Chapter 182

Chapter 182

Luna watched Minkalla without blinking.

Waiting.

Carol and Kurt were like statues alongside her.

None of them had said a word since the children left.

There was nothing to say, after all.

They had done everything they could, and now it was up to the children.

All of them had gone through this a dozen or more times, but it never got easier.

Not that they didnt do anything else during the time; even Luna used her AI to get work done. But their charges entering Minkalla was something to be respected, even if they couldnt do anything.

After a month and a half inside, the kids should have been on the second floor of Minkalla by now, but the normal cultivators would start reaching the dividing line any day now and the anticipation of discovery hung in the air.

When one of them came out, they would finally learn what the first floor effect had been.

Another two days passed as the three of them watched the planet of copper and steam churn away. It was beautiful in an impossible way, and while Luna would never seek it out, she did appreciate the view when she was forced into the planet's presence.

Then, there was a fluctuation on the Federation's moon.

Every Tier 35 or higher in the star system teleported or ripped spaced apart at the same time, appearing over the moon in question.

When a cultivator left Minkalla, they were allowed to teleport anywhere in the star system, and most chose their Great Power's moon.

With tens of thousands of Tier 35s hovering over the moon, they waited for the first news of Minkalla's layout this cycle. Everyone's spiritual perception blanketed the area that the man appeared in, not willing to miss even a single word he said. None of them tried to block the others, as they all wanted to know the same thing, and couldn't risk being frozen out when the next floors were discovered.

Tier 35 or higher fights were common here, when tensions ran high, and they had no power to do anything about their charges. Minkalla always survived, but the moons orbiting it needed to be replaced regularly, and occasionally, the planet itself would move to a new star system as the surroundings if its latest position were utterly destroyed.

The question was simple, what floor had Minkalla pushed to the top this time?

It being their planet, the Federation Tier 45 was the fastest to collect the boy, but that didnt stop everyone else from catching a glimpse of what they were looking for.

Normally, they needed to wait for the delver to say what floor they had encountered, but this time, it wasnt necessary.

Hearing the boy weep and blubber at seeing the light was all they needed to know.

A first-floor Eternal Darkness.

Luna used her Aspect and ripped a hole back to her home, returning to her vigil over Minkalla.

Returning to their previous positions, none of the managers said a word, but their minds raced.

First floor Eternal Darkness. Not a bad floor, all things considered.

The children were well prepared for it, which would give them a distinct advantage and help them pull ahead of the pack.

Them gaining some ground meant a degree of safety that Luna could have only hoped for them. They were strong and would have no problems with the monsters of Minkalla, unless they got a bad floor combination.

Now, as long as nothing slowed them down, they could take that lead and compound it, pulling further ahead and keeping out of the inter-delver fighting that would happen as people struggled to find monsters to kill on later floors.

As the planet spun, Luna watched, not even blinking.

Patience was second nature to a cat, and it hadnt even been two months.

***

Matt gasped as he tried to draw in air through burning lungs.

His hands were bloodied, and while most of it wasnt his, a good bit of it was.

Standing up, he walked over to Liz and Aster.

They stood over the corpse of a giant crab that they had taken out together.

Susanne was still laying in the puddle of goo from the jellyfish she had been fighting.

The start of their trip into the palace mountain had been uneventful, but when they finally figured out the maze-like layout, they started getting attacked. Not by just one or two monsters, but by dozens of fish and other underwater creatures.

At first, the fights were easy enough to win with a little care.

Even with Lizs elephant summon being out of the fight, while still carrying the incredibly heavy treasure chest, they did fine.

At first.

By the fifth floor, the monsters started to outnumber them five to one, then by a dozen to one.

Now on the eleventh floor, they were back to fighting single monsters. That should have made things easier, as the monsters were still early Tier 14s, and the four of them had more than enough experience fighting monsters stronger than themselves. The problem was that the monsters that started appearing were all specialized in one aspect of combat.

The Fishman that Matt had beaten to death had been a master of spells, and was, as far as they could tell, not directly controlled by one of the octopodes.

Liz and Asters crab had a nearly impenetrable shell that easily fended off both Lizs blood attacks and Aster's ice spells. Suzanne's jellyfish should have been an easy fight, but her attacks simply sank into its body like it was a slime, doing no permanent damage. Ideally, they would have swapped opponents, but this fight had been an ambush.

The monsters had one area they excelled at, which increased the difficulty of the engagements to a point where even they struggled.

Susanne, who had crawled up and walked over to the three of them, sat down and said, We need to make a decision. She spat a bit of blood out before continuing. We're earning Genesis Energy, but our fights are forcing us to spend nearly as much as we get.

