Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 373: What One Trades to Live

Max walked around the room they were in, studying the crystal lines that ran along the floor.

These are like the ones in the Adventurer Hall. Does that mean these crystals are far more special than I initially thought?

Yes. Like… when you made that weapon for Dexic and how you had to control the energy orb’s power, making paths for the magic or whatever you wish to call it travel through, this crystal has a connection within the system.

Yet there are no words here, no runes. Just the crystal that is in the back of the room like in the hall.

Each of these appears to have something explicitly keyed for a purpose. I cannot answer how it is made or formed, and I doubt anyone here can or will tell you.

Kathleen had a steady stream of questions for him the entire time they had walked to this room. He answered the ones he felt comfortable with and tried to learn a few things as well.

Do you believe she honestly doesn’t know how Phaius gains power from the followers?

I do. There are many more things that go beyond just a tithe or gift. Even she said that the gold or gems they tried to offer long ago that didn’t come from someone outside their inner circle couldn’t be absorbed. Also the fact that they can’t pay someone to make an offering is interesting. It appears the system can detect a true dedication and gift to the god versus someone giving it for the wrong reason or not meeting some specific criteria.

Max nodded as he watched the woman he had peppered with a few questions get the last purple crystal to be absorbed by the shard. It was surreal watching something twice its size slowly melt and dissolve as the clear crystal shard, slightly bigger than his hand, consumed the purple object.

“That’s done,” Kathleen stated as she moved to where Max was. “Now, in about ten minutes, I can start the process, and we will have to wait.”

“And this can take no time or hours, correct?”

She nodded and shrugged.

“I know that we are not his only world, and sometimes it takes a while for him to answer. No document in our history ever mentions him not coming eventually, but the longest delay mentioned, I believe, was a month.”

“A month!?”

She waved her hand before him and pointed at a pair of plain wooden chairs against the wall.

“Sit, I still owe you an answer. With everything that has happened recently, I am certain he is probably watching and waiting to see what might happen here.”

Following behind the woman as she led the way, Max considered the truth of that statement.

All it takes is someone like me to get a few gods worked up.

Bob laughed inside his head for far longer than Max thought he should.

“You asked me a question I cannot answer completely, but let me tell you the little I know. Outside of our role, we try to avoid problems between the different races, but know problems always arise. As you mentioned, yes, the elves are most often a pain in our side. Ockrim’s children are content to work with us and do not have the problems as Thuy—” She stopped herself and sighed. “As the other one does. I’m not certain what the conflict is between our races, but something in history had to have been there to cause such a conflict. What it was… perhaps only the gods know because there is no record of it here.” Ꞧ𝘼ℕO͍ᛒЕŞ

“And when it appears a being has thousands and thousands of years to hold a grudge, they can play the long game on getting revenge?”

Kathleen’s lips formed a frown, and she grunted.

“You are a dangerous man, Max. I can sense the knowledge inside you that many might overlook or ignore. It is not dangerous simply because of power but also because of a purpose. Are the rumors true? You plan on defeating the tower?”

He nodded slowly, watching her face as the frown became a grimace.

“Is that a problem?”

Sighing, she used her tongue to push out at the bottom of her lips a few times, almost as if checking to see if something was between them and her gums.

“It has been so long since one from our race has done it. The rumors of what lies at the later tower are nothing more than that. After the seventieth floor, no one really knows anymore. It is like history itself wiped away all knowledge.”

“Were you a tower climber?” Max asked.

A mischievous grin appeared on Kathleen’s face, and she nodded.

“I reached the forty-third floor in my time. That life was many moons ago, and when a chance to be here and take on this role came up, I gladly gave up the impending death I felt was just a floor away.”

Rings appeared on each of her fingers as did earrings and a necklace.

“I don’t wear these that often, but I still have some items from that place.”

He watched as she glanced down at her fingers. Her right thumb started to spin a purple ring on her left hand’s middle finger.

“So many people I knew died… I would return from a week or two in the tower, only to learn that a full group never returned. It’s been a few hundred years since—”

“A FEW HUNDRED YEARS?!”

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Max grimaced after his outburst, but he struggled to believe she could be that old.

Smiling and laughing, Kathleen nodded. Touching her white hair, she flicked her head back as if modeling.

“Yes, I’m old enough to be your… well, just old enough, let’s say. Phaius has granted me a longer life, but I’m bound to this temple. I can only leave for a day or two before my body starts to decay. Stay out more than a week, and I’ll be dead.”

