Tower of Souls

It was impossible for Cam to know what Stats he would need in the Tower. Since his Ability let him Harvest Abilities from dead enemies, he didn’t know what he would get. Would he be a caster of some sort? Defender? Maybe an archer?

More likely, unless he focused on carefully curating his selection of Abilities, he would end up as a sort of hybrid- able to do a little of everything, but not excelling at anything... But that would also mean having to spread his Stats out more, leaving him weaker in any one role.

’Though that is really only in comparison to high Rarity Classes.’ He consoled himself. ’I would still be stronger than Commons and Uncommons... and some Rares... even in their specialty.’

Sighing to himself, he shut off the water and began drying himself off while he distributed his Free Stats- knowing that doing so, while it didn’t completely lock him into a more physical role, it certainly leaned in that direction. That, or a hybrid build- which he knew none of the big Families and Guilds would accept; they would consider it wasting the power he got from a Mythic Class, relegating him to the level of a Rare, or maybe low Epic...

But... they couldn’t spend is Stats, only he could... They could only try to force him to do what they wanted- if he joined them.

And Cameron was already sick of being pushed around...

Pushing away the stray thoughts he knew he didn’t have time for, Cameron quickly decided on how to spend his Free Stats as he started to dress. Confirming his choice, a warmth spread through his body as the physical change took place- though, looking down at himself, it didn’t seem to have change his appearance much...

Still five and a half feet tall, and skinny- though he didn’t look as gaunt and sickly as he used to...

Smiling to himself, he pulled up his Status.

Name: Cameron

Class: Binder

Level: 1

XP: 0/1000

HP: 100 MP: 130

HP Regen: 1/s MP Regen: 1.95/s

Armor: 0

Stats:

Strength- 11

Agility- 20

Vitality- 10

Intelligence- 13

Will- 12

Spirit- 15

Abilities:

Soul Harvest

Free Stats Available: 0

While he wasn’t happy about the situation he was in, he was pleased by his Stats- and the fact that he even had Stats at all... Though he would have preferred to more evenly spread his Free Stats, having already subconsciously leaned towards a sort of hybrid build...

But, for the desperate plan he had in mind to get out of this situation, Agility was too important.

Dressed, and as ready as he could be, Cameron pulled back the curtain separating the small bathing area from the rest of the room and stepped out. Careful to keep his intention from showing on his face, he looked back and forth between the two Coles. ”So... which of you am I supposed to talk to?”

Stepping away from the broken window, Cole 1- who hadn’t moved away from it while he was showering- walked up to him, nearly getting in his face. ”It doesn’t matter, because you aren’t going to be doing any talking. You’re just going to listen while I explain how things are going to go.”

Cole 2 pushed off from the door frame and moved to bracket him, standing just as uncomfortably close as the first one- obviously his way of trying to intimidate the newly Awakened standing between them. With a sigh, Cam lowered his head and turned to face Cole 1 directly.

”Ok...”

Cole 1 smirked at the defeated tone, and patted Cam condescendingly on the head. ”That’s right, Freak. It seems you already know your place.”

”You see, you may think you’re hot shit right now. Got yourself a fancy Class and everything.” The thug continued in a patronizing tone. ”But see, I know how this works... And I know you...”

”The Guilds and Families... well, they can’t really threaten you, can they? Sure, they could hurt you. Maybe even kill you... But me?”

”I know how to control you.”

”You see, I know everything that goes on around here.” He continued with a smirk. ”I know how all the little assholes used to beat on you, how you always ducked your head and took it- because you knew they were right, and there was nothing you could do about it...”

”And I know... that you’ve got a soft spot for that cripple across the hall, and for the old bitch at the school...”

”You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, would you?”

Cam’s body shook with raw fury. This man, this absolute bastard, wasn’t lying. Davis and Mrs. Elsbeth were the only people who were truly kind to him, and cared for him. They had looked after him for years, even protected him when they could...

Support the creativity of authors by visiting NovelFire for this novel and more.

And this asshole was threatening them... to get to him.

Mistaking the younger man’s trembling for fear, Cole chuckled darkly. ”That’s right, boy; I don’t have to do anything to you... But them? You don’t even want to imagine what I’ll do to them.”

”So! This is how its going to go...” Cole 1 practically crowed. ”You’re going to disappear for a while- eventually, those bastard Innies will stop looking and I’ll have my own pocket Mythic to play around with!”

He shook his head in amusement, humor in his tone. ”Those idiots think they’re so great, sitting up there in luxury... But they never come out here, do they? So, once they back off... I’ll be able to put you to work!”

”And it’s not like you’ll be able to set foot in the Tower without them, anyway! You’ll be stuck here as my bitch... for the rest of your life!”

”Or those two old bastards... well, you can imagine, I’m sure.” Throwing his head back, the man laugh loudly as if he had already won, and Cole 2 happily joined in...

With Cole clearly certain of his victory, Cameron knew he wouldn’t get a better opportunity... So he took it.

Reaching into his Inventory- the small, spacial storage that all Classers got after Awakening- he pulled out his last trick... his only trick, really, unless he counted tricking this idiot into thinking he wasn’t going to fight back...

