Name: Reigner

Race: Human

level: 9

Class: Summoner

Health: 1435/1435

HP Regen: 1.8/minute

Stamina: 2440/2440

SP Regen: 91/minute

Mana: 950/950

MP Regen: 46/minute

Strength: 97

Constitution: 77

Dexterity: 90

Intelligence: 27+

Wisdom: 28 +

Skills:

Appraise Item (12) +

Axe One-handed (32)

Axe Two-handed (30)

Blunt One-handed (36)

Counter (41)

Dodge (62)

Harvest (5)

Materialise Shadow (5) +

Parry (41) +

Polearms (31)

Shield (30)

Small Blades (33)

Spear (54) +

Sword One-handed (49) +

Sword two-handed (43) +

Unarmed (31)

Weapon Throwing (56)

Mental Manipulation Resistance (3) +

Dual Wielding (27) +

Spells:

Identify (9) +

Mana Marble (8) +

Sparkle (17) +

Summon Armour (7)

Summon Bag (7)

Summon Bandage (7)

Summon Campfire (13)

Summon Drink (7)

Summon Food (7)

Summon Sprite (3) +

Summon Weapon (9) +

Summon Shelter (4) +

Summon Wall (4) +

Quicken (7) +

“I don’t get it.” I mumbled.

We were in a food storage section of the ship. There were lots of barrels filled with water, grains, fruits, and dried meat. We decided against sampling any of the food.

Azalea and Rose were asleep sharing a blanket while Richard sat nearby reading a book. Yui was seated near Burin against the wooden bulkhead of the ship across from us and pretended to be meditating. It would have been more convincing if she stopped glancing my way every couple of seconds. My shadow was sitting by the stairs next to some type of conveyer belt. It had shelves attached to it and led up to the floor above.

Miko was sitting next to me and poked her head out of a thick blanket she had wrapped around herself. “What’s up?”

“I have been stuck at nine now for a while now… I would have thought after the arena and this place would have placed me at level ten.”

“That’s normal. Level ten is a big milestone. It takes a lot longer to reach than the first nine… Richard has been stuck at nine for months now.”

I turned to look at the group’s healer. “Really? Months?”

Looking up, he nodded. “Yup. Yui was the only one of us to hit ten within a month.”

Miko sighed. “Sure is nice to be wealthy.”

“How does that help?” I asked.

She started counting on her fingers. “Experience boosting rings, amulets, food, potions, you name it, she has it.”

“And you don’t because you are poor?”

She sighed. “Well, that and dad says they are a crutch. He said that Yui can get away with it since being under the direct teachings of Hiro… I just think he is stingy.”

“Makes sense to me. It’s easy to overestimate your ability when only focusing on numbers.”

“He said something similar.” She pulled the blanket back over her head and lowered her voice. “Only fools power level. They reach level sixty in a month and die on floor twenty.”

“Words of a wise man.” I said with a grin.

“He calls them hell levels, named from some game on Earth.” She nodded. “It might feel like purgatory but I’m sure you will get there way faster than any of us. Probably even before Richard.” She giggled and then leaned closer and whispered, “I would love to see the expression on his face if you hit ten before him.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m in no rush.” I flexed my hand in front of myself and made it sparkle. That was a lie. I wanted level ten and the spell it would give me. I wanted to summon more than just swords and spears… and walls and houses… or bags and clothes… or myself… Damnit, I want creatures. What kind of summoner can’t summon badass creatures to fight for them? At least I had sparkle. It was a simple spell but it was fun and it gave me hope that I could learn other spells. Spells that don’t summon things. Like fire.. A fireball spell would be sweet as.

I stared at my sparking hand and smiled. “I still have a lot to learn if I want to become a grand wizard.”

“Bah!” Burin shot out from the other side of the room. “Some wizard… Can’t even cast fireball. Even Yui can do that now, and she is a swordsman!”

“Damn.” Miko said quietly. “He must be concentrating hard to hear us from there.”

