“Did you and your shrubbery get caught in the mandatory quest?” the heavily armored Paj said.
Ebba stepped forward. “Yes, we did. We are vastly underleveled and had no intention of straying near. Someone forgot to tell me there was a mandatory quest in effect.” She turned to glare at Max.
Max held up his hands. They already had this discussion. It was really her fault, not his. But if she needed to look smart in front of them, Max wouldn’t stop her.
“What are your plans? Any chance you will clear the tower in the next 2.1 hours?” Ebba asked.
The Paj laughed. “No. We just got here. The guild sent us here to clear it just yesterday. It’ll be at least a day, maybe two. The final floor is particularly difficult. It’s why the quest happened in the first place. No one wants to run it unless they get paid.”
Ebba’s four arms drooped as one. “That news is a festering wound. Any chance you brought along extra weapons we could use?”
“We all brought along spares, but that’s a safety thing. I’ll ask the others if any of them have a weapon they can part with,” the Paj said and glided away on its thousands of cilia.
Ebba walked back to the humans and said, “I’m assuming you heard all that. If we can use one of their weapons, that will increase our chances of survival greatly. However, even with the loan, this will be difficult. We need to talk strategy and plan out our dungeon run. Come, sit.”
They all sat down, most of them with serious faces. Gus couldn’t hide his excited look.
Ebba gestured to the tower and said, “Our first problem is that the tower only admits groups of six. We need to decide on how to split our group. I have been thinking about it, and I believe there are only two good options. The Lunuk way and the human way.
“The Lunuk way would be to send our weakest group member in on their own. It would mean almost certain death for them, but it would provide the rest of us the best chance of survival. The human way would be to send me in alone and the six humans in their own group. Without me, you humans would have a much lower chance of survival, but then no one would be sacrificed. I believe my own chances of survival are equal in either case, so I will allow you to make the decision.”
They looked at Ebba in shock and then glanced around the group. No one said anything as they considered the choice.
Ashley scoffed, “How is this a decision, people? She’s asking if we are ok with murder. Clearly the answer is no, we are not ok with murder. The six of us are going in a group and the alien girl heads in on her own.”
Max nodded. Ashley may be a horrible person, but she wasn’t dumb. If anyone was going to be sacrificed, it would be her. Max and Gus were strong, James had good ranged attacks, Yang and Lily had black chitin armor. From a practical and emotional standpoint, Ashley was the weakest link. Her only chance of survival was convincing everyone that the humans had to stick together.
“I’m ok with murder,” Yang said in a flat voice. “I vote we send in the weakest human in alone.”
Ebba curled her fingers in a smile.
Ashley squawked in shock and couldn’t find the words to respond.
Lily said, “We can’t straight up sacrifice someone. That’s evil.”
Gus shook his head. “It’s not evil, it’s practical. Ebba calls this place Spinworld, but a better name might be Monster Murder World.” He held up his hand. “But, I am actually fine either way. I want to live, but I also want to run a dungeon without a nanny.”
Max shook his head, “I’m not ok with murder. We’ll do the six humans together.”
Ashley slumped in relief and Lily nodded in satisfaction. Gus and Yang shrugged. James had stayed out of the conversation, but he knew James would never vote to sacrifice anyone.
“That’s the plan then. I’ll go see about that spare weapon and ask them about the first three floors,” Ebba said.
As she walked away, Max said, “Let’s do some planning. Gus, I know you have more experience, but I’m not going to let you lead. We can’t trust you after you tried to abandon us. That’s not to say I don’t want your advice. You are the most experienced with fighting out of all of us, so I definitely want to hear your opinion.”
“That’s... fair. But promise me you will listen to my advice, even if it’s in the middle of a fight,” Gus said.
“As long as you promise me to listen to me when I give an order,” Max said.
“Deal.”
Max didn’t expect Gus to risk his life for the group, but it couldn’t hurt to try for some unity. Max said, “First things first. Let’s talk about what we have to work with. I have four hammers with super strike and two sets of gauntlets with magic reach. Both of them work once and take about an hour to recharge. I bought some new cards this morning, but they won’t be useful today. We’ll go around the circle and everyone explain what they can bring to bear. Lily, you are up first.”
Lily nodded, “I went all in on the clover suit. I’ve been slowly adjusting the Mushroomantis to be more effective in combat. I’ve got a hatchet I’ve practiced with and you can see my armor.”
Yang said, “I have the Decoy card, which you have all seen. My Convection card heats things up slowly, but it can get pretty hot with time. My final card is called Paint. I can change the color of things if I splash my blood on them.”
“I have the useless Flower card, but I got the evil twin card to make up for it. I also got Sonic Step. If I stomp real hard on the floor, I can kinda see around corners. It’s like Daredevil,” said Gus.
Next up was Ashley. She looked at them nervously and said, “I have a card that makes my tongue real long, and one that creates a beam of light. I think it blinds people, but I haven’t tested it yet.”
