“Points are power, pure and simple. Points let you enhance your very self, from empowering any aspect of your being to gaining abilities and powers you could only dream of before the Tower. The only limit is your imagination . . . and the Concept from your Initialization. Remember, however, once spent, no refunds. And there is no manager to complain to.”
Excerpt from presentation to Senate Committee on the Tower
Tower Day 7 – Mid afternoon
Charlie scowled at the door to the next trial, the open door beckoning her with the promise of more monsters, more pain, the possibility of death, and the chance – however small – of freedom.
Once through the doorway, it blinked away to a blank wall, leaving no way but forward. Hesitantly she started making her way though, the square tunnel 30 foot on a side stretching before her like the video Charles had watched with his roommate. She shook her head sharply at the sudden disorientation of his memories versus her body and focused on what was going on now. She carefully walked on, putting her left hand on the wall and taking each turn the same direction, hoping that would help her through this maze.
She turned one corner and froze in shock as she spotted a goblin shuffling its feet and sniffing the air as it moved away from her. The gasp that slipped out at the sight made it whirl to face her and it howled as it attacked. Charlie quickly rushed forward in a panic, trying to get the first blow in and hopefully avoid her trait triggering, but it didn’t help as even though she knocked it down, the moment the fight started in earnest the red haze descended and the rush drove her fists down.
~~~
Charlie came back to herself, groaning in pain and adrenaline crash. Next to her, the fading body of the goblin left behind its drop, a fang this time. A quick check of her status showed she wasn’t as hurt as before, but she was still down half her hp, her dark mana was completely drained and her hands felt like tenderized meat. She looked around fearfully and relaxed as she didn’t see any other mobs around. A quick backtrack to a dead-end in the maze let her watch for any other wandering goblins as she waited for her regen to bring her back to full.
While she waited, she concentrated on the energy deep inside, as it flowed and ebbed through her body. In her center, just behind her sternum she felt a tiny, pea sized marble of circling force that pulled energy from around her body, sent it through a dizzying series of channels that converted it to Mana that radiated the Concept of Darkness. Drip by tiny drip the energy accumulated in her reserves and started moving through her body again, around and around and back to her core, where it once again started to cycle through the core and back out in a constant stream.
Charlie watched the cycle in a daze until she noticed the aches and pains had stopped. Once again she checked her status and saw her hp was back to full, and her mana reserves had gone back up over half. “Back to it.” She muttered, peeking around the corner carefully and setting back on her way.
Two more dead ends and three left turns later she spotted another goblin. Unfortunately it spotted her at the same time and gave a shriek that echoes down the corridor.
“Shit shit shit.” Charlie rushed to put the goblin down before it could get her. As the now familiar euphoric rage descended she could hear another shriek arriving, driving her fear harder.
~~~
Charlie lay on the stone floor, whimpering through shallow breaths as her regeneration started patching her back together. One arm lay limp, something in her rib cage shifted as she fought for breath and blood dripped from numerous claw marks to stain the white to red. She watched her status as her hp blinked -0-, rising up every tick only to drop back down again as she lost blood. She felt . . . fragile and . . . faded . . . with the low health, even as her core and energy channels refilled.
Her ribs knit back together and her hp started to stay up, the rest of her wounds closing as well once the big injury was fixed. She started to breathe deeper and moved to a sitting position to at least see if the next enemy was on the way. She split her attention from the corridor to inside once again, finding the movement of mana soothing, giving her a strength to herself she couldn’t define. Once back to full yet again, she grabbed the three goblin claws from the floor, showing just how desperate the fight had been.
“I don’t know if I’m getting better at fighting or just got lucky not to die.” Charlie muttered to herself as she stood up and stretched, expecting to find herself sore and aching but feeling just as fine as when she just entered the maze. “I don’t know if I can do this.” She said to a ration brick she pulled out of the purse. “I’m not a fighter. I don’t fight. Any time I tried I just got hurt more.” Tears dripped down. “All I had to do was put up with it until they got bored and they went away. I wish I’d never taken that stupid commission! I’m not trans! I was happy to be a guy! And whatever was done to change me into this made me happy to be a girl! This body feels just as normal as when I was a guy! What the fuck is up with that!?”
The spike of adrenaline from her screaming fit brought a slight red haze to her thoughts and she felt her hands start to itch for a target to vent on. To feel the damage she was doing and the trickle of health flow into her to repair the very damage her full force punches did to her own hands. A countering spike of fear made the red haze retreat and Charlie took deep breaths to calm down.
