by Prax Venter
Sevik the Lancer was the one who’d seen this strange King as an opportunity to effect change within his life and was one of the rare NPCs who couldn’t ignore the internal drive to erase the Corruption. Having a Townsfolk wife trapped in a failing Town surrounded by death didn’t hurt his ambitions either. The plan was for him to follow Jack to Blackmoor and see the kingdom for himself, but his ultimate and urgent goal was building that inroad the system wanted. Jack already liked the guy.
Belda and Yatts were going in to Exit back at Angelshade after witnessing Jack’s professed miracles and give their report to the Mayor. The female Fighter had that giant’s DNA in her, and Alt confirmed quietly that she was indeed two inches taller than Kron. Yatts the Light Mage was smaller in stature like Harrak but was thinner, clean shaven, wearing pure white robes, and held a more refined poise. Jack tried not to think of how the dramatic size difference impacted their relationship and instead focused on his personal notepad and scanned over the Skill Path information his AI companion continued to update. The Fighter was all familiar shield and melee abilities, so Jack navigated his growing wall of text with a thought to focus on the other two.
Sevik, Lancer
Plate Armor. Can only equip Two-handed Spears.
PATH: Sky Assault [3]
► Wind Strike - [Activated | 5 Mana | 30-yard Max Distance | Main Hand Damage x 1.5]
~ Engage in an instant. Max distance increases at higher tiers.
► Piercing Gale - [Activated Charge x 3 | 15 Mana | 5-second recharge | Main-Hand damage dealt to every enemy in a straight line from Spear tip | 100% Hit chance | 0% Crit Chance]
~ Lance with endless reach
► Revenge - [Available for 1 second after HP loss | Activated Charge x 1 | 10-minute recharge | Damage = HP lost x 6 | Target must be Damage Source]
~ Amplified retribution.
Yatts, Light Mage
Cloth Armor. Can only equip Two-handed Staves or Wands.
PATH: Brilliance [3]
► Revitalizing Ray - [Channeled | 2 MP/Second | 3% of Target’s MAX HP Restored/Second]
~ Undo one’s pain
► Searing Beam - [Channeled | 5 MP/Second | Damage = Magic Power x 0.5]
~ Pain unto one
► Orb of Purity - [15 Second Cast Time | Once per Floor | 10-yard radius | 2-minute Duration | 50 HP Restored/Second]
~ Undo all pain
Alt’s Note: ALL entities within the AOE are healed.
Jack closed the personal interface as he finished the last bite and found the meal only granted moderate boosts to Hit Points, Mana, and Defense, but a basic stat bonus was certainly better than nothing.
Rest Bonus [+65 Health | +40 Mana | +50 Def | Gain 45 Mana on Level Entrance | Duration: Exit]
~ Hearty roots keep you up on your boots
The group left before the other Heroes to give the Mayor a chance for a short Town meeting explaining things as best he could. As close-knit as Angelshade was, there was no way its people wouldn’t talk- not to mention a valuable and well-liked Hero not coming home to his wife.
They all decided it was best for the decision to already be made in order to stem both redundant questions and possible objections. The Tower was only a half-turn behind the Inn along the suspended walkways, and then they all stood under its endless stretch into the clear blue above. Jack added Sevik, Belda, and Yatts to his party.
With a glance, he got firm nods from everyone as they equipped their climbing gear and he already felt the experience of these higher-level Heroes soar his expectations. Feeling in control of his destiny again, Jack reached for the iron ring of the weather-worn entrance and pure white zeroed out his senses.
When the color of existence snapped into focus, he discovered today’s Floor 1 was the infinite surface of a birthday cake complete with tree-sized, lit candles and ankle-deep pink frosting. Jack spun to see his new teammates for the day run the same checklists he was while his boots slurped against spongy ground below the frosting.
“Welp,” Jack began, “I’m glad this horrible terrain is on a trivial Floor.”
“I concur,” Belda said, crossing her muscled arms over her thick leather vest. “However, let us get directly to what all this is about. Roth was not himself this morning and what he said frightens me.”
