Chương 196: Chapter 313: How did we get Here?

They Say the Key Site Ghost shows up when you least expect it, whispering an apology straight into your ear while killing anything and anyone on or nearby the Key Site. If you hear an apologetic whisper in your ear as you approach a Key Site, turn back. Turn BACK! Jason Salazar Will plunged into the Dark cold ocean of the Sixteenth Floor and put on some speed, rushing for the safer air layers while simultaneously scanning his map for the closest infested Key Site. There's one.

Will could tell by the shape of the crust of dimensional Oysters reating a crust around around the pyramid-shaped object on his map. Will smashed them with cantrips manifested through the map. Welcome to the sixteenth Floor. There is a key site in need of clear- … Thank you for clearing the Key Site? You may advance to the 17 th Floor or descend to the 15 th Floor at your leisure. Door. Will summoned his Door and leapt through, sopping wet.

Will landed in the cold meat-land of the Fifteenth Floor, an involuntary shudder filling his body as his wet skin hit the cold air. Even Abby didn't seem comfortable, her legs clenching and unclenching around Will's torso and limbs. Welcome to the sixteenth Floor. There is a key site in need of clear- Where is it? Will thought to himself, scanning the map.

He could make out the obelisks no problem, but telling exactly which one was in need of clearing was impossible without a creature that actively built a nest on top and changed the terrain like the Dimensional Oyster. Wait a minute. I nearly forgot. Will pulled one of the waxed-paper bricks of compressed spiders that he'd negotiated for from Loth. These things were probably worth more than the Burned Stronghold, and Will had long since decided which upgrade he was going to get first.

If he never got the chance to purchase another Primary upgrade and was forced to choose only one… It had to be the Map upgrade. The sacrifice for Titan's grasp was good and all, but… Will smacked his forehead. Titan's grasp is a Secondary. It doesn't matter! I freaking knew this earlier and it slipped my mind! Abyss I'm glad this didn't happen in front of Loth. She'd never let me live it down. Dripping wet, Will held the first brick of spiders up, offering it to the Tower.

Funnel Web Miasma Weaver Sacrifice for Map: Miasmatic structures are registered on the map. Do you wish to Sacrifice Funnel Web Miasma? Yes. Map has been upgraded. Check the Ability Description for details. Map**** Passive: You have a map. This map is a mental construct that contains an accurate, self-updating record of terrain and miasmatic structures in a radius around the user. Current location, heading, Abilities, and manifestations therof are displayed on this map.

You may summon this map and dismiss it at will, and it will only be perceivable to you. Radius scales with Acuity. Beyond this radius, the map does not update, but will retain anything that was already filled in. Within this radius, the user's Abilities may originate from any point displayed on the map. The map has an alternate mode that displays an in-depth map of the user's body. Toggle: 7 Focus Manifest a physical copy of the map Will pulled out the second brick of spiders, holding it up.

Funnel Web Miasma Weaver Sacrifice for Titan's Grasp: Miasmatic Structures can be manipulated directly by Titan's Grasp. Do you wish to Sacrifice Funnel Web Miasma Weaver to Titan's Grasp? Yes. The priceless brick of spiders vanished in a burst of light as the Tower accepted the Sacrifice, attuning it to his Secondary Ability. Titan's Grasp has been upgraded. Check the Ability Description for details.

Titan's Grasp Passive: Space and gravity warp around objects the user wants to hold, allowing them to handle objects larger or smaller than they might've otherwise been able to handle, whether that be from cumbersome size or weight. Miasmatic Structures may be manipulated by Titan's Grasp. Will paused, took a deep breath of the blood-scented air of the sixteenth Floor. Then he checked his Map. The map was covered in a thick mist of miasma.

Will tweaked the settings to exclude ambient miasma, and the problem was sorted. Now he could see the bright blue beam of miasma shooting straight up into the sky above each Key Site on his mental map. Heighten the contrast… lower the brightness.

Suddenly the Key Site in need of clearing dimmed rapidly, as Will had magnified the small difference in brightness between itself and the clear ones, making it glaringly obvious which Key Sites needed to be cleared, without having to wait the ages (ten seconds) it took for the Tower to tell him. Will noticed his compass icon that indicated himself had a tiny little Will standing on top of it, entirely composed of miasmatic structures. Will waved his hand, seeing the movement reflected on his map.

It wasn't unique to him. He was seeing Classes and Relics. Since a person's Class filled their body precisely, it would look exactly like them, albeit glowing. Will burst into a laugh.

"This is awesome!" Finally, Will could see and identify people on the map without having to put a tag cantrip on them. This was huge. He could see monsters, too. He could see the clusters of miasma concentrated into the monsters of the fifteenth Floor. Abyss… this upgrade is too good. Will mused. He wanted to dance with joy, but there was no time. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It was definitely going to speed up getting to the 2 nd Floor, though.

