CHAPTER 20: FIRST DELVE FOURTH FLOOR
Jenna took the time after finishing her third floor to stretch out and recover slightly. “I don’t suppose that there’s a shower or anything here?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
Interpreted request: Cleaning Room Cost: 1 Gold Coin Would you like to purchase?
That was an easy enough statement to respond to. “What else can I spend my gold coins on?”
Information forbidden.
“Are these gold coins only good for within this time I delve a rift?”
Yes.
“Can I purchase more healing potions or food with these coins?”
The table seemed a little irked that she’d asked the question.
Yes.
Jenna was about to buy more healing product when she realized that she still hadn’t looked through Rita’s supplies to see what she had left behind. It was more than slightly frustrating that while Jenna had to agonize over whether it was worth getting a single Least Healing product, Rita had purchased five of each, including the Greater Healing Products. That settled it.
“I would like to purchase a cleaning room,” she said.
Please hold gold coin out for purchase.
That statement gave her a moment of pause. Before pulling any of the coins out of the bag, Jenna first looked to make sure that they were all identical. As far as she could tell, they were, so she saw no harm in giving the first one she’d grabbed to the Pyramid.
Purchase complete.
Jenna quickly looked around the room, eyes drawn to the open doorway leading to a white tiled space. She realized that she hadn’t bathed at all during her time in the Pyramid, but this was the first time that she had felt a need to. “Why don’t I normally need to bathe?” she asked.
Student Robes come with a standard Cleaning Enchantment to optimize usage of student time,
it declared.
“How long have I been in the rift?”
Time elapsed since entering rift: Four Hours, Twenty Seven Minutes, Sixteen Seconds
The seconds kept ticking up until Jenna dismissed the table. That was interesting, it hadn’t felt like four hours had passed. Still, that meant it was well past time for her to eat for the day.
“How do I access my rations?”
Reach into your Soul Space.
“How do I do that?”
The Pyramid gave the barest of directions, and Jenna added the potions from Rita into her soul space. She took out one of the pouches labeled “One Day’s Rations” and debated what to do next.
On the one hand, the sight of food was making her incredibly hungry. On the other, she was still coated in blood.
The thought of her entire meal tasting like copper wasn’t a pleasant one, so she made up her mind to take a bath first. As she watched the water run red for what felt like an hour, Jenna realized just how tired she was. When the water finally ran clear, she left the room, quickly ate a meal, and laid down to take a nap.
Waking up, she realized more than ever that the lack of a day night cycle made keeping track of the passage of time nearly impossible.
“How long have I been in the rift?”
Time elapsed since entering rift: Six Hours, Forty Nine Minutes, Twelve Seconds
So she had apparently slept for about two hours. That wasn’t the worst thing ever, especially since she felt much more awake now than she had as she finished the third floor.
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Would you like to exit the rift?
The Pyramid seemed to be prompting her to start moving again. The previous floor hadn’t been too much of a struggle, so Jenna declined the offer.
She gripped her mace, noting that it was starting to show some damage. It was a shame that she hadn’t been able to afford the Enchanted Mace at the time. But, maybe she would be lucky and one of the goblins she killed would be wielding a mace itself.
Jenna snorted as she considered the odds of that. There was no way that the Pyramid would be that needlessly kind.
Opening the door, she was unsurprised to see another hallway with another goblin. It was nice that the Pyramid was keeping things consistent. A small voice in her head reminded her that the Pyramid was probably trying to lull her into a false sense of security.
After what she had learned, Jenna grew more inclined to trust that voice. Still, the goblin was alone and the hallway seemed stable. She took the lessons she had learned from the previous floor’s final encounter and let the goblin rush towards her.
After all, even if there wasn’t going to be another endurance based encounter, she saw no reason to needlessly waste her energy. It wasn’t like she would be running out of food. Her group had planned on being in the rift for three or so days, and she now had the food for twenty.
As the goblin drew nearer, Jenna saw that it looked almost as strong as the last goblins that she had been fighting in the combat simulation. It was carrying a sword, which felt like a nice return to form.
