by A F Kay
Ruwen thought a moment. Can you indirectly help me?
That line is impossible to see. Direct, indirect, it is too subjective.
Then I won’t be able to save my friends.
Probably not. Rami said, paused for a few seconds, and then continued. And you won’t be able to use your idea to fix the dungeon either.
That made him feel worse. Why would Rami bring up the dungeon now? Or his idea to fix it? When Rami had told him the dungeon needed something powerful and dangerous, he’d realized he had something just like that in his Inventory. The Blood Moss he’d taken from the Blood Gate on his first trip.
His thoughts slowed, the oxygen deprivation spreading through his body. But the thought of the dungeon and Blood Moss had triggered his Cleverness attribute, and the horrible feeling of an icicle penetrating his brain made him miserable.
Ruwen tried to concentrate. Rami’s comment had been the one that led him to the idea of the Blood Moss as a solution for the dungeon. Why would she bring up the dungeon now, of all times? She had triggered the thought of the Blood Moss, too. Why? Did she want him to release it?
It wasn’t a bad idea. But as fast as the Blood Moss grew, he doubted it could catch the assassin. No, it would suffer the same fate as Ruwen. If he died, without his Energy to keep the moss alive, it would die too.
Without his Energy, it would die.
The icicle in his mind exploded, the shards melting away, as Ruwen finally understood. If he could get the assassin into his Void Band, he could kill him.
Ruwen’s eyes were slits, and he forced them open.
The assassin shook his head. “Give up. Doomed are you.”
Ruwen brought the image of Massage to his sluggish mind and focused on it for two seconds. His Mana dropped by thirty as the heal began.
The assassin laughed. “Not help you.”
Ruwen hoped the heal over time would help him recover quickly from what he was about to do. To give himself every edge, he spent five seconds and forty Mana to cast Numb, which decreased his sensations by ten percent.
Now he just needed the assassin closer.
Ruwen mumbled, wasting precious oxygen.
“What?” the assassin asked.
“Naktos,” Ruwen whispered, and then “Duty,” in the assassin’s language.
The words had drastically reduced Ruwen’s oxygen, and the edges of his vision turned grey.
“What say you duty?” the assassin asked as he stepped up to Ruwen and knelt down.
Bracing himself for the pain, he cast Distract as loud as he could make it, right behind the assassin’s head.
The assassin’s body blocked the worst of the sound, but Ruwen felt his eardrums burst and warm liquid, he assumed blood, itched as it leaked out of his ears. Pain briefly sharpened his senses as adrenaline swamped his body. He knew it would speed his heart as well, depleting the last of his air.
In the few seconds that remained, Ruwen used a hundred Energy to open his Void Band. A large oval over eight feet wide appeared. Even stunned, the assassin managed to avoid it. So Ruwen used another hundred Energy to pull as much air as he could through the open Void Band.
His Energy bar, just over three hundred, dropped by two hundred. Ruwen stopped pulling air, hoping it would be enough. The assassin teetered, waving his arms to regain his balance. Ruwen used his fingers to reshape the Void Band, stretching it under the assassin.
The assassin made a gurgling scream as he disappeared into the Void Band, and Ruwen instantly closed it.
His Energy bar dropped to seven and pulsed an angry red.
A notification appeared, and Ruwen opened it as air filled his lungs again.
Notice: A living entity has entered your Void Band. Estimated Energy consumption to sustain life: 1,074 Energy per second. You have ten seconds to make one of the following choices:
Choice 1: Remove the entity.
Choice 2: Select Yes, incur the Energy cost, and sustain the entity’s life.
Choice 3: Select No and the entity will perish.
Ruwen selected No.
He pushed himself up and stumbled over to Sift. Ruwen’s balance suffered without his eardrums, and he could only move diagonally as his body tried to adjust. His head throbbed in pain, and his ears felt like someone had jammed them with hot pokers.
