In the central training field of the city, I waded directly into the thick of the crowd, pushing past many injured people.

  They were all teenagers from different parts of Earth, sporting different looks and crying out in different languages.

  Some of them looked curious, some looked utterly lost, but the vast majority of them were battered, injured, and terrified of the unknown place they were trapped in.

  Pushing through the chaotic masses, I kept my eyes peeled for someone from my specific homeland or the two teenagers I had met yesterday.

  Soon enough, the familiar faces of the guy and the girl I had first met fell into my view just a few meters away.

  My hyperactive mind, operating with its fast analytical speed, recognised their features instantly, and I started pushing my way toward them.

  When I finally got close, the boy named Nate, noticed me approaching. His panicked expression instantly melted into one of profound joy, and he spoke loudly over the din.

  "Thank god you're still alive. We were quite worried you had died. But it's reassuring to see you alive,"

  The girl, Eva standing behind him also looked genuinely happy to see me breathing. I glared at them and replied back,

  "That's nice hearing from you guys, especially after you ran away, abandoning me there,"

  Although my bluntness made them pull back in shock for a moment, Nate quickly stepped up,

  "Oh come on, you know how afraid we were. Didn't you also run the moment you saw that murderer?" He defended his actions."Is it our fault that we were faster than you?"

  I had to acknowledge that hard truth. He was right, it was just that I was a little frustrated seeing them completely unharmed while I had almost died back in that alley.

  "Okay, I get it. I was just pissed off about almost dying," I conceded. "Anyway, how did you guys get here?" I changed the subject, which he took without complaints.

  "Well, while we were running, we met someone who seemed like a guard," he explained, relaxing a bit. "He talked to us in a weird way which we understood and brought us here saying, the others are here."

  'Talked like they could understand?' I thought. 'Exactly like Old Smith did, which he flat-out told me was because of intention manipulation'. I pondered the creepy implications of that before asking

  "Did you guys spend the night here? Also, is there night in this place? The whole sky seems suspicious,"

  "Yeah. We also noticed that later on, and there is night here too," the boy confirmed. "Although still illusory, there is a night sky, stars, and a moon," "But that's not important. While discussing with others here, we actually found more important things."

  "More important?" "What's more important than our unknown situation here?"

  "Remember when the wolf attacked you just like it attacked us?" he asked, leaning in closer. "Well, everyone here was attacked by a wolf like that, and many survived by killing them," "They all said their body moved on their own, like they can analyse things faster. We also feel the same."

  "So that wasn't just me," I sighed, feeling a massive weight lift off my shoulders. "It's good to hear.".

  "Yeah. But there is more. Some of the guys weren't as lucky as us and died, ripped apart by the wolves," he continued grimly. "But you know what happened to their corpses? They turned into illusory mist and slowly vanished without a trace, only leaving behind some spilt blood," "You see where I'm getting at, right?"

  Hearing that gruesome detail, I was shocked for a moment, but I purposely didn't react too much. After all the weird things I had just experienced in the span of a day, I felt like I was getting used to the insanity.

  Instead of panicking, I coldly analysed the details, asking

  "Do you mean to say that they disappeared like game characters after they died in the games?"

  "Exactly. See? You get it," he nodded excitedly. "But there are more things I have just theorised. Like the dream we all had before waking up."

  "What? You guys had that dream too?" My eyes widened, "The dream of the tower with a countdown time on top?"

  "Yes, and so does everyone else here," "Think about it, what could it mean?"

  Nate asked as if he already had a grand idea forming. Being a modern teenager who had read plenty of fantasy stories, he clearly just wanted to make sure he wasn't the only one jumping to these insane conclusions. So I answered him directly.

  "I noticed cracks appearing on that tower every second, so if what I think is right, something bad will happen in 1000 days,"

  With that, we both felt a deep chilling kind of fear and just stared at each other in silence, sharing the heavy dread of the unknown.

  Just then, our morbid silence was abruptly disrupted by sudden, loud cheers erupting from a group with many people surrounding something nearby.

  Burning with curiosity, we broke out of the dread and walked over, pushing our way to the middle of the crowded circle. Standing there, looking at what was happening there, our faces further froze by the scenery we saw.

