Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension Book 1)

by Andrew Rowe

Derek chuckled. “It’s a common misconception that the tower only goes up. Climbers are trying to get to the top of the tower, after all. But this place goes deep below the surface of the continent, too. The creatures that maintain the tower live down there. Workers and administrators and such. I’m a little surprised you managed to get down there during a Judgment; that’s unusual, but not unheard of.”

  I turned back to Vera. “How’d you know what floor we were on? Is there an easy way to tell?”

  Vera pointed a finger at the side of her head. “Analyst Attunement. Among other things, I can detect my current altitude. Not all floors are the same height, but we were just about twenty meters below the tower entrance when we were in that room, which was roughly the height of the staircase in the chamber. Thus, we were on B1.”

  I nodded. “Okay. How hard is it to get down there?”

  “With me? Not bad.” Derek grinned. “Stairs down are harder to find. They’re usually either concealed or protected somehow, but if we only need to go down one level, that should be very doable. Six days is plenty of time. We’ll probably be done in less than six hours.”

  Professor Orden shook her head. “I appreciate your confidence, Derek, but we’re not all a bunch of Emeralds like yourself. We will need to proceed slowly and cautiously to ensure the children — and our esteemed guest — remain safe.”

  Derek nodded. “’Course, we’ll take it slow. I’m just saying that this doesn’t sound particularly difficult, it’s just important. If we prioritize monster rooms, I should be able to handle the danger by myself for the most part.”

  Sera turned to Derek. “Prioritize? Meaning that, much like with a Judgment, we’re going to have a choice of different rooms to proceed?”

  “Yep. And one of the options is usually fighting. The tower gets more dangerous as you go further up, both in terms of traps and monsters. I could sleep through fighting most of the things on the first ten levels or so, with the exception of spire guardians. I’d have to be awake for those, but I could be blindfolded and armless.” He winked at Sera. “Not to brag or anything, of course.”

  Sera rolled her eyes. “Right. Just like you handled the Survival Match all by yourself.”

  Derek gave her a wounded look, putting his hand over his heart. “That was a rare exception, Miss Cadence. I wasn’t able to show my true strength in there. I was suppressing a considerable amount of my shroud to look like a Citrine.”

  “Why do that?” Sera folded her arms.

  Derek sighed. “We only have a few known Emeralds in all of Valia. Emeralds are tactical assets in warfare, so we try to keep a relatively low profile. No laws about it, just common sense.”

  Orden nodded. “Each attunement level is about six times more powerful than the last. Even an E-ranked Emerald is six times more powerful than an E-ranked Citrine and so-on.”

  Derek chuckled. “And I’m hardly just E-ranked. Anyway, I’d normally never say this, but enough about me. We should focus on the task at hand.”

  Orden pointed at the north east door. “Shall we begin exploring, then? We can look at the two doors that are available and choose a path.”

  “I’ll go check the walls for additional passages while you do that,” Vera offered. “And no, I’m not going to try to escape. I know you can teleport.”

  Professor Orden nodded. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

  Our group headed toward the northwest doorway. Unlike most of the doors in my Judgment, this was a simple wooden door with no visible lock. Standard doorknob. It looked like the type of door you could find just about anywhere.

  Derek waved for us to back off a bit, so we all stepped back while he approached the door. “Don’t see a lot of traps on the first floor, but I should always be the one to open the doors just in case.”

  I liked the idea of having Derek up front. It made it much harder for him to stab us in the back.

  I watched carefully as Derek opened the door.

  The next chamber looked pretty similar to the one we were standing in, with the exception of the fact that the floor was missing.

  After a few seconds, a single floating tile appeared about a meter from the doorway. Another tile appeared a few seconds later, another meter or so out from the doorway.

  Then the first tile disappeared, and a third tile appeared, continuing the path.

  The appearing tiles were clearly making a path toward the solitary visible door on the other side of the room: a path that was, if I wasn’t mistaken, meant for us to jump across one tile at a time.

