Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  I spent enough experience to bring essence engineering up to level fifty as well. This one had another interesting change.

  Essence Engineering

  Level: 50 (+183 Free)

  Experience to Next Level: 8,137,629

  SE Cost: 500

  The ability to Extract and Purify Demonic Essence from demon parts then Analyze and Imbue Purified Essence into Weapons, Shields, Armor, and Jewelry.

  Previously, I could only imbue purified essence into weapons and armor, but now it added shields and jewelry to that list. What was most odd about that, was that I could already imbue shields as they were considered armor. I was curious to find out if there was now an imbuement specific to shields. It also made me very aware that I hadn’t been very good about using essence engineering. I had a very large stockpile of demon parts that needed to be extracted and purified.

  More experience went into my Soul proficiencies, bringing them to the very edge of my SE capacity which ate up the rest of my experience points and one free proficiency level.

  After all of that, I still had a ton of proficiency levels. I spent them all, there was no reason not to anymore. I went after my most expensive body proficiencies first, shield slam and quick strike. They ate up ninety levels between them which still left me with ninety-three free levels. I leveled up blessing of reflection which brought all my soul proficiencies as high as I could bring them.

  I used most of what was left between heavy armor and blunt instrument, bringing both to the level cap. I held on to the last three free levels. I would get more when I cleared the greed floor, or that was my hope. I just needed to mentally steel myself to face that floor.

  I tried meditating for a while. I’d never really done it before, but I’d seen enough movies and read enough books about it when I was younger that I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t.

  After giving up on that, I decided the only way forward was to face my demons. Theo wasn’t wrong about the greed aura’s affect being blunted. It was there but hardly noticeable. I crushed the demons, took my loot, and cleared the floor.

  I tried asking Ramy again, but he ignored me, moving straight to the rewards. I went back in, ready to face wrath but it wasn’t wrath. It was lust. The vampire castle stood before me. It confused me. It didn’t make sense. I thought maybe the order was changed so I went ahead and was greeted by another surprise. The vampire lord held a simple human girl that the lord helpfully informed me was a princess of the local kingdom. She was pretty but she had nothing on the angel.

  Disregarding that small change, I proceeded to crush all resistance. I knew the castle well enough. I knew where each key I needed was located that allowed me to move to each higher floor. It took a lot longer to clear the lust than the first three, but it was still done inside of a day.

  As soon as I sat up in the morgue, I asked, “What happened to the wrath floor?”

  Ramy smiled softly but didn’t answer the question. He just went on with his standard reward spiel. That smile annoyed me more than anything.

  After resting for a night, I went back into Purgatory. Gluttony then envy. They were exactly the same. Except this time, as soon as I started standing in line for envy, I turned away to face the stairway that would take me back to the morgue and Ramy.

  And just like that, I was back to Sloth. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with killing everything. Instead, I ignored the demons, at least, for the most part. Some couldn’t be avoided. Still, I moved in a straight line for the exit, not bothering with the greater sloth demon in the guise of an old man. If one attacked me, I dealt with it quickly and pushed forward. It wasn’t long before I killed the boss and went down the stairs.

  Everything was normal when I awoke in the morgue, well almost everything. Ramy was smiling ever so slightly this time. “Good job not dallying with all the demons. Sometimes, you need to simply move forward and ignore distractions.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked but didn’t get an answer. All I got for an answer were more proficiency levels and experience.

  Pride, greed, lust, gluttony, and envy repeated again, and nothing changed beyond my proficiencies growing rapidly.

  I went back in to restart the cycle. I expected sloth but was confronted by pride. I was confused once more. Why had it changed again? What happened to sloth? I cleared pride again and tried to ask.

  Upon sitting up in the morgue again, I immediately asked, “What happened to sloth? For that matter, you still haven’t told me what happened to wrath.”

  Ramy smiled slightly, “Think about it.” He then went back to giving me my rewards which didn’t include experience anymore. He only gave me proficiency levels. Honestly, I was kind of grateful for that change. The experience was getting to be more annoying than anything. It was never enough to level my proficiencies anymore.

  Still, his answer bothered me. Think about it. I must have done something different to have removed the sloth floor. What had Ramy said after the last time I cleared it? Good job? I swear he said something about moving forward. I wished I had paid more attention, but maybe I didn’t need to pay attention. I had three guides that should have been.

  I asked, “Guys, what did he say after I cleared the sloth floor last time?”

  Era puffed up, cleared her throat, and in a voice that matched Ramy perfectly, she answered, “He said, ‘Good job not dallying with all the demons. Sometimes, you need to simply move forward and ignore distractions.’ What did you think of my Ramy impression? Was it good? Did I get the voice right?”

  “It was great, Era,” I said absentmindedly. I was too busy replaying the words in my head. Is that what sloth was? Was it a distraction? Were all the demons of sloth there to distract me? Was that their goal then? To slow me down? I had always cleared it so completely in the past because I wanted the experience and loot. That was greed, wasn’t it? My greed to gain more, improve more, be more kept me clearing everything, killing everything, consuming everything. And wasn’t that gluttony?