  Standing in the centre of the crowd was a teenager who looked rather short even considering his young age, sporting brown skin and slightly curled short hair. But the fact that shocked us was that the boy had actual fire aflame in his bare hands.

  Surprisingly, he wasn't screaming in agony. He was instead laughing and casually playing with it while effortlessly controlling the fire.

  Seeing that blatant display of magic, a singular question immediately came to our minds.

  "What's this now?"

  With that thought lingering in the air, we just continued to stare at that impossible fire, watching him with a bewildered expression, utterly shocked by the impossible sight, when suddenly, the loud cheering died off on one side of the stadium.

  A low murmur rippled through the teenagers. They were looking over their shoulders as a huge, 7-foot, middle-aged man approached.

  Terrified of his massive, imposing physique, the crowd immediately gave way, parting to open a clear path straight to the middle.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Right behind the towering behemoth walked another non-earthly person. A middle-aged man, boasting properly combed long white hair and a short black beard laced with a tinge of white.

  He stood close to six feet tall with a highly fit build, dressed in a traditional yet casual outfit consisting of pants, a shirt, and a long jacket, a look I could only guess was the equivalent of a sharp suit in this bizarre world.

  A sword was strapped firmly to his belt.

  He wore a warm, welcoming smile on his face, a grin that only intensified the moment he spotted the short boy in the centre manipulating the flames around his hand.

  Walking to the middle of the clearing and taking a position where he could address everyone, he looked around the crowd. The huge guy silently settled in beside him, taking on the clear role of a bodyguard.

  Facing us all, the middle-aged man started addressing the crowd, in a harsh, alien language we couldn't possibly understand, yet we grasped the exact meaning behind his words perfectly.

  "Hello everyone. I got the message of your arrival yesterday, but I couldn't meet you all due to my busy schedule,"

  "I am happy that I could at least make it today. You might not know me. I am Alric Sterling, the president of the Vanguard guild, which is one of the four great guilds of this central city," he said, introducing himself smoothly.

  When I looked around, it seemed that most of the people standing near me also understood the meaning behind his words, with the only exception being those standing much further away at the edges of the crowd, who just looked visibly confused.

  While I briefly wondered why, I remembered Old Smith's words about manipulating intentions within his specific spirit domain.

  If my rapid deduction was right, the spirit domain was a limited radius of control surrounding these native people.

  This guy was actively manipulating the intentions of everyone within his immediate vicinity to mirror his own so they could seamlessly understand him.

  Noticing that terrifying level of mental control, I snapped my focus back to the guild leader, who smoothly continued his speech.

  "I know you guys might be wondering what a guild is, what we do here, and all that. But for those who still have no idea of the grim situation you are actually in, let me tell you this," he paused, letting the silence build. "This whole place, and all of us here, are actually trapped inside a tower,"

  The words dropped like a bomb, shocking everyone there; the crowd's expressions instantly morphed from simple curiosity to sheer fright. I felt the exact same dread wash over me.

  The hyper-realistic dream of the towering monolith, the ticking countdown, the spreading cracks... our actual, waking situation suddenly became terrifyingly clear, making me far more afraid than before.

  I focused entirely on his next words, knowing my very survival might depend on them.

  "To put it specifically, we are currently on the ground floor of the tower, with many floors stretching above us. For the natives here, whose total number is close to ten thousand, the food we can cultivate isn't nearly enough to sustain us,"

  "So, we have no choice but to climb the tower to bring back food and other essentials for our survival. We formed guilds to climb this tower, and it's solely because of these guilds that the central city is still going strong to this day,"

  Hearing that harsh reality, everyone understood the brutal struggles we most likely have to endure in the future, just to survive in this place.

  "At the same time, we also share the ultimate dream of escaping this place," "A mutual feeling that you guys from another world can definitely understand,"

  That casual admission sent a shockwave through the crowd as we all realised the natives here already knew for a fact that we were from another world.

  But for me, already knowing about their spirit domains and intention reading, it was completely understandable that they could figure it out.

