When Ray woke up next morning, he found that most of the host was gone. They had begun moving out. Since they were the far larger party, it would take some time for them to reach their destination. Ray could move much faster.

It had been a while since he had last checked his Status. He had come so far since then.

[Status]

Raymond Dominick

Race: Human

Class: Spirit Carver [Epic] [Tier 3]

Vocation: Tower Conqueror [Epic]

Path: Lifeblood Chaos [Legendary]

Level: 41 [41,360/150,700]

True Mana: 3,544

Origin Mana: 394

Recovery: 1,664

Perks: Riotous Life, Carving Affinity

Gear

Raiment: Adamantine Mana Vestments

Footwear: Drakescale Boots

Headwear: Unseen Feathered Headband

Handwear: Supple Gloves

Accessory: Mana Infuser Ring

Accessory: Silver True Mana Bracelet

Accessory:

Armament: Valorous Back Shield

Armament: Talisman of Greater Scourge [Tier 5]

Armament: Talisman of Life [Tier 5]

Stats

Vitality: 122 [+44] [Tier 2]

Resilience: 4 [+10] [Tier 1]

Strength: 4 [Tier 1]

Agility: 50 [+10] [Tier 1]

Intellect: 275 [+230] [Tier 4]

Spirit: 249 [+145] [Tier 3]

Reputation

Knowledgeable: 2,202 [Intellect boost: +45]

Chaotic: 215 [15% Insanity (Tier 4) buildup]

Tenacious: 90 [Vitality boost: +10]

Indomitable: 85 [Resilience boost: +10]

Cunning: 145 [8% critical chance]

Thorough: 55 [Pierce Tier 2 defences]

Benevolent: 110 [Refunds 15th spell Mana cost]

Heroic: 70 [+10 to all stats when foe stronger]

Ruthless: 150 [15% bonus damage]

Cooperative: 60 [+10 to all stats in a party]

Hallow: 60 [Removes first True Mana cost in an encounter]

Devout: 20

Adept: 50 [10% bonus Essence from Objective completion]

Spells

Soulstrike [Offensive] [Tier 4]

Primordial Gauge [Utility] [Passive] [Tier 5]

Spiritsorb [Offensive] [Utility] [Tier 3]

Lifeblood Graveyard [Passive] [Tier 10]

Primal Spiritcraft [Summoning] [Tier 5]

Mottling Spiritguard [Barrier] [Tier 3]

Soullife Cloak [Utility] [Tier 6]

Lifeblood Soulform [Summoning] [Tier 6]

Spectral Step [Utility] [Tier 5]

Project Presence [Utility] [Tier 5]

Anima Charybdis [Offensive] [Tier 5]

Spiritscourge Chain [Offensive] [Tier 6]

Deathlife Corral [Offensive] [Tier 5]

Skills

Goliath Eater [Buff] [Tier 4]

Dual Wield [Tier 3]

Killer Instinct [Passive] [Tier 2]

Adaptive Breath [Passive] [Tier 3]

True Mana Skill

Vengeful Plunder [Utility] [Tier 3]

Abstract Conversion [Tier 3]

Origin Mana Skills

Origin Resonance [Tier 6]

Core Deconstruction [Tier 5]

Ah. So good to see actual proof of just how far he had come.

“Is it time?” one of the Infected asked.

Ray nodded. He turned, then stopped. Then he smiled. “You’re him! Adrian.”

Adrian did not smile, though the compressed lines around his eyes did lighten up a bit. “Good to see you again. We meet once more in momentous times.”

“That we do.” He hadn’t realized the only one of the Infected he had met personally was going to be in his squad for the operation. “I hope you’re ready, Adrian.”

“I am ready for anything. Even death.”

Ray wished he could discount that, but there was no telling who would survive. The ones accompanying Ray weren’t going towards victory, not for themselves, individually.

They were simply united in one common cause—the defeat of the Everstead.

There were about twenty or thirty of the Infected who had stayed behind. Almost a hundred times that number had gone ahead with Kredevel. The ones with Ray were all ready and armed, though, waiting for his signal.

“It’s time we got going,” Ray said. “We’ll need to move fast.”

“And we’ll need to hit hard,” Adrian said.

“That we will…”

Hitting hard needed numbers, something they still lacked a lot. Especially since the addition of the Infected wasn’t truly that huge as most of them didn’t retain the use of their abilities. Their System-access was still locked due to the Flesh Plague.

