I looked over at the military base to see what they were up to, but it was mostly empty. With the tower opened up to everyone and the general populace being able to climb up to the twentieth floor now, they spent their time in there mostly. The general still made sure our relationship was healthy and occasionally sent us exotic stuff he got his hands on, ranging from sweets to drinks and even clothes for the women. I made a mental note to meet up with him one of these days and celebrate that I’d finished my first tower.
“What are you standing around for?” Mark called from over at the smithy.
I raised my hand and made my way toward him. It was always good to see a familiar face even though I was becoming more and more of a loner as time passed. It was hard to see people leave, and after both Scar and Lana had to go, I told myself I’d try to keep my distance from everyone. It would hurt less if someone left or died.
“Was just checking out the place,” I replied once I was close enough I didn’t have to shout.
I offered him my hand, but he just grabbed and hugged me. It was something I disliked, but he was never going to stop, I knew as much. Donald got up from his chair and joined us, shaking my hand as Mark finally let go of me.
“How was your trip?” Donald asked as he motioned for me to have a seat with them.
The smithy had become much larger, and there were twenty large anvils there now with people milling about and crafting, upgrading, or just checking stuff.
“Good. Would you mind telling Rita to prepare lunch for us? I want to get a bath first and get cleaned up.”
Donald shot to his feet again and nodded. “Is an hour good?”
“Yeah, please. We’ll meet in the dining room.”
“And there I thought I’d get my hands on the juicy info ahead of everyone,” Mark muttered in mock exasperation. “Whatever. I’ve got something to tell you as well.”
“Yeah, later, man. I need to find my wife. She’s angry or something.”
“Oh, yeah, she’s up on the balcony,” he whispered while nodding over at the inn. “But what did you do, man? She was pissed.”
I looked up toward our room and saw her sitting there and glaring at me. Shit. She still wasn’t over it. And strangest of all, she still hadn’t changed into something fresh.
“Nothing beyond the ordinary.” I laughed and patted him on the back as I made my way to Melina. I jumped up to the balcony and sat behind her on the tanning chair. My arms snaked around her waist, and I pulled her in close.
“I’ve been waiting for you so we could have a bath. Took you long enough.”
“Only because someone ditched me at the last moment,” I whispered in her ear. “A snake might have eaten me down there.”
“Viktor! That’s enough with your damn snakes!”
“Oh, but we need to hunt that damn black snake that almost ate us. We’ll get ingredients to upgrade our gear.”
“What about the pit boss? It was a rank ten, and I know because we got an achievement.”
“Oh, you’re right,” I muttered. For some reason, I had missed the notification, so I went back through my messages and searched for it.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Slaying a rank 10 Zone Boss.
Reward Of Choice:
1. Pit Boss Armor Blueprint Set
2. Dark Stone Armor Blueprint Set
3. Basilisk Armor Blueprint Set
NOTE 1: Every new defeated rank 10 boss gives a chance at armor blueprint sets
“Pit boss armor set,” I said as I had the window up. The prompt disappeared and left me with eight scrolls sitting in the palm of my hand. “Did you loot the pit boss earlier?”
She nodded and turned to stare at me. “I’m serious, Vik. Don’t fool around with snakes and monsters anymore. I’ll never join you in a hunt again if you keep scaring me.”
I leaned in and kissed her neck, smelling her sweat. “We should have a bath, love. I told Donald to prepare lunch for us all so we could catch up and see what’s new.”
She let out a sigh and shrugged. “I would rather be dirty and smelly today so everyone will leave me alone,” she muttered and got up. “Here,” she added and handed me all the pit boss ingredients she’d gotten from looting the boss.
It would have been so much better if a group were there with us to loot the thing as well, but I hated working with others. I didn’t want to worry about people, and with bosses that were rank ten or even higher, people would start dying.
“What set did you take?”
“Pit boss of course, why?”
“Then make some of the things for yourself instead of giving me everything.”
“No, I don’t want to. I enjoy my sexy kimonos more. Besides, I have a lot of passive defense and shield buffs, so it’s not like I’m a glass cannon.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I guess,” I replied and stared out at the blacksmith. “Once we’re done eating, I’m going out to upgrade my gear. Maybe I can even upgrade some of my weapons at the smithy.”
“I’ll join you. I want to see if I can do anything with my fan, and having a shield would be a blessing.”
We bathed and had a fresh change of clothes within the hour and had taken our seats at the head of the table. Donald and Rita were busy bringing out food, drinks, and snacks while Sarah, Mark, and their kid made themselves comfortable to our left. We’d never adopted anyone else to join our core group, as I didn’t want to get used to more people than I had to. Mark was more than strong enough to take care of anything that might happen when I was out, and Rita had gotten some helpers with the kitchen, cleaning, and the general chores. They were paid in crystals, which was good for everyone.
The last weeks gave rise to the crystal currency in Sylmar. Every crystal had a set value of a thousand old Sylmarian money, so once the tower started spewing them out and people brought them back from the rift, they became widely accepted. No matter how many of them flooded the market, there were never enough crystals. People used them for absorption, to provide energy and power, as a currency, and many other things.
