“Captain Dickens.” The man held out his hand and I shook it. It was a sturdy grip, but ultimately, only human. He frowned, eyeing me up and down once more. I couldn’t help but notice his eye catch on Red. “I’ve been instructed by my CO to follow your commands.” He paused, clearly not thrilled with the idea. “I’m told this comes straight from the governor.”
I took a moment to assess the men who were all surreptitiously watching our interaction. There were curious gazes, but most looked tired and resentful. And judging by Dickens body language, he wasn’t exactly pleased to be thrown over to a civilian.
Come on, Charisma, don’t fail me now.
“You would be correct, Captain. The governor has promised me your aid in exchange for certain political favors that I won’t bore you with. But rest assured, I’m not asking you here to waste your time.”
He scowled, leaning politely away as he spit on the ground.
“That’s good to hear. Cause at first, I was thinking maybe some big shot’s nephew wanted bodyguard detail. But since you’re not wasting our time, what’s the job?”
The corners of my lips turned up in a smile. They thought I had some political connections. I would have laughed if I didn’t think it would be misinterpreted. But these men seemed on edge, reading the mood of their Captain and projecting that onto me.
Maybe a demonstration was in order…
“You been in the Tower, Captain?”
He chewed on that for a moment, then shook his head curtly. “We’ve been dealing with the demons here. Saving American lives for 48 hours straight.”
“Sure, and I commend you for that. But there’s Americans in the Tower, too. Millions of them…” The soldiers had stopped trying to look busy and I felt all eyes on me. “The truth is, we’ll all need to go into that Tower at some point. It’s the only way to get strong enough for what comes next.” Murmurs broke out among the nearby soldiers, but a gruff bark from what I assumed was a Sergeant cut the chatter. Everyone started to break off, but I held up a hand. “Captain, they should hear this.”
He eyed me with a frown. Then he turned and called over one of his men.
“They can listen.”
The soldier’s eyes widened for the briefest moment, then he was calling out orders that had the men rushing back into lines like we were in a parade.
“Uh, thanks…” I suddenly felt more uncomfortable now that they were forced to stand at attention. My voice carried over the crowd. “I’ll make it simple. This is a rescue mission.” They were disciplined enough not to break out into whispers, but I could see the confusion and surprise on their faces. “Most of those people in the Tower—Americans or not—are trapped. Without our help, they may never get out. And that’s if the alien races competing with us don’t get them first.” Now that had them squirming. The Sergeant cut across the chatter with a barked command and they settled.
Now that I had their attention, it was time for a demonstration.
“The Tower is dangerous, but it also provides opportunities for power. Power we’ll need if we’re to survive as a species.”
The Captain’s deadpan expression told me he wasn’t buying it.
“Don’t believe me?” I smiled and scanned the men. “Watch this.”
I turned toward the deli that was now my safe zone, cycled down my mass, and leaped in one go all the way to the roof that was twelve feet high. It was a trivial jump with maxed-out Agility, so I switched to Friction and walked over the side of the roof, letting my feet stick to the vertical wall like Spider-Man.
I dangled there, defying gravity as I regarded the soldiers.
“That’s not even the half of it.”
With a leap, Red flared wide, then wrapped around me like a cocoon. By the time I hit the ground, she was in full armor form, a blood-red Katana in my hands.
Even the Captain was wide eyed as I let Red relax back into cape form.
“There’s seven floors in that Tower. As of this moment, the chances of humanity clearing the First Floor are slim to none…without our help.”
I didn’t know what else to say, so I turned to the Captain and shrugged.
“That’s my spiel.”
He regarded me for a moment, then turned and dismissed his men. They broke away to return to their tasks as he eyed me in a new light.
“Were those all party tricks or can you fight?”
I grinned, then schooled my expression and shrugged.
“I can fight.”
He seemed to weigh my words then nodded once.
“Rescue mission, huh? Give me the particulars.”
***
We spent the next hour inside his command tent, going over everything I knew about the First Floor, the mechanisms he needed to activate, and the Hold itself. I also gave him the details on the [Personal Space Portal] so that they could have that as a backup. If the Jree or Co’xatl stopped them from reaching the Hold for whatever reason, or…if the entire Instance was dead, they could use the portal to get out rather than waste time.
All of his men had gone through the Beginner’s Trial already as prep for this, so we didn’t have to waste time having them line up to do that. And they’d been ordered not to select their classes yet, which was a surprising boon that we could leverage to make sure the compositions of the teams were ideal.
Of the hundred and fifty men or so in the company, twelve had the option for some form of healer or medic. The Captain and I agreed that they should all take those classes, no matter what else they had on offer. Most of the soldiers were offered variations of Marksman, but a few had class choices that were less conventional. Though the Captain pushed for everyone that didn’t have a healing option to take the ranged infantry classes, I fought hard for certain classes.