Rusty Iron Dagger of Bleeding

Tower Value=4

Damage = 4

Targets damaged by this weapon take 1hp/10seconds for 30 seconds. Effect does not stack.

The weapon didn’t look like much... because it wasn’t really. Most serious climber would only consider it a trash drop from a lower Floor- which it was...

But Davis had gotten it from the Second Floor- the only thing he got from the floor before losing his leg- and gave it to him, telling him it was ’for luck on your future climbs... and in case you need it.’

But it was an actual weapon dropped in the Tower, and, while there were people in the Craftsman’s Circle that could make weapons... crafted weapons- and armor- were simply less effective than Tower drops, for whatever reason...

Crafted items were beginner gear, basically, meant to get people through the First Floor.

Holding the dagger in an underhand grip, Cam didn’t hesitate to stab back at the one behind him, his arm arcing up until he felt contact- even as his foot snapped forward, straight into the crotch of Cole 1.

Identical shouts of pain- followed immediately by near simultaneous thumps as both Coles collapsed to the floor to writhe in pain- rang out, and, with a glance behind him, Cam could only marvel at his luck...

Both men clutch at their groins, though one had blood leaking from his cupped hands- and his voice sounded a touch higher pitch...

Not wanting to question his second miracle of the day, he threw himself at Cole 1- figuring the being stabbed in the dick would keep the other out of the fight for longer. Landing bodily on top of the larger man, time seemed to slow for a moment as he lined up his strike... and plunged the dagger into the bastard’s throat...

While he didn’t fully understand how or why things worked the way they did under the Tower, he knew that even such a wound wasn’t instantly fatal- not to a Classer. Having hit points... changed things... Thankfully, hit points didn’t affect the pain someone felt when injured.

But one thing he did know: hitting particular weak points- eyes, throat, heart, or brain of a person- was a way to increase damage. By fifty percent, unless modified by a weapon or Ability. Called a Critical Hit, or just a Crit in climber slang... it would help him remove Cole’s hit points. Preferably all of them.

Plunging the dagger into the man’s neck again and again, Cam’s entire focus was locked into his goal: kill this bastard, then the other one... Though, since one of them was likely created from an ability, he had no idea how it all worked. Did he have to kill both? Was there another one out there he would have to deal with later?

In the moment, it didn’t matter. Only what was in front of him did.

The moment the man beneath him died was obvious; while he couldn’t see someone else’s HP, the sudden stop to any resistance and the body going slack made it clear... as well as the fact that he nearly decapitated it with his next swing.

Hit points may have changed things, making it all but impossible to instantly kill a Classer... but a dead body didn’t have any special protection from the Tower.

”You... fucking... Freak...” Cole 2 ground out as he tried to drag himself up off the floor. ”I’m... going to make sure... that you suffer...”

Levering himself up off the corpse, Cam took in the view of the man weakly struggling with the pain of having been stabbed in the dick... and, not wanting to wait for the man to recover any more, he hopped forward and stomped.

Unable to raise his hands quickly enough to defend himself, Cam’s foot slammed into his face and sent Cole 2 sprawling once more... and then he started to stomp and kick as quickly as he could- it wasn’t about the damage, minimal that it was, that his kicks cause, but about the pain keeping the asshole incapacitated a bit longer.

That, and it kinda felt good to stomp on the jerk for once instead of the other way around.

Dropping his knee- and full weight- onto the man’s chest knocked the wind out of him. Cam resisted the temptation to gloat at their role reversal, instead opting to repeat what he had done already- stab the bastard in the throat.

”I don’t give a fuck what you have to say!” He snarled, plunging the dagger in again. ”I don’t even care if there are more of you out there!”

”I’ll find them... and I’ll kill them too!”

When the second body went limp beneath him, Cam sighed to himself in relief. ”Threatening Mrs. Elsbeth and Davis? Fuck you... prick...”

His eyes widened as a small chimed sounded in his head... and a prompt popped up in front of him.

Duplicant(Lvl. 1) has been slain. +200 Xp

A slightly manic laugh threatened to escape his throat as he read the prompt; he hadn’t received one when he killed Cole 1... So Cole 2 was actually the original Cole?

And... he was dead. With the way Abilities worked, that meant that even if there was another Cole out there, he should be gone now... Glancing back at the other body, Cam sighed in relief to find it had disappeared sometime while he was busy killing the real one....

That also meant one less body to dispose of before people showed up to try to ’claim’ him like this asshole had done...

Turning back, his thoughts on how to get rid of said body froze as he saw something different...

A mostly transparent Cole, wailing in anguish, hung before him.

Soul Harvest Passive: You can see the Souls of slain enemies for a short time after their deaths.

It was Cole’s soul- he nearly snickered at the rhyme in his own head... But now he had an important question to answer...

Did he really want to Harvest a person’s soul?

For monsters, it was an easy ’Yes’... but, for a person? Could he really do that to someone else? He wasn’t sure...

But for the bastard lying dead in front of him, he was certain he could make an exception... Especially since the asshole was still Level 1, and only had a single Ability... and, he imagined, this Ability was worth taking- especially with the plan that he was quickly forming, crazy as it was...

Harvest Ability(Clone)?

Climbing alone was suicide, everyone said... But maybe it didn’t have to be?

There was only one way to find out.