The Great Raid: A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Power Book 4), page 8
Granted, this was their first time seeing Klyn up close, and not everyone knew what it even was. For all Morgan knew, half of the people around him thought that he was some kind of a shape shifter! Morgan glanced at Richard, suddenly feeling a bit unsure. “Uh, how strong are those dummies?” Morgan asked.
Richard laughed, and Morgan could see his teammates trying to keep their lips from curving.
“Don’t worry. I doubt you will be able to damage them significantly. They were made for level-fifty ascended to train on, and if by some miracle you manage to miss, the walls around us were reinforced by the magic of the Grand Mage herself,” Richard said.
Morgan opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. He could see their looks; they didn’t think that he could damage the target, and perhaps they were right. He didn’t know how strong the dummies were. But he did know that if he pushed, he could do a lot of damage with his power. True, he could probably do one massive attack and deplete his energy; he hadn’t been asked to show his main damage-dealing attack, but rather his strongest.
He turned around and tried to focus on the task at hand. He could use his new Mass Exchange ability, which was a quick way to transfer around five kilograms worth of mass to his arrow, or his Phase Shot ability, which would allow him to phase his hands and would release them once he let the arrow fly. But that was a combination of abilities designed for combat, when he didn’t have the time to focus on his skills. Now, however, there was all the time in the world, and so he could charge a really powerful attack.
He nocked his arrow and pulled the string back. He took a deep breath, then focused on his skills. He used his Phase Shift skill to phase Klyn and the arrow, then he concentrated on his Mass Transfer skill. Technically, he could transfer mass from anything he was touching to anything else that he was in contact with, and he didn’t need to have direct contact with it. He could transfer mass through his boots, for example—the problem was that it took him too long to do it that way, even though he had been practicing. It was still much faster when he placed one arm on the object he wanted to draw from and the other on the object he wanted to put the mass in. Now he tried it the hard way, since he didn’t need to do it fast. He focused and felt his metal energy leave his core as it was being used to transfer the mass. It entered the ground around him, and Morgan started to draw the mass in and funnel it through his body into the phased arrow. His energy reserves were dropping steadily as he was using his metal affinity to both keep his hands phased and to transfer mass, but he wasn’t close to depleting himself.
As he pulled the mass from the rock beneath his feet, it got less dense, and then he heard a sound of breaking. He glanced down only to see a crack spreading from his feet in the ground. He realized immediately that he had been pulling too much mass from just below himself and had caused the rock to weaken, to become brittle—so he pulled from further away. He was standing there for almost a full minute, and he started hearing people whispering. Finally, he decided that it was enough, although he could pull a bit more if he wanted. He took a deep breath as he stopped moving mass with his Mass Transfer skill, but kept his mind focused so as to keep the mass from reverting back to its original location.
His target was around fifty meters away, and Morgan aimed with the scope on the side of his bow. He released a breath as he let the arrow fly. It shot forward incredibly fast, and the moment it no longer touched Klyn the phasing effect on it canceled and an arrow with an incredible mass kept going at monstrous speed. A shockwave exploded around Morgan as the arrow flew out, sending dust on the ground blowing aside. It crossed the distance in an instant, the whistling howl replaced by a thundering crash. The arrow smashed into the target dummy, and the human-sized target—made out of some kind of metal—shattered into a thousand pieces. A flash of magic shone as its wards tried to defend against the blow, but it wasn’t enough, and its upper half was obliterated as the rest was sent flying across the ground. The arrow continued forward, smashing into the walls of the compound. The resulting impact created a small crater in the wall, sending cracks spreading all over it. Magic in the wall flared, illuminating wards placed in it, and the shockwave transferred from the wall into the ground, shaking it. Morgan blinked as the magic in the wall contained the damage. He was surprised that the wall survived. That attack had been the most powerful one he had managed so far, but the spells in the wall seemed to be powerful enough to mitigate the damage. Morgan sighed as he released his Mass Transfer, and the mass returned to its original place from the shattered remains of his arrow.
“Uh…sorry?” Morgan said as he looked at Richard. Most of the people in the courtyard were looking at him in disbelief. Ves and Vall had their faces covered with their hands. Clara was glaring at him, and Lucius was trying to hide behind one of Fjordstar’s giants. Borodar and Vrshar had grins on their faces, and Grav exploded into loud laughter.
The Call’s Hammers blinked at the damage, then at the people who ran into the courtyard to see what had happened. Richard looked at Morgan, then the wall, and then back to Morgan. “Yeah, I guess that was my fault,” the orc said and shook his head.
Morgan kept his face remorseful, but inside he was grinning. He probably wouldn’t be able to use an attack of that caliber in real combat, but seeing the fruits of his labors always brought a smile to his face.
The Call’s Hammers quickly brought order, summoned servants to clean up the mess, and then continued with the interview, but Morgan saw the four casting looks his way every few minutes. He wondered what they were thinking about.
