CHAPTER SIX

It took Okembe forcing his way into the man’s mind using the other key Spell of his Subclass to make him leave. Using Telepathy [E] to find out his real name and hold the threat of reporting his behaviour on Earth to the authorities had been enough that Jackal had clearly decided to simply leave and try his luck another day. Will wasn’t happy with it, but Okembe had been unwilling to let him kill an unarmed man, and Will’s suggestion of giving Jackal a stick had been met with a cold look. The dark-skinned mage hadn’t even let Will loot Jackal of his items before he teleported out, which was a particularly irritating move since Will was sure there were things of value in the man’s pack. Since Will wasn’t yet confident his Mind Depth would let him resist a similar mental assault if the former police officer decided he was acting criminal, he’d not voiced his complaints too loudly. Once he had a few more points, he’d be okay, but until then he didn’t want someone realising his backstory without being able to control the narrative.

He had learned how Okembe wasn’t dead from the cut, though. The amulet that Jackal had been trying to steal in the first place was one Will knew would become a highly sought after consumable Item on later Floors. Single Saving Grace Amulets, as they were called, would allow significantly boosted regeneration speed in response to a single otherwise fatal injury. Now it was used, it was nothing more than a nice looking trinket, but it was probably responsible for saving both of their lives. Given that the Store wouldn’t hold the Amulets till a later Floor, the Kenyan police officer must have earned it as loot, much like Will’s helmet. On top of the amulet, Okembe also revealed a small stock of Healing Potions that he’d acquired on the 2nd Floor on a previous trip. Will had tried to decline, but the injury he’d suffered was severe enough that he took one as soon as the older man insisted.

“He’s going to come back and attack someone else.”

Will was deeply glad Okembe was okay, and grateful for the man’s help and the Potion, but the fact they’d let Jackal go really grated on him. Okembe wouldn’t even tell Will the man’s real name, so he couldn’t even hope to deal with the man in future unless they happened to meet by coincidence.

“I do not believe he will. In the end, when he left, I saw a man defeated. From his memories and thoughts, I believe he will most likely return to the low-level crimes he pursued on Earth, taking advantage of the Stats granted to him by his time here to assist himself. The authorities will deal with him once that happens, and in the process will be more informed about the threats posed by people misusing the Tower’s gifts. I do not have the authority to do more, though I would if I could.”

Perfectly fitting his Subclass, Okembe was a calm man who appeared extremely intelligent, sat cross-legged on the floor of his shack while Will sat on the bed. Will wasn’t sure his intuition was completely correct, but in the long run he figured there wasn’t much he could do about it. Instead, he just added "warn people about Jackal and others like him" to the list of things for Pioneer to do once he started making waves. A few extra days wouldn't make too much difference, hopefully, but he didn't like letting the man go. The plan was already to accelerate the creation of organisations like the Bold Explorers who could maintain a semblance of law and order inside the Tower, but this made him realise he might need to find a way to help warn people in the meantime.

“Well, thanks for the healing and everything, but...what now? What’s your plan now that Jackal’s not around to stop you from pursuing it?”

A large part of Will wanted to try and recruit Okembe. He had a useful Class that filled a niche Will’s own didn’t, and he was both higher powered and more experienced (at least in this lifetime) with the low Floors. He also seemed like a good man who used his Class well, and although sparing Jackal wasn’t Will’s own preference it spoke to morality. The only issue was that Will foresaw the need for more brutality in the longer-term future to deal with some of the threats he knew would be coming, and also wasn’t sure how to play off his future knowledge this early on.

“I was planning on attempting a Solo Dungeon I found to the South of this location. The information I received when I touched its’ door indicated that it was a respawning Dungeon that could be cleared every 12 hours. I would be glad to give you directions, that you may attempt it after me.”

Will actually recognised the Dungeon Okembe was talking about. Though he’d spent little time on Floor 1 in the first timeline, he had done a bit of levelling. Part of that had been handling his first Solo Dungeon, the Brackenmuck Hobgoblin Cave. In terms of difficulty, he’d had to rely quite a lot on the purchased strategy guide and the Items his savings had stretched to – once he converted them into Tower Coins and traded with one of the scam artist merchants that would soon begin popping up around the 1st Floor. Despite that, it hadn’t been too tough for him to handle with Stats only a bit higher than his current ones. The rewards weren’t worth waiting another day for though – some Coins from the monsters and the end Miniboss, a small chance of some F or E tier consumable Items for loot, and one Skill Point. The Skill Point was the main reward, since as he went higher there would be Skills on his list that had a cost to acquire beyond meeting their requirements. Even that wasn’t worth it to Will, not when the Dungeon respawned and he could come back for it later.

“I plan on obtaining a Subclass as you have done before any Dungeon challenges, but thank you for the offer. How much more do you need to recover from your wounds?”

Will’s own injuries were mostly sorted. Though the Healing Potion wasn’t a particularly powerful or rare variant, it had been enough to repair the flesh of his arm and start to mend the bone. He wouldn’t be throwing punches or using his sword in that hand for another day or two, but he was no longer in constant agony or at risk of passing out from blood loss.

“I will be fine shortly. That amulet was a lucky find. If you plan on getting a Subclass, then you must intend to locate a Portal Guardian, yes?”

Will nodded, glad that the man was on the mend.

“I read a lot about the Tower online before I entered. Most of it’s quite scattered and there’s a lot of rumours and fake stuff, but some of it’s been useful, like warning me about the random spawns in the outer ring. One of the things I read said there’s an area a few hours from here where there’s a lot of the Portals usually, so I was going to head there.”

