Tales Of Gridarnia

Collin

Collin walked into the entrance of the tower fully equipped in his adventuring gear, holding a large satchel of items The black twenty-foot high double doors closed shut behind him as he cleared the final step. He told Ray to head back home and the others to wait by the wagons. He was starting to get emotional which was unlike him. The idea of getting Trixie back was the driving force as he moved forward. A man in his early thirties with short dirty blonde hair, he had spent the last six years without her in his head. It drove him nearly to the brink of insanity, but he was back and he wasn’t leaving without her or Max.

“Tonya, Are you sure you will be able to help me?.” Collin said entering the stage of the first floor.

The Tower was very large. Nearly Three hundred Feet in diameter. The levels appeared to each be around forty or fifty feet tall. That put the top somewhere around twenty-five hundred feet. The Twenty-foot double doors closed them in and locked shut. He was only leaving once he reached the top.

“I am not going anywhere sweetie. Lord Ray told me to help get you through however I can.” Tonya said in his mind. “Thankfully, I am capable of going back and forth between the two of you.”

“We shouldn’t be too long. Couple days. Maybe a week.” Collin said.

It was refreshing having a voice in his head. He had spent many years with Trixie there helping him get through. She was there at the start of the compound and throughout the war. He wondered how she and Tonya were going to get along once he had her back. The thought of hearing that sweet voice made him smile as he proceeded through the hall and into a large room.

“Can you connect to the Matrices here?” Collin asked.

“I cannot, I am working on it though. We may have better luck the higher we go.” Tonya replied

“Alright, Let’s get to work.” Collin said. “Tonya, Show me my stats.”

Name: Collin Chintzy

Age: 29

Weight: 200 lbs

Height 6’ 0”

Citizenship: Affirmative

Military Status: Retired/Reserve

Military Rank: Captain

Adventurer Status: Active

Adventurer Rank:

Master - Teacher

Health: 100%

Health Rank: A

Health Recovery: 20%/ Min

Mana: 100%

Mana Rank: A

Mana Recovery: 20%/ Min

Class:

Tri Elemental Mage - level 5

Other - Locked

Weapon Proficiency:

Swords, Bow and Arrow, Daggers, Throwing Knives,

Magic Affinities

Water: E Earth: E

Fire : S Air : A

Void/ Dark: S (Locked) C

Holy/ Light: E

Lightning: E

Ice: E Plant: E

Lava: E Sand: E

Metal: E

Matrix - 2/3

Dungeon Core (Tonya) (Gold)

Primary Matrix (Trixie) - Removed (All associated Class, skill, and abilities locked)

Secondary Matrix - Captain (Grey) - Inactive

Titles:

Vice Baron of Gridarnia Region XI (72%) Vice Lord of The Goldenleaf Village, Prince #2 of Gridarnia, Friend of Gnome,

Other - Locked

Bond (0/1)

Please Perform a bond ritual in order to obtain bonded familiar. Stats and information displayed here

Skills:

1. Elemental Smash Level 5

Imbue your weapon with an elemental orb to deliver the specified elemental damage to an effective area.

Up to 3 elements per attack

2. Mana Manipulation level 5

3. Elemental Manipulation level 5

4. Mana Communication level 3

5. Others- Locked

“Why did you pack so much? Tonya asked.

“I spoke to some pledges earlier. They said you can only keep what you carry with you. We won’t be able to access our inventory outside of the tower until this is over.” Collin said

The tower had an interesting layout. There was a small platform at the other end of the room that he would need to step on once the challenge of the floor was completed. Collin would then be lifted up to the next floor where he would need to complete the next challenge and so forth until he reached the end. Nature looked to be the theme of this first floor. He walked forward and set his bag down. He strapped on his belt that held an assortment of daggers and throwing stars and with his sword in his right hand he waited for something to happen.

The room went dark. There was a low rumble in the air. The lights came back on and there in front of him was a large rat. Large really did not define it. Someone would say a rat the size of a dog was large. This rat was the size of a wagon with large teeth, sharp claws, and dark brown fur. It stared at Collin with red bloodshot eyes before launching itself forward with tremendous speed.

Collin waited for the rat to get close before sidestepping to his right. He brought his sword down in a vertical slash. The giant rat screamed in pain before falling to the ground and disappearing from the room. Collin sheathed his sword, grabbed his pack, and walked to the other end where he stood on the platform and was lifted up to the second floor.

First Floor Challenge Complete

Battle Tower Inventory Unlocked

Rewards:

1 Battle Coin (BC) , 1 Minor Health Potion, Giant Rat fang (crafting)

“Collin, It looks like we have been granted access to a Battle Tower specific Inventory. The Battle Coins and Minor Health potion are here.” Tonya said, pulling a screen up for him to see.

“That is good. We may get some useful gear here in a few levels to help us.” Collin said.

Collin deposited his bag and black trunk into the inventory system. He was very happy that he did not have to lug that all the way up the tower. He equipped three magic crystals to his belt, his sword, and a few daggers before moving forward.

