Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 489: Floor 72

“It’s too early,” Stacy moaned as she shuffled into the main room of her place. “What do you want?”

“I’m about to head into the tower but realized something last night… a hard lesson that comes only through pain and I realized I needed to ask you something,” he replied.

Frowning, his sister moved to the couch where he pointed and plopped down.

“Did Tom say something? I mean, he–”

Shaking his head, Max put a hand on her knee and squeezed.

“No. This is about you, Callie, and… Caleb.”

“What about him?” she asked, her tone turning gruff and a frown appearing.

“I know what I said when I first found out about me killing him or worse… but…” he glanced around the room and back at his sister, seeing her waiting on him to finish. “If you think you might want him to be part of Callie’s life or even have a chance of being there for her or you, just let Tom know. He’ll send someone to find him.”

The sound of a clock ticking in the room was his only reply for a few moments, and Stacy’s frown never vanished as she leaned back, surviving how she bit her lip.

“You… want me to let him back into our lives? After he did what he did?”

Shaking his head, Max sighed.

“He was stupid… and I won’t say it was because he was young or anything else. Tell me, did you make the best decisions after what happened to me?”

Her frown grew and then slowly vanished as she shook her head.

“No… none of us did. I… I might have acted a fool trying to keep him close when he was supposed to leave,” she whispered, eyes darting to her fidgeting hands. “I had no one. With you gone, mom being… how she was and dad trying to hide from all the townspeople that treated us so differently, he was all I had.”

Stacy took a deep breath and looked at him. He could see the angst on her face, the muscles that tightened repeatedly.

“I’m not saying you have to decide today, sis. Just… after what I’ve been through and what Cordellia went through… having family and those you care about around is important. Last night… for whatever reason, it hit me. Trust me, it took me a bit to get past my anger and see things from Callie’s possible side and yours. Whatever you decide, I’ll support.”

Once again, she took a deep breath and blew it out her lips, letting them make a raspberry as she did.

“You’re a bastard, you know that?” Stacy asked with a grin.

“Which makes you one as well, right?”

Chuckling, she shrugged. “I guess this means you’re about to head into the tower if you dropped something like that on me. Always something heavy and deep, and then poo,f you disappear.”

Activating his Stealth skill, Max couldn’t help but laugh as she did the same.

“I love you,” he said as he tapped her, breaking their stealth.

“Love you too. Be safe.”

***

“HOLY OCKRIM’S BEARD!”

Fowl’s shout caused everyone to turn and see what had caused their dwarven warrior to utter such a statement after he bashed in the head of a seven-foot-tall kobold with his hammer.

“What?!” Batrire exclaimed as everyone rushed to where he stood, carefully holding his weapon in both hands.

Max studied it and immediately knew it was different. The handle was slightly longer, and dark runes appeared along its head. It, too, had grown an inch wider and two inches longer.

“My weapon… it… evolved,” Fowl said slowly.

“Really?!” exclaimed Cordellia.

Everyone turned and started to laugh as she covered one hand with one mouth and held up a finger on the other.

“That was… a bit higher than I can recall in a while,” Tanila teased.

“Bah, just tell us what it has become,” their ranger said, obvious to all that she had attempted to lower her pitch.

“Uh… so… yeah it now gives 200 to Strength and Constitution–”

“Holy elf tits!” Batrire exclaimed.

A grunt came from their warrior, who shook his head at her. “I’m not done yet babe…”

“Mother of goblin nuts,” their healer muttered. “There’s more?”

Nodding, he continued. “Now I also get 100 to Dexterity, my Vampiric touch heals for twice as much, and there is an ability useable once a week called Shatter that can damage or possibly destroy a piece of armor or a shield if the quality isn’t good enough.”

“Damn… that’s amazing bud,” Max said as he patted his friend on the shoulder. “Congrats!”

“Five hundred points… does that mean my bow could do the same?” Cordellia asked.

“If it evolves,” Max replied with a shrug. “Did it say what caused it to do so?”

Fowl shrugged as well. “No… After I bashed in this thing's head, the notification came, and I immediately felt the increase in power. All I can say is you’re definitely getting our firstborn named after you.”

Max grinned as their healer frowned.

“Give a dwarf a magical hammer and he’ll promise you anything,” Batrire said.

As everyone else came to congratulate their warrior on his weapons upgrade, Max turned and looked out across the rocky landscape they had been fighting on for over ten hours.

“What are you thinking?” Tanila asked as she stood next to him.

“Lots, but right now, just how far this goes. Like that first floor, this spread out in every direction, and none of these kobolds want to chat, even when I speak their language. None of them are…” he paused and watched her expression change. “Strong compared to me, but the stat gains were nice off that rare spawn.”

“And Cordellia needed the loot,” she replied.

Nodding, he was glad their archer had gotten the piece. No one else would listen to her initial complaints, and after the first few tears, she gladly sported the chest piece that matched the kobold’s color.

Smiling, Max summoned his weapon and shield for a moment.

