Chapter 06: Mortals Level In The Tower

"On top of that, he told me that I could take the ball of meat that was supposed to evolve into a super pig or something like that, but he never gave it to me. That magician is a scammer, that's probably why he didn't let me take the dead magical beasts either."

Marlon was on a circular platform 5 meters in diameter, with a hallway in front where people could be seen walking in the distance. It looked extremely busy, and no one seemed to care about the newcomer, except for a young man in a green outfit to his left.

"Hello, new blood, I'm Luka, I'll be your guide for today."

The young man wore an expression of normality, as if this were something routine for him.

"Well, follow me, I'll explain along the way."

Marlon followed him, without saying a word. They walked a few meters down the hallway in front of the teleportation platform, and while they walked, Luka explained to Marlon.

"This here is the teleportation zone. Some new ones come from here, and in general all the people who enter and leave the tower, if not through the main door, do so through the teleportation platform, even if you only came on it, but only official apprentices can Use it to go on distant missions, or go to other wizard towers to trade. Merchants from other towers also regularly come to trade in the local market."

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Marlon saw how there were hundreds of people all over the area. Some wore extravagant outfits and others wore hoods to hide. Marlon noticed how there were a significant number of people with strange mutations in their bodies. He saw from a guy who seemed to have an octopus tentacle on his chest, to a girl with small bat wings on her back.

Wow, I'm sure those wings couldn't carry her weight, even if she looked pretty skinny.

"This area is the central plaza. Look at it as a large space that people use as an intersection to reach their destination. It is courtesy of the architects of the tower. It is said that when the tower was created, the wizard Lazarus asked for an area where people could reach their destination without having to go through thousands of labyrinthine corridors. Or at least that's what the stories in one of the local magazines say."

"What are local magazines?" Marlon asked, confused. This was too new for him, and contrary to what it may seem, he was not nervous. I wanted to learn more about this strange place to know how to face and cement its future steps.

"They are like a kind of book, but more focused on reporting on specific things and telling interesting stories. Although there are different types, as there are clothing, music and other things. There are also those on magical topics, new research and discoveries by magicians, but these are very expensive, in addition to not being available to mortals."

Marlon nodded and did not speak further.

"Well, let's continue. By the way, the area that we mortals are allowed to go to is the area of the first and second floor of the tower. Only apprentices can go up to floors 3 and 4. Floors 5, 6 and 7 are reserved for magicians. Currently, the tower has the strength of 4 wizards, 3 of them were apprentices a long time ago and became wizards, and the fourth is the owner of this wizard tower, the level 2 wizard Lazarus Farmenes, a member of the prestigious family Farmenes, a family of magicians from our western continent."

As they walked, Luka explained different things to Marlon. They continued through the center of the central plaza and came to a map on a wall in the area.

"Here on this map you can see where each tunnel takes you. For example, the yellow tunnel takes you to the library, where if you have a quest wish or enough spirit stones you can gain knowledge to become an apprentice. This is how 90% of mortals become apprentices, accumulating rewards from quests until they have enough net worth to exchange it with information, the other 9% pay with some treasure they have found on an adventure, and the remaining 1% evolve. "You learned by having found some inheritance."

"What, by the way, speaking of quests…" Luka pointed one of the paths with his finger, "If you choose this path you can reach the quest room. There you can choose what you want to do to earn a living in the tower. "The rewards are exclusively wishes that you can exchange in the treasure room," he said as he pointed to another path, "These wishes can be exchanged for almost anything as long as it does not exceed the power of the wish possessed."

"Then there is the bedroom area, and the common area. In the dormitory area you can pay for a room to reside in, paying for either wishes or spirit stones, while the common area is where people who can't afford a room go. There they sleep on the floor, with only one sleeping bag per person."

The rules that Luka explained to Marlon were a bit extensive. He said that it was forbidden to kill other members of the tower both inside and outside the tower, but that if they wished, the parties in conflict could agree to a duel to the death in the battle arena. Although this only applied between those of the same status. If an apprentice decides to kill a mortal in the tower, then the apprentice would only have to pay a small fine, unlike if he killed another apprentice, then he would have to pay with his life.

He also explained how one could fight in the arena itself, and it was one of the few ways that apprentices had to earn spiritual stones without having to resort to trading.

"The new ones are given a few rations, enough to be able to eat for 3 days, from then on you will have to make a living to be able to feed yourself. Here you go" Luka gave Marlon his supplies, while making a farewell gesture.