Chương 75: Arc 2 - Chapter 17

As Fritz passed into the cool stairway the feeling of being stalked receded, gradually easing as his steps took him higher and higher. Though the dread was still there, a small niggling in the back of his shoulders but he put it to the back of his mind. He shivered and turned his attention to other things, such as the room he was now walking into. It was similar to the landing floor, circular with slick, stone-brick walls and in its centre there was a six-foot wide pool of glowing water.

Within the shallow depths small fish swam, but not a ripple disturbed the pool's still surface. There was a ring of solid stone around the pool with plenty of room to rest and set down their burdens. Fritz was the last one in and he saw the leveless simply staring at the Well.

"Why are you all standing around like fools? Go ahead and get your first Attributes and Abilities," Fritz urged. Startled out of their reveries, they quickly dropped their gear and jogged over to the glowing pool. Even Lauren ditched her dignity, she hiked up her robes as she rushed to the water got on her knees and slurped down the magic. Fritz thought he could almost see the energies enter them. Small ripples subtly flowed into their bodies as they took from the glowing light.

After a moment they sat there staring around, feeling the new powerful magic and wondering at its inscrutable yet now tangible energy.

"What now?" Rosie blurted out. Fritz chuckled and all save Lauren turned to him with mild confusion on their faces, obviously they hadn't thought this far ahead and didn't even know what to do next.

"Now you go into your Sanctums and choose your new Attributes and Abilities," Fritz explained.

"Oh," Rosie said.

"How do we do that?" With a gentle smile, Fritz got to explaining the basics as he knew them and soon all the team were in their Sanctums to see what Abilities they had been offered. When he was sure that the rest of the team were dead to the world he motioned to Bert and they sprinted to the Well and quickly drank their share of the power. After Fritz felt the cool energy get pulled into his centre he retreated from the edge of the still waters and back to where he had been moments before.

He decided not to fall into his own Sanctum quite yet as he was only going to be given more Attributes this level. With his next Ability coming at level twelve, then fifteen and so on. He wouldn't even get another Trait until level twenty, though if they could pick up the pace that might only be a couple of days. Too many days for his liking but he reminded himself not to be too greedy. He was pulled from his musings as Lauren opened her eyes, sniffled then began to weep quietly.

"What's wrong?' Fritz asked, completely baffled by her sudden tears and suppressed sobs. She quickly turned away from his gaze and shoved her face in her hands.

"Nothing!" She yelled, the sound muffled by the sleeves of her robe. He had the sneaking suspicion that it wasn't 'nothing', as she put it, but rather she probably didn't get offered the Ability she was aiming for. Lauren was slowly getting a hold of herself, her breath slowed to its usual steady rhythm and her tears ceased. Fritz sighed inwardly, then walked over and crouched two feet in front of where she sat.

"No Fire Bolt?" Fritz asked softly.

"No fire anything," She said sulkily.

"Wait, how did you know?" She asked glaring at him suspiciously with watery eyes.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was the fiery spray Treasure or maybe the volcanic sword?" Fritz said. Lauren slumped and returned her gaze to her hands.

"You want to be a fire-aligned spell caster?" He asked.

"I do, but I got offered nothing with fire even though I killed at least two of the lobsters with fire," She complained.

"This Spire is mostly water and aquatically aligned. It'll be hard to get a fire aligned Ability," Fritz said gently. She sighed sadly.

"I know."

"All is not lost, still two more floors until you get a Path," Fritz stated.

"Just got to immolate a couple more monsters."

"Sure. Yeah. If we're lucky enough to somehow get another Floor with monsters in it," Lauren said dejectedly.

"Don't lose hope. I am a man of miracles. Just you wait," Fritz boasted. She just shook her head and kept moping. Fritz didn't really know what she was worrying about. Most of the Door choices he'd had to make were to avoid the more deadly monsters, rather any monsters at all. He glanced at the three Doors across the room. Surely there wasn't going to be a lack of such Doors in this Spire? Fritz was broken out of his thoughts by Carter's voice.

"What should we align our Attribute points into?" He asked.

"Hmm, depends on what you want to do," Fritz replied.

"I uh... don't know," Carter said hanging his head.

"How much does a point of Strength increase your strength?" Rosie asked. Before Fritz could reply that he didn't know, Lauren mumbled something he couldn't quite hear.

"Sorry, what was that, Lauren?" Fritz asked.

"I said. Three and one-third percent," she replied.

"What does that mean?" Rosie said.

"It means," Lauren said sullenly.

"That you should read a book."

"Ain't much books in the districts," Rosie countered with a shrug, seemingly unaffected by the other woman's mood.

