Kelford collapsed against the tunnel wall, legs finally allowed to give out. His throat was like sandpaper, dry and painful when he tried to swallow. His stomach churned dangerously as the last of the adrenaline left his battered body. Through the aches and pains Kelford focused on the texture of the wall against his back. Cool and sturdy, he closed his eyes trying to escape the aches in his limbs by focusing on the smooth stone. He’d only woken a few hours before but his body left no doubt that he could do with taking a break. Blood still ran over his arms and the ground was now becoming sticky with it. He shivered from exhaustion or blood loss. Probably a combination of both. He forced his lungs to expand and contract slowly, trying to get as much air as possible. His mind wondered as the aches and pains continued to make themselves known.
There was one good thing to come out of this mess. He had won. The victory was not as sweet as when he beat the first floor but he would take it. The surprise on the gnoblars face when he smacked it with its own dinner was seared into his mind. Beady eyes widened in surprise, maw only a foot from tearing Kelford’s throat out. It brought a laugh that descended into a coughing fit. Standing above the gnoblar as it realized it was about to die wasn’t as sweet. The others were easier to ignore. In some way they were like mobs from the games he had played. With the memories of dying to them so recent,it wasn’t hard to throw aside any hesitation towards killing. The gorger had been a different story this time. He had been able to understand it, converse with it. It was sentient and the way its eyes understood what was about to happen haunted him. Worse was the second gorger. What even were these things that could grow so fast from eating? The way it stared at Kelford as he left, new intelligence shining within. He shuddered at the implications. All the gnoblars were capable of that transformation.
“ T.U.I are the gnoblars real?” He couldn’t see her, but he could tell the tunnel was brighter.
“ Well of course they’re real Kelford, the creatures in the Tower are all physical entities” Her voice, as always, was still chipper.
“ I mean, are they sentient, do they have lives outside of this floor?”
“ Oh, no they are merely manifestations of living creatures kept in the vaults of the Myriad Index”
Kelford shook his head, did that alleviate his guilt or make it worse? The things he killed weren’t real, just copies of actual creatures left in the vaults. They lived somewhere outside of this place. It opened more questions then it solved.
“ T.U.I why does the Myriad Index have an entire planet in it’s vault and use the manifestation of the inhabitants to fight other civilizations?”
“ Because it is a better usage of the civilizations that have benefitted from the Tower’s patronage while also preserving a living history of their planet.” T.U.I said, “ Any further information has been restricted by the Myriad Index”
Kelford gritted his teeth. “ Can you atleast tell me what occurred with the gnoblar in the last room? It grew into a gorger from eating too quickly.”
“ All gnoblars are capable of that feat, if you wish to learn more there are texts in the shop you can purchase or perhaps someone of your fellow humans have learned something on the next safe floor”
“Isn’t that after the 10th floor?” Kelford was now hanging on T.U.I’s every word.
“No, it is after the 5th, you have progressed enough to learn this information to help motivate you.”
That was a relief. It made one of his quests much easier to complete.
“ Now Kelford since you have completed the second floor would you like to see your notifications? Your hardwork has paid off and that has led to many exciting developments!” Kelford nodded at T.U.I’s words and golden words filled his vision.
Quest Complete!
The Second Floor
Description:
Complete the Next Floor
Reward
20 Karma
New Quest !
The Third Floor
Description:
Complete the Third Floor
Reward:
30 Karma
Soon after another golden orb formed in front of him, with a thought it exploded into three options.
Ring of Weak Regeneration
Common
Slowly stimulates the body's natural healing.
Only occurs when room is free of monsters
Will not heal broken bones or ailments.
Boots of Swift Walking
Common
Description:
Double your walking speed.
Effect disappears if you break into a run or other forms of travel.
Gauntlets of Pain
Uncommon
Description:
Your strikes will now inflict additional pain to the living and the dead. Deal increased damage to living and undead entities. Entities such as constructs will not be affected.
Kelford read the different options carefully but he knew which one to take. He was barely useful in this state and needed some way to heal himself. The other options did intrigue him though, mostly due to the implications. The Gauntlets of Pain were something that could increase Kelford’s combat power to new heights, if the effect extended to his weapons. He had not seen any monsters aside from the gnoblars but he didn’t believe for a second that they were all the Tower had in store for him. The confirmation of the undead was also exciting.
T.U.I had explained that the undead were real, some kind of force that balanced out living creatures but he hadn’t paid that much attention to it.
“I’ll have to go over the information again when I have the chance” Kelford nodded to himself as the orbs flashed with golden light. The ring was silver, with a red jewel in the center . He placed it on his ring finger and immediately felt a cool sensation flow from its silver band. He relaxed as a numbness came over him and his arms seemed to lose all strength. The pain disappeared as the numbness seemed to congregate along his wounds, leaving Kelford to enjoy the relief. He brought up his interface since he might as well do something while he waited.
