My heart raced as I realized that I'd been found out. I had no idea how she'd known my true stats, but it didn't matter now. There was no point in denying it. "Um, well..." I stammered, "I-I'm kind of new to this, and I've been grinding a lot back in Last Stand, so that's how I got these stats."
Celine stared at me for a moment, her magenta eyes unblinking. "Ah, I see... You're here to farm," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "In that case, let me give you some advice."
As she stepped closer, I could sense an underlying presence to her. She also smelled faintly of flowers.
"You have a very oppressive aura of death around you," Celine whispered, her voice carrying a strange mix of pity and disapproval. "It's... unsettling. If you're going to continue to farm here, you should at least learn to control it. You don't want to attract unwanted attention, do you?"
I stared at her, dumbfounded. "Um, what?"
Celine made a slightly disgusted face. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I can sense countless lives emanating off of you. You're surrounded by death. That strength you wield... it's not entirely yours alone."
Her words sent a shiver down my spine. Was she sensing all the deaths that I went through? My mind thought back to the Hand of Thanatos. Maybe adding to the damage count was also something she picked up. Whatever the case was, this woman could become dangerous to me.
"It's not completely unpleasant," Celine continued, glancing at me with a hint of curiosity. "Your aura of death... it's like a shadow that follows you. Like it's familiar. Or a part of you."
[Ooo, this girl's good. Luquier, she's reading you like a book.]
"You're... not too far off," I admitted to Celine, ignoring Sephera's messages. "Am I safe to assume that your Title enables you to see the truth?"
Celine didn't reply for a while, staring into my eyes. Then, she offered a thin smile.
"I thought you were evil, with that aura of death you had. I was mistaken, so for that, I'm sorry. See you around, Reckless Immortal." With that, she turned and walked away, leaving me speechless.
[x_x]
[You bombed it. I've noticed you're not very good at socializing.]
"Bombed what?!" I shouted at Sephera's message box. "I'm not exactly the most social, but I know how to be normal! The people I've met so far are the ones who are strange!"
I realized that to the other Players, I was basically shouting to myself as they couldn't see Sephera's screens. With my face hot and red, I scurried off to where the green portal to the next floor was at, trying to hide my face from the gazes of the other Players.
When I got there, I saw a couple of other Players loitering around, either taking a break, or looking to party up. I glanced at a nearby virtual clock, realizing that I had come to the rendezvous point ahead of schedule.
[You know... if Tommy gets here and sees you waiting, he might get the wrong idea.]
"Do you not have other Players you can harass?" I hissed back at Sephera's message.
[ >_> Since you got me to Rank 2, I don't need to go any further. Besides, it's a hassle having to continuously pull Players over to clear my tower that now has two floors.]
Oh, my god. This Admin was lazy.
"Are you serious? What about wanting to see Earth not get reset again?"
[I'm still very much wanting that :\ but as I explained before, everyone quit after the tutorial.]
"Wait," It hit me then. "I'm quite literally your first Player?"
[...Yeah ;–;]
"You think that you won't get another Player. Why don't you just change the way your tutorial works?"
[Then they wouldn't turn out as strong as you. Besides, it's too much work. And then what? To advance to Rank 3, I need two clears. Rank 4, three, Rank 5, four, and so on. Eventually I'll also have so many Players to keep track of, I won't have any time to myself. Being an Admin is hard, you know.]
"You- you just sit there! Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I entered your room, you were just sitting on your chair, as if waiting was all you were doing till then. What else do you even do?"
[...]
[You're so rude. Is this how you get when you don't experience pain in a while? :( ]
"I'm so tempted to stop trying to prevent the Earth from being reset right now."
[ >:( ]
I was too busy bickering with Sephera to realize that Tommy had caught up with me. I froze in place, giving him an awkward smile.
"You... good, dude?" Tommy asked hesitantly.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine... just... seeing a bunch of annoying screens." I replied as Sephera began to spam my vision with blue message boxes.
"Quests? Or are you talking to your Admin?"
I stopped trying to clear the blue screens, which paused their spamming, as I glanced at him. "Actually, yeah, I was... talking to my Admin."
"Must be nice," Tommy smiled wistfully. "I talked to my Admin once after clearing the tower and haven't seen a message from him since."
"It's not that nice," I grumbled, causing Sephera to resume her spamming.
"Maybe not for you, but for the Admins who have loads of Players, sometimes it makes the ones who aren't as distinguished feel neglected and alone." Tommy replied quietly, almost sadly.
"Well, you know... I'm here for you, dude. We can party up or whatever, if you want." I offered, feeling a bit guilty for being so dismissive of Sephera.