The second floor was a bit trickier. Two dire wolves came out in a frenzy. Collin dodged to the left, missing a claw strike. He unsheathed his dagger and jumped backward, parrying another strike before kicking the left wolf in the side and bringing his dagger down to stab the other in the side of the head. Collin spun to the right, bringing the dagger around to slash the other wolf in the side. Collin began to walk towards the platform but stopped. The bodies were not disappearing like the first floor had. Collin turned to see the two wolves getting up and turning towards him. Collin rushed forward to plunge his dagger deep into the right most wolf’s chest. Focusing his fire mana into the dagger he pushed through the thick pelt and penetrated the heart.

“I need you to stay dead please.” he whispered, before turning and throwing the flaming dagger at the other wolf. The dagger hit the dire wolf in the side and exploded on impact. Collin waited to see if the two would get up again. They faded away into thin air.

Second Floor Challenge Complete

Rewards:

8 Battle Coin (BC), 1 Minor Mana Potion, 2 Direwolf hide (crafting)

“Tonya, what was that about? Why did they not die?.” Collin said.

“Looks like you were meant to kill them with mana instead of the weapon. It would be nice if they had a rulebook somewhere.” Tonya replied. “Each room is showing to have challenges we must meet before moving on to the next one.”

Collin went up to the third floor and was immediately struck across the side. He was thrown back and landed into a soft sticky substance. He was unable to move or get out. He looked around to see that he was caught in a spider web. Looking forward he saw three very large, hairy spiders crawling up the webs towards him. Their piercers were dripping with a gooey substance. Collin began forming a fireball in his right hand. He pushed more mana into it to increase the temperature. The webs around the right side of his body began to burn away. He dropped to the floor just as the first spider was reaching his body. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the fireball towards the beast and flipped backwards. The beast took the blast and began thrashing left and right catching the other webs on fire. Collin ran to the other side of the room narrowly missing the falling debris. The other two spiders had hit the ground and were shooting globs of web in his direction. Collin slashed at a glob with his sword and threw another fireball to intercept the other. The two spiders began circling him on opposite sides. He was constantly having to turn to see what the other was doing while also dodging flying globes of the web. With a fireball in one hand and his sword in the other, Collin charged towards the spider on the left, sliding under its body, closing his fist, and bringing the flame up in an uppercut like fashion.

“Flame Punch!” Collin yelled as he hit the beast between the abdomen and thorax.

Yelling did not actually do anything. He once met a soldier during the war, who monologued his fights as they were occurring. It was very entertaining. The concept was similar to making grunt noises when punching and kicking. There was something about the outward vocalization of the act that produced more power in that act. The mana infused flame punch caused the spider to blast upward and get stuck in its own web. It quickly burned to a crisp before disappearing. Collin turned to see the last spider was no longer there. He looked around and saw it twenty feet up crawling up a newly formed web on the far side of the room. It stopped and looked down on Collin.

“I do not have anything that will reach it.” Collin said aloud. “Tonya, this spider looks different. What is going on?” The spider above was slightly smaller than the other two but had a larger Abdomen and was frantically spinning webs around itself.

“The other two were much bigger. I would take an educated guess and say they were male, and this appears to be a lady spider. A very pregnant lady spider at that.’ Tonya said through his mind.

There was a screeching sound from the spider. It was acting like it was in a lot of pain. Its body convulsed and then there was a small rip in its underbelly and hundreds of small spiders began pouring out onto the newly created webs. The giant spider disappeared leaving nearly a thousand smaller spiders in its place.

“How many?” Collin asked. He took out the minor health potion and chugged it. He instantly felt his vitality increase, but he still hurt.

“Approximately one thousand three hundred and twenty-seven.” Tonya replied. ”They all appear to be the size of young Mace.”

“This is only the third floor. How is it already this difficult?” Collin said, forming another fireball and imbuing his normal hand and a half sword with the flames.

“The tower appears to be adjusting itself based on how you do in the subsequent floors. The easier of a time you have, the more complex the next floor will become. It is learning and adapting. Such a marvelous design. There has to be a Dungeon Core up there. These Matrices couldn’t possibly be able to handle this even with their numbers.” Tonya replied. She being a dungeon core herself was starting to take this personally.

Collin brought forth some air mana as the spiders began to fall to the ground around him. He formed a spherical barrier of wind that blew around him in a clockwise rotation.

“Equip Shadow Katana from the Black Trunk.” Collin said. Ray would give him so much hell for dual wielding but he did not see an alternative.

Shadow Katana

Void Mana Required

Ability: Shadow Trail - Shadows follow the path of the blade

Skill: Shadow slash - send a wave of shadows at target

“Air Barrier.” he said, spinning around in a circle three times. He let the mana slip through his fingertips and a sphere expanded around him spinning faster and faster. The incoming spiders were being picked up and blown away before landing and rushing back towards him.

The spiders started to attack from all sides, trying to overwhelm him with their numbers. Collin began slashing and dodging while the wind barrier did its work in keeping the main force off of him. Soon he was beginning to notice a rhythm in his movements. His mind emptied and his instincts took over. Slash after slash he kept going cutting more and more. Tonya had displayed a little box in the corner of his vision, and he noticed the tally drop below one thousand. Unfortunately, he was also seeing his fatigue increase exponentially. He needed to finish this quickly. With his flame imbued sword, he sent a wave of fire outward in a horizontal slash. The entire east side opened up as spider remains went up in a puff of black smoke. Collin sent another fire wave to the west side. Some of the spiders ducked or jumped over the wave and kept coming. It was insane how well they were adapting to his attacks. The spiders were also taking advantage of the space created by their brothers and sisters. The density was dropping but they were still attacking from all sides.

