Needless to say, Zeke didn’t feel too good getting taken out like a bitch in the middle of combat.
Seeing the vast amount of blood pooling on the tiled floor was a wake-up call in a sense. It’s one thing to have it on him, but to see it spread out like that was… weird, like it couldn’t belong to him. He could’ve died.
Thankfully, he was able to use his rune buffs to increase his Vitality and Endurance stat to its maximum output regardless of the mana drain. After getting hit like that, it wasn't that he needed to heal to survive, but to make sure he had enough blood, or life energy in this case, to survive. Without enough life energy to grab onto, his Recovery wouldn't be able to heal enough to help him survive the incoming blood loss.
And he certainly lost a lot of blood. Enough to create his own blood bank, he assumed. Thankfully Cloud reacted fast by providing healing while Zeke tried to regain his composure.
Still, he grumbled about the fast fight while healing up Myra. She said it was fine, but it was clear she got cut up pretty badly. In old world’s standards, she should’ve lost her arm right about now.
Everyone else returned to the scene, both Cloud and Zacharia walking towards them after dealing with the surviving lizardmen. Cloud figured that the party needed Zeke’s support, but after seeing Zeke’s frown, Cloud shook his head.
“Battle finish too fast?” Cloud commented, leaving Zeke to grumble again. “How’d it go?”
“It was a toughie, that’s for sure,” Val said, though she shook her head in disappointment. “But it relied so much on ambushing that it was weaker than expected for its level. While it was definitely strong, it followed a pretty stoic pattern.”
“I noticed that too,” Myra mentioned. Though she grimaced after seeing her now healed arm again. “I still messed up, though.”
“Sometimes battles don’t go the way you expect,” Cloud consoled. “Your builds would always have shortcomings, and it’s up to you how to handle those shortcomings. Surprise attacks built upon the hostile element to your attunement were clearly out of your depths.”
Myra nodded, though with a reproachful look. Zeke can agree that it was a shitty feeling, hence why he felt unsatisfied with his full-support motif from earlier.
But that didn’t mean he became an all-rounder genius. If anything, he spread himself too thin. At the same time, if he hadn’t, would he have survived that ambush earlier? He shook his head. It was too surreal to think just how close he was to death if he hadn’t started physically training to deal with his rising envy for the fighters.
“And as usual, Mikella managed to defeat it with a single attack,” Piker, surprisingly, rolled his eyes this time. That was usually Myra’s thing, but she readily agreed with a nod. “Honestly, just how strong can you get?”
“Hey, I just used a crap ton of skills working together,” Mikella argued, pointing at Piker with a joking glower. “You know how hard it is to use both Class skills and my other skills at the same time? It’s pretty hard!”
“Wait… really?” Piker asked, this time with surprise in his eyes. “Huh, now that I think about it, I never usually mix both of those skills. I just… use one or the other without really thinking.”
“It’s a psychological block of sorts,” Val said, patting Piker’s back with a caring smile. “You’ll eventually get past it. Most Experts around your level have to deal with that now as they keep gaining power. Like I said before, a Class is different compared to your ordinary skills, and using them is just as different. But eventually you’ll attain synergy between them both as you progress in your path.”
“In other words, don’t complain and keep working,” Zacharia finished for her, pointingly looking at Myra and Piker.
“Yes, yes…” Myra drolled, though Piker stood at attention as he basically showed lax towards his commanding general. Mikella only grinned at the two getting their just desserts.
As for Zeke, he realized that he was trying to mix both his Class skills and combat style at the same time all this time. It was no wonder he was taking a while to get used to it–his Class wasn’t naturally supposed to be a combat Class anyways.
“Anyways, let’s check out the loot,” Mikella said as she went ahead to touch the corpse of the mini-boss.
Since the tower is giving out so many useful rewards, it’s no wonder everyone around them gathered up and peeked with interest at what it could be. As soon as Mikella touched the body, a second after, the corpse disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a small incandescent trail. She ignored the puff of smoke and looked at her notification.
