In front of me was a large burly orc with a black tailored leather jacket. He was sitting on a rock and was looking at me with hopeful eyes.
I said to him, “It’s pointless.”
The two words had a strong effect on the orc as he slumped for a moment before going tense. He clenched his hands into fists and took a few deep breaths, staring at the ground.
Teaching someone to fight? Sounds almost as annoying as farming, and besides, I have my own more important magical training to do. Damn orc, look at him huffing and puffing, like a spoilt child not getting the new toy they wanted. I better give some excuse or he might nag me all the way back to the tower.
“I don’t think there is anything I could teach you that you don’t already know.”
Khemrok’s eyes widened and his whole body flinched.
“Your technique is solid, your footwork is almost perfect, and you don’t leave any openings when you attack.”
He tightened his clenched hands. “Then how are you able to best me in every spar?”
“Experience.”
“W-what?”
“From our sparing, I have learned two things about you. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that you have only trained against one or two people, while the rest of the time you fight tower creatures.”
“So what?”
“The creatures in the tower are pretty dumb and don’t offer much challenge. From what I can tell, there is just one thing you lack that keeps you from matching against someone like me in combat.
He stood to his feet, breathing heavy with clenched fists at his side, eyes boring into me. “What? What is it?”
“Danger. You need to fight people, creatures, beings that are stronger than yourself. That have very different attacks than what you are normally used to. This tower is amazing for gaining experience, but it’s basically an adventurer’s theme park.”
“A theme park, with those stupid rides?”
“Oh, you have them here? That makes it easier to explain. Floor two has higher level creatures than floor one, and floor three has higher creatures than floor two, and so on and so forth.”
“No shit. Genius.”
Letting out a sigh, I asked, “What floor are we on now?”
Khemrok crossed his arms as he answered. “Floor three. What’s your point?”
I nodded to the orc. “Right, and what level am I?”
“Psh, you are level seven. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Have you ever been to a floor that was above your level?”
“No. Only the desperate or insane do anything like that. It’s the same as throwing your life away. It’s an unspoken rule not to go above your level as everyone that does, ends up dead.”
Standing to my feet I pointed down at the orc. “Everyone? That sounds strange don’t you think? This tower allows climbers to only push forward when they feel they are prepared enough to meet what the next floor holds. Not only that, but I bet that almost every floor has been documented and planned out, so climbers know exactly what they are walking into when they go to the next floor. I have reached level seven while still on the third floor. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“That you are slow?”
“No fool, I am saying that it’s too easy! This place is a five star holiday package. Climbers are hardly ever in a position where they are forced to fight in a life or death battle, or had to fight for days on end with no break or some other climber to save them. I bet it’s even worse for you since you are the son of some fancy pants clan leader. I doubt they would let you walk into a dangerous situation that might cause you severe injury, let alone a battle such as that.”
Khemrok went silent. I could see was digesting my words. Hopefully that will be enough to remove any idea of taking up my precious learning time. Actually, he might have been through one fight and death battle. Teek said he found Khem almost dead, burnt to a crisp.
“Was that your first time fighting someone stronger than you, when you faced Zlephar?”
Khemrok bashed his fist against the rock he was sitting on and jumped to his feet. “That grass sniffing elf is not stronger! He shouldn’t be. I don’t know how, but he outpaced me in the tower. If I just had more levels… I’m sure…” He glanced towards me before finishing the sentence.
“If you plan to fight him again, you will need to build up some fire resistance. There is a book for that, right?”
He let out a breath of air “hmph, if your mega rich. Anyway, I have fire resistance. My jacket provides almost perfect immunity to fire.”
“Then why did Teek mistake you for charcoal? Could it be that only your jacket has fire protection, and not you?”
He stared at the ground, frowning.
“What, you did not realise? That’s funny… Anyway, it’s time we got moving.”
Khemrok remained blessedly quiet for the rest of the day. He did not even look out for plants to harvest.
We decided to forgo camping that night and instead continued moving towards the tower. Surprisingly there were not many creatures on our trek. I spotted a number of caves, tunnels, and interesting looking doors as we got closer to the tower, but it was as dangerous in the unexplored areas as Miko and Richard said it would be. I could see someone struggling here if it was their first time in the tower, but if it was a group of three or more, everything I have seen so far should be manageable.
