Amber | Chapter 144. (Patreon)

Chapter 144. 4.7k words rip

Amber made her way through the 106th floor, which only had a single opponent. A golem of stone, one that was a mere level 210, and yet…

Amber punched the golem with all her strength, one that carried the power of Accursed Reignition behind it and yet⁠— all it did was a small crack as she was slammed by her own strength into the backwall. 

She groaned, feeling all of her bones crack as she dislodged herself off the wall, looking back at the slowly turning golem. 

[Fledgling Avatar of the Earth. Lvl. 210]

Calling it strong was an overstatement, the Avatar of Earth’s speed and strength were abysmal. Its durability and defensive stats however, were at the next level. And every single thing she did to it got reflected back to her, which was insane since she had chopped her body in half with her opening Cursewelder attack. 

Amber chuckled as all her bones snapped back into place. “If it were any other person, I’d certainly be horrified, but…” She cracked her neck. “This is quite exciting, I get to see how durable I am after all.” 

She stretched as the lumbering golem of stone slowly made its way in her direction, it was laughably slow; about as slow as a turtle in her opinion. But Amber didn’t mock the monster, because it was going to serve as her limit testing buddy. 

She took a deep breath and activated the 4th Rank of Accursed Strength, doubling the curse bonus she had from it, and then activated Accursed Reignition again with Essence, and used the 4th Rank again with Essence⁠—

In an instant, all her bonuses reached what was arguably the peak of strength that she could reach at the moment, and then she dipped her finger into the Curse of Destruction only for it to still be melted right off.

Well it was worth trying, she thought before turning to the golem. Now the question is; do I test things that are only achievable in situations like this one? Amber wondered for a moment before breaking out into a grin. 

“Why not.”

And she pointed her finger at the golem as she used Accursed Battery twice in a row, having it deflected all into herself, then she used Abyssal Blast on her own body and in an instant; she reached a new height of power that she never thought possible. 

“Let’s see…”

Amber rushed to the golem, appearing there in a blink before she punched⁠— a loud bang exploded across the room as her arm disintegrated, and along with it a piece of the golem was blown off. 

She hit the wall with incredible pain as she looked up at the trembling golem. 

“Interesting,” she chuckled. 

And that was just the first of many things she wanted to try; after all. How many of her own attacks could she take? 

She used the accumulated rage from Accursed Rage Synergy to enhance the strength of her attack, and then she jumped into the fray again. 

  * 

Amber spent over a day beating at the golem, testing numerous and different attacks to see how they affected her. And one thing was quite obvious; and it was something that had been obvious to her for quite some time now. 

She was way more susceptible to cutting attacks than she was from blunt attacks. 

Amber sighed as the golem collapsed before her.

“Somehow, I’m disappointed.” 

In the end, she actually ran no risk of killing herself from having her most powerful attacks deflected back onto her. Not even Primordial Blazing Bolt or Storm of Destruction had the chance of killing her. 

Sure, it hurt, a lot. But she would survive them. And that… that was disappointing, she just felt weak. 

“And my core doesn’t seem to be leveling either.” 

She stared at her insides that were brimming with Essence, and couldn’t help but feel confused. She felt more than ready to have a level up, but it didn’t seem to crack no matter what she did. It was odd. 

“Oh well.”

At the moment, she didn’t really care for leveling her core after all, but she was quite certain that it would come soon. For now, she was leveling her skills. 

For instance, she had leveled up Accursed Reigntion and Accursed Strength from 5th Rank level 1 to level 3. Quick Dash was now 5th Rank level 6. Her two Inexorable enhancement skills went up by 2 levels. Accursed Creation only leveled up once, landing on 5th Rank level 3, and the same fate was shared by Inexorable Manipulation, landing at 5th Rank level 7.

Though at least, Accursed Rage Synergy had leveled up twice. And that wasn’t all, Crimson Fervor, Crimson Fuel, Crimson Destruction, Crimson Break, Blood Catalyst and Demonic Frenzy⁠— all of those Legacy Branch skills had leveled up twice. 

And her core three resistances ⁠— magical, physical and elemental ⁠— all went up by two levels as well. 

The screen itself informing her all of that was… long. 

[Accursed Reignition has leveled up from 5th Rank level 1 to 5th Rank level 3.]

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 5th Rank level 4 to 5th Rank level 6.] 

[Accursed Creation has leveled up from 5th Rank level 2 to 5th Rank level 3.]