  I had something of an epiphany as Michael’s words rang through my head again. ‘Purgatory is about more than just fighting demons.’ I was never fighting the demons. I was fighting myself. Fighting against my baser nature. Fighting my own seven deadly sins. Each floor wasn’t just one of those things, it was all those things. Sloth was my procrastinating. It was me taking my time to get everything I could from a floor before moving on. It was both greed and gluttony at the same time. Once I pushed forward, forgoing any rewards, I completed the floor. Was that why the wrath floor never came back around? I remember after completing that floor how I felt such relief to have let go of that anger I held after the floor I called greed. Was that the solution then? I needed to overcome those feelings in myself?

  I let out a long slow breath as I found an answer to my questions, or at least, it was the start of an answer. I grumbled, “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  Chapter 42 – Greed and Gluttony

  Greed was hard. I made the decision before I even approached the floor again that I was going to let it all go. I would loot nothing. Somehow, I think Purgatory knew I had made that decision. After I killed the first mostly naked goat demon woman and ignored the loot, it seemed like all that dropped thereafter were proficiencies, jewelry, furniture, and crystals . . . so many tiny crystals. I won’t lie, I was mightily tempted by all of it. At one point, I needed to ask my guides to simply stop identifying the drops or I would have broken down. Even my guides were appalled by what I was doing.

  “Do you know how rare that proficiency is? And you’re not even going to look?” Asher demanded.

  Five minutes later Era complained, “You can’t leave behind that ring. It would be such a mistake.”

  Even Silas gave in to temptation, “Master Victor, please reconsider this foolishness. Surely you can ignore all of this the next time you go through this floor?”

  I ignored them with all the will I could muster. I just kept pushing forward. I ignored the loot. I opened the
secret passages but only in an effort to find the way out. Then something dropped I hadn’t expected to see. It was a temptation too far. A little vial filled with a golden glowing liquid.

  “Is this what I think it is?” I asked, holding up the little vial for them to examine.

  Asher answered, “If you think it’s a body strengthening solution then you’d be right.”

  Naturally, it was Purgatory’s last-ditch effort to stop me. The exit was just in front of me. I only needed to get past the final room, and it would try its hardest to convince me to turn back.

  I put the vial into my inventory and sighed, “You win this round, Purgatory.”

  I looked at the exit then back the way I came. For a moment, I considered leaving the way I came in. I could always leave and come back. And if I was going back that way, I could pick up all the stuff I left behind, right? Realizing the dark path my thinking was trailing off in, I squashed the temptation and stalked purposefully forward into the exit, leaving the greed floor behind me.

  Ramy looked at me, not with disappointment or even a flat look that said he didn’t care. Instead, he looked . . . curious. “You were so close, why did you give in?”

  “Not for me,” I said with a sigh. “I know someone who really needs this.”

  “Generosity? Really?” Ramy asked, raising a single curious eyebrow.

  I nodded, “Really.”

  Ramy grunted and narrowed his eyes, “Even though you would benefit greatly, you would give it away?”

  “I don’t need it. I still have a few open proficiency slots. I’m sure I’ll find something eventually that suits me better,” I said, then added, “Besides, I can clear the floor again.”

  Ramy grunted again, “We’ll see.” Then he vanished without giving me any rewards. It was . . . odd.

  “No rewards, really?” Era questioned in a huff. “I swear, that Dominion is . . . well . . . I don’t know what to call him. Still, no rewards . . . I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  “We don’t need the rewards,” I said. I had already just about maxed out my proficiency levels. It was to the point where I almost needed more proficiencies for my usual rewards to be truly useful to me.

  I hopped off the morgue table and exited Purgatory. Happy to have made it through the greed floor again . . . almost without giving in to temptation. And speaking of temptation, I needed to deal with that potion. Having a few drinks will make giving it away hurt far less.

  I waited a few hours for Theo, Theodore, and Rebecca to arrive. They seemed to be in decent spirits, quickly joining me at the booth I had claimed.

  “You seem to be in a good mood,” Theo said, clapping me on the back before sitting down with a mug in hand.

  “I had a good day,” I said, smiling and trying to seem mysterious.

  “Oh, and what was so good about it?” Theo asked.

  Era answered before I could, “He thinks he’s figured it ou-” she suddenly cut off, her lips still moving but no sounds coming out. I just let her keep talking while winking at everyone else. Hopefully, they would play along with my little joke. When Era stopped speaking, she looked proud of herself before she noticed the barely restrained laughter. She demanded, “What? Why are you all smirking like that? Was there something funny about my explanation?”

  It was like a dam broke and everyone had a good laugh.

  Finally, I explained, “I figured out what Purgatory wants from me, what it expects me to do. I need to . . . well, I need to fight my own personal demons or rather overcome them.”

  This time I was being stared at, more dumbfounded expressions than anything. It was my turn to ask, “What? What is it?”

  “You . . . you were silenced,” Rebecca said. “That means . . . you really figured out something important. Try again . . . just . . . say it differently.”

  I tried to explain what I thought I’d figured out several times and every time, it silenced me. I tried racking my brain to figure out a way to tell them, then Michael’s words echoed in my head again. “Purgatory isn’t just about fighting demons.”

