Chapter 532

 

Gleaming blue steel walls, rising up all around him. Coral green and blue shading, a sort of metallic highlight paint that criss-crossed the walls with thin, LED-like lights gave the entire room a space-age look. It did not help that there was no wood, no earth, nothing natural at all in this place – just metal, plastic and glimmering crystal displays.

Light danced in front of Arthur’s eyes, notifications given life in this strange space, as he stood in the first room of the desolate Tower. Entrance had been through a military compound a day after their arrival, their movement carefully watched and catered to.

None of his people had been idiotic enough to try to sneak out, so outside of a bland dinner that had consisted of an MRE, they had been frog-marched by the joint peacekeeping force into the entrance before he transitioned in here.

A high-tech Tower, one of the rare few that were available for Beginners. A stark departure from the more medieval or fantastic worlds that consisted of most Towers, and which had led to quite the discussion between researchers when their presence had first been confirmed.

Nowadays, there were still quite the argument but as with most Tower theories, was relegated to researchers. Like particle physics or quantum entanglement, most of those theories and concepts and details had little to do with your average Climber.

It was here, you dealt with it.

Arthur reached upward, touched the hovering hard light display and watched the welcome message fracture and disappear. He had been briefed on this, so he kept walking down the corridor, stepped intothe first empty space. Held a hand out as the information came to life and triggered acceptance. In moments, a Tower Guard appeared, clad in robes and shadows to lurk outside.

A place for the Clan to rest, to sell and care for themselves. A glass door blocked entry, a keypad that one could hold their hands towards, a series of staircases leading upwards to what Arthur presumed to be their quarters for resting. Pity he didn’t choose – or have available – a retail option for the Clan. This would be the place to sell.

Content that he had done his job, alone here for the moment, knowing such places would populate for any Clan member that arrived, he left. He walked down the corridor,eyeing the spaces hollowed out on each side that contained alien species to match the cantina in Star Wars lurking behind tables and counters, awaiting his choice.

He eyed each of the aliens, and more importantly, their wares as he wandered the floor. Each individual he spoke to would give him a series of linked quests – mostly. Some did not, and he would then find his options changed when he returned with the quest completed; but the important part was what they had scattered near their feet, the prize for what he could get.

The goods below were as numerous and varied as the aliens themselves. Some of them were utterly useless for a human building, meant for squid-like creatures, for four and six-legged flat backed individuals or were head and body coverings that covered things that just did not fit a human body. He lingered near a lower-body covering area, eyeing what he could only imagine to be a crotch-cover with more holes and space for holes than even a Japanese porn producer would care for.

He lingered there for a long moment, his brain shorted out, before he shuddered and moved on. Aliens were weird – but it did speak to the potential that the Tower included – or were meant for more than humanity.

Then again, some of the stories from Intermediate Towers spoke of the same. Of actually meeting aliens who claimed – via speaking stones, or slow translation – to come from different planets, all connected via the Towers.

Thankfully for Arthur’s sanity, much of the goods were meant for humans. There were the usual plethora of armour, of weapons and sundry goods. Some of the aliens specialized in the weapons they had, like a swordsman jelly quest giver, or the multi-trident three-armed monkey creature. Others had a hodgepodge of weapons scattered around, with some more modern or futuristic toys in play. Arthur ignored those, because past experience of Climbers had warned him away from those.

Too damn many of the futuristic weapons required charges or bullets or ammonution that was impossible to acquire in their present day. Even if they were powerful, a gun that had only three bullets was wasteful.

In truth, Arthur was paying attention to the sundry goods – the accessories, the utility items. Those were what garnered the highest resale value, mostly because they were so difficult to acquire and often, could be utilized by everyone.

A yellow salamander-ish humanoid quest giver who had dozens of cups before him, carefully being polished was a famous option. Each of the cups could give a temporary boost to an individual drinking from it, once every twenty four hours. The boosts ranged from a few points to any attribute to a Trait evolution or embedding. Powerful, much more than the majority of other accessories, but temporary too.

