The Tower of Emnu

To Aaron's surprise it did not take long for Iris to return. Maybe his sense of time was a bit off, but it could not have been more than two days, right? Either way he was happy to be able to get this over with. Then he could finally return to the fifth floor. His next goal was to gather ingredients to do some alchemy himself. He fully expected to fail a lot at first so he aimed for a whole lot of ingredients for each pill he had the recipe for. Without a cauldron he could not start, but he could gather ingredients at least.

He went ahead and exited his home before Iris could make her way down the perilous steps. He waved at her and Iris paused, but was not surprised to see him. What was different than usual was that Iris was staring at him.

"Hi Iris….something wrong with me?" he asked and looked down on himself. His nose told him that he had not forgotten to clean up any of the horrible mess the detoxification had done, but maybe he had a stain somewhere.

"N-no. That...sorry. Its just you look different."

"Different? Different how?" Aaron asked with a slight frown and Iris waved her hands.

"No, nothing bad. Its just...you look good. Yeah." Iris said before looking away clearly embarrassed by her involuntary outburst. Aaron would have thought the woman was just flirting with him, but then again. Iris had not done that for quite some time, so he was sure this was not it. Probably a side effect of his breakthrough and detoxification.

"Thanks, I guess Mars is ready for his little 'play'?"

"Ah, yes, of course. Mars wants to see you. He has gathered the group from the fifth floor already."

"That was fast, well alright then, lets go."

Iris lead Aaron to his surprise not back to the Town but around the outer moat to a small burrow in the earth that was hidden quite well. Men with red armbands waited behind a door and they waved them through without much more than a glance. They walked down a Tunnel underneath the moat and Aaron was not exactly surprised that Mars had something like that, he was more surprised he had never found it before.

The tunnel branched out and Aaron's senses told him quite a lot about this underground complex. From the sound and scent coming from above he was fairly sure this whole underground complex was underneath the red-light district. Most of the rooms smelled like storage rooms. Like polished wood or weapon oil. But there were also food stocks and alchemical ingredients aplenty. But the most interesting thing was, that there was a training session going on. With his supernaturally good hearing he heard Mars step in front of what sounded a crowd and cleared his throat. The vast cavernous room that echoed like crazy fell silent quickly after that.

"I am sorry to have kept you down here for a few days, but I hope the information package we provided about new class combinations and branching class paths was instructive." Mars said and Aaron heard a grumble of approval.

"I know plenty of you have regrets, but there are ways we can remedy things if you are determined to start over. As you all know we do have the ability to take away classes. But as Mahast and others have proven, you can regain a spirit and become a Vessel again. This means if you made a mistake in your journey as a Vessel you can reset and begin again." Mars let that sink in for a long moment as the silence stretched.

"This means also that rare classes, rare skills and abilities will become more common if you are ready to commit yourself to restart your path. But even if you are not, we know of places in the first five floors that are bountiful farming spots designed to allow even children to level up quickly." Mars paused again and Aaron could hear him move to the side and unveil something.

"These are maps of three different spots that we have confirmed to be farming spots. This means we will split all of you in three groups and you will go out to level." There was another pause where Mars let the surprise and comments murmured between groups die down.

"I know you have probably wondered why I am pushing you all like this, why the district has changed this much over the last few weeks. I am demanding more of you and I know most of you are really not fond of rules or demands." That earned him a few whistles and chuckles.

"The reason is that with this new information, with these new classes I have shown all of you, with all of this combined we can turn you from a bunch of misfits into a fighting force rivaling anything in Ambition. I have never made it a secret that I wish to return to the city of my birth. But it is finally in our grasp. It is time my brothers and sisters in arms. Time to retake what is ours. Most of you have joined up later, hell most of you have never seen Ambition before. But I promise you that whatever you wish to achieve in this life, following me to Ambition can get you there."

The cheering was deafening for a long minute and Aaron had to pause in the tunnel he was walking in to shake off the sudden noise. Then Mars continued.

