A week had passed since Jace's dramatic breakup with his last squad of Climbers.
He sat up in his bed, groaning awake in the run-down room of the cheapest inn that he could afford in Pensula. In a positive outlook, he had fixed his schedule for sleep, adjusting to the day and night of the second Floor.
Though, those sleepless nights were something he didn't want to remember. Because within those silent hours, he was only surrounded by his own thoughts. There was nothing more aggravating than that.
A couple minutes of properly dressing himself, he headed from his inn and towards his morning work.
Of course, being indefinite from the expeditions as a Climber, he had no source of income as he spent the remaining change in his pockets for a place to stay. Heather's riches and reserves of his noble family were the reason why their squad always felt supplied. It pained Jace to think about that.
'That was the only thing that bastard was ever good to me for.'
And Jace had no real registration or authority to use a Port. When he started as a Climber, he was somewhat of a nomad, hitching rides between squads and used them for gaining experience in his Soul.
If he wished to ascend the Tower without the use of Ports, then he would have to venture through each Gate of the specified Floor. It sounded simple, but was just more worlds of complications.
Jace would have to find ways to sustain himself. He was human, after all, so the need of hunger and thirst played major factors in his journeys. And with that, there were waves upon waves of monsters waiting for him in every encounter.
'I guess I know what I'm doing if I have no other options.'
Without troubling his thoughts any more, he decided to think about his life in a better perspective.
When he had first met Heather's squad, he was Level four. Now, his Level had hit a milestone of thirteen.
His Soul had almost tripled in two weeks, a total shock for any Climber to witness. But it was because all of his expeditions had him fighting literally for his life against the Void, challenging monsters that were twice his strength.
But, as of right now, that amazing progress has come to a stop. To slaying monsters from the Tower, he had become a humble shopkeeper in Pensula alongside an old man.
Mister Finch caught him first coming up the street as he was raising the window of the shop. He waved at him in an enthusiastic way, greeting the young boy again like any other early morning.
Jace nodded back a greeting and came closer to help the old man with preparations.
Mister Finch was short, with thin graying hair, and had dragging wrinkles on his face with another smile. The old shopkeeper wore a large apron and fine clothes appropriate to his age. He was the first person Jace could think of before he could straggle into life as a homeless Climber.
Mister Finch studied Jace, squeezing his arms and said:
"I never thought you would come back so early. Aren't expeditions due for months until the Climber returns?"
Jace indifferently shrugged, locking the hinges on the shop's open window.
"Two weeks isn't enough?"
"Was your squad killed on one of the higher Floors?"
Jace glanced at him for a few seconds, then finished the locks.
"You know, for an old man, you're awfully intrigued about Climbers and their expeditions. Have you ever thought of ascending the Tower yourself?"
Mister Finch laughed, patting the deep auburn haired boy's arm.
"Try to make sure you smile today, Jacey-boy, you want to make the customers feel happy."
"Sure."
After half an hour of cleaning the shop's front street, sweeping, and picking up trash from other careless humans, Jace tied on his apron and sat quietly at the front window.
Pensula was humanity's new world, serving as the replacement of Arcadia since the Towers had appeared. Clear skies, beautiful clay roofs with stone buildings, and curving roads that led to expanding avenues. It was their chance to rebuild.
Unfortunately, despite the brink of extinction for humanity, there were people bold and greedy enough to implement an economy within the Tower.
It was sort of ironic to Jace. After the First Generation's heroic efforts against the Tower, they had inadvertently created a line between rich and poor.
While people like Jace were left with the crumbs of the second Floor, people with more titles and privileges enjoyed the luxury of finer Floors higher in the Tower.
Though, it didn't really matter to the orphaned boy. His dream was never concerned with having an abundance of money so he could live a comfortable life.
He rested his head, leaning on his right hand as he yawned.
Mister Finch's shop stood between the main center of the Port Town and between one of the other Ports, a strategic position for returning Climbers to pass by. The shop was simply a store for appraisal, buying and selling useless junk to make a living.