He dropped next to Sift and pulled up on his friend’s neck. Sift’s skin felt cold to the touch, and his lips were blue, but his chest moved. Ruwen glanced down at Lylan, less concerned with her, but still wanting to make sure she’d survived. Her chest moved as well and Ruwen pushed himself up again.
Ruwen stumbled directly to Hamma, as her Light Guardian floated above her, still casting spells. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled when she saw him. Ruwen laughed in joy, wobbled, and collapsed.
Chapter 57
Ruwen felt the ground against his back and sunlight on his face. Someone shook him, and he opened his eyes. Sift knelt next to Ruwen.
Hamma’s voice sounded from somewhere to Ruwen’s right. “Stop shaking him. I only just fixed his head.”
“You can’t fix what is wrong with his head,” Sift said as he smiled down at Ruwen.
“At least I have something to fix,” Ruwen’s voice rasped. “Not that pocket of air you call a brain.”
Hamma appeared and knelt down on Ruwen’s right side. “You have got to stop it with the sound explosions. What if I can’t repair your eardrums next time?”
“At least I won’t have to listen to Sift anymore,” Ruwen said.
Sift stood and flashed Shade Speak. Wrong. Again.
Hamma shook her head. “Okay, Sift, you can interrogate him. He seems normal. Well, let’s call it okay. Neither one of you is normal.”
“Ohh, Hamma scorched you,” Sift said.
Ruwen didn’t bother pointing out she’d made fun of them both. Sift had selective hearing.
Hamma helped Ruwen sit up. He could see Lylan lying ten feet to the right, her breathing deep and even as she slept.
Sift squatted down in front of Ruwen. “What happened to the assassin? There is no trace of him. I’ve circled the hill three times.”
Ruwen tried to swallow, but his throat didn’t want to work, and his mouth had suddenly gone dry. Hamma handed him a jar, and he sipped it. It tasted like pineapples and bananas. A buff appeared adding one to all his Regeneration rates.
Ruwen tried again. “I, uh, swallowed him.”
Both Hamma and Sift looked confused.
“Well, at least you had a meal,” Sift said in a serious tone. “You never eat anymore.”
In spite of the near-death experience, or maybe because of it, Ruwen laughed and then couldn’t stop. After a few seconds, Hamma and Sift laughed as well. They couldn’t stop either, and the three of them kept triggering new bouts of laughter. After a minute, Hamma stood and left. When Ruwen and Sift finally stopped, Hamma returned, but Ruwen avoided all eye contact, scared it would start again.
“Why are you such an idiot?” Ruwen asked.
Sift shrugged. “Shade’s first rule: friends are the mirror of the soul. Which I think means the real idiot is you.”
“What did you mean earlier?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen held up his left wrist.
Hamma’s eyes widened. “You put him in your Inventory?”
Ruwen nodded.
“Your hoarding is out of control,” Sift said.
That made Ruwen smile.
“Is he still in there?” Hamma asked.
Ruwen sighed. “Yes. I’m scared that Naktos’s Mage can track the body. Now it’s in some dimensional plane. Seemed safer.”
Ruwen didn’t feel bad about killing the assassin at all. In fact, he felt happy about it. But, carrying around the dead body in his Inventory felt weird and a little crazy.
“Should I get the body from my Inventory?” Ruwen asked.
“There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear,” Hamma said and then shook her head. “No, you’re right. Better to lea
ve it there until we can put it someplace far from us.”
“We should get going,” Sift said. “Are you okay to move?”
Ruwen pointed at Lylan. “What about her? Is she okay?”
Sadness filled Sift’s eyes, but he didn’t look at Lylan’s form. “Hamma healed her. She’ll be fine. She’s isn’t our problem anymore.”
“But what about…” Ruwen waved his hands, not sure how to finish.
Sift’s eyes glistened. “You heard her. She was only manipulating me. Using the lonely lovesick pyramid boy to help level herself.”
“She didn’t say that,” Hamma said.
“But it makes sense, doesn’t it?” Sift asked. After a few seconds, he looked down and whispered, “I am such a fool.”
Ruwen hated seeing his friend like this. Sadness and self-pity didn’t suit Sift at all.
