Chapter 241: Steve the Hypersnake

The days passed in a flurry of activity. Zodiac and his illusionist were elusive and only struck wherever Vincent wasn’t, crippling the production of any Influence he wasn’t directly overseeing.

Even the production he was overseeing was hampered by red tape, trying to avoid killing monsters inside any of the ever-shifting ‘disputed territories’.

Zodiac had to be burning through mountains of Influence, but it was likely worth it to the old man to keep Vincent suppressed until reinforcements arrived.

And he was suppressed. Even with the entire Stronghold behind Vincent, he barely had enough Influence to skip three floors, as long as he was going down instead of up.

A fourth Floor was prohibitively expensive, represented by a jump in price from from a bit over a thousand influence to more than fourteen thousand Influence.

As he was overseeing one of their Influence expeditions aboard the large transport ships, he spotted a cook a moving at outlandish speed, producing one dish after another in a matter of seconds for the crew of several hundred who hadn’t eaten all day.

It had to be some kind of time-dilation effect because no matter how fast you moved, food didn’t actually cook any faster, and yet…

“What’s that all about?” Vincent asked a nearby Climber, gesturing at the cook flickering back and forth in the kitchen, throwing out a plate of food every couple heartbeats to the rapidly moving line marching past him.

“That’s my Ability, actually. I’m Aaron, the receiving clerk at the dock.” The man shook Vincent’s hand. “I upgraded my Ability recently to expand its applications beyond just paperwork.”

Vincent’s brows rose in surprise.

“That’s pretty amazing. Can it be used in combat?”

“Eh…not really. It affects a field around the primary target, so everything gets the buff within a certain distance. In melee, you wouldn’t even notice, because both people would be getting the buff.”

I can still use that.

“This is good, but I’ll bet that between the two of us, we can figure out something even better. Let’s go have a chat about it.” Vincent said, thumbing over his shoulder.

“Oh? Sure, milord.” Aaron said, stepping away from the wall where he was leaning and following after Vincent.

A few minutes later, the time dilation effect cut out on the kitchen, but since the cook was already nearly done, he didn’t think much of it.

On the tenth Floor, Will was nearing the end of his Acclimation period and they were making plans to engage in a high-speed chase through The Tower.

“Behold, the Acclimation Bypass Bug mark seven.” Loth said, brandishing a shiny black vase that was nearly as big as she was.

“Is it in the vase?” Will asked, peering into the top of the torso-sized vase.

There’s no opening. Oh my-

“It is the vase.” Loth said. At some unknown signal, the ‘vase’ unfolded, revealing a horrific mutant centipede whose body split into four separate directions, vaguely copying a human’s bipedal configuration.

“EEEK!” Ria shrieked and scrambled backwards, restraining herself an instant before reflexively perforating Loth’s hard work with her phantom weapon.

“The Acclimation Bypass Bug, or Abby, for short, is far more advanced than the prototype bug-suit I made years ago. Instead of a bulging sack of hundreds of insects sucking the miasma out of you, it is a single creature, and far more capable.

It only has one purpose: to keep the person wearing it at the same miasmatic level as they were at when it was first donned. It will condense Miasma on lowers floor, or pump it away from the skin when going to higher Floors. I’m sure there’s a limit, but it should make it possible to move freely anywhere within the first fifteen Floors without having to stop for Acclimation.”

Abby wriggled her hundreds of legs cheerily, seemingly looking for someone to hug.

“That would be a game-changer…if you could convince people to wear it.” Will mused. “What if it’s destroyed in a fight?”

“Well, similar to when climbers move multiple Floors at once, you’ll be forced to Acclimate for a longer time, and it’s recommended you absolutely don’t leave the Floor you’re on until that’s done.”

The length of the acclimation period also indicated how dangerous to the body it was to bypass it.

A person could skip multiple Floors if the miasma was held off, whether that was by Abby or by a Door, but as soon as the new pressure hit them, they had to stop and acclimate.

It’s funny that Loth is trodding on territory reserved for Lords, Will thought with a smile. Loth was always pushing the limits of her Class beyond what should be possible, and it seemed like she’d come up with some amazing stuff over the last three years.

“This thing isn’t gonna eat me is it?” Will asked as Abby greedily reached out towards him with all her legs.

“C’mon, arms up,” Loth said, holding Abby up.

Heart hammering in his chest, Will closed his eyes and raised his arms. Loth tossed the enormous centipede up at him. The creature unfolded further and bound itself to his entire body, cinching down around his arms, legs, torso and head.

“This…isn’t that bad.” Will said, poking one of Abby’s legs that was clamped down around his cheek. It was tight, but the fit wasn’t uncomfortable. No worse than a tailored suit, and the parts that needed to breathe had plenty of open space.

It wasn’t armor, after all.

Abby had created a sort of hood that covered the back of his neck and sides of his face, all the better to keep the miasma under control.

“I’m not touching you with that on.” Ria said.

“That’s fair.” Will admitted. “How do I take it off?”

Loth showed him the nerve cluster on the inside of the suit that he had to pinch, and a moment later, Abby peeled herself away from him, rolling back up into the shape of a vase.

A week later, Will’s miasma had stabilized, he was ready to go see what kind of mess Void had made of the 11^th Floor.

Will hadn’t heard any news from any of the Tangled messengers on any of the other Floors, all the way down to the 1^st Floor and the outside world beyond The Tower. The norworm was still hanging around on the 11^th Floor.

If it’s a Lord it’s gotta be building up Influence to buy a Door to bypass the 8^th Floor. It’s probably waiting for a bunch of Lords to show up and then it’ll juke. Probably?

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

There was likely to be some kind of ambush, but it wasn’t like waiting would make things better.

Will checked and rechecked his Kit.

It was simple, but powerful gear he’d combined with Sourdough during his time in the Burned Stronghold, with the sole purpose of boosting his Primary Abilities to an outrageous degree, and by extension the Relics imprinted on Phantom Hand.

Tomahawk of the Dimensional Hunter

+ 8 Strength

+20 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+14 Focus

+65% Potency to Dimensional Abilities

+30% Movement/Attack Speed

Blade of Cunning

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+20 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+10 Focus

+65% Potency to Rogue Abilities

50% reduction in audiovisual effects while stealing, intruding, or hiding.

Mask of the Phantom

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+25 Focus

+65% Potency to Eidolon-Creating Abilities

Ghostwalk: 1 Charges

User may render themselves or Eidolons they create intangible. Duration and movement speed while intangible scale with Acuity.

Amulet of the Homeland Advantage

+8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+8 Acuity

+8 Focus

Active: 1 Charge.

Load a terrain into the Amulet for a charge, summon that terrain around the wearer for another. This does not consume the terrain. Up to three terrains may be loaded into the amulet.

Area scales with Resistance

+40% area of Abilities.

Bangle

Wristband of the Lookout

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+20 Kinesthetics