Welcome to the tower

After entering, the two climbed the city wall and began to walk along it until they came to a kind of tower that seemed to give access to a higher part of the wall.

The two entered the tower, and then Rohan saw that there was a ladder inside. He headed towards it to climb up, but Uson said, "Hey, it's not that way."

"Isn't it? There's nowhere else to go inside this tower."

"You'll understand. Just stand still."

Uson then went to a wall of the tower and pushed one of the bricks, causing the wall in front of him to open up.

He then entered the path that had opened up, and Rohan followed him. He pushed another brick, causing the wall to close and a light to turn on.

Uson then pointed to a handrail beside Rohan and said, "Hold on."

Rohan didn't argue and grasped the railing as the platform beneath them began to descend quickly. This gave Rohan a brief feeling that he was in free fall, but after a while, he managed to get his feet on the ground and stabilize himself.

After a while, the ground began to descend more slowly until it stopped. One of the walls then opened, and Uson got out. Rohan followed soon after and began to look around. He found himself in an open area surrounded by several buildings and houses, and he asked, "Where are we?"

Uson said, "We're under the city gate. This is where you and the other participants will be staying during this mission. Come with me, I'll show you around, and then I'll take you to your room."

"Okay."

Uson started walking with Rohan around the place, stopping at the kitchen, the public bathroom, and a square. Then he walked with him to a house near the entrance.

Uson said, "This is where you're staying today. This is the best house here."

The two entered the house, and Rohan began to look around. It was very spacious, with a living room, a bedroom with a double bed that looked extremely comfortable, and even its own bathroom.

Uson said, "Well, now that you know the place, I'll be going. Other people should be waiting for me at the gate."

Uson then left, and Rohan wasted no time. He quickly took a shower, and to his surprise, the water was hot. He then went to the bed in the room and lay down on it, confirming what he had already imagined: the bed was extremely comfortable.

He fell asleep quickly, woke up the following day, and went to the kitchen. When he got there, he saw that a few people were already there, but most of them looked a bit sleepy. He grabbed something to eat from a table where all the food was and was looking for a place to sit down when suddenly he heard welli calling him.

He went over to the table he was at and sat down opposite him. Welli looked a little sleepy, as did the other people in the kitchen.

Rohan then said, "Was it tough to find the runes yesterday?"

Welli said, "Not so much. Although their glow is a bit weak, as the forest is completely dark at night, it's not difficult to find them."

"How many did you manage to find?"

"Ten, but I've already spent five with the room I stayed in and this meal."

"Five? You spent that much?"

"Yes, and you? You had to go back into the forest to get more runes, didn't you? After all, even with a discount, one rune shouldn't have been enough."

"I thought I'd have to do that too, but because it was the first day and I was the first person to deliver a rune, I got a super discount. I only paid one rune and got the best room, as well as being able to eat as much as I wanted."

"Wow, you were very lucky."

"I wouldn't say that. Even though I only spent one rune, it was the only one I had. Whereas you spent five and still have five more."

"Well, that's true, but those five runes will barely last me today. Everyone is planning to go out looking for runes only at night from now on. So, I'm already going to lose three more runes to eat before I go out later. That will leave me with two runes, which is only enough to stay in the worst room. So if I don't find any more runes today, I won't even be able to eat."

"It looks like it's not going to be easy living here."

"Tell me about it."

The two then continued talking as they ate.

...

Some time passed, and all the participants were standing outside the gate waiting for the day to finish getting dark.

Hes stood among them and said, "I know that some of you received a discount since yesterday was the first day, but there's no more of that today. The only discount that remains is for the first one back. Oh, and so you don't rush back, the discount only applies if you bring back at least five white runes."

The day finished getting dark, and everyone headed off into the forest, each person going in a different direction to try and find as many runes as possible.

Rohan and Welli went on together for some time until Welli said, "Well, we'd better split up here, Rohan."

Rohan said, "Yes. Good luck."

"You too."

...

Some time passed, and Rohan had so far managed to pick up one white rune. It wasn't as if he'd only found one, but other people had picked up the other runes he'd seen before he could get to them.

He then thought, 'Damn, if it goes like this, I won't have enough even to rent a room to sleep in.'

Some more time passed, and Rohan got two more white runes, which totaled three in his possession. He then sat down to rest for a while as he had been running non-stop since leaving the city gate.

He drank some water that he had brought with him, and after a while, he got up to continue looking for more runes, but at that moment, he noticed a lot of movement around him.

As he looked around, he realized that the other participants around him were all heading in the same direction. He then thought, 'What's going on? Are they coming back? But as far as I remember, the gate isn't in that direction.

Rohan looked in the direction they were going for a while. He was about to turn around to continue picking up the white runes when suddenly something caught his eye. In the direction they were all heading, a very faint green light could be seen. It was almost imperceptible.

Seeing this, Rohan thought, 'A green light? Could it be a green rune? That would explain why everyone was heading towards it. Well, there's no point in me wasting time going there. There's no way I can get to it before everyone else.'

Rohan then headed in the opposite direction to the green light, but after a few steps, he stopped, looked in the direction of the green light, and said, "Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to go there and see what the rune looks like." Then he headed towards the green light.

After some time following it, Rohan finally arrived where it was. Seeing the scene around him, he was amazed at the number of people there—practically all the participants were there.

He started looking for the rune, and after a while, he finally found it. The green rune was just like the white one, the difference being only the light it was emitting. It was stuck on the side of a mountain very close to the top.

Some people were climbing towards it, but the mountain was very steep, which caused some of them to fall from time to time. Among the people climbing, Rohan could see Welli. He was among the people further along the climb and had a good chance of being the one to get the rune.

After observing the situation for a while, Rohan turned and thought, 'Well, now that I've seen the green rune, I won't waste any more time. There isn't a world where I can get this rune. I'll take advantage of the fact that almost everyone is standing around to look for more white runes.'

He then left the place and entered the forest, but halfway there, he noticed something. 

At the other side of the mountain, where the green rune was stuck, there seemed to be a less steep path to get to the top of the mountain. It even seemed to be possible to walk up most of it.

Rohan then stopped, watched the path for a while, and said, "Well, it doesn't hurt to try. Maybe I'll get lucky and get there first that way."