Harley stood inside a wooden cabin, beneath him a heart shaped rug colored red. Two bunkbeds are placed on each side, the sheets colored blue. In front of him were a locked door and windows overlooking complete darkness. To the other side of the room was a small and short square wooden table where four pillows lay at the end of each side that acted as chairs. The room was dimly lit by four candles hanging on each side of the room’s walls.

  “Well, this was unexpected. Considering there are only four beds, not a lot of my classmates survived. Or maybe they just don’t expect a lot to survive.” He walked towards one of the beds and lay down immediately. “Ahh…” Harley felt fulfilled, laying on a soft bed, with a hot textured blanket, it was perfect. “Just one pillow, though…” His eyes were staring intently at the pillows on the floor.

  “Too lazy to get up. I’m just gonna lay here… till that bunny comes back.”

  “And you knew exactly what I was gonna do!” The rabbit appeared, looking down from the upper bunk of the bed. He jumped upside down and flipped as he fell, landing perfectly straight on the ground.

  “So, do I just wait here… or what? Where’s my reward?”

  “Don’t be so impatient. That’s the reason I’m here.” He smiled, snapping his fingers. “I supposed you don’t wanna wait for any more survivors, so here.”

  “Hahaha! Survivors, you’re speaking like this is some apocalypse.”

  “Is it not?”

  Harley stared at the rabbit's eyes, unchanging, horrifyingly empty, a complete black eye with no pupils. How did I never notice that detail? He thought.

  “Anyway.” The rabbit continued, a screen appearing in front of Harley’s eyes.

  [Name: Harley]

  [Title: Outside The Box Thinker]

  [Level: 1]

  [Unique Trait: Liar]

  [Money: 0]

  [Abilities: N/A]

  [Priviliges: N/A]

  [Power: 10]

  “What are these?” Harley, perplexed at the randomness of the status screen. “Money? Money? In a status screen of another world? I can get a game, but? Really?” He looked back and forth from the rabbit to his screen.

  “This is not another world, this is just the tower.”

  “So… what… you are telling me…”

  “I am gonna give you a little secret, though… this is just between you and me okay…” Harley stayed silent. “The first five floors follow simple game mechanics for monsters.”

  So that’s why they don’t agro when I don’t get close. But only five floors… is it to get used to in the tower? Or is it false hope that can lead to a trap if dealt with poorly?

  “Well, I don’t expect you to talk for a little bit, try to think faster, it’s a bad habit, you’ll get killed quickly you know. Anyway, let me properly explain everything. Money dictates everything in this game; even your level only goes up if you spend enough money.”

  “What? Wow! Don’t tell me you can be a whale if you’re rich from the outside world.”

  “Of course not, that’s stupid. Anyway, again, I’ll have to find a different word after you interrupt me another time. Money is earned after the second floor. I won’t spoil how, but just know… It’s simple. Now, for abilities, these are also bought with money, but they are limited, in a way that everyone in the entire world will buy these abilities in one place where there’s limited stocks.”

  “Bullshit,” Harley whispered.

  “So, that means speed is key. However, privileges are different; they are not bought with money but are earned like a title. Who gives these privileges, you might wonder. Don’t worry, constellations don’t exist, these privileges will come from the guides… like me. But I won’t give it so easily, so don’t even pry on me until you finish the fourth floor.”

  “So selfish.”

  “Lastly, power is self-explanatory, right? That’s just your capability reflected numerically. This doesn’t include anything like willpower or mentality, though, so it’s basically useless to base a person’s tower-climbing potential on just that. You humans can use it to gauge others, though we couldn't care less.”

  “That was way too much info-dumping.”

  “And thank God you didn’t make me think of a synonym for ‘Anyway’.”.

  “Hahaha! By the way, I wanted to know why there are only four beds. Is that how much you expect to live?”

  “No, that’s how much we want there to be.”

  “What? Then what if there are more people?”

  “Then they die. Or they could sleep on the floor, up to them. Just that there are only four people for each class in the world. That’s a lot, you know. Any more questions?”

  Harley stared deeply at the rabbit’s eyes. Just a quick second he couldn’t handle the darkness like he was being sucked in and immediately looked away. “How do I challenge the second floor?”

  “Through that door.” He pointed.

  “Can I challenge it anytime?”

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  “Yeah… though I advise you to wait, as the second floor is kind of a team challenge.”

  Harley silently pondered. For the tower, speed is key. If they survived that insane ass first floor, they wouldn’t care about death and go straight to the second floor no matter what. But a team challenge? What does that indicate? I would argue that even the first floor should be a team challenge.

  “Can I go back here once I go to the second floor?”