The only last thing Ray could think of was the Tower Node of the Marauder. There was no way it would work, but he found himself trying all the same after finding a private a spot. The ceramic crystal floated into being before him, glimmering as ever. Ray closed his eyes, concentrated on his exact location, and imagined the Feathered Imps rushing through the First Floor and up the Cliffs of the Second.

Nothing of the sort happened. No Imps arrived to miraculously raise their numbers. It was silly to think they would appear here in such a short time, so far away from the caves Ray had made his way through so long ago.

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But what really convinced him that there would be no Feathered Imps arriving to bolster their numbers was the fact that Ray himself had been transported.

Straight into the presence of the Marauder.

“You know,” the Paragon said. “I have a feeling you planned this little meeting.”

“Who, me?” Ray waved a hand. It was nice to see he was corporeal enough to manifest his whole physical body in this instance of meeting a Paragon. “Please. I’ve got my hands full dealing with a whole-ass kingdom. I don’t have time to schedule impromptu meetings with Paragons.”

Ray looked around. Unlike their last meeting, they were now in some kind of palace-like building. Everything was a little too bright for him to make out anything specific, but he got the impression of a sparkling waterfall, of windows that looked like they were next to a sun, of furniture and statues built from pure gold that picked up the light and shone brilliantly.

He was glad his eyes weren’t present physically enough to blind him.

“Do you mean to say you’re not pleased to see me?” the Marauder asked with a little pout.

The Paragon himself was the same weird and ever-changing combination of small blocks from hundreds, probably thousands, of creatures. Ray did note that the Marauder was lounging back on a divan like some kind of ancient Babylonian god.

“I don’t know,” Ray said. “Would you be pleased to meet someone who lied to your face?”

The Marauder tutted. “What lie could I have possibly uttered in your astute presence, Ray?”

“Not once, in all the talks we’ve had, did you ever mention that carrying your Tower Node to a different section of the Tower would be raising your influence within the Tower.”

“I’m curious. Who told you such a thing?”

Ray crossed his arms. “What’s it to you? The point is that your influence is now super high. You can probably do a lot more than you’ve told me you could. Only question remains is when you’re going to act and what you’re waiting for.”

The Marauder remained silent, content to stare at Ray for a while with dozens upon dozens of different eyes. “Tell me, Ray, why would I act when I have someone like you to act for me?”

Ray’s face blanched. Great, he was present enough in this strange domain to show expressions.

That line… he didn’t have to think long to recall where he had last heard it. “You know who I learned it from, huh? What was the point in asking, then?” What he really wanted to ask was how the Marauder had even found out, but Paragons probably had channels he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

“Simply testing whether you would be receptive to an open and fruitful conversation after dragging us into this little meeting,” the Marauder said. “You would do well to remember that you are talking with a Paragon.”

“Am I supposed to feel threatened now?”

“Don’t take it as a threat. Take it as a reminder. You yourself have been neglecting the Tower Nodes, to some extent. Your enemies, however, have not.”

It was a little galling to think the Marauder knew who Ray’s enemies were supposed to be. But then, if he knew Ray had spoken with the Fleshcrafter, it was a safe bet to assume that he had a good idea of who Ray was working against here.

“Are you saying the Everstead have something to do with Tower Nodes?” Ray asked.

No, that was a stupid question. Ray already had proof of that. He had seen Mary stealing a Tower Node from the top of the first spire. He had seen the “socket” where a Tower Node should have been surrounded by Lostcallers, creatures the Everstead controlled.

“Let me ask a different question,” Ray said. “What do the Everstead have to do with Tower Nodes? I know the Floor Lord has at least one in her possession too.”

The Marauder simply tutted. “If I knew everything, there wouldn’t be much point in this conversation, now would it? After all, we aren’t meeting so that I can perform the role of encyclopaedia for you. The real issue is what you will do about it.”

Ray looked around. He noted the droplets of water splitting the light into little rainbows, the furniture gleaming everywhere, the windows shining like they were made of pure light.

He turned back to the Marauder. “Are you invested in them?”

“The Everstead? Such a curious question. Hmm…” The Marauder actually took a minute to think. “You know, I think I am.”

“Why?” Ray focused his stare, his near-glare, on the godlike being before him. He remembered well what the Marauder had said about why he was helping Ray. A conqueror was no different from a thief. “Because they remind you of you?”

The Marauder laughed. He cracked up so hard that his whole form flickered, all the different blocks changing so rapidly that it got too difficult to even look at him.