“You gotta have more than that,” Gus said.
“What aren’t you telling us, Ashley? Your life could depend on telling us everything,” Max added.
“That’s everything. I took the titan core instead of an extra card, remember?” Ashley replied flippantly.
“Bullshit,” Gus said and folded his arms.
When she didn’t reply, James cleared his throat. “I have this cool buckler that automatically stops any attack once a day. My best card is the Decay card, which is an invisible attack that slowly breaks down organic matter. I inherited the Glass Shards card as well. My last card is Acid. I have to bleed myself to use it though, so that’s not happening. Oh and one more thing. I bought a shortsword, but I don’t know how to use it yet. Yang, did you want to borrow it for the dungeon?”
She nodded. “I could make good use of it. I’ve trained with a bolo knife, it’s similar to a short sword.”
Max decided that James was definitely into Yang. He would have to talk to his friend about it later. Maybe he could play wingman or something.
They talked about strategies while Ebba finished her discussion with the warriors. They came up with a few good formations, but nothing great. The problem was that they didn’t have anyone that could be their tank. The girls had armor, but neither were willing to take the front line. Max regretted not buying the Armor rune. If he had good armor, he wouldn’t mind playing tank.
That reminded him about the cards he did buy. He already had Specialize at three. That allowed him to slot one of his cards he had bought this morning. He had been planning on waiting and being more careful before permanently adding a card to his deck. But he needed every advantage he could get now that they were running a dungeon made for someone two layers more advanced.
Between Drill and Actuator, the drill seemed more useful in combat. He slotted it in and read over the changes his Specialize made to the card.
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Advanced
Drill
Citadel
Transmutes mana neutral matter within aura into a small metal drill.
Mana Cost: 15
Refresh: 2.1 Hours
Card Level: 2
The description had simplified, that was good. That meant he had more freedom in what kind of drill he wanted to make. It did say a small drill now where it said hand drill before. That kinda sucked. He had been envisioning a drill big enough to keep monsters at arm’s length as he drilled into their heart.
He also noticed that the card level was only two. The rest of his cards were level three. He thought that they always matched each other. He double checked the other three cards. They were all down to level two now as well.
His heart fell. Adding a common card to his advanced deck meant that he was losing levels. He swallowed four more white cores and bumped everything back up to level 3. It might have been unnecessary, but he felt better.
With that out of the way, it was testing time. He thought about what kind of drill he wanted. Maybe something with a long pointed tip, something he could strap to his war hammer and make it a deadlier weapon. He grabbed a nearby stick and focused on his new card.
After a mental click of an intangible button, he held a drill in his hands. It was small. It was a straight line hand drill, the handle just long enough to fit in his palm. The drill tip was affixed to the handle and four inches long. The tip was needle thin and it slowly flared out to a one inch wide base.
Max nodded in satisfaction. If nothing else, it would make for a perfect stabbing tool. There was a small button on the side, but nothing happened when he pressed it. He frowned and tried again, this time focusing his intent. The drill sprang to life and spun with a high whine. A yellow outline of the drill shot forward three feet. Max had been pointing it to the side while he tested it and the tip of the magical effect touched the ground.
When the drill shut off, there was a perfect hole in the dirt, one inch wide. Further tests couldn’t get the drill to go again. He knew from the card’s refresh rate it would be another two hours before he could use that magical effect again. He tossed the drill in his bag. He’d pull it out again if they were still in the dungeon two hours later.
He used another fifteen points of mana to make another drill. He focused on making the tip much longer and sharper. It kind of worked, ending up sharper and an inch longer. It seemed like the word small in the card description put a hard limit on how long it could be. He pulled out his duct tape and attached the drill’s handle to his war hammer’s haft. That way he could use two different magical effects in one weapon. Smash for magic hit and stab for magic pierce. It looked janky, but if it saved his life, he didn’t care.
When Ebba came back, it was with a smile on her fingers. “Good news, nestlings. The guildies felt bad they couldn’t loan us a weapon. They told me something only the guild is supposed to know. This tower hasn’t changed in the last three months. They told me all about their last run and if it’s the same this time around, you all might come out of there alive.”
The news came as a ray of sunshine. There was hope, however slim. She explained what the first two floors would be like and gave them advice on how to beat them. Apparently the monsters weren’t too hard on those levels, but the traps were nasty. When she was done, she left to enter the tower and told them she would wait a day for them to exit. If none of them did, she would return home.
They discussed strategy again and went through a few mock exercises. When there was only a half hour left on their deadline, Max led them to one of the six entryways. This was how the tower handled multiple teams fighting within the tower, multiple entrances. There were at least 36 rooms on each floor, but they would only have to go through 12 of them to move on to the next floor or leave.
