Day 31

I was pretty exhausted from the prior day, so I went to bed pretty early, only remembering to expend all of my essence in the morning. Not that in terms of time I had lost much. If I had stayed up the extra 3 hours last night to upgrade my essence, I would be forced to stay up the ENTIRE following night to upgrade it further. Else, I would have just needed to wait until the morning away, basically ending up where I am now.

-It’s not like you need to explain it to me, I was tired too.

Still, that meant I was up early, earlier than when the voice announced which deed would fall, so I planned on training a bit.

Jester seemed to be of a lazy sort in the mornings, so I left the squat little tower that served as home for the Deed and proceeded to an open area. Glancing around, I was slightly surprised that I hadn’t seen Toddie so far this morning. Usually she followed me everywhere when I snuck off to train.

-It’s just as well. Testing the limits of the new Air Affinity… that is something we wouldn’t want to do in front of someone who might become our enemy later.

I walked slowly into the clearing, spreading my sense of air, feeling the fabric of it all around. I breathed in slowly, delighting in the way that small amounts of energy flowed into me with every breath.

-Any amount of mana regen helps.

Then I breathed out, focusing my will, gathering air and spinning it. I held the air carefully, twisting it around and around, forming a thin, invisible vortex of air that began spinning a few meters in front of me. How little mana the whole thing required surprised me, but I suppose there was a qualitative change in my control over air, that was why I had lost the lesser label from the beginning of my skill. My mouth twisted into a grin. Time to push it a little farther.

The first thing I did was double the size of the air vortex, causing a small wind to fill the clearing. Blue leaves stirred and rolled on the ground disturbed by the wind. Next, I started rotating the vortex even faster, causing the air to hurtle forward.

Then, infinitely careful, I grabbed the center of the vortex and pulled it down out of the air. It stretched unwillingly, the mana drain growing as its shifted, but soon the vortex was an upside down cone of air, around 5 m tall.

A small whirlwind.

Hoping that I would have enough time to regain my spent mana back before we attacked anyone else, I accelerated the rotation speed further. Now strange air currents suffused the clearing. Leaves were picked up off the ground and joined the rushing air. Small sticks trembled and then were sucked upwards.

Suddenly, I realized that controlling the whirlwind was taking more mana than sustaining it was, so I let go of control.

Wobbly at first, but then with greater surety, the whirlwind began to prowl, devouring the leaves and small twigs. As I watched, fascinated, it started to grow a bit taller, able to pick up branches, pulling them down off of trees.

Delighted with my little whirlwind, I cut off my flow of mana, allowing it to continue on its own. It did, wandering erratically around, slowly shrinking. When it was about as high as I was tall, I bounded through it, smashing aside its air currents with my body. The whirlwind dispersed, the leaves exploding out around me and drifting slowly down to the ground.

-Not super flashy, but that level of wind speed would be enough to push back a human.

-And that was only 30% of the mana pool. Once we improve the skill level, imagine what natural disasters we can create~

Grinning, I stopped using my mana and began practicing Water Stance.

*****

“Oh no, the Eastern Deed has failed! Abandon ship, abandon ship! Hahahahaha.” The voice’s giggles made me grimace, but it was good that it wasn’t our Deed. I wiped the sweat off my brow and walked back towards the tower.

Jester was waiting for me. “The Deed that fell was the middle of Qwata’s 3. It’s pretty much the ideal outcome for us. I’ll go to the Southern Deed and draw him there. For whatever reason, he seems fixated on me. You need to cut across to the Northeast Deed and control that one by nightfall. If you succeed, sign yourself as the controller. Oh, and take the girl with you, she might be useful.”

We both looked over towards the human woman who sat with her arms around her knees, gazing at the wall.

“...If you say so. Alright, I’ll leave immediately.”

“No,” Jester said, his grey mask swinging back and forth. “Wait until a few hours afternoon before you go. I need time to make sure he comes down to the Southern Deed. Don’t worry about, I’ll occupy him all day; just get that Deed by tomorrow. If we miss it….”

After keeping his gaze focused on me for a long time, Jester said. “I’ll be forced to do something drastic. And Toddie will order you to help me. You don’t want that.”

-...Yea, we should just let him be in control, huh?

-I’m still willing to stick with this bet.

Without another word, Jester turned and left. Unwilling to remain here without being able to accomplish anything, I gave the woman a long look and walked over towards her.