“Here we go…” Arthur stopped in front of the all too traditional option – rings and pendants. He smiled at the twisted, flat-faced dog-like creature on the other end, bowing to them. “Would it be possible to speak with you, about your wares?”

“Of course, Aspirant, of course.” A wide grin, a tongue rolling out as it did so. “What do you wish to know?”

“Will I be able to pick from your wares at the end of the quest?”

“Yes, within reason. It all depends on how you do, after all…” A burbling laugh, emerging from the creature. “Yes?”

“And what kind of enchantments are available?”

“Many, so many. Too numerous to count, too many to name. Speak your desire, I might have it.”

“Storage.” Arthur tapped the small pouch he had by his side, received at the first Tower and what he managed to keep all the various beast cores within. Not much else, though, sometimes. “Bigger ones, would be good.”

“Storage, of course it’s storage.” Another bark-laugh. “We have much storage. Some so small, only good for a single core. Others, so vast that we could fit the sun in it, if you could capture such a fleeting thing. Yes, we have storage.”

Arthur found himself smiling, then remembered that he had another question to ask. A rather important one.

“What kind of quests do you run?” he asked.

“Now he asks. Now.” The creature head drooped. “It depends, so much it depends. Storage you want, so we have to give the hardest. By far the hardest.”

“And that is…?”

“A chain, across multiple levels. Climb it, and we offer you ones that are larger and larger, so large that you might truly contain the sun. Climb the chain…” Eyes darken, then a head tilts. “Can you? All the way?”

“Only one item picked though?” Arthur asked, worriedly. Remembering the requirements of selling his goods to the others. Knowing that he could be selfish, but leery of taking advantage.

“One major. Some minor, if you follow it well, all the way to the one. Not all quests are the same, or the choices. Will you choose?”

Arthur bit his lip, debating his options. In so doing, he felt the tug of the backpack on his weight, recalled how many times he had bruised himself wearing it. He needed a proper storage device, most of all if he was going upwards. Weapons he could acquire or make do without. Storage… not so much.

“Let’s talk.”

 

Chapter 533

 

Back and forth, disappearing through glowing portal doorways to traverse a weird, neon city filled with alien creatures trundling back and forth wearing long coats as a persistent rain dampened the world around him at all times. All this in a mountainous environment with squat, bulbous mushroom buildings that grew on top of one another, such that Arthur had to traverse the roofs more than once.

His first quest was a simple courier one, delivering goods and picking them up. Frustratingly enough, it took him three trips back on the courier trip before he asked and received a simple handheld device similar to a smartphone that allowed his quests to update in real time. After that, completing the delivery quests was simple enough, even if tiring and a little mentally frustrating.

After all, he had to navigate an alien city, one that used words and symbols for building placements and deal with a group of citizens that could but generally refused to speak English. Which meant that for a while, Arthur was forced to navigate by perusing the handheld map that he acquired – one whose formation was in 3D and utilized icons and symbols that were entirely alien.

Truth be told, without both his movement skill Cloud Steps and the increased mental processing speed and memory traits of his increased Mind attribute, Arthur might have given up on the quest at the start. However, he did have both, and when he finally returned with the tiny potted plant mushroom, the dog-like quest giver seemed genuinely happy.

Happy enough to send him on his second quest, which had, as far as Arthur could tell, no relation to the first. It was why he found himself in the alien equivalent of a boxing gym, staring at the coach in befuddlement.

“You want me to what again?” Arthur said, as he watched the rest of the class squirm across the floor, on their sides and back. Above them, a laser beam cut above the air, the very air hissing with its passing as it played across the surroundings.

“Follow the class and don’t get cut.”

“I’m… humanoid. Not a slug.” He pointed at the majority group in training, who were various forms of slug, low-slung lizards or in one case, a cube. Only one other humanoid like creature was part of the group, and that one could separate its joints such that it could squirm across the ground easily.