We had set a limit on how many could be taken outside, and anything over that limit was confiscated, so most hunters didn’t bother with farming more than the allotted ten crystals they were allowed a week. We still needed to take away the incentive to keep farming a spot of monsters over and over again.
“It’s good to see you’re back,” Rita said as she finally sat down. I flashed her a warm smile, as I’d come to think of her as an older aunt. Melina gave her a slight nod.
“How are the girls doing? Are they giving you trouble?” Melina asked as she nodded towards the kitchen.
“Oh, dear, of course they’re not. We’re making sure they have plenty of free time and generous pay.”
“And make sure to keep it that way. How are the guests?” I asked to change the topic slightly. I wanted to know more about their behavior than that of the several young women who worked for us. “Are they causing trouble?”
Rita shrugged. “You should ask Mark that.”
I looked over at the man I’d come to think of as a brother, and he just shook his head.
“Not after the initial wave of idiots. Whoever uses our facilities knows better than to fuck around. Everyone is welcome as long as they don’t stir up any shit.”
“And you, Sarah? And the kid? How are you doing?”
“Oh, we’re doing just fine, Vik. Thanks for asking, but tell me, what’s with the two of you? She seems a bit off.”
“Vik teased me, is all,” Melina replied hurriedly to get the question over with quickly.
“Speaking of teasing,” I interrupted, “we finished the first tower, and I gotta tell you that it’s insane.”
I shared the information with the party, and all I heard were gasps.
“But you need to be close,” Mark added, knowing full well what the answer would be.
I nodded. “Yeah, I do. We also met a rank ten monster and killed it. I got some new ingredients, so I’l
l be using them later to upgrade my gear. If I have leftovers, I’ll see if I can upgrade yours.”
“That would be great, but listen, I managed to make it work.”
“Make what work?” I asked, having no idea what he was on about. It had been a while since we last spoke, and my mind wasn’t working at 100%.
“Bullets, arrows, and bolt tips.”
“Oh?” I asked curiously as my eyebrows shot up. “That’s good news.”
“Yeah. It’s the way you put them together. You just need to use all the ingredients found in this place. Want to hear more?”
I nodded as Laney, their kid, started munching on some snacks she grabbed from the table. We all took that as a signal to dig in as we opened up the discussion.
“Speak,” I said through a mouthful.
“So, the way we do it is we use bones and dig holes in them, where we apply some crystal shards on the inside. We put another shard in the tip, which slams back into the other shards and some mixture we came up with after grinding more bone and crystals together and infusing it with Enma. It explodes on impact and has a great break value.”
“Did you try it out on the tyranitaur?”
He grinned and nodded slowly. “Three of them broke his shield completely.”
Now it was my turn to be baffled. “How about you get me a bow so I can upgrade it to the highest grade and try it out myself?”
“Why don’t you tell us how your week went? We’re not in a hurry,” he replied and raised his glass. I obliged and did the same, waiting for the others to join us.
“Cheers!”
Chapter Five
The smithy was lively, and all the anvils were taken. Upon seeing Melina and me entering, the place quickly became desolate. Everyone knew who we were, and no one wanted to be around, fearing I might do something in a fit of rage or whatever. Rumors were just that, rumors, but when enough people talked about them, people tended to believe whatever they were.
I stopped in front of the largest anvil, one with a devil’s head imbued into it from the front, and took in a deep breath as I pulled out a longbow, two shields, and a one-handed sword, the gladius that had been with me from the start.
Melina sat next to me in the same spot where she usually sat and watched me proceed with upgrading the weapons. The first thing I did was to check my main weapon, the halberd. I opened the upgrade menu and stared at the possible upgrades. There were no different branches, no possibilities into what it could be upgraded, nothing but a single option like the first time.
Tyranitaur Halberd Rank 4 > Pit Boss Halberd Rank 1
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 240 > 350
ENMA ATTACK: 230 > 320
DEFENSE: 120 > 150
BREAK: 260 > 450
REQUIREMENTS:
Pit Boss Carapace x 1, Pit Boss Blade x 4, Pit Boss Tar x 4
The ingredients were things that I had, but unfortunately, I didn’t have much of the stuff, so I would have to make sure that I min-maxed what I needed most. I accepted, and the halberd floated in front of me as the ingredients slammed into it one by one, and after a flash of blinding light, a new weapon appeared before me.
I checked the remaining ingredients before I upgraded anything else.
Notification:
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE
FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS:
Pit Boss Carapace x 38
Pit Boss Blade x 19
Pit Boss Tar x 94
Pit Boss Eyes x 31
Pit Boss Tar Sac x 7
Pit Boss Bone x 102
It was nothing to scoff at for a single run of a rank ten boss, especially since there were only two of us to loot it. Seeing I had enough to play around a bit, I stared down at the blueprints. Veles appeared in a flash of thunder and sat right next to Melina, put her arm around my woman’s waist, and pulled her in for a tight hug.
