Chapter Twenty Five

"Ambrosia, let me sleep you demon!" Reality sunk in. Her inky black alarm toad continued to tug at her arm and Ambrosia might as well be a world away. "I know I told you not to let me sleep in, but why did you have to listen to me?"

Her wake-up routine barely took the edge off. Late nights since she got here were normally not an issue. This time she'd clearly pushed too far. Tyler had the right idea, though his forced rest was coming in the form of an evolutionary cocoon for his half-step body.

Some of that exhaustion came from paying contribution points to Owlsley for more information on body types and half-step bodies. They were getting mercenary with their time, even Milo billed her for the contribution of his astral spirit during the healing.

The information was valuable. Her vital body was unexplored, except for the shocking increase in strength. Titled pre-evolution bodies were the dream for many, and why so many tourists tried the meat grinder that Nae's Garden could be, as even the weakest possibility of a field body was stronger than most half-step options that could be acquired after evolution. A basic benefit was some level of strength, speed, regeneration, and toughness improvement, and additionally improving one's body allowed a deeper connection and greater benefits as a person progressed in their class and profession which is why they felt it might save Kenny.

Owlsley dug for a hint on what kind of body Harmony received by asking about the traits of the known rewards from Nae's Garden, but all that revealed was that Owlsley didn't know a vital body was one of the options given when certain requirements were met on an unevolved's solo climb. She did reveal the name of a book to look into. Corin Caidence, To Climb a Tower - Records of a Garden's Bodies at Work.

Setting up the contribution rewards from the competition took longer as it was suggested that outside of ranking, points could be earned based on knowledge brought about by the Sacred Valley and opposing teams. New tasks were added, such as mapping out areas for resources and establishing communication with other tribes.

Stepping out of her makeshift shelter, the rest of their tribe was already around the fire that held the stew pot, and calling it a pot was generous. The spider's carapaces were fire resistant enough that when crafted into a bowl and filled with water you could cook in them. Water, spider meat, a few roots, and fish became meals that a naturalist declared edible and nutritionally sufficient for most humans. Edible didn't mean you wanted to eat it, but they'd found a work around that. One piece of the all-meal bar gave a watered-down version of the flavor enhancement. More than one and you could pretend it was something else.

Taking a bowl made from one of the smaller spiders, Harmony ate without looking at what was in the bowl and she could almost pretend she was eating porridge and scrambled eggs with maybe a bite of fruit.

"How's our fearless leader faring this morning?" Malick Barrington asked.

The earthmover was the primary crafter of shelters in their little community. He'd been grabbed from the audience like Garteth had. Still, unlike the bookie who was there by happenstance, Malik had rushed to Naewauld hoping to meet the requirements, which he did, but never managed to grab one of the twenty-five slots. Still, fate or luck allowed him his chance anyway.

"Afraid of what I'll do if I run into the swordsman who cut down one of my tribe. Hopefully, Kenny will live so I don't have to go with some of the more extreme options I have for handling him."

"I say kill him. Nobody would blame you." Quipped another contestant over their meal.

People certainly would. She hadn't forgotten the scrying they were under that Adric saw. The man was from the Broken Isles and killing him might create an interkingdom incident. Or it could spark a war among the tribes here. More enemies were exactly what she didn't need. But the tribe needed a sign of commitment it was being dealt with. "I was planning on talking to Felix myself, but if you're volunteering I can put a bounty on the contribution list.

"I was only expressing frustration. I'm not crazy enough to lose my head. Most kingdoms sent people expendable on some level in case this ended up being a death game. No one would blame you for putting down someone aiming to make this that kind of event. It's not against the rules and might even bring a title. What we do here will help set the standards for Ascendant Games to come. You're strong enough to put fear into the man though." Malick finished.

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Malick was a good bit taller and was a wall of muscle. "What makes you say that?" Harmony asked.

