21. Broken Kits

We make it to the portal to Floor 2 without incident. Honestly, there were barely any close calls. Once, when we were crossing a river, Slimey had trouble defending us from the river banks and underwater. We rushed across, pushing slimes back with our shields until we were safe on the opposite bank. Another time, I had gotten distracted by a few leaves on a tree, the first foliage that I had seen on the floor. I had almost bumped right into Slimey’s caustic goo body. Other than those two incidents, it went smoothly. Too smoothly. I started to worry, but I was too exhausted to think about it much. Between the long hike, keeping Slimey up, trying to keep within my summon’s body’s protective circle and constantly on guard for slimes, I was both physically and mentally drained. My senses were fried, to the point that I kept feeling like I was hearing music. It was dreamy and romantic and there was a whiff of what might have been cedar in the air.

We landed onto the safety of the stone circle around the portal, waiting for Slimey to finish up with the few remaining aggroed slimes before I dismissed him. I sat heavily on the stone, not celebrating like the other two. I was spent. Wiped. Kaput.

Milos and Josh urged me to join them on Floor 2, but I didn’t dare. With Thwain and Pyro gone, I wasn’t sure what would happen to our base if I left, as well. Really, it might already be gone, since Pyro had done the bulk of the heavy lifting. That, and it wasn’t as if I’d benefit from going through the portal. I had already used an Awakening Stone, so I wouldn’t gain a free new skill from the Tower until entering Floor 3.

Still, all hope wasn’t lost. I still had skills that I could grind to upgrade, and Thwain had proven that climbing wasn’t the only way to gain new skills. Of course, Floor 2 would level my skills a lot faster, as the ambient mana concentration was higher and the enemies were tougher, but it wasn’t quite the time for that. I didn’t want Slimey to get decimated and have to grind back some progress if we entered too early. So I rested, using the hard, dark stone beneath me as a pillow, waiting for Milos and Josh to return.

The duo stepped out of the portal together, into Floor 2, and were greeted with prompts.

Milos. Do you bend light to your will or do you harness the power of the sky? Choose.

Class gained: Wind Caller, rank 1

Skill gained: Wind Whispering, rank 1. Passive. Cost: negligible. Effect: Sense wind and understand its movements.

Skill gained: Air Navigation, rank 1. Passive. Cost: low. Effect: gain a heightened sense of direction and maneuverability when in the air. Increases speed and reaction time while in the air.

Josh. Do you manipulate the matter around you or do you call upon the power of the forests? Choose.

Class gained: Elemental Engineer, rank 1

Skill gained: Matter Manipulation, rank 1. Active. Cost: moderate. Effect: slightly manipulate the base composition of an object, changing its properties temporarily.

Skill gained: Structural Stabilization, rank 1. Active. Cost: moderate. Effect: strengthen the internal structure of an object, making it more durable.

I was awoken from my nap by Milos and Josh popping back into Floor 1, babbling excitedly and ready to test their skills.

“What did you get?” I asked, supremely interested.

“Yooo, sounds like I can both boost the damage of an item for a bit and increase its durability,” Josh said with a hint of surfer-bro twang, his brown eyes sparkling with interest.

“Sweet!” I replied, handing him my spear. “Best way to understand a class is to use it. Wanna test?”

He nodded, graciously accepting the weapon. He stared at the spear for a moment, then fiddled with it for a bit. Then, he stabbed the spearhead into the nearest slime, dodging its retaliatory attack and backing up to let it chase him onto the stone circling the portal so that it didn’t aggro the other slimes when it died. The slime burbled angrily as it chased after its aggressor, lunging forwards in short bursts. He kited the monster for a bit, toying with it and poking it with the butt of the spear. I cringed, not wanting him to ruin my weapon. To my surprise, the weapon didn’t seem to take any damage at all.

“Reinforcement seems to be working, the spear is holding up like a champ!” Josh called out. “Now, let’s see what this Elemental Engineering can really do!” With a spurt of mana, the front quarter of his spear erupted into flames. The next strike easily killed the slime. Encouraged by his success, his confidence growing, Josh strode to the edge of the stone circle and plunged the flaming spear into another slime. His target instantly popped, aggroing five adjacent slimes.

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“Ack!” He cried, rushing backwards and flailing the spear around wildly. The tip grazed two of the monsters, pushing them back, but not doing much damage.

“Calm down,” I said in as soothing a voice as I could. “Just take your time.” I kept Slimey close, in a magical sense, ready to spawn him in at a moment’s notice. I didn’t want to intervene, since he needed to learn to fight on his own. Helping him this early wouldn’t do him any good. Plus, he had been successfully farming slimes without a class before we arrived, he just needed to focus on his instincts and experience.

The Elemental Engineer stopped swinging wildly, taking a few breaths while still retreating around the stone circle. With a jerk of effort, he planted a strong thrust of his still-flaming spear through two of the slimes, bursting them into motes of light. With three slimes left, he calmly continued backing his way around, stabbing out when he wasn’t in danger of being attacked. Three slimes became two, then one, then it was over.

