Tower of Souls

”I’m glad that this Floor had a stream.” Eron sighed as he stretched out, readying himself to move on. ”We were starting to stink bad after... fuck, how long have we been in here now? A month?”

Cam nodded, then quickly shook his head. ”Five weeks; Two on the first Floor, then this Floor... one after grabbing Twin Shot, one hiding in the Big Bunni’s lair, and then one after fighting the Boss and his Mount.”

For a second, he marveled over that, and was just as thankful for the tiny stream running through this Floor’s forest; Not only had it allowed him to fill up on water once more, but the chance to bathe left him feeling more human... and the smell was a lot better, even if he hadn’t thought to bring soap into the Tower.

Not that he had the space for something like soap...

”I’m starting to worry about our Inventory space.” He spoke out loud- even though his clone already knew the situation just as well as he did. ”Not counting the armor we’re wearing, or the weapons we’re carrying, it’s already half full!”

”Just drop some trash, then.” Eron shrugged. ”Well, once we pick up some more stuff, that is; No point dropping anything until then.”

”Still, it’s something we need to think about.” Cam countered quickly. ”Especially when we get closer to exiting; Even if I can wear most of my stuff out, I have to have enough space for all of your armor and weapons!”

”That is a concern...” His clone nodded along. ”Assuming we both get fully kitted out- which is no guarantee, considering how bad drops have been-, that’s seven pieces of armor- eight if you count my shield- and a weapon; Nine Inventory slots taken up with just my gear-”

”-and the Inventory only has twenty slots.” Cam finished for his clone. ”Plus, even if all we eat is T-Rations, we still have to dedicate four slots to food and water!”

”Man, the boxes of rations not stacking once you remove a single ration pack totally sucks!” Eron groused. ”Having less than half our Inventory for taking out loot for the War Chest is going to hurt, man!”

Glancing at the Inventory once more, Cam could only agree. ”We’ll deal with it when we have to.” He shrugged, turning towards the wood hut where the exit lay...

Technically, it was two exits from the Floor, though the two were drastically different- both in purpose and appearance. Stepping into the hut, he glanced the left and right at the two exits from the Floor. To his left, a shimmering blue orb floated in the air, slowly rotating as it cast its dim glow across the dirt floor; All he had to do was walk up and touch it and they would be transported to the next Floor- technically, it only transported the person that touched it, and it was possible for only some members of a team to move on to the next Floor while the rest exited the Tower, but since Eron was formed from an Ability of his, the clone would be transported with him...

Also, as they had discovered already, Eron touching the orb wouldn’t trigger the transition to the next Floor- though neither understood why that was the case.

Stolen novel; please report.

To his right was a heavy stone door, firmly mounted into the wall of the wood hut and looking completely out of place; All he had to do was walk up and grab the door handle and he would exit the Tower, his climb for the day over... Not that he was willing to exit just yet.

Cam needed enough Levels to push back when people tried to push him, and Level 4 wasn’t going to be good enough for that.

Squaring his shoulders, he ignored the stone door and marched towards the orb, glancing over his shoulder to confirm Eron was ready; Receiving a thumbs up in response, Cam took a deep breath before reaching out to grab the orb... and, in the next second, he found himself standing in the safe room of Floor 3.

For a second, Cam just blinked as his mind wandered back to the notification he had received when entering the First Floor, telling him that it was the Kobold Mine... and the fact that there wasn’t a similar notification for the following two Floors. It was a curious thing, as that notification only appeared on the First Floor the first time someone entered the Tower; Most people chalked it up to the Tower doing so to help first time climbers... But that implied the Tower thought, or perhaps had feelings- and nearly everyone agreed that the Tower wasn’t intelligent. More like a force of nature than anything else.

So why was the notification there?

Shaking off the stray thought, as it didn’t really matter to him- especially not with the Third Floor right in front of him-, Cam waved his clone towards the only door leading out- a slate gray stone door, so probably not another ’outside’ Floor... but a stone door could mean any number of things, so that didn’t really tell him much.

Easing open the door, Eron peeked out for a second before puling the door open wide and stepping out, his eyes panning across the room as he slowly relaxed from the fighting stance he had adopted...

”I don’t think you’re going to like this.”

Suppressing a groan, Cam stepped out as his clone made room for him, his own gazing flitting around the room... and Eron was right. He didn’t like it.

To his left and right, flanking the door they had just walked through, was a pair of large, metal levers on the walls... and on each of the other walls were another two levers each, the last pair flanking a door directly opposite where they entered... But it was the door, or, more accurately, the glass orbs above the door that drew his attention.

The first orb shone brightly with white light, as did the third and fourth... but the second and fifth were dark.

Cam had an idea what this Floor was, but the only way to be sure...

Reaching out slowly, he grabbed the lever to his left and pulled it down; With an audible click, the lever shifted under the motion... and the first orb went dark, while the second lit up...

”It’s a Puzzle Floor!” He groaned loudly.

Puzzle Floors were a hotly debated topic among Tower Floors. Some loved them, as the only requirement to clearing such a Floor- and gaining some XP- was a bit of intelligence or a nimble mind... While others hated them for those exact reasons.

Puzzle Floors rarely had monsters, and, if they did, the monsters were a part of the puzzle usually; On such Floors, XP was gained simply by completing a puzzle, though the amount tended to be fairly low. Sometimes there were also traps, or the puzzles could have some dangerous elements, but, for a smart group- or a group with a smart member- Puzzle Floors typically weren’t a problem. But getting a Puzzle Floor 3 was... rare. And, more importantly to Cam, it probably didn’t have monsters- or had very few monsters...

No monsters meant no Abilities to harvest.

”Hey, at least it should be some safe XP, right?” Eron consoled him, knowing as well as he did that the lethality of this Floor should be low. Should be, being the operative phrase.

”Hopefully it’s enough to Level.” Cam grumbled; They were pretty close to Leveling... but, with a Puzzle Floor, it was impossible to guess how much XP he would gain.