Parker ran over to River, casting healing spells frantically.

“No,” Petrov said, with a slight crack in his voice. “She is dead.”

While Parker knelt at River’s corpse, Adia walked towards me, knives drawn. “You did this. You let the shade kill her, so you could get the kill. Everything was going to plan, until you left River’s side. Admit it.”

I ignored the knife pointed my direction. “I left River’s side because we couldn’t afford to draw out the battle. If the shade had the chance for another Soul Explosion, we all would have died. I had to press my advantage—you know my build. I fight on a timer.”

Adia’s knife angled towards my throat. “Then you should have gone all out immediately. You could have stopped the shade from passing you, if you were already all-out on Agility. But you waited.”

I held my hands up, placatingly. “That was my own pride—it was a mistake, and I regret it. I thought I could save mana so that when we do kill the shade, I could boost my Luck stat, and that way we would get much better loot. Lord Ignatius loaned me 25 million to ensure I had the Luck attribute, and I didn’t want his money to go to waste. Of course, the moment I saw River was in danger, I went all-out—I tried to stop the shade, and I did cut off its leg, but I was too late.”

Adia glared at me. “I will tell Lord Ignatius everything.”

I stared back. “As will I.”

Adia collected the loot the shade had dropped. A Capital City Token—a guaranteed drop—and two spell books:

Spiritual Traveler (D-rank): Allows your soul to leave your physical body and travel through the spiritual plane. Cost: 10 mana/minute. Cooldown: 1 hour. Requires Soul Magic Affinity (D-rank).

Soul Explosion (D-rank): Allows you to permanently sacrifice up to 20 Stat Points from your character sheet to create an explosion that directly attacks nearby souls, disregarding physical defenses. Requires: Soul Magic Affinity (D-rank).

The requirements on both of these spells was steep. I didn’t know anyone who had Soul Magic Affinity, and getting that affinity up to D-rank would be hard. You would either have to consume a D-rank Core that granted Soul Magic Affinity, or you would need to find a D-rank Class change book which granted Soul magic. Unfortunately, I had been forced to destroy the shade’s core in order to kill it. If I hadn’t shattered it, the core probably would have dropped as loot and granted D-rank Soul Magic Affinity when consumed.

Of course, with the rate the Crucible was growing, I was confident Lord Ignatius would be able to put the spells to good use.

We spent a few minutes cleaning up the area, storing River’s corpse in my Interdimensional Pouch, and collecting any loot we could find. As we did, I allocated my points and discussed my gains with Samantha.

What is an Infinite Tower Token?

Samantha asked.

It doesn’t seem like you’ll ever let me forget.

She had brought it up several times, ever since we had first seen it. It seemed Samantha was rather jealous. Back when we were in Daybreak City, it had been the suit of armor that had formed the silver net that had almost trapped me in the plaza in Daybreak. In other words, this one suit of armor was capable of simultaneously defending Dawnbreaker, forming a massive net, and then improvising on the fly in order to contain explosives, and dice an explosive and deactivate it at the same time.

Either Dawnbreaker had incredible mental control, or the suit itself was capable of following broad commands independently.

Is there any danger to it? Since it is illusory?

How does the tower adjust to people’s levels? Is it best to just wait until I have a higher level before challenging it?

So…I should challenge the Infinite Tower soon?

Samantha replied.

We were walking to Smooth Rock Falls Town now, in more awkward silence. Since shades were spiritual entities, they were not interested in physical items, so there was a good chance we could pick up some loot at the abandoned town.

Nobody was saying anything, so I turned my mental energy to a different, more exciting topic than River’s death.

What do you think for the stat distribution?

I really had a windfall. I now had 22 additional Stat Points to deal with.

Samantha replied.

By this point, I felt used to Samantha’s somewhat haphazard advice.

I split the 22 available points evenly between my Mana Pool and Strength, and studied the results:

Name:

Jarek

Level:

22

HP:

32/32

Physical Defense:

18 (+2)

Strength:

31 (+5)

Mental Power:

11

Dexterity:

10 (+4)

Agility:

10 (+7)

Perception:

20

Luck:

11

Mana Pool:

69

Mana Regeneration:

30 (+6)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

105,000

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master

(E-rank)

Titles:

Region Lord (E-rank)

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (E-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (E-rank Low)

Equipment:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

Rune Master’s Knife (E-rank): +2 Dexterity; +2 Mana Regen.

Rune Master’s Ring (E-rank): +2 Dexterity; +2 Mana Regen.

Orc Helmet (F-rank): +2 Physical Defense

Magician’s Robes (F-rank): +2 Mana Regen.

Orc Boots (F-rank): +2 Agility

Interdimensional Pouch (E-rank):

Missions:

Zone Offense

“Tell me about the battle,” Lord Ignatius asked me, once we had returned to the Crucible. “I’ve heard some… concerning reports.”