“Tonya, help me send mana to the katana. There should be some void left over in one of the crystals.” Collin thought.

He noticed mana being sent from his belt to the middle of his core and then through his left hand into the katana. He kept his battle trance going as the number of spiders hit five hundred. The black katana began glowing a faint violet color. Small bits of shadow energy started to excrete out of the blade. The spiders sliced from it were not just being sliced in two but were being sent back by the impact in a sort of dark energy explosion.

“What’s going on?” Collin thought to Tonya.

“Your katana is not reacting well to this mana.” Tonya said.

“That makes sense. I do not have much void mana anymore. This katana requires it in order to use its skill and ability.”

With the flow of mana established from the crystal to the katana, Collin forced a large amount into the blade. Shadows arched out in a wave similar to how the fire was being sent out from his other sword. A combination of fire and shadow waves shot out in all directions burning some and completely disappearing others. Collin slashed the last spider and fell to his knees.

A screen popped up in his vision. Collin pushed it to the side and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

“I need a minute.” Collin said.

“This was only level three. I do not understand how they expect anyone to get to level fifty.” he thought.

“I am looking into that now. “Tonya said. Collin was not sure how she was able to look into things. He imagined that she was able to plug into the network of matrices and other systematic programs that were running the tower. “Ah I see. Did you know anyone with a Matrix named “Tiny”?

“Timothy Owlfoot.” Collin said out loud. “Tiny was Timothy’s Matrix. Why?”

“Tiny appears to be in control of the next couple of floors. He does not seem happy to see you.”

“He might not be happy that his human died. I recon many of the matrices are unhappy by that.”

Collin rose up to the fourth floor with his katana unsheathed. The room was decorated on all sides with a naturistic theme. To the far side was a wooden fortress with ten archers in green hoods standing at the wall. Bows drawn and pointing in his direction. Collin noticed a single Ranger standing at the top of the tower. He also had a bow drawn and aimed at him.

“How are we going to beat this one?” Collin asked.

“Maybe the rewards will have an answer?”’ Tonya said. She pulled the screen up for him to see.

Third Floor Challenge Complete

Rewards:

+150 BC, +1 Antidote, +1 Minor Mana Potion, +2 Minor Health Potion, +50 Spider silk (crafting)

*Class Archetypes unlocked*

Please select a class.

“A new class archetype? I wonder what it will give me” Collin said, clicking on the “Select class Icon”

Class Options

Please select one:

Summoner

Necromancer

Tamer

Collin looked at the three options. He thought about what each class required and what he would need moving forward.

“Necromancer would be the obvious choice if Trixie were here. I cannot convert void mana without her though.” Collin said. He also was not cool with the whole blood ritual, undead, and bones aspect of the class either.

“You could choose the Tamer class and finally have a bond.” Tonya suggested. The thought of having a Mace or a gnome companion did sound nice. He wished they were here with him.

“No, that would require me to find a beast to tame. I do not see any on this floor. Only archers and a ranger.” Collin replied. He also would have to feed and take care of each bond which was more work then he was wanting.

With no other options, he took a deep breath and selected Summoner.

Summoner Selected.

*Conjuration System unlocked*

Conjuration System - Level 1

Skills / Ability:

Construct Conjuration - Create constructs to assist you. (humanoid Only)

can be stored in inventory. ( Max 20)

Constructs can be equipped with weapons, clothes, and other items

Class Gear and Armor Set unlocked

Constructs can be trained, leveled and upgraded.

Matter Manipulation - Create, destroy, or change matter.

Matter must be in your possession

Three dark shapes walked forward from behind the trees. They stood in front of Collin and waited.

“The Tower and new class have given you a tank, an archer, and a healer.” Tonya said. “These appear to be your new constructs to summon.”

Collin looked at each one carefully. He would have thought they were normal adventurers if not for a single very important detail. Looking into their hoods he realized that they had no face. It was as if a gray sheet was placed over their heads.

“There is a golden ball in the fortress that you need to retrieve and bring back. There is a pedestal to your right for it to sit on.

Collin looked where she directed and saw a white marble pedestal about four feet tall with a slight indentation on the top where a spherical object might be placed.

“You will need to activate them. Try placing mana into them.” Tonya said. Collin did what she said.

There was a screeching noise and one of the figures next to Collin disappeared. Another one changed and looked identical to the one standing next to it. Collin looked around in confusion. He now only had two constructs for the challenge.

“Tiny seems to have changed some of the parameters. You have lost your tank and healer. It looks like we have two archers.” Tonya said. “This makes things a bit difficult.”