User: Kelford Booker
Class: Heavy Warrior
Class Slots: 0
Skills: [Language of the Mountain]
[Enhanced Strength]
[General Melee Weapon Proficiency]
[Heavy Armor Proficiency]
[Hard Smash]
Spells: None
Relics:
Spear of Spirit Strikes
Ring of Weak Regeneration
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Karma: 20
Inventory: 2/10
It was getting there. With his two relics he was beginning to become a bit stronger. This run had been a good learning experience especially in terms of his Inventory. Having the ability to place almost any object within the space in seconds had saved him and would no doubt be useful in the future. If only he’d had that when he moved into his apartment.
“ Wait…my apartment” He hadn’t thought about it at all. He hadn’t thought about anything outside of the floors in almost a week. What was going on outside? Were his parents alright? What about his siblings? Was the entire world messed up right now?
“T.U.I what’s happening outside the Tower? Is the entire world just a mess or something?” Images of dragons torching cities and giant calamities bearing down upon his old home.
“ Aside from the usual reaction to large populations disappearing nothing has changed.
The mana increase will be gradual and won’t begin causing environmental changes until the first decade has nearly ended.” T.U.I’s words made Kelford’s heart squeeze as he shoved the uncovered emotions down.
“ Thanks T.U.I” Kelford said before pushing himself back to his feet. The numbness was still
strong but he had to move. If only to keep the thoughts of his shattered family from following.
“ You seem agitated Kelford, is there something you wish to speak about?” T.U.I kept pace as Kelford limped down the tunnel. “ You know part of my function is to assist with psychological distress”
“ I’m fine” Kelford pulled himself along not looking at the bright ball of light. “ Just didn’t consider what was going on outside. A lot has happened in a very small span of time.”
They walked in silence for a bit after his words, the upward tilt was steeper causing Kelford to run out of breath fast. The numbness ebbed away but the exhaustion seemed to get worse. After the second break when Kelford had to stop or collapse from exhaustion the words finally came back.
“ How much do you know about what’s going on outside the Tower?”
“ Only as much as I have told you” T.U.I replied, “ If I knew more then I would have told you without prompting. You know Kelford many of the current participants have shown distress from being separated from their homes and families. Over 95% have…”
“ Stop” Kelford’s voice echoed through the chamber, “ Just stop T.U.I, if you haven’t noticed I’m in some kind magical box that has loads of monsters and magic. I’m more worried about getting out of here so I can warn somebody about the giant Tower thing possibly killing all of humanity. Really I can’t even do that since someone else is leagues ahead of me on that front. So really I don’t particularly care. It’s going to take a lot more than being away from my family for however long I'm stuck here to cause me any issues!” Kelford was heaving by the end of his tirade, rage dying almost immediately after the last word had been said. “ Hey I'm sorry…I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“ It is alright” T.U.I seemed to brighten, “ But if you need to talk I am always here to listen.”
Kelford didn’t know what to say. It was…nice to have someone who he really felt he could talk to. Many passing friends on his road to the bottom of the barrel had been there for him, but they had lives now. He hadn’t been able to keep up. The people he knew from work weren’t bad but everyone was in a transition or moved to management. It hadn’t been all bad, but he would be lying if he said that his life was where he wanted it to be. He’d been drowning, with only the few video games and books he could afford keeping him afloat. He hadn’t really spoken to his family after everything had gone downhill. All of them had gone their separate ways.
“ Let’s go T.U.I, I want to see what the next floor is like” Kelford shuffled forward while T.U.I floated behind him. Minutes passed as the tunnel expanded ever onwards. The fire light from the precious room had long disappeared, with the T.U.I’s light being the only thing keeping the dark at bay. Eventually the tunnel leveled and opened to an abandoned ruin. Kelfrod stepped over brick and broken wood to see the inside of a once encampment. Stone bricks the size of his chest lay strewn around the site, with long trunks of wood laying in pieces. It seemed as if some sort of calamity had taken this place. Kelford held his spear in both hands before moving forward, checking along the broken walls. Nothing was left. No bodies or struggle could be seen. A few crumbling buildings were around. He ducked into the biggest waiting to see if there were any monsters hiding within. Only dark indents and broken chest greeted him. This seemed to have been some kind of barracks, destroyed racks and shelves lined the walls. Though there was one detail that made the entire mystery that much scarier.
“ Why is everything here so huge?” Each of the buildings were proportioned for someone two if not three times as big as him. The doorways were massive and what he could tell about the chests were equally so. So big he could probably sleep inside one comfortably.
“That is an excellent-”
“Gaaaahhhhh” Kelford spun around, already swinging before he realized that it was T.U.I who had spoken, “ Wait you’re still here?”