“You can figure it out. Or leave. I train the way I train.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed then let out a long huff. This was not entirely unreasonable – the Tower had mentioned a number of the quests were odd or sometimes, impossible for Climbers to complete. Menat for aliens, possibly.

This one wasn’t impossible, just hard. Good thing he was Chinese and had a genetically flat ass, or else he might see parts of it cut-off. As it was, Arthur moved away to shed his armour and other gear. If he was training, that meant he needed to be clothed right at least.

The warmup was painful. The trainer did not seem to care about inflicting it, utilizing everything from shock floors to lasers that cut and smart. Arthur started running Iron Skin after the first major course, the ability giving him a small period to move before his skin was burnt. Thankfully, the Sigil of the Flame Phoenix aided him here too, the minor resistance to burning a boon.

They did everything, from lifting weights to shuffling around in pre-set movements patterns to jump ropes – or jump lasers – and other forms of calisthenics. Once they shifted to more movement, new flashing target icons appeared, forcing Arthur to scoop, kick or knee the targets on the regular. By the time they were done the first hour, the smell of burning flesh and hair, boiled jelly and caramelized sugar filled the air.

He got his first portion of the quest completion after he finished the initial warmup, but the handheld immediately updated with a second requirement. Last the class.

Funnily enough, the class portion itself was fun. Amusing and difficult, since many of the movements were near impossible for Arthur to replicate, but so long as he gave it his best shot, the trainer only used the buzzing shock wand he held in hand once in a while.

There was not even, to Arthur’s surprise, a sparring portion. Something he had been certain was about to come; but was entirely missing.

Of course, as he grabbed a drink of water while waiting and noted; there was a third quest. One that was followed soon after by the trainer speaking.

“Come, we have one last portion. Testing. Let us see what you have learnt.” A rolling rumble, gesturing to the floor that had changed color again, to a lurid red.

Arthur groaned, cursing the chained quest out before he joined them. He noted how a couple of the other attendees had slunk out in the gap, leaving him with three others to fight. One of which was the humanoid, a knobby, flat gray figure whose mouth was a tiny circle much like a lamprey.

“Begin!”

The call took Arthur by surprise, so much so that one of the jelly’s managed to sweep him off his feet. Arthur backflipped automatically, throwing himself out of range and springing back to his feet, as the backs of his feet burnt from contact with the creature.

In the meantime, the remaining slug and knobby were fighting. The slug managed to wrap itself around knobby’s lower legs but was now receiving multiple hammer strikes to its body, the entire black edge of its body wobbling. However, the hissing-whistling noise that emanated from knobby spoke of pain and damage being done, as did the curls of smoke rising from his feet.

It didn’t help that the jelly, missing an opponent in Arthur flooded over. It slammed into the pair, spreading its body out over the pair of them once the knobby one was down and began to burn them both.

That was the point that Arthur decided playing fair was over. He conjured his Yin Aura, rolling it over the trio and fired a Poisoned Refined Energy Dart at the group, one after the other. That the poison made them fall over soon after, the slug and jelly rolling off knobby as the creature was dragged off the match, trailing blood and fluid was good.

The amount of damage that had been allowed to be dealt, Arthur. He glared at the trainer that came over.

“What was that?” Arthur snarled.

“Training.” A pause, the creature vibrating for a moment before it ducked its head. “You pass.” A hand dipped, a slot came up. “Take this.”

“That’s it? No more training?”

“You won’t use what I teach, will you?” It rolled on, before Arthur could answer. “No, so why should I waste my time. Go.”

Feeling a little guilty that he hadn’t even tried to utilize the new training – most of it involving a lot of scooping, twisting and low-line attacks that might actually be useful if incorporated in the right way – Arthur dressed and left.

At least he had the chain quest done. And hopefully, the floor.

 

Chapter 534

 

Arthur twisted the ring on his pinky finger around and around. Being a cheaper accessory, it did not even have a resizing aspect but Arthur had chosent o pick it because it had the strongest effect of the other rings. Mostly, because someone at the first level of a Beginner Tower would normally have no use for a ring like this.

