Chapter 38: Farmers
"Is there no end to them?!" Temur snapped. Swinging his sword in a wide arc. Green blood sprayed and heads followed, roiling like balls on the floor.
"Just keep doing your work!" Litha growled, throwing another bolt of blue hot light that burned the monsters to cinders. "Oh shit!I'm not suppose to burn them!"
Jael sent sharpened bones covered in his Unholy magic into the horde of monsters, piercing their fleshs. He immediately activated the power inside the bones and the monsters fell as if a string to a puppet was cut.
The bones he sent was from a monster that uses paralyzing magic and when Jael used his [Dance of the bones] he could use the last of the powers still trapped in them. "I've captured the ones we needed alive."
The monsters are called Grotor, they have lime colour skin with brown stripes, they are shaped like lizard but as big as grown men. They have long claws and sharp teeth that can tear flesh from Awakeners and they generally not hostile but they are still monsters.
The rest of the monsters finally retreated, slithering back inside their cave.
Before the paralyzing effect wore off they began to tie them with thick ropes, binding their legs and body. They worked quickly, Temur and Jael tie the monsters while Litha collected the dead ones.
Litha looked at the blinking Grotor with a scowl. "I'm getting tired of doing the same thing every week. We need to fight real monsters, not this D Iron ones."
"Technically we are not fighting," Jael pointed out. They began to walk toward the metal carriage and dump the live monsters in. "We are just doing our job."
They climbed to floor 101 two weeks ago and finally tasted their first real life as Climbers. And the uncomfortable truth– Guilds and associations rules the Tower. Unless you have a sponsor or personal wealth then it's very advisable to join one.
Jael had looked into the advantages of joining Guilds and the biggest is the opportunity and freedom to Zones. All the zones are tied to one or other Guilds and associations and they are always very reluctant to rent it out to outsiders who's not one of them.
And any new zones are always claimed by Guilds before individuals can even dream of doing anything. Most of the new Climbers have began to join Guilds and associations but Jael was still thinking about it.
One of the biggest disadvantage of joining is freedom, everything you do will be regulated in regards to the contract.
Litha snorted. "We are doing our job but I hate it. And why is everything so expensive anyway? If this is how we will continue as we climb higher....."
She left the word hanging but no need to complete it. They all knew what she was thinking about. If this is how every floor is going to be then how will they be able to train and focus on personal growth?
Jael frowned. "At least we still have a job. I heard some Climbers were caught by the Tower Guards yesterday stealing."
Temur shook his head. "Well...there's also a guild for thieves and assassins."
Litha sighed and her stomach growled. "Let's go before the monsters convince themselves they could fight us again."
Temur grunted. "Those ones? They are getting more docile with the way they are getting farmed."
They loaded the rest of the monsters and climbed to their place on the driver's seat. The carriage was attached to two powerful horses and they began to move.
The zone had twisted the area into a rocky land with little vegetations. Caves opening filled the majority of the place where the monsters make their home. It was a fairly small zone, an open zone not one that's open inside an old temple or such.
They made their way outside where there's a gate with three guards who wore black with an emblem. The guards waved them away without fanfare. With two weeks coming here everyday they had became a familiar sight.
Immediately after they left the zone the air became crisps and the ground changed. The soil is rich and vegetations lined the way as they made their way over to the town.
Temur sighed as the town came into view. "I miss Eldrida. All the yummy food and the view! I want to go back."
Litha rolled her eyes but she smiled. "You want to go to the capital town where we'll spend seven times what we spend here."
Jael winced. "We spent three days in Eldrida, the capital town of this floor."
"And the hotel expenses we spent is all the monster cores we hunt. Thankfully we still have what Jael brought back from the test so we can manage here."
Litha had slapped herself in the head when the test finished because she didn't remember to stock orc bodies. Temur said he was too wounded and busy fighting for his life to think about carrying monster bodies. All in all, Jael has been the one carrying them with his monsters he brought back from the test.
Now they couldn't afford to rent zone and there's actually no Guilds willing to rent zone to them. The work they are doing now is for a clothing association.
The Grotor are monsters that are useful in making clothes. Their skins is used for leather making with their cool lime colors, and there's an acid found in their gut used as softening material agents.
The association have acquired the zone and they are in the business of making leathers. Jael and his companion are hired to hunt and bring the monsters in.
The town is far from the capital town and its dominated by less powerful Guilds that are here for business. The Climbers here are a mixture of normal humans and Iron bronze Awakeners.
They made their way towards the association to drop off their load and collect their pay of the day. That was how they have been doing it for the last two weeks.