"Ha, yeah, I'd like that," Tommy grinned at me. "Just like the old times, right?"
I nodded, glancing back at Sephera's messages. "So, ready to move to the 11th floor?"
"Yep," Tommy led the way to the green portal. He glanced back at me over his shoulder. "By the way, you wouldn't mind if my girlfriend comes along too, do you?"
Fucking bastard. He learned that my Admin was heavily involved, so he just had to bring up his girlfriend to get back at me.
"Sure, whatever," I muttered back.
----------------------------------------
As we entered the 11th floor, I found that my prediction was correct. Instead of the dark and dreary dungeons, the floor was covered in a thick layer of snow. Even the trees and the occasional pond had a thin layer of ice over them. The air was crisp and cold, and my breath clouded in front of me as I exhaled. Tommy's girlfriend, Sarah, was waiting for us, dressed in warm winter clothes. She gave me a polite nod as we approached.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Sarah, this is my best friend since grade school, Luquier. Luquier, this my girlfriend, Sarah."
"Nice to meet you," I offered with a half-hearted smile. Sarah extended her hand, which I shook awkwardly.
[Name: Sarah Hullin | Level: 215]
[Title: Apex Hunter (A)]
[Health: 600 | Strength: 105]
[Speed: 105 | Magic: 380]
[Risk: 0 | Stat Points: 0]
[Experience: 88%]
Oh, her stats were similar to Tommy's. Interesting. "So, how did you two meet?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"We were both clearing the 14th floor when we crossed paths," Sarah explained. "He saved me from a group of monsters, and we've been together ever since." She smiled up at Tommy, who blushed slightly and ducked his head.
I ground my teeth with jealousy and annoyance. This fucking bastard.
[LOL. I can sense your jealousy XD.]
Ignoring Sephera's messages, I offered them an awkward smile. "That's... cute! A-anyway, glad to have you join our party."
Sarah nodded. "Thanks for having me."
Tommy slung an arm over her shoulder, grinning at us. "Well, there's no point in standing around. Didn't you want to farm your scythe stats, Luke?"
"Er, yeah," I sighed, taking out the Hand of Thanatos. "Let's go, then?"
"Hold on, let me make it official," Tommy started swiping the air in front of him.
[System alert: Player Tommy Zhen has invited you to his party. Will you accept?]
[Yes | No]
I hit Yes, seeing another series of blue screens pop up.
[You have joined Player Tommy Zhen’s party.]
[Party Leader: Tommy Zhen | Level: 227]
[Sarah Hullin | Level: 215]
[Luquier Vaunt | Level: 17]
"There," Tommy smiled after our party was set up. "Now we’ll share experience even if we don’t participate."
Clever bastard. He turned me into an exp farm.
----------------------------------------
[Name: Snow Troll | Level: 11]
[Health: 400 | Strength: 100]
[Speed: 70 | Magic: 10]
[Name: Frost Fae | Level: 11]
[Health: 200 | Strength: 50]
[Speed: 140 | Magic: 110]
[Name: Ice Giant | Level: 11]
[Health: 550 | Strength: 300]
[Speed: 20 | Magic: 10]
The 11th floor seemed to have mythical ice creatures as the main mobs. Despite the jarring jump in stats, I was still able to quickly cut through the monsters pretty easily, much to the surprise of Sarah.
"You're really good at this, aren't you?" she asked with wonder as I cleared out another group of monsters.
[Hand of Thanatos bonus damage: +584]
"Eh, I've had some practice," I replied evasively. Tommy shot me an inquisitive look, but didn't push the issue. For the next four floors, the two of them simply watched in awe as I easily slew countless winter-themed monsters.
[Hand of Thanatos bonus damage: +876]
"Whew," I wiped my brow, sitting down on a frozen tree stump. Next to me was the portal to the 16th floor, but I needed to catch my breath for the moment. The scaling had significantly shot up, to the point where the monsters were reaching 1000 Health now.
"Jesus, Luke... it took me and Sarah almost a week to clear the 14th floor with a small party," Tommy remarked, shaking his head in awe. "Yet here you are, about to move on to the 16th floor soloing."
I smiled wanly. "Well, I can't take all the credit. My scythe's been ramping up in damage, so that helps out a lot."
I ran the numbers in my head. Adding the extra 876 damage I farmed to the Hand of Thanatos' base 300, that meant that each successful strike dealt 1176 damage. If it wasn't for the Restrictive trait, I would've kept this weapon as my main. The '???' trait was still a mystery, but I figured I'd discover what it did soon enough as long as I kept using this weapon.
