Chapter 11

  Donny ran for hours; it had begun to get dark by the time he realized he was lost. The forest seemed to keep repeating itself over and over. Donny had tried scratching symbols into trees as he went, using a rock to mark his path. It seemed to do him no good. Eventually every tree around him had the same ‘D’ embedded in its trunk, some had one on each side. Time felt weird, like Donny’s mind physically couldn’t process the concept of time in this forest.

  “You’re going to fail, Donny, you were never good enough for your father in your past life, and you’re not going to be good enough in this life”

  To make matters worse, Donny was beginning to hear whispers all around him, and they grew ever more persuasive as the light of the sun faded and the cold touch of the night began to wrap him in its dark embrace.

  “You’re nothing but a killer. A worthless fool who is good at nothing but stealing and manipulating”

  “Who do you think you are? Some hero who is going to save him pathetic family of leeches and ingrates, and make everything better? Who are you fooling?”

  “Just give up, just lay there in the soft grass and give in to your weakness and fear. You simply don’t have the strength to anything but lie down and DIE!”

  “ENOUGH!” Donny roared at the sky, closing his eyes, arms out and hands clenched into fists.

  “YOU HOLD NO POWER OVER ME! I WILL NOT PLAY YOUR BULLSHIT GAMES! LEAVE. ME. BEEEEEE!” Donny screamed with all the fury of his accumulated irritation and resentment, snarling and showing his teeth with every word as he condensed his aura around him, completely closing off his senses with a film of protective energy, his eyes and ears becoming warded by the combination of his resolve and power.

  Opening his eyes after hearing nothing for a few minutes, he looked around to see that it was once again a bright and sunny day, but he couldn’t help but feel that the trees had come ever closer to him, seeming to lean and hover above like wolves that had been frozen seconds before reaching their prey. Donny shivered, not wanting to think about what would have happened had he not reacted when he did. Closing keeping his eyes open, Donny sent out tendrils of aura in all directions, searching with his minds eye as he kept a close watch on the surrounding trees. There!

  Donny looked at the black and white image of a tree that had no marking in it’s bark. Retracting the rest of his tentacles of aura he put all of his aura into that one tentacle he followed that path, marking a slightly different letter in those trees as he followed the trail. Finally, he found what had to be a river. He could sense the water resonating with his mater manipulation.

  Releasing his aura he took a step in the direction his new markings led before pausing, an idea forming in his mind. Not wanting to help his potential future enemies, he quickly altered about fifty of his markings in a completely random pattern with his aura. He had a suspicion that while the etchings from the stone might disappear pretty quickly, the markings from his aura weren’t something so easy to conceal in a short amount of time.

  Nodding to himself, satisfied with his work, Donny took off towards the river he’d found. While he knew it’d be smarter to not leave a trail for prospective rivals and enemies at all, he couldn’t help but want to help his friends if he could, and he knew all of them would recognize his writing. He had drilled into them different forms of code and messaging that were exclusive to the four friends, and he trusted them to pick up on it if the markings were still present after five years.

  “This is all I can do” Donny said as he took off towards his destination. He didn’t have long before he’d lose control of his temporary buffer from the influence of the forest, as his aura was not yet a high enough level to be used efficiently in the manner he currently was. He needed to reach the waterfall, and quickly.

  …

  The river was mostly a smooth journey, though there were a few times when it began to slip into an illusive repetition. Only Donny’s previous experience and heightened paranoia of the mind meddling trees allowed Donny to find the branches and twists in the path, leading him through brief detours through the forest. He had noticed branches with his aura that led to other routes, proving the existence of multiple paths through the perilous plants.

  As Donny finally approached the massive wall of water, his control over his aura finally gave out, and he was almost deafened by the sound of rushing water as he sighed in relief. Covering his ears to muffle the roar, he gazed around, stunned by what he saw. Before him lay an open clearing, about the size of ten football fields, bordered by the forest in a crescent moon shape. Crystal Pylons stood in neat rows that proceeded towards the small pond in the center of the clearing.

