Chapter 3

The Tower blared its usual notification about ascending to a new floor, noting his presence here and indicating it had updated its own records. All kinds of random administrative aspects that Arthur cared little for. It had no real bearing on him, though the next notification was of much more interest.

The Benevolent Durians Clan Status

Organizational Ranking: 182,742

Number of Towers Occupied: 1

Number of Clan Buildings: 4

Number of Clan Members: 312

Overall Credit Rating: F-

Aspect: Guardianship

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

More members. A lot more. Arthur's eyes bulged a little at the sudden increase, wondering what the hell happened. He knew he'd picked up at least forty or fifty in the floor below. And he was sure that numbers had also increased on the fourth floor as people realised that what he could offer was significant. What he could offer in time, that is. 

No, even a minor prod of his mind was enough to clarify the truth of the matter. He was, once again, getting a lot of recruits on the first floor. His organisation was growing incredibly lopsided, with a supremely wide base. Not too surprising, since so many people had no formal organisation to join when they first entered the Tower. And beating the tongs and other gangs likely contributed to that number, made it so that the Durians looked brighter and better.

Or just the winning group at that moment. Too many just joined whichever looked the best. And he was fine with Amah Si picking up anyone who needed help-that was the point of the Durians after all. He just hoped that within that group there were some true companions.

Because the good times only rolled for so long.

"Got to have the good, if you want to know what the bad feels like. Got to be in the mood, to do it right." Arthur muttered to himself, dismissing the Clan Status information at last. He ignored the look the fox was giving him, turning to Casey. "Your turn?"

"Yes, yes . . ." She stepped closer to the fox, waving her token at him. A few moments later, she waved Arthur to come forward. He placed his seal back in the fox's hand and then allowed the prompt to blossom in his mind, wincing a little as the details crept up. 

"So..."

"Nothing on this level. One at the top and another much further canyonward, but we'd have to make our way there and it's about fifty feet down. The next closest place is another hundred feet up," Casey said as she raised a finger, pointing up. "Beside the next administrative center. And we'd still have to head sunward to get there, which means we'd be severely restricted on paths."

"Exactly." Getting to this building which they'd managed to spot half by chance rather than any actual planning, what with the random locations people were teleported into on this level, had taken a significant portion of time on their climb. It had also been dangerous, what with them having to actually fight and kill a couple of the grasping ivy monsters rather than just avoid them.

All in all, annoying. And potentially dangerous.

"Not sure it's worth getting the top place either though," Arthur pointed out. "Might as well just head to the seventh floor." Which, being a rest floor, meant they weren't going to be attacked immediately. In fact, the large town built on the seventh floor was a great place to cultivate and they'd be able to build up what they'd need there. 

"It's not all curry and gold, you know?" Casey said, softly. "All the major groups are on the seventh floor, and by now, they know who you are."

"You mean, more politics and maybe fighting?" Arthur said.

"And assassinations."

Arthur grunted. He remembered being singled out, being forced to fight on the first floor. On the last few floors none of their enemies had tried to corner them. But from what she said, that might just change again. If they made it to the seventh floor and were underpowered-and he knew he still was underpowered, what with this damn rush-he'd be in trouble. 

"Balancing the needs of now, with the needs of the future, really sucks," Arthur said. "Wo hen bu xiang."

Casey winced at the bad Mandarin but had to nod in agreement. "No one likes it. But that's the way it works." She frowned and added. "We should also talk about getting your Mandarin better."

"What?" Arthur said, surprised.

"Mmmm, my family can be a bit, umm . . ." she searched for the word, frowning.

"Racist?"

"No, classist? Sinophist? Whatever. We have a lot of dealings with China, and they get on our families case. So, they do it to the rest of us," she explained. "Cantonese just won't do. Or your accent."

Arthur grunted, running a hand through his hair. Damn Chinese. But . . . "Future. Future. What do we do now?"

Casey shrugged. "Your call. It's your Clan."

"But you've got to have thoughts on this," Arthur said.

"Ask Mel?"

Arthur rolled his eyes but, since they didn't actually need to make a decision immediately, went to get his second-in-command. He still felt, sometimes, that she was the one who should have been chosen as clan head. But then again, that was life. The deserving didn't always get it, just the lucky. Or the foolish. Or the fated. 

End of the day, it was what you chose to do with your fortune. The Chinese even had a saying about that: how the first members of a family made the money, the second generation maintained it, and the third wasted it away. Fortune and results were as much a question of choice and making the most of one's opportunities.

"We could use a place to rest up. Maybe power up in the middle of the road, grow stronger," Mel said. "It won't hurt us to stop in the middle and get stronger before we head up. We also don't have to wait around when we do reach the top."

"Or we can just spend as long as we want at the top. We'll have more stones by then," he said and patted his pouch, where the sixth-floor stones they'd been gathering rested. "Easier to cultivate with more of them."

"It's not like we're going out of our way to acquire stones," Mel pointed out. "Not really the floor for it, you know?"

Arthur understood. There were monsters here, but they weren't swarm monsters like the leech swarms. On top of that, some-like the ivy monsters-were really annoying to kill. After all, murdering a plant if you didn't have insecticide and a lot of time was a matter of dealing enough damage for its sap and other properties to stop working. And while some of them had explosive techniques, those cost energy to use. Never mind the stones they lost when someone knocked a monster off its perch and it fell, along with its stone.

"Point. We could farm the top?" Arthur paused, thought about what that would entail, with giant boulders appearing, and then snorted. "Yeah, never mind."

The moment he finished confirming what he wanted from the Tower Administrator, Arthur felt a pricking in his head. He could feel where their new Clan Hall was located. He was not the only one as he watched the majority of his people turn that way too. For a moment, they shared a look of bemusement at the Tower dumping information into their head. If you really thought about it, it could get kind of scary.

Which was the reason most Tower climbers got very, very good at not thinking about the various incongruities, exploitations, and problems there were with the entire Tower experience. Sort of like how Americans figured having non-public healthcare was a good idea, or how dangerous life had gotten, when the person seated next to you on public transportation might just snap and-being a Tower climber and you not being one-could raze through the entire bus before help arrived.

Most people were practical. They focused on survival, not philosophizing.

"Okay, okay. Next!" Arthur turned to the fox. "We got stuff to sell, from the floor below. You buying?" 

The fox nodded, though Casey put a hand on his arm. "I wouldn't."

"Why?"

"Prices are better on the next floor."

"Sure, sure. But, our kawan here must be bored, right?" Arthur found himself switching into a more casual vernacular, trying to buddy-buddy the Administrator by calling the fox "friend." Not that it was likely to work, but he figured it couldn't hurt. "Won't hurt to see our stuff. Maybe make a better offer? You don't mind, right?"

"It is my function," said the fox.

"Perfect! Let's show him." Arthur waved the group over, whereby they began to unload the various drops. Not that they had a lot, since it was still a Beginner Tower. But they certainly had more drops than on the lower levels. Arthur nodded to Mel who was discreetly taking notes of prices and commentary. 

In the end, they chose only to sell the bulkiest of their drops, the ones that were making it difficult to climb. Or the grossest; luckily, the heart and sap of ivy creatures was an actual quest acquisition here. The rest, as per Mel's suggestion, they kept for the next level. 

"Will that be all, sirs?"

"One more thing. Map?" Arthur asked.

Perhaps the creature truly had been bored, or perhaps it did look upon Arthur favorably. Regardless the fox provided the next piece of information free of charge. "Not worth buying, but I can show it to you."

"Why?" Now Mel and Arthur and Casey were looking interested.

"The floor changes. The platforms...