On level 16

As they came into the room, the old man was already waiting for them. He stood by what seemed a window that gave him a view of most of the room. The others took up places and looked inside. Inside was nothing but darkness.

“Good, you are all here. We call this the laboratory. Of our more eccentric people use to make some interesting things here. From this spot, you can view what happens inside.”

“Ok, so what is going to happen inside there now?”

“Great things. There will be four tests. 5 of you will participate each time. The same five may not compete again. The winner of each of the tests gets 20 stats to spend. Those that die, die. Those that do not win and do not die, will get their level up at the end.”

“Ok so what are the 4 things?”

“I cannot tell you. You will choose three people and I will choose two. Those 5 will compete in the four different tests. Part of not knowing what test it is, is the fun part.”

“Easy for you to say, you don’t have to go through the tests.”

“I did, how do you think I became guardian of the tower? I passed all 10 000 levels and made a few modifications myself.”

“That can’t be, we saw the tower from the outside. It does not have 10 000 levels.”

“You saw, what we wanted you to see, now choose your three and let us get the first test underway. The others of you can stay here and watch. I will come for you later.”

“Well. Since we don’t know what lies ahead. Let us make a well rounded team.”

“Agreed, I’ll go and take Zomger and Lina with me. If my math is correct we should get a random hunter and another plate fighter.” Cuzen said

In what could only be described as a flash of light, 5 of them appeared inside. It seemed to be a small track. Not large, it covered about 4/5 of the tower floor.

“Welcome, this is going to be as speed test.” A voice said. It was clearly the old man, but the way he said it, it sounded like they were lab rats and he was talking via an intercom connection.

“You are currently standing at the start point, to your left and on the other side, you will see a dark cloud. In that dark cloud is a demon of sorts. He is hungry and you will find that no attacks work on him. Thus you must keep running counter clock wise until the 30 min time is up. After each lap the speed of the demon would increase. You will not be able to dodge or evade it. Your only hope is to stay ahead and do not try and overtake it, he does not like that. First place or the last to get eaten will get 20 bonus stats.”

“O crap, only our hunter here is made for running, the others of us are screwed.”

“Not to worry, let us just remove our battle gear and slip into something better.”

“What the hell, I can’t remove any gear.”

“Did I forget to mention that the gear and items you start the tests with, are those that you must complete the test in?”

“We so got to kill this guy…”

A horn sounded and the cloud started moving.

“I guess here we go.”

The pace started as a medium pace jog. At the start it all seemed ok. It did not take long to complete a lap. They started to notice the slight speed increase after each lap completed. After about 15 minutes Cuzen was running at nearly full speed. Thanks to game mechanics he could do so for a long time, until his stamina ran out. It was times like these he hated wearing plate. Great for combat, but the worst for running. As a last act of defiance Cuzen turned around and leaped into the cloud. He activated his blind block in hopes of it working. The problem was, how do you block a large mouth eating you?

The random warrior that was drafted with them, died about 2 minutes later. Zomger was doing well, considering he was in full heavy leather. It was sometimes odd to see him. He was as large as any warrior. As a matter of fact he was larger than your average player. It seemed he too tried to hex or curse the demon right before he died.

That only left Lina and a random hunter. She was not a stranger to running, but she did not enjoy it. Running for your life however did give her a greater motivation to keep at it. Since the early days, she would always wear cloths that were comfortable, stylish and made for roughing it out in the wild. She sometimes wanted to burn all those shameless harlots that walk in town with the minimum amount of cloths on. There was about two minutes left before it ended when the demon got her.

The winner and last man standing, who the demon could not catch was the random hunter.

All of them were back behind the glass and the room beyond it, was dark.

*Choose three, two will be taken.

Stan volunteered himself and two friends. Since they had no idea what the test was going to be, it would be illogical to try and make good groups. It seemed these tests were made to let one person win.

The second test was a test or memory. All seven colours of the rainbow were used. Each of them would flash in an order. Then you would have to repeat what you have just seen. The message stated that the first two losers will be killed. The winner gets 20 bonus stats and the 2 others get to live.

At the start it was easy. When the amount and speed picked up, it became hard. Some people just focused and used their memories. Some mimicked the pattern as it appeared, in an attempt to get it right. The priest won with an impressive 42 coloured sequence

It was during the third test that Tinker found himself standing on a pillar hundreds of meters high. Yuri and three other people stood about 10 meters away on similar pillars. There was no room to move and the surface area he stood on was about 1 foot long by 1 foot across.

*Test of endurance. Stay on for 1 hour, if you fall off, you die. Last man standing gets 20 bonus stats. You may not use your hands to grab onto the pillar, if you do so, you will be disqualified.

“O joy, now we have to stand here for an hour.”

“It could have been worse?”

“Don’t jinx it.”

“I was just about to mention that this could have been like the chess game, where you forced us to stand in silence.”

“I needed to think and you people talk a lot of rubbish.”

“Whatever man. How far down you think it is?”

“Hmmm, about 200 meters if I had to guess.”

