"So." Lepin had her arms folded, looking radiant even wearing crudely stitched together skins.
Corvanye started scratching his neck. "Hey."
"I need you to explain. NOW." She moved to adjust her cowboy hat and grabbed some of her cowtivator perfected hair instead.
"There were lots of traps on the way back." Corvayne offered her a golden cowboy hat and she slapped it on the ground, then bent over and picked it up and put in on her head, then gave him a shove.
"A trap? A trap? A trap is when a spear fires off at you! We are in a party, I saw the notifications. Explain! NOW!"
All three of the cowtivators were staring at him. Bayou seemed the less upset, petting her bunny and mostly watching while sometimes slapping part of her skin trying to erupt into golden light. Little Spur had a bunch of hastily made seals on him, steam and bits of fire leaking from trying to suppress a breakthrough.
Or maybe a few tiers of breakthroughs. It had been a longer walk back than he had expected.
One of the 'loot dogs' dropped the last bag and Corvayne started a bonfire.
“So, I found what looked like the boundary of the tower, and got sucked into a memory, then on the way back I had to hurry and pick a different way because I attracted the attention of... something. By the way we should really pack up camp once I feed Fred.”
“Fred... is that the supreme ultra-elite carrying a broken throne of gear?”
“Yes, but it is a-” he correct himself “It is The High Council Chair.” Corvayne corrected. “Usually sat on by Iselvex Coldhand.”
“Oh. Is that it?”
Corvayne nodded. “High Counciler Iselvex Coldhand.”
Lepin was mad, and given the effects of her breakthrough it was an attractive mad. He was going to really need to get some alone time with Bell and Spears before Lepin decided to pump him full of quantum lead. “Why. Why did you kill him to steal his chair?”
“So, I was trying to avoid entity I will not name and wandered into a boss room.”
“I saw you defeated something nearly twenty times your level! What were you thinking?!”
“I didn't realize there was a trap? Danger sense usually gives me a heads up. Also, I think the level system does not really do as great a job telling you how hard something is-”
“Yes it DOES. Especially when we are in a FOURTY MAN HIDDEN REALM.” She grabbed her hat and spun in a circle, swearing in a different language then turning around. “So what did you do?”
“I told my compass to get here as fast as possible.” Corvayne said.
“Through The Council's room. I noticed when I LEVELED UP. Ten times.”
Corvayne stood up straight. “I had to backtrack, then Fred tipped over one of the chairs, and there was another fight. I had freed Fred and he had helped me fight the lizard, so I wanted to help him and Betty...”
As if she heard her name, Betty came dragging another chair strapped with loot.
“As it turns out, the Council all built their acidic phylacteries into the supports, floor, table, even the chandelier... I can see the essence moving between them so I sundering-”
“You can't see essence without a magic-”
She stopped and took a deep breath. “Corvayne. Corvayne. Corvayne.”
She seemed stuck and Corvayne had to get the boar ready, so he pulled out a Jade Draconic Dagger, a very nice upgrade to his old fire-breathing weapon. Boar cooked in one strike, he turned back to Lepin and saw she was ashen faced. Behind him, the smell of roast pork was undercut by vicious ripping. Next boar he'd have a little.
“Corvayne, do... do you have some way of manipulating essence?”
“It's a little crude.”
“Do you have something that multiplies gains?”
“I would rather not answer that question.”
Little Spur stepped forward, looking guilty. “He is not alone, I also have a bloodline-”
“How much?” Lepin looked between them.
Little Spur put his chin up. “You must swear to never tell a soul.”
“Fine.”
“Twenty Percent.”
Lepin thrust her finger out. “YOU'RE LITTLE WING! FUCK!”
At this, Bayou stepped forward and grabbed his hand. “Little Wing was left for dead. He's Little Spur now!” Corvayne felt her being protective of him. He was slightly nervous and a little embarrassed.
“Who's Little Wing?” Corvayne asked.
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“He was a princeling in the Red Stripe alliance. He got crippled and his engagement broken off-”
“Oh okay that tells me enough.” Corvayne had read books like 'I Shall Steal the Heavens' and 'The Dao of Verbosity' and could probably line up Little Spur's story just on that.
The young man opened his eyes and looked directly at Lepin, as if in challenge. “Are you going to try to drag me back like so many before you?”
