Chapter 126: Getting Our Bearings

People had described ‘jungle’ to Will, but he’d never seen one, and the image he’d built in his mind was nothing like the reality. He’d pictured dense forest, with a canopy that blocked out the unnatural moving sun. Sure, it had that, but that didn’t do it justice. In his imagination all those trees were northern trees that stood straight and tall, with low-lying shrubbery around it. In the jungle, the trees were violently elbowing each other for space, things were growing on top of things, and the ‘low-lying shrubbery’ was about eight feet tall. Someone could take a step off the path and be lost for good. From what research Loth had done, the jungle was most dangerous at night, when the worst monsters came out of slumber. The Floors had wildly different times, which meant proper precaution had to be taken when moving across floors that had a strong night-day element. That was why they’d crossed over in the evening, which got them to the jungle in the morning, to get as much sunlight as possible. While the settlers were setting up base camp and wagons, Will watched for threats and contemplated his Build. He was halfway to being a Lord, but there were certain holes in his Build that needed to be patched before he could really think of himself as one. Twice now, he had lost a finger of Phantom Hand to another Ability. Thankfully it regrew thanks to the Hydra he’d upgraded it with…But it didn’t retain the slotted item. That had been lost forever. Lords and their Vassals practically by definition had overwhelmingly powerful Abilities, and Phantom hand wasn’t at it’s core an offensive Ability. It was Utility. If Will was going to keep bumping up against Climbers with potent direct damage or counterspelling Abilities, pieces of Phantom Hand being destroyed would become more and more common, which would eventually expose a weakness to the wrong person and get him killed if he didn’t fix it. Will wasn’t optimistic enough to pin all his hopes for Lordship on retaining the Family Gathering set, specifically the amulet in the Phantom Hand’s pinky finger. As it stood, it could easily be destroyed by a lucky strike, especially when fighting someone who could glass half a mountainside in the blink of an eye. He remembered the bolt of lightning, fifteen miles distant…wider than his thumb. Will found himself in the position where he needed to do everything he could to prevent himself from losing Phantom Hand’s slotted items, but prepare himself to live without the set if he had to. Will realized, staring into the dense jungle. Searᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Now that Sourdough could add one item’s affix to another (although weakened), Will could take a soft-set of two or more items that complemented each other, combine their affixes, then put them in Phantom Hand. The boosting effect of Phantom Hand would more than compensate for any loss of power in the individual affixes. For example, if he still had the mutated Ring of Accuracy, Bracer of Tracer-fire, and the Ring of Snaring, he could combine their effects and slot the resulting item in the hand, freeing up slots on his body, and magnifying all three effects rather than just one. As for which slotted Relics were good candidates to replace with more powerful options, Will had settled on the empty middle finger that used to have the Sickle of Cold harvest, and the ring-finger, which had the Stormfist Gauntlets. Stormfist gauntlets weren’t but the Relic’s bonus to speed and extra lightning damage were vastly outweighed by what the Amulet of the Coiled Serpent could do, between the Family Gathering set bonus and its inherent Abilities. The undead butlers had their utility. They knew negotiation, cooking, taxes and tailoring, and any of a thousand other useful skills, and were capable of a higher level of independent thought compared to the semi-autonomous serpents created by his Set. Will also had to admit that he’d grown attached to them, so severing the connection to them wasn’t something he was eager to do. Will scanned the surrounding camp, where work was progressing at a rapid pace that both seemed chaotic and highly organized. Calls for supplies, extra hands, and insults were lobbed back and forth across the camp. Each civilian Party had a tall young woman with black hair and an athletic build helping coordinate and provide protection, while a shorter young woman with blonde hair seemed to exist in twos and threes in every direction he looked, cheerfully providing extra hands wherever they were needed, much to the confusion of…pretty much everyone. It was amusing watching double-takes turn into confusion then sparks of comprehension. Ria and Anna. Fragments of a mind that had been shattered by the Lord of this Floor in his mad quest to create the perfect soldier that he could conquer the whole Tower with. And now she was Will’s. Will thought, spotting the mischievous fragment in his tent disguised as a civilian, pocketing a paperweight, likely so that she could claim to be the better phantom thief. Will assigned a snake to follow her and steal the paperweight back as soon as she stopped paying attention to it. Bee wasn’t…directly useful most of the time, but she came as a package deal with the other three, and she wasn’t malicious, just angry. And the benefit of the other three vastly outweighed Bee’s rebellious nature. