Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 518: The Final Reward

Chapter 518 - The Final Reward

Max watched as his three friends stared at the pulsing yellow gem in his hand.

I am glad that this is bound. You need to use this. Every other time, you have given away the tower rewards. This one is different. You can feel it.

I can… but do we really need any more abilities or–

We do not know what it grants. You could be giving away something of enormous power. Think about what has been acquired so far. It would appear that those items were almost picked for each person here, and only Fowl acquired the one they were supposed to have received.

You should have gotten the blood gem, allowing you to be 100%. That potion and Cordellia’s gem should have been swapped if I guess right.

Which means this should have gone to Tanila.

And yet she acquired something she couldn’t trade or give away, just like you. Do not waste time trying to find out if you can unbind it. Take the power Max. For once in your life, consider how this can help your allies if you have it.

Frowning, Max sighed.

“You’re not seriously thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” Tanila asked.

“It depends on what you’re thinking, I’m thinking,” he replied with a grin.

She groaned before continuing. “What does Bob think?”

Max tapped his head and slowly closed his hand around the gem as he locked eyes with Tanila.

“I should crush it and see what was meant for you.”

“Meant for her? What do you mean by meant for her ?” Fowl asked.

“He thinks you were the only one who got the item meant for them. Cordellia and Batrire most likely got the other person's item. After I crush this, I’ll know for certain if he’s right.”

Their warrior scratched his beard and huffed.

“Then do it, dear,” Batrire said. “Your skill is right. Take this for yourself.”

Closing his eyes, Max squeezed and the gem shattered in his palm.

Warmth and power wanted to explode from his fist, yet Max couldn’t open his hand.

It fought and wormed its way through his fingers, covering his hand and racing toward his elbow.

Every inch felt like it was on fire, worse than any burn he had ever experienced, yet no damage was done.

Unlike the others, it only covered his right arm, the entire appendage radiating with magical energy that pulsed once and then vanished, absorbing through his skin.

[ Wildfire - Epic Acquired ]

[ Wildfire - Epic - Magic is power, and there are few as strong as that which is wild and difficult to control. The caster can summon a single bolt of the spell once every twenty-four hours for half of their maximum mana pool. Damage scales off their base intelligence and the amount of mana spent. Wildfire is dangerous and, unlike many spells, can damage foes and friends alike. When unleashed, the caster will also suffer a portion of the damage. ]

Yes! That is what we need!

Inside his chest and head was a sensation of Bob celebrating in a way he had only felt a few times.

What… this…

It is a power unlike any you have witnessed. As soon as you acquired it, a memory was triggered. Know this, Max, you must be careful when using this spell. What it can do is devastating against some foes. Do not let your friends be close as it has a life of its own.

So a sentient spell?

No… a spell like… a black spell. It hungers for life and will consume anything that is nearby. You should be careful as well. There is no telling how much damage it may do to you.

“Max?”

Tanila’s voice made him blink and he smiled, seeing his friends watching and waiting.

“It’s a spell… Wildfire Magic.”

“Holy–” their mage started to say and stopped, words failing as her mouth moved. “Wild… wildfire magic? As in–”

“It’s an epic rank, and yes. Costs half my maximum mana pool, can only be used once a day, and injures anything near it. My enemy, you, even me.”

“What kind of crazy spell is that?” Fowl asked. “I mean, who would cast something like that?!”

“Any mage who could acquire it,” Tanila answered. “That… that was meant for me, wasn’t it?”

Max nodded.

“It would appear so. Still, I hope I’ll be able to do it justice like you would have. In the end–”

A cracking sound made him go silent as they all turned and focused on the point of the noise.

The purple crystal shell had a fissure starting to appear and more began to fracture, quickly spreading across the entire shell.

“I swear if she’s got wings and can fly, I’m going to spit,” Fowl muttered.

A high-pitched grunt came, and the face area shattered, falling to the ground.