“Can you still fight?”

My words caused her to flinch. She hunched her shoulders further, burying her face in her arms. I stared intently at her for a few minutes.

Then I turned away and said over my shoulder. “If you do not struggle, no one else will do it for you. You will simply die. You have some time to decide. I shall return for your answer in several hours.”

I maintained a brisk pace as I returned to the training grounds. Seeing that Toddie had somehow snuck past me and was now moving through the advanced stages of Earth stance, I couldn’t help but smile. I did my best to join her for a while, moving through Earth Stance and Water stance, but I couldn’t afford to waste time on trying to figure out the trick to them. I quickly moved on to Wind Stance, and then finally spent most of my morning training time on Thunder Stance.

All the while, other me created small spheres of ice, focusing on improving my mastery of that skill.

The next step I needed in Thunder Stance had to do with the power of each of my strikes.

I focused on my breathing, allowing everything else to fall away. Stillness in my core, tightly wound strength. Settled, waiting.

-Surge

Air hissed out through my teeth as I struck, my arm smashing into the tree. Eyes closing, my arm remained there, settling as my breath once more sucked into a tight ball at my core. Everything relaxed.

-Surge.

My other arm blurred, cracking the trunk slightly. I once more settled.

-Surge

Smash.

-Surge

Smash.

-Surge

Smash.

-Surge

Smash.

The point was apparently to strike with such a sudden burst of acceleration that your very blow ‘thunders’ by producing a sonic boom. I could almost feel it when I punch, a thick, viscous layer of air at the edge of my punch. But I couldn’t currently get passed it.

Luckily, as other me continued creating the ice spheres, there was some good news.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Lesser Ice Affinity Lvl 3”. Frost spreads more quickly. Distance at which you can successfully create ice slightly increases. Control slightly improves.

Grinning, I settled down and focused more directly on helping other me. He used my left arm, I used my right. We began sculpting knives of ice.

*****

About 2 hours after midday, 100s of attempts and one notification later, I had my ice knife. It wasn’t much to look at, just a blade that extended downwards with a duller end, but its weight was almost perfect, and it was sharp enough to pierce a bit into the wood of the tree.

-Well, before it begins melting, but we will probably only make them right before we throw them, anyway.

Rolling my eyes, I recalled briefly that notification that had made it possible.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Lesser Ice Affinity Lvl 4”. Control over ice growth vastly improves. Speed at which ice grows has improved. Mana can be channeled to create even larger amounts of ice.

The slight downside was that it did take a few seconds still to form the knives, so it wasn’t possible to be as abrupt with the knife throws as I was used to. I practiced for a while, creating and throwing the knives, but based on the sun’s position, I had to move soon.

I returned to the tower, and to my shock, the woman was waiting for me, trembling, but daring to meet my eye. “I… I’ll come. I don’t want to die just yet.”

The woman was short, one of the shortest adult humans I had ever seen. She had brown hair tied behind her head in a pony tail. She wore rather shapeless beige clothes.

Satisfied that I had a subordinate, even an untrustworthy one, I turned away and kneeled down. “Perfect. Hop on.”

“Huh?”

“On my back. Grab my neck. Your legs are too short for you to be able to walk that far in a decent amount of time.”

“....”

*****

After her panicked shouts from my 20 m leaps started to die down, she simply wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed her eyes shut. Which was perfect for my purposes; Likely, it even made the portion of time where we had to skirt an area that was a fallen Deed easier. Her gazing deeply into the darkness below would likely have had a negative effect on her mental health.

Because both the Northwestern and Northern Deeds had fallen, I had to skirt the holes by going along the thin strip of land surrounding the Central Deed to get to the Northeastern Deed. As I passed, I took a few minutes to study the constantly shifting thunder clouds hovering over the Central Deed.

Bolts of lightning shot in every direction.

-Yea, giving the mage access to infinite mana was dangerous.

We continued past it, staying out of sight. About an hour after we had left, my pace had brought us to what I figured, based on the location of the fallen Deeds, to be the Northeastern Deed. I set the woman down.

“What are you called?” I asked casually.

The woman steadied herself on my elbow after hopping down, my shoulder slightly too high for her to comfortably hold. “Jana. And those are typically referred to as names.”

Her words were laced with bitterness, so I shrugged and continued further.

