"It's not a dream." Claude Sinclair's introduction begins.

  "It's not a dream." Shouts from the crowd sound out.

  "It's not a dream." Blood splatters as many fall to the ground, limbless.

  "It's not a dream." Claude derides the crowd.

  "It's not a dream." "...Climb the tower.", Claude encourages.

  "It's not a dream." A ball of light flies towards me.

  "It's not a dream." An item appears in my hand accompanied by a window.

  "It's not a dream." "Hey you", Claude shouts at me.

  Taken out of my stupor I look up at Claude, who then says, "Would you shut up already. You are disturbing my grand speech; on and on with this 'It's not a dream.' nonsense, it should be enough now."

  "It's not a dream.", I mutter once again. Suddenly my eyesight turns upward out of my control, and then shifts towards the ground. Glancing around I see pale faces shrouded in horror all looking towards me. 'What's wrong with them.', I wonder before seeing my body with blood flowing rapidly from the stump that was my neck. 'Ah, that must be why. Well this isn't too bad. Maybe this dream will end now.'

  ***

  A cacophony of voices awakes me from my sleep. Looking around me I see a seemingly endless crowd, and my eyes start tearing up. "Why. Why me. What did I do to deserve this."

  Claude appears above the crowd for the third time, and remembering what happened last time I quiet down, to avoid making him mad. Staring at him he once again begins his speech about how this tower is a great chance for all, and then some of the crowd begins shouting at him to send them back, and again the ground is littered with screaming, crying, and spasming -- now limbless -- bodies. He then ridicules the crowd again, and continues on. After informing us of our "Encouragement", balls of light fly towards all those still left standing. After the ball arrives before me again but this time not splitting into two parts, remaining as one whole. The ball of light heads toward my right hand and a window appears before me, detailing my new item to me.

  'That is different.' "Close window." Then my personal profile appears before me again with slightly lower values than when I last looked at it.

  'Is it my ability which did this to me?' "Identify."

  'How do I escape from here, do I have to go back into the tower and challenge the floors again? No I can't do that. What am I supposed to do then? Think Ryan think; there was someone who wanted to search for a way out before in the first time I was her, maybe I should find him? No wait, that wouldn't work; even if I escape here I would still only have 3 months to live. So what should I do, should I climb the tower after all? No I can't do it again; I can't.' My thoughts continue racing through my head and soon three new windows appear before my eyes.

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  'I even missed the skill tree bonus this time. Stupid; how could I forget the bonuses. Now I have no chance of being able to climb the tower without that extra skill point.' Staring blankly at the floor stained with scattered puddles of blood for what seemed like an eternity thinking endlessly about my imminent death, a soothing voice calls for my attention from above me.

  "Hello there, you look a little lost. Would you like to join my party?" Looking up the pretty face of a raven haired woman is revealed to me. Staring blankly at how the light from above surrounds her features; it's as if an angel has descended before me. Her facial contours are as if sculpted from porcelain, and her hair flows down as if it was a river. Then shifting my gaze to her eyes, I feel as if I am lying before the ocean but looking at her left eye, I see it has lost it luster and appears faded.

  I see a hand waving before my face before hearing, "Hello, are you there. Hellooo." Snapping back to reality I sputter out, "Ah y..yes, I'll join." A blinding bright smile then appears before me. "That's great."

  "Yes.", I mutter, and a white light shines around me for a few seconds. She then grabs my hand and begins leading me to the area around the red gateway. "Alright let me guide you to the rest of the group the rest of the group so you can meet and get to know each other. You are the last member by the way; almost everyone else has left already, and whoever hasn't is already in a party." She then walks up to one of the groups surrounding the gateway. Looking at them in detail I see a medium sized group of 5 people besides me and Sophie.

  She points at a lanky man with a bow over his shoulder, "This is Dylan, he uses a bow." Then one by one she points at all the members in the group. "This is Alice, she uses a magic staff. This is Bruno, he uses a shield. This is Lee, he uses a spear. This is John, he uses a gun." After I shook all of their hands, she then says, "And I am Sophie, and I use sword.", patting the scabbard on her waist. "Oh silly me, I never got your name, and what weapon you use." Clearing my throat, *ahem*, I speak in a slightly subdued voice, "My name is Ryan Mitchel, and I use a magic staff."

  "Another magic user, that's great. Maybe you should talk with Alice about what magic you have." As I look at Alice holding her staff in front of her, she gives me a nod of affirmation.

  "Actually I haven't learned any magic yet.", I say. "Huh. Well you should learn it now, because we are about to go through the gate."

  "Okay. 'Skill Tree.' 'Skill Trees.' 'Learn.'"

  "Yes." Again, the wave of information comes and goes, only leaving me with a headache.

  "Identify."

  "That was very quick. Did you think about your choice any?", Alice speaks out.

  "Yes, I did."

  "Well OK, then.", she says in response.

  Sophie then calls back our attention, "Well now that Ryan has learned his magic spell, it's time to go into the tower. Don't fall too far behind." She then begins walking forward, to the gateway and soon steps through it and the rest of her party not far behind, with me lagging a little behind, still nervous about going back in the tower.

  Slapping myself on the cheeks, to psyche myself up, I inwardly mutter, "You can do this Ryan, you are not on your own anymore." I then step through the gate and the light surrounds me transporting me back to the first floor.