Matt winced internally. She didnt say it, but for the last three fights, Matt had used more Genesis Energy than he had earned from his single kills. He couldnt help it. His entire fighting style was built around throwing massive amounts of energy around, and his skills and their modifications reflected that methodology. That was fine when he had unlimited mana, but now that his skills cost Genesis Energy, he was faced with a problem he couldn't easily solve.

Susanne wasnt wrong, though. The others were having the same issues to smaller degrees. Aster was running neutral while Liz was slightly on the side of gathering Genesis Energy each fight. Susanne herself was doing the best with her greatsword being fueled by Willpower, meaning it was stronger for no cost. It didnt even have any enchantments, not that it needed them.

Matt looked to Liz and sighed as he asked, What are your potion stores looking like?

Liz pulled a dozen vials from her spatial ring. I have a dozen on me, and two hundred and thirty in storage in the house. At least of the ones Ive made. The store bought ones I haven't touched.

Matt nodded. That meant she had used only eight during their time in Minkalla.

Her potions were a limited resource, and they had intended to use them sparingly. The store bought ones, not so much, but they were less effective and a last resort. Despite Liz being able to theoretically grow more in her portable garden, it only grew as fast as they would outside.

Without any acceleration, she had no way to increase production.

Though they had planned around that.

Liz had bought a number of the needed herbs before they entered Minkalla, so she could make new potions, but that number was also limited. She always used the herbs the day she got them, but the final shipment had come right before they entered, so she didnt have enough time to use them.

Do we start using them? This floor is a hard counter to us. Matt grimaced and corrected himself. Me. The floor is a hard counter to me.

Aster was going to say something, but Susanne spoke first. This floor sucks for all low Tier cultivators. We have to rely on spells to fight up Tiers, and thats just expensive now. You just got countered more than what would be normal for any warrior. Dont get in your own head.

Standing up, she collected the skill shards that had dropped from the monster's bodies.

I know this one, its been on my list for a while now. [Counter]. Damn good skill. She then inspected the other two. [Fist Blast] and something earth-related. Its not on my list, though.

Matt pulled himself out of his funk and inspected the skill that Susanne didnt recognize.

Burning a little Genesis Energy, he ran his own inspection and nodded.

Her not recognizing the spell wasnt surprising after he identified it.

It was a cracked spell.

It's a cracked [Tar Ball]. What the crack does, I don't have a clue, though.

Offering it to Liz then Aster, they had no better idea than he did.

Liz played with the skill and ran it through her fingers. The normal [Tar Ball] is a good skill to spread fire-based skills. Mind if I take this skill and try to absorb it? It might make for some interesting combinations with my Talent. Flaming blood could be really strong.

Susanne had no issues with her taking the spell, and neither did Matt or Aster, so Liz started absorbing the skill. She had already absorbed [Water Bubble] and successfully converted it into [Blood Bubble], which kept all of its defensive properties.

Water skills had never failed her before, but it was always a good thing when her Talent worked and expanded her arsenal.

Matt was less hopeful for [Tar Ball] converting successfully, but it was worth a shot.

Reaching out, Matt picked up the [Fist Blast]. Id like to try my hand with this spell. Its Rustys favorite for a reason, and once were off this floor, itll be a nice backup. Especially with the gravity gauntlets.

Susanne took the remaining skill and started absorbing it herself. [Counter] is a good skill, but its quite expensive to buy on the outside, so dont mind if I do.

With their skills being absorbed, the four of them started progressing through the palace once again.

Matt and Susanne took the opportunity to down a strength potion from Lizs stash before they moved on.

The next room had no monsters and only a single trap that they used their elephant summon to ruin.

Three rooms and two fights later, they found a branching hall leading away from the main one they had been heading the entire time.

After a quick chat, they decided to investigate.

Almost immediately, they found a pair of guards who launched attacks at them at first sight.

Matt rushed forward and used his sword to swat away the [Water Dart], and Susanne cut apart the [Water Net] that was flying at them. That didnt stop the guards from screeching and summoning another pair of monsters to their defense.

Aster immediately jumped at the lobster and chewed at its eye stalks, causing the beast to try and beat at her armored and ice covered back. Splinters of ice flew, but that only let Aster spread her element over the monsters body faster. Its joints were the first targets, and Matt knew that the monster would soon fall.

Liz was busy thrusting her spear at a floating shrimp that was trying to grab at her. Its shell deflected the first thrust, but it lost an arm when she sidestepped and leveraged her power.

Matt stopped paying attention once he saw that they had the clash under control, and focused on his own incoming fight.

The bodies of the controlling monsters fell one by one, and in less than two seconds, the reanimated guards fell back down. Not dead, but stunned from their controllers' deaths.

It only cost a dozen kills to cast the spell.