Collin remembered this scenario when they were younger. The tank was supposed to take the blunt of the arrows with his shield. The archer would provide supporting fire and the other was supposed to heal the tank and archer so they did not succumb to their injuries. It was the very basics of adventuring. He had no way to heal the other two unless he wasted a health potion. He needed to get the golden ball back to the pedestal or kill everyone. Collin would need to take the Ranger out as fast as he could before grabbing the ball. If he focused on the archers, the ranger would get them. First he had to figure out how to make the two archer constructs work.

“Can I issue them orders to follow? Collin asked Tonya.

“Yes, I believe so. Try telling one to do something.” Tonya replied.

“You on the left, Shoot that tree.” Collin said. Pointing with his finger at a tree thirty feet to their right.

The archer on the left took an arrow out of its quiver and shot at the tree. The arrow hit the tree with a thud exactly where Collins' figure had pointed.

“Okay. I need to name you guys. You on the right, you are going to be Red. You on the left, you will be Blue. Red…Blue.. Do you understand?” Collin said.

The two’s faceless heads nodded. Their clothes then changed to accented colors of red and blue. Collin smiled. He then got to work thinking about what they needed to do. A plan started to form in his head and he consulted with Tonya before giving the archers their orders.

“Begin.” Collin said, forming a wind orb in his left hand. He allowed the elemental mana to flow from his hand to the lower part of his body before rushing forward.

Red and Blue followed behind him. The archers on the wall immediately began shooting at them once they were in range. Collin blocked the arrows with his normal sword and then motioned for the other two to split off. Red went immediately right and started shooting at the archers on the wall. Blue went immediately to the left doing the same thing. They stayed just slightly in range of the volley. Collin had given them specific orders to run parallel to the wall at a safe enough distance that they could not be hit but would also be able to shoot back. Once he reached the wall, they were to come forward and protect his back while he dealt with everyone else. Blue had special orders to get the gold orb back to the pedestal. So far they were following the orders to the letter. Collin reached the base of the wood structured wall and leaped forward. He stabbed a dagger into the side and used it as a handhold to throw himself up and over the wall's edge. He slashed at the nearest archer before dipping and dodging through the line to the Ranger. At this point the ranger had stopped firing and had jumped down and drawn his sword to meet Collin on the wall. Collin pressed forward and narrowly missed being shot by an arrow. Collin looked up to see that Red and Blue had made it to the wall and were offering cover fire. Collin knocked an archer off of the wall and drew his katana just in time to parry a blow from the ranger. The hooded figure held a short sword in one hand and a dagger turned backwards in the other.

“Tim liked to do that.” Collin thought to himself. He began exchanging blow after blow with the ranger trying to push him back. Not wanting to have his back against the archers, Collin started twisting and dipping to the right to get the ranger to turn with him so he could see what was going on with the rest of the archers. The ranger did not notice that this was what he was doing and continued to dance around with Collin until they had switched places. Collin watched Blue rush forward and grab the golden ball from where it was standing. He saw Red providing cover fire and helping Blue get back over the wall. At this point there were only four archers left of the starting ten. Collin managed to hold the ranger at bay until the Golden ball was placed on the pedestal. There was a split-second delay before the ranger stopped his advances. He then turned and ran up the wall and into a hole going up to the fifth floor. The trees, grass and tower all disappeared revealing the elevating platform twenty feet in front of Collin. A pop-up window came into view.

Fourth Floor Challenge Complete

Reward:

+25 BC, +2 minor health potion, +2 minor mana potion

Conjuration ability unlocked

Enemies defeated: 7

Remaining forces have joined your team +4 Archer

Allies lost: 0

Assigned Allies have joined your team +1 “Red” Archer +1 “Blue” Archer

System Error found… Correcting System Error.... -2 Archer

New Allies have joined your team +1 Healer +1 Tank.

“It did not give me the ranger.” Collin said disappointed.

“We may see him later. Also look at the correction. It seems the other Matrices are not happy that Tiny modified the challenge. They have corrected the error by taking away two of the archers and giving you the original healer and tank that you were supposed to have received in the beginning.” Tonya said.

Collin stepped on the platform and went up to the fifth level. While he waited, he quickly assigned names to his Healer, tank, and other Archer. He could only have a team of five. He left Red and the other archers in his inventory.

The Healer, who looked to be a female, wielded a staff that curved at the top and wore a white colored dress with a brown belt and a white hooded cloak. Collin thought she needed a bit more color, so he named her Indigo. Her attire changed to show many different pinks, purples, and blues.

The tank, he named Merlot. A combination of darker reds and blacks formed his attire. He wore black metal plated armor with a helm similar to what Ray’s Berserker form had. He held a large shield in one hand and a one-handed sword in the other.

He decided to leave Red in the inventory because he needed the colors to stay different. Red and Merlot would be hard to keep track. He chose for the female archer to join and named her Olive. Her Archer attire of cloak, adventurer pants, and blouse all took on different shades of green and brown.