"It will be dangerous and it will take a lot of work of all of you. But if we succeed, then we will all be rich and powerful beyond belief compared to us now. I promise you all that there is gold at the end of this path. But...it will be war. Few of you know what war truly is. But it will be terrible. More than a few of you will die. This chance of your untimely demise is the cost of victory and riches beyond any of your comprehension. Think about it and when you made a decision speak to one of the bosses and you will be put into one of the three groups to farm for levels. If you want to reset your class to try for something better talk to Tex please. That is it, I hope to see you all on my side in Ambition, but as always, the choice is yours."

Aaron was not exactly surprised, but he had certainly not expected this. Mars was making big moves. He would give him a big influx of people who would willingly sacrifice their spirits to him. He would also strengthen the district and level them with the knowledge gained from the kids from upstairs. It was all coming up positive for Mars. The man that lead him through the tunnel frowned at him because Aaron had stopped, but Aaron just smiled at him and followed him again. Soon he was lead to a small room with a few tables and Mars came in just a minute or so afterwards.

"That was quite the nice speech Mars." Aaron commented as he sat down on one of the chairs.

"When did you plan to tell me all of that? Including my part in "resetting" classes."

Mars looked at him in surprise and then scoffed.

"Now, I would have told you now, but this saves us some time. Yes, things are moving and yes I have found a way to feed you some spirits. That is what you need to progress quickly, no?"

"It is, although I have found that the beasts on the fifth floor can be just as bountiful."

"You have grown stronger." Mars said with a nod as he looked at him and sat down in front of him.

"And...prettier. I could almost see you in one of my brothels now." Mars added and there was more than just a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Well thank you for the offer, but no thank you. Lets do it like this. You bring the amount of people who wish to lose their class to Iris and she will bring that information to me. We can do a schedule. Maybe once a week. I go down to the Town, take some spirits, absorb them and then vanish for a while again. Does that sound fair?"

"It does." Mars said with a nod.

"But before that we have to finish the ploy with the group from Ambition. Tell me, can you really not take any of their spirits?"

Aaron hesitated and then shrugged.

"I have not tried it, it is possible. Why?"

"It would go a long way in convincing them to work with us in this instead of against us."

"Ah, I see. Well I can certainly try. I need to touch them, but my guess is that from those who are still alive the warrior is out, the scout too probably because he would be useful to you. Which leaves the two rangers."

Mars nodded.

"Lets do that right now, depending on your answer things will change a bit, but not by much. Thank you for your cooperation."

"I am the one who is grateful. Next time I'll let a group like that go. But hindsight is always 20/20 I guess."

Mars lead Aaron and a few others, mostly older Vessels that Aaron guessed had come with him to the Town, out of the tunnels and towards a rather quiet suburb. Aaron spotted the group he had fought just a few days earlier almost as soon as the scout spotted them. They were resting in a quiet house with high walls and a lot of guards. Some of the walls were enchanted but even with that the scout had spotted them. That man's skill was annoyingly potent. But at least if Mars plan went well they would not face it again as enemies.

Merix had spent only two days leisurely in his new prison. Without weapons or his cloak he felt naked. Mars had put him in a quiet neighborhood with no red-light district activity whatsoever. All he could see was that it was impossible for him to escape and how the lives of normal people were in the Town. It was boring and mundane, but poor. Work was very important to these men, women and children and they worked hard. None of the normal amenities he was used to in Ambition were available here. Food was expensive, work sparse and badly paid for. But that was all Merix could find out from here.

He slept badly and wondered often if this house was going to be his prison for years. He was ready to wait, had hardened himself for a long prison sentence when his team arrived. He spotted them from far away and they were brought in the cover of darkness out from an alleyway that seemed to be a dead end. Maybe there was more to this quiet suburb than Merix had initially thought. He looked over his comrades, not friends exactly, but he had worked together with some of them quite often. He was shocked to see that there were only three of them. Merix paused sitting in bed and closed his eyes. Yeah. He had known the other three were dead, but he had hoped the two warriors strong physique might have saved them. He had only seen one corpse after all.