“You should be both frightened and excited,” Sevik said, his blue metal dragon mask in place.
Jack continued quickly. “Nothing is going to prepare any of you for what you are about to see. Before I show you the full extent of my power, I must ask you again to not share what you see on this Climb with anyone outside of Angelshade.”
Belda squinted down at him through a helm of animal fur and bone and then she shifted her focus further down to Yatts.
“We’ve already made this promise,” the short man began with a small nod, “and I vow it true before you again. Now, please, show us what an Irrelevant Hero King can do.”
“Come on out, Alt,” Jack said, trying hard not to roll his eyes at the fact this was the 400th time they were going through this rigmarole, as the tiny spaceship phased into existence over the rich pink frosting,
“Greetings,” the AI said. “I’m honored to meet you all. Like Jack, I am not from your world. We are bound together and through him I can wield limited power to nudge reality toward obtaining our goals. I am looking forward to climbing high with you today.”
“My my,” the white-haired Yatts mumbled as he pulled down his gold-trimmed hood.
Sevik’s blue-metal dragon mask phased back into his inventory as he took one slurping step toward the hovering spaceship.
“Jack… You said you had some advantages, but a talking spirit?”
“I greet you, Alt,” said the Light Mage with another slight bow. “I am Yatts, and this is my wife, Belda. May I enquire into this aforementioned reality nudging?”
“You may absolutely,” Alt said, dipping his prow in a mirror of the other man. “The first change I enjoy introducing to Heroes with a healing combat role is this party data augmentation to their visual Interface.”
All three NPCs standing in frosting with Jack shifted their focus to the new information accessible in the upper left side of their periphery.
JACK HP 906/906 MP 721/721
SEVIK HP 3,302/3,302
BELDA HP 1,964/1,964
YATTS HP 759/759
ALT HP 453/453
Coins: 33,899
Current Run Value: 0
Alt Value: 132,292/250,000
“Okay,” Jack said, clapping his hands together and pulling their attention. “We are going to do things a little differently than your normal daily climb. Think of it as cultural exchange. You are going to be awed and amazed and the sooner we start utilizing these new features, the more normal all this reality nudging will be.”
Movement pulled Jack’s eye to the nearest candle dripping massive globs of blue wax down into the pristine icing to become the layout’s Monsters.
“I’ll start with this Floor,” Jack said, pulling his epic blade. “I will demonstrate my abilities in real encounters, then each of you will take us through solo.”
Despite no preparation the night before, the two other experienced climbers adjusted to Jack’s game-breaking abilities with ease. All the Angelshade Heroes habitually rotated into different teams often to keep everyone around the same level and gear. Jack wasn’t sure he’d try to encourage the practice back home as there was something to be said for becoming irrationally in tune with a permanent group.
The absence of both Lex and Haylee weighed on his heart as they cleared the lower Floors, but these three both knew what they were doing and were open to new ideas.
When Alt triggered their simple plan for the over-sized pile of coins waiting ahead of them he was confident in their assured success.
Alt, then Jack, and Yatts ambushed with ranged attacks from just outside its Boss chamber.
Floor 39 Boss -428 | HP 1,482/1,910
-264 | HP 1,218/1
,910
-233 | HP 985/1,910
“Ha- haw haw!” Belda laughed out deep bellows that echoed off the massive floor safe that served as the end of the Layout while she charged past the ranged attackers and drew its ire with a Shout.
The dragon-masked Lancer left a straight trail of afterimages behind, instantly jumping into melee range with his hyper speed Wind Strike. Sevik let out a grunt of focused force as he jabbed his barbed spear into the sentient pile of giant coins and a flash of sparks burst from the impact.
Floor 39 Boss -297 | HP 688/1,910
Their foe hurled a single coin from its body like a two-ton solid gold frisbee, but Belda took it on her 6-foot shield with another deep giggle. By then, the ranged attackers got off another salvo of brilliant magic and victory was theirs.
“I haven’t experienced this much glee climbing in a long time,” Belda said as the party gathered around the Boss chest. “Five party members is an utterly unfair advantage.”
