Chapter 326: 18th Floor

Sammohan came away with about six dozen dimensional pearls, and Will did him a favor and cracked them all open, being one of the few people who could open them without risking his fingers to dimensional ripples.

The majority of the pearls had nothing, but two had weapons with minor dimensional enhancement, and the last one had a belt buckle that made whatever belt it was attached to weightless, which, after some experimentation, included anything strapped to the belt as well.

That was valuable for merchants and scouts who liked to keep things light, but it wasn’t earth-shattering.

It would sell fairly well down in the lower Floors, were the lower Floors not currently falling apart.

Despite not having a strong need for it, Will bought the buckle and spent his free time studying the miasmatic structures inside the slotless item.

The buckle seemed like a seed, and when it was attached to a leather belt, that seed would sprout roots that wove their way through the belt, creating nodules on the belt-loops.

Curious, Will tried attaching objects to the belt itself and not the loops, and the weight negation was drastically diminished.

Will took sketches of the miasmatic structures and when he was done experimenting, simply replaced his belt buckle, because why not?

After a few minutes, Will switched back, because not being able to feel the tomahawk on his belt made him distinctly uncomfortable.

Eventually, he gave the buckle to Beth, who used it to decrease the weight of her gun, which was much heavier relative to her own size.

In fact, after some experimenting, she looped the belt tight around the stock and made the slugger weightless, which played strangely with the weapon’s natural inclination to resist movement.

Once everyone was dry, they set off to the 17^th Floor, where the trapped Climbers were still preparing to head back down. Will informed them that the Coil was ending and the lower floors were getting more dangerous, but they wanted to go home more than they were concerned about possibly dying, so there wasn’t much Will could do to stop them.

They gave the group some Relics and supplies before clearing another Key Site and moving on to the next Floor.

As both a Lord and a scout, Will went through the glowing orange Door to the 18^th Floor first.

Going from the chilly grasslands of the 17^th Floor, the temperature increased by a few degrees, but the moisture did as well. Will was in a young forest, the sun was high overhead, There was a muggy smell of rot.

Will’s nose tingled and he idly rubbed it.

The tingle came back and Will rubbed it harder, still keeping his eyes open for any sign of an enemy.

The tingling turned into a burning itch, which demanded Will’s attention.

What the…

The tingle spread from his nose into his nasal passages and down into his lungs, causing him to double over with a harsh cough.

Will summoned his internal map as he felt pressure begin to build in his face.

What is going on!?

Nodules inside Will’s lungs were visibly growing, where specks of dust so small that he wouldn’t have been able to see them with his naked eyes had stuck in the mucus membranes.

These rapidly growing nodules extended through his sinuses, and when he had take a breath to cough with his mouth, it had gotten in his mouth and lungs.

I’m going to choke to death.

Will spotted the other doors open only a few seconds behind him on his map, watching as the others stepped through.

“Don’t breathe!” Will shouted with the last bit of his voice before it was choked off.

Need a solution.

Will grabbed Sommahan, Jorn, Loth, and Beth, dragging them towards Mason as quickly as possible, his vision gradually turning red as his throat began to close off.

I should be able to hold my breath for over half an hour, but not even having a chance to take a breath is cutting that time down to a third.

And these growths aren’t stopping, Will thought, breaking out in a cold sweat as he watched the cancerous masses combine and gain size inside his own lungs.

Will stopped in front of Mason, whose hand was clapped over his mouth and nose.

Bad air. Will gave the climber-sign before diving into his friend’s chest, dragging everyone with him.

Will rolled to a stop in the grass field, immediately turning his attention to his inner map.

I need to cut these growths out of my lungs and restore my ability to breathe, Will thought, turning Phantom Hand’s armor into a scalpel.

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When he woke up, Will was surprised to see the roof of his own bedroom.

“How ya doing?” Loth asked.

“Did I pass out?” WILL asked.

“Yeah, you got a couple things out of your chest before you passed out. between that and you signing ‘bad air,” we figured out what was going on. I put a breathing tube in until Charnesa was able to extract all the spores and heal you.”

“Is Mason-“

“Mason is fine. You told him not to breathe the air, so he disconnected his lungs from the outside world.

“He can do that?” Will asked.

“Apparently.” Loth replied, helping Will out of bed. “He’s also hovering up where the air is thin, because the spores likely can’t go that high.”

“That sucked. Did anybody else breathe that shit in?” Will asked.

Loth shook her head. “You did your job, Will.”

“Thank the gods.” Will groaned, leaning back in the bed.

The amount of information about the tower dwindled rapidly above the 10^th Floor, and there was practically none above the 16^th.

Every new Floor they entered had a chance of killing them instantly, and it seemed as though the 18^th Floor was one of them.

“I should’ve gotten Thomas to give me a rundown of the next thirty Floors.” Will said with a groan, throwing his hand over his forehead.

What a waste.

“I don’t think he would’ve taken the time to give you one, and he might’ve refused just on the basis of needing to improve on your own.” Loth replied.

“There’s always” – Will was interrupted by a fit of coughing – “That.”

How dead would we be if Mason wasn’t here? I suppose Loth might be able to find and clear a Key Site in a single breath, but it would still be extra dangerous. Having a place to retreat to is a huge advantage.

“Did you take any samples?” Will asked.

“Obviously.” Loth said, producing a vial of dust.

