Tower Story -- Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next 6 hours were a test of Bax’s resolve, as he felt worse and worse as the classes he attended seemed to drag on and on.  Most of what he learned went over his head because his mind was focused on keeping himself from coughing and eventually sneezing at one point or another, though there were a few things that stuck with him.

In The Keeper’s Tower class, he learned more about what he would be facing inside of its 50 Floors: monsters, puzzles, and traps.  There was no explanation – at least, not in this first class – why there were puzzles and traps inside of an artificially expanded space that birthed monsters, but he suspected that this was information he would learn throughout his time in the class.  Each floor was apparently huge and required strength and cooperation to clear, which was why Keepers were groups in Parties of 4 – with each member playing a different role inside the Party.  Even with Parties, fully clearing the Keeper’s Tower took a long time, with 50 years being the average, because the floors were almost like worlds upon themselves.  He didn’t learn about how exactly these floors were cleared, however, but he suspected that it was something he would hear about in later classes.

The one thing that stuck with him during that class, as it pertained especially to him, was that – as a future Guide – he would be Partying with numerous Parties as a fifth member and filling different roles in order to get a better overall understanding of each role operated.  He thought that this was a good idea if he was supposed to help teach future Humans how to fill different roles.

As for what those roles were, his Classes/Party Roles and Mechanics class, he learned that there were 4 distinct positions that were fulfilled by a Party.  Having played some RPGs in the past, though not very often, he recognized them as they were named off: Defender, Healer, Damage Dealer, and Support.  Defenders were essentially the front-line fighters, or tanks, and Healers were fairly self-explanatory – but they also acted in the role of a buffer, as they helped to enhance the others with spells and abilities.  Damage Dealers were either spellcasters who did a lot of damage from the back line, or were able to dish out brutal attacks from close range – but they specialized in doing damage instead of defense like Defenders.  The role of Support was a bit of a mixed bag, as far as he could see, because while it included Classes that helped to scout and detect traps, and even sneak around and attack from stealth, it also seemed to have Classes that didn’t fit into any other role, such as Alchemists and Magitech Engineers – whatever those were.  There weren’t any in-depth descriptions of actual Classes yet, nor of any specific tactics or mechanics – but like his other classes, he suspected that this kind of information would be shared eventually as time went on.

The most impactful thing he learned from that class, however, was that he wouldn’t be able to select a Class until it was authorized by the Guides, as they had a specific learning plan that they would go through during their time in the Co-op.  Apparently, anyone could change their Class at any time, but there were restrictions in doing so that he would learn about later.

For his Weapons and Armor/Item Management, he learned that most the armaments that Keepers – and the Adventurers, who acted as the bulk of the everyday defense of each world – used were medieval in nature, with no sign of guns or advanced weaponry that he was used to from Earth.  Instead, everything seemed to begin with mundane materials, such as iron, and was enhanced through magical processes to become stronger, more durable, and even had special effects imbued into them. 

But what he learned the most from the class was that he had an Inventory.  The extra-dimensional space that he – and everyone else within the System – possessed was small at first, only about a cubic foot, but it would grow as he Leveled.  He resolved to play with it later when he had the time – and had something to actually put into it – but knowing that he had an internal inventory was amazing.

In Monsters, Remnants, and Aberrations class, he got an overview of what they, as Keepers, would be facing when they returned to help defend a world.  The whole idea of monsters was somewhat glossed over during this first class, as he suspected that the Guides teaching the class figured most people knew what they were, so they focused on Remnants and Aberrations.

Remnants, apparently, were monsters that were somehow left over from the previous cycle when they were extremely powerful.  For some reason, these monsters were able to snatch a hold of a portion of their energy when it was all absorbed by the Retrogression System, and therefore held onto a portion of their power.  Doing this, however, nearly killed them in the process, and most times it took them decades or centuries to “wake up”, with the stronger the monster, the longer it took for them to become a threat again.  They weren’t that big of a threat until the Dungeon Establishment phase, which was why Keepers were important to have back on their worlds protecting it by that point, as they should easily be able to handle any Remnants that make themselves known.

