Chapter Twenty-Three: Down to Business

After my refreshing nap and another quick trip to the bathroom, I emerge feeling like a new man.

A glance at the other side of the room tells me that everyone is a bit grumpy and impatient, but I ignore them for a little while longer while I head back over to my bed and pull up part of my Status.

[Status of Sebastian Bet]

Pillar Difficulty: Death is Certain

Floor 2: The Silent Castle

Time Used: 06:20:22:41

Time Left: 2183:03:37:19

Level: 11

Body (BDY): 17

Mind (MND): 14

Agility (AGI) : 12

Power (PWR): 29

[Unallocated Points: 0]

Class: Undecided

Form Association: Undecided

Skills:

Emit [Lvl 9]

Polarize [Lvl 1]

Fixation [Lvl 3]

Mana Control [Lvl 7]

Infuse [Lvl 5]

It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since I was on Floor One, yet for some reason, I feel like it has already been days.

Being a bit selfish, I might have ran a little experiment in my sleep to confirm a few things. Primarily, I wanted to see if my increased PWR stat and natural radiation production would affect the others in the time I was sleeping.

The matter of how I killed the goblings on Floor One while unconscious is still an unknown for me, as I had previously thought they were poisoned to death by the strange energy rolling off my body. After a few hours of sleep, it would seem my predictions might have been a bit off though, as I was sure that my PWR stat of 29 being blasted in an enclosed space for an extended amount of time would at least produce some visual symptoms from the others in the room if it was actually as dangerous as I had thought.

Beyond a bit of sweat, it would seem that the group is showing no signs of any radiation poisoning or anything of the like. It could be a matter of level differences, exposure time, the existence of mana, or some other reasoning, so I don’t bother myself with the possibilities for now. The mystery of how exactly I killed the goblings will remain as much for now, as I really only wanted to confirm if my extended presence would result in long term issues for the others.

With the safety of the people nearby partially certified, I carefully scoop up the sleeping kitty and cradle him in my arms while I finally make my way over to the other side of the room where the rest of my new ‘squad’ is waiting. They look very sweaty and annoyed, so I graciously restrain my skill while adopting the most innocent expression I can muster.

“Alright, let’s get this meeting started.”

*****

Hours pass as I officially meet the group, and we compare our experiences and information about The Pillar. I am pleasantly surprised by how forthcoming the group is when it comes to sharing everything they know, but I guess it is fair given the fact they don’t really know much more than I do. Their trip through Floor One and the couple of days they spent on Floor Two are different from my own, but it doesn’t seem like they were able to gain much more information than I could from the entire experience.

Vince told me about their time on the first floor, with some of the others speaking up every now and then to fill in any gaps that were left out from his pretty bare-bones report. It seems that all of them were just as lost upon arrival to The Pillar as I was. One of the girls from earlier, I think her name was Kathryn, said that she had been in the middle of prepping an IV for a patient when she was suddenly sitting the cave and cuffed.

This part was unsettling to me, as she described the entire experience as if she had simply just blipped and was in a completely different position and location. I even went further and asked if any of them had felt anything weird or received one of the System messages before the transport, but they all collectively agreed that this was not the case.

Vince picked up the story again after that, and apparently Sandra was the one that had discovered the Status screen first and freed herself using a skill of hers called <Frost>. I don’t betray anything on my face, but I internally connect the dots between the cold metal and mysterious ice trails that I found throughout the floor. It would seem that I owe Sandra a little of my respect after all. I glance at her after the mention of her heroics, but she is glaring at the floor for some reason.

After that, it seems that they escaped from the cave using a variety of other skills and the help of Sandra’s <Frost>. Once they had found themselves in the forest, it was a group effort to fight their way through the rest of the floor over the course of five days before finally finding the valley, and consequently, the entrance to Floor Two. It would seem that many were not fit for the violence and difficulty of The Pillar, so the majority of them were killed by goblins during their journey.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Upon hearing this, I can see Vince eyeing me as if waiting for me to say something. Instead, I give a quick shrug and decline to mention that I had run into some of the bodies of the other fallen group members. I had already found the mortality rate of Floor One to be suspect when they mentioned it, but I don’t betray my suspicion and instead focus on the rest of their story.

According to their replay of Floor One, most of the goblins they fought were handled through smaller teams and match-ups of skill. I am pleasantly surprised to hear they were able to come up with such a strategy, but when I asked about how they decided, the other girl that was standing with Kathryn earlier: Nikki, said that “Mr. Army Soldier over here decided for us,” while gesturing at Vince. I couldn’t help but smirk at that, as I had pegged him as a military man within the first minute we spoke.

They also mention the minotaur several times, saying that the mysterious ‘bulldozer’ saved them a couple of times when they were outnumbered by the goblins. I ask them to elaborate about their experience with the ‘bulldozer,’ but they don’t seem to know much else other than that it was present on the floor.

They finished their story with Henry: the cowardly older guy I saw earlier, calling Vince and Sandra ‘heroes’ due to them basically carrying the rest of the group with minimal support from the others. Hearing that only the two of them were called out, I suppress the urge to ask what their skills are and instead follow up with my experience of Floor One.