Seeing Liz and Aster finishing off the guards that stumbled while trying to get back to their feet, Matt raced forward and assisted her in her own fight. How they managed to stay alive after dying, being reanimated, and then having that reinmating force end he had no idea. But they were nothing more than wheat for the harvesting for the two mages.

Aster cast a buffing skill that filled Matt with power and he rushed forward.

The Fishman with the octopus crown was a full boss, and had the strength to match.

It also had much more strength than Matt would have expected from a humanoid-shaped creature.

The Fishman leader swung its trident in heavy arcs that had little in the way of melee abilities, but made up for that lack with speed and spells.

The octopus on the boss's head wasnt idle, and it cast spells with two of its tentacles, unlike its larger brethren. [Water Dart]s came from its left tentacle, while well-timed [Water Bubble]s were cast with its right.

When combined with the boss's speed and strength, Susanne had a hard time landing more than a glancing blow on her own.

Matt landed and immediately threw himself at the boss, but had to retreat as it tried to hit him with a back swing from the butt of their trident.

Settling into a holding pattern, Matt waited for Liz and Aster to finish the guards off so they could all focus on this single monster.

Before he or Susanne could land a good hit themselves, the octopus raised itself up on the leader's head and pointed its tentacles out towards its fallen brethrens' corpses. As if it was a vacuum, it started to absorb the octopodes' bodies, reinforcing itself and growing larger.

When its main body was a foot tall, its skin had changed from a purple to a dark blue, and energy pulsed from it.

With the increase in power, the Fishman leader grew from a normal human size to ten feet tall.

Their gear and weapon improved, and with this contest promising to be a massive battle, Liz and Aster joined the fray with a crash.

Liz, in her golem form and having cast [Blood Crystal Armor], was an equal-sized opponent, and matched the boss's trident with a fist of frozen-over blood.

With [Blood Crystal Armor] reinforcing her, she took the hit and returned it with a jab at the boss's side that sent it stumbling back while spitting up blood.

Matt and Susanne moved at the same time and split apart as they moved to flank the boss.

Susanne sliced out at the octopus on the bosss head, forcing it to cast [Water Bubble] to block her [Wind Cutter], while Matt sent out his own [Mana Slash] a second later. As her attack landed and destabilized the defensive spell, his own slammed right through it, causing a spray of blood to arc into the air.

That blow in and of itself wasnt fatal, but it gave Liz and Aster the chance they needed.

The spray of blood condensed into a solid mass, and flash froze before reversing direction and piercing the octopus and bosss head, all while Liz held the tentacles at bay with tendrils of blood.

Matt was shocked at the single burst of Genesis Energy, but knew that it meant one of the two hadnt died yet.

As the boss started to shrink, it got free from Lizs grasp and tried to rush Matt, but he was ready and met its charge with his blade.

The boss fell to the ground with a gushing wound and tried to bite at his leg in one last desperate attempt to take one of them with it.

A bloody boot to the face ended the bosss life, as the second burst of Genesis Energy confirmed the kill.

Cursing, Matt inspected his foot to finally get a look at the injury he had taken while getting out of the first octopodes encirclement.

His boot had been pierced, and he was now missing the second and third smallest toes on his left foot.

Cursing, he withdrew a healing potion but hesitated to dump it on the wound. There was a chance to find his missing digits and reattach them.

Can someone find my toes? He called out as he started to hobble over where he thought they would have landed.

The fight had moved a lot, and the reanimated guards didnt help things with their movements.

Aster scampered over ahead of Liz and sniffed at his foot before sniffing around.

She eventually stopped and circled a spot on the floor. Any empty spot.

His bond looked from him to the floor before whining. I think Minkalla ate your toes. The smell lands here but doesn't go any further.

Matt felt his stomach tighten before cursing as he dumped the healing potion over his wounded foot.

He had pushed through the pain during the fight, but it hurt, and he didnt have access to his normal healing methods.

Not that any of them would be able to regrow a lost appendage. [Lesser Regeneration] was good, but not as strong as [Regeneration] proper.

Liz arrived and quickly pulled off his boot to inspect the wound. We need to clean this out, but they're unimportant toes, at least.

Matt grumbled as he popped a painkiller and handed her the canteen of water. I was very attached to those digits. Had them my whole life.

Oh thats not even true, Liz said while swatting at his arm. You regrew that foot not twenty years ago.

Wait, was that oh right, that was the jungle rift. He frowned at the mention of that rift. They had rushed him to a hospital for healing so quickly after clearing that rift, he had almost forgotten about it. Or rather forced it from his memory.

Exactly. Its only been with you for a few decades. But if you want to count the last time it was separated from you, then its been a year? Two?