“Do we have any details on what floor five's challenge will be?” Collin asked

“The fifth floor of each section all appear to be related to an element. Looks like we will be dealing with some Nature Elementals and you just have to get to the other side of the room.” Tonya said

“Sounds simple eno…” Collin cut himself off as he entered up into the fifth floor. The Room was covered in grass. There were trees along the sides walls with thick vines hanging all around them. In the center of the room were five variations of Nature elementals. Two were around thirty of forty feet tall and each about twenty feet wide. The one on the right was covered in bark and moss. It had large tree trunk forearms like a large tree golem but much more terrifying. The one on the right was of similar design but looked to be made of rocks and dirt. It oozed out a sort of black goo around its body. In Front of the two large Golem-like elementals were two smaller ball-like shapes. They had vines, grass and flowers sprouting from their being and appeared to float there in suspense. The final figure standing in the middle of them was the Ranger who he had fought on the first floor. He appeared to be letting a smaller elemental latch on to his arm. There was a screak and the ranger seemed to combine into a humanoid beast with vines flowing in and out of its arm. They radiated a glowing green color and seemed to pump some sort of chemical throughout the ranger's body.

“It is finally time!” Tiny said. His voice was coming from the humanoid in the center. Collin squinted his eyes a bit more and looked toward the left shoulder of the creature. There, installed on the modified humanoid creature was a matrix of green and black swirls.

“How are you attached to the tower's constructs?” Collin asked Tiny. The figure took off his hood to reveal an..actual face. Collin looked more closely and realized it wasn't just a face but the face of Timothy Owlfoot, his old teammate. Tim was no longer looking like the thirteen-year-old he was when he died. He had grown and changed, and it was almost like he had never died.

“How is this even possible?” Collin asked.

The ranger construct took aim and shot a volley of arrows toward Collin. He jumped to the side and watched as they pelted into Merlot’s shield.

Collin started issuing orders to the other four, getting them into position. He formed a fireball in his hand and threw it to the middle of the room hoping that something would catch on fire. The two columns came forward and blocked the fire as the two smaller elementals charged ahead. Tiny ran back to the edge of the room and climbed a tree. He began sending arrow after arrow toward the team. Merlot brought his shield up and activated a tank related ability called Taunt. This caused all of the nearby enemies to focus on him. Blue and Olive ran to the sides sending arrow after arrow towards the smallest spirits trying to pin them down. Collin sped forward hoping to get to the other side so the challenge would be over. He narrowly missed an arrow shot by Tiny and a slam from the wooden golem.

“Elementals have a core like I do Collin. You have to attack their core.” Tonya said in his mind.

Collin turned and ran towards the smaller grasslike elementals. He formed a fist around a fireball and punched through the center of the floating mass. “Flame Burst” Collin yelled. He opened his fist and let fire burst outward into the center of the mass. The elemental caught fire and disintegrated into nothing.

“Tell the others” Collin told Tanya and she began issuing orders to the other team members. He ran to a tree golem sliding under its punch and climbed up the side of its right leg. He peeked through the cracks of the bark and saw the core there floating.

Collin took out three throwing stars and began converting fire and air mana into them. He dropped one between the cracks of the Wood Golem before running and jumping across to the Rock Golem who had tried to swat him off. He quickly found a gap in between the rock and shoved the throwing star in. He looked down to see the team take out the fourth elemental with a sword to the center. Tiny was still on the tree at the far end of the room shooting arrows at them. Collin jumped off of the rock golem just as the first throwing star exploded. The combination of fire and air mana caused an incendiary blast that splintered the tree golem into a million pieces.

Collin grabbed onto a vine and swung to the ground in front of Tiny as the rock golem exploded. He looked behind him to see the team hunkered together behind a cracked and nearly disintegrated shield. Indigo immediately began healing everyone. Collin turned back and was punched hard across the face. He managed to put his hands up in time to grab the dagger before it penetrated his lower abdomen. He stepped back pushing the dagger away and faced Tiny who was holding the dagger in his left hand and unsheathing another with his right. Collin did the same, unsheathing his two daggers and sending air mana into his right and fire mana into his left. They began circling each other. Collin ignored the warnings going off in his peripherals. His health, mana, and stamina were all slightly under the halfway mark. They each took an orthodox stance. Collin jabbed forward with his left hand purposely aiming to miss slightly to the right before slashing across to the left. He brought his right dagger across as Tiny ducked under his horizontal slash. Tiny, slashed Collin in his right bicep and pivoted to Collin's right. Collin spun and with both feet, kicked Tiny in the chest pushing him back. Collin fell to the ground and quickly pushed himself up in a crouching position just in time to block an incoming stab from Tiny’s left. Collin’s right arm was starting to bleed profusely. He needed to finish this and drink a health potion before he bleed out. With a horizontal slash with his left dagger, Collin sent a gust of wind toward Tiny before rushing forward and kneeing him into the stomach. Tiny dropped his left dagger and tried to slash with his right but Collin blocked it with an elbow before stabbing him in the chest with his right dagger. He forced fire mana through and watched as a small hole burned through Tiny’s Chest. The construct collapsed to the ground.

A pop-up window showed up in front of him. He pushed it to the side as his team walked up to check on him. Inigo began healing him and Merlot helped him back up on his feet.

“You beat me.” Tiny said. His conjuration was beginning to fade away

“I did. It is good to see you Tiny. We were all pretty heartbroken when we found out what happened to you and Timothy.” Collin said. “I am sorry if I made you mad in some way. Timothy was a really good friend.”