“Another skill book,” Mikella said, her tone somewhat disappointed. Considering just how valuable skill books were, Zeke wasn’t at all surprised that the recent gains muddled the excitement.
“Geez, is everyone around us going to get skills?” Myra said, shaking her head. “At this point, I feel like taking another one would put some bad karma on me or something.”
“I agree with you,” Val said, mirth in her tone. “If we keep getting these incredible rewards, I feel that somewhere further in our path, we’ll run into some pretty bad luck.”
“Wouldn’t you say we had some shitty luck beforehand?” Cloud intervened, raising a finger to elaborate. “Not to mention, we might not even take this skill book for ourselves. I’d say give it to someone outside this group like that other skill book.”
“No use talking about karma,” Zacharia intervened. “We take what we take and deal with what’s to come. Life is never fair, so neither should we.”
For once, both Mikella and Cloud seem to nod in approval with everyone else. Despite him being on their bad side half the time, sometimes Zacharia comes in clutch with these pearls of wisdom.
“What’s the skill?” Zeke asked, staring at the skill book that Mikella brought up for everyone to see.
Unlike the last skill books, this one was more intense than he expected. His perception skills–Mana Manipulation, Kinetic Perception, and Recovery–ramped up after observing the absolute power radiating off of the book.
Even Mikella was taken aback by this, her head hanging away from the cover of the book after being close to it.
“Whoa! This is totally charged! What’s the deal?”
“That’s… an Epic-Rarity skill book.”
Cloud said, his voice wreathed in fascination and wonder. The other Journeymen also stared dumbfounded and once the words left Cloud’s mouth, the Experts practically salivated at the skill book.
“An Epic rarity skill?” Zeke nearly shouted. “I thought Acquired Skills come in at Rare rarity.”
“Not all of them,” Val shook her head. “This is one of those cases where the skill from the book would be at a higher rarity. And as you would expect, whatever that skill is, it would be potent. Mikella, what is the skill, truly?”
“It’s…” Mikella stared at the cover, this time studying it closely. “It’s called Power Overwhelming. I think it’s a super short but super powerful buff. Kinda like my Draconic Fury. And the requirements… damn, it’s pretty high. More than five hundred needed for either Strength or Intelligence.”
Normally, for Zeke and Mikella, the system would suggest that there was no stat requirement due to their special status. However, they learned that as long as they don’t intend on learning the skill themselves, they can tweak the system notification to show the original requirements for any person from Tarial.
“Wait, you said ‘either’?” Zeke asked, prompting Mikella to nod before Cloud continued for her.
“There are skills that offer different requirements to learn one. Unlike certain skills that require both, some skills can be accessed with either one stat or the other, depending on the build you have. That usually occurs with general-like skills, but for an Epic skill to have that…”
Cloud rubbed his chin, and this time there was want in his eyes. Zeke wasn’t surprised at all. Just because Experts were here to try and get stronger doesn’t mean that the Journeymen wouldn’t want them either.
Not to mention, it didn’t seem possible for either Myra or Piker to learn the skill. In fact, they didn’t even seem disappointed after learning about the immense stat requirements. They only just stared at the two otherworlders, the ones expected to learn the skill book.
“So, you guys want to learn it?”
“Zeke, I think it’s better if you have this,” Mikella said, getting Zeke to tilt his head for an explanation. She knew him well enough to learn what his gestures meant as she explained. “I already got plenty of power ups on my end, including my class. If what Val said about having two extremely similar skills actually hampering, I’d rather not go down that path, especially with how crazy my energies can be with my attunement.”
Zeke nodded, understanding her plight. It was unfortunate, but Mikella knew her limits better than anyone else. In fact, he was proud that she understood herself well enough to not risk learning such a powerful skill despite how useful it might be if it meant making her own control suffer more.
He stared at the Journeymen, and though the want in their eyes was still there, they showed that they wouldn’t complain regardless of who got it.