  Donny’s eyes flickered to a golden pylon that stood in the middle of a simple wooden bridge that crossed the hundred foot wide river. Instinctively he knew where to go, as he headed off in the direction of the singular pylon. Rows of cloudy crystal pylons surrounded him like so many headstones in a graveyard though he paid them no mind, focused as he was on his objective.

  Finally reaching the golden pylon Donny couldn’t help but take a moment of silence in appreciation of the view of the massive waterfall he only now realized was falling…up? The odd breach of natural law didn’t even phase young Donny as he stopped and acknowledged the beauty and decadence of the glistening water as a misty cloud of light and color drifted upwards as though cloaking the rising water in the peaceful magic of nature.

  Donny wished he had a camera to capture the beauty of the moment as he breathed in the smell of wet stone, earth, and algae, a feeling of content drifting washing over his soul. Suddenly, Donny was dragged out of his peaceful daydreaming when he felt something tugging at his mind. Looking down, Donny found a screen hovering above the golden Pylon.

  Donny just looked dumbfounded at the black screen that had replaced the normally blue screen of the system after the system screen had spazzed out, the ominous warning and subsequent unintelligible jargon of coded script still flashing in Donny’s minds eye. What the hell was this? He couldn’t use the golden ticket but instead had earned some sort of diamond ticket instead. Confused and needing time to process what was happening, Donny selected no, and a glittering pearlescent ticket was ejected from the pylon, like a crumpled dollar bill being denied by a vending machine.

  A final screen appeared as Donny took the ticket, unable to stop himself from noticing that this…odd system seemed a lot more normal that the sarcastic and aggressive one he’d grown accustomed to. Donny stared at the two tickets in his hands, one glowing gold and metallic, the other shining brightly with a crystalline sheen that seemed to sparkle in the light. He could use one, but not the other, and he had a feeling if he went into the weird tower or primordial whatever formation now it would simply drop to the ground, left behind for the first person who stumbled across it to claim.

  Thinking, a hunch began to form in Donny’s mind, and he quickly sent a mental command to the kiosk in front of him, hoping he was right.

  Donny selected yes.

  Donny selected yes again.

  After changing his name, Donny turned and ran back towards the forest, plugging his ears with his aura. Following his own trail in reverse, he made his way to the halfway point between where he entered the forest and where the waterfall was. There was a large crossroads here and Donny had a plan. Whipping out tendrils of aura like throwing knives, Donny began marking tree after tree. He went up and down multiple paths and back and forth along the trail he’d taken, trying to make his alterations seem as if a part of the trial.

  After about thirty minutes, Donny stood in front of a particularly non-descript tree that was next to a mighty oak the forked halfway up its massive trunk. Sweating and thirsty from exhaustion, Donny carefully chiseled off a strip of bark just above the soil before using his aura to dig into the tree and hollow out a hole the length and width of a Christmas card and just as thin.

  Eeeeeeeee!

  Donny winced for a second as the tree seemed to scream in agony without making a sound, just a high pitched keening that he felt in his soul. Remembering that there trees were murderous bastards, Donny shook his head and continued his work. After carving out the thin slot that resembled the mouth of an atm, he wrapped the golden ticket in his aura to prevent any sensory skills from finding it, and covered the spot with the bark, making sure to face it in the same direction he’d taken it off.

  After packing a bit of dirt he’d gotten from a few trees away up over his makeshift P.O. box, Donny dusted his hands off and made his way back to the previously golden pylon. It was now made of shimmering diamond with gold trim accenting its multi-faceted features. Donny mused that the current material of the pylon must associated the highest available rank of ticket. Shrugging, Donny pulled out his ticket and held it up to the pylon.

  The same mouth that had spit out the diamond ticket earlier no opened again, and Donny placed the ticket in the slot as it was pulled free from his hand. A shimmering distortion broke the tranquility of the scene before him, and Donny felt a powerful tug as he was sucked toward the portal that had formed from the pylon.

