The "conference room" was a disaster.
Elian's small room at the Gilded Tankard was meant for one person. It currently held seven people, three sacks of monster parts, a cauldron, and a massive anvil that Kael refused to leave behind.
"This is an insult to craftsmanship!" Kael bellowed, accidentally hitting his head on the low ceiling beam. "I cannot forge the weapons of the future on a bedframe, Elian! I need a blast furnace! I need ventilation!"
"And I need silence," Luna muttered, clutching a bubbling vial of volatile acid. "If Kael bumps me, we all melt."
Titan, the seven-year-old tank, was sitting under the table eating an apple, looking terrified of the dwarf. Seraphina and Jax were sitting on the windowsill because there were no chairs left.
"We need a Guild Hall," Valen said, acting as the mediator. "We have the gold. We just need a location."
"I want a tower!" Jax shouted.
"I want a basement," Luna countered.
"I want a fortress with ten-foot steel walls," Titan whispered from under the table.
Elian rubbed his temples. The noise was giving him a headache worse than the Floor 13 trauma.
"Valen," Elian stood up, kicking a sack of wolf pelts out of the way. "We're going scouting. The rest of you... try not to kill each other."
The Search
The Starter Town was vast, divided into districts. Elian and Valen walked through the commercial district, looking for property.
"Too small," Elian rejected a two-story shop.
"Too public," he rejected a manor near the plaza.
"Too flammable," he rejected a wooden lodge.
"Elian," Valen laughed nervously. "We aren't building a villain's lair. We just need a place to sleep and plan."
"Same thing," Elian muttered.
They turned into a narrow, shadowed alleyway in the East District. It was quiet here. Damp. The kind of place players avoided.
Sitting in the corner, shrouded in a tattered grey cloak, was a beggar. A bandage was wrapped around his eyes. He held a wooden bowl, but he wasn't asking for coins. He was just sitting, perfectly still.
Elian walked past him, paying him no mind. He was just a background NPC.
"Batteries," a soft voice whispered.
Elian stopped dead.
He froze mid-step, his boot hovering over a puddle. A cold shiver, colder than the breath of the Death Knight, ran down his spine.
He slowly turned his head.
The blind beggar was smiling. A gentle, knowing smile. He wasn't looking at Elian—he had no eyes—but his head was tilted directly at him.
"What did you say?" Elian asked, his hand drifting to the hilt of The Reaper's Edge.
The beggar didn't move. He just sat there, the smile fixed on his face.
Elian stared at him for a full three minutes. The world seemed to fade away. Batteries. That was the word the hologram on Floor 0 had used. Humanity is fuel.
Is he an Agent? Is the System hunting me?
Elian's thumb clicked the cross-guard of his sword. He could decapitate the NPC in 0.2 seconds. He should do it.
"Elian?" Valen touched his shoulder. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Elian snapped out of it. Valen was watching. If he murdered a beggar in broad daylight, Valen would ask questions Elian couldn't answer.
"Nothing," Elian rasped, his voice tight. "Let's go."
He grabbed Valen's arm and dragged him away, forcing himself not to look back.
As they rounded the corner, Elian glanced one last time. The beggar was still there. Still smiling.
The Decision
Back at the inn, the chaos had settled into a debate.
"We found a warehouse near the docks!" Jax announced. "Cheap, big, and shady. Perfect for us."
"Or the old library," Seraphina suggested. "It has alchemy labs built in."
Elian stood by the door, his mind racing. He couldn't hear them. The word Batteries was echoing in his skull like a drum.
"Elian?" Luna asked. "What do you think?"
"I... I need air," Elian said abruptly. "Vote without me. I trust your judgment."
Before they could argue, he slipped out the door.
He didn't go for air. He went back to the alley.
The Oracle
The sun had set. The alley was pitch black.
The beggar was still there.
SHIIIING.
Elian drew his blade. He pressed the cold steel against the beggar's throat.
"How do you know that word?" Elian hissed. "Who sent you? The Administrator?"
The beggar didn't flinch. He didn't tremble. He simply took a breath, smelling the ozone coming off Elian's magical sword.
"An oracle," the beggar said, his voice melodic and calm. "The gods tell me stories every day. Today, they told me of two young men."
He pointed a thin, pale finger at Elian's chest.
"One clad in light," the beggar whispered. "And one clad in darkness."
Elian narrowed his eyes. Valen and Elian.
"They said," the beggar continued, leaning forward until his neck pressed against the blade, drawing a drop of blood, "the darkness will lead you. Help them grow."
Elian pulled the sword back slightly. "Gods? There are no gods here. Only the System."
Elian reached into his inventory and pulled out the Black Cube. The moment the Cube appeared, the beggar gasped.
[Item Resonance Detected.]
The Cube projected a faint red light, scanning the NPC. A hidden status window flickered into existence, visible only to Elian.
[Name: Caelum (NPC)]
[Race: High Elf (Fallen)]
[Class: Ether Walker (Mythic)]
[Condition: Blind (Physical), All-Seeing (Magical)]
[Mana: 50,000/50,000]
[Trait: Mana Sensitivity EX - He does not see light; he sees the flow of the System itself.]
Elian stared at the numbers. 50,000 Mana? That was more than a Level 50 Mage. This beggar was a walking nuclear reactor.
"You're a High Elf," Elian whispered. "The race that built the tower."
"I am a listener," Caelum corrected. "I hear the hum of the machine. I hear the screaming of the fuel."
Elian sheathed his sword. "Who is this 'God' you speak to?"
Caelum turned his head toward the sky—or rather, toward the ceiling of the floor.
"It was a man in a robe," Caelum recalled, a look of reverence and terror crossing his face. "I cannot clear see his face, but he is full of brightness. It was warm... and malevolent."
Elian's blood went cold.
Warm and malevolent.
It matched exactly what Elian felt on Floor 0. The Architects. They weren't dead. They were watching. And they had sent this man to Elian.
Help them grow.
Did the Architects want Elian to succeed? Or did they just want their "Battery" to be as strong as possible before they harvested him?
Elian looked at Caelum. The Elf was a direct line to the truth he was seeking. A radar that could detect the System's movements.
"I am creating a guild," Elian said, his voice low and dangerous. "Not to climb the tower. But to break it. To kill the 'God' you speak to."
He extended a hand to the blind beggar.
"Join me, and I will show you what the darkness looks like."
Caelum smiled. It was the smile of a man who had waited a thousand years for this moment. He took Elian's hand.
"I will be your most loyal subject, sir."