“I… can… breathe!” Cordellia exclaimed, taking deep breaths. “I…”

She stopped talking, seeing them all looking at her. Then her eyes widened as she turned, more of the crystal shell falling to the ground.

“Uh… when did Batrire get so… tall?”

“Well, you’ve been in there a week,” Fowl said.

“A week?! I’ve been in–”

She stopped her shouting as their warrior began to laugh, and Max couldn’t help but chuckle, rolling his eyes at her.

“A few minutes at most. Need help getting free?”

Flexing and twisting again, the rest of the crystal cocoon ended up on the ground around her fee,t and their ranger shook her head.

“No, but all I can say is wow. This thing gave a nice… change.”

“Change?” Tanila asked.

“Yup! Look!”

Their ranger removed the covering on her arm, and each gasped at how her skin sparkled.

“What in the gods is that?” Batrire asked.

“Something happened to my body. I’ve got protection against weapons and spells as if I’m wearing plate armor.”

“Oh gods no!” Fowl cursed. “She’s not taking my job!”

Laughing, Cordellia shook her head. “Don’t worry, shorty, I don’t want that job.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“The perfect item for a healer,” Tanila whispered. “Bob was right.”

“Sorry, what?” their ranger asked. “Bob was right about what?”

Max quickly explained what had happened, and the smile on Cordellia’s lips lessened slightly.

“What’s done is done. Don’t forget we all still have items waiting on us,” he said. “Everyone go at once?”

They all nodded and chuckles came as Fowl stepped onto his stool while Batrire grinned and kicked her stool away.

“I’m so climbing you tonight,” their warrior whispered.

“And there goes my stomach,” Cordellia groaned.

“Let’s just see what we got,” Tanila said as she reached in, everyone mimicking her immediately.

Max held the belt in his hands. The clear defensive item felt cool to his touch, and yet when he squeezed it, he knew it wasn’t going to break at all.

After having inspected their items, the others had already started to grunt and clear their throats.

[ Inspect Belt ]

*****

Crystal Belt of The Time Golem

+20% to Stats

+20% to Damage Mitigation.

Bonded

*****

Like the rest of his team, Max didn’t wait. He immediately stored it and had it appear around his waist.

The power that flowed through him felt amazing.

Although we did not get anything from the golem, we appear to have been rewarded well.

I’d still prefer to have a few skills or stats.

Yes, because what you just gained from that item isn’t important.

[ Total Stat Check - Simple ]

*****

STR - 6053

DEX - 5598

CON - 6238

INT - 4302

WIS - 4254

*****

He started to choke as he stared at the display before him.

“Oh gods, his must be broke,” Fowl muttered. “Do I even want to know?”

“It’s not that,” Max replied. “It’s… my total stats.”

“Please don’t tell me. All I need now is one more thing to point out how I’m the smallest one here.”

Chuckling, Max made a zipping of his lip motion.

“So what’s the plan?” Cordellia asked as she slowly touched the clear crystal earring she sported.

“I say we take our potions and the power crystals and check out the bazaar,” Tanila replied. “Then we can head back to town and wait for the cooldowns on our abilities. That will also give us more time to review everything we purchase thoroughly.”

“Always the smart one,” Batrire teased as she moved to her friend and squeezed her arm. “Even better though, is that we need to go shopping. I won’t have much to wear beyond my tower-climbing equipment.”

“Girls' shopping trip?!” Cordellia asked, eyes sparkling like her skin.

Fowl's face went blank as he stared at Max.

“Save me,” he whispered.

***

Max could see the concern on Tom’s and Everett’s faces as they stood in the room where they normally turned in items, gazing at all the random things they had acquired.

“This… is a bit disturbing,” their trainer muttered as he ran a finger along the blade of a sword that looked like someone had twisted it into a spring. “I’m just glad to know the tower isn’t giving stuff like this out as loot.”

Chuckling, Max shook his head and set down a cup that always filled up with soured milk whenever someone mooed like a cow.

