Starfall: A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Somnus Book 3), page 17
“Ooh!” Kaleek’s eyes lit up. “Good point. Spell Infusion would be an amazing fit for Kat. That didn’t even cross my mind, but it would add so much versatility to her build.”
“I’m standing right here, guys,” Kat cut in, brow furrowed. “If you’re going to map out my future skills and abilities in front of me, I’d appreciate it if you at least let me know what your plans are.”
“I apologize, Miss Kat.” Dorrik inclined their head, crest flattening remorsefully. “I did not want to bore you with minutiae, and we never had a proper moment to sit down and talk about The Tower of Somnus’s higher levels.”
“Well, here we are.” She chuckled, motioning expansively with her left hand. “Stuck inside due to the big bad monster migration. Now is as good a time to fill me in as any.”
“As you are undoubtedly aware,” Dorrik’s voice slipped into ‘professor-mode’ as they began their lecture, drawing an audible groan from Kaleek.
“Nope,” the otter cut in. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it at a bar. I’m all for making sure Kat knows what she needs to know, but I’m not sitting through a speech on Iron tier evolutions sober. I don’t care what they’re fermenting on this shitty hellscape, but I plan on drinking it.”
For a second, Dorrik looked nonplussed only to shrug, crest wriggling in amusement.
“Fine,” they replied. “There are a number of nearby establishments where you can explore your avatar’s poison tolerance while Miss Kat and I engage in actually useful conversation.”
The otter cheered and bolted toward the exit, startling some of the nearby patrons and forcing both Kat and Dorrik to break into a jog to keep up with him. It seemed like Kaleek had some familiarity with the local nightlife because he didn’t bother to stop for directions, instead leading the two of them right to a modestly appointed bar and restaurant a block and a half from the adventurer’s hall.
By the time Kat and Dorrik sat down, the desoph was in the middle of an animated conversation with the bartender, a dragonfly-like being that towered over him. Kat shot Dorrik an amused look, and the big lizard just shrugged back.
“Kaleek is good at making friends.” The lokkel chuckled. “If we weren’t rushing you toward level twenty four, I can almost guarantee you that half of each level would know of our presence as he sampled his way through the local bars and restaurants.”
Kat thought for a minute before nodding back. When she spoke, the words came out slowly as if she was measuring and weighing each one.
“I think I’d like that, Dorrik. Everything on Earth is so hectic right now. Dozens of stallesp are collaborating with and supplanting political authorities, all while I have a target painted on my back. I’ve never really lived a life of leisure. My family was born too close to the razor’s edge of poverty and getting exiled to the Shell for that, but even my early days as a petty criminal are starting to look rose colored in retrospect. I need a vacation.”
“Once we hit level twenty four and resolve this crisis with the stallesp,” Dorrik agreed decisively. “From watching Chrome Cowboys, I’ve learned that your species prefers hot springs for relaxation. I have the perfect place in mind on level eight.”
“What?” Kat flinched. “No, that’s just a trope. I’d be perfectly happy with—”
“Perhaps a beach then?” the big lizard mused, tapping their chin with a claw. “I am unsure where I will be able to find some of the required items such as a watermelon, volleyball, and the flimsy cloth coverings that humans insist upon when near water, but I am sure I can think of something.”
“This is on purpose, isn’t it?” Kat groaned, sinking into her chair. “All of these ‘cultural lessons’ you’re learning from Chrome Cowboys have to be on purpose. There’s no other explanation.”
“I have no idea what you’re speaking of,” Dorrik replied, cocking their head as their crest fluttered with confusion. “Chrome Cowboys is the most ubiquitous piece of popular media on your planet. Of course I would study its intricacies in order to understand more about your race. Already I feel that I have learned much about who you are and how you operate from a close examination of the Digital Desperado arc where Jenny—”
“Just tell me about specialization stones,” Kat interjected, head buried in her hands. “As much as a horrified part of me wants to hear how you’ve psychoanalyzed me through the lens of a soap opera, I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready for that revelation.”
