In the afternoon, Ann gazed out of the inn's open window. She propped her elbow on the windowsill as her head rested above her open palm.
She had worked on her mana control last night, this morning, and even now. She tuned out the crowded streets, her attention on her mana pool. She tugged and shuffled her mana around in small portions, but her mana control jerked at times. She sweated less and took shorter breaks. Her control improved at a steady pace, which brought her a sense of delight.
She kept herself busy with her mana control while she waited for Chad to message her because he had gone out in the morning to pick someone up.
They planned to tackle the second floor with another person today, which Chad went out to bring along. Chad had met this person during his dungeon dive and wanted to increase their party members. Ann didn’t mind much, but she wished he had discussed it with her first.
Ann’s hands clammed up as she twirled her hair. She considered whether others would help her if she got left behind.
Her mind wandered to Earl. Though she had not asked him what floor he was on, she guessed he’d be on one of the higher floors. So she wouldn’t be able to party with him.
When she was at Earl’s place yesterday, she had learned he grew herbs around his cottage. He sold herbs to city vendors and, to a lesser extent, potions and devices.
Earl wanted to experiment with Ann’s ability. Ann made sure he used his money. She didn’t mind the experiments because she would learn about her ability.
She bought a cheap device from him, the only one he owned, and they confirmed her ability copied items.
Another experiment involved Earl. He wanted to add items to sell onto her ability and succeeded in a few attempts. He needed to express his desire to sell an item for it to work.
Earl hoped to find a loophole somewhere in her ability. He put a couple of coins inside a leather pouch and expressed his desire to sell it, but the test didn’t work out the way Earl had hoped for. He tried to sell it for free or a copper coin, but the leather pouch with the coins inside cost a little more than it was worth. He did other experiments only to discover he couldn’t find any loopholes.
For the most part, the items Earl sold and the items in the shop ability cost about the same. He suggested her ability sold items at the current market value and muttered to himself buy low, sell high.
After they said their goodbyes, she got her money back from selling him marked up item sticks. She figured he knew about the mark up with all the experiments they had done, but he didn’t say anything.
She was pleased with herself but also a tiny bit guilty. I Should’ve told him.
Ding. A message screen popped right in front of her.
Ann snapped out of her mana exercise: she received a message from Chad. He used the message function more after she didn’t come to the inn two days ago when she fell asleep from the mana sensitivity concoction. She read the message and turned off the notification and pop up option.
She had her equipment on and a coin purse strapped to her belt, so she grabbed the backpack on top of her bed and then hurried on out to the Tower.
Outside of the Tower, Ann spotted Chad with a person in a black hooded cloak. They had a hood over their head, which masked the top part of their face, and stood a head shorter than Chad, clad in black. She tensed up for a moment.
Ann treaded towards them.
Chad waved at Ann. “Hey.” Chad gestured to the cloaked person, “This is Fuyu.” He gestured to Ann. “Fuyu, this is Ann.”
Ann reached out her right hand for a handshake. “Hello, Fuyu?”
Their eyes locked. Golden irises pierced Ann and yanked her in. Ann pulled her eyes away so she wouldn’t get drawn into theirs. She followed her gaze along the silvery hair. Fuyu had feminine features. A girl?
“So close.”
Ann drew her face back. “Oh, sorry.”
Fuyu studied Ann's right hand and gave a slight bow. She appraised Ann up and down. “You’re a front liner too?”
Ann lowered her hand. “No, I’m a porter.”
Chad and Ann agreed Ann would take the support role as she wouldn’t help much for now. Though Chad protested, he conceded because of how adamant she was.
Fuyu eyed her backpack. “Right.”
Chad scratched the side of his head with a sheepish grin. “Let’s get going.”
They headed to the entrance of the Tower.
They waited for a goblin servant to appear inside the cave. The last time Ann and Chad interacted with one, Drox, they both agreed he’d given them the creeps.
“Come out,” Ann shouted.
They waited for a minute. A goblin servant didn’t appear.