Krestus looked terrible. Injured, haggard from being hurried down to the Town, but at least he could walk and besides an arm in a sling he looked just like he had been through war. Which was an apt description facing someone like the Cultivator. Mistrix looked entirely fine, but he too winced while walking, holding his ribs, while the guards guided them forwards towards Merix prison. The third and last one looked like he was barely walking. Koslin had lost a hand and was very pale, his skin glistened with sweat and his breath came uneven. His eyes were hollow and he followed after the group without much will to do anything. Koslin looked broken and that made Merix mad. They were representatives of the Half Moon Gang, one of the most prestigious gangs in Ambitions history. A gang that had their own Cultivator before. Them facing a new one might be karmic justice for what they had done with the Cultivator. Merix knew little of that history. He had been a teenager, a runner at the time. Without class and with little hope to become anything. Sure he had a good head on his shoulders and cultivated rumors already back then. But he had been a child when the Gang had dominated and exterminated their competition.

The Half Moon gang had emerged as the preeminent power out of that struggle until the old mage families started to interfere and eventually eliminated the Ghostblade. To Merix these were legends nothing more. But there had always been an aura about the HMG. An Aura of invincibility. Of standing up to the mages themselves. Even after the Ghostblade had died the HMG had persisted. They were still one of the biggest powers in Ambition. Which is why they should never look like this. Never look...broken. Merix knew they had been defeated, but they should still not give up.

Merix got out of bed, dressed and unhurriedly went down to welcomed them at the door. The guards closed the outer gates behind them and Merix could see the enchantments snap shut.

"Damn and here I hoped you would get away." he said lightly, but the group was not in the mood to joke.

Krestus just shook his head, his face impassive and like stone, Mistrix glared at him and Koslin said nothing looking into the dirt in between the loose cobblestones that lead towards the house. Merix was pretty sure nobody could listen to them inside of the house and so he quickly ushered them into the living room. They stood awkwardly in the room of a normal person. Cheap furnishing, pelts, no enchantments anywhere. There were candles and that was it. Merix busied himself and litt up the room. Then when he could not stand the silence and the air of doom he sighed.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Sit down, I will make some tea. Nothing good of course, its the first floor after all. But at least their sweets are alright."

Krestus looked at him like he had grown another head, before he closed his eyes, sighed and sat down heavily on one of the couches that creaked under his weight. The two rangers sat down at the table and Merix hurried off and prepared tea and snacks. While he was working he finally broke the deathly silence that still hung over the group.

"So after you used the emergency teleport, what happened?"

"We patched ourselves up as best we could. But the Cultivator caught up to us within minutes. Then he stripped us off our weapons and armor and left us there stuck on the far side of the fifth floor. A few days later a group from the district found us and "escorted" us down. "Krestus made air quotes when he said escorted.

"So no chance to send or leave a message?"

"No."

Merix served them tea and snacks, but none of them did more than sip the tea. Krestus did not even stand up to sit down at the table.

"What about you Merix?" Krestus asked finally when Merix had sat down opposite of the rangers.

"I came looking for help. Mars has an entire army preparing for something big. It looked like an Army training ground just underground. They led me to Mars office and there they captured me. I...I was an idiot. I was surrounded instantly and somehow Mars knew everything. He knew about Sanctuary, he knew exactly what happened on the fifth floor. I do not know how. But he and the Cultivator work together."

Krestus nodded.

"That much I figured out when the district came to capture us instead of save us. But...How could Mars know about everything?"

"I don't know, Krestus. Believe me I have thought about it and nothing makes sense except that the Cultivator must have somehow slipped past me on his way down and was much faster than me. Even then the timeline makes no sense at all."

"So what do we do now?" Mistrix asked.

"What can we do? This house looks normal but the outer walls are enchanted and there are guards. Sure maybe you, Krestus can overwhelm one or two of them, but there is always an old monster in the vicinity. Above lvl30, maybe even in the 40s."

Mistrix cursed silently.