[Inexorable Momentum has leveled up from 5th Rank level 4 to 5th Rank level 6.]

[Inexorable Body has leveled up from 5th Rank level 4 to 5th Rank level 6.]

[Accursed Strength has leveled up from 5th rank level 1 to 5th Rank level 3.]

[Accursed Recovery has leveled up from 5th Rank level 3 to 4th Rank level 4.]

[Accursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 5th Rank level 4 to 4th Rank level 6.]

[Inexorable Manipulation has leveled up from 5th Rank level 6 to 5th Rank level 7.]

[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 3 to 3rd Rank level 5.]

[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

[Crimson Destruction has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 6 to 2nd Rank level 8.] 

[Crimson Break has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 6 to 2nd Rank level 8.] 

[Blood Catalyst has leveled up from level 5 to 7.]

[Demonic Frenzy has leveled up from level 5 to 7.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 5 to 5th Rank level 7.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 5 to 5th Rank level 7.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 5 to 5th Rank level 7.]

“Well, at least one thing is for certain,” Amber said, dismissing the screen before smiling. “And that is, that I’m getting the most out of this tower.”

She smiled as she took out the vial with the Curse of Disintegration and resumed dipping her finger into its contents, all while she made her way to the 107th floor. 

She didn’t really understand when the next opportunity to go to the treasury would arrive, but one thing was quite certain in her thoughts. 

I have to keep growing stronger. 

  * 

The 107th floor was a trap floor, one that Amber used to the fullest to submerge her finger in deadly liquid. That said, there were a few close calls that had her nearly spill it on herself, which would’ve been quite certainly deadly. But the gains were fruitful. 

Amber chuckled as she stood in the middle of an empty room, according to the map she was still ways away from the ending of the 107th floor and yet something great had already happened. 

She stared at the notification before her. 

[Curse Resistance has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

2nd Rank ⁠—  You’re twice as resistant to curses. 

It was 2nd Rank now, and it had taken only half a day. 

Amber looked up towards the entrance of the next chamber, all while she dipped different fingers into the swirling purple liquid that was the Curse of Disintegration, even now she still couldn’t sense how the curse actually worked; so she couldn’t replicate it. 

But so long as she kept on submering her finger into it, that would change. And quite fast, in fact.

  * 

And twenty four hours later, she got another notification, one that greatly excited her. 

[Cursed Resistance has reached 3rd Rank ⁠— level 1.

3rd Rank ⁠— You grow sturdier to curses the longer you are in battle.

It seemed to her that Curse Resistance followed the same trend as the other resistances; where they all shared the same rank effect. And honestly, that was great in her opinion, because it just meant that with the 4th Rank of it⁠— where attacks grow weaker the more damage they’ve done⁠— would most likely be the answer to her peril. 

And that wasn’t all, she also got a level on another skill of hers. 

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 5th Rank level 7 to 5th Rank level 8.] 

And that was exciting in its own regard too. 

After all, it might be my first skill to reach 6th Rank. 

The thing with trap floors is that they still took her multiple days to clear, right now in her estimates she was midway through, and well⁠— there was a lot of pain and close calls, but Amber was sure it was worth it. 

Well, it was all worth it. All the floors after the 100th floor had been quite fun and quite challenging in all their own ways. Seriously, beating a golem for more than a day straight was a challenge in its own way. 

And now she had half a trap floor to go through.

Amber walked into the next chamber as she uncorked the Curse of Disintegration and dipped her hand into it. Leaving her finger plunged as she flinched for the pain, and then a moment later the room started shaking. 

She blinked and some of the liquid curse spilled onto her foot as it melted right through, and into the floor as well. She hurriedly unsummoned the liquid as the entire room began to shake uncontrollably, as if a high magnitude earthquake was passing through. 

“That’s a first.” 

She had spilled some of the liquid, the very fucking valuable liquid. But before Amber could wonder what the stupid trap that had caused it was supposed to be, the walls of the chamber blew open as a gigantic Essence using worm tried to ingest her. 

Amber teleported out of the way as it carved through the wall and she couldn’t help but blink.

[Fledgling Budding Devourer. Lvl. 283]

“Oh, a fight!” 

Amber unsheathed her sword and pounced onto the monster, burrowing into its body as toxin began to consume her skin. And she simply stabbed as she chuckled. 

“So I get Toxin Resistance level ups too?” 

