Chapter 135 - Elite (Patreon)

The first thing Zeke did when he got back to the tower was remove his all-but-ruined armor, which had been melted into so much slag, take off his clothes, and jump in the shower. Not only did the cascading water feel amazing, but by the time he’d finished, he felt clean for the first time in weeks. After he stepped out of the shower, which was constructed of the same crimson-and-white, marble-like stone that comprised the rest of the tower, he took a moment to look at his reflection in the mirror. It had simply appeared when the tower had evolved, giving him ample opportunities to see how much he’d changed during his time in the Radiant Isles. The man he saw staring back at him was a far cry from the teenager he’d been when he died. Not only had he gone from clean-shaven to bearded, but his eyes bore the weight of countless life-and-death battles. He wasn’t haunted by them – not like so many others who’d been forced to take lives – but he wasn’t entirely unaffected, either. And each time he saw his reflection, Zeke found himself reminiscing about all the things he’d left behind. In fact, he was still staring at the mirror when Abby pushed past him, having already shed her own leather armor, and stepped into the shower.

She said, “You should’ve waited on me.”

He glanced at his naked partner with a tired grin, saying, “I didn’t want to get too distracted.”

“Right. You’ve still got to pick a new skill, right?” she asked. “Want my input?”

“Yeah,” Zeke said. He hadn’t even bothered to look at his choices yet, but, over the past couple of weeks, he and Abby had talked about it more times than he could count. And while he didn’t know precisely what he would pick, he did have an idea what he wanted to accomplish with this skill choice. However, even though he knew what advice Abby would give, he was also well aware that she wouldn’t want to be left out of it. After all, she’d included him in her most recent skill choice, which she’d made upon reaching level twenty a few days before.

Her level twenty skill, [Earthen Bonds], fell firmly into the utility category. It wasn’t a big, flashy skill that did a lot of damage to her enemies, but it was incredibly useful, nonetheless. When she used it, a series of earthen hands would erupt from the ground, grasping and clawing at her opponents and slowing them down. It was a perfect skill for someone who preferred to remain at range, and after trying it out for a few days, she’d confessed that she was incredibly happy with her choice.

By contrast, when Talia had reached level twenty, she’d chosen a skill called [Chill of Undeath], which, when cast, sent her target’s body temperature plummeting into hypothermia. It slowed their reactions and made them far more vulnerable, which paired well with her speed-focused fighting style. When she used it and activated [Alacrity of Undeath], she was a blur – a fact to which Zeke could attest, because he’d been her first guinea pig.

So, as Zeke dressed in a simple, cotton shirt and a pair of pants, he couldn’t help but feel some pressure to live up to the standards his groupmates had already set. He sat on the bed and opened his status page; over the course of the grind against the fire ants, he’d leveled three times. However, he hadn’t bothered to allocate his stats. He didn’t want to waste the time doing so when the pillar could have crumbled at any given moment. Now that he’d reached his goal, though, the urgency had faded, and he’d decided to allocate the forty-five free points. After he did so, with fifteen in agility and thirty in intelligence, he looked at his status.

It really was shaping up; he had come a long way since seeing it for the first time in the troll caves, but he knew that he had further still to go. However, he was very pleased to see that his fire resistance had also improved by a few points. It seemed that the best way to make those sorts of gains was to endure skills and abilities of that category. For instance, he’d been fighting the fire ants, who, predictably, used fire skills, and his fire resistance had improved. Perhaps he needed to take that into account going forward. If nothing else, his time grinding against the ants had proven to him the value of resistances. After all, Tucker’s potions had rendered the exercise trivial in difficulty. However, without that fire resistance potion, attacking the colony of fire ants would’ve been futile.

“What’s going through that head of yours?” asked Abby, sitting next to him. Her hand rested on his thigh.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just thinking about what we need to do going forward.”

“I thought we’d pretty much decided,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah,” was his response. “I was more thinking about stats and skills and things like that.”

“Oh,” she said. “What are you thinking?”

He lay back on the bed, putting his hands behind his head, and let out a sigh. “I don’t know,” Zeke admitted. “There’s a part of me that wants to keep doing what I’m doing. You know, protecting everyone.”

“We don’t need protection,” Abby interrupted.

