The Tower loomed large over our group as we walked toward the entrance closest to our inn. Gone was Raiju’s sour mood as she pranced forward with me on her back. Initially, I’d been against it, but when I realized it would make her happy and cost me nothing but a bit of pride, I let it go and accepted the lift.
The Tower stood defiant against the midday sun, its dark grey stone shimmering in the heat. The six-storey behemoth was a fortress of challenge, its circular shape casting long, angular shadows across the surrounding courtyard. Empty perches for Edifice and his fellow [Gargoyles] lined the uppermost parapet, with only one in five filled, their stone faces etched with expressions of eternal vigilance. At each compass point, towering arches framed the entrances, inviting the brave and foolish alike to test their mettle.
The Tower’s imposing presence did nothing to dissuade our group from entering. The first level of the tower was just a lobby, with a shimmering blue teleportation circle in the center. Smashed remains of wooden shops were pushed up against the walls with more than a few still smoking after the monsters from the Tower got done with them. We only found two bodies, which Ylsa dutifully ran out to the Lord’s keep so the families could be notified.
A few deep breaths and one mental pep talk later, I nudged Raiju and we stepped together into the teleportation circle. However, rather than immediately teleporting me as I’d expected, a System window opened up in front of me to reveal the Party Interface. There was now a Tower tab at the top. Opening it up, I found that the Tower was designed to work with the Party Interface, but with it gone, it’d just been operating based on the number of people standing on the teleportation pad at the top of each hour.
“Lady, preserve me.” I let out a long breath before sucking in through my teeth. “So, we have some options.”
Jaegan, ever the savvy bastard, messaged us all through the Party Interface. ‘What do you mean? I’ve been in the Tower a few times. We just need to wait another few minutes…it’s the Interface, isn’t it?’ His eyes lit up.
‘Got it in one.’ I rubbed my forehead. ‘It turns out that this thing is supposed to have what amounts to a difficulty slider, with greater rewards based on the difficulty attempted. Nowadays, everyone’s been going in on easy-mode, while we have the option of easy, normal, hard, or nightmare modes.’
‘What do each of them entail?’ The [Mage] rubbed his hands together greedily.
Looking around the System window, I found a button to explain what was going on with the options. With a gesture, I sent the window for everyone to view on their own.
[Tower of Trials - Chalcedony
Difficulty Selection:
Easy - Monsters on Floors 1-3 will be lower level than the average of the party entering. Floor 4 will have monsters of equivalent level while floor 5 will have a boss two levels higher than the highest level among the assembled group. Monster numbers will be at their lowest density. (Default Setting)
Normal - Monsters on Floors 1-3 will be of levels equal to the average level of the party entering. Floor 4 will have monsters 2-4 levels higher than the average level while floor 5 will have a boss five levels higher than the highest level among the assembled group. Monster numbers will be at their normal density.
Hard - Monsters on Floors 1-3 will be 2-4 levels higher than the average of the party entering. Floor 4 will have monsters 5-8 levels higher while floor 5 will have a boss ten levels higher than the highest level among the assembled group. Monster numbers will be considerable.
Nightmare - Monsters on Floor 1 will be ten levels higher than the average level of the party entering. Each floor after that, up to Floor 4 will increase in level by two. Floor 5 will host the Tower Boss. This monster will be twenty levels higher than the highest level among the assembled group. Monster density will be exceptionally high and the Tower Boss will have double the adds. Bonus: Defeating the Tower Boss on the Party Leader’s first trip into this Tower will grant the Party Leader administrative rights to the Tower of Trials - Chalcedony until someone else does the same.
Maintenance Note:
A disturbance has been detected on Floor 3 that is producing abnormally high levels of Chaos Mana. The offending object will only have a fifty percent chance of appearing on Hard, but is certain to appear on Nightmare. Only maintenance crews who have been certified by the local Adventurers’ Guild are advised to attempt to remove the offending object.
If the disturbance is not removed within thirteen days, three hours, fifty-two minutes, and nineteen seconds Purification Wave 2 will commence.]
Dominus damn this place. I knew there had to be something bullshitty going on to make the Tower go nuts, though I guess I should call it the Tower of Trials…nah. The Tower is fine for now. If we’re going to fix the issue, we have to, at minimum, go in on Hard, but that’s not going to guarantee us even seeing the issue.
‘Jaegan, how long did it take to make it to the third floor of the Tower on Easy?’ I messaged him directly.