 

Ring of Aura Bolstering

Effects: Increases aura technique effects by a small amount

 

Small. Better than trivial or tiny or any other descriptor, and when he had put it on, Arthur had sensed the difference immediately. Even the natural aura that he carried with him had grown more powerful, and the overall effect of his Yin Aura… Well, he had to get into a fight to test it out.

For now, he was onto the next portion of his quest, which amusingly, meant going to another city via a cutscene like journey through a transportation tube. It popped him out in a night black city, thankfully without the persistent rain of the previous level, that Arthur quickly realised was actually embedded in a mountain.

Massive stalactites, stalagmites and full on pillars made up the city itself, each of them large enough to be a skyscraper in itself. Further residences and buildings dotted the surrounding walls, the entire cavern so large and replete with buildings that Arthur could not see one end from the other.

A part of him wondered if it truly was this massive, or if it was just an optical illusion conjured to fool his senses. Certainly, his job right now required him to traverse a lot of ground, but nowhere as much – he hoped – as the city before him.

Partly, because at least this time, the quest was rather more straightforward.

Follow the bouncing ball that appeared in the gifted sunglasses/VR visor that he wore, strapped to his face. Traversing the inside of the massive cavern by throwing himself onto passing vehicles, riding on top of cars, busses and the occasional spinning hovercycles and do so fast enough to avoid the screaming sirens of law enforcement.

“You know, I almost feel bad for this…” Arthur muttered to himself, as he threw himself at the next bus high above, pushing the flying car that he had been riding off downwards with the motion. He grabbed at a convenient bar, only for the motion of the vehicle to rip itself free from him, causing Arthur to curse and fall.

Conjured clouds gave him another chance to leap upwards, sideways and then on top of another car; even as a pair of flying police bikes zipped up towards him. Words were screamed, but in a language Arthur could not parse.

“I get you’re doing your jobs, but I got a quest boys…”

Neither group could understand one another, so they reverted to that most translatable of languages – violence. Guns were raised, and a bolo-like series of shots were fired from their weapons, causing Arthur to dodge and leap at one of the bike policemen. He slammed into his opponent, grabbed at the handle and overpowering the other, tossed him aside.

Controlling the suddenly falling bike took Arthur way too long, shots – no longer balls of string set to capture – buzzed past him. He twisted and turned, yanking on the controls that were a weird combination of throttle and joystick until he figured it out and managed to pull the vehicle out of its dive and aimed at the right direction.

A single Energy Dart, put in the right place, ended the problem of his pursuer for the moment, leaving him to fly without problem. He hoped he had a chance to get back to the starting position before the floor ended, because he had left his spear behind the moment he realised he’d be forced to jump around like a maniac.

Too big to carry around otherwise after all.

Unfortunately, it did not take long before the bike cut-out and Arthur was forced to jump away. He was not certain why, perhaps a failsafe to stop joyrides, perhaps just another forcible readjustment but it meant that he went back to bouncing around.

Even more annoying? His enemies – rare though they might be – learnt from their mistakes. They stayed far enough away that he couldn’t jump on them to steal their bikes, nor did they make it easy for him with his Energy Darts. Luckily, he could conjure a few of them at a time, so putting a wide spread attack was well within his abilities.

Of course, it was not all easy. Occassional drones would shoot out, or appear from nowhere to smack into him, causing him to fall. Grabs and rolls, sometimes threw him off where he needed to go, or dodges had him tumbling off edges to grab at jutting handholds on vehicles.

His body was bruised, the tendons in his shoulders and wrist strained; Energy Darts forming from his third eye just as often as his hands. However, he was progressing, even if in a roundabout manner.

“Hun dan!” Arthur cursed, realizing the ball he had been following had disappeared. He spun around, found it behind him now and took to running against the current. That didn’t work, since the damn vehicles he was leaping onto were moving faster than he could leap away; so he just jumped at the nearest building. Bounce on a cloud, slam into the building and bounce off it, utilizing the cloud steps and the building to interchange footing.