Lord Ignatius had decided to hold this conversation in private-it was just myself and Uman in the throne room.

“Yes, my lord,” I said. “Going into the battle, despite your generosity and our equipment, we were at a disadvantage. Just a few seconds into the battle, the shade was capable of destroying our whole team with a second Soul Explosion. This was always on the back of my mind.

“Everybody performed their roles well—“ At Lord Ignatius’ glare, I corrected myself, “except for me. We had the shade trapped. After a brief altercation and a Soul Explosion, none of us had any defenses remaining. I made the call to go off-book, my lord,” I said, glancing down at the tiled ground. “We had interrupted the shade’s feeding in the first place. I knew this from the mana trails before we encountered the shade. After the first Soul Explosion, the shade would be starving. I left an opening for the shade to attack River.”

As I admitted it, I felt the disappointment in myself and my own fear of Lord Ignatius’ reaction.

To be fair, it had been Samantha’s plan. Hopefully, Lord Ignatius would agree that it was worth it.

“I was gambling on the shade pausing to feed on River—as it had already tried to do with River earlier, and with Petrov—and I was right. The moment it paused was all I needed to put everything into Agility and kill it while it was distracted.”

“I see,” Lord Ignatius said neutrally. “And why did you not attack the shade with all your Agility before it could catch River?”

“My apologies, Lord Ignatius,” I said. “I lied to my team leader. I told Adia that it was because I was reserving some mana for my Luck stat when the shade died, but that was not the case. My fear was that if I pressed the attack without the shade being distracted, it would activate a second Soul Explosion, and our whole team would be killed. I have heard, my Lord, that shades feel…ecstasy when feeding on powerful and recent death-attuned mana. I figured the Soul Explosion was less likely, if the shade were to be caught unsuspecting.

Lord Ignatius smiled slightly. “You have done well, Jarek. I have one last question for you: What rewards did you receive when you killed the shade?”

I smiled at the easier question, feeling a weight lift off my chest. “My lord, I received 20 free points, a mission requesting me to kill another Zone Lord, an Infinite Tower Token, and I gained 2 levels.”

Lord Ignatius nodded, and glanced to Uman, who was waiting by the door. “Uman, you will take Jarek to Declan. Jarek, your equipment is too pitiful and mismatched to attempt the Infinite Tower—upgrade everything to D rank and get accustomed to your armor. You should attempt the Infinite Tower before you gain your next level. We will add this to the loan that you already owe me.”

I felt a surge of excitement. “Thank you, my lord.”

I bowed slightly, and left in search of Declan.

Samantha said, as I perused the Merchants’ Faction store, with Declan idling behind me.

Declan was surprised when I announced I was done— he looked like he had expected this to take longer. I probably would have agonized about some of the decisions for a bit longer—the goat mask that Samantha picked for me looked hideous. But I could tell that each one of these items would help my build.

Goat Mask (D-rank): While equipped, slightly increases the wearer’s field of vision. +2 Perception.

Bloodied Battle Robes (D-rank): While equipped, for every two HP you lose, gain one mana. +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regeneration. Can slowly repair itself by consuming your HP.

Boots of a Feather (D-rank): When activated, allows you to jump once off of the air. Cooldown: 10 minutes. +10 Agility.

Greedy Gloves (D-rank): When activated, allows you to steal from the Mana Pool of another monster or person, at a rate of 1 mana per second through physical contact. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes. +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regeneration.

Bonded Blades (D-rank): With a mental command, these twin throwing knives will return to their sheaths. +5 Dexterity, +5 Agility.

The knives, Samantha insisted, were an essential item. So far, I was not trained to use any long-range weapons. According to Samantha—and I was inclined to agree—that was a glaring oversight that needed to be fixed.

In a more perfect world, maybe I could have convinced Adia to help me practice. But after River’s death, Adia had barely spoken to me. At least I had Samantha.

On average, each D-rank item cost 1 million coins, leaving me with an outstanding debt of 29 million coins.

I wonder when I’ll be able to pay off my debt to Lord Ignatius, I thought, as I studied my character sheet.

Samantha replied.

Name:

Jarek

Level:

22

HP:

32/32

Physical Defense:

18

Strength:

31 (+5)

Mental Power:

11

Dexterity:

10 (+5)

Agility:

10 (+20)

Perception:

20 (+2)

Luck:

11

Mana Pool:

69 (+10)

Mana Regeneration:

30 (+10)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

0

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master

(E-rank)

Titles:

Region Lord (E-rank)

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (E-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (E-rank Low)

Equipment:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

Bloodied Battle Robes (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Boots of a Feather (D-rank): +10 Agility.

Greedy Gloves (D-rank): +5 Mana Pool, +5 Mana Regen.

Bonded Blades (D-rank): +5 Dexterity, +5 Agility.

Goat Mask (D-rank): +2 Perception.

Interdimensional Pouch (E-rank):

Missions:

Zone Offense