Chapter 312: Level Gaps

Chapter 312: Level Gaps

I looked between the four of us standing up range, then turned around to see both Vaulty and Nuralie watching with keen interest. Nuralie looked slightly disturbed, and her tail twitched from side to side while she studied Ember’s back.

“Range is clear,” I said. Grotto teleported down to the misty remains of his minion and its gear, dropped to the ground, and kicked at a puddle. He bent down and took a sniff, then gathered some of the liquid into a small glass vial. He held it up to the light, shook his head, then vanished it to somewhere else in the Closet. He then placed fingertips against his temples and looked to the sky.

“Why?” he asked the ceiling. “Why, gods, do I agree to these things?”

The rest of us took that time to walk down to see Ember’s work. I was surprised by the complete lack of a scent the golem’s liquified remains created. In my experience, when something was turned into a slurry, it created a very unpleasant aroma. I squatted down to inspect the liquid, noting that its dark color was rapidly clearing up.

“Is this stuff safe?” I asked.

“It is perhaps the safest substance imaginable,” said Grotto, kicking at the puddle again. “Ember’s attack dealt such a tremendous amount of Wicked damage that everything her arrow struck was reduced to non-existence. This residue is the universe attempting to reconcile that the golem and all of its items no longer endure in any material way. It is inert, non-reactive, sterile, and absolutely worthless. No form of containment can preserve it, and it will disappear from the physical universe in a matter of minutes.”

My eyebrows continuously rose as Grotto spoke, and I dipped my fingers into the moisture. It barely felt like anything, and a few seconds after pulling my fingers from the puddle, the liquid had disappeared from my hand. There wasn’t even the chill sensation of evaporation as the watery substance fled, since it wasn’t evaporating. It simply no longer was.

My familiar narrowed his eyes and turned to glare at me and Ember.

“I agreed to allow one of my golems to be used as a test subject because I believed that I could repair it afterwards.” He thrust his arms towards the disappearing puddle. “I cannot repair this! It is gone! All of its items–valuable items–are gone alongside it!” He threw a little tantrum in the middle of the air, which I suspected would have looked far less childish had he had feelers instead of little man limbs. “I have not even received a replacement for the last shield you people broke!”

“No. Do not attempt to explain.” He slowly made a fist in the air before him. “It was my error to assume that anyone associated with Arlo has reasonable limitations to their abilities.” He turned his glare solely to me. “That golem had a Fortitude of 46 and a Divine defense northward of 200 while blocking. It stood no chance.” He pointed at Ember while continuing to stare at me. “Endeavor to keep this woman happy. I doubt that even your engorged health pool will prove significant against her attacks.”

With a final petulant kick at the wet ground, Grotto disappeared.

“Noted,” I said to the empty air, then turned to Ember. “How are you against Shielding?”

“I do triple damage to it,” she answered.

I slowly nodded and considered how I would mitigate this type of attack. Honestly, the best response would likely be to kill or otherwise neutralize Ember before she had a chance to wreck my shit.

Ishi stepped up next to Ember. “I must say, I’m glad I avoided testing myself against this.” She waved broadly at the mess, already noticeably smaller than when it was created. “I assume there are trade-offs for being able to kill with this level of efficiency.”

“Of course,” the archer replied. “My Divine Magic and Marksmanship are extremely high, but my other intrinsics suffer for it. I focus on Strength, and the blood gear I use benefits from that by relying on Heavy Armor. I can take a hit or two, but can’t stand up to a dedicated damage dealer for long. My best defense is to kill them before they can kill me.”

“Groups? AoE?”

“No real area of effect,” said Ember. “But if I kill something, I get a massive attack speed bonus for one additional attack. It gets kind of crazy as long as I can chain kills. Groups of weaker enemies may as well not even exist. I can instant-kill most elites and bosses I’ve run into. My biggest weakness is going to be a dodge-focused speedster or high-damage stealth fighter who singles me out.”

“Those frequently come bundled in the same Delver,” I said.

“Debuffs?” asked Ishi.

“My Toxicity threshold is good, and Bleeding heals me.”

“Uh, what?” I asked. “How’s that make sense?”