“This test is not so bad, at least we did not have to run or remember flashing colours.”

“I can’t help but think, this is not everything.” As that was said the wind picked up.

After about 10 minutes the wind died down. There were a few close calls but everyone kept their balance. The conversation died down as they all focused on the task at hand.

“That was interesting. I wonder what is next.”

Clouds suddenly formed above them and the first drops of rain started to fall. The drops where small and slow, as time went on they became bigger and faster. What made things worse is that the rain did not fall directly from the top, but it fell in with a angle. With winds picking up people were forced to lean into it. They lost their first person this way.

The rain turned into hail. The hail did not do damage but it was annoying. It was right about the time when thunder started they lost another person. Tinker was surprised with himself, he held his balance well. It seemed that his fighting style was started to pay off. Instead of forcing things, he would flow. He turned his body, that his side faced in the direction of the wind. This way he would not have to lean so far into the wind.

Yuri on the other side adopted a different approach. He made himself into a ball. That seemed hard and Tinker was not sure how he kept his balance like that, since he could not use his hands.

After multiple thunder shots the dark clouds disappeared and the sun shone. A timer appeared to show that there was still 15 minutes left.

“That sucked.”

“The hail was the worse.”

“What are those black things there to my left?”

“It looks like, like birds heading our way.”

“Ah shit, I only have swords. How am I supposed to fight off birds?”

“That as they say Tinker, is your problem.” Yuri removed his bow and made ready to fire.

The other person left was the thief. He removed his daggers and made ready.

At first the birds flew around them, keeping their distance. Without warning 1 bird flew straight at each of the remaining people. It was not hard to defend and kill it. Tinker did lose some of his balance, but after a couple of swings he got use to it. He glanced over at the others and they seemed to be just fine.

Next two birds came for them, and after that three. After the fifth, all hell broke loose. What could be best describes as swarms of birds flew at them. The birds did not do much damage, but each bird that flew into someone, flew with the force of a light punch. The light punches started to intensify. Tinker heard the scream of someone falling, he did not know who it was, but at this point he did not care. He was fighting for his life from birds that seemed to kamikaze into him. The clock showed that there was 10 seconds remaining. A nice countdown started.

Tinker was into it now. No matter how many birds hit him, he stood strong. Being a warrior helped against the smallest of knocks or hits that would tip you over. The clock was on 5 and it seemed the birds where coming in for a final strike. Something hard hit him in the side of the head and he lost his footing. As he was falling he could see Yuri lying atop of his pillar. His legs where hanging off the one side and his arms were holding on the other. The bulk of  his weight was on his stomach. He could see that the hands where not used to hold on but all the other parts of Yuri’s body was busy. He could not help think that was an ingenious solution to prevent yourself from falling off.

Back in the room others asked him if he was alright. He just said yes and knew he died before the clock ran out. Soon after Yuri appeared and instead of the usual congratulations the others yelled at him.

“How could you have shot Tinker in the head?”

“Just to win you would make him loose a level?”

“Shame on you, he is supposed to be your friend.”

“Well someone has to win the 20 stats. Since Tinker never saw me fire an arrow, my story is that a bird caught his blind side.”

Tinker was not amused. Yuri was the trouble maker in the group, but this was a new low.

“Did you shoot me with an arrow in the head Yuri?” He asked him with a firm and calm expression.

There was complete silence. All the focus was on Yuri now. Yuri scratched the back of his head. With his best boyish grin he said. “How can you expect me to answer that with a straight face?” Those that new Yuri laughed, most did not know him well and how to respond.

Tinker could not help but crack a smile. He was still pissed, but he and Yuri have been through a lot. He tried a fake laugh to show things were good between them and even went as far as to say, things are fine between them. Deep down inside operation ‘get Yuri back’ was being planned.

The fourth test, was a test of pure strength. The person with the most won, which was a plated warrior. Quantum said he would wait till the end of the tower before he attacks the old man that keeps putting them in these awkward situations.

They got their level up and a ring

Ring of Clear vision

Allows the user to see threw or detect low, medium and some advance levels of Illusionary magic .

Ring must be equipped to be used.

On level 17

They decided it was time to log out and sleep in the real world. They had been playing for nearly 4 days in game and thus none of them have slept in about 20 hours in the real world. They were given 9 hours before they would resume. As Cuzen bluntly put it. “That gives you 8 hours to sleep and 1 for personal use. Those of you that have church or family obligations are reminded that you who came, agreed to commit for this. See you all in 9 hours and those not back will get kicked from the guild.” He did not even know if he had the power to do that, but it was just some extra motivation for the guys to come back.

Tinker logged back in about 30 min before the time and decided he would make some food for the masses. They each where living off their own pre made meals or food packets. He surprised them with kebab. Once people saw what he was doing, those back early offered their meat and the first hunter back was friendly obligated to give arrow shafts for the sticks on which they would be grilled.

As time was running out, Asmodian was the last to arrive. “Sorry guys, I went to the store to get some smokes. Ran into a buddy, and almost did not make it.”