“Well, at least we can agree on that,” Ruwen said.
Hamma’s eyes widened in shock.
Sift looked up and narrowed his eyes at Ruwen. “You should talk, Pooper.”
Ruwen walked back toward camp, Sift next to him, both of them arguing. And for once, Hamma didn’t stop their bickering.
A good healer recognized the proper medicine.
Ruwen had spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in his room, raising his hands and arms from Copper to Silver. Instead of half an hour like it had taken him to reach Copper, they had each taken two hours of gasping as he filled his Water and Air Meridians with Spirit. It had cost him over seventy-five million in Spirit as well, double the cost of Copper.
Chime!
You have advanced your Water Meridian from Copper to Silver! You have gained +10 to your Armor Class.
Chime!
You have advanced your Air Meridian from Copper to Silver! You have gained +10 to your Armor Class.
Copper had given him an extra five Armor Class per Meridian for a total of sixty. The two Silver Meridians added another ten each, bringing the total to eighty. A significant portion of his Armor Class now came from his body alone. While reaching Copper had increased all his attributes by two, the two Silver Meridians had no impact. Ruwen guessed he needed to bring his entire body up to a given level to see the attribute bonus.
The Fortifying effort had exhausted him, so he’d spent the rest of the day sitting cross-legged on his bed practicing for his eventual showdown with Bliz at the Dizzy Judge. Bandballs arced out of Ruwen’s Void Band and fell back into the palm-sized portal. He could still only manage three, but as the day progressed, he had gained far more control over his Void Band. Recent events had demonstrated that his Void Band was his most powerful weapon and tool. He looked at his clock: 10:24 PM. They would be leaving for the dungeon soon.
His Silver and Copper reflexes made even bandball easier. It went beyond the extra points in Dexterity and other attributes. His body felt more responsive. It made him anxious to advance.
Someone knocked on the wall next to his doorway.
Ruwen let all the bandballs drop into his Void Band. “Come in.”
Wip pulled the curtain to the side and peered inside. “Evening.”
“Hi, Wip. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes. The priestess and the brawler have some type of activity with their Classes tonight. I just wanted to make sure of your plans.”
“I’m headed to bed. No Class activities for me tonight.”
“Glad to hear it. I’ll leave you be. You want me to keep the fire going?”
“No need. I like the dark. I appreciate the offer, though.”
“Sleep well.”
“See you in the morning, Wip. Thanks again.”
The bodyguard left, and Ruwen pushed down his guilt about lying. If for some reason they were caught, he knew Big D wouldn’t blame the brothers. She knew they were conscientious and reliable. She also knew how impossible it was to protect someone who didn’t listen, or worse, actively disobeyed.
Another soft knock and then Hamma slipped into his room, followed a moment later by Sift.
“I see Wip believed your stories,” Ruwen said.
Sift waved his arm across his body and bowed deeply. “I am basically an Actor. The Merchant’s all watch me.”
Hamma shook her head. “I had to stop him. His story kept getting more ridiculous the longer he talked. I think it ended with us searching for ice caves and lost artifacts or some such nonsense.”
Ruwen got off his bed and faced Sift. “If any Merchants have their eye on you, it’s because your head is too big.”
Sift felt his head. “It is not. It’s just right.”
Ruwen shook his head. “It’s supposed to be the same size as your palm.”
Hamma groaned as Sift placed his palm over his face.
Ruwen slapped the hand into Sift’s face.
Sift narrowed his eyes and punched Ruwen in the shoulder. Ruwen’s Silver reflexes almost allowed him to avoid the blow. But it landed, and Ruwen spent the next ten seconds rubbing the pain away.
“You will pay for that,” Sift said.
“I just did,” Ruwen said.
“No, that was just the start,” Sift said. Then more seriously, “You feel denser. Quicker even. Did something change?”
Ruwen pointed to his shoulder. “Silver.”
“How?” Sift asked in amazement.
