Jace sat in the grassy fields, staring off into the distant pine forests and mountains a few kilometers away. The swaying tree he had chosen to rest under had provided a comfortable shade after walking mindlessly in a quest for food. Particularly meat, as he would say.
It's been three days, and through that time, he had only been surviving on wild berries and raw fish from rivers. The diet wasn't ideal for Climbers but as long as his stomach felt satiated, the Soul would promptly regulate his homeostasis.
Though, it was glad to see that any natural wildlife wouldn't dissolve into golden mist. He would have assumed the scurrying fish was another design by the Tower. But as its blood flowed down the river's current, its physical body stayed, which only raised more questions about the Tower's creations.
Was the Floors artificial, or was it only the monsters? Would that mean the Floors were just other worlds struck by the Tower's reign?
Jace rubbed his face, breaking away from his thoughts and striving back to the quest of finding an animal suitable enough for a hearty meal. A deer, rabbit, or anything of the sort. He was terribly hungry, and the effort it took to stab a fish was far too tedious.
He exhaled in another look of the meadow. The ground had slightly sloped down with a rising mountain on his left and more patches of pine forests on his right. For some odd reason, he couldn't find any encounters in his stay during the Floor.
Silent Meadow felt peaceful as if the world had already been rid of roaming monsters. He didn't have a Skill to enhance his eyesight so it was practically impossible to find any organisms around him. A monster could have pounced him at any given moment since his expedition yet it never happened.
And even if that were to occur, (Instinct) would save him at that moment. Sadly, the Passive Skill wouldn't trigger by how quickly the fish were brushing his feet as they escaped from the adamantium sword.
Despite his comparatively high volume of AGL, the auburn boy couldn't catch more than two samples of bass. Eating them raw, however, was a different story he wished to not entail in the desperate need to calm his hunger.
Jace picked himself up and said his farewells to the old tree. After that, he decided to take the search in the pine forests.
It was already established that he was a fool. To venture into an expedition alone with no provisions was the most horrible idea. But above them all, in his own fit of stupidity, the auburn boy had forgotten something crucially important.
He had no Port Crystal. He was stuck on the twentieth Floor of the Tower, wandering about like a nomad Climber.
'I guess the jokes just write themselves…'
Walking alone in the meadow, brushing past flowers, and debating if any of them were edible, he entered the pine forest about twenty minutes later.
The trees rose high in the air at uneven levels and had been grown so tightly, there wasn't much sunlight peering through the webbing cloud of foliage. With faint marks of claws barred on a few of them, Jace tried not to hope the lurking monster had the same grumbling stomach as him.
He hopped over stray stumps and torn logs, imagining what sort of previous battle had taken place. There wasn't necessarily a path to follow so the best plan for the auburn boy was to tread deeper into the pine forest.
At least (Instinct) will always warn him of an unexpected attack. With the Passive Skill, he wouldn't have been an easy prey for any predator. Though, the sharp sensation spiking in his brain always left him in a state of paranoia. Even after the many times it had triggered, he could never get used to the feeling of his nerves being overidden.
Some time later, Jace stopped in the middle of his tracks. To his surprise, it wasn't a rabbit or any small animal to devour.
What grabbed his attention was the lingering golden mist in the air, as if a monster had recently dissolved a few minutes ago.
He waved his hand through the golden mist, confirming his suspicion and figuring out it wasn't some mirage from his hunger.
'But…am I seriously going to eat a monster? Has it gone that desperate already?'
His omnivore diet, with some occasional fish, had sustained him so far and kept his body able from the lack of consumption. It wasn't his hunger that was the issue.
It was his agitating drive for a fight. His thirst for experience had been driving him crazy. After spending three days idly walking around in the Floor, he had not found a single interaction to stimulate his senses.
Without any more brilliant ideas, Jace followed the golden mist. Eating a monster had come across one of his last choices, admittedly. If the Soul really modified the digestion of a human, then meat derived from the Tower's creations shouldn't be an issue.