Most of the time I played around with the sparkle spell. Making different objects, large and small, give off sparks of light. I learnt that I could increase the intensity of the spell by pushing more mana into the cast or by chain casting the spell on the same target, overlapping the effect.
It made me think about what Khemrok said about manipulating mana and how spells could be played around with. I was really excited to start practicing before I had to meet up with the others. So far it has only been four days which leaves me with three days to reach floor five, to meet them at the promised time of a week. I planned to get there earlier so I would have some time to work on mana dismissal.
The tower had become visible, just seeming to appear out of nowhere on the horizon. It was massive as always, reaching high up into the sky. As we got closer, more and more climbers could be seen either camping or fighting against creatures. There was a large cave opening that had a constant small stream of climbers either entering with eager expressions, or leaving looking tired but with bags full of loot. In front of the tunnel was a wooden sign that read ‘Cavernous dungeon.’ Underneath was a symbol of a skull and the words ‘Goblins, Ratogres, undead.’ Written next to it. Under that was another line with a pickaxe icon and ‘iron deposits.’ The sign had more information but I did not stop to read everything, only glancing at it as we passed by. This had to be one of the tower knights’ claimed locations the pamphlet mentioned.
Like with the first floor, there was a wall surrounding the tower and a series of tents and wooden buildings could be seen inside. As we reached the gate leading into the walled area, three orcs came rushing towards us.
Exclamations of “Young Master!” could be heard as they got closer.
They completely ignored me, even going as far as knocking me aside as they rushed to Khemrok.
One of them gripped onto Khemrok’s shoulder while almost crying. “Young Master, are you hurt? What befell you? Later, later, you are safe now. Come. Your father is worried about you. We shall escort you back.”
Khemrok hardly got a chance to say goodbye as they pushed and pulled him towards the tower exit. He managed to make eye contact with me and gave me a wave as he was pulled into the dark plane that separated the tower exit to the floor.
It was quite abrupt to see him leave without even saying some snarky comment. He was quiet ever since our conversation. Don’t put much thought into my words. There was some truth to what I said, but really I just don’t want to be a teacher.
The sun was starting to rise, and since I still had some energy left, decided to check out the next floor. I stepped through the large shadowy door that Khemrok was pulled through and looked around. A long dark path led in both directions. The path to the left seemed to lead upwards, while the path to the right sloped downwards. I decided that the right direction was left and started my way up the tower to the next floor.
It was dark but after a while my eyes adjusted enough that I noticed faint glowing patterns in the floor and ceiling that provided enough light to navigate. Surprisingly I did not feel like I was walking upwards. After a minute of walking mazer holes started appearing. They were always on the left wall. Unlike last time, I did not feel the need to delve into one. I assumed the feeling before came from the master of the tower, inviting me to a conversation. After a while I saw a large opening that spilled light into the dark passageway. The entrance to floor four. The glowing patterns could not be seen past the doorway and the path seemed to be shrouded in shadow.
After walking through the doorway, I was hit with a freezing cold wind that made me squint my eyes and shiver.
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A hearty laugh erupted from near by and I opened my eyes enough to see a human in thick tower knight robes sitting behind a small desk with a crystal orb in front of him.
“Welcome to floor four!” The mans laughter turned into a chuckle “You can find some warmer clothes from some of the merchants here. Word of warning though, their prices are much higher than what would be found in the city.”
“N-no n-need.” I managed to stammer out through cold lips. I thought about a thick warm jacket that I could wrap around myself, and cast summon armour. I quickly put on the jacket and felt instant relief from the cold wind. I wondered if being able to summon different items was also part of mana manipulation. Maybe I could find someone to tutor me. That would have to wait until floor ten.
“Oh, conjurer. Very handy.” Said the knight.
The crystal orb in front of the knight flashed. “Just a moment.” He placed a hand onto the orb and closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them again and looked to me. “Reigner, right? I have been asked that you wait here a moment. Someone from my order will be here shorty to meet with you. You can look around, just don’t leave past the walls.”
“Right okay. What’s your name and how did you know mine?”