“You’ve seen the size of that door,” I had said, indicating the deli forcefield beyond our tent. “You’re not fitting tanks, excavators, or any vehicles that aren’t motorcycle-sized into that Tower. Hell, I don’t even know if you can take vehicles into the Tower. Some of these classes might eventually be able to dig trenches with their minds, create forcefields that can hold off gunfire, or even wilder powers you wouldn’t dream of.”
He’d scoffed and indicated me with a nod. “And you? What can you do with these powers besides fancy carnival tricks?”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I knew he’d just been giving me shit, but I needed him to understand the new world we lived in.
“Captain, I can literally tank a bullet to the chest.”
He’d snorted, but when I didn’t smile, his face grew deadly serious.
“You’re shitting me.”
Ramping up my mass, I pulled my shirt up to make my point.
“Try me…”
He’d gone on about firearm safety and never pointing your gun at something you didn’t mean to kill, but in the end, he’d believed me—or at least given me the benefit of the doubt. After that, he took my class suggestions more seriously.
The final tally we’d agreed upon was: twelve healing or healing adjacent classes. Seventy-three ranged classes—seventy of which were Marksman, with two Archers at my insistence, and a single soldier with the Artillery class, which we both agreed sounded worthwhile. Another thirteen were some sort of utility class that offered abilities that either made them tankier, helped with fortifications, or just sounded useful enough to take a chance on.
And the last two men…well, these two classes were near and dear to my heart. Once I’d explained to the Captain what the tunnel’s mechanism required, he hadn’t fought me an inch on them.
Which was how I’d found myself back in my Instance of the First Floor, hanging from the mountain that led to Rok’s plateau. The two men in question both dangled from the sheer rock face above me, grunts of exertion echoing down the mountain as they climbed.
“How much further?” Kevin called down to me. The class he’d selected was called Mountaineer and appeared to be the Rare grade version of my Free Solo Prodigy class. It possessed the exact same passive ability, [Climber’s Intuition], which helped him find the optimized path up the mountain.
“Three, four hundreds meters,” I called back.
I held on to the rock face with one hand while I kept my eyes glued on the two men. Red was ready to catch them should the need arise, but I doubted we’d get to that. If I thought they were having trouble, I’d activate my Friction energy and latched them to the rock for a breather.
Kevin had apparently been an avid rock climber as a child, but had given up the hobby when joining the National Guard.
“Four hundred meters!” the other man cried. “I don’t got four hundred meters in me, man!”
The other soldier, Ian, was less experienced than Kevin and had only climbed indoor for a year or two—and mostly bouldering at that. He was technically pretty strong, but didn’t have the endurance to match Kevin. But the class he had got was called Bouldering Enthusiast and gave him a limited version of my original [Sticky Fingers] ability. It let him activate it and cling to a surface with his fingers or toes for a minute, but had a five minute cooldown. Each appendage was on a separate timer though, so he could alternate when he needed to rest.
“Trust in your ability, Ian!”
Of course, I could have ferried these two up the mountain in a couple minutes. Hell, I could have cleared this Instance in the time it took them to make it halfway. But these two were my trump card in clearing as many Instances as possible before the Second Floor opened. If I could train them to hit the switch at the top of the plateau, they could dramatically increase the speed at which Captain Dickens and his teams moved through the these Instances. Because I very much doubted they could avoid the rocks crashing through the tunnel that led to the Excavator mini-boss. And even if they could, their bullets wouldn’t do shit against that thing.
Getting Kevin and Ian trained to hit the tunnel mechanism was the best strategy I could think of to unblock Dicken’s company.
Unfortunately for us, they were scared shitless and moving slow.
“It only lasts a minute!” His voice raised an octave. “What if it gives out when I’m not ready!”
“I’ll catch you, dude. Just calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down!” His breathing grew ragged and I could see him readjusting his grip over and over again. “I don’t wanna do this, man. Just let me be one of the grunts, okay! I’m just a hobbyist—“
“Ian, listen to my voice.” I raced up the rock until I was right beside him. My Friction energy locked his hands and feet into place. “You’re anchored now, okay?” The wild look in his eyes dimmed a bit as he tried to lift a hand and couldn’t. “I’m not gonna let you fall, you hear me?”
He took in three deep breaths, closing his eyes. When he exhaled the third breath, he opened his eyes and nodded.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m…not cut out for this.”
I nodded, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“I hear you, Ian, I really do. As soon as we get back down, I’m gonna suggest to the Captain that you two get some powerleveling in on the golden mobs so we can boost your stats.” I grinned, mostly to make him feel at ease. “Let me tell you, dude, when you get 10, 20 points more in Endurance…oooo, boy, it’s like System steroids. You’ll be able to climb this mountain without even breaking a sweat.”