Peeved, Ann dropped her backpack on the ground and reached inside it. “While we wait, let's get ready.” She flicked an LED lantern on and handed it to them. “It's so we can see in the dark.”
Chad took one.
“My hands will be full.” Fuyu poked a weapon out from between the seams of her cloak, a morning star.
Ann put the lantern down and took out a clipboard and a pencil. The clipboard had a piece of paper with a maze drawn on it.
Her research of the second floor revealed a dark labyrinth. She had drawn a map on the piece of paper with the locations of traps. Besides the traps, skeletal monsters lurked on every corner of the floor.
Fuyu approached the double doors. “I’ll lead, Chad, take our flank, and porter, you keep to the center of our formation.”
Chad nodded.
Ann slipped the backpack on. “I’ll guide us to the exit.” Ann picked up the lantern with her left hand and a clipboard with a pencil held tightly on her right.
“Apologies for being late,” a voice came from above. “It’s you guys again.”
“Open the door,” Fuyu snapped.
“Want to get straight to it? Fine. But before that, do both of you want to challenge the second floor?” Drox addressed Ann and Chad.
“Yeah,” they both said in unison.
Drox clapped his hands. The giant double doors groaned as it opened.
Air from their surroundings rushed past them and through the cracks of the open doors. The current brushed their clothes. And before long, settled. The doors stopped.
“Come.” Fuyu passed the threshold.
Ann hurried to catch up with Chad in tow.
“Good luck,” the barely audible voice of Drox reached their ears.
In the passageway with discolored limestones, they ventured into the darkness.
The room's air was stagnant and musty, the odor clinging to every breath. Footsteps caused the lanterns to sway, casting dancing shadows in the passageway. They moved briskly, determined to avoid a smothered death.
“Try to get used to the smell,” Chad said from behind.
Ann looked to the side and nodded.
Their footsteps echoed along the wide path, yet not wide enough to comfortably walk side by side, which created a contrast with the low ceiling.
A fork. Left or right.
Fuyu stopped in her tracks. “Which way?”
Ann knew the direction on the first couple of turns but wanted to mark their progress.
“Give me a second.” With her left hand, she pinched the clipboard, held onto it awkwardly, and her palm held the lantern. She crossed off the direction on the list and marked their location on the map. “We go, right.”
Turning the corner, rattling and clattering sounded. Skeletons stumbled towards them, most humanoid. A skeletal monster, once a giant rodent, rushed at Fuya.
Fuyu pounced on the skeleton rodent’s head. Whoosh, crunch. Its skull crushed under the weight of the morning star. Its body collapsed and rattled.
“Light,” Fuyu shouted.
Ann lifted the lantern higher.
Whoosh. Fuyu's cloak billowed as she swung wide at each skeleton's skull one at a time. The momentum remained as her chained slams pounded their bones, their undying lives claimed.
An eerie sight. Ann’s stomach fluttered, but she didn’t know if it came from the anxiety of this place or the protection of the two.
Crunch. Fuyu pulled back the weapon once the last of them rattled onto the ground.
“Keep moving.” Fuyu headed down the dark hall.
Ann told Fuyu the directions and called out for traps as they traveled. Arrows flung out from the walls if you stepped on the wrong block of loose limestone.
“Straight. There should be a trap right around here to the right side. Keep to the left,” Ann called out.
And in the fights against the skeletons, Fuyu cried out for light.
“Porter, light,” Fuyu shouted.
Fuyu destroyed the last of the skeletons in the area.
Fuyu’s attitude towards Ann started to bother her. Ann glanced back at Chad many times during this trip, uncertain if he would intervene. She needed to muster the courage to stand up for herself because it was unlikely he would.
A crossroad lay ahead. Three directions.
There was no sight or sound of the undead.
A quick scan of the place, she couldn't shake the need to say something. It had to come out.
Ann stopped her steps. “Can we take a break, for a second?”
Fuyu turned around. “Can we not? I don’t want to stay in this stinky place a second longer than we need to.”
