Chapter 86

We parted ways with Wyll shortly after his strange story. The man running back down mountain with impressive speed, heading as he’d stated back towards the Portal. When he mentioned the bear hunt, we’d decided to let him get back to it. Considering our group, well Alax technically, had been the reason the hunts ended early yesterday, none of us wanted to cause the Hunter’s Guild any problems today. And while Wyll was strange, the level 41 Climber no doubt would be of great help to the Hunter’s Guild. Before he left us though, he pointed us in the direction of not only monsters to kill, but also, the location of the Portal to the fourth floor. Meaning, we could quickly finish our task here and continue our leveling efforts for the day.

The third floor had four creatures identified as Tower Monsters according to Wyll. The Grizzlies this time around, were monsters, unlike the Gorillas of the third floor. Meaning hunting them, technically, benefitted Climbers in a tangible way with Tower Essence, on top of fulfilling their Climber roles and helping the other guilds.

Past the grizzlies were two types of goblin creatures. Goblin Knights, which were more heavily armored versions of the goblin warriors from the second floor, and Goblin Witches. Wyll gave us a warning about the latter, saying the Witches could use magic, and specialized in poisoning their targets. Given our gross lack of any type of antidotes, and the fact Nyle didn’t have a cure poison spell yet, the Witches weren’t targets we’d want to cross.

That left the final type of monster on the floor. Lesser Stone Golems. Creatures made, well, literally, of stone. Lesser Stone Golems, the weakest of the Stone Golem monster type, a recurring type of monster according to the strange Climber, frequented the top, or peak, of the mountains that made up the third floor. Wyll had given us the location of a small valley near the peak, where the stone golems were easily found. An area, he added, that was also rich in the various mining deposits and ores that were often sought after by the Miners Guild members. He’d, more than hinted it would be in our favor to collect what we could while we were there, to drop off at the Miner’s Guild later.

All of that, in theory, meant our time on the third floor would be an extremely smooth one. In theory, we had the knowledge now, and insider information, about the layout of the floor, and what to expect. Unfortunately, as we trekked higher and higher into the mountains, heading towards the destination we’d been given, it was clear that theory, and actuality, were very, very different.

First and foremost, the air on this floor was extremely lacking. We had to stop, more than once, to catch our breath. The most frustrating bit of it, was it didn’t go away. Pausing to breathe, and little else, only eased the issues. It helped make the nausea and lightheaded feelings subside, but they lingered, always threatening to return, as we moved towards our target.

Then there was the terrain itself. We were no strangers to walking on stone. It was a more familiar type of footing than the soft ground of the first two floors, actually. However, the rocky, loose stones that threatened to crumble and give way at any second on the third floor, was a far cry from the sleek, smooth stone that made up our world outside of the Tower. That stone, you could trust. These loose stones and pebbles and occasional patches of grass and sorts, you couldn’t. One small step could send a stream of stones tumbling beneath you.

Nyle had caused a rockslide at one point. He’d dislodged a single stone by stepping too heavily on it. It pulled dirt and stones with it, and as we watched, in horror, it grew larger and larger. What started as a single stone, ended at the base of the mountain, a couple hundred feet beneath us, with loosened boulders and torn up trees. A completely new type of danger, that we hadn’t needed to worry about on the first two floors.

In short, the third floor was much more hostile than we’d expected. The only benefit to the whole situation was the fact that the monsters themselves were only level 6 on the floor. We had to kill a total of 29 monsters on this floor, to maximize our essence gains for the day, before we couldn’t gain any more Tower Essence from the floor. Doing so, would allow us to hit level 12, with six additional essence towards level 13. A fact that we had decided, as we made our way towards the supposed gathering of Stone Golems, to change ever so slightly.

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We would kill the monsters, of course, until we had the correct amount of essence needed to hit level 12. That meant 23 creatures. After though, we all agreed to head back, as quickly as possible, to the Portal to the second floor. We’d race out of the Tower, seek out the Speakers at the Cathedral to level up to 12 quickly, and then return. Then, we’d hurry back to the third floor, and make our way to the fourth. It meant we couldn’t technically get that final easy six essence from the floor, but the more we thought about it, the less we figured it would matter. This floor, this air, these mountains. They were miserable. And we wanted to be done with them as quickly as possible. How Wyll found this floor to be the most comfortable of all, was beyond me. It just made him seem all the crazier.

