Arthur_Inverse

Here is the result of the votes from Friday. Chasing the party barely won out with only a few votes. I hope you enjoy the chapter and had a wonderful weekend. Please remember to vote and enjoy your coming week!

Silvas watched as the boy and his party walked out of view, and he let go of a stilled breath.

A sudden feeling in his chest made him unease as he lost view of them and urged his feet to move subconsciously.

Taking measured steps Silvas moved to the crossroad of the tunnels looking in the direction the party had gone. But saw nothing in the dimly lit space.

Damn it, did I hesitate for too long? Silvas cursed.

Almost without reason Silvas’s feet moved, searching for the party. He turned corner after corner for some time before he ran into a Shade and an Dark Bat.

The shade turned as it noticed him, its white eyes and red mouth curling upwards as it shrieked and shot forward, its ghost-like hands stretched out. The Dark bat dropping from the ceiling simultaneously as it flapped its wings to match the Shade’s speed behind it.

Silvas acted quickly, unsheathing his knife from his hip, and throwing it forward at the Shade.

The knife passed through the monster harmlessly but he hit the target he was aiming for nonetheless. The Dark Bat behind it had made the mistake of obscuring its own vision, allowing Silvas to use his knife throwing skills to easily toss the knife in its direction behind the Shade now that it couldn’t see him.

[Dark Bat Level 2 Killed] [Experience Earned]

At the same time he chanted his spell, aiming his other hand with the staff pointed at the monster.

“Nature Shock!” Silvas shouted, the bolt of green manifesting and shooting forward in an instant, colliding with the Shade.

Once Silvas saw that the spell hit he knew it was over as he cast another Nature Shock, and then another, until finally the Shade burst into dust leaving a shard and a piece of cloth.

[Shade Level 3 Killed] [Experience Earned]

A relieved breath escaped Silvas’s mouth. He walked to pick up his spoils, two shards and a cloth.

He looked around before putting the cloth away.

Well I have no hope of finding that party now… I am curious how monsters naturally spawn in this place. Is it part of the magic of the tower? If they can spawn at random like earlier I could still be on the right path to find the party and just had bad timing with the creation of the monsters. He though looking down at the cloth.

Shade Cloth E Grade

• The silk like cloth from a Shade, it still holds the remnant properties of the monster.

• Can be used for crafting.

Silvas raised his brow.

Remnant properties, huh… Would that mean something made from this would allow the user to pass through things? Or perhaps a magic affinity? I still need to gather more information..

Silvas surveyed the hall once again. Finding the party became a higher priority than before as he needed more information and this was likely his best bet now.

Now is as good a time as any to use this new skill I suppose. Perhaps it will let me find them.

Silvas placed the cloth into his pocket, and began channeling his mana inside himself, as the skill had taught him. While doing so he noticed something about how the mana moved, how it was now easier to feel the eb and flow of the power inside himself.

The feeling of activating the Spirit Imbuement was so much more intuitive than his other spells as of now as there was no activation word. He had to will the skill the work, mentally selecting the spirit he wanted from within and forcing it to assimilate with him.

This is fascinating… I will have to drill this more. This feeling, I know I can use it for the other spells if I practice enough.

With that Silvas finished pushing the mana from his body around and allowed the Spirit of the ‘Sniffer’ within to take hold of his body it infusing its characteristics into his own.

Instantly Silvas was hit by a intensely putrid smell, then other awful stench hit his nose.

“Uhh What the fuck is this! What in the Black Hell, I think I’m going to be sick!” Silvas growled, his face contorting into a deep scowl as he retched.

“This smells like the sewers of the city but I can taste it through my nose,” he rumbled still retching.

Silvas dropped to his knees, the new sense of smell hitting him harder than he could have ever expected. The smells of the cave tunnels were harsh and almost no pleasant smells existed.

He tried to cover his nose with his hands but it inevitably made it worse from his fights with the monsters. The blood of Imps and Bats painted his fingers making for an even more potent odor that had him actually throw up bile.

“Blasted fucking Magic! What use is this damned skill if it makes me want to rip my own nose off!” he roared.

For the next 5 minutes Silva wreathed in agony as he tried to calm his senses. For the first two minutes it was nearly unbearable. For the next two it was tolerable.

And for the last minute, Silvas could still taste the smells but was able to build a better tolerance allowing him to somewhat function with the skill active.

Huffing after the skill deactivated and returning to his normal olfaction level he breathed in relief.

I’m beginning to hate this tower and this place for more and more reasons.

Taking a few minutes to breathe normally, Silvas reflected on things that he needed to learn, and quickly.

I still have to learn how the currency of this place works. I understand they use bronze and silver but what else is there? Does it go from silver to gold and is gold the end of the highest denomination? Silvas pondered.

