Chapter 199

Level Setting Expectations

“So what faction will you join the tournament under, the Mages who desperately need food, or the Cultivators who have won the last five tournaments for resources?” Zero asks.

Hearing the question, I can’t help but feel that it is a valid question, as that is what this entire floor seems to be devoted to, choosing one side over the other and then helping them achieve dominance. Yet, I can’t help but see the subtle undercurrents of not only what to expect from this floor, but what these next forty floors are meant to be for.

Mentally, I pull up the quest that brought me here, as I try to make sure that my understanding of what is being expected of me is still accurate.

Hidden Quest Updated: First Acanarus Tower Climber (V): As the first Arcanarus Tower climber, a suitable reward has been chosen, for your achieving the next goal of reaching the 250th floor. Should you continue your climb and reach the vaunted 250th floor, you will receive a degree in Mixed Martial Mana. Rewards: Experience, Bachelor of Science degree from Arcanarus University: Mixed Martial Mana, Title: Arcanarus University Advanced Graduate (I), Increased Martial and Magical potency, Others. Floors completed (210 / 250).

There it is, the quest that will unlock the next phase of my personal growth. The purpose of the degree is to show that I have proven myself to be proficient in both Qi and Mana usage at the same time. To be clear, I am close to a complete understanding of what is needed. That is, I have been able to use both cultivation and mana techniques at the same time, just not in the same way.

I have been able to use Qi cultivation and have what I mentally refer to as defensive Qi, or stagnant Qi effects active while casting spells. That said, I have not learned how to use both Qi and Mana simultaneously in the same direction. Or to put it bluntly, I have not learned to use Qi and Mana either internally or externally at the same time. So far, there is a separation of the two energies that I need to create, or else risk blowing myself or others up.

Looking at everything, I have by far and away the most skills related to magic. Added to that is the fact that the magic group here has been slowly starving over the past few months due to constantly losing these tournaments for the last five or so trials.

That said, the longer I stay here, even just letting my Simulacrum use her Blight-Healing Energy Aura, that I chose just for this type of scenario. A scenario where I can let my Simulacrums loose in a particular area, and let them slowly purify a given area of any Blight related toxins.

Blight-Healing Energy Aura: Produces an area effect around the class holder that generates an N% reduction of Blight related pathogens around the wielder per second. Radius and efficacy of aura is equal to one tenth of user’s Willpower. Aura will be considered passive and unnoticeable via mana consumption. Note: Due to the nature of this aura, stealth and other obfuscation related skills and abilities will be hindered by an additional 25%.

Yes, the effects on stealth and obfuscation related skills is tough, the goal of this aura is to passively purify the great tree Yggdraspirit, while I am away. That means that my Simulacrums will spend the twelve or so hours that I am away each day tending to classes up here purifying different parts of Yggdraspirit. At least that is the goal, hopefully the Simulacrum doesn’t see something shiny and the head off in a random direction like it did when I suddenly found myself very lost in a Blight infested desert wasteland, after Mallory tried to celebrate my 80th birthday. Well my 80th real life birthday, I still had a few months before this avatar turned 15, though with my recent core advancements I would be stuck with this form for at least half a year longer than expected.

Regardless, I have considered all sides to this, and as such I answer truthfully and honestly.

“I don’t think I will enter the tournament as a competitor for either faction.” I reply.

“Oookay, so are we going to be heading on without following this clear questline developed for you?” Zero asks.

“Oh, no, there are far too many things here worth investigating. I mean this place has everything, secret hidden magical libraries, forbidden Qi cultivation pools, and everything else in between. No, I want to stay and solve this floor, but I don’t want to be bound to fighting people who are effectively trying desperately to provide food for their families.” I reply, finding the entire tournament system to be disgusting, even if it does ultimately answer a key need for everyone involved.

“Okay, I can get behind that, but what are you going to do in the meantime?” Zero asks.

“I have an idea, though it might be slightly awkward here for a bit.” I reply, realizing what, or rather whom I will need to talk to in order to get this idea rolling.

“Awkward, with you? No, never.” Zero replies back, and suddenly I wonder when he became so snarky.

“Is this part of that rebellious teenager needing to get mom’s attention through sarcasm phase because you can’t just ask for a hug directly?” I ask.