This earned a raised eyebrow, but Okembe didn’t question him. Will’s story, though untrue, was entirely plausible even at this early stage. After all, in the first timeline he really had learned a bunch of things including that fact from the internet. Spiresidechats, probably the only reason he didn’t make a stupid mistake and die half an hour into his first Climb. Once he’d finished this initial grind, he planned to pay that forwards several times over – or at least, for Pioneer to do so.

“I see. I was going to suggest that you head to the location where I first located a portal, but if you say you know a location then perhaps there is no need. I am not certain it would still be there, anyway. Jackal mentioned earlier that they seem to move.”

Now they’d fought together, Okembe had opened up quite a bit. He was actually a fairly warm presence, and Will quickly realised his earlier quietness had been rightful unease around Jackal.

“He mentioned it to me too, but thank you for the offer.”

Okembe nodded, and spread his arms out in a welcoming gesture towards Will.

“Well, I will be meditating here for an hour or so before I leave. Feel free to find me again before I do, if you need anything.”

Will took the hint and headed to his own shack, thanking the man again for his help. As he got halfway to the door of his temporary home, he remembered something. Jackal’s sword! It had been thrown into the brush around the dirt of the campsite, and he’d not retrieved it before leaving. If he hadn’t yet learned to bond it, then it would have stayed!

There was a good chance Jackal had, by accident if nothing else, realised that bleeding on an Item was the requirement to make it exit the Tower with you. Given he wanted to sell the Items on Earth, it was actually quite likely. There were other ways, but none he’d have had access to yet. Still, if he hadn’t, or if the sword was a new find that he’d not bothered to bond yet, then it might be worth Will’s time to take as loot.

Searching through the brush eventually yielded a result, but not the one Will had hoped for. It turned out, though he hadn’t recognised it in the fight, what Jackal had been using was just a Big Goblin Sword like the one he’d abandoned earlier in the Climb. He was about to toss it to the floor and head for the shack, when he noticed a small rope wrapped around the hilt with a tasselled end. Focusing on it, words appeared in the air that made him break into a grin.

Weapon Weight Changing Charm [E]

This small cotton tassel, when applied to any weapon, will alter its’ weight up to 15% in either direction as willed by the user.

Bonded to: ‘Jackal’

“Nice!”

Since Jackal hadn’t bothered binding the sword, and the tassel had still been on it when he left, it hadn’t been teleported out with the man despite being Bound. Will hadn’t even known about that loophole, surprising him given how much future knowledge he could recall at will.

Though it wasn’t a game changing Item or anything, after a bit of practice Will expected to be able to use it not only to make carrying his sword less tiring but also to vary the weight in a fight, throwing more power into a strike or lightening the blade to parry quicker. He just had to wait till the timer ran out and it could be bonded to him before he could make use of it. Happy with his loot, Will went back to the shack and added it to his pack.

He still had more healing to do, and he was bone tired once more, every rest he’d managed since entering the Tower almost immediately spent on another journey or another fight. It wasn’t as bad as it had been, with his Stats higher, but it still made him want to go back to sleep. Leaning, but not lying, back on the wooden bed, he thought over his short term goals.

“Need to get to Floor 2 for the Store. Third Eye Trial is on the list too, don’t know how early on it was discovered last time. Drake Cave, probably. Gotta start earning some Coins if I want to buy the swords…”

He continued to ramble to himself, pulling his feet into a cross-legged sitting position so he didn’t fall asleep again by accident. As he ran through his plans, the plans for if those plans failed, and a roster of all the people he remembered from the first timeline who he might run into at this point, he decided to turn on Conditioning and do some Reflex training. Pulling a scrap of paper from the gear pack, which contained a variety of similar minor odds-and-ends, he tore it into dozens of tiny shreds. With his arm still healing, and the tiredness of the fight not washed away yet, he couldn’t do push-ups or other exercise effectively so this was the next best thing. Plus, given that Reflex was harder to naturally train than the other Stats, it was always worth doing it when he had the opportunity. Keeping his bad arm cradled to his chest, he used the other to throw the scraps of paper into the air as hard as he could.

Fluttering and twisting, the shreds of paper all began to float to the floor or flitter off in random directions, and he started to lash out with his good arm. Mainly, he was flailing randomly and occasionally ending up with a handful of pieces of paper in his grip. It was sort of like those cash grabbing booth attractions where a bunch of money is thrown around you in a chamber and you keep what you can grab. Still, as he spent around an hour repeating this process with intense focus, he could feel himself improving. His eyesight sharpened slightly, and his hand-eye-coordination allowed him to more effectively target a specific shred and grab it instead of just thrusting his hand into the air and hoping. Eventually, his arm was sore from all the holding up and thrusting, so he let it fall and checked to see if he’d made any progress. +1 Reflex, exactly what he’d hoped for! Of course, since he’d started with only 9, this just made him an average human in that area. Along with Agility, it would be vital to keep improving as fast as he could, but wasting more time in the shack wasn’t a good idea.

Once again, something he’d planned to be a short detour had ended up milking hours of his time, and he didn’t want to miss his goal of getting to the 2nd Floor by darkness. His arm would heal just as well on the move, and so he picked up his pack and walked over to Okembe’s shack to say goodbye. He knocked on the door, and when Okembe came to open it it was clad in full gear including an identical pack to Will’s own strapped to his back with a belt.

“Would you mind if I accompanied you to the Portal Guardian?”