The lantern's light cast a shadow on Fuyu's face, giving her a menacing appearance.
Ann lifted the lantern to tweak Fuyu’s face, but she still looked menacing. “You’re cloak, you should take it off. It keeps flying around and blocking the light. And also I have a name, it's Ann.”
Fuyu glared at her.
Ann held her breath so she didn’t appear shaken.
A moment of eternity passed by; Ann begged time to hurry up.
Fuyu sighed and shed her black cloak. “Here.” She tossed it to Ann.
Ann's breath returned in a gasp under the ruffled sound of the cloak as it landed. Her hands were full, so she held onto it with her forearms and fists.
Ann stood dazed.
Chad took it off her hands and tucked it into the backpack.
Ann turned her head to the side. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” He zipped up the backpack.
Fuyu held up her arm and pointed behind her with her thumb. “Which way, Ann?”
There was a hint of mockery in her voice, but Ann didn’t mind because she got her to call her by name, a step in the right direction.
Ann marked the paper. “Right.”
Fuyu turned around as a smirk played on her lips.
Ann trailed behind Fuyu and wondered why she smiled.
As they continued to their destination, Ann teetered on the edge of anger, then snapped out of it as she spotted a tail and looked up at Fuyu’s head, a cat person. She wore a lavender silk blouse with short sleeves that cascaded down to her waist and short navy blue pants with a tail that stuck out of a hole. An urge to pull on her tail raised, but Ann stopped herself.
Crunch. Fuyu fought another mob of skeletons.
Ann watched Fuyu’s small frame smash the skeleton's skull. Amazed how Fuyu didn’t look tired, even though she swung this whole time without much rest, Ann wondered if Fuyu would swap places with Chad.
Ann paid more attention to the mana around after Fuyu stopped being fussy about the lighting. Gray mana leaked out of Fuyu whenever she swung her weapon. Her morning star also seeped gray, unlike the colorlessness of the ambient mana and the mana within her. I’d have to ask Earl about this.
“Just one more left turn and trap up ahead.” Ann didn’t bother to mark the map and put the clipboard with the pencil in the backpack.
Fuyu stopped and waited for her. “Do you have to do this now?”
She stopped herself from reacting to Fuyu and ignored her.
Ann got up. “The trap should be in the middle of this hallway so keep to the sides.”
They hugged the walls and skirted to reach the fork at the end of the passageway. After they turned the corner, they spotted a dead end with a lever, which blended in with the limestone color, to the right side wall.
“Finally.” Fuyu pulled the lever down.
Something mechanical sounded, and a bright light beneath spilled into the labyrinth as it lifted.
A jungle came into view, and Fuyu hurried out but disappeared.
“Where did she go?” Ann blurted.
Ripples formed where the wall had lifted, resembling a pond disturbed by a thrown rock.
“That’s probably the exit. She should be fine.” Chad rushed towards the ripples. “If not, we have to go help her.” He also vanished.
Ann touched the puddle with the view of the jungle. She shook her head and plunged through it.
A breath of fresh air. She was back in the cave with Chad and Fuyu standing nearby.
“Took you long enough. I thought you got trapped in there, Ann,” Fuyu said with her arms crossed. Her morning star leaned on the wall.
Any brief concern Ann had for Fuyu faded. Although Fuyu hadn't said or done anything wrong during the trip, she couldn't stand Fuyu's attitude.
“That was fast,” a voice from above sounded.
“Open the door up,” Fuyu snapped.
“We’re going to the third floor?” Ann exclaimed.
“We weren’t in there long. Why not?”
“I haven't researched the third floor.”
“It’s fine. We can look it up on the forums as we go, right Chad?” Fuyu turned to Chad.
He looked uncertain as he fidgeted with the lantern.
Ann explored ideas so that Chad wouldn’t choose between the two of them. Despite her image of Fuyu, she found a sense of safety near her since Fuyu stopped the skeletal monsters from getting near her. It should be okay to go.
Determined, she spoke before Chad could, “Okay, let’s go to the third floor,” Ann asserted.