And the upgrade to Titan's grasp…. With the barest nudge of the Ability, Will was able to pluck the strings of miasma in the omnipresent meat around him, removing them from the meat and fiddling with them to his will, breaking and recombining them effortlessly. Ooooooh yes. Will wanted to sit around and experiment with it all day, but he didn't have time. The Burned Stronghold is on fire. Time to put on some speed. Follow the plan.

Since he didn't have to worry about anyone else getting caught, and Will figured there was a coin-toss of a chance that Carrie Envar might betray him in some manner, it would be best to be in stealth on the 14 th Floor. Thankfully he had the Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet slotted. Will crouched down and attempted to hide, turning silent and invisible as the passive 100% bonus to A/V dampening kicked in. Through the map, Will killed the creatures camping out atop the dimmed Key Site.

With the new upgrade, he could see their warped, pulsing miasmatic structures growing new branches in response to the concentrated miasma, like potatoes growing eyes in a dark pantry. It was ugly and cancerous, and helped Will understand why they had to be gotten rid of. Will tore them to shreds and tossed their corpses off the Key Site. From six miles away. Thank you for clearing the Key Site. You may advance to the 16 th Floor or descend to the 14 th Floor at your leisure.

Let's not give Carrie the opportunity to pose as hindrance or help, Will thought as he jumped invisibly through the Door with nary a gust of wind to mark his passage. And you know what? Since I don't know where Marksman might've put up blockades to delay me, let's just stay invisible until I reach him. This decision would go on to spawn the legend of the Key Site Stealing Ghost. On the Fourteenth Floor, Carrie Envar was contemplating her domain. Losing all those people had been a kick in the nuts.

Marksman had offered her five million Influence to make sure that William Oh was slowed down if he tried to come back down. She had agreed to keep the Key Sites clear, forcing Will to use his own Influence to travel downwards, but not to fight him directly, because she wasn't going to fight another Lord for peanuts. The Contract she'd agreed to forced her to dedicate a certain fraction of her military force to ensuring the Key Sites in her territory were clear.

So Carrie had simply disbanded her 'military force' and renamed those men as her Lumber Guards, redefining their roles just enough to bypass the Contract. The remaining 'military force' tried and failed to clear a key site every couple days. If William Oh killed Marksman, then no loss. If Marksman killed Will, he would never know she used a loophole to under-deliver on their agreement. Because she knew for a fact that Marksman didn't have any eyes on the 14 th Floor.

As long as she covered it up nicely enough, the archer would never know. Carrie twitched at her desk as her Relic-detection Ability pinged. William Oh's kit had appeared in the center of her territory. In a heartbeat, it disappeared again as the Lord jumped to the next Floor.

"Huh." Carrie grunted. A few minutes later there was a knock on her door. It was her Logistician's kit behind the door.

"What is it Greg?"

"How do you always-nevermind. I just wanted to let you know: You know the kid you assigned to clear the Key Sites? He said something weird happened when he was trying to clear it. Like a ghost showed up, whispered in his ear and ripped everything to-"Shhhhhh…." Carrie shushed her Logistician.

"Um…milord?" There was a clause in the Contract that Carrie had to give the Influence back if she failed. But that's only if failure was proven. The only way someone could pass through a Floor that quickly was by using Influence. Surely. Carrie knew that was bullshit, but it was plausible enough to not trigger the Contract. Common sense said that it wasn't possible.

"Do not speak to me of this matter anymore," Carrie said.

"In fact, don't make any record of it. As far as the Stronghold is concerned, it didn't happen. Understand?"

"I…guess?" Greg said.

"Give Dryden a hearty bonus for clearing the Key Site and ask him politely not to speak of it."

"And bring the lumber guards back to clearing the Key Sites. Dryden has too much on his plate with that."

"Why did you saddle him with that duty if you were just going to turn around and put the others back on the job that you kicked them off of only a couple days later?" Plausible deniability.

"It's better for everyone if you don't know," Carrie said, shooing Greg away.

"Off you go." Now, let's see how this plays out. On the thirteenth and twelfth Floor, Will passed through with no trouble, since the areas were sparsely populated. On the eleventh Floor, he bought a Door from Zodiac to the 9 th Floor, skipping the 10 th Floor entirely. It tore his guts to not rush to defend his Stronghold, but it was the plan. Will couldn't just defend over and over. He needed to cut off the problem at the source.

He had to trust that the advantages he had stacked up for his people were enough to get through this. Not to mention, there were probably people waiting specifically for him to show up on the 10 th Floor, whose only job would be to cause him enough trouble that he couldn't immediately retaliate against Marksman. It was a cold decision, but Will was allowing himself to be stabbed in the gut so he could put a knife through his opponent's brain.

Will landed on the ninth Floor and immediately located the Key Site in need of clearing. This was where things got a little more complicated. There was a bus of a dozen professionals, twenty passengers, and half a dozen cling-ons heading for it the Key Site. Will needed it more. Altering the design for the communicators he'd created on the 17 th Floor, Will used the Map to whisper directly into the ears of the forty-ish people.

