40 – Skill training

>>Atmos Arcadia Tower Complex – FLOOR 5 – Selenite tunnels (E-)<<

The doors slid open, soundlessly. The cold dead steel of the elevator split apart, and Julian left the only source of light to step into complete darkness. He had left the City of Light in a hurry, guided by a small platoon of soldiers loyal to Methias, with barely a few parting words between them. He was very aware of the fact that his actions had left the city in a state of precarious calm, and with the news of the death of the king soon to spread inevitably to the whole city, a civil was wall all but inevitable. Methias was the favorite to come out somewhat a victor, in virtue of the fact that he could act first before anyone else even got wind of what had happened at the castle, of his already superior position as the most powerful person left in town, and the gun Julian had given him. However, without the protective treasure in the throne room, and with emptied vaults, his chances were not all that great.

It didn’t matter. And it wasn’t because Julian didn’t care. In fact, he already imagined what Cal was going to say when he eventually will get wind of this stuff, probably because Julian couldn’t keep his mouth shut around the guy. However, he was ready with an explanation and more than one example of other times when he did do good deeds even though he didn’t have to. 112 floodgates on an asteroid was all too easy to mention, but it wasn’t the only one. This time Julian left a mess behind him in his hurry because he had other things to do, more important things. He had taken way too long to get here in the first place, and could not get the sense of guilt of his mind. Cal was waiting for him, injured and alone, and instead of recuing him he had wasted time at a fucking banquet.

He took out a torch and set out immediately. As the light reached the many crystals that made up the walls of the great cavern they lit up, scattering a multicolored pattern on the dirt and on other crystals that in turn lit up even more of the cavern. Amidst the dizzying light he began to feel a strange sensation. It was like a tingling from far away that tugged at his senses, and seemed to call him towards a distant objective. He looked at his HUD and saw that the sensation was strongest when he looked towards the West. And so he set out, leaving the great cavern where the elevator had left him behind and wandering through the meandering tunnels. He noticed as he walked on, although distractedly, the remains of a small fire and a few discarded utensils, but he paid them no mind because he knew that they there surely left there from other of the few adventurers still left at these lower levels of the tower.

He walked. The path wound upon itself like a hollow snake and the floor was irregular, at times wet, and before long Julian encountered many forks and strange turns that would have completely destroyed his sense of direction if not for the sensation coming from far away and his compass in the HUD. He had never had much occasion to use the compass before, but now it was proving invaluable.

Another great room opened up before his eyes, it must have been the 5th by now and so, he entered without paying much attention to what might have been hiding in the darkness. He had been walking for hours and not a single creature or living thing could be found hiding in the crystals, only the lifeless and the cold glassy surfaces that scattered the light and reflected the grimace in Julian's face, and this lulled him into a false sense of security. This time it was different, and he realized it a moment too late. Something jumped down from the ceiling, and he barely had time to take out the shield before it landed on it with great violence. Pain flared in his arm as he was thrown off balance, but he managed to twist himself off and away from the thing. He looked at it at a glance, seeing a scarab-like monster glistening in the far away darkness at the edge of the room.

“Appraisal.”

>Selenite Scarab. F+ monster. HP: 100%

He stared at the strange creature, made of the very same crystals that grew out of the cave walls, lit by the still burning torch that now laid discarded on the ground. He didn’t have time for this, he thought, and grumbling he took out a small F-crystal from his storage ring and hurled it at the monster as it charged. The he shot it, hitting it with great precision at the apex of its trajectory. The crystal exploded in a flash of light cerulean and blinding, and a shower of shards. The force sent compressed air back at Julian’s face and changed the momentum of the creature, stunning it and taking a good chunk of its health. With a swift motion Julian made use of this opening to leap in the air, and slam on the monster’s head with his Irradiated Star, smashing its fragile crystals.

+980 Runes.

The creature disappeared soon after Julian retrieved its Core, and he was once again navigating the maze of galleries with great speed.

He stopped and looked around. Shit. I think I made a loop.

Some parts of the cave looked familiar, but it was when his careful steps brought him back to the small burnt out fire that he was sure he had looped back all the way to the very beginning of the floor.

“Fuck. Fuuck!” He cursed.

He took out another crystal and, like with the scarab, threw it at the wall and shot at it. He missed, and the crystal landed on the ground with a small noise that echoed in the great space of the cave, as if mocking him. He felt the rage boil, and aimed his shaky guns at it and shot five more times at the ground before he hit it and it exploded. A few crystals shattered close to the blast, and a couple others fell from the wall rocked by the explosion. The bright light seared his retinas and for a moment, even though he had a torch, the cave was too dark for him to see anything. Then he felt a sort of manic paranoia begin to settle in, and he had to take long, deep breaths in order not to scream and start smashing everything with his mace until he passed out.

