Schwab

I didn't mean for this to come so many hours later than the first chapter, but life happened and I had to be away from my computer. I hope you enjoy this chapter because it went totally off the rails from what I had originally planned but that's fine.

Unfortunately, the core didn't explode the moment Kevin kicked it out of the front door. It just started pulsing bright red and the voice started shrieking―something Kevin could still hear.

He tried to ignore the sound but it was loud. When it got so bad that Kevin had to walk around the Tower with pillows covering his ears, he decided enough was enough. He threw open the front door and marched out...

...Only to run right back in when he saw the surrounding area around the orb was on fire.

He rushed into the kitchen, searching for a bucket. Throwing open the cabinets revealed nothing. He panicked for a few minutes until he remembered the chest in the closet. He got it, ran back to the kitchen, and filled the broken chest with water. The liquid inside sloshed around as he ran out of the tower, but there was still enough inside.

That was until he saw the fire had spread. He stood stock-still as he stared at the chaos in front of him. The Tower was on a cliff facing the ocean and the gate surrounding the place was made out of wood. There wasn't much space between the front door and the gate entrance, only about 20 to 25 feet. Tallgrass and weeds were everywhere, even on the pathway leading up to the door. And all that life was burning.

No, no, no! This is so bad! I'm so gonna die in this dream! Wait, does it matter if I die? It's just a dream, right? I'd just wake up. But...burning to death doesn't sound fun. Everything feels so real here. If I caught on fire, wouldn't it feel as real as taking a piss?

He didn't want to find out. Gritting his teeth, he rushed into the smoke.

The fire was out, but the lawn and gate were ruined. Kevin decided to ignore what was outside for the beauty that was inside. Except that now that the orb wasn't setting the flora around the Tower on fire, it was berating him.

<ARE YOU INSANE?! Didn't I tell you bringing me outside was a bad idea? What were you thinking? Oh, that's right! You don't think! You just do. You ruin my maze, you lock me in a chest, you use the key that could end all our lives as a toothpick of all things!>

Kevin paused and stared at the key in his hands. "Wait, are you for real? This thing could kill me?"

<No, you dip―Actually, I don't know.>

Kevin decided to not tempt fate and threw the key onto the kitchen table. "Okay, so, outside was a complete miss. Hey, don't towers have, like, an upstairs?"

<You mean the roof.>

"Yeah! This thing is, like, a watchtower, right? It looks like one anyway. How can I get to the roof?"

The voice sighed. <There's a ladder normally found in the back of the Tower. It's...behind the dresser.>

Kevin found it and hesitantly tested the first few rungs. They held his weight. He climbed up and was on the roof.

It was...cluttered.

There were corpses, weapons, armor, and bones littered everywhere. He frowned and slid back down into his bedroom. "Core-er, uh, Jeffrey."

<Yes?> the voice said pleasantly, surprised he had actually used its 'name'.

"There's a bunch of stuff on the roof. I wanna get rid of it."

<Stuff? Bring me up!>

"What? No way! The last time you were outside, you literally burned everything down."

The voice started muttering to itself before it spoke up and said, <This will be different, I'm sure. Being downstairs and outside put me at risk. But being upstairs, away from invaders, is much safer.>

"If you're sure," Kevin said. He picked up the orb, shoved it in his pocket and went back up the ladder.

Jeffrey was in awe.

There was so much experience to be had from this! And, if want Rupert told him was right, he'd get Tower Points for absorbing something new. It was a win-win situation.

"This is such a big mess," muttered Kevin. "How did all this get here anyway?"

Jeffrey wondered the same thing, but did it matter? All he cared about was what he could get from this bounty of treasure!

Kevin started poking around in the pile. He paused when he uncovered something and blanched. "Is that...a human corpse?"

Okay, well, that's a bit uncool, but it'll still give me EXP and TP―wait. No, that's wrong. Absorbing human corpses is so wrong. I shouldn't be thinking like this...

Jeffrey bit his lip as he watched Kevin shove the large tower shield off of the body. He couldn't deny the fact that absorbing the thing would give him a huge bonus, but that was way past how far he was willing to go to get power. He wouldn't kill/absorb other humans to get stronger. That wasn't right.

Except, well...He wasn't really human anymore, was he?

No, let's not think about that right now. I just...need to absorb the rest and wow! <Are those dragon bones?> he shouted, leaping off of his couch to press his face against the glass.

"Huh?" Kevin said, looking down at the somehow completely intact bones of a large winged monster. "I don't know. But they can't stay here."

<Let me absorb them!> Jeffrey said excitedly. <Can you imagine how cool it would be to have a dragon roaming the halls? Any invader would be instantly killed and->

"No way am I having a dragon in my Tower," Kevin interjected. "Who's gonna shovel its poop? Me? Think again, buckaroo. Nope. This thing is going gone."

Jeffrey watched in horror as his Manager started chucking the bones into the sea below. <Wait,> he cried. <You can't do this!>

"Can't I?" Kevin smirked. He ignored the rest of Jeffrey's protests as he got rid of any evidence of the dragon. "Looks like there's still some more monster parts," he mused. "Guess they'll make a nice snack for the fishies, too." And up and away they went.

<So much EXP...My Tower Points...all of them, just gone. Do you know what you've done?>

"Cleaned up a bit."

Jeffrey swallowed down the scathing retort he wanted to scream and instead politely asked, <Can you at least let me absorb the weapons and armor?>

Kevin glared down at his orb; disgust was written across his face. "No way! You can't just rob the dead like that! I'm gonna give these guys a proper burial!"

<But->

"You're sick, you know that? Totally sick. Fine. You wanna absorb something? Here's this snail."

Jeffrey flinched back as the shelled gastropod slapped against the glass. Immediately, Rupert piped up. [Specimen DNA detected. Would you like to absorb it? Y/N]

He sighed, walked over to the computer, and clicked yes.

[1x >Juvenile Laser Snail< absorbed. Species >Laser Snail< added to the core database. Congratulations! You gained 100 EXP and 10 TP for absorbing a new species!]

Every cloud has a silver lining, huh?