Chapter 134: Meeting Josh's Friend! (?!$%/&*)

An utterly confused party stood in front of an eerie-looking gigantic red foggy wall.

Most of the members were glancing at Josh, wondering if this was all a joke. As for Jayce, he had been left behind to babysit the ship. 

"Welcome all to D-23! I will be your guide today!" Josh happily called out. 

The last time he had come here, there had been a few people, but now it was completely desolated. All the guilds had seemingly given up, and no one even bothered hoping for anything from this land. 

Ah, actually, there seemed to be one guy camping there in a tiny tent. If Josh wasn't mistaken, it was that old guy that had warned them the last time. How stubborn! 

"I'm going to state the obvious and ask. What the Hell are we doing here?!" AIYA asked, confused. 

"No worries, you'll see soon enough. Alright, shall we head in?" On that note, Josh touched the barrier. 

[Welcome to Slothtrosity Land! Lots of Fun Inside!] 

[Level 17-51] 

[Participants 5] 

[Would you like to enter?] 

Would you look at that?! Somehow, the name Josh had created for the creatures had stuck. Wait, did this mean that he had named an entire race?! Awesome! He couldn't help but feel proud of himself. 

"Enter!" He called out. 

The others glanced at each other hesitantly. They didn't understand what was happening. Was Josh trying to use them to clear an instance? This didn't make much sense. After all, this place's difficulty varied with one's level, or so they had heard.

"….Enter, I guess." Emsee uttered after sighing. He didn't think Josh had any reason to harm them, whatever he was planning. 

A red glow enveloped them, and then they were in. The wet and disgusting pond with the rotten egg smell felt nostalgic. Then there were the vibrant trees with a hint of red. In the middle, there was a slothtrosity resting. 

[Calculating Difficulty Level, Please Stand By!] 

[Difficulty Set to Impossible! Enjoy Your Stay!]

[Mission: Complete a Floor Without Any Casualty!] 

"Tch. Are you kidding me? Impossible?!" Joe uttered. 

"Complete a Floor? What is this?! We'll have to enter that Alter Tower, won't we?! Plus, we somehow have to protect your ass! Josh, you have some explaining to do!" Emsee said. 

"No worries. The difficulty rating is a joke here. Also, here is a fun fact: Impossible difficulty became known as Possible and then Hellish difficulty. We just gotta clear it a few times, and it will change, I'm sure." Josh shrugged, unfazed. 

"Guys! There is a monster in the middle of this pond. Let's kill it real quick and— " AIYA started speaking but was interrupted by Josh. 

"Fight it if you want to die. Alright, let's go." He began walking, making splashing sounds while progressing through the shallow pond. He showed a completely relaxed attitude. 

"That's it? Do we just walk? Let me go first as the vanguard." Minor valiantly offered. 

"Don't worry too much about formation here. Against the Slothtrosities, your defense is useless, and so are your attacks. Whenever you see a gross piece of fur, mud, and blood... It's better to let it slumber peacefully." Josh explained. 

He could feel their fighting intent. They really desired to test their capabilities against this new enemy, but they showed great self-control. 

They followed him all the way toward the very center of this realm. When they saw the vegetation-covered Alter Tower, they couldn't help but gasp. It had such a mysterious atmosphere to it. It felt special!

"It looks so different than the real Tower. So this is an instance, eh? Does it work differently?" Minor was curiously circling it. 

"It looks so broken and unused. Do we have to clear this? Will it even work properly?" Joe was looking at it as if an antique. 

"Don't misunderstand. This Tower is definitely real. It isn't frequented as much, that's all. But that's what makes coming here worth it." Josh explained. 

"Let me guess. We are here for the item sets that no one has seen before? The last I heard, this place was pretty worthless in terms of rewards." Emsee shared. He had done his research. 

"So this whole crafter friend was a lie, right? Why did you even bother with the charade?" AIYA showed suspicion. He couldn't wrap his head around why Josh would do such a thing. Lying would just sour their relationship. 

Josh simply shook his head without explaining, sighing slightly. What was the meaning of this? There seemed to be disappointment in that sigh. There was something he wasn't telling them for sure!

"Time to work." Josh confidently selected the only Floor option available: Floor 50."

That is when the others got the pop-up inquiring if they wanted to Join this Floor alongside Josh. They couldn't help but suck in a cold breath. There was no way that bringing a level 17 to Floor 50 was wise! 

Actually, how was he so calm?! He looked like he was about to go on a relaxing vacation. Well, for him, it kinda was. He couldn't help but become curious about all the new features that the Alter Tower would have gotten since his last visit. 

How much would it have grown? Would it still remember him? It probably would, right? He felt like a young parent that had dropped his kid at school, wondering how knowledgeable the child had become at the end of the day. 

