Chương 15: Those who refuse to utilise freedom are worse than slaves

"You could join them, you know," Nihil told Kevin as the now mostly healed art student leaned against his familiar rock, face browned from the sun more than any tanning salon could have accomplished.

"Your little slave colony?" Kevin asked sarcastically with a bite to his voice that had previously not been present.

"I consider myself more of a professor than a slave owner," Nihil shot back, enjoying the banter.

"I'm teaching them about hidden quests, how hard work will be necessary to survive and thrive in this tower and that the only resource they have now is their time, their bodies and their skills. In a way they're lucky they met me, it wasn't like they were doing anything productive with their time." Kevin gave him a disbelieving look, seemingly questioning if Nihil himself believed the things he was spouting. As for if he actually did?

In a way the survivors were benefitting from Nihil's presence, that fact could not be denied. Without him they would know less about skills, the tower, quests and survival strategies. They might not like it, but they were gaining valuable experience that was incomparable to just sitting on the beach for 30 days shitting their brains out as was the experience of almost all climbers shared during this floor. People went with the most convenient and simple solution. That was the trap.

You could accomplish a lot of things in 30 days if you really put your mind to it. You could exchange real life skills and knowledge with the other survivors, who all likely had at least something to offer. You could practice your newly gained superpowers, learn how to hunt, kill monsters and the logic of exploring a level.

However, the coconuts were just enough to keep most people grounded in their comfort zones, achieving nothing, and thus staying at the same level while the tower's challenges only grew in danger.

"I'll stick to exploring the sea and the island, it's what you're paying me for after all," Kevin muttered. Nihil stood up, stretched, more out of habit than necessity.

"I'm starting to lose hope there's anything left to find," he said.

"Braving the jungle to meet and fight the fishmen already requires an explorative spirit and more bravery than most can muster. Organising the survivors into fighting the fishmen is a feat worthy of extreme respect. Being meticulous enough in one's scouting to find the underground tunnel… How many hidden layers is a level like this supposed to have?" Kevin furrowed his brows, having fully slipped into his role as a scout during the last two weeks on the island.

"I've sent my eel-worms into the water, my birds over the jungle and my monkeys into the undergrowth. I haven't found anything new since the tunnel." The young man had crossed his arms over his now bare torso, having given up on clothes due a lack of opportunity to wash them. He was rhythmically tapping his forearm with a finger, creating a small sound that could barely be heard over the waves lapping at the outcropping they were lounging on.

He seemed to be contemplating something "I've been thinking about this island a lot these past few days," Kevin eventually said.

"The fishmen, the underground tunnel, the symbolism of a deserted island. We're currently tangling with the rather prototypical wild tribe present on any proper far-away island in the middle of nowhere, at least according to modern mythology and media."

"You're analysing this from a cultural perspective?" Nihil asked with a raised eyebrow.

"This tower. It's like a video game, isn't it?" Kevin responded quickly, starting to speak faster.

"Video games are cultural artefacts and most importantly, they are creations made with intentionality. Often, a narrative. The fishmen are one narrative. At first you think they can only be eradicated. However, there is another, more peaceful and more rewarding solution. That is one aspect of modern humanity's understanding of a deserted island. Savages and one's co-existence with them. What is another aspect of a deserted island? Isn't it…" Kevin paused here, seemingly unsure.

"Isn't it… Isn't it escaping the island in search of a ship, another, more populated island?" Nihil remained silent at the observation. Of course he'd thought about building a raft and making sure there was really nothing beyond the horizon. The issue was that he was from the future and had never heard anything of the like from any of the other players. Nobody had even found the underground tunnel in the original timeline and it wasn't like anyone was hiding information at the time either.

The consensus that floors would not be repeated had already been clear quite early on. Exchanging knowledge was more valuable than hiding it when it came to past Floor design. Skills? Well, that was another issue, but not telling someone that they'd found a second island on the floor after going out with a raft? Highly unlikely. The only conclusion Nihil was capable of making from this was thus that if anyone had tried, they'd died.

He loved adventures and he loved excitement, but he had a very clearly defined risk line he refused to cross. Going back and getting the knowledge discount alongside all of his future knowledge and experience was a massive boon. Resolving a hidden quest nobody else knew about already set him on a path that was miles ahead of the one he'd taken originally.

Getting on a raft and sailing out towards the horizon to potentially die fighting underwater creatures after capsizing wasn't something he was willing to risk when a more conservative decision could already benefit him more than he could have imagined before his redo of this level. Nihil looked Kevin up and down. Heavily tanned skin that had already been relatively dark. Bare feet and ragged pants as the last sign of human dignity…

He was letting go of his previous identity, embracing his new role as a climber more than any of the other survivors. For all that the boy had said he'd been merely an art student he was adapting the fastest out of anyone on the island other than perhaps Aliyah. Cautious, staying away from other survivors, correctly identifying them as a major threat it was not necessary to risk unless one needed something. Developing his rather useful set of skills, even if under duress from Nihil…

Now he even had some ideas of his own! Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ideas that weren't necessarily bad… Ideas that took his skills into account.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kevin asked, alarmed when he noticed Nihil's gaze.

"I'm just starting to appreciate you more," Nihil said simply with a shrug. Kevin gave him a suspicious look.

"I'm not into men," he eventually muttered. Nihil threw his head back and laughed. After all, maybe it did look a bit odd. Two bare-chested men sitting on a rock enjoying a somewhat romantic sunset meal of smoked snake meat on a private island. Perhaps the situation did resemble a gay fantasy a bit too much.

