I am just an NPC ,but I rewrite the story-Chapter 70: [69] The Neon Rain and Plastic Sushi

We stepped into the portal together, and for a second, I thought the Tower had finally decided to just dump us into a washing machine. The transition was a violent, spinning blur of gold and white, but instead of landing on a new floor, we were spat out onto the cold, sterile floor of my Dimension Room.

THUMP.

"Ow. My knees," Red groaned, rolling off me and sprawling onto the grey floorboards. She stayed there for a second, staring up at the white ceiling. "I’m putting a formal request in for a softer landing pad. Or at least a rug. Ren, why is your floor so hard?"

"It’s a standard-issue dimension, Red. I didn’t exactly get to pick the interior design," I panted, sitting up and rubbing my chest. The pressure from the Salt Sea was gone, but the adrenaline from seeing that guy, Zero, was still buzzing in my ears. I looked over at Mia, who had landed perfectly on her feet. Cerberus was behind her, his four heads all shaking themselves at once, sending a fine mist of leftover salt water flying everywhere.

"Gross, dog! Watch it!" Red yelled, shielding her face.

Mia ignored the dog-spray. She was looking at the white wall where the portal had just closed. "That man... the one in the silver suit. He felt cold, Ren. Not like the ice in the mountains. Cold like... a machine that thinks it’s a person."

"Zero," I whispered, the name feeling heavy. "Level 15. If he’s the benchmark for the higher-tier worlds, we’re in serious trouble. I’m only Level 6. I’m barely a speed bump to a guy like that."

"Hey, don’t get all moody on me," Red said, finally pushing herself up. She walked over to the stainless steel fridge and yanked it open. "We cleared the floor, didn’t we? We got the essence, we saved the kid, and you blasted a giant crystal whale with a space-bazooka. That’s a win in my book. Now, let’s see what the Tower thinks we should eat to celebrate."

I stood up, my joints popping. "What’s in there? Please tell me it’s not more of those plastic ham sandwiches."

Red reached into the back of the fridge and pulled out a black plastic tray. She squinted at the label. "It says... ’Sustainable Sea-Protein Triangles.’ Ren, I think this is sushi. But it’s glowing. Why is the rice purple?"

"I don’t know, Red. Just eat it. We need the stamina regen," I said, walking over and taking a bottle of water. I leaned against the fridge, my mind racing. "Red, that ’Room-Breacher’ skill you bought... how many more times can you use it?"

Red popped a purple rice triangle into her mouth, chewed for a second, and made a face that suggested she was reconsidering her life choices. "Ugh. Tastes like... salt and disappointment. To answer your question, it’s a permanent unlock, but it has a cooldown. Twenty-four hours between new room tethers. I can stay in your room as long as I want, but I can’t go grab Kaelen or Lysandra until tomorrow."

"We need them," I said, tapping the air to bring up the chat. "If Floor 10 is a ’Clash Floor,’ it means we’re going to be forced into a zone with players from other worlds. We won’t be fighting bots or husks. We’ll be fighting people like Zero."

I checked the chat. The screen was scrolling fast.

Kaelen: I just reached Level 9. The Shadow Fortress had a boss. A hooded figure that moved through walls. It took a while to pin him down.

Lysandra: I am at Level 9 as well. I encountered a participant from a ’Steam-Punk’ world on Floor 8. He had a mechanical arm that fired explosive rivets. We had a... disagreement over a chest.

Red: Did you kick his ass, Saint?

Lysandra: I neutralized the threat. He retreated into a portal. He was Level 11. The level gap is narrowing, but it is still dangerous.

Cian: Ren! Good news. I found a way to share ’System Insights’ through the chat since I hit Level 7. I’m uploading the data I gathered on the other-worlders.

Ren: Do it, Cian. We need to know what we’re up against.

A small file-icon appeared in the corner of my vision. I swiped it open.

[Participant Data Log — Compiled by Cian]

[Common World Types Detected:]

Sector-1 (Prime-Tech): High-tech suits, energy spears, Level 15+ (Example: Zero).

Sector-4 (Dark Fantasy): Bone armor, blood magic, Level 10-12.

Sector-7 (Cyber-Urban): Mechs, drones, hacking skills.