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Each of the three fragments were essentially created to heal mental wounds that their primary body couldn’t have survived, and they just sort of…became permanent features, like grooves worn into a road. Their primary body, Jean, was with Loth near the center of the camp, coordinating the camp setup with the expedition’s logistics officer. Will watched as Loth tapped a black talon on the northern side of the sketched plan of the camp, her words lost to the distance, then he glanced over as Ria’s body in the north went still for a brief instant, as though someone were speaking to her. A moment later she turned and spoke to the civilians, gesturing for them to move a feature of the camp further away from another feature. Three Anna wandered nearby and helped the civilians pick up their newly created wagon and placed it on the other side of their tent, more in line with where Loth wanted their starting point. People to be afraid of what they perceived as the Tangled monster in their midst, but Ria struck a heroic figure, while Anna was just plain cute. She was also in charge of delivering the daily rations of sweets and alcohol. Will figured if Ria protected them and Anna regularly bribed them with baked goods, the civilians would be less afraid of her. And it seemed like it was working. Will’s Party…well, it was mostly June’s Party now. With Will staying with the caravan as the last line of defense against claim-jumpers, and Loth busy coordinating the entire group, they weren’t directly involved in the Party anymore. June whipped Mason, Reggie, Alicia, Travis and Jason into shape, getting them ready for a day of cutting a path to the south, aiming the caravan towards the 7th Floor Stronghold. The Stronghold on this Floor was owned by Mark Wyrd, a young Lord with a highly specialized Thorns Build. He had…a rough relationship with Will and everyone else here, on account of his father being a petty tyrant who had caused outlandish amounts of pain and suffering to…pretty much everyone here, in some form or another. Mark had killed his father and usurped his throne, but some grudges might be difficult to let go of…Will’s eyes wandered to Travis. Still, Will was going straight to Mark’s Stronghold to offer a bribe and a truce, because he was going to be sending a lot of people and supplies through the 7th Floor, and trying to sneak through was practically spitting in Mark’s face and daring him to capture large chunks of critical supplies and people. Better to pay upfront. Even if he didn’t accept the deal, that would be useful information. And How exactly that would happen was unclear, but Will would probably start by taking away his toys and then stabbing him to death. Will checked on the status of the ‘bribe’, which was a pair of gauntlets of bone suspended in a little keg of Relic ash. The ash didn’t seem to be glowing, and Sourdough was telling him that it was complete. Will plucked the Relic out and studied it: Gauntlets of Bloody Rejuvenation Even if it wasn’t perfect for Mark’s Build, it was in the same theme, and he could either gift it to a child or resell it for a huge amount. No warrior could pass on gauntlets with those kinds of stats. Typically gauntlets didn’t have those kinds of Affixes, but Will had sacrificed some expensive rings to put those affixes on the gauntlets, the likes of which Mark was unlikely to possess. “Hey Will!” Will heard Travis shout from across the camp. He glanced up from his wagon of Sourdough kegs and glanced over at the Master Decoy. Ever since Travis had swindled the Focus growth upgrade out of that Saint, Travis had been trying to shift his Build to be more of a caster, aiming to become something of an illusionist. To that effect, Travis was wearing iridescent robes that didn’t seem to get damp or dirty on the jungle floor, along with gaudy rings, amulet, and a circlet around his temples. “I thought the church would’ve had you killed.” Will mused. “They forgot,” Travis said with a shrug before motioning for Will to follow. “Anyway, come check this out.” Will cocked a brow, but followed anyway, walking on air as he did so, each step sending an imperceptible pulse through the camp as he went. “Show off.” Travis said, glancing back at Will hovering six inches above the ground. “Practice.” Will replied with a shrug. It really did take a lot of mental effort to manage what got locked in frozen air and what didn’t, and Will wanted to keep practicing until it was second nature. When they arrived at the edge of the camp, he spotted Alicia and the rest of the Party, staring up into the canopy at…nothing. “What am I looking at?” Will asked. “Those plants