( The Tower, Floor One )


    The moment Rocky stepped through the teleportation gate, he found himself inside the first floor of the tower of ascension, finally beginning his journey as a climber.


    He was teleported in a random grassy field, with there not being anything much in the nearby vicinity, except ankle high lush green grass with a ssh of weeds growing in between patches.


    Looking around, he immediately spotted a small vige that seemed to be roughly 1 kilometer away.


    There was smoke rising from within the vige walls indicating it was an active settlement, however, there were no loud noises or bustle of big citiesing out of the area.


    Overall the atmosphere was perfectly serene, with the sun shining brightly over his head and gentle breeze blowing past him, as Rocky smiled slightly at this pretty sight.


    " The ambient mana here is slightly strongerpared to floor one, although the change is very slight, I feel like I can see and hear sharper on this floorpared to floor zero. Must be because of the higher mana purity" Erin said, as he keenly observed the changes in his body upon entering the floor.


    Rocky felt it too, the subtle increase in mana concentration as while the shift was not as remarkable as that of Earth and the tower, the difference between two floors was still very slightly noticeable.


    " This scenery reminds Buhara of his vige. It certainly feels like home" Buhara said, as the serene green fields and small settlement enclosed within wooden walls  reminded him of back home, which looked somewhat simr.


    The trio took in a moment to soak in its natural beauty, but after a while, Rocky broke the silence as he said "Ready to start the quest boys?"


    To which Buhara replied "He was born ready" while Erin nodded with a smile.


    "Contact administrator" Rocky said, as he repeated the words instructed to him by Principal Liam as immediately a floating screen opened up above the trio''s head.


    A goat beastman with a long goatee and triangr face shape looked down on the trio through the screen and said in apletely emotionless voice "Team runs are allowed upto three climbers on this floor. Do you wish to attempt a floor run individually or together?"


    "Together-" Rocky replied as although he had spoken, the administrator kept staring at the trio without blinking even once.


    "Together?"


    "Together!"


    Erin and Buhara repeated, as only after all three of them had confirmed did he proceed with the promotion quest.


    " Alright, here is your promotion quest. It''s a pass or fail test that is supposed to bepleted in under 5 hours.


    There will be no grading for the quest" He said, in the same emotionless voice as before as his image disappeared from the screen and was reced by arge floating bunch of text.


    [ Floor One Team Quest #2431 :-


    Quest Title - Wall reconstruction.


    Quest Description - The mandolin vige''s wall has been damaged due to natural weather forces over the years.


    Help the vige chief repair the wall free of cost, to reinforce vige defenses.


    Time Limit - 5 hours.


    Rewards - Promotion to floor two.


    Failure Penalty - No floor one reruns for next week ]


    Rocky read the text carefully and then looked at the size of the vige as he instantly panicked.


    "Guys, this quest may not be as easy as it seems. We need to hurry up and get to work if we want to finish on time. This wall looks pretty big to me, there''s no saying how many logs within it needs to be reced due to damage-" Rocky said, a sense of urgency behind his voice as the group instantly started jogging towards the mandolin vige.


    Floor one quests were generally known to be pretty easy and straightforward, however, one could notze off whilepleting it as they were notoriously time constrictive.


    ********


    ( Within the vige )


    Mandolin vige was apparently a kobold settlement hence when the odd pairing of Rocky, Buhara and Erin showed up to the gates, many vigers were instantly scared by Buhara''s brutal appearance.


    " Intruders… intruders …aghhhh-" shouted a female kobold, as Rocky instantly threw his hands in the air as he spoke as calmly as he could "Please do not worry. We are only humble climbers given a quest to assist this vige.


    Please redirect us to the vige chief so that we can inform him about our assigned task"


    His calm demeanor and his friendly smile, helped the nearby kobolds calm down as one of them rushed to fetch the vige chief, who was an old kobold with a burnt eye.


    " The floor administrator finally epted our request to help with the rebuilding of the wall? Well this day is certainly joyous!" Said the vige chief, as he immediately understood that the reason behind why Rocky, Erin and Buhara had shown up to the kobold vige was because of the request he had put in with the floor administrator regarding his vige being in need of some repairs.


    " Are you permanent residents of this floor?" Asked Rocky curiously as the Vige Chief smiled and nodded.


    " It seems like you are climbers from outside the tower .... Am I right?" He asked as Rocky, Buhara and Erin nodded.


    " Well just like there is a world outside the tower. There is a world inside the tower as well.


    On every floor, there is unique terrain and unique local life forms that have made that floor their permanent residence, just like you have on your homes.


    Just like you, children born within the tower are also selected uponing of age whether they can be climbers or not.


    If they are chosen, they have to start their journey as a climber from floor 0 onwards, however, they have a permanent floor return pass to their home floor, which they can ess at any time.


    Such people are called ''Local Climber''s''.


    However, if you are not chosen by the tower, then you can never exit the floor where you were born as you live and die in the same ce" The kobold chief exined, as Rocky felt enlightened by his words.


    " My ancestors probably came to this floor roughly 200 years ago. They had seven children who inbred amongst one another and now after 200 years we are a small vige of 250 members.


    All local to this hometown, all non-climbers" The kobold chief exined, as Rocky realized how the tower became popted.


    While thes outside the tower did not have a supply of ambient mana, those born inside the tower did, which meant that even if they were not chosen as a climber, they had the chance to be a decent fighter as a local.


    " This makes so much sense. I always wondered how people like Sophiae from floor 21 but need to take the floor one promotion test. But now I understand that she was probably born there and has a permanent floor return token-" Erin said, as with the help of the kobold chiefs exnation, many things that did not make sense to him before started to make sense now.


    " No time for stories. We have to work first-" Buhara eventually said, as both Rocky and Erin snapped out of their daze and recalled that they had an urgent quest toplete.