“ Why yes, why wouldn’t I be here?” T.U.I sounded genuinely confused, “ Oh!That is right, you don’t know about special rooms yet.”
Kelford lowered his spear, the appearance of T.U.I meant that there was no monsters, “ Well I remember you mentioning them but you were light on the details”
“ I didn’t give you any details”
Kelford glared, “ I know, I was trying to be polite.” T.U.I just floated and Kelford rolled his eyes.
“ Well… nevermind. Is this one of the special floors you were talking about? Can you give me more details now that I’ve reached this point?”
“ Why yes now I can. Follow me.” T.U.I floated away and Kelford jogged to keep up. They traveled out of the barracks, moving towards another part of the ruins that he hadn’t gotten the chance to explore yet.
“ Every 10 floors have a particular vault that they are populated by. Special rooms are designed to be representations of technologies and stories from the civilization that the vault carries. While the monsters represent the native fauna and flora.The special rooms also act as rewards and bonuses to help you for the next run through the floors.” T.U.I chatted as she floated into another building, this one seemed to be the most defended. Its brick was noticeably higher quality, and the stains on its surface could have been fancy fabrics. Regardless Kelford followed.
T.U.I floated in front of the biggest altar Kelford had ever seen. Stone foundations held up a glowing blue crystal surrounded by horns. Miraculously the structure had survived the desolation from outside and was completely untouched. Carvings of figures hunting and fighting went all along the ancient ivory,each glowing with beautiful colors. It was a work of art, labored with such attention to detail it had to have been held in some sort of significance.
“ There are three special rooms, each able to grant you a variety of opportunities to make your climb easier. This room happens to be a Karma Room. Reach your hand out to the crystal and you will see what it can do for you.”
Kelford reached out hesitantly, “ Are you sure that this thing is safe? “
“ It will cause you no harm” T.U.I reassured.
Kelford glanced back once before reaching forward, the crystal shone with a glacial blue before dying suddenly.
Congratulations
You have earned 500 Karma
“Wait what ?” The glowing carvings had died and the energy in the room faded. It was just as dark and dusty as the rest. “ T.U.I what just happened?”
“ The Karma Room grants giant lump sums of Karma in order to facilitate the purchasing of relics. It also give you a view into the world of the previous civilization and their stories.” T.U.I said, “ Really it is a very elegant way of showing the works of another sentient race. It is sad that they have passed on but now they are forever remembered.”
“ Yea…is this what will happen to my planet if we don’t climb the floors?” Kelford gestured outside, “ Just to be forever entombed in the Tower?”
“ Why yes, such is the fate of all those who don’t pass the test.”
The air seemed to get colder as Kelford walked out of the building. He gazed at the dark ruins with new eyes. This was potentially the future of his species. Nothing left of them but ruins in a dark cave. The gate was nearby, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave quite yet. It wasn’t as if he could do anything for these people, but the gravity of the situation only seemed to get heavier. He had first wanted to be a hero and had that dream crushed immediately. Now after his third run he was certain he was no hero. Though, just maybe his world needed one.
“T.U.I how many people have reached the 5th floor?”
“ A few thousand have made their way to the 5th floor” T.U.I floated to his side and Kelford took a breath.
“Maybe one of them can prevent this from happening to us.” It was a small hope but considering what was arrayed against them it was the best he had..
“Perhaps, as your species realizes the usefulness of the floors more will attempt them.” T.U.I didn’t sound like her usual self, “ When the tutorial floors are completed and your species realizes the depth of boons hidden within the Tower…that is when we will see what your species is made of”
“What do you mean T.U.I, what happens after the 10th floor?” Kelfords mind began to spin, anxiety already crawling at the edges.
“ Many civilizations have outstanding talents up to the end of the Tower’s time limit. In these beginning stages it is not evident just how difficult the Tower’s challenges are. Already 10,000s of entities have entered the Tower in search of lost loved ones or simple curiosity. When the bounties within the Tower are revealed then the various political institutions will fight to claim it for themselves. A period of upheaval will ensue and many of these talents will not climb. Rather they will focus on the conflicts in your world. The time and talent wasted will inevitably cause a bottleneck until you reach a floor where what is left of your world’s talent is not sufficient. Then your civilization will fall.”
Kelford was silent for a long moment, “ How many civilizations have passed the Tower’s test?”
“ 1%”
Kelford felt a rigging in his ears as T.U.I’s words echoed in the chamber. They were doomed. More than doomed. The accomplishments he’d made seemed woefully insufficient. How had he been satisfied with his performance up until now? He was only on the 3rd floor. He may not be able to be the hero but he could at least get out of here. There had to be something he could do.
“ Let’s go T.U.I” She followed dutifully as he made his way into the darkness.