“I’m not her, I’m not her. I’m still me.” She did her best to ignore how her body reacted with anticipation to the thought of her next fight.
~~~
Charlie continued through the maze, backtracking and taking other turns and eventually having to leave little bits of ration brick in spots that held only dead ends or cross-ways that looped her around and around. She ran into two more goblins, both times one on one so she got away with relatively minor injuries instead of the near death experience of the 1 on 3. She tried to ignore the flashes of emotion that stuck in her brain and worked harder on trying to think during the fight, moving to avoid the claws and aiming punches to the vitals instead of fist-on-skull. Regretfully the moment the red haze descended the next thing she knew the fight was over.
After one more turn her eyes lit up at the sight of the exit door, just one goblin staring dumbly down the hall. Once the Fury faded away she snatched up another fang and rushed through . . . only to bounce back on her padded rear. She looked up and spotted words floating on the shimmering barrier.
-8/10 goblins defeated
Charlie’s scream of frustration and despair was answered by the remaining goblins back in the maze.
~~~
Charlie limped back to the exit door with a touch of red remaining in her mind pushing her forward, driving her to the exit and hopefully somewhere safe. She stared dumbly at the wood box that had appeared in front of the passageway and just had the presence of mind to grab what was inside before stumbling into another rest area and collapsing on the cot, falling into blissful sleep.
###
Charles ran screaming from a horde of goblins that chased him down a dimly lit corridor, snarling and howling as they got closer and closer. He saw a yawning door that promised safety but just as he reached it he saw Gloria in all her terrible form stand in his way. He tried to push past her but she shoved him back to fall into the horde, laughing all the while. The goblins ripped his skin off to reveal that she was now Gloria. And they all laughed. And laughed while Charles’ face lay on the stone, locked in a scream.
###
Tower day 8
Charlie screamed awake from the nightmare and into another. She looked down at her torn and bloody tunic and the curves it hid and sobbed. A quick rush to the toilet and then a shower helped calm her down and she felt . . . not herself, but at least ‘normal’ enough. For now. She munched on a bland ration brick and reviewed her collection of drops and rewards.
“Let’s see . . . 7 claws – one point there – 4 fangs, and a . . . jacket?” She examined the heavy leather covered in rivets that she pulled from the box and blinked at a mental prompt.
-Sturdy brigantine jacket – Basic. +10 defense, +10 health
“Oh thank Goddess this has to help.” Charlie said fervently and quickly put it on, shivering as the leather self-adjusted to her body, fitting like a glove afterwards. “That was really creepy.” She muttered. A check of her status showed the extra added to her hp total. Her hp regen kicked in to bring her back to full, the rate unchanged.
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“And these . . .” She held the drops in one hand and placed the other on the obelisk, bringing up the shop menu. “Sell all.” She ordered, five claws and three fangs blinking away, bringing her point total up to 13. “Ooh, bonus. 3 fangs give 2 points.”
Charlie started navigating though the menu. “Equipment . . . stat boost accessories.”
A dizzying array of boosting equipment appeared, each showing a +1 to a stat. Besides the 7 she already possessed there were uncounted others. “Okay, there’s strength, intelligence, wisdom, reflex, perception . . . body parts? Freaky.” She frowned as she thought. “Okay, the fury shuts off my mind, so . . . buy that one.”
An amulet made of bronze blinked into her open hand. She quickly slipped it on and checked her status. Along with the [+1 Int] now on her page, she felt her thoughts tick just a touch faster, memory a touch more clear, and a smidgen more to her mental connections.
“Okay, three more points. Better make them count.” Charlie turned her attention back to the store. “Um, one point on Dark Attack.” She smiled as the damage boost went to 10 . . . with the cost reaching 10 Energy/tick as well. “Shoot, I should have done that instead of Regen! But now I only have a little over one tick of use . . .” She sighed. “Oh well, I was planning on this anyway. One point to my core.”
Charlie winced as she felt her core swell and grow, spinning faster, pulling more energy and converting it faster. “Oof.” She rubbed her sternum. “That doesn’t feel good. Could use a Tums for the heartburn.” She rubbed again. “Okay, that brought it to . . . 110!? 100 from core plus . . . stat bonus.” Charlie took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay . . . 10 ticks of Dark Attack . . . fuck. Shit just got real.” She smiled. “Last point, make it count!”
