The new options for gear that Ray got were definitely interesting, though not what Ray had expected.

[Gear Selection]

Gloves of Desperate Flight [Tier 6]

When your Recovery falls below 20%, the Gloves of Desperate Flight will boost all your movement speed by 10% and enhance your airborne movement speed by 15%.

Unseen Feathered Headband [Tier 7]

Fully transparent headband of invisible feathers that regenerate Mana so long as the feathers are not still. Mana is regenerated at a rate of 300 per minute.

Winged Sandals [Tier 7]

Sandals that allow far greater aerial mobility, even without wings.

Far away from the dungeon now, Ray could take his time with his options. Interesting that the System wasn’t asking him to “choose wisely”. Maybe he was no longer as new of a Denizen as he had been before. No need for the same sort of handholding.

Despite the distance, it still took a little while for his body to settle down, to stop feeling like he was in danger. His skin only stopped itching and he stopped feeling jerky at every noise after at least an hour had passed. Even distracting himself with his rewards and other System stuff hadn’t really helped.

Nevertheless, Ray did his best to be productive.

He really wished he could have tried out some of the gear instead of picking whatever looked right. For instance, what was up with those sandals? The description was very bare bones, yet with its Tier at 7, Ray was pretty certain the benefits it provided would be fantastic.

Sometimes, he didn’t really get the System. His spells were often pretty descriptive, which necessitated less need for testing at times. That was a benefit Ray appreciated.

But now…

Not that it mattered. Greater mobility was never going to trump the sheer near-broken usefulness of the Drakescale Boots. His bonus Intellect was tremendously high only because of the Knowledge Reputation gain provided by his boots. Unless something incredibly powerful came up, Ray wasn’t about to switch them out.

The gloves were interesting, but again, highly situational. Ray wasn’t looking forward to any time when his Recovery went down that low.

Plus, despite the rather passive bonus from his current gloves, they were pretty helpful. He was pretty sure the reason he hadn’t needed to use even more Mana crystals than he already had was because of the Supple Gloves and his Benevolent Reputation refunding Mana costs regularly.

Which meant both of those would pair tremendously well with the Unseen Feathered Headband.

A part of him considered he would probably look silly with it on, but it wasn’t like he looked like he belonged on the cover of Vogue with the Wyvern Helm on. The real concern was whether he was willing to sacrifice some extra defence for more Mana.

Ray tended not to get hit often. In extreme battles, like against Derrick Orden or other powerful opponents, the Resilience boost from the Helm came in handy. But in most situations, Ray relied more on his mobility, and his growing repertoire of abilities hinged on taking his enemies out from range.

When he picked the headband, the choice window disappeared and his new gear appeared with a shimmer. Or, it was supposed to appear, but Ray saw nothing.

Unseen. Hmm. Ray reached out his hand and felt it floating before him.

Incredible. It really was an almost entirely invisible headband. If he squinted and twisted his head at just the right angle, he could see the air and light warping around it. But for all intents and purposes, it really did go fully unseen.

The material felt stretchy in his hand, the feathers small and soft. Everair were generally pretty big. Ray remembered facing them in that war scenario dungeon. Shouldn’t their feathers have been bigger as well?

Considering for a moment longer, Ray replaced his Gold Wyvern Helm with the Unseen Feathered Headband.

It felt strange. His head was a lot lighter without the helm on. The feathers lightly brushing the sides and back of his skull ought to have felt ticklish but just… didn’t. At least it was easier to move his head around now. Not that it had been that hard with the Helm on.

Ray tested his new Gear’s effects. After a few Chaos Chymifies depleted a small chunk of his total capacity, he let his Mana regenerate.

It turned out all motion counted towards causing the Feathered Headband to refill his Mana store. Ray shook his head, moved about generally, even flapped his hand next to his head. Every single one of those actions, and more, all made the invisible feathers flutter. Even if the motion was small, almost imperceptible, the headband continued regenerating his Mana.

Ray laughed. Alright, this had the potential to be quite incredible. If basically any motion at all would make the headband work its magic, then Ray would essentially always have the regenerative effect to count on.

With that done, all that was left for Ray to take care of was the Tier point. He plugged it into Lifeblood Crucible.

At Tier 8, he now had eight slots in total to store his Soul Aspects. That ought to be enough for his purposes. Since Ray wanted to eventually test if recreating an entire Brighthorn might assist in making his way through the First Floor and advancing to the Second, he now had everything in his toolkit.