He frowned. ‘It depends on the scenario that’s generated. I had one trip that only took a few hours per floor, but another took nearly a week to even make it to the third floor.’
‘That’s what I was afraid of.’ I fought the urge to grind my teeth. ‘The second wave from the tower is going to start in a little less than two weeks. We don’t have time to do this twice.’
The [Mage] turned to look at me with a mask of horror on his face. ‘Lad, we can’t–’
I turned and addressed the rest of the party. ‘It’s decided, we have to go in on Nightmare or there’s a good chance we don’t get another chance to do so before the next purification wave begins.’ Sweeping my gaze over my companions, I kept my face featureless despite my concerns. ‘Chalcedony won’t survive another purification wave, even with us here to help stem the tide. Does anyone have any concerns to bring up to the group? Time is of the essence.’
Part of me felt bad for ignoring Jaegan’s reaction, but at the same time…I had to be decisive in the moment and let others temper me from time to time. If he felt strongly enough, he’d bring his concerns up in front of everyone. Otherwise, they obviously weren’t important enough for me to bother with at the moment.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He kept thoughts to himself and so did everyone else, which actually felt a bit bad if I was being honest with myself. Nearly a minute passed, but no one spoke up.
Did I lay it on too thick and make everyone feel bad for being apprehensive? Panic gripped me for a moment until the feeling of Raiju’s back beneath me brought me back to reality. I squeezed her sides gently with my thighs in a silent show of thanks. Now’s not the time to worry about the kind of leader I’ll be in the future, for now we have to save Chalcedony. I can worry about becoming a dictator later.
“If no one has any concerns, let’s get this thing started.”
I waited a beat to see if anyone would take the last second opportunity to object, but when I looked at my companions, I found each of them prepped and ready for a fight.
Ylsa grinned at me over her pressed together fists, her muscles bulging as she flexed them. “Lead us into glorious battle, Storm-Blessed.”
“In for a copper, in for a gold.” Jaegan wasn’t as gung-ho, but nevertheless, he hefted the [Staff of the Wallbreaker] in both hands. “I said I’d follow you and this isn’t any crazier than the other stuff you’ve been doing, so let’s get to it.”
Raiju yipped happily. “Time to fight some monsters!”
I turned to Volta and Voltaire with a half-grin. “Not sure if you two will come through with us. If you don’t, I’ll summon you again as soon as I can.”
They bowed to me in unison. “Understood.”
With a nod, I did a final check of my newest Skills and my present allotment of [Slotted Skills].
[Active Skill - Mastery
Sun Apostle’s Perdition - 99%]
If what Grandpa told me about this Skill is true, this thing’s more powerful than any other Skill I have access to. The thing is, it’s about to evolve, so there’s no telling what kind of options I’ll get for it to advance. I just hope it keeps the utility he says it has in my new version. The cooldown’s going to be a bitch regardless.
Unlike the rest of my Skills, [Sun Apostle’s Perdition] had a cooldown of a minute to deal with. Based on what I’d read in the description, that was supposed to be much higher, but my increased [Divine] stat did a lot to reduce it. That was the way of the world, casters with higher [Arcane] and [Divine] stats would always out-perform high [Wits] when it came to the most powerful Spells and Skills while the opposite was true for those Spells and Skills that lacked a cooldown, but scaled based on [Wits].
[Dominated Skills - Slots Available 1/6
Minor Magnesis
Healing Light
Solar Deflection
Spike Field
Open]
In the Tower, [Photosynthesis] and [Sun Jump] would be basically useless, so they had to go. I almost brought [Hydrosphere] and [Healing Waters], but they’re only a bit more effective than [Healing Light] and it only costs one slot. [Spike Field] was always something Mom got good use out of in her Tower climbs, so I might as well try it out, same with [Open] for doors after I check them for traps. One open slot for anything that might be useful that I haven’t thought of yet…maybe I should–
Raiju’s shake brought me back to reality, where I found my party still waiting for me. I blushed. “Final check took a second.”
Without leaving time for a response, I hurried to select the Nightmare difficulty and the teleportation circle beneath our feet activated. The air around us shimmered, distorting the light into a kaleidoscope of colors. A circle of ethereal energy began to form at our feet, its glow intensifying until it seemed to swallow us whole and the world went black.
***
With a pop, we appeared in a chamber that appeared to be made of the same dark grey stone as the Tower itself. Ylsa, Jaegan, Raiju, and I stood within a brass ring on the ground that was quickly burning away like an oil soaked candle wick. Above me floated Volta and Voltaire, who appeared to be pleasantly surprised they’d been able to come through the portal.