“Hey there, Viktor,” she mused. “See, I come bearing gifts.”
Melina struggled to get free from her grasp, but when she couldn’t, her pleading eyes met mine. I looked back over at Veles and then at her arm.
“Let go. You’re hurting her.”
“Aww! Why aren’t you as worried about me, my champion? Never mind that; don’t even answer. See, the reason I came here was to give you a gift.”
“Oh? What kind?”
“The higher pantheon finds the progress is too slow for such a large and important betting zone. You won’t be needing any blueprints if the armor is for yourself or for Melina. Consider it cheap, but the enemy will have the same boon. We want to see you fight them within two weeks.”
“That’s idiotic. I never agreed on any deadlines.”
“Well, tell that to them, my dear.” Veles chuckled.
“You can tell them if they want me to play, I’ll do it on my own terms. I made a deal with that bastard Zanoxian and with no one else.
She narrowed her eyes on me and stared long and hard. I didn’t care. If she wanted to get rid of me, she could either way, but she’d lose a lot of her power in the process.
“Viktor, since you’re not quite smart and don’t know how to read between the lines, let me explain it to you. I—want—you—to—kill—another—contestant. Is that understood?”
“I’ll do just that but when I’m ready. I need another tower, and to make one, I need another orb and a lot of ore, and—”
“What if I point you in the right direction again?”
“Then you’d speed up the process,” I replied calmly.
“Alright. Zone 3:16 has a passage past the large rock in the north. Behind it is a cavern. You can find the lightning orb there.”
“But I want the ice orb,” I replied and tried to keep myself from shaking with glee. She just gave up a damn location. What an idiot.
“You—want? Never mind, don’t answer that question.” She let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky as if waiting for a sign but then snapped her fingers. “I’m revoking the blueprint thing. You’re on your own, but make sure you kill the others. I’m barely holding out against the others.”
I nodded and bowed slowly. She disappeared in a flash of thunder and a boom that shook the smithy.
Melina grabbed her ears and got up from the bench she was sitting on. “Fuck! That hurt!”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Just bite through the pain and cleanse yourself.”
She nodded hurriedly and did as instructed. Her pain disappeared visibly, at least if the expression on her face was anything to go by.
“Call me when you’re done, alright? I need to go lie down.”
I sighed and took up a spot next to the anvil again. Damn Veles. She had become annoying as hell over the last weeks when it came to killing the contestants. She was gaining power with every kill.
I went back to check the upgrade window, and in the end, I spent most of my ingredients. I’d have to do a second run of the pit boss when it respawned, to finish the armor set. I put the items out on the large oval table in front of me and studied them one by one.
Pit Boss Blade Rank 1
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 380
ENMA ATTACK: 360
DEFENSE: 280
BREAK: 300
Pit Boss Gladius Rank 1
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 240
ENMA ATTACK: 290
DEFENSE: 100
BREAK: 210
Pit Boss Shield Rank 1
Health: 1,000
Enma Shield: 1,000
DEFENSE: 300
BREAK: 150
Pit Boss Longbow Rank 1
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 580
ENMA ATTACK: 540
DEFENSE: 70
BREAK: 900
My set was complete, at least when it came to the weapons. The halberd and two-handed blade were for mauling groups of monsters, while the gladius and shield combo were for my fight with the next contestant as well as a boss if he had a particularly high attack. The bow was purely to play around with and do some testing. I had a problem in the form of skills. The on
e-handed sword could use most of the skills I already had, but the bow had zero attack skills. If it proved to be good enough, I’d get two attack skills and use them from afar when necessary.
I stopped and stood there, baffled by my idiocy. I had no damn arrows.
“Mark!” I yelled toward the inn. “How do you make a stack of arrows?”
“Equip a bow and pull some bones out of your subspace! The stronger the bones, the bigger the damage!”
I walked back into the smithy and equipped the bow. Different kinds of ranked arrows appeared floating in front of me. They didn’t have any names other than rank designations.
NAME: Arrow Rank 1
Attack Modifier: 1.1
BREAK MODIFIER: 1.1
NAME: Arrow Rank 2
ATTACK MODIFIER: 1.2
BREAK MODIFIER: 1.2
NAME: Arrow Rank 3
ATTACK MODIFIER: 1.3
BREAK MODIFIER: 1.3
NAME: Arrow Rank 4
Attack Modifier: 1.4
BREAK MODIFIER: 1.4
NAME: Arrow Rank 5
ATTACK MODIFIER: 1.5
BREAK MODIFIER: 1.5
I had a lot of bones stashed of different ranks from different monsters I’d killed ever since coming to this place. Pit boss bones were the highest rank I had available, and I could only make three hundred of the rank five arrows using every single bone, so I did the smart thing and only made a hundred. My tyranitaur and cortonoth stores were so large that I could make thousands of rank four arrows, but I only made five hundred. I didn’t bother with the first and second rank arrows and made another thousand rank three arrows, which would be the basic projectile I’d use. Now all I had to do was try the thing out and see if I had wasted my ingredients.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 4