I must gather an immense number of spirits. But how? --81.3 Seconds Post-Integration.

  "What on this blasted tower's privies did you think that was?!" Darren screamed.

  Confused, Clark didn't know how to respond. "W-what do you mean? I followed orders..."

  "No! You didn't follow orders. You had commands to secure the pathway leading into the crevice. Not orders to clear it! You should've waited for us to finish with the slime stragglers, so you had reinforcements!"

  Was that really what Darren had expected of him? Why not say as much, then?

  "I'm sorry sir. I saw a strategic moment and seized the initiative..."

  Darren continued to yell at him for a time, lecturing him on when and how to follow commands. Clark thought the whole exchange, as one sided as it was, pointless. If Darren had wanted him to wait before advancing into the crevice, he should have said as much. How can he expect to understand Darren's commands when he wasn't of mind reading powers? Unless there was a dandy for that...

  "It can't be helped, I guess. We won..." Darren muttered, out of breath from the fighting and raging. "In the future, your commanders will expect you to check-in with them at every step of the operation. Understand?"

  "Yes, sir. Apologies for my behavior. In the future, I will double-check," was what Clark said instead of asking Darren to screw off.

  "Good... now that is settled, I wanted to commend you for your efforts. You know how to command. Rare in one so young. There's a nice League position for you someday if you can control your impulses."

  This was not the first time he heard such praises. Of course, the notion of a plump position enticed him. Would such a position be realistic, though, if he had to listen to men like Darren, who evidently expected from him nonstop clamoring for orders in the middle of a battle?

  Having chewed him out and then praised him, Darren focused on the others in the group, giving praise to the greenhorns. Clark and his team kept on high alert in case any new monsters showed up. With SIMP acting as an early alert, though, that was a remote possibility at best.

  Darren radioed to command for help and information. No matter how many times he tried how many frequencies, no one replied to him. Static and chaos filled his throat as he called out time and again. When he finally did get into contact with someone, he stepped away to talk, leaving the rest of them in the dark.

  "Okay..." Darren spoke after spending many minutes by himself, chatting with the higher ups. "I don't know how else to say this than to just come out and be blunt with it. The enemy, the plague beasts, have gone on the offensive. Command thinks they used their foothold on the executive floor to barrow their way through the tower's insides. Then burst forth and attacked the store. This area is not the only place that was under attack. It sounds like many more places are fighting for their life as well..."

  "What does that mean for us, sir?" Hera asked, her tone soft, as if to counter-balance the harsh reality they faced.

  "It means... we do what we can."

  "You've hit your limit, Clark. Head home." Darren said to him off-handedly.

  There was a limit to how long he could work? News to him...

  Happily, he returned to his dorm to rest. Along the way, his HUD filled with emergency alerts. The hallways mirrored his display and filled with Containment Guards rushing to battlefields unknown. And he? Back in his dorm, he slept.

  When he woke, SIMP had an update for him on the situation: "Good. You're awake. I know you don't like me chattering in your ear the moment you wake up, but the situation in the store has changed. Which means our activity has changed as well."

  "It's fine," he said. "Lay it on me. What's the sitch' and how does it effect me?"

  "While you rested, the enemy offensive continued. It is actively impacting ten-thousand floors. Logically, this does not surprise me, though the scale of the attack is breathtaking. The executive lounge was on the ten-thousandth floor, after all. Clearly, the enemy and Plague Champion, the Dark Knight, have planned this for a long time. It is probably why monster incursions as we Climbed the tower were so rare, because all of the monsters were actually hiding out in the Dungeon Interior, in rot spaces where my pulses could not penetrate."

  "That's... nefarious. Are you sure this Dark Knight thing isn't sentient? Strategy like this seems too human-like for it to be the work of monsters."

  "I know it seems human, but it is not human. I can promise that, Clark."

  Despite SIMP's promise, he had his doubts. 'Help me...' That was what he heard during his Orientation when he, Theo, and Hera fled. He didn't have any evidence, but he felt like something more was going on.

  "So..." he replied, changing the topic to a related topic, not wanting to get into his suspicions at the moment. "That's a huge part of the store effected by the offensive. How does my shifts factor. I am supposed to be Climbing each floor, grinding Metrics, and making myself more useful to the company. Being part of the Anti-Monster League makes me a front-line fighter, yet I am still lowly ranked. Am I going to be spending my time endlessly battling slimes instead of Climbing?"

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "No. The entire Containment Defense force for this sector of the tower, as well as the reserves and even a few Frontline Cultivators, have been activated and ordered here. Fighting continues throughout the affected areas of the sector, but it is 'contained' for the time being. The Executive Council has ordered more League Tutorials and is encouraging existing low-ranking members to invest their time in training, at least until such a rank has been reached. Your rank falls into that niche. You should have a notification telling you more."

  He checked his messages and saw SIMP right. Clark had a message from the Executive Council which explained the situation in detail. He read the information then pushed the message away. "That means my day job can be either participating in battles instead of Climbing or training. If I am understanding everything correctly?"

  "That's correct, Clark."

  "Okay... that's not bad. I can do League Tutorials then test them out on the battlefield while Climbing. How convenient."

  "Indeed. Though everything else about this situation is far from convenient... also, before I forget... the Executive Council has authorized higher payouts for people interested in joining the League. You should have already received a notification of the differential payment as a one-time deposit."