“Me? I’m Carlson, but you can call me Carl and I knew because of this baby.” He slapped his hand on the crystal ball in front of him.
“I see. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Carl. Do you know who is coming?”
“Nope. Actually, I’m only here because of punishment duty, until tomorrow anyway.”
“The Tower Knights have punishment duty? What did you do?”
Carlson scratched the back of his head as he answered. “Ah, well... Just a little prank that was not appreciated.”
A group of beastkin appeared from the tower entrance, and a smile formed on Carlson’s face as he made a gesture with his hand. A gust of cold wind from nowhere brushed against the group. They were equipped for the canyon and did not expect the sudden gust of freezing cold wind to hit them.
Shrieks and yells of surprise sounded from the group to the laugher of Carlson.
“Welcome, climbers, to floor four!”
Some of them nodded to the knight while others complained and pulled out cloaks to wrap around themselves.
Carlson commented, “As far as punishment duty go, this one is not bad.” As he continued to chuckle to himself.
Shaking my head, I left the prankster tower knight to his own fun and went to explore the area.
White cold fluffy snow was layered thickly everywhere. As beautiful as it was cold to look at, it was very, very cold. I had not experienced weather like this since Earth. Like the other floors there was a market inside the walls, mostly selling items specific for this floor, if I had to guess. I pulled my coat tightly around myself and walked to the opening of the wall to look further out into the floor.
Snow was everywhere. Directly in front of the wall was a large flat area with small hills and pathways in the distance. Solo adventurers could be seen killing tower creatures that were spawning in the field, while groups of climbers could be seen pushing deeper into the floor through one of the pathways between the small frozen hills.
I found a nicely shaped rock within the fort walls that I could sit on and review my status. Time to see what gains I have made over the past few days.
Name: Reigner
Race: Human
level: 7
Class: Summoner
Health: 1395/1395
HP Regen: 1.7/minute
Stamina: 2440/2440
SP Regen: 87/minute
Mana: 755/755
MP Regen: 36/minute
Strength: 97 +
Constitution: 77 +
Dexterity: 90 +
Intelligence: 23 +
Wisdom: 21 +
Skills:
Appraise Item (10) +
Axe One-handed (32) +
Axe Two-handed (30) +
Blunt One-handed (36) +
Counter (41) +
Dodge (62) +
Harvest (5) +
Materialise Shadow (0)
Parry (37) +
Polearms (31) +
Shield (30) +
Small Blades (33) +
Spear (51) +
Sword One-handed (42) +
Sword two-handed (39) +
Unarmed (31) +
Weapon Throwing (56) +
Spells:
Identify (8)
Mana Marble (7) +
Sparkle (7) +
Summon Armour (7) +
Summon Bag (7) +
Summon Bandage (7) +
Summon Campfire (9) +
Summon Drink (7) +
Summon Food (7) +
Summon Weapon (7) +
The increases were impressive, but the ranks still paled in comparison to when I held the hero class. Even with the improved strength and speed, I still doubted my shadow could best me in a duel, but with these skill increases it shouldn’t be as clumsy as before.
This floor was a novel experience for me. Never got to experience winter in a country that snowed back on Earth. The closest I got to a winter wonderland was a winter wonderland theme park with artificially made snow. I remember thinking how awesome it was to be in a place that was so cold with ice and snow everywhere. That paled in comparison to the real thing here. The floor was something right out of a fairy tale. Away from the roads and trampled areas, the snow looked soft and fluffy and it was much colder than the theme park. My blood was itching to go out into the floor, to fall into the snow, make a snowman army, and slide down one of those snow covered hills.
I wondered what could be used as a small sled. A shield came to mind, and I conjured a large wooden kite shield to look over. The shield did not have a curved edge like I think sleds needed, but it looked usable. Maybe one of these merchants sell sleds. Though I did not see any adventures playing in the snow. Conjuring the shield reminded me of Khemrok’s demonstration of mana dismissal and how I should be able to apply it to my own creations. I didn’t make much progress with him constantly annoying me, but since he was no longer here, it seemed like a good time to try again. Placing the shield on my lap, I rested my hands on top and focused on the item.
