Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 163: The Path Ahead

The four of them stood there smiling, ignoring the expression on Everett’s face.

“You couldn’t help yourselves, could you?”

As one they burst out laughing, shaking their heads.

“We only killed about a hundred or so,” Fowl said. It’s not like we felt we were in danger.”

“You hear that Everett? Not in danger,” Tom said, a frown on his face since they announced what they had done. “It’s not like the tower can be that dangerous.”

“It really wasn’t that bad, considering what else we’ve faced,” Max replied. “I mean, those new lizardmen weren’t that special.”

“Did other groups see you fighting?”

Tanila shook her head in response to Everett’s question. “We didn't notice anyone, but then again, the tower floor is massive and we wanted to see how long it took to reach ten percent of that first level.”

Everett began to cough, and Tom groaned.

“Ten percent?! You are each ten percent into level one of the tower?!”

Tom’s tone as he spoke made Max wince a little. “We are. Is that a bad thing?”

“How often did those little gems like the one I gave you drop?” Everett asked, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

“Almost every time?” Batrire replied, glancing at Tanila, who nodded in confirmation.

“Almost every time?” Everett asked again, cocking his head slightly as one eyebrow rose.

“Yes…” Max answered, able to tell from his tone this wasn’t the normal drop rate.

“That’s impossible,” Tom muttered. “Everett, you and I both know that’s not possible… not ever.”

The older man ran his hand through his white hair and nodded.

“Ok, listen up, you four,” the Faction leader said, his tone and demeanor changing in an instant as he stopped leaning against the arm of the couch. “Do not share that information with anyone, and I repeat, anyone. Your newest member will be here tomorrow, and when you meet her she will learn a few things. You can trust her to keep them a secret. But if you tell others about the speed at which you gain those crystals any hope of hiding in the shadows will be gone.”

Everett pointed his finger at Tanila and frowned. “Do you know how the gems work and what they do?”

She nodded.

“And what happens every ten levels worth of tower experience?”

“You mean how that specific gem won’t work anymore?” Tanila replied.

“Not just that, but also the other thing you can do once you reach level ten?” Everett asked with a grin.

Her eyes went wide as she looked at Everett and Tom, seeing both of them smiling about knowing something she didn’t.

Clearing his throat and taking a deep breath, Everett finally explained what he was holding back for a moment. “Normally, I would encourage most tower climbers never to attempt what I’m about to suggest but based on the…” He paused and looked at Tom for a second before returning his gaze to the four of them. “The very generous rate at which these gems are dropping, you can attempt something most shouldn’t.”

“That’s because it's stupid after the first ten levels,” Tom interjected when Everett went silent for a moment.

“Yes, he is right. Remember there are two different levels I’m talking about here. One is the actual level of the tower floor. The other is experience gained specifically through the gems. Now, for every ten levels of tower experience you can return here and decrease your tower level by ten–”

“Why would we do that?” Fowl interrupted.

“I’m trying to explain, if you’ll give me a moment,” Everett scowled at the dwarf. “Each tower level grants you a one percent bonus to all your stats. You still level normally, albeit much slower, but when you reach level ten in the tower, you gain a ten percent bonus of your base stats. By trading all that experience at the skill shard, you can permanently get two point five percent bonus stat points and regain those lost levels once more.”

Max and Fowl both whistled at the same time.

“So if you did that for the first stage of the tower, it would be twelve point five percent bonus?” Tanila asked, making sure she understood what Everett was describing.

He nodded and grinned. “Many do attempt this, but most quit after they realize the amount of time it takes to farm the materials once more.”

Tom shook his head and grunted. “Most don’t ever try it because they can’t stand the idea of giving up ten percent of their bonus stats. For some tower climbers that number gets massive quickly.”

Max nodded, wondering how everything was going to work with the ring he had.

“If you four… soon to be five,” Everett corrected himself, “manage to do that two, three or even four times, you could gain a major bonus in the same amount of time or even quicker than most.”

“What is the normal drop rate of gems?” Batrire asked.

“One out of three,” Tom replied.

“Holy elf tits!” Fowl cursed, his eyes going wide.

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“Can someone get this dwarf a topless elf healer so we can move past that phrase?” Tanila said, glaring at Fowl.

“Ignore them. Realistically, how hard would it be to do that for forty levels?” Max asked.

Frowning, Everett shrugged. “I can’t answer that for the four of you; you’ll have to figure that out for yourselves. The real problem comes down to –”

The room they were in suddenly shook, and a deafening noise came from underneath them. Everett and Tom glanced at each other for a second before both took off to the office door. Max and the others ran behind them, not sure where they were headed but knowing something big must have happened.

“In the crafting area!”

Everett was moving faster than Max could have imagined. While his gray hair might fool some, Max knew their Faction leader had been a tower climber. Tom and Everett were bounding over ledges, landing on the floor below, and sprinting downstairs, each with the grace of someone half their age and stronger than he was.

As Max made his way down the stone stairs where the two men had disappeared, smoke began to flood the top of the hallway. He stayed low, covering his mouth with his shirt as he ran. He was able to hear the commotion before he saw it.

Groans and cries of pain rang out in the hallway, and Max caught up to where Tom had paused, trying to help a dwarven woman. Her arm was gone and she was covered in blood, yet the skin over the stump of her shoulder was growing back together and the massive gash across her face was closing.