“Its fine. Now people. We have just under 3 days in game time to complete the last 4 levels. We may finish some time tonight if we lucky. But if we don’t I hope many of you don’t have major plans for early Monday. Coz that is about the time we will be finishing.”

“I have work. But if I can get in a few hours sleep. I’ll be fine. Let’s finish this soon. We may have started 5GMT time, but some of us live well ahead of that and it’s already late Sunday afternoon here.”

“I hear you. We will try our best.”

“Before we start, I actually talked to one of my friends in the guild. It seems it’s all the talk and buzz. I did tell them briefly what has happened to us thus far. So they know things are going well and Gambit demands a full report posted in the guild tab by either Asmodian or Cuzen when this is all done.”

Asmodian talked before Cuzen could. “I think you should make one. Since you are the leader for this party it may be best if it came from you.” Cuzen could think of no good reply to get out of the work, so he just nodded.

“Further the guild wishes us all luck and says that you guys should offer Antrax an invite to the guild regardless of how this ends.” On some level people knew why. Without him the 19 guild members would have never been able to come here.

“So your guild has a lot of single ladies I hope, otherwise I would have to decline” Antrax said cheerfully

“I donno how many are single but there will be more than enough for you to try your luck on.”

He nodded and accepted the invite to the BoS guild. Since he was a miner he was asked does he want to be added into the Scribe division with the others or the special division. He claimed he wanted to be in the special division which would make him a special knight and keep him close to Lina. She did not think it was funny.

With morale at an all time high they tackled the next level.

In the room was a large round table with a ridge all around it and the old man was standing next to it.

They approached and saw the table was empty.

“Hey old man. I still wanted to ask. In the previous level. What would the hard way have been?”

“The hard way, would have to be that there could have been only one surviving participant and no bonus stats. Are you ready for what is next?”

“Sure, before you disappear could you tell us the difference between the easy and the hard way for the following test?”

“As you wish. The following test is all about luck. Each of you will roll a dice once. The number of that role will be remembered. At the end of it all. The numbers that were rolled the most and least will not be killed. Since you chose the easy way. If say the number 2 and 5 are rolled the most or the least. Both groups of people will pass and not die. Thus it is possible that all six different roles can mean you live. But the most likely odds are 2/3 that you will die. To make things more dramatic you will all role one after the other. I find it’s more satisfying for the reality of the situation to sink in one roll after the other.” He said that with an evil smile

There were murmurs and more than a few curses. Its times like these Tinker wished he had more luck stat points or even just the ability to morph some stats into luck. Dam the unholy speed his Morph skill was levelling up.

Yuri spoke up first.” Let me role last. I have the highest luck here.”

“O really” Antrax interjected.

They compared luck stats and Yuri claimed he would role 2ndlast. It seemed Antrax was dumping all his stats in strength and luck. He did claim that mining the earth was partially about knowledge, for mining the right thing in the right area. The rest came down to skill and luck.

“Well shit, I think most of our luck is so low it won’t really matter what order the rest of us role in. Thus we plate wearing players will roll first.” There were objections from said plate wearing players. “Be quiet guys, if I said it once, I have said it a million times. We plate wearers are first in and last out.” After Cuzen said that he extended an open hand to the old man and asked for the dice.

Magically it appeared in his hand. He took a deep breath and rather aggressively tossed the dice. He could see why the table had a ridge to prevent the dice from falling off. He rolled a 1. Some people actually giggled, but once they remembered it was not really about how high you role but, how much other people roll your amount. . .  The evil old man gave a wicked cackle and asked who was next.

So onwards they went. Tinker rolled a 3. Zomger rolled a 4. Lina rolled a 6. Quantum rolled a 4. Close to the end Yuri stepped up. He did a quick recount in his head. Three people rolled 1, three rolled 2. Four rolled 3. Three rolled 4. One rolled 5 and five rolled 6. If he rolled a 6 he would be fine. Or if he rolled a 5 he would be fine. Even if Antrax rolls a 5 after him. It would still be fine. Because then those that have 1’s an 2’s and 4’s will be fine. But the odds of him and Antrax both getting a 5 is low. Sure those from the other groups will be happy that more don’t get to die but he was in this for himself.

He rolled and nearly squeaked when it was a 5.

“You know what this means right Antrax?” Yuri asked him with what seemed to be the start of a smile forming on his face.

“Yes, role a 5 and only the 3’s die. Role a 6 and I don’t die. Role a 3, I make sure we and the 6’s don’t die. Role a 1,2 or 4 and I die with said group.”

‘No pressure” someone half heartedly laughed.”

“By Moridin’s Bronzebeard, give me a 5” Antrax yelled. There was absolute silence as the dice rolled and bounced over the table. It slowly looked like it was going to be 5, but as it fell backwards it revealed his throw to be a 4. Those with 5 and 6’s yelled in joy while the others bodies evaporated into small bits and they spawned back at the stairs.

“Sorry guys. Maybe if you were all dwarves Mordin would have been more helpful.”

