Return of the Woodcutter

Ainar arrived the next morning with a shield in hand, an hour before the staircases opened. 

He walked past the two siblings, still soundly asleep at the luxurious table filled with cold food all over the place. 

Bottles of insomnia were spread on the grass like trashes. Sullying the once dignified third floor solely reserved for training. 

'Wise Ancestors… what happened here?' The minerian wondered, his feet kicking trashes. 

His gaze traveled to the hot spring bathhouses, only for Ainar to be even more shocked. 

"Oh, good morning, Ainar," Aito said, exiting a nearby bathhouse. His complexion was pale, but relaxed. As if he had been drained too hard of his bad energy. 

"Just… where is the moderator?" Ainar said, looking around. 

"Hum, uh, she's still sleeping. Will probably wake up soon enough, I think. How about we get some breakfast in the meantime?" 

"If you're talking about human food, then don't bother, minerians don't eat those." 

"Hun? Then what do you eat?" 

"Minerals, metals, or even rocks sometimes. But I usually like to eat charcoal, boy. It's cheap after all since almost nobody uses it in this day and age to light a forge." 

Not knowing what to answer, Aito simply shrugged and went to pick up some breakfast, waking up the siblings along the way. 

They both looked enthusiastic at the sight of hot springs' bathhouses. It seemed to rekindle fond memories. 

Munching on what appeared to be chicken eggs, Aito watched them running towards the hot springs from the table. 

The minerian pushed away some plates to make space for Aito's shield that he settled on the table. It looked shiny and brand new. 

They started a conversation about how he should handle it and take care of it since Ainar wouldn't be with him during the climb. 

"I see that your delivery minerian arrived," Gwen interrupted, joining them at the table. "Been a while, Ainar." 

"Yeah, long time no see, big girl," Ainar replied.

"You two know each other?" Aito asked, surprised. 

"Aye, long story short I used to buy a few things from Ainar. Pretty unusual to see you deliver your work, though. As far as I remember you'd be discreet and avoid people." 

"This time is an exception. However," Ainar paused, took something out of his pocket and handed it to Aito. "Next time you will have to find me if you want my work." 

"What's this?" Aito asked, looking at the compass-like item in his hand. 

Gwen stared at the item with an intrigued expression, "It's a curseur, a compass linked to another curseur that will always point towards it. Same for the other way around and that no matter where you are. Considering your circumstances… isn't that dangerous for you?" 

"Hum, probably," Ainar shrugged then stared at Aito. "But I've got business with the boy. If he doesn't have a curseur, it'll be troublesome to find him again once he is let loose in Iris." 

'Let loose? Why is he talking about me like I am a beast?' Aito thought before saying, "Why are you giving me this now?" 

"I don't think you'll be able to come back to the second floor before the Tower ends, even if you manage to clear the last floor. This is just in case. Anyway, since I've delivered the shield, I'll get going." 

The minerian stood from the table and prepared to leave. 

"Don't forget that you owe me, boy. Use the curseur to find me as soon as you can on Iris. I'll probably be roaming the North by then. Where? I don't know." 

"Thanks for everything," Aito said, "I'll find you as soon as I've sorted out a few things." 

"You better," the minerian said with a slight smile on his face. "And boy…" 

"Yeah?" 

Come back alive, he wanted to say, but said, "Make sure you don't break the shield this time, hun?" 

"Can't make any promises." 

The minerian shook his head, scoffed, and went on his way with a smile on his bumpy face. 

"See you outside, boy." 

***

Standing in front of the soon-to-open staircase, Aito and his team were waiting for the CD to be over. 

Originally, he had wanted to enter just before CD but changed his mind after receiving the memory bead. He wanted to familiarize himself with the fourth floor and the knowledge in his mind as soon as possible.

"You sure you got all you need, little man?" Gwen asked. 

"Yeah, I've double-checked," Aito replied. 

"Eyh, if you need anything else, you can simply ask other challengers for their resources," she said, winking. 

"Hum, I'd prefer we do not resort to these kinds of methods," Ogoro said.

"We will if we need to," Sheyla objected. 

"Right. Whatever. It's almost time for you to get going," Gwen said, summoning her signature bench next to the entrance to the fourth floor. She laid down on it leisurely, closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. "Oh, before I forget." 

She took out an item from her inventory, then threw it towards Aito. 

