Let's begin with 11th floor

[A/N: And so, Arc 2 begins. Arc 2 will span floors 11-13 (among other events), and will conclude with Interlude 2. And I think this system of ending arcs with interludes will be consistent for now. Anyway, enjoy!]

Youngwoo walked on the walkway peacefully. The hour was reaching 23:30, and the air was chilly. The Gate would open access to floor 11 and up in just about 15 minutes. He sighed, seeing that there were some people scattered around the Gate, waiting for the timer to run out. He saw some knights in full plate armors, undoubtedly scouts of Knights Guild. Near them, there were some people in rogue outfits, Reaper Guild making their appearance. Well, there were also a few people who looked like they could be affiliated with Merchants Guild (which didn't yet operate at large scale since Michel was 14 currently and was mostly used for transfer of things between Tower and Earth), and other than that there were some Hunters that didn't belong to either of the four major guilds. In total, about 120-130 people were present.

But wasn't this a lot? Youngwoo pondered for a moment, but he didn't watch any relays or recordings from first Hunters entering higher floors, so he couldn't tell. Well, in any case, it seemed that there would be a fair amount of people that would be doing quests on 11th floor. This meant he could sit back and observe the situation while the floor was cleared easily. That is, he hoped it would.

He fixed his t-shirt and shorts a little, ensuring that his sword was fastened properly. Normally, he'd feel nervous about going to higher floors, but now, he felt... numb. No wait, actually this was caused by him just standing too long in one spot.

Not long ago, he received message from Hilda that she'd arrive in some time. So, he messaged back about where he exactly was, and was since standing in one spot. With little care for everyone around, he started playing around on his phone. After all, they all were waiting for the same purpose.

"Hello." He heard Hilda's voice, and turned to her.

She wore a large, brown jacket covering her entire upper body, thick enough to withstand -20 degrees temperatures with ease. On her legs, some weird pants could be seen. They seemed to be made of normal, nylon material, but there were multiple plate-like segments of something that resembled leather sewn into it in irregular pattern. Clearly, they were made to withstand heat and cold alike.

On her head, there was a hood of a white hoodie which she wore underneath, only allowing her face to be seen. Her deep-red hair were falling around her head loosely, and her calm expression was amplified by her blue eyes, that seemed to pierce into his thoughts.

On her back, a large backpack was present. Youngwoo was familiar with the concept: Hunters needed to be prepared for pretty much any environment, as returning from floors was not always immediately possible. For him, huge preparations were not necessary (since he had a skill to resist **** temperatures), but always wore some spare clothing in a small pack nonetheless.

"Hello." He replied. "Ready to go for the 11th floor?"

"I suppose. Haven't you prepared?" She looked at his pack.

"I don't need to. I have a skill for that."

"I wonder what will be on the next floor."

He shrugged.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be fine."

She didn't answer to that, instead breathing in deeply. Hilda had already told Ieva that she'd be gone for now. Idan was out somewhere again, so she didn't manage to speak with him. But then again, she'd be back soon. She cleared her head clean of unnecessary thoughts. Now was time to go and scout floor 11.

There were 3 minutes left. Youngwoo looked around again. People started tensing up all around. Now, this was about to become a race. The moment the clock finished the countdown, they all would go to the next floor and begin beating up monsters. Well, that's what everyone thought. Reality was a bit different.

The moment the clock stopped at 00:00:00, a brilliant lance of light appeared from the Gate and pierced the sky. The light was extremely bright, illuminating the entire city easily, but weirdly enough none of the Hunters felt the need to shield their eyes. Indeed, this light was not blinding, or even unpleasant. Instead, it felt quite warm and welcoming, as if saying 'Watch me to your heart's content'. At least, that was until it disappeared, showing a human figure floating about 10 metres above the street.

It looked quite a lot like human's depiction of angel. A woman in white robes covering her entire body (a toga), with three pair of wings on her back, waving back and forth slowly, keeping her afloat. Her eyes were golden, full of brilliance, and her silky white skin seemed to radiate light. Beautiful blonde hair were made into braids and went all the way to her feet. Her small, smooth lips parted as she started speaking:

"Greetings, challengers of the Tower." Her voice was just tranquilizing, and despite her speaking in very quiet tone everyone could hear her. Actually, everyone in Safe Zone heard her speak. "You have completed the first 10 floors and proven your qualifications to go higher..."

Youngwoo stopped listening nearly immediately. He already heard this message once, he didn't need a repeat. In summary, it was a bland filler that was supposed to tell the Hunters that the Tower would become more challenging from now on etc, etc.

He turned to Hilda, who was visibly dazed by appearance of the angel. Well, who wouldn't be? Even though her expression was calm, her eyes were fixed on the floating figure in shock. Seeing that she'd not listen to him easily, Youngwoo simply took her by hand and pulled. Startled, Hilda just barely managed not to fall, but didn't break out of contact, weirdly enough. Weaving between people, Youngwoo reached the Gate with her and simply said:

"Let's go, Hilda. Transmit, floor 11."

A little surprised, Hilda repeated his words of transmit.

And next moment they were both gone. The beautiful voice disappeared from their ears as if it was a lie, and the two of them were standing in front of a village. Many buildings seemed to be in a semi-stable state, but nearly none of them were actually appealing to the eye. Some people in shabby clothes moved around, be it farmers going with crops on wheelbarrows or carpenters going to lumberjacks for some wood. Entire population seemed to be at most 500 people.

"Why'd you pull me in, Youngwoo?" Asked Hilda. "Wasn't that angel saying something important?"

"I'm sure it'll be on news page in a few minutes. Besides, this would be a race once it stopped." He replied. "I believe what we have in front of us is more important."