“When my blood flows across my wounds, it heals me,” she said. “I have total control of my blood both inside and outside of my body, so having it removed from my veins doesn’t hurt me at all. A puncture or slash that results in Bleeding simply allows my blood easier access to the wound.” She held up her arm, and the blood armor began to slide back into an opening in her wrist. “There’s also some magic bullshit mixed in that helps.”

“Mental debuffs?” asked Ishi.

Ember waggled her hand in the air. “I’m not helpless, but it’s not my best defense.”

Drift stepped into the discussion with arms spread. “Good thing I’m here, then,” he said with a smile. “I’ll keep you covered for mind attacks. I also have top-class perception, so rogues trying to make it past me will be facing a heroic challenge. I hear that we’ve got a good frontline to draw attention from the less stealthy damage dealers, so your weaknesses are covered.”

“There is the question of our level difference,” said Ishi. “Your build and skills are impressive, but we’ll be forced to challenge Delves at my level since I am the highest in the party. You’ll forever be locked behind me by four levels, which creates a weak point within the group.”

Drift wrapped a protective arm over Ember’s shoulders. “Come now, Princess, don’t write off our newfound killer yet. I’m also a few levels behind Your Highness, and Ember has even explained to us how we can address the level differential.”

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“Oh?” said Ishi.

I stroked my beard. “You think you can handle it with a Labyrinth?”

“Exactly so,” Drift said, dropping his arm from Ember and beginning to pace. “Although our new archer friend stole a bit of my thunder with her tale, I am privy to the location of a Labyrinth that would suit our emerging group quite nicely.” He tilted his head toward me. “It would be within Fortune’s Folly’s level range as well, and as Ember’s macabre tale attests, friendly relations with other parties will be crucial while inside.”

“Putting aside the location of such a Labyrinth,” said Ishi, “how would it work to resolve our level difference?”

“In a normal Delve, there is a specific level requirement, and on rare occasions, a very narrow range. While being Level 21, Princess Ishi must enter a Delve of Level 22 or higher to advance. Further, she’s barred from even entering a lower-level Delve. Thus, the princess cannot enter a Level 18 Delve alongside Ember. Ember, at Level 17, however, can enter a higher-level Delve alongside the princess to gain a level reward, such as the aforementioned Level 22 Delve. Doing so would only raise Ember to Level 18, while Ishi’s next Delve would need to be Level 23. This is our conundrum, yes?”

He waited for the rest of us to acknowledge that we were following before he continued.

“Labyrinths have broad level ranges, rather than a specific fixed level like a normal Delve. For example, the Labyrinth that Ember conquered was Level 10 to Level 18, unless I am mistaken?” He stopped to glance at Chalgoth’s disciple, who nodded in confirmation. “Further, Labyrinth obelisks do not distribute their reward levels to everyone inside the Labyrinth, only those who ‘claim’ a specific obelisk. This gives us a situation where Princess Ishi can enter a Delve alongside Ember that is the correct level for both of them, and then pass on obelisks that Ember takes, allowing our deadly sniper to catch up.

“The first obelisk would raise Ember to Level 18,” Drift continued. “At the second and third obelisk, both Ember and I would accept the reward, raising us both to Level 20. At the fourth obelisk, Ember, me, and Joma all accept the reward, putting us all at Level 21 alongside Your Highness.” He looked over my shoulder at Vaulty. “With the exception of our large Spectral friend, but we’ll sort him out once we know what level he’s assigned. After all of that, we can make our exit or continue onwards depending on how we feel.”

Ishi tapped a finger against her thigh as she thought. “Do we know for certain that other party members can bypass the obelisk?”

“Ember was a party of one,” said Drift. “If anything, we can temporarily disband and reform the party depending on our needs.”

“You could form the party alongside other people trying to level,” I added. “Ember could party with Fortune’s Folly, while one member of Fortune’s Folly parties with Team Princess. Fortune’s Folly gets the first level, then adds Drift to the party, then Joma, rotating people in and out of the other slots to keep everyone in Folly at the same level.”

“The math doesn’t quite add up, but we can make it work somehow,” said Ishi. “That leaves the question of where this Labyrinth is.”

“Why, fair lad and lasses,” said Drift. “It’s in the Less-Than-Habitable Forest. Where else could it be?”

“Interesting,” I said. “Why haven’t I heard of this from the Littans?”

