by Prax Venter
| Crit Chance +0.02 |
Chest: Sea Cloth - [Chest | Value: 22]
| Def: 3 |
| Max HP +8 |
| Max MP +8 |
| Magic Power +4 |
| Nature Attacks +2 |
~ Woven from water
Legs: Rodentia Raiment- [Legs | Value: 55]
| Def: 4 |
| Max HP +44 |
| Max MP +20 |
| Magic Power +18 |
| 15% chance for +1 MP after enemy kill |
~ Let nothing stop you from eating your fill.
Feet: Red Cotton Shoes - [Feet | Value: 38]
| Def: 3 |
| Max HP +24 |
| Max MP +10 |
| Magic Power +6 |
Hands: Frayed Felt Grips - [Hands | Value: 14]
| Max HP +4 |
| Max MP +6 |
| Magic Power +5 |
Jack took in a deep breath, then turned to the floating combination lock by his side.
“Alt, how many HPs do monsters have on 11? Isn’t it around 80 something?”
“The average Hit Point total of every Floor 11 I’ve seen is 84.”
Jack turned to his other teammate. “Lex? What do you say?”
The Bastion nodded. “I think she can survive one more Floor. With 150 HP, nothing should be able to one-shot her. Let’s not play games with the Boss, though.”
“Let’s do it,” Jack said, and Haylee gave him another small smile. He was happy to see her start to show more emotions than her usual razor-sharp focus and anger, but he could also see the shadows under her expressive eyes.
“But,” he added, “you have to promise me you won’t overdo it with morning training.”
Her smile slipped off her face. “I’m finding it hard to sleep. I need to become as strong as you.”
“You will,” Jack said. “But consider the cost. Lex, Alt, and I need you to be at your best every day.” His face softened. “Listen, little one, I’m the same way. If I’m up, I’m up. My mind won’t stop racing. But do me a favor and simply stay in bed till at least four to Close. Even if you are not sleeping, your body needs rest, and that’ll still give you two hours every day to train if you want to.”
“He’s right,” Lex said. “Keeping a strict routine will help all by itself. Your body will fall into the rhythm your mind creates.”
The Dark Prism nodded.
“This is exactly the wisdom I need to learn.”
“Right,” Jack said, moving to the freestanding wooden door with the number 10 burnt into it. “Going up!”
The three heroes and the AI called Alt swept Floor 10, which was hippopotamuses in business suits. When Haylee finally replaced her Hand Slot with an upgrade from the Boss chest, they all decided to rush her yet one more Hero Level before quitting. She entered as Level 5 but came out Level 12 and every point of her Mana pool spent.
The next few days went by in much the same way, and they adjusted their plans depending on how well the climb was going. In the end, they agreed Haylee had picked up most of the basics, and as long as the risk wasn’t too great, they’d power-level her as fast as possible.
Sol fit into the farming position much better than anyone anticipated, and soon Demi had a surplus of fruits, vegetables, and grains to work with. Dairy options like cheese started pouring in now too, and it was indeed a game-changer, but beef was still a few weeks off as Ryea wanted a larger herd of cattle before they began trimming it down.
Another ship came with four more Townsfolk. One of them was randomly assigned to the Inn, but the large man had an extremely low proficiency. Jack quickly swapped him for Reno, and Kron was happy because it was a trade-up for the Wall. Jack had been pretty sure the friendly man belonged at the Eye o’ the Storm but was shocked anyway when he saw the 99% proficiency. Demi was beyond thrilled to have him close, and their relationship flourished.
The ship they arrived on was another merchant-owned trade vessel that moved from Town to Town aiming to exchange rare commodities for higher profits. The boat was called The Beard and its Captain, a rambunctious man named Char, offered to trade rashers of bacon for crates of Blackmoor Cove’s unique Orb Pheasant eggs. Jack was thrilled over the prospect of adding bacon to the menu, but Harnal shooed him away and took care of the trade route negotiations. It was a good thing too, because Jack had no real grasp over how many eggs they could spare every ten days or what their relative value was. As he watched the Dock Master skillfully ply his trade, he wondered if Sol would be an even better fit.