"Oh, your friend Tyler gave a good speech on why you'd be a good leader. Well, maybe not a good speech, but when we heard you'd soloed the tower for a body title, we knew you could probably strong-arm your way to running the camp. Getting a title from the Garden happens maybe once every few years.."

"I thought all the tourists run the tower alone?"

"They all try until they do a team run in the end. It's nice to be able to talk about it without the border seal on our mouths. Got stripped in the transport here, only Ascendant Games seals allowed."

"What do your kingdoms not want us to know?"

"Ha, our kingdoms? It's yours that requires it of everyone entering your tiny kingdom. Loses you a bunch of business as well, with all the items we can't sell. The charter keeps us out of local politics, local economics, and local education."

That little revelation had Harmony speechless enough that Malik moved on. One problem at a time. Today was a rest day. Which meant she was going to tackle the obelisk again and the necromantic message hidden within.

Filled up, Harmony made her way to the lakeshore. Loap was there as usual taking notes and muttering to herself. "Shouldn't you be watching over Tyler?"

"Nothing to do there, Royal White. He'll gain his half-hop form or not. I have faith in my little jester. Now this." She gestured to the obelisk. "Is a challenge I'm ready to tackle."

Harmony had shared what scribbles she captured from her time looking at it with the linguist, but Loap had said she didn't recognize it from anywhere. Like it was incomplete.

One theory Harmony had was that she wasn't seeing far enough into the manufactured container. Treating Kenny had inspired her to look toward another option. If the pillar could contain death, why couldn't it contain life?

Harmony dived into her soul sight, the improvements she'd made more noticeable. Eventually, when the seals were lifted it would take the painted world she saw and add more depth to explore. Already she could shift deeper into it even without the crispness of before. Now she added the experience of comparing the living and dead she'd gained as she'd spent a long time elbow-deep inside the kid trying to keep him from passing into an unrecoverable death. Much of that was that the ripped-up container and where the living matter of his soul slipped into the active deadened area that was usually repowered inside undead constructs.

Here the living added the missing bits, she could almost make out a letter or word. They overlapped to complete the puzzle. Maybe if she worked with someone attuned to life? Their healer contingent was so poor, but maybe someone here had a talent related to seeing life? Who was she kidding? There was a simpler solution.

Harmony had Hyacinth swim her up close again. The stone was both warm and cold under her fingers. One was a fluctuation of cold and heat, but deeper was the fire of life and cold emptiness of death. Life and death in balance to tell a message if one worked together, impossible to read without teamwork, was that the goal of the Ascendant Games? Teamwork? Three tribes of people working together? Maybe they were meant to all work together? No in the end there can only be one. With the spirit of that in mind, Harmony let herself kill the living half of the message.

The message wasn't as alive as a person was. It didn't have the protections people had that made it difficult to kill people outside of the bounds of skills You couldn't go into someone and [Manipulate Dead] their guts or floating bits of dead cells in their body to shred them. You couldn't heal someone in the wrong way, causing tumors or physical imbalance. A fireball needed to be shot at someone and couldn't be formed inside someone's body even if you had your hand on their bare chest.

[Disintegrate] - [Cold Touch] - [Final Silence] seeped in with no natural resistance that a fully formed person had. Under her touch, it died. The inklings of life ripped up as any heat was snuffed out and sounds extinguished as she laid it to rest with a finality. The stone started to bleed.

Hyacinth's light grunt alerted Harmony when Loap hopped onto him. The beast kin cocked her head to the side letting her long floppy ears swing with it and started to read, "The passage has opened. All should beware. When you ascend you run the risk of falling. When you play a game you can always lose. When you reach into the void, be careful of what escapes." After a contemplative pause, she giggled before commentating. "Well, that's not ominous at all."

The Ascendant Games' difficulty has increased, but so have the prizes. Do you wish to continue or flee? Continue / Flee?

Harmony glared at the new notification in front of her. "Bloody hells."

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