It was done. I lay there on the floor. Blood dripping out from the piercing wounds the Invisible Centipede Golem, aka the Donkey had left on my left arm. It was kind of clotting, but not really. My head was a mess. My body was a mess.

I looked up at the ceiling. The battle had stretched on for quite a bit there at the end, but I managed to win by sheer tenacity. Most of it was a blur. Just endless moving, fighting, hopping around. Then waiting to lure the last boss out.

Now it was over. The pit floor had stopped expanding and the floor had returned to the entire floor. The floor came back to the floor, that made me chuckle. “Still alive?” I asked myself.

“Yes,” I replied back. That was good. I needed to make sure. It was time to get out of this place. I slowly rolled to my side and then propped myself up with my right arm. I then got my right foot under me and stood up. My gut heaving in pain, and my balance being threatened even with my Body stat.

I began hoping to the door for the elevator. It was shut. Why was it still shut? There was no key hole for a golden key rod. “Hey open up?” I banged on the door. Nothing happened. Guess this was it. I was truly trapped and was going to die here.

The door began to slowly open, and I had to quickly rebalance myself. I saw the elevator pillar. But it was weird and twisted. Much larger than it normally should be. I noted packs and pieces of clothing inside the elevator space as well.

“Hello? Astrologer?” I called out.

“Hello,” the voice sounded in my head and I shook it. “Forgive me for speaking to you like this, but I lack vocal cords at the moment. Come in.” I was a bit creeped out, but the mental words had a different tone than the Avatar’s at least. I hopped around the elevator pillar and my eyes went wide a bit.

It was the Astrologer. At least what was left of him. His body was merged with the elevator pillar. But it was also like the gray stone that made up the tower. “Hey there. Champion Michael,” I greeted him with a hand wave. It was weird since he didn’t have eyes or any moving facial features.

“I am the Astrologer, but since you have come all this way here and called out for me by name. I assume my Homunculus told you about me?”

“Yes, he did. Um, he wanted to deliver a message to you and for you to heal me of this,” I pointed at my gut.

“Interesting. What was the message? Ah, forgive me. I am impatient. You wish for that problem to be taken care of first?” I nodded at this.

“Yes. This, living bomb, please disable it, remove it, please,” I begged. I didn’t want to beg, but I didn’t have much choice. My energy was low at the moment and while I could use Air Burst to get up to the next floor, it could invite risks.

I was analyzing the Energy or was trying to with how my head was pounding at the moment. Whatever was going on with the Astrologer was weird and complex. Energy seemed to be moving between him and the tower.

“That is not simple Champion Michael. But I understand. I would ask the same in your place.” Thank the Almighty System he was being reasonable. “The main issue is extracting it safely. It has grown past the point of disarming.”

“What stops me from going up and just getting the meta-point at the top of this tower?” I asked. It was stupid. And I was kicking myself after I asked that question, but I didn’t have the patience or mental energy for a lot of back-and-forth banter and one upmanship right now.

“Nothing. But if you help me, I will help you.” I looked at the creepy stone statue that had once been a person. A powerful person. Someone even the Divine Empress had been weary of.

“That is the question. Who helps the other first?” I asked. It was a prisoner’s dilemma situation. If one of us helped the other first, then the person who was helped out could screw the helper over and not help them and go get the meta-point for themselves. If we both helped each other out without any betrayal, then it would be a battle over the meta-point.

There was a long stretch of silence at this. Once you reach this level of power and come this far, no one was an idiot and gave handouts. I could leave the Astrologer and get the meta-point to heal myself, and he might eventually get free. Which in my mind put the ball in his court to act first.

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“What was the message?” he asked. Thank the Almighty System, I had constantly repeated it to myself all the time, otherwise I would have forgotten.

“Alpha, two, potato, seven,” I said. “What does that mean exactly?” I asked.

“Alpha for the primary plan to be in play. Two for the number two method. Which is the bomb in your gut. Potato, as the non-duress code and that you were helpful to my Homunculus. Seven is the cache location where there is information and supplies for me to pick up once I leave this place.” I blinked at that. I honestly hadn’t been expecting an answer like that. It was a bit surprising.

