Cutting through the air, the mace was rotating above the head of the tall figure at a huge speed. It wasn’t moving on a complex trajectory as the wielder was simply putting it from one hand to another without any pauses while continuing the constant motion. Moreover, the weapon’s form wasn’t anything special. Just the basic short-spiked ball on a long handle. Still, the absence of any delays between the change of grips made it look like a work of a machine. It was almost like a real propeller that was in a mere moment before helping to take off from the ground. The toxic green lights that were emanating from the ball and were showcasing odd inscriptions only added to such effect.
The whole scene was mesmerizing. The non-stoppable movement of the unknown inside an enormous chamber. Motionless, calmly breathing, he was akin to a statue, despite being the source of the motion. Creating a light breeze from the signs, he wasn’t showing any signs of tiredness, stress, or effort. Like a real robot, he was repeating and repeating the very same action without a trace of annoyance or boredom. Such dedication to the pointless doing might look fascinating to the outer observer if there was any. However, even the figure itself had its eyes closed, completely focused on the process.
And despite the absence of visual struggles, Robert’s mind was working at full capacity. After several prolonged sessions of the Meditation amulet’s usage, his perception of mana was widened. Experiencing the increase in the flow, Rob managed to grasp the feeling of mana inside himself. He was still far from controlling it as this gaseous energy just refused to obey, simply filling his body and steel as a container. Still, the rise in his senses was obvious. It didn’t affect any outer sources, focusing only on his own “magic fuel”. Surprisingly, even such an increase gave better control in conjuring the steel. The better he could perceive the mana, the more precision he got in his summoned constructs. That helped a lot with rune creation, which led to further training in his abilities.
Mentally inscribing the very same rune multiple times, Rob engraved in its memory to the last squiggle. Soon the change of the club’s form didn’t have any disturbing effect. What was more, he managed to put the rune in one swift motion without a need to prepare it beforehand. Such achievement led to a current exercise. By constantly rotating the mace and changing the connection point to the steel, Robert tried to keep the rune active all the time, no matter how he was moving. The fight against inertia already demanded from him some effort, not speaking about these additional complications. Not stopping on it, he periodically erased it completely only to remake it again a few seconds later.
At first, he struggled a lot with such a hard task, but the remnants of his Hive mind and thousands of repetitions gave the result. It didn’t even take so long, as Rober couldn’t simply run out of mana, wasn’t tiring, and didn’t need regular sleep. Only the invaders stole his time, preventing a full dive into the process of training. Like before, his way to clear his mind by being constantly busy was working greatly. The only thing that was bothering him was quite logical.
What do I learn after finishing with the “Heavy” rune? The “Meditation”? Not sure it will be that useful – only to heal faster after the fight.
The latter still could help if he had a safe environment to use it properly as an immobilization effect might be very dangerous. Still, the lack of options made him feel trapped without the ability to proceed further. By this point, Robert noticed how all challengers had one or two skills. Some of them were clearly passive akin the weapon handling as there was no way that every single one was trained to use medieval instruments of killing. Luckily, it only included the correct posture and hits, but not the tactic. Others had active skills, like increased cutting force or magic spells. It wasn’t enough to defeat Robert, especially when he added the rune to his arsenal.
He needed skills to get his class and finally use all the experience points he managed to get through this bloody “farming”. Rob was sure that there were possibly quite a few ways to get them. However, looking at the state and power level of the challengers, it was obvious that they were at the start of their conquering journey. Therefore, if they had the same three free slots as Robert, it was not hard to guess why he couldn’t find any “skill books”. If there were one, they would be used before the dangerous fight inside the hidden Laboratory.
If this Tower follows the game logic, it can have difficulty adjusting settings that work according to combat power. And I can’t raise mine, getting stuck against the enemies who have nothing in their pockets. Damn. This is stupid! Fucking System. How many times did I recreate your own rune from your own item? Thousands? I bet it is not real magic, so why don’t…
As if answering his demand, a huge notification popped up in front of him, throwing him out of balance. The loud impact of the mace made a crack in the stony floor only to disappear a moment later. However, all of Robert’s attention was focused on the text.
Are you kidding me? What the hell? Hey, System, are you listening to my thoughts? Or is it just a coincidence?
There was no answer this time, leaving Robert to guess the real reason why it was timed so perfectly. Still, the message increased his mood, lighting the way out of this cursed Tower.
Through the ten thousand repetitions of activating the rune without the help of the system-made skill, you are granted the corresponding skill: Rune engraving [Rank 1].
Attention! This is an exception from the rules and is possible only because the runes are part of the System creation.
Dispersing the steel, Robert quickly checked his Status screen to confirm a new addition. It was there, making him grin from happiness. He was rarely looking into it as, despite the natural growth of his stats from his dragon genes, it was another reminder of how big his kill count was. However, this time was different. Focusing on the Rune inscription skill, he willed to increase it. And it worked, creating another message on the transparent screen.
Do you want to upgrade the Rune Engraving to Rank 2? The cost is 2240 Experience Points. Accept?
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So, it seems twenty times my CP… Wait, the number was increased by 10 points after getting the skill, meaning it counts toward overall combat power. Okay, accept.
Please, choose the route of upgrade:
1. Power – increase the effectiveness of the engraved runes by 20%
2. Efficiency – decreases the mana cost of the engraved runes by 20%
3. Quickness – shortens the size of the rune inscription to quicken the process of engraving by 20%
4. Balanced – balanced approach that improves everything by 10%
Pausing for a moment, Robert checked the description of the skill but found nothing useful. Just an ordinary rewording of what was literally said in its name. Moreover, the skill itself seemed valuable because of upgrades, but not in a default state as it was bringing nothing new to the table. Therefore, taking into account the magic items in the storage, Rob picked Efficiency, wishing to lower the cost of the spells. The cheapest was 10 mana, so a 50% decrease would be sufficient for the usage. Unfortunately, the following upgrade to the Rank 3 appeared to be the last one. Costing forty times more than his current CP, which also was raised by 10 points after the previous rank-up, it granted the same options once again, excluding the picked one.
