Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

Antoni slammed his sword into the tree again, picturing the face of the Servant he had briefly seen refusing a blessing from the gods before entering the tower. He couldn't believe that ignorant Wayfarer managed to kill yet another Champion, nor that another Servant he couldn't even recall the appearance of had slain one as well.

He contemplated finding the rest of the useless Speakers and Lovers and annihilating them all just to ensure his lead and prevent anyone else from claiming their points instead. He had been originally planning to bide their time a bit more. The other Champions would be worth more points once they reached Crystal Caste themselves, but he had also expected to be able to easily maintain a healthy lead with how much monster hunting they would be doing.

It was only the fourth day in the tower and already he noticed the amount of monsters dwindling. The amount normally stacked up at the beginning of a floor, having been steadily spawning at a moderate rate prior to them stepping foot inside. The rate normally wouldn't increase though and once they cleared out the backlog they would have to wait for more to spawn in.

This floor was about simple survival, it seemed. An easy start that would help them warm up. It was almost a disappointment to the group of Fighters who had trained for more harrowing conditions. Between Demir and Trecia turning their slain monsters into cooked meat and Hasan's keen eyes spotting edibles among the forest as they hunted, they didn't have to worry about the basic necessities.

Nawal had been taking the time to map for them as well, which was helping them get an idea of how the floor might be laid out as a whole. She had chosen the Wand Aspect as one of their few mages focused more on ranged spell-casting than getting up close and personal like he did. Both Farideh and she had Natural Talents that made them more suited for that type of combat.

"You cut any deeper, and you'll topple that tree," a feminine voice said from behind him, and he shot a glare over his shoulder at his Second.

"I'm not in the mood, Jilani. If I don't stab this tree, I might stab Abrar for his smart mouth," he retorted before taking another swing at the trunk.

"You know he's just trying to keep everyone from getting too tense in here," she pointed out, crossing her arms under her chest as she leaned against the side of the tree that wasn't as cut up. He probably should have evened out his strikes more. It wouldn't do for him to favor his right side so much.

Jilani looked him up and down for a long moment before saying, "You could probably do with some relaxation as well. Want to go upstairs and get some free points for the day?"

Antoni rolled his eyes at her and gave an indignant huff. "I don't like the idea of being watched shagging anyone by thousands. I'll leave that kind of entertainment to the Lovers."

"I noticed Blossom and Rayyan climbing up the ladder," Jilani said with a smirk. "You know they'll both try to fuck their way to the top."

He shook his head. "I don't care what they do so long as they stay out of our way. You and I both know that route won't let them win. The math simply doesn't work. So far, it seems they plan to keep to themselves and just get enough points to buy their food."

"It's not a bad route for just surviving," she replied with a shrug. "The people and gods get their entertainment either way."

"It's a coward's route," Antoni retorted and swung again, causing more chunks of bark to splinter off.

Jilani glared at his sword for a moment before pushing off the tree and said, "Nawal thinks she may have figured out a rough layout for the floor now. She thinks the cabins are spread out evenly in a circle with the little streams we found segmenting it like a pie. She also thinks the boss is hiding somewhere near the middle."

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"We're not going after it until at least half of us are Crystal," he firmly told her. "We can scout it out if you want, but we should focus more on finding Aspects."

"We haven't seen any listed in the shop yet. Our mages also haven't gotten lucky with their looting rituals, but you and I both know that's an extremely long shot. Do you think we should be focusing more on keeping an eye out for Trials or Rare Spawns?"

"We should always be looking for those, but I'm guessing with the simplicity of the floor that there are a few in here somewhere. It usually requires a handful of Crystals to take out a boss. Though, I guess that depends on what we're up against this time."

"Maybe a Rabearus?" she speculated. "It would fit the forest theme, I think." Jilani glanced at the scratched-up tree and seemed to muse, "We could try looting some other Champion instead. They have a higher chance of producing Aspects."

"We've only found the Speakers' cabin and the unclaimed one so far," Antoni pointed out. "Despite my strong temptation to go wipe out that den of weak noble pricks, I'm not so daft as to court vengeance from the queen once we leave the tower."

"I was thinking we could focus on making a circle based on Nawal's theory of the layout. We play the game the gods want us to play. I don't believe there will be any vengeance from you claiming the bounty the queen herself placed."

Antoni paused in his swing to look at Jilani for a moment before scowling. "You could have led with that idea when you first came out here, you know?"

She gave him a wicked grin. "Now, where's the fun in that?"

Darya patted Liraz's shoulder, trying not to brush her hand against the slimy blue hair and failing. She didn't let her discomfort show, though, as she gave the girl some rare praise. "That's good. Keep aiming at the base and get five more trees felled for Willoughby. He's determined to get that second cabin done as soon as possible so everyone can have their own room instead of needing to share and take turns sleeping."