“No you nitwit! I know you are loaded with magic items the Red Stripes were looking for! Corvayne, is that how you beat those monsters?”
“No, honestly after the first one I sort of had momentum.”
“Okay. Corvayne, are you boosting our cultivation as well? Don't give me that look I mean essence absorption. Exp. Flavorless Qi. Whatever you call it.”
Corvayne had to think about it. “I think our groups estimate was around two thousand percent for people partied with me, but that was a while ago.”
“We are dead. Corvayne, do you realize wars are fought in higher realms over items that boost essence five percent?! Those Red Stripes killed an entire kingdom to get one. Anyone with value sense sees you-”
“Why are you worried?” Corvayne had to ask.
“Because they are going to torture me to ask me your secret. They have special classes that can rip people apart to oracle their past.”
He thought about Preshe. “Shit. We have to hurry back. If there's people who can sniff out value my team is in grave danger. Bayou, can you please offer Betty and Fred a pact to let them stay at the stable? They would like to not be re-enslaved in acid world.”
Little Wing, bless his heart, was already working on getting the loot secure. “Hmm. Corvayne, do you have some sort of lucky aspect? Like, a trait that says 'Auspicious son of the heavens?”
“No.” Corvayne picked up Lady Blood Claw and used [[Unity]] to shape and move the vines. It felt like it was getting easier.
“Did you get these items all at once?” He was really focused on the honeycomb marked gloves and sword, as well as the ring from that first chest.
“Yeah, first boss.”
“Can I borrow them for this dungeon?”
Corvayne felt, for the first time he could remember, a burning desire to say 'duh'. He was not a duh person. But really, did Little Wing not think he dragged a literal ton of magic treasure down to not share? From his pleading look, Corvayne then assumed that yes, there was a chance.
“Of course.”
Little Spur put the gloves on one hand, the ring on the other, then lifted the sword and swung it with an ominous hum.
“... Is there a robe or chest plate with crossed stitched daggers, facing down, sewn or embossed on it?”
Corvayne jerked his head upright. How did he know? He pulled out a red robe with gold crossed daggers and offered it to Little Spur.
“... You do not know what these are.” He stated.
“No I don't generally try things on until I am sure they are not cursed.”
“So you did not defeat the four other raid bosses simply using these tools?”
“The gauntlets are Swarm Gauntlets. They are a legendary rarity weapon/armor and fire swarms of bees. They also improve pet accuracy and speed, as well as remove the ability for pets to harm their owners and increase their intelligence based on the number of pets. Usually, this caps at 30 bees whom die after stinging once. This Blade is a Hive Greatsword. It is also legendary rarity. When you had an enemy and attack them, the little beads will fly off the sword and fly into an enemy, shattering. It also improves pet accuracy and speed as well, and a small percentage of pet damage. Usually, because they shatter, one can only have about thirty if one swings the blade to dislodge all orbs. The robe is the general's revenge. All units that report to you get a flat bonus to how much damage they do. It does not matter if they hit something with a battle axe or a rubber band, it does a flat amount of extra damage. It also improves those unit's durability, accuracy, and slightly improves their ability to perform what the user imagines they should.”
Corvayne was starting to get it. “The items have synergy.”
“With these three, even with crippled stats and cultivation, I pose a threat to people hundreds of levels over me.”
He holds up the ring. “This is the Fleet Beacon. Legendary rarity. It turns all pets into tiny ships that blast foes with lasers. This overrides their attacks. It also takes each pet and splits them into eight. This reduces their damage down to a fourth, but this is the first thing it does. There was a person who had these four items nearly 30 thousand years ago and used them to forge an empire on the 70th floor that still stands. He almost certainly ascended after reaching the 100th floor. It is one of the most widely known soft sets in the entire Tower. You could not buy these items with a flying ship full of black essence crystals. You found all of them in the span of a few hours.”
Now he was looking at Corvayne like Lepin had been.
“Oh. Well, I handled the other fights without it. I sense you are eager to show us how well it works then, Little Spur.” Corvayne gave him a thumbs up, and felt pure joy from the boy.
“Of course. Please point your compass in the direction that gets out out as fast as possible while not being rained on.”
“The rain is harmless.” Corvayne was confused.