No magic, damn it. 30% is not enough. Power then. Let’s see how it looks now.
Robert Flop (Laboratory Experiment)
Combat Power: 132
Experience: 6237
Mana: -/- [+5 mana per second]
Title: The Transcendent Tower’s Guardian
Class: none
Might - 33 [STR 57, SPD 42, END -]
Agility - 25 [CRD 24, FLXB 6, RCT 45]
Body - 15 [VIT -, TOU 30]
Mind - 21 [PRC 19, INT 32, WIS 12]
Magic - 0 [PWR -, SPRT -]
Personality - 8 [CHA 7, CUNN 9]
Skills (1/3):
1) Rune engraving [Rank 3 MAX: Efficiency, Power]
The Status screen didn’t look much different from before. Moreover, the addition of the skill didn’t give him any knowledge as Robert expected from the possible similarities with a weapon’s handling. However, it could be another game mechanic where the menu would pop up near the correct equipment, like an engraving table. And Rob had none of it, only possible props in the form of an alchemical laboratory. Of course, they might be working ones, but he guessed that without a corresponding skill, he wouldn’t know. Therefore, his increase in the combat power by a third in fact meant nothing, except an additional effectiveness in one single rune and the higher number on the screen. Even the class was unavailable. However, soon Robert found how wrong he was. There was a change. An unpleasant one.
The appearance of the new group was loud and warned him beforehand. They were already talking aloud even before entering the chamber. Especially a man with a shrilling voice, who was proudly praising himself. Robert didn’t catch all the details, only several last phrases that they exchanged between themselves.
“And who was right in the end? The floor with a huge town and instanced-based missions from the Adventure guild must have a catacomb underneath it. And where the catacombs are, there is a hidden quest… or dungeon. It is obvious for every above-average mind!”
“Or to someone who spent half of his life playing games,” a woman parried, “I am still happy that the seventh floor appeared to be a hub for everyone to form new groups. Didn’t want to continue alone.”
“I think it was made on purpose. The task to go further is to complete ten group missions, so the players can find a proper team and their own role in it,” the owner of a shrill voice added his opinion.
“It is not a game. Do not call us players,” another man interfered, not hiding his annoyance.
“I am going to disagree. It is a game with light RPG mechanics, strict rules, and death as a penalty for failure. Still the game, just wicked and cruel,” the following discussion was cut off by the command of a woman who was the first one to appear inside the room.
“Boss, get ready!”
Her loud shout made everyone hurry inside, taking a battle order while allowing Robert to observe future opponents. Not only that, but their conversations, helped him to pick more clues about the Tower. Most of the challengers viewed the place differently, even using dissimilar names to describe Rob. But there were still non-contrary things like floors. And this was the first time he heard about the seventh. Previously, he only caught a mention about the third.
Yep, this must be an auto-leveling. Not for them, but for me. And they even don’t look like newbies, having proper gear. Damn it! I feel like I am a game character who messed up with his leveling, picking non-combats utility skills, and now has to face a dragon, being a master chef, the best negotiator, and an advanced herbalist, while using the weapon only once at the training arena during the tutorial.
The group consisted of five opponents. The tall woman in a long chainmail with a sword and a wooden tower shield was standing at the front. The open helmet didn’t hide her fierce face with a serious expression. Metal vambraces covered her arms, while the small chest plate protected her torso. Others lacked such defense, mainly wearing leather gear on top of linen clothes.
Another woman in a vest and two daggers was behind her to the right. The short but bulky man to the left of her wielded a giant axe. Dressed in a chainmail and metal gauntlets, he had no helmet, showing the surprisingly kind face of someone who could easily be mistaken as an uncle-baker from the nearby store. At the back, there were two more men. One with a big crossbow, while the other had a magic staff. They both had only vests and gloves, clearly using all their available resources on the weapons. These five were in an early stage of gathering equipment, completely missing quite a few crucial pieces of gear.
Still, without a doubt, they were a full-fledged party with enough experience to show no signs of fear. The scratches on the weapons or armor were another hint of it. The classic composition with an attempt to balance their capabilities on top only further confirmed this assumption. However, the problem was not in gear but in a CP, which was floating above their heads when Robert concentrated on each of the enemies. Ranging from 118 to 128, they made the same leap upwards as Rob.
And I bet they don’t have a mere increase in the effectiveness of one single rune. The bastard with teleportation had less… Where the fuck are my cheats? Why am I so nerfed to the ground?
As always, there was no answer. Adjusting the size of his mace, Robert conjured the small round punching shield, gripping its handle with a palm. Primarily meant for the deflection of the hits and not direct blocking, it could be used as a weapon itself. And in Rob’s case, the combination of its thickness and his strength was enough to take the hit directly. The following mental command made the ball on the top of his mace shine with an ominous green light for a moment before disappearing once again.
“The Boss is clearly a tank type without range possibilities. Strong and slow hits, very tough. We need to wear him down with quick attacks, while searching for the openings to attack with spells and bolts,” the mage, who appeared to be the owner of a shrill voice, addressed to his team.
“Everyone heard our gamer. Let’s do it. Carefully, steadily, without an unneeded risk,” commanded the frontliner, making her first step towards Robert.
Yeah, carefully and steadily… Okay, let’s play along.