  The world around Donny bent and distorted for moment and the next thing he knew, he was tumbling down alongside the very waterfall he’d just been in front of, mist soaking him as flipped and spun through the air, the water hitting him like chunks of hail. Panicking Donny sent out spikes of aura in all directions as he tried to control the water around him using water manipulation, but his skill was to low a level to stop water moving at such high speeds.

  Finally, one of his aura spikes pierced something and he pulled himself towards it, using the force to right his momentum and stop from tumbling in the air. He launched towards the massive log he’d latched on to. Flipping to land upside down Donny hugged the tree as best he could has the torrential flood of water pounded down around him. Extending a coil of aura around the tree, Donny fashioned a sort of reigns and slowly stood to feet, holding tightly to the rope of energy as found his balance, grinning maniacally as a crazy idea took form in his mind.

  As Donny reached maximum velocity, he caught up in speed with the water, making it much easier to grab onto the water with his aura and water manipulation skills. Using his skills he shaped the water into a hull around the wood of the log, riding the water like a sailboat on the sea. Looking down at the fast approaching land Donny bided his time, channeling his aura into the surrounding waterfall as he applied his influence on as much of the water around him as he could.

  Donny pulled up on the and the water as hard as he could, shooting the log out and at an angle just seconds before he smacked into the rocks below. Donny rode the log like a surfboard as he shot through the air, now parallel with the surface of the river has he gradually dropped lower. Expecting the log to skip above the water like a stone on a lake,

  Donny’s eyes went wide. When the second the logs rough and broken ‘front’ end hit the water it came to a complete stop instead; slinging the end behind Donny up and sending him skipping across the water a couple times and he bounced and rolled.

  Donny’s momentum finally died as he slowly came to a stop in the shallows of the riverbank. Coughing and sputtering and groaning in pain, Donny crawled up onto the shore before collapsing onto his stomach. Heart pounding along with his head, Donny had to really focus to read the notification hovering in his vision.

  Donny stared in horror at the message. “I really would’ve died, just like that! If this is just the front door, this place is not going to be easy.” He stood and brushed himself off as he came up to a gold-trimmed diamond pylon identical to the one that was on the bridge below…above? Walking up to it a menu screen immediately blinked into existence.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Donny looked over the menu, surprised to find there was a chat system on the islands, and even more so to find an option for pvp. This all really did remind him of the rpg games he used to play, though he knew there would not be another chance to come back if he died early a second time, like in those games. Donny decided to collect his ticket rewards first, mentally selecting the option as the window shifted to a new screen.

  Donny had a feeling these rewards were rare. And from what he had gathered so far he was the first person in millions of years to actually obtain a Diamond ticket, might even be the only one able to. Those other names on the forest ladder could very well have gotten a great time but obtained nothing for their efforts besides bragging rights. He did, however, understand that he had no idea whether these items would be accessible to anyone at later floors or not, so he honestly had no precedence for what sort boost he’d just obtained.

  Deciding to take a look at his rewards he opened his storage and withdrew the ring, having a good idea how to use it. Placing the ring on his right middle finger he tried to mentally connect to the ring, but nothing happened. Thinking for a moment, Donny then attempted to send his aura into the ring, which also…did nothing.

  Thinking for a moment, Donny stared at the ring, focusing on seeing its properties. After a moment, the notification he had been waiting for popped up and he cried out in excitement, biting his tongue in the process. Wincing and sucking at the spot in his mouth Donny tried to ignore the smarting pain and taste of blood as he read the notification.

  Donny immediately scanned the ring.

  “That doesn’t tell me shit!” Donny cursed. He knew there had to be a way to bind the damn ring! Fuck, if only his damn tongue would stop throbbing. Trying to itch the pain away from the enflamed spot at the tip of his tongue, Donny rubbed it back and forth on the inside of his teeth. This both increased the pain and was oddly satisfying and was something he did whenever he bit his tongue. His old father, Don Sr., used to chastise him whenever he saw his son standing their frozen, mouth parted and tongue scraping in and out on his top front teeth, “I told you, you’re gonna make it worse, Junior! Now put your damn tongue back in your mouth before someone sees you standing there like an idiot”.