In the end, Zeke and Mikella still needed to get even stronger. They might be better now than they were before this tower, but they still needed more if an angel said that they have to reach Journeymen in the next two years.
Zeke took the skill book and opened up the notifications to accept it.
Only to find something extremely odd.
> Skill Book: Power Overwhelming (Epic)
>
> You are only able to learn this skill after meeting the following requirements:
>
> STR: 500–ERROR!
>
> Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
>
> Your Otherworlder state changed the requirements. Adjustments will be made.
>
> There are no requirements. You are able to learn the skill.
…..
> Warning!
>
> You only have one Acquired Skill slot left. If you learn this skill, you will no longer be able to accept another Acquired Skill.
>
> …..
>
> Would you still like to learn the skill Power Overwhelming?
“...What the fuck?”
Zeke’s sudden curse caught everyone’s attention.
“Zeke, what’s wrong?” Mikella asked with rising concern.
“I have a limit on Acquired Skills. I only got one slot left to learn.”
“What?!”
Everyone, including both Cloud and Val–except for wide-eyed Zacharia–shouted in unison at the reveal. The otherworlders looked back at them all, realizing that something was weird.
“Zeke, are you serious?” Cloud asked, stepping up to him with bewilderment. “You have only three Acquired skill slots?”
“But that’s impossible. Everyone should be able to learn as many Acquired skills as possible if they have the skill books and stats,” Val shook her head. “Sure, any more skills and you’ll run into synergy issues, but only having three slots is so…”
“It’s short!” Myra exclaimed, finishing Val’s words. “That’s way too short! Don’t you need to have more skills depending on how many you need to max out to reach Journeymen?”
“And they have to reach Journeymen quickly,” Piker agreed to Myra’s question. “So having more skills that didn’t max yet would be easier to max… crap, what am I saying? Even that’s difficult.”
“Difficult, but not impossible,” Val finished for Piker instead.
“Having more skills is just more beneficial. I never heard of anyone not having enough acquired slots; just that they weren’t fortunate enough to find more skill books,” Zacharia muttered, rubbing his beard in thought. “But Zeke and Mikella have limits? The otherworlders…”
Suddenly, Zeke realized something that he should’ve realized a while ago.
The special status. The fact that they can learn every skill imaginable regardless of the status requirements. But if this was true, then there has to be a balance.
A price to pay for that immeasurable power.
“Goddammit,” Zeke cursed. “God-fucking-dammit!”
“Zeke?” Mikella asked.
“We always had a limit!” Zeke shouted, gritting his teeth. The skill book left forgotten as he gripped the cover of the book hard. “Our special status ain’t so special after all. We can learn any skill we want, but only three skills–that’s it. It’s like… it’s like the gods that put us here didn’t even do a good job patching us before we were sent here!”
Zeke ended up speaking like a gamer again despite knowing half the group wouldn’t understand, but he was just too pissed to think properly.
What gamer wouldn’t be pissed to find that the developer for a game they’re playing didn’t do their job right and messed something up?
Even if it was to attain balance, the fact that they’re limited like this meant that the gods, or whoever they were that Zoan served, aren’t powerful enough or have enough authority to mess with the system itself.
That, or they just really wanted to mess with the otherworlders, and that only got Zeke more mad.
After a while of calming down, thanks to Mikella who also shared the same anger, if not more so–Zeke let out a breath as he stared at the book, then at the Journeymen.
“Then I can’t learn the skill,” Zeke said, shaking his head. “If I only got one slot left, and I’m betting Mikella does too–I want to save it for a skill that I will definitely need.”
For example, the skill book Cloud described was the same as Acrobatics and Athletics. If he could learn the skill Enlightenment that passively increased his mental stats, primarily focused on Spirit, then he would be more than happy.
So even if it meant missing out on an Epic Rarity skill book like Power Overwhelming, he didn’t need a buffing skill as bad as missing out a potentially powerful passive skill. He already got his rune buffs, now that he thought about it.