In that moment, they both received a notification.

[From now on, transmit is possible between any floors at will and doesn't require Hunters to be touching the Gate. Transmit range of Gate on floors 1-10 has been increased.
However, this only will apply to transmit between floors individual Hunters have cleared, or when transferring to a boss floor.]

This was good news. For everyone, really. There would be no more queue to the Gate, at least whenever people wanted to raid a boss or visit already cleared floors. But, that could wait. Right now, new notification appeared in front of them.

[The seal on floor 11 has not been lifted yet. Transmit will be blocked for 12 hours or until you lift the seal.]

[You received a quest!]

[Quest name: Help of growth]
[Objective: Fulfill enough quests contributing to Issar village's growth and prosperity.]
[Required: 5 000 quests. (0/5 000)]
[*Only 250 quests can be completed per day.]
[*All Hunter's completed quests count towards this quest]

[Quest reward: Unlock transmit to 12th floor. 10 Hunters with highest contribution will receive prizes depending on their ranking.]

Youngwoo heard of this quest. This was more or less exactly why floors 11-19 took a long time to solve. There was a limit to how fast they could've been done. Still, he felt a little surprised to see it in person. Looking over at Hilda, he immediately noticed her shocked expression.

"..."

"Seems like we're stuck here..." Said Youngwoo. "For 12 hours... hmm... should we try to do some quests?"

"..." She closed her notifications and looked at him. "12 hours..."

"Is something the matter?"

"...nothing. Let's do some quests." She nodded lightly.

The air was warm. Sun was beaming down, and wheat in the fields was golden, ready for reaping. Hilda quickly took off her jacket and tucked it into her backpack, after which they both took their steps towards the village. Not long after they set off, new Hunters started appearing.

After walking into the village, an air full of stench came into their noses. This was a collective smell of villager's sweat, animals' feces and wet dirt, **** to evaporate due to temperature. Feeling like he was going to puke, Youngwoo quickly approached the nearest person he could and asked:

"Hello?"

"Oi?" The older man turned from his job. He cut skin of some animal into large pieces and put them into a small barrel filled with something, presumably water. But now, for a moment, his attention shifted to the two people who approached him.

"May we help you in some way?" Asked Youngwoo. He hoped to get as many quests done as he could. He, like most others, coveted rewards for contribution.

"You adventurers?" The man looked at their packs. "I need some fresh leathers of boars or wolves. 'bout 5 fill do. You up for the task?"

"Yes." He replied.

" 'lright. Just put a hurry on this. I'll give ya a piece of gold for the trouble."

[You received a quest!]

[Boar leather for old tanner]
[Objective: Obtain 5 untanned boar leathers and bring them to tanner.]

[Quest reward: 1 gold coin.]
[*Boars must be skinned immediately after **** to preserve quality of leather.]

Youngwoo looked at Hilda.

"Did you receive a quest?"

"Yes."

"Then, let's go hunt boars, right?"

She nodded, and with that both of them set off towards nearest forest, almost an entire kilometre east from the village. Well, at least the quest itself wasn't very difficult. Boars were quite common, so they were easily found and killed by Hilda. Youngwoo was very precise with his sword, and was able to skin them quickly and efficiently. It didn't even take them entire hour to finish.

After that, they went on and finished another quest, this time for a lumberjack. He wanted some trees cut and transported in pieces, so the two set off and did the job.

Quest after quest, person after person, the 250 quest limit was reached before the night came in full to the village. Youngwoo looked at his statistics, and seeing a round 10 quests done, he smiled. Indeed, doing quests like this with a person like Dragon Witch proved to be quite easy. Until other people got used to this system, he and Hilda could secure a nice advantage. With that, they could almost guarantee their place in the contributor's ranks.

Hilda, however, didn't seem to be so complacent with the results. She was sitting across the campfire they made, and didn't speak. With her hood down, she only stared at the fire they made, slowly munching on roasted piece of boar meat.

"Is something the matter, Hilda?"

"Hmm? No, it's nothing." She replied hastily, but he saw it; there was a bit of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Are you worried about something?"

"...no." She replied. She was sounding calm and collected, but the hesitation in her voice clearly told him that she was lying.

"...alright then." He said. Pushing the issue would be very inappropriate of him. And besides, he could put his finger on her worry. "I'm sure your friends are safe."

"..."

"Well, I'll be going to the forest. I'll return in an hour or so." He got up and started walking between the trees.

"You're going to practice, aren't you?"

"...maybe." He replied, a little hesitantly.

"Then let me come with you."

'Oh for fuck's sake, WHY!' He really wanted to ask the aggressive question, but bit his tongue. Hell, it kind of seemed like Hilda wanted to watch him out of interest. Of course, he figured this wasn't the issue; she wanted to keep an eye on him to ensure he couldn't just jump on her from the darkness. On one hand, he wanted a bit of privacy (since the sword dances weren't skills yet), and on the other he fully understood her intention. He sighed a little and said:

"Very well." And with that, he waited for her to grab her backpack, and they both went into the forest.

Going deeper and deeper, it took them about 20 minutes to find a clearing. It was about 20 metres wide and had somewhat elliptical shape, but that didn't matter to Youngwoo. He just needed half of that to practice efficiently. Oh well, he liked more space anyway. He could link more footwork that way.

After setting down on its edge, Youngwoo walked a few metres into the clearing and unsheathed his sword. Trying not to think about Hilda who was watching him, he rose the blade into the sky. It glistened in the faint light of sun that could be still seen. By the time he finished his training, it was sure to be replaced with moonlight instead. Oh well, he needed his daily practice, it didn't matter if he had to do it at night.

Linking his first footwork, Youngwoo begun slashing with his sword at air.