She struggled to keep up with me. “What about you? What were you ‘called’ before you changed into this…’

She eyed me up and down, critically. Then she patted my elbow again, almost to check if it was still real. I frowned at her.

She shrugged helplessly. “Well what would you call it? It looks like you crossed He-man with Tarzan, and gave the offspring perfectly manicured nails. Nails that…”

Shivering, her voice trailed off, and she looked at the ground for a long time.

-Nails she watched you use to rip out a spine.

Feeling awkward, I opened my mouth to say something, but then thought better of it.

To my surprise, she spoke a short time afterward. “Is it easy for you to kill? I have a theory about the skills we got. It’s related to what we wanted, who we are as people. So my skill, the absolute rejection, is because… this, all of this…?

Jana gestured around. “I hate it. I hate the struggle, I hate that we are supposed to fight and kill constantly, I hate that everyone I knew is probably dead, and I hate that I lost my entire life, and for what, the vacations and possibly a wish? I mean, my life wasn’t so great, but-”

“What do you mean, vacations and a wish?”

Jana gave me a strange look. “That’s why you are climbing isn’t it? After every 10th floor, you can take a break from the tower, up to a year. Go on a vacation anywhere. And if you pass the 50th floor, you can get a wish. You could live forever, revive the dead. You could destroy a planet, or... or you could wish for a planet for your species to live.

“And that’s why I’m climbing, so humans can return to earth.” Her hands were balled into fists. “Aren’t you the same?”

-No, I have no interest in the fate of humanity. I just want…

-Strife. Struggle. Adversity.

-To feel alive.

My arm shot out, stopping Jana in her tracks. Several figures walked out of the woods, surrounding us.

“Ah, I was wondering if you were still alive.” I grinned at Whipman, who was holding a spear and regarding me dubiously.

“Predator? Have you grown? No, it doesn’t matter. Leave now. We have explicit instructions to kill any trespassers on sight. If you don’t leave now-”

Several more figures appeared behind us.

“You likely won’t leave at all,” Whipman concluded, lowering his spear in my direction.

***POV Change***

Hearing a noise behind her, Jana spun around.

That musclebound oaf who carried her here with as much effort as a normal person would have with used for a belt, just looked around with interest. From behind them walked a short, wide man whose skin was made of metal and a tall, willowy creature with green skin and antlers. Both had red belts.

The thick man grinned. “Ah, Predator. God be praised, I feared you would die to another, leaving me forever disappointed.”

“Jinka, your bluffs terrible. Which of you is the Deed owner? I don’t have time to play”

Jana frowned up at her companion. His name was Predator. It was… oddly suited to him.

In front of them was the strange, withered creature that initially spoke, and 3 others. All women, and two of them human. Jana even recognized one of them. “Song, it’s good to see you.”

The mature woman smiled slightly, adjusting her dress. “And you as well, Jana. Although the company you keep is… interesting. Unfortunately, Whipman was telling the truth. Our orders are to kill any trespassers. It is already… difficult to restrain ourselves from attacking. If you do not hurry-”

Predator snorted. “Your belt is blue, what can you do? All of your birds and wires are-”

Song, raising what looked like a metal ingot, flexed her fingers, making the metal dance. It soon formed into a perfect metal bird of prey, its sharp beak gleaming.

“She’s a metalmancer,” Jana whispered. “I think she will be fine.”

The bird screamed towards Predator, whose face fell slightly. But he simply stepped, the ground under his planting foot cracking the ground. He reappeared right in front of Song, his fist raised, everyone’s eyes widening. But Song just smiled.

“Fool, I can see your belt is blue, I’m not going to fall for your-”

Jana shivered, knowing what was happening. The invisible blade of air slit open Song’s throat, blood poured onto the ground and pooled. With trembling fingers, Song raised her hands and touched her mortality.

“Until there is a way to overcome the frailty of your bodies,” Predator said matter of factly. “There is no future for humanity in this tower.”

Song collapsed.

“Oy, You! What was with that amateur rolling thunder?!? Your instructor should be disgusted.” Another one of the women who was standing in front of them stepped forward, this one a Tellite. The Tellite pointed to his legs. “So much force is wasted if you apply it like that? Did you just attempt it after watching!?!? That was the most disappointing Thunder Stance I have seen in a long time.”

Predator frowned at the Tellite woman.

Meanwhile, Jana hurried over towards Predator, fleeing from the metal skinned man and the strange creature with long, undulating limbs.

