Ultimate Level 1

[Status Check]

*****

Max Hoste

18-Year-old Human Male

Level 1

Exp 101/1000

Tower Experience: 20.00%

HP: 3810/3810

MP: 2250/2250

STR: 374

DEX: 315

CON: 381

INT: 225

WIS: 225

Defense of the Dragon - 9.0%

Defense of the Demon - 9.0%

Demon Essence: - 305

Boots of Strength - 10 STR

Black Quick Pants - 2 STR/DEX +10% Movement Bonus

Sand Worm’s Skin Chest - 10 STR/CON + 10% Magic Resist +20% Crushing Damage

Black Bracers - 3 STR/CON +15% Damage decrease slashing/piercing

Belt of the Golem - 4 STR/CON +25% Damage decrease slashing/piercing

Scout Spider Helm - 5 STR/CON/DEX. Invisible State, Grants Minor Poison Resist

Cloak of Spider - 5 Dex. Spider Walk - 5 mins / 24 hour cooldown

Green Ring - 1 DEX

Black Rabbit Ring - 2 DEX

Ring of the Golem Prince - 4 CON +25% magic resist

Ring of Growth - 10% Stat Increase

Black Boss Band - 20% Stat Increase

Bracelet of Sand Worm - 10 STR/CON Minor Acid Resist

Conqueror of the Broken Prince -

40 STR/DEX/CON +30% Damage Larger Enemies, Cleaving

Gorgon Scaled Shield - 20 STR/DEX/CON Impervious / Indestructible

*****

Floors fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen hadn’t yielded a single item. However after a fruitless eighteenth tower floor, Max couldn’t help but look at his stats in awe. Everything had been going about as smoothly as possible and all they had left to finish tomorrow was the boss on the nineteenth floor of the tower.

“What are you doing that has you so focused?”

Tanila’s voice drew him from his thoughts and the page in his journal he was staring at. He glanced up from the page, completely decked out in all his gear, and grinned. Shrugging, he immediately swapped out his tower climbing gear for a simple shirt and pair of pants.

Picking up his pencil, Max jotted down a number and tapped his finger against the page.

“Honestly, I’ve realized why things have been so easy the last few days. According to my notes, the stats for the creatures through tower level eighteen don't go higher than two hundred and fifteen if my math is right. Knowing that and where my stats are, along with us having ground out the tower level so we are ready for the next gems after tomorrow, we are sitting at a twenty percent bonus to stats.”

Shifting in her chair, Tanila nodded, closing and storing her book.

“And that is why you have been cutting through everything without a problem.”

“Not just me, but you all as well,” Max replied. “Each of you has thirty percent to your stats right now. With you all having hit level sixty-two for your normal levels and adding the weapons I’ve made, everyone has been tearing through those last three levels.”

“But…”

Chuckling, Max nodded as he moved to the chair next to her after storing his journal and sat down.

“I’ve missed out on three tower floors for stats. These undead have been nothing but experience for you all, plus the green gems they drop. Which makes me wonder what the twentieth level is going to be like. How many stats are waiting to be gained once we start grinding through the monsters there?”

Sighing, Tanila shook her head as she smiled at him.

“I’m glad to see you’re not excited about tomorrow. Even if we know the boss is going to be undead.”

“It is what it is. What I’m more interested in right now is how long it’s going to take me to get you from that chair to the bed.”

Winking as he stood up, Max could only smile when Tanila jumped out of her chair and raced toward the bed.

“Glad to see I still have a way with words,” Max joked as he ran to join her.

***

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Fowl’s hammer smashed another undead spider into the black dirt of the tower floor. Green and foul-smelling goo came from its flattened carapace.

Max spun like a top, cleaving through another six that all got close, attacking the closest person in their way.

Before the fight had even really started, fifteen undead corpses were no longer attacking, some twitching while others burned.

“This is just a grind fest,” Fowl said. “No tactics at all. Don’t get me wrong, it's nice not having to worry about fighting anything with a brain.”