“I wish I could tell you more, but thankfully, you both figured out on your own that we acquired these through different means. Somewhere in here is an item we need for the coming floor. It’s just a matter of figuring out what it is.”

“And all those other items you have on that other table, you don’t?” Tom asked.

“We don’t know,” Tanila replied. “As Max mentioned, we got all of those on the 80th floor. These over there we got on the 82nd.”

“You hear that, Everett? She says that like it's not a big deal. The 82nd floor… ”

Their Faction leader nodded, setting down a spoon and a 12-inch cube with six different colors scattered around it. Tiny grooves turned it into nine blocks on each side, and they could be moved to try to group them all together.

“It’s peculiar, that’s for sure,” he answered. “Still I’m glad to have figured out a little bit of how the tower changes. And to know the boss they faced wasn’t easy, even for them…” His silver eyes focused on Cordellia, who wrote down a few things in a journal. “Even more interesting is the difference between them. A sparkling elf and a dwarf who is six foot tall and could probably kick my arse now.”

“All while healing you,” Batrire said, smiling the entire time.

Everett chuckled and nodded. “Still, word is already spreading about how you all have changed. There will be many questions and I know you can’t answer most of them. My biggest concern is that you five remember there is life outside the tower. Don’t get caught up in the climb. In fact,” he paused, summoning a book and holding it out, “You might want to read this.”

Max leaned over the stone table, took the offered item, and opened it. His eyes widened as he quickly turned page after page.

“I forgot he can read like that,” Tom muttered.

“Perks of all those intelligence points,” Fowl said. “Still, it does make it nice when he’s wanting to learn a new baking recipe.”

Both men chuckled as Max ignored them, speed-reading the small book his leader had given him. In less than a minute he was done, frowning and offering the book back to Everett.

“You just found this?” he asked.

“It was a gift from a different faction. They gave it to me to thank you for all your party did to protect this town. While most don’t want ot give up crafting materials because of how hard it is to acquire them, they are willing to part with knowledge that is usually kept a secret, knowing it may help you all do the impossible.”

“Well, what’s it say?” Fowl asked. “Some of us can barely read if there aren’t pictures to go with the words.”

Max rolled his eyes at his friend before moving to where he could face everyone in his party.

“The story of a team that died because they tried to hurry through it as they neared the end. It said they met their demise on the 87th floor. I’ll spare the details, but it happened shortly after the Seth Pendal event. From what I can tell there was a golden age of adventurers who were carrying others past the 50th floor and up to the 59th.”

“So they didn’t have the bottleneck most face like right now in the thirties and forties?” Cordellia asked.

Max shook his head.

“No. There were three or four groups, based on what the book says, who were all above the 60th floor. They worked together to help each other, and when one of the groups reached the 80th floor, they changed. All the help and advice they had been given stopped as the party ignored advice, continually diving back into the tower as quickly as they could.”

“But we’re not like that,” their warrior said. “We’re…” he paused, seeing the pained expressions on Batrire’s and Cordellia’s faces. “What?”

“Honestly, I’m ready to go right now if I knew our cooldowns were gone,” their healer admitted. “I… I lied when you asked why I was so jumpy after we exited the tower. Truthfully… It’s like there's a hunger inside me for what else I might get. The sudden growth has… been overwhelming.”

“Literally,” Cordellia said. “But she’s right. Not only has my skin changed but I feel the same draw as well. The difference between us two and you three is that Max and Tanila have already overcome that thirst. You… well you know you’ll never be as strong as your wife.”

Fowl held up his middle finger at their ranger, frowning at her.

Max watched Everett as the older man slowly tapped his chin.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I’m beginning to understand now why Dexic has been so… on edge since you took us into the tower,” Everett replied. “I’ve felt it as well but not like her. She sees the possibilities and can almost taste it. Right now, she’s working with a group, trying to prepare them and possibly join their party. It’s because she wants what you all have.”

“What’s that?” Fowl asked.

“Power.”

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