Chapter 503

Travel was rather easy and relaxed when one had money and were a Climber The entire process of traveling through Bangladesh once they passed through the border controls setup for Climbers was simple. They were met with their own professional, licensed guides. Individuals who were not just Climbers, but high ranked ones who worked for the government to handle and manage visiting Climbers from other countries. It was part of the tax and entrance fees they had to pay, for utilizing the Tower in Dhaka.

Staring out the window, Arthur stared a world that was somehow both similar and so different from his own country. Portions of it was just like Malaysia, multiplied significantly more like the differences in the richest and poorest or the larger crowds. On the other hand, the architecture itself was different, the smells and taste in the air, the way bikes wove in and out everywhere.

It mattered little to Arthur. He was not here for being a tourist, so other than making sure they had a chance to sample some local food, they would be entering the Tower the very next day. One day to wash and rest, to relax and then they would be in.

In the meantime, Arthur pulled upon another portion of his Status to review the information about his Clan. It had grown significantly, such that their ranking had changed and even, surprisingly, their Credit Rating. What that was useful for, he still had yet to learn. Then again, if the Credit Rating was similar to a human’s, he wouldn’t be willing to lend him money either.

 

The Benevolent Durians Clan Status

Organizational Ranking: 100,165

Number of Towers Occupied: 3

Number of Clan Buildings: 14

Number of Clan Members: 3,982

Overall Credit Rating: D-

Aspect: Guardianship

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

 

Aspect: Guardianship

● Modest increase in effectiveness of healing cultivation techniques.

● Minor increase in effectiveness of protection and shielding cultivation techniques.

● Trivial increase in effectiveness of precision, speed and bonding cultivation techniques.

● Variable increase in cultivation and refinement speed dependent upon the number of Clan members within close proximity.

● Tower quest types have been expanded.

 

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

Sigil Bonus (Clan Head): Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVe)

Sigil Bonus (Clan): Cultivation Exercise – Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IIe)

Sigil Bonus (Clan) - Enhanced Magnetoreception and Equilibrioception

 

His Aspect of Guardianship and Sigil of the Flame Phoenix had not changed much, which Arthur was not surprised about at all. From what he understood, he needed to breakthrough a few more Towers – the number seemed to range from four to seven – which was another good reason to push. The next upgrade would see an increase in the number of Sigil bonuses and alter the Guardianship aspect further.

The one thing that had changed was the number of Tower type quests the Clan was receiving, though most of that was appearing for those beneath him; in the Tower levels where Clan buildings were created. Perhaps the most interesting that had happened, especially after he had cleared the last Tower was that the Clan itself could post Tower aided quests. They still had to put up the rewards themselves, but the Tower managed the paperwork and informed any Clan members about what was available.

Last he heard, the introduction of such quests had increased the volume and speed of quest clearances, most of which were gathering and kill quests, which then allowed them to gain even more beast cores in a roundabout manner, since the crafters they were training and the residences were used more often.

Running a Clan was pretty powerful, though he still felt like he was wandering through the dark without understanding the progression paths available. He was making it up as he was going along, even though he’d done his best to purchase or acquire information about Clans.

Unfortunately, two thirds of the work available – behind paywalls or not – were unsubstantiated or just plain wrong claims. The other pieces of information was also often not particularly useful, going into Sigils or Aspects that were unfamiliar to him. They could give him a general idea of what the progression might look like, but being different from what he had was less useful.

In this case, the Flame Phoenix was actually less common than the Aspect of Guardianship. The Aspect was actually quite commonly used by groups that valued crafters and were not as interested in battle, more focused on caring and crafting. In fact, the Dakha Tower actually leaned towards crafters a lot more, an aspect that concerned Arthur just a little bit since some of the Tower tests were much less about what you killed or places to go to, but what you crafted.

The Dakha tower was actually a larger than normal Beginner Tower, in the sense that it had sixteen floors that had to be passed through. It was, however, different in that the entire Tower was in a series of civilized settlements, from a tiny crafting hut to begin to a massive sprawling city towards the end.

There were fewer kills quests involved, but that was fine with Arthur. In fact, there were a few Skill techniques that he could learn to increase his overall strength, and of course, the crafting skills that the Tower was trying to teach.

The biggest advantage would be the sheer number of Clan buildings he could create – at least past the first floor. Unlike other Beginner Towers, because the first few floors were just crafting challenges – at least after the initial testing – there was no holdup. It was only later, when individuals had to fight to gather their crafting materials that individuals might get caught up. Of course, having a Clan meant little if he had no one to help him, which was the other reason he was here.

And the reason why the prospective and current Clan members who had come along came with him. Including the trio who were seated before him.

“Ajit, Sanjay and Naima,” Arthur greeted the trio. “Thank you for coming and volunteering. Mel and the others have good things to say about you all.” He hesitated, smiled. “But maybe we can spend some time talking, getting to know one another? As you know, we’re going to need to have you take care of the Tower floors here for a while.”

“Of course. Certainly. Definitely.” Three voices, all different ways of saying the same thing. Arthur sighed, and gestured for them to take a seat. He would have to feel them out over tonight, hope they did well and then designate them as the floor bosses in the most important sections – the first main settlement section, the final one and another on the tenth floor. He’d have to choose among those who hadn’t cleared the Tower for the rest, and just hope that his choices worked out.

So far, it had. He’d only had to have one person forcefully relieved in the Kuching Tower so far, and that had been easy enough with the ability to remove Clan members remotely. He was sure the chaos that caused on the Tower was significant, but he’d only get a report on it in a few months.

Troublesome, but hopefully, when he managed to ascend high enough and upgrade the Tower, he’d be able to reenter Towers and deal with these problems directly. Or his subordinates.