by Ivan Kal
He turned his eyes away from them and looked down at his hand and the two cubes resting there. Their camp was filled with a heavy silence, and Morgan couldn’t take it anymore.
“I could’ve saved him,” Morgan whispered.
For a moment no one reacted, and Morgan thought that perhaps no one heard him. But then Ves shifted.
“What do you mean?” Ves whispered back.
“Grav,” Morgan said, and he saw Borodar move his head to look at him.
Morgan didn’t meet his eyes, instead he spoke again. “I could’ve thrown one of these dice at him, let him use it to teleport to the other one. We could’ve gotten out together.”
“Morgan—” Ves started, but Morgan interrupted her.
“I forgot,” Morgan said. “I forgot that I had them, that I could use them that way. I fucking forgot.”
“You had just bought them, Morgan,” Lucius chimed in from the side. “You’re used to your kit. It’s understandable that you didn’t think of them, especially with the chaos of everything happening around us.”
Morgan shook his head. “I could’ve done something!”
Grav had been one of the people he got along with best, who understood his jokes and always loved hearing more of them. And Morgan had let him die.
He raised his head and saw Borodar standing. The tall man walked over and knelt in front of Morgan, then put his massive hand on his shoulder.
“It wasn’t your fault, Morgan,” Borodar told him. “I watched as the monsters picked up Jelara just next to me. I could’ve saved her, but I was too slow, and she died. This wasn’t our fault. We all knew that we could die in the Tower.”
His words did make Morgan feel slightly better, but he still couldn’t push the thought of him using the dice out of his head.
And then Ragnor Raam stood up. “No,” he said loud enough that everyone could hear. “I was the one who asked you all to come. If anyone is to blame, it is me.”
Nesseya stood up next to him, as tall as he was with the same dark skin. She put her hand over his shoulder. “No one is to blame. We all knew what was likely to await us beyond the third floor. There is a reason as to why no one ever returned. And now we know.”
Ragnor bowed his head. “If had known what the floor was…”
Morgan agreed with the sentiment. If they had only known. Their gear and supplies had been geared toward long-term survival in the Tower. But if they had known, they could’ve brought items and consumables to help them survive. They would’ve had a better plan. Instead, they had walked blindly to their deaths.
“We all chose to come with you for our own reasons knowing that we might die. None here are at fault,” Nesseya said as she looked around the two groups.
Morgan closed his eyes, he knew that she was right. His reasons for climbing were to meet his father again; he had wanted to make him feel proud. But now… He didn’t know if he wanted recognition from someone who could make a test like what they just lived through. He knew that at least in Oxylus’s mind there had to be a reason as to why something like this was necessary, and yet Morgan wasn’t certain that anything could justify what the floor had put them through.
No one commented after Nesseya. Everyone was still in a state of shock. Morgan stayed in the silence for a while more, and then decided that he couldn’t take it anymore. He whispered to Ves that he was going to their tent and then stood up. No one even watched him go.
He entered the tent and sat down on the floor; he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. But the notifications in the corner of his eye were still flashing, waiting to be read, reminding him that the system of this world was always watching. Morgan didn’t know if others had checked their own notifications yet, and he didn’t even feel like checking them. But having them in the corner, reminding him constantly that they were there was annoying. So he pulled them up.
He blinked at the first notification.
Core breakthrough! Your core has undergone a change. Your energy supplies are greater, and that energy is more effective.
Morgan blinked. The first notification was one that was familiar to him. He had seen the same one before, on the first floor when he’d nearly died during the trial. It had happened again, and he knew that the breakthrough was what had saved him. It had replenished him just enough that he had managed to survive. He didn’t know what it meant, but he had asked Ta’elara when it had happened to him the last time. She had told him that there were only a few records of something like that happening. Even his soul-implant, Sabila, had very little information to provide on the topic.
It should’ve made him feel good—he had gotten a bit stronger—and yet he didn’t feel as if he had the right to feel good. Not when so many people died.
The next notification came after he got through the portal.
Battlefield Floor Complete! Exp awarded. Through Fire and Blood awarded—plus 10 to all stats.
Morgan looked at his exp and saw that he had enough to ascend, probably enough to ascend several levels. It somehow didn’t feel earned. He didn’t click on the ascend button, however; instead, he looked at the last notification.
Tower Quest! The Fallen Empire Floor—Long ago, a great empire ruled this world, but their hubris led to their downfall. Now, beneath the hot sands in the ruins of their empire dwell the horrors that they unleashed. Reach the heart of the fallen city beneath the sands.
Morgan read through the notification again. The new quest, at least, didn’t seem to be putting them against an entire army. Instead, it wanted them to fight horrors that had brought down an empire. He didn’t know what to think of it, didn’t even know where to start. If this empire had ruled the entire world, how could they ever find this city? How long would it take them? Or were they already close?