“Why have a life like that?”

Tapping her chin, she stared up at the ceiling, not answering for a moment.

“I guess… after almost dying so many times and the fear of it, I struck a bargain. Better to avoid the pain of that last breath was always my motto. After one bad fight and losing a friend, the plan I had vanished. That was when I knew I was done. Every climber learns that moment. Some learn it the hard way as they take their last breath. Some experience it like I did, at the cost of so many they cared about. Occasionally, a few are smart, finding other things in this world to enjoy and carve out a life outside the tower.”

Just like Everett and Tom.

Bob didn’t reply, but he knew his skill agreed.

“Now then,” Kathleen said as she stood up, “I can activate the shard. Once I do, I’ll leave and be down the hall. A guard is stationed outside. When you are done or ready to leave, let them know, and they will get me.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Oh, I want to stay, but this isn’t my moment. In all my life I’ve met our god three times. All I can say is I quickly learned that while I enjoy being able to bask in his power, I also prefer to not be in it unless I must. A fear grips my heart, and I feel as if I’m going to be crushed into the floor like a bug beneath his boot.”

“His aura…”

She nodded and winked at him, her blue eyes sparkling.

“Don’t get up. Trust me. I never know how long this might take. Are you certain you don’t want any snacks or drinks?”

Shaking his head, Max summoned a cupcake momentarily before storing it.

“I’ve got my own treats if I need something.”

Nodding, she continued to the shard at the opposite side of the room and stood beside it.

“Very well, let me begin.”

Max could feel her touch it, his Sonar picking up everything happening.

Power began to radiate from the shard and into the floor.

A low hum came, and he felt the hair on his arms rise slightly.

This is the power of the system. She is sending a signal that will travel through it to Phaius. Similar in some ways to that tracer someone had on that skill. It is designed to tell the one who is contacted where the person is that is doing so.

Each world of his must have something like this, right?

It would make sense. Still… that explains what that dark elf Quilazmore meant when he talked about sending messages to different worlds. Part of me wishes we had time to travel through the transporter Igarra had created.

Even though we might get flagged by the system for being out of our normal place again?

A chuckle came from Bob, and Max grinned.

Our time off this world was not enjoyable, but I would like to believe the gains we see now have been worth the pain. Traveling to other worlds and fighting what is on them could give us many new skills and more stats.

Max knew Bob wasn’t acting in some stat or power-thirsty way. The truth was they needed to get stronger, and even though he knew the tower would be easy for a while, there would come a day it was not. Also, the threat of what lay beyond on other worlds and who might come to his meant many were still stronger than him.

Perhaps in time… but first we need to do this and get Batrire and Fowl married.

I disagree on what is most important, but we have almost another month before we can return to the other world. For now, the path before us is the best course.

As they spoke, the hum had grown louder until it stopped.

Kathleen turned, and she looked a little tired, her shoulders slumping forward slightly.

“It has been done. I shall go and rest. Good luck, Max Hoste. Tell Phaius I thank him as always.”

He nodded, and she went to the door, leaving him in his chair. Soon, he was all alone in the small twelve-by-twelve-foot space.

The room’s silence felt almost overwhelming for a moment after the noise it had been generating.

Standing, Max moved to the shard, his mind itching as he walked around it, hands behind his back.

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We are not going to do that. I would rather not risk finding out there is another trap in place.

Where is your spirit of adventure? Would simply touching it really hurt?

Says the man who was afraid to even get near one for so long. Now you want to risk upsetting the very god we are trying to contact? Perhaps we need to discuss this wild side you’re suddenly showing.

Max frowned but considered what Bob had just said.

Am I really being that crazy? I mean… I’ve always been cautious to a degree, haven’t I?

Yes, and since what took place in the cavern with those elves, you have changed. Not just your commitment but also the lack of concern it would appear about how dangerous something might be.

Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. Picking a fight, touching an object of power, or anything else that could have consequences we aren’t aware of is not the move to make right now, and you know it.

He nodded, frowning at the fact he was being reckless.

Forgive me… I guess… part of me feels free no longer hiding behind that wall of fear of what I might become if I give into the hunger. Now… now I just want to rush headfirst… like those first few times outside dungeons when I knew I shouldn’t go in but did anyway.

Please tell me this will not be a mindset you have for a while. I’m not certain we could survive that.

Laughing, Max moved back to his chair and closed his eyes as he leaned back against it.

No… I’ve got you to keep me on the path I need to be. For now, I guess I’ll just rest.

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