“We were due some extra fairness,” Yatts said with a reserved grin on his face. “We were undoubtedly due, my dear.”
“And we’ve climbed so swiftly!” Sevik added with the grin behind his mask clear in his voice. It’d been difficult to read the Lancer, but the more time they spent together, the more he allowed the undercurrent of emotion to come through.
Jack nodded as he looted the Boss chest. At Floor 39, none of it was an upgrade for anybody but there was an interesting short sword in the pile.
Profit’s Edge - [Sword| Value: 207 | Floor 39]
| Dmg: 60 |
| Hit Chance +0.10 |
| Crit Chance +0.15 |
| Magic Power +10 |
| All Coins found multiplied by 10% |
“Oh, hey,” he said, moving it into his hand as a physical object. “Before I feed this rare weapon to my hungry scabbard, does anyone want to call dibs?”
“Dibs?” Yatts said with tilt of his head.
“He means to offer us first choice,” Belda said, crossing her arms. “And, naw. No one here’s filling their free space with that pretty garbage.”
“The sword is yours, King Jack,” Sevik said with a slight bow.
“Please don’t do that,” he said as he actively tried to equip Profit’s Edge in his Main-Hand slot. The item vanished from his hand, and he checked for the potential addition.
| All Coins found multiplied by 3% |
“Nice,” he said after patting his sword belt.
“Your Main-Hand weapon,” Alt announced out loud, “now boasts 16 modifiers.”
“Such madness!” Belda said. “I’d seen one with seven once, and I thought that was madness.”
Yatts held up an upward palm toward Alt. “And lo, his Main-Hand weapon is technically doing its own boasting!”
Jack shook his head as he moved for the freestanding wooden door with the number ‘40’ burned into its face.
“Well, two of those are literally useless, like the bonus Nature and Shadow type damage. But it certainly is nice not having to worry about depending on appropriate drops to fill this slot. We ready for the next Floor?”
They all gave Jack nods and stood ready to face whatever nonsense the Tower decided to throw their direction.
After the flash, Jack found himself standing out under gemstone clouds in an orange sky. An open, alien-landscape sprawled before with a smooth gravel path swerving around the hills and feathery green trees clumped here and there. After confirming the grass was what it looked like, he turned to see a strange, mouthless humanoid creature sitting on bicycle with one shoe up on a pedal. She had a ponytail, wore a yellow blouse and short shorts, and could have passed for human if her limbs weren’t impossibly thin- and the no mouth or nose thing was a dead giveaway. Her enormous brown eyes blinked once, and if Sevik hadn’t needed to turn to face his target before activating his Wind Strike, Jack would have never been able to Teleport in between them and intercept the attack.
“Ngh-!” he grunted as the Lancer’s barbed tip pierced clean through his kidney and poked out his front side.
Jack Critical! -349 | HP 557/906
“What are you doing!” Sevik cried behind him while unsummoning his two-handed spear rather than yanking it back out.
“Wait! D-don’t attack.” Jack groaned and sank to his knees, but the intolerable pain faded away almost immediately.
The mouthless young creature hunched forward and looked about to pedal off when her expressive eyes went wide, and she pointed behind them instead.
Everyone turned to see two horse-sized crystal wasps spawn into being and silently zip straight for Yatts.
Belda stomped in front of him Shouting out her challenge while Alt and the Light Mage scattered, and both fired their beams of vibrant magic at different targets.
Gem Pest -428 | HP 407/835
Gem Pest -302 | HP 533/835
“Weak to Light damage!” the Mage called out as the crystalline insects continued for Belda. The big woman could take a solid hit, but her advanced age made her slow to dodge. With two foes actively surrounding her, she took a hit in the side from a glass stinger.
Belda -256 | HP 1,708/1,964
With a roar, the Fighter smashed her mace into the faceted thorax of the one that stung her.
Gem Pest -210 | HP 323/835
Jack stood and drew his sword with one fluid motion, while also triggering a Double Omni Strike.