Liraz nodded, not responding as she lobbed another [Dollop of Slime] at a nearby tree. The slimeball splashed against the trunk in a small explosion before slowly eating away at whatever it fell on.

She left the younger girl to it and went to check on Scarlet's progress with the new garden. The alchemist was almost as quiet as Liraz was and preferred to be among plants and potions. She was specifically chosen for their team due to her Talent as a green thumb that could accelerate plant growth and ensure both their food and potion supply.

Darya had been relieved at the sight of the biome they would start with. A temperate and misty forest was perfect for them to get established, even if they would be forced to relocate to the next floor in a quarterhalf.

Liraz's Natural Talent for dimensional storage had been the biggest advantage their group had gotten in centuries and presented an opportunity for them to actually win through crafting for once. Darya hoped to prove it could be done and bring such a great honor to her Sect this Season. With any luck, it would encourage more cooperation in future Seasons instead of bloody betrayals and open hostilities.

They had made full use of the young girl's rare Talent and loaded her up with supplies. Even bringing in an extremely rare Vast Aspect just to hopefully increase her storage capacity. They had performed the ritual as soon as they had arrived at their base safely, only losing their trapper, Amina, in the initial rush to find their cabin.

That had been a major loss for their monster supply, but Liraz getting a more combat-oriented power had been a surprising boon to help compensate for that. The biggest downside was that the girl's slime attacks had a propensity to melt half the materials before they could perform the looting ritual on its corpse.

The garden was still in its baby phase, and Scarlet was bent over a small tree sapling and cooing at it. "There there, little Pommy. You're going to grow up big and strong for me, aren't you?"

Darya cleared her throat, making the woman jump slightly. "I take it we'll be getting some pomegranates soon?"

Scarlet smiled and nodded. "Maybe another week or two. I'm spreading my mana across a lot right now."

"I know. You're doing great, though. Are you sure you don't want to come to the planned trade in a few days? It looks like those Servants have been doing a bit more hunting and you mentioned you knew the one named Alim, right?"

She shook her head. "I don't really know him well. I just met him a few times while he was working under Lady Shahara, who had come up with a few of the recipes I plan to use in here… I thought it might be nice to compare notes and prod him for whatever knowledge he picked up with her."

"That's a lot of faith you're putting in a Servant," she noted. "Most seem to keep their heads down rather than actually learn about what's happening around them."

"I don't believe that means they're stupid, though," Scarlet quietly retorted, surprising Darya with the odd intensity the woman rarely displayed. "If anything, it shows their wisdom in avoiding punishment. I was impressed with the way he helped Shahara despite his disadvantage."

Darya smirked. "Sounds like you were more than impressed. Anyway, I need to go check on the others. Let me know if you want to go see the man you admire later."

Scarlet blushed as she snapped her mouth shut and merely nodded, turning back to the tree she had been tending before.

Leaving the garden in good hands, Darya made her way back into the cabin.

Potter was busy skinning and dressing the monster carcasses with Osman. The latter would turn the skins into usable leather, while the former would be turning the meat into stew or jerky. Any leftover parts would likely go to Scarlet for alchemy.

Heading upstairs to see what the others might be up to, Darya paused as she heard voices coming from the cracked door to the first room.

"I'm telling you, that Slimebag is an abomination that needs to be put down," Carter sneered.

She heard Miley's voice speaking next. "I agree, but you know Darya won't let you mess with her pack mule. She's getting more snippy lately anytime anyone even looks at the gross thing."

"I doubt Darya will agree to gain the easy points until we can replace her with a dim-bag. Do you think you'll be able to craft one if we can't get one from the point shop?"

"I'm not sure," Ramazan's voice replied, and Darya was actually surprised by the woman being included in the traitorous conversation. "If Her Highness Darya would get off her pedestal and actually bother feeding us rare Aspects, too, then I think I could. A Dimension Aspect would be game-changing for us."

"She'd probably give something like that to Willoughby," Miley said with a soft groan. "She'd love to get some actual proper workshops set up for all of us, and I can't say I'd blame her there."

"We're so far ahead of everyone already with our base, though," Carter complained. "The points will be rolling in soon when we start crafting in earnest. If that weak link Amina hadn't died from sheer stupidity, we'd have so many more materials to work with right now. Instead, Darya's letting that Slimebag destroy half of them."

"Nobody saw that Caerbannog before it took off her head," Ramazan snapped. "Don't act like you're so much better than her when you simply got lucky."

"Whatever," Carter flippantly replied. "If I'm really lucky, then that Slimebag will soon be points for me to spend on enchanting materials."

"You know Darya will never approve that," Miley said with a regretful sigh.

Carter's next words made Darya's gut clench with worry as he said, "Maybe I won't ask for approval. Maybe I'll just make sure a happy little accident occurs."