"This is?" He said, staring at a white badge depicting a tall tree and a mountain. 

"Englad's badge. If you want to enlist there, just show it to any church. It'll also give you access to some privileges. Normally, at the end of the trial, you'd be teleported in a huge building where you guys would have to choose your assigned front line." Gwen explained, "I know the siblings' circumstances are special, but you'll figure something out. Also, I got a feeling it won't be simple with you. So, take it, just in case." 

At that moment, the staircase to the fourth floor revealed itself. 

Aito was about to ask what Gwen was talking about, but the moderator looked sound asleep. 

He shook his head at her bad acting, "Thanks for everything, Gwen. I'll see you later." 

"Let's go, we have a long road ahead." He said, starting his climb. 

*** 

On the fourth floor. 

Aito and his team walked through the forest area. The fake sun shone brightly up above them. A trail of small green corpses spread in their wake. 

"Ten goblins incoming," Sheyla warned from her perch on a tree branch. 

"No problem," Aito said, deploying his steel shield. 

Three green creatures the size of children wielding clubs or daggers jumped out from nearby bushes. He bashed one with the edge of his shield and killed the two others in a single ax slash. 

From her tree branch, Sheyla quickly shot down three goblins holding crude bows with her repeater, appearing happy to use it and own one. 

Ogoro took the opportunity to train his new skill, binding a goblin, then stab it with pure ease. 

The three remaining creatures knew they weren't their opponents and fled like cowards. 

Aito clicked his tongue, retracted his shield, drew his short crossbow, and fired at the goblins, missing one. 

However, an arrow soon lodged itself in the green creature's skull, repainting the surrounding bushes dark green. 

He turned towards Sheyla who was smirking with her morpho bow in hand as if she was saying "You've still got much to learn, young one." 

Aito rolled his eyes then said, "Sheyla, you stand watch from up there. Ogoro, let's gather the soul cores, arrows, and bolts." 

Without waiting for a reply, he walked towards the nearby corpse, sliced open its chest with his ax, and grabbed the yellow core inside it. 

The item was the size of a memory bead. A small, barely visible white wisp flickered at the center. A goblin's soul. 

He stored it inside his backpack because, for some reason, soul cores couldn't be stored inside inventory bags. 

Aito recovered a few other cores, and two small wooden flasks filled. One was filled with a transparent liquid, the other a green one. He opened it. 

"What is it?" Ogoro asked. 

"Poison," he said, sniffing the content. "According to the memories Gwen gave me, some goblins coat their bladed weapons with it. Their poison isn't life-threatening. It will only paralyze you for a short while." 

"I see. We better be careful about those, then." 

"Until we can safely develop a poison resistance, yes." 

"Hun? And how do you intend to do that?" 

"Using this," Aito said, drawing another wooden flask. "They are dumb but smart enough to keep an antidote on them. Once we reach our first destination, we'll take turns drinking the poison and antidote. If Gwen's memories are correct, it should let us develop a new passive skill after some time." 

"And if they are wrong?" Ogoro asked. 

Aito shrugged, "Then they are wrong." 

"Challengers incoming!" Sheyla said from above their heads. 

"Let's go," Aito said, starting to walk towards the lonely mountain at the center of the forest. "Dealing with other challengers will only slow us down." 

*** 

Standing next to the entrance of the fourth floor, Gwen felt unbearable boredom once again for the first time in one month. 

Watching Aito grow day by day had been entertaining at first. With time, however, it became more than that. It became enjoyable. Especially last night. 

She couldn't wait until he'd be strong enough to challenge her again but at full strength. Considering his desire to grow stronger, he certainly would. 

Something took her out of her reverie. She felt ten level 2 challengers heading her way. Three of them were familiar, but the rest were unknown to her until now. 

To her knowledge, there were currently around ten level 2 challengers in the Tower. Suddenly, getting seven more in one day was unheard of. 

Gwen took a look at the badly leading them and guessed what might have happened. 

'Ho, that'll be good training for the little man, I suppose. I already envy the moderator who will be able to watch the fight.' 

From the fourth floor onwards, the moderator wouldn't intervene in a conflict between challengers. Well, they could if they wanted to. Why though? 

The half giantess pushed out a heavy sigh, thinking about the good show she would miss. If Aito died by their hands, then so be it. However, with his training and the knowledge she had passed down to him, Gwen was certain he'd be okay. 

Probably...