Was it crazy? Perhaps. One needed a bit of craziness in life to make it interesting anyway. 

They all hardened their hearts, steadied their resolve, and accepted with a solemn expression. That is when the scene changed, and they found themselves in a huge shopping mall. 

It had upgraded from a local shopping mall to a shopping mall worthy of figuring in legends. It had a huge dome-like ceiling that seemed to reach Heaven itself. There was a sea of people heading from shop to shop. Everything was magnificent too.

"What the heck is this?!" They couldn't help but exclaim as it all was far too strange for them. Around were... humans?! They were just going about their business too. 

"Where are all the monsters?!" AIYA cried in shock, looking everywhere in stupefaction. 

"Are we really in a Tower?!" Minor was gawking at it all too. 

"Don't tell me…there are humans from other worlds living here?! Is this some secret dimension?! Were we simply fools all this time, thinking our world the main human battlefield?!" Joe cried out. 

"Wait…don't tell me Dimensional Legion is actually real and is a faction that is based here!?!" Emsee somehow misunderstood it all. 

Josh couldn't help but chuckle. These were Ranker, and yet they were completely getting duped by the scene. Was it perhaps because of the difference between what they were used to and this? Did the surprise make them lose IQ? 

That is the moment it decided to reveal itself. 

[Welcome to Eden! ^_^] 

"Wow, talk about a friendly system!" Emsee commented. 

[ཀཀཀ Shall we have some fun? ཀཀཀ] 

It's at this very moment that the system screen seemed to start bleeding. The face of Josh's companions instantly changed for the worst. They immediately went into combat mode and — 

"Don't summon any equipment. Just wait." Josh's calm voice sounded so foreign in such a setting. How was he staying calm even while seeing such an ominous thing?! 

[You are now Harbingers of chaos. (◣_◢)] 

[Kill 20 innocent human beings and deal with the aftermath.] 

Their faces instantly changed. They were supposed to kill fellow humans?! They hadn't become Climbers for that! It was one thing to kill enemies, but innocents?! What kind of perverse Tower was this?!

"Hey, it's been a while. How have you been?" Just as they were profoundly shaken, Josh was making small talk? Who was he talking to? Had he gone insane?! 

[Oh shit! It's Josh MF Malum! ^_^] 

[You know the usual…(; ⌣_⌣) Pretty lonely...] 

"What about all the climbers that were coming here a while ago? Are they all gone, or do they swing by from time to time?" Josh inquired in a casual tone. 

On the side, the others were just watching this exchange happen in complete disbelief. How was this all possible?! They were speechless as they couldn't help but question their senses. Was this real life?! 

[All gone -_- They disliked the rewards but wanted less difficulty, nothing I can do about that…] 

"Yes, for sure. Well, most people are lazy and entitled. Anyway, I'll need a custom reward this time around. I'm thinking OP-looking and feeling equipment. I want a cosmetic set that people will mistake for being a super-strong item set." Josh patiently explained. 

[This is troublesome. I can't give so much as a reward.] 

"How about you make it a quest chain then? 

[Quest chain?] 

"Yep, a series of quests that ultimately lead up to one big reward." 

[Oh! Smart! Yep, that should be allowed. Maybe if I had done that, people would still be visiting *Sigh*] 

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it. I bought the land around your Tower in my world. I'll bring people here to play sooner or later."

[Nice! Nice! Nice! Nice!] 

"Haha. Alright, shall we start this?" 

[Yep, whenever you are ready =). Same first mission as earlier.] 

"Perfect, it sounds good to me!" 

That's when Josh finally turned toward the others. Now that all the details were settled, all that remained was to clear the Floor. Yet, for some reason, his companions' faces seemed frozen. Josh waved in front of them a few times before they eventually came back to their spirits. 

"What the fuck was that?!" AIYA exclaimed. 

"You talked with the Tower, how?!" Joe couldn't understand it. 

"How were you negotiating with the Tower?!" Minor also didn't understand. 

"Don't tell me the friend we came to visit is the Tower itself?!" Emsee suddenly remembered that detail. 

"This is insane, pure insanity. This doesn't make any sense. What the Hell?!" They were still completely shaken by this development. 

"Are you guys okay? You've never talked to a Tower Protocol before?" Josh asked, puzzled as if it was a natural thing to do. 

"?!$%/&*" They felt like cursing, ashamed of their lack of knowledge, and flabbergasted. What kind of impossibility was Josh's existence?!

Also, what the Hell was this mission? Did they really have to become murderers?!...

Creator's Thought

Apparently, talking to your Tower Protocol is weird. When you think about it, they are similar to multiverse referees. Sure, they can get annoying at times when they give you a red card. But, it is still possible to interact with them normally. They don't bite really. Or that's what I thought back then...