Ruwen knew he couldn’t reveal his entire body had transitioned to Copper, and his hands, arms, and shoulders were Silver. Sift would go crazy. Blapy’s warning still echoed in Ruwen’s head.
Hamma looked at them, confused.
Ruwen raised his hands. “I’ve been working on making my hands stronger. I’d like to fight with them, and I’ve made some progress.”
Hamma nodded. Ruwen knew the priestess would want a better explanation eventually, but the comment seemed to satisfy her for now.
“Is it related to what happened to the dungeon?” Sift asked.
Ruwen nodded. He had kept his progress in Cultivation a secret, and Sift hadn’t pried. But regardless of Blapy’s warning, Ruwen would need to tell Sift the details soon.
“Speaking of the dungeon,” Hamma said. “It seems risky to go there at night.”
“You know all the creatures you celebrated with at the wedding party in Blapy?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma nodded.
“This dungeon isn’t exactly the same, but it’s not that different either,” Ruwen said. “They all died without a chance to defend themselves. Worse, I might have killed or crippled the Dungeon Keeper. I have to try and fix it.”
Hamma bit her lip. “You won’t even tell me what you did.”
Ruwen rubbed his forehead. “I took advantage of helpless creatures. I feel horrible about it, and I’ll give you more details when I can. But I need to fix this mistake first.”
Hamma looked uncertain.
Ruwen put a hand on her shoulder. “You have done so much already. Literally saved me multiple times. You don’t need to come.”
Hamma’s eyes narrowed, and she shrugged off Ruwen’s hand. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No, of course not,” Ruwen said.
“Well, good. Let’s go, Sift,” Hamma said and walked out.
Sift looked at Ruwen. “How did you do that?”
“What?” Ruwen asked.
“You have turned into some type of master manipulator. She didn’t want to go, and now she is racing outside to start.”
“Well, my Persuasion went up a little,” Ruwen said.
By a little, he meant a massive twenty percent increase from the Observer ability Persuade. Persuading people now happened without him thinking about it.
“Do I even want to do this?” Sift whispered. “Or have you just convinced me I want to?”
“Stupidity is like an antidote, so you’re basically immune,” Ruwen said.
“I need to do the opposite of what you want,” Sift said.
“Unless I planned for that, and I’m already telling you what I don’t want.”
&
nbsp; Sift grabbed his head and shook it. “Oh, no.”
“My advice is to do what keeps Hamma from yelling at you.”
“Yes, that makes sense. Also, I hope you get stuck in the wall.”
“Thanks,” Ruwen said as Sift left.
Ruwen moved his bed from the wall, pulled his cloak close, and pressed his body against the wall. He really had the best friends. Hopefully, for once, they could accomplish something without a bunch of problems.
He toggled Detect Temperature and Owl Eyes on and pulled his hood up.
Ruwen heard Hamma give the all clear, and he cast Blink.
Chapter 58
As they made their way through the trees toward the dungeon, Ruwen thought about his Ascendancy. It had been less than a week in current time, but the time he’d spent in Blapy basically doubled that. Ruwen had made a lot of progress toward improving himself. He opened his Profile and studied his current state.
General
Name: Ruwen Starfield
Race: Human
Age: 16
Class: Worker
Hidden Class: Root (Observer)
Level: 6
Class Rank: Novice
Cultivation Stage: 19
Cultivation Rank: Initiate
Deaths: 2
Deity: Goddess Uru
Experience: 7,436/21,000
Inventory: 80/1,000
Wealth: 1g 10s 50c
Marks
Black Pyramid
Bamboo Viper Clan
Marks’ Details
Bamboo Level: 1
Bamboo Rank: Novice
Viper Level: 1
Viper Rank: Novice
Black Pyramid Level: 1
Black Pyramid Rank: Novice
Black Pyramid Cipher Level: 1
Black Pyramid Dungeon Level (Completed): 6
Black Pyramid Librarian Rank: Ink Warden
Black Pyramid Tokens: 26
Pools
Health: 249/249
Mana: 242/242
Energy: 403/403
Spirit: 284,028,115