Well, except for the relevant Soul Aspects themselves. But he could acquire those in short order. He had the head and the limbs already. All that was left was to obtain the torso.

Going through all his System matters had helped calm him down, though the very last thing he ought to check made his anxiety spike again. Such an unruly sensation. He understood where it was coming from.

Facing a Tier 18, level 62 monster, a creature so beyond him, had shaken him in a way he couldn’t even properly articulate. It was the helplessness. He might have escaped with his life, but facing and defeating the Eternal Guardian? Even with Goliath Eater, he was almost certain that was basically impossible at his current state.

Ray relegated the anxiety to some far corner of his mind and called on the Tower Node again. It shimmered into being, a ceramic diamond with the small pipes on the upper faces.

“I used you,” he said. “Yet you never really answered my call. Why is that?”

That was how all the Tower Nodes he had acquired had worked so far. He used them, sometimes tried to overuse them, which then led to getting touch with the associated Paragon.

Ray had no reason to contact this Songstress, but the fact that he had felt nothing extraplanar from it made him curious. The Marauder had called the Mentor apathetic and uncaring. What in the world made this Songstress then? Dead? Could Paragons even die?

He figured thoughts like that were kind of blasphemous. Although, that begged the question of whether any of these Paragons were worshipped like gods anywhere.

Sadly, Ray also hadn’t received any skills from the new Tower Node. He supposed it made sense. The last time, he’d had the True Mana skill reward from the True Mana dungeon. He would have to acquire another one of those to make use of newer Tower Nodes.

None of that was Ray’s real concern. Two things made him wary at that moment. One was whether just having the Tower Node of the Songstress in his possession would call in the Eternal Guardian. Could that gargantuan monster sense the Tower Node’s location, or had it targeted the airship itself? Well, Ray was likely to find out before long.

The other concern was what exactly the Floor Lord could have been planning with it. That was actually the more concerning worry, if he was being honest.

That dying Sylvan’s words suggested the Handler was gathering all the old tech for some master plan. Clearly, that included collecting the relevant Tower Nodes as well. Ray could see the benefit of this Tower Node. Who wouldn’t want the ability to control a monster like the Eternal Guardian?

But what about the other tech? What was the purpose behind everything else the Floor Lord was gathering.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Ray recalled Kredevel’s hint that the Handler was seeking the secrets of the First Floor. Clearly, those secrets were related to the Everair.

Also related to Derrick Orden and his Wild Tides in some way, going by what the defector had said about the Wild Tides targeting specific areas and dungeons. Derrick must have come to some sort of deal to help the Floor Lord. What were he and the Wild Tides receiving in return?

All in all, Ray was missing a few specific clues that tied the whole picture together. When or where he would find those clues was anyone’s guess. He ought to focus on levelling—

Wait, no. What Ray ought to focus on was exhausting every possible route of acquiring information.

As he rested while keeping an eye out to see if the Eternal Guardian materialized in the distance, Ray called his companions.

First off was Kredevel. Ray didn’t hide anything. He knew his Sylvan friend had compunctions against the brutal murder of his fellows, but Ray didn’t want to lie. Kredevel understood it, though it was hard to tell from plain text just what he felt about it.

Kredevel: News has reached us about the Tier 8 dungeon. News about you, Ray.

Ray: Already? That was fast.

Kredevel: One of them sent a message though the chat over an hour ago. As far as I was able to tell, they are still considering their plan going forward. Regardless, you have placed yourself in far greater danger.

Ray: Forget about me for a sec. Were you able to figure out what the exact plan of the Floor Lord’s is? What did the Sylvans want with the Songstress Tower Node?

Kredevel: I do not know the specifics, unfortunately. I have heard that the Halftyr merchant met with the Floor Lord himself. Nothing beyond that. But a Tower Node…

Virko, huh? That was curious.

Ray: Does the Tower Node ring a bell?

Kredevel: Ring a bell? Oh, that’s an idiom. How curious. But anyway, yes, gathering the right Tower Nodes to perform the right combination of actions can certainly lead to a variety of results that might interest the Handler. Which of these results he might be after depends on the exact Tower Nodes he has been gathering.

Ray: And you don’t know which they are, I suppose.

Kredevel: I will see if I can find out. But to return to my original warning—consider what your next move will be, Ray.

Ray: I know, I’m thinking. Do you have an overall picture of what the Sylvans’ plan going forward is going to be?

