NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: The Temples of Tower
Vol 4 - The Butcher of the 2nd Floor (Interlude) - Begins!
When Kai walked out of the tunnel, there was anger within him.
He wasn't clueless unlike before.
Kai had already learned about the 2nd floor during his stay with Marine Roland.
The size of the city would keep becoming smaller as one goes up, Roland had told him. But only the Royal City has the size to be truly called a city.
Kai found himself facing the immense Wall again.
The City of Trades!
After making sure that Kai was a Chaos’ Contestant, and not an Order’s spy, the guards had let him in through the gates. The process itself had been quite easy. Kai just had to reveal a part of his Stats to the guards, showing his Code Name and System.
After getting in, Kai had been strolling around, taking a measure of his surroundings.
Finally, he decided to head to Ser Morgan Tussy.
"Where's Silver Hunters Guild?"
The man in front of Kai didn't reply. He looked at Kai up and down and then puffed his left cheek, making a fist with his right hand near his mouth. “Want one? 50 Mission Credits…”
The look that Kai gave him scared the man away.
"Big Brother…" someone spoke from Kai's behind. He could already sense the presence, but in such a crowded place it was impossible to pinpoint who was friendly and who was not.
Kai turned around and found a little boy looking up at him. He seemed 7 to 8-yr-old and had signs of dead bruises on his face.
A resident? Kai guessed, sensing no Mana or Spiritual Energy from him. Non-Contestants represented the greatest share of cities at least till the 4th Set, he had heard.
"What do you want?" Kai asked, giving a heaviness to his voice.
"I heard you are looking for a guide," the boy said.
"Don't lie to me," Kai smiled thinly. "You have been following me for quite some time."
The boy shuddered but didn't back away.
"50… Only 50 Mission Credits," the boy said, raising first three, then hurriedly five fingers. "For 50, I will be your guide. I am very good at it. You can ask about Little Hao to anyone."
Kai didn't care about reputations as long as he got what he wanted. People here were strangely adamant about telling anything without Mission Credits. At least he would get to know more than Guild's location in this way.
"How will you get the payment?" Kai asked. "You aren't a Contestant."
Little Hao gulped. He looked left and right twice over his shoulders.
Then he took a card out of his pocket. It looked like an ATM card, with a black stripe running over one of its surfaces. But on the other side, many numbers were blinking in and out of existence, as if it was just a hologram.
"What is this?" Kai asked, seeing the boy putting the card back suddenly.
Little Hao gaped at Kai. "You don't know?!" he asked, disbelievingly. "You must be new, then. It's a Credits Storage Card, made for non-Contestants. It won't work for Contestants, but non-Contestants can use it freely."
Is that why he was so jumpy while taking out the card? Kai guessed. If just any Contestant could access my Mission Credits freely, then I would be jumpy too.
"What… what are you smiling for?" the boy stepped back. "I swear Contestants can't use it."
Kai killed the uninvited grin on his face. "OK," Kai nodded. "30 Mission Credits and tell me about the major things in the city."
Little Hao groaned. "Follow me," the boy said, without looking back.
Even while walking, Little Hao's neck didn't stop twisting here and there in search of possible Card predators for the next 30 minutes. "There are three major organizations within 1000 km of the Yellow Sea Gate," the boy said, almost whispering. "One is the which you are looking for, Silver Hunters Guild. Then there is Thousand Armor Smithy. Everyone knows about that one."
Kai saw the boy taking a sharp right turn as if he was hoaxing someone.
"The last one is the strongest organization on both the 2nd and 3rd floor," the boy continued. "Thunder Faction."
Kai's eyebrows jumped, hearing the familiar name. "Tell me more about this Thunder Faction.”
"Ugh!" Little Hao scratched his head. "I know little. The only thing they talk about these days is the Golden Mage."
"Golden Mage?"
Little Hao grunted in reply. "Yeah," he said. "They say she is the most talented magician in the last 100 years of Thunder Faction. She is quite beautiful too."
Kai smiled.
Shae was just a newbie some 12 days ago when I met her, Kai recalled. How come she became the most talented magician of Thunder Faction? Arlen, my dear friend, are you still selling vegetables to her?
Little Hao pointed straight. "There, behind the Pillar of Trade. Can you see that massive silver tower? That's Silver Hunters Guild."
Kai could have called even the Pillar itself enormous.