“Oh, you did nothing wrong sir. I am just still a bit bitter about losing Timothy is all. There was not much anyone could have done about what happened.” Tiny said.

The ranger’s body disintegrated and a greenish blackish swirling cube remained. Collin picked it up and then looked out the pop up window.

Fifth Floor Challenge Completed

Reward:

+200 BC, +1 Ranger, +1 Nature Matrix “Tiny”, +2 minor health potion, +2 minor mana potion, +5 Nature Core (Crafting)

Battle Tower Store unlocked

“Tonya, What can I do with a matrix that is not originally mine?’ Collin asked.

“Check your inventory.” Tonya said.

Collin brought up the inventory:

Battle Tower Inventory System

Items

Battle Coins (BC) Total: 381

Adventure Bag “ Collin”

Black Chest “ Collin”

Minor Health Potion: 5

Minor Mana Potion: 5

Antidote: 1

Nature Matrix “Tiny”

Crafting:

Direwolf hide x 2

Giant Rat Fang x 1

Nature Core x 5

Nature Core x 5

Spider Silk x 50

Team (Conjurations)

Red - Archer Class Level 2

Blue - Archer Class level 3

Merlot - Fighter Class Level 2

Indigo - Healer Class level 2

No Name - Archer Class Level 1

No Name - Ranger Class Level 5

*Battle Tower Store Unlocked*

Collin clicked on the line that said *Battle Tower Store unlocked*. He was then given an option to spend his BC. He perused the options finding minor health, mana potions, some armor, and some assorted weapons. His current gear even with the stats and abilities were better than most of the items listed. He would get another option to open the store at floor ten so he needed to make the most of what he had. After purchasing five minor health potions and five minor mana potions for a total of ten BC, he flipped back to his inventory and selected the Nature Matrix. Nothing happened. He tried the crafting material and nothing happened. He went to his conjurations menu and clicked on the Ranger class.

No Named Assigned - Ranger Class Level 5

Matrix installed (0/1)

You have 1 Nature Matrix “Tiny”

Activate Matrix Install Process? Yes or No

“What do we have here?” Collin said. “Tonya, do you know what this is?”

“I have no idea Collin. This is all new territory for me. There is nothing in my original programming from the prior dungeon core that refers to this.”

“What do you mean? Original Programming?” Collin said.

“A long time ago, when the first king came and took over after the White King, each region had a dungeon core that assisted the Lords in ruling. Region XI Dungeon Core died almost a hundred years ago. On his death she charged the Gnomes with the protection of the dungeon core shards and all knowledge to create a new core. That core, who I think was a he, sealed us away deep in the canyons until a candidate came along worthy to move forward with. When Ray was teleported to the Boer Canyons. He absorbed every single Dungeon and Elemental Shard that was being guarded. He then went to work in creating me. Now this is a bit more information than should be allowed to know but I was once a human like you. I was actually a princess of a far off continent that apparently hasn’t been discovered yet. Anyway, that was five hundred years ago. My mind was brought back nearly a hundred years ago and placed in one of the crystal shards before they were sealed and I was put to sleep. Ray then absorbed me. I will admit that it was a bit more intense than what I was expecting but he was really gentle and nice to me. He then brought me to life as your region's Dungeon Core. That is a really long way of saying that whatever is going on here is newly discovered and was not known by any of my prior dungeon core ancestors.”

“So what should I do?” Collin said.

“I say hit yes and let's see what happens.” Tonya said.

Collin shrugged and clicked yes.

Collin watched the silhouette of a Ranger formed in front of him. The Matrix cube left his hand and connected itself to the notch on the left shoulder. The figure stayed there.

“It took you guys long enough.” a voice said.

“Tiny!” Collin said.

“I am back. I am sorry for being a bit melodramatic. It’s been a rough existence. Anyway, I am back. By the way, in order for this Ranger to work, You will need to give him a name.”

“Wait, is this going to turn into Timothy?” Collin asked unsure how he wanted that one answered.

“Only in looks, movement, skill and abilities. Timothy is gone. I have accepted it. The soul cannot come back, he however will act and can perform the way Timothy would have if he was still here today. You also have the option of starting brand new. I do not recommend that. I do not know how I will feel being bonded with a stranger. Tiny said.

“You will be controlling the conjuration right?” Collin asked. “I will just name him after you.

“That is fine. We still need to pick a color scheme. Picture how you want us to look.” Tiny said.

Collin sighed and began thinking out loud.

“I want to keep the color theme going in this list. I am not comfortable with the name being Timothy but I could be okay with everything else.” He thought about Tim’s life. “ Timothy loved Brooke above all else. It was actually a very interesting story. Tim was a shy and good kid. Brooke was intimidating and fierce. She would absolutely torture men. She teased, and flirted, and let them spoil her but they never would get what they wanted. She was always on guard and just an outright hardass of a woman. Tim’s crush for her was almost religious. He spent two years in the compound before finally getting enough courage to go talk to her. We teased him about it constantly. She teased him about it even. The night we won the third Platoon Challenge, we were all celebrating. Timothy looks at each of us. We knew immediately something was off. He doesn’t normally have such confidence. He tells us it is time and then finishes his drink and just gets up. We watch him walk over to her. She was standing talking to all of the other girls. He takes out a copper penny and looks at her. He says “Brooke, I love you. I love you with my entire heart and my entire being. All I have is this copper penny, but If you will have me I swear I will find a way to turn it into gold for us.””