  “Actually, yes, I didn’t expect you to ask.”

  “Wait! So I can just go back if I wanted to?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then how about the lives? Do I get more?”

  “Hmph, I’m done here. That’s for you to explore yourself. I don’t wanna spoil every fun thing there is to offer. See you… Gem.” A black veil of mist showered down the rabbit, exploding into gas and disappearing.

  “Okay… this is an interesting conflict. If I go now, I might lose my life, but if I wait… It’s kind of boring. I don’t want a boring day! That’s why I yearned for this place! Though I kinda regret it now.” He whispered the last part.

  “Ahh! Fine! I’ll wait for a little bit, maybe get a proper sleep.” He paused. “Wait! Food! I forgot to ask about food! Also pee! And poop! Shit! Literal shit!” Harley jumped up from his bed and looked around the room. “Now that I think about it, the knife didn’t go through the portal, did it? So now I’m weaponless again.” He sighed and fell on his bed once more.

  Harley closed his eyes, calming himself. There are only two types of people that can appear in this place if they didn’t have my trait or any pain-reducing traits. No, three. One is an insane person who has lost their mind, second is just a person who became numb to the pain for some unknown reason, and the third is someone who lost their mind and became insane. Well… there… I… hmmm… In a few seconds of drifting thoughts, he fell asleep.

  ***

  “Ken! Ken! Ken! Ken!”

  A woman frantically yelled. Her hands ran on her hair, turning it into a bird’s nest. The mat beneath her soon crumpled. All the commotions abruptly woke up a man’s deep sleep on a somewhat comfortable bedding. “Ughh… come on.”

  “Harley!” The woman instantly grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him. “Have you seen Ken!? Ken!”

  “What… no, look around, it’s just as two.”

  “No… it can’t be! Ken!” She released her grip and smashed her head to the ground, staining it with blood.”

  “Okay… let’s relax a bit here. He could still be alive… just, you know… wait.”

  “Yes… yes… I’ll wait, no matter how long! I’ll wait for him…” She curled into herself, hugging her knees, rocking in place, fast, aimless, like a rocking chair that wouldn’t stop moving.

  Well… four then, love is also a good factor to survive through death. But you know… I’ve always known this woman loved her boyfriend more than her boyfriend loved her. If they survived the tutorial, that just meant the guy gave up. I always knew he would, though; I never expected her not to. Is it love? Or is it just a means to cling onto her life?

  Harley stood up from his bed and walked over to the door. I’m just gonna waste more time trying to calm her down. I wasted some useless time. Well, I at least got some sleep. He thought while turning the handle of the wooden door, resisting a little, with a click of metal and the tune of creaking wood, darkness swallowed Harley, moving him to the second floor.

  Inside a deep forest of no return, a thousand miles from the nearest city, the wind whistled through the leaves, and the sun shone through the gaps in the canopy. Harley stood inside a forest, surrounded by the chaos of uprooted trees. The ground beneath him was uneven, filled with the marks of roots that had once clawed themselves above the ground, all imprisoned by the shackles of trees.

  “I wanna climb a tree.” Said Harley, a second after arriving. “I’ve never climbed a tree… but… I just… people in these situations usually do it to get a better view, more so that there are just so many trees here. Well… either way, the leaves would block the view, making it utterly useless.”

  An hour later, covered in bruises, Harley sat on a sturdy tree branch, holding a leaf on his nose. “So not worth it.” He spit out air, dropping the leaf.

  [Second Floor]

  [Kill 100 Goblins]

  [Reward: The Market]

  “Okay… now onto the actual mission and the “market,” which already makes me feel obligated to scream on doing taxes to earn money. Hope there are no taxes. God does not need taxes, he does not need money at all!” He yelled, rustling the leaves. “Hahaha! Not like I can talk; I’ve never done taxes before.” He grinned, jumping down, leaving all his wasted efforts that resulted in nothing but the grumbling of his stomach.

  “There was no screen that showed the lives were replenished… but I do hope there are animals in this place that I can maybe eat… raw… I just have to return to the safe zone quickly so as not to die.” After a few more muttered words, Harley ventured into the depths of the forest. “Wait! A weapon!” He quickly turned around, circling the place where he started. “What? No weapons? How the fuck am I supposed to kill goblins! With air?!”

  From behind him came a sudden scrape of wood. Then followed a chorus of screeches. A small green figure crept from the shadows, eyes glowing bright red, saliva dripping from the corner of its lips, and their mouths were filled with broken teeth. In its hand, it dragged a rusted knife, leaving jagged streaks against the trees.

  “Oh… I’m fucked.”