I raised my voice. “Yui can’t cast fireball… She has Firebolt.” More softly I said, “That was a low blow, man.”

Flashing me a grin he got to his feet. “Yah? We’ll call it even then.” Damn, his hearing level was almost at Mac’s level. He made his way over and squished himself between the middle of us, pushing Miko to the side.

“I been thinking.” He said after making himself comfortable. “Those elves are coming for us, right? Is it really a good idea to be resting here?”

“We should be fine here. We are in a roaming raid dungeon after all.” I leaned back against the bulkhead. “If the team does become endangered because of my presence, I will separate and lure them away. Worst case, I go with them in exchange for everyone’s safety. A group of tens can’t fight against a group of thirty plus.”

“Hah, Like hell you will.” He glared up at me. “Ye aren’t going anywhere without me. Be it to the tenth floor or to some elven prison cell.” Flashing me a determined smile he added. “Besides, that will just make us all the closer to that murdering bark licker.”

Burin’s comradery warmed me. I never expected I would get to make any friends after my time in the tower. There was the support team, but they could hardly be called friends. I quickly learned their interests lay outside of saving the world. Hell, half the time the healer would demand payment of some kind. The closest thing I had to a friend was Lilly, the mage, but even she treated me differently after spending weeks trying to help me unlock mana. In the end I just kept my distance from the others. It was lonely sure, but if I gave up everyone would have died. I couldn’t move forwards with a failure like that on my shoulders.

Miko let out a sigh. “Burin, you have no chance against that elementalist. He is just too high leveled.”

“I wonder about that.” I said as I combed my beard with my fingers. “Khemrok said something about being Zelphar’s rival. He mentioned that Zelphar started out leveling him in a short timeframe.”

Miko placed a hand on Burin’s shoulder and leaned over him towards me. “You think he power leveled?”

“I think so. His fire ball spell was devastating but I managed to escape from his domain. It’s possible that he was not completely familiar with his spells.”

Her eyes widened “If that’s true than many of his abilities would be low rank.”

Burin struck his palm with a fist. “I’ll turn his face into a pancake.”

“Easy there, Burin. You would still be a one hit kill for him. That fireball is no joke.”

“Yeah, well my hammer isn’t very funny either.”

Miko laughed. “It almost sounds like you admire his fireballs.”

“Git off me.” Burin slapped her hand off his shoulder and pushed her away, Miko yelped and then laughed more as she started pushing Burin back, jostling me.

“For now.” I talked over them. “Let’s focus on clearing this place, helping those two-” I gestured to the two sleeping beastkin, “get home, and reach floor ten.”

They both looked over to the survivors and sobered up.

Burin nodded. “Aye, They had it rough… Helping them and getting to floor ten will be something to celebrate.”

“Oh! I want some Creamalco!” Miko said happily. Turning to me she added, “It’s like Irish cream.”

“You have Irish cream here?” I asked.

“Duh.” She poked her tongue out. “We have everything in the human sector.”

Burin laughed. “If it has alcohol and ye can drink it, then the city of GorikTar has it.”

“We should take Reigner down the gauntlet.” Miko said with a grin.

“Yes!” Burin drew a line in the air. “No one completes the path sober. A street filled with taverns, Inns, Bars, Pubs, Dens, and Drunkerholes from every race.”

“It’s one of the few places where all the races intermingle without causing trouble for each other.” Added Miko.

“Oh, there is always trouble.” Burin corrected. “But it’s the kind of trouble you would expect from a street designed for drinking.”

“I’m not much of a drinker.” I said.

Burin slapped me across the back. “Could have fooled me!”

Miko and Burin grinned at each other and started discussing plans and drinking strategies.

“Ahem.” A rough voice sounded out from the corner of the room where a brass speaker attached to a pipe in the ceiling was fixed. “Wake up, you lazy swabs! It’s time for cooking and I be needing ingredients.”