"Could you enlighten us uneducated, ignorant souls?" Bert asked. Lauren stayed silent.

"Please," Fritz entreated. She huffed but nodded once.

"Each Base Attribute Alignment point multiplies the Unenhanced Attribute Value by three and one-third percent," She recited.

"Hmm," Fritz said scratching his chin, pretending he knew what she meant.

"What's a percent?" Carter asked.

"It means 'out of one-hundred'," Lauren supplied.

"Ah, so three points are worth... one in ten? Every three points improves that Attribute by one-tenth?" Fritz hedged, trying to recall as much as he could of his stalled-out schooling.

"Yes," She provided.

"Hmm," Bert said.

"I have eighteen Strength. So I'm six-tenths stronger than I should be?"

"Sixty percent, but yes," she corrected.

"At thirty I'll be at ten tenths... of the base, making me ten times stronger?" Bert asked, trying to puzzle some hitherto unknown and unassailably alien mathematics.

"Twice as strong as you should be," Lauren corrected.

"Oh! I get it now," Bert said, nodding his head, then pausing.

"But that doesn't seem right, I feel much stronger than sixty percent!" He added. Lauren sighed wearily. Fritz couldn't say whether her suddenly exasperated disposition was better or worse than her sulky mood, but at least it was more informative.

"I didn't come along to tutor you all, you know," she said.

"Please?" Fritz asked with his most charming smile.

"Fine," Lauren agreed glancing away from his eyes abashed. She stood and upon seeing all eyes were on her cleared her throat.

"Think about how much of your Base Attributes are used just to sustain your normal body and mind functions. It's similar for the other Attributes but Strength is the easiest example to imagine, so let's start there," She began.

"All that hidden strength you use just to hold yourself up is multiplied. Just how much weight do you carry with your body that you don't even consider as being part of your strength? That increase is why it will feel like you have more than you should. That and your body doesn't even let you use all your inborn strength as it would tear your muscles apart, or pull them from your bones," She explained as if reciting a cooking recipe rather than the gruesome scenario she described.

"Huh," Bert said thinking it over but still seeming sceptical.

"The Strength Attribute changes that, multiplying all your strength and easing the strain on your body. Though you can still hurt yourself like you could before, if you overexert your muscles too much. Which is why you should try to maintain a balance with Endurance, and Agility for that matter. Staying at or below a two-to-one ratio is the common practise for Climbers so the Attributes don't become 'unbalanced'. Three-to-one and beyond that is where the 'unbalance' starts to become detrimental," Lauren espoused.

"Why?" Bert asked.

"What happens?"

"Well, the more Strength you have the more Stamina you consume when using it. Endurance increases the rate of recovery from tiredness and your total stamina. So if you went over the ratio you'd tire yourself out much quicker or hurt your muscles, which would take even longer to heal. And without Agility you'd be too clumsy to use your strength properly. Often breaking things without meaning to," She said.

"Is it the same for the mental Attributes?" Fritz asked, knowing full well that the answer was yes having felt some of the effects already. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Though his perception was only double his Memory and Focus, he also had Awareness and his Sense Abilities. All of them together were probably straining his mental capacity more than he had realised.

"It is. For example: too much Memory without enough Focus will have you living in the past, easily distracted by your clear and sharpened recollections," She replied.

"But you don't have to worry about the imbalances overmuch until your Attributes reach about fifteen points in one of them."

"Why fifteen," Bert asked. Lauren shrugged.

"Is it the same with Advanced Attributes?" Bert asked.

"Depends which one. Each could have books written about them and how they're theorised to work, and most do," She said. Fritz looked at her expectantly. Lauren sighed.

"Generally Advanced Attributes that affect the body or mind would need to be balanced with the Base Attributes to varying degrees. As would Abilities, Traits and Strains. But that's neither here nor there. That and each Advanced Attribute is different enough that there aren't any rules that apply to all of them," She said. There was a small silence as they slowly digested all this, extremely valuable, information.

"So we shouldn't specialise because its dangerous?" Carter asked eventually.

"No, you should specialise, but you have to spread your Attributes around thoughtfully. Not just align everything into one Attribute like Strength. Though that doesn't stop some fools," She said.

"But it's not like ignoring the ratios will kill or cripple you, it will just make it harder to function at full effectiveness. Or so my tutor warned me." It seemed like good advice, and Fritz had far less knowledge than Lauren obviously possessed, so he nodded along absorbing all the new insights. Though there was still some small discrepancy niggling at him.

"Still, three and a third percent per point doesn't seem like much of an increase," Fritz said.