“It’s ok man, your luck almost came through for us.”

“Yea, at the end I could almost swore I saw it working as it looked I was going to get that 5.”

The old man vanished and on the table was the smallest chest they have seen so far. Inside was there level up and a pair of dice

Loaded Dice

The owner of the pair of dice can determine what each dice value should be before they are tossed by using the magical key words.

WARNING: Extensive use my result in your reputation to increase or decrease. Skilled individuals or Strong magic spells may reveal your deception

It was clear who the more shady type of players were. They all wanted the dice and each could give 20 reasons why they needed it.

At the end Qauntum, Yuri, the thief and a hunter played rock paper scissors for it. Yuri beat Quantum in the finals to get the loaded dice. Quantum just said something about how killing people, was better than fooling them with dice anyway.

On level 18

The old man was standing near the entrance. From there a person could see 3 places. A cage about 15 meters wide and long and as tall as the ceiling. Next was an open, slightly elevated stage. About 20 meters by 20 meters. Next was a 30 by 30 meter area with various size rocks all over it. A closer inspection revealed there was some water pools as well.

“In this test of strength you will be fighting your duplicate. As you stand before me now. Your current stats will be duplicated into an exact replica of you. All the skills and techniques you have displayed through the tower till this point will be used by said duplicate. No help will be allowed during your section and all positive and negative buffs will be set to zero once the fight starts. Since you chose the easy path, you may advance to the last level and not win at least 10 of your 20 battles. In addition you may choose on which of the three stages you want to fight. The fight will end when either you or your duplicate dies. You may surrender verbally during your fight. That will instantly result in your death.”

“Ok you sadist. Is there a time limit”?

“No.”

“May we have more than 1 battle at a time?”

“Yes, there are three stages for battle. I can watch all three at the same time and judge over the battle.”

“Well guys we got 2 days and some hours left. I say we try and do 3 battles at a time.”

“Indeed, some of us will have to fight for a long time if we want to win, I was once in a 1hour and 40 min long dual with someone.” Stan added.

“But what of us that have used all our skills at some point in the tower and don’t have enough mana to use the new skill we learned?” Tinker asked

More than a few people agreed to that. To make matters worse, almost everybody that got a new skill in a book and could use it, had tried it when they got a free moment. After asking around they realised about 10 of them had not yet used all their skills and only about 5 people were confident they can beat their duplicates with their unused skills. Oddly enough none of them were Tinker or his usual party. It seemed most people used their best skills at some point.

“What about me and the priest?” Zomger asked more for the old man than the group.

“You two have the option of healing against your duplicates. You both will get a fake ally that takes the same damage. The target that has the most health at the end of 30 min wins. Or if your fake ally dies, you lose and die as well.”

“That sounds surprisingly fair.” Considering all the priest did was healing and all Zomger could effectively do was curse and heal. Sure he could attack with his club, but after months of playing he favoured either healing or cursing.

“So who wants to go first?”

“I want the open stage if you guys don’t mind” Asmodian said

“Sure, any more volunteers to the other stages?”

Cuzen said he might as well take the cage if no one wanted it. The hunter with the traps said he will take the other stage. The only comforting thought was that both Asmodian and this hunter were part of the 5 people that said they could beat there duplicates.

“Just remember guys. Once the battle starts you lose all positive buffs. Those of you that have buffs make sure you apply them to yourself once it starts.”

The three of them moved to their own stage. As they moved. On the other side of it 3 scare crows appeared. One moment they looked to be the same old dummies you can find at any place of training and the next it looked like the person it was going to fight.

“Once you step onto the stage. Just say start when you are ready and the fight will begin.”

“Guys” Asmodian said when he was on stage, loud enough for the other two to hear him. “I don’t want to show off or anything or make you guys feel insecure, but before you begin, check out my fight.”

There were not any objections.

With all eyes on him. Asmodian said start. If you blinked you would have missed it. In an instant the attack Asmodian used to hit to person behind the wall, struck him from the ceiling. When they looked over to his duplicate it was gone. A message appeared that said Asmodian had won.

People were confused and to shocked to cheer him. The question on every one’s mind was how he had done it.

Asmodian walked down to the others and admired how a few jaws were open with awe.

“What was that?” How did you do it?” “You been keeping a skill like that hidden?” “Just WTF is an arcane mage?”. He was assaulted by all the questions at once. “Geez guys, chill. You know how all spell casters have a spell, where they channel all their mana into said one spell to make it super strong? I just did that and used all my mana on one attack. In addition I used one fairy dust sample” He said that and nodded to Tinker. It was because of him that Asmodian was able to get some.

Stolen story; please report.

“But still man, we saw no attack and it was so fast.”

“Well, take our fire mage friends here. They each have some or other fire related spell that works the same as mine. Each spell caster has one spell that works on this mechanic. Being awesome and all that I have more than one. But I chose a spell that has a long casting time and instantly hits my opponent. Zero animation or fly time of my spell.”

“Hold on, you said you used a spell with a long casting spell time, and you killed him super fast?”