“Of course,” Dorrik responded agreeably, nodding to Kaleek as the desoph slid three mugs of something frothy and vaguely yellow onto the table.
“As you are aware.” The lokkel lifted the drink to their mouth, taking a sip and grimacing. “First tier skills stop progressing at rank twelve. After that, they require further stones to evolve them.”
Very deliberately, the big lizard put down their cup, sliding the over-carbonated and hissing liquid away from them with their lower pair of arms and toward Kaleek. Without a word, the desoph cheerfully scooped up the drink and took a long pull from it before slamming it back on the table with a satisfied sigh.
“Kaleek’s awful taste in alcohol aside,” Dorrik continued, squinting at the grinning otter, “you should have some experience with skill evolutions from leveling up your magic in the Iron tier dungeons. For magic, evolution is fairly straightforward. You simply gain access to new spells, and improvements related to the power and mana efficiency of those spells.”
“Martial skills are different.” They turned back to Kat. “Most first tier martial skills grant incremental increases to the weapon used along with one subskill or perk. At the second tier, their evolutions are fairly different. Namely, you can acquire up to two specializations for each martial skill, each of which has a much more powerful, albeit narrower application than the skill itself.”
“Spell Infusion is a good example. It is a specialty available for most ranged skills that allows a spellcaster to use the projectile as the source or starting point of a spell. Each level of the specialty increases the efficiency of the spell until, at level twelve, spells cast from a projectile are indistinguishable from those originating from the caster.”
“So you’re saying that I could cast Gravity’s Grasp from a dagger I throw at someone?” Kat asked, gingerly picking up her mug.
“Yes.” Dorrik nodded. “Any spell can be cast from the projectile. That’s why Crossbow I is such a good skill for you. It has significantly more range than your daggers. Beyond the obvious use of Overpressure or Gravity Spike to directly attack an enemy, it can be used for crowd control with Dazzle or Gravity’s Grasp, or to remotely trigger traps with Pseudopod.”
“That sounds fairly useful in real life too,” Kat agreed, pausing the fizzing surface of her drink a handsbreadth from her mouth. “I can see why you’re pushing for me to learn it.”
“I’m mostly interested in the specialties you pick up for your knife,” Kaleek slurred, slamming a second empty mug down on the table. “I personally think Bladestorm and Exsanguinate are the best fit for you, but Dancing Blade, Rend, or Cleave all would work too.”
“That’s a lot of words that I don’t even begin to understand,” Kat replied. “Honestly, if I’m going to make an informed decision on this, I will need to know a whole lot more about what my options are for specializations.”
“That is fair, Miss Kat.” Dorrik responded agreeably. “I will look into compiling a list of bladed and concealable weapon specializations. It might take me a day or so to recite them to you, but I agree that full knowledge is preferable to—”
“Distill it down to what you think might actually be useful.” Kat shook her head to stop the big lizard. “I’m not sure if I can even process a massive list. Just break it down to the top ten or twelve abilities.”
“Ah.” Dorrik nodded. “Much more reasonable. We will have plenty of time to discuss your build while our gear is repaired tomorrow.”
“Great!” Kat took a pull from her drink and immediately gagged. It was tart beyond belief, like someone had fermented lemon zest and added a strong note of sulfur for good measure.
“What in the ever-loving fuck was that?” Kat glared at Kaleek, barely choking down the sour concoction. “Why in God’s name did you order something so unbelievably vile? There’s no way you can enjoy drinking this crap.”
Kaleek just winked at her, swaying slightly in his chair as he reached for the mug, slurring his words.
“Easy. More for me.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Remember to chew the meat thoroughly,” Dorrik lectured, handing a fist-sized hunk of well-seasoned steak to Kat. “You’ll need to hold the juices in the back of your throat for as long as possible so the enchantment can go to work.”
“This still seems like it’s a lot less efficient than a potion or an enchanted necklace,” Kat replied, accepting the meat dubiously.
