He couldn't help Iki.
For one, this was the Tower—not a school ground where he'd get away with a few scratches and bruises.
Besides, those guys had higher levels than him. Of course, that alone wasn't the deciding factor.
Taking them down would require using his other form, and Living Alloy had limited usage. He had to conserve it.
In the Tower, where he was the only Hunter with a single-digit level, each use of Living Alloy equaled one of his lives.
He basically had three lives left.
Shun felt sorry for Iki, but he had limits—and with everything at stake, he had to do whatever was necessary to survive.
"Those two don't know what mess they're getting into."
"Dumbass."
Inmates next to him spoke to one another.
"What do you mean?" Shun leaned closer.
The two shifted their gaze to him. One was bald, the other had short hair and dark skin.
"I've never seen you before. Are you new?" the bald guy asked.
"Yes, I just arrived last night. So, about my question...?"
"If you pity Iki, don't. Just leave him." He said it kindly, almost like advice.
Perplexed by such an answer, Shun fell silent and decided not to press further.
He knew nothing about Iki, and it was best not to stick his nose where it didn't belong.
He turned to the bald man and asked, "What did you get in here for?"
"Tax evasion," said the bald guy.
"I let a noble's slave escape," said the dark-skinned man.
Their reasons didn't seem as bad as his, but Shun still wondered how long their sentences would last.
As for him, his sentence was unknown.
"How long are you serving here?"
"No idea," the bald man replied.
Shun grunted in acknowledgment.
"I see. Then… has anyone ever escaped from here?"
"You're planning to leave? Just forget about it. You can't leave," said the dark-skinned man.
"Why? You're not planning to stay here forever, are you? What about the quest?"
"If we complete the quest, we return to the real world. But to be real with you? Life here is excellent.
"You get food, a roof over your head, and I can sleep without worrying about dying in the winter!" the man said, almost excitedly.
Shun looked at him with pity in his eyes.
After that, they talked about mundane things.
A few minutes later, the bell rang.
The inmates fell silent almost instantly. The room grew so still it felt wrong. The air turned stiff.
Shun glanced at the bald guy, who raised a finger to his lips.
Then, all the inmates stood, found their spots, and formed a long line. Shun followed quickly.
He had no idea what was happening, but it was wiser to follow the crowd.
"Hey, wait!"
Shun turned toward the voice. It came from one of the scumbags—the lusty one—running while struggling to pull up his pants.
Shun scanned the area and spotted the other one already standing in line.
His eyes darted around again, eventually stopping at Iki. He was also already in line. His eyes were vacant, fixed on the floor. His pants were slightly loosened.
Shun's heart tightened, regret welling in his chest.
The lusty scumbag dashed across the room, but his luck ran out—he stubbed his toe on a table and collapsed, hissing in pain.
But the gravity of the situation made him ignore it. He gritted his teeth and crawled toward the line.
Then, the bell stopped ringing.
The line began to move forward.
"Please, wait! Don't leave me!"
The crowd acted like he didn't exist. After some time, the silence broke.
Thinking it was safe to speak now, Shun asked the person behind him, "What's going to happen to him?"
His eyes remained on the scumbag, now lying motionless—his eyes as barren as a wasteland.
"Something worse than death."
Shun grunted in understanding, then turned and kept walking. There was no point of caring about that.
After three minutes, they reached five doors. The lines split and the neat order dissolved.
Shun tensed, unsure whether anyone posed a threat. But seeing how casually the others picked their doors, he relaxed a bit.
"Please be yellow. Please be yellow!"
"Yellow? Your wish is too low, man!"
A duo passed by him.
"Hey, you two, wait," Shun called out politely.
"Yeah?"
"What's this about yellow? What awaits us there?"
"You don't know? Are you new?"
"Yes. I just arrived last night."
"I see. The next program is a lucky draw for our job today. Yellow is cleaning. There are other colors too—you'll understand once you get there."
The duo walked away.
Shun wasn't in a hurry. He walked at his own pace, entered the door, and arrived at a massive room.
In the middle of the room stood five boxes with a hole big enough for a hand. They were neatly lined up.
The inmates walked up to the boxes and drew blank tickets. With a wave of their hands, the tickets, engulfed in gray, slowly shifted colors.
Some turned dark blue, some yellow, some gold, others brown.
Shun watched his ticket slowly fade to brown.
He stepped aside and observed the others while waiting for something to happen. Maybe fifteen minutes passed. Maybe more.
Then, a giant screen descended, displaying what each color meant:
Yellow: Cleaning duty
Dark Blue: Special tasks
Gold: Repair work
Brown: Hunting
After the screen descended, five trap doors opened, revealing five color-lit entryways: gold, yellow, dark blue, brown.
[Side-Quest]
Complete your assigned task (0/1)
Reward: 5 Bronze Coins
A panel popped up before Shun's eyes. He glanced at it and dismissed it.
A side quest, huh? And the reward is so small! If I'd known this, I might've just become an adventurer! Why did I rob a bank?! Curse you, Alden!
Then he sighed. No… this was my own fault. I need to take responsibility.
He stepped through the brown-lit door.
In an instant, the world changed.
Clear blue sky. Towering trees. Vast, empty fields. Fresh, clean air.
Looking around, it felt like a perfect chance to escape into the wilderness. But the other hunters didn't seem interested in that at all—they were focused on completing their assigned tasks.
All except one.
Shun spotted a man glancing around with a sly smile. His body turned hazy—then vanished.
"Did you just see that? Someone just escaped!"
"What are you talking about? That's impossible," said the person nearest to Shun before walking into the wild.
The others followed, leaving Shun confused.
Why do they think it's impossible to escape? We're literally out in the wild!
Then again, if most chose to hunt rather than escape, maybe that was the best option. They'd been in the prison longer. They probably knew better.
"All right, remember the ground rules of hunting!" One of them shouted.
The others responded with different words, but same meaning, in unison.
"All right."
"Yes sir."
"Roger."
"Let's just go."