"Do you know what Mars wants?" Krestus asked Merix, who sipped on some truly awful tea.

"He told me basically what he wants from us. He wants to cover up the fact that we fought on the fifth floor and instead wants to sell a story that we were ambushed in the Labyrinth by the Black Hand."

Krestus scoffed and then paused as he thought it through.

"Is that possible?" he asked.

Merix nodded and then looked up with a deep frown.

"We are out of time to strategize. Mars is coming for a visit and he has the Cultivator with him." he said and they all tensed.

"What do we do?" Krestus asked quickly.

"What can we do? I don't see a way that ends well for us if we do not cooperate. But maybe we can screw Mars over without getting killed."

Mars entered as if the house belonged to him, which it probably did and he came into the living room with his entourage in tow. The Cultivator came in with a grin like they were old friends and clapped the two rangers sitting together on their backs, before he sat down and ate some of the snacks.

"I see, you survived. Good for you." he said with thick sarcasm and then he nodded to Mars. Merix frowned. What was that about?

Mars stood in front of the group, with a few armed men behind them, but without weapons this would be a difficult fight if they fought. No, an impossible fight with the Cultivator in between them. The Cultivator who did not use any physical weapons at all. Everyone of their group tensed at his presence. Mars smiled and addressed the room.

"Masters from the Half Moon gang, welcome the first floor. I would usually welcome you better than offering you this humble abode, but tonight I won't beat around the bush." Mars friendly face became cold. And his eyes sharp."Sadly you know that we are enemies. So you have three options now. One you cooperate and live a leisurely life here until I can be sure to trust you, two you refuse and I will make your stay a lot worse. Or three you try something stupid while cooperating and I make you pay. Quite simple."

"You realize we have more leverage than you think. One mishap and we could alert the HMG to what has happened. Your betrayal. Your family is in as much danger as we are." Merix said. Krestus looked still a bit stunned by all of it.

"That is good. Because you are all perfectly safe. Listen, if I really wanted to, I could just kill you all and be done with it. It would give me time to set everything up and I could probably explain away an inquiry that would come." Mars said and shrugged.

"But I think its better to preserve your lives. You are strong and capable. Possibly valuable people we might need once we take over Ambition." There was a scoff from Krestus, that Mars ignored. "Either way, unless you cooperate, you don't come out unscathed out of this. But it is a decision. If you cooperate with me the HMG will never forgive you. It will mean you are on my side. If you don't cooperate, I will kill all of you. Its a bad situation I know, but you do have a choice. To mark my point I will show you exactly what my displeasure could look like."

He turned to the Cultivator and smiled.

"Aaron if you would be so kind."

"Wait…" Krestus called out, but it was too late.

The Cultivator, Aaron, reached out to Koslin. He just tapped his shoulder and the man gasped. Koslin's eyes widened and then he began to shudder and flinch, before he fell of his chair gasping for breath. Krestus shot up from his chair, Mistrix backed away and Merix was frozen in shock.

"What...what have you done to me." the injured man gasped. His face was red and sweaty and then he looked very pale the next moment.

"I have taken your class. Your spirit. It is mine now." Aaron said.

Mars looked unconcerned and nodded along.

"Merix you should know the truth of it with your identification skill."

Merix blinked and looked at Koslin. He had no class anymore. It was mad, insane, beyond his wildest dreams. Nobody could take a spirit away from you. That...that was literally impossible. And yet it had happened. He stared at Aaron and his skill suddenly showed him as a Ranger. He blinked confused and then paled.

"Its true...he stole it."

Aaron sent him a wolfish grin.

"This could have all been avoided if you lot did not attack me."

"You…" Krestus started enraged, but Mars cleared his throat and Krestus stopped in his place, pinned by the man's stare.

"Enough. This was a little demonstration. We would not kill you, but take away your powers. Simply because you have valuable information and dealing with a normal man is so much easier than a Vessel. Imagine it. Everything you have worked for, gone. If you do not comply I will take away all of your classes and then force you to comply anyway. I am reluctant to do so since you have an excellent scouting skill and both the other ranger and this warrior here are skilled and a high level with high skill. Preserving talent is a good idea, but only if said talent is willing to comply. The choice is yours."