“Really?” he asked wide eyed.
No, not really…
“You bet, dude.”
Lying to the kid didn’t feel good, but he needed a confidence boost, not a dose of reality. He could climb this mountain, I was certain of that. He just needed to do it once to see it could be done.
“Ian, real talk here. This job you and Kevin have is special. Only the three of us can do it. You’re gonna save a lot of lives, my dude. Thousands of people are counting on you. Can you be that hero for them?”
He chewed his lip in thought, then looked up, his eyes trying to find the top and failing. But I could see the gears turning until—click—the switch flipped.
Looking back at me, he nodded.
“Good man,” I said with a squeeze of his shoulder. “Just follow Kevin’s line, okay? Memorize it. I won’t have you do it by yourself until you’re one hundred percent, okay?”
When we finally crested the top, Kevin and Ian collapsed to the plateau in exhausted triumph. While they recovered, I looked across to see Rok—or another Stone Golem—looking down a giant hole.
Casting [Analysis], I realized that this was not, in fact, Rok. According to the description, his name was Crag and he hadn’t noticed our arrival yet.
“Okay, gents,” I said without taking my eyes of Crag. “This is the moment of truth. The Stone Golem in my Instance was friendly as fuck. When I asked him to stop chucking rocks, he didn’t complain a bit. Now, if they’re all super helpful, you might as well get them to stop so your friends can go collect golden tunnelers without worrying about getting squashed.” I eyed Crag, wondering how I’d take him out if he turned out to be hostile. Diskslinger, probably. “If it turns out this one’s a dick, then I’d suggest you just hit the mechanism and then portal out.” I held my hand out to them. “Stay here.”
As I approached Crag, he started to reach into the rock and mold another boulder to throw.
“Excuse me,” I called out. The sound of his scooping overpowered my voice. “Excuse me!”
He paused, turning toward me ponderously slow, the two-ton rock held casually in his hands. At first, he didn’t see me, his eyes tracking over my head. I held out a hand and waved and he lowered his head. His eyes widened when he spotted me, then his lips cracked into a smile.
“’Lo!”
I silently whooped! Hopefully that meant they were all gentle giants. Raising my hand, I waved.
“Hey there! Mind taking a break?” I asked as I indicated the boulder in his hand.
He looked down at it, tilted his head slowly, then raised one shoulder in a shrug.
The boulder dropped from his hands and I winced, expecting a giant crash. Instead, it melted back into the mountain, followed shortly by Crag himself.
Turning back to the two soldiers, I couldn’t help but laugh as they both had gaping mouths and wide eyes. Walking back, I triggered the mechanism and crossed the rest of the plateau to help them up. A familiar notification popped into my view, explaining the mechanism Quest, but I dismissed it.
I’d seen it plenty of times before.
“Now I’ve seen it all!” Kevin declared with a shake of his head.
Reaching out my hand, I pulled him to his feet.
“Kev, you ain’t seen the half of it.”
***
Once the tunnel mechanism was hit, the other two teams hit their respective mechanisms. The mountain was the toughest portion, so I had suggested they wait for that signal before hitting theirs.
The team tasked with hitting the jungle mechanism had to slog through the wild monkeys and face down the Tree Guardian, but they had enough firepower to deal with it. They were well in position before Kevin and Ian climbed the mountain.
The third team had a bit of a trek to make, but still hit the water region first. They had diving gear with them that we’d had to specifically requisition from the Captain’s boss, but once that hurdle was overcome, their job was pretty straightforward. A couple explosives thrown into the lagoon cleared out the majority of the Swampers and guns did the Water Guardian in.
The Instance we’d selected for this trial run had seven hundred people left according to the Skeleton Key and they’d cheered for nearly five minutes when they saw us walking out of the jungle from the bluffs. True to his promise, Kneer had gotten word to the Jree and this Instance had only seen a small skirmish before the Jree stopped their assault. But with the Jree and Co’xatl holding up in their specific regions, no one was making progress on activating the mechanisms. They’d been waiting around for their leaders to send help.
Luckily for them, help had arrived in the form of me and Captain Dicken’s team. But it just reminded me how important this job was. Most of the humans in the Tower wouldn’t follow the Jree or Co’xatl to the Hold even if they did figure out the trick or get help. Nor would they know out how to get a portal token to escape the Tower. They were stuck. Eventually, they might explore and figure out the trick to this Floor, but even then, there would be deaths—to boulders, region Guardians, or the mobs.
With Kevin and Ian growing more confident and the company as a whole solving their first Instance, we could now separate into three strike teams and start churning through these Instances.
I just hoped it would be enough.