Sector-12 (Primal-Gaia): Beast-people, high physical stats, Level 5-10.

Sector-? (Pure Magic): High mana output, fragile bodies.

"Prime-Tech," I muttered. "That spear Zero had... it wasn’t magic. It was a physical law translated into energy. That’s why it felt so different from Kaelen’s sword."

"It doesn’t matter what it’s made of if I can stick a dagger in the power pack," Red said, finishing her sushi and reaching for another water. "Ren, you’re overthinking again. You’re Level 6. You’ve got 4000 points in your pocket. Go to the shop. Stop being a ’scrawny kid with a knife’ and start being a Guildmaster."

She was right. I hadn’t even checked the shop since the Level 6 update.

I tapped the [Shop] icon. The list had expanded. Because I had cleared the Salt Sea, I had "Coastal Regional Unlocks."

Deep-Sea Breathing Mask (200 pts)

Hydro-Kinesis Primer (1500 pts)

Weighted Guard Uniform (800 pts)

Obsidian Dagger (1200 pts)

"None of this helps against a Level 15 tech-god," I sighed. I scrolled further down, past the consumables and the basic gear. Then I saw it. A new category: [Legacy Upgrades].

It was greyed out for a moment, then pulsed gold.

[Requirement Met: Possess a ’Relic of the First Draft.’]

[Item Detected: The Notched Rusty Knife.]

[Upgrade Option: The Edge of Reality (Level 1).]

[Cost: 3500 points.]

[Description: Allows a basic physical weapon to interact with high-frequency energy fields. Bypasses 10% of tech-shields and magical barriers.]

"That’s it," I whispered. I hit [Purchase].

A flash of white light engulfed the rusty knife at my belt. When it faded, the knife didn’t look much different—it was still notched, still a bit dull-looking—but there was a faint, hair-thin line of silver running down the center of the blade. It vibrated softly against my palm, a steady, comforting hum.

"Nice glow-up," Red noted, peering at the knife. "Does it do anything cool, or is it just a fancy paperweight?"

"It lets me hit things I’m not supposed to be able to hit," I said, sheathing it. I felt a surge of confidence. "Alright. Mia, you okay to go again? We need those levels."

Mia nodded, her hand still resting on Cerberus. "The next floor is calling, Ren. It feels... electric."

"Electric. Great," Red sighed. "I hope there’s no more water then. Electricity and water are a bad combo for people wearing metal."

We walked toward the white wall. The golden portal shimmered into existence.

[Floor 6: The Neon Jungle.]

[Mission: Follow the Trail.]

[Warning: High-Voltage Environment.]

We stepped through.

The transition was smoother this time. The white walls of the room didn’t just vanish; they bled into a world of flickering blue and pink light.

I landed on a metal grating. The air was cold, damp, and smelled of ozone and wet pavement. It was raining—not a natural rain, but a fine, misty drizzle that caught the light of a thousand neon signs.

We were in a city. But it wasn’t the Clockwork City. This place was a vertical maze of skyscrapers made of black glass and steel, connected by miles of tangled power lines and glowing walkways. Far below, through the gaps in the grating, I could see a bottomless abyss filled with swirling white fog.

"Whoa," Red breathed, looking up at a massive holographic advertisement of a woman drinking something that looked like liquid starlight. "Now this is more like it. It’s like the Lower Quarter, but if everyone was rich and obsessed with lanterns."

"This is the Cyber-Urban world," I said, recognizing the aesthetic from Cian’s logs. "Keep your hands off the railings. The mission says high-voltage."

[Mission: The Neon Trail.]

[Objective: Follow the blue cable to the Signal Hub.]

[Progress: 0/1000 meters.]

I looked down. Running right under our feet, beneath the metal grating, was a thick, pulsating blue cable. It snaked through the air, jumping from building to building like a glowing vine.

"There’s our trail," I said. "Let’s move. And keep an eye out for—"

BZZT.

A small, spherical drone drifted out from behind a neon sign. It had a single, rotating camera eye and two small taser-arms.

[Target: Scavenger Drone (Level 7)]

"I got it!" Red shouted.

She didn’t use her daggers. She pulled a small EMP-grenade from her new inventory and tossed it.