  I didn’t like this at all.

  Derek reached into a pouch at his side and retrieved the most mundane of tools — a rock. He tossed the rock onto one of the visible tiles. It hit and bounced right into the darkness beyond.

  “Looks like they’re solid, at least.” He turned back to the group. “Orden, are the tiles actually discorporating or just turning invisible?”

  “They’re discorporating. You’d need to jump across with exactly the right timing, otherwise you’d fall into...whatever that darkness is.”

  I thought I heard something from the pit, but it was barely audible.

  “Silly question,” Sera stepped closer to the doorway, looking down. Just seeing her that close made me uncomfortable. “But if this goes down, would it be a possible shortcut to the floor we’re looking for?”

  “Not a bad thought, actually.” Derek peered down into the darkness.

  Vera finished her circuit of the room and came to stand by the rest of us. “I heard the rock hit the ground after about five and a half seconds. That means the floor is about a hundred and forty eight meters down. Unlikely we’d survive that fall, and it’s also several floors down.”

  Those were some pretty impressive senses.

  Sera set down her backpack. “I’ve got rope. Could we lower someone down and break through a wall at the correct altitude?”

  Derek scratched his chin. “Maybe if there’s a hollow wall that’s designed for it — and there are a bunch of those in the tower. Have to be careful, though. If you try to break through one of the normal walls, the tower usually sends something to stop you. Even I wouldn’t want to take the risk of fighting one of those guardians if I can avoid it.”

  Vera knelt down and pressed a hand against the stone just below the doorway. “I don’t detect any weaknesses in the wall right near us. There are two of them in the chamber we’re currently standing in, though. They’re located directly opposite the two visible doors.”

  She gestured to the south side of the chamber. “They’re thinner than the standard wall segments, but I also detected mechanisms on the other sides — meaning I don’t think they’re meant to be smashed open. I think they’re shortcuts back into this room from other parts of the tower.”

  Derek nodded. “That’s pretty common. Lots of ways back to the entrance. We could try to bust through one to find a shortcut, but it’s not worth the risk of antagonizing a spire guardian.”

  I gestured at the open door. “Do we have any way of knowing if this even leads to a way down?”

  Vera stepped away from the doorway and turned to me. “Nope. But most tower paths tend to lead in a big circle, unless they end at a teleporter or a treasure room. If we keep exploring, we’ll hit a way down eventually.”

  Derek nodded in agreement and closed the door. “We could probably handle this pretty easily, but the first door usually gives you an idea of the character of a specific route. I’d rather avoid puzzles if we can.”

  If I was going it solo, I’d have probably disagreed, although timing-based puzzles weren’t my greatest strength. With this group, though, fighting our way through did seem a lot safer than counting on everyone properly timing their jumps.

  We headed over to the other door and Derek opened it without incident.

  The next room was a long rectangular one with a single door directly opposite us.

  In between us and the door, however, were three titanic green slimes.

&
nbsp; Slimes were among the most basic monsters in any of the spires. They weren’t smart or particularly dangerous. They were essentially gelatinous mana with a hint of animal cunning. The most common theory I’d heard was that they were essentially the byproducts of failed spells and magical experiments.

  The more solid ones could slam into you to break bones, but most of them just tried to envelop and suffocate people. This wasn’t generally a big threat, since they weren’t very fast or strong, either.

  These slimes, though? They were a good ten feet tall, and I was pretty sure the stone beneath them was sizzling. Acidic, then.

  Derek turned toward Sera. “You want to handle these?”

  Sera blinked. “I mean, we could, but wouldn’t it be easier for you to do it? And did we already decide on this room?”

  Derek waved a hand into the chamber. “Definitely. We’re lucky to have found something this easy, trust me. I haven’t had the luxury of fighting slimes in years. I’ve seen you fight once before, but I’d like to get a better idea of your whole group’s fighting abilities. It will help give me a better idea of who I need to focus on protecting.”

