“Hey, you guys,” Jason called out with a groan. “I hate to interrupt your wonderful conversation, but I kinda need some healing down here.”
Everyone glanced down and found Jason lying underneath the boss’s loot. When it died, the massive quantity of loot had piled on top of him.
“AH!” Carly shrieked when she saw the countless holes in Jason’s body after pushing away the items covering him. Her hands lit up with mana as she hastily cast her spells. “Sorry! I got distracted.”
A warm sensation covered Jason’s body, the wounds closing within seconds. Peter extended his hand and helped Jason to his feet as he asked. “Why didn’t you say anything, dude?”
Jason chuckled and pointed at his feet. “I was just admiring one of the drops we got. It’s uh, quite incredible.”
Everyone reached the same conclusion. “A Celestial grade item?!”
Even Shenlong gave a smile. “Not bad, not bad.”
Roy dropped to his knees and pushed away item after item, searching for the Celestial grade equipment. He picked up an item, inspected it, then tossed it aside when he didn’t see the right grade.
“Hey.” Jason caught a small silver case that Roy tossed. “Be careful with this thing.”
Roy blinked in confusion. “That’s the thing you were talking about?”
“Yep.” Jason smiled
Everyone huddled around him, wondering how such a small item could be so amazing. Cheslov frowned upon recognizing the object. “Isn’t this a contact lens?”
“Yep.” Jason’s smile widened.
Carly was the first one to read the item’s information. She gasped. “No way! This is amazing!
“No freakin’ way!” Eboni was alarmed. “There’s such an item?”
“This would raise our combat power drastically!” Roy determined after reading the contact lens’s information.
(Unique) Augmented Multi-Purpose Contact Lens
+Able to determine enemy weak points, increasing critical strike chance up to 20%, less effective on higher grade monsters.
+Able to view the target's information. Equivalent to Expert grade Inspect skill
+Vision can link with other contact lenses
+Able to zoom up to 10x
+Night Vision
+Can change eye color
*Requires two lenses to work
“This is hands down the best support item I’ve seen to date.” Cheslov shook his head in disbelief.
“Mm.” Olivia desperately wanted the item for herself. Out of everyone here, she had the fastest attack speed. Her damage would skyrocket from the increased critical chance.
Carly’s eyes sparkled. “Look, it can change your eye color! So cute!”
“Don’t pick red. That’s my color,” Amara snarled after seeing the look on Carly’s face.
Carly fearfully waved her hands in front of her. “I won’t. Pinky promise!”
Jason and Roy rolled their eyes at each other.
“Unfortunately, there’s only one, while there’s twelve of us,” Shenlong stated, immediately reducing everyone’s excitement.
“Don’t speak so soon.” Jason chuckled as he opened the case. Inside were five sets of contact lenses, enough for five people.
“Let’s do it like usual, rolling dice,” Shenlong said sternly, leaving no room for negotiation.
“Fine with me,” Jason agreed.
Everyone pulled out a small die, a magic tool sold on the thirtieth floor. When used, it showed a random number between one to a hundred. This was a standard tool used by solo ascenders who made temporary parties.
“Roll for the first pair.” Shenlong tossed his die, followed by everyone else.
All sorts of numbers popped up.
“Woohoo!” Carly jumped in place. “I can finally change my eye color to blond!”
“Hey!” Roy gave her a look. “You want blond? That’s almost gold!”
“B-but, I think your eyes are beautiful.” Carly’s cheeks turned red as she looked at Roy. “My hair is blond too, so I think, I think it’ll look good.”
“Fine, do what you want.” Roy shrugged his shoulders, a little embarrassed.
Peter whispered into Jason’s ear. “I can’t believe the first thing she thought after winning was being able to change her eye color.”
Jason just shook his head. He had plenty of past girlfriends who had two sets of jewelry—one for combat and the other for looks.
Amara just so happened to be standing next to Peter. When she heard him, she snorted in disdain. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently? Why don’t you take some hints from Jason? At least he takes care of himself.”
Peter coughed as he pulled out a small mirror from his inventory. A man with greasy hair and an unshaven face stared back at him. “Ugh, I didn’t realize it was this bad. I’ve been too busy running the guild.”
Jason consoled Peter by patting him on the shoulder before Shenlong interrupted. “All right, enough talking. Roll again.”
After a minute, Carly, Olivia, Amara, Dubaku, and Shenlong each received a pair. The rest could only sigh in disappointment.
“All right, let’s distribute the rest of the drops.” Shenlong bent over and began to sort through the boss’s loot.
In the end, they gained several modules and a significant amount of metal scraps, which turned into reputation at the Sanctuary. Much to Roy’s delight, a plasma cutter dropped. Nobody else wanted it, so it ended up in Roy’s hands.
(Heroic) Plasma Cutter
Damage: 150-200
Durability: 1,000/1,000
+25% Chance to inflict an additional 50% Fire damage.
+50 Agility
+10% Attack Speed
+20% Ignore Defense
Requirements: Level 80
“Vhum, Whum!” Roy made the sound of a lightsaber as he swung the plasma cutter through the air.