“Yeah, no – I know,” Zek amended. “It’s just that every time I have a skill choice in front of me, there’s always one that will help everyone else a lot more than me.  Before, it was just you and Pudge, but now I’m thinking about Tucker and Talia, too. I mean, it makes sense, too. Sacrifice a little personal power to help the group, right? The end result is that, as a whole, we’re stronger, even if I’m not.”

“And what happens if we’re separated? What happens if, for some reason, we all want to go our separate ways?” she asked. “What then? All those choices you’ve made to help other people will have been wasted, right?”

Zeke closed his eyes. Of course, separations was always a possibility. He liked Abby. It might even stray into love. However, he wasn’t so naïve that he thought that would last forever. In movies and books, people lived happily ever after, but in the real world? Couples got tired of one another. They drifted apart. They lost compatibility. Zeke wanted to believe he and Abby would stay together, but the odds suggested otherwise. And that was discounting the very real danger than one of them would die. They lived dangerous lives; it would be foolish to think that they would live forever, wouldn’t it?

The same could be said of his other companions. Even Pudge, whose loyalty was without question, might one day decide he wanted to be with others of his kind. He might find a lady dire bear and start a family. Zeke had no clue what the future might hold, and so, he needed to be prepared for any eventuality. That said, just because he knew what he should do didn’t mean that he wanted to face the harsh realities regarding the future.

“I don’t know,” he said. “And that’s the problem. Do you have any idea how I’d feel if I passed up a skill that might help one of you, and then you end up getting hurt because of it? Or worse…”

“You’re not responsible for us,” Abby said. “You understand that, don’t you? We’re all capable of taking care of ourselves.”

“I know, but –”

“And if you don’t believe that, then maybe this partnership will end sooner than either of us thought,” she went on, talking over his objections. She lay on her side beside him and reached out, turning his face to hers. “Listen. If one of us dies, it’s because we bit off more than we could chew. Or we just weren’t good enough. Or any of a hundred other reasons. But whatever the reason, we would have made the decisions that led us there. Suggesting that you’re responsible for our well-being is robbing us all of our personal agency. You can’t predict everything. You can’t protect everyone. Thinking otherwise is going to end up driving you crazy.”

Zeke sighed. Rationally, he knew she was right. However, that didn’t make the knowledge go down any easier. It did make his choice a little clearer, though.

“You’re right,” he said. “Do you want to know my choices?”

Abby said, “That’s why I’m here.”

Zeke nodded, then navigated to the appropriate menu where his level twenty skill choices were listed. Predictably, there were five listings. He read the first:

[Purge] (G) – You have been afflicted with poison that would have killed a lesser person, but you survived.  With this skill, you may flush out even the worst toxins. Upgradeable.

“Okay, the first is called [Purge],” he said. “It’s a self-cure skill, I guess.”

“That could be useful,” Abby said. “You wouldn’t need me to cure you if we encounter undead again, right? That would make me sleep better for sure.”

“Yeah,” said Zeke, moving on to the next listing.

[Eradicate Undead] (F) – You have slain entire armies of the unliving. This skill harnesses divine energy to increase the force of your blows five-fold when fighting undead. Upgradeable.

Zeke explained the skill to Abby, who seemed suitably impressed. She said, “You already hit like a truck. Think about how much that would help if we ran into Micayne again.”

“You don’t think he’s dead?” Zeke asked. “Those caprids were pretty –”

“Not a chance,” Abby stated. “He’s been around for more than a century. I’m sure he’s fine. And even if he wasn’t, there’s still the horde to think about. They might even be more of an issue without him at their head. That’s definitely a solid skill.”

“How do you think Talia would feel about me taking something like that, though?” Zeke asked.

“Oh, right,” Abby said, shaking her head. “I didn’t think about that.”

Indeed, taking a skill specifically designed to kill undead probably wouldn’t go over too well with Talia, who still wasn’t completely at peace with her new status as a revenant. There was every chance she would see it as Zeke taking steps to counter her, should the need arise. For that reason alone, Zeke wanted to eliminate the skill from contention. However, it was too powerful to ignore outright, especially considering that it was an F-Grade skill, so he filed it in the back of his mind, moving on to the next one.

