Climbing the Ranks - Chapter 32 preview (Patreon)

Thankfully, Arthur noted that all the information about techniques was categorized. First things first, he checked the pill information. There were literally only three pills, the cheapest as mentioned was worth ten credits, the other two even more. A glance at the information the pad pulled up showed that he could expect roughly the equivalent level of upgrade in his refined energy, except with the addition of more impurities to his body.

“Why the heck would anyone buy a pill?” Arthur said, frowning.

“It’s faster to consume a pill. Only spend a single hour rather than ten hours absorbing all the crystals. And that assumes you can concentrate for ten hours straight.” The attendant saw Arthur’s surprise and he sighed. “Right, right, tower fanatic. Look, not everyone’s like you. Most of those who come here, they do so because they’re desperate. So cultivating for ten hours straight? Forget it.

“On top of that, as we said; there’s techniques that can help. Make more use of the pills, give you a better bang for your Credits. Then you’ve got the special ones.”

“Special?”

“The lucky who take in pills better or who have a mystic bloodline.”

“Those are real?” Arthur’s jaw dropped. “I thought that was a Hollywood thing?”

“Nah. As real as the Tower. Just a heck of a lot rarer than they show. You might be lucky to find one once a year or so per beginner tower,” the attendant shrugged. “But as I said, not worth it for most.”

“Right.” Armour next, since he liked staying alive and techniques, while useful in the long-term weren’t going to give him an accelerated likelihood of making it through the day immediately. Anyway, how expensive could armor get?”

“This is daylight robbery!” Arthur shouted, pointing a finger at the pad moments later.

“You wanted armour? That’s what we have. You can buy cheaper outside, just walk around the lots. Lots of people bring armour with them, sell them secondhand. Have it made by artisans and other fools outside, wear it in and think it’s good enough,” the attendant snorted. “Maybe for the first floor or two; but after that? After that, you want this. Better to pay more now.”

“Pok gai!” Cursing, Arthur read the details more.

Mutated Heteropoda Lunula Silk Tunic

Provides superior protection against cutting and blunt damage and minor protection against piercing damage. Will disperse lightning and water elemental damage at an additional 7% rate.

Credits: 42

Hardened, Layered Babi Ngepit Leather Breastplate

Covers torso and shoulders of wearer, providing superior protection against all forms of cutting, piercing and blunt damage.

Credits: 26

The details went on. Soft leather armour, plated armoured tunic, even a leather skirt in strips. But the cheapest – the skirt – was nearly a dozen credits and the most expensive was the Silk Tunic. After a second, Arthur shook his head.

Better to buy something cheap for now and upgrade later. He did mentally set aside a couple of Credits to buy something in the tents though, before he moved on.

Techniques next. This was the meat of the shopping experience, where he expected he would be spending the majority of his funds. Each technique started at twenty Credits and rose from there, with Arthur looking to start with the general body reinforcement technique.

Surge of the Dung Beetle

Strengthens and reinforces the user’s body, increasing the flow of chi through meridians. Increases Body attribute by 1 at lowest level of understanding. Maximum increase of 3 points.

Cost: 1 Energy per Minute

Credits: 20

“Dung beetle?” Arthur said, looking at the attendant.

“It’s a good technique.”

“And a horrible name.”

All he got was a shrug at that comment.

Still, three points to the Body Attribute was significant. That was the equivalent of adding the strength, speed and reflexes of a well-trained athlete. Which… Huh.

“Hey, am I wrong? All the forums I read said that three was the base expected number for entrants to the Tower. But you keep saying that most people aren’t as well trained as me. So do they get less?” Arthur said, curiously.

“What am I? Your librarian?” The attendant snorted. Arthur apologized and returned to poking at the tablet, pulling up the next technique.

Heavenly Sage’s Mischief

Boosts the Body’s natural attributes by a significant portion, increasing the user’s abilities. Base understanding of the technique sees an increase of 2 Body attribute points, to a maximum of 5. Cultivator will be fatigued and drained after use – amount dependent on length of use of technique.

