CH430 The Third Floor

Stepping onto the third floor with the others, Sachel couldn’t help but feel confident despite herself. The first two floors had just gone too smoothly. She couldn’t deny just how much of that was thanks to Thera, but it did wonders to wipe away plenty of the worry she’d felt going into it all and couldn’t keep herself from imagining the future even as they started the new wing of the tower.

A ninth-level life mage.

It would absolutely be massive progress towards her goal, Ben had been right about that when he’d asked her to come along. It was clear he was still keeping something from her, he still hadn’t said whatever was coming after the tower, but at least in that regard, she had absolute faith in him. He was the apostle of her faith, if he thought he had some sort of method that could push her over the edge then she was going to believe it.

“Another different one,” Ben spoke up through clenched teeth, pulling her from her thoughts as they all looked around.

The floor itself was strangely barren, being nothing more than an empty white expanse, with a single arch sticking out in the distance. Given the nature of the place it was hard to be sure how far off it was, but from how small it seemed it couldn’t be close, especially if reaching it was their goal.

There was an undeniably ominous feeling about it, at least for her. Somehow, just how empty everything was managed to be more uncomfortable than the forest they’d just gone through. She couldn’t begin to imagine whatever challenge could be hidden in thin air, but that didn’t change what they had to do.

“So shall we get going?” Thera asked them all, breaking the small silence as the rest of them nodded.

“Looks like we have to,” Ben sighed, pointing up as he did. “We’re on a time limit.”

Sachel’s eyes were pulled to the sky, the one area she’d neglected at first, with glowing numbers hanging over her head. A countdown that had already started, giving them no more than ten hours.

As one they started to move, but despite it all, she still felt more confident than anything. Even if she was the lowest level there, at least in terms of those who had life magic, she couldn’t help but feel all the more sure about their odds for those who were there with her.

Of course, I can’t hold them back. She thought, slapping her cheeks as she did. I’m an oracle and there’s going to be gods watching. I can’t put on a shameful act here of all places.

On top of her goal, she was a representative of Myriad, and as far as she was concerned, that meant she couldn’t disappoint.

It was Sonya who noticed it first, a weariness seeping into her bones that she couldn’t escape, weighing her down more than she should have been from what was nothing more than a simple walk at that point. It wasn’t like she was worn out already, but there was an edge of it on her she couldn’t escape. A weakness in her muscles and just a bit more weight on her shoulders than she was used to dealing with.

“Is anyone else feeling a bit weaker than usual?” She asked. “Maybe heavier too?”

None of them stopped, but they all thought it over, with Ben in particular clenching his jaw as he thought.

“Ben?”

“It’s nothing,” He told her, waving off the obvious concern as she picked up on that little slip in his expression. “This just reminded me of an annoying experience. Well, maybe a couple annoying ones. You’re all being slightly debuffed. I mean, technically I am too, but I’m not going to feel something like that this early. It looks like there’s a non-affinitied gravity spell starting to press down on us too that I am feeling and given the setup I’d guess both are only going to get worse and the challenge is to make us have to buff ourselves to get to the end. Which I’m really not a fan of.”

She looked at him a second longer, unable to escape the complicated feelings about what the young man in front of her had to have dealt with in the last few years to be able to so confidently state what subtle magics he was under, especially to be able to pin a rare non-affinity spell, but her niece spoke up before she could comment.

“Well, I think I can get us out of here basically immediately,” She told them confidently as Ben shook his head.

“Let’s hold off on that for now, I think it would be best for everyone if we did this the creator-approved way for as long as possible, then we’ll switch to your idea.”

“Ha, I can’t believe you’re saying we should do something the way it’s meant to,” Thera teased. “Aren’t you all for finishing things as easily as possible?”

“Ah well, you know…”

He trailed off as Thera laughed, and Sonya couldn’t suppress her own smile seeing it. Her niece was so much brighter now than she’d been in the past, smiling all of the time, so full of life and so much more willing to show it compared to when she used to hide herself away from the world, along with growing closer to others that would join her for such an adventure.

Although treating this like any adventure isn’t exactly the best idea given the stakes.

She couldn’t help it though. It reminded her of her younger days, traveling with her sister and Falk, seeing the world and getting into trouble.

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Well, mostly Pel getting into trouble, and then me and Falk needing to get her out of it. She mused as her longtime friend’s face came to mind.

It wasn’t like she didn’t know why she had been asked to go along with such a thing. She basically pinned her inability to make any sort of progress with the man on her feelings of not being good enough, she doubted that the way this had come up later was entirely unrelated, even if Ben was framing it as a way to help Sachel with her own desires.