Everyone jumped at the noise and pulled out their weapons. Oblivious to our actions the speaker continued. “Send up three barrels of water. One barrel of meat, and two barrels of veg. Be quick about it, or I’ll have you flogged!”

We stood in silence for a moment. My shadow checked the stairway before turning to us and shaking his head. The stairs were clear. A moment later a mechanical noise started, and we looked over to see the conveyer belt located next to the stairs start to move.

“Dungeon event.” Richard exclaimed. “It must be.”

“So what?” Miko asked. “We just do what was asked?”

“We can, or we can just ignore it. I read that completing events can increase the experience and loot from a dungeon though… so...”

“Let’s do it.” I said as I made my way towards the barrels of food.

“Aye! More loot the better.” Agreed Burin from behind me.

“Well team leader, what do you think?” Richard asked.

She looked between me and Richard, “What happens if we just ignore it and continue as normal?”

“Keep in mind this is only from climber journals…” He paused to scratch his head. “But from what I read there could be many different consequences. From more creatures to kill, to an early encounter with the boss. It’s hard to say.”

“Th-they come.” Rose said from next to Richard.

Her sister Azalea was nodding next to her. “The Chef comes down with a bunch of elite pirates and…” She trailed off before finishing, “That’s what happened to us.”

“They came down and threw you into the brig?” Miko asked.

They both nodded.

“Hurry up yar damned dew lickers!” The voice screamed from the brass tube. “If I don’t see a barrel come up in the next thirty seconds, I’ll be coming down there to make an example of yarr’s… Yarr!”

“Was that last yar really necessary?” Richard commented.

“Might as well do it” Miko said as she walked over and picked out a barrel. “Give me a hand. Was it two or three barrels of water?”

Richard came over to assist us. “Three. One meat and two of the vegetables.”

Together we managed to move the barrel of water over to the conveyer belt and push it onto one of the moving shelves. Everyone moved to help, apart from the sisters, and in no time finished loading the conveyer shelf. Once the last barrel disappeared into the ceiling the rough voice returned from the speaker.

“So, yar not completely worthless! Come up here and give me a hand, or two if you are fortunate enough to still have both!” The pirate laughed at their own joke. “Move it swabs. We got hungry mouths to feed!”

Yui moved to the base of the stairs and turned around towards us. “Everyone rested?” After getting a nod from everyone, she continued. “Same formation as before, but only with Azalea and Rose in the middle with Richard.”

She looked to me and my shadow. “Reigner, you take rear guard. Reigner’s shadow, you hold back and act when you think it’s needed.”

We nodded and followed the team up to the next deck.

The next floor consisted of an open kitchen area with a large cauldron resting on a layer of bricks in the middle of the room. There were a handful of sandpirates standing against wooden tables with cooking knives at the ready. The barrels of ingredients were lined up against the side wall with a number of buckets stacked up next to them.

“By the sands! Who the hell are you lot?” The familiar rough voice turned my attention to the middle of the room. Situated on a raised platform was a large pirate with a hook for his left hand and a patch over his right eye. He held what was either an oar or a large wooden spoon that was half hidden inside the cauldron. “Never mind! We be wasting time.” He pointed to our group with his hook. “You! Fill this up with water and get a fire going underneath.” He gestured to the large cauldron and then to the stack of buckets and barrels. “Fill up those buckets with either veg or meat and hand them to the cooks to prepare!”

We turned to Yui, who just shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll handle the fire. Burin and Richard handle the food. Reigner and Miko, the water. Shadow, keep an eye on the pirates.”

Yui looked at the two sisters. “If you can, also keep a look out and call out if you notice anything.”

Rose nodded and Azalea lifted her hand. “Uh, do you have a spare spear? I would feel better if I had a weapon.”

“Me too… Though I would prefer a set of daggers.” Rose chimed in.

Yui looked at me and nodded before moving to grab an armful of wood.

I looked over Azalea and conjured two spears, one her own height and the other half as long. “Short one is for cramped quarters.” I said in explanation as I handed the weapons over. She gave me a small smile and nodded.

