Chapter 257: Have Fun, Trainees!

Josh exited the Alter Tower, having lost all notion of time. Luckily he had a trusty clock: <Lifespan: 14 Days.> So it had been two days already. Not too bad. Instantly people noticed his arrival. 

"Teacher is back! You all, he's back!" 

"Hey, am I going crazy, or was that light purple?!" 

"Please, everyone knows Tower light is red." 

"What do you think happened in there for two days? So mysterious!" 

"Who knows…" 

The 300 of them were slowly gathering, with many exiting the newly constructed buildings. Josh trusted that Bob would do a great job. He took a breath and hollered at them. 

"Alright, everyone. I have great news: the Alter Tower is finally operational for training! We'll do it like this: a third of you guys will stay behind to watch over the camp. As for the others, have fun inside!" 

"What are we supposed to do in the Tower?" One raised his hand, perplexed. 

"Just follow the mission, and everything will be fine," Josh assured. 

They all nodded sternly but were confused. Just head inside? What would happen then? Still, they were all eager to try and quickly figured out who the 'lucky' first challengers would be. 

As for the remainders, they would be stuck with building, cleaning, cooking, defending, and all that crap.

While Josh had been gone, they had apparently organized themselves following the directives of the Tech Queen. They even had a sleeping-sloth moving squad! 

Josh happily watched 200 of them teleport inside the Tower, as they showed incredible anticipation and a tinge of nervousness. Actually, a lot of anxiety. For them, it was an entirely new world.

Many had heard rumors of the Alter Tower not giving any good rewards and being "special". They remembered everything people said about Josh and his crazy training plans. Hopefully, these rumors were exaggerated, right?! 

"Alright, you guys tell me when someone is out. I'll be over there playing with the sloths." Josh casually mentioned. 

He wanted to try and teach them how to do tricks. How awesome would it be! Thing like: give paw, play dead, slaughter my enemies, basic stuff really. The others unconsciously shuddered. They would never get used to this madman's antics! 

The only issue was that these sloths were really too lazy…

**** (POV Trainees)

(A/N: "…" = Any of the challengers) 

Meanwhile, in the Alter Tower, the Climbers had diverse reactions to the various challenges. The first one that awaited them was the same for everyone. 

[Mission: explore the Mall and find all the stones of infinity!] 

"Stones of infinity? What is that even supposed to be?" 

"Is this a Mall? Why is there a place like this in a Tower?! So strange! Where are the monsters?!" 

"Is this a goddamn coffee shop? I'll be damned! What kind of Floor is this?! On the one hand, get the stones of infinity. On the other hand, grab a coffee. Tough decision…" 

"Is that a stone of infinity? Blue, shiny, relatively small… I guess I gotta find the other ones now." 

"Hehe, that was easy! Now that I obtained all the stones, what happens?"

They would all complete the dummy mission at their own pace, but it was easy enough and wouldn't pose an issue. 

[Congratulation on completing the mission! Reward: entry ticket!] 

"An entry ticket? What good is this?" 

< Entry Ticket > 

- Allows one to access a random Floor on the Infinite Tower. The user will be teleported out upon death. Excellent training opportunity, no reward available inside. 

"Wow! This is amazing! How the heck did Teacher manage to do this?! Ah, he probably brought us here because he knew about this. Still…how?!" 

"Why do I feel like there is some huge secret behind this ticket? Meh, whatever. Time to train!" 

"Was the first mission that easy because the real challenge is in there? Makes sense. Teacher did warn us that it would be difficult. Still, I won't give up!" 

They would inevitably all use this ticket, full of excitement. They couldn't wait to witness this new training world that was opening to them! But, their spirits would soon get crushed…

[Welcome to Floor 420! Bonus mission: Pass the Enlightened Monkey's trial!] 

"An enlightened monkey? Dafuq is this? Is he going to be meditating or holy? Ah, what is this leather coat? I wasn't expecting such a cool monkey."

"Why do I feel like there is something very wrong with this monkey? Why is it staring at me so intently?"

"Hello, mister monkey. What is your test?" 

"Hahaha! I'm ready to fight you, weird-ass monkey! Bring it on!" 

Then would come the actual test with the monkey asking them to choose between the options, all bad! 

"Y-you're kidding, right?! Tell me this is a joke! What kind of training is this?!" 

"No fucking way I'm eating this!"

"Fuck you, you bald monkey!" 

"There are doors, but why won't they budge?! Even my axe won't leave a dent on them. This is madness!" 

"Skip! Skip! Log out! Give up! Exit! Surrender! Why won't this work?!" 

But no matter how they tried to leave, it wouldn't work. They couldn't find an exit at all. Staying there forever wasn't an option either. They had to make a choice, any choice. 

"This place ends with my death, right? Oh god. Should I off myself? What if it doesn't work on self-harm? Damnit!" 

"Bad option A and bad option B….I'm going to choose option C. Die, you bastard!" But then the monkey took a fighting stance. <Enlightened Monkey Lv 60 ☠️> "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I'm fucking screwed!!" That Climber died instantly, respawning in the Mall. 

"This sucks. I guess I'll pick the one that tastes like shit. No way that I'm going to eat real shit!" 

That Climber decisively took a bite. Instantly his mouth got filled with a taste so foul that he stopped breathing, fell to the ground hurling, and began convulsing. A few seconds later, he was dead. 

"This is horrible. But, thinking about it, I'm pretty resistant. I'm sure I'll be fine even if I eat a little bit of shit…this is embarrassing, but as long as no one knows...It should be fine, right? 

As it touched his taste buds, he was overwhelmed by a feeling of bliss. It was the tastiest thing he had ever eaten! At that moment, he blanked. He stopped breathing, his heart stopped beating, and then— died. He only came back to his senses afterward.

What the fuck was this Tower?! It wasn't simple at all! No, it was downright terrifying! What other horrors did it contain?…

——————

[A/N] Students: F … ⎧ᴿᴵᴾ⎫? Btw, I'm looking for feedback on the new novel RPP ;)

Creator's Thought

While I was playing with the sloths— I mean training them, the people near me were impatient. They couldn't wait for their colleagues to come out with news of what was inside. They couldn't wait to head inside themselves too. I was convinced they would all love it since the challenges were pretty fun.