"Sorry about this, but I'm taking the Key Site." Will whispered, his voice carried through the map. As an apology, Will also cleared the monsters around them all the way back to Bakton Keep so none of them died due to his actions. All they knew was that something whispered in their ears and then the monsters chasing the bus were suddenly being torn to shreds. Thank you for clearing the Key Site. You may advance to the 10 th Floor or descend to the 8 th Floor at your leisure. Will hopped through the Door.

On the Eighth Floor, Will spotted Ghoul's real body lurking underground, turning its attention towards him as he arrived, seemingly able to perceive Will despite him being invisible. I'll have to figure out a way to conceal my miasmatic structures, Will thought, waving back as the abomination that was his mentor winked back at him. Will located the primary Key Site of the 8 th Floor. This one had a caravan of merchants bearing Ghoul's undead-warding lantern.

They were being escorted by Void, the necromancer Ghoul had press-ganged into working for him. The group had just arrived inside Ghoul's stronghold centered around a key site, where the lich's puppet-body could be used to allow any number of people to pass through for a small fee.

"You mind if I cut ahead? Will asked them.

"I'm in a wicked rush."

"Who said that!?" voices cried and the group put their backs to their wagons, searching for the unknown voice.

"Go ahead, kid," Ghoul said. Through his Map, Will created two opposing blades of compressed air and tore the lich's puppet body in half. Thank you for clearing the Key Site. You may advance to the 9 th Floor or descend to the 7 th Floor at your leisure. Will summoned the Door and dove through. On the seventh Floor, the sun was going down, Mark Wyrd and his wife were enjoying a chilled wading pool and wiping the sweat from the jungle heat off with specialized scrapers.

"Milord." One of Mark's Logisticians said, poking his head into the room.

"What?" Amanda Akul asked, covering herself and glaring.

"We got a report today that something stole a Key Site from a group that had already arrived." their Logistician said, turning himself to face away.

"some- thing?" Mark asked.

"Not someone?"

"Well…nobody actually saw what did it. Something just whispered an apology and then the creatures on the key site just started getting torn apart. Presumably whoever did it is no longer on this Floor."

"No other clues?" Mark Wyrd asked.

"No, sir."

"The Abyss do you expect me to do about it? Put out a notice that Key Site stealing will not be tolerated and the one responsible has been found and punished harshly."

"Yessir." Will made it through the sixth Floor in a heartbeat, since clearing Sixth Floor Key Sites on the open ocean were more difficult and time consuming to normal Climbers, it meant there was always one open for him to clear. A heartbeat later, Will was on the 5 th Floor. Will glanced up at the sun and scanned the ocean of ripe grain. In the distance, he could make out the smudge of white on the horizon that was Akul, the largest city in The Tower.

The problem with Akul was because the spawn rate was so slow, and the population so high, people had to wait months for the Key Sites to become available. Will checked his map. Yep. All the Key sites are clean. He had two options: Buy a door from Baron Akul or buy one for himself. … I'll buy one for myself. Akul was another chokepoint that would be perfect to set up a roadblock for him. there were likely people watching for him to approach the city, and invisibility wasn't infallible.

Purchase a Door to the 2 nd Floor? Yes. 58, 812-> 58, 687 Influence remaining. Surprisingly cheap on the lower Floors. As he completed the purchase, Will spotted a figure hurtling towards him on the map. He turned and slipped out of the way of the lightning-fast attack, getting inside the mans' guard and catching the warrior in the ribs with his tomahawk before kicking him away, Will's invisibility shattered.

Will spotted another dozen men and women shooting towards him from various watchpoints covering the entire Floor. I don't have to deal with this right now. Will summoned the Door and dove through, arriving on the 2 nd Floor… Still soaking wet from the 16 th. That's gotta be some kind of record, Will thought, spinning himself hard enough to force the water off himself as he flew towards Marksman's Stronghold, his invisibility restored. On the map, he could see the dozen Climbers arriving a heartbeat behind them.

Yeah, figures. If I could easily afford it, He could easily afford to buy them an emergency Door to chase me here. Let's see if they can stop me before I kill their boss. Will lowered himself down and turned invisible before shooting through the sky, moving towards Marksman's Stronghold significantly faster than his pursuers. Thanks to the ring of Traversal, he didn't even make a sonic boom as the air obediently parted around him.

Will arrived at an open window, where Marksman was writing a letter giving his men permission to kill everyone in Will's Stronghold. Oh, so that's what he wanted. To make another set from the crystal giants. That's all the proof I need, Will thought, sitting down on the man's chair and laying the tomahawk across his lap. There was still about five minutes until Marksman's men arrived, plenty of time to take a little breather before the main event.

Marksman seemed to notice the smell of blood and glanced up with a frown, so Will stopped trying to hide.

"Sup?" Will asked.