“How astute of you, Ray,” the Paragon said. “You’re getting close to the truth, I think.”

“A truth you know, or at least suspect, but won’t tell me.”

“You already know as far as I do. The Everstead are not what they seem. Which means what they seem is something that they have taken from others.” The Marauder stood up all of a sudden. He spread his arms wide, a beatific smile of a hundred different creatures stretching across his face. “Come now, they have taken this whole Floor.”

“You sound very appreciative of a group who are supposed to be my enemies.”

“Once can appreciate the audacity in anyone.”

The Marauder sat back down, apparently done being excited for now. There was something about it all that still bothered Ray, though. Something that he hadn’t figured out yet, from all these little conversations.

Something that he was being kept from.

“What is that you want, Marauder?” Ray asked. “The Fleshcrafter wants a Flesh Plague to take over everyone. But what about you? Would you like everyone to turn into Feathered Imps?”

Again, the Marauder laughed. “No, no, that would be too boring. Plus, those Imps don’t even listen to me. Why would I want even more mindless monsters who can’t follow commands.”

“Well, I for sure am not following any command.”

“Perhaps not, but you can negotiate.”

“Alright, that’s it. You’re done distracting me.” Ray tried to make himself look as firm and unyielding as possible. “What do you want here, Marauder? Not on this Floor. In the whole Tower of Forging. What’s your real goal?”

“Think about it for a moment, Ray. I’m sure it will come to you. You’re a smart man, after all.”

For all the talk about smartness, Ray was getting a little tired of the patronizing. Nevertheless, the Marauder was right. Ray had no trouble figuring out just what this Paragon could want. He already had a lot of theories. “Figuring it out isn’t enough. I’ve already got ideas. What I really want is confirmation.”

“Take, take, take. You have taken so much, Ray. But that’s good. Because you and I, we are much alike.”

“I’ve got a good feeling I’m nothing like you. But I think I’m starting to get the confirmation I was hoping for…”

“Have you now?” The Maruader’s smile was as sharp as a jagged knife. “Here, allow me to give you a greater confirmation…”

The world started folding. Literally. As Ray gawked, everything around him turned into the same blocks that made up the Paragon himself. The furniture broke into even pieces, the water turned into icelike cubes, the windows became smaller panes.

Then they all folded in on themselves before spitting Ray and the Marauder out into space.

Ray stared. He was definitely in outer space. There was the moon, grey and pitted with craters. Then he noted the Earth and gasped.

The whole planet was covered by… by Towers. They weren’t all the same. Some stood taller than others, some were wide and pyramidal, while others were narrow. A few were a shade of black so dark, they looked like staring into nothingness. Others were so brilliantly bright, they would have put the Marauder’s windows to shame.

They were all more or less evenly spaced. Ray didn’t spot the Tower of Forging. He was looking down at what looked like Asia. Huh. There was one Tower that was tall enough to have brushed low earth orbit satellites. Was that a Tower stronger than the Tower of Forging?

Actually, how tall was Ray’s Tower supposed to be? He recalled the giant Eternal Guardian taking him through the clouds, so it certainly wasn’t short.

“Is this something you can just do on a whim as a Paragon?” Ray asked. “Just magically take whoever and whatever you want into space?”

“Cosmic Projection is certainly a very powerful Innate Trait,” the Marauder said. “Though not all my kind possess it. But regardless, we have places to be and things to see. Let’s go!”

Let’s go indeed. At the Marauder’s words, the vista of the universe that Ray was standing witness to shifted. He had been taken to a completely different planet.

Ray would have looked around to see what kind of a system he was occupying, but his eyes were more drawn to the Towers on the planet. The Marauder had brought them a lot closer to the surface than they had been near Earth.

“See that?” the Paragon asked.

How could Ray not see it? There was a giant Tower before him. This one was ruddy, its walls made of a strange, gleaming red stone he hadn’t seen before.

It was what lay at the top of the Tower that really caught Ray’s attention.

A palace. A huge, shining edifice. Columns that glowed with their own light, fountains that sprayed rainbow mist, windows that glowed like they were the sources of light instead of just a medium for the external light to enter through.

“That’s… a Paragon’s palace?”

Ray had framed it like a question, but every word he said made him more certain that the answer was a yes. He had just been in the Maruader’s home. He had seen the exact same details there.

“Correct,” the Marauder confirmed. “A Paragon’s palace. At the top of a Tower. I believe she calls it the Tower of Bloodletting.”

