he was forced to buy from the adventurers at a hight cost and it was even difficult to supply himself sometimes. But what could he do. The other guy called Orion was an artisanal climber and just wanted to be anonymous, he was dejected by this system as could not even enjoy a night in a brothel because he refused to make an identification card. After their last beer.

Aaron said them : "Fuck it, let's build our own organisation, I don't like the turns of the events and I don't want to be monitored every time I buy some vegetables, I got money, you told me that you are a merchant Jacob ? Let's go, I'll be your backer, let's buy all the fucking fields and mess up with those assholes! There is a place for you Orion, you'll be responsible for the Crafting part it is decided, I'll not forget you don't worry! We will show them our might, we will show them that they can't control us!"

"Cheers" said all of them.

While Aaron was sober thanks to his perfect physic, the other two were not really in control of their actions and were just enjoying the rebel vibes of the new guy thinking that he was just bragging. They passed a long night explaining the futures actions they needed to do to shake the balance of power. The night ended with Jacob and Orion left sleeping on the bar without even knowing that the events of today will lead to the creation of the Black Market and will change their fates forever.