“First, you’re interacting with the Littans in a very formal, official way,” said Drift, sounding bored at the thought. “It’s all by the books and above board. While I am certain someone within the Imperial military knows of the Labyrinth, who’s to say that the officials managing you are in the know? And even if they are, what’s to be gained by telling you?”

“So where’d the info come from?”

“The people who were here before the Littan military ever arrived,” said Drift. “The Krimsim Independent Delver Syndicate!”

“Their acronym is KIDS?” I asked with some skepticism. I’d heard of the independent Delvers from Tavio, but hadn’t looked too deeply into them.

“I don’t think they use an acronym,” said Drift. “There’s also the issue of translation, so it’s not the same letters in Imperial.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said, with no intention of letting the acronym go. “Weren’t these KIDS run out of business once the military stepped in?”

“More like the KIDS had a business model change,” said Drift.

“No more lemonade stands?”

“They essentially became guides and expert consultants, rather than–” I saw some indecision war on the Ravvenblaq’s features, before he decided to go with the flow. “Rather than going out to harvest the lemons themselves. Why lemonade stands, specifically?”

“Easy way to teach kids about capitalism, but it sounds like these KIDS got a taste of the communist command economy.”

“Right…”

“Government came in and took the lemonade stands right from under their noses.”

“I’ve lost the thread here,” said Ember.

Ishi leaned in and spoke to her quietly. “Arlo’s told me this one before. I believe the lemons are a metaphor for bootstraps.”

“What do bootstraps have to do with anything?”

“Pulling on the bootstraps produces income. If pulled hard enough, it is enough income for material prosperity.”

“Anyway,” I said, “you shook these KIDS down for information on the Labyrinth.”

“I paid the KIDS for the information with goods and future favors.”

“All right, let’s say it’s good info. What’s the level range?”

“It accepts Delvers between levels 16 and 23.”

“Where in the Forest is it?”

“That part is unclear,” said Drift.

“The Forest is as large as the entire Littan Empire,” I said. “Knowing there’s a Labyrinth inside without getting the location is like being told there’s a diamond buried on the moon. Not super helpful.”

“Well, the Forest is more accessible than the moon,” said Drift.

“Speak for yourself.”

Drift tilted his head in confusion; whatever point he was going to make derailed, but he let the statement go unchallenged. He knew I’d been to the moon, and for all he knew, I could go back whenever I wanted.

“There are a handful of Delvers who report receiving a notification to enter the Labyrinth, but no one has accepted it,” he said. “It was received in a few places throughout the Forest when the KIDS were first scouting, after the phase transition. All of them occurred while deeper inside, further than the current Littan operations have been allowing people to explore.”

“And what’s your plan for getting deep enough into the Forest to prompt the notification for yourself?” I asked.

“Well, the Littans claim to control access to the Forest, but nobody else in the world recognizes that as legitimate. We could simply stroll inside, and so long as we don’t trespass on Littan soil to get there, any attempts to stop us would quickly become a political ‘incident’.” Drift grimaced. “Nobody wants that, however, so I thought it would be easier to simply bribe the King of Closetland.”

“Oho? And what are you bribing me to do?”

“The way I have heard it, the Littans have not just asked for Fortune’s Folly to assist in their pacification efforts of the Forest, but for the whole of Closetland to lend her aid to the empire. I believe that Princess Ishi’s newly formed party would be an excellent support team for Closetland’s endeavors in this regard.”

“I can probably get you into the Forest as part of Closetland’s pseudo-mercenary forces, sure,” I said. “What’s the bribe?”

“You’ll never guess,” he said, leaning forward. “But I happen to have heard there’s a secret Labyrinth inside the Forest. Such useful intelligence is invaluable, as you know.”

“Bold of you to try and bribe me with something you’ve already given me.”

“Bold of you to assume I’ve told you more than a bare fraction of what I know.”

“Even bolder for you to presume that your party leader is okay with this type of backroom dealing.”

“It would be, had she and I not been communicating in secret this entire time.”

“Touché, Lord Ravvenblaq.”

“As you say, King Xor’Drel.”

“Now kiss!” shouted Nuralie from afar.

All four of us turned to look at the loson, who was still helping Vaulty repair his primary golem frame.

“What? All this tension needs some sort of release.” Pause. “It is not healthy otherwise.”