Blood for Power: A LitRPG Apocalypse

“Which phone reached you?” the Officiator asked.

Both of us stared at the phone.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” I said.

There was whirring and clicking sound on the other end of the line before answering. “Yes, the central node was terminated. You are speaking with a backup module in the catastrophic event that my original being was destroyed. Now, which phone did you receive?”

I frowned. “Uh, the one in the dead girl’s stomach.”

“Thank you. In my current condition, my access to the Tower is limited and so are my prediction capabilities. I seeded phones in several locations designed to go off if they came into contact with you. A phone inside the future cadaver specimen wasn’t my first choice, but this information will help improve my future predictions for regaining control.”

“So you’re aware that Tanver Vhar and Roan have taken over the Tower?”

“I am aware of their attempts. Do not be fooled. The partnership between the two is on the brink of collapse and the access that Vhar has over the Tower is minimal. Destroying my central node did not instantly grant him full access. Much of the Tower’s security runs passively, and he is continuing to fight with it as we speak.”

I looked around, wary of other gods listening in. “Is it safe for us to be talking like this?”

“Yes, no one can see or hear us in the room.”

“Is this room yours?” asked Hugo.

“It is not. I merely predicted a scenario in which you would cross paths with the creatures in the cemetery and placed a phone in this body to open up a line of communication.”

“Wait, go back to before,” I said. “You’re saying Vhar and Roan don’t have control of the Tower, but I watched him kill all those Climbers at the Golden Door with nothing but a thought?”

“Yes, I’m sure it looked that way to you and the other gods. A stunning display of power meant to cow all of you into submission and cement his new position as owner of the Tower. The truth is that after Vhar had gained unauthorized access to a small part of one of my subnets, he then spent the next several weeks decoding the Tower marks for the people there.”

“Tower marks?”

“It’s like a unique ID that each Climber is tagged with. It’s used to track you and is only removed upon completing the Tower.”

A companion chat message from Hugo popped up.

Hugo: Well, that’s unnerving.

Lucas: Remember, the Officiator is not our friend. He wouldn’t care if the Tower killed us. If he’s talking to us, it’s because he wants something.

“I see,” I said, urging him to continue.

“What looked like a simple act of will from Vhar was actually a carefully orchestrated plan that took a lot of work and planning. As I had mentioned before, there were other Golden Doors with other Climbers competing for them. Had I brought any of those Climbers through to you, Tanver Vhar would’ve been unable to affect them. Frankly, I wish my original self had thought of it first.”

“Is that why I couldn’t attack him? Because he affected my mark?”

There was another whirring, clicking sound. “You are referring to when you struck him with your sword? No, that was due to his own innate strength as an S+ Grade being. You cannot fight against him at your current level.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Hugo asked. “Why contact us?”

“Events are conspiring to move against Vhar and Roan. Had I not intervened with this call, you would’ve both been swept up in its wake. I have a gift for both of you that should help turn things in your favor. Go to the furthest corner of the room on your right. At the base will be a hollow stone with your gifts inside.”

I followed his instructions, tapping against the stones until one sounded hollow. I smashed through it with my fist to reveal two small ornate wooden boxes. Inside each was a vial of purple liquid.

As I reached for one, the officiator interrupted me. “I don’t have a lot of time. Use them after our call has ended.”

“Is it safe for us to stay here? What if whoever owns this place comes back?”

“I can’t say too much about that. But what I will say is that this place is an outpost and the one responsible for it is far from this secret location. You are safe here.”

He keeps dodging the question. But I wasn’t going to let him weasel out of it.

“Again, why help us?” I asked.

There was another whirring sound. Almost like it was processing a response. “You are both considered prospective champions, especially if things go your way during the tribunal. The Tower, despite all appearances, is not meant to be malicious. It is a training ground. It’s not my job to ensure all the Climbers die. It is my job to mold the strongest into champions.”

“You mentioned the tribunal. What is that?”

More whirring. “Ah yes, I see. I’m too early for that conversation. My current capacity is stretched thin and sometimes I lose track of time. I must go now.”

The call ended abruptly, and then an automated message played. “This phone will self destruct in five seconds.” At first I thought it was kidding, but then it kept going. “Four… three…” I hurled phone away and braced for impact. “Zero.” The phone popped out of existence like it had never existed. I guess that’s a more thorough way of hiding his presence here.

“He didn’t explain much at all!” Hugo grumbled.

“Only that Vhar’s position isn’t as strong as he pretends it is. You’re right, it’s not much. But it’s better than nothing. Hopefully, Daisy will have better news for us when we meetup with her later.”

We turned our attention to the two potions. I picked up the first one to look at its item description.

*Item Identified!* [Item Enhancement Potion (Rare: D-Grade)] – This potion can be poured on one item of clothing. It’s an alchemical compound mixture that will fuse with the item to permanently upgrade it to D-Grade tier. Note: this potion will have no effect on broken items or items that are already at D-Grade or higher.

The note at the end of the description was disappointing. My sword was already at D-Grade and with my knife broken, I had no weapons to use this potion on. That only left my cloak and clothes, but I wasn’t sure if that would be a waste of a good potion.

“Hmm, I’m not sure how helpful this one would be,” I said. Hugo didn’t respond, despite reading the same message as me. I guess the Officiator couldn’t have predicted that my knife would break when he put the potions here for us.

