Chapter Fifty-Six: A Future

FIFTY-SIX

Roan scraped away chunks of the film from his skin as the hot water blazed. The little cubicle he was in quickly filled with the gunk, but Roan’s eyes were locked on the empty stall a few feet away. A similar pile of goo sat there, slowly draining away through the floor.

“Someone else got the ability. Wonder if they bought the skill or the manual?” Roan couldn’t help but wonder what the difference in the two were and if his learn skill was truly helping him. He’d gambled hard on the skill being his ace up his sleeve, but if it wasn’t working out well he’d need to find some way to pivot.

“Still have to look over the unique skills for this level,” Roan said as he finished scrubbing himself down. The constant press of needing to move, to make use of his limited time was a pressure on him he couldn’t escape. But it wasn’t suffocating anymore.

Roan stepped out of the showers and a wave of hot air cascaded down from the ceiling, drying his hair and body in a few moments. It felt good, the pressure of the air on his skin like a warm blanket. Roan slipped his new clothes on and admired the sensitivity he felt now as his skin felt raw and clean.

He winced at the slime on the backpack, but he had nothing to do but slide it on. Both spatial rings were on his fingers, his new sword strapped to his waist, and warhammer on his shoulder. The sun was still high in the sky, it hadn’t moved an inch in all the time they’d been on the level.

More and more people were now in the village, packed tight as they walked around. The majority of them were covered in blood or dirt, looking around with exhausted eyes. So tired they couldn’t move properly, sliding their feet across the cobblestones.

LEVEL QUEST

FIND THE NEXT PASSAGE

TIME REMAINING: 4 DAYS 13 HOURS

Eleven hours so far on this level and the sun hadn’t moved an inch. Roan groaned as he walked to the restaurant. His stomach was growling, louder and louder, a hunger that he coudln’t quite compare to the past. It was an ache in his veins, an emptiness in his stomach that didn’t feel right.

A mob looked up at him as he walked into the restaurant and pointed toward a table on the patio right along the road. He looked over the empty room inside of the building but followed the mob’s instruction, sitting down on a wrought-iron chair. The table was small and circular with a checkered tablecloth across it. The mob walked up to him and leaned down.

“We currently have one meal. Grass-Lion steak. One hundred credits.” The mob didn’t have the best customer service ability, but Roan’s growing hunger didn’t mind. He just nodded and saw the money come out of his account as the mob walked out.

Forced to wait for his food he opened up the market and started to look at the market and the unique skills available for the floor. There hadn’t been time to really sit back and analyze, but waiting on a steak was the perfect time.

MAP MAKER

TIER 1 SKILL

POTENTIAL: TIER 5

15,000 CREDITS

USES MANA TO MAP YOUR SURROUNDINGS

FLOOR 1.02 UNIQUE SKILL: 1,000/1,000

LEARNING MANUAL: 1,500 CREDITS

MANUALS REMAINING: 5,000/5,000

Roan liked the skill. He was tempted to buy the manual then and there, but he still owed money to the association and wanted to see what type of gear he could buy. Running around in just robes was getting dangerous.

“Seems the skills so far have themes to them. Or at least some of them do. Map maker to find the stairs to the next level. Skeletal hand for the skeletons,” Roan mused as he looked toward the next skill.

ARBOREALIST’S TOUCH

TIER 1 SKILL

POTENTIAL: TIER 6

Stolen novel; please report.

20,000 CREDITS

USE MANA TO SAFELY HARVEST FLORA

FLOOR 1.02 UNIQUE SKILL: 800/800

LEARNING MANUAL: 2,000 CREDITS

MANUALS REMAINING: 3,864/4,000

Roan bought the manual without hesitation. He’d lost thirty percent of his last harvest’s potential because of poor harvesting. That was worth the manual by itself. With a pop the manual appeared on the table and Roan sputtered as the massive tome nearly knocked over the table. It was nearly a foot thick and weighed even heavier than that, the papers wafer thin as he carefully peeled it open.

The vast majority of the manual was blank. He found the intro to the first level and realized there were other flowers he’d missed. Flipping the pages brought him to this level’s flora and he grimaced as he saw it was pages and pages and pages of plants. With each of them having a unique way of harvesting.