The math didn’t take me long. “Two thousand Gamma 4 coins?! As a discount?!”
“Hey, do you know how much I sold a Bronze variant of this for? 15,000 Brocks. And that was with just one use left. You’re holding a Gold version that’ll evolve you in 1/5th of the time and it has all 5 of its uses. It’s worth a hundred times what I’m asking. In fact, it’s priceless! But 2,000 G4s is still plenty for a cushy life in Area 2 for a hundred years or so for my entire team.”
“I can’t really deny anything you’re saying...but I just don’t have that much. If you’re expecting to get more money from the other team members, I don’t dare speak for them.”
“Well, how much can you do right now?”
I thought about it, exhaled, and said “500 G4.”
It was almost everything I had, but I had a feeling anything less really wouldn’t impress him. His lips moved a little without sound before he said, “500...that’s barely a quarter of it, but...I got a good feeling about Justice’s Mission Rating for this floor. And you may not want to speak for him, but I don’t doubt your precious Mewi will be willing to chip in from his own reward for this. But even if he isn’t, I’m confident you’ll earn more than enough money from Tower mission rewards by the time you’re through the 9th Floor. We’ll set the deadline for one month after you’ll be clearing it, and I won’t even charge ya any interest.”
I nodded. “So, how are we doing this? Tower contract?”
He nodded back. “The name’s Rilzian, by the way. Nice to meet ya.”
“Can’t really say likewise. You’re still basically blackmailing me, even if you are being pretty fair about it.”
Rilzian shrugged. “You can still hand over the item and walk away. The way I see it, I’m lending a helping hand to the Federation’s champions with expectation of fair remuneration. Oh, did I forget to mention that I was also planning on giving you guys detailed user instructions? I know way more about the item than you’ll get from its normal Tower description, and there are one or two things that can make it tricky to use.
As for the whole ‘money, the item, or your life, pick two’ thing, it’s more of a standard practice than your Federation cronies will admit to ya. Just think of it as me negotiating with you from a position of strength.”
He was already working up the Tower contract while he continued to speak. In just a few more seconds, the Tower screen with it popped up for my inspection. I had to admit, it was written very straightforward. Since I technically already had the item, what the contract offered was a guarantee that he and his team wouldn’t engage in any hostilities against me and my team or otherwise sabotage our efforts to climb the Tower or anything else until the team cleared the 9th Floor. In exchange, once we were both back in Area 1, I’d make a “first payment” within 6 hours. That payment could be as little as 500 G4 coins, or as much as the entire 2,000. This also bought his team’s silence about our possessing the Blessed Totem, as well as, just as he mentioned, detailed instructions from him personally on how to use it.
I signed the contract, and Rilzian sheathed his daggers with a flourish. “Allow me to congratulate the Federation’s champions on their impending evolutions.” I wasn’t sure anymore if his niceties were an act, or if he really believed what he was saying that he really was supporting our team and only negotiating from strength. “Let’s get back topside, shall we?”
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He continued to act chummy with me all the way out of the mine. It annoyed me beyond measure, and I had to keep reminding myself how dangerous he really was to control the urge to smack him upside the head. “One more time, been a pleasure Lheticus,” he said once we finally saw sunlight, “I’d better get back and help my team. You coming with?”
“The minions are immune to fire, so it was decided that I’d stay out of the final battle.”
“Right you are. See you in the Pantheon, then.”
I worked out my aggression on whatever monsters happened across me. After what felt like quite a long time, Bruzigan called me via the Adventurer system.
“The mission is complete. You ready to leave the floor? I’m given to understand there were complications with retrieving the item.”
“There were, but I have the item. Casualties?”
Bruzigan grinned. “Zero. The rewards ought to be epic on this one.”
He hung up. A few seconds later, a Tower popup appeared.
[Your party leader has turned in your mission. Prepare to exit the Floor.]
The timer along with this message was only five seconds. And so, for the 6th time, I entered the Tower’s Neutral Zone.
But unlike all the previous five, I didn’t stand there alone this time. Mewi grinned at me as I saw him right on my left as I entered. “The final battle was completely insane,” he said, “I was really scared, but sticking to a support role I did all right.”
He fell silent as the first popup appeared—and it was only for him, and not the usual one. “Yes,” he said firmly to what could only have been a prompt to use the fully upgraded Class Evolver. The cue-ball sized Class Evolver appeared in his hand, and began to glow more brightly. However, instead of his transformation starting, it seemed as though more popups appeared to Mewi.
“Use the recommended evolution path,” were the next words out of his mouth. In the next instant, a bright light expanded from the Class Evolver, engulfing him completely and instantaneously. He remained obscured by the light for an entire half minute.
I knew how it had hurt when the Tower had changed my body for the Psionic Pyromancer class. I knew that the pain from upgrading to a Gold class wouldn’t kill him, and I knew it would be worth it. But my heart still felt like a wine glass on an opera singer’s bad side hearing Mewi’s screams.
Finally, the light faded. Mewi was barely staying upright. I quickly moved to support him until he recovered. Once he could stand on his own again, he spent several minutes manipulating his Tower Menu.
“So uh, are you going to tell us about the new class, Mewi?” said Ri’legh.
“It had better be later,” he said, “The amount of AP I need to distribute is unbelievable, and we’ve got lots to sort through after I do and we can finally get to the mission rewards, right?”
“He’s got a point,” said Bruzigan, giving me a look, “and there’s that other thing.”
Finally, a popup appeared to each of us. Mine read:
[Congratulations on completing your mission.]
[Mission Difficulty: Extreme]
[You have received 20 AP.]
[Your class has responded.]
[+2 AP to Psych Attribute.]
[Select 2 Attributes to receive +5 AP.]
[Select 1 Attribute to receive +2 AP.]
“Wait just a second,” said Mewi, “for AP distribution, you should focus on bumping up everything that isn’t already at 100, Lheticus. That goes for anyone who is close to having at least 100 in all Attributes.”
“Hmm?” said Bruzigan, “What are you saying? Is there a special effect when that happens?”
Mewi nodded. “A big one.”
“Well it’ll be easy enough for me. I can do it without using the 20 from the mission clear...”
Bruzigan trailed off. His eyes bulged. “Everyone, do as Mewi recommended. That’s an order, unless you have any attributes lower than 80, then prioritize the +5s to them but distribute the rest normally.”
“Okay?” I went ahead and gave +5 to Strength and Regeneration, and the +2 to Sturdiness. Then for the 20 AP from the mission, I used 15 of it to get my Sturdiness to 100, and Regeneration to 85. The remaining 5 I kept for now, along with the points I’d been banking from my most recent system liberations. That number was still short of getting my last remaining basic attribute, Strength, to 100, plus one more point to get Psych there, but not by much.
The Tower distributed the usual spell and skill books to us—I saw that Mewi got three of them. Mine was called Lesser Flame Aura—not a very good one, compared to say Fiery Deflection. Finally, it was time for the evaluation...