“Gruesome.”

“Indeed. Now come, we have more to see.”

Ray had questions, but he was forced to keep his mouth shut as they travelled through the cosmos again. Another planet, smaller this time, a lot bluer. Like a miniature Neptune. This one had a Tower too, a column of twisted rock that was thicker at the base but grew slimmer as it spiralled upward.

Ray’s eyes widened. Spiralling growth… “No way.”

The Marauder’s many mouth-blocks all smiled. “Ah, it appears you recognize it. I knew you were quick on the uptake.”

“That’s a Tower made of Growth Mana.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say made of it. The System had already constructed the Tower long before it was claimed.”

“Claimed… by the Sylvans. By—”

Ray cursed. He was sure he had heard the god—no, the Paragon—that the Sylvans swore by. What was the name?

“By the Burgeoner, to be precise, yes,” the Marauder said. “Yet another Tower taken over by a Paragon.”

“Taken over, huh.”

“Yes. But you are still missing the true detail.”

The true detail? Ray looked closer, trying to see what he was supposedly missing. There was just that Tower, covered in Growth Mana, rising out of the blue murk of the planet. He tried to find any specific details the Marauder might have been hinting. It was like a very wild game of Where’s Waldo.

“Don’t you see it?” The Marauder asked, sounding truly puzzled. “Oh, I thought you possessed the ability.”

“What ab—”

Ray cut off his question himself when he realized the answer. Ability. Of course.

He used Primordial Gauge. It was strange to think he could use one of his spells in this weird instance where he wasn’t even fully present. But he could. That was what mattered.

As Primordial Gauge came into play, he focused its ability to let his eyes see Mana.

And oh boy, was there a lot of Mana.

The whole blue planet was suffused with it. Glowing streams of magical energy threaded through the surface of the world like oceans of light.

Way back, when Kredevel had said that the civilization of the Sylvans literally ran on Mana, Ray had assumed they used it much like people used electricity. Now, looking at what had to be the Sylvans’ home world, he was pretty sure Mana was involved in every single aspect of their lives and more. They probably breathed it in too. It already existed as fruit, after all.

But the most curious detail was the fact that all the streams of light were being directed towards the Tower. Like the spokes of a wheel, the streams coagulated at the base of the Tower, filling it up with blinding, ferocious light.

“It’s drawing in all the Mana,” Ray said. “The Burgeoner is drawing in all the Mana.”

“Exactly.” The Marauder said. “The Paragon that the Sylvans favour now holds complete dominion over all the Mana, both in amount and in all the variety that exists on the Sylvans’ home. And it is not just this world that the Burgeoner sits atop of. The Sylvans have conquered many a world for their rapacious, would-be god.”

“And you want something similar? A planet of your own you can draw Mana from?”

The Marauder tutted. “Must you always assume the worst? Can I not simply seek to stop a different Paragon from taking over a world instead of focusing on putting myself in said Paragon’s place?”

Ray screwed his eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t fully believe that.”

The Marauder shrugged. One of his shoulder blocks turned into a large, horned version, which only exaggerated the motion even more.

Ray realized their conversation was drawing to a close. He still had one last thing he wanted to know, however. “Where’s yours?”

“Mine?”

“The Towers you’ve already taken over.”

His question was answered with only a smile. That was all the answer Ray needed, if he was being honest. Whether the Marauder already had one or more Towers or not—surely he had to have, he was a Paragon after all—he was intent on making the Tower of Forging his.

“Farewell, Ray, and good luck,” the Marauder said. “Don’t forget the power of Tower Nodes. In fact…”

One of the blocks making up the Paragon slowly floated over to Ray. It blinked in front of him before disappearing into a sliver a light that entered his being.

“What was that?” Ray asked.

The Marauder began disappearing too. “Call it a parting gift, if you will. Something to help you take what you need when the time comes…”

“That’s the most cryptic, useless answer I’ve ever—”

And then Ray disappeared to reappear back where he was standing. He sighed. At least something about the Marauder’s last words stuck with him. The Paragon had been very specific about one detail. He hadn’t mentioned Ray’s Tower Nodes specifically. Just Tower Nodes in general.

Tower Nodes that his enemies might possess.

Around him, his little troop were preparing to move. Even Adrian was gone, standing at the head of the group to get going.

Ray took a deep breath and stepped up to the front as well, nodding at Adrian.

“Alright,” he said. “Let’s go beat the Everstead.”