It was nearly 300 ft tall with a blackish metallic shine. Thousands of reliefs of miscellaneous things from weapons to potions, and from beasts to runic characters were carved on it.
Behind the pillar was another silver building. It went on and on until Kai's neck had almost bent ninety degrees backward.
"They say the top of Silver Hunters Guild goes to the 3rd floor," the boy whispered.
Kai looked down at the boy and saw the sneer lingering at the corner of his mouth. Does he think I won't kill him? he wondered.
Little Hao, not knowing that he was playing with fire, glared at Kai. "I think I have told you enough," the boy said. "Now my 30 Mission Credits."
The notification appeared in front of Kai then.
…
[
Credits Storage Card ID: K22GOO is requesting a payment of 30 Mission Credits
Do you accept the transaction?
]
…
"If I request the payment on this Id, can I get the Mission Credits in reverse?" Kai asked gently, accepting the payment.
For the first time, a complete horror-struck expression appeared on the boy's face.
When the card in his pocket beeped as a sign of receiving payment, Little Hao jumped, running away.
"Oh, boy!" Kai shook his head, stepping in Little Hao's direction.
*
*
Huff! Huff!
Little Hao panted, his lungs searching for air in the congested tunnel of the city.
The streets were empty, but wolves were hiding in every corner, behind every shadow that seemed to flutter. The boy ran. To his mother, to home, to the only place where he could safely deposit today's Credits.
Three more turns. Three more, and he would reach home. A home with a door that anyone could break, but won't.
Thump!
A punch to the nose took Little Hao off guard, sending the boy rolling back, his nose bleeding.
The boy looked up and found three burly men standing over him. From his squinting eyes, it seemed the boy knew who they were, but hadn't expected them to be here.
"Little Hao," the fattest of the three said, massaging his knuckles. "Hand over all the Credits. Your mother owes me so much that even her cunt can't clear the debt."
"Ah!" the boy shouted, his body founding the lost strength. "Don't bad-mouth my mother." Little Hao rushed at the man, but the other two appeared from his side and kicked him. Another flurry of kicks and punches followed until the boy looked like any other rag in the street.
One of the men took the card out of Little Hao's pocket and threw it over to the fattest man. "Now, listen to me," the man said, biting the card between his yellow teeth. "Give me its Id and we will not go to see your mother after this."
The other two with him laughed at the threat, jeeringly.
"Ne… Never!" Little Hao spat out defiantly. Another punch at the back of his head rewarded his bravery.
"I will ask…" the fattest began, but his voice got cut off.
"I know the Id."
All three looked forward and backward, but the entire street was empty.
"Up here, you morons."
They looked up. A white-haired and hazel-eyed young boy was looking down at them; on them. In his right hand, a black saber glistened silver under the sunlight.
"Who are you?" the fattest man demanded, backing up. "Who…"
Kai descended on him before the man could complete his question.
*
*
Kai fumbled with 6 cards in his hands.
"2500 Mission Credits," Kai mumbled. "So, even low-life hooligans are richer than me."
Three headless bodies were lying around him, with Little Hao in between them, glaring up at him. Kai matched the boy's stare and smiled. "What?" he asked, taking out the 7th card. "You want your card back?"
Little Hao looked through his blood-covered eyes, but fear kept him from asking for the card back.
"I will give it to you," Kai said, crouching over the boy, "if… if you tell me something which others don’t know.”
The boy gulped and managed a nod.
Kai put the card back into the boy's pocket and sat down beside him.
"Go on," he said. "I don't have all day, you know."
"My father…" the boy said with a pained expression. "My father was a High Priest…"
Somehow, strangely and mysteriously, Kai just didn't want to hear what the boy was going to tell him.
For the first time, the thing within his chest shuddered when there was no beast around to devour. In all his life before and after his resurrection combined, Kai had never felt like this before.
It was a feeling unknown.
"He told my ma," the boy continued. "He told that above all the Organizations, even above the Empire, there are temples called the Temples of Tower."
Temples of Towers?! Kai frowned.
"Only the nobles and few high-level Contestants know of their existence below the 7th floor," the boy said. "My father could only tell the names before he died."
Kai waited without urging the boy.
Little Hao listed.
"Temple of Byagoona; HE who is the Master of Many-Faced Beings…
"Temple of Amon-Gorloth; HE who is the Distorter of the Reality…
"Temple…" The boy trailed off, catching his breath.
"Temple of Hastur; HE who is the Devourer of all Luck."
