Prologue pt. 3

"So what's been going on with the mayor lately?"
One of the men spoke softly across the booth to the .man sitting in front of him. He couldn't really tell much about the build of him either as he was draped with a old travelers cloak.Tael wanted to get a better look but moving around would only alert the two. He settled himself spying a catching glimpse of firey red hair before discretky continuing to listen in.

"Heard there's been trouble in the tower, been givin the old man a rough time of it to." The red haired one said to the man siting across from him.
"Trouble you say?"
"Right apparently there's been too much mana in the tower lately and it's been causing unmonitered rifts to open up into it. There like one way entery tickets. Ya know how regulated he keeps the main warp gate, anyhow some kids thought they could get in and out fast to make a quick buck but they had overestimated themselves. They got trapped inside on some unknown floor no idea where they could've ended up."
"Aye whata shame fools blinded by greed." The darker haired man responded taking a stout swig of his drink before placing it back down." Ain't heard none of that on the street must've done a good job of patching it over."

"yeah but it's none of our bother we just need to sit back and watch the tides roll in." The red haired man leaned back in his seat in a casual motion seemingly ending the bout of conversation. As they began to finish their meal Tael glanced about the room before downing the last of his drink & dropping a few coins on the counter. they weren't the right brand of currency with a forien stamp on them but It never mattered much. the coins were coins no matter where they came from, metal still held its weight even after the colapse, once society picked back up again they had fallen back to the trend of gold & silver.

After dropping an extra silver for the troubles he quietly picked himself up and slicked out the bar, no one even noticing he had left till he was already gone. Walking the streets he finally had some time to take a look around the town. "This place should be... Interesting." His curiosity had been peaked and he was quite looking forward to what was in store for this thriving tower town. The air felt crisp in his lungs tinged with a cool refreshing taste of mana that made him feel like he could start running and never stop. Revitalized he broke into a light jog down the streets, weaving to and fro watching flecks of starlight drift through the air charges like firework fairys lighting up the town in a luster unlike any he had seen before. " Beautiful," He mumbled under his breath as he watched the flecks of starlight flicker around him the air alight with mana and clamor as the noise of the busy street rang around him.

The mana danced along his fingertips as he felt his energy skills lightly activating under his command. They were strange, when he used the skill it felt instinctual and it nearly began working at a thought. But without actually using the skill for some reason he found it impossible to even begin to replicate the spell. He could only feel a strange sensation sparkle and fizz out under his skin,"Something is strange about this system that simply arrived one day. All of the sudden countless worlds unified and connected together and then these massive towers fell from the sky and pierced into the heavens. There's something out there that gave me these abilities but..." His thoughts paused as he slowly muttered under his breath before shoving aside the notion entirely."are they even mine," he wondered as he failed to use even a single point of manna without first using a skill to channel it. Thoughts about how the system and these strange powers and energy's actually functioned." I suppose I have to look at skills as like hose or a bucket of water. Without a hose or a bucket it is practically impossible to move the water in any real fassion." But what happens if you manage to do it anyway?" He felt like even though it looked impossible there might be a way, " I mean I could feel the sparks under my skin so it's not like it's nothing, it's more like my control is too poor to actually make it move." The thought of relying on another's abilities sickened him to no end.

"Anyway considering the level around here I'm around a mid grade fighter all things considered, I don't want to cause trouble but the things I need..." His eyes slowly pandered up to the sky to see the tower disappear into the clouds its top nowhere in sight." Are up there, and from the looks of it they don't just let you into the tower." His pace quickened as he pushed toward the center of the crowd in the town square. The crowd roared with all the bussle of rush hour, but finally breaking way to the clearing near the center he finally managed to get a good look at the front of the tower. It was an imposing gate made out of black marble that resembled steel more than rock. Thousands of tiny intricate details carved into the surface rippled like waves when he spotted someone walk into the massive stone door and simply vanish the moment the walked into the wall. 'Guess it acts like a portal then I'm assuming it goes into stage 1, too bad they decided to guard the place like fort Knox' there were a couple massive lines of people walking into the tower. Before you even got to pay your entrance fee you had to give out your mercenary card, check your mana levels, go through a truth detector, even have your pack inspected by the knight detail that shared a strong resemblance with a certain Italian section of waste management representatives. Basically they were classic goons, "there probably some unsavory types in charge here, it's an independent city without a king or large government just some local authorities. They probably have plenty of shady things going on under the ground." Walking away from the city square he thought about the papers and identification he would need to get in, 'bah it's too much hassle and if they know I'm in there then they'll want taxes on my way out.' He briefly remembered why everyone hated the government. They ain't do shit and they expect me to just give them free shit because the tower landed in their backyard. " I've spent too long wandering and fighting to get to this place and now y'all want free shit just for existing. The only real way to actually get stronger is in that tower I've achieved pretty much all the fears you can get from wasteland hunting. It's about time I tried the real game and get out of the tutorial." So with haste he became to fumble through the maze of Forrest and sprawling city trapped within this massively vibrant and lush filled bubble of manna in the energy devoid wasteland.his eyes darted around like a hawk as he kept look out for one of these mystery rifts hes heard about.