Once Larkin was determined to be distinctly not dead, dozens of intrepid souls raced into the tower to try their luck. The quest reward from the Guild wasn't much, but the System side of the prize offered a progressively better bonus for every ten levels completed inside the tower.
To complete even the first ten, you had to be able to fight monsters twenty levels above your own, which was no small thing to most classes. That wasn't going to stop the residents of Long Fang Valley, though, especially the Bear Kin.
When they got the news that they could fight through monsters up to a hundred levels above their own anytime they wanted, their first response was to ask for time off from work. Even among the non-combat classes, the bears were almost all battle maniacs.
Most of the others knew about their personalities already, and that was a large part of the reason that they rushed inside the moment it was declared properly operational. If they didn't they would have to fight the bears for space.
One after another, the eyes of the statues lit up, moving up the tower as the contestants proved their worth. Well, mostly. More than a few were ejected after only a few levels. They either weren't well suited for combat, or they got a particularly poor matchup and were eliminated.
"That's totally wrong, I swear I can do better, it's just those stupid Lamia. No offense Miss Cyrene." One of the warriors who got ejected on the first floor of the trial complained.
"Dude, how is it even possible to do that badly? One of the Bear Kin who was waiting in line asked, trying to prepare himself for the trial.
"There were like twenty Lamia Scourge Casters in the first level. By the time I found the first of them, they had surrounded me and then they all cast their blades at me. I could only block or dodge so many and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground floor bleeding." He explained, giving the tower an angry glare.
"At least you only got scourge blades. On level 9 I got a level 134 version of the Port Nefheim Cavalry dinosaurs and I spent the next five minutes running away before being eaten." A young Bear Kin laughed, having enjoyed himself despite the situation. It's not often you get into a fistfight with dinosaurs on the Central Continent after all.
"Once you're finished and healed, please make way for the next group. I don't want to have to put visitation limits on the Tower the very first day." Cain called, seeing more and more people lingering around and impeding people from entering.
A few hours in one of the local heroes finally got off work and came to try his luck at the Tower.
"En, it's good to see you. I thought you were living in Port Nefheim?" Cain asked when he saw the huge and plump black-furred Bearkin Monster Hunter.
"I am, but the others made this sound so fun that I couldn't resist. I hear it can go up to level 400, and that there is more than one enemy per level?" Po asked eagerly, the golden fur on her face contrasting against the black of the rest of her fur, and the black leather armor she was wearing.
"That's right. You might have to wait a while if nobody is willing to give up their spot in line though. The tower has been pretty popular for the opening day since we told people they won't die inside." Cain laughed at the nearly three-meter-tall woman's enthusiasm.
"You can have my spot En!" One of the bears near the front calls. He is black and white, like Po the Remembrancer is and doesn't look like much of a fighter. In contrast, the huge and grizzled Monster Hunter makes him look like a little kid, despite the fact he's still over two meters tall.
"Thanks. Let's see if I can set a new record. I've been working hard and I'm up to level 230 now." En declares with pride.
That's a lot stronger than the locals, and an excellent test of the Tower's power scaling. It has already proven to have some idiosyncracies, where multiple lower-level monsters who work well together have been able to easily defeat many powerful applicants. En doesn't look worried though, and she has the experience to back up her confidence.
Before she came to Port Nefheim with her friend Po, she had spent a long time in the forests hunting dinosaurs and other monsters alone, using mostly her own body as her weapon.
The whole line stopped when she entered so that everyone could watch her progress and not have to find out secondhand where the mighty warrior was tripped up.
"There's a new light here. That must be En." A voice called from just the other side of the doors, almost out of sight from where Cain and the Companions were standing.
Those who weren't in line all shifted over to watch the lights progress up the tower. The first few trials only lasted a few seconds each, making Cain sure it was in fact her lights. That was a great oversight on his part. He had no way to watch from the outside or to track the progress of the fighters that were inside. Thinking about it, he likely could have added the functions, but it didn't occur to him and he would have to tear down the tower and start over to do it now.
The mystery was part of the experience now, he decided, watching the lights reach the tenth level and hold there for a few minutes while the mighty bear fought.
According to those who exited, the moment you finished a fight you would be moved to the next floor. Whether you got a break or not was entirely up to the opponent on the next floor. Because of that, dragging out a fight to catch your breath was widely considered a valid tactic to push further up the tower instead of running out of mana and exhausting yourself with continual battles.
Some of the earliest to enter were annoyed that they didn't think of it, but most of the fights seemed to end up with a hard counter, also known as a brutal beating by an enemy that they were poorly equipped to fight.
En was now fifteen levels up, so she would be fighting level 260 opponents, and the progress up the tower had slowed to a crawl. The inside of the tower was large, but most of the time the fight started with both parties just outside engagement range. Cain thought En must have been either reaching the end of her stamina, or the extent of her capabilities.
The fifteenth finally fell, and then after only a minute or so on the sixteenth floor, En reappeared, scorched and bleeding, but laughing.
"What did you find on the sixteenth floor?" One of the younger Bear Kin asked his idol, who had progressed further than anyone else in the trial.
"Combat Bunnies," En informed him seriously.
"Bunnies? You got beat up by Bunnies?" The statement simply refused to process in his mind.
"Combat Bunnies. Wearing priest robes and wielding martial arts reinforced with Lightning Magic." En confirmed.
"Hey, I know them. They work for Duke Chen." Cyrene laughed, making everyone turn to look at her.
"What? They might be Bunnies, but they are scary." The Lamia shrugged, squeezing Cain's waist as a signal to get him to back her up.
"Duke Chen trains them very well. Don't look down on the Bunnies just because they're usually peaceful." Cain agreed, fixing Cyrene's braid while the Bears begged En for a play-by-play of her trial in the tower.