“You know the Thunder Stance?” Predator sounded skeptical. Jana twisted, hopping in the air.

“I reject!” The force hit the metal man, causing him to stumble. It also through Jana backwards several meters, causing her to roll nearer to Predator. Scrambling, she scuttled the rest of the distance to him.

“Obviously better than you. That planting leg, what are you doing? The force doesn’t come from everywhere at once; it isn’t a complete surge. It builds! First the hip, then the thigh, then the knee, then the calf, then your ankle, then the force explodes! Such is how the thunder stance works. Force is built until it splits the sky. Have you not read the Great Lore?”

Predator was now mumbling to himself. The Tellite with the spear was advancing on Predator, his face grim. The other woman stood over to the side, seemingly unhappy. Jana rushed towards Predator, reaching out to grab his arm.

“Hum… it builds, huh…”

BOOOOOM.

A blast of air hit Jana, sending her tumbling back. Predator’s body flew forward, immediately breaking the sound barrier and racing across the forest floor. The spear wielder staggered backward, too. The female Tellite nodded, pleased. “Good, good, you are not without talent.”

Predator reappeared in front of the willow creature, strange icicles growing in his. His fingers blurred, and the knives of ice flew, ripping open the strange creature’s body in a dozen spots. Groaning and wounded, it collapsed.

Jana gasped as the metal man sprinted past her, intent on Predator. Predator just glared at the man. “Jinka, I don’t have time for you.”

Predator raised his hands, grasping towards Jinka, lifting him off the ground with a powerful surge of air. Grunting he twisted and threw Jinka almost 100 m past him, smashing him into a tree.

“Damn, he’s heavy.” Predator muttered, turning to the wide eyed Whipman and the two living women. He ignored Whipman.

“You two aren’t fighting?”

The female Tellite shrugged.“If I could, I would kill you in an instant. As it is, I have a blue belt and I know no magic.”

The other woman nodded. “Ditto.”

After sparing a glance for them, Predator grabbed Jana around her waist and leapt off, heading deeper into the Deed. Jana goggled at the defeated and slain enemies left in their wake, gobsmacked.

‘How is this so easy for him…?’

They eventually arrived at a squat tower, the same as every other Deed area. An extremely large human with short dark hair stood up at their approach. His belt was blue. But as Jana watched, it changed colors to red.

Predator landed, narrowing his eyes. “The color of your belt changed.”

The man shrugged. “A gift from a friend, what can I say? It appears the worthless guards did nothing. Fine, I will handle you myself.”

The man spread his arms wide, his muscles rippling, obvious even through his shirt. Jana peaked at Predator. No, Predator was still larger and leaner. And likely quite a bit more cruel. She shivered again, but this time it wasn’t all fear.

“My name is Adam. You are unlucky; I will not allow myself to lose here. I’m strong, fast, and with but a touch I can suck the strength out of you. I will kill you. And I will climb this tower. Is there anything you want to say before you die?”

Predator shrugged, seemingly uninterested. Jana was trembling, so much so that she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to still herself. Predator was a killer, casually ending one of the few remaining human lives. And he was going to do it again, she could sense it.

“Then let’s begin.” Adam’s voice rumbled ominously, and he began sprinting towards Predator. Predator splayed his fingers, those blade of ice forming.

‘No,’ Jana thought. ‘He’s going to kill him. Another human, snuffed out. No, no….no…’

“NO! I REJECT!” Jana raised her hands and pointing the force at Predator’s back, slamming him towards Adam, whose arms were open in a welcoming hug. They slammed together in a strange embrace. Adam’s belt switched to blue.

Abruptly, Jana collapsed, crying, unable to tear her eyes away from the two figures. Predator struggled at first, but was now slumping. Adam was laughing

“Oh wow. You are… you are incredibly powerful. I shall keep you like a pet, drawing away your strength and-”

Predator raised a feeble hand, all of his strength gone, and pressed it over Adam’s nose and mouth. “When you use magic, make sure it’s fatal.”

At a noticeable pace, frost grew out of the place Predator was touching, swiftly forming a thick layer of ice that covered Adam’s face. Increasingly desperate, Adam scratched at the ice as the threat of suffocation loomed over him.. His belt changed back to red and he began pummeling predator, blows with an incredible amount of force slamming against Predator’s torso.