“That sucks…” Myra shook her head. “It just feels so unfair.”
“Hey, weren’t you just screaming how unfair it was that we got this special status?” Mikella grinned, teasing Myra as usual. However Myra shook her head.
“Forget about how I feel. You guys need all the power you need, and now we found out that you’re limited in getting that power. It’s just… just unfair!”
“I know,” Mikella let out a heavy breath, but she smiled at Myra. “But what can you do? Life is never fair, so neither should we. Ain’t that right, Zacharia?”
A rare moment of Mikella interacting with Zacharia, as he nodded in approval to her words. It made sense that life is forever unfair, so there’s no point in complaining about it.
Though a smile did pull Zeke’s lips as he stared at the Journeymen, the skill book in hand.
“Guess that means you three get to learn this. Neither one of us got the stats to learn it.”
He did feel a little cheeky, but he and the other Experts smiled after seeing the excited looks on the Journeymen’s faces.
There, a heavy discussion between the three Journeymen commenced, with each one despite their relationship ready to fight to the death for the rare skill book.
…..
The fight wasn’t as interesting as Zeke expected. Zacharia humbly bowed out when he didn’t meet the stat requirements, much to Mikella’s dismay of seeing him panic to get the skill book. That only left the married couple to fight like they were trying to prove their viewpoints were better than theirs.
And Val won with a resounding victory. Not that Cloud didn’t put up a decent fight himself, what’s with him arguing that his magic has more of a knack for damage than Valorie’s. However, Val countered that damage isn’t everything in battle, and Power Overwhelming doesn't just increase damage, but everything considering either physical or magical.
With that, it was proven that a stronger, faster, and tougher Val is better than a measly stronger Cloud, so Cloud relented like a good loser, leaving the Epic Skill Book in Val’s giddy hands.
Once the fight of the century finished, the group kept moving forward, leaving the mini-boss room behind.
At the end of the chamber, after walking a fair bit, they found the same type of double-set doors. After opening them up and getting through another hallway, conversations ensued when they returned to the usual pace they were at.
While there were some lizards that tried attacking them like clockwork, Piker and Myra continued with the rampage. Since they were close to the end, Zeke opted to save his mana during emergencies before the final boss fight.
“So after defeating the first boss, we’re closer to the end, correct?” Cloud asked, looking over at the only otherworlders in the group.
“Yeah, and that one…” Zeke trailed, looking over with a distant look. He still shivered at the memory. “That one was pretty bad.”
“We’re not sure how, but it was so strong, we didn’t even stand a chance,” Mikella answered. “Just by being around it, Clara got hurt and started bleeding. After we saw that, we knew we had to run. A portal was there too, now that I remember…”
Mikella paused for a second, her face scrunched in confusion before tugging on Zeke’s arm. “Hey, can’t we already make a portal now?”
Zeke stood there, pausing along with Mikella. Everyone else followed their direction, their eyes widening at the revelation.
“We…” Zeke searched through his core, at whatever connection he had with this tower and with Mikella.
It was faint… but it was there. As if a button that was grayed out was now in full color.
“We can!” Zeke nearly shouted. “Holy shit, we can get out of the tower now.”
“I knew it,” Mikella nodded. “Then that means that we weren’t supposed to take out that final boss. But… what’s the point of it then?”
Zeke rubbed his chin, his mind whirling with possibilities. If that were true, then the final boss wasn’t supposed to be defeated, at least by their own strength.
It was such a strong foe that they didn’t know whether they were supposed to be Experts or even Journeymen to defeat it. So the portal was there for them to get out.
“Alex… the kid from the last tower,” Zeke said slowly. “Did he manage to beat the final boss? Is that how he was able to take over the tower?”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Mikella shook her head. “That’s giving the brat too much credit. If you think about it, he could definitely beat the mini boss if he somehow managed to get that Necromancer class. But afterwards, he didn’t bother moving anywhere at all. We can somewhat make a living here if you ignore the food and lack of water. Plus, we don’t even have to go to the bathroom while we’re here.”