  A drop of blood flowed along his lower lip and the taste of liquid copper drew Donny out of his reminiscing. “That’s right, it’s just like in those old books!” Donny exclaimed, once again forgetting about his tongue as he brought the ring to his lip, letting his blood drip onto it.

  For a second Donny thought he’d once again failed, but then it happened! The blood was absorbed into the ring like water into paper as another notification blinked into existence.

  Donny punched the air, celebrating this new achievement. Not only had he unlocked a new basic skill, but he’d gained access to a mobile storage. Opening up his storage he then withdrew his tokens and talismans and focused on placing them in the ring. Sure enough, after a split second they disappeared from sight. Then, focusing on what his ring contained, a mental image of a massive space the size of a large warehouse appeared within his mind, as if he were within the ring. He focused on the Shop token, and a small, diamond shaped coin made of some metal he couldn’t identify even with the skill popped into his hand.

  He flipped it back and forth; one side had the image of a tower that loomed high into the sky above a city. The other side had some sort of runic symbol that Donny was sure represented ‘money’ in some long forgotten language. Once Donny felt accustomed to his new ring, he decided he’d see what the shop had to offer.

  Besides each shop category were four dots, and when Donny focused on the dots he could set filters that allowed him to adjust his search by different parameters. He could search by rank, level, cost, even color! After playing around with the function for a while Donny felt that he had a good grasp on how everything worked.

  Donny then considered his options; he had one hundred million credits, but he needed the bigger picture and until he had it, and understood how far this amount could carry him, he wouldn’t waste even a single credit. Or at least that’s what he told himself. He denied all allegations of him being a frivolous spender when he came into large amounts of money. No, he hadn’t spent one and a half million dollars on the budget for a heist that only made him a hundred thousand in profit after expenses just because the gear looked cool. That had simply never happened.

  Finally deciding on a course of action, Donny opened the survivability tab.

  Not wanting to sift through the dribble, Donny selected shelters option and filtered them from the most expensive to the cheapest.

  After seeing the first half a dozen or so listings, Donny’s face blanched as he realized Diamond was not the highest ranking in this dungeon. “Does that mean there’s an Adamantine ticket?” Apparently there were in fact, two rankings above Diamond: Mithril, and Adamantine. While he’d thought he might have been the richest person currently in this formation, or tower or whatever it was, he clearly was a long way from the top. The races of the Chaos sure had some high standards. And Donny started to think he might not be quite as wealthy as he’d initially imagined. He wasn’t even close to being able to afford the most expensive items in the shop. He mused as he adjusted the filters once again, this time starting at Diamond.

  Donny had to stop browsing the shop as he was yet again taken aback by the overwhelming cost of the shelters, though he knew his price was half the cost displayed, he still couldn’t justify spending his entire worth on a single dreadnaught when he had so much more he yet needed. And spending his only free coupon without understanding what exactly he was buying just wasn’t going to cut it.

  Nonetheless, Donny took his time going through the different selections of shelters, earmarking a few decent options and putting two on his wishlist. Deciding to move along he went to the apparel tab and set the filters to display clothes that beginning at around a one thousand credit price point, figuring it would be a good starting point for some basic threads.

  Donny facepalmed, having a hard time trying to keep himself from physically assaulting the pylon and screaming at it like a proper maniac. Was nothing normal in this godforsaken tower? What was he supposed to do with a leopard print thong? Scare the monsters away? He was confused by the completely different ranking and classification system this… system, used. It was similar to the one from outside, but at the same time an entirely different entity.

  As Donny scrolled through the shop, selecting things here and there to put into his cart, he learned a few things. The ranking system here began at iron going to bronze, then silver, then gold, platinum, diamond, mithril and finally Adamantine. The rarity system on the other hand was sort of similar, with common and uncommon being the lowest two tiers, and moving up went rare, epic, legendary, transcendent, mythic, and finally unique.