  Orden leaned up against a wall near the door. “I agree with Derek’s sugestion. While I’m confident that Derek could handle most of the monsters here without any difficulty, I’d like to see what the rest of you are capable of. And I’d rather that Derek save his strength in case Katashi isn’t feeling diplomatic.”

  We had a moment of silence as everyone processed the gravity of that particular statement. Orden and Derek shared a nod of acknowledgement.

  They’re planning for the possibility of fighting him, I realized.

  I’d been so worried about Derek that I hadn’t really considered what might happen if Katashi wasn’t sufficiently satisfied when we delivered Vera to him. What if Vera told him something he didn’t want to hear?

  I didn’t want to think about it.

  I’d seen Keras fight Katashi for a few moments, so it was possible for a human to survive a conflict with a visage briefly. I still didn’t know what that entailed, however. I’d heard that Keras had escaped, but that didn’t mean he’d gotten out intact.

  I didn’t know how Derek stacked up against Keras in combat ability, but I doubted he was much more powerful. I didn’t know how powerful Orden was, either. I hadn’t missed the fact that she’d been deliberately evasive about how powerful she was with her Wayfarer Attunement, but even if she was another Emerald, I didn’t think they stood any significant chance in a direct confrontation.

  Maybe they could survive long enough to teleport us out, though?

  I dismissed the errant thoughts. I didn’t have enough information to speculate with any level of accuracy. I had a few contingency plans of my own if I needed to use them.

  I turned to Derek. “Can we just hit the slimes with attacks from out here?”

  He shook his head. “Most spells won’t pass through the doorway. That’d make it too easy, I suppose. Gotta get in there and put yourself at risk, otherwise there’s no challenge. And Selys loves challenges.”

  I groaned. “What about if we blasted a small hole through a wall right next to the door? Would our attacks be able to pass through the gap we made?”

  Derek laughed, glancing toward Professor Orden. “Does he always try to solve problems by making bigger ones?”

  Orden nodded sagely. “That would sum up Corin’s problem solving methodology quite appropriately.”

  Sera nudged me. “Don’t let them bother you. C’mon, this’ll be fun.”

  I sighed. “Fine. We’ll go get to the fighting.”

  Derek stepped out of the doorway, bowed at the waist, and gestured toward the open door. “After you, then.”

  I grit my teeth. I didn’t like letting Derek get physically behind me, but I was also letting him get under my skin, and in some ways that was worse.

  I needed to focus.

  I drew steel.

  Sera, interestingly enough, did the same.

  I hadn’t seen her wield a sword in years. We’d played with wooden blades as children, but we’d graduated to dueling canes as soon as we were old enough to use them.

  Well, younger than we should have, if the scarring developing inside my hand was any indication.

  Either way, the elegance of a full-sized sword was quickly overshadowed by the vastly superior fun of being able to blast each other with magic. At least for the two of us. Tristan had kept up standard sword training all the way up to going into the tower. He’d always had a stronger affinity for physical combat than I did.

  Apparently, Sera did, too; she settled into a fighting stance that I’d seen both my mother and Tristan demonstrate, but I’d never learned. It was a high stance, with the sword raised above the head and the blade pointed toward the enemy. It looked impractical.

  I was using a stance built for dueling canes, knees bent with the tip of the blade pointed directly toward the closest slime’s center of mass.

  This was, of course, even less practical. Unlike a dueling cane, this sword didn’t have a rune to send a blast of energy out of the tip.

  In short, we probably shouldn’t have been using weapons.

  Jin stepped up to my left side. He hadn’t drawn any weapon at all.

  I turned and gave him an expectant glance as the slimes slowly lumbered toward us.

  He shrugged. “Don’t have a sword.”

  Two pistols were clearly visible on his belt. I didn’t bother to point that out.

  Okay, Jin. Have it your way.

  I wasn’t going to wait until those things got close enough to swing at.