“Unfortunately,” Dorrik responded dryly, “Kaleek was put in charge of sourcing consumables for this mission when we divided up tasks last night. I was unaware that there was a Mek’lak chef-enchanter in this village when that decision was made. Knowledge of this likely would have changed my position.”
Kaleek gave the two of them a thumbs up, chewing his meal cheerfully.
“Although Mek’lak flavor profiles are notorious for their… uniqueness,” the lokkel continued holding up their food between an index finger and thumb, “few doubt the efficacy of their enchantments. I generally avoid their products because they have poor shelf lives, but they should be more than enough for this dungeon.”
She glanced at the dormant stone oval of the dungeon entrance. Mist clung to the valley floor around them, limiting visibility. In the distance, an unseen predator let out a protracted croaking bellow.
Kat shrugged, shoving the handful of meat into her mouth. It was bitter and musty, maybe a tad bit oversalted, but overall it was significantly more edible than her last experience with Kaleek’s palette.
She masticated thoughtfully, growing accustomed to the steak’s gamey flavor profile. If Kat was honest with herself, it tasted a lot better than any of the food she’d been able to afford as a regular employee. Admittedly, her expectations had grown since she’d started college, but—
The food grew warmer as she chewed, causing her tongue and throat to tingle. She raised an eyebrow, cocking her head quizzically at Kaleek and Dorrik.
“That means the magic is working.” Kaleek chuckled, slapping her on the shoulder. “It adds a little extra tang to the flavor profile.”
The sensation continued, heat filling the back of her mouth as the tingle transformed into a full-blown itch. Kat shifted from foot to foot, eyes watering as she tried to suppress the urge to claw at her throat.
“Relax, Miss Kat.” Dorrik’s soothing voice washed over her. “You’ll feel when the magic finishes running its course. Until then, you’ll just have to bear it.”
She nodded, trying to blot out her growing discomfort by focusing on the rest of the valley. Kat couldn’t quite make out the rocky and lichen covered walls through the omnipresent mist, but she remembered them clearly from their team’s treacherous descent down their inclines.
The heavy fog swirled, a light gust of wind creating a kaleidoscope of shapes from the flowing shadows before the air stilled, leaving them once again in hushed, anxious tranquility.
Then the tingling just vanished. One minute, it took everything she had to avoid spitting the burning meat out. The next, all that was left was the almost pleasant musty flavor she’d originally noticed.
She swallowed, letting the food slip down her throat. Warmth suffused her shoulders and chest as her body began to absorb the magic. She inhaled, filling her lungs with more air than they’d ever been able to handle and triggering a rush of giddiness as oxygen rushed to her brain.
Dorrik stepped forward, touching one of their hands to the stone frame of the dungeon portal. They disappeared, leaving behind a glowing vortex of energy.
“See you on the other side, Kat.” Kaleek shot her a wink before reaching out to touch the pulsing oval of scintillating light.
A moment later, she joined him, flashing away in a rainbow of light and motion that deposited her atop a small stone island next to Dorrik. The room around her was dark and featureless, little more than a dome of roughly hewn rock just over her head that descended into the lake that filled the rest of the chamber.
Kaleek’s head popped above the water’s surface, bright white teeth flashing at her as he broke into an ecstatic grin.
“Come on in, Kat, the water’s just fine.”
She glanced at him dubiously before turning to Dorrik. The big lizard looked intensely uncomfortable as they glared at the omnipresent water, their crest tight against the back of their skull. Finally, they sighed and addressed Kat.
“The enchantments infused in the meat should let us breathe underwater and protect us from the pressure. As much as I would prefer to be anywhere but here, this dungeon is the best fit for our abilities right now.”
“What they said.” Kaleek nodded in Dorrik’s direction before sending himself rocketing across the surface of the water with a flick of his tail. “The water’s great. Dive in.”
With a shrug, she took a pair of steps and Leapt into the air, tucking her knees up to her chest and linking her hands across them before splashing into the water. The liquid bubbled past her as Kat began sinking rapidly toward the bottom of the lake.