Kredevel: ‘Tis simple. So far as I have surmised, the Floor Lord has thus far kept the Sylvans quiescent because he wishes them to attend to the fruition of his plan. However, he can only keep this up for so long. With the failure of the Wild Tides and now this failure to retrieve the Tower Node, the Sylvans will likely push for a direct confrontation.

Ray wasn’t sure at first how his prevention of the Sylvans getting the Tower Node was supposed to have sped up their desire to act. But then, from the Sylvans’ perspective, he was turning out to be an ever more dangerous pest. They had to stop him.

And if any of the other humans turned out to be even half as troublesome, the Sylvans’ supremacy on the First Floor would be called into question.

That was likely why they were angling to move directly against the Insurge Faction. Ray had unwittingly hastened the destruction of Maya’s Faction. If they ended up facing the Sylvan’s entire might directly.

Ray: Isn’t this going too far? Aren’t the Sylvans here to guide the Denizens, not kill them?

Kredevel: You know they blame you for the deaths of the Brighthorns. It is clearly justified to act against you and your fellows, so long as you continue to resist.

Ray: I understand. But if the Sylvans killed all the Denizens, then that’s basically a failure on their part to carry out the System’s orders.

Kredevel was silent for a moment before answering.

Kredevel: Perhaps it is. But it is also quite evident that the System does not care as greatly about every Denizen getting an equal opportunity. In fact, I would not be surprised if the ones who have made it to the Second Floor already are deemed enough.

That was a troubling thought. Ray would have liked to know more, but Kredevel was not the person to ask about the System’s inner workings.

Ray: Why did the Floor Lord stop them from acting so far?

Kredevel: Because he wished to keep enough of the Sylvans handy to perform his tasks, likely related to securing any other Tower Nodes and anything else he needs. That was likely why he tasked me with the Marauder’s Caves originally.

Ray: To take me out and retrieve the Marauder’s Tower Node. But he didn’t tell you that directly. You ever wonder just how many of the other Sylvans actually know what their superior’s plan is?

Kredevel didn’t reply for a while. Maybe it was settling in that the Handler seemed to be out here for his own ends entirely.

Kredevel: They will likely come after you directly, Ray. They will search for you to bring you to heel. What will you do when they find you?

What would Ray do? What could he do? So far, he had been the aggressor against almost all the Sylvans he had faced. He had started most of the fights on his terms, had been able to carry out various plans against them without any great hitches. That had been a major part of his victories against them.

But what if the odds were stacked against him? What he if was the hunted now, the ambush predator now turned into the prey? Forced to play to someone else’s tune for a change.

Ray: I need to think about it. It’s all still a bit vague. If you can find out more specifics, that would be great.

Kredevel: I will do my best, and I will certainly warn you when they move.

Ray: Thank you. You’re invaluable, you know that? I don’t think I’d have come this far this quickly without your help.

Another little pause from Kredevel. This time, maybe he hadn’t expected Ray to be so upfront with his appreciation.

Kredevel: Sometimes, I question if I made the right decision. Sometimes, I don’t know if your reassurances are actually good. But if there is one thing I have learned, it is that I must prioritize myself and my own needs far more than I have done so far. As you said, I deserve better.

It was Ray’s turn to be silent. He had known that Kredevel still held some reticence about acting against his own kind. Sylvans weren’t like humans. To them, the idea of taking up arms against their own, much less killing each other in cold blood, was difficult to comprehend.

Ray: I understand. Or at least, I’m trying to. But that’s what I’m trying to do here. Find the balance between prioritizing myself and my goals but not giving up entirely to my… obligations, I guess you could call it? I don’t have the spoons to find a more positive word for it.

Kredevel: Spoons?

Ray: Uh, just another idiom for mental energy.

Kredevel: Obligations, you say? As a human, as a friend, or as a fellow new Denizen?

Ray: Maybe a bit of everything.

Kredevel: I see. Thank you, that is far better than blind reassurance and platitudes. It’s always good to find some common ground.

Ray felt a strange warmth in his heart as they ended their chat for now. It had almost been freeing to admit all that to Kredevel, to voice the background thoughts about his experience in the Tower that he was yet to fully actualize.

“Ha, take that, Gritty,” he said, grinning. “I think I just found my therapist.”

Though, if anything, he had helped Kredevel as much as he had helped himself. Mutual therapy, if there was such a thing.

With that talk done, Ray decided to poke Maya.