  Stepping forward, I brought my sword up and back down in a diagonal slash and pushed the blade’s mana forward. The shockwave closed the distance in a second, cutting a deep gouge into the closest slime’s gelatinous body.

  That didn’t slow it down, though.

  Sera hit it next. Not with the sword, but with a rain of icy knives that manifested at her whispered word. That slime collapsed, falling still, but didn’t vanish.

  The next closest slime crashed into it — and stretched out over it.

  I blinked. “Is it...eating the other slime?”

  I got my answer a moment later when top slime melted into the bottom one, causing it to swell in size. Then it started moving again, and considerably faster.

  “That’s bad,” Sera mumbled. “Okay, Plan B. Hit it harder.”

  I nodded, pointing with my demi-gauntlet and rapidly sending several surges of mana into it. I blasted the slime with a half-dozen globes of energy, tearing off bits of goo with each burst. I’d damaged it, but nowhere near enough.

  Sword reach. I swung, but a pair of gelatinous spikes shot out of the creature’s side and deflected my blade. I barely had time to widen my eyes and side-step as more spikes shot out, piercing the air where I’d been standing a moment before.

  Sera jabbed Selys-Lyann into the creature’s side, leaving an icy wound.

  The slime shivered, tiny drops of slime raining everywhere, before firing a sustained barrage of gelatinous spines in Sera’s direction.

  She didn’t move. Instead, she said, “Wall,” and any icy barrier sprung up in front of her, blocking the spines.

  I took advantage of the distraction to run away.

  Or, more accurately, to run toward the single isolated slime that was still half a room away from us. The two merged slimes were clearly much stronger, and I didn’t need this thing getting any more powerful from merging with a third slime.

  I assaulted it with a series of quick cuts, the transference aura around my blade parting slime easily with each motion.

  It didn’t take long for my barrage of slashes to wear the creature down. There was no obvious core — no vital organs — but once I’d slashed away enough of the creature’s mass, it collapsed like the previous one had. It looked almost like it was deflating. I hit it a few more times before it finally vanished, leaving a single green gem behind.

 
I ducked to grab the gemstone with my free hand and headed back toward Sera.

  The merged slime had smashed through Sera’s wall, and she’d maneuvered around it to strike it with several more cuts. Three spears pierced through it into the stone floor, but they failed to pin it down. It simply tore through its own mass to surge toward her.

  Sera stepped backward, slicing off a pair of encroaching spines, but it was closing the distance too fast. It would be on top of her in moments.

  I poured mana into my gauntlet, sending a surge of transference mana. I’d hoped to knock the creature back, but it didn’t have the intended function.

  Instead, it blasted a huge hole right through the slime’s center of mass.

  The creature froze in place for an instant, giving Sera much-needed time to reorient and retreat.

  Then the slime surged toward me absurdly fast, leaving an acidic trail in its wake.

  I didn’t have time to dodge to the side, and I knew another slash wouldn’t be sufficient to stop it.

  And so, with all the athleticism of a student who spends most of his time reading and enchanting, I tried to jump through the hole in the creature’s center.

  To my credit, I almost made it.

  My feet caught on the bottom of the hole, flipping me forward onto the stone floor. I hit the ground hard, the jolt of pain forcing me to drop my sword. My feet were stuck inside the slime; immobile, but fortunately not yet burning.

  My shield sigil had activated, and it was repelling the acidic goop, but the slime was looming over me and about ready to crash down and crush me to a pulp.

  A blur of movement. First from a humanoid figure in front of me, then the slime behind me.

  I felt a tug on my feet as the slime wrenched backward, and then I was free.

  I rolled over to find the slime flying backward, as if shoved by a giant hand, and then exploding when it hit the rear wall of the chamber.

  Two more green gems fell to the floor as remaining slime goop vanished.

  And, weirdly, a pickaxe also appeared amongst the slime’s remains.

  Derek was standing over me, grinning broadly. He reached down to offer me a hand, which I grudgingly accepted.