139:
[Do you wish to enter the Tower of Endless Horizons as an individual or as a party?]
Tom stared at the system prompt that had popped up before him, his expression one of mild surprise. He turned to face Aleph, before asking, “Do you see this as well?”
“Yes,” Aleph replied. “The system is asking me if I want to enter the tower as an individual or as a party.”
“Same,” Zirel replied. “This is interesting.”
“Do you think the difficulty of the encounters will change if we choose to go in as a party?” Tom asked, suddenly feeling wary of the option the system was demanding of them.
That was how it worked in the dungeon boss fights, after all. The more people you went in with, the more difficult the challenge. Tom hadn’t been sure how such a thing could even be possible, but after he had peered into the mind of a Nether Lich, he had a much greater clarity over the system’s workings.
The Nether Lich had never, not once from the beginning, had been an enemy they could’ve defeated. The number of people they entered the final sector with had only decided the degree and extent to which the system would suppress its powers.
Without that suppression, they would all have been dead in an instant.
“Does it matter?” Aleph asked. “We’re in way too deep to part ways now and we’ve dealt with enough threats to know that we work well as a team.”
“Oh I agree,” Tom replied. “I just wanted to know what we’re headed into,” He replied, not having forgotten just how badly they had misjudged Zeth and how much they had ended up paying for it.
“The Master of the Shadow Guild more than lived up to his title,” Zirel said, catching onto Tom’s undertone. “I am sure the Aerianiculumn will not disappoint. My father should’ve had some old records on the tower, but it remained a mystery to even most Nobles back home. All I know is that out of those that have entered the tower, not one has been documented to return.”
“It's a one way trip, yes,” Aleph nodded empathetically. “It is also the only place where I will be able to find out what truly happened to my ancestor. I have no attachment to him, but his fall caused the demise of my house. Those that set forth those sequence of events in motion need to pay for it.”
“As long as you don’t let your desire for vengeance cloud your short term goals,” Zirel replied, not mincing his words. “They have to be pretty well connected to be granted a responsibility over the surface, you know. We might be inconsequential in strength, but our potential itself is clearly important to the system. Otherwise it would not have given us Rare cards when we have yet to even recognize the true challenge that awaits us.”
Aleph’s gaze met Zirel’s, a challenge in her eyes.
Then, she sighed.
“I know, I know,” She replied with a falling lilt. “Those ancestors have been up there for who knows how many years. If I didn’t know the importance of tact, I would’ve long since charged the Nottrakon estate and gotten myself killed. No, I will bide my time until I am strong enough and hope that someone else didn’t stick a knife in their backs before that.”
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“The proper way to handle matters,” Zirel nodded in agreement.
Tom blinked, as if he had just remembered that his two companions came from a very different world compared to his own. They were full fledged nobles and matters like oaths of revenge and assassinations were a reality of life to them, merely a matter that cropped up from time to time.
Tom wasn’t sure if he should’ve been fascinated or intimidated, but the fact was, he was neither.
Whoever Zirel and Aleph had been before, they would now become members of the same party.
“Guess we’re all in agreement then?” Tom asked, as his features tightened in anticipation. A Rare Artifact, uncommon armor, two equipped Rare Cards in his Deck along with the upgrades the Fool had gotten, Tom was about as ready as he could get.
[Name: Synrak Veralis (Thomas Lowe)
Age: 18
Soul Card: The Flame [Level 6] (The Fool [Level 17])
Feats: Nether Slayer I, Invictus, Unyielding Slayer
Statistics:
Physical: 50 (+4)
Mental: 50 (+4)
Proprioception: 50 (+4)]
Soul Power: 115/115 (135- 5-5-2-2-6)
Free Points: 30
Skill Upgrade Point: 0
[Fool’s Gold, Level 7
To the [Grand Illusionist], the greatest illusion is one that is indecipherable from reality. One’s grandest desires amplified to the point where they lose themselves in the depths of their mind. One’s greatest fear made so visceral that the battle is won before the swords are drawn.
To [The Fool], the greatest illusion in the world is to deceive the very laws that govern this land. To make the impossible, reality.
To give shape, form and weight to an illusion.
Mimic:
Record any [6] non-living, non-consumable weapon, equipment or item within [25] levels of the Soul Card’s current level and upto a maximum of [Rare] rarity. Recreate an illusion that can mimic upto 65% of the object’s ability and copy a maximum of [2] skills.
Sub-skill 1: Object Permanence
Allows the wielder of The Fool to transfer any one skill from a mimicked artifact to an existing artifact of the same rarity. The transferred artifact skill becomes a permanent part of the existing artifact’s skills without adversely affecting any pre-existing skills or requirements.
Object permanence can only be used once on any existing artifact.]
Instead of directing his Skill Upgrade Points towards Maya, Tom had chosen to gamble and it had paid off. Object Permanence was not an offensive sub-skill, but it could be used as one.
He was withholding upgrading his Rare artifact just yet, because Tom didn’t want to waste the one opportunity he had at obtaining a truly terrifying weapon.
His Free Points had been banked for an emergency. Tom found his current stats quite balanced and if it came to a desperate situation like one with Zeth, he wouldn’t hesitate to dump all of them in the stat that he needed the most in the moment.
The tradeoff was worth the risk to Tom.
“Yes,” Aleph and Zirel replied in near unison.
“Great,” Tom replied before telling the system his answer over thought.
[Three party applications have been received. Do you wish to enter a party of three with the following members:
Aleph Longstradia
Zirel Covan Nottrakon
Synrak Veralis (Thomas Lowe)]
‘Yes,’ Tom answered.
[Any notable feats you perform in the Tower of Endless Horizons will also be attributed to your party. Choose a name for your party or one will automatically be assigned to you in 3 minutes, after which you will be automatically teleported inside.
If you do not wish to enter the Tower of Endless Horizons, this is your final chance to retreat. Step away from the entrance if you do not wish to proceed. ]
“A party name, eh?” Tom mused aloud.
“It could be important,” Zirel replied. “The system seldom does things for no reason.”
Aleph hummed in thought before speaking, “I’ve a few interesting names in mind. But from that grin you’re trying smother, Synrak, I’m more interested in what you’ve got.”
Tom blinked and then fought to keep a blush from coloring his cheeks.
His gaze refocused to find that both Zirel and Aleph were giving him expectant looks.
“It’s nothing, it’s too er,” Tom tried to dodge the unexpected flux of attention.
“Out with it already,” Aleph egged him on. “We’re down a minute already. Tell us.”
“Okay, okay, fine,” Tom threw his hands up in surrender, before revealing the name he had in mind.
Aleph burst into an amused giggle.
Even Zirel couldn’t help but crack a smile, before adding, “As long as we’re going to have you on our team, that party name will remain quite apt. The two of us have some catching up to do,” He declared, referring to himself and Aleph.
Three minutes later, Tom, Aleph and Zirel disappeared in a flash of light, the door to the Tower of Endless Horizons opening and closing with such speed that it would not have registered to even Tom’s burgeoning proprioception. Not even close.
Finally, their party, The Wild Card would make their debut on the real stage.