El Ray 7 sat at her scanning console, paying attention with half her essence while the rest flipped through an internal database. Today, she was researching all the maize and decorative corn variants from a particularly interesting planet in the outer arm of X-773 of the ninth branching layer of the universe, when something pinged on her console.
[Fate line updated.]
That wasn’t something she’d seen before, but the alert blinked out almost as fast as it had appeared. If time were a thing she had to worry about, she might never have seen it.
But El Ray 7 was not some mere observer. She was a Searcher. Nothing escaped her perception.
And something that had never happened before in the quarter-billion years she’d been sitting here was worth noting. It almost piqued her interest enough for her to drop what she was doing and look into right then and there, but she only had a few more years worth of decorative corn to read about. She could put it off for a bit.
Anything so very brief couldn’t possibly be urgent.
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“There is something else I’ve been wondering about. The amount of lifespan the tower was keeping for itself is very high. Do you think there could be a way to divert some of that back to us rather than letting it keep a full half?”
The shop was silent for a moment.
[After searching the shop’s database, there are Boons and Blessings which grant increased drop rates of cards and shards, which Co-Owner Ivy has already received, increased experience gains, amongst various other effects.]
It went silent again, this time for a longer period of time.
[After attempting to observe the path lifespan takes in this tower’s cycle, it is inconclusive as to whether or not we currently have the capacity to reroute the Tower’s lifespan. As I am operating at less than full capacity, it easily identifies my presence after several layers of filtering, purification, and refinement. I have made sure not to allow it to trace the origin of my attempts.]
“Then I’ll see what I can find out from the inside. There must be a way to exploit this thing’s processes.”
[I did, however, discover that the Tower is far more entrenched in this world’s energy and several others in its vicinity than initially appears. That is all I could find without having more of my own abilities freed for deeper attempts.]
“Thank you. For now, I’ll take ten basic copies of each of our available cards for trading with. I’ll see if anyone’s buying.”
[You are very welcome, Representative James. To replicate Protective Totem at a Common rarity, it will cost five hundred years. Ten Magebolts will cost you two hundred and fifty, for a total of seven hundred and fifty.]
“Oh, magebolt can be made separate from the class? And I’d like base copies of Ivy’s and Shen Ai’s cards too. They’re probably more valuable than mine to the climbers around here.”
[Indeed. Despite your version being tied to your class, that is an augmented version with higher power and fire rate. It can be replicated as a classless generic version. As for Co-Owner Ivy’s cards, Retaliation will cost two hundred and fifty years to create ten of. As for this Tough Skin card she has equipped, I recommend that Co-Owner Ivy remove it immediately, as it has foreign magic with properties of monstrous soul mutation. Employee Shen Ai’s deck will cost one thousand years to replicate generic, basic versions of.]
“That… so Merek wasn’t exaggerating when he said we shouldn’t use monster cards. Any chance you could help her remove it? If she wants to, of course.”
[Removal, as I am intimately familiar with your souls, will be incredibly easy, Representative James, albeit with minor discomfort and a temporary sense of loss and forgotten longing.]
“Then I’ll leave it up to her. Please do inform her of the risk when she’s not busy. I’ll take the personal legendary upgrades and the common cards for trading.” Despite himself, the prospect of being able to collect new powers was starting to excite him. The chance to actually live out one of his adventure games… “Oh, can you give me the ability to summon my furniture and pantry while I’m in the tower, or would that allow the tower to trace you? Or what about inventory, can you make me a magic inventory so I can carry stuff easily?” Now that he was thinking through the game-like nature of their current world, there were countless conveniences he’d grown accustomed to that needed to be translated over.
[Currently, I am unable to enact influence outside of the confines of the shop. I apologize for this inconvenience. As for Co-Owner Ivy, I have conveyed the risk of keeping monstrous cards in her card deck. As for a spatial pouch large enough to hold your furniture, it can be arranged. I recommend a greater spatial pouch, as it has a custom interface that makes it easier to organize all of your inventory and contains enough space for you to never have to worry about running out.]
“Perfect.”
[I will add that to your ongoing request. Will that be all for you today, Representative James?]
“Do you have any other advice or suggestions? That’s all I can think of for now.”
[From what I can identify, there are a plethora of external deck storages, Tower-interfacing equipment that grant additional boons, such as enchanted personal armor, weaponized power armor, modified weapons of all sorts, and a variety of curious accessories. Would this be something you’re interested in today?]
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Ho, right. I forgot about equipment. Yes please, whatever set you think will work well for me. And perhaps a few duplicates to sell, if they’re not too expensive. I’m not sure what the average lifespan of the locals is, so I shouldn’t go too far overboard in preparing stock to trade.”
Instead of options, a list, or recommendations, James was instantly moved to a lounging position with various catalogs. Each one was specific, such as the magical armament selection, made specifically for casters such as himself. Another read “power armor for power junkies”.
There were at least twelve.
[Please take your time.]