  Donny couldn’t help but notice that there were eight rarities, just like outside. But it was the ranking system that really pulled his attention. The ranking system was so similar to many of the gamelit novels he’d read as a kid. He’d forgotten a lot of them as he grew older, but with his intelligence stat growing by such a large margin recently he was able to recall them much easier. And something was seriously suspicious with the familiarity he felt from everything he’d experienced so far.

  Suddenly, Donny came across an item that literally resonated with his soul. Immediately Donny selected the item, his mind spinning as voices and words floated through his head, This. This was not possible.

  Donny bought the item instinctually, not caring about the suspicious price or it’s dysfunctional description. It was Pheros’ item. Now, he didn’t know how the god’s name was on a weapon belonging to the chaos races, but one thing was for sure, trap or not, this item held answers. The item was sent to his storage, and he swiftly withdrew it, staring in amazement as the ball floated in the air above his palm, a writhing form of both liquid and metal shifted and warped in all of it’s mercurial strangeness.

  The weapendium floated up, stopping in front of Donny’s face and rocking back and forth curiously as if it were studying Donny right back. Lifting his right index finger Donny slowly brought his hand closer, going for a boop. He couldn’t help but want to poke, pinch and prod this strange item that was somehow supposed to be some mystical weapon. Finally, when his finger was just a couple inches away, Donny’s finger shot forward and… the weapendium moved. He tried again. It dodged. He used both hands, his fingers extended like a praying mantis as he circled and danced with the strangely quick and seemingly sentient blob.

  “Ugh, come one, man, why you being like this?” Donny complained, as he began moving his hands wildly and as unpredictably as he could. Still, he couldn’t even so much as brush it’s metallic surface as it dodged and weaved through his assault.

  “ARGH! That damn kiosk didn’t say anything about this in the description” Donny’s face was red with frustration towards this mischievous miscreant of an item.

  Donny finally gave up, trying to summon the item into his ring. Nothing happened. He tried again and felt a strong rejection from the ring. It seemed as if this thing was indeed a sentient artifact. That, or the weapendium was far more powerful than the spatial properties of the ring could contain.

  “Fine, do what you want, I don’t care!” Donny screamed at the orb. It seemed to give him a condescending look, as if to say, “I already am, idiot”.

  “Raaaaaaaaaagh” Donny screamed at the sky in an attempt to relieve his simmering anger and pent up frustrations.

  Turning back to the kiosk, Donny pulled up his cart, wanting to just forget about the infuriating ball of stupid metal. After double checking that everything was in order, going over the arrangement of spices and herbs, cooking utensils, fire starter, pots and pans, and even oil and butter he’d found within the shop. He had found a gold ranked tent called “Gypsies Mirage” that was a large tent about the size of a one story cabin. Focusing on it, he went over the description once more, making sure he hadn’t missed anything, in case it too decided to protest against him as well.

  Satisfied, Donny continued to go through his list. He had selected all the furnishings he could think of. A wardrobe, bed frame and mattress, wood-burning stove, bathing tub, and even a pretty modern looking kitchen that had counters and drawers. He even found a sink that utilized a gravity feed system with a barrel for wastewater below. The craziest amenity he’d found in the shop was a magical well that had a syphon pump to draw water from and could be placed within the radius of the tent.

  The shop did have food items, like rice and dried meat, as well as jarred vegetables, which he’d purchased enough of to fill his pantry and cupboards. He knew he couldn’t rely on the kiosk for everything as he ascended the tower, but he wanted to have enough to help him start his adventures should he not be able to find game to hunt or herbs and berries to forage. Finally, Donny had stocked his wardrobe with clothes and had purchased a weapon rack and gun safe which he equipped with basic steel weapons and flintlock pistols and rifles as well as ammunition and oil to clean and maintain the weapons. He had some other miscellaneous items, like the tiger skin rug that would growl and alert him when something got to close to his camp, and quite frankly looked badass, among other things.