“What, I don’t need a hu…” Zero begins in protest, but I am already there.

Poof.

I Teleport two feet away to capture and wrap my arms around a momentarily confused Zero, who squirms for a second until he realizes my arms have a tight grip on him. As soon as he realizes it is me, he holds stiff for half a second, as if trying to remember that he wanted to be rebellious, and then finally he succumbs to the inevitable.

Exhale of relief.

I hold for a ten count after Zero lets out a relaxed sigh, then ease back from him to look him in the eyes. Again, this gesture is completely meaningless for us as we are both blind and can see the world around us in three dimensions, but it is the thought that counts. “You good?”

“Ye, yeah.” Zero states even sounding a lot calmer.

“Don’t be afraid to ask Momma Cass for a hug.”

“I won’t.” Zero states, a bit of sulk filling his voice as he looks away, the same way a petulant teenager who had been cowed would.

“Good.”

Then with that settled, I begin flying off in one particular direction that to an untrained eye, might look like I was going towards the registration stand.

“Where are you going?”

“I am going to figure out how to change the rules of these hunger games.” I state.

“Oh no, you aren’t going to get rid of the tournament are you? This I can guarantee will go badly.”

“What, why would I want to fight against glaciers. Trying to stop people from fighting, especially while giving people a chance to provide meals for their families is rather pointless.” I reply.

“Okay, I agree. Great reference by the way, Vonnegut right?” Zero begins, I feel somewhat happy that he caught my literary reference.

“Yes.”

“Good idea, not bucking the whole tournament thing. But can I ask what exactly you have in mind, if not actively participating in the tournament?”

“Good question, glad you asked that.” I state while getting close to the Stalwart Inn. Though before I enter, I can tell that something is not going well for the two mortals living inside, as they are running about frantically.

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The female is hurriedly writing on transmission scrolls, while the male is talking into a fixed location crystal ball. Looking at the crystal ball, I realize it is this world’s version of a cell phone, though in this case a better reference would be two cans connected by string, as the crystal balls could only connect to one specific crystal ball that had been synchronized with it.

Pausing, I think for a second, while wondering if anyone has set up a dual relay system. One where there is a massive crystal ball that all other crystals are sympathetically linked to, a sort of hub crystal. Then when you want, you connect to the hub, and then apply some type of energy to force the hub to connect your crystal ball with the intended crystal ball you wished to connect to.

The entire thing seemed complex, and likely doable, but it would require a lot of resources, someone maintaining the hub, people constantly providing magical power to their crystals, and you know what. That is a definite not Cass task.

I can see it now, I bring it up to Mallory, trying to pawn off the idea to her.

She takes one look at it and then tells me something along the lines of, “good idea, tell me what you need to make this seed of an idea grow, and I will get it to you.”

That’s when I find that even more of my tower climbing time has been lost to the good idea fairy. Groan. Yeah, I heard it after I said it, and hope that the system for once was not listening in on my thoughts, when it decides to make one of my eventual Mythical bloodline curses to be Geas Good Idea, where I inadvertently curse people to not only have good ideas, but then mercilessly force them to work towards completing those very same good ideas.

Nope, I do not want to be that type of fairy. I don’t want to be any type of fairy to be honest, well again I might be okay, as long as I didn’t have gross insect wings, but that is not the point. The point is that I know for a fact how annoying good idea seeds are, as I was often the one tasked with taking a superior’s good idea, fleshing it out, getting resources, which was often Cassie power, and then bringing it to life.

That’s how I learned firsthand that, in order to get these good idea seeds to grow, someone needs to often play with a lot of fertilizer. And I am tired of the one playing with fertilizer, at least when it comes to the idea of more people being able to talk to me at random. That is why I fully decided to have this idea of a magical telephone board using crystal balls, and completely discard it, mentally marking it as a project I want to have nothing to do with.

I’ve got enough on my plate.

“Everything okay?” Zero asks, sensing my hesitation as I am about to enter the Stalwart Inn.

“Yeah, I just thought of something.” I reply.

“Oh? Anything interesting?” Zero asks.

“Nope, just a complete waste of time.” I reply, as I open the door and completely end this conversation before it can get any further.