POP.

The drone spasmed, sparks flying from its chassis, and plummeted into the abyss below.

"Level 7 bots already," Red said, her eyes scanning the rooftops. "This floor isn’t playing around."

We started running along the grating, following the blue cable. The city was a sensory overload. Music blared from hidden speakers—a fast, pounding electronic beat that made my heart race. Above us, flying vehicles zipped through the canyons of glass, their headlights cutting through the rain.

"Ren, look over there," Mia said, pointing to a nearby rooftop.

A group of people were huddled around a glowing terminal. They weren’t bots. They were beast-people—the same type as the lion-man I’d seen earlier. There was a wolf-man with a massive iron shield and a girl with cat ears holding a sniper rifle.

[Target: Fang Guild (Sector-12)]

[Level: 8-10]

They saw us. The wolf-man snarled, his fur bristling in the rain. He raised his shield, but the cat-girl put a hand on his arm. She looked at us, then at the four-headed dog running behind me.

"Eclipse?" she shouted over the wind.

I stopped, my hand on my knife. "Yeah! Who’s asking?"

"Name’s Mika!" the girl yelled back. "We saw your name in the ’Regional Rankings.’ You’re the ones who cleared the Salt Sea early!"

"Rankings?" I asked, confused.

"Check your system, idiot!" Mika laughed. "You’re Rank 4 in the Western Sector! Everyone’s looking for you!"

I tapped the air. Sure enough, a new tab had appeared.

[Regional Rankings (Solo/Small Group)]

Zero (Level 15) - Sector-1

Jace (Level 13) - Sector-7

Vorg (Level 12) - Sector-4

Ren (Level 6) - Sector-OldWorld

"Rank 4," Red whistled. "Ren, you’re a celebrity. No wonder Zero was looking for us."

"We aren’t looking for a fight!" I shouted to Mika. "We’re just following the cable!"

"Then keep moving!" Mika warned, pointing behind us. "The ’Cleaners’ are right on your tail! They don’t like visitors from the Old World!"

I looked back. Emerging from the shadows of a nearby skyscraper were three figures in long, white coats. They wore gas masks and carried long, electrified poles. They didn’t run; they glided over the metal grating as if they were on skates.

[Target: City Cleaners (Level 10)]

"Run!" I yelled.

We bolted down the walkway. The Cleaners were fast—much faster than the husks or the drones. They were closing the gap, their poles crackling with blue energy.

"Mia! Can you do something about the floor?" I panted.

Mia looked at the metal grating. She reached out her hand, and the blue light in her eyes flared.

"Up!" she whispered.

A section of the grating fifty feet behind us suddenly tore free from its supports and flipped upward, creating a vertical wall of steel between us and the Cleaners. We heard the heavy thud of the pursuers slamming into the barricade.

"Nice work, kid!" Red cheered.

We reached the end of the walkway. The blue cable took a sharp turn upward, climbing the side of a glass tower that must have been a hundred stories tall. There was no stairs, no ladder—only a narrow maintenance ledge that looked barely wide enough for a cat.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Red said, looking at the vertical climb. "Ren, I said I don’t do heights!"

"We have to follow the cable, Red! It’s the only way to the hub!"

I looked at Cerberus. The dog looked at the wall, then at me. He let out a low huff, and his smoky leg elongated, wrapping around the side of the building like a grappling hook. He grabbed Mia with his middle heads and started to climb, his claws digging into the steel frame of the skyscraper.

"Well, the dog has a plan," I said. "Red, use your Room-Breacher. Can you skip the climb?"

"No, it only works for rooms, not distances!" Red yelled, already grabbing a handhold. "Fine! But if I fall, I’m haunting your bakery!"

The climb was a nightmare. The rain made the glass slippery, and the wind threatened to blow us off the ledge every time it gusted. I kept my eyes fixed on the blue cable, trying not to look down at the abyss.

Halfway up, the chat pinged.

Tybalt: GUYS! I DID IT! I hit Level 5! I’m in the Dimension Room! I have a fridge!

Red: GET MOVING, TYBALT! WE’RE CLIMBING A SKY-SCRAPER IN THE RAIN!