Amber increased her strength as she tore through the insides of the gigantic worm, more motivated than ever because this thing was sure to actually give her some level ups. Unlike the previous rooms, and she definitely wanted to get her level 225 Core Skill; she had been waiting for it so damn long after all. 

She tore through its body, enhancing Cursewelder’s sharpness with Silver Flame Edge, and she heard the glorious squeals of the monsters as Essence flared in her surroundings. Though she didn’t care much for it as she used Accursed Battery ⁠— or Curse Battery ⁠— and blew the insides of the monster as a loud cry echoed. 

Amber kept on tearing through it, it was an easy target given its toxin wasn’t enough to actually kill her. 

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 2 to 5th Rank level 3.] 

She grinned as she activated the 2nd Rank of Accursed Recovery, all while the grime of the monster hit her and corroded her flesh. Unfortunately, for the Fledgling Budding Devourer it had chosen the wrong target. 

Amber stabbed and ripped its insides apart as she heard rumbles from the monster thrashing on the outside, but she paid it no mind as she focused on damaging it. Before she had an idea⁠— 

I can go even further. 

She made an arrow out of curses and one of Essence on her hand as she began to inject mana and her Essence into both, preparing a grand explosion that was sure to kill the monster at once. She smiled as Demonic Frenzy made her even more excited, and a moment later, she felt danger⁠—

She sidestepped as a sharp blur passed next to her, and a moment later she went flying out of the bisected worm. Amber blinked as she rolled once and landed on her feet, she was in some other chamber, and arrows fired at her that she barely dodged. However, her gaze remained looking towards the holes where the worm had been on.

And a moment later, with a rumble, its two halves came for her⁠— one was its maw and the other was its tail. Amber blinked as she blocked and was slapped by a flurry of attacks, the monster’s speed had increased, and⁠— 

She sidestepped as a sharp rock cut through her hair. And then, her legs were locked by chains of rock as she attempted to teleport out of the way only for it to fail. Then, her left hand was chewed right through. For a moment, Amber thought its Essence was rock related, but as the wind pressure started to crush her, she realized it wasn’t that simple. 

“There are no easy fights here, huh?” 

She dodged again only to be struck anyway, it was as if reality itself was being distorted to make the attacks happen. And this continued as she became a bloody mess, and Cursewelder went flying across the room, losing her a lot of perks in her combat ability. 

Amber blocked with her arms as she was launched into a different chamber as she landed rolling, and she decided that this fight wasn’t going to go anywhere unless she tried something new. 

She cursed. “It’s a waste, but fuck it.”

Amber summoned the vial containing the of Curse of Disintegration as the monster came for her, and with a quick swipe she splashed a few droplets into the monster as it⁠— screeched like never before. It began to thrash as it lost control of its Essence. 

Then she teleported out of the way as she grabbed onto Cursewelder and injected her Essence and mana into it, using Droz’gad’s Resource Drinker ability, and enhancing both of the arrows she was producing. 

It took her less than two seconds as she raised a bow made out of purple fire and pointed it at the monster, two arrows nocked. And as the monster recovered, and teleported her right into its rows of sharp teeth, Amber fired.

Primordial Blazing Bolt and⁠— Cursed Blazing Bolt.

Both arrows hit as two rippling explosions of fire rocked through the room, blood and flesh streaking across her vision as the notification came.

[You have defeated a [Fledgling Budding Devourer. Lvl. 283].]

For defeating an enemy 60 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

[You have reached level 221. 15 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.] 

[You have reached level 222. 15 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.] 

“Only two levels.” Amber clicked her tongue.

She was hoping for at least three considering she used a few drops of her precious liquid curse. And that’s what it was, precious. All she had was the small vial; that had been her entire reward. A small vial that contained about half a gulp of liquid. 

She had already used a third of it. The constant dipping seemed to consume it slightly, and there was also the small spill and the splash she had done earlier. Truly a regrettable action, even though she had wanted to try the effects of it on a monster, it still hadn’t been worth it.

She shook her head as she pulled out the map she had gotten back on Froststone, it seemed to know every floor she found herself on; so she used it to reorient herself and set off once more. 

Then there was the fact that core greedily absorbed the Essence in the air as it felt even fuller than before and it still wouldn’t level up. At this point, Amber concluded that it had changed, and she had a feeling that it was for the better. 

As for how long she had to wait till it’s level up? Well she wasn’t sure, but it excited her. 

