“I see, so that’s how it is,” William said as he ate a sandwich.
“Right.” A small turtle unceremoniously bit into his own sandwich. “Right now, the possibility of the Agnis Family sending players to make things difficult for you is very high.”
“What a petty family.”
“I know, right?”
Chiffon happily ate her sandwich, while listening to her Big Brother and the small turtle.
When they arrived at the Third Floor, they found themselves standing on a cliff, right beside a raging waterfall. The scenery around them was so beautiful that it reminded William of the Waterfall Town of Lauterbrunnen, which was found in Switzerland.
Some said that the author of the Lord of the Rims, was inspired because of the magnificent view and decided to write a story about it.
Seeing this scene, William could understand how that author might have felt due to the sheer beauty of the surroundings.
After taking careful considerations, William decided to have lunch with Chiffon first, before exploring the Third Floor of the Tower of Babylon.
After spreading a picnic blanket, and taking out the sandwiches that he had prepared beforehand, the two sat and admired the view before biting into their sandwiches. A minute later, a black turtle crawled onto their picnic blanket and asked if it could have some of the food they had.
Due to his appraisal skill, William was able to find out the true identity of the little speaking turtle. Since the being in front of them was the Guardian of the Third Floor, William decided to become civil and sacrificed one of his sandwiches for World Peace.
After eating the sandwich, Oogwei introduced itself and told William a little bit about its domain. The Half-Elf thought that this was a perfect opportunity to get firsthand information about the tower from one of its Guardians.
Oogwei was an easy going fellow, so it answered most of William’s questions, with the exception of the things that it was forbidden to tell mortals.
“Tell me, are you climbing this tower because of a wish?” Oogwei asked after finishing the sandwich which was given to it.
“A wish?” William tilted his head. He then placed one more sandwich on Oogwei’s plate as thanks for answering most of his questions. “What wish?”
It was now Oogwei’s turn to be confused. The little turtle looked at William with the “Are you joking with me?” look. However, since it was a being that could be considered as a Demigod, it could tell that William wasn’t lying and was really not informed about the Tower of Babylon.
“This Tower is made to grant mortals riches, resources, power, and influence beyond their wildest dreams. But that’s not all,” Oogwei explained. “Whoever reaches the 100th Floor will be given the opportunity to make a wish. It doesn’t matter what kind of wish it is, for it will be granted without fail.”
William nodded his head in understanding. He had no intention of climbing up to the 100th Floor of the tower. His goal was to clear the 51st Floor in order to lift the curse that was placed on his lovers.
“I am only here to clear the 51st Floor,” William replied. “After that, I will return to the Kraetor Empire.”
“51st Floor, is it?” Oogwei nodded its head. “Indeed. You will not be able to proceed if you can’t even clear the 51st Floor. However, I don’t think you, or anyone in this world, has the ability to do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Guardian of the 51st Floor has gone crazy. Well, not the crazy kind of crazy, but something similar. If I were you, I would just stop at the 50th Floor. Going to the 51st Floor would be a suicidal move.”
William frowned as he ate his sandwich. After properly chewing it, he then asked the question that had been in his mind since he arrived at the City of Babylon.
“How come no one has been able to clear it?” William inquired. “With so many talented people in the world, I find it hard to believe that it has remained unconquered for hundreds of years.”
Oogwei sighed internally. It really wanted to tell William the reason, but it was bound by the rules of the tower. In the end, it bit off a bite of its sandwich and completely ignored William’s question.
William had a feeling that it was one of the things that Oogwei couldn’t tell him, so he didn’t continue to ask in this direction. Instead, he asked a question that made the turtle look up at him with a smirk.
“What kind of Test do I have to do in order to proceed to the next floor?” William inquired.
“Good question,” Oogwei answered. “Actually, you should be taking a test in that town located down there in that valley.”
The little turtle pointed at the town nestled at the center of the valley that boasted an out of the world scenery that would put all Instagramme pictures to shame.
“However, since I have taken a liking to you, I decided to give you a different quest. Of course, this will also give you better rewards. Are you interested?” Oogwei said in a challenging tone.
William pondered for a bit before nodding his head. He couldn’t detect any kind of malice coming from Oogwei, so he believed that the turtle didn’t mean them any harm.
“Excellent.” The turtle grinned. “Allow me to introduce you to my disciples.”
A brief moment later, four demi-human turtles appeared behind Oogwei carrying different kinds of weapons.
“Introduce yourself to our guests,” Oogwei ordered.
The two-meter-tall turtle holding a wooden staff stepped forward and took a fighting pose.
“My name is Donutella,” Donutella said with a determined expression. “Nice to meet you.”
William cringed internally because he was reminded of that super sweet chocolate spread that was used by the kids in the orphanage. He had to use all of his willpower to prevent himself from teasing the turtle who had a funny name.
The next one to step up was another demi-human turtle wielding two swords. Just like Donutella, he took a fighting pose and introduced himself.
“My name is Leonardude.” Leonardude snorted. “Only fight me if you dare. As long as I am around you won’t be abl–“
“Watah!”
A loud shout cut off Leonardude’s words as another turtle took a step forward while brandishing its nunchucks.
Chiffon clapped her hands in admiration because the way the turtle wielded its weapon was simply fascinating.
“I am Michaelangelhoe,” Michaelangelhoe took a pose after showing his demonstration. “I am not a hoe.”
“… ” William and Chiffon didn’t know what to say and simply stared at the turtle with a funny name just like its companions.
The last turtle stepped forward, while holding the two shortswords in his hands.
“I am Narnyah~,” Narnyah said with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”
William choked on the sandwich he was eating and had to beat his chest in order to help the food go down. He was already expecting the last turtle to introduce itself as Raphaella or something similar, but the name it gave was something out of the blue.
After recovering from his earlier mishap, William eyed the lady turtle who was looking at him weirdly.
“Um, are you sure that your name isn’t Raphaella?”
“I just said my name is Narnyah~.”
The corner of William’s lips twitched because whoever made this plot, needed to have his brain thrown in the gutter.
Oogwei, who had just finished eating his last sandwich, looked up at William with a smirk.
“If you want to pass the third Floor, you have to defeat my disciples first. Don’t worry, they will take it easy on you.”
William scratched his head as he looked at the Demi-Turtles, and the small turtle who was looking up to him.
“We need to fight them in order to proceed?” William inquired.
“Fighting is too strong a word,” Oogwei’s replied. “More like competing. You need to defeat them in the thing they specialize in. With each victory, you will get five thousand tokens. Don’t worry, you only need to win two out of four matches and you can proceed to the next floor.
William and Chiffon exchanged a glance with each other. They had no idea what the Guardian of the Third Floor was thinking. However, since they were already here, they might as well see what the little turtle had in store for them.
—–
