The Legendary Fool

143:

“So, you’re telling me that most people here don’t actually want to climb the tower?” Aleph asked, her tone sounding completely flummoxed.

“I’m pretty sure most of them were actually born here,” Zirel replied before reaching for a spoonful of warm soup.

Neither Tom nor Aleph were particularly concerned with etiquette as they dug into a soupy sort of stew with small pieces of flatbread that they were supposed to use in place of a spoon. The meat was tender and the soup was rich in flavor. After the weeks they had spent sustaining themselves on mundane rations, there was almost nothing that could stop him from digging into a warm meal.

On the other hand, it seemed like Zirel’s princely training was not so easily forgone, because the former prince had limited himself to a humble soup while they talked.

“It’s home for them, then,” Tom offered, before he tore off another chunk of flatbread and fashioned it into a scoop by pinching two of its edges together. “You really should try this, it really hits the spot,” He said, before scooping some more meat with the flatbread and popping it in his mouth.

“After we’re done with this discussion,” Zirel tersely replied. “And yes, you are right. It’s home for them. To most, ascending the tower is an outlandish proposition. Especially for the shopkeepers and even the innowner we spoke to downstairs. They’re not particularly concerned with who rules this Nexus City, because whoever takes over has to guarantee their safety anyway. And paying their dues isn’t too challenging, because there’s always people like us, drifting from city to city in search of either a good quest or the right party members.”

“What about the people that are interested?” Aleph asked. “You know, the ones that actually take the Nexus Quests.”

“Most of them don’t come back from their first trip,” Zirel replied. “But the ones we saw in the plaza were way too well equipped for that. I didn’t try and mess around with them just yet, but I’m pretty sure that they fall more on the established ends of things.”

“Not sure,” Zirel replied. “The fact their organization exists on this floor means one of two things. Either they’re entrenched on this floor and plan to keep it that way, or they’re just scouting for talent for their counterparts on higher floors. Did you both see that tall building?”

“Five stories? Painted over in a light green?” Tom asked.

Zirel nodded. “It’s pretty much impossible to miss if you visit the plaza. It’s their headquarters. Two guards, so it’s pretty lightly defended. It’s hard to tell if that’s because of the rules the system imposes on Nexus Cities or whether it’s because they’re simply confident in their own strength. Either way, the guards didn’t feel nearly as threatening as that Zeth, but their upper leadership is likely to be competent.”

“Doesn’t look like their policies are too tyrannical,” Tom added. “The shopkeepers don’t seem like they’re struggling and taxation is decided by the guild in charge. That tells me that they’re confident enough in holding the city long-term, otherwise they would impose heavy taxes and make the most of it while they can.”

Zirel blinked, before speaking, “That is an astute understanding. Where did you pick up statecraft from?”

‘High school economics class?’ Tom wryly thought, before replying, “Just made sense to me.”

“So they’re strong, but we have no way of knowing if their pull stretches beyond this floor. I think we’d be better off if we didn’t piss them off either way,” Aleph muttered, her own tone seeming mired in thought.

“Until we find out more, I agree,” Zirel replied. “Hopefully they don’t turn out to be vile murderers like that Shadow Guild.”

Tom nodded along before he spoke up, “Well, I don’t see any sense in rushing things. I suggest we spend a few weeks here, get a hold on things and gather as much useful information as we can before taking a Nexus Quest. If the locals are this wary of ascension, then there’s probably more reasons.”

“I’m not going to say no to a break and definitely not a no to civilization,” Aleph passionately replied. “Unless you have any objections?” Aleph’s gaze shifted in Zirel’s direction.

“No, this is the correct course to take,” Zirel replied. “The Aerinaculumn is too different from the surface, both in motivations and rewards. I am certain there will be information brokers capable of telling me what I need, though whether I can afford them or not is doubtful. Gathering information will take time unless our clairvoyant friend volunteers information. Either way, a few weeks is fine.”

“Good,” Aleph nodded. “Now that we’re in agreement, I’m off to see if I can get my bath heated. Try not to bring the inn down on my head.”

Tom had been generous enough to get separate rooms for each of his party members, which had left him down three side-fragments already.

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As he sat on a reasonably comfortable wooden chair with straw padding, before a desk that had a small notebook open, with two blank sheets of paper on either side waiting for him to pen down his thoughts.

Managing his deck had been something that had become long overdue and now that Tom finally had room to breathe, there was no excuse for him to keep putting it off.

Dipping his feather pen in an ink pot, Tom began to write.