Like before, nothing seemed to happen at first, but after a moment I fell into a meditative trance and could start to feel something all around me. In the air, the ground, and even the rock I was sitting on. There was something I couldn’t quite identify, an energy. Mana perhaps? Whatever it was, it was everywhere, but it felt really different to the energy within my own body. Focusing inside myself, I noticed energies swirling inside me. Most of it felt familiar, my own mana, while some of it felt foreign.
Having experienced something like this before I assumed the foreign mana were the spell books I used earlier. I moved my focus around my body, down my arm, into my hand, and towards the shield. With the shield in direct contact, it felt almost like a part of me. I continued to focus on the shield, not with any particular goal in mind, but to become more familiar and comfortable with the sensation.
After a while I started to gently push my thoughts towards the shield, the idea to break apart and disappear. Nothing happened for a moment until I started to want it, to will for it. I felt a small crack or break between my connection to the shield. It slowly spread outwards, leaving more cracks in the shape of a spider’s web, until the entire shield was covered.
A moment later and the whole thing just shattered. I did not need to open my eyes to know that I had just successfully dismissed the shield. A smile formed on my face, and I opened my eyes to see an empty lap. Excitement built up inside and I would have jumped to my feet and do a little jig if there was not a person standing in front of me.
A man wearing the grey robes of the tower knights stood in front of me. He was clean shaven and had short brown hair. A small smile rested on his face that widened as I met his gaze.
“Congratulations, Reigner. Have you been enjoying your time in the tower?”
This was the first person to greet me as I arrived on his world. Macauley, or Mac as he liked to be called.
Jumping off the rock to my feet I offered my hand. “Thank you, Mac. I have had some interesting encounters. It’s good to see you.”
Clasping my arm Mac laughed. “So, I have heard.” His smile faded and his voice turned serious. “That’s why I am here. I need you to come with me to answer some questions. It should not take long but for this case formalities must-.”
“Hold on. I just want to check out these new spells I learned.”
Ignoring his next words, something about not changing, I looked over the two new spells I gained from Teek. Strange thing was, I only had one new spell.
Summon Sprite
Rank: 0
Cost: 40mp
Description: Summon a sprite that channels your mana to perform various tasks. At the current rank the sprite can loot creatures, and clean, dust, and polish equipment, items, or surfaces. Higher rank increases sprites abilities. Sprite does not count towards control limit. Summon lasts for as long as it’s supplied mana.
Somehow the spells clean self and loot creature had combined and turned into a summon. This was exciting. Finally my class as summoner is giving me actual summons that can do things. Just as I was about to try the spell, a cough interrupted me, and I was reminded that I still had to deal with whatever Mac wanted. Annoying. Why can’t people just leave me alone and let me play with my spells.
This tower seemed to be focused on testing my patience than my combat ability. Sighing, I let my frustration flow out of me. Mac and his order have been alright so far, so there no reason to refuse his request. I can always play by myself later. “Okay… Does this have something to do with elves by chance?”
Mac grimaced. “Yes. It has a lot to do with elves, unfortunately.”
Mac led us into the tower’s large shadowy door, and we walked downwards, to the base of the tower where the exit out of the tower was and into GorikTar city.
I was expecting to walk into the large hall with tables and chairs filled with adventurers waiting to head into the tower, but the exit led into a different hall. On either side of the large room was a series of booths where adventurers were engaged with representatives or city officials, a standing desk between them. There was a line of adventures queuing up between a roped off area. A towering orc oversaw the line and gestured to the people waiting towards booths that became free.
“City tax and trade. We are not here for that so we can skip the line.” Mac guided me through a door on the side of the room next to the line of booths.
Mac continued to lead me through a series of corridors and stairs until we arrived at a familiar looking study. Mac gestured for me to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs as he walked over and knocked on a door. A moment later, the door slid to the side and revealed a large orc with a shaved head and braided beard. Torak an Elder Knight of the tower knight faction stepped into the study. Standing up, I reached out to shake his offered hand.
He gave me a large toothy smile as we shook hands. “Reigner. Its good to see you again. I wish it was under better circumstances, but the only time I get to meet with acquaintances lately is when it involves some urgent, political or delicate matter. Unfortunately, this happens to be all three.”