Then there is the value of the items of the dungeon. I assume the price of one item to the next is going to change wildly based on use and demand but what exactly are the prices? Silvers? Coppers? And what of the shards and cores? They seem relatively easy to obtain now but what of the scale? I need to understand just how much in demand these things are and what I can use to get stronger and climb the tower. And… and get back to them…

Silvas got back up and took in a deep non disgusted breath, steeling himself for the use of the skill once more.

Churning the mana inside of himself he went through the process of manifesting the skill again, feeling every bit of the mana inside him reaching every spot and crevice in his body.

Willing the skill to activate, the scents of the cave filled his nose again. Forcing a cough of disgust from SIlvas, but he had braced himself for the rest of the smells that came to.

He quickly forced himself to calm and focus on the single pleasant smell he could make out.

Food. The smell of roasted and salted meat. Bread.

Silvas followed the scent immediately, moving at a brisk pace through the tunnels, turning and dashing through them as he closed in on the sweet and salty smell of the food. He could practically taste the meat and bread as his mouth began salivating.

Turning one last corner he stumbled on the party. Pairs of two leaned against the wall as they chewed and tore into jerky and loaves of bread.

Silvas had found them.

“Hello there. My name is Silvas,” he greeted.

The first one to turn their head was the warrior who held the large sword from earlier, then the ones in cloth armor, and finally the elven porter.

“No one gives a shit newbie, say what you want or fuck off,” said the warrior, taking another bite of his jerky.

Silvas held back a sneer. His need for information outweighing his pride at the moment.

“I was hoping you would be so kind as to give me some information? I can pay you in monster shards,” Silvas offered.

The warrior pushed himself off the wall and sauntered over, not the latest bit hesitant or fearful of Silvas.

“How much you got on ya?” the man said, crossing his arms.

Silvas pushed his hand into his pocket and quickly counted the shards he currently had.

“I have around 10 shards at the moment.”

The man spat to the side, “That aint nothing, and ain't worth our time,” he sneered, turning.

“Could I also offer some healing service for your party for the information and some rations? I am also an experienced combatant,” Silvas said, offering again.

The man looked to the other two people leaning on the wall clothed in robes, exchanging knowing looks, then turned.

“We already got a healer, but what class?” the man asked, his face more even and interested.

“I will not say, but rest assured I have the ability to heal and fight. I can demonstrate the healing if you wish to put you at ease,” Silvas said, not willing to release vital information without getting anything out of it.

The man clicked his tongue, then waved his hand.

“We do have one spot left in the party but we don’t need a healer, so shove off prick.”

So a party is a max of 5 then… At least I received a little bit of information from this brat. Silvas thought.

“Then may I trade for some rations, I have some Shade Cloth and the shards I mentioned earlier to trade,” Silvas asked.

The man’s brow raised.

“You killed a Shade on your own? What level are you?”

“I will not disclose, but I have defeated every monster on this floor outside of the Boss on my own,” Silvas grinned, “Outside of the boss.”

The man seemed to reconsider, looking back at the two robbed figures.

Silvas did not let the fact he hadn’t conversed or consult the elf boy once go unnoticed.

He fully turned for a moment and began discussing with them at a volume Silvas could not hear.

The porter boy then moved to Silvas, his hand outstretched and open as if asking for something. And Silvas quickly realized what he was asking for as the boy held a strip of jerky in his other hand.

“How much?” Silvas asked.

The boy did not speak but shook his hand slightly with a soft grunt from his mouth.

Silvas was unsure of the value, so he placed a single shard in the boy’s hand.

The boy frowned and shook his hand again.

This continued back and forth until Silvas had placed 5 shards in the boy’s hand.

The boy, finally satisfied, gave Silvas the strip of jerky.

“Thank you. Your name?” Silvas wondered.

The boy just shook his head again, not speaking.

Is he mute? Silvas thought, sympathy painting his face.

“Then do you also have water?” he asked.

The boy shook his head.

“I see.. Thank you for the food. I appreciate it,” Silvas said, thanking the boy with a smile.

The man’s voice boomed from behind the boy.

“Alcou! Know your place!” the man shouted, resulting in a frown from Silvas.

The young elf boy shied from the shout and shirked back to the wall, his backpack clinking as he did.

The man then walked forward.

“Alright, you can join us since we’re about to head to the boss room anyway. You’ll be auxiliary healing and damage Mr. Experienced Combatant. And we will answer any questions you have along the way. What do you say?” said the man offering his hand.

Silvas looked at the offered hand, and then the boy leaned against the wall with his head down, across from him two figures clothed in robes.

His mind working as to what to do.