They walked inside as one and a few seconds later, the hexagon door irised shut behind them. It was success or death now. The entryway wasn’t dangerous, it was an empty room used to gather team members together.
Party Analyzed
Low combat ability detected. Mandatory Floors: 1
There was a general sigh of relief. They didn’t have to run a second floor. That meant twelve rooms until freedom. On the opposite wall they came in from, a hexagon shape slowly formed. It was a door, the same shape as the one that had just shut. The only difference was a hand sized button in the middle of the door. Yang was about to touch it when Gus stopped her.
“Wait, levels. If you haven’t yet, spend your points from level ups. You never know if it might be the difference between life and death,” Gus said.
Max nodded. “Good point. Let’s take a second and spend points. Particularly if you are going to level up Resistance, now’s the time.”
He pulled up his simplified system and reviewed where he could use his remaining three points. He had to focus on what he would need in the upcoming fight.
Max Kraft (Level 6)
Insight 6
Flow or Resistance
Presence or Paranoia
Quicken or Broaden
Weight or Levitate
Specialize: 3
⬣
(3 Free Points)
As he just said, putting points into Resistance would protect against a magical attack or poisons or whatever. He wasn’t going to do that though. Its opposite was Flow, the most important stat for increasing your control over magic. He couldn’t give that up. Not even if it put his life at risk.
Paranoia sounded interesting, it would help him hide better. Ebba said it helped her avoid being seen in the first place. But that name. He didn’t want to think his friends were out to get him. She had mentioned it made being in town harder. Levitate was tempting too. Fern had said that it made her light on her feet with just a few points. Ebba had mentioned magical traps, so leveling up Insight would be a good idea too.
After a few moments of consideration, he decided to put all three points into Insight. The other choices might help, but Insight would definitely help. It didn’t work. He had forgotten that the system wouldn’t let him advance Insight past six yet.
He ran through his four choices again. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that both Weight and Levitate would help him in a fight. Heavier punches or easier movement. He decided to go with Levitate. It would help him with offense and defense, plus he wanted to be able to fly eventually.
As soon as he spent the three points, he felt lighter. Not as light as he had hoped, but lighter. He was about 30 pounds lighter now. In addition to walking around easier, he felt faster, like inertia had less hold on him. A bit of experimenting later and he found he could turn it on and off at will. He smiled to himself. This was going to be fun.
The drawbacks of the choice put a damper on his mood, but didn’t kill it.
Benefits:
User has 24% less effective mass
Effect is toggleable
Levitate Level 3
Drawbacks:
Long term use results in minor bone and muscle deterioration.
He already knew about the drawbacks of zero gravity, the note wasn’t surprising. He planned on only using his Levitate when he was fighting. He practiced a bit turning it on and off, but he couldn’t do it in quick succession. Maybe he would have to be a higher level to do that.
He glanced around the group while he waited for them to level up. Gus had Max's gauntlets and a war hammer, with knives strapped to his side. Ashley and Lily held his other two magic hammers. Yang looked positively deadly in her armor, dual-wielding a short sword and knife. James wore his buckler and held a small knife in his off hand. If James had to use that knife, they had messed up.
When everyone was ready, they got into formation and touched the button in the center of the door. It split into six segments and slowly irised open. The room was fifteen feet tall and wider than they could see. It was absolutely filled with slowly pulsing columns. They were like pillars of flesh surrounded by plants that seemed to move and breathe. The ceiling was covered in softly glowing flowers. None of the plant life (or animal life?) seemed familiar. It wasn’t from Earth or the Lunuk’s planet.
The life on the ground looked like colorful organs, slowly pulsing and slithering around each other. They stayed rooted in place, swaying to a wind only they felt. Despite their clear flesh-like characteristics, they were organized with stalks and leaf-like structures, evoking foliage. The columns were more flesh-like with muscle structures under loose skin. The room was humid and smelled of lemon and vinegar.
Max belatedly realized there was a monster fifteen feet away. It was eight feet tall with a lobster bottom and an ant torso. Its head was vaguely humanoid with exoskeleton instead of skin and sharp mandibles in place of a mouth. It was standing stock still behind a flat stretch of plantlife. It looked like someone had cut the plants in half and it had scabbed over. The brownish blue of the scab was the same color as the monster’s exoskeleton.
The six humans fell into formation as they noticed the monster. Just as they practiced, three stepped forward and the other three stepped behind them. Gus, Lily, and Max were the frontline, James and Ashley were the back line. Yang would wait until the monster was distracted and sneak around to its back.
James dramatically raised his hand and pointed his finger at the monster. Partly because that was their signal that he was going to activate his Decay card. The magic was invisible, so the gesture was needed for coordination. It was also because James felt like a real wizard when he did that.
As James’ hand rose, Max’s Insight kicked in. Writing appeared in the air above the monster.
His eyes went wide and he whisper-yelled, “Wait! Stop, stop, stop.”