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Jeffery was sitting on a piece of fluffy fur that had been draped over a block of ice, the structure acting as a couch. In his hands, there was a steaming mug of unknown liquid. From the way it smelled, Jeffery assumed it had some white-striped ant honey inside of it, but other than that, he really couldn’t tell. It tasted sweet though, so he didn’t complain. In fact, all he did was stare at the contents of the mug and wonder why he was here.

Around him, in a massive igloo that had grown even more from when it had first been formed, there were all kinds of furnishing: tables, chairs, desks, beds, couches. They were all made out of ice, and the furs had been taken out of Lindyss’ pocket. When Jeffery first saw a giant hide come out of Lindyss’ dress, he understood why the elf wasn’t concerned about food or water or other supplies: she possessed an inventory item or inventory skill.

Of all the shelters he had stayed in, there was no doubt this one was the coziest. It wouldn’t be a problem to survive the whole length of the advancement exam without ever leaving the igloo, but Jeffery knew that wasn’t going to happen. No one enjoyed being confined in the same place for extended periods of time, and it was this one behavior of people that made Jeffery’s job so damn hard. If everyone would just sit on their asses and wait out the time, no one would get mauled by wild animals or trip on a root and break their leg or have a tree fall on top of them after chopping it down because they were morons.

“Alright,” the purple-eyed woman with horns said. Jeffery raised his head and saw she was talking to the shirtless man. “Are you hungry? Should we eat something before we go exploring?”

The shirtless man nodded. “Eat first. Decide after.”

Jeffery repressed his sigh. Of course, he was right. The morning had barely begun, but his clients already wanted to move around and explore their setting. As an experienced guide, Jeffery knew exactly what to do. For the groups with weaklings who’d perish immediately without him, he’d tell them to quit whining and stay put. For the groups with people who were about as strong as him, he’d take them out to go hunting, perhaps show them how to skin and butcher an animal. For the groups with rich kids and expensive bodyguards, obviously, there was only one activity they’d be interested in. Jeffery took a sip from his mug before asking, “Are you looking for the unique hidden piece?”

“Unique hidden piece?” the purple-eyed woman asked. Her horns were glowing silver, and a portal had appeared in the space beside her. Without her noticing, a blue caterpillar scurried out of the portal. It was tiny, no bigger than some of her toes. “What—”

“I’m free!” the caterpillar shouted in a voice much louder than expected. Attached to its frontmost leg on its left side, there was a silken thread. The caterpillar grunted and heaved while pulling on the thread, using its whole body to yank. From the portal, an object covered in white silk tumbled out. It came to a halt at the caterpillar’s feet, and before Jeffery could comment, the caterpillar crawled over and into the melon-shaped object. “If you throw me back in there, I’m going to snitch on you to my mom!”

The purple-eyed woman crouched down and picked up the object. She held it in her hands, and Jeffery knew she was seriously considering whether or not to throw it back into the portal by the glances she gave the tear in space. In the end, the woman sighed and tossed the egg to the shirtless man before rummaging through the portal, taking out a few pieces of meat that she tossed into the air. However, the pieces of meat didn’t hit the ground, they were transported through the air by a stream of air, landing on the table instead.

“As I was saying,” the woman continued while taking out more meat, “what’s the unique hidden piece?”

“No one knows,” Jeffery said and shrugged. “The—”

“I know this!” the melon-shaped egg said while flashing in what Jeffery thought was a seizure-inducing manner. “The first-floor unique hidden piece is one of the seven great mysteries of the tower! Every floor has a unique hidden piece, and when it’s claimed, the tower makes a grand announcement! The first floor is the floor with the most traffic, so you’d expect the piece to be found by now, but it hasn’t! No one knows what it is. Most people speculate it’s a skill because the majority of unique hidden pieces have granted skills. If you guys find it, and I’m there to witness it, I’ll be sure to experience a huge jump in my growth!”

The purple-eyed demon blinked and glanced at Jeffery. He nodded to confirm the caterpillar’s words. For such a small creature, it certainly had a lot of information stored in it. The purple-eyed woman raised an eyebrow. “You know where the unique hidden piece is?”

Jeffery shook his head. If he knew, would he still be down here on the first floor? “I don’t, but I’ve heard a lot of different rumors. It’s beyond my capabilities to verify them though.”

“How do we want to search for it?” the purple-eyed woman said, glancing at the members of her group before her gaze landed on Jeffery. “Is the stage very large? Would it be better to split up or stick together while searching?”

“The stage is very large,” Jeffery said and frowned. “If you want a better shot at finding the unique hidden piece, it’ll be better if you split up. I’m not sure how strong you folks are, but I sincerely doubt there’s anything in the region that can threaten you. If you don’t find the unique piece within the ninety-day period of the exam, you can always abandon it through your root bracelet at any time to remain eligible for readmission. If you pass, you can’t reenter.”

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