  Mind blank, he could only "Eh?" SIMP like he was an ignorant schoolboy who just couldn't understand the idea of long division.

  He expected SIMP to chide him. Instead, they laughed. "It means because the Council is paying new recruits more to join the League, you will have received a payment which makes up the difference since you recently joined before they authorized the payments. It's blowback, essentially. Except it's the good kind of blowback.

  Clark took a quick note of his finances. His paycheck for yesterday was extra-large. [+270 Standard Credits].

  Underneath notification of his paycheck was that 'differential payment.' [+500 Standard Credits]. His eyes shot open at seeing the five-hundred credits. In one night, he had made seven-hundred and seventy credits! With his prior balance, his new account total brought him to 1440 Credits!

  Immediately, Clark brought up his banking app and made this month's land grant payment in full.

  [Thank You for Your Payment! -300 Standard Credits]

  His new account total was [1140 Standard Credits].

  It felt good to make his land grant payment in one go not even half-way through the month! Much better than the incremental struggle he fought with every month until now. Those departmental raises were really paying off!

  "Very good. SIMP, I will focus on League trainings for today. Do I have to do anything special once I clock in?"

  "Clock in and then report to the nearest League stadium. Tutorials are being held at all levels all day. The Executive Council has brought in trainers from other parts of the company to ensure non-stop education. Unless you want to wait all day for an open session, you should get to the stadium soon. Many people are going to crowd the stadium."

  "People are panicking... that's not surprising..." Clark would panic too if he hadn't the skills and support to defend himself.

  "Augustford has kept order but yes, people are afraid. You will be needed now more than ever. I do hope you understand how important this is, to not only the store and myself, but to you as my Champion."

  "I understand how important it is, so don't worry. I got it! ...but you know something, SIMP? When I looked at my bank balance and sent my monthly payment over, I remembered something. You had said that a multi-tool would be expensive. I remember a number you shot out. 'One thousand credits' for a refurbished multi-tool. That was on the lower end, yeah, but I have that money now. I say we start going on getting me a multi-tool! During one of my tutorials, Salsa said that a multi-tool has a recharging center for weapon pulsing. Let me tell ya, SIMP, I could have really used weapon pulsing during that last battle!"

  "I know you could have. I saw you in that moment when you tried to pulse but forgot about a magically inclined center being needed. I also happen to agree with you on this matter -- now is the time to find you a multi-tool. Keep in mind, Clark, that owning such a tool will set you apart from the crowd. I doubt you mind being the outsider, but I needed to warn you all the same. Also keep in mind that the tool we are to find will likely be more expensive than the thousand credits I referenced months ago."

  "I know, I know. I will be working plenty between training and fighting monsters while Climbing. I'm not worried about the cost... not unless we find a multi-tool so soon, I don't have time to put away money for it. I doubt that will happen, though..."

  "Rest assured, it will not happen soon. Multi-tools are rare and the second-hand market for them competitive. I will start searching for one now and keep you updated on my progress. Between my Tower duties and probing the sphere we found in the dwarf pod, I cannot promise you a quick fulfillment. To help us, I would suggest we bring in Theo. He knows the trader's market better than either of us; I am connected only to information networks, but he can connect through word-of-mouth. Together, our chances at finding one increases."

  "You're right. I will send him a message now." Clark kept his voice note brief and only with the essential information.

  It was hardly ten minutes later when Theo shot him back their reply: "Consider this my top priority!"

  Clark finished his morning routine thinking on Theo's answer. "SIMP? Do you think Theo should join the League? I was thinking about it and figure he should; he's already part of the Work Detail and beside that, he is my best friend. I think it would be nice if he joined Hera and me."

  "I can understand why you would feel that way. Despite how you feel, I think Theo needs to remain where he is. Consider his behavior during the previous altercation. He was able to make a beeline for you because he wasn't held back by League orders. I think Theo's relative freedom as someone apart from the League, but who will still be taking part in League activities by virtue of you and Hera knowing him, is ideal for our situation." SIMP's tone was calm. Clark noticed, lately, that SIMP's overall register was often calm except in cases where emotion warranted a spike. Over the last few months SIMP had changed a lot when it came to how they communicated with him, which he appreciated. "If Theo stays where he is and does not join the League, strategy for us will increase, as will movement fluidity. We should take great care before we jeopardize this and put all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak."

  "I hear you and will drop the issue. Theo stays where he is... which is more than I can say since I have to leave now for that primo stadium slot. Lead the way, SIMP!"

  Clark scampered as fast as he could through the crowded hallways. Because of the many thousands of floors effected by the crisis, a department he didn't even know existed called 'Floor Layout,' devised alternative routes. Many of which took commuters directly through the passages he most often used to get around the tower. Despite his haste, when he arrived at the stadium, it was packed. He should have listened to SIMP and left earlier. In his defense, he didn't think it would be this busy!

  He manually clocked into his shift on the way to the stadium. When he found his way to the stadium gates, only after waiting in line for a couple of hours, he said to the clerk he wanted to register for the next League tutorial pertaining to his current rank.

  "Let's see... ummm..." the clerk hemmed and hawed. "For you, that will be the guided magic burst. Which starts... oh, a few minutes ago. The next class doesn't start for three hours."