Chapter 457

Funny how the Kuching Tower was not some towering, singular edifice with windows that – upon staring into – were blank voids. Instead, it was a series of spiraling staircases, that you had to walk upwards upon. At random intervals, individuals climbing the Tower would disappear, reappearing inside the Tower itself and the floors.

Entirely random intervals, which had caused some degree of consternation when the first explorers had seen friends disappear ahead of them. Trying to retreat had either meant they had been transported while running away, or in a few unlucky cases, had managed to exit the Tower entirely.

At which point, said individual had a nervous breakdown while waiting for their friends to return. Or not, in the first wave. Eventually, of course, they’d realised what was going on, but the impromptu Climber had chosen to climb the Tower eventually rather than wait, himself never returning.

Some believed he’d just killed himself, but no one within the Tower had ever – reliably – sighted him. Or his party.

Like most Towers, it reached up and up, seeming to rise forever. That was, of course, an illusion - it actually was not that tall on this realm. There had been numerous attempts to chart out the full height of the Towers, but they all failed. The 'top' of a Tower disappeared randomly, sometimes only eight or nine floors up when you flew to them, sometimes much higher up. What was known was that any attempt to land or otherwise perch a craft on them was destined to failure and those few attempting to climb up them either gave up, disappeared or just had to call an end to their climbing expeditions.

Current agreement was that the Towers 'end point' and tops were in another dimension, with the specific location of the top and what one might find if you reached it, unknown. The fact that some Beginner Towers only had ten to fifteen floors, some of which weren't even that extensive spoke to some further extra-dimensional trickery.

What, exactly, he'd leave to people a lot smarter than him to deal with. Not that the smart people had seen the Towers coming or had any useful explanation as yet. So Arthur didn't feel particularly bad.

"We good?" Arthur turned his head, spotting Jan amble over holding a bunch of cards. They were single-use cards that when used on the turnstiles, would let them in. They didn't even bother with anything like personalising them, though he also took back his Identiti Kard from Jan. Those were likely already pinged inside the computer, loading all their information in.

Quick and efficient and the cards just to make sure the numbers at the end of the day tallied up, so that made sense.

"Tak susah. All registered. Including the Clan." Jan waggled another bigger card that Arthur took and slipped away into his pouch. He was wearing a backpack again like everyone else, and looking around; he took int he team.  The usual group - sans his Seniors - were here, from Uswah to Mel to Yao Jing. Everyone ready to push onward, and grow stronger.

Easy.

The only thing that might slow them down, really? His need to establish the Clan on each floor and find someone suitable, but even there; the Chin's and the Lotuses would help. He had a whole list of names and details from some of the old Lotuses who had gone through the Kuching Tower and passed. That they were very few of them, and in a few cases, he had to pay them for the information and it was a bit out of date was annoying; but it was better than what he had to begin with in the KL Tower.

Those old White Lotuses, having established themselves, mostly looked at him like he was an intruder, a miscreant that had to be dealt with. Even with Mel vouching for him, it hadn’t helped. She was in a different generation, mostly unknown to most of them and the entire Clan set-up idea a surprise to them.

Add the fact that many were quite well established, they were ahead of him in the curve and most would need to enter Towers before him, and he had little enough to offer them. Sure, the Clan seal could help and no one ever turned down reflexive healing and that had attracted some degree of interest, but overall; it was less useful for these players.

So, for now, they were hovering on the edges, watching. Setting up the headquarters had given him a reputation boost, but it wasn’t enough. Clearing this Tower would help.

Which led him back here… standing before the edifice.

“Well, we going to walk or not?” Rick said, hands resting easily on his belt. Dressed back in his vest, bandana and the cross-slung shoulder holsters, he looked more at ease about to plunge into a fight for his life than back in Malaysia.

Arthur took one last look around, doing a last minute visual check on the group. Everyone was close by, except Yao Jing who was loading up on a bunch of snacks from a nearby food vendor who was doing brisk business selling his keropok keping and other snacks. The fluffy, fish or prawn crackers had been freshly deep fried and were always a good seller, though Arthur appreciated the old school keropok lekor. More traditional, but hardier, the ground fish and sago deep fried snacks both hardy and spicy when dipped in the chilli sauce. In fact, he had a couple of bundles tied off next to him, for the long walk.

"I guess we are." Then catching Casey's look, changed his words to be more firm. "Let's go."

He suited actions to words, taking the first few steps and leading the way forward. Jan, of course, took space in front of him moments later, though Arthur had no idea why she bothered. She could just as easily disappear before him, or vice versa - and it wasn't like he was going to get attacked walking up the Tower. 

He'd be more in danger of getting sniped, what with the way they were trundling up and around. 

Once they were past the turnstile gates and ascending, he mentioned it idly, causing her to glare at him.

"I tak boleh help on that, lah." She sighed. "But I boleh guard from front."

"Fine, fine." And there were other Climbers, though much fewer. Since it was a Beginner Tower, there were a lot of newbies. Easily spotted by their kit - or lack of it - and the way the moved, a certain level of hesitation as they climbed ahead of the group or filtered in behind. As though clumping around the team would give them some form of protection.

Mel, being the good second-in-command that she was had fallen back, chatting with the newbies who were coming up, expounding on what the group was up to and probing to see if she could get new recruits already. He understood the need, but Arthur chose to leave it to the others.

His focus was more on the upcoming Tower, what he would need to do. He had a list of people, a series of choices to make, and most importantly, a need to grow stronger. More than anything, he needed to be able to hold his own against the powers that were closing in on his Clan, wanting to take it for their own needs.

Including his own allies to some extent. While he might not have chosen to acquire the Clan by choice, it was his. His Clan, his choices, his responsibility. He would not let it become something different from his own desires, but to do that, he needed strength. 

Pushing those thoughts, that resolution through his mind, anchoring it firmly within for the Climb, Arthur never even noticed when he disappeared.