He landed on a shorter building not long after, sweat beading his forehead. He panted, staring upwards as the bike patrollers shot pass him, as though they could not see him now that he was on this building. A good thing too, because Arthur needed a moment to catch his breath.

“Insane. This is just the second floor?” he growled, pushing himself to his feet and hurrying to the door that glowed red in his vision.

Yanking it open, he darted inside before the patrols wised up – if they could – and wondered what, exactly, he had been chasing.

 

Chapter 535

 

The red ball had been descriptive, not imaginary. Arthur stared at the creature before him, floating there rather than bouncing at least, and tried to decide if this entire Tower was just one big prank played on humanity. He certainly could not think of another reason why this creature – drone or droid or cyborg – would look like the hovering interrogation droid from Star Wars. Just in red.

“You will not take me!” It buzzed, then swung its turrets down. Arthur threw himself to the side as it opened fire, sending dozens of needles flying through the air where he had been moments ago. Snatching up the table in the high-end spa-like building he was in, Arthur blocked the next set of shots, reading the notification that had popped up in the visor once more.

 

Capture the Target for next orders

 

“Hey, give up already ah!” Arthur cursed, pushing forward and feeling one of the needles nick his fingers. He thrust the entire thing at the droid, slammed the front edge against it, only for the red ball to float backwards. Before he could repeat the action, another dull thud – much more solid than the usual needles – rung out, and he found himself jerking and twitching as electric currents flowed through the metal table.

Table fallen to the ground, Arthur could only stare as the ball hovered over him, a new series of rotating saws emerging from its undercarriage. Before it could cut him open, Arthur managed to kick the entire thing away, cursing a little as threw himself to the side.

How the hell was he supposed to capture a ball of metallic spite?

He dodged and twisted for a few moments, before he went with the only idea he had and turned on his Yin Aura. To his surprise, the moment he did, the creature started twitching and slowing, spinning in circles. It still opened fire, multiple weapons emerging and swinging around in a crazed, hacksaw and rotating blade and flamethrower seizure.

Staying close enough to let his aura affect it till it finally fell to the ground, all its weapons withdrawing left Arthur a little burnt and a little cut. Picking up the beach ball sized creature, Arthur sighed as the visor updated.

 

Return bounty to office

 

“Anyone got a lot of rope?” Arthur asked, hopefully to strained silence. No surprise, since the pair of them had thrashed the poor spa; broken neon lights, shattered crystal tables and hiding aliens all around.

“I guess I’m doing this the hard way…” In the distance, sirens began to near.

 

***

 

An orbiting series of Energy Darts formed, one after the other firing in a line, even as the ones behind formed. Arthur had split his mind, one to create the darts, another to target and loose the attacks. Two for his pursuers who spun out of the way, the explosions of the exploding Energy Darts rocking the surroundings, one for the wall that rumbled but held. Another one for the distant wall, then one up high for the rider that taught he could sneak up on Arthur.

He leapt, twisted and dodged the beam shots that buzzed through the air where he had been. Landed, kept spinning as he landed on the top of the skybridge and ran along it before leaping again, twisting in mid-air to kick the patrolman off his bike, all while holding onto the slumbering sphere that had been tied up and strapped to his front by borrowed bedsheets.

Arthur formed a Cloud Step – the damn technique was getting its workout this floor – and landed, running forth one after the next before he leapt, jumping and jumping again. All the while, he formed and released Exploding Energy Dart’s, noticed how his energy pool kept dropping.

No time to relax, to stop and heal. Just keep moving, on and on and….

The damn wall finally blew apart, and he could stop stalling. He accelerated, hopping across the ‘platforms’ of moving vehicles, bouncing up and down, turning the Refined Exploding Energy dart’s onto those who were chasing after him.

Beam weapons struck all around, forced Arthur to dodge sideways before he finally managed to throw himself through the broken wall into the building beyond.

