Tower of Souls

The quiet of the Kobold mine felt oppressive as it weighed on Cam, the only sounds being their shuffling steps and the pounding of their hearts. He half expected every thump of his heart to echoed off the damp walls- though logically he knew that wasn’t really possible. With every step, the tension grew...

Ahead, he could just make out another corridor intersecting theirs- and, perhaps more embarrassingly, it wasn’t until Eron tapped his ear and pointed down the left path that Cam realized there was another rhythmic thumping, just slightly out of sync with his pounding heart.

Eron scanned the three paths available before turning left toward the sound- even with Cam marking their route behind them, they followed the simplest and most effective plan for exploring a Tower floor: when in doubt, always go left.

It wasn’t always the fastest, but it was usually the safest... as long as it wasn’t a shifting Floor, but those didn’t appear until much higher up.

Marking their path once more, Cam followed Eron into the winding passage- school had taught him that, in a mine, these sorts of paths would commonly wind left and right as the miners followed whatever veins of ore... not that that actually mattered in the Tower; as far as anyone knew, the Tower Floors were generated once you entered, and only lasted until you exited... Though, again, there was some debate on the subject...

The rhythmic tapping of metal on stone grew louder with each step down the narrow hall, just barely wide enough for them to stand shoulder to shoulder if they wanted- though that would make fighting more difficult. When the corridor suddenly widened ahead of them, Eron paused, bringing Cam to a halt as well.

After just a couple seconds, his clone waved for him to join him.

Cautiously moving forward on near silent feet, Cam stopped just behind his clone, looking over his shoulder. The path they were on dead-ended into a roughly circular room, its crudely worked walls curving out and around from where they stood to the far side...

Where a single kobold tapped away at the wall with a pick.

The kobold itself appeared typical for its kind, according to the descriptions they had read: roughly four feet tall, with a lizard like snout and a thin whip-like tail, a patchwork of dusty brown scales and fur covered the creature. Its only clothing was what looked like a wool sack with holes cut for the head and arms that came down to its knobby knees; the pick it wielded was crudely crafted from stone with a cracked wooden haft. On the floor near it was another sack, though this one was clearly intended for carrying whatever ore it managed to mine.

The pair exchanged a glace; a lone kobold was ideal for their first encounter, offering them a chance not only for valuable experience toward their next level, but an opportunity to test exactly how tough the creature were- while everything they had been taught suggested that kobolds were individually quite weak, there was a vast difference between reading about them and actually fighting one.

Eron placed a finger to his lips, motioning for silence... and earning an eye roll from Cam- they were the same person, and had the same thoughts, so of course they both knew to be silent. Spreading out just slightly, with Eron to Cam’s right, the two made sure to stay behind the kobold and retain the element of surprise as they approached.

Not wanting to alert their first target, both were careful to control their breathing and where they placed their feet. Once in ranged, Cam held up three fingers to silently countdown their coordinated attack- and resisted rolling his eyes again as Eron did the exact same, almost in sync with him.

Sharing a smile, they counted down together, and right as their last finger went down, both struck. Cam’s sword thrust into the kobold’s back, right where he thought the heart should be- and was confirmed by the notification of a critical hit- as Eron plunged his dagger into its side.

In unison, both dropped low and rammed their shoulders into its back, slamming the kobold face first into the wall- its pained scream cut off into a wheezing grunt as the wind was knocked from it, and the pick jarred loose from its hands. Before it could even begin to recover, both blades flashed out again.

Cam’s sword pierced its back once more, effectively pinning it to the wall, and Eron’s dagger took it in the neck- another critical. With the creature effectively helpless against their assault, Cam simply leaned his weight into it- little that he weighed, it was still more than the diminutive kobold- and kept it pinned as Eron’s armed repeatedly pumped back and forth, his blade sinking deeper and deeper into its neck...

Until another notification popped up, causing them both to sigh in relief.

Kobold Miner(Lvl. 1) has been slain. +50 Xp

Before either of them relaxed, Cam nodded back the way they had just come, his voice barely a whisper. ”Double check-”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

”-that we’re still clear, yeah. You check for a drop.” Eron responded with a cheeky grin, already heading for the winding corridor.

Cam shook his head, turning back to the kobold corpse laying on the floor and surrounded by its own inky black blood, which the two of them were liberally coated with... Not that it mattered as, before his eyes, the blood began to simply evaporate into nothing- and, bit by bit, the body was doing the same.