  * 

Two days later she finished the 107th floor, and had some things to show for it. 

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 5th Rank level 8 to 5th Rank level 9.] 

Sharp Instincts was ever so slightly closer to Rank 5, and that wasn’t all. Curse Resistance had also ranked up to 4th Rank. 

[Curse Resistance has reached 4th — level 1.

4th Rank ⁠— Curses from the same source grow weaker the more they damage you.

And yet, as she kept her finger dipped into the vial, Amber couldn’t help but frown. It was melting at the same rate, and yet now the vial was about halfway through. That was how much she had used it. 

Needless to say she was frustrated.

She shook her head and pulled out her notebook before heading to the next floor. At least, the first draft of all her bodily runes was almost complete, and once it was done it would undergo some revisions before she would finally put them to use. But one step at a time, for now she had to focus on penning the masterpiece that would be engraved on her body. 

Well, the one that Frei will thoroughly revise, she added in her mind. 

At first, she had been skeptical of the elf with peach fuzz colored hair⁠— white at the top and bright orange at the bottom. But after having her around for so long, Amber actually appreciated the woman deeply. 

When I’m done with the Demon of Genesis I’ll do my damn best to help her. 

She smiled, and a moment later, she immersed herself in writing once more. 

  * 

Amber went past the 108th floor which was a strange thing, it had been a test of speed and every time she failed to sprint past the opposing figure she would get punishment⁠— aka: spikes piercing the entirety of her body. 

She could attempt it every time she felt like it, but even then it still took her until Accursed Strength’s once a week active was up. And that was when she finally reached the end of the floor before her enemy that she actually couldn’t kill.

It was… such a weird experience. One that actually got her a few skill level ups from the random attempts and occurrences. 

For starters, all her resistances including Toxin Resistance, but excluding Curse Resistance, had leveled up once. 

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 3 to 5th Rank level 4.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 7 to 5th Rank level 8.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 7 to 5th Rank level 8.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 7 to 5th Rank level 8.]

Other than that, Accursed Reignition, Quick Dash, both Inexorable enhancement skills, and some Legacy Branch skills had leveled up once. The branch skills that leveled were enhancement ones, such as Crimson Fervor, Fuel, Break and Demonic Frenzy. Aside from that Accursed Strength had leveled up twice which was exciting. 

[Accursed Reignition has leveled up from 5th Rank level 3 to 5th Rank level 4.]

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 5th Rank level 6 to 5th Rank level 7.] 

[Inexorable Momentum has leveled up from 5th Rank level 6 to 5th Rank level 7.]

[Inexorable Body has leveled up from 5th Rank level 6 to 5th Rank level 7.]

[Accursed Strength has leveled up from 5th rank level 3 to 5th Rank level 5.]

[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 5 to 3rd Rank level 6.]

[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 6.]

[Crimson Break has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.] 

[Demonic Frenzy has leveled up from level 7 to 8.]

Amber felt glad that all her skills were progressing and she also hadn’t wasted her downtime in the 108th floor, continuing to train her Curse Resistance. 

This time she got it to 5th Rank.

[Curse Resistance has reached 5th — level 1.

5th Rank ⁠— Curses are weaker against you. 

And yet, her fucking finger kept on resisting absolutely nothing. As soon as it came into contact with the liquid it was gone. And yet…

Amber stared at the vial that had a quarter of the liquid left.

At this rate, she wouldn’t hit 6th Rank with Curse Resistance; she didn’t even care about the fact that it would be her first 6th Rank skill, the issue was that 5th Rank wasn’t strong enough. And that meant that all her efforts would go to waste.

She bit her lip for a moment, when she first had the realization she cursed and got angry, but now it just frustrated her. Something had to be done, but she wasn’t sure about what. 

Nothing she had tried to make more of it, or sense it in some other way had really worked. So what was she supposed to do?

Amber sighed and shook her head before continuing into the 109th floor. She had already revised the notebook and made thorough contributions to it, So now it was time to at least level her skills. 

  * 

A day passed and Amber kicked the wall in frustration.

A loud bang echoed as it cracked before it healed. The 109th floor was a fucking puzzle room. No skills to level, no enemies to challenge her. Nothing. 

And to top it all off she still had absolutely no fucking idea on what to do with the vial. She grabbed it and slammed it onto the ground as dust exploded.

“Fuck.”

She stomped it; it was nigh unbreakable due to the fact that it contained some otherworldly curse, so she used it to take out her frustration. Sure, some people would’ve called her childish, but she had her reasons. 