Lepin slapped his shoulder. “Not to us. I stepped in a puddle and had to regrow my foot.” She gestured to what looked like part of a sliced off foot spray painted onto the floor.
“Okay. Well, that's another mystery.”
Little Wing placed the blade in his swarm gauntlet hand, and swung. What looked like a hundred gold little ships, all trailing blue exhaust, teleported to the group of lizard men and blasted them into fine red mist, then kept flying and blasting through the building, regrouping on Little Wing as he strode through the carnage.
Corvayne, for what it was worth, just was giving directions and explaining how he beat the other 'Raid Bosses' as Lepin called them. It was the least he'd ever had to do while in a dungeon. Bayou was looking through the magic items and sorting them into 30 fresh storage rings that Corvayne had assumed was just one magical neck-piece from how they were presented on a hoop.
“So at this point, those ghost servants owed me a favor for melting Dreadwing...”
“Which you did by somehow using spear-shift to move a dragon, then tripping him.”
“I had been practicing with my gravity powers. Making his tail too light and his head too heavy.”
“You are a level 30 warrior type.”
“33 now.”
Lepin somehow looked vibrantly alive and haunted, her eyes both full of life and color but staring out at nothing, her expression reminding him of a fish, lips just open.
“You are a level 30 warrior somehow tripping a dragon that's level 900 and meant to be fought with a squadron.”
“I think those numbers are for fighting safely without losing anyone while not knowing what a monster can do.”
“Regardless, you tripped a creature with wings to kill it. Something you shouldn't be able to harm.”
“I have exceptionally high skill levels, from what I understand. But I do agree, the degree that each fight and arena let me leverage strengths I did not know I had-”
“The top assassins of the Lizard faction exclusively use water attacks... water that cannot harm you.”
“They could fire a laser that cut me, and once they realized all their attacks were failing they clubbed me pretty good because of how fast they were, I had to use a trick to track them.” [[Unity]] had been really pulling it's weight, but he guessed that so was [[Growth]] given Lepin's reaction to how much essence his allies got.
Lepin laughed. “Of course, we can't forget the Slime Lord.”
“These pants let me move through goop flawlessly and breath it. I just broke the roof and swam around killing his cores while the rain worked from above.”
“Seeing a high level slime core is only possible when you've dealt MASSIVE damage to the point they can't change it's color to just blend into their body.”
If he talked about essence again she would just get mad. “They sometime show it off when they are horny.”
Lepin became incredulously angry at that comment, at least until Bayou explained on his behalf he had told her he was dating a slime.
“I am sorry, that was a little personal to share Lepin.” He gave her a little bow.
“I am very concerned why the universe, who seemed to give you everything you needed in this accursed torture chamber, saw fit to place me next to you.” Lepin said. “Did you at least find a legendary pack of smokes in the pile of dead bosses?”
Corvayne went over to Lepin and handed her a consumable magic pack of smokes.
She took the package and looked at it, shoving it in his face. “Read THIS!”
“Dungeon general's warning: Smoking may improve the users long term affinity for fire elemental techniques and their absorption rate by 1% per cigarette.” Corvayne thought about it. “It seems I found something else that's very good.”
“I decided to cultivate towards riding a fire creature. Do you understand?! The heavens is favoring you, and this means it's fucking told me I'm part of that!”
Corvayne thought about that. “It's very possible. The system wrote things on my expanded profile.”
“If the universe is throwing so much at you, it wants something from you! That's how strings of karma work!”
She was sweating, which again did not diminish that she had refined her appearance to be captivating... he really needed to double time it out of the gate and find where Bell and Spears were. He focused back on what she said.
“I think you are right, Lepin, because it lines up with the system basically pointing me at an adversary.”
The woman took a deep breath, then looked back. Corvayne saw Bayou forming a pact with the two bio-weapons, little rabbit sitting on the other. Behind them was a pile of gear, who knows how much of it just as potent as the weapons that were letting Little Spur clear entire buildings in a single swing of a blade.
Lepin took a deep breath, then lit her first cigarette and moaned a little bit. “Fuck!” She looked at the pack, then Corvayne with an expression that had a whole lot of conflicting feelings behind it, then back at the pack before staring at the light show ahead.
“I almost feel bad for whoever it is.”