On the second stage, he was in the same arena as before, except this time, there were a few people in the crowd.
But rather than people, as that implied humans, it was more accurate to call them aliens, as they were beings from other planets. None of them was real. They were merely NPCs that the tower created based on other towers to give the stage more ambiance, but that's not something mankind would find out until much later.
One of them had green skin, another had red skin, two looked like lizards, while another was shorter than a baby but had a full beard.
The weapon he had from the previous stage was gone, and a new rack appeared before him.
An array of weapons was available to select from, but this time, the quality of them had improved.
That sounded nice at first, but then you ask yourself, "Why is the quality improved?"
The answer is simple and obvious.
The enemies are harder to kill.
The crowd of NPCs all began screaming, cheering, and booing.
Although none of them spoke the same language, the experienced Fletcher knew what all of them were saying.
"I hope you die!"
"Give us a good show, you hairless ape!"
"Good luck!"
"May the ocean's luck wash over you."
"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"
That NPC at the end was a little crazy.
All of these words being spewed at him were actually recordings of the real beings that the NPC was modeled after.
Another secret that would be discovered much later about the tower is that the NPCs are created in the image and memories of the players who die inside the tower.
All of this chaos could've made another player start to panic, but Fletcher just grabbed the two swords, one long, one short, and prepared himself for the enemy that was about to appear.
"I hope your souls are at peace, wherever they may be," he said as he gave a bow to the crowd.
Although they may be NPCs, they were still, in a way, a representation of real players.
Sighing, he muttered, "I wish I could set you free, but… the tower is an existence that I still barely understand even after all these years."
Once the rack disappeared, the enemy in front of him materialized.
It was a giant wolf, over three times the size of a real wolf. Its fur was grey and its eye was completely white.
Dashing forward, a few swings of his swords, and Fletcher came to a halt.
"I haven't seen a dire wolf in so long."
In the past, Fletcher had even tamed a dire wolf and had one as his companion for a while before it eventually died during a battle.
"May you rest in peace, Grey."
Maybe in this timeline, since he returned to the past, he'd be able to reunite with his old dire wolf, but the chances of that were very slim.
How was he going to find the right one when the differences between them were very minuscule?
He could return to where he found the wolf on the same date and time, but considering that he regressed, the butterfly effect was already activated.
It would be an improbable task. One that wasn't worth the effort.
"The early rounds will be easy for me," he said as he finished the final round of floor 2.
It wouldn't be until floor 10 that things would get interesting.
One floor after another, Fletcher began climbing up the tower at a pace that was only comparable to the generations that would come many decades later, but those players were trained from birth to be strong and were given the best resources to make them extremely powerful before they ever even set a foot into the tower.
The only one truly comparable was Ryuk Yongsun.
According to his words, he took three hours to get to floor 10.
"I only took one," Fletcher nodded, satisfied that he demolished his king's record.
This was a given as a regressor, so it didn't get to his ego and boost it or anything of that sort.
[Congratulations, Uno. You've cleared the ninth floor. Would you like to advance to the next or return to the outside world?]
"Advance."
[Understood.]
Once he crossed through the portal, he found himself standing inside a town.
It was filled with NPCs that looked identical to humans. Unlike the NPCs in the arena, these were true NPCs. None of them was based on a real human or contained their memories.
[Congratulations on finishing the tutorial. On this floor, you are given the freedom to do whatever you want. There's only one condition to advance to the next floor: beat the boss awaiting you. May you have Lady Luck on your side as you climb the tower. I hope to see you on the next floor.]
Floor 10 and beyond was where heroes were truly made.
Each floor was now like its own self-contained MMORPG game, where you were inside a map that varied in size, there was a farming area for mobs, quests you could pick up, mini-bosses you could defeat, treasures to be discovered, and finally a boss to defeat.
What also made it interesting was that even if you advance a floor, you can always return to a previous one to farm for materials or exp.
That's right, exp.
Above his head, Fletcher would see the words: "Lvl. 1 - Uno"
"Status screen."
[Name: Uno} {Level: 1} {EXP: 0.00%]
[HP: 51} {MP: 89} {STA: 33]
[STR: 4.7} {DEX: 6.3} {CON: 5.1]
[INT: 8.9} {WIS: 6.7} {AGI: 3.9]
[WIL: 1.5} {LUK: 1.0} {CHA: 1.0]
[Available Stat Points: 0]
If someone from the future saw his status screen, they would've been either shocked or assumed that he was a spoiled brat who had been given the best items possible.
On average, a human would enter the tower with most of their stats at 0.2, and by the time they reach the tenth floor, it would be around 1, with their HP, MP, and STA being at 10.
Of course, that's because none of them knew how to cultivate and absorb the natural qi that was around them.