With all of the training that the previous floor had given her, Jenna wasted no time or effort dispatching the goblin. Her first strike smashed the wrist carrying the sword. Her second caved in its chest, since its neck seemed too well armored.
As the goblin fell, Jenna realized that she hadn’t even consciously decided how to fight it. She had moved entirely on instinct. That was a slightly concerning instinct to have developed, though she couldn’t deny that it was useful right now.
Once more following the hallway to its end, she saw a T. She had never gone to the left first, and a part of her was curious if the other goblins would also try to ambush her. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but Jenna felt confident in her ability to, if not kill the other goblins, make it through the exit before they could do too much damage.
When she opened the door, she saw three goblins, all armed with swords and armored. Each fell quickly, and she carefully cleaned her mace on the undershirt that one of them had been wearing. When five minutes had passed, Jenna decided that the odds were low the other goblins were going to come after her.
That seemed like it could be a useful strategy for delving any further floors, at least if the Pyramid didn’t decide to change the routine. After giving the room a quick and cursory search, Jenna went to the other room to kill the goblins.
Once more, she was unable to find any secrets hidden in the room. The goblins all had a few more coins that she could pocket. More and more, she wondered what use the gold coins had.
Cora hadn’t taken any before leaving the rift, so Jenna thought that it was unlikely they impacted the reward she would have at the end. On the other hand, maybe Cora just assumed she would also be leaving right away, so the coins would be split between them. That had a chance of being true.
Rather than waste time in a nominally dangerous space considering what the Pyramid was giving her the coins for, Jenna pressed forward. The back of the first room she’d cleared had two doorways this time, which made her pause for a moment.
Since she’d gone left first on this floor, she decided to open the left door first. The doorway clearly led back to the safe room, which was interesting. It implied that the Pyramid was giving her a chance to avoid the final boss encounter for the floor.
Jenna considered what her former partners had told her. There was a benefit to not fully completing a floor, because the rewards were better the lower you went. Then again, she wasn’t really using any limited resources yet.
She had far more food than she could need. Her mace didn’t require more ammunition like someone using a bow might. She hadn’t even needed a single healing potion.
Between those facts, Jenna felt pretty comfortable with trying to finish the floor. At worst she would retreat and rush through the door.
When she opened the door, she was met with the same sight she had seen on the second floor. The same large goblin stood, still holding his large club.
“What poor luck for you, little delver,” it called out. “To have to face me twice in a single rift.”
Before Jenna could respond, it kept talking, “and even worse, you lack any support like you had last time. How do you expect to beat me without your archer slowly whittling me down? You still do have the right to the same choice I gave you last time. If you turn around now, I will not follow.”
That couldn’t be true. If Jenna was allowed to leave, then there was no reason that she couldn’t just go back to the safe room at the beginning of the floor. She gripped her mace and charged the goblin.
Thankfully, it did not move any faster than it had the last time she faced it. She had grown faster, she knew. Or, at least, she had removed any hesitation in her actions.
When the goblin swung its mace, she deflected it with just enough force to cause it to miss her. Without any teammates to help her in the fight, Jenna knew that she would need to outlast the goblin. It had tired in the last fight, and she just hoped that the same would be true on this floor.
For over a minute, the two of them traded and deflected blows. Neither was willing to commit to a single strike, since that would leave them open to a counterattack. Jenna overextended on a swing as the goblin feinted, and it brought its club down on her back.
She was pushed onto the ground, bruises already feeling as though they were forming. With the breath knocked out of her lungs, she swung her mace as hard as she was able into the goblin’s now unprotected legs. It hadn’t immediately followed the first strike with a second, which gave her the chance to get up and leap back.
“Well, now, this is interesting,” the goblin said, “looks like you’re stronger than your friend was. A hit like that took her out immediately.”
Jenna knew that the goblin was only saying that to rile her up, but it still worked. She felt her body stiffen at the memory of her first friend in the Pyramid dying. With a roar, she charged at the laughing goblin.
Jenna’s Status:
Jenna Fredrickson First Year Spells Known: First Tier: Hardened Glass Expected Years Completed: 7 Prediction Confidence: 45% Points: 5 Qualified to Ascend to Next Year? Yes