I appeared in front of the gate to the Clan Howell Compound, walking inside the place. Stylo appeared immediately off to the side.

  “Greetings sir,” he said, bowing his head. He looked me over, noting the wear and tear on my armor and the dried blood. “DId you enjoy your time in the Tower?”

  “I did,” I replied, taking a seat on the front steps to the long hall. Stylo moved closer. “It was interesting. Takes a long time to clear a Floor.”

  “It does, at that,” Stylo said. “As you climb higher it will take longer and some of the next handful of floors are just one large biome.”

  “Fun times ahead,” I said, smiling.

  “There are some that think the Tower is fun,” Stylo said. “I see that you have made a potential ally already,” he continued. “I have a connection request from a Jeriyan Sumerio of the Sunrise Over Blue Hills Cooperative Formation. Would you like to accept it?”

  “Yes please.”

  “It is done. You may now send and receive messages from Master Sumerio.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Do you know anything about the Sunrise Formation?”

  “Just what is public knowledge,” Stylo replied. “As a Guide, I am limited to being your interface with the Celestial Challenge System. Interactions between Fractions is outside my purview.”

  “Okay. Do they have a good rep in the public of Crossroads?”

  “Rep?”

  “Reputation.”

  “Ah, yes. The Sunrise Over Blue Hills Cooperative Formation does have a good reputation but mostly among the newer opened worlds. They do not have many dealings with the older Fractions. They are also not the largest Fraction from their own world of Cryim.”

  That seemed in line with what Jeriyan had said. Seemed he had been honest. I wasn’t ready to fully trust him yet, but so far so good.

  “It is good that you have made your first connection with another species of the Multiverse and you even managed to get a good ranking to start your Tower Climb.”

  “You can see that?”

  “Yes.”

  “How good is it?”

  “Number 14 in Tutorial Points gained for the day, which considering you didn’t start first thing in the morning, that is extremely good. Number 63 overall for first day points in the last cycle.”

  “Cycle?”

  “What the Infinite Tower designates for a length of time. It is five hundred of the Crossroads day and night sequences. We are currently halfway through the current Cycle.”

  “So pretty good then,” I said, smiling and proud of myself.

  “Yes it is,” Stylo said. “You should be expecting to garner interest from many of the various Fractions in Crossroads.”

  “Good and bad?”

  “Yes. Scanning the list of names above yours, most belong to older and established Fractions. Those Adventurers typically come into Crossroads already carrying Tower-Resource and Tower-Arcanum infused armor, weapons and equipment. For you to land the rankings that you have, coming from a newly opened world, that speaks highly of your skills and abilities. That will be some looking to form a party with you, others that want to form connections with your Faction and others that will see it as a challenge.”

  I stood up, stretching my arms up high, and then arching my back. I wasn’t sore or stiff, was just a habit.

  “Great.”

  I turned and walked up the stairs, opening the door to the long hall. Inside was what I had imagined. A long heavy looking table with wooden chairs down either side, enough to seat eight to a side. At the end was a larger and slightly more ornate chair. Still wood, just more designs etched into it. On the wall behind the chair was a large bear skin rug and a banner hanging down, showing the Clan Howell symbol. Along the sides were windows high in the log walls, with small fire pits spaced evenly down both sides.

  Did the Crossroads have seasons?

  Decorative weapons hung in the spaces between the windows, along with paintings depicting parts of Solace. That was a nice touch. The wall at the end had openings at either side, indicating rooms beyond. I turned to shut the door after Stylo walked in, but he had just appeared on the other side of the table a couple chairs down. I shut the door and started walking.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “What part of your world is this design from?” he asked.

  “Norway, the Vikings. Don’t ask me the years because I don’t know.”

  “Is that your ancestry?”

  “One of them, yeah.”

  I reached the far end, walking through one of the openings. A wall ran down the middle, dividing the rear space into two rooms. This one was set up as a storage room. Shelves and chests piled high. I walked back into the hall and to the other opening.

  That room was a bedroom. Wardrobe with lots of carvings, a large bed with headboard covered in bears. Thick comforter and blankets. An armor stand in the corner.

  Not bad.

  Kind of like my room back in Solacetown.

  “Is the space to your liking?” Stylo asked, just appearing at the foot of the bed.

  “Can you not do that?” I muttered.

  “Do what?”

  “Just appear. Walk around like a normal person.”

  “But I am not a normal person.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled, seeing where this would get me. “And yeah, I like it.”

  I walked back to the other side, smiling as Stylo followed me. He floated instead of walked, but at least he wasn’t teleporting.

  “How does the storage here work?”

  “It is a limited Spatial Storage like your personal inventory. There are a set number of spaces, items are stacked and things do not age when in the space.”

  “Excellent.”

  I opened one of the chests and put my Tower loot in. I then looked at my status, happy to see that the Resources gathered count didn’t change. I was still curious if I was going to lose the Resources when turned in the quest. Good thing I had someone to ask.

  “No,” Stylo replied. “Once you have harvested the Resource, it counts for the Tower quest. You can do whatever you would like with the Resource, even if the quest has not been completed yet.”

  “Good, I really want to bring these hides and stuff back home.” I shut the top of the chest, stepping back to look at Stylo. “Are there places to find tools to harvest Tower Resources or some kind of wiki on the various floors?”

  “Wiki?”

  “Sorry, something from my old world. Some kind of book or thing that has information on the Floors. Where to find monsters, dungeons. How to harvest. All that stuff?”

  “Unfortunately no on the informational texts,” Stylo answered. “But there are tools available to help harvest the Tower Resources.”

  “Great. I need something to get the Whitemoss.”

  “Ah yes, that is the reason why tools became available.”

  ***

  I woke up in my bed in the compound the next morning. Or what Crossroads considered the morning. I still wasn’t sure how the Crossroads time lined up with Earth.

  Putting on my gear, I had a breakfast of jerky and water. Nothing fancy but I didn’t feel like spending any of my Points on food. Since I now knew the Spatial Chests had a time negating effect, I could bring some fresh food from Earth and store it.

  I wondered if Jeriyan would be interested in a case of Solacetown Heights Ale or any of the other Solace local brews.

  “Good morning,” Stylo said, appearing in the long hall.

  “Morning,” I replied, walking out of the bedroom with my armor and weapons on.

  “Heading into the Tower?”

  “Yep.”

  “Happy hunting,” Stylo said, disappearing.

  ***

  I grabbed my second Dungeon from the Tower Hub.

  CLIMBER’S LOG

  FLOOR: ONE

  BIOME: THE WHITEMOSS FOREST

  DUNGEON: MOSSPOND COVE

  On the way to the Hub, I’d stopped in the Market District where Stylo had suggested, a General Goods store run by a race of small green creatures that reminded me of Goblins. I’d gotten some harvesting tools that would last me through the Third Floor.

  With my new Quest, I entered the Dungeon. I had felt eyes on me as I walked through the Hub. The looks were different from yesterday. Those had been curious. These were more studying. Stylo had been right, my efforts yesterday had made me a marked man. I’d have to do better today and see if I could get a better ranking.

  The inside of Whitemoss Forest looked the same except I hadn’t entered at the same spot. This time I looked like I was around the west side, instead of the south like yesterday. The small pond was closer than yesterday’s entry. I wondered if the Dungeon had anything to do with the location. It would make some sense, keeping it so we didn’t spend so much time just slogging through the biomes to get to the Dungeons.

  It was pretty obvious that the Dungeon would be along the shore of the pond and I needed to collect some Resources down there, so I headed straight for it.