Her vision shifted into the grayscale of Nightvision as light faded away. With an effort to calm herself, Kat opened her mouth and let the cool water enter her lungs. Breathing was… different. It took a little more effort to actually draw liquid into her body, but other than a brief struggle as she first began, everything functioned more or less normally.
A second later, Dorrik splashed into the lake, thrashing as they struggled to keep their reflexes under control. Their dense body sank faster than Kat, beating her to the bumpy stone floor of the room despite their flailing.
Kaleek jetted up to them, a sinuous streak that easily outpaced both of their lethargic movements before he let himself settle to the ground next to them. He flashed the two of them another bright smile.
“Do you need to get settled, or are you ready to get started?” Kaleek’s voice reached Kat’s ears a half second after his mouth moved, sounding strangely distant. Almost like he was addressing her from the other end of a long, echoing hallway. “It looks like the exits are on the seabed. You shouldn’t need to swim that much, just plant yourself on the floor and stab anything that gets too close.”
“What the—” Kat flinched backward, cutting herself off in surprise as she heard her own distant voice despite the water.
“The enchantment reads our intentions,” Dorrik said stiffly, clearly uncomfortable. “Much like it lets its users breathe water and survive the depths, it projects our voices in a way that our companions can understand. It is just unfortunate that the magic can’t make the experience less… wet.”
“That’s our Dorrik.” Kaleek chuckled. “Able to turn even an existential crisis into a lecture. I swear, one of these days, I’ll convince them to give up their irrational discomfort with water. Maybe they won’t go swimming, but given how hard we’ve all been pushing ourselves, I think we at least deserve a day at the beach.”
“That day is not today,” Dorrik grumbled. “I am here because The Tide Caves is a dungeon very suited to our party. I am certainly not enduring this for pleasure.”
“What about when we go back to the fourth floor?” Kaleek asked, kicking off of the floor and swimming a tight circle around the two of them despite his heavy armor. “We’ve earned a break.”
“Soon,” Dorrik replied grudgingly. “We will need to start transitioning down to the fourth floor in another two days. Once the stallesp fortress is located and cleansed, I will tolerate a visit to the beach.”
“Thanks.” Kat flashed a smile at the big lizard. “I know we don’t have much time to waste, but the archipelago was really nice. A day there to unwind would be a good change of pace.”
“To be clear,” they cracked a brief smile back at her, “I am only agreeing to this for Miss Kat’s sake. I have no illusions that Kaleek will be anything other than unpleasant and annoying the entire time.”
“I’m glad we understand each other,” Kaleek replied brightly, landing gently on one of his paws while his whiskers twitched with mirth. “For now, I believe we have some frog monsters to kill.”
Traveling was a challenge. Kat wasn’t able to just walk across the lake-bed, instead forced into either a slow shuffle or a slow-motion leapfrog as she bounded across a half dozen paces with each kick off of the floor. Eventually, the three of them reached the exit, little more than an oversized crack in the lakebed’s wall.
Kaleek wriggled through the gap, leading the way. Dorrik and Kat bounded after him, hanging in the water at the apex of their arcs for almost a quarter of a second before they began their descent back toward the floor. Mentally, Kat made a note to only use short and measured movements in combat. Her entire fighting style relied on mobility, and turning herself into an immobile target for seconds at a time didn’t seem like a terribly well thought out tactic.
A stream of bubbles was the only warning Kat got before a frog monster darted at her, barely a second after she entered the second chamber. It was a little taller than her, pale spongy skin covering its too-long arms and legs.
She jerked backward, water slowing her usually smooth movements to the point that she barely dodged the sharp, forearm-length dewclaw sticking out of the creature’s wrist. Almost without thinking, she cast Dehydrate on her opponent’s face.
The spell didn’t deal any damage, the water in their surroundings robbing its efficacy before it could actually attack the monster’s head. Instead, it created a burst of bubbles and a massive pressure imbalance as the water rushed to fill the void.
