Chapter 191: Exposed
"Show me only items that aren’t equipped and aren’t owned," Kael muttered.
The map obliged, and the whole map turned into green dots instead.
’Figures,’ he thought, lips twitching. ’It’s a city. Not a treasure room.’
Still, seeing it laid out like that made the scale of this place sink into him properly.
He zoomed out and noticed that he was wrong; there weren’t just thousands, there were many more than that.
It wasn’t a camp. It wasn’t a base. It was a whole damn population. Streets thick with movement, layers upon layers of dots stacking into clusters like anthills.
He frowned, ’How come there are so many climbers on the second floor...’
But once he took another look at the city, and realized that he never received a quest to go to the second floor, he understood the reason immediately.
’A community floor... where climbers gather...’ he understood the purpose instantly.
That explained the fortress. The funnel. The recruiters. The hungry eyes.
This floor wasn’t meant to test him with monsters. It was meant to test him with people.
So without wasting time, he continued walking forward. Checking other people, while making sure not to stare too much, any information was relevant.
He kept his pace steady, letting crowds drift around him like water around a rock. He watched without looking like he watched, caught symbols on cloaks, matching armbands, small habits that screamed "we train together" or "we kill together."
People usually walked together; most of them wore the same guild banners, only a few seemed to wear different symbols on their armors or gear and walked in groups.
The coordinated ones had structure. Formation without admitting it. The kind of spacing that lets them fight without tripping over each other. Their eyes were always moving. Their hands are always near weapons.
Yet, there were many that had unidentifiable gear, without a single insignia.
’Solo climbers... good, I shouldn’t draw attention then.’
He let that sit in his chest like a small relief. If a lot of people here were unaffiliated, then being "symbol-less" didn’t automatically paint a target on him.
Still, his gear wasn’t normal. Not really.
He realized that his current gear was risky if it didn’t have a symbol of belonging, but now he could breathe a sigh of relief.
He wasn’t ’unique’.
He walked through the streets aimlessly, but made sure not to show it.
Aimless got you followed. Aimless got you cornered by some smiling bastard who started with "hey friend" and ended with "hand it over."
So he walked like he had somewhere to be. Like he knew the route. Like he belonged.
Then he noticed what looked like an Inn.
Warm light spilled out onto the street. Real warmth, not just fire-mana heat. The sound leaking from inside, music, laughter, the clack of cups, felt like a lie compared to everything else.
Several climbers, sour-faced, some looked exhausted, and some outright desperate. However, most looked like they were here to drink their worries away. Laughter and music played in tandem.
Kael walked in like he was a regular.
He didn’t linger in the doorway. Doorway lingerers were either targets or trouble. He stepped in, let the noise swallow him, and didn’t flinch at the sudden wall of smell, spilled alcohol, cooked meat, sweat, wet leather, smoke from cheap pipes, and that sharp underlying scent of exhaustion.
He didn’t head to any of the tables, but moved straight to the counter.
A middle-aged man was wiping glass with a clean-looking cloth; the fact that the glass was already polished and he cleaned it anyway was enough to let Kael understand that this man liked his job.
Or he liked the control of it. Keep the counter clean, keep the hands busy, keep the eyes sharp. A man who didn’t want to look idle in a room full of predators.
Once the man saw Kael walk in and sit on the high stool in front of the counter, he spoke. "New face around here, what can I get you?" he asked.
Kael kept his shoulders relaxed. The helmet stayed on. His gauntlets stayed visible, but not threatening. He made himself look like a man who could pay and didn’t want drama.
"Something strong," Kael said.
"Sure thing," he said as he pulled out a bottle of whisky, or at least that’s what Kael thought it was.
He poured Kael some on the rocks and handed it over.
The glass looked too clean for this place. The ice looked too clear. Even the amber liquid caught the light like it was proud of itself.
Kael took a sip as he listened to the conversations going on behind him.
The drink hit like warm fire crawling down his throat and settling in his stomach with a heavy comfort. Not hunger, he didn’t even know if hunger mattered here, but the ritual of it helped. The small human routine of taking a breath and swallowing something that wasn’t panic.
People talked about one thing, and it was something related to Kael’s presence on the first floor after all.
The Floor notification.
"Some fucker really did clear a whole floor alone..."
Kael’s mouth twitched against the rim of the glass. He forced it back down. Don’t react. Don’t be interesting.
"Smart bastard," another person said, "He hid his name so it’ll be a pain for the guilds to find out who."
Kael’s fingers tightened slightly around the glass.
Good. Let them chase shadows.
"Shouldn’t be too hard, I saw the Leonards moving toward the chapel. Even Red Dragon and Eclipse went there."
Kael didn’t turn his head. He just listened harder, letting the words paint a quick map in his mind.
Chapel. Guilds. Big names are moving like sharks toward a splash.
"Who do you think he’ll join?" the first man asked.
Kael took another sip, slower this time, like he was savoring it. Like he wasn’t the topic of conversation.
"It’ll probably be the Leonards. They’re the strongest and most influential in the tower."
"Yeah, I wouldn’t be caught saying that with a Red Dragon nearby..." the second, more prudent one said.
"Whatever or whoever he joins, he’ll have a really nice time climbing. Unlike us shmucks," he raised his beer mug and said, "Fuck this tower and all its administrators! Should have let us die instead of giving us false hope, motherfuckers!" he then downed his drink.
The laughter around him had an edge. Not joy. More like a release valve screaming.
Kael let the noise wash over him. Let it become background. He didn’t need to participate. Participation got you remembered.
"What do you think about the newcomers?" the bartender asked Kael.
Kael didn’t answer immediately. He let a beat pass, like he was considering the question seriously instead of calculating what the safest response was.
"The people of the first floor?" Kael asked.
"Yes."
"Nothing much," Kael shrugged, "If they have what it takes to survive this place. Then good for them," Kael said as he drank up.
The bartender smiled, and talking in a very low voice, for only Kael’s ears, "I’ve seen many people during my time here, and this is the first time I’ve seen a first-floor climber this decked out." He grinned.