She informed him that things were all well and good at the Base, that she and the others had been busy planning. They had settled on what they were going to do. However well they might have dealt with the Wild Tides, repeating that feat against the Sylvans was going to be orders of magnitude more difficult.

In fact, conducting the same kind of drawn out battle and defending a siege of their keep was going to be basically impossible. The general strength disparity was too great.

So, they were trying to flesh out a different plan.

Ray understood it. While he might be strong enough now to take down the average Sylvan—and perhaps Gritty and a few others as well—the vast majority of people were far weaker. The Sylvans were not only stronger in terms of the levels, abilities, and Paths they possessed. They were trained warriors. They would wipe the floor with the new Denizens.

Maya: So we decided we’re going to take the fight to them. Draw them out, whittle them down piecemeal, basically conduct guerilla warfare.

Ray: I like that. Hit them where it hurts and overwhelm the odds in your favour.

Maya: Exactly. We just need to iron out how exactly we’ll do that.

Ray: Need to be fast, though. I don’t know how long you have left.

He proceeded to tell her everything Kredevel had told him. Everything they had surmised together.

The Sylvans would come looking for Ray. When they didn’t find him at the dungeon, they would undoubtedly turn their attention to the Base. Maya had that part covered with her plan. Though, no doubt they already had a punitive force set up to tackle the Insurge Faction anyway.

Maya: Do you think they’ll send a warning like the Wild Tides did?

Ray: From everything I’ve seen so far, I’d guess they will. The Sylvans are nothing if not weirdly… honourable, is the best way I can put it.

Maya: Huh.

Ray: What? They are, trust me.

Maya: No, I’m not doubting what you said. I just noticed something weird.

Ray: Oh yeah?

Maya: Yeah. You used “u” after the “o” in “honorable”. Or “honourable” for you, I guess. That’s the British version of it.

Ray actually laughed. Ah, he had been found out.

Ray: Don’t worry, I’m not going to suddenly reveal my undying love for the queen and start calling dinner “tea”.

Maya: The queen is dead.

Ray: Oh, right. Anyway, I just grew up consuming a lot of British media thanks to my parents, so I ended up absorbing a lot of dumb shit like spelling colour instead of color.

They talked a little bit more after that, but otherwise there wasn’t much to add. Ray said he would inform her as soon as Kredevel passed on a warning. In turn, Maya would provide the actual details of her plan once it was properly fleshed out. Wishing each other the best of luck, they closed the chat window.

Last, but not least—

Gritty: FINALLY! KILL, KILL, KILL!

Ray: Calm down there, terminator.

Naturally, as soon as Ray had mentioned that things were about to go down with the Sylvans, Gritty had become quite excited.

Gritty: Wanna set a bet?

Ray: A bet? You want to see which one of us kills more Sylvans? Are you sure you can keep up at your level?

Gritty: Fuck off, wingman. And yes, a bet. I promise, if I don’t rip out the guts of more Sylvans than you, then I’ll sing for you.

Ray: God, not the singing again.

Gritty: I’ll sing Chop Suey. I hate Chop Suey. I’ll make you hate it too.

Ray: Please don’t. Also, you’re cheating. I’m not into the whole gut-ripping business.

Gritty: That’s because you haven’t tried it yet. It’s an acquired taste.

Ray stared at the chat window for a moment, before deciding to reroute the conversation into more normal lines. Apparently, Gritty had been powering through monsters. She had even beaten the Tier 7 Windbane dungeon Ray had gotten through before the battle against the Wild Tides. She was levelling up about as quickly as him.

Ray: Gritty… I know you’re good at fighting and you’re strong. But the Sylvans are different from just more people. You understand that, right?

She didn’t reply for a second, and Ray wondered if he had thrown her off.

Gritty: Aww, you worried about me, wingman?

Ray: I’m slightly worried about everyone.

Gritty: Well, don’t worry. Just because I’m not at the same level as you doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself.

Ray: I know you can. I just don’t want you to take any unnecessary risks.

Gritty: My risks are perfectly calculated, thanks.

Ray: Perfectly calculated, huh?

Ray couldn’t in good conscience call Gritty’s ability to calculate perfect. But then again, she was frighteningly competent. She had done things Ray had no idea about, like actually infiltrating the Wild Tides and finding monsters he didn’t even know existed.

Gritty: Let’s set a goal.

Ray: A goal?

Gritty: Yeah. How about this—next time we meet, we’ll have beaten the Sylvans’ collective ass completely.

Ray grinned. He could toast to that.

Ray: You got it.