by Ivan Kal
Rainor Ohm LVL 100 — Tower Guardian
Voralla Ohm LVL 100 — Tower Guardian
Morgan blinked at the names, and then the realization hit him. He turned to look at Ves and Vall standing next to him, but she had already seen it for herself.
Ves’s eyes were open wide, filled with confusion. “Mom? Dad?” she whispered.
Morgan saw the two guardians almost recoil from her words, emotions passing over their faces. The elf opened her mouth to speak, but the Tower Master interrupted.
“There will be time for a reunion later. For now, I must speak with you all,” the man said.
Ragnor looked from Ves and Vall and to the two guardians and back, confused himself, but he didn’t want to go against the word of the Tower Master. He led everyone back to the camp and they gathered across from the Tower Master.
“I would not ordinarily be making contact with you and interfering with your climb. The Great Lord desires you to achieve strength on your own merits, and any interference can jeopardize that. But these are unusual circumstances,” the Tower Master spoke.
No one said anything in return; they were all in awe of him, Morgan noticed. It was…strange, even after what they had gone through on the fourth floor, no one was looking at him with accusation in their eyes. Morgan had spent years in this world, and he knew some of how ascended thought. They might think that the fourth floor was unfair, they might be angry, but they would always be more angry at their weaknesses. To be ascended was to deal with death on a daily basis.
The Tower Master took a deep breath and then spoke. “This floor has been cut off from the Guiding Force and the Great Lord’s sight. This means that no portals can be opened that lead off of it. I believe that someone who is not meant to be here has infiltrated this floor.”
Morgan’s mouth opened before his mind could catch up. “The Rzan.”
The Tower Master rounded on him, his eyes narrowing. “What did you say?”
“The Rzan?” Morgan stuttered. “We’ve encountered some people that we can’t see names above, nor did we get any experience from killing them. They don’t appear to be ascended; they were raising monsters, turning the dead bodies into some strange zombies. I used my Inspect skill on one of them, it told me that they might be Warlocks and something about their affiliations being—”
The Tower Master raised his hand and stopped Morgan from continuing. “That tells me a lot, and it narrows the culprits down to exactly one. There is a Herald on this world, and all of you and your world is in danger.”
Everyone shifted at that. Even Morgan felt a sliver of fear seep in. It seemed that these Rzan were bad news.
“Do you know how many of them there are?” the Tower Master asked.
Ragnor Raam answered this time. “At least a dozen. That is the most that we’ve seen in the same place.”
“And we killed six,” Morgan added.
The Tower Master nodded his head. “These people are the enemies of the Great Lord and all of us, and they will be led by a being more powerful than any of you could handle. There is only one reason as to why they could be here, and that is to find your world.”
He turned around, glancing back in the direction of the temple. “My original plan was to find you and inform you of the unexpected issues, have you settle somewhere safe until you could continue your climb unimpeded. Now, I fear that we do not have enough time. I alone can deal with them, but if they have raised an army of monsters… Fighting a Herald that is being supported by such an army as well as Warlocks would be unwise, even for me.”
He turned back, his eyes falling on the raid group. “I will need to ask for your help, and know that you may refuse. You were never meant to be exposed to the greater war that the Great Lord is involved in. You were supposed to be free to grow on your own, but that is a luxury that we no longer have. If I fail, the danger will extend beyond the Tower. It might mean the end of your world, and a war unlike anything that you have ever seen. Will you help me?”
Morgan saw everyone exchanging glances with one another. He saw Ta’elara, her eyes filled with hunger for knowledge. Just one conversation with this Tower Master had answered a hundred of her questions about the World.
The decision wasn’t a hard one to make.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Morgan stood awkwardly with Vestella and Vallsorim as they glared at their parents. The two stood across from them and looked equally as awkward and uncomfortable as Morgan did.
And, for once, Morgan had no idea what to say.
The silence stretched, and Morgan wondered if anyone was going to say something soon. The Tower Master had given the two guardians time to speak with their children, but only until the rest of the group gathered their camp. Finally, the elf woman opened her mouth.
“I—”
“You abandoned us,” Vallsorim said bitterly. “Left us alone, and you were here all that time.”
“Vallsorim,” their mother said. “I’m sorry. We didn’t want to leave. But we had an obligation, and we made sure that you were taken care of. We left you in the one place where we knew that you would be safe, where you wouldn’t ascend.”
Vallsorim laughed. “You made sure that we were taken care of? We nearly starved to death!”
“What?” their father said. “We left enough coin with the villagers so that you would be taken care of. We left instructions in case we didn’t manage to return.”
Vall snorted. “Well, we saw nothing of that, but that doesn’t surprise me. The villagers were petty and cruel to us, and we were left to fend for ourselves.”
“I…” his father started. “We truly believed that you would be safer there.”
“Guess you thought wrong.”
It took Morgan a moment to realize that it was he who had spoken, but the glares from his in-laws made him realize it.