"I saw Bert crush a Bone-mould Bear's skull with his heel. And that was before he had as much Strength as he does now." Lauren frowned.

"You're right that doesn't seem correct," She agreed.

"But, if he has any Abilities, Traits, or Strains that can increase Strength it would be multiplicative with his Attributes."

"Multiplicative?" Carter asked.

"It basically means the more Abilities, Traits, and Strains that affect an Attribute, the better," Lauren said, waving down any further questions about the complexities of mathematics.

"That's why Boon Abilities and Passives that increase Attributes are so powerful. Something like Bulky increases your Strength more than the minor increase of fifteen percent would suggest."

"Oh," Bert said.

"But I don't really have those sorts of Powers."

"What no Technique, Boon, Trait or Passive? I know you have a Strike at least, I saw it," Lauren said.

"Oh wait, I may have a Technique," Bert admitted sheepishly.

"And what does it effect and by how much does it effect it?" She asked trying not to let her exasperation leak into her tone. Welcome to the team, Fritz thought as he smirked.

"I'll check," Bert said, sitting and falling into his Sanctum. They waited for some moments until Bert resurfaced.

"Lesser benefits to Strength, Agility and Momentum," he recited. Bert's Technique's description didn't match Fritz's memories of his own and his features creased into a small scowl.

"Lesser?!" She asked with some shock.

"That's a thirty percent increase. What stage is your Technique?"

"Journeyman," Bert said puffing out his chest proudly.

"Journeyman!? Mine is still at novice, and says nothing about Momentum," Fritz said incredulously.

"Yeah because you don't practise it. You just prance around with your fish blade. No punches or kicks. None of the Arte in it!" Bert proclaimed.

"The Technique mentions it either because he Activated the Advanced Attribute or because he got to a higher stage in his Technique. They can be like that, hiding some of their benefits and synergies until you discover them yourselves," Lauren said dispassionately.

"You guys have a punching Technique?" Rosie asked eagerly.

"Yes!" Bert said, pulling the tome that was the Arte Pugilist out from his pack and displaying its red cover to the team's excited faces.

"Before anyone clamours to learn it, you should know that it's best for fools and madmen. Giving better benefits if you're unarmed, unarmoured and close to your foes. Unfortunately, that's why it's perfect for Bert," Fritz said.

"Perfect for me!" Bert agreed. Most of the team's interest in learning the Technique faded quickly after hearing Fritz's explanation.

"Why did you learn it then?" Lauren asked.

"It's going to be dreadful to unlearn." Fritz winced at the thought, he'd only heard tales but it was always the same; when someone lost their Techniques it was said to come with a lot of pain and frustration.

"I needed every scrap of power I could get. And I won't lie it probably did save my life a couple of times, even if I didn't notice it," Fritz admitted as he thought back on his battles.

"Honestly if you have no plans for learning other Techniques it might be worth training you in it."

"No. Thank you," Lauren said. George looked to his sword and back to the book, then shook his head. Carter was thinking deeply about it and Rosie burst out, "Yes, teach it to me!" Her brother sighed and smirked as he watched her punch the air in excitement.

"Does it have any grappling?" She asked suddenly, her tongue darting over her lower lip as she looked Bert up and down.

"Some," He replied, nodding and missing the glint in her eye. Rosie beamed.

"He'll teach it when there's time, as for now you should make your selections," Fritz said.

"What should we pick then?" Rosie asked.

"Can we hold onto the Powers and Attributes until later?" Carter said, adding his own question to the mix.

"You can... Though I don't see why you would," Fritz said.

"So you can make more synergistic choices when they're all laid out," Lauren said.

"Wait, but the choice you make now can influence the others you're offered, what would happen if you simply never chose any Abilities?" Fritz asked.

"They would only be influenced by your Sanctum, the Spire, and your actions," She said easily.

"Huh. What's to stop people from doing that apart from the obvious danger of the Spires?" Fritz asked.

"Nothing, but I've been taught that it becomes painful and strains your Sanctum if you hold too much power or hold it for too long without use," Lauren said.

"Do the choices change? Like at every Well?" Bert asked.

"No, the offered choices are stored forever," Lauren said.

"Which is where Seeds come into play. Instead of picking one of the choices you can use a Seed giving you a completely different shape for the Power to take. One that hopefully suits you and your 'kit' better."

"Seeds, huh," Bert mumbled.

"Got any Seeds?" Rosie asked the team. Lauren scoffed, "If any of us had Seeds we could have sold them to afford a Guide and some guards to boot."

"They're expensive then?" Rosie asked dejectedly.

"Very," Lauren stated. Fritz, quickly changed the topic, supremely unwilling to reveal his and Bert's Golden Seeds that he still had hidden in his shaving kit.