Gem Pest -214 | HP 109/835
-214| Defeated
Gem Pest -214 | HP 193/835
-214 | Defeated
Yatts had already lifted his palm and started beaming life back to his wife. The Lancer spun on Jack as soon as the encounter was over.
“I knew you were some type of loose in the head!”
“MMmm MM!” the strange woman on the bike hummed through the solid flesh covering her face. She then nodded down the gravel path and started slowly pedaling forward. Her legs pumped faster than she was moving as if she were riding a 10-speed and had it stuck in some super low gear.
“No,” Jack said, walking after the creature. “Listen up. If an… entity spawns between you and the Exit Orb, like this young lady.” He paused to indicate the cyclist rolling ahead at a steady 2 miles per hour. “You want to pay special attention to how they react.”
The others moved to follow behind him, and Yatts activated his Revitalizing Ray as they walked. After climbing with a Single-Path healing class, he understood why Lex was frustrated by her need to stand still and sing when this guy didn’t even need to pay attention.
“You’ve encountered this wheeled Monster before?” the Light Mage asked as he continued beaming pure white energy into his shoulder at 27 HP per second. Jack faced away so he wasn’t blinded by the spell’s effect.
“Not quite, but my team encountered someone between us and the Orb once before. We were rewarded for paying closer attention. This girl out for a nice bike ride isn’t attacking us, so I don’t think she’s really a Tower Monster as we know them.”
“My word…” muttered Yatts. “So that’s not a Monster, then? Have we been slaying innocents somehow eking out a living on Tower Floors?”
Alt jumped in as he hovered over the path behind them. “All entities you encounter in the Tower are more hollow than that. This being didn’t exist before we entered Floor 40 and will cease to exist the moment we leave.”
Jack pulled in a lungful of clean virtual air from a virtual world nested within another, all sitting within the real world.
“Yeah,” he said. “These more complex Layouts happen on the zero Floors and on the ones before a Tier unlock.”
“Before we get into whatever Demon spit ‘zero Floors’ are,” Sevik said in a cool voice. “I’ll need your vow that you’ll never get between my spear and my target again.”
Jack shot him a grimace. “Okay, yeah. I just knew you wouldn’t- never mind, I won’t. Trust me this should be worth it. It’s my job to show you that this world is just begging for people to discover her rich
secrets. Oh, and zero Floors are like 30, 40, 50- Make sense?”
“Mmm,” Yatts said with a slow nod as Jack hit full health. The short Light Mage canceled his channeled spell and lowered his arm.
“There’s no mmm from me here,” Belda said as she chopped a hand as big as her husband’s head through the air. “I need someone to lay bare what it is we are physically doing right now.”
“I’m pretty sure this is an escort quest,” Jack said and nodded to the bizarre woman on the reflective silver bicycle. The frame was more elongated and had extra bars not attached to anything, but it was close enough and functioned the same. “I say we protect her until she gets wherever she’s going, then we go from there. Maybe she ends up being the Boss, maybe she ends up taking off her skin and that skin turns into an extra Rewards Chest… The point is, this Floor 40 is trying to show us something unique, and we should absolutely pay attention.”
“Mmm,” the pedaling creature hummed loudly in response as she pedaled forward, and Belda started rumbling with laughter again.
“Ha haw! Now I’m convinced!”
Jack grinned as he scanned the tranquil landscape. “By the end of today, all of you will have a fresh new perspective on many things you’d always taken for granted. The Floors should get harder from here on out and we’re really going to start cheesing each layout for all its worth. Hopefully, the three of you will take home a head full of new tools to share with others. Shame my Royal Advisor, Haylee, isn’t here right now, she’d be-”
“MMMM!”
Jack snapped his focus up to the cyclist and saw her pointing to the left at three more Gem Pests phasing into existence.
Jack opened with his devastating Omni Strike synergy and his flashing blade appeared 6 times, hacking them each down to 407/835.
The sharp-angled creatures shifted their focus from the cowering cyclist to move in a b-line straight for him. Expecting this, Jack hopped backward away from her and into the crushing jaws of his high-level team.