The next day passed in a blur. Enemies were few and far between. They had all seemed to be drawn by the Lich’s power and pulled into the battle as a result leaving few left. Their pace quickened and they spent some time recovering from the fighting. They passed more ruined pieces of life. A few rooms jutted off from the main tunnel but held little value as climbers had already passed through the area.
Alex brought his status back up. It had been a long battle yesterday and he felt some of the changes in his mana already. His echolocation range had certainly changed.
<<<>>>
Name: Alex
Path: Magic (Sub-Path: Lightning)
Rating: G
Level: 23 (16%)
Abilities (1/1):
Manipulate Electricity [F+]
Tower Points: 5680
Percent Soul Captured: 3%
<<<>>>
The souls captured metric had continued to tick up slowly. Despite killing over a hundred mummies, it had continued to barely change each fight. After the fighting Alex had also taken the time to get his battery refilled by the lightning mage. Strangely his core and single spell had grown by half a grade. Alex was unsure of how it grew or how to continue to improve it.
“I don’t feel like things are much easier. It was not used much when it was at G grade. I will have to watch over it as I continue experimenting with my magic. Maybe it has grown from continue use or was it something I did as a part of fighting the mummies. If it hits E grade then perhaps I will see more of an improvement.” Alex sent out a burst of echolocation pieces and uses his mana sense in turn. “Echolocation might be quicker and easier to use but I don’t have a great way to accurately test that idea. Either way it seems like the Tower has decided that I have improved in a meaningful way. What that means for me though I will have to explore later.”
After the fight Alex thanked the other lighting mage. When the mage had a chance to recover some of his mana he generated the lightning for him, and Alex funneled it into his battery pack. With his battery refilled Alex felt a bit better and more secure.
“How is the bird doing?” asked Alex. “It seems like it would be harder to fly and to see things in these tunnels. Even with all the artificial light we are creating it is hard to see further ahead in the tunnel. I don’t even know how much progress we are making.”
“I would like to think that we are making progress,” answered David. “The tunnels may be dark, but we are not blind. I along with others have identified signs of life and unlife. If others have made it through these tunnels then we can too. If you paid attention to the walls you may have noticed that we have barely descended at all. I was worried that we might have entered a cave system that had ancient life in it, but that fear has largely disappeared.”
“What is your guess as to when we will be able to find an exit from this place?”
“I can’t give you a strong answer to that. The number of off shoots from the main tunnel has increased. That could mean something important or mean nothing. From the health of my bird. She is doing well,” he said off handedly. “We have not hit any pockets of dead air like miners of old. None of us should choke from lack of oxygen at least for now. In fact, the tunnel seems to feel the same to her as being indoors. There isn’t much airflow in here but there is nothing harmful about it.”
“Well, I hope it is soon. At least we haven’t had to deal with any more undead. It has been pretty quiet.”
“That is probably to be expected. Most of the nearby undead were controlled by the Lich or at least in his domain. We may start running into more groups of the undead if we start exiting the Lich’s former domain. Maybe we will need your magic again when that time comes. It was quite a spectacle yesterday.”
Alex put a hand on his shoulder and looked down at the ground for a moment. “Yeah that spell was quite exhausting for me. I drained almost all of my mana the first time and then bottomed it out when I decided to go for it a second time. But it got the job done.”
“You understate your abilities more than a little bit my friend. What you lack in power is made up for with control. The first attack against the mummies was very well executed. You attacked the undead and did not hit our forces despite lightning’s naturally chaotic movements. It played an important part in the battle.”
"I appreciate that, David. The opportunity to actually use it was... exhilarating, despite the circumstances," Alex said, managing a small smile. "I was able to have a realization about how I could use my magic. It is something I hope to continue doing throughout my climbing of the Tower.”
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David patted his shoulder. "Rest well, my friend. We'll need your strength and your magic in the days to come. But for now, we press on. We don't have the luxury to stay put."
Alex nodded; his gaze focused on the dark depths of the tunnel ahead. The path seemed endless, a continuous stretch of darkness and silence that threatened to engulf their hopes of finding an exit. He saw David’s bird up ahead in the air. It was on its way back to David. With a sharp dive it returned to his shoulder. The bird had dark feathers and a regal presence while perched on David’s shoulder. It’s beak indicated that the bird was an ambush predator and one that likely stalked in the night.
They parted ways and returned to their stations. Alex was assigned to night guard once more and watched over the quiet camp. Mages had set up semi-permanent lights at the edges of the camp. Due to the enclosed walls of the tunnel the guards were set up into two groups. Once watched the front of the caravan and the other watched the rear. It made things simpler and fewer guards needed to be on watch while they were in the tunnel.