With his spear still blazing, Josh took a moment to catch his breath, wiping the sweat and his messy dark brown hair away from his face. We chatted about the battle and his impressive abilities as the flames on his weapon continued to burn for another few minutes before winking out. Being able to boost any weapon’s durability and damage was awesome, but it all depended on how his skill worked. For example, if he could make a weapon as durable as steel, that was only useful on weapons that were weaker than steel. Would it weaken a stronger weapon, or was it a flat boost in durability? If it added or multiplied a weapon’s durability, it would always be a powerful skill, even if it never ranked up.

“Can you add other elements other than fire?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what elements would even be possible or useful with a skill like that. I pictured a spearhead sheathed in water… Oh no, my wound is wet! Though, if it injected water into the wound, expanding it… I shuddered and stopped theorizing. That was for Josh to do.

“I think so,” he said. “I’ll have to test to see if the material matters and all that stuff, but I think I can choose between a few elements.”

“That’s the best part,” I admitted. “Figuring it all out, seeing what works and what doesn’t. Speaking of… Milos, you’ve been a little quiet lately. What’s up?” I looked over to the shaggy green-haired young man. His expression seemed caught between bemused and stricken, whatever those words meant. At a tap from Josh, he snapped out of whatever spiral he was going down.

“Milos! What’s your class?” He asked, slinging his arm around his friend’s shoulder.

“Oh…” Milos replied, subdued. “It’s Wind Caller, which sounds way more awesome than it is.” He stabbed his toe into the cracks between the stones, sulking a bit.

“What does it do?” I asked gently. He turned bright red. Uh oh. Classes came in all sorts, some focusing on combat or combat support, others on crafting, and others on even more esoteric stuff. There was even a local legend about someone getting a class that revolved around furniture upholstery, and another about Cheese-touch Steve who could, you guessed it, taste and evaluate cheese by touch. Those legends dated back, though, to the times when people acquired classes much more frequently and it wasn't as big of a deal if your class sucked. Now, when every class counted, a broken kit could cause a lot of heartache.

“It basically says that I’m a master at fighting in the air. Which would be cool if I could fly, but… Well… I can’t. And my other skill…” He trailed off, starting to sob into his hands.

“The other one?” His friend prodded gently.

“It lets me sense the direction of the wind,” he wailed. “Have you ever heard of a skill so useless in your life?”

I tried really hard not to laugh. He was a grown-ass man, crying at not getting what he wanted. Still, I didn’t want to be too harsh on him. “So, you’re telling me… If you stand reeeeally still, you can feel which way the wind is blowing?” I couldn’t help myself. I laughed right in the poor guy’s defeated face. Josh joined in, cackling teasingly.

“Pretty much, yeah…” Milos said morosely. “I seem to always know what way the wind is blowing. It’s a broken kit. It would be awesome with another skill, but without the ability to fly… I’m useless until the next floor, at the very least!” His shoulders sagged. His lips trembled. It was too much, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“What about archery?” I snapped. His head perked up a bit. Ideally, you should figure out your own class, but I was too tired to let him whine. Years of accumulated Tower knowledge had proven, long ago, that figuring things out yourself almost always led to bigger and better gains. Being told what to do seemed to put you in a box, creatively, limiting your future growth.

“Wh… What?”

“Archery. If you have the ability to perfectly detect and predict the wind, you should be great at shooting arrows and whatnot. Just use a bow. It’s not like you really need to aim that much.” I gestured at the slimes packed so tightly together that you couldn’t squeak an arrow between them if you tried.

He blinked at me a few times. “Do you think it’ll actually work?” He asked.

“A lot better than crying about it here,” I replied. “And if Josh, there, can enchant your arrows with durability and fire or whatever… It could at least not suck. I don’t want to be a dick about it, but a class is a class. Just gotta figure out how to level it up.” He perked up quite a bit at that, nodding excitedly.

“Here. Josh, enchant the spear again, then pass it over. Let him get a taste.”

The Elemental Engineer focused on the spear for a bit. After a few seconds, the metal tip crackled with electricity. Grinning, he passed his friend the enchanted weapon.

Milos nervously approached the crowd of slimes. He sucked in a deep breath, then stabbed forwards. The spear easily pierced into the slime, killing it instantly and sending electricity forking through the nearby slimes. They froze in place for a moment as if stunned, then rushed at Milos in a rage. The Wind Caller nimbly danced back, careful to avoid the dozen enemies. I almost intervened, not because he wasn’t swift enough, but because there were almost too many slimes for the stone circle to handle. If Milos stepped in the wrong direction, he could easily train the pile of slimes onto me and Josh.

Milos moved with grace and agility as he weaved in and out of the pack of slimes, striking them with the spear and releasing small bolts of lightning. Each time a slime was shocked, it stiffened and froze for a split second, giving him ample time to extend the gap between himself and the enemy. The lightning coursed through the slimes over and over, leaving them disoriented and sluggish. Milos didn't waste any opportunity, and with each strike, the number of slimes diminished. He was like a blur (at least compared to the slimes), darting from one monster to the next, leaving a trail of disintegrating blobs in his wake.

I was almost really impressed, then I remembered that these were the weakest possible monsters in the Tower. Not to take the wind out of his sails or anything, but he had a ways to go. Still, he wasn’t useless by any means. With a bit more practice and the right weapon in hand, he could be a useful party member. Plus, if the combat thing didn’t work out, from our conversation while crossing the floor I had learned that at least he had a lot of connections back in the Slums that we could leverage. So, there was that.