Current Deck:

Rare - 5 SP to add to Deck:

1. Mirror World. Abilities- Mirror Dimension (summon a mirror capable of absorbing ranged attacks and retaliating with the same attack), Greater Reflection (Amplify the absorbed attacks before retaliating).

Strengths: Self-defense, Surprise factor, Overall defense.

Weaknesses: Offense depends upon attacker’s strength, easily countered after the first retaliatory ranged attack if the opponent has the means.

2. Shadow Wraith

Ability- Umbral Forge (allows the wielder to control all the shadows in a wide region around him. Let the wielder convert shadow into sharp metal that can punch through most armor I’ve seen with ease. Second ability will let me teleport from one region in the shadows to the next, when I get around to unlocking it.

Strengths: Great offense, great versatility, passable defense.

Weaknesses: Needs a lot of control to master. Probably won’t be anywhere near as good as Zeth at it.

Uncommon - 2 SP to add to Deck:

1. Lifeblood

Ability- Augmentation (allows the wielder to achieve greater speed and strength by increasing heartrate), Blood Scion (forge blood weapons with the blood of slain enemies)

Strengths: Augmentation was useful when I had less stats to work with.

Weaknesses: Blood Scion is too restrictive to be useful in most combat situations. Augmentation’s effect is pretty underwhelming after a certain stat threshold.

2. Arcsteel weaver

Ability- Blacksmith (allows the wielder to create sheets of arcsteel, a useful alloy). Second ability will allow me to shape the arcsteel into weapons, like the Gatekeeper could.

Strengths- Haven’t used it enough but it seems pretty useful for offense.

Weaknesses- Defense.

3. Heat Infusion

Given to Aleph in exchange for her share in the Shadow Weaver card.

4. Aura Shift

Ability - Mass increase and Mass Decrease (self-explanatory)

Strengths- Good for both offense and defense. Great for surprise attacks.

Weaknesses- Usefulness falls against more powerful opponents or heavily armored enemies.

5. Frost Link

Abilities- Bind (links the wielder to a weapon artifact that gives the wielder full spatial awareness upon the weapon’s properties even in the absence of physical contact). Second ability likely allows the wielder to channel a voracious frost that spreads to anything it comes in contact with.

Strengths- Pretty great offense and defense. Can temporarily make an enemy’s weapon useless.

Weaknesses- One trick. Can be countered easily if the enemy has any ranged attacks.

6. Noxious Brew- Went to Aleph, after she killed the archer. Later to Zirel, after she gave it up to him. Imbues poison into arrows.

Useful Commons-

1. Water Propulsion- Possible combo with Frost Link. Can generate clean water.
2. The Flame- Can generate fire. And fire is useful. Gave Heat Infusion to Aleph, so need to keep it.
3. Earth’s Vitality- Pretty, no very weak, but it can heal. Need to see if the tower’s floor counts as earth. If it doesn’t, then useless.

Useless Commons-

1. The Lunar - No moon to make it work in the tower. Another 9 side-fragments and one core fragment to be earned. Quite curious what the core fragment of the lunar will be. Might have to give the synthesizers a shot.
2. The Shadow- Outclassed by Shadow Wraith.
3. Haste- Speed boost almost negligible. A breeze on my back won’t make me go any faster.

Other Commons-

Zirel and Aleph should’ve earned over a dozen between themselves. I gave all of mine to Zirel too, because he earned too little from beating the Shadow Guild.

Pity we couldn’t raid their damn treasury.

Conclusion:

First Priority- Shadow Wraith, Mirror World— in that order.

Second Priority- Make Frost Bind work with Zeth’s— no, my Rare Artifact. It’s not going to be a sure-kill move, but damn if it isn’t annoying. Try a combo with water propulsion.

Third Priority- Continue levelling aura shift, it’s useful enough. Stop directing experience to Lifeblood, but keep it around, augmentation can be useful in escaping and running long distances.

Fourth Priority- Figure out what to do with Arcsteel weaver. Doesn’t really mesh with my current build. Neither Zirel nor Aleph are too interested in it. Learning how to use Shadow Wraith and seeing if it can be alternated with Mirror World will make me lethal enough on the battlefield. Not to mention, the overlap between umbral forge, which lets me turn shadows to a metal that is sharper than arcsteel, makes it kind of redundant.

Don’t see a reason to waste 2 SP adding it to my deck currently, got enough on my plate.

Do now- Remove the useless commons from my deck. Every SP counts.