I turned my attention to the second potion.

*Item Identified!* [Ability Potion (Rare: D-Grade)] – This potion when consumed will grant one new D-Grade tier ability based around their current Class.

“Now that’s more like it,” I said.

Hugo still said nothing and looked away.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He whirled on me. “Do you see me wearing any items, or are you planning to take both potions for yourself?”

Ashamed, I set the potions back down. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. We were left with one potion each and obviously you should take the ability one.”

Hugo dipped his head in acknowledgement and then ruffled his feathers. “It’s this place. It prioritizes the self over others. Pressures people to turn on each other.”

“Yes, before people were naturally forming groups. Forming tribes to defend themselves with. It made their groups stronger, but the Tower used that to foster conflict between groups, or maybe that was just human nature. But this city feels different.”

“There are other Climbers here,” he said, following my line of thinking.

I nodded. “But we haven’t seen a single one, which suggests either very small groups or the ones here are running solo.”

“Which makes sense. How much better off would you be had you taken both potions for yourself?”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“I know, but hypothetically speaking.”

I thought about it and he was right. Getting new abilities and new gear was thrilling. Even now when I look at the potions, there’s a small, almost irresistible thrill whispering about what they could offer me.

Hugo noticed my look. “See? You think many others don’t feel that way?”

I shook my head and stood firm. “As far as I’m concerned, we started the Tower together and we’ll finish it together. Now take your new ability and try not to rub it in my face too much.”

“No promises,” he grinned, before swooping down to tap the bottle. The liquid inside disappeared and a new message appeared for him.

*DING!* You have gained [Soul Lance Ability (Rare)] – This ability allows you to harness your soul as a weapon. A lance of power that can be used to attack the souls of others. Physical beings will have some natural defenses that weaken this ability, but spiritual creatures are pure soul and have no such benefits. Note: this ability does carry a heavy toll and should be used wisely.

Hugo and I looked at each other.

“I guess we know who’s fighting the Wraiths from now on,” I said.

The crow hopped up and down with excitement. “This is great! Between this, my shield, and wind abilities, I can finally get in the fight directly.”

“I’m happy for you. Now I just need to figure out what to use my potion on.”

“Oh, that’s easy. You should pour it on your boots.”

“My boots?”

“Yeah. You’re always using them when running or jumping. Maybe the potion would give them a double jump ability or make them extra quiet?”

“I’d probably prefer the double jump over the other, but I take your point.”

I wasn’t ready to go with my boots just yet though. My clothing had a self-repair function and was built for stealth. I didn’t see how this potion would help unless I had multiple potions for all of my clothes. Sure, it would probably make my pants more armor resistant to attacks, but armor had never really been my thing.

No, the choice came down to my boots or my cloak. The boots were ordinary, and I’d had no problem using them when masking my presence. It felt like a gamble to use it on the boots. It was hard to guess how they’d be improved, so I took my cloak off and re-examined it.

*Item Identified!* [The Cloak of Umbral Frenzy (Rare: F-Grade)] – This cloak was made by the Shadow Weavers to hunt in darkness. It greatly enhances stealth against F-Grade perception when in shadow and can channel emotional anger into energy to sustain magical abilities.

I’d won the cloak as a prize for completing a challenge room. Ever since then, its stealth capability has been invaluable. It was probably the most important piece of clothing that I owned, and while I’d rarely used its frenzy ability, it was still the obvious choice for the potion.

I set the cloak on the floor and poured the item enhancement potion over it. The liquid seeped into the material and then faded away. Upon picking it back up, I received a new message.

*Item Identified!* [The Lord’s Umbral Shroud (Legendary: D-Grade)] – An item worthy of the Sanguine Lord. This cloak will reshape itself to a far greater degree than before. It is fire resistant and can absorb minor physical blunt and cutting damage. Stealth is enhanced to the utmost when in shadow, but be warned. The shroud is now more than just a cloak. It is a symbol of your Lordship. Do not let anyone take it from you.

That last part sounded ominous. I wasn’t sure what it being a symbol meant, but the cloak felt different when I put it on. I was more intimately connected to it. It felt like an extension of myself, almost like an extra limb.

With a simple mental command, the cloak raised up behind me and held itself rigidly in the air.

“What are you going to do with that?” Hugo asked.

I grinned at the possibilities. “I can think of a few things.”

We finished up by allocating our stat points. Hugo focused a lot on Intelligence while I split mine between Strength and Dexterity.

Checking over the rest of the cadavers proved fruitless, and even their destroyed mechanical hearts revealed nothing when I picked one up.

We left the chamber and entered a long stone tunnel. Further down was the spot where the Abomination would’ve been chained to the wall, but besides that, the tunnel was empty. It was long though. So long that we couldn’t see the end of it.

We lost track of time, but it was over an hour before the tunnel started sloping upwards. The climb led us to the night sky, and we stepped outside onto the sand.

The ancient chamber had led us just outside of the city itself. No wonder whoever was using it could come and go without being seen.

“So what now?” Hugo asked.

He wanted to know where we should go next with our investigation. I clenched my fists as I remembered the spirit killer device’s function betraying me in the mausoleum.

“The inventor Bart lied to us about the device he examined,” I said. “He’d described it as a spiritual hand grenade. Probably in the hopes that I’d throw it and release the Wraith that was trapped inside. I think it's time we pay the humble inventor a second visit.”