The next three days were rest days as Tormacc took the time to center his mind, his thoughts and emotions not in equilibrium, his whole body out of balance. He did some soul searching, trying to find his place in The Tower. Not much came of it, but he tried to be okay with his lot, tried to come to terms with his current circumstances. He wasn’t a hero; not in the traditional sense. While it was true he was representing his race as their chosen champion, in The Tower, he was normal, just another Humen out of billions of other champions. He had some advantages, his starting ritual and the loot obtained in the starting zone being some of them, but an offhanded question to Kaz Ehen revealed the bear-man estimated that if he had used his own strength measurement device when he first entered The Tower he would have started with around twenty strength. That was his baseline, not improved by anything like the ritual Tormacc used.

That was normal for some races, as Kaz told him about godlings who started off with physical abilities so far above the norm they couldn’t die in the starting zone if they tried. While most races were Humen, or close to it, there were outliers, some races starting with huge innate advantages compared to the rest of the field, their natural abilities guaranteeing them a smooth start in The Tower. They were who Tormacc had to face, and who was he to compete with them? He had been in The Tower for less than a year, and even if he had ten years on them he might never catch up to their power, the starting point in a different dimension, literally.

Those who won were those who survived. He kept telling himself that, a mantra he ingrained in his psyche as he tried his best to recover his mental state. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, as with each repetition of the mantra the more familiar it sounded, the name Tormacc feeling like someone else’s skin he had just slipped into, the soul of a survivor stuck in the body of a supposed conqueror.

But on some level, none of it mattered. No one cared about his name; he was alone in knowing its importance and what it signified. Until he could reveal it, he would keep it under wraps and hidden away, and maybe someday he would be worthy of using the name with pride.

In the meantime, he had a tower to climb and Essence to earn. At the end of the day, he had a mission: one he couldn’t walk away from lest his lack of Essence spell his demise. To that end, he decided it was time to go somewhere new. He was done with the rats; they could rot in hell for all he cared. They had almost killed him one too many times for him to even consider going back there. The Essence was sweet, but his life was sweeter. They did leave him a parting gift thought to send him on his way, and before leaving he took a look at how much Essence he earned from the last fight.

Closing his eyes and diving into his mind, the middle of his Fate Wheel showed 1,136, meaning he had earned almost a thousand Essence from his final battle with the rat horde. It was an amazing amount, but he tried not to think too much about it. The rats were dead to him: this Essence all that was left.

Looking over his Fate Wheel, he tried to figure out his next path forward. There were manifold options, but he kept coming back to movement. So far, it was his movement skills that saved his life, and currently, because he had used Reset on it, Air Step was unusable, the ability on a forced cooldown for at least a few more days. But one of the tier seven abilities after Air Step was comparable, and because Air Step was still on cooldown, he decided to unlock the ability.

He felt one thousand Essence drain away as Double Jump lit up on his Fate Wheel. It was similar to Air Step, with the main difference the significantly shorter cooldown time. It allowed him to jump twice, the second jump as if he was pushing off the same surface as the first. Perhaps he should invest in something else, but, if he went off his past experiences, he would be doing a lot of running away in the future, and for that he needed all the mobility he could get.

He felt his confidence increase by a miniscule amount, the added safety of his new ability lifting his spirits slightly. Some things never changed, and he would always feel happiness when unlocking new abilities on his Fate Wheel. It was a concrete increase to his power, a sure sign he was doing something right. Buoyed by that confidence, he set his direction, heading away from the mountains and towards the craggy, blasted landscape in the distance. He had seen moving shapes over there before, and since he still needed to kill to farm Essence, that was where he went, moving towards the location of his next hunt.

Perhaps he was fleeing from a challenge, running away, battered and beaten, but it felt good to move towards something new. He could set the rats aside, learning from the experience and moving on. He didn’t want to remember the experience and the shame it brought, but he wouldn’t forget it either, the lessons on the danger present in the Shard a clear reminder of how mortal he was despite the supernatural powers bestowed by his Fate Wheel.

He moved across the plateaus slowly, careful of any ambushes. His paranoia said he couldn’t even trust the ground beneath his feet, and while he was unlikely to run into another rat king, his worries were based on actual evidence, so he took it slow, making sure he didn’t make any foolish mistakes during his trip. He made a wide loop around the stone rat’s territory, and perhaps thanks to that, his trip was uneventful, no sign of monsters in sight. Looking out over the wide expanse of plateaus, he theorized that there were likely multiple rat swarms, each with their own territory, and his path had skirted those, moving in the no-man’s land between the hordes of vermin.

The plateaus gradually sloped down, the incline eventually meeting the blasted plains below. He had spawned in the Shard closer to the plains than the mountains, and by the next morning he had made it out of the sea of plateaus. That was where his troubles began. Perhaps it was obvious in hindsight, but anything he could see from where he was before had to be large enough for his eyes to make it out despite the distance. He had improved eyesight thanks to his Tattoo of Perception, but his eyes weren’t spyglasses, and once he made his way down to the craggy plains below he realized his error.