Tybalt: Oh. Okay. I’ll just... stay here for a minute. The fridge has ’Organic Kale Smoothies.’ They’re disgusting.

Ren: Ty, check the shop! Look for the ’Room-Breacher’ skill! We need to tether your room to ours!

Tybalt: 3000 points?! Ren, I have 400! I bought a ’Self-Cleaning Apron’!

Red: I’m going to kill him. I’m actually going to kill him.

We reached the top of the tower.

It was a wide, flat roof covered in satellite dishes and humming generators. In the center was a massive, glowing blue dome—the Signal Hub.

But someone was already there.

It wasn’t a Cleaner. It was a man in a tattered grey suit, sitting on a lawn chair and reading a newspaper. He had a cup of coffee resting on a nearby crate.

He looked up as we scrambled onto the roof, soaking wet and gasping for air.

"About time," the man said. He had a thick, bushy mustache and eyes that looked like they’d seen everything and found most of it boring.

[Target: The Superintendent]

[Level: ??]

[World: The First Draft]

"You’re not Valen," I panted, drawing my knife.

"God, no," the man laughed, folding his newspaper. "I’m the guy who keeps the lights on. You’re Ren, right? The one the Architect keeps complaining about?"

"Complaining?" I asked, stepping forward.

"Yeah. Says you’re ’skipping too many pages.’ Makes his job a nightmare," the Superintendent said, standing up. He gestured to the blue dome. "You want the Signal Hub? It’s yours. But be warned, kid. Once you touch that hub, you’re broadcasting your location to every player in the Tower. You’re effectively inviting them to Floor 10."

"We’re already Rank 4," I said. "They’re coming anyway."

"Fair point," the man said. He picked up his coffee and started walking toward the edge of the roof. "Oh, and a word of advice? The guy at Rank 1? Zero? He isn’t working for a wish. He’s working for a reset. He wants to turn the Tower off."

"Why tell me?"

The Superintendent stopped at the edge. He looked out at the neon city, the rain glistening on his mustache. "Because if he turns the Tower off, I lose my pension. And I really like this lawn chair."

He stepped off the roof and vanished into the fog.

I looked at Red. "Well. That was weird."

"This whole place is weird, Ren. Just touch the dome."

I walked to the Signal Hub. I reached out and pressed my hand against the glowing blue surface.

[Signal Hub Synchronized.]

[Mission: The Neon Trail — Complete.]

[Rewards:]

+3000 Points

Tower Level 8 Reached!

[Broadcast Initialized...]

[Global Announcement: Guild ’Eclipse’ has claimed the High-Altitude Sector.]

A beam of blue light shot from the hub, piercing the clouds and illuminating the entire city.

"Ren," Red said, looking at her system screen. "Look at the rankings."

I checked the tab.

[Regional Rankings]

Zero (Level 16)

Ren (Level 8)

"I jumped to Rank 2," I whispered.

"And look at the floor objective," Mia said softly.

A golden portal appeared, but it was different this time. It was huge, framed by gears and neon lights.

[Floor 6 Cleared.]

[Next Target: Floor 10 — The Clash Arena.]

[Condition: Level 10 Required for Entry.]

"We have two levels left to go," I said, looking at the team. "And now the whole Tower knows exactly where we are."

"Then let’s give them something to look at," Red said, her eyes flashing with a competitive fire I hadn’t seen since the tournament in Oakhaven.

We walked toward the portal.

As we stepped through, I felt a vibration in Jace’s comms-patch.

"Ren? You there?" Jace’s voice was fuzzy, but clear. "I saw the broadcast. You’re Rank 2? You really are an idiot. Zero is heading for the Floor 10 gate right now. He’s looking for you."

"Let him look," I said, a grim smile on my face. "I’ve got a new knife and a four-headed dog. I think I’m ready for a chat."

"See you at the gate, kid," Jace said, and the line went dead.

The sixth floor was gone. The grind was nearing its first major hurdle. And I had a feeling the "Clash" was going to be anything but civil.

"Hey, Ren," Red asked as we landed back in the Dimension Room.

"Yeah?"

"If we win this, can we wish for a better lunch? I’m really tired of these triangles."

"I’ll see what I can do, Red. I’ll see what I can do."