“Rest Grabumnda.” Tom said, trying to comfort her.

“My arm!”

“It’s gone. Just rest.”

Max grimaced, seeing the dwarven woman panicking at the knowledge she had lost an arm, ignoring the fact she was only alive because Tom had saved her.

More shouts came and Max followed the sounds of screams as his sonar let him witness the destruction in the midst of the smoke.

“Tanila! Air!” he shouted as he made out two dead bodies on the floor. Both were mangled and one had its head crushed.

A wall was partially destroyed on the left, and stones were scattered everywhere. The thick metal door that had been in it was gone, partially embedded in the opposite wall.

“Tom!”

Max followed the sound of Everett’s voice, choking a little bit on the smoke but not wanting to give up on helping if he could.

Darting down the hall into a room where the entire left wall was almost gone, Max saw and sensed the chaos around him.

Whatever the workshop had been used for, it was now destroyed. There was a huge, four-foot hole in the back where an exhaust system of some kind had funneled fumes outside. A massive stone table was shattered and embedded in the floor, ceiling and the walls that were still standing. Body parts littered the room, or pieces of body parts. Max was unable to tell who or what they had come from.

“Tom!”

Everett’s shout came from deeper in the carnage and Max sensed Tom running past him with his sonar. The tone of their Faction leaders shout was a call for obvious help.

Following the rushing man, Max paused at the scene he saw. The explosion in the main room had destroyed half of the wall leading to it. As he entered the room, this one caused his heart to sink.

“It’s no good,” Everett said quietly.

Max could hear the conversation as he approached, sensing just how bad what Everett and Tom were looking at.

“Do… it… please…”

Max arrived next to the two men, who were standing over a male dwarf. He hated to see what his sonar had already told him. All four of the dwarf’s limbs were missing. Tom and Everett were both wrapping what Max knew were magical bandages on the nubs of the dwarf, stopping the blood that was squirting out.

A massive piece of metal had impaled the dwarf’s chest, and blood seeping out of the wound slowly. Not a single hair was left on his burnt body.

“We can save you!” Tom implored. “Let us save you Baldin!”

The dwarf coughed and winced, blood squirting from around the metal.

“I’m useless… this be no life… end me… please…”

Tom and Everett were both wincing and frowning as Max watched tears run down their faces.

Save him… put him out of his mercy.

Grabbing his chest, Max felt the desire inside him, the pain of it all overwhelming him.

They won’t… they can’t because they care for him… that one is like Tanila… could you do that to her?

Shouts and calls for help came all around but Max realized that the voice inside him was right. Those two men looked at this dwarf with affection. He could not finish off Tanila if she were in the same situation.

Without hesitating, Max moved to the dwarf's head while pulling a knife from his inventory.

“I’ll do it. I’ll end your pain.”

Everett and Tom’s heads immediately jerked up, looking at Max as tears ran down their faces, leaving trails in the ashes that covered their faces.

“You can’t,” Tom whispered, pain filling his voice.

“Either you do it or I do. To make him suffer is worse.”

Tom could only shake his head, and Max turned to look at Everett, whose hand trembled as he reached for the knife.

“Let me… I’ll bear this pain. Just hold your friend,” Max said, putting the knife between the dwarf’s burnt lips. “Stab me, turn your head, and I’ll end it.”

A grunt came from the dwarf as he bit down on the hilt in pain. A tear traveled down his charred face as Baldin used all the strength he had left to plunge the dagger into Max’s outstretched hand. It pierced his hand completely, surprising Max for a moment as the dwarf flashed red.

Taking the knife from the dwarf’s mouth, he gave the dwarf a small nod and a smile.

“I’ll see you two… on the other side…”

Max held the knife over the dwarf’s eye, and after Baldin had closed them both, he plunged it into the dwarf’s brain causing a single shake of his torso before he went still.

Cold power flooded through Max, and he trembled at the sensation it had brought. Like a man who hadn’t drunk in days, he felt a thirst he had forgotten.

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[Would you like to learn [Weapon Crafting]?]

[ Yes / No]

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[Would you like to learn [Armor Crafting]?]

[ Yes / No]

Max blinked as he saw the notification.

The sobs of the two men forced his attention back to the situation at hand. Everett sat there, a hand on the burnt chest of Baldin’s body while Tom cried softly.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Max said as he stood, pulling the dagger from where he had plunged it.

Tom didn’t acknowledge him, leaning over the burnt and bloody remains with a wail coming from his mouth.

As Max started to move past Everett, a hand reached out and caught him.

Glancing, their eyes met.

“Thank you.”

Max nodded, seeing someone who in a moment would be on his feet fulfilling the obligations required by his role and, right now, unable to mourn the loss of someone dear to him.

“Baldin was fortunate to have you two.”

Those words felt harder to say than Max had imagined they would be. Knowing that, if that was one of his family, there was no way he could have done what he did.

He held out a hand, and when Everett took it to climb to his feet, Max saw the man wipe away one last tear before his face became like flint.

Then Everett was gone, turning on his heel and shouting orders, doing the job required of his position.

Mercy and growth… the gods are kind are they not?

Ignoring the voice in his head, Max made for his team.

He could address the notifications later.

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