NOVEL NEXT 48 - Starter Quest Rules
"The Starter Quest has three main purposes," explains Ganyu. "The first is to give you an introduction, of sorts, to the way that this Floor works, especially in regards to Quests. While not necessary, it is the belief of the Floor Lord, and most of us Administrators, that experience is the best teacher, and that while the Lessons are important, the Quests are the most useful aspect of the Floor. It should already be clear from the Lessons, but the first Floor is unique. Almost no other Floors have Ascension Tests that are as easily found and have such simple qualification requirements. This Floor is designed to allow you to experience many different climates, which will prepare you well for the upper Floors, and the Starter Quest is no different.
"The second purpose is to remind you of what the Tower is like. It hasn't even been four full weeks, and despite what happened in the first two trials, some of you are already starting to relax. Those of you who have relaxed too much will struggle in the Starter Quest, and if you don't change your attitude, you may never leave this Floor.
"The third is to reward those who haven't relaxed, and have continued to excel. Starter Quest rewards are always generous, but due to the new world integration, and the sheer number of people participating in the Starter Quest this time, the rewards are beyond anything I've ever seen. Some of the things you can earn here can remain serviceable even until the 50th Floor."
I sit up a little straighter. The 50th Floor is almost halfway up the Tower, and is probably the point where 4 and 5 star becomes the norm, which makes it well beyond anywhere I've gotten to. Those items will probably be even better than my sword.
"Now, the Starter Quest this time around is rather simple." He turns to the board as the four biomes on the map light up. "For two weeks, you will not be allowed to return to the city. You will have to choose one of the four biomes to start in. After 1 week, you will need to choose a second biome. Only at the end of the second week will you be allowed to return. To complete the Starter Quest, you simply need to survive.
"If you wish to compete for the best rewards though, there will be opportunities to earn Points during the Starter Quest. Reaching certain checkpoints, finding rare herbs, hunting powerful animals, and more. After today's lecture, you may stop by my office for a full catalog of herbs and animals and how many points each is worth. The rewards for the top performers are also listed in these catalogs. There are too many to go over in this lecture.
"One important thing to note is that the way that you actually get points is by turning in trophies from your ventures. This means that until you have shown the Administrators your trophies, you will not receive points for them. I don't think I have to spell out what exactly that means. There will be checkpoints to turn in trophies at the points of each biome nearest to the city."
That's annoying. All the highest-point animals and plants will be deeper in, but if you go that deep, you'll be too far to turn in the trophies. And the fact that you don't get any points until you turn them in means that it sounds like they're encouraging taking from others. Or at least, they're not discouraging it. That will be annoying, though since it's just people from Earth, it should be fine. No one from Earth is even close to as strong as me.
"The final and most important rule," Ganyu continues, this time making eye contact with me. "Is that this is a group activity. All participants must be in a group of between five and eight other Climbers. If you do not join one, you will be automatically assigned one."
Dammit. Why?
"The reason for this is simple," says Ganyu as though he read my mind. "Is that teamwork is of utmost importance in the Tower. Climbing solo rarely works. Of all known Ascendants, less than a quarter were explicitly solo Climbers, and even they had hired help for most Floors, at least to take care of minor things. Many Ascension Tests are also group tests as well, so being able to work with others is an essential skill."
Well, this is going to complicate things a little bit. I guess it's good that Vanessa has already formed a little group around me, but babysitting will probably get annoying. Hopefully I won't have to do too much of it.
Ganyu goes on to explain a bit more on the importance of teamwork, then reiterates some of his earlier points about the importance of Quests and the usefulness of the Outlands before jumping back into the normal lecture content. The whole time that he talks about teamwork, Vanessa and the others are glancing over at me, but I deliberately ignore them.
After the lecture, I try to head back up to my room, but the others all stand up, blocking the aisle and making it impossible to leave without climbing over the backs of the seats. And I'm not going to do that. That would just look immature.
"I know," I say before they can speak. "I'll join your group. I don't really have a choice. You don't have to say anything."
"Thank you," says Vanessa, smiling.
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Jacob is the first to move out of my way, followed by Kat, then Jenny. Now that I think about it, Vanessa was actually never in the way. It was just the other three.
"I look forward to working with you," said Jacob as I walk by.
"Sure," I say.
I walk a few steps toward the exit, then pause and turn back to them.
"And don't add anyone else to the group."