“Ah… yeah, this could take a while. I don’t think we have time to search through it all right now. Can I take these with me and come back to it later? Ivy’s in a hurry to get back to playing with the tower, so…”
[That is quite unfortunate. I will recommend a simple set of equipment for your own use now. There is the Legendary Archmage’s Cloak for greater defense properties with three stored charges for a long range teleportation spell. It is self-charging, as long as you continue slaying monsters. It also boasts the highest physical defense and has a self-repairing feature. Next, the Epic Shaman’s Beads, which allows you to extend your Protective Totem to the one wearing it. Lastly, the Rare Sealed Staff of Revanasa, which halves the speed of casting and doubles the power of all casted magic.]
“Shop, you’ve outdone yourself, truly. Go ahead and take whatever payment is required from the Bastion of Points. I’m sure Ivy’s beside herself with impatience by now.”
[Then your final total will be two million six hundred twenty thousand and sixty years, Representative James.]
For all he’d gotten, the price he paid was cheap. Now, to go find Ivy.
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“This is the Shop!” Ivy spun in a circle, one arm out to point out all the interesting walls in the greeting hall. “I should really look into upgrading the furniture here at some point, huh…”
Merek didn’t look particularly impressed. Just… stunned. “You just unlocked a whole building without doing anything.”
“Eh? I just asked for permission to bring you in. No big deal.”
“It’s a whole building.”
“I don’t see the big deal. The tower does stuff like this all the time.”
“We’re not in the tower.”
“Well, it’s perfectly normal where we’ve come from, so you don’t need to worry about it.” She grinned, waving toward the comfy couch in front of the television. They sat, and she laced her fingers together, doing her best to keep a serious face. She failed. “First question! Do you want to hide out here, where you’ll be completely safe from anyone or anything coming after you, or do you want unimaginable progress and power?! Muahaha!”
He looked more than a little intimidated, but continued frowning at her and then at the door. “Who are you?” he asked again.
“Ivy. Your next legendary hero! But even if I’m going to play by the rules, I’m not opposed to helping you cheat a little. It sounds like you’ve already put in a lot of work, and I don’t like to see anyone who’s been working so hard look so sad all the time.”
“I’m not sad,” Merek grumbled. “But everything about the tower is a pestilence to our society, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. It’s hard enough to ignore when there’s deck-wielders out there taking all the best jobs and even harder when I have to go fight for my life every day just to have a chance at getting back to where my grandparents were before this all started.”
“You don’t have to lie to me, buddy, and you most certainly don’t have to lie to yourself or try to convince me of something so obvious,” she said, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder. “A pity about your situation. It’s okay to be sad, and maybe even a little pathetic, but that’s what brought us together, here at the magnificent shop!”
“All I have to trade is this one useless monster card.” He shook his head. “If you’re hoping to sell me something, I have nothing to offer.”
“Sure you do! Everyone has something to offer. You said you’re signed up with the Ascenders for another eight years, right? That’s not even close to the rest of your life, unless I’m very much mistaken about life expectancy here.”
“The average lifespan on Euriste 3 is actually higher than that of Euriste 1,” Merek pointed out grumpily. “And don’t get me started about Euriste 2.”
Ivy wanted to question him about all the different worlds and space travel and everything, but she quickly reminded herself she was on a deadline. The Ascension recruiter would be back, expecting them on floor three any minute now, so she pushed her curiosity back to the corner of her mind for now. “Just yes or no question. Don’t overthink. Do you want unimaginable power, or would you rather stay as you are?”
“Of course I don’t want to stay as I am. I don’t know anyone who would turn down something like that if it were possible. But what’s the point in hypotheticals?”
“Well, let’s start with what you need, then we’ll get right on to what you want, tally that up, and see what we can throw together.” She saw the want, the curiosity that didn’t dare hope in his eyes and knew she had him the moment they’d entered the shop. Now it was only a matter of time before they came to an agreement, but she really wanted him to get to the point where he just agreed. She wanted her power armor!
“I need to complete my deck with viable cards so I can get a job somewhere that isn’t fighting monsters and hiding from people who’d stab me for the levels. And survive the next eight years.”
“Remind me later to ask you about jobs,” she muttered, flicking her wrist to make a clipboard and pen appear. She scribbled notes on it quickly, then looked up at him. “From the sound of it, indentured servitude is not a likely form of payment. Good to know.” She clicked her tongue, then hummed to herself as she continued to scribble, receiving current information from the shop about how card creation worked. By the time she finished minutes later, she handed Merek the clipboard with a list of card options she’d borrowed from Shen Ai. “How do those look?”
“Unbelievable,” he whispered. “Any one of these…” He swallowed. “But there’s no way I can afford it, and I have to give my current employer the option to extend my contract if I try to sign with anyone else before they’re done with me.” He grimaced. “Yet another way to keep our options limited.”
“Well, that’s the magic of it all. I’m not asking you to work for us, and our deals are far less… orthodox. I’m sure we can find a way.”
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