Once more, as though the moment he went indoors he disappeared, the patrol bikes peeled away, leaving Arthur alone. The quest giver was picking himself off the ground, glaring at Arthur though. It seemed that the unreal aspects of the world only stretched so far and destroying the entire wall bordering the outside was that too far.

“Are you insane?”

“I had to get in, didn’t I?” Arthur said with a grin. He dropped the red sphere by the hunter’s side, undoing the straps around his body with a grunt. The creature fell down and started thrashing, then rotated itself upright and spoke.

“Free me! Free me and I shall pay for you.”

Arthur blinked, surprised at the talking red sphere. Even more so that it had woken up. He hesitated, eyes darting back and forth as it continued its blandishments and attempted bribery.

“Credits, all the credits you need. Joy and girls. Or spheres. Whatever you need.”

“Come now, hunter, you will not listen to it, will you?” Now the once angry creature had grown conciliatory, twisting and wringing its hands. “You know what it costs, to break the agreement.”

“I do, do I?” Arthur said, softly.

“I’ll double what he’s paying you.”

“Only?” Arthur smirked. He wondered if this was a branching quest. The rewards for such quests were generally very good, especially if you took the branch that appeared. Of course, the amount of danger involved increased as well.

“Triple! I can pay triple.”

“That’s a lot for sure.” Arthur said, nodding slowly. “But how would I get paid?”

“Release me and you can get half now, and half when you drop me off.”

“If I’m getting paid later, then I’d want four times.”

“No! You can’t do this. You can’t!” The quest giver that gave the orders growled, went to its desk. Hands were trembling and Arthur had a premonition of what might come.

“Four. Done!”

“Payment first.” Arthur said. “Then I release you.” At the same time, he raised a hand in front of the quest giver, trying to stall them a little.

The red sphere twisted, buzzed and then something in its body tried to open. It tried and failed, and Arthur reached sideways, pushed the net out of the way so that it could open fully. A small sphere dropped out. At the same time, the quest giver pointed a weird, straight crystal item at Arthur.

“Good job.” Arthur smirked and turned to the quest giver whose hand trembled as they pointed the weapon at him. “Job done. Still tied up.”

“You! You can’t do that,” the sphere warbled.

“I am pretty sure I can and just did.” Arthur bent down, grabbed the small sphere that had dropped down and looked it over before he pocket it in the pouch. He would have to identify it, later. He was many things, but that kind of risk, of breaking the branching quest and see what happened after? That he would not take. Not when he was not certain what kind of reward he would get after.

 

Chapter 536

Floor after floor, pushing upwards through an insane city. The next floor he had to work a dungeon – the sewer system – clearing portion after portion. He returned to the Clan room, crashed out after each run and then delved back into the morass of dirty water and sewage. The monsters within the sewer were a mix of mutated rats and twisted snakes with the final boss, a cybernetic alligator that shot lasers out at Arthur as he fought his way through the cramped surroundings, desperate to get close enough to kill it. When he finally managed to land nearby, he found the cybernetic body was armor plated, protecting his foe from him.

The creature thrashed, throwing hot water and blasting Arthur aside. The lasers did not cut through his armour, though they burnt them, leaving his blackened leather the worse for wear. In the end, he knew, he would have to get something new, if he survived.

Eventually, Arthur threw a Focused and Penetration Strike, combining the two techniques in a desperate bid to pierce the front armour, his spear punching through the plate in front and burying the spearhead in its brain.

Clambering out of the sewer, Arthur found himself in another portion of the city, forced to start again. To his surprise, his Clan mates were waiting for him, happily cultivating. For a while, the group stayed together, training with one another and cultivating. The payment here was weak, few monsters to acquire, though the goods were great so soon enough they ran out of beast cores.

When they did, they parted ways, finishing up the last of their individual quests before resuming their climb.

The work was as varied and strange as one might expect, for a cybernetic, near-future city. At least, as far as one might consider it, for a bounty-hunter and rough man. Arthur found himself on the front lines next, working together with a bunch of police men that he once killed, fighting against protestors and rioters. To his surprise, he nearly smashed in Jan’s face, when he spotted the woman on the other side of the line.