Jack dismissed the idea before it really began to form. Harnal was a good fit, and Sol was happy on the farm. The last thing he should be doing was making poor decisions for the Town as personal favors to his friends.
They continued to push Haylee’s Hero Level every day, and today’s goal was to unlock the second tier on her Dark Prism Paths. Jack grabbed the iron handle on the door marked ‘Floor 24’, and after the whitewash over their senses, the team materialized in a dry and cracked wasteland.
Sharp metal thorns covered every inch of the dusty landscape stretched out before them, but upon closer inspection, Jack saw that the multitude of shiny objects were broken swords. Some had fallen over as the dirt was loose and lacked the strength to hold the blades upright. The Exit Orb plinth stood quietly among them in the center of a circular patch of sunbaked earth, free of broken swords. As he turned in place, he noticed the narrow path clear of blades that led out deeper into the dunes under the rich inky blues of the twilight sky.
Jack pointed toward the winding stretch of dirt through the razor-sharp field of fractured blades.
“Let’s get marching and get you to 25, little one. I can’t wait to see what other awesome stuff a Dark Prism can do.”
- 20 -
The dense field of broken swords continued to cover every inch of dry, cracked dirt around them as they moved deeper into Floor 24. Alt was currently in the form of a one-eyed robot and followed behind the three Heroes, his two tank treads leaving deep tracks the dirt where he passed.
They’d been walking for about ten minutes before the clear sky began to darken with unnatural speed, and it became midnight in the span of a few seconds. They all stopped, waiting for something else to change- maybe some enemies would finally show up.
Jack was about to suggest they keep moving when a blazing fireball tore through the blackness above them and impacted the cracked earth nearby. An explosion of blue and bright-orange energy almost blew Jack off his feet. There were no damage alerts, but he kept his eyes focused on the small impact crater as two separate figures emerged from the chaos of colorful swirling energy.
One was a bright-orange ball with jagged and broken swords arrayed in a perfect line around its circumference, like a mohawk that went all the way around. And, similar to the landscape around them, its shattered blades were oriented hilt-down.
The other entity was a collection of fluffy purple clouds. Lightning flickered inside the hovering thunderstorm before a bolt of energy arced out, striking the floating fireball multiple times.
A deep, human-like screaming came from the orb, as it rushed forward and crashed into the flickering cloud. Another shockwave of blue and orange power swept across the landscape as these two strange entities wrestled for dominance.
The clump of clouds sent out more lightning causing the blazing orb to back off, and as it floated out of range, one of the broken swords pulled free from its body before flipping toward its enemy as if tossed by telekinesis. The razor-sharp blade passed through the thick clouds and lodged into the ground among the others. The living thunderstorm then let out a sorrowful moan as if in great pain.
“Heroes…” the cloud said. “Help me defeat the sun, or all is lost.”
“No!” the ball of fire said as it grew another broken sword to replace the one it had hurled. “Help me, or the world will be covered in darkness!”
The clouds and sun then continued their epic conflict.
“What should we do?” Le
x asked, her golden eyes darting between the two forces of nature.
Robot-Alt turned to face Jack. “Another Angry Sun?”
“We should help the thundercloud,” Haylee said confidently.
Jack watched the ball of fire launch another volley of broken swords at the dense clump of purple mist and decided to go with Haylee’s suggestion. It was what his gut was telling him, too.
“Get ready for anything!” Jack shouted as he drew his blade and activated his Mining Laser ability on their chosen target.
Floor 24 Boss A -96 | HP 711/807
Jack’s eyebrows shot up when he saw the notification, and the flaming orb cried out in pain. On the other side of the battlefield, the purple cloud sighed in relief as it began slowly rising to the sky.
“No! You’ll pay for your lack of judgment!” the sun called out, then launched one of its broken swords at Jack. Normally, he would have at least tried to dodge the attack, but never once had he experienced a Boss encounter such as this, or before fighting a single monster on the Floor. There wasn’t even a nearby Exit Orb… He just watched as the jagged shaft of gleaming steel buried itself into his chest.