  Nodding to himself, Donny sighed at the over ten million credit price tag but took the cost in stride, knowing that he could’ve very well started this journey with nothing at all. Deciding to be just be grateful that he had anything at all, Donny confirmed his purchases and withdrew everything into his storage ring. Thinking for a second, Donny sent his mind into his storage ring and spent a long moment setting up and organizing his tent.

  When he was satisfied with the layout, Donny sent a mental command to the ring, summoning his tent. It took him an entire fifteen seconds to summon it to onto the sandy clearing, but when he did he was ecstatic to find that everything was exactly as he had arranged it within his spatial ring. Even the well sat off to the side, about five feet from the flap that was his front door, with a large bucket for drawing water from the pump.

  Donny then walked into the tent. From the outside the tent appeared to be a simple, beige colored tent that was about ten feet in width, height and length. But as he pushed his way past the overlapping flap that led to the interior of the abode, he found the space inside to be much larger. The space within his ring had not done it justice.

  The large studio style living quarters were lined with wooden framing. The high cathedral ceiling was supported by strong trusses that were held up by thick poles that ran down the center of the structure. Immediately to either side of the entrance was the weapon rack to the left. And gun safe to the right. He had a large beast-hide couch that had a blanket of soft fur draped across it for comfort. Adjacent to the couch was a wood burning stove with a large surface for cooking and a ventilation system that extended out past the ceiling, though Donny hadn’t seen the vent protruding outside, he guessed it was some sort of magical fuckery that he didn’t even try to understand.

  In one corner was his bed, which had a large feather stuffed comforter and four fluffy pillows. At the foot of the bed stood his wardrobe and in the other corner was his kitchen. His large tiger skin rug lay on the floor in front of the couch, snarling maw facing the door. A small hard wood coffee table sat on the rug. Beyond his kitchen was a wall of wood and hide that led to the washroom where he had a wooden toilet, cast iron sink and cedar bathing tub. While it wasn’t anything like his parent’s palace in the fourth pillar, it was homey and comfortable, and Donny was proud of his purchases.

  Donny changed into a long sleeved white cotton shirt and through on a leather vest with matching pants. He strapped on tough leather boots and tied a plain sheath to his belt before sliding the razor sharp double edged gladius neatly into it’s scabbard. He then equipped two holsters and matching repeater-pistols before finally stepping out of the tent. With a wave of his hand, Donny reabsorbed the tent into his ring, which was almost instant compared to the long delay required to summon it.

  Looking around, Donny tried to spot the rambunctious Weapendium, but didn’t see it anywhere. He searched up and down the bank of the river. It was nowhere to be seen.

  “Oh, come on!” He whined out loud, dragging both hands down his face, pulling on his eyes and stretching his skin as he tried to stay calm.

  “It’s ok, Donny, you have decent enough weapons for now, you can buy a better weapon on a higher floor once you’ve figured out what works best for you. You don’t need that stupid, self-centered… whatever it is anyways” Donny consoled himself placatingly as he stepped onto the path, feeling a cool film wrap around him as he seemed to pass some sort of barrier.

  “Now, where to star-” Donny froze, realizing he’d completely forgotten to check the quests for this floor. Turning around he ran smack into an invisible, clear barrier. “Ouch, fuck that hurts” He said, rubbing his nose where he’d crushed it into the forcefield that had come out of nowhere. It appeared that once one left the safe area around the kiosk, there was no returning to it. He’d purchased a mobile kiosk that he could use from any shelter, but it cost a whopping two million credits, and he was not about to waste the only one he had before even starting his journey. Especially due to a certain line of text in its description.

  “Great, just fucking great. First the useless blobendium, now I don’t even have a clue what I’m supposed to do. Thanks for the fucking tutorial I didn’t get, asshole!” Donny shouted to no one in particular.

  When he didn’t get a reply, Donny gave up begrudgingly as started down the path once more. Though he was a little despondent, he took his licks in stride and tried to cheer himself up as he officially began his journey into this unknown place. As Donny disappeared around the first bend in the path, unbeknownst to him, figures draped in dark shadows began to creep out of the forest and onto the path as they all stared in his direction.