“Who even are you? This is a private conversation,” their mother said, glaring at him.
Then Ves spoke for the first time since the conversation started.
“Mom, Dad,” she said, making them turn to look at her. “This is Morgan, my amri.”
Both of them turned to look at Morgan.
“Uh, hello there? Nice to finally meet you,” he said, trying very hard not to say something else stupid.
“Your amri?” her mother said. “But you are so young, you aren’t even—”
“I wished for this moment ever since you left,” Ves said, her voice low and her eyes watering. “I just wanted to know that you are still alive, that you didn’t leave us because you didn’t want us.”
“No, honey,” their father said quietly. “We would’ve never have left you if we’d had any choice in the matter.”
“So why, then?” Ves asked, her hand finding Morgan’s and squeezing.
Their parents looked at each other, something unspoken passing between them. Then their father turned to look at Vall and Ves. “We never meant for this to happen. But we had no choice in leaving, as we owed a debt. Our choice was either to repay it or run for the rest of our lives. And we tried—we went as far away as possible, hoping that we wouldn’t be found. In the end, however, it didn’t matter. So we went away, and hoped that we could return, but…”
Vall looked at them with fire in his eyes. “I… We spent so much time wondering about where you went, why you left us. We became ascended in order to find you. And here you are. Guardians of the Tower.”
“It was the only way that we could’ve had a hope to see you again,” their mother said.
“Did you reach the top?” Vestella asked.
Their mother shook her head. “No. We reached high, but in the end it wasn’t enough. We were given a choice of picking a floor as our new home, or becoming Guardians and serving the Tower. The only thing we knew was that if we chose the Tower, we would be able to see you again.”
Vall looked ready to burst. “And that’s it? You thought that you would meet us again and we would forgive you?”
“Son
…” Their father reached out, placing a hand on Vall’s shoulder. He stiffened, but he didn’t pull back. “I know that nothing we say will be able to make up for what you went through. But we are sorry—we never meant for this to happen. We never wanted you to be ascended.”
Somehow, all fight seemed bleed out of Vall and he slumped. “I don’t know what to say, what to do. Some days I prayed to the Great Lord that you were dead, as at least then I would know that you couldn’t come back. Or that, if you were still alive, that you had some reason that would make sense. But… I don’t know how to even speak to you now.”
Their parents didn’t seem to have anything better to say, either. Ves was quiet as well, her eyes watering still, and as no one was saying anything, Morgan decided to speak up.
“Ves, Vall,” both of them turned to look at him. “We’ve lost friends, people who we loved. They are gone and we will never again have a chance to talk with them. I know that you might not like what they have to say for themselves, or maybe you don’t like their reasons. But you have spent most of your lives wanting to know the truth, to speak with them again. Do not let it go to waste, because soon you might not get another chance.”
He saw Vall close his eyes and then sigh. Ves squeezed Morgan’s hand and gave him a weak smile, and with that, he turned around and left them to talk on their own.
***
A little while later, Morgan stood next to Lucius.
“So, how’ve you been doing?” Morgan asked.
Lucius sighed. “Well enough I suppose. Our talk, before you got yourself thrown from the tower, helped a lot.”
Morgan nodded his head. “Good, I know what it is like to feel guilty for something that you can’t change now.”
“I just felt like I could’ve done more, been better. I could’ve saved more lives,” Lucius said.
“We will never know, we can’t help the dead now, we can only look to the future and make sure that we don’t lose anybody else,” Morgan said.
“I know. I have every intention of getting back to Karissa, of leaving this place,” Lucius said.
“Good, we all need to have something that we are fighting for,” Morgan said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but saw that Ves and Vall were walking back from their talk with their parents.
She came over to stand next to him as the rest of the raid group gathered.
“So, how did it go?” Morgan leaned in next to her and whispered.
Ves sighed. “We talked, and I…I’ve been wanting to find them for so long. But now… I have a new family and they… They made their choices and paid the price for them. I don’t think that we can forgive them, but…”
“They are your parents,” Morgan said.
“Yes.”
There wasn’t much time for them to speak about it, because the Tower Master started speaking.
“The enemy will have already reached the temple. The monsters there are more powerful, and the core of the temple is protected by a powerful boss monster. I suspect that they will have killed and turned them to their side already. But, beneath the platform where the boss monster resides, is a reservoir of energy—fuel for powering this floor. Usually, this reservoir is connected to the World outside the Tower, and the Guiding Force can pull for this reservoir or send to it at will. I believe that their plan is to track that connection to your World and open a portal to it. If they succeed in doing so, we will have lost. I need you to punch through their defenses, and enter the heart of the temple. I will be conserving my strength for the fight with their leader, so I will rely on you. My two Guardians will lead the attack. Provide them with support and kill monsters as you have always done.”