Despite it being the first time he witnessed a Tower monster despawn, as the experienced climber liked to call it, his attention was pulled away- because, hovering above the body, was a soul. Cam stared at it for a second as he exhaled slowly, one of his pressing questions being answered for him: Tower monsters had souls... though, that raised other questions for him...

It was common knowledge, at least as far as he knew, that Tower monsters were just creations of the Tower- and not truly real. So how did they have souls like people did?

Of course, before he got his Class he wasn’t even sure souls were really a thing. People talked about them, but no one could prove that they existed. His mind raced over the shocking revelation... before more thoughts intruded, and more questions arose.

Were Tower monsters actual living, thinking beings? Did that make killing them somehow wrong? Or was it possible the soul was just some sort of representation of a person’s power and Abilities? Or was it something else, something he hadn’t even thought of?

Shaking off the racing thoughts, Cam looked once more at the soul hovering before him. It was different than he had expected: while Cole’s soul had looked just like the man, only more transparent and howling in anguish, the kobold’s soul appeared... jumbled, more like a patchwork of pieces simply crammed together into the vague shape of a kobold rather than looking like the creature itself.

And it didn’t howl or wail at all; it simply... hung there, its reptilian face slack and devoid of any expression.

”That’s... kinda creepy.” Cam muttered before letting out a small sigh; the kobold didn’t have any Abilities he could harvest- which made sense, at least. It was just a kobold miner on the first Floor, after all, and not all monsters had Abilities anyway.

After a few more seconds, the soul dissipated, going... wherever they went, Cam had no clue, though a part of him wondered... Glancing down, he saw that the body had disappeared, as well as the blood that had liberally splattered all over him and the floor- no one really understood why, but Tower monsters, as well as all their things, would simply disappear shortly after death.

Even if the monster had a weapon or armor you wanted, it wasn’t a guarantee that you would get it- in fact, it was more likely that you wouldn’t. It was all dependent on what dropped... if anything did...

And, even if an item dropped, there was no way of knowing what it would be. As far as anyone knew, it was almost completely random; there were even stories of drops drastically conflicting with the creature that dropped them: Ice Giants dropping a flaming sword, a Treant dropping an axe, an ooze dropping boots...

The only rule that seemed to stick was that the drop was of a power and value suitable for the Floor; a Floor 1 weapon wouldn’t have the stats of Floor 50 weapon... There were also different rarities of drops, and higher rarities meant more power...

Though, even with that, a high rarity weapon from a low floor would, sooner or later, find itself eclipsed by low rarity items from higher Floors...

It was complicated, but also depended a lot on the person- after all, some people were better with different weapons. A spear from a higher floor may have better stats and bonuses than a sword from a lower floor, but if you couldn’t use a spear...

Not that that mattered to Cam; he had made sure to train with as many different weapons and armor as possible. And, while he wasn’t a fan of some- especially heavy armor, as it had been troublesome for his slight frame- he was confident in his ability to adapt.

Cam had no expectations of getting a drop- it was the first enemy on the first floor, after all- but, with the corpse gone, his eyes widened in surprise and he nearly jumped for joy.

His first drop!

But, before he could celebrate, his eyes took in what he was actually seeing.

Rusty Iron Greatsword

Tower Value=1

Damage = 12

His face twisted into a scowl; while he knew he should be happy, as the odds of getting a drop this early were slim... The weapon was massive. A large, two-handed weapon, its blade was over four feet long and pitted with age and rust. From his training, he knew it would be heavy- though that was also before his Awakening, so perhaps his improved body could handle it better?

But still... he had invested so much into Agility in order to be quick enough to handle Cole, and his first drop was this massive two-hander?

Sighing, Cam put away the shortsword he carried and reluctantly picked up the greatsword, hefting it cautiously. While it wasn’t as awkward and unwieldy as he remembered, and he was sure that he could use it... they were fighting in a mine; that meant narrow corridors and sometimes low ceilings. There simply wasn’t enough room for a weapon that was taller even than him!

”We’re clear for now.” Eron said on his return. ”We get anyth- oh, nice!”

”Wait.” Eron sighed, shaking his head. ”Not nice.”

”Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Cam replied, wincing at the unintended bad joke- of course they were his thoughts; the two of them were virtually identical.

”Well, no sense pouting over it.” Eron shrugged.

”Yeah, I know. Maybe it will be useful later... like after I raise our strength.” Cam sighed, stuffing the sword into his Inventory. ”We still have a Floor to clear.”