Jack -179 | 215/394
The pain was so intense that Jack stumbled to his knee. The blade and hilt faded before his eyes, along with the incalculable agony of a broken sternum and rib bones puncturing his lungs.
“Fight me!” Lex Shouted, and a sphere of shimmering energy burst outward from her. The ability forced the ball of fire to orient its ring of broken blades on the Bastion, then it rushed forward at ramming velocity.
As the Boss rushed toward Lex, a burst of light from Haylee’s eyes slowed their foe to half speed. A moment after, the one-eyed bot leaned his cylindrical top half forward before the kickback from a vibrant burst of yellow energy forced him backward.
Floor 24 Boss A -144 | HP 567/807
A second after Alt had attacked, Haylee followed up her Withering Stare with a Light Ray.
Floor 24 Boss A -166 | HP 401/807
Jack got back to his feet as the new Angry Sun connected with Lex’s shield. It was still moving faster than any of them could run, but the extra slowness helped her deflect the charge perfectly, causing a small stun.
Haylee took the opportunity and dashed a few yards away to put some distance between her and the fight while Jack hacked his blade downward into their recovering foe. The moment he felt his attack meet spongy resistance, he activated Double Strike.
Floor 24 Boss A -67 | HP 334/807
Floor 24 Boss A -67 | HP 267/807
The sun backed away from Jack’s melee range and flung another one of its broken swords, aiming for Lex’s shins, but the Bastion reacted quickly and deflected another attack.
Alt blasted it again, followed by a thin beam of light from Haylee to finish it off.
Floor 24 Boss A -144 | HP 123/807
Floor 24 Boss A -166 | Defeated
The ball of fire faded from existence only to reappear high in the sky as the actual sun. The dark night that had fallen over the dry and sunbaked land instantly shifted to mid-day again, and Jack shaded his face so his eyes could adjust. Then, billowing clouds the color of a royal king’s cape spilled over their heads and created an insulated barrier between the dusty dirt and the glaring sun.
Lex moved to Heal Jack while they watched the transformation of this unusual world unfold before their eyes. Another Boss was out there somewhere, and they needed to use this time to recover while they could. As soon as she started her song, the skies begin to spill water down over everything in such volume, it was as if they stood under a waterfall. Lex used both hands to grab fistfuls of his leather armor, anchoring herself to his side. Although he could barely hear her, he felt her Healing song as the Bastion continued to sing through the torrential downpour.
As quickly as it started, the rains stopped. Jack checked his team and saw that everyone was accounted for- drenched to the bone, but no one was hurt.
“That was new for me,” Jack said, looking into Lex’s golden eyes. She still had him in her grasp and didn’t seem ready to let him go just yet.
“Look…” Haylee said, and Jack turned to see what new insanity was coming at them.
He didn’t notice anything different at first, but then movement near the ground pulled his eye. The broken swords were growing. All around them, the land had been transformed from cracked earth to rich, black soil, and the uncountable number of jagged blades had taken root.
Above, the sun remained shrouded by cloud cover, but the threat of rain was over. The sprouting swords continued to grow taller and eventually began to split as if they were trees and their budding blades were branches. Boughs of shining, razor-sharp metal grew up over their heads while lush green grass filled in the only open path. Before long, they were standing in a forest of blades.
A chirping caught Jack’s attention, and he turned to see a small sparrow hopping on the sharp edge of a sword-branch. Even the bird itself was only a collection of tightly packed blades. The thing seemed to be chirping angrily at him, specifically, and let out one final squawk before it flew straight for Jack’s head.
He wasn’t about to be caught off guard twice on this bizarre Floor and flashed his own length of metal at the tiny aggressive creature. Jack felt the satisfying resistance of a well-timed parry and ended its life with one strike.
Blade Bird -67 | Defeated
After it vanished in a buzz of static, a comically oversized two-handed claymore fell to the lush green grass below.