Granted, I knew, we all knew, that we were just upset with the current floor conditions. It was a type of hardship none of us had been put through yet, and it was taking its toll on us. With enough time on the floor, I had no doubt it wouldn’t be all that terrible. Especially if there was the possibility my lungs could get used to the air here, and I wouldn’t constantly feel sick and weak. That, or my constitution score was high enough that I could ignore it. But as it stood, the new environment, the floor that seemed to make simply getting to your target location a battle all on its own, draining you at every step, was miserable. The fact that Alax would apparently be spending his time now mining this floor, and the next, for the foreseeable future, made my heart go out to him. He was in for a lot of suffering, and he had no idea.

“We’re here,” Lyn half called, half gasped from ahead of us. She was just as affected by the thin air as we were, but her dexterity being at an 11 still made her capable of moving with more ease across the treacherous rocky ground. She could cover more ground, more efficiently, than Nyle and myself, by expending the same amount of energy. I was more than a little jealous at that. Especially since I knew my own Dexterity wouldn’t hit 11 until I reached level 14. Meaning, not until we finished our monster slaying on the third, and fourth, floor.

“About,” I sucked in, my lungs crying out, “time.” I grumbled as I half walked, half stumbled, the last bit of the way. Nyle was in just as sorry a state as I was. We were nearly to the top of the highest peak we could see. From this high up, we could see the entire floor, the forest below, filled with monsters and creatures, the trees vibrant colors that were pleasant to the eyes, with the white trunks plainly visible. There were streams, rivers, and lakes too, the area below extremely picturesque and pleasant.

But then there were the mountains. Jagged, rocky things, that climbed upwards, higher than they had any right to be. I looked up at the glowing ceiling above, and my mind told me if I were to shoot an arrow from here, it would actually hit something solid above. The ceiling of this floor, even though the expanse above looked like it went on forever.

I stepped beside Lyn, who had her arms behind her head, doing her best to take in slow, steady, even breaths. Wyll had offered that technique up as a way to try and catch our breath on this floor, without making things worse. Her gaze was looking not behind us, but down into the canyon we’d been led to. The path downwards was gentle, and about two hundred feet below us, was a massive bowl like depression in the mountains. At the center was a lake, with a single island in the very center of it. That island was covered in the pointed, pine trees Wyll had called Evergreens.

All around the lake edge, stone clusters could be spotted, as if they’d grown from the ground itself. I watched, my eyes widening, as one of the clusters suddenly stood upright, looking almost like a stone child, and wandered to another cluster. The more I watched, the more I spotted others doing the same thing. I had no doubt, were the Minor Stone Golems we’d come to slay. My hands found my daggers, gently grabbing hold of the wooden handles, the material cool and smooth to my touch. It was time. It was finally time, to take the next step forward to our goals.

“I’m going to need a few minutes,” Nyle said, still behind us. “If we’re going to fight anything,” he gasped again, and I saw he was bent over, breathing heavily, “I want to actually be able to see straight beforehand.” I looked away as he threw up on the ground. Wyll had warned us about that possibility as well. The strange man had called it ‘altitude sickness’, an effect of the floor that would hit you if you pushed yourself too hard, without taking time to get enough air in your system. My own stomach turned as I heard Nyle wretch again. I tried hard to push the though of Wyll’s dirt covered hands, cracked and dripping blood, handling the jerky he’d given us. I swallowed down the sickness and turned to look back at the lake and the scenery before.

“Take your time,” I said to Nyle, fighting my own nausea. “As Commander Phyr would say in this situation, haste makes waste.”

Lyn chuckled at my side, and kept her eyes focused on the creatures below us. Her eyes were thoughtful, as she watched the chunks of rock move about.

“One thing, we probably should have asked Wyll,” she said, after a moment.

“What’s that?” I asked, trying to see what exactly she was looking at.

“How do you kill a creature made out of stone?”