[Unleash Momentum] (F) – You have proven yourself a master of force. With this skill, harness the power of your momentum, empowering future attacks. Upgradeable.

“Harness the power of your momentum? What is that supposed to mean?” Zeke muttered. Then he read the skill’s description to Abby, who seemed to perk up at the explanation. Noticing it, Zeke asked, “What?”

“I think I recognize it,” she said. “From a book I read a few years back. It was before I got level fifteen, and I was trying to do some research into available skills, and I read an account of a warrior who used a skill that sounded like that. She could kind of store momentum, if that makes any sense. Like, every time she swung her sword, it charged the skill a little more. Then, when she chose to, she could release it all at the same time. The story I read made it seem really strong. And I’m pretty sure her version wasn’t F-Grade, either.”

“Okay, then,” Zeke said. “I guess this one gets on the short list.”

“Definitely,” Abby said. “What’s the next one?”

As he read the skills description, Zeke said, “It’s called [Bulwark].”

[Bulwark] (F) – Through your choices, you have established yourself as a selfless hero. With this skill, protect your allies by sacrificing your own body. Upgradeable.

Zeke read the description to Abby, adding, “I’m thinking that it’s kind of a damage transference skill. Like, I use it on one of you, and if something hurts you, it hurts me instead.”

“Next.”

“It’s a powerful skill, Abby,” Zeke argued. “Think about it. I’m way more capable of taking a hit than any of you. It could save all your lives.”

“For once in your life, just be selfish,” Abby said, her voice full of exasperation. “I mean, come on, Zeke. If you keep going down this road, you’re going to turn yourself into a martyr. Please, just don’t take that skill.”

Zeke sighed. “Fine,” he said. “But I think it’s the best option so far. What do I know, though? It’s just my skill.”

“We’ve already talked about this,” Abby stated. “And I’ve said what I’m going to say. If you really want to take that skill, that’s your decision. I can’t choose for you. But I will be incredibly disappointed if that turns out to be the case.”

“Uh…”

“Incredibly disappointed,” she repeated.

Zeke knew when to stop talking, so he didn’t respond. Instead, he focused on the last listing.

[Unfettered Growth] (G) – You have been touched by a nature being from a higher plane. This skill causes any vegetation to experience rapid and unpredictable growth, even enveloping and ensnaring enemies. Upgradeable.

Zeke told Abby about the skill, adding, “It seems a lot like [Earthen Bonds].”

“It does,” Abby agreed. “Even the description was similar. I think it came from Aja. She was a nature goddess, right? Just meeting her gave us access to those skills.”

Zeke thought back to the encounter with the tree goddess. Based on how being in her presence had felt, it wasn’t surprising that it might influence their development. However, as useful as the skill probably was, taking it just didn’t feel right to him.  He said as much, then asked Abby her opinion on what skill to take.

“It comes down to [Unleash Momentum] or [Eradicate Undead], I think,” she said. “The second is probably a stronger overall skill, but it’s limited in that it can only be used on undead.  [Unleash Momentum] is already strong, and it can be used on anything. I think it’s an easy choice.”

Zeke agreed, but he also still wanted to take [Bulwark]. Even [Purge] seemed like a powerful and useful skill, though it didn’t quite align with his plans. He knew he needed a stronger attack skill, but the idea of protecting his friends was extremely difficult to pass up.

In the end, though, it came down to one thing: if he took [Bulwark], it would help him protect Abby, Talia, Tucker, and Pudge. However, he didn’t think any of them would be happy that he thought so little of their abilities that he needed to sacrifice his own growth just to protect them.

No – that wasn’t entirely true. Tucker would welcome any protection he could get. And Pudge would be fine no matter what. Even Talia would probably be okay with it. But Abby? She’d take it as an insult to her own abilities, as if he didn’t trust her to pull her own weight. That made the choice for him. After all, making a sacrifice to protect others was all well and good, but if doing so ruined his relationship with Abby, it would all be for nothing. So, without any further hesitation, he chose [Unleash Momentum]. It just seemed like the most sensible choice, even if some of his reasoning was based on keeping the peace more than anything else. The moment he made the selection, a sense of regret filled his mind. But he suppressed it, focusing on the fact that, at last, he finally had a flashy skill that could increase his damage by a considerable amount.