"So does anyone need any advice on what Abilities to take?" He asked the team, aware that it would be quite a breach in etiquette to ask what they were offered and what they intended to choose. Until they knew each other far better. Rosie and Carter seemed not to mind revealing their choices. Rosie was offered the Charm Fish, Puncture and Flurry Abilities while her brother was granted the choice of Heave, Brace and Water Bolt.

Lauren said she would hold onto her choice for now and George informed them that he'd taken an Ability called Sharpen Blade. Likely influenced by his fastidious maintenance of his sword after every fight or perhaps his Sanctum, though he didn't confirm if that was the case.

"Let me guess, it makes a blade sharper?" Fritz said.

"It's a boon, lasts a minute and yes, it magically wreathes the blade in sharpness," George said proudly.

"Touch or ranged?" Bert asked.

"Don't know," George said.

"Test it," Fritz suggested. They did starting from one side of the room and walking closer until the Ability worked, finding that it had a range of about fifteen feet. Which was quite the happy surprise for George who expected it to be only effective at closer ranges.

"It's a wonderful ability, good for both yourself and the team," Fritz said.

"I've decided to take Puncture," Rosie said.

"Not Charm Fish?" Carter asked.

"Could finally find yourself a friend."

"I can't be friends with fish," Rosie stated bluntly.

"Too scaly?" Fritz asked."'Cause they can't talk," Rosie replied scathingly.

"You got to talk to be friends."

"Good... Point," Fritz said somewhat disconcerted by the vehemence of the statement.

"Carter, what are you leaning towards?" Bert asked breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the group.

"I'm going with Heave, it doesn't say it increases Strength but it makes me able to lift and throw heavier things for a minute," Carter said.

"No water bolt?" Lauren asked some what surprised.

"Not much use on the outside, and I don't much want to be a spell caster," Carter admitted.

"It doesn't increase Strength? How does that work?" Bert asked. Carter shrugged.

"Maybe it's like your Momentum?" Fritz theorised.

"Maybe," Bert agreed. Carter just shrugged again.

"I don't want to be stuck under a monster again," He said in a low voice.

"Good man," Bert said slapping the man on the back.

"I applaud your choice."

"Well make your choices and Align your Attributes and I'll get to searching the Doors," Fritz declared. He strode away from the team as they sat and contemplated. Fritz stopped and pretended to consult the 'chapter' when he was in front of the three Doors. The Door on the left was a portal of gentle flowing water enclosed by a circle of greyish tree branches braided together. Small yellow leaves grew out from the smooth bark and had a slightly sour smell.

It wasn't a foul scent by any means, reminding Fritz of citrus, but of a kind he'd never encountered. He let his senses reach into the Floor beyond and got the impression of a warm, slow current, teeming sea life and ripe fruits for the picking, delectable and dangerous. Dangerous? He didn't know exactly why he was being warned about the Door save for it being an underwater floor, which he was prepared for. But he decided to trust his senses on the subject, they hadn't led him wrong yet.

He turned to the middle Door, it looked like the entrance to a natural cave with grey stone that dripped with brackish water. The air wasn't exactly stale but it was muddled with both scents of rot and clean air. His Door Sense returned images of dark caves, some pitch black and some lit by radiant pearls within the open and awaiting maws of ravenous clams.

There was the occasional roar of rushing waves and a room could flood in an instant or dash you against the stone or the viciously sharp clams layered upon them. The last of the Doors seemed the most peaceful of the three with a square wooden gate painted in red with a clean breeze blowing through it. The steps were unpainted planks and led upwards into a bright stairway. Fritz felt with his Door Sense and was granted a vision of lush green terraced hills filled with basins of pristine water.

Creatures in the shape of men walked through the waist-deep pools tending to the strange black sea-weed-like plant the grew below the window-like waveless waters. The feeling of danger from this one was fairly minimal, even the monsters seemed to give off an impression of dull calm. Fritz turned away from the Doors and returned to his crew.

"Discover anything?" Lauren asked.

"Preferably something with no monsters this time."

"What no monsters?!" Bert said incredulously.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"I'd prefer to have some offensive Ability before we go looking for monsters," Lauren said matter-of-factly.

"Can't you just use your rod?" Bert asked.

"Out of mana," She said simply.

"Do you want some gold to fill it?" Bert offered, rifling in his pants pockets.

"I got six gold left how much does it cost to use?"

"It costs five gold, but I wouldn't be able to repay you," She replied waving him off.

"No repayment necessary," Fritz responded for his friend.