Turning to Rose I conjured two daggers of identical length and shape. “Nothing fancy but will do the job.”

She smiled as she accepted them. “Thank you, Sir Hero.”

“Uh, I’m no hero, not anymore. Just called me Reigner.”

“You saved us.” Said Azalea. Rose nodded her agreement. “That’s enough.”

Nor sure what to say I just left them standing next to my shadow and went to help Miko lug water to the large blackened pot.

“Hurry up you sandless dogs!” The head chef called out. Curious, I cast identify his way.

[Cook Andross]

Health: 2200 / 100%

Class: Chef

Level: 7

Race: Sand Pirate

His head spun towards me, and he pulled out a round object from his belt. He screamed out “Get back to work!” and threw a wooden bowl towards me. I dodged the projectile and made my way up a small set of steps to pour a bucket of water into the pot. “Damned ten fingered fools.” He muttered and rested against his long handled spoon. I wondered if the large utensil could be considered a weapon, and if so what type? From the look, it could either be halberd, polearm or staff. What do you even call something like that? A spoonpole? Halspoon?

“This is kinda fun.” Miko said, interrupting my musings as she made her way up the steps. “Never thought I would be doing something like this inside the tower.”

“Shut up! Bloody mangey cat!” The cook yelled out and pulled out another object to throw at Miko.

She was not as quick as I was and the wooden mug slammed against her shoulder, knocking her on to the floor and sending a bucket of water spilling everywhere.

“Too slow!” The cook called out. “If ye don’t hurry up, the crew will barge in! They be real pack of mangey dogs when hungry.”

Yui managed to get a decent sized fire going and started helping with the water.

We moved as fast as we could. Occasionally the Cook would pick on someone and throw an object, forcing them to either dodge or get knocked onto the floor.

Miko finished pouring a bucket into the pot when the Cook spoke again. “Enough water! Bring the chopped meat!”

By each Chef was a pile of prepared ingredients waiting to be collected. Richard pushed a pile of them into a bucket and started moving towards the pot.

“Look out!” Rose called at the same time the Cook yelled something vile. A wooden plate smacked into Richard’s face, scattering him and the chopped meat all over the floor.

He pushed himself back to his feet. “This would be much easier if he stopped throwing objects at us.”

“My dad has a saying for times like this.” Said Miko.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

A huge grin formed on her face. “Get good.” She then laughed a moment before yelping and jumping to the side, narrowly dodging a projectile aimed at her.

As the ingredients were added to the pot the Cook spent a handful of seconds stirring the pot before going back to his yelling and throwing. After a while the Cook then asked for vegetables.

“This’s the last one” Burin said as he emptied a bucket of vegetables into the cauldron.

A wooden shutter behind a counter at the back of the kitchen opened, the other side of which held a crowd of pirates. The pirates were waving spoons in the air and were yelling out Yarr and Arrs.

“Alright yar cursed biscuit eaters! Bring me bowls and then take them to the countYarrr!”

The pirate chefs moved from the prep tables over to the serving counter in front of the open window.

Richard stared out towards the mass of pirates. “There must be hundreds of them.”

“Where are the bowls?” Asked Burin.

“There!” Rose pointed to the tables that the chefs just left. Shelves underneath the tables held stacks of them.

“Careful.” Yui warned. “He might start throwing things again.”

We grabbed the bowls, brought them up to the Cook who would fill it with… stuff, and then took it to the counter. Once placed down, one of the chefs would grab it and hand it out to a pirate waiting on the other side.

We learned that the Cook would only throw objects if he was not filling up a bowl, so Yui organized and timed our movements to make sure he was always busy with one of us.

A while later and the last of the hungry pirates left with a full bowl. The wooden shutter closed on the serving counter and the chef and cooking crew cheered.

The chef jumped down from the raised platform overlooking the cauldron. “You scallywags might just thrive in the kitchen afterall!”