He collapsed on his knees, and heaved. In his altered state, he did not feel the ground begin to shake.

“Calm down. We have work to do.” He told himself. “No need to panic. They won’t let him die until they have me.”

He breathed. Then, with a scream so loud and powerful that he felt like his eyes were going to burst out of their sockets, he smashed his mace on the ground hard enough to bury its head in the dirt completely. The small cloud of dust made him cough, and he coughed and laughed at the absurdity of the situation, rolling on the ground in tears of manic laughter and anger. When he was done, however, he felt completely calm. Like a deep sea, hiding beneath a calm surface all manners of great monsters and perils, he felt peaceful.

He put his hands to his temples and concentrated. Mind palace, come on. Then, slowly, he began to remap the whole tunnel system he had explored over the last few hours, building a detailed 3D image in his mind. A red line went through the snaking tunnels and into the rock, at all times indicating the direction he felt the strange sensation coming from, acting as the needle of a compass towards where he needed to go.

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Okay, I see where I took a wrong turn. Let’s go.

He got up, and moved with purpose. The wrong turn was three hours of walking away from where he was, at the farthest point he got from the spawn point, back at the elevator. From there, the red needle pointed towards the crystal walls, and he had originally thought that if he kept going eventually the tunnel would turn or he would find a crossroad, but it never did and the tunnel led him back to the starting point. This time he was going to take a left turn right before the edge of the explored space, and would map it carefully to make sure it went the right way.

A rumble shook the earth, and the crystals began to sing a soft hum. Barely a few steps after setting out, Julian had to stop again, and stared at the darkness.

What now? Julian thought, exasperated.

The ground in front of him exploded. He readied his shield, but barely a moment after the ground beneath his feet exploded as well before he could react, and something emerged from beneath and sent him flying up. He hit the ceiling, banging his head against a sharp crystal, and fell back on the hard dirt of the ground without managing to stop his fall. He groaned, and pushed himself back up on shaky arms, struggling to find a balance. Something wet was making the back of his shirt sticky, and with a hand he explored the place and found blood. Wide eyes stared at the bloodied hand, searching the Bleed meter that refused to go into focus before them. Everything was swimming and turning.

Then a strong force sent Julian flying. First the impact with the rock-like tail of the monster that had emerged from the ground, then the impact with the wall knocked the wind out of Julian’s lungs, and for a moment he felt his vision fade. But a sharp pain kept him awake, and he noticed with horror that a large multicolored crystal was poking out of his chest from behind. His HP bar was out of focus, but he could see that it was almost empty. With what clarity of mind he had left, Julian materialized an HP potion in his mouth and felt some strength return to him. He grabbed the crystal with his hands and tried to push himself off, but no matter how much he struggled, the thing didn’t move, nor did he.

The monster screeched, and the crystal sang. Julian looked up and at it, and decided to forego his efforts to dislodge himself from the crystal as the mass of rocks and pure hatred that had attacked him charged at him like a runaway train. He had no space to maneuver, or he could use the momentum to break free of the crystal. But he was stuck. A hit from that thing was surely going to kill him, and force him back to floor one.

That was not acceptable.

What else could he do?

The creature stomped on, and the ground shook and the crystals chimed so loud it was hard to even think.

What tools did he have?

The blare of the crystals, with their many harmonics made his ears bleed.

None of the treasures from the Elves or the White City were in his rings.

The creature grew bigger. Why didn’t he roll away when he heard the tremor? No, I could have never known the timing. Fuck. That’s irrelevant now. Focus.

He thought about making something explode. He had one explosive charge left, like the ones he used on Bob when the crazed elf had tried to kill him. And a bunch of crystals. But he needed to make a blast strong enough to stop the charging behemoth dead in its track. It didn’t matter if it almost killed him, as long as he survived and was not knocked out while losing HP to a bleed effect or whatnot.

He grit his teeth. Wait. My HP dipped below 50% after I was hit! I still have the protection from Tough to Kill!

“Hahahahahahahaha! Come on you stupid fucking stone pig!” He laughed, and taunted the thing to charge at him, to come at him as his whole stock of Crystals, F-rank and F+ rank with the addition of the explosive charge in the middle, appeared between them.