“Let’s finish this quest. I’m starving.” Cheslov’s stomach growled as soon as he spoke.
“All right.” Shenlong made his way over to the locked door and scanned his keycard again. This time, the device turned green. With a swish, the door slid open.
Jason and Zhen Hu took the lead. Fortunately, as they explored the facility, there were no monsters, only abandoned labs. Soon, they came across a massive computer with over twenty monitors. Shenlong inserted the USB, receiving a notification at the same time as he did. “Good. We can return now.”
After storing the USB, Jason and his party returned to the Sanctuary, all of them wondering what their rewards would be.
Chapter 11
The time it took to return to Sanctuary 06 was even faster than it took to reach the secret facility, and it was all thanks to the power of the multipurpose contact lens. While multi-vision was undoubtedly useful, the benefit of having twenty percent increased critical strike chance against common monsters couldn’t be understated. The only downside was the critical strike chance fell to ten percent against elite monsters. It was sure to be even lower on bosses.
Hours later, Jason’s party reached Sanctuary 06 safe and sound. After passing through security and making their way to HQ, they talked to the receptionist before riding the elevator up to Cable’s lab. As soon as the doors opened, Cable excitedly rushed up to Shenlong. “Did you get it?”
“There was a mishap with the security system,” Shenlong explained as he calmly handed over the USB, “but we succeeded in the end.”
“This is great news! Wonderful news!” Cable’s cheeks flushed. He forced himself to calm down before grabbing the USB as carefully as one would handle a baby. He held it with two hands as he shuffled his way over to a large computer with hundreds of wires connected to different systems before slowly inserting it in one of the ports. Simultaneously, a message appeared in front of every member of Jason’s party.
You have received 25,000 reputation points with Sanctuary 06.
The GMS or Gene Modification System in Sanctuary 06 is now available.
“Gene Modification System?” Roy pointed at his notification as he turned to Jason. “Does this mean we can get m-serums and become as strong as Cable?”
Before Jason could respond, Cable tripped over himself. With a red face, he pointed at Roy and reprimanded. “Young man, what do you think the m-serum is? Some cabbage you can find at the local market?”
“Er.” Roy looked at his companions before nodding naively. “It isn’t?”
Cable’s anger flared, only to remember he was speaking with a layman. With a heavy sigh, he explained. “Lad, the m-serum requires extremely delicate equipment and a quantum energy core.” He shook his head. “Back then, the government built Sanctuary 06 for civilians. I might be able to gather parts to build the required machinery, but getting a quantum energy core is beyond my capabilities.”
“We need those m-serums,” Shenlong stated firmly. “Where can we acquire a core?”
Cable turned to Shenlong with a solemn expression. “From a noble.”
“Those robots Decker mentioned?”
“Not just any robots.” Cable’s shoulders drooped. “They are the only robots in the entire world with A.I. When the team behind their creation created the twentieth one, they revolted and took control of manufacturing facilities before declaring war. The human equivalent of a brain, for them, is a quantum energy core.”
“So we just need to hunt down these so-called nobles then.” Shenlong now understood. Hundreds of field and raid bosses had already fallen under his hand. What was one more?
Jason sighed when he saw Shenlong’s confidence. He knew things weren’t that simple. Unlike most monsters in the tower, nobles grew stronger as time passed. Even in the previous timeline, ascenders hadn’t killed a single one.
Cable chuckled bitterly. “You said you could sense my strength, right? Tell me: do you think you can defeat me?”
Shenlong narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying they’re as strong as you?”
“Me?” Cable scratched his head. “I might be able to kill one of them if I’m prepared to lay down my life.”
“Okay, I understand.” Shenlong smiled. “So we just need to bring you a core, and you’ll handle everything else?”
“Uh.” Cable raised an eyebrow, baffled at Shenlong’s nonchalant attitude. “I think you misunderstand something. It’s one quantum energy core per m-serum.”
“I figured as much.”
Cable shook his head in disbelief, unsure of where Shenlong’s confidence came from. “Yeah, sure, I’ll handle everything if you bring me a quantum energy core. You don’t even have to worry about reputation points; killing a noble is a great achievement.”
Shenlong turned to face his companions. “Looks like that’s our next goal.”
“I have a feeling it won’t be that easy.” Peter crossed his arms as they entered the elevator. “We should grind some reputation and learn more about the floor, then bring up our guildmates.”
“Agreed.” Shenlong nodded. “In any case, let’s spend our newly gained reputation points to upgrade our strength as much as possible.”
It only took a few minutes before they were browsing through the armory’s shop once again. Jason laughed silently at his companion's fundamental misunderstanding of the GMS. Before they spent their points, he quickly navigated the console and exclaimed in mock shock. “Wow, guys, check this out. There’s a bunch of serums here!”
“Serums? I thought the m-serum wasn’t available yet?” Amara leaned over to view Jason’s console. What she saw caused her mouth to drop. “There really are serums for sale!”
Eboni found the list on her side and gasped. “Why are they so expensive? Just a Rare-grade serum costs all my points, and that’s not even including the higher-grade serums.”
