The Clan wasn’t ready to upgrade yet. He would not be able to insert another boon for everyone into the Clan crest at this time, so whilst speed at getting appropriate cultivation techniques would benefit his peace of mind and his soggy feet, it would do little for the overall Clan itself. Haste, in this case, could lead to significant waste.
That was what Arthur told himself, when he refused to train the movement exercise they’d copied down. Sure, Water Walker wasn’t a bad technique. He’d certainly seen worst over his time. It just wasn’t that great. It took a lot of energy to utilize and it spread the weight bearing load over a wide area. Great for water walking, but it mattered less when one was climbing around on trees or branches.
Something like Wind Steps – which was, as he’d mentioned quite popular – actually lightened the body through the use of Tower energy. It was, however, quite intensive on the energy use especially as the amount of energy used kept increasing according to the amount of ‘lightness’ needed.
Supposedly, with the right amount of energy, one could fly.
“Come on. You’ve got to have something,” Arthur said, leaning on the counter as he spoke to the floor administrator. “I’m not asking for that much. Low energy use and upgradeable in the future.”
“I do not have any such technique for purchase,” the attendant repeated for the third time, patiently.
“Look, Wind Steps just isn’t cutting it. Or any of these others, water walking or air skimming or even shadow jumping. And this one, you showed me, a fire jumping one?” Arthur sighed. “In this place? What’s the point of a fire jumping technique.”
“I would not know.”
“Exactly. You’re the Tower shop, you have to have something.”
“I do not have any such technique for purchase.”
“You said that already.” Arthur paused amidst complaining, repeating his words again, slower. “You’ve said that already.”
He saw the smirk, the relief flicker on the attendants face. Too fast to register normally if you weren’t watching for it, but he was now. He was. Which meant…
“You have something I can get. Just not by purchase.” Silence greeted his words, as he stared at the other. Then he added, slowly. “Or you can’t say that.”
He turned and glanced at Mel who’d accompanied him over. The rest of the team were back in the Clan hall, meditating or just resting after their recent excursion but he’d gathered his taxes from his people and brought along his and Mel’s share to see what they could acquire.
“Not many options if he can’t talk about it,” Mel said. “Could it be a hidden quest?”
“Is it?” Arthur asked.
Of course, there was no answer. Wouldn’t be muchof a hidden quest if the man just said so outright. On theother hand, thethought tha tit might be a quest had Arthur’s mind churning ashe recalled the initial period when he’d acquired the Clan.
“Wasn’t there something about getting access to new quests and reputations because we are a Clan?” Arthur said.
“Oh! I remember now. Yes,” Mel said. “Is that it? Is there a Clan quest for us?”
“Finally!” The attendant threw his hands up. “So slow ah.”
“Hey!” Arthur said, insulted. But rather than follow that useless line of discussion – especially since he couldn’t exactly smack the guy over the top of his head, not with the Tower guard so close – he prodded. “What is it?”
“Here!” Reaching under the table, the man extracted a document and slapped it down. “Formed itself and deposited it in my inbox the moment you guys arrived.”
Mel was impatiently staring at Arthur while he was looking at the document, a dawning horror arriving within him. “Wait. When we arrived, it came?”
“Yes.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Arthur stared down at his feet, then stomped off, waving his hand around theratically in frustration. After a moment, he was back at the table and looking at the puzzled Mel. “The second floor.”
Realisation dawned, and she cursed too.
Too late for that option, at the moment. If there was a Quest below, there was no way they’d ever know. Assuming it was something that Arthur only could trigger. Maybe anyone of the Durians could do so? If that was the case, they’d have to send word as fat as they could.
Making mental note to do that, Arthur turned to the document and pulled it open, eagerly reading what the Tower had in plans for them.
Along with the document, to Arthur’s surprise, was a map. It was not the most detailed of maps – certainly a far cry from the satellite images or driving maps one was used to. But it gave rough co-ordinates and a few landmarks, including a rather twisted tree with a hole in the center that would be quite distinctive. Good enough, if one was willing to put in the work, to locate the lost city.
“Ever heard of this?” Arthur said, offering the document to Mel.
“The hidden quest? Of course not.”
“The city. D’mai. Da-mai. Dmay.” Arthur tested the word out, going through various pronunciations. After all, it wasn’t a word he had come across before.
“Wouldn’t be a lost city if I had, would it?”
“Might be lost, lost. Like no one knows where it is. Like El Dorado.”
“It wasn’t a bad cartoon.”
“What?”
“Just an old cartoon. From Disney,” Mel said. “El Dorado. Lost city.”
“Oh. I was thinking of the actual legend.” He paused, then pushed that aside. No point in that discussion, the quest itself was good enough. Though… “What’s the heart look like? Or is?”
“You’ll know it when you see it,” the attendant answered.
“Or you could tell me and then I’ll definitely know it.”
All he got was a shake of the head in answer, making Arthur sigh. Damn rules. Then again, he didn’t know how strongly the Tower bound attendants. No one did, since they didn’t really discuss their service. Or how they’d ended up serving the Tower.
It was known, though, that once you joined them, you didn’t ever go back to the real world. Though there were always persistent rumors that attendants could be promoted, even transfer Towers. So perhaps the life itself wasn’t so bad.
Smacking a buzzing mosquito and watching the smear on his hand, Arthur corrected himself. Unless one was stuck in a hellhole tower floor like this.