Predator shifted and trembled, grunting. But his eyes were wide open, one grey-blue and the other luminous yellow. They bore directly into Adam's eyes, which were wide and full of fear.

Jana, from the distance she was away, could hear bones pop and break. But Predator just stood there, taking it. After a few minutes, the struggles became more and more feeble, until finally Adam’s movements ceased.

Then, laboriously, Predator turned and looked at here. He walked towards her, dragging behind him the body that was still frozen to his hand. Jana couldn’t get up. She just watched with dull eyes.

But as he was about 10 m away, some life flowed back into her limbs, and she raised her hands. “Stop! No closer. Just leave me alone, alright?”

Predator blinked. He seemed legitimately surprised. “Why? We won.”

“Because… because I…” Jana realized belatedly that he might not really have even noticed. She briefly considered lying to him, but… but no, she didn’t want to betray her ideals. “Because I tried to kill you. I pushed you forward so you would die. You… you’re against everything I stand for. I wanted you to die.”

Predator just laughed, bending over and slapping his knee. “So?”

“So?!!?” Jana was almost affronted. “So I assumed you were coming over to have your revenge. You don’t seem like the type that forgives.”

Still chuckling, Predator finally said. “Let’s be realistic; you are incredibly weak, why would I care what you want? How could you even hope to kill me? Should your actions bother me? At least it demonstrates that you are willing to fight and kill when you have to, which is a trait I admire.

He continued, "And forgiveness is easy. Why worry about threats from the past? Much harder to overcome the threats in the present. That is true strength.”

Unable to form words, Jana just stared at Predator. Shrugging, he turned away. She had a sudden realization then, about why she hated him, and why should couldn’t look away from him. Straightforward arrogance hung around him like a cloak. His attitude ignored all the petty things and focused purely on survival. He was a monster with the pride of a human.

Pondering, Jana stood and followed him.

*****

***POV Change***

I amused myself for a while by using my authority as Deed owner to make Jinka say I was superior to him, but then the female Tellite, whose name I learned was Ashni, dragged me off to check my Thunder Stance form.

Whipman followed after us, and it was sorta amusing to watch him slowly wilt as she insulted every wrong thing I had been taught. I once tried to defend him, claiming that it at least got the job done by killing the opponent, but Ashni gave me a withering look.

“And we are what, on the 3rd floor? Hmph, I cannot what until you are on floor 20 and your sloppy form abruptly stops ‘getting the job done.’ You will be so confused, I imagine. So lost and alone. And then you will remember my warning and mourn the fact you didn’t listen to me.”

So I listened. A simple demonstration of my form turned into a 6 hour training session that featured extensive and grueling variations on the original exercises Whipman had me do. But it definitely felt worth it as the notifications added up.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Thunder Stance Lvl 3”. You may now occasionally create sonic booms with your strikes. Familiarity with the stances improves.Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Physicality Lvl 8”. Muscle regeneration happens much more rapidly. Your blood is able to hold a larger supply of oxygen. Bones and tendons have increased resilience under stress.Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Thunder Stance Lvl 4”. Sonic Booms occur more frequently. Your form has progressed to the point that learning the upper level forms is possible.

When I asked whether she could teach me the upper level forms, she experienced a 10 minute bout of howling laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes. Venomously, I glared at Whipman, who was laughing right along with her.

It was at that time that Jester arrived, once more bloody and dirty. It seemed like it had been a rough day for him, keeping Qwata busy.

To my surprise, the first thing Jester did was walk into the Deed and sign himself as property. I briefly considered ordering him to divulge all the information he knew, but I was sorta cautious, both about how far my power extended, and how he would react once we passed this floor.

“Now what?”

Jester just shrugged. “Now we wait until tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning.”

And with that, he left me alone with the motley group.

***Author's Note***

Two things for this bottom note.

1: A few people have contacted me about it, but it wasn't until I had a hard time going through this chapter for a second time that I realized how much effort I would save if I had a proofreader/editor. I haven't decided yet, but if you are interested, stay tuned. I'll ask for applications in another chapter if I end up deciding to get one. Please do NOT just send me messages about.

2: In a similar vein, I am unsatisfied with the lack of art for the icon right now. But alas, I am not artistic. If anyone wants to whip something up for the story, let me know. I'll credit you in the synopsis space. I don't mind if you want to do your own interpretation, or need ideas, hopefully it just relates somehow to the story xD.