“It’s like shadowboxing?”

Fowl looked at Cordellia and stood there a moment while the rest laughed, realizing he hadn’t gotten the joke yet.

“We’re still like an hour from that purple beacon up ahead,” Tanila said.

Everyone saw the light that rose from the ground into the dark night sky. Stars were twinkling, yet the moon was absent on the tower floor, and if it hadn’t been for their rings, seeing anything would have been hard without using a light.

The ground was littered with graves and tombstones, some of them now empty, where spiders, zombies, or even the occasional undead creature had emerged after digging themselves free.

Yet across the darkness, a purple line of power ran from the ground into the night sky, vanishing into nothingness, drawing them toward what they assumed was the floor boss.

***

“What in the gods is that?”

Fowl’s question left each of them wondering the same thing as they saw the boss slowly moving around the purple cube that radiated a glowing light everywhere for about one hundred yards.

Nightvision rings weren’t needed as the cube's light was bright enough to see by.

A twenty-foot creature resembling a bear, with its skin appearing to have been ripped off and sewn back together with an assortment of other kinds of flesh. Giant seams and stitches ran along the creature and it gave off a horrible scent that they smelled even a hundred yards away.

“Look at those massive bumps of flesh,” Cordellia said as she studied the pockets of flesh raised in different spots. “I’m glad I don’t have to fight that thing up close and worry about hitting something that might explode.”

Groaning, Foul’s head bobbed as he saw what she had pointed out.

“We can go in hard and fast and see what happens. I mean, if we unleash everything big at the start, we might be able to kill it without a problem.” Max stated as he pointed at the cube the boss was to the right of as it circled it again slowly. “It would be even better if we could kill the boss and find out what that is. Perhaps Everett or the faction could use it.”

“I’m not certain,” their ranger replied. “I haven’t ever seen or heard of anything like that, but then again, no one has ever really reported seeing half the crap we do.”

A few chuckles came before everyone put on their serious face.

“So you want me to charge it, and then you come up from behind and go ham on it?”

Max nodded at Fowl and checked that everyone else was ready.

“Feel free to use any spells or abilities you want,” Max said, flashing a grin at Tanila and Cordellia.

Fowl started jogging toward the massive bear and when he was about fifty yards away, the giant beast turned and roared.

Green ooze came from its mouth, splattering against the black dirt as the boss started racing toward Fowl.

Holding his shield ready, Fowl stood behind it, planting his feet.

As the boss got close, it swung a massive paw at Fowl.

Just before it connected, the clawed strike flashed red and slammed against their warrior, and one-half of Fowl’s hit points were gone.

A howl of pain came as green liquid squirted from all over the boss’s right arm that had struck it, chunks of flesh falling off from the aura that had inflicted damage back at the beast.

Max came in from the side, ready to end this as he summoned a wall of stone, making it angled like a ramp, and ran up to the side of the boss.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

His axe sliced through everything, a wave of magic coming off the weapon as the cleave effect added itself to the power of his attack.

Combined with the bonus damage against a larger creature, the first attack created a six-foot opening in its side. The second one hacked off another two feet and, with the third swing of Max’s weapon cutting through the same spot, the beast fell to the ground, gore spilling out everywhere as its body was cut two-thirds the way through.

A fireball exploded against the boss’s head as Tanila got her licks in on the creature, joining the Empowered shot from Cordellia.

One moment, the boss had been standing, and the next, it was on the ground, burnt to a crisp on the front half, a massive hole in its skull from an arrow and its body split in two.

Snorting, Max jumped back off his ramp and turned toward the others. He saw that Batrire had healed Fowl, and his friend was standing up, albeit a little slower.

“That went well,” Max said, grinning until he saw Tanila’s face.

“It’s not dead!”

His sonar told him she was right as the boss’s body began to shake and flex.

The large pockets of whatever was on its skin began to quiver, and Max felt a buildup of something magical coming from the body near him.

“Run!”