'I've gone insane, truly, beyond insane.'
Then, after a few minutes, he stopped upon hearing a faint conversation. Quickly hiding behind a thick pine tree, he carefully peeked over the bark.
Three humans stood in the clearing of the forest. One of them squatted while the other two stood a few feet across. It was people, or rather, they were Climbers.
The one squatting had tousled jet-black hair, armor similar of a hunter. He looked to be a young adult, maybe a few years older than Jace, and twirled a dagger in his hands as his voice sounded unintelligible by the distance.
The other one standing had long, dark-blonde hair that was tied at his nape. As he spun around in a playful manner, Jace caught the sheath of two swords on his back. His armor didn't look anything special from his squad mates and neither did he look any older.
It was always smarter to be light-weight as a Climber. Any unnecessary encumbrance could hinder movements against a monster, especially one that would be expectedly agile.
The last one, standing a little farther, had a different demeanor than the rest of them. Instead of celebrating in their triumphant spree of slain monsters, he had been scouting the perimeter for any more ambushing monsters.
Despite his young face, his curly hair was gray like ash, reaching the ends of his ears as he stared further through the forest. Luckily, he was turned in the opposite direction of where the auburn boy was standing.
Jace felt his mind drifting off with more thoughts. Compared to being overrun with monsters, stumbling onto other squads was just as terrible. He didn't want to deal with humans but neither did the idea of living in uncharted Floors sound fascinating.
'They would surely have a Port Crystal, right? They look smart enough to venture into an expedition with a way to return, unlike me…'
They were humans, not monsters, and yet he was figuring out how to deal with a simple conversation as if they had fangs. A simple request wouldn't have hurt anyone. Maybe they were considerate enough to offer him food, too.
Jace took a step forward, still calculating which words could be paired together to sound the most friendly.
But as his foot connected to the grass, the boy with jet-black hair immediately raised his eyebrows and turned to him.
In that split second, their eyes had locked.
Jace snapped his back to the bark as his thoughts began to race with one another.
'Why did I just do that?! We're on the same side! Wait—did he even see me?'
Right before he could ask himself another question, a spiking pain in his nerves urged him to move.
Jace widened his eyes as he lowered himself to the ground. Half of a second after, the bark was pierced by an unseen projectile, the same spot where his head originally stayed.
He sprung from the ground and ran, and to his inevitable surprise, there were also heavy footsteps soon trailing behind him.
(Instinct) triggered once more after the other, preventing him from being pierced by what seemed to be whistling arrows. He knew his AGL was higher in comparison to the Floor, but somewhere deep in his gut had told him the sudden chase wouldn't have ended as he liked.
The pine forest simply had no place for cover. If he were to take the chase outside, his body would've been far easier to spot among the green meadow.
Jace continued to run, sliding under fallen logs, swerving around thick pine trees, and jumping away from the firing line of arrows. The three Climbers were painfully persistent, finding their way behind him again as if his scent couldn't have been any more obvious. It almost felt worse than being chased by a rampaging Taurus.
The Climbers were supposed to be on the same side, fighting for humanity's sake and yet they were chasing him like a prized monster.
He vaulted over a clutter of rock and slid down into another small clearing.
'Fine! I gave them a chance! Come get a piece of me, you bastards!'
Jace drew his adamantium sword from its sheath and faced behind him, assuming a wild defensive stance.
Shortly after, two Climbers stopped on the slope, surprised to see their chase had come to an end.
Another Climber emerged from the side, at the same ground as the auburn boy, and stood silently.
Jace gripped his blade and narrowed his eyes. There was truly nothing more dangerous to humanity than humanity itself. After all, nobody could ever record or witness the untold events that happened within these Floors. Extortion, and even murder, were all common acts done by other humans no matter the era.
But as of this moment, these three Climbers might have stumbled upon a human that was beyond their demands.