Gasp!
Cough cough!
As his heart kept getting squeezed, Adrian began coughing.
The taste of metal filled his mouth, and despite his best efforts to hold it in, it began to spurt out of his mouth.
As Adrian hunched over from the pain, Tia waved their wand again, and the pain stopped as if it had never existed.
huff-
huff-
"Are you okay, cutie? Did that hurt too badly? I just wanted to demonstrate since quite a lot of people don't believe me when I tell them there's a curse." Tia fluttered in his face unashamedly, as if she hadn't just tried to kill him.
Internally, Adrian wanted to snatch her out of the air and squish her to death, but outwardly, he just smiled weakly and tried to catch his breath.
"I'm fine." Adrian gasped.
"Really? You don't blame me, cutie, do you?" Tia asked, the facets of its compound eyes glittering eerily even as its smile stayed on its face.
It didn't sound remorseful at all and had its head tilted at an unnatural angle as it watched Adrian's reaction.
Of course, I blame you!
You did this!
"No, no, it's fine. Thank you for showing me. I believe you." Adrian replied weakly.
His mouth said one thing, but his mind was whirling at the new information.
This curse forces the exiters to bring a doubling amount of people?
Was that why there were so many people this time?
Quickly doing the math, Adrian realized why the weapons list was 1024.
It meant that one of the mages who came in this time had either failed or left 10 different times.
Kiel and those fucking bastards had dragged him into this for what?
Some magical book?
Some special ability?
Treasure?
Fuck that!
Just go through the tower by yourself and die if you're not capable enough!
Leave innocent people out of it!
Although he was angry, Adrian didn't show it to the fairy who was staring at him like a wolf staring at raw meat.
He wiped his mouth and carefully sidestepped the blood on the ground.
Keeping his tone gentle, he began questioning the fairy who seemed to be unusually friendly to him.
"May I ask a couple more questions? I didn't come here of my own will, so I'm a bit confused about everything that's going on."
"Of course, cutie. Ask away." Tia sat in the air while its wings fluttered slowly.
"Then...Does everyone who leaves the tower before completing it have the same curse?"
"Naturally."
"Is the curse active while you're in the tower?"
"Nope."
"It only activates when you leave the tower?"
"Correct!"
"Then…why don't people just break the curse when they leave?"
After all, there were many churches and even a devout magic branch that specialized in curses.
Couldn't one of them be utilized to break the curse?
"Everyone is encouraged to try to break the curse. However, if breaking it fails, the curse time limit is halved, and the people requirement is doubled. This is a secret that I'm only telling you, cutie."
Seeing the fairy smile like a shark that smelled blood, Adrian smiled back while cursing it out in his head.
Judging by that expression, he could guess what happened.
Fuck.
"Then, how can the curse be broken?"
"By passing all 7 trials of the tower. Once you do so, your agreement with the tower is complete, and if you want, you're able to leave."
Why wouldn't I want to leave?
Keeping the strange wording in mind, Adrian skipped past it.
"And if you fail one of the trials?"
Before Adrian could move, the fairy flew at his face and gently stroked his cheek before rubbing herself against it.
To be honest, it felt like sand was being ground into his skin, but Adrian held still and let it have its fun.
"Don't worry, if you die, I'll make sure to preserve this pretty face of yours so I can look at it forever. Especially those eyes. Tee hee. I'll also strip that weird stuff you have in your hair away. You'll look beautiful if you die, I promise!"
Adrian: "..."
I don't want you to preserve my face, you freaking weirdo.
I want to leave!
Feeling his face tingle as the fairy continued to rub on it, Adrian just took a deep breath while hoping that the fairy hadn't poisoned him or worse.
And after several minutes of forceful exfoliation, Tia finally moved back.
"So…will you be participating in tower trials? Or will you be leaving?"
"I don't particularly have a choice, do I?"
I have no way to break the curse, and I don't want to drag more people in here.
"Nope! But as a cutie contestant who has gained my favour, I do have some hints for you. Do you want to hear them?"
"Yes, please."
It would be stupid not to receive any hints if possible.
"Ahh, so polite. Unlike that annoying large group of crying fodder that came by earlier."
"A large group? Can you tell me more about them?"
"Nope," Tia grumbled before smiling again.
"Now hints. Let's limit it to the treasure hunt. Firstly and most importantly for you, since you look a bit weak, if you defeat contestants, you can gain some of their abilities given by the tower, which would help you become stronger. Isn't that great?"
"By defeat you mean-"
Still smiling, the fairy used its wand to slice across its throat.
"Next! Like any treasure hunt, there are map pieces to make things a little easier. Can you guess how to gain the map pieces? Here's a hint: the map pieces are not lying around."
"…defeating other contestants?"
"You're so smart, cutie! Additionally, to make retrieving treasures easier, you get a unique key from each person. Can you guess what a unique key each person would have?"
"The weapons they selected?"
That was the only thing that it could be.
"Kyaaa!!!" the fairy clapped its hand excitedly while squealing.
"I love talking with smart people. You're exactly right! The treasure hunt area is big if you think it's big, but small if you think it's small. So instead of running around hoping that you'll find enough treasure to pass, wouldn't it be easier to just find some people and defeat them?"
So….isn't this just combat with extra steps?
You want the people to kill each other to find the treasure, and there's no guarantee that you'll have to kill just one person.
Instead of arguing with the fairy who seemed so proud of itself, Adrian just nodded.
"…I guess so."
"I knew you would see it my way. Now, I feel like I've talked enough, so I'll allow you to go forth and enjoy your treasure hunt. I hope you pass the first trial so we can talk some more about the second one. I especially planned the next one so it's extra fun."
"Can I ask you some more questions?"
"I'll answer one more cutie. And no, I won't tell you how many people are here, where this tower is located, or anything regarding the treasure hunt or what the rest of the trials are, so don't try it."
Seeing the fairy's cold smile, Adrian quickly filtered his thoughts.
He wanted to ask whether he had a unique key since he didn't select a weapon.
He also wanted to ask about food and safety, but there was a more pressing issue.
"How do I get magic power. I have a skill that's unusable because my current magic power is zero."
"Zero?" the fairy seemed shocked as it flew around him, its pointy wand poking him here and there.
"Zero."
"Really?" Tia looked at him as if she had seen a very interesting creature.