He couldn’t think about that right now. Instead, he turned to his other screen and pressed a button. A moment later, he found himself in his soul-space. The floating form of Sabila, the warrior dressed in dragonscale armor, a character that he used in a game a lifetime ago on Earth, met him inside the gray void.
“Hello, Master,” she greeted him.
“Sabila,” Morgan said back.
“You’ve gone through another breakthrough, Master. Congratulations.”
“What are breakthroughs, Sabila?”
“Breakthroughs are rare events that occur in times of great stress. They allow ascended to gain permanent power increases.”
Morgan knew that already, though, and it seemed like Sabila wouldn’t tell him anything else. He had dealt with her enough to know that there were things that she wasn’t able to tell him.
He sighed and looked to the side where his screens were suspended in the air. He pressed the button that would ascend him and felt the already familiar sensation wash over him, he still had enough exp left to ascend once more so he did it again. Once he recovered from the ascension process, he looked around; his stats had already been increased by ten as reward for surviving the Fourth Floor, and he had another five attribute points to allocate. He looked at his table and then made his choice, putting all five in his will in order to have it reach 70.
Immediately, a new notification appeared in front of him.
Klyn, Heart and Will has leveled up! Two more forms available!
He glanced at Klyn’s stats and saw that there had been some improvements from the last fight, but nothing special. His Consume had reached level 27, his Basic Form 17, the Sword Form 10, and the Bow Form 15, which meant that consuming something or changing a form would take less time now. The two new slots for forms would come in handy in the future, he was sure.
He glanced at his skills, and saw that he had points to allocate. Once, he had tried to keep them in reserve in order to buy new skills if he needed them, but nowadays he had enough in his opinion. He had been advised against increasing skill levels with points, since learning something and increasing the points by practice was better, as it made you understand your power. But after what happened, M
organ didn’t know if he wanted to do that anymore—to wait when perhaps even a single point in his skills could’ve saved someone.
He looked at his list and placed the points, increasing his Phase Shift and his Energy Manipulation, two of the abilities that he used most often, and then he took a look at them all.
SKILLS (Main)
Elemental Alignment—Nature 26 (+one rank Guild buff)
Elemental Alignment—Metal 18 (+one rank Guild buff)
Hand-to-Hand Combat 15
Throwing Weapons 16
Sharpshooter 24
Grenadier 20
Energy Manipulation 28
Mind Fortress 15
Phase Shift 25
Phytokinesis 26
Gravikinesis 20
Ferrokinesis 9
Life Sense 19
Nature Seismic Sense 18
SKILLS (Crafting)
Monster Lore 12
Skinning 18
Hunting 15
Harvesting 20
Herbalism 24
Arcane Tinker 12
Alchemy 25
Arcane Horticulturist 18
SKILLS (Misc)
Language—Basic, Elvish
Inspect 20
Inventor 14
Acrobatics 15
Medicine 8
Chemistry 15
Lightning Reflexes 18
Many of his skills he had stopped focusing on, but all were useful, and he did take advantage of them from time to time. Skills couldn’t be lost, as they were knowledge directly put inside his mind.
He turned to his abilities, since those were the ones that he used the most. He had a few points to use and increase the level of his abilities, which would make them faster and lower their cooldown. He put them in his Mass Exchange and Phase Dash, since those were his most useful abilities.
ABILITIES (Main)
Power Infusion 17
Power Siphon 18
Phase Dash 26
Phase Shot 16
Phased Gravitic Stomp 18
Mass Exchange 22
Momentum Shift 12
Arcane Mark 11
Accelerated Growth 17
Iron Skin 10
Plant Prison 9
Mind Space 8
ABILITIES (Sec)
Piercing Shot 14
Scatter Shot 8
Energy Arrow 18
Exploding Arrow 15
Rain of Arrows 23
Lastly, he glanced at his stats.
STRENGTH
45
AGILITY
70
CONSTITUTION
40
INTELLECT
51
WILL
70
WISDOM
40
CHARISMA
20
LUCK
20
He had grown much in power since he had first entered the Tower. His manipulation of energy had increased incredibly, almost enough that he was one of the best in the raid group at it—after Ta’elara, of course. But seeing all those numbers didn’t really tell him much. He knew what they were: a numerical value of his power, a way to track his progress. But he knew why they were there in reality. They showed people their gains, represented a visible way to urge them on, to make them feel like even one change in numbers was something monumental. It was a motivation to make them climb levels, to become stronger, all so that they would become an army that the Great Lord could use.
“Sabila,” Morgan said as he turned around. “I remember you telling me once that ascension, and everything about this world, served as an experiment. That the Great Lord wishes to replicate something else. The Spirit Arts?”
“That is correct. A spirit artist takes a long time and many resources in order to become powerful. Ascension is a process by which that is accelerated. I am facilitating upgrades to your body and spirit while cultivating your soul. So far no one in the experiment had achieved what is required for them to truly grasp the path.”
