Chapter 172: I Am The Bear

William Oh is so powerful that one drop of his blood could power all the forges in The Tower. Unfortunately, he’s also so tough that acquiring that one drop of blood would require even more power.

• Jason Salazar

After a long hunt, Will reached level 40 and took a break, sitting on the roof of the highest tower of Bakton Keep and observing the stunning beauty of the 9^th Floor, keenly aware of how this immaculate garden Floor was rooted in the rot of a dying society.

Do I have what it takes to kill a fae lord? Between the Harbinger Relic Seed, and Will’s Amulet of Homefield Advantage, Will had a significant edge that other people never had.

Will just had no understanding of the scope of the problem. Was he fighting a bear with a knife instead of barehanded? A significant advantage, but still dead meat.

He’d really wanted to come back with his Advanced Class and have a much better chance of defeating the monster. That’s what he’d told everyone and what his plan hinged on, and now this bastard…

Then again, the sacrifice I want from him…I should get it in before level 50.

…What if I sold Bakton the Relic Seed on the condition that he help us kill the fae? Would that cause the other fae to retaliate? And if so would it be on principle or because they felt like we were weakened?

They’re not particularly…evil, at least my assessment of them. One just wants to be left alone and the other just wants to look cool.

But their personal attitude doesn’t really have any bearing on how they would react politically if the world order were to suddenly go top-end.

The only way I could know is if I visited them and asked their blessing to kill their peer in cold blood.

Will stroked his chin, itching a bit at the wiry hairs starting to replace peach fuzz.

If they were involved in the execution, they would be…more or less likely to backstab us?

All things considered: Will was willing to bet more likely.

Will paused.

His fight against Sammohan, and his lessons with Bakton flickered behind his eyes.

Right. Kincaid is a symbol, and the other two are his equals. There’s a transitive property there.

…I just need to singlehandedly make an example of him while his equals watch. That will forestall any backstabbing or political infighting.

Will groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

He’d gone full circle in his plan to kill Kincaid and free his imprisoned Climbers, from enlisting the help of Bakton and the other fae lords, all the way back around to just doing it himself while everyone else watched.

I guess that depends: Am I the bear, or the guy with the pocket-knife?

Will pulled the 2^nd generation Sourdough ring out of his pocket an turned it over between his fingers.

Ring of Resistance

+50 Resistance

That was a lot.

But according to Loth, it was about…5% lower than it should’ve been if her math was right.

And her math is always right.

Which meant The Tower was probably taxing some of the potential in subsequent generations, and that tax would probably continue going up until it was unsustainable.

The Tower abhorred infinite combos.

Still. 50 Resistance on one ring? That’s outrageous. That made Sourdough very good, even if there was a limiting factor.

Let’s see what happens when I do…this, Will thought, storing the Ring in Phantom Hand.

Dimensional Storage.

145 Charges remaining.

Would you like to Sacrifice the Ring of Resistance to gain its effect?

Yes.

The empty middle snake twitched as the Ring of resistance was imprinted on it, the sensation travelling up his phantom middle finger.

Once the sensation faded, Will turned his attention to the newly imprinted Relic.

Ring of Resistance

+236 Resistance

…

Eyes wide, Will changed his slotted relic from the Dimensional Coiled Serpent to the ring of resistance and brought up his Status.

William Oh

Resourceful Climber Level 40

41 + 39 Strength

123 + 296 Resistance

120 + 53 Kinesthetics

156 + 57 Acuity

80 + 49 Focus

Charges: 129/129

Free Points: 0

Non-stat Item Abilities: +40% Rogue Archetype potency, +35% Dimensional Ability Potency. Homefield Advantage. A/V dampening of attacks. +20% Ranger Archetype Potency +15% Baking/brewing potency, Progenitor’s Disguise.

Phantom Hand Slots: (Ring of Accuracy*) -(Ring of Resistance)- (Wand of the Undead Retainer) (Stormfists) (Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet)

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Primary Abilities: Aspect of the Immortal Serpent**, Phantom Hand*****

Secondary Abilities: Sourdough**

Tertiary Abilities: Phantom Eye

Primary Ability upgrade Available!

…Maybe I’m the bear? Will mused, mentally adding up the Resistance column.

Four HUNDRED and nineteen!?

Will sat and thought about it for a moment.

That more than doubled the potency of Aspect of the Immortal Serpent, which hinged entirely on Resistance, as well as providing a significant boost to Sourdough.

And it made him damn hard to kill with conventional weaponry. Not that he wasn’t already, but with this ring slotted, he was practically molded out of Blessed Steel…

Will glanced up at the sky, where The Tower’s unnatural sun was dipping towards the horizon.

…How big of a lens could I make with this ring slotted?

To test this, Will had one of his Phantom Snakes grab a bit of air, creating a platform, then he paced from the center to the edge of the effect.

About three hundred and thirty paces…in radius.

…that’s a big lens.

Bigger than the main castle by a wide margin and nearly bigger than the entire keep.

…How big of a column of earth could I make with this ring?

Will had already been creating watchtower-sized columns while wearing his Set. Add this ring in…