To the naked eye, and even Will’s enhanced senses, it just looked like dust, but that was because the miasmatic structures were so damned small that Will could only see them when he zoomed in with his Map.

In the map, each individual mote of dust was a tightly packed waterskin of miasma, held together by a cap-like formation at the top.

“They trigger when they touch water.” Loth said. “Our insides are mostly water, soo…they’re very dangerous.”

Will sprinkled a tiny pinch of the dust on water, and watched as the ‘cap’ on the waterskin reacted to the water, dissolving into the liquid and causing the waterskin to unravel, unleashing strands of energetic magic into the water.

The water droplet itself began to writhe and bounce as it was tugged multiple directions by the unfolding magic inside it.

Will took a sketch of the cap holding the little balloon together, and labelled it ‘water activation’.

“Oh by the way, do you want your tumors?” Loth asked, holding up a water-proof leather bag that smelled faintly of blood.

Will’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t want them, but…what are you gonna do with them?” Normally, you’d just burn them, wouldn’t you? Why the nicely sealed bag?

“Experiments.” Loth replied innocently.

Given Will’s conversation with his dad, there was no way that Loth wouldn’t be curious about his physiology. She was probably going to do some kind of research one way or another.

“…alright, but you have to share the results.”

“Deal.”

“And no using them to make Abilities specifically designed to kill me.” Will said.

“I won’t do it on purpose, but it may be a byproduct.” Loth

“Mhmm.” Will grunted, sitting up and taking several deep breaths, getting used to the new scar tissue in his chest.

“I was curious,” Loth said as Will got himself standing again.

“’Bout what?” Will asked.

“Why didn’t you call your father, ‘Father’, or ‘dad’? like I hear most humans doing?” Loth asked.

“I asked him about that when I was…I wanna say nine.” Will said. “He said it was to make sure I didn’t have undue respect for authority.”

“Seems to have stuck.” Loth said.

“Mm.” Will put his shirt on and the two of them ventured back out into the world outside of Mason.

Will had never visited inside Mason before. It seemed…nice. The weather was good: Hot in the sun, cool in the shade. A pleasant summer day, for all purposes. The crops were growing nicely, the cows were placidly eating grass and there were even kids shrieking and running around wildly, which was a legitimately foreign experience inside The Tower.

The one thing that made it difficult for Will to tolerate was the black sky above, with two giant eye-holes, through which Will could see a forested expanse spreading out below them.

His inner ear protested a bit as the angle of the view through Mason’s eyes conflicted with his personal gravity, forcing him to look away from the sky before he got nauseous.

“Nice place.” Will admitted, deliberately not looking at the sky.

“Let’s go meet Sherry.” Loth said.

Mason’s wife met them at the gate to the castle built at the center.

Will faintly remembered Mason’s skinned body hanging in the center of the open air inside his inner world, so the castle here…

Yep. There it is.

Will could see in his map, Mason’s real body suspended in the center of the castle, behind several layers of security, both thick steel walls, and hard-eyed guards.

“Hi there, nice to meet you!” Sherry said, reaching around her protruding stomach to give Loth and Will enthusiastic handshakes with both of her own.

She was a wavy-haired young woman with brown hair and freckles. Her appearance reminded Will of Melissa from the orphanage, albeit not repugnant.

“Right this way! We’ve got a room set up to talk to Mason.” She said, scurrying away, and assuming Will and Loth could keep up with her ground-eating pace.

She led the two of them down a winding corridor to a room that was three halls down from Mason’s real body, connected by glowing threads of miasma to the room where his real body was housed.

There was a round table in the center with a less-disorienting copy of his vision, and there was a carved statue of Mason with some obvious audio magic on them.

“Welcome to the situation room!” The statue boomed in Mason’s voice as soon as Will and Loth sat down.

“Oh my, they didn’t start,” Sherry said, crossing her arms and resting her palm on the side of her face.

“I told you they wouldn’t.” Mason said.

“How’s the cancer?” Sammohan asked from across the table. He was wearing a bandage over his right eye.

“Temporary.” Will said, staring at the bandage.

At Will’s questioning gaze, the massive prospector spoke. “I got some of that shit in the corner of my eye. Charnessa got it out before it could spread, then gave me to one of the lower-level healers for ‘practice’. I’ll be fine in a day.”

Will nodded.

“There’s a species of indigenous mushroom-people they’ve got tools, language and fire. The only problem is they’re extremely hostile and the spores they give off are outrageously dangerous, which everyone has noticed. What should we do with them?” Jorn asked.

All eyes turned to Will.

“Nothing.” Will said. “Our job isn’t to kill these things, our job is to make it up the Tower. Let’s ride Mason to the next Key Site, hop out, and clear it.”

Beth raised a hand.

“Beth?” Will asked, acknowledging her.

“Why don’t we just ride Mason all the way up?” Beth asked. “You almost died.”

“The fixed outer members are there because there’s a small chance that something could disable Mason and/or or prevent people from leaving his inner world. We need to be able to defend Mason externally if something unexpected happens. Otherwise everyone dies the moment something unexpected happens.”

“…Ah.” Beth put her hand back down.

Not to mention, if Mason had breathed in some of those spores, he might’ve died behind all his layers of security before anyone could perform surgery. I shouldn’t bring that up to anyone except Mason, because it would scare the shit out of them if they knew how close they came to all dying today.