The purple cube began to glow bright, and the light shining into the sky stopped.

Now the square pulsed, sending out waves of purple light so bright it felt like one was looking at the sun.

Max could sense the body of the boss reacting in some way.

About six seconds after the light in the cube was condensed, it shot a solid beam of purple into the corpse, causing it to explode. Chunks of flesh, green ooze, and white liquid went everywhere for a hundred yards.

Tanila summoned an air shield over her and the others while Max put one above Fowl, unsure what was raining down on them.

Burning pain came as liquid fell like a rain cloud upon him, going through his armor and to his skin.

“It’s acid, I think!” Max shouted as he felt the sensation and how it hurt, but the resistance from his bracelet nullified most of the damage.

Turning toward the spot where the boss had been, the purple light pulsed again, locked in on the skull, the only thing that remained from the massive body that had once been there.

It began to pulse, turning purple, and seemed to give off the same color as it was bathed in the energy that washed over it.

“Seth?!”

Without any idea of what was coming, Max started summoning a fireball.

“Hit it with your spells!”

Slowly bones began to grow from the skull, each of them spiked and covered in a purple aura that looked like flames.

From the head a spine appeared, followed by a rib cage and then thick bone arms.

His fireball and Tanila’s blasted the bones, washing over them and doing no apparent damage.

An arrow flew through his sonar range, and Max watched as it struck the purple cube.

A loud whine began to fill the air, and arrow after arrow flew past him, impacting the side of the cube.

The skull turned towards their ranger and let out a shriek, giant teeth forming as it attempted to move on the limbs that were beginning to form.

Max didn’t wait, pulling out his bow and sending a barrage of arrows at the cube.

“Using my special one!”

The arrow of slaying flew past him, impacting the side of the cube. A giant crack appeared, sending light spilling out everywhere.

The ground began to shake, and the bones that had begun to form started falling from the skeleton that had been summoned.

“RUN!” Max shouted as he saw the purple light start to cascade in waves around them, his flesh beginning to burn from the pain as it washed over him.

[ Regeneration ]

Fowl was moving, his short legs almost looking comical with how fast they moved, sending up small clouds of black dirt behind him.

Tanila, Batrire, and Cordellia were all moving as a pack, staying close as they ran, trying to escape the light pulsing across the ground.

Max heard the noise of the cube, the whine of something going wrong, and felt the buildup of power coming toward him.

Yanking his shield out, he hid behind it, wondering what this would feel like in a moment.

[ Armored Warrior ]

[ Bulwark ]

A second passed as he hunkered down, and then a loud explosion rocked the area, sending a wave of dirt and magical energy flying in a circle from the cube.

Pain erupted from the areas of his body that were not hidden behind his shield, flesh melting and regenerating as the magic connected.

He cast stone a stone wall in the other three's path, hoping it would help.

Tanila did the same before the wave of purple light washed over and around the three as Batrire used her protective dome.

It took a few seconds for his eardrums to repair themselves, but Max saw and heard that everyone was alive.

Fowl had also used his defensive skills, mimicking his attempt at hiding behind his shield.

“Everyone ok?”

Groans and yes came from the trio while Fowl limped toward Max, missing about a third of his hit points from that attack.

“What in the gods was that?” Fowl asked as he stared at the crater the explosion had caused.

The black ground was littered with purple glowing specs that cast a light for a hundred yards in a circle.

Grunting, Max shrugged and checked his shield, seeing that no damage had been done to it from the attack.

“No clue, but I wouldn’t want to have been closer when that blew up.”

Snorting, Fowl nodded and pointed at the purple-glowing chest in the center of the crater.

“Well, at least we appear to get some loot finally.”

Nodding, Max felt the other three coming close and gave his friend a gentle pat on his armor.

“The good news is you didn’t die. So I guess you can open it up.”

Fowl grinned as he stored his shield and began moving toward the chest.

“I’ll never argue with you on something like that. Now let’s go see what we acquired.”

‎

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