Cost: 2 Energy per Minute

Credits: 27

“It depends. In the forums you browsed, they probably spoke of three as being the normal; but that’s for fanatics like you. Your average human is around two, if you just put them in here. Two, two point five, maybe one point five. Of course the Tower doesn’t do decimals for Attributes so it just rounds it up or down.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, make your choice. I have others to work with.”

Arthur chose not to answer the man, instead turning back to the information he had been provided, skimming through the techniques. The others were variations of the first two he had read, but either were more costly with greater variation and base amounts – but longer time to learn the technique – or lower surge potential overall.

Nodding to himself, he moved on to the combat focused techniques, curious what options had been given. His eyes flicked down the various names, some elaborate like Heaven Splitting Kick while others were simplified like Piercing Strike. However, his gaze fell upon the one item that he had not expected to see.

Refined Energy Dart

Project a dart of compressed and refined energy, to strike an opponent at range.

Cost: 1 Refined Energy

Credits: 12

“Only twelve?” Arthur could not help but exclaim in surprise.

“It’s not that powerful,” the attendant replied. “It’s good for taking out small animals.”

“Oh, like literally a dart.” Arthur made a face. “Is this upgradeable?”

“Yes. One of the reasons it’s included. More powerful options are available.”

“Nice…” Back to the pad, he browsed further, searching for options. Finding nothing that jumped out to him, he began to look into details of the others. After a moment, he realized he had made a mistake and handed the pad back.

“I need weapon techniques. Or techniques that work with weapons and unarmed combined, if possible. Staff,” he added quickly when he realized what he forgot to specify.

“Should have said earlier…” the attendant grumbled, even as his fingers flicked over the pad. In a short period, he was done and handing the entire thing back to Arthur. “Combined weapon and unarmed techniques are expensive. Generally better quality, but expensive.”

Nodding, Arthur scanned down the list. It was a very short list – only four listed and only one that was a combined one. He could not help but smile as he noted one of the names for one of the weapon systems.

Heavenly Sage’s Heaven Beating Stick

Staff technique that infuses weapon with energy. Initial stages reinforces staff, increasing durability and damage done, allowing the staff to strike ephemeral and spirit creatures. Higher stages of the technique will allow the projection of energy-infused extensions of the staff.

Cost: 1 Energy per Minute. Must attune to weapon beforehand.

Credits: 12

It was kind of annoying that the basic Focused Strike he had learnt really only had two major stages – using it with a single limb and then, learning to use the same attack with all the limbs or body parts. He was still working on the second portion, since those with the skill could even use unusual portions of the body like shoulders or foreheads.

Moving on…

Aura of the Stars

Imbues the users aura to include the strength of the stars. Amount of damage depends on level of imbuement. As technique is based off aura imbuement, it can extend to weapons wielded by the user.

Passive Cost: 0.1 Energy per hour

Credits: 20

“Can?” Arthur said and tapped the information. “Also, didn’t we discuss not wanting passive techniques?”

“We did. Then you asked for techniques that could work with both unarmed and armed.” The attendant shrugged. “You’ll have to make up your mind.”

“Aura control the only way to extend techniques to both weapons and unarmed then?” Arthur said, surprised.

“Other than specific martial styles, but those we don’t sell.”

“Oh….” Arthur sighed. He had been hoping to get the man to recommend a secret martial style that only those who could ask for it might receive or something similar, but obviously, this wasn’t a movie. There were no secret scrolls to be bought.

Turning back to the pad at the pointed look he got, he scanned through the rest of the information. There were a few other techniques that caught his attention before he chose to lean back and think, debating what to get.

“You can come back later, if you need time to think about your purchases.” The attendant’s waspish voice broke Arthur off from his thoughts, making him blink.

After a moment’s more hesitation, he grinned. “Nah. I know what I want.”