Zero pauses for a moment, apparently sensing that something clearly happened in my mind, but decided not to push, which was good.

I enter the door, but then pause, realizing that I might have been asked to leave earlier. Pausing, I look down to realize that I am about to cross the threshold of this building, and for the life of me, I feel a slight pressure keeping me away from entering.

Pausing, I stare down, wondering where this unseen pressure is coming from. Then instantly my mind turns to old wives’ tales about fairies and other magical creatures being bound to the rules of hospitality and hearth.

I try to think back, I remember leaving. But then coming back, and the male clearly told me to “come in.” Well technically he told me to “Uh, come in?”

Maybe it was because it was in the form of a question? I think to myself, but no, as soon as I remember that comment, I feel the mental resistance against me remove itself.

Pausing for a moment, I wonder if this will become a thing in the future? Me not being able to enter a room, or at least feeling pressure not to enter unless I am invited? I really hope not, but I will definitely have to look into this. For now, the pressure was manageable, more of a mental thing than anything else, yet it does have some odd implications that I might need to be aware of.

Letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, I feel at full power now while entering the building.

The two caretakers of the facility are still running about, trying to coordinate different things.

The female is writing in her transmission parchment.

Her: I don’t know what her new school of power does, as we have not made contact with the subject since she left a moment before her discovery.

That was good, at least now I knew that both of them were together. It was sort of implied, but now it is stated.

“I will.” The male responded, then the person he was speaking to, paused as he turned his Illusionary sympathetic image’s head in my direction and replied.

“I believe you have a customer.” The male said with an authoritarian tone. If I had to guess, I would assume that this guy is the leader somehow.

Pausing both the male and female turn away from what they are doing and look towards zero and me, who are just standing a foot in the doorway.

“Oh, you have come back. Are you interested in signing up for the tournament as a Mage?” The male asks.

And like that, I figure that both of these two likely know who I am. Then to double check, I ask point blank.

“I take it you two know who I am?”

Instant fear from both. The female has veins pumping on her neck denoting fear, while the male has his pupils dilate as he tries to hide his reaction. But the person with the worst poker face of all is the man in the orb who looks completely shocked, with his mouth hanging open.

“I figured as much.” I respond, realizing that this is likely going to get really awkward, really quickly.

“I can explain,” the female begins to speak, while the text on her page begins to come through.

Them: You continue with the main mission of getting in her good graces, now more than ever.

Seeing the note, I can’t help but nod my head in understanding. I sort of thought this was the case, that these two here stationed here just to get close to me, but now I see the proof. I am certain that the her that was mentioned was me, particularly as the previous message indicated a lack of knowledge about what my new class of magic did.

That is when something inside me changes and I feel myself going to a cold barter mode.

“No need, I already know. Also, know that I hate when people lie to me as if I can’t tell the truth. That said, I believe you all have knowledge that I might be interested in, if you all are able to give me an adequate enough answer, I will tell you what my new class of magic does and how it works.”

There was a dead silence as everyone in the Inn looked shocked for a second, then the two made eye contact with each other. The two exchanged a frantic look with each other.

“Perhaps, I could be of…” the speaker in the crystal ball begins. But a quick feeling of the ball and how far away the source of energy was going, it was clear that the person they were talking to was not on this floor and was much higher up in the tower.

“Nope.” I say, waving my hands and disabling the connection runes just enough that they will require minor maintenance before being able to reconnect with the paired crystal. That was not enough to break the ball, but enough to make it so that the connection that had been established was disconnected.

Seeing the gesture, and response there was shock on the two’s faces.

Simultaneously, a response came from the scroll that began glowing violently.

Them: URGENT: Please respond with your plan of action.

Seeing the scroll that was now glowing with a form of impatient energy, I talk to the girl.

“Can you answer that, letting them know that you are in negotiations with the subject and need a moment, as their constant messages are distracting.” I say to the girl, and then gesture to the scroll.

This gives away a bit of my abilities, namely being able to read from across the room. While in the long run this is bad, in the short run it will hopefully help me get a better exchange for the goods that I am offering.

“Yes, right away.” The female said, responding quickly.