Inside the shop were rows of wooden shelves, connecting to the other opposite window, and held random assortments traded by Climbers from every Floor. Materials for armor, ingredients for concoctions, or junk that would look interesting to another eye. Jace was just the medium in between to strike a sale.
It certainly wasn't the life Jace imagined but he made enough profit to keep his own leisure in that cheap inn.
Then the sun finally rose, bustling the morning streets with the residents of Pensula.
As he watched every human, minding their own business, he found it hard to believe each and every one of them possessed a Soul.
But what irritated him more was how normal they looked. Some were with families, some were rushing to work, and some were simply living their life away from Arcadia.
The Soul was supposed to serve as their combatant to the Tower's monsters, yet every human here chose to live in bliss. It just didn't make sense to him.
Or, was he jealous? Was he jealous of other people because they served their lives better than him?
Jace couldn't be a loving son, he couldn't be a proper Climber, and he couldn't be a better human. He was a disappointment to humanity as he was to his Soul.
He gritted his teeth, staring deeper into the nothingness.
'Why am I having these thoughts? I won. I got the experience for my Soul and that's the end of the story. I'll find another way to do it again.'
As he boiled with more frustration in himself, he knew deep down in his mind that he had only temporarily won.
Jace might have embarrassed Heather in front of his squad, but he had severed something valuable.
Watching the passing Climbers descend into Pensula, Jace noticed the majority of the squads only consisted of swordsmen. There was a real shortage of mages or rangers.
None of them had the benefit of healing spells or Skills that dealt in the awareness of a monster's presence. If Jace were to join one of their squads, their firepower would only be a carbon copy of each other, resulting in a dull and inefficient expedition without experience.
Heather was the real winner. He subjected Jace to a life of normalcy and went off ascending the Tower, strengthening his Soul and obtaining whatever the Tower wanted to bless him with.
In the end, and in every outcome he tried to prevent, Jace was the loser.
A sour expression formed on his face.
Then a shadow casted over him. It was a young Climber, with short brown hair and broad shoulders, heaving a bag of assorted junk on the counter. Without any words of manners, he only gestured for the auburn boy to do his job.
Jace rummaged through the scraps of old gear and shattered swords, finding anything valuable enough to purchase and resell to future customers. A few minutes later, he could only find a few things worth paying for.
The Climber picked around the chosen items with a frowning face.
"Six gold."
Jace narrowed his brow in response and said back:
"Three."
But the Climber had almost burst into laughter.
"Three? Are you kidding me? That's half from what I offered? I didn't know I came here to get ripped off!"
Jace decided to hide his unamused face.
"I'm giving you a price where I can profit from, then sell your stuff to other Climbers or humans that's interested in this."
The Climber scoffed in disbelief.
"Wow, that doesn't sound fair at all."
"We're in the Tower, nothing is fair."
"Are you trying to get smart with me?"
"If you want a better price, then you can go sell your worthless armor somewhere else. I doubt any one of them is willing to trade it for six gold."
"You know, you're pretty brave for calling my armor worthless in a throat-grabbing range."
Jace turned his eyes, lifting underneath the curtain of his deep auburn hair. He said coldly:
"I guess I am pretty brave. You could make my morning interesting from this boring job."
The Climber gulped, hiding the building unease in his face, and stuffed the items back into his bag. But before he reached a safe distance, and with the numbers of his waiting squad, the customer threw a lasting insult at the auburn boy stuck behind a counter.
Jace sighed, settling back into his chair.
'Another lost deal. Hooray, looks like I'm not eating lunch today either.'
A pat on his shoulder helped him escape from his creeping thoughts. The old man asked calmly:
"Are you smiling?"
Jace forced an unsettling smile for someone his age.
The old man let out a small laugh, patting his shoulder a few more times.
"I'll give you some lunch, don't worry about it, Jacey-boy."
"Seriously?"
The old man nodded, walking away to his other side of the shop.
For once in the week, Jace had actually looked forward to something during the day.
And with the image of free food nestling in his mind, noon had come much quicker than he thought.
It was time for lunch.