The Leveling of Humanity Ch 5: Welcome to the Tutorial Tower

As the group made their way toward the tower, they had to park and continue forward on foot. Emily and Sofie discussed the merits of using a machete over a bat after they'd passed by another van vendor selling metal bats to people in line. Chase was feeling increasingly apprehensive as they approached the tower, and Gary seemed to sense this as he leaned close to him.

"It's all happening pretty quickly, but I know I've always wanted something like this to happen in a way. What about you?" Gary asked in a calm but friendly tone. Chase could tell that Gary was trying to help him. He smiled back at Gary, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I never imagined anything like this could ever happen, would ever happen. Running straight to the tower as soon as it was available feels..." Chase let the words drift off as he looked at the domineering tower looming in front of them. The tower had grown roughly out of the side of a hill. The hill itself was still covering almost two floors of the building. The entrance was clear, and a walkway had seemingly spawned to account for such landmasses stretching nearly as far forward as the tower was tall. Three defined stories stood before them, and each floor was marked one from the next by a solid stone ring.

"Maybe we shouldn't be going straight to the alien video game tower as soon as it appears?" Chase said with apprehension clearly in his tone. Emily walked over and looped her arm into his,

"Chase, it's going to be fine. We'll go slow and make smart choices, and you can't tell me you aren't excited about this whole thing." Emily continued reassuring him as they continued onward. Sofie and Gary were both nodding in agreement.

"I'm excited about this and want to take advantage of this, yeah," Chase explained while looking at the others and then back to the tower, "It's just.. Isn't this all happening a little too fast for anyone else, or is that just me?"

"Dude," Gary said, stopping and drawing everyone's attention, "you're right. It is happening fast, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. We're able to get here, and we're early. It gives us a head start. Like the girls said, we'll take it slow and smart. We have each other, and I mean, I don't really know you, but I trust Emily, and she trusts you. We can do this together."

"I don't need a pep talk. I'm just questioning if we should be running straight for this alien tower as soon as it pops up without really planning or preparing for something like this. I'm not a video game character. I've never considered raiding a dungeon, fighting monsters, or anything like that." Chase retorted, but Emily shook her head and placed her hand back on his arm in a calming fashion.

"That's how everyone is feeling right now, but the difference is that now you can be like a video game character. You can raid a dungeon, fight monsters, and we can do this together." She stressed the word together, and the implication was obvious. Chase took a deep breath and nodded,

"Okay. Together, we need to take our time and be as safe as possible." Emily laughed and pulled Chase along faster, the group now nearing the front of the line that had formed. As they got closer, they overheard a man in military uniform asking people to get their groups of five together before making it to the front of the line. Chase immediately broke from the line and approached,

"Hey, you said groups of five. We've only got four people in our group, though." The soldier shook his head disapprovingly, then loudly shouted to the line as a whole,

"The tower will not let you in with any more or any less than five people. Five people are required to enter the tower!" He then turned to Chase and, in a normal tone, said, "People are looking for extras over there by the broken equipment." Chase gave the man a quick thanks, then walked back to his group, explained what he'd learned, and collectively they went over to where the soldier had gestured. There was a large pile of broken equipment, and as they approached, they saw a bloodied group of three people stagger over and throw into the mix what appeared to be a baseball catcher padded uniform, broken bat, and hockey mask. The equipment was very broken, and the people looked to be in rough condition overall.

"Hey, did you just leave the tower?" Sofie asked them as they turned to leave.

"Yeah, and I don't think you should be going in there. It's a non-stop trap." The guy she addressed turned, his clothes bloodied and dirty. Tan-skinned and dark-haired. He appeared to be in his young twenties with an overall decent physique. "The monsters aren't what you have to worry about. It's those traps that will get you." He turned and departed with what was left of his group. Sofie turned a worried look to the rest of the group, but together they nodded to each other and approached the growing crowd gathered needing to fill out their ranks. It was quickly apparent that everyone had groups of three or fours, and finding a single person or pair of people was proving difficult. Finally, after half an hour of approaching various groups and being turned away, a group of four announced they would split up. Chase hurriedly rushed over to them, but a moment too late as they were quickly pulled into other teams. Thankfully, this started a quick trend of people splitting off, and within a few minutes, they were approached by an older man looking for a group of four. His group had dissolved as they had decided his older age would hinder them inside the tower.

"What class are you in?" Emily asked the man as they walked as a group of five to enter the tower.

"Going to be a fighter. I've always been good at swinging baseball bats and golf clubs, and when I was around your age, I played hockey. My name is Matthew." He said and reached his hand out for everyone to shake. Matthew looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties, dark-skinned and had a bright smile. As they got closer, he explained how he was a farmer and had never been interested in video games or RPGs, but that his grandkids were, and he knew a lot about them. He had a wooden bat with which he made a few practice swings in the air as the group walked and exchanged pleasant introductions. They made their way to the front of the line, and when it was their turn, they placed their hands on the tower. A bright red glow appeared around each of their hands until all five had their hands in place. Then the glow changed to green, and a bright green light flashed in their eyes. A pop-up window appeared:

Welcome to the Tutorial Tower - Please watch your step

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I hope you're enjoying my story The Leveling of Humanity, if you are please continue reading in the next chapter: https://vocal.media/fiction/the-leveling-of-humanity-ch-6-tactical-map