I also noted that he didn’t say what plan or what method. Only that the code referenced those things. I looked at my gut and then back at the statue. It was hard to say if he had been handsome with how it was twisted and the features muted slightly.

“So, can you fix me, and what is wrong with me?” I asked.

“I can undo what was done. It was about creating a piece of energy inside of you that I controlled but is occluded with your energy signature. It was a powerful tactic that I used in the past against the Divine Empress. Does she still live?”

“Yes, she lives. She chased me into this tower,” I said. The door to the elevator room suddenly slammed shut. I startled a bit at that.

“My apologies, but I cannot allow her to reach me no matter what.”

“It is fine, I get it. She is relentless,” I replied. I wasn’t planning to go back out to the boss floor. “How long to fix this?” I pointed at my gut.

“Not long, but I would need to be freed first. It is a requirement unfortunately. The energy manipulation I will have to do is very precise. In this state, well, I am not much use.”

“Maybe, but then the meta-point?” I asked. There was silence at that. I let out a sigh. We both wanted it. If the Astrologer got it, then I would be in trouble long term against his new power. That would be unacceptable. He probably also wanted it to get more power.

A meta-point wasn’t something either of us could afford to lightly give up. Even if I said I would, or he said that as well, it would be a lie. Neither of us would compromise in this regard. That was why he didn’t even bother lying. Or at least that was my guess as why he didn’t bother.

“It is an impasse. Well, I suppose, I can do a little to help you out right now, but it will speed up the bomb slightly, with your permission I will heal you?” I considered the offer. It could be a trap to lower my time frame to kill me.

“Fine,” I said. I through caution to the side. If he was going to pull anything, I would rather catch it sooner rather than later. I was half tempted to leave him here and keep going.

“Imbue Life,” I actually heard the words out loud and felt quite a bit better.

“How did you…never mind, you manipulated the air to speak, didn’t you? Also thank you.” I asked.

“Your welcome and yes. It is a minor trick to get around the vocalization delays of actually speaking in high speed combat. One of the many tricks I have picked up over the years, manipulating sound type energy to create the necessary precursor condition for skill activation.”

There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask him, but it all came down to trust. We could spend hours and hours chatting about everything else, but the main issue was if I was going to help him here and now before the bomb was removed.

At least I was no longer dripping blood. I also noted he wasn’t asking me a lot of questions either, but he probably didn’t want to pressure me or put me on edge in any way. Letting me have control of the conversation. Now that I could think more clearly it was obvious he was desperate.

I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes. “Fine. We can hash out a deal for the meta-point after I free you and you get this bomb out of me, agreed?” I asked. I hated this. It felt wrong in my gut to put any kind of trust in another person. But his homunculus had always been helpful to some extent.

“Agreed. I will not let you die on this tower and swear to remove the affliction that was placed inside you if you help free me. Everything else we can discuss after that.” That line had so many weasel words it was an entire colony.

Honestly I had no trust in the man, but I was forced to think long term. About the Divine Empress and killing her. I needed him as much as I hated to admit it. If that meant having to give up a meta-point, then I would give up a meta-point, but that could be hashed out later.

“So I need to drain the energy?” I asked. While looking at the base of the pillar and the flow of energy that was going between the surroundings and into the pillar.

“That is complicated. Undoing what I have done safely will take time. And I will need to walk you through this step by step. The biggest issue is that once you begin, I won’t be able to assist you, since I will have to concentrate on keeping my energy together and not dispersing.”

“That’s fine. We are in no rush. You can explain to me how all of this is going to work and the theory and then the theory behind removing this bomb inside of me ahead of time. That way I can think about it and see if there are any issues first.” That was also a way to see if he trusted me and to try and spot what the trap or twist was of this entire thing.

After all of this, that was the one thing I knew in my very gut, that was about to burst. That there was a twist to this the Astrologer would try to pull. Maybe taking over my body in some weird possession, or some other shenanigans, but I highly doubted it would be completely benign or safe.