“And what exactly is required?” Morgan asked.
“I cannot reveal that information. Suffice to say that everything that this world throws at the ascended was designed with the purpose of pushing the ascended to achieve it.”
Morgan shook his head. He had known that already. What he didn’t know was why gaining power in this way mattered. Just the existence of something like Sabila told Morgan that Oxylus could merely empower himself an army, and Morgan doubted that he wouldn’t be able to find willing subjects. And yet he had created this experiment, this cruel world that depended on such power. Morgan knew that every living thing in the World owed its existence to Oxylus, that he had saved their ancestors from certain death, that without him they wouldn’t be alive at all. And yet, at what point did their lives start being their own? When did they get to have a choice?
He closed his eyes and sighed as he realized that there was a choice. The World was cruel, but people in it had freedom. They didn’t need to kill monsters if they could find another way of getting ascension crystals to extend their life. If they earned a large amount they could live for longer than people on Earth did, and in fact most of the people in the World did not strive to achieve such great heights. The fact that the highest level a person had reached outside of the Tower was level 64 told him that people didn’t want to risk their lives, that they didn’t want to struggle in the Tower and reach higher floors.
Oxylus’s experiment hadn’t born fruit in all the thousands of years of its history. Was the difficulty of the Tower the cause? People didn’t want to go beyond the third floor because they didn’t know what to expect. But after living through the fourth floor, Morgan was certain that anyone who survived it would most definitely leave the Tower, never to return. If they knew what awaited them, even fewer people would attempt it. Was that why one couldn’t go back? To force the people to climb, to either achieve whatever it was that Oxylus wanted or die?
Morgan glanced at one of his screens, at his name and class.
Morgan Newton LVL 57 Enduring Will of Symbiosis — EXP 15,000/74,000
-Legacy of the Heart of the Mountain
-Soul and Not a Body
He was approaching level sixty, and a new trait—but he focused on the first of his traits, pulling up its description.
Legacy of the Heart of the Mountain
Long ago, before he became the Great Lord, the Heart of the Mountain achieved power beyond any other. You awaken a sliver of that power.
Enhanced mental capabilities. Allows creation of mind space, a mental construct in which time passes at a faster rate than in the real world. Gain increased resistance to mental effects. Gain greater connection to unbound energy and increase your ability to manipulate it.
It was a trait that he had gained because of his heritage, his connection to Oxylus, or as the perk called him, the Heart of the Mountain. Even the short description told him a bit about the man, about how he had achieved a great power long ago. He wondered just how old his father was. What had he seen? What had made him become what he was?
What could push a man to create an entire world—or worlds, even—merely in order to create an army? What foe did he fight in order to need something so specific that he was willing to put an entire world through the grinder? Morgan didn’t, and couldn’t, know; but the more he thought about it, the more he remembered the faces of his friends as they died, and the more he felt conflicted.
All of them had made a choice when they ascended and started playing Oxylus’s great game. They knew that death could be behind any corner, they knew that they might not come out of the Tower.
He didn’t blame Oxylus for their deaths, and yet he was still angry at the man. Angry that that there was a situation which required such sacrifices and the sacrifices didn’t even know why they were dying. That was what angered him. The people that they had seen in the Tower, the guardians and natives, all seemed to know far more than even the most knowledgeable ascended.
&
nbsp; Wouldn’t it be better if everyone knew why they were trying to get stronger? If everyone knew what they were dying for?
Morgan was quite aware of his failings, of his inexperience and ignorance. He didn’t know the answer. But what made him afraid was the fact that someone who was so much more powerful than him seemingly couldn’t find a better solution. The fact that with all of his power Oxylus still couldn’t have come up with something better terrified Morgan.
He glanced back at Sabila, wondering again what exactly she was. She was a part of him, something attached to his soul, a thing that had been upgrading his body every time he leveled. He lost his desire to speak with the soul-implant and just asked her to send him out. A moment later he was back in his tent, sitting on the ground.
He lay down to rest, trying to put everything out of his mind. Quickly, sleep took him, banishing the heaviness that he felt all around himself.
CHAPTER FIVE
Morgan woke to find Ves snuggled right next to him. He took a moment to absorb the feel of her body against his, to take comfort in her heat and presence. Ever since he’d died on Earth, his life had been filled with dangers and death. But he still wouldn’t wish it to be any other way, because she was there, and she made everything better. The life he’d had on Earth had been bleak; a terrible existence filled with trauma and despair. His mother had tried her best, but she hadn’t been capable of raising a child. While she could kneel down and grasp a cross tightly to her chest and feel like everything would be better, Morgan didn’t have that luxury. He had never believed in her God, not after he saw man after man coming into their home. Not after he saw his stepfather hurting her. Not after he killed him for hitting her.
