Tower of Souls

The rest of the Puzzle Floor passed with relative ease, though greater caution after the Mimic incident; While the puzzles increased in complexity- and difficulty-, none of it was beyond Cam’s capability, even with him making the effort to reverse all the solutions to find the puzzle pieces...

And finding all of the pieces was absolutely worth it.

Puzzling Buckle(Accessory)

Tower Value=15

Effect : When worn, increases all Stats by 1% per ally within 30 feet of the wearer.

Once all of the puzzles pieces were gathered, and Cam took just a moment to piece them together properly and solve the puzzle, all of them locked together in an instant before shrinking down to a small rectangle just inches across, perfect for wearing on a belt... Because that was what it was, a belt buckle, of all things.

Cam knew about accessories. Two rings, a necklace, and earrings, four items in total. They were like armor, in that they each had their own slot on the body, and trying to wear more than one in the same slot rendered both of them magically ineffective- basically removing all armor and effects from both pieces as a form of punishment from the Tower for trying to cheat... or so the lessons told. The only difference between armor and accessories was that accessories didn’t provide an armor bonus, just an effect... usually. Some did, though that was rarer.

But not once had any of his lessons in school mentioned belt buckles as an accessory; Either it was a carefully guarded secret of the Innies... or he was the first to find one- and he wasn’t sure which answer was worse.

Not that he would find the answer to that any time soon, so there was little point to worrying over it. Yet.

The Puzzling Buckle, though, was... interesting. Practically useless for him at the moment, was his initial thought. At his low level, percentage increases, despitebeing extremely rare, were also pretty bad; A 1% increase to any of his Stats... was 0.2. Not even noticeable, really.

Still, one word in its effect made him take a second to test it. ’Ally’. It didn’t specify members of the team or party, but ally... and that made him wonder...

And made him see the ridiculous potential of the item. Because ’ally’ apparently included his clone and their summons.

Still, a 3% increase in all Stats, when he had 20 in said Stats, was only a 0.6 increase to each... But, after checking his Stats, it led him to another discovery: Stats rounded. With just his clone out, or with his clone and a single Big Bunni, that 0.4 Stat increase still made his Stats read as 20... but with all three out, all of his Stats jumped to 21!

”You know, if we had a full team, that thing would actually be pretty good even now.” Eron pointed out helpfully as they rested before the door that would take them up to the next Floor. ”I mean, with four other party members, plus me and the summons, thats a 7% increase in all Stats-

”Which would still only be 1 point- yeah, technically it would be 1.4 points, but rounded down-, until we Level again and drop more points into each.” Cam countered, already doing the math in his head. ”Next Level that 7% would be 1.54, which is just enough to round up.”

”Yeah, but considering our Mythic Class grants 13 Free Stat points, getting a whole two extra points to each Stat is almost a full Level for us! And the item will only get better the higher Level we are!”

”Actually, I was just thinking how it would be better for you to wear it once we get a few more Levels; As long as we have the Big Bunnis out, it would grant you an extra point in each Stat, bringing you closer to me in Stats...” Cam continued their back and forth, before grimacing slightly. ”Except that the Bunnis will be too weak to survive in another Level or two, and them dying would remove the extra Stats... so the damn thing is still worthless.”

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”For now.” Eron quickly retorted. ”Once your Stats hit 51, it will provide 1 point to each Stat as long as both of us are present... and, honestly, if I’m gone and you can’t resummon me, then I doubt that those few points will matter.”

”Pretty much.” Cam chuckled at his clone’s dark humor. ”So, we got an awesome- and possibly unique- item... that does absolutely nothing for us for the next fifteen Levels.”

”Hey, at least we got to have fun solving puzzles! And we’re about to move on to a Floor where we can hopefully grab more Abilities!”

”Why did you have to say that a jinx us?”

”Because I’m not superstitious?”

”Still, you shouldn’t tempt fate like that! Knowing our luck, we’ll end up on another Floor with terrible Abilities that we don’t want... or worse, another puzzle Floor!”

”Come on, what are the odds of that happening?”

Returning from his scouting of the new Floor, Eron looked almost depressed as he wanted to take back his own earlier words.

”I didn’t see a single monster.”

Sighing softly at the very brief report, Cam turned his gaze to what lay beyond the safe room doorway... and he didn’t know what to think.

It was clearly a library, bookshelves looming over his head by dozens of feet, with ladders scattered about to make reaching the higher shelves easier... Not that that was especially necessary, as half of the books lay scattered across the tables and floors as if flung about haphazardly by a mad librarian.

”I didn’t see the exit, either, so there must be something we’re supposed to do here.”

Suppressing a groan, Cam leaned against the doorframe as he took a minute to consider their situation. No monsters- that his clone saw-, and no exit... It could be another Puzzle Floor; Even if having back to back Puzzle Floors was pretty rare, it still happened occasionally. It could also be a Treasure Hunt Floor- though he wasn’t sure what sort of treasure would be hidden in a library-, or a Test Floor- though he wasn’t sure what it could be testing, unless it was something he was supposed to learn from the books scatter around... but that was a lot of books to be digging through for whatever answers the Floor required... A lot of books.

Cam hadn’t seen so many books throughout his entire life!

It probably wasn’t a Maze Floor, as his clone had no problems returning from his scouting, and clearly wasn’t a Trap Floor, since no traps were triggered during his scouting... So what could it be? Maybe there were monsters, but they were hidden?

”You don’t think its an Anomalous Floor, do you?”

Cam was startled out of his pondering by his clone’s question. Surely it couldn’t be that, right? Anomalous Floors were supposed to be the rarest, with most people never encountering one in their life... and, if they did, it was usually the last Floor they encountered. Usually because they died on it.

But... Anomalous Floors also didn’t follow the same rules as the rest. It was impossible to predict what would happen on them, or what was required to pass them; Some even had multiple triggers required to pass. Sometimes it was solving a puzzle while fighting through monsters. Sometimes it was complex tests interwoven with Boss fights.

The worst he had read about was an Anomalous Floor that required the team to jump across platforms, solving complex puzzles on each. While fighting off swarms of flying enemies. On a floor shrouded in near pitch black darkness.

Only two members of that team survived the Floor to report their encounter, and both retired from climbing on the spot.

”No way.” He scoffed, even if he was still uncertain himself- which his clone likely knew. ”You know how rare those are? And no one has ever seen an Anomalous Floor this low in the Tower!”

”...then what the hell is this Floor?”

”Beats the hell out of me.” He shrugged, not having an answer for his clone... though a small part of him couldn’t resist trying to lighten the mood by teasing him. ”Oh, and thanks for jinxing us, dumbass!”

”Oh come on! You’re not superstitious- we’re not superstitious! And you just called yourself a dumbass, dumbass!”