“I didn’t expect this.” Shenlong smiled brightly.
Each serum varied in effect and price, but they all had one thing in common: only one serum could be active at a time. Using a second serum would erase the effects of the first. As such, everyone spent the next hour contemplating what serum best suited them.
Jason ended up going with a defensive Rare-grade serum. When he made his choice, a small syringe filled with glowing brown liquid appeared in his hand. Knowing what was about to happen, he sat down cross-legged before inserting the tip of the syringe straight into a vein in his arm.
Immense pain immediately spread through his body. It was as if each nerve was being sliced into pieces and crying for help. Even with his incredible mental fortitude, Jason’s vision went black as he lapsed into unconsciousness.
After what felt like eons, Jason awoke and found himself resting against the exchange terminals' armory wall. On either side of him were his companions, convulsing so intensely that it looked like they were having a seizure. It was a disturbing sight. Thankfully this place wasn’t populated with ascenders yet, so the chance of someone robbing them was nil.
Popping sounds rang out from Jason’s body as he stood up and stretched. It was so pleasurable that he couldn’t help but moan. Fortunately, nobody was awake to hear it; otherwise, he might’ve fainted from embarrassment. For a Chad like him to moan in public? It was one of his worst fears.
Coughing awkwardly, he looked at the notification that had appeared while he was unconscious.
Your body has been successfully modified by 'Rare-grade Troll Defender Serum.’
+0.5% Of Max Health Regenerated A Second
+20% Increased Health Regeneration
-1% Damage Taken For Every 5% Health Missing
Jason smiled in satisfaction. As long as this serum remained active, he would always regenerate point five percent of his total health every second. That was in addition to the regeneration he already had. Even more shocking, this was just the effect of a Rare-grade serum. There were still five grades higher than Rare.
This was why speculation about the effects of the m-serum had run rampant in the previous timeline. If a Rare-grade serum already gave a godlike effect, what would the m-serum give?
Chapter 12
Olivia jumped to her feet as soon as she woke up, only to look down in alarm. “I feel great.”
She stretched slightly before cracking every part of her body, one after the other—fingers, wrists, shoulders, neck, back, toes, and hips. Roy’s eyes snapped open at the sound. He pointed at Olivia. “Hey, don’t you know that’s bad for your body?!”
“You keep saying that, yet I’m perfectly fine?” Olivia rolled her eyes.
Roy stood up and shivered. “Yeah, well, it still gives me the chills.”
“Oh, this does?” Olivia held out an arm and twirled her wrist, making a crack with every rotation.
“AGH!” Roy covered his ears as he exclaimed. “Is this a hero-grade debuff skill?”
Suddenly, a crack louder than any other came from behind Roy. His face paled as he turned around, only to see Cheslov popping his shoulder in and out of its socket. Roy gasped. “Y-y-you guys are driving me crazy!”
“I didn’t know I joined a party for kids,” Amara said as she stood up and patted her robe.
“Aren’t you like eighteen or something?” Cheslov looked down at Amara with a finger on his chin.
“Nineteen.” Amara raised her head proudly.
“You’re all kids to me,” Cheslov said as he pointed at Roy, Olivia, Carly, and Amara.
“Uh.” Carly raised a hand in protest. “I’m twenty-nine.”
Everyone turned to Carly with expressions of disbelief. She was no higher than five foot two, had a petite frame, and a sheepish personality, yet she was older than most of them here?
Carly blushed at being the center of attention and turned to Peter with a pleading lo
ok. “Guild Leader, please tell them.”
Peter scratched his cheek with a wry smile. “I thought you were lying on your guild application. You’re twenty-nine?”
Carly stomped her foot with tears in her eyes. “You guys are bullying me!”
Everyone burst into laughter at the adorable sight.
Jason shook his head, a warm feeling in his chest. Feeling emotional, he pulled Roy and Olivia into his embrace. “Thanks.”
“For what?” Roy and Olivia looked up in confusion.
Jason could only rub his nose. “I don’t know…”
Roy smiled as he wrapped his arms around Jason and Olivia. “Without you guys, I don’t know where I’d be. So for that, I’m grateful.”
Olivia felt complicated. Anxiety, hesitation, and fear welled up inside her. Wolf had taught her love wasn’t something given but earned. But the feeling in her heart couldn’t lie. In the end, she nestled her head in between Roy and Jason. These were her friends. Her family.
A few moments passed before Jason let go. “Uh, so what serums did you guys end up getting?”
Roy answered first. “I got something to help me heal Uncle Walter faster.”
Rare-grade Energy Enhancement serum
+30% Absorption speed of any type of energy.
“I was thinking about that one,” Jason remarked. With this serum, he’d be able to gather and convert mana to battle energy faster. Battle energy was powerful, but his skills consumed too much too quickly. Thankfully he found that using his hero grade Meditation skill simultaneously as Energy Conversion improved his speed multiple times over. After six months, he now had over three thousand battle energy.
“This is the one I got.” Olivia shared next.
Rare-grade Elemental Enhancement serum
Towers of Heaven: A LitRPG Adventure (Book 3) Page 5