That night, Risa slept soundly because she was tired from the trip through the forest road. Not only tired from traveling, but also from the battle.

Her three blood flame combo was more than enough to exhaust her.

That was why after dinner, Risa lay down and fell asleep fast, not even half an hour before she was completely asleep.

Seeing that made Ethan happy. He ordered Hissy to stay with Risa and watch over her while she slept.

Ethan was going to the city. He had just arrived yesterday morning and had not had time to walk around and enjoy the city view.

Maybe by walking around, he would find something that caught his attention.

He stepped outside and walked on the main road of the city. Different from the village, the streets of Ula City looked neat with well-arranged paving blocks.

People walked around with their party friends, enjoying the city brightened by lamp lights at night. None of them knew Ethan.

There were hundreds of thousands of players in the game, so the chance of anyone knowing Ethan was small.

Maybe those who checked the Red Notice would realize who EthanArk really was. But because they had been in the Tower for so long, it was possible they had already forgotten who was on the Red Notice list.

Ethan stopped walking when he saw a crowd in front of a guild. The sign showed the guild's name: Moon Knight.

Ethan was curious. He walked closer and looked at what was happening there. The people were gathering not because of a fight, but because they were watching an auction.

An auction? Hmm, this was interesting.

The guild displayed items that were the main commodities in this auction, such as Crystal Spirits, equipment, weapons, and even pets.

Many people were interested in joining. But because the registration for auction participants had closed, none of them outside could take part.

So, they could only watch without joining the auction. That was pretty sad.

"Are you also interested in the auction?" a woman asked.

Ethan turned his head on reflex and saw that she was Syifa, a player he knew from the previous floor. Ethan had met her again yesterday after she and her party managed to move up a floor.

He shook his head. Most of the items they were auctioning were items Ethan already had, only a few he did not.

Why join the auction if he already had the same items they were selling?

"I don't know. The items are useless."

People around them instantly turned sharply toward Ethan when he said that. Syifa noticed Ethan's arrogance and smiled while apologizing to them, then pulled Ethan away.

"You can't talk like that to them," Syifa said.

"Why? I said it honestly."

"Still, you can't. That's the same as calling the players who fight over those items useless too," Syifa explained.

"I didn't mean it that way."

Syifa sighed. She knew Ethan came to the Tower alone, without a party, only local tribe friends helping him.

With that in mind, Syifa could easily guess that Ethan was a strong player, and his items and equipment were probably above others.

That was the basic reason why Ethan called those items useless, even though many people fought hard for them.

She invited Ethan to another place, away from the area, to calm the people's anger. The two arrived at a small tavern that was not very crowded. Ethan had never visited that place before.

"We should just relax here," Syifa said.

"Yes, but I need to—"

"No need. You're drinking with me."

Ethan entered after being pushed by Syifa. They ordered drinks and took a table on the first floor, a table with two chairs.

"So, tell me. Did you explore today?"

"Yes, something like that."

"The monsters here are a little stronger than the ones on the previous floor. You agree with me, right?"

Ethan shook his head. He poured beer from the bottle into his glass and drank slowly.

He didn't know if they were stronger or weaker. What he did know was that the monsters on this floor had more HP.

"I don't know if I should call it easy or light. But I can defeat them easily," Ethan answered.

"That means they're easy."

"Is that so?"

"You. Why do strong players always have weird attitudes?" Syifa complained.

Ethan smiled, raised his glass, and drank the beer quickly. It did not taste good, but the price matched the quality.

"When will you and your party challenge the floor boss?" Ethan asked.

Syifa sighed and leaned back in the wooden chair with her right hand holding her glass. She took a drink and felt her body starting to relax.

"I can tell you many things about this floor, including the location of the tower artifact and the floor boss's abilities. Are you interested?" Ethan asked.

"You already challenged the floor boss?" Syifa said, shocked.

"Yes."

"You just arrived yesterday, and today you already challenged the floor boss. You're the impatient type!"

"Hey, I fought it because I knew I could beat it. Why wait?" Ethan said, pointing while still holding his glass.

Syifa smiled wide, grabbed the beer bottle, and poured some for Ethan. Her face was turning red, even though she had only drunk five glasses of beer. There was still a lot left in the bottle for them to enjoy together.

"Tell me. I want to know everything."

"One piece of information for one drink. How about that?" Ethan challenged.

"Deal!"

Ethan grabbed the bottle and poured beer into Syifa's glass. She took the first drink, and Ethan began telling her the first thing: the black web spider monsters and their weaknesses. Syifa listened.

He poured again for the second drink. Syifa and Ethan enjoyed it. The second information Ethan gave her was about the location of a legendary monster above level 200, something they needed to avoid.

They both drank the third drink. Ethan explained the three local tribes of the Tower on floor 45, such as the Blood-Cursed, the Telmarian, and the Water Serpent.

As Ethan talked, Syifa started rambling nonsense. Her eyes looked sleepy and her cheeks turned red. Ethan smiled. He guessed her limit was ten drinks.

"Can you continue?" Ethan asked.

"I can… I'm a beautiful and strong woman… I can," Syifa muttered.

Syifa and Ethan took the fourth drink. Ethan talked about the location of the Tower Artifact.

There were three tower artifacts that he knew about, and the Blood-Cursed tribe had told him about them when he and Risa visited.

Syifa's face was already resting on the table, showing signs of losing consciousness. Ethan tapped her shoulder lightly, trying to get her attention again.

"Well? The last drink for the floor boss information."

"Hmmm."

They both took the fifth drink. Before Ethan could explain, Syifa cut him off with more unclear rambling. Ethan nodded.

She failed at the last chance.

Even though Ethan drank the same number of drinks as Syifa, the alcohol would not affect his mind.

Toxic Resistance made Ethan forget what being drunk felt like, even though being drunk was what caused his death in the past.

Syifa fell asleep completely, failing to hear the information about the floor boss. Ethan had expected this. The beer in the game had a higher alcohol level than beer in the real world.

The administrators made it that way so players could relax while enjoying cheap drinks. If beer was already that strong, what about wine?

Now, who was going to take her home?

Looks like I have to stay here until she wakes up.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.