CHAPTER TEN
After the interviews and some more demonstrations that were less flashy than Morgan’s, but still powerful, the four scarletite-ranked adventurers separated them into three teams based on compatibility, level, and synergy. Morgan ended up on a team with Ves and Hexna from the Last Vanguard, along with two members from Fjordstar: the giant woman, Oraa, and the Nel, Sumion. Morgan had learned that all of Fjordstar’s members had water affinity as their primary, and that most of them specialized in ice-based powers. Oraa’s class was Ice Mage, and Sumion was a Discipline Monk. Morgan remembered seeing Sumion fight in the tournament; he had won the fight even though he was the team’s support. He was also the highest level of them, being level thirty-eight and having three affinities unlocked. Morgan himself had the possibility to pick another, but he hadn’t done so yet. Azil had advised for him to wait, or even never take another affinity, since it split his focus, and Morgan didn’t see a need to add another entire skill set to his abilities at that moment.
The five of them had then been taken to a small room by Richard, who was going to be their guide and leader. He gave them all scrolls with the guides for a dungeon that they were going to be farming for the next few days, and had them learn the monster types and the locations of the traps. After he read the guide, Morgan realized why they had changed up their rosters. The dungeon that Morgan and his new team were going to be entering was suited to their abilities. It was a swarm-type dungeon, filled with bats, large burrowing worms, and kobolds. That last monster type brought a pang of nostalgia to Morgan—the first dungeon he went in had been populated by kobolds.
They spent the day learning the dungeon layout and discussing tactics that they would use. Richard listened to their opinions and added his advice, but didn’t alter their plans much. When the time came for sleep, Morgan couldn’t help but think on what was going to happen the next day.
* * *
Morgan and his new team exited the Guild Hold of the Call Guild, passing through the large walls and into the city proper. They were sitting in a floating carriage with an open top, and could see everything around them. The walls of the guild had prevented them from seeing anything of the city, but as they left, all of them got an eyeful. The streets of the city were wide, and Morgan could see walls on both sides of the street. Other guilds had their holds here as well, those which were powerful and wealthy enough to hold land in the city. Amon’Tor was the center of the continent, and everything important happened here. The street that they moved on hadn’t been busy, which surprised Morgan, but as they moved further and he started to hear the sounds of people, he realized why that was. The area of the city they were in was just for the Great Guilds, and was private.
Then they entered the city proper.
Morgan blinked at all the different buildings. Like the cities he had seen before, every building was a masterpiece—built out of a variety of materials, and often clashing with the aesthetics of their neighbors, yet somehow everything fitting together. The street was filled with people who jumped out of the way of their carriage. He saw adventurers, merchants with their own floating carriages, some even drawn by animals. The buildings around them had large signs hanging above their entrances, and Morgan saw everything from bars to restaurants. People of all kinds of races were here, mingling together. He also saw guards, each wearing emblems that depicted the tower and a circular city around it. Morgan knew that while killing was forbidden among ascended, there were still many different things that ascended could do to one another, and that guards were often a necessity.
He knew the deeper reasons as to why that law existed. The Guiding Force and Oxylus didn’t want the ascended of this world to fight against one another and die for foolish causes. They needed them to focus on getting stronger, on conquering the Tower.
The carriage carried them across the city, to an area that looked like it was some kind of industrial district. As they drew closer and entered, Morgan started hearing the sound of smithing. A layer of smoke hung above the buildings, complementing the soot on the ground. But for all of its filth, Morgan had to admit that even this was impressive. He saw open blacksmithing shops, with masters bending metals between their own hands, turning them to liquid and then putting them on anvils where their assistants hammered at the metal that hardened. He saw people in robes standing next to another smith holding a blade, casting spells into the metal as it was forged.
The furnaces formed out of red rock, and others out of black. Massive piles of metal and ore sat on the ground, with wards drawn around them. In the few minutes of looking around Morgan saw more wealth than he had ever seen before in his life. The words that everyone had been telling him for a long time seeped in for real, even more than they had after the tournament. The scraps of the Great Guilds that held the territories around the Tower amounted to fortunes for anybody else.
Morgan kept his eyes on the smithies, so he didn’t notice when they reached their destination. Their carriage stopped and Morgan turned around, seeing a large arch with a tunnel leading down below the ground.
As if on cue, Richard jumped out and turned to them.
“Come,” he said and the others followed.
Morgan and Ves jumped out and then walked behind Richard, the other members of their team following behind. There was no banter or conversation. Morgan and Ves knew Hexna well, but she wasn’t really the type to talk much. The other two members of their team were nearly strangers. They had met, and spoken a bit, but most of their time together had been spent planning and there was still some awkwardness there. But even if there wasn’t, the presence of Richard in his full combat gear would probably halt any type of conversation.
Richard wore a suit of armor made out of orichalcum. It was dark-green, full-plate armor, and he even had a horned helmet that covered his face. On his back was a massive two-handed sword that had wards and enchantments placed in the blade. He had a very intimidating presence.