She froze as she felt something . . . a tiny whisper deep inside murmuring hard to make itself heard. Something from the deepest part of her soul spoke, echoing from the Night. “Search . . . purification.” She whispered.
The shop turned blank for a moment, almost seeming shocked before displaying a mere few dozen skills that involved ‘purification’. She frowned and read through the list before settling on one, others earmarked for future points. “Purchase ‘Purify Dark Energy’ passive skill.”
-Special Skill ‘Purify Dark Mana: M 0, T 0
-Core automatically removes impurities from Dark Mana
“Hmm, no numbers or anything, but . . . oh well.” Charlie rested her hand on her sternum again and concentrated on the feel of her core. It was very faint, but she could just feel something unpleasant filter out of her energy channels and leave her body. There was an imperceptible sensation that her mana flowed better and responded better to her will. With these changes she could almost feel optimistic about the next trial.
~~~
Ben Trial 2
Ben set himself as he spotted a lone skeleton at the other end of the passageway. “Hey! Over here!” He called out, getting its attention.
The skeleton screeched – somehow, without vocal cords – and clattered towards him. Another two screeches sounded and Ben swallowed heavily, then tightened his grip on the hammer he got from the previous trial. “Better make this quick, then.”
A quick application of his Ricochet skill and his shield was sent flying, struck, bounced back, grabbed and thrown again. The skeleton fell back but wasn’t out as it struggled to its feet as the other two arrivals charged around the corner and right to their new target.
“Guess we do this the hard way.” Ben angled to the side and slammed a Shield Bash at the lead skeleton, knocking it into the one behind and to the floor, the two tangling themselves together in a mass of limbs. That bought him time to swing the hammer hard on the skull of the original of the group, cracking the skull – unfortunately not taking it out yet. One bone hand speared at him, but he took it on the shield, grunting from the impact, but he shoved back for space and brought the hammer back once again.
This time the skull shattered and the body dropped to start fading. Ben turned to the other two undead and quickly threw the shield as they untangled from each other and turned back to him. One hit each from Ricochet threw their movements off again but the quick throw didn’t have the right angle to return the shield back to him and it skittered down the hall on the wrong side of the fight, leaving him with just his hammer.
“Shit.” Ben glanced from the two to behind them at his shield and judged his chances. “Well, that’s – fuck!” He twisted to the side to dodge the first blow and swung the hammer in return, hitting a shoulder solidly, leaving a slight crack but not enough to count. A jab from the other caught him in the arm, dropping his health some, but no real damage.
“Let’s try something crazy . . . Ricochet!” Ben applied the skill to his hammer and aimed for one skull. The blow hit hard and Ben felt the force of the swing reverse after impact. He wrenched his arm to add to the force and drive it into the other, then used that reversal to go right back to the first target, again adding what force he could to the swing.
One skeleton crumbled and started to fade, and the other didn’t look too healthy as cracks spider webbed on one side from the impact. Ben’s arm throbbed from the whip-lashing force and he felt his hand grow numb as his own health actually dropped some from his own attack. Still, that didn’t stop him from switching the hammer to his off-hand and trading blows until the last mob faded.
“Damn that hurt.” Ben flexed his arm and tried his grip again, shaking his head. “At least I still have half my hp.” He checked his status. “I’m gonna feel this for a while. Wish the hp recovery helped with fixing damage better. Or I had some kind of healing skill . . . well, that’s . . . 10 so far in this maze. Hopefully that’s it. Ten points, plus see if I can get anything from selling teeth and fingers . . . new basic skill or level up what I’ve got? One point per basic level . . . or should I get that info pack? Damn this place . . .” He grabbed his shield and went back to exploring.
~~~
Charles Fitzgerald
Point Value: 103
Core Concept: Lesser Dark – Unlocks Dark and associated element skills
Energy Type: Mana – Prime stat Power
Template: Gloria Crimson Bloodwine Angelique (modified)
Race: Celestial Touched Human – T 4, 4 more skill slots
Bloodline: Shard of Light-tainted Night – T 3, +.3 to Night element skill multi, 30% more damage from Light skills
Trait: Battle Fury – T 3, 30% increased damage, great rage and euphoria in battle
Equipment: Basic Leather Armor [+10 def, +10 hp], Basic Amulet of Intelligence [+1 Int]