He moved over to the side of the room and rummaged around in a cupboard, his back to us. Turning around, he showed us that he held a large chest in his arms. He moved to the centre table and plonked it down. “Hard work deserves a reYarrd! Yarrharrharr”

Miko buried her face against her palm. “Oh no.”

“May these be a helpful companion towards culinary masterSHIP!”

The Cook laughed and placed a large bottle next to the chest. “And a drink to celebrate! Yarr!”

He then moved over to the far corner of the room with the other pirate chefs. Pulled out another large bottle and took a swig before passing it around.

New skill gained!

+1 to Cooking skill rank.

I sat down on the steps to the cauldron. “You have to be joking.”

“Did everyone just get a skill rank in cooking?” Miko asked.

Looking around, everyone was nodding, including the two beastkin sisters.

“Forget that.” Said Burin as he walked to the chest. “What’s in the chest? I bet its gold!”

Before anyone could say anything, he pushed open the lid.

I did not bother getting up to look. From my experience so far in the tower, and from what the Cook just said, I did not have much hope for what was in that box.

Burin lifted an item from the chest and made an appreciative sound. “Ohhh It’s.. it’s” He yelled out something incomprehensible.

Miko reached in and squealed like a teapot.

Their reactions fueled my curiosity to the point that I had to see for myself. Walking over I peered down into the chest. A set of identical knives were lined up, hilt angled upwards, lit up by a soft blue glow from the bottom of the chest.

Grabbing one of the knives I pulled it out and appraised it.

Andross’s Chef Knife

Quality: Mythical

Weight: 270g

Value: ???

Effect: Can only be used in food preparation, Never dulls, self-cleaning, Razor sharp, Enhances favour based on cooking rank. Will not injure wielder.

Cool I guess… Or it would have been if I did not feel like this place was pushing me into becoming some kind of profession holding NPC. Stuck at the same location every day, forced to be polite to assholes and pay taxes to the city… Or maybe I was just overthinking things.

Sighing, I placed the item into my storage and watched as everyone took a knife for themselves. I’ll sell mine later on… Or maybe I can start a new collection of magical items. That was a fun thought. I just needed a place where I could put them all. Things I could add to the to do list, right next to “become grand wizard.”

I waved the thought away and looked over to the one handed cook and his crew. Andross, the sand pirate cook, was the first creature inside the tower I had seen talk. I wondered what made him different from every other pirate here.

My shadow noticed me looking at the group and must have had a similar thought. “Shall we ask a few questions?”

We walked over towards the other side of the kitchen. Once we reached within a metre of the group, they stopped what they were doing and looked towards me.

A questioning “Yar?” sounded out from Andross, followed by the same from the others.

“Maybe we expected too much.” My shadow commented.

Before I could ask a question, they pulled out knives. Andross threw his towards me while shouting “Yarr!”

I slapped the knife aside and conjured a spearbolt. Andross was running straight towards me, his hooked hand held up high to strike. Instead of attacking me, he ran past me and towards the cauldron.

My shadow dashed forwards and quickly cut down the other chefs. Andross grabbed the giant wooden spoon from the cauldron and skillfully spun it around his body. Moving the spoon like that told me it was a staff after all. He screamed out a final “Yarr!” and leaped towards me, his staffspoon held high.

I launched my spearbolt. The projectile passed right through the cook, leaving a large hole in it’s wake. Andross jump turned into a fall and he collapsed on the ground in front of me, dead.

Experience gained.

“Hey.” Richard called out. “I just reached level ten.”

“Yahoo!” Miko cheered out and slapped him on the back.

“We need to celebrate!” Burin cried out.

Miko grabbed his shoulders. “What did you have in mind?”

His eyes gleamed and his fingers twitched between them. “Pirate gold of course! There must be some somewhere on this boat.”

Yui walked over and placed a hand on Richard’s shoulder. “Congratulations.” She then turned to face the rest of us and looked us over. “No one’s injured? Good. Let’s keep moving.”

We left the cook’s bottle of drink behind.