That immediately got the others to widen their eyes in realization. Throughout this entire time, they never once felt the need to relieve themselves. Zeke nodded, feeling the strange situation all over again.
“I see, so he didn’t even bother facing the final boss. Did we somehow miss the boss while we were dealing with Alex?” Zeke surmised, now thinking hard.
It wouldn’t make sense, however. When they left the tower, it was already starting to break apart, at least according to the others while Zeke himself was busy saving Val. That would mean that the tower was ready to implode like the first tower they were in, even though they haven’t beaten the last tower boss either.
So it was only possible that the tower would implode when either of the two things occurred. When entering into this otherworldly tower, there is a time limit. If you don’t get out of the tower quickly enough, the tower will end up imploding regardless of whether you beat the boss or not. In this case, all you need to do is to defeat the mini boss before the final boss to get the ‘permission’ to leave the tower, as explained by that feeling Zeke shared with Mikella.
The other way is to defeat the last boss, which never occurred back at their first tower and then at the undeath tower, all of which hit their time limit. But the timer given didn’t make sense either. Alex had been in the tower for way longer than Zeke or Mikella did, otherwise he wouldn’t have been leveling up that much. But then the tower imploded the moment they defeated Alex, not the final boss.
It didn’t make any sense, but considering that even the gods didn’t make their special status special enough to warrant getting more Acquired Skills, Zeke somehow figured that the timer and the way the bosses work doesn’t exactly align themselves with the other towers. One example was just how different these towers are from each other, from the theme to the monsters inhabiting it.
In the end, his Parallel Thought ceased at that juncture. There were too many variables to properly examine how these towers work. He needed to visit loads of other towers to get enough data to figure out how they work. So far, only three towers just aren’t enough. And there was no way Zoan would explain how the towers work, considering how her personality was like.
“Yikes, my brain hurts just thinking about it,” Mikella pretty much summed up what Zeke had been thinking all this time. It looked like she was heading down the same thought process, only to lose out in the end like he did. “Forget about Alex and the undeath tower. What do we do? Do we leave now?”
“I think we should,” Zeke eventually said, but he frowned as he continued. “But…”
“But?” Mikella asked, tilting her head.
“What if we… try to kill the final boss?”
Mikella looked at him with a careful stare. The mood turned tense as his idea got to everyone’s heads.
“Last time, it was impossible, and the last tower, we didn’t even know where the boss was. But this time, we have a clear goal towards the end, and the final boss should be there. I don’t know how strong it is, but… maybe we can defeat it now, with all of us working together as a party.”
“That would be… pretty cool if we did. Maybe there’s some super reward by doing that?” Mikella asked. “Skill books have been dropping like rain since we’ve been here. What will the final boss drop as a reward?”
“But do we even have the time?” Piker asked. “I’d like to find out what the reward could be too, but the Bastion army is still out there, and our own forces are facing them down. Can we take the time to do so?”
“Normally,” Zacharia stated. “I would be remiss to leave the forces behind while we’re here. However, after seeing the rewards, and a possibility of a reward even greater than attribute fruits and books at the end. I don’t think I have to remind everyone how much of a boon that could be.”
Everyone could only agree to that. Attribute fruits by the dozens, an Athletics skill for Myra, Metal Slash for Piker, and an Epic Power Overwhelming for Valorie. Everyone got out of this better than before. Even if the boss was as dangerous as the knight tower, and perhaps even worse than before–the rewards were just too hard to pass up.
Zeke looked up to everyone, each having a face that was easy to read–greed, opportunity, desire. Each one that was completely understandable after living in this world for so long.
But one look at Mikella was all he needed. There was drive and determination in that gaze. She wanted to grow stronger, with the same reason as he does.
He nodded.
“This might be a really tough fight,” Zeke said. “But who’s ready to kick some ass?”