  “What’s that mean?” Theo asked.

  I responded, “Finally, you heard something. Someone . . . high up . . . they told me that Purgatory isn’t just about fighting demons. There’s more to it. For me, it’s about overcoming my sins, I guess.”

  “You went silent after you said, ‘There’s more to it’,” Theodore helpfully added.

  I sighed. “I think that’s all I can tell you. And . . . I can’t believe I’m about to say this, you need to think on what that means.” I felt mighty chagrined after saying that, especially after all the times Ramy told me to ‘think on it’.

  Theodore groaned. “This is going to be some kind of-” he was silenced, his lips still moving.

  “I did not see that coming,” Rebecca said, then added, “Theo-two, whatever you just said, we didn’t hear. That means you got it right.”

  Theodore cursed up a storm and pounded his fists on the table. When he finished his tirade, he looked pointedly at Rebecca, “And don’t call me Theo-two.”

  That gave me a good laugh.

  Poor Theo held his head in his hands looking rather devastated. “Think about it . . . think about it . . . I don’t think. I do. How am I supposed to think about it? That’s just not right.”

  We had a lot of good laughs that night. As the night wound down and it looked like my friends were ready to go, I stopped, “Hang on a minute.”

  “What’s up?” Rebecca asked cheerfully, the girl was in really good spirits.

  I answered, “So, there was something I didn’t get to tell you about yet. I faced the greed floor again today after my . . . revelation. I almost made it through when . . . temptation finally got me . . . sort of. Something dropped that I couldn’t leave behind.”

  “Oh, and what’s that?” Theo asked.

  Theodore looked at me with hungry eyes that disturbed me a little.

  I opened my inventory and pulled out the tiny little vial of golden liquid. I held out the little vial to the young woman and said, “Rebecca, I hope you appreciate this.”

  Rebecca took the vial and studied it. “What is it?”

  “A Body strengthening solution,” I answered.

  Rebecca looked at me confused while the other two’s eyes widened. She furrowed her brow and replied, “I don’t use much strength. Why don’t you use it?”

  I laughed, “It’s not that kind of potion. You pour that on your scroll. It will allow you to add another body proficiency.”

  Rebecca looked on the vial with new eyes. She asked, “Is this . . . is this real?”

  I nodded. “It’s real. I remembered how much you wanted that proficiency and how close you came to getting it only to have it snatched away by Purgatory’s messed up rules. So, don’t say I never gave you anything and don’t expect any more of them. I’m pretty sure Purgatory is going to find a way to punish me for giving this to you.”

  Rebecca suddenly pulled the vial close to her chest. With tears slowly dripping down her face, she sniffled. “I won’t. I won’t ever forget this . . . I . . . nobody has been this nice to me in . . . no, nobody has ever been this nice to me. Thank you.”

  I ignored the tears and looked away from her, rubbing some dust from my own eyes. “Yeah, well . . . generosity seems to be something forgotten in this place. It too is a virtue, right?”

  Rebecca nodded, “I’ll use it tonight, as soon as I get back to my room. It might take a few months to find the proficiency again, but I’ll do it. Thank you so much for this. If you ever need my help with anything, you only ever need to ask.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” I promised.

  “Generosity, how disgusting!” a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time sneered. “You’re an idiot. Throwing away power like that, pathetic!”

  I looked around sharply for the source but didn’t see him until he seemed to bleed into existence next to our table, rolling a certain vial between his fingers.
/>   “Give it back,” Rebecca demanded. I hadn’t even seen him snatch the vial from her hands.

  I echoed her, standing from my seat and preparing to attack, “Give it back to her, now.”

  Theo took a much different tact, waving me back to my seat. His voice was cool and nonchalant but there was danger in that voice, “Ah, Billy, still playing the same games. Best be careful, or it might get you killed.”

  “Please, do try,” Billy said. “I’m sure the lower downs would be pleased to gain a soul like you. You know, you’d be respected by them. Given power and authority. All it would take is a . . . little fall.”

  “Go home, Billy,” Theo said calmly, “Oh, sorry, I meant to say, go to hell, or is that the same place?”

  Billy sneered, his rotting teeth flashing angrily. “How many thousands of years are you going to keep fighting here, Theo? Aren’t you tired of it all yet? You know as well as I do, the only place you’re going is straight to hell. Whether that happens today, tomorrow, or in another thousand years, you will go.”

  Theo snorted, “If I do, it just means more demons to kill. Now, run along Billy. I tire of hearing your weasel voice and looking at your rat face. If I find myself around you much longer, I might just make that trip to hell a little bit sooner. Oh, and before you go, return that vial . . . undamaged.”

  Billy sneered one more time and lobbed the vial up into the air before turning sharply and stalking away.

  Rebecca scrambled and caught the vial with an ease and delicacy I didn’t think was possible. Her reflexes were clearly her highest stat. She quickly put the vial into her inventory then snapped, “I don’t like that guy.”

  “Nobody likes that guy,” Theo said, though there was no humor in his voice. “Alright, I think that’s enough excitement for tonight. We all have demons to slay in the morning.”