Chapter 411

Arthur stretched, feeling the energy within him and the clarity in his mind. He was rather surprised at how much of a difference there had been, but looking at the results that now appeared in the Tower notification wiped away some of that surprise.

 

Reward Received: +2 Mind, +3 Body, +2 Spirit

 

A total of seven attributes. Higher than what was generally received by those who took this. The lowest he’d heard was around two points and the average around three. He had expected to receive seven, but it was clear that the better cultivation technique he had had benefited him greatly.

Which, kind of was unfair in a sense. Those with a great technique just piled on their advantages, such that when they finally got to the end, they were so far ahead of everyone else it was near impossible to keep up.

Then again why would the Tower be any different?

Before he could get into any more ill-suited and grumpy moods, the Tower began to form and display another set of notifications. This time, Arthur was surprised, having expected to e portalled out.

 

Clan Head Arthur Chin of the Benevolent Durians has cleared Tower 2893 for the first time.

Result Grade: A+

Calculating Rewards…

 

“A+? I’ve never gotten an A+ in my life!” Arthur said, surprised. Which, he knew, made him a bad Chinese, but then again, not all of them were eggheads. Some were samsengs and others, just not geared for an academic life.

Arthur had always found studying and learning about the Tower more interesting than dry studies about geography or the umpteenth retelling of colonial history or the Malaywashed retelling of contemporary 20^th century nation building. As for math – beyond basic levels, who needed it?

Still, he had to admit, a little glowing portion of his soul was chuffed at the sight of his very first A+ grade.

 

Rewards;

-       Upgrade to Clan Standing and Tower Communication Options

-       Upgrade to Clan Aspect

-       Upgrade to Clan Seal

“Wah! Gom syok, ah!” Arthur whispered his surprise, staring at the information. The first was easy enough to tap, and verify details upon. It was not too surprising, what little he knew – and the others had told him – had confirmed that it was something he would have acquired just for completing the Tower anyway.

 

Clan Head may now designate Floor Bosses outside of floor and Tower itself

Reputation levels within Clan may now be displayed and adjusted

Floor income and holdings held by Floor Bosses now viewable

Communication between Floor Bosses and Clan Head is now possible

Clan Status is now viewable in all dimensions

Additional Clan roles now available

Additional Clan quests now available

 

Arthur's eyes narrowed at the last. He mentally willed the information to expand there, and was only a little surprised when it did happen. Information cascaded outwards with that single prompt.

 

Clan Quest: Growth, before all!

Requirements: Achieve 1,000 Members

Rewards: Additional Clan roles will be made available

Clan Quest: Expanded Foundations

Requirements: Clear and Establish Clan Biuldings in three Beginner Towers

Rewards: Expanded Clan functionality, increased options for Clan buildings

 

Clan Quest: Keeping the Books Straight

Requirements: Designate a Clan Treasurer

Rewards: Additional functionality and access to Tower finances

 

"Tower finances?" Arthur asked, but the Tower was, as always less than forthcoming with information. He sighed after a moment, discarding his prompting for further details as he kept reading.

 

Clan Quest: Clan Advancement

Requirements: Establish and Clear an Advanced Tower

Rewards: Expanded Clan abilities, buildings and quests

Well, that last one was not surprising. In fact, a little prompt actually showed that it was the first of a series of chained quests, many of them similar but with increased Tower difficulty. Skipping backwards, Arthur checked on the Clan quest to establish firmer foundations and realised that one widened and expanded as well, both in the number of Beginner Towers as well as Advanced Towers he was meant to acquire.

Which, of course, led to the question of how he was supposed to do that. After all, he was only one man. If he tried to clear tens of Beginner and Advanced Towers, he could never do anything but spend his time clearing Towers.

Then again, the expansion of roles already coming probably spoke to the option of designating new roles in the Clan. Some of which, he'd assume, would include individuals who could establish Clan Buildings and clear Towers on his behalf. He vaguely recalled something like that happening in news reports of Guilds and Clans all over the world, though it was not something that was reported upon widely.

Not much interesting - for most people - about another Guild or Clan establishing themselves in another Tower. Certainly, he hadn't been that interested in such details.

Arthur sighed, gestured downwards and noted a series of other Clan Quests. Many following the same line of though, so he discarded the information from the view screen before him. Then with a slight prod, had the Tower send it to him mentally. Watching the same information appear, he closed it down, satisfied he would have the ability to follow up on it more.

More importantly, since he was reviewing these details, he pulled up information on the newly available Clan roles.

 

Clan Roles available:

- Floor Bosses

- Treasurer

- Clan Trainer

 

He ignored the first one, knowing what that did. It was the minimum that was available to him, as a Clan Head. The Treasurer, to his surprise, had little further information other than that they managed Clan finances. Other than allowing someone to look at how much money the Clan supposedly had, Arthur wasn't certain what it was meant to do. Perhaps access some of that money, or maybe even make it viable for them to access across the Tower? Though, if that was the case, it would make little sense that people would carry funds upwards.

Unless...

"I wonder if you deposit monster cores for contribution points, or whatever form of money the Tower takes further up, if you can't take it out again?" It would make sense. You traded in cores for contribution points, but you couldn't really do much with those points than buy things with it.

If you could not extract value outside, it would make sense then that other floor bosses would keep the money out of the Tower, because you needed to bring some out of the Tower itself for refinement and use. And the Tower constantly wanted people to climb, so by making it more difficult to acquire or bring out monster cores; it would make perfect sense.

He'd have to check, of course, but it fit everything he knew. 

More interesting than the Treasurer was the Clan Trainer. He wondered what they were supposed to do, how they were supposed to make things better. 

 

Role: Clan Trainer

Effect: Increases training effectiveness of Clan. 

Bonuses: Variable. Dependent upon individual designated as trainer.

 

"You couldn't be at least a little useful?" Arthur asked the Tower. Of course there was no answer. Just out of curiosity, he tried applying either role to himself, finding that it was impossible. Made perfect sense, of course, but it was annoying since he could not then just pile all the advantages or even verify what the bonuses and abilities were by himself.

"I wonder if there's a cooldown in effect if I tried designating and then removing it from others?" Arthur muttered. He would have thought there might be, or some other hidden negative, because that was the way the Tower worked. But he could only wait, till it was ready. 

In the meantime, he turned his attention to the more exciting bonuses.

The upgrade to their Aspect and Seal.