He led them to the entrance of the tunnel, where they were met by people dressed in the colors of another guild.
“Sir Richard.” The man in front bowed as he greeted them. “Everything is ready. You have access for the next week.”
Richard just nodded without answering. He gestured for them to follow, and Morgan and the others passed by the people standing in front to enter the tunnel. The Call Guild had rented the rights to several dungeons that were in the city. Many guilds in Amon’Tor owned dungeons, and rented them out to other guilds. For some, it was their only source of income.
Their group walked for a while, but thankfully the walls were illuminated by orbs of light. Finally, they reached the entrance to the dungeon—the Fallen Depths Mine. The doors resembled those of every other dungeon Morgan had seen. Large stone double doors, with carvings of the Guiding Force and the Great Lord, with something depicted above them that to Morgan still looked like a space ship. He was tired of constantly being told that it was a symbol for fate and destiny, though, so he had stopped bringing that up. Richard glanced at them and spoke.
“You ready?” he asked.
Morgan looked around, seeing everyone nod an affirmative. Since he had been put in charge of the first dive, he turned back to Richard.
“We are.”
“Good,” Richard said, and then pushed the ornate doors open, leading them into darkness.
* * *
The notification announcing their entrance to the dungeon appeared in the corner of Morgan’s HUD, but he didn’t pay it much attention. Instead, he looked down a long corridor with torches burning along the walls, providing light. As soon as they entered, Richard moved to the back of their formation, as they had planned. He wasn’t here to interfere, as any of his actions would reduce the amount of exp they got from the dungeon, but he was still there in case that they needed any help. The dungeon was level forty, five levels higher than Morgan and Ves, and a couple levels higher than the others. But this wasn’t just a run to level them up—Morgan knew that even this was a test. They would be meeting many challenges in the Tower, and once they got past the third floor they would be in the unknown, probably fighting high-leveled monsters. Morgan was aware that levels weren’t everything, though; it was about your build, the way you utilized the power you had, and every one of them had been chosen because the people from the Great Guilds thought that they had what it took to climb the Tower. Fighting monsters a few levels above them shouldn’t be a problem, especially since they were prepared for them already.
“Get in formation,” Morgan said, and they moved.
Ves, as their tank, stepped forward, using her power to summon her pet immediately. A massive red-furred shape materialized next to her, a bear that was almost taller than her, his head coming up to her shoulder. Her class, the Eldritch Knight, was suited to dealing with many opponents at once because of her pet. Morgan assumed that she had been chosen for this team because of the nature of the dungeon. Sumion, their Discipline Monk, took his position behind her. He wore light yellow robes, which were enchanted to provide him with some protection, as he was a melee-range supporter who could create walls of air to shield his teammates as well as heal by dealing damage. Apparently it was a combination of his water and nature affinities, as since water was flow and change, he could use his life aspect to drain life from monsters and send it to his teammates.
Behind him came Morgan and Hexna, their main damage dealers. Morgan wore new combat robes which he had purchased recently. They were nothing special, just something that allowed him to move quickly and gave him plus five to agility. Hexna was an Infernal Warlock, specializing in large area-of-effect attacks, and she wore a black-and-purple robe, as well as an assortment of rings on one of her hands. Their job was simple: Morgan would supplement with his crowd-control abilities and grenades, and use his bow to pick off any monsters that managed to survive Hexna’s attacks. Behind them came Oraa, the second member of Fjordstar, and as an Ice Mage she specialized in freezing attacks and raising ice walls. She wore furred garments and held a large staff with a large blue crystal nestled on top of it. Oraa was their rearguard and would provide help when needed. Richard walked a few meters behind them, seemingly content to let them do whatever they wanted.
As soon as they got into formation, Morgan had Klyn assume its bow form, and then gave the order for them to advance. They walked through the corridor, until they reached the end where it opened up into a large cavern. They stepped out on a small platform, and then saw the rest of the room. Below them stretched the mine, a series of tight passageways and bridges that led deeper. Ves led the way, her bear walking in front of her as they started climbing down. They followed an incline that twisted beneath the entrance and lead to a stone bridge, where they stopped. According to the guide, their first enemy pack was on the bridge: a swarm of Giant Bats that was currently sleeping, suspended below the bridge. As soon as someone took a step on it, they would wake and fly up from both sides to swarm them.
Their team already had a plan for that, and Morgan nodded his head at Oraa and Sumion. Oraa raised her staff and fashioned two walls of ice around their sides. Sumion created two as well, one behind their team, and another above them. This created a box that was open at the front, exactly where the bridge started. Hexna walked forward and stopped just behind Ves, with Sumion standing close to her. Then Hexna signaled that she was ready and Ves sent her bear forward. It walked out on to the bridge, and immediately a large screeching noise filled the air as swarm of bats flew up and started to attack the retreating bear.