“Did I not mention that I have an ability where I can reduce the spell casting of one spell to 0.001 seconds, once a day? I have used it before, that is why my duplicate managed to instantly hit me.”

“Still dude, that was off the charts.”

“Well I probably would have nearly killed him if not for the fairy dust. Ask Tinker if you want to know more about the dust and how it works. His book can explain it better. With that said, I am going to log out now and take a well deserved smoke.”

Before anyone could object or ask more he was gone. Tinker took the time to show the other people that wanted to know what fairy dust does. It was only natural they ask does he have things they can use during combat. Like said dust or a combat potion. The best he could do is give them of his weak potions that heal or fortify stats for a limited duration. He warned them that they won’t really have time to drink it during battle, so best to drink it right after the battle starts and your opponent is still a distance away. Just like that he was giving away potions that fortify something and the odd poison to those that felt they could apply it to their weapons before the combat starts. It was not much but every bit helps. Only when the last person walked away with something did he realise he should have charged them money or at least take an I owe you.

Each member at least had his own healing potion, per guild rules. But some of them still took of his, claiming to be running low or near empty. It would have been useless to take some of his first aid bandages because no one would probably have the time to apply it.

With morale high Cuzen and the hunter when back to the stages and Lina said she wants the middle stage next.

The others did not start their fight yet and were watching Lina. She was not one of the originals that claimed she could defeat her duplicate. Tinker them knew she had many skills she had not used yet. They even mocked her once that for every useful spell she learns, she learns 10 useless spells.

She just stood there. Said start, without drinking any potions and chanted her first spell. Her opponent sent a fire ball her way and Lina used her skill where she applies a fire shield to herself. At first she used the one that increases her fire resistance by 5% for 5 min. Then she used the other fire shield that increases her fire resistance by 75% for 5 sec. Thus the enemy fire ball attacked hit for 80% less effectiveness. Lina in turn sent a fire ball to her enemy that hit. A person could clearly see the difference in their health bars. At some point the enemy used flame strike on the ground and tried to run and evade Lina’s attacks. Lina would move out of the flame strike each time, and calmly attack and never miss the enemy.

Mages were slow and did not like running and moving on a field of battle for good reason.

The others just watched in silence. In one of Zomger’s short stories about the Tower he described it as watching two people play rock paper and scissors. The only difference was that Lina kept using rock and the opponent stuck to scissors.

Sometime during the fight the other two started. Cuzen’s fight was boring to watch. Again Zomger described it as two giant trees trying to outgrow each other. It was an apt description to explain how boring and long the fight took. Now the hunter fight was at least interesting. With bow shots and traps being flung towards an opponent hiding behind objects. He won with a about 20% life remaining.

The other fire mage saw what Lina did and did the same. It seems none of the spell casters used their shield block spells and thus had it easy. The fights went on. As soon as one guy was finished the next would take his place. Or at least that was happening on the stages where the fights ended fast. Cuzen was well into his second hour of duelling his enemy when Quantum went to fight. He wanted the stage with rocks. As any sane person could guess his fight was even, fast paced and a combination of in your face fighting and then retreating and running like a mad man. He got the edge by bouncing a couple dagger throws off rocks and hitting the enemy as he stood behind a rock.

Zomger walked up to the open stage to start his heal battle when the previous person finished. The priest told him he could go first. 3 dummies came forward. One looked like him and the other look like any typical NPC city guard. Things started and Zomger went to healing. He had no tricks up his sleeve, because all his healing spells he had used at some point or the other. It seemed both he and his enemy were saving the big new one he got from the books. It occurred to him, that he could cast curses on the enemy healer to slow down his casting time and even increase his mana cost. He was not sure it would work. But as things looked now, he was going to lose. A person can’t compete against the precision timing of a computer. Human error finds a way to creep in and to be major factor. He won after his 30 min were up. His target was on 42% and the enemy was on 36%.

The old man said. “I don’t count that as cheating because I did not say you may not curse your opponent. I did not encourage it either. Like a true combatant you thought beyond the parameters set and came out on top. Well done by

showing initiative and thinking outside the norm.” The old man went back to watching the matches.

Soon after Cuzen finished his match and stumbled from the cage with 3% life remaining. 3 hours and 20 min later he was so exhausted. He did not say much, smiled and logged out for a bit.

Tinker was thinking what stage would work best for him. He eventually concluded the cage or the open stage would work best. He was not use to fighting with rocks to your back and so on. He was scared the AI would surprise him with something weird. On the other stages it would be a straight up fight. Or mostly anyway. He would use his potions to gain the edge on his enemy. He entered the cage Cuzen left and made ready. He coated one sword with a paralytic and the other with his most potent poison. About 10 minutes into the fight he was losing by a small %, but he landed a few shots and could notice his opponent slowing down.

What did catch him by surprise was that here toward the end his enemy speed increased. Tinker was fighting with agility morph and his enemy with strength which he switched near the end to score a clean hit that was almost a critical. Another lesson learned. Save the speed morph till your opponent does not expect it. Tinker suspected he would have done better if he fought more duel wielding fighters. Most preferred the big two handed weapon approach or shield with weapon.