She had been slaving inside this tower for well over a month, and she had been dipping her finger in liquid acid for weeks, and it was the reward she had chosen over the fucking bracelet that gave her peace of mind, and yet it was going to go to waste?

Sure, part of it was her fault for being too weak to use it, but she also rationalized that the tower had offered it to her because it judged her to be good enough to do so. But that wasn’t the case; or it didn’t seem like it at all. 

A loud sigh left her as she hit the ground, the puzzles on this floor were absolutely insane. Some of them actually required calculus; and she barely remembered all of that after two years of beating monsters to death. Her past in finance was long gone. 

“My god…” Amber groaned. 

The fact that she was on a floor that greatly frustrated her and offered her no ways to get stronger; a floor that by all measures felt like a waste of time; greatly added to all her frustration. 

She picked up the vial and stared at it, then swirled it around, before finally laying down on the floor to actually think.

Resistances, and levels in general seem to go up the more struggle that was involved. Amber extended her hand into the air. By all measures it can be considered a law of the world…

With Curse Resistance I haven’t done much struggling aside from constantly losing my finger; which is painful but also… She furrowed her brows. Objectively speaking it’s not a lot of struggle.

Amber stared at the ceiling as her thoughts bounced around.

The only reason it has leveled up so much is because the Curse of Disintegration is so strong to begin with. Nothing I tested it on could actually contain it aside from its vial. 

She had tried to put a drop on Droz’gad and to her surprise it actually melted a part of the mostly unbreakable sword. That was how powerful it was. A sigh left her thinking about her now slightly damaged demonic sword, getting it repaired was probably going to be a pain. 

So, the real question is how can I struggle with the Curse of Disintegration…? 

Amber finally rationalized an answer and yet, she found herself stumped. But this time, she didn’t let herself be distracted by her feelings, and instead actually thought. At first, nothing really came to mind; dipping other body parts wouldn’t make a difference, nor pouring it on her arm. 

But then an intrusive thought came, one that gave her pause⁠.

What if I drink it? 

It was completely insane and yet… it would most certainly have the chance to kill her. That was by definition true struggle. But at the same time, it was a god awful idea. One that…

Might be my only answer… 

Amber cursed under her breath again as she deliberated between drinking what was essentially battery acid, or not. And finally, she decided to sleep on it.

  * 

“Fuck, I’ll definitely regret this.”

Amber gulped and a moment later, she chugged the contents of the vial; the entirety of the Curse of Disintegration as she felt excruciating pain and her insides were melted right through. She choked on the liquid as she dropped to the ground. Some drops of liquid melted right through her jaw, most made it down her throat as burning pain filled her and melted through her body. 

And soon enough it reached her stomach as she thrashed on the ground, suppressing her screams from pain. It hurt more than anything she had experienced before, and yet all she did in response was use the 2nd Rank of Accursed Recovery, doing her best at sensing the curse. 

[Curse Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 1 to 5th Rank level 2.]

…

[Curse Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 3 to 5th Rank level 4.]

Her Curse Resistance just kept on leveling as she thrashed on the ground. It was definitely one of the most rash ideas she had executed. 

[Curse Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 4 to 5th Rank level 5.]

But as Curse Resistance reached level 5, she actually managed to sense the curse for once. And also the curse began to not completely melt off her body as it remained within her system, causing the little that remained to give her excruciating pain. 

[Curse Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 5 to 5th Rank level 6.]

Hours of agony passed as Amber got used to the pain, and eventually, Curse Resistance reached level 10. 

[Curse Resistance has leveled up from 5th Rank level 9 to 5th Rank level 10.]

And Amber was slowly getting a better understanding of the curse. 

  * 

And eventually, the skill reached 6th Rank as Amber puked the contents of her stomach and the last remaining drops of the Curse of Disintegration along with it. All while she laid on the floor surrounded by blood. 

[Curse Resistance has reached 6th — level 1.

6th Rank ⁠— Curses can be foreseen. 

The 6th was kind of useless at the moment and for the time being, but it didn’t matter because…

Amber grinned as she weakly pressed her finger against the floor, and a moment later the floor along with her finger began to disintegrate.

It still melted whatever body part it was coming into contact with, but now she could create the Curse of Disintegration even if it was dangerous to use. 

Amber weakly laughed. “I actually did it…”

And a moment later, she passed out from exhaustion.