TWENTY-FOUR
“That’s unexpected,” Darren muttered. No one spoke to match his words as they all found themselves locked in the saferoom. Roan blinked slowly as he lowered his hammer, he had been in the middle of a fight with a poor-grade skeleton in the hallway when the world had inverted, a massive wave of nausea struck, and now he was back in Tyler’s saferoom.
FLOOR 1.01 CLEAR RATE: 50%
TIMED LOCK OUT: 59 MINUTES LEFT
“We’ve killed half of the guardians then?” Someone asked but Roan was setting his hammer down and slumping to the ground. If he had a forced hour break then he was going to be productive. The dwindling time left on the clock before the level closed was a continuous pressure, but there was nothing he could do about the dwindling time when he was locked down.
“Go over everything I earned. Buy some food and water. Even if I’m not tired then I still need to eat and drink. “
His earnings had been generous. Four coffins at two-twenty five a piece for nine hundred credits. Then there were the kills. He’d sent more skeletons to their eternal rest than he had thought.
POOR SKELETON (x33)
20 CREDITS
INFERIOR SKELETON (x26)
10 CREDITS
The fights with the guardians had netted him another three hundred flat. For a grand total of two thousand one hundred and twenty credits. Roan bought two inferior meals at a cost of a hundred and looked at his newest balance.
CURRENT BALANCE: 4033 CREDITS
“Man obsessed,” a woman’s voice startled Roan as he drank heavily from the flask of water that came with his meals. Tyler stood no more than a few feet away, eyes boring into him.
“You look better. Less about to die,” Roan said calmly, wishing he could stand up without it looking awkward. Taoya’s words about Tyler were firmly in his head about how she was one of the more dangerous bloodline users.
“Those healing elixirs do wonders. We have tower potions or similar enough at my sect. It’s one of the things we focus on actually, herbology, biology, and alchemy. Goes well with the dominant bloodlines,” Tyler said.
“Which is?” Roan asked, seeing if she would tell him.
“Bold, but it doesn’t matter. We’re not enemies, are we?” She paused and waited for Roan to say anything. He just shook his head and she continued on with the same blank face she had earlier.
“Bloodlines are strange and can express themselves in several ways. It would be more accurate to call them affinities. Until I have a mana core and fully awaken it, then it is only a useful tool at best. But my bloodline reacts in strange ways with mana infused concoctions.”
“Herbology, biology, and alchemy? Bloodline that works on enhancing potions or whatever they’re called? And she’s combat orientated? Definitely some type of assassin.” Roan kept that thought process locked down as he looked at the undamaged skin beneath her torn robes. Her forearm was completely healed.
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“You enhanced the healing potion? Made it more effective?”
“Yes. Unfortunately without a core I can only do it once it enters my body, but I was able to make the most of a rather weak potion.”
“Explains why she’s struggling with skeletons. If she focuses on poisons or something like that, then the undead have to be a terrible matchup for her.”
“So, what did you want?” Roan finally blurted as a silence began to grow deeper as she seemed perfectly standing without saying anything.
“I wanted to say thank you. Darren and Taoya have both been effusive with praise about your skill and how many of the undead you have killed. And your seemingly unwavering endurance. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Not often that we meet someone who isn’t part of our circles who should be acknowledged.”
“You’re welcome. Didn’t think Darren would be so willing to say anything good about anyone.” Tyler snorted and looked shocked as her hand rose up to cover her mouth. There was a hint of embarrassment on her features as she quickly schooled herself.
“Darren is…I was going to say soft, but he’s not. He does recognize talent and seeks to elevate it. He sees well,” Tyler said with a soft smile.
“Tyler, are you scaring my new friend?” Taoya asked as he came swaggering over. Roan noticed that Taoya kept his distance though, staying outside of her reach as he dropped into a squat next to Roan. His eyes never left Tyler as she stood there still as a rock.
“You two have a history?” Roan asked as the silence continued on as Taoya and Tyler stared at each other unblinkingly.
“Nothing that matters now. What do you think of forcing us back into this saferoom?” Tyler asked.
“Nothing good,” Taoya said with a shrug.
“I’ve been thinking about it actually,” Roan admitted. It had been a slow churning thought in the back of his head for the last few minutes.
“We hit fifty percent and it reset us. Towers can be weird,” Taoya continued.
“I don’t think it’s that. Think about what we’ve read on descriptions. The skeletons have come to life because of corrupted life energy. The items we’ve found all have ties to being about purifying life energy or collecting it. Especially collecting it,” Roan said. It helped to speak out loud, the words helping coalesce random thoughts and observations as he went.
“Alright. That sounds right, but what does that…” Taoya trailed off as something bloomed in his eyes.
“We’ve been selling the collection arrays. They were powering up the guardians, but what if they were still collecting energy? Even without the guardians inside of them?” Roan asked.
“Then there’s a lot of uncollected energy in the crypt. We’ve sold twenty of the hundred coffins,” Taoya said.
“Possibly hundred coffins. The numbers still seem off to me, but that doesn’t matter. We’ve reduced a significant amount of the collection ability for this level of the crypt. And killed lots of the skeletons, all of which had that corrupted energy in them,” Roan continued.
“It will be interesting to see what changed then,” Taoya said. Roan nodded in agreement as he continued to eat his meal. Tyler looked between them with narrowed eyes.
“It seems I need to experiment a bit more with this marketplace. When we’re allowed back out I would appreciate a helping hand, Taoya.” Tyler stared at the big man until he grudgingly nodded. Tyler bowed slightly before walking away. As she left the tension fled Taoya as he slumped to the ground, kicking his feet out in front of him and leaning back on his hands.
“She’s a scary one. Amplifies all sorts of nasty things and can store them inside of herself. Poisonous blood that she aerosolized is the most potent thing I’ve seen her do. Put her on her ass for two weeks but she won a tournament doing it. Killed three kids.” The last part he said with a quiet, mournful, tone.
“Don’t fight Tyler. Got it. Bad matchup being down here then,” Roan said.
“You need to explore the market more. I know you’re saving up, but there’s some real nasty elixirs you can buy.”
“Ones that work on undead?” Roan asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Acids would work. At her current level I think the most she could do is an inferior elixir, but once she activates her bloodline with a mana core, be wary. Collateral damage does occur.” Roan nodded as he looked at the hammer laying next to him. The silver head of it was dented and scratched, bits of bone dust and chips had managed to stick to the haft.
“What can I do about a walking poison bomb?” Roan started to think out the contingencies he could run, the majority of them saying a first strike before she was aware of his intent, when Taoya interrupted him.
“Hey, you going to finish that bar? I’m hungry.” Roan handed over the half eaten second ration without looking, mind still buzzing with plans as he kept an eye on the ticking clock. Twenty minutes and he’d be back in the tower and he could see what changes they’d wrought.