Jack sighed and checked his surroundings once more before he bent to pick it up. Other noises were echoing to his ears from within the dense forest of razor-sharp edges, but nothing else looked about to attack.
“I have never seen a Boss fight like that,” Lex said.
“And apparently there is another Boss yet to defeat,” Alt added.
Haylee shrugged as she took her position between Alt and Lex. “The Tower is consistent in its unpredictability.”
Jack sheathed his weapon and picked up the claymore.
“Let’s find that Boss. And everyone keep an eye out for other aggressive wildlife, while we do.”
The forest of gleaming metal engulfing them was quite beautiful, but Jack did not like their options for mobility. The six-foot wide path of grass was the only space that was not absolutely infested with deadly blades. He glanced back at Alt taking up the rear and wondered if another monster in their constantly growing collection would better fit the situation. The yellow-eyed construct made from junk and could have been built over a weekend in someone’s garage… by a ten-year-old. The welds were sloppy, and his insides rattled when he lurched around, but this summon had decent ranged damage combined with a high defense and HPs.
Like always, Jack put off shifting his friend into something else until he knew for sure it was the best move.
They wove through the blade forest for a few twists and turns before a deer hopped onto the grassy path ahead. Jack stopped, and the others instantly stopped with him. The creature was constructed entirely from differently sized blades and made delicate, metal-on-metal scraping noises as it moved.
“Behind,” Alt said calmly, and Jack risked a glance over his shoulder to see two more metallic deer in the path behind them. Another doe and a buck- with sharpened blades for antlers.
“I’ll take the one in front,” Jack whispered. “Haylee, open with an attack on the one with the rack of daggers… Now!”
As soon as he gave the signal, the reflective creature in the path ahead sprinted forward. Jack drew his blade and blasted the gleaming doe with his vibrant-red Mining Laser, aiming its beam into the creature’s face. The wild stream of energy lit up the smooth, mirrored surfaces of metal all around them, and the whole area began to glow an angry scarlet.
Blade Doe -96 | HP 64/160
Blade Doe -96 | Defeated
Jack spun to find the Dark Prism backing up next to him while Lex blocked the flailing hoof-blades of the remainin
g doe. With a trick shot over Lex’s shoulder, Haylee sent a line of white light into the metallic creature’s head.
Blade Doe -166 | Defeated
He saw a pair of bronze gauntlets fall to the grass where it had stood.
“Nice shooting!” Jack said.
Lex spun to face her. “You hit your target, true enough, but make sure the risk is worth the reward.”
Jack could tell the Bastion was slightly upset that Haylee risked hitting her in the back of the head to take out the monster. The Dark Prism was starting to hit hard with her sniping shots, and if she landed a friendly fire critical on the love of his life in the middle of a high-level Boss fight?
“She’s right,” Jack said. “Only try and cut it so close if there are no other options.”
“I understand. Also, my Inventory is full.” Haylee’s gray eyes went from his to the gauntlets sitting in the grass.
Jack sighed. “Okay, that’s enough of this item shuffle. Haylee, would you be disappointed if I used Alt’s ability to move all mob drops directly into my Inventory?”
She turned to the one-eyed robot. “You’ve been able to do this the whole time?”
“Yes,” the junk bot responded.
The Dark Prism locked her eyes on Jack. “I’m more disappointed you waited this long to tell me.”
Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve also been putting off letting him augment your Party Heads-up display. But I think you’re ready for that too.”
“My what?”
Then Jack saw her eyes shoot to the left as she studied the new information. The Dark Prism stuck her tongue partly between her thin lips as her mind worked. After a moment she moved her intensely serious eyes back to him.
“… is that everything?”
“No,” Lex answered, crossing her arms. “There is one more ability that allows us to skip lower Floors while retaining all items that would have dropped if we climbed them properly. We have never used this ability.”
Haylee’s light brow came down in confusion.
She turned to face Alt. “How is this possible?”
Alt’s one yellow eye turned to Jack and then back to the Dark Prism.