Chapter Eight

“You have defeated [Floor 1 Exit Boss] [Rage-Fuelled Ogre]

Clear Rating: C

Clear Contribution: 47%

Clear Rewards: 100 Tower Coins, Ogre’s Empowerment [E] Skill Guide, Ogre-Hide Leather Chestpiece [E]

You have Cleared the [1st Floor] of the Tower.

Rewards:

Recall Sigil (Uncharged)

150 Tower Coins

+2 All Stats

1 Skill Point awarded

Party Functions unlocked

Store Functions [limited] unlocked

Welcome to the [2nd Floor] of the Tower. To Exit this Floor, locate one of the Exit Staircases hidden throughout.”

It was with bleary eyes and an aching chest that Will looked over the text that swam in front of his vision. He’d half-heard Okembe driving his own sword deeper into the Ogre’s eye and killing it, half-felt the man picking him up and carrying him into the Portal after grabbing their loot, and half-heard the voice of the Tower make its’ announcements, but it was only as he came to consciousness and read the words that it sank in.

“Okembe?” He called, suppressing the urge to yell in success at having passed the 1st Floor within 3 days of entering the Tower. Sure, he’d nearly died a few times, but that was what the Tower was all about really. His stroke of luck in finding the African man on the way to the Portal Guardian had been significant, and he realised he’d probably have been forced to retreat and grind some Stats before taking on the Ogre solo. Never having had to fight it in the 1st Timeline, he’d underestimated the second form. In response to his croaking yell, the man in question came into view and helped Will sit up. As his vision clarified further and the Tower’s prompts disappeared, he realised he was inside a tent. Okembe was sat across from where he lay, two empty Healing Potion bottles at his feet while the man sat in his meditative pose.

“Are you feeling well? The potions seem to have healed the external damage, but how do you feel internally?”

Actually, although there was still an ever present ache in his chest, and his spine felt like it was twitching every so often, he felt a lot better than he had any right to. Between the gains from the fight and Okembe’s use of potions, he was well on his way to recovery.

“I’m okay. Thankyou, I wouldn’t have been able to handle that thing on my own, and you didn’t need to take a detour to help a newbie.”

Okembe shook his head harshly at Will’s words, holding out a waterskin to drink from.

“You assisted me with Jackal, and I wished to return the favour. Do you still plan on exploring this Floor, or will you be leaving now you have acquired the Recall Sigil?”

“I think I’ll head to the nearest saferoom I can find, and hunker down there till I’m back to 100%. I’ll decide what to do from there, honestly. I do still want to Climb, but I’m thinking I might need to find some allies if I want to do so safely.”

Okembe nodded in reply, taking back the now empty waterskin and gesturing to the inside of the tent.

“This is a Temporary Med-Tent [D], it will keep monsters away and increase your healing speed by 15% while you are inside. I purchased it from the Store.”

That went some way to explaining Will’s rapid recovery, as the Temporary Med-Tent and its upgraded variants were a very popular way to help with injuries in the Tower. Along with things like potions, it could make a crippling wound into an inconvenience, and act as a temporary saferoom besides. It must have cost at least 250 Coins, though, being a D Ranked item that wouldn’t be commonly available in the Store at this level. Hell, even having one was lucky since you could only use the Store in safe areas to begin with.

“How much did that cost? I have to repay you at some point. Now I have the Store I can transfer Coins to you through it, right?”

Okembe shook his head again.

“There is no need, I purchased it previously so it was no extra expense. The Item I received from the Boss was not of use, so I will be selling it to the Store.”

Will almost asked the man why he'd do that, when he'd only get a fraction of the value from the Store, but then realised that wouldn't be common knowledge yet and he (if this was really his first time on the Floor) wouldn't know. Instead, he tried to hint towards it, and resolved to share the information widely at the first opportunity.

“I insist, please Okembe. Are you sure that selling it to the Store was worthwhile? A few of the other Climbers I met said something about it not being worth it compared to trading with Climbers directly?"

The man nodded.

"I was aware of the possibility, but it is no issue. I will be able to make back the Coins without too much trouble, and I was not going to leave you injured."

That made Will feel even guiltier, so he doubled down.