Antrax fought after Tinker and won his battle. It was odd. His dummy fought with shield and axe where Antrax went in with axe and one of his mining picks. When Antrax landed his shin kick move he had 5 seconds where he attacked repeatedly at his opponent’s neck scoring consecutive critical hits as it was bent over holding its leg. The fight was soon over after that.

Yuri lost his match. He tried getting up close to the enemy hunter to attacking him in melee combat. Because he knew most hunters were weak against in your face opponents. The enemy dummy even had a spirit hawk of his own. During the whole fight they flew around and at some point they seemed to be dancing while their masters were fighting to the their death. They were not bothered in the least and seemed to do their own thing and finding each other rather amusing.

At the end of it all 16 out of the 20 won. Those that lost. Lost by the smallest of margins. In some cases it literally came down to one or two hits, or wrong moves during battle.

When the chest opened they got their level up and a book. They identified the book. The book would teach a skill where you can replicate any single humanoid enemy. The only down side was it cost the caster a level and the replicate can only attack the person it’s based on. The up side was you can buff said replicate or heal him, once he was summoned. It would also remain as long as the enemy it’s based on is alive. So at least there was that. Another requirement was a massive mana pool and to be level 200. This was an item, that would go to the guild and be saved for a rainy day or sold.

On level 19

This was the largest room they had seen. It was the normal size in width, but instead of having a normal 5 meter high ceiling, it was about twice the height of the navel battle room. The old man was at the stairs.

“You are near the end. Are you ready for the some unconventional battle?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“One of our members devoted a good portion of his life and time to study how most of the greatest and most powerful people in the continents history had died. He found mostly what you would expect. Stronger opponents, betrayal and the list goes on. Very few it seems had died of old age, many were beaten well after their prime, but that is to be expected. He then put forth the theory that the greatest factor was not how powerful you were but how well you react to a previous unknown elements. Be they a new type of magic, weapon or fighting style. It is that element of being put in a situation you have not been before and making the wrong choices or decisions. Thus this room was created. The idea was put forward by another of our members and to the best of our knowledge he was the only person to have ever fought and won in these conditions.”

With a snap of his finger they were all standing on a large multisided rock in the centre of the room. They were in the middle room and looked up and down to the roof and ceiling which now held spikes. There were other rocks in different  locations. All smaller than the huge one in the middle.

“Welcome to zero gravity. The aim of this test it to escape and evade the opponent that will try and catch you. All the rocks with different shapes and sizes can’t move. The only things that move are you and him. You cannot defeat it. Your only chance is to last until the time runs out. Which is two hours. All of you must participate and since this is an easy version you can each choose your starting location. In the places where the walls, roof and floor normally are, are now spikes.

Touch them with any part of your body or weapons and you die. As you can feel. The rocks each have some gravity. Thus it allows you to walk around on them.”

As he said that he walked to what seem the edge of the rock. “Follow me” he said as he stepped down the side of the rock. The others reluctantly followed. They found themselves standing at the bottom of the rock looking over a different part of the room.

“Jumping will propel you off any rock. Once you do, your momentum will carry you towards the area you jumped to. Thus make sure with how much power you jump and in which direction. I have seen more than a few people miss their targets or just simply die of the impact. The bigger the rock, the stronger the gravity. You have one minute to talk and choose your starting locations. If you are not done by then, I’ll put you at random locations.”

“What happens if we all die before the time is up?”

“You may choose to start the level over.”

“What happens if our enemy touches a spike?”

The old man just smiled and said nothing.

“Awww heck guys, I think I have seen a movie like this before. Best don’t think in terms of bottom or top. Think of yourself as the centre point and all other places are just a small hop away.”

“Don’t be reckless. I think once you are off and floating around your chances to survive goes down.”

“Also don’t panic and push off your friends.”

“If you figure out something important. Share it over our party chat. Since we won’t always have line of sight of each other.”

“Try and jump to close rocks. The further you try, the harder it gets. If you in a dire situation and need to make an emergency jump. Aim for the middle.”

People started choosing rocks. Tinker chose a small rock which he could barely see, on the other side of the room. With all in position the test started. Quantum was the only person that chose the large centre rock. Even before they could clearly see the enemy which spawned on the same rock he jumped. It looked like he was jumping in slow motion. He landed hard on a rock and immediately reported to the others.

“Guys, I just jumped at about half strength and landed hard. Lost some Hp. Don’t panic and jump under half power if possible.”

During all this they had a chance to see their enemy. It looked like a humanoid tiger of some sort. It had a large upper body compared to its legs. It was wielding a scythe with a chain on its end. An archer, most likely Yuri, fired a shot at the beast. It passed right through him. Tinker saw it and nearly shouted his disgust. It seemed this was a sadistic game of tag.

The first to die was a warrior who the tiger jumped at from the centre rock. In true fashion he jumped with all his power and in a slightly wrong direction. He missed the rock by about half a meter. As he was slowly drifting towards a spike, he told them about how far he missed it and apologised for his mistake.