"Of course," says Bella.
"C-can I join?" asks Timmy.
The others look at me questioningly. Was it not obvious that he was included already? If not, can I now reject him? I already found out why the oum around him is always vibrating…
…Well, I've still only encountered that physique a couple times. He can still be interesting to study.
"Fine," I say, turning away. "But no one else."
I turn to head back up, but then stop again when I realize Trinity isn't with me. Normally, I would just assume that she's in her own voidspace, but I'm 100% sure she was in Vanessa's arms just a second ago.
I reach the top of the stairs and glance down surreptitiously to see that she is still in Vanessa's arms. She's staring at me, but she makes no move to leave Vanessa.
Hmm. I don't like that. That's my cat.
I do a little upward nod at her, indicating to follow me, and she immediately wriggles free and bounds up toward me, finishing her journey with a flying leap onto my shoulder. I reach up to scratch her neck as she rubs her head against mine and walk out the door. Much better.
As I head back to my room, I start making a mental list of the things I have to do before the Starter Quest. It's not a very long list. Cultivate, make sure my group is ready–or at least ready enough not to slow me down too much–and talk to Nadia. That last one is probably the most important one, and I shouldn't put it off for too long. If she wasn't behind it, then hopefully telling her will get her to take care of the ones who are. And if she is behind it… Well, hopefully I'll be able to tell. Administrators aren't allowed to hurt Climbers unless they are attacked first, according to Ganyu's lectures, and he also said that the restrictions are strict enough that we shouldn't worry about getting provoked into accidentally triggering any self defense conditions. If Nadia is behind it, as long as I don't attack her, I'll be fine, and I'm not dumb enough to attack her.
I'll do that later today. For now, it's time for some cultivation.
I spend about four hours cultivating after the lecture, and all four are done with Trinity. The hope was that I would maybe be able to access her voidspace by the time I left so I could get information on that before I spring the news of the ambush on Nadia, but unfortunately, it doesn't happen. It feels close though. I can definitely sense something.
As far as my own cultivation is concerned, I feel close to my next minor breakthrough. Depending on how much time I get to cultivate, I'll either break through during the Starter Quest, or right after. Probably after. I somehow doubt that the Starter Quest will be in any way peaceful.
When I finish, it's around one in the afternoon, so I stop by the dining hall for a quick bite before leaving. Outside the dorm, the crowd of informants is almost nonexistent. There are two people chatting under a tree, but that's it. I can only assume that I was the only real person of interest to most of the informants, and since I was gone for so long, most of them dispersed. At the same time, most of my information of interest has probably already been gotten around. The rest doesn't really need someone directly tailing me.
Not that I don't have anyone directly tailing me. As soon as I pass them, they split up, one heading toward the center of the city, and the other walking along behind me. I guess I can't avoid them all. I hope the 2nd Floor is better about this.
When I get to Griffin Hall, I once again have to knock on the door and wait for someone to let me in. This time though, there aren't any questions. There are a dozen or so people in the main lobby, and a couple give me curious looks while a few others whisper amongst each other, but none of them stop me on my way to the lift.
When I get into the office, Nadia is once gain not alone, and once again, it's the same man as before, though he's awake this time, and not stuck in intense meditation. I think his name was something really stereotypically Russian. Vlad? Ivan?
"I am Yuri," he says, holding out his hand.
Ah, right.
"The Phoenix," I say.
No reason to hand out my real name for free on the off chance he doesn't already know it.
"I have heard a lot about you," he says. "I would like to request a sparring match with you."
He's only Middle 1 star, which is impressive for how long he's been cultivating, but I see no point in sparring with him.
"Nah," I say. "Nadia, can I speak to you privately?"
"Have you connected with Trinity?" she asks.
"No, it's something else," I say.
Her smile fades, and she turns to Yuri.
"Yuri, could you give us the room?"
"I- Yes, Master."
I catch a bit of a dark expression flash across his face before it returns to neutral and he walks out. Nadia waves her hand and a shell of oum surrounds us, probably to keep any sound from getting out.
"Master, huh?"
"I am the most senior member of the Shin family on this Floor," she says with a smile. "Who else would take care of his instruction?"
I shrug. "I dunno. But if you're the most senior member here, that actually helps a lot with what I'm about to ask you now. While I was out on my Quests, I was 'recruited' by some other members of the Shin family. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"