Mars gestured to the Cultivator and his entourage as they filed out of the room.

"You have until tomorrow to decide."

Aaron had been happy to find out that the spirit of the injured ranger had been just small enough for him to absorb. His breakthrough to the seventh realm was probably the reason for that. It had been a close thing though and now he felt the fat ghost sit on his chest like a weight around his neck. Mars had told him to be ready tomorrow at noon with the spirit still intact so Aaron had little to do.

Usually he would have scoured the restaurants and food stalls all over Town, but with the hunger pill still in his belly, he was pleasantly satiated for once. Mars plan had changed a bit with him able to take the spirit. But not by much. Aaron would pose as the ranger and he was given all the right equipment to blend in. Enchanted bow and arrows, a shortsword. The rest of the equipment Aaron usually wore vanished into his bag of holding. The long cloak and the class he wore for all the world to see made him quite anonymous to anyone. So Aaron went out for a good beer or something. He did not want to just sit in a room in an inn.

Aaron's patience was thin this night, he wanted to go back to fighting beasts and absorbing beastcores. Spirits were fine as well, but the one with him right now was quite unpleasant. Aaron knew it was still a skill Mars valued and it would help him breach the massive gap between minor realms. So he did not really oppose it. It just felt terrible. Nothing like absorbing beastcores.

He ended up in a bar and tried a few different cocktails and beers. Most of the beers were decent, if not exceptional to his palate. But the cocktails were very tasty at least. He did not really get drunk and he had no need for female company that night. Instead he listened to music, wandered the night and eventually went to bed.

It felt like he was not made for this Town anymore, or maybe without hunger he did not have all of the urges that drove him to seek out people usually. Maybe hunger was as much part of his personality now as a want for freedom and the desire to get stronger. The Tower beckoned him and Aaron was delaying conquering it. But at the same time Aaron reminded himself that it was just one day. With his projected lifespan, one day was less than a blink of an eye. So he eventually calmed himself and fell asleep.

A few hours before noon Aaron, still in his Ranger costume, was fetched and brought back to the house where the Half Moon Gang members had been locked up. They had agreed to cooperate in the end. Which was the only thing to do. It was also the smart thing to do. He still guessed they would try to alert their superiors somehow. Which was why Aaron was tasked to keep an eye on them, as he was not part of their group. So he kept his hood up and waited outside of the house for the rest of the group to emerge.

Krestus stomped out of the house, with a blade at his hip and his armor strapped on. The blade was not enchanted, but would do as a prop. The hole in his shoulder had been patched up and Aaron could feel that some of the enchantments had remained intact. The warrior had his helmet visor up and he looked ready for a fight. He deflated a bit when he saw Aaron, who smiled at him under his hood.

Mars had given all of them their gear back and even though they were just three people now, a bunch of district people took up the slack. Two district warriors Aaron did not know had donned the other armors, which looked entirely new. Aaron had killed their previous owners without really damaging the equipment, which had made this much easier. They wore the enchanted armor comfortably as they both had been chosen for their size primarily but they wielded their weapons with proficiency as well. The hammer was held lightly and the sword and shield looked almost comfortable in the district man's hands. They had both their visors down and Krestus stared at them sometimes before he frowned and looked away.

Merix had some daggers back at his hips, but Aaron could tell they were not enchanted, but his cloak was enchanted, just not with Sanctuary. The Ranger was the last one to leave the house. He had an enchanted bow, but no enchanted arrows and a simple shortsword. He did have his enchanted gambeson back on though.

Aaron stepped in front of the group and spotted one of the district Rangers who posed as the replacement of the man Aaron had cleaved in two.