“What did she say?” Tonya asked.

“About damn time.” Tiny finished. If a matrix could cry, Tiny was definitely crying. “She then kissed him and that was that. Their relationship began. Marissa and I talked about that day all the time. Marissa was Brooke’s Matrix.

“The Ranger's name will be Tiny and it will have a copper color scheme,” Collin said. He closed his eyes and visualized his long-lost friend as he was. The ranger transformed and Collin stepped forward onto the platform to head to the sixth floor.

Floors six, seven, and eight consisted of a giant basilisk, a large tree sentinel, and two giant eagles. Collin and team zoomed past them pretty easily. Floor nine had five ogres which put up a bit of a challenge but Tiny who was a few levels higher than the others absolutely crushed it. He put three arrows through each of the ogres heads before anyone else was able to set up properly. Tiny’s pride was on an outward volume as he bragged on and one about his conjuration's abilities.

Floor ten had three parts. The first room consisted of a raid on a small outpost similar to how floor four was, but this time it was guarded by fifteen goblins and 3 orcs. The goal was to kill everyone. There was no golden ball to snatch. The team consisting of Collin, Tiny, Indigo, Merlot, and Blue chose a straightforward approach. Collin and Merlot confronted the orcs head on while Tiny and Blue ran up the side of the wall and took out the Goblin Archers. Indigo stayed at the rear and healed Merlot and Collin. The battle was over in less than twenty minutes. The second room consisted of three Rangers. Tiny insisted on a three versus three matchup and Collin let it happen. Tiny finished his Ranger in less than five minutes. Merlot took the longest and suffered the most damage, but he pulled through and slayed the second Ranger. Collin’s matchup was just icing on the cake as the contest was nothing compared to fighting an enraged Tiny. They walked into the third and final room ready to knock it out of the park.

“Let me see the inventory, Tonya.”

Battle Tower Inventory System

Items

Battle Coins (BC) Total: 381

Adventure Bag “ Collin”

Black Chest “ Collin”

Minor Health Potion x 21

Minor Mana Potion x 23

Antidote x 5

Tree Sentinel Shield x 1

Crafting:

Direwolf hide x 2

Eagle Feather X 300

Giant Rat Fang x 1

Giant Snake Skin x 10

Nature Core x 5

Earth Core x 5

Spider Silk x 50

Team (Conjurations)

Red - Archer Class Level 5

Blue - Archer Class level 5

Olive - Archer Class Level 5

Merlot - Tank Class Level 5

Indigo - Healer Class level 5

Tiny - Ranger Class Level 10

No Name - Archer Class Level 1

*Class Evolution unlocked*

*Battle Tower Store Locked*

“Uh, Guys, It looks like I can evolve the conjurations.” Collin said

“Yes, I knew I forgot to explain something. Every fifth increment should have an option to evolve the class.” Tiny said. “There are a couple of different options that each can take. You will have to decide for yourself what you want to do.”

Conjurations

Evolution Options

Red - Archer

Level 5

Lateral Transfer level 1 Tank, Fighter,Healer, Mage or Rogue

Evolution to Level 1 Marksman

Blue - Archer

Level 5

Lateral Transfer level 1 Tank, Fighter,Healer, Mage or Rogue

Evolution to Level 1 Marksman

Olive - Archer

Level 5

Lateral Transfer level 1 Tank, Fighter,Healer, Mage or Rogue

Evolution to Level 1 Marksman

Merlot - Tank

Level 5

Lateral Transfer level 1 Fighter,Healer, Archer, Mage or Rogue

Evolution to Level 1 Guard

Indigo -Healer

Level 5

Lateral Transfer level 1 Tank, Fighter, Archer, Mage or Rogue

Evolution to Level 1 Cleric

Collin looked through the options. He needed to add some variety to his team. Tank, fighter, healer, archer, and rogue made up the basics of all teams. There were some special classes but not until higher levels.. Years of training and adventuring showed that these categories were what made the world go round. He noticed that he also had an option to go laterally on the skill tree. This gave him an idea.

“Red please make a lateral change from Stage One Archer to Stage One Rogue. Blue, go ahead and evolve from Stage One archer to Stage Two Marksman. Olive I want you to make a lateral change from Stage One Archer to Stage One healer. Merlot, evolve from Stage One Tank to Stage Two Guard. Indigo lets evolve from Stage one healer to Stage two Cleric.” Collin said. “ I think that should work for now.”

Collin also equipped the tree sentinel shield to Merlot. His shield was done for after the last few floors. He noticed it left his inventory when he did so and made a mental note to check everyone's gear once they unlocked the shop again. Collin walked into the third room. A giant bear half the height of the room growled at them. Behind him sat what looked to be a druid. He held a dagger in his hand and sat in a chair up on a pedestal.

“Welcome to the last room of the tenth floor.” The druid said, "My name is Amergin.”