One and a half, he grumbled in agreement while the wound scabbed over and bandaged by Liz. Once it was done, he pulled out a new pair of boots and socks. Liz took them and put them on for him despite his insistence that he could do it himself.

Aster came over and sniffed, but he could feel that she was worried for him through their bond.

Ruffling her fur, he said, It's fine. Just a toe or two.

Aster didnt feel reassured as she asked, But we can't get it healed until we leave here? Right? Did you happen to get a new spell I don't know about?

Matt sighed. She was exactly right, and they all knew it.

Wounds that the body couldn't naturally heal were beyond undirected healing spells, which was all they had access to without a dedicated healer.

Susanne offered a suggestion. Maybe we can find a friendly healer and get them to regrow it?

Matt scoffed as he stood up. It's fine. Nothing lost except my pride.

He couldn't even blame it on not using [Cracked Phantom Armor], the skill just hadnt been enough to block whatever had hit him, but he had been running it at about the lowest rate he could manage

A few practice steps and Matt found he wasnt inconvenienced. Luna had trained them to fight with injuries, handicaps, and missing appendages. This was a minor one, all things considered.

Liz looked more worried than he felt, and she stuck close to him as they inspected their rewards.

The boss duo dropped a number of items, including a snowflake tiara that Aster claimed, as it matched the choker she had made to house her old flying ice cream cloud when they were Tier 6s.

It also boosted any water or ice spells cast while she wore it, and would create a cloud of mist when activated, giving the fox some concealment if she needed to break a line of sight in a fight. All in all, it was a nice addition to her toolset, and she put it on her head immediately.

They were cleaning up the miscellaneous skill shards, and item drops when Susanne called out, I think I found something.

As they walked over to her they saw what she meant.

Under the throne the boss had sat on was a cutout. A cutout that perfectly matched the treasure chest they had carried all this way.

With the elephant destroyed and on its resummon cooldown, he and Susanne had to manually carry it to the throne from where it fell, but they only set it into the hole after they emptied it of the items it held.

A petty part of Matt wanted to leave the cornucopia in it, but he wasnt going to pass on any loot, no matter how dumb it was. They could probably sell it to a restaurant or make a table center out of it. It would make a good party trick if nothing else.

As it happened it was a good decision. Once they sent it down the treasure chest lit up and started to glow with a light that grew over a few seconds to a blinding intensity.

From the throne, the voice of the old pirate echoed out. Ahh. The Misty Island. I have finally arrived. I must thank ye. I never thought to make it to these shores, let alone make it to the throne room. I see ye have struggled and grown. But struggle is where we grow. And I see you have found the horn of plenty.

As the woman spoke, the cornucopia floated over to the throne with the key that they used to open the front door, the mirror that broke illusions, and the compass that led them to the island.

The horn has powers beyond the norm. From its bounty, I empower the tools you used to get there. First the key. With its power, you may, for a cost, unlock any lock you encounter. Take everything not nailed down. Give nothing back. The voice cackled as it said that last, and the key started to glow from an energy that came from the cornucopia.

The mirror to show you the truth of things. Few things are as dangerous as seeing beyond the deceptions people put up for others to see. Break those illusions.

The mirror then glowed with the same light that empowered the key before the compass started to glow.

A compass to point you to a treasure already found is useless. With the power of the horn, it will now point where the greatest treasure in its vicinity is. It will cost you, but everything worthwhile does.

With that, the cornucopia fell to the throne, and Matt picked up the items as he was the closest.

This can't be real. Right? Matt and everyone else was looking at the compass which rested on his palm.

Liz shook her head. A seeker item? Ive only heard about them in stories. Legends really. If so, that's more than worth the bullshit we dealt with, even if it only works for Tier 14 and under items. How's it work? Try it. I want to see.

Susanne nodded silently in ascent.

Aster was the only one to look away as she asked the throne, Any chance I can get the cornucopia to make ice cream instead of fruit, Miss Treasure Chest?

Seeing that it didnt respond, she lowered her ears and sulked.

Matt tried to send mana into the compass, and to his surprise, it worked. Or at least, it took the energy, but nothing else happened.

It took my mana but isn't activating. Think we need to send Genesis Energy? He was afraid for that to be true, as it would mean that the item would only be useful in Minkalla, where they had access to the energy.

Liz shoved an essence stone at him. Try one of the stones.

Doing so, Matt sighed in relief as the compass started to glow with a light blue light. Then from a simple compass, it expanded and rose up like a ball, and the pointer bent down and to the left, back inside the palace.

Matt grinned as he looked at the others.

They had hit the jackpot with this item.

As the pirate had said. Take everything and give nothing back.

Armed with a compass and a key, they intended to do exactly that.