[ Status Check ]

*****

Max Hoste

19-Year-old Human Male

Level 1

Exp 781/1000

Tower Experience: 70.0%

Base Bonus Items Total

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

STR: 1236 +2410 + 735 4381

DEX: 1236 +2410 + 630 4276

CON: 1236 +2410 + 735 4361

INT: 1018 +1985 + 165 3168

WIS: 1005 +1960 + 165 3130

Defense of the Dragon - 35.5%

Defense of the Demon - 35.5%

Demon Essence: - 1314

World Champion: - 20% Stat Increase

Bloodline: - 60% of the required 100% unlocked

Tower Stat Bonus: - 10%

Tower 60th Floor Bonus: - 5%

*****

Staring at his stats, he couldn’t help but smile. There was a reason why he could cut these kobolds down with ease. Thankfully Consume was still granting him stats, it was just the lack of skills that was getting annoying.

“Max?”

Tanila’s question brought him out of his stupor and he smiled.

“Sorry, just looking at my stats.”

She groaned and smiled.

“You know you’re not the only golden child anymore,” Tanila said. “Batrire and I both have two stats over 250 now, thanks to all those potions. Cordellia and Fowl are close to a second if they get lucky on another potion.”

“And here you thought you’d only get one,” Max replied. “I guess you really are special.”

She gave him a wag of her middle finger, laughter coming from the other three who appeared to have noticed her rarely used gesture.

“You two need a moment, or are we good to keep fighting?” Fowl asked. “I’ve got a hankering to see how much more damage I can do with this thing.”

Motioning with his hand, Max gestured for his friend to lead the way.

“Warriors first.”

“Damn right,” Fowl replied.

***

Their dwarven warrior was having a blast, hitting harder and moving slightly faster. He surprised Max and changed up the skills he would upgrade. In the end, Fowl had upgraded his Thorn ability to Rare, and the damage it reflected was noticeable.

Each attack their warrior blocked or allowed through caused blood to flow freely from the kobolds.

I wonder if that is the same rank as Dagon’s… Based on what I see it might be.

“Hey, Fowl,” Max called out as they finished up the pack before the tower floor portal. “Do you mind if I smack you once we return to the Faction grounds?”

“What?! Why… wait…” A grin appeared on Fowl’s lips. “You want to see how much it hurts, don’t you?”

Nodding, he shrugged. “I can see the difference but I want to know if you’re the same as Dagon.”

A shudder ran through their warrior as he nodded slowly. “That… was horrible. Who knew thorn auras could do that to each other? I want to know if he has a regeneration equal to yours.”

Max had already given that some thought but wondered how it would be possible for a dwarf to acquire, even if they were the king. With the bonuses from 250 stat points, he also wanted to know what a dwarf might get for having a 500 in Constitution.

“Who knows? Still I’m ready for the next floor if you are.”

Fowl gave him a nod and moved toward the portal.

“You’re a fool,” Batrire whispered as she passed Max.

“What do you mean?”

Their healer shook her head.

“Do you even know how much damage you do? I mean, I guess you do and while I am aware you can pull your punch, stop and think for a moment at the difference between how hard you hit and how these monsters hit.”

Max stood there momentarily, noticing that Tanila and Cordellia had stopped moving toward the portal, each waiting to hear his response.

“When I go all out, a lot more,” he replied.

“And when you hit the king, you were going all out.”

Nodding, he immediately realized what she was commenting on.

“Gods, I am an idiot… for the damage I was receiving and the reflection I was getting back, Dagon’s is weaker than Fowl’s now!”

Batrire bobbed her head and smiled. “Now don’t get me wrong, my legendary heal will take care of you and with the other abilities I’ve picked up from the crystals we got, I’m certain you’ll be fine, but please for the love of Ockrim, don’t go all out against Fowl. I’m afraid you’ll be like that boss who killed himself. Even worse would be if you intentionally struck Fowl’s shield.”

A thorn aura and the fire reflection… just how much damage is he giving back to those kobolds?

“Quick question since you’ve been paying more attention than me,” Max said as he tapped his chin. “How long do you think it would take before one of those kobolds had killed themselves by hitting him?”

A wicked grin appeared on their healer’s lips. “Now you’re starting to see it, Max. The reason why Fowl could kill the ones he faced wasn’t because he did crazy damage with his hammer; it was because they had already weakened themselves so much. That’s why he didn’t offer to tank the rare spawn and just let you kill it. He was concerned it might do such a thing against him as long as I could keep him alive.”

“Wait,” Cordellia said, breaking her silence. “You’re telling me that Fowl’s put that much thought into this?”

Batrire held her head up high and gave a single nod. “He’s realized that what he does best is take damage and reflect it. Honestly I know he’s looking forward to facing the boss on the 75th floor. Part of him wants to see what happens when he activates his defensive skills and takes an empowered hit of some kind.”

Max shuddered, imagining how painful it would be to strike Fowl with an attack like that.

“Did we just find a way to break the system?” Tanila asked.

“Only time will tell,” Batrire replied as she pointed at the portal. “All I can tell you is that he is ready to test it out.”

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