  I couldn't help but wonder if that psychic power was specific to their alien race. Then do we Earthlings get different powers, like that fire-manipulating guy? I thought as he continued his pitch.

  "So I would like to happily welcome you guys into our city," "I want to recruit you guys into our guilds if you prove to be talented, so you can join us in our shared dream of exiting the tower and finally leaving this place,"

  He offered before turning his full attention toward the boy with the fire manipulation power.

  "As the very first step in this dream, I would like to formally invite you, boy, to our guild as a highly valued member,"

  "As for your specific duties and benefits, the guild's contractor will explain them to you. It will not only include guaranteed food, shelter, and ways to get stronger, but even more. So what do you think about this generous offer?" he asked, locking eyes with the kid.

  The boy, trapped in an unknown hell and having been starving for more than a day, gave it some thought.

  Realising it was a golden opportunity for survival, he opened his mouth and was just about to accept when a booming voice echoed from the other side of the crowd.

  "Stop tricking kids into contracts, you old bastard. Or did you think of yourself as a representative of the whole city or something?" someone roared, clearly using the exact same intention manipulation as the crowd frantically gave way for someone else to enter.

  The sea of teenagers separated to reveal another middle-aged man.

  He possessed the same massive physique as the Vanguard guild master's bodyguard, but carried an even more ferocious, battle-hardened look.

  He was a giant-like man sporting long hair and a wild, untamed beard, wearing clothes similar to the old man's but with a massive longsword strapped securely to his back.

  Arriving at the centre, he immediately looked at the fire-manipulating boy. Seeing the boy, he tried to control his aggressive expression into a nice, approachable smile, which ironically only made him look even more ferocious and unhinged as he spoke.

  "Hello everyone. I'm sorry for being a little later than this old schemer bastard. I'm Kaelen Drake, the leader of the Iron Sovereign guild, the guild of the absolute strongest warriors in the city,"

  "We the Iron Sovereign guild may lack in sheer numbers like this schemer here who always steals other guilds' members with fancy promises, but every single one of our warriors is stronger than his elite members,"

  "So if you would like to join a guild, join us," He said pointing a thick finger directly at Vanguard guild leader Alric.

  "He may talk nice and all, but don't give in to his fake smile. This guy is a snake who uses everyone and throws them away when he sees fit," Kaelen spat loud and clear.

  It was more of a vicious diss against the Vanguard guild leader than a standard recruitment request for us.

  Hearing that public insult, guild leader Alric's calm demeanour shattered into visible anger.

  Right beside him, his massive bodyguard angrily clenched his hands into tight fists. But guild leader Kaelen instantly noticed the hostile movement, smiled darkly, towards guild leader Alric.

  "What, old bastard? Are you angry? Want to fight me? Then come straight at me and stop that dog of yours," "If he keeps his hands clenched like that for one more second, I will rip them off and shove them up his ass. You don't want your dog to lose his hands, do you?"

  He threatened, bringing his right hand dangerously close to his shoulder, fully ready to draw the longsword from his back.

  Seeing that raw display of violence and realising how he made sure everyone around understood the threat through intention manipulation, it felt like a direct warning to all of us if we dared to choose the other guild.

  For that violent disrespect, guild leader Alric's anger boiled over. First, he held up a hand, gesturing for his bodyguard to control himself before saying

  "Am I the one who wants to fight, or are you? You think you can scare these kids in front of me, with your vile threats? "

  With that he closed the distance, walking toward guild leader Kaelen, getting ready to unsheathe his own sword

  " Also, just because I avoid battle, do you take me for a weakling? Alright then, let's do this your way," "Go on, unsheathe your sword. Let's see who wins, and the winner can take the boy,"

  With the, the next second, a suffocating aura of pure pressure erupted from both of them, spreading heavily around us all.

  The very flow of the wind around us changed, making it harder to even draw breath.

  Seeing that, we all instantly felt that if we stayed standing here when the battle actually broke out, we would die as collateral damage no matter what.

  Despite having gone through so many things to survive till now, to still have our life dangle in a thin thread of someone's anger, life was funny.

  It seemed, in this world, our death was just a matter of someone's intent and there was no guarantee for our life here.