"Listen, I know you will try something, but let me tell you, I have very good senses and I will be right there the entire time. If you fuck up, I will take your spirit and we will find an explanation for all of this. So please, go ahead. I am more than looking forward to eating all of your spirits." Aaron said with a dark smirk. He was bluffing obviously. But they did not know that and Aaron had always been good at lying. He looked each of them in the eyes and then one of the district warriors took the lead.

Aaron walked last in the group, keeping all of his senses sharp and alert as they first exited the Town quietly without being seen through a tunnel in the suburbs, another exit of the Town Aaron had never found. But then again, Aaron had never searched for anything underground in the Town before. Outside of town they rendezvoused with their pack animals, one of the armored Zebra's that had been found alive on the fifth floor. The Ranger looked especially glad to see the animal and the storm clouds in the man's face lifted a bit. They were all still tense. Twenty minutes later the show began and they entered the Town through the main gate.

To Aaron's surprise Krestus took the lead at the gate, his visor swung up.

"Trade caravan from Ambition." he said firmly and the Guardsman scanned them all for classes, raised his eyebrows and even bowed before he let them in. Perks of being a high ranked Vessel, Aaron guessed.

One of the district warriors, the one with the hammer took the lead again once they had passed the gate and were walking down the main road. They were getting stares from everyone. Their armor and their pack animal were very conspicuous. Vessels stared in envy, mages with curiosity and normal people went out of their way to not be in their way.

The group did not try to hide. The warrior led them straight to an Inn close to the district, where they gave the pack animal some food and entered the common room. The innkeeper welcomed the "Masters from Ambition" as he called them and gave them a lunch set that looked actually pretty good to Aaron even though he was not hungry.

"I guess you have been here before." Aaron said as he sat down next to Krestus. It was awkward and the three original group members were clearly afraid. The two district warriors sat next to the Ranger and scout, clearly there to intimidate them. Krestus eventually nodded.

"I have only done this shit assignment twice before, but this is usually the Inn we choose."

"Well look on the bright side, you won't have to do this assignment again for a while." Aaron said with a smirk.

They had lunch, but they did not stay for long. They soon paid, formed up again and entered the district. There bags of crystal dust were strapped to the Zebra that followed contently after them. Once the cargo was secured the caravan set out again. Once more through the streets now full with people going about their day. This entire setup was to be seen and they were. But as much as Aaron could tell nobody really took much more notice of them than: 'Oh look some high level armored vessels!' That was basically it. They exited the Town in late afternoon and entered the forest.

The entire time Aaron had been looking for any spies, but he did not spot any. When they were in the cover of the forest and Aaron had ensured nobody was following them, he held up a hand.

"This should be far enough."

One of the district warriors nodded and they began to disarm the three HMG members. They packed their armor and weapons onto the Zebra that barely seemed to notice the increased weight or bulk. Then the ranger with them walked off with the Zebra.

"Well then, gentlemen. It was a pleasure meeting you." Aaron said with a smirk. "Hopefully next time on better circumstances, but I guess that will depend on if you lot are smart. I think personally you alerted your superiors with something you did not do. That is all the alert they probably need. But for you I hope you are wrong."

He turned to one of the warriors.

"I will be back in a week."

"I will tell the boss."

Merix did not say anything, but just stared to the floor and they were quiet while they were brought away by the two warriors still armored and armed to the teeth. Aaron thought he was right with his analysis, but that was for Mars to worry about. Once the group was out of sight, he leapt into the trees and followed them discreetly until they reached the tunnel entrance back into the Town. Nothing had happened at all really. Making this almost a waste of his time. But he guessed Mars would have to bribe or alter a message one of the Gang's spies sent to make this work out alright. Also stage something somewhere in the Tower. Not his problem though.

Aaron was glad this was over with and he could finally get rid of this spirit clinging to him. Nothing happening was a better outcome in the end. Finally Aaron could focus on getting back to important things. Like Cultivating and when his cauldron was done: Alchemy. It was time for him to focus back on himself, to cultivate and progress deeper into the seventh minor realm. But before that maybe he should buy some ingredients for his alchemy. Then he could finally go back to the 5th floor to hunt for some more beastcores.