"Why?" Lauren said, suspicion creasing her brow."'Cause you're pretty," Rosie interrupted.

"Pretty girls get all the gold."

"Because, I want to see if you can actually become a fire elementalist in a water-aligned spire," Fritz corrected smoothly.

"I am offering because you're pretty," Bert said with a wink. Lauren scowled at him.

"Not in a million Tolls," She stated.

"Hah. Fair enough," Bert laughed, taking the blunt rejection in stride and holding out a hand with the five triads anyway. Fritz chuckled and Lauren turned her head away rejecting the glinting gold haughtily.

"Whoops! This gold is just so slippery," Bert said dramatically while he grinned and dropped the triads into her lap. Fritz rolled his eyes as he saw her stack the gold next to her then pointedly ignore them.

"Just take it," Fritz said with a sigh.

"There's no point in denying our generosity. If you do you're only going to hurt your chances at getting a fire-aligned Path." Lauren huffed but Fritz ignored it and turned to the rest of the team watching on with some interest.

"Can I have some too. I think my ring is empty," Rosie asked.

"Sure," Bert said handing out the last of their gold. Fritz nearly hissed at him, but quickly hid it under a gracious smile as Rosie took the proffered triad from Bert's hand with a wide grin. She instantly fed the gold to her ring and watched as it flaked away into pale dust then nothingness.

"Whoa," Rosie said.

"That's so weird. This must be where all the gold goes, into Treasures and stuff."

"What do you mean? Where it all goes?" Bert asked.

"If climbers are always bringing gold out of Spires then there should be tons of it, but there isn't," Rosie explained scratching at her head. Fritz nodded at the observation.

"There are tons of it, and many other mana-dense materials besides," He corrected.

"Just not for us in the gutters."

"Where is it all then?" Rosie asked.

"Well it's not like you're wrong, a lot does go into re-filling Treasures and magic items. But the nobility also tend to wear their wealth or store it away in private vaults when its too inconvenient to haul around with them. What use is gold if it's not on hand to power one's Treasures?" He asked rhetorically.

"You can buy stuff with it," Carter supplied with surety.

"You can," Bert agreed sagely. Fritz smiled but didn't find the subject interesting. Preferring to get moving rather than talk about what the wealthy did with their hoarded gold.

"All Aligned?" He asked. They nodded one by one, each stating they had mostly focused on the body enhancing Attributes rather than the mind based ones. Only Carter had bothered to spread his mostly evenly with a small focus on Strength. Fritz complimented their choices causing them to smile proudly or beam from the praise. Rosie especially didn't seem used to being treated kindly, and he could nearly see the affection mixed in with accumulating loyalty rippling behind her pond-scum eyes.

In fact, when he looked he could see that more and more. They were beginning to trust him. It was a good sign that they were warming to his and Bert's peculiarities quickly. Lauren seemed to be the only holdout, but from the corner of his eye, Fritz could see her surreptitiously feed the gold triads to her Treasure.

"Listen up team," He called out, so even Bert, who was pacing between the Doors as if ready to jump through one at any moment, could hear.

"There are three Doors, as is usual, but I'll tell you what I can about each so we can be agreed upon which one to go through."

"How much can you even know? It's not like you're a Guide," Lauren said sourly, obviously still in a dark mood due to her offered Abilities.

"You can still use your other Senses," Fritz espoused.

"Sight, sound, smell and taste."

"Taste?! Have you been licking the Doors again?" Bert called out.

"It's not a good habit. You should be more mindful of where you put your tongue." Fritz sighed as if all the world's woes were wearying him instead of just the one in the form of Bert.

"That's a bit rich coming from you, Bert. Considering what you do in your spare time," Fritz responded offhandedly. Bert just grinned and flipped him a rude gesture. The team laughed at their somewhat performative bickering, even Lauren seemed to be suppressing a smirk.

"As I was saying," Fritz said.

"There are three Doors, and we need to pick one." He knew he could just pick one and have them all follow him as they did in the landing room but Fritz wanted to build a rapport and a bond of trust between the team. Which meant letting them think that their opinions were valued more than was strictly the case. It's not that he didn't care what they thought but he valued his judgement far more than theirs, especially in the case of Doors and Floors.

"Which one tasted best?" George asked with a laugh.

"The leftmost one," Fritz proclaimed with a chuckle.

"Almost like a lime tree." After the team's laughter had died down Fritz continued, "On a more serious note the leftmost door is an underwater jungle full of flourishing fruit and fat fish. While the middle door seems to be a series of flooding caverns which is wildly dangerous. The last door seems to be the safest, having the cleanest air and no obvious signs of danger."

"So, which Door should we choose?"