Aberrations, on the other hand, were monsters that were created during the current cycle.  Apparently, large concentrations of energy could come together and form a new type of monster, either wildly different from anything seen before – or potentially much more powerful than the average monster found in a region.  It was the Keeper’s responsibility to hunt these Aberrations down and eliminate them before they could threaten the local population.

Following that class, as Bax became increasingly overwhelmed with everything he was learning about and somewhat frightened about the monsters he was hearing about – and that he would have to face one day – the sickly Human found his way to a large, empty room that reminded him of a gymnasium more than a lecture hall.  There were wooden and metal targets set up around the room, soft mats that filled the floor, and even some wood and straw training dummies lined up in rows in the corner.  Half of the room, though, was filled with what appeared to be an obstacle course – if an obstacle course moonlighted as a torture chamber; there were so many ropes and spikes that he was worried he’d be impaled and hung just walking too close to it.

Unlike his previous classes, which were all positioned in what he would classify as a “book-learning” environment, Magical Resonance Instruction and Physical Aptitude Training took place in a distinctly different area.  There were also only about 100 people in these particular classes; a quick count put them at 97, including himself, which was 8 groups of 12 – with 12 Keepers being what he’d learned was sent to each world – plus himself. 

Strangely enough, the angel Serra was one of the 96 other people in his back-to-back classes, though he never got a chance to talk to her because of the nature of the instruction.  In short, he was singled out by the Guides teaching the classes, as he had absolutely no clue as to what he was doing – especially in the first class, Magical Resonance Instruction.

Fortunately, the Elven woman who took him aside seemed to recognize his sick-fueled distress and cast another healing spell on his, clearing up his symptoms immediately – and then seemed to dismiss his sickness as unimportant.  She even appeared to think that he was faking his illness or something, because she spent the entire Magical Resonance class looking like she’d swallowed something sour and was very curt in her spoken tone and cadence.

Then again, it could be because she declared him nearly hopeless when it came to Magical Resonance.

Apparently, his Unity stat of 1 was the smallest she’d ever heard of before, with the average being 10 – and that was for the most magically inept of races, such as the Orcs and the Saroon.  Unity was what allowed people to access their internal Mana and to affect the world around them through a magical resonance; without it, spells were harder or even impossible to cast or activate, even if they were spells or abilities granted by a Class. 

The Elf had him start some mental exercises to start even trying to access his internal Mana, which he’d had absolutely no luck doing during the first class – but toward the end, he thought he’d made a tiny bit of progress, even if she didn’t see it.  Fortunately, he was told that stats which started below the average of 10, which was essentially all of his stats, could be trained and brought up to the average through hard work and dedication, so he wasn’t permanently hopeless; after they reached 10, however, stats could only be permanently increased by Leveling up. 

The Physical Aptitude Training occurred right after his failure in Magical Resonance Instruction, and if it was possible to do even worse than his experience in trying to access his Mana, then his showing during the last class of the day was proof that it was possible.  Even with his symptoms largely cleared up by the Elven Guide’s healing spell, he felt weak and tired, which he wrote off as simply being overwhelmed by everything, and that translated into his performance.  While the other Keeper recruits in his class seemed to be full of boundless energy, Bax felt like he was fumbling around and tripping over his own feet.  He wasn’t an athlete back on Earth, of course, but he thought that he had been in fairly good shape; he couldn’t tell, however, as even the Gnomes that he saw – despite being half his height – were twice as fast, could jump twice as high as him, and could even lift three times what he could.  Then again, he didn’t think it was necessarily a fair comparison, being that he was sick, but he couldn’t help but compare himself to the others – who were all Level 1 like Bax was, he had to remind himself – and found his physical abilities greatly lacking.  He also feared that, other than perhaps 5% of the Human population that was in much better shape than him, his average stats were probably the norm for Humans on Earth.