The tiger did not seem in a hurry and seemed to jump for the nearest player. Once it landed it would jump after the nearest other player. As time went on, they reported how his speed increased. Tinker’s own heart might have missed a beat as he jumped away for the first time for a rock and landed with an unexpected force. In addition someone reported the gravity of the rocks only start taking effect when you are about 1 foot away.

As time went on they lost two players. Another one mistimed his jump drifted into a spike. The other person was taking too long and as he jumped and floated away a scythe floated into him. Again it was bad to watch because it seemed to happen in slow motion. The person got pulled towards the tiger and he tossed them to the nearest spike once he removed his weapon from them.

During this time, those that were not close were hatching and discussing plans to kill the tiger. One plan was to let someone drift very slowly towards a spike and hope the tiger jumps after them and kills himself in the act. After they saw him throw the weapon about 90 % of the plans looked stupid and would not work. Someone made the suggestion to jump with a weapon in hand and deflect the blow. When they saw that it worked it became a standard action to jump and try to deflect the weapon. The down side was that you landed harder or badly. But if you compare that to certain death it was a small price to pay.

They lost another two who could not deflect the scythe properly. It seems that even if you block the weapon with your shield it did not change your direction much. Otherwise they would have been in trouble.

30 minutes in the tiger became more aggressive. He would follow people for more than one hop and his speed increased. They lost another 4 before the 30 minutes where at an end. Lina being one of them.

An hour into the test the real problems started. Not only did the tiger become faster. He would toss his scythe to the rock you are jumping towards. In a sort of reverse hook, he would be pulled speedily towards said rock. If he arrived before you, he would catch you and squeeze you to death. When he arrived soon after you, he would toss his scythe after you and jump in your direction. At first the jumping after a player was about the same speed. As more time slowly went by. They noticed that unless you jump nearly at full power, he would gain on you. This is how they lost Tinker and Asmodian. Towards the end of 30 min Cuzen and 5 more died.

It seemed those that died were teleported to the centre of the large middle rock and had a front row seat to the test. From Tinker’s vantage point it seemed that Antrax jumped to a small rock near the corner for no reason and he was hammering said rock. It took a while before the Tiger gave up on Quantum and decided to go after the dwarf.

The tiger jumped and very early Antrax jumped towards a far rock. The Tiger threw his scythe towards said rock. They have seen this move a thousand times. Then Antrax did the unexpected. He tossed his two picks towards the rock he just left.

Now they only noticed the rope tide to each pick and the end to his belt. Both struck home and one pick actually penetrated the surface. He yanked hard on that rope and was returning towards the rock he jumped from. At this point the Tiger had two options. Either continue on its present course and maybe meet up with Antrax or reverse hook towards where his scythe had landed.

Antrax arrived on the rock and jumped towards the nearest rock. The tiger landed moments later and before he could pursue the rock broke and the tiger was falling towards the spikes. The speed he fell with was much slower than his initial speed. When the Tiger decided to head towards the same rock as Antrax he was already pulling back his weapon and thus had no place to anchor towards. As Antrax was still floating over to the rock, the tiger had his weapon in hand and tossed it towards the rock he was heading. Antrax actually tossed both his picks towards the scythe. He only needed to divert it 1 foot away from the rock. Antrax purposely chose this place. Close to spikes and of the smallest rocks present. The first pick missed by the smallest of margins and when his second pick hit, he instantly felt his luck at work. He whispered a thanks to Moradin as he watched the scythe miss the rock.

The tiger yelled and drifted into the spikes. When he touched he died and vanished. A large clock appeared above the centre rock and 5 minutes stared counting down.

“Ah dam, I thought with him dead, we would have won”

“Yea, good job Antrax. How did you know the rock won’t break when you jumped back?”

“Please, I am a miner. Be it a space rock or solid granite. I know what I am doing and what pressure and finesse is needed to break rocks.” Antrax was gleaming with joy.

“So now what? We wait till he gets back?”

“What else do you suggest? When he gets back, we should have about 15 min left before we are done.”

“Yes, I suggest you guys use this time to prepare or drink a potion or whatever.

Yuri tied a rope to his thickest arrow. Quantum it seemed had tied at least 5 different daggers to what seem to be fine metal wire.

The tiger came back and seemed to be mad. He immediately looked for Antrax and jumped towards that general area. Antrax jumped towards a rock. The Tiger tossed his weapon to that rock, and in response Antrax tossed a pick to a different rock. From out of thin air a second scythe formed in the tiger hand’s. He tossed the new weapon towards the rock Antrax pick was heading. Antrax tossed his seconded pick towards another rock. By the time his first pick hit, his course was already changing. When his second pick hit he was heading in that general direction but due to his initial momentum he was heading well to the side of that rock.

