Chapter 9: The Tower's First Floor – The Blood Market
The first floor of Tower Six didn't look like a battlefield.It looked like a city trapped under a dying sun.
Aiden stepped through the shimmering portal with Shade close at his heel, cold mist curling around the wolf's paws. The transition ended in silence—a long, red horizon stretching over cracked stone streets, glowing lanterns, and strange, shifting alleys.
Above them, the sky wasn't a sky at all.It was a burning red dome with veins of black lightning crawling across it slowly, like tired serpents.
Shade lowered its head, sniffing the air.Aiden did the same, his senses sharpening.
The scent of dust, rust… and blood.
Aiden's system chimed.
[Welcome to Tower Six – Floor 1][Zone Type: Trade / Combat][Main Hub: Blood Market][Local Rule: Drops Are Currency]
Aiden exhaled. "So it's one of those floors."
Shade's ears flattened.
This wasn't a normal leveling zone.This was a player-driven economy where climbers bought, sold, and traded using the loot they collected.And where greed led to violence more often than monsters did.
Aiden started walking down the broken road.
The Blood Market
The marketplace was alive with chaos.
Stalls built from bones, metal scraps, and glowing stone lined the central plaza.Climbers shouted prices.Merchants weighed glowing drops on strange scales.A dozen races mingled—humans, elves, horned demons, iron-skinned dwarves, and even a wingless drake-man leaning over a cauldron of melted mana.
Each drop flickered with different colors: red, blue, gold, black.Aiden watched as two humans argued over a pulsing purple sphere.
"It's rare!" one yelled."It's cracked!" the other shot back.
Someone got punched.A guild swooped in.The fight ended.
Aiden kept walking.
Eyes followed him and Shade—some curious, some cautious, some hostile. Unregistered climbers were easy targets. Anyone without a guild backing them was basically free meat.
Aiden didn't care.
His only goal was simple: clear the floor.
But first—he needed supplies.
A voice called out from a stall."You! Hooded guy. You've got drops in your bag. I can smell them."
Aiden stopped.
The stall was run by a short demon with red skin and four small horns, his eyes bright yellow. He leaned forward, grin wide.
"Come now, don't be shy. Let old Korrin see what you've got."
"I'll pass."
Korrin's grin widened. "Ah, cautious. Good. You won't last long here."
Aiden ignored the bait and moved on.
Shade growled softly at the demon.Korrin laughed. "That wolf of yours—icy. Strange breed. Keep it alive, kid. Someone will want to buy it."
Aiden didn't react, but Shade snapped its teeth, frost forming on the ground.
System Check
Aiden found a quieter corner and sat on a cracked stone block. Shade curled beside him.
He opened his system.
[Name: Aiden Cross][Level: 21][Class: — (Hidden)][Title: The Drop Maker]
[Strength: 31][Agility: 46][Endurance: 29][Perception: 41][Focus: 57]
[Available Points: 0]
[Skill: Drop Maker – Grade F+]
Reveal weak points (temporary)
Create low-tier drops from kills
Random drop chance increased by 5%
[Bonded Beast: Shade][Rank: Unrated Variant]
Frost Bite
Cold Veil
Instinct Sync (Passive)
He studied the numbers.He needed to be stronger. Faster. Harder to kill.
But leveling was slow.Every level felt heavier than the one before.Monsters gave less experience.And each stat point felt like a drop of water in a desert.
Still, he wasn't discouraged.
Infinite leveling meant infinite room to grow.And he wasn't aiming to be strong today—He was planning for the power he would reach thousands of levels later.
Shade nudged his shoulder.
Aiden looked up.Its eyes locked onto something ahead.
Trouble.
A Gang of Climbers
A group approached—five of them.All humans, all wearing the same emblem: a horned skull.
A small-time gang.A predatory one.
Their leader, a tall man with a shaved head, smirked as he looked Aiden over.
"Well look at that. A solo climber with a rare beast. What luck."
Shade's fur bristled, frost forming on its back.
Aiden slowly reached for his dagger. "Last warning. Walk away."
The leader laughed loudly. His men joined in.
One stepped forward. "Relax. Just hand us your drops and the dog, and we let you—"
Shade moved first.
A blur of ice and teeth.
The man didn't even finish his sentence before he collapsed, arm frozen from shoulder to fingertips.
The others stumbled back.
"What the—?!""That thing's Rank B for sure—""Kill it! Kill both!"
Aiden stood, voice low. "Shade."
The wolf growled deeply.
The gang charged.
Aiden activated his skill.
[Drop Maker – Weak Point Mode Activated]
Symbols lit up on the men—throats, knees, ribs, spine.
He moved.
Fast.
His dagger slashed through the first man's knee.A second man swung a hammer—Aiden ducked, elbow smashing into the soft spot under the arm.Shade tore into the third climber with icy fangs.
Screams filled the air.
The leader stumbled back, blood dripping from a cut along his cheek. "Y-you… what ARE you?"
Aiden stepped toward him slowly.
"Someone you shouldn't have talked to."
The leader tried to run.
Aiden didn't chase.
Shade did.
A single crunch.
And silence.
The system chimed.
[Hostile Climbers Defeated: 5][Drops Obtained: Low-tier Mana Clot x2, Rusted Blood Token x3, Black Fang Shard x1][EXP Gained][Level Up: 21 → 22]
Aiden crouched beside the bodies, collecting the drops quickly.
Shade licked ice from its teeth, silent.
Aiden patted its head. "Good work."
But he wasn't proud.
He wasn't bothered either.
This was survival.In the towers, mercy got you killed.
The Tower's First Trial
Aiden checked the map in his system.
[Goal: Locate the Floor Boss – "Market Executioner"][Required to Clear Floor 1]
He stood. "Let's go."
The path forward was deeper into the Blood Market.The stalls thinned.The buildings twisted into darker shapes.The air grew colder.
Shade stuck close.
Aiden's steps slowed as he reached a massive gate at the center of the floor.It was made of bones—thick, curved, towering bones fused together with red metal.
Two massive braziers burned on either side, flames black as ink.
Above the archway, a system window flickered.
[Boss Zone – Entering Will Start Combat][Recommended Level: 30+]
Aiden was level 22.
Shade was strong but still young.
Did he care?
Not at all.
He stepped forward.
The gate opened.
Cold wind rushed out.
Darkness swallowed the light.
And the system boomed:
[BOSS: The Market Executioner Has Awakened]
A shape moved inside.Heavy footsteps.Dragging metal.Shallow breathing.
Shade growled, fur turning to frost.
Aiden smirked beneath his hood.
"Good. Let's see how far we can go."