have nervous systems.” Alicia whispered, gesturing to the trees, her blue-flame eyes fixed on the canopy. Try as he might, Will couldn’t see any evidence the trees were monsters. Whatever was hiding there had excellent camouflage. “The vines, in case there’s any confusion,” Mason said from where he was sitting on a nearby log. “You’re looking…shinier.” Will mused, studying the slender Nuker. He wasn’t wearing any makeup or oil that Will could see…The sun simply seemed to be gleaming from some reflective surface under Mason’s skin. “Thank you. Women seem to like it.” It’s Dreamcatcher Vine,” June said, studying the vines. “A whole stand of it.” Will’s brows rose. Dreamcatcher Vine was a good ingredient for support Classes. Abyss, Will had wanted to add one to his Class when he’d first been starting out, just for the Resistance, Focus, and Acuity growth, perfect for a caster. If he could send some back down to the 5th Floor, he could sell most of it, and the rest could go towards making some noncombatant Classes focused on buffing or Plant magic. “You guys wanted to grab some of them?” “I want of them.” June said. “They’re valuable Sacrifices, and also easy kills. They’re not the smartest, fastest or strongest monsters. They rely on the sleep debuff to take out the unwary. The reason we called you over was to talk about your cut.” “Eh?” “In the contract that Loth wrote for the caravan, you get a flat twenty percent of all Sacrifices and Relics acquired by the armed forces in the caravan. That number jumps up to fifty percent in any battle you personally take part in.” June said, all business. Will counted about twenty vines, give or take. Will thought, turning his gaze back to June. “That’s fine with me, but did you really need to call me down here to tell me I’m not invited to the party?” Will feigned hurt. “Just wanted to let you know so you didn’t get excited and jump in,” June said, scanning the canopy and nudging Mason off his seat on the log as she began prepping arrows for quick firing. “Fine, but I’m borrowing Alicia.” Will said, motioning for Alicia to follow him as they left. “Did you need something?” Alicia whispered, Reggie following behind her like a puppy. Will glanced up at Reggie, who towered over both of them. The two obviously had a thing, since they were always together. Mason had already hit level 30, and had secured a proper defensive Ability, so Reggie was both released of his Tank Contract, and a bit superfluous now that Mason was tough enough to survive on his own. Will supposed he’d found a better body to guard. “Would the two of you be interested in being the eyes of the caravan?” Will asked. In the background, the sounds of brush rustling and hissing began to pick up as June shot the Dreamcatchers one at a time. The stupid things thought their camouflage was impenetrable, and elected to remain still even when their comrades were being slaughtered. “What do you mean?” Reggie asked. “The Party who leads the brush cutters is on a rotation to spread the risk across everyone evenly. I’d like to attach you two to whichever Party is in the lead on a more permanent basis to spot threats before they cause trouble.” Alicia’s glowing blue eyes could see straight through most substances save bones and vital organs. It made her excellent at spotting monsters before they became a problem, and shooting them where it hurt. It also made it very difficult for her to dress herself, since she was nearly blind to anything that wasn’t living. Her shirt was inside out. “June isn’t going to like that…” Alicia whispered. He’d hired June to be a good leader as he gradually distanced himself from his Party and assumed a higher leadership role, and she the problem was that it would be in the Party’s best interest to charge the caravan master an arm and a leg for breaking them up like that, even if the caravan master used to the Party leader. Will thought with a sigh. “I’ll talk to her. talk to Loth about when you’ll be working.” “Okay,” Alicia whispered, her gaze locked on the kobold through half the camp and three tents. Reggie took Alicia’s hand and guided the archer around the tents, along with some chairs and a campfire that she might’ve otherwise stepped in. As it turned out, June have some demands, insisting that Will cook up a Sourdough Relic for each of them as compensation for taking Alicia, and that Jason was not allowed to be loaned out to any other Party. Will compromised on the bespoke Relics, but he refused to give June sole control over what was probably the most powerful buffer the Tower had ever seen. After some haggling, June finally settled on the Relics, plus first pick for a week, which was probably what she wanted in the first place. Since the resources were going to his former team, Will wasn’t too upset about it either. The next morning they headed out, the caravan packing up while the vanguard began cutting their way through the dense jungle, making a road that would vanish behind them in a number of days as the Miasma-boosted wildlife grew right back in.