So many people are going to die, if what I’ve learned about monsters is true.

A Level 1 monster wasn’t much of a threat to a normal person, especially if they had a weapon to defend themselves – but that was considering that even the weakest Gnome was likely stronger than 99% of Humans on Earth. Add in the fact that their ability to use magical energy, which somehow seemed innate for all of the other races in the System, was likely similar to his own, then even if they had Classes to start out with, they wouldn’t be able to use them very effectively.  They could eventually train themselves to access and utilize their Mana, like he was being trained, but by that point it would likely be too late. 

By the time he was done with class, exhausted but unhurt after being healed multiple times due to falling off obstacles trying to establish a baseline for his abilities, he headed to the Meal Hall after being dismissed early because he could barely get his body to move how they wanted after a while.  Because it was early, he got to the Meal Hall when it was basically empty, and being that his mind was just as exhausted as the rest of his body, he didn’t bother covering his mouth as his symptoms started to express themselves again, exasperated by his fatigue.  He was barely aware of anything as he sneezed on the crystal box creating his meal, and while he attempted to wipe it off, it simply smeared what he’d in advertently left on there.

His food was largely tasteless by this point, either because of his sickness or because he couldn’t picture what he wanted very well for the meal-generating box to create it, so he only ate half of it before left, heading toward his room.  Once he arrived, he took a long shower – after spending a few minutes figuring out how it worked – and then crawled into bed; he struggled to sleep as he shivered with the chills, and he knew that he had a full-blown fever by this point.  He attempted to have the crystal box in his room create him some acetaminophen to help reduce his fever or any other medicine to help alleviate his symptoms, but apparently it couldn’t create those types of things.  Defeated by his attempts to relieve the uncomfortableness of his situation, he eventually fell asleep – and he thankfully didn’t remember waking up at all during the night.

                    *

When he woke up in the morning, he didn’t even want to get out of bed.  His notifications had woken him once again, essentially telling him to get up and get to class, but he ignored it completely as he felt the fever filling his body even more than the previous night.  He thought about finding a way to send some sort of message to the Guide leadership team, letting them know that he wouldn’t be able to get to his classes that day – essentially “calling in” to work – but he didn’t have the energy to do even that much.  At this point, his body felt weak enough that even visiting the bathroom was a chore, let alone going out and finding someone to tell that he wasn’t going to classes.  If they became concerned at his absence, they could come find him if they wanted and see the state he was in.

Not hungry in the least, he still forced himself to eat something bland but filling from the crystal box in his room, as well as pumping himself full of pure, clean water. After being up for a short while, he almost convinced himself to find a Guide that could cast a healing spell to help clear out his symptoms at least, but the mere thought of walking around outside his room – which originally felt like a prison cell of sorts to him, but now felt more like his own personal sanctuary – made him change his mind.

Instead, he went back to bed, his body tired enough to pass out within minutes.

Over the next 96 hours, his illness got worse before it got better.  At times, he nearly had to drag himself to the bathroom to relieve himself because he didn’t want to dirty his bed, and even getting enough to drink was a hassle; eating anything was a challenge because his throat hurt to swallow anything, but he ate as many soft foods like pudding and even some oatmeal – at least when he remembered to. 

During his periods of wakefulness, which was about 6 to 8 hours a day, he spent them in bed working on the exercises for reaching his Mana when he got bored, and eventually he was rewarded when he mentally brushed the tiny ball of Mana he felt in his chest. 

Great work!  Unity has increased by 1!

Unity {1} -> {2}

The increase of his stat was amazing, as he immediately felt a difference in the size of the ball of Mana in his chest.  In addition, his initial brush with his Mana became much easier, until he could finally grasp it in his mental clutches.  He couldn’t do anything with it quite yet, but he was getting much closer to being able to do so the more he focused on it.