"I was rewarded by the Boss too, so I can afford it. I don’t want to feel like I’ve leeched off your kindness too much. You’ve already wasted three Healing Potions on me!”

After a few more minutes of back and forth, Will couldn’t convince Okembe to take any Coins in return. The dark-skinned Psion wouldn’t accept anything, arguing that he benefited from working with Will as well and that helping another Climber was worth the cost. It only furthered Will’s conviction that he wanted to keep in contact with Okembe. He couldn't have a partner, especially not one as perceptive as the Kenyan former-cop, for this next part, as he planned to actively exploit future knowledge to speedrun the Floor. Once he'd reached 3 though, he planned to head back to Earth and start making online waves as Pioneer, and then things would increase in pace. Eventually, Okembe’s desire to take on the Solo Dungeon and Will’s guilt at keeping him from his goals caused the two to part. Will stayed in the tent, as Okembe teleported back to the 1st Floor, having exchanged full names and email addresses. Pioneer he may be to others, but to Okembe Will would be himself. Assuming the man could keep himself safe for just a bit longer, he was likely to be Will's first choice of ally going forwards.

As well as the Stat and Coin rewards he’d been given by the Tower, Will had gained an additional point of Strength, Endurance and Agility from his fight with the Ogre and the rest of his training. His Endurance, with the helmet’s bonus, was almost 20 now which would mean that Conditioning would stop working for it until he upgraded the Skill. That was the first bar Will aimed to meet with his Stats, at least the physical ones. Even his mental Stats weren’t bad, over double the average for humans now, without needing to so much as cast a Spell. Gains would slow, and diminishing returns would kick in, but that was the point of getting a head start. He also got a Skill Point, which was useful. One more and he could buy one of the better ranked Skills from his Subclass after hitting Floor 3.

Ogre’s Empowerment [E] Skill Guide

Requirements: 13+ Str, 13+ End, Fighter-type Class

This Skill draws on the rage of the Ogre, temporarily boosting physical abilities and size.

When activated, the user will grow up to 6 inches in height and gain a temporary Strength bonus. While active, stamina will drain at an increased rate, placing additional burden on the Endurance of the user.

Ogre-Hide Leather Chestpiece [E]

Requirements: 13+ Str, 11+ Agility

This tough, inflexible leather chestpiece requires more muscle to move in, but grants the durability of the Ogre’s thick skin to the wearer.

+2 End

5% additional resistance to piercing damage

Not awful rewards, given that they’d only managed a C clear rating. The fact there’d been two of them, it had taken so long to defeat the Ogre, that Okembe was slightly overlevelled while Will slightly under, and most importantly the serious injuries Will sustained had been enough in total to drag their score down substantially. If he’d managed to make it out unscathed, they’d at least have pulled off a B and his loot would probably be a grade higher. He’d never thought to ask what loot Okembe received, but given that he’d earned the majority of Contribution it was probably slightly better as well. Still, the chestpiece would go well underneath his mail half-shirt. It did restrict his movement a little bit once he’d vonded and put on the armour, but not enough to be a serious hinderance. Like the dryad helm, it would become outdated but for the time being made getting near-killed by every hard fight less likely. The Skill he wouldn’t use. The “additional burden” on Endurance that it caused was wildly more impactful than the buff of Strength, and he had known more than a few people with the Skill on their Sheet who never used it. Better to sell it, either to the Store or another Climber.

“Should have an hour or two left on the tent. Let’s see if there are any Skills worth adding right now, and also grab what we need from the Store.”

He took a moment to absorb the Skill, figuring that while he’d probably end up dropping it from his Sheet if it didn’t have the potential to upgrade it would still help with damage in the short-term, and then pulled up the Store interface. Luckily, the med-tent counted temporarily, though it cost him 200 Coins to access it from a temporary location, and that would increase rapidly the more he did it.

TOWER STORE

[limited functionality – limited selection]

BUY

SELL

CATEGORIES

SEARCH

He tapped on categories and navigated to the section he needed.

