Adonis returned to Floor 5.

  His wounds was regenerating slowly and so is his stamina, he was still exhausted, but he had to bring proof - The left ears of 30 goblins.

  At the reception counter was mira the receptionist who registered him into the guild. She looked up from her ledger, quill pausing mid-stroke.

  Adonis materialized and dropped the pouch onto the counter. It landed with a soft, wet slap.

  "I did it," he said smiling.

  Mira set the quill aside and untied the drawstring. She tipped the contents onto a piece of cloth, the ears spilling out oozing black ichor. Her gloved fingers began sorting and counting the ears.

  Twenty. Twenty-five. Twenty-nine.

  She stopped at the thirtieth, carefully looking and examining the large ear. This one was different, larger and thicker.

  Her eyes widened.

  "What's the matter?" Adonis asked.

  Mira exhaled, setting the ear down carefully. "One of these isn't from a normal goblin. It's a hobgoblin ear. Evolved type—bigger, tougher, smarter. They lead packs, coordinate ambushes. Not something a recruit takes down solo on their first run."

  Adonis shrugged. "It was leading the pack. I killed it like the rest."

  She stared at him, then scoffed "You? You killed a hobgoblin. Alone."

  "Yes"

  She paused, glancing around as if checking for eavesdroppers. "That's going to earn the guild some guild points and contribution points."

  Adonis remembered a notification he saw after killing all the goblins.

  [Guild Contribution +75 – Base Quest Reward]

  "Guild points, contribution points?" he asked, "What's that?"

  Mira leaned back, crossing her arms. "New to guilds entirely, huh?"

  "I'm not entirely new to guilds, I still know a few things about guilds afterall I've joined some adventurers on a quest before" said Adonis beaming with pride.

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  "Alright, listen up. Contribution points are yours—personal. You earn them by completing guild quests. The higher the quest's difficulty, the more points you get. Rack up enough, and you climb the guild ranks. As you climb up the ranks, you gain better quest access, discounts on guild gear, priority in group assignments, you'll even get a private mansion if you reach high enough. Guild points are different. They're for Iron Fang as a whole. When members pull off something extra—like killing a hobgoblin nobody expected—the guild gets points too. Enough guild points, and we rank up against the other guilds on the other floors. Higher guild rank means better contracts, more influence with the tower admins, bigger shares of resources. It's a competition. Survival of the strongest guild."

  Adonis absorbed it, glancing at his status window where the contribution notification still hovered. It made sense—a system made by the tower, layers and layers of progression, Adonis realized that getting to the top is going to be difficult.

  "So what is the rank of the Iron Fang?" he asked.

  Mira paused, her expression tightening. She sighed, long and weary.

  "We're at the very bottom of the rankings."

  Adonis raised an eyebrow. "Dead last?"

  "Pretty much." She rubbed her temple. "The lowest guild in the tower. We get the scraps—the quests the big guilds like don't bother with."

  "Then why haven't you ranked up yet?"

  Mira pressed her palm to her forehead, fingers digging in like she was warding off a migraine. Frustration etched lines around her eyes.

  "Kid, look around you," she said, voice low but sharp. "This guild is like a ghost town. We've got maybe forty members who show up semi-regularly. Half are recruits just like you—green, eager, but they don't last long in this line of work. They either die on a bad run, or they get bought out by better guilds that offer sweeter benefits: higher pay, safer assignments, real training programs. Every time we lose someone, we lose guild points too. It drags us down, makes us impossible to climb the rankings. So now you know why we can't rank up."

  "What's the point of me telling you all this? You're just gonna leave our guild if you come across another one that gives more benefits than us anyway."

  The words hung in the air, bitter and unfiltered.

  Adonis didn't flinch. He met her gaze steadily.

  Mira sighed again, slumping a little. "Forgive me for saying that. I'm just frustrated by everything."

  "No, it's alright," Adonis said quietly. "I know you didn't mean it that way."

  She nodded, a small, tired smile flickering across her face. "Thanks. Rough week."

  She straightened then, finishing the count on the ears. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a blue interface window—holographic and semi-transparent, hovering between them like a shared status screen. It showed two progression bars:

  Adonis - Contribution Rank Progress

  [Recruit: 0/500]

  Iron Fang - Guild Rank Progress

  [Bottom Tier: 1,200/10,000]

  "Because you killed a hobgoblin," Mira said, "you're getting 100 contribution points, plus an additional 100 for the bonus variant kill. And the guild gets 100 guild points."

  The bars updated.

  Adonis's personal bar filled a little jumping to 275/500.

  The guild's inched forward barely noticeably: 1,300/10,000.

  Adonis watched the faint glow of the progress. It was something—a step up the ladder. But he needed more quests, more kills to level up, to ascend to a higher level, a level that will dare to look down on him again.

  "Looks like you need to grind more to hit bronze rank," Mira said, dismissing the window with a wave. "Keep at it, and you'll get there."

  Adonis nodded. "Tomorrow's mission, is it still on?"

  "Dawn at the east gate. Don't be late, we're short-handed as it is."

  He turned and left the guild.

  Outside, adonis paused at a crossroad, glancing down at his worn outfit and the iron sword at his hip. The fabric was frayed from goblin claws, stained with swamp muck and blood. The sword was solid but basic—good for now, but what if it snapped like the last one? He needed backups. He needed to prepare.

  He entered a shop called Forge's End. The air inside smelled of oil, leather, and hot metal. A dwarf behind the counter grunted in greeting.

  Adonis browsed quickly. He picked out a new outfit: sturdy black trousers and a dark gray tunic. Nothing flashy—decent quality and not expensive. He added a new longsword: balanced steel, edge keen enough to shave with. And for insurance, three low-quality health potions.

  The dwarf tallied it up. "Eight hundred Tower Points."

  Adonis transferred the points without haggling. He slipped the potions into his inventory, the system swallowing them in a faint red shimmer only he could see.

  Then he stepped out, he felt... renewed. The cloth was clean, the weight distributed better. Not armored like a knight, but ready.

  He headed back to the Crooked lantern, locked the door and sat on the bed.

  He opened his status window one last time.

  [Level: 9]

  [Stat Points: 15]

  [Tower Points: 2,407]

  [Contribution Points: 275 / 500 (Recruit to Bronze)]

  The bar glowed faintly. Close, but not there.

  Adonis lay back, excited for tomorrow's mission, and then he fell asleep.