Stone Giants; it was the name of the most ubiquitous monster in the Shard, and he should have taken the name more seriously. When they said giant, it was more a descriptor than a name, as in this case there was no other word to describe them, except perhaps colossus, as giant didn’t even do them justice. He felt his teeth rattle in his skull as the giant took another step, its long strides covering huge distances before its foot fell back to earth, the vibrations travelling through his bones and rattling his skull.

One of the first things he did was retrieve ear plugs from his Storage Bracelet, now aware of why Stella included them, but they didn’t work, at least not fully, and he could still hear the thunderous booms as the Stone Giant plodded along, craters left in its wake. Gazing up at it, he had to tilt his head back, craning his neck to fully take in its huge stature. It had to be at least fifty meters tall, a huge humanoid made of craggy stone, its body in the shape of a featureless doll. Its limbs were larger than tree trunks, and gazing up at it, he wondered how he would attack it, the size difference daunting to consider.

He had no choice though; it was either find a way to kill the Stone Giant or go back to fight the rats. He needed Essence, and the easiest way to get it was to kill monsters. But that was easier said than done, as he was having trouble even following the Stone Giant, the craters left in the wake of its steps making him climb through ridges and valleys as he chased after it. He originally thought the landscape was endemic to the Shard, but perhaps it was a result of the inhabitants, the giants molding the terrain around them by their very existence.

If Stella was to be believed, the Stone Giants were slow, their huge bodies impeding them from moving at faster speeds. Of course, because of their size, speed was all relative, and watching the giant stride effortlessly through the landscape he knew he would have to be careful should he engage it combat. But it was doable, and the longer he watched the surer he became that he could escape should the need arise. Even if the giant were to surprise him with a sudden burst of speed its attacks were too telegraphed to actually catch him as long as he kept his guard up.

But to win, he needed to kill it; dodging was just a necessary first step along the way. Recalling the information in the packet that Stella had given him, he tried to formulate a plan. Their head was their only real weak point, so he focused there. He could easily split rocks with his strength, but if he needed to hack the Stone Giant apart he would be here for days. The head was a clear target, the question was, how did he get up there to attack it?

He jogged along behind the Stone Giant, analyzing its large frame. Judging by its craggy exterior, scaling it would be easy, its rough skin full of folds and edges perfect for climbing. The next step was what worried him. If he wanted to get full value out of his hammer blows, he needed two hands, but if he was using his hands to wield his weapon he couldn’t use them for other things, namely, holding on for dear life when the Stone Giant inevitable decided to try to shake off the pest attacking it.

It was a conundrum, one only made more frustrating by the fact he had an easy answer to his problems: his Fate Wheel. There were plenty of abilities he could make use of in his Fate Wheel, such as the tier six ability Slow Fall, which allowed to safely fall from any distance, a good safety net in case he was ever dislodged from the giant’s head. But to unlock those abilities, he needed Essence, and to get Essence, he had to figure out how to kill the Stone Giants, bringing him around full circle back to his original problem.

What caused him additional worry was the fact that Air Step was still on cooldown. He could likely wait the week or so until it refreshed, but until then he would be doing nothing, which didn’t sit right with him. He continued to plan though, his circular thinking continuing throughout the day, the imaginary battles he was fighting in his head always leading to defeat, until finally, he found a possible solution.

The first step was to climb the Stone Giant. He had to aim for the head, and the only way to do that was if he was standing on its shoulders. Falling in time with the giant’s steps, he jumped onto its leg, holding on for dear life as he began his climb. The first time it raised its leg he almost fell off, unprepared for the acceleration, wind whipping around him as he struggled to hold on. Had he been a normal Humen he would have been thrown from his perch, the momentum too jarring, his hands unable to keep their grip. But his strength was enough, the rituals and abilities from his Fate Wheel giving him the grip strength needed to hold on.

Then began the climb. It was stressful, as sometimes he was practically upside-down, his feet swinging freely in the air as he struggled to reach his next handhold. Were he climbing normal rock he would have fallen long ago, the rocky protrusions crumbling under the grip needed to keep him on the moving rockface. But he was holding onto a monster, and as such, his measly finger strength was nowhere near enough to break its skin, which meant any handhold he saw was firm and able to hold his weight.

Finally, after a few close calls, he reached its shoulders, his harrowing journey completed. Standing up, he tested his balance. Because of skills like Firm Footing it was surprisingly stable, allowing him to move around normally provided the Stone Giant didn’t make any unexpected movements. It also seemed unaware of his presence, which made sense. If he had rocky skin he wouldn’t pay attention to a bug crawling on him either, which was what he was in relation to the giant.

Looking around, the view was truly majestic, the land spreading out around him as he moved along, the wind snapping past him at each step from the giant. It almost made the blasted hellscape worthy of appreciation, the height and circumstances turning an inhospitable land into a place of allure and mystique. But that wasn’t why he was here and, turning to regard the giant’s head, he set to work enacting his plan.