SPELLS

Aardvark Summon [F] – 50/50 Copies Available – 35 Tower Coins

Ablative Armour [D] – 0/5 Copies Available – 50 Tower Coins

Abrasion Burst [E] – 6/10 Copies Available – 45 Tower Coins

Active Defence [D] – 0/1 Copies Available – 60 Tower Coins

Accuracy Enhancement [E] – 8/20 Copies Available – 40 Tower Coins

[…]

The list went on for a long time, though a lot of the options were either useless or sold out. Most Spells past E grade had been purchased already, given that they had supply in the single digits. Even though they were costly, especially for Casters they were a necessity in the Climb and since there had been a few months for people to make their picks Will wasn’t able to freely choose whatever he wanted. It would be the same in the other categories, too, and until more people started hitting higher Floors and unlocking a greater selection, things would just sell out and only the most basic stuff would resupply.

Luckily, the Spell Will was looking for still had plenty of supply left. It was an F Grade Spell, one that in the first timeline hadn’t been properly tested or utilised for years. Sharpen [F], a simple damage buff for bladed weaponry, was mostly overlooked because of its’ limited utility and weak effect. A few people took it, here and there, since it was a decently cheap and available buff, but nobody really saw it as that useful outside of the low Floors. That was until a B Ranker known as Dissection Yin revealed that she had been secretly upgrading the Spell until it had reached the A Grade, and with that Spell she broke through to the grade herself and became one of the elites in the New World Foundation who protected the researchers with their combat talent. She’d figured out that by carefully understanding and using the Spell, you could upgrade it till its’ effects not only increased in power but in utility. The A Grade variant could turn even a feather into a deadly throwing knife, a palm strike into a beheading cleave or – as Dissection Yin was famous for – a maze of string into a deadly wire trap that would slice an onrushing horde of monsters into salami.

Upgrading Spells in general wasn’t something most people would be doing deliberately yet. Some, like Okembe, would naturally innovate and understand to the degree that their Spells would level up, while others wouldn’t even know it was possible. The trick was not to just think of it as a “push button, receive effect” thing but as a fundamental exercising of ones’ will on the universe by way of mana. It was a lot of meditation and things, from what Will remembered of the reports, but if he could mimic Dissection Yin’s focus on the Spell, even getting it to C or B rank would make his sword-focused attacks greatly improve in damage potential. That, coupled with the fact he’d need buffing Spells for his desired Subclass and Elite Class, as well as the fact Sharpen had 87 copies in stock for only 25 Tower Coins, sealed the deal. He purchased the Spell and felt the Guide land on his lap. Before he learned it, though, he had a few other minor items to buy.

Finally, all geared up and drained to just 4 Coins in his supply, Will left the tent to degrade behind him and started heading for his next destination. The portal had dropped him in a spot he recognised, given that there were only 6 possible locations to spawn on this Floor, and while it wasn’t the closest point he could have landed on, the fact there were no other Climbers around and he was within a day’s travel of the Third Eye Trial Hidden Event was a blessing.

The sun on this Floor actually moved, at least, so he put the Tower Timepiece into his pack. It would likely degrade before he used it again, but it would be pointless to throw it away just in cae. Judging by its’ position, he had almost a full day to work before it would get dark and the monster spawns would start rapidly increasing. As long as he could get to any saferoom before then, he’d be okay. Thankfully, as he was aiming for somewhere he’d actually travelled to multiple times in the first timeline, he had a much better idea of the route and was able to path his way around any significant fights or issues. His Tower Coin stash started to slowly recharge as he fought off minor lizard-type enemies a few at a time, making good progress through the wasteland towards his goal.

As he came closer to the area of the Hidden Event he sought, he did start to see a few other Climbers and groups. They tended to be scattered, and most were either engaged in fights with the various camps and spawn locations or camping together. He waved as he passed them, but gave them all a wide berth so as not to get distracted or forced into another detour. Aside from seeing a guy charge in and split a Kobold Chief into two pieces with a huge axe, which almost made him lose his footing in surprise, Will didn’t take note of anything particularly interesting or important on the run. The abandoned village he was heading for started to come into view after only a few hours of running, fighting and occasionally resting. Simple stone buildings, thatched with dry grass picked from its’ sparse growth across the wasteland environment, arranged around a circular sandpit with long faded paint interspersed with the outer ring. Memories of his first Climb bubbled to the forefront of his mind as he came closer, heading for the centre of the ring and starting to rifle through his gear pack for the supplies he bought earlier.