"Well, you guys ready to move to the 16th floor?" I asked, standing up. "I'm getting tired of the cold scenery."
"Oh? You already know that the dungeon theme changes on the 16th?" Tommy looked surprised. "I was going to keep it a surprise, but somehow it feels like you've done this already."
[e.e Maybe... you were right about playing a virtual Last Stand.]
I bit back a retort as I smiled. "Yeah, I'm ready for something nice."
The three of us entered the 16th floor, which was a sharp contrast from the winter wonderland we had just left behind. Gone were the ice and snow, replaced by the soft green grass of springtime. The air was warm and fragrant with the scent of flowers. It was almost idyllic, if not for the massive trees that seemed to grow out of the ground, twisting and gnarled like the limbs of ancient, dying beings.
"I'm gonna guess and say you know what kinda monsters are on this floor," Tommy glanced at me wryly.
"Who knows?" I smiled, "Maybe we'll get lucky and run into some tame bunny girls." I had to admit, the thought of taking on the Easter monsters was a bit of a draw. They were supposed to be more cute and cuddly than threatening, but I had a feeling that wouldn't matter much in the dungeon. Last Stand was... a bit of an enigma.
[Name: Bunny Valkyrie | Level: 16]
[Health: 1200 | Strength: 250]
[Speed: 300 | Magic: 50]
[Name: Bunny Soldier | Level: 16]
[Health: 1400 | Strength: 310]
[Speed: 140 | Magic: 20]
A couple of anthropomorphic bunny human hybrids came out of the shadows of the trees, charging at us with weapons.
"Hey, Luke? I'm still good on letting you solo, but Sarah and I are gonna start getting our weapons out just in case things get too overwhelming for you," Tommy said as he nodded towards me. "You know, just in case."
"I get it, you don't have to say it twice," I grumbled, readying my scythe. Tommy pulled out an impressive black steel longsword, whereas Sarah pulled out a military rifle. Wait, what the fuck?
The two of them hung back as I dove into the army of bunny humanoids, tearing through their ranks more easily than expected. Honestly, my scythe only needed two strikes at most to kill them.
It took a bit longer than the previous floors, but I managed to slay the entire army without so much as a scratch, easily evading their weapons and magic.
[Hand of Thanatos bonus damage: +898]
Huh. Not as many mobs this time, but I guess the tradeoff was the increased stat scaling. I glanced back at Tommy and Sarah, who were tense, but relaxed after the fight was over.
"Let's go to the 17th floor," I grinned at them, eager to finally receive any type of reward for my level.
As we entered the green portal to the 17th floor, my excitement bubbled up inside me. Similar to the atmosphere of the 16th floor, it was a lush and vibrant landscape, with trees and flowers in full bloom. The air was warm and humid, carrying the sweet scent of honeysuckle. The grass was soft beneath my feet, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace wash over me.
[System alert: Floor level matches user level. Reassessing...]
[System alert: Floor has been determined too weak for the user. No experience or rewards will be gained.]
I stared at the message screen in disbelief.
"Luquier? You good, bro?" Tommy asked as he and Sarah caught up to me.
"I'm... too strong for this floor," I replied with immense disappointment. "I guess I'll have to actually reach the 20th floor to progress any further."
"Seriously?" Tommy shook his head, half impressed, half in denial. "Sarah and I are able to gain experience on this floor. Maybe stats are also a factor in how rewards are determined."
I considered this for a moment. It made sense, actually. Maybe the tower took into account your stats when it decided how strong enemies should be, or what rewards you should receive. If that was the case, then it was a pretty smart system. That's how it worked in the Last Stand game, anyway.
"Ugh, fuck it," I scowled, gripping my scythe. "I'm just gonna get us to the 20th floor Safe Zone if that's the case."
****
[Name: Luquier Vaunt | Level: 17]
[Title: Reckless Immortal (A)]
[Health: 10000 | Strength: 4305]
[Speed: 4205 | Magic: 4310]
[Risk: 2075 | Stat Points: 0]
[Experience: 86%]
[Skills]
[Divinity (Passive)]
[Holy Element 17/17]
[Death’s Shadow 17/17]
[Reap 17/17]
[Final Gambit 17/17]
[Death Match 1/?]
[Achievements]
[Even Death Can't Stop Me!]
[Pick On Someone Your Own Strength.]
[Untouchable.]
[New Beginnings.]
[Items]
[Silver Serpent]
[Hand of Thanatos (+898)]
[Warp Cube (x1)]