Great work!  Unity has increased by 1!

Unity {2} -> {3}

Great work!  Unity has increased by 1!

Unity {3} -> {4}

Great work!  Unity has increased by 1!

Unity {4} -> {5}

Thanks to not being able to do much else while he suffered through the ravages of the flu, Bax managed to raise his Unity all the way to 5, which made a huge difference compared to when he had first started.  He was now able to freely access his Mana and it became more malleable under his mental ministrations, to the point where he thought he could use it to fuel some spells or abilities.  Of course, he didn’t know how to do that quite yet, nor did he know any spells or abilities in the first place, but he was looking forward to showing that Elf Guide from the Magical Resonance Instruction class that he wasn’t a complete failure when it came to managing magical energy.  How quickly he started being able to access it, despite his illness, also gave him some reassurance that the Humans back on Earth might not be as hopeless as he had originally thought.  He thought that they might just be able to figure it all out before it got too late.

After days of being bedridden, he finally started to feel better to the point where he wanted to get up and move around.  He still had a cough and a stuffed-up head, but it was much better than it had been even on the first day of classes; instead of venturing out, however, he took a final day to convalesce in private, wanting to be as recovered as possible before he returned to hit classes.  This was one of the worst flus that he’d ever suffered from, and he thought that there might have even been some other virus affecting him; thankfully, his immune system seemed to be good enough to handle it – and all it took was a couple of days of rest and recovery. 

What was strange to him, though, was the fact that no one came by to check on him or even demand that he attend classes – which he had half expected for the first day or so of his illness.  When nothing happened, Bax figured that they had simply written him off as a hopeless case that wouldn’t even come out of his room; he could only guess that his poor showing in his Physical Aptitude Training class had become the talk of the entire Co-op.

I’ll just have to prove that I have what it takes to become a Keeper and, later, a Guide, he thought with resolve.  His previous showing wasn’t exactly a fair evaluation of his abilities, after all, but once he had fully recovered, he would be able to demonstrate that he wasn’t as weak as they thought.  It might take a while, but if he could get his stats up to 10, at least, he should be able to keep up with at least the average people training to be Keepers.

The last day in his room was spent regaining his strength by eating a bit more than he had over the last few days, as well as going through the mental exercises that he’d been taught to access his Mana.  Now that he could think a little better and really devote himself to the process, he managed to squeeze out another increase in his Unity, as well as two other surprising stat increases.

Great work!  Unity has increased by 1!

Unity {5} -> {6}

Wonderful job!  Intellect has increased by 1!

Intellect {7} -> {8}

Way to take those hits!  Endurance has increased by 4!

Endurance {3} -> {7}

The increase in Intellect wasn’t completely surprising, given that he’d been messing with his Mana and doing mental exercises, but the Endurance boost of 4 points was frankly shocking.  He could only assume that it had to do with finally beating the majority of his illness, which made him think that his previous precautions with preventing the other Keeper recruits from getting his sickness had been a waste of time.  With higher Endurance stats to start out with, they likely wouldn’t even be affected by such an illness.

The morning after Bax took an extra day off to finish recovering, he felt nearly back to normal.  There were still some lingering effects, such as a cough that threatened to emerge if he pushed his body too far, but overall, he thought he was as good as he was going to get without wasting more time to improve.  He was eager to get back to classes to find out what he’d missed, and he was looking forward to having a real meal again, rather than the small snacks that were available in his room.

With his stomach grumbling at the anticipated food he was about to consume, he headed toward the door with a slight bit of apprehension.  What will other people say when they see me again?  Will they think I was hiding away in here because I’m a coward or something?  Or will it be even worse… what if they didn’t even notice I was gone?

With a deep breath, he opened his door and stepped out, ready to face the crowds on his way to the Meal Hall and prepared to handle whatever reaction they had to his reemergence.

Huh?

What he wasn’t prepared for was the complete and absolute silence that greeted him.