"I'm not interested in your body," Nihil reassured Kevin, making him loosen up.

"Or anyone's body for that matter. I'm more likely to kill someone than I am to proposition them. I'm self-aware enough to recognise that."

"How reassuring," Kevin muttered.

"As for your idea," Nihil continued, humming thoughtfully.

"It has merit in the sense that it doesn't really seem like there's anything else of interest on this island. Creating a bird that can glide even further would allow us to explore how far the edges of this floor truly reach. Maybe there's something there? Or maybe there's something we're still missing on the island. You've mentioned symbolism, so maybe there's a buried treasure somewhere? But how are we supposed to find it?

The island is as big as a medium-sized city, even if you could create a functional mole, it would take years to dig up all the earth."

"So I should switch my focus?" Kevin asked.

"Do it," Nihil said managerially.

"Start by making a more aerodynamic bird. We're going to need something that can reach beyond the horizon after all. If there was anything closer than that we would have seen it. The horizon is 5 kilometres at sea-level if I remember correctly, increasing in distance in accordance to viewing height.

That means that if I didn't see something even from the highest trees which combine the ten metres above sea water elevation of the deeper island alongside their own height, the horizon is empty for maybe up to 20 kilometres." Nihil suddenly paused, getting an idea.

"Well, actually, since height above water level equates to visible distance, how about you make a creature specifically designed to fly as high into the sky as possible? If I can climb on the highest tree, reaching 35 metres above sea level and thus see 20 kilometres out, throwing a bird up another 50 metres would allow us to see 40 kilometres out?"

"Well, there should be diminishing returns, so maybe more like 100 metres above sea level would allow us to see 37 kilometres," Kevin muttered curiously while nodding his head.

"This has merit. We could quickly check if there's anything. If a bird that high still doesn't see anything of interest, then anything that might exist is too far to reach regardless."

"Well," Nihil muttered.

"Then you have a job. Lob the birds yourself to find the perfect shape and then we'll figure it out in the next few days. The others are almost done with the pit. Maybe I should make them build a tower in the middle of the island next to increase the base height?" Kevin threw a pitiful look towards the part of the island where he'd observed the toiling survivors over the last days during his scouting days.

"Better them than me," he eventually concluded before sighing.

"Regardless, I guess it's time to get off this rock if the fishmen will return to the sea. They can actually scale it after all."

"You're starting to get it!" Nihil exclaimed happily, before turning around and jumping off the rock towards the beach. -/- Nihil checked his status page as he strolled along the beautiful white beach. Nihil Experience: 712 Exp used: 8001 Level: 8 Str: 15 Ag: 12 Dex: 48 Per: 24 Vit: 94 Reg: 0 His experience gained per day had dropped off as the black threads he was now composed of became part of his everyday life rather than a novelty. In the beginning he'd been getting 50 experience points per day.

That had now fallen all the way down to 25. The quest couldn't have come at a better time however, as the next skill beckoned like a siren, the cost having decreased even further. Black Thread Biomass conversion: Human and animal biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Experience Cost: 1280 -> 1271 It was starting to seem more and more likely that he had underestimated the speed at which experience accrued when one abandoned humanity alongside finding a hidden quest.

His initial estimate of several months had been way off. It seemed that he would be able to gain the skill of Biomass Conversion before the end of the first floor even. He changed his query, just to verify something. Black Thread Biomass conversion: Formerly living Biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Permissible targets must be purchased manually. Currently no designated targets.

Experience Cost: 961 If Nihil created the skill, but gave it no designated target it became cheaper by 310 experience points in comparison to initially designating animal and human targets. This indicated that he could likely add a more specific target subcategory for cheap, adding others only when he encountered them, thus unlocking the skill a bit sooner than he otherwise would have. Black Thread Biomass conversion: Formerly living Biomass can be converted into additional black threads.

Permissible targets must be purchased manually. Currently designated targets: -Mermen Experience Cost: 1038 Nihil contrasted this by also adding humans Black Thread Biomass conversion: Formerly living Biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Permissible targets must be purchased manually.

Currently designated targets: -Mermen -Humans Experience Cost: 1054 As expected, due to the similarity the purchase of mermen and human overlapped significantly, but were still cheap, sharing many traits with the human material Nihil had provided in the initial creation of his body. Black Thread Biomass conversion: Formerly living Biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Permissible targets must be purchased manually.

Currently designated targets: -Coconuts Experience Cost: 2981 In contrast, absorbing plant matter which shared far less of its DNA with humans cost prohibitively more. Nihil started ruminating, making different contingency plans depending on the amount of experience points he'd actually gain from this level. He stopped however as he stepped onto the clearing with the deep pit that the survivors had been digging.

"We finally hit it," the red-haired and severely sunburned Aliyah reported once she saw him from amongst the resting group which was settling in for the night.

"The rock wall of the underwater tunnel, it's right beneath us." Nihil nodded, walking to the edge of the pit and looking down at the excavated top of the tunnel. The past few meters had been more difficult than the first as they'd met more solid materials on the way down until finally reaching straight up rock.

"Tomorrow. Let's release the fishmen tomorrow," Nihil said. The group of survivors shared relieved looks, each seeming more tired than the other. Nihil didn't really have it in him to tell them they'd be needed for building a tall wooden platform immediately after the resolution of this hidden quest. Their small hopeful faces just made him want to give them a few more hours of respite. Reality would be cruel enough, soon enough.