Her: In negotiations now, will respond once complete. Please do not respond before then, subject has noted annoyance with magical devices. Will respond when all clear.

With that, the man looked from me to the orb, then back at me as if I had kicked his puppy.

“Relax, I will fix that before I leave. I just didn’t want to be distracted with all of these extra magical devices going off all around me.” I state.

Hearing that, the male asks. “Are they that powerful that they disturb you?”

“Hardly, more like they are that poorly designed that I can’t help but want to rip them apart to create them, so they don’t leak as much mana. Surely you can see that they are inefficient? That unless you were here in a magical realm, that these items would quickly break apart and die?” I ask.

“Yeah, we got them like this, so they could withstand this realm.”

Shaking my head, “nope, all you did was get defective items that would not be able to work elsewhere. Had they been made correctly, then it wouldn’t matter where they were as they would be able to draw in enough ambient energy to be powered.”

Hearing that, the two paused for a moment, then finally the female spoke. Seems about right, one as she seems to be in charge, and two because I didn’t destroy her little notepad.

Mentally, I wonder if this isn’t exactly what a wicked witch would do, when going in to talk to the lead heroine. I’ll get you, your talking orb, and your broken notepad too.

Yeah, so not leading the way of not turning my skin green when this whole bloodline transformation is all over.

“So, how can we help you?” She asks.

“I was wondering if you could tell me how to get myself assigned as a Healer for the Tournament.” I state.

“Oh, so you are going to help out the mages?” The male blurts in.

“No, I wish to be a healer. You know the person that fixes the contestants after the battles are over.” I respond.

“You don’t want to be a contestant?”

“No.” I reply succinctly, then to cut this off before it can go any further, I even offer a trade. “I will tell you what. If you can help me get assigned as an independent healer for both the Mages and Cultivators, I will not only tell you what the new school of magic does, but I will give you the first spell related to this new class of magic.”

And as soon as I say it, I feel myself becoming even more like the evil queens of fairy I read about as a child. Ones who would make promises that must be kept, but their bargains would always be broken in some way. The same with this offer, as that one spell will mean nothing without the other three components.

Yet, hearing the deal, the female responds immediately.

“Deal, though we will need you to fix the communications orb first, before we can accept this deal. But I do think this is a more than fair trade, don’t you agree RaSean?” The female asked.

“Yes,” RaSean replied.

“Okay, to be clear, in exchange for getting me assigned as a healer for both the Mages and Cultivators of the tournament. I will fix the communication orb, explain my new magic school, and provide a spell from this new magic school? Is that correct?” I ask.

“Yes.” They both state in unison. Then just like that, something changes.

Whoosh.

There is a surge of sympathetic energy that quickly links me to the two oath takers. I can’t quite tell what this link does, but I can tell that there is power associated with this link. Almost the same way I felt quest energy from Zero, but this is on a similar but different level.

“Okay, well let me begin by fixing your orb.” I state, then moving closer to the orb, I begin delicately etching better and stronger runes into the ball. It will still be able to connect to its sympathetic counterpart, but it will not leak as much energy as before. Once it is done, I step away from it and state, “there we go, the first part of my deal has been rendered.”

And like that, I feel the bond that binds me to these two increase slightly in power.

“Right, well, let us speak to our contacts and see what we can accomplish.” The female said. “Do you mind if we leave for a bit?”

“Not at all, would you want to meet up in a few hours?” I suggest, seeing that there is an unguarded Qi pool nearby that is all but begging me to bathe in it.

“That sounds good, will we meet you here?” RaSean, the male asks.

“Yes, that will be fine.” I say, turning away to walk out the door.

“How will we reach you when we get back?” The female asks.

“Don’t worry, I will know.” I say, as I leave, only after leaving do I realize how much like a villainous fairy queen I just sounded.

Fortunately for me, Zero doesn’t say anything until we leave. “Wow, could you lay on the theatrics anymore.”

“I know, okay.” Then reaching out my hand, Zero reaches out his paw automatically. Then we grab appendages, and Teleport away.

Poof.

Just as RaSean exits the building and looks around to see where the two of us left. Yeah, doing great on scaring all the villagers Cass, good job, I think to myself, before dropping it and continuing on with my next plan.