Everyone nodded at his orders, even Morgan. This world, as cruel as it could be, was his, and he didn’t want to see it threatened. But they had also been granted a peek behind the curtain; they had seen the enemies of the Great Lord and knew that there was a higher purpose to their world. Morgan had known that Oxylus needed an army, but now he had encountered his enemies in the flesh.
“The Rzan are not a part of the Guiding Force’s design, so they do not give you experience. Without the connection to the outside World, there is little that we can do about that. But, as a Master of this Tower, I can access a portion of the energy stored on this floor.”
The man looked at his wrist, using some kind of a hologram. Morgan knew that what the others were seeing looked to them just like magic, but Morgan knew better. And then a notification appeared in the corner of Morgan’s eye.
Guiding Force bonus — 250,000 exp
Morgan Newton LVL 57 Enduring Will of Symbiosis — EXP 286,350/74,000 (ascension possible)
Morgan blinked at the experience he had gained, and saw everyone else reacting as well.
“This is your reward for killing the Rzan,” the Tower Master said. “It is as much as I can draw from the reservoir. Ascend, ascended, and be ready for the fight to come.”
Morgan looked around and took a deep breath, then mentally pressed the button and appeared inside his soul space.
Sabila floated in her usual place. “Hello, Master,” she greeted him.
“Sabila,” Morgan said. “Thank you for your warning about the Rzan.”
“I am sorry that I couldn’t help you more,” Sabila said.
“Why is that? I thought that you could act in certain situations. I would’ve thought that fighting the enemies of the Great Lord would qualify.”
“I reside in your soul, and I have a small connection to your body. When you ascend, you are filled with energy that I can use to upgrade your body and spirit. The reason that we are able to speak is because this energy, what you know as experience, is bridging the gap between your soul and mind. I can only speak with you like this during these surges of energy when I can cross over.”
Morgan blinked. He remembered her mentioning something about this long ago, but some things he had forgotten. Others, he believed he had misunderstood. “So why even create something like you? What is the purpose of all this?”
“To make you a spirit artist without you having to learn for decades and more, streamlining the process.”
“But ascended do take decades to get powerful,” Morgan said.
“All ascended are spirit artists. What we need is for you to reach a certain threshold of power—something that no ascended has ever managed before. For you to reach the seventh step of the path and connect your soul with your spirit and body.”
Morgan sighed. He didn’t really understand that. “Why can’t you do it in the same way you do everything else?”
“It is not so simple. Such a breakthrough requires something more.”
“And you can’t tell me what it requires?”
“I don’t know it. I only know that it can happen during moments of stress, when facing incredible odds and death.”
“The Tower,” Morgan said.
“Indeed. It is the test meant to trigger the last breakthrough,” Sabila said. “Once that happens, a soul-implant would be able to interact with the body at all times, and provide more aid.”
“You are awfully chatty right now,” Morgan commented.
“I am allowed to tell you more now,” Sabila said.
“Because of the Tower Master?” Morgan asked.
Sabila tilted her head. “No, although I would advise you to watch Master Kai Zhao Vin carefully, for he is a true spirit artist. But the reason why I can speak more freely now is because you have reached the sixth step.”
Morgan was surprised. “So I’m special?”
“No, Master. Most of the people in your raid group are ascended on the sixth step.”
“Oh,” he said, bummed out. “But no one has made the last step.”
“No, and it is not a matter of power, it is an internal state, one that cannot be quantified; or, rather, one that hasn’t been quantified yet. This is why I am here, to record in case of you making such a step. To get data that can help the Guiding Force and the Great Lor
d to steer other ascended in the right path,” Sabila said.
Morgan wondered what was special about this seventh step, and why it was so important to Oxylus, but he didn’t have the time to focus on that now. He turned and looked at his screens. The first thing he did was level up. With the exp that he was given, he was able to level up three times. Immediately, notifications started appearing in his vision.
Congratulations! Your Enduring Will of Symbiosis class has evolved into Heart of Metamorphosis.
Congratulations! You’ve gained a new trait: Shape and Shift — You’ve made the metamorphosis of your own body your focus. Increases the speed of your transformations and shaping of your body parts by 50%. You gain two additional form slots.
Morgan blinked. His class had evolved again, and he had gained a new perk. Just the speed increase was a great, but two new slots might come even more in handy for more rapid-change forms. He turned to look at his stats, which showed the stats of his Main Form. He had seven attribute points to spend, but his first three attributes were grayed out, while the others were available.
“Hey, Sabila.”
“Yes, Master?”
“Why can’t I increase my other four stats through body modification?”
“Because those stats are not tied to your body, but to your spirit and soul.”
Morgan frowned. He still didn’t understand the difference, exactly, between the three, but if he remembered what Sabila told him in the past. The spirit was where his core and energy resided, it was his power, but it was also connected more intimately with the body. He turned back to his stats and raised his intellect and will.
STRENGTH
90
AGILITY
85
CONSTITUTION
100
INTELLECT