The tiger was not idle during all of this. He too was performing some fancy space manoeuvres. But what made it unfair was that he could reverse hook towards any of his new weapons at fast speeds. About the time Antrax was sailing past his rock the tiger landed and tossed a weapon towards Antrax. He used his shield to divert the attack. What he failed to notice was that the Tiger had cut the rope of his second pick.  Antrax was still waiting for his first pick to return. With nothing to anchor him and not having anything to use he casually drifted into spikes.

The Tiger managed to kill the other hunter right before the clock stopped. Quantum and Yuri yelled in triumph. Even with the

clock gone the tiger still remained.

“As I said, unknown elements.” The old man’s voice echoed through the room

The room’s rocks started moving. Those close to spikes would disappear and pop out at other areas in the room.

“Ah shit, a moving battle field.”

“Did you notice there is no clock to show how long the two of us must last?”

“Stop talking, he coming at you Yuri”

With the moving rocks and seeming random move patterns things got complicated. The 18 dead players were glad they did not have to try and navigate those rocks, let alone dodge the tiger. The 2 remaining had a hard time at the start but you could see that they were there because of skill.

After about 10 min Yuri found himself floating awkwardly to nothing. The arrow and rope he was pulling himself towards got sucked into the spike and was no more. In addition he had no more rope. It’s not like he carried miles of rope with him. He shot a few arrows to a couple of rocks. Right before he died he said over party chat. “Marked 3 stones with arrows ranging from 1 to 3. There seems to be a pattern from when they vanishing into the wall, to when and where then appear again.”

“Thanks, I noticed there is some pattern but it’s hard figure it out.”

“Yea, if only this tiger would give us a break. My spirit hawk is sticking to a 4thstone. Good luck man”

Just like that Quantum was alone. Yuri was kind enough to leave some help but it was still hectic. The only thing he had going for him was that he had 5 daggers that acted as anchors or means to navigate and the tiger only 2. He had seen how the tiger was cutting rope and he had even lost two wires. He had extra but he could not really afford to lose more. Thus as he was floating he would tug said dagger free and change his direction as well. A person might wonder how he was able to reel in 4 or 5 wires at the same time, but he had quick hands and high agility. Since he was alone now, there was no time to rest or quickly make plans.

His movements was a combination of thought and instinct. He could not really determine how much a dagger into a rock would affect his forward momentum. But he had a system. Small rocks for minor turns. Medium rocks for larger turns and the odd extreme direction change. Large rocks to pull yourself towards or extreme direction changes.

The tiger would change tactics sometimes and toss a scythe. It was ineffective because Quantum was use to dodging and deflecting attacks. Being an assassin came with being attacked by multiple enemies after you killed someone important and needed to make your escape.

The game of tag was extreme and surprisingly entertaining to watch. After about 30 min it seemed Quantum was going to die. He was floating towards spikes with 4 of his 5 anchors already used and he was pulling them in. The tiger was also reeling in both weapons and was floating after Quantum and was gaining on him.

The players could already see how they would have to repeat this test. As doom approached they saw Quantum tossing his last dagger toward the spikes. Right before it hit the spikes a large rock with a spirit hawk riding it, started to appear from the spikes. The Tiger seeing Quantum’s plan stated howling with rage. What only could be described as cheating did one of his scythes appear in his hand, instead of taking the time to be reeled in. He tossed it at the same rock as Quantum. In response Quantum tossed 12 daggers to divert its direction, what made it more impressive was that the first 10 daggers hit the scythe in consecutive order.

The Tiger’s momentum was too much and he hit the spikes as his second scythe was heading towards the nearest rock.

Just like that the room returned to normal and all of them stood at a chest in the centre of the room with the old man there.

Quantum was congratulated and there was no doubt that he was the hero of this level. He just calmly said he had a good idea on how and what the pattern was. When they asked him to explain what it was he just said “It’s kinda hard to explain”.

“Well done” the old man said. “As with the theme of this level, unknown factors and elements occurred and you guys came out on top. Originally you thought you would win in two hours, the rocks won’t move and you can’t defeat the tiger. After two hours it all changed and to make things worse you had no idea how much time would need to pass or that you can now defeat the tiger. You have adapted well and I feel I can say with certainty you will do well in most combat situations as long as you trust yourself and those allies around you.”

He vanished into nothing and the party opened their chest. Inside was their level up and what could be best described as a 10 small gnomish grenades.

Gnomish Zero G device (10)

The device can be used to negate all gravity in large rooms, halls, caves or any other large enclosed locations for 5 minutes.

WARNING: 10 sec timer after device is activated before effect takes place. Device disintegrates after the allocated time expires.

People could already see and think of multiple ways how a small group can turn the odds on a larger group or how such a device could be used to delay people. Cuzen said he wanted to talk it over with the others in the guild to decide how will they divide these devices. Since there were only 10, they were valuable recourses.

“Guys, how are we looking on time?”

“Just over a day. Or 7 hours in the real world.”

“Wait, should it not be more?”

“Yes, but some of us have things to do on Monday and need at least a few hours of sleep”

“Fine, we will take a 20 min break. Go eat something and use the bathroom, when you all back we will tackle the last level.”