Near ended up hurt himself, when she kicked him aside and ran for it. Luckily, the protest was broken soon after – though, he hoped that her quest was not destroyed. Not much that he could do, other than get back into line in another spot and repeat the process, dealing with the riots that threatened to overwhelm the city.

It left a bad taste in Arthur’s mouth, to be on this side of the battle. He wondered if it was a branching quest, chose to keep his head down and reminded himself that this was a game. A Tower quest, that had no realworld consequences – that it was not him.

He was not as certain about that truth, in fact, but it was a lie that he could use to get through the floor.

Better than the next one, where he worked alone, tracking down another bounty. Except this time, he had to do it without the help of a handy device, working through a series of hints and tips, chasing down his opponent till he ended up in a fight.

Cybernetic troll-like monster, with incredible strength, regeneration and a claw-like blade and vibrating shield on their arms. For all its strength and speed, it had no real skill and Arthur had a spear, better than some weird Wolverine-wannabe claw weapon.

The problem was, no matter how many times he stuck the troll, it did not fall. The creature’s terrible regeneration – the reason Arthur though of a troll – kept it on its feet. Yin Aura helped to slow it, to weaken its regeneration abilities but it did kill it, not even strengthened as it might be.

They fought, on and on, thrashing first the motel room that he had found the creature within before they broke outwards, down the floor and into another room. Eventually, they ended up outside, where random add’s – more of the troll’s friends – joined the fray.

Most were easy enough to handle, a couple of Energy Darts drilled through their bodies as he fired upon them. Yin Aura sapped the adds and the troll, a couple of Refined Yin Energy Poison Darts launched at point blank range managed to slow down the monster’s speed and regeneration that Arthur managed to get close, put his spear up its throat.

A twist of the blade detached spine from head, then he yanked the weapon out and finished the processing of ripping the monster’s head off. Carrying the thing back was interesting, because by the time he got back, the troll had managed to regenerate by then, the muscles sealing the bleeding wound around the head.

How it could survive like that, Arthur had no idea; but rather than continue and turn in his target and finish the level, Arthur returned to his own room. There, he studied the monster’s body, the way it could regenerate, how it did so.

Studied it via watching the flow of energy, the way it triggered its regeneration via its own version of a technique. At first, he was not certain what he was looking for; but in the end, he began to grasp what he was seeing, what he had instinctively understood.

The way the troll regenerated, the way its body functioned was different from humanity’s. It was different from a Climber’s body too, certainly different from the way his own healing ability functioned. Too much of it was – literally – alien to make use, but there were concepts here, ways the energy flowed that he could use.

It took him weeks, a lot of it spent cultivating, refining and then testing; but the result… the result was well worth it.

 

Variant Skill Upgrade: Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVd) -> (Grade Vd)

Passively increases base Tower healing rates by 196.7%

Active use of technique increases base Tower healing rate by 388.4%

Healing may now be directed

Variant technique increases resistance against toxins and poisons by 59% (passive)/ 149% (active)

Variant technique increases resistance against elemental effects by 27% (passive)

Variant technique allows regeneration of minor loss to limbs and body parts at 0.1% (passive) / 1.2% (active)

Minor chance to replace non-essential major loss to limbs or body parts, chronic injuries and long-term scarring

Active Cost: 0.1 Refined Energy per ten minutes

 

Arthur let out a long breath when it clicked, smiled a little more when the next note came along.

 

Sigil: The Flame Phoenix

Sigil Bonus (Clan Head): Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade Vd)

Sigil Bonus (Clan): Cultivation Exercise – Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVd) 

 

It was a major upgrade, but it was not enough; not for his Clan. He needed to keep going, but he had sucked this Troll dry. And since it was bumbling around, crawling about with a toddler sized body by the time he was done and constantly trying to kill Arthur, he figured it was time to move on.