Pallad and Judine find the way through the gray desert, having sent every other person back home. Ending the war with only one casualty of the soldier who grew a big head with how the two refused to kill every truly innocent soldier.

  It wasn’t too tough to decide who to kill and who not to with Judine there. She was a famed judge for a reason. Her fatalistic judgements ensured that punishments stayed the same every time, and were consistent. She wasn’t often the trend setter, but whenever she was, she chose the death penalty.

  Many shamed her for being overly cruel, but others praised her for getting rid of the filth in this world. She herself avoided bringing personal feelings into her judgments. She continued walking forward, along with Pallad closely behind.

  The fighting of the past days to weeks was incessant, and the desert sun beaming directly into their backs didn’t make their mood any better. Rather it built rage. It built up a rage Pallad rarely ever feels, but he knew it was pointless.

  He sighs as time continues to pass. He needs to remember where he is. He’s in the tower, he can’t afford to get angry at the makers when they have yet to see anyone who could’ve possibly thrown them into this.

  The time continues to tick by, and now they haven’t been sent back to the start for however many times he’s been sent back. And Judine probably feels the same. It’s best to just continue walking.

  The desert slowly moves to match an environment Pallad was a bit more familiar with, the border city of Aelopin, the one place where the air magic tower frequently visited. Judine’s eyes look a bit more surprised to see it.

  “There should be a church nearby we can ask for directions in-” Pallad began, before being cut off by Judine’s arm being held out in front of him.

  “Wait Pallad,” She spoke, staring at the city with the same look she gives before they enter an area of a dungeon, “there’s something off about this city. It looks like Aelopin… but, this border certainly didn’t connect with a desert. Let alone one where a war would reasonably occur.”

  Pallad thought for a minute, before he remembered his trips here a bit more clearly. He never focused on the country bordering the city, but he had recalled the way the cotton candy from some of the vendors tasted really well.

  But even without the focus, the geography of the desert bordering a village made in the middle of a plain felt wrong. Especially with the great green. They hadn’t even stepped on any dry grass before entering, it was sand and rocks straight into this.

  Even with the geography out of the way, Pallad noticed how empty the streets were. There were absolutely tourist traps everywhere in the town, with the Air Magic Tower’s home residing there.

  It stood both as a defensive fort to deter foes, but also a landmark that drew in curious adventurers and writers alike to see it just once. There was even a legend that if a mage had seen all five of the magic towers in their hometown that they’d unlock a special Trait within the system that let them use every element of magic.

  Which was obviously fake, as you could learn every element of magic if you just tried hard enough according to Sornid. But Pallad walks past Judine, explaining as to why they must march on.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “The tower probably replicated it off of our memory.” Pallad starts, not stopping as he continues stepping through the empty streets. “Thought that after we went in the desert, we’d appreciate something familiar. Especially after being stuck in a time that was unfamiliar.”

  Judine doesn’t seem to accept this so easily however, opening her mouth, but nothing comes out. She walks forward with a look of defeat etched on her face, with the way her mouth curved downwards slightly.

  Pallad pretends not to notice, but does stop at an empty stand. The lettering looks wrong, as if written by something who’s only seen thousands of pages of characters but could only replicate what they looked like as the base concept.

  What was worse was that the pattern of the wood was even the same as the cotton candy stand he had seen a while ago. His job allowed him to study that kind of thing and not have to worry about punishment.

  After all, being a warrior in peace time is the best thing you could ask for, because being a pacifist in war time is a death sentence. He continues walking after the momentary pause. His eyes were burning with determination.

  The town was all wrong and there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing Judine could do either. She knew this all the same. And she didn’t care about how pointless she was in battle, she wouldn’t let that stop her from marching onwards.

  Judine sighs, allowing the anger to flow out with her breath, the city was all wrong to her as well. She noticed the wrong lettering on shop windows. She noticed the stones were all the exact same as they were in the real thing, but the larger details were missing.

  The magic tower of air was even missing as far as they could tell. Until something snapped, something magical. As they finally saw it. The Tower. The very same one they were stuck in was right there.

  The only difference is it didn’t actually go as high up as it did before. Now it could be counted. There were 60 less. And it slowly got thinner as it climbed, along with stubbier. That made sense as the win conditions became similar to other ones as they went up.

  They were stuck in a loop of getting stronger, winning, and getting further. It was getting boring in Judine’s eyes, and Pallad looked the same. This was the most interesting floor in a long time, maybe even 7-9 years excluding the one that had another world within it for them to train.

  Pallad began walking towards the tower without hesitation, simply saying “C’mon Judine, odds are the others are finished as well.” His smile wasn’t innocent, but it was free of anything negative Judine usually found in the smiles she saw in this kind of environment.

  Some of the ones she had to judge were quite negative, in fact some of them held no guilt yet a lack of innocence as well. Except the difference was those came from hearing the awful cases, and this one came from seeing the way forward.

  Judine smiles with what she can only assume is the same one, as she walks into the tower along with him, the door closing right behind the two.

  ******

  The Head Admin finally got an idea. This was evident in his grin. He already sent the five gods out to do their tasks, and Shadowing Voices to deal with his probably inevitable doom. Especially with the downside he put in place for him.

  He snapped his fingers as data coalesced into beings of similar power as the tower heroes. Some others passed floor 40 beforehand, but they weren’t hand chosen. They were just some swordmasters that were now standing right in front of the Head Admin.

  The group of 30 to 40 people all looked at him with a mixture of fear, awe, and disdain. And it made the Head Admin’s grin only grow wider, “Now I’m sure you’re all wondering why I brought you here…”