The room we stood in had a pair of exits leading out into the Tower, but for some reason the room was eerily quiet. Before I could say anything, the last bit of the brass circle burned away and the sheer heat of the floor slammed into all of us like a physical presence. Pulling up my Status, I saw the temperature was at 140 degrees and rising at a rate of two degrees per minute.
“This is…unpleasant.” Ylsa wiped sweat from her massive neck and tossed it down beside her with a disgusted look on her face.
Our [Mage], on the other hand, wasn’t as calm about the heat. “Devourer’s balls, it’s more than unpleasant. I’m burning up here!” His usually clear skin was indeed already taking on a more pink tone.
Surprisingly, I felt totally fine until I got off Raiju’s back. As soon as I cleared it I felt like I was bathing in the heat of my Mom’s [Fire Wall] Spell as a kid again. She’d had to use it to defend the family villa a few times from hordes of flying monsters and once I’d been a bit closer than she expected. I was fine a few feet behind the cool side, but she’d pulled me out faster than I’d ever seen her move at that point before I could be badly burned.
“Yeah, this sucks.” I grunted. “It’s fine on Raiju’s back, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea for us to stack up like that. Let’s just hurry and see what we have to do to clear this floor.”
“Check the corner of your vision!” Jaegan snarled as he made his way to lean against Raiju. He sighed. “We need to kill two hundred and fifty [Magmen] and ten [Flame Golems] before the next floor will open. The current goal for the Tower will always be there if you look.”
Padding over to the nearest room exit, I triggered [Trap Finding] and was astounded at the number of pitfalls and tripwires I found in just a twenty foot stretch of hallway. Pulling out my toolkit, I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves.
“Things just got dicey, ladies and gentlemen. There are at least twenty traps in this stretch alone. I’m going to have to pick our way through, or we’ll be here forever. Follow exactly where I step, except those of you who can fly or walk on air, fliers should stay a few feet above the floor and at least a foot off each wall.”
What followed was a three minute slog as I had to disable four trip wires that stretched from floor to ceiling, using a special type of weight Dad gave me a literal ton of. They clip on the wire at each end and with a quick push of Mana, snip the wire at the same time. They basically trick the wire into thinking it’s still whole while leaving it ineffective as long as no one does something stupid…like kick it. Dad was still mad at Uncle Arlo for doing that one time on a Dungeon dive years ago that cost them a pile of loot.
Turning the corner after the trap-laden hallway, ten feet of un-trapped floor away, I saw a room with a literal pool of lava in the center while tiny naked red-skinned humanoids danced around it.
[Magmen - Rank D Horde Monster
Level: 40
Vulnerabilities: Cold, Water
Immunities: Fire]
To my surprise, instead of just giving me the usual information, [Essence Reading] gave me a full description of the little jerks. At that moment, I chalked it up to the Tower, but Jaegan dissuaded me from that idea later. He explained that I’d just experienced a rare [Evolved Skill Mutation], but didn’t explain much more.
[Magmen are a naturally occuring goblin variant that have adapted to life near a volcano. Their skin has taken on a fiery, molten red hue, and their bodies have become nearly immune to heat. Their eyes glow with an intense, ember-like light, reflecting the volcanic environment they inhabit. They are known for their fiery tempers and their ability to manipulate flames with incredible precision. Despite their small size, they possess surprising strength and durability, thanks to their adaptation to the harsh conditions of their volcanic home.]
‘Cold and water Mana vulnerabilities, people. No fire attacks if we can avoid them.’ I quickly messaged in Party Chat as I spun a pair of [Psyknives] into existence. ‘We go in as soon as Ylsa gets to the front, she’s going to be tanking. Same tactics as the Dungeon until we come up with some others. Heard?’
A chorus of ‘Heards’ sounded through the chat as the [Mountain Tempest] practically leapt to my side with a huge grin and knuckles covered in spikes of ice. ‘It’s time for me to show you my cool side!’ Without waiting for a response, she surged into the room like a woman possessed.
“Terrible pun, but you can’t fault the style.” Jaegan chuckled as he passed my face-rubbing form at a good clip with Raiju at his side. “Get on it, lad. Wouldn’t want our tank to get overwhelmed.”
I hurried to catch up with them a beat later after recasting [Arcane Armor].