Alex watched the tunnel. It extended past where his senses could detect. He occasionally sent out a burst of echolocation signals. They detailed some of the world past the edges of the light, but no monsters showed up on his radar. The night passed by quietly while he was on watch. He only knew the passage of time by the changing of guards.
“Hey, Alex. It has been a while hasn’t it?”
“Oh, hey. I didn’t mean to seem as though I was too busy for you or distracted for that matter,” said Alex hurriedly. He turned to face Angela. By his estimate it was early morning and she had come to see him once she had woken up. “How have you been?”
Angela smiled at him. “Things were chaotic at first, but I have integrated myself with the other crafters pretty well. I have gotten a lot of experience repairing chipped swords and welding pieces of armor back together. I wish the caravan would hit the city by now, but we all feel that by now.”
"I think we all feel that way. I'm beginning to forget what an actual bed feels like."
Angela laughed at his comment. "I know what you mean. But in the meantime, I suppose we make do with what we have, right?"
"Right," Alex replied his eyes turning downward. “Do you miss Earth and everything else back there? The entertainment, the comforts of life, the lack of monsters?”
Angela paused at that question. “Maybe a little bit but I have built up a place for myself here. I have goals and places I want to see. For now, at least the Tower is the only place I can experience true magic. See fantastical creatures and the like even if some of those creatures want to eat me if given the chance.”
“How has your crafting gone? Has joining the caravan been useful in that regard? You are finally hanging around those of your same class.”
“Somewhat. I haven’t made much progress on my own crafting projects and revisions to the battery. I think I am currently limited by my own skills, levels, and resources. I’m hoping that the third floor will fix some of that. Joining the caravan has made me appreciate the different fields and subclasses within crafting. I’ve been hanging out with a few of the alchemists. I’ve assisted them in collecting a few things in the side rooms we have found so far. They just have a very different approach to crafting and use some techniques I hope to replicate when creating my next revision of the battery. I have also seen some of the utility and defensive items they have made to protect themselves and the wagons and I would like to create a few of my own.”
“I’ve found my defense items to be very important to me. My few utility items as well have always served me well,” said Alex. “What are you thinking of making?”
“To start with I would make a portable and easily deployable shield. With an activation word the item would expand parts of its contents to create a barrier of part magic and physical wall. The exact specifications I haven’t worked out, but I am hoping that the shield will be capable of absorbing an incoming spell, storing it, and then discharging it back at an opponent. For myself I am looking to make some more crafting tools. The crafting guild has the basics for sale but generally as a rite of passage you make your own.
“In my case, I will make some gloves. They would be woven to protect me from the heat of the forge so that I could shape metal with my hands. The gloves would also be powered by mana. I hope at a minimum they would also help me identify damage done to magical items but if I could fit more into the gloves then that would be even better.”
“Those are all really great items. If you can produce enough of them then guilds would buy them as soon as they are off the crafting table,” said Alex. “Depending on the size of the shield I would also buy one from you.”
“I would likely have you test the first ones and let you keep them,” said Angela. “In fact, one other item I hope you can test out once they are finished are some new boots. Those aren’t enchanted are they?” Angela pointed to Alex’s current boots. They were a sturdy pair of grey boots to match his cloak.
“No. They are a fairly basic pair meant for comfort and a little protection,” he replied.
“I’ve been thinking of recreating boots of featherweight or something similar. I know a few rogues who have them, which you pretty much are, and they are very useful to those who have them. They are enchanted to lighten steps and boost your agility so that you can move faster, react faster and as a result be a better fighter. I know that because of your fighting style you need ways to match a rogues speed and skills or else you will fall behind. Though of course you aren’t a rogue but a mage at the same time. With some improved boots though the gap I hope would close a little.”
“I would love those, and I would be happy to test anything you bring me. There are probably those who would be better suited for testing the portable shield, but I am sure you will come up with some good things for me to try out.”
Alex looked to the side of Angela. More people had woken up and were walking around during the course of their conversation. People were packing and carts were being loaded up with bags.
“Alex.” She put a hand on his leg her tone of voice shifting to be more firm. His eyes returned to her. “I’d hope that we can chat some more, and you don’t make yourself too busy. The next floor might be a bit more chaotic, but you can still make time for me.” She smiled after that, and he did the same.
“I’ll make sure to meet with you and keep you up to date with all I am doing. Even if things do get chaotic and will surely change on the next floor. You have been a very important part of my journey in the Tower, and I would not have made it this far without you.”