What do I say now?

Stepping inside the tower, Evelyn was greeted by a large open room, semi-filled by people.

"This should be the resting area," she quietly mumbled to herself as she looked at her surroundings.

The waiting area was simply a large, circular room with high ceiling. There were tribunal seats following the wall on both sides of the entrance, where people were mingling and strategizing before leaving for the different floors.

Each section of the towers had different resting areas. This one was for the climbers that were working on the floors 1-10, and there would be a different resting area for floors 11-20, 21-30 and so on.

Awakeners of higher floors could come visit resting areas of lower floors, but awakeners of lower floors had no possibility of visiting the higher floor's resting area without completing the floors first.

And then there was the portal. The portal of the first sections resting area gave off a blue light, and Evelyn could feel herself getting attracted towards it as she saw it on the opposite side of the entrance.

It was something that had been mentioned on the news several times, that awakened individuals will feel attracted to the portals. It was if the tower itself was begging them to traverse the different floors, to fight their way to the top.

Looking around the waiting area, Evelyn tried to find some of the faces she had seen on the news. It would be best if she could make some relations with strong climbers before they got famous.

'Strong companions are the surest way to stay alive, after all', she gently thought to herself.

Seeing the people there, most had already formed groups and were talking in hushed voices, scouting every new arrival, herself included.

Most of them were wearing regular clothes like herself. Though the tower dropped loot such as gear and weapons, few climbers would be able to change completely out of regular clothes while still on the first ten floors.

The towers around the world were all connected, so people from all around the world would show up in the resting area. The tower would translate the different languages for each individual, so even if someone spoke to you in a different language, you would hear it in your own.

This, unfortunately, only applied for when one was inside the tower.

But because of this reason, there were rumours that some groups would make bases inside the tower, in some secluded part of a floor, to be able to easier communicate with their teammates.

Evelyn wasn't sure if this rumour was true, but even if it wasn't, she herself would like to do this if possible. Her wish of having trustworthy companions she could climb the tower with, friends that would be as close as family, would be much easier to achieve if they didn't need to leave the tower.

Staying inside the tower would also allow her to keep a distance to her own biological family, effectively keeping her from having to have contact with them.

Looking at the groups, Evelyn noted four distinct groups that were clearly different from the rest.

They all had an area for themselves on the tribunes, with other groups sitting at least a few meters away from them.

The first group consisted of four men and a woman. They all had some red clothing visible, clearly the symbol of an already established group.

Evelyn recognised one of the men in the group, but not any of the others. The man she recognized, Finn, was a notorious climber in her past life.

All the rumours she had heard or read about him were bad.

Since there was no law inside the tower, some people felt liberated being inside, succumbing to their more bloodthirsty desires.

Finn was one of those. He was a known criminal, and by the time Evelyn entered the tower, he no longer left it.

'If my memory's correct, he was wanted in several countries for killing other climbers in the tower'.

Crimes committed inside the tower were hard to prove, but if you committed enough violent crimes, at some point people would protest.

Evelyn mentally crossed his group off potential companions and looked at the other groups.

She couldn't recognise any of the climber in them, but none of them gave off a pleasant feeling. They seemed like bloodthirsty wolfs, ready to pounce on any and all prey.

Deciding against those groups as well, she looked to see if she could find someone that looked approachable.

Looking at the rest of the hall, she found that there was no one. They all looked either menacing or on edge.

The inviting smiles and kind companions she thought would be easy to find, were in fact, not that easy to find.

Evelyn had never really interacted much with others, or been in situations where she didn't know anyone.

'What's the 'normal' way to introduce oneself? Is it weird if I just go up to someone and introduce myself?'

She had felt confident leaving her house but being her in person was more nerve-wracking than she had anticipated. Putting on a brave front, she decided to just find some place to sit, and then see how others did it.

'There should be someone else coming in soon, right?'

Sitting down on some of the lower stairs on the tribune, she tried once more to see someone she knew about from her last life.

'Why is this always so easy for the MCs in the novels? They just walk in and instantly recognize many known figures. The only one I recognized was Finn, and he is one I should steer clear of at all costs.'

'And even if they don't get approached immediately, they are usually loner types that don't want companions… but I can't really be a loner type as a healer and support class, can I?'

As Evelyn's frustration grew bigger on how reality and novels didn't add up, a new person finally entered.

The man wasn't especially tall, and his face was one that you would easily forget in a crowd, but Evelyn was excited.

This unremarkable man that had just entered was extremely well known in Evelyn's past life. He was known as a kind man, strong and swift with his double daggers and even more importantly, he was known for being extremely protective of his companions.

'Darius! Finally, a possible companion arrives.'

Seeing Darius was headed straight for the portal, Evelyn sprang to her feet and chased after him. He had already walked over halfway there, if she had delayed any more, he would be gone.

"Excuse me!", she shouted a bit too loud in her excitement, inadvertently getting the attention of the whole room.

Darius turned around to face her, giving her an annoyed look.

"Ehm…", she clumsily stuttered, trying to find her words. She had run after him when she thought she would lose her chance, but she still didn't know how to go about introducing herself.

'Well, he stopped, but what do I say now?!'