Max stayed up for what felt like the majority of the night. Tiredness slowly overcame him. But not to the anticipated degree. He’d made it a good hour or two longer than he would have usually, in his own estimation. He attributed that to the Endurance enhancing clothes he still wore.
Jamie meanwhile dozed calmly, showing no signs of freezing, though she occasionally twitched in odd ways. When it was time to wake her, she looked refreshed and happy, and a lot less snarky than the previous time.
“Good morning, Max. Looking good,” she greeted barely suppressing a chortle. He could see why, he’d pulled up the overalls to be worn as a scarf, was wearing his own pants as the main pair and only had Jamie’s trousers around one leg, the rest of it dragging behind him. He was wearing the boots though. They barely fit, no doubt causing countless blisters right now. At least he had the benefit that his feet didn’t match the proportions of his remaining body. “You’d fit right into Portland now. Too bad we’re not there currently.”
“Hmmm, anyway. I’m going to sleep. Good night.”
Max fell asleep within a breath. The day had been exhausting, and while the equipment had helped, he’d already been tired before.
It wasn’t long before he woke again, the sun shining in his face.
“Morning Jamie. “
“Hey. I need to show you something, it’s important,” she said while pulling his shirt of her torso.
“The lewdness revealed at last. But the tempress’ efforts were easily overcome, thanks to the hero’s steadfast mind and honorable character.”
“I’m being serious, look.” She pointed were there had previously been scab over the area the size of her hand. Now only red skin remained, no further injuries visible. She began stretching without contorting in pained expressions as previously.
“What if sleep is a mood. I mean if it counts for my trait. I’m sure you heard about REM sleep in school and how it boosts mental regeneration. What if that applies to the whole body and is somehow boosted. It makes sense. Sort of anyway. Especially if you consider that basically nothing happened during the last day.”
“I have heard a bit at least. I’m glad you are better. And if you assumptions are correct, that’s even better. Does that mean you are in full fighting spirit? Ready to go to the next floor?”
“As good as it gets. Especially if you have my stuff for me.”
Max pulled off her shoes and trousers, handing them to her – the twelve hours both of the pieces needed had passed. Jamie put both on, giving her the ability to see their statistics.
“Damn, nice. Those are some good passives. Even if my feet aren’t in as dire a need of protection as my upper body and head are, they are getting some good support. But this is awesome. Might just not die the next time we encounter something tough. Thanks Max. I appreciate it. Next topic. Have you considered what you want to allocate your stat point into?”
“I’ve done some thinking, but I’m honestly not sure. I sort of want to do Soul, if it really does what we think it does. But Perception is also interesting given what you’ve mentioned about it. I get a good amount of Agility and Might from my equipment, and only it and Endurance are not represented by items yet. I feel like endurance should be easier to come by – give your stuff.”
“Yeah, I feel much the same, but you’ve got the ring, and unless you are willing to part with it, I’ll go the Soul direction. In the hope that it slightly boosts my skills, abilities, and trait. Screw it. I won’t know unless I try it.”
Max followed her sentiment and had allocated his stat point into Perception. Looking over his status while they were having left-overs from the previous night’s meal.
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The most growth had certainly been in his stats since the previous day, but both Sprint and Hurl had upgraded during the day. He was confident in saying that the Novice tier of Sprint doubled his speed now compared to sprinting without it active. And he could sprint for roughly a minute. That was not all, his base speed had increased as well, thanks to both his Might and Agility increasing.
The Novice tier of Hurl was a lot simpler. I just added more power and helped him throw more precisely. Every level zero or lower monster had died to a single hurl. Reducing the time some encounters took by a good margin.
> Status:
>
> Max 57341 of Earth
> The Crawl – 1
> Dungeons – 0/1
> Boss – 4/?
>
> Stats:
>
> Might – 5
> Endurance – 4
> Agility – 6
> Soul – 5
> Perception – 4
>
> Traits:
>
> Primal
> Equipment Mastery (Beginner)
>
> Skills:
>
> Pitchfork Wielding (Novice)
> Running (Novice)
> Academics (Novice)
> - Biology (Beginner)
> Climbing (Beginner)
> Pattern Recognition (Beginner)
>
> Abilities:
>
> Analyze (Beginner)
> Sprint (Novice)
> Hurl (Novice)
>
> Items:
>
> Resilient Human Workman Attire (Uncommon) (1/3)
> - Steel Overall of Wanderflux (Salient) – Level 0
> Expedite Workman Attire (Uncommon) (2/3)
> - Trousers of the Divide (Salient) – Level 0
> - Swift Striders (Uncommon) – Level 1 MAX
> Dung Sweeper (Salient) – Level 2 MAX
> Fearful Silver Ring (Uncommon) – Level 1 MAX
>
> Quests:
>
> Floor Advancement – Reach a pathway to the second floor.
> Eradication – Clear 5/5 monster nests permanently – Completed
> Trophy Hunter – Defeat 12/1 aberrant Monster. 4/1 mini-boss. 0/1 local boss. 0/1 regional boss.
“I really don’t want to give the overalls back,” Max chuckled. “I know, I know. You’ll get them. Don’t worry. Shall we make our way then?”
Jamie – wearing Max’s overalls – and Max – wearing Jamie’s overalls – fell in step next to each other as they made the final few hills to the next floor. Hopefully there will be an elevator.
They ignored the remaining monster camps they had found on their way, keeping a lookout only for the wolf pack they had seen previously. It would be the only encounter they would consider. Odds were that there would be an aberrant or mini-boss that could finalize Max’s Expedited Workman attire.
Three hills later the sun was completely obstructed by the structure that had seemingly no end. It was not the only thing they noticed though. One hill over, walking parallel to them was a small heard of wolves. Whether it was the group they had seen before was impossible to tell, but both bet on it. Max and Jamie didn’t need to, to know that they were their last encounter before entering the next floor.
They approached casually, both confident in their abilities. Jamie had two casts of her ignite ability ,before the strain grew borderline painful, by now. She could squeeze out a third, but that would seriously hinder her combat ability.
“I could use the boots,” Max offered.
“I’m not going to say no to the slaughter you’ve previously caused, but I’d keep it as a backup plan. I think we might be able to take on five wolves without it.”
They snuck closer, fully aware that they would be spotted before reaching an advantageous position.
Max managed to analyze the creatures halfway.
> Roaming Wolf – Monster – Level 3
>
> Fleetrunner – Monster – Level 7 – Roaming Boss
“It says ‘Roaming Boss’ level seven, not Mini-Boss,” he whispered. The response came swiftly, hushed, and accompanied by Jamie dragging him away.
“Uhm, that sounds potentially bad. And too strong.”
They retreated before making their way further to the spire. Before long they were standing right below the gigantic ivory structure.
Max’s comprehension of the structure diminished with each second, he spent staring at it. Impossible facets, carvings, and imagery accumulated on the side, but no indication of an entrance or something similar. Even his now slightly heightened perception was not able to grant him insight into the microscopic structure that made up the surface of the building. Nor did it help him understand how the spire could be entirely concave yet still appear as a circle.
They stood there, both in awe and confusion, softly touching and inspecting the reality defying structure.
“Let’s find the entry,” Max spoke up after who knew how many minutes.
“Ok,” his friend responded, without taking her hands of the surface or stepping away.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, it’s just soo smooth. It feels so level, even though I can clearly see protrusions.”
“You sound like you’re high,” he chuckled. “Let’s go.”
A hand to her shoulder got her to disregard the structure and follow Max around the building, away from where the wolves had been. They kept their eyes open for anything that resembled an entrance.
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