Chapter 97

“I’m guessing you guys aren’t here from the Miner’s Guild.” A fur covered figure asked as the massive wooden platform locked into place before us. That was what the lever had summoned. With a massive wheel connected to it, the structure, a mixture of wood planks and metal straps, had climbed the ice wall, up from the depths to the top of the massive hole. It had rails around it, creating a cage of sorts, and against one of these rails, a figure, covered from head to toe in thick fur lined clothing, leaned. Only their eyes were visible, and even those, technically, were covered behind some sort of protection. Beside the figure, a lever just like the one Nyle had pulled.

“Are you?” I asked stupidly. I looked at the structure, and the figure, a man judging by how deep the voice was. “What is this?”

“Course I am,” the figure said with a chuckle, “why else would I be in this frozen wasteland?” He made a motion to us, “come come, it’s a bit of a trip down, I’ll answer your questions as we descend. Pretty sure we’ve got some spare gear down there too. Get you all warmed up before you freeze to death.” He shook his head, “I know you Climbers don’t die permanently, but far as I’ve been told, freezing to death is one of the worst ways to go for the early floors.” He shuddered, “and I’ve heard stories of even worse deaths on higher floors.” Another shake of his head, “even in this cold blasted tundra, I wouldn’t switch positions with you coals.”

I looked at Nyle and Lyn, before I shrugged and stepped hesitantly onto the platform. The wood creaked, and I felt, or maybe imagined, the object shifting slightly with my weight. Panic filled me, but the individual before me seemed unconcerned. And if the person from the Miner’s Guild hadn’t panicked, I probably shouldn’t be either. After all, I doubted the individual would be so calm about anything that could potentially end their life permanently.

“How’d you know we weren’t with the Miner’s Guild?” Nyle asked as we finished boarding the strange structure. Once we were all on, the man pulled the lever beside him. The platform shuddered violently, and the giant wheel began to rotate. With each grind of the metal object, it consumed one of the metal teeth that jutted out from the ice wall, descending slowly, downwards. It… wasn’t a smooth process. Every rotation caused the structure to violently jerk and shudder. The man simply chuckled, leaning against the railing, an arm wrapped casually around it.

“Well, first off,” he glanced at the three of us, “already got my quota of Climbers for the day. And no one else has been added to my roster of workers, so you know,” he chuckled, “it was kind of obvious.”

I tried to suppress a shiver to press him more, but he held up a gloved hand and continued, laughter in his words.

“Second off, if you’d been assigned to work with us today, you’d have gear appropriate for the floor. Every Climber that takes on a job for the fourth floor with the Miner’s guild has to either provide their own gear suitable of withstanding the cold, has to have a constitution of at least 31 to ignore the cold, or, has to rent clothes from our guild. Most Coals obviously don’t have either of the first options, so they rent from us, and the cost is deducted from their reward at the end of the day.”

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“A constitution of 31?” I asked in disbelief. Even if a Climber had dumped every single stat point into Constitution, at the very least, that would mean they had to be level 32. Was the cold really that potent here?

“Well, technically a 21 is the bare minimum,” he said with a shrug, “from what I’ve been told. But that just keeps the cold from hurting HP. Frostbite is still a threat, and the cold will sap strength, freeze joints and limbs, and cause all sorts of other problems. Just won’t actively kill you. At a 31, a Climber’s body is tough enough to completely ignore all the negative aspects of just regular extreme cold.”

“That’s good to know.” I said with a nod. I didn’t know if or when my constitution would ever get that high, but at the very least, it was helpful information. And, if the Tower had many floors like the fourth, a 31 constitution may very well be something worth thinking about. Then again… I figured I could probably just try and ensure I had a set of gear suited for cold weather. It may cost gold, but gold could easily be replenished, levels and stat points, I was quickly learning, were a much more precious resource. Plus, well, I wasn’t going to complain about having to collect more loot.

“So, with the obvious out of the way,” the platform shuddered and shook more, and I couldn’t help but look away from the man to watch as we descended further. There were definitely bones and other things frozen in the ice. And while we’d descended a good twenty feet already, I still couldn’t make out any sign of a bottom. “What brings three extremely underprepared Coals to the fourth floor? Just passing through?”

“We were planning to kill monsters on this floor,” I began, another wave of shivering running through my body. The wind had died down, unable to reach into this massive abyss, but it was still impossibly cold. “But given the unbearable cold, were looking for the Portal to the fifth floor.”

“You’ve been in the Tower for what, three days now? And you’re already going to try and take on the fifth-floor boss?”

“Not him,” Lyn interjected, “we’re just trying to level up to fifteen. We’ve a different goal to accomplish before we try to take on the floor boss.”

“Huh, you’re either brave, or stupid,” his tone implied he believed the latter, “the fact you came here without expecting the cold also tells me you’re extremely inexperienced.”

I bristled at that, turning my gaze back to him. He laughed though, raising an apologetic hand.

“And here I was worried the cold had sapped all the fire from you.” More laughter, “I’m just giving you guys a hard time. We’ll get you geared up, as I promised, and I’ll show you around the mines real quick. If you’ve got some coin on you, I’d say you should check out the shop we’ve set up down there as well. After that, well, the gear we can equip you with will keep you safe from the cold, so you can keep on with your original plan. And, as a sign of good faith, and perhaps to set up some good will in the hopes you guys will accompany us on a mining run next week, I’ll even mark your map with the location for the Portal to the fifth floor, for when you’re done killing the local monsters here.”

My anger dissipated immediately, replaced with excitement, gratitude, and curiosity. Our day, our plans, were back on track. And, thankfully, we’d get to gather most of the essence we needed on the fourth floor, against the level 8 monsters, rather than the unknown level 10 dangers of the fifth.

“Deal.”