“Is that a person talking?” Collin asked.

“No, that is Amergin. He is or was the most powerful Nature Matrix that ever lived. He was bonded to a human Druid named Lughan, I think.” Tonya said.

“Oh Man, Timothy worshiped this guy. Well he worshiped Brooke but this guy. Oh my goodness. Dude could have a dragon on his belly purring like a kitty. Let's take him!!”

Collin looked around him. The room was laid out normally. There was no terrain. There was no growth or vegetation. It was just him, the bear and the druid.

“Tonya, Is there an objective?” Collin asked.

“Survive for ten minutes. Although if you are able to capture or kill either. That might work also.” She said “Oh and you are not limited to a five-man team here. You can summon everyone if you would prefer.”

Collin took a deep breath. “Merlot, Tiny, Indigo, Red, Blue, Olive”

With a burst of air mana, Collin pushed past the bear and struck down with his Katana converting as much fire mana into the strike. The druid blocked it with his dagger and pivoted to Collin’s right, narrowly missing the scorching hot flames that radiated from the blade. Collin mentally told the team to deal with the bear while he took on the druid. If he could finish him, he hoped the bear would become confused or disappear. Druids controlled animals and without the druid, maybe he would have a chance.

The team manifested and rushed forward to attack the bear. Merlot activated his taunt ability and slammed his shield into the ground as the bear swiped its paws. Merlot held on the best he could but was pushed back from the sheer force of the bear's attack. Red and Tiny came around both sides of Merlot with their swords striking the bear. They followed around with a dagger strike to the side before diving away in a rolling dodge. The bear let out a ferocious roar and then charged forward to Merlot. Merlot activated an endurance skill and began slashing and dodging the bear's attacks. He took a slash to the left arm and was thrown to the side. Olive was there with a healing spell while Red and Tiny came back with another series of slashes.Indigo came forward and cast a mana barrier spell on Merlot and Olive. Blue was steadily firing arrow after arrow trying to bring the bear down.

Collin was unable to find an opening. He slashed and slashed and dodged and threw blast after blast but the Druid just kept on and on with a damn dagger. The dude didn’t even need to unsheathe his sword or throw a spell. He just moved elegantly and fluidly in ways that a druid really shouldn’t be able to move.

“How the hell are you so fast?” Collin said in between strikes.

“You will need to get faster in order to make it up the tower.” Amergin said. He threw a smoke bomb down and disappeared.

“Where did he go?” Collin thought.

“Collin, the team needs help.” Tonya said. Collin turned his attention to the group who were struggling to hold their own with the bear. Indigo had a barrier protecting them while Olive healed Merlot. His shield was taking the beating fairly well but he would not be able to endure for long. Everyone was doing their best to either distract or find an opening to attack.

Collin threw a throwing star filled with fire man and managed to catch the bear on fire before it dealt a killing blow to Merlot. The bear thrashed and ran to the right. Indigo cast another healing circle on everyone as they retreated away from the bear. Amergin appeared next to the bear and touched it on the side. The bear stopped thrashing, the fire went out and its wounds started to heal.

“Tonya, How much time?” Collin asked.

“Three more minutes.: Tonya said.

“Red with me.” Collin said. He infused some more air mana into his body and rushed forward to meet Amergin. Red rushed forward behind him. Collin noted that Red also needed to get faster if he was going to be of any help. Collin drew both his sword and katana and tried to enter his battle trance. He just needed to delay for three more minutes. Amergin side stepped Collin’s attack and kicked Red in the face. Red fell to the floor unconscious. Collin tried to pivot to help but was nearly hit by the bear’s claw attack. He managed to fall just in time to slide under the attack. Pulling out his dagger he sent some fire mana through the hilt and stabbed it deep into the bear’s rib cage. The explosion sent Collin sliding in the opposite direction of the group. The bear fell on its side and began screaming from the pain. Blue and Tiny sent two arrows into the bear causing it to disappear.

“That was dumb luck,” Collin thought to himself. He needed to get back and help the others.

He watched Merlot recover Red and rush back to the group. Olive was continuing to heal everyone in her circle. Indigo was out of mana and unable to form anymore barriers. Amergin appeared behind Olive and Collin’s heart dropped. Without his healer, they were done for. He saw Amergin lift the dagger and time froze. Thoughts of losing everyone and having to start over flooded Collin’s mind. He had to get through this. He had to get Trixie back. Collin sent as much mana as he could throughout his body causing all three magic crystals to shatter. He willed himself to move. Forced his body to be there. He saw himself in between the two blocking the dagger and suddenly… He was there. He grabbed Amergin’s wrist, forcing him to drop the dagger. He looked back and saw what appeared to be Collin over where he was originally laying. Collin and other Collin locked eyes. Amergin tried to break free which brought Collin back to focus. Collin number two pulled Amergin forward and over his shoulder. Amergin was slammed downward onto the floor.. Tiny and Merlot came forward with their swords and stabbed him in his chest delivering the killing blow.

“Time!” Tonya screamed. A screen popped up in front of Collin as he lay there on the floor. The other Collin and the team of conjuration faded away into thin air.