Kopius awoke to being slapped in the face. His eyes jolted open but when he tried to sit up pain shot through his left side like a lightning bolt. Cici, for the fourth or fifth time now–he wasn't sure–stood over Kopius like someone peering down an open manhole. The big guy stretched out his hand but Kopius declined. Instead he rolled to his side, removed a healing potion and drank. For good measure, he poured the last bit on his chest where the stinger had entered.

On his back again, the healing functions of the potion took action. He closed his eyes and breathed through the remaining bits of agony. His wounds closed and he could feel the uncomfortable twists and distortions his insides performed while they mended. Once it was all complete, Kopius was able to sit up with a grunt and then stand up with an assist from the big man.

His left shoulder area was stiff and exceedingly sore, like he had just pitched nine straight innings. As Kopius tried to stretch the stiffness away he looked around his setting. Down the path, the way they had been running, the trail continued to weave through the Spires. Up the path, near the slope Kopius had tumbled down, was a slain redwhip; looking more asleep than defeated.

It's only defect was the kneecap Cici had pummeled. If the thing were to spasm or jerk in any fashion, surely one of the two men would soil themselves. The redwhips tail was on the other side of its body so the thing just felt alive still. It wasn't until Kopius looked over at Cici who had sat on a nearby boulder, that his memory came back in flashes.

On the ground, at Cici's feet, was his short sword and the severed end of the redwhips tail. Kopius was drawn over to the stinger and examined it as though it were a precious artifact. At two and a half feet in length and three inches wide, the redwhip stinger had the appearance of a broadsword long abused but a tip sharpened daily. The flat sides were marred with numerous dents, dings and scratches. Where the pointy end of the stinger could play pincushions with a boulder, the thin sides were blunt–still dangerous. The dried red streaks caused phantom pain to return to his injury.

"Honestly, lad," Cici began, gesturing to the slain beast, "I felt your tactics in Escher were commendable, remarkable really." He mimicked Kopius using one skeleton to beat the others with. "But this, this was a masterful stroke my friend. How did you know?"

"Know what?" Kopius replied slowly.

"That this beauty here," he kicked at the stinger, "Could do that right there?" He finished by pointing to the redwhip.

Kopius took a second to respond. As he looked between the slain beast and the stinger, the rest of what had transpired finally flashed in his memory. He chuckled despite the last several minutes of chaos. Mr. Incredible he was not; despite that, he had just had his own personal Omnidroid experience.

"I think this falls into the 'better lucky than good' category," Kopius eventually answered; a common phrase his grandfather would use that was both confusing yet applicable for many situations.

Cici was unimpressed by the explanation. He stood up–Celeste in hand–approached the redwhip and, with a mighty swing brought the weapon crashing down. The astralsilicate cracked against the exo-skeleton, its echo raced around but left only a blemish on its surface.

The Bard pointed at the mark in borderline disgust, seeming to shield his weapon from the outcome. Before the two needed some alone time Cici returned his weapon to his back, retrieved the stinger and plunged it into the redwhip as if he were planting a conquering flag.

It pierced the carapace and was removed using two hands–and a bit of strength. Cici performed the act a few times to prove his point. All Kopius could do was shrug. Before any debate or explanation could occur the big man peered inside the holes he had created. Something caught his attention.

Cici eventually made one hole large enough for him to reach an arm through. He removed one of his thigh knives, reached in the hole, wormed and wiggled a bit before pulling out a large chunk of redwhip meat.

Kopius involuntarily gagged as bits of guts and innards dripped from the hunk of flesh, sloshing to the ground. Cici at least had the decency to rinse the thing off before storing it in his Infannity pack.

"Dinner!" The big man shouted, holding up the slab of meat before it went into his inventory.

Kopius gave him a weary thumbs up and settled his gut.

He took a sip of his water, remarking that the redwhip didn't seem as big now that it wasn't standing. It still had the dimensions of a midsize truck but was several feet shorter given the collapsed legs.

Kopius had gotten lucky; dumb-lucky. There were so many factors that had to play out in order for him to survive that he just stopped thinking about it. He absently rubbed at his healed wound before a light bulb went off in his head.

He shook his head, pulled up his profile and smiled despite himself: he had leveled up. To add to his delight, there was a single green tick on the Summary tab. He mentally clicked on that and then on the Unresolved tab where the next green tick was present.

Inside that area were two notifications, both had a green tick in the upper right corner of the text box. It reminded Kopius of the old achievement indicators from Call of Duty. The ones where hunting down the thing you unlocked was practically as difficult as the challenge that was completed to get it. He clicked on both before allowing his thoughts to stray further into that particular grab bag of rage quits.

{NX: If you can't hold on +.25 END}

{NX: why even carry a weapon Improvised Strike LV3 +.25 DUC, +.25 RCT}

No longer concerned with the drop-shotting, no-scoping, pre-jumping, glitch-baiting assholes of that particular FPS; Kopius' smile grew with the added achievements. With three more points to place in his Attributes, he all but forgot about having just been skewered and waved like a rally flag.

"What favorable thoughts might you be having lad?" Cici prodded when he saw his friend's face light up.

"I leveled up," Kopius replied, his thousand yard stare focused on his profile.

"I would hope so!" The big man returned to his sitting rock. "Single-handedly slaying a fully grown redwhip–they sing songs about feats like that."

As the idea pressed on the big man, he removed his note taking items but put them away at Kopius's protest. There was no need to introduce this particular ballad to any kind of melody–ever.

"Some songs are better left unsung," Kopius responded, closing his profile. He pulled at his arm some more before changing the subject. "What does DUC stand for?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"What's what, lad?"

"For Attributes," he clarified, "I remember Oh-jin saying RES was Resistance but what's DUC?"

"Oh, yes–that. Deduction, I believe."

Deduction? Kopius wondered with a scowl. I really need to read those books…

Cici removed the stinger from its lodging inside the redwhip and then spiked it in the ground by Kopious. He gestured at the thing, so Kopius picked it up. It was heavy, needing two hands to keep it from teetering. Eventually he held it like a prized fish just caught, though lost in thought over the material that it consisted of. Was it bone, or metal, an alloy…

"Kopius," Cici stated, breaking his friend's wonder. "We should get going. Still a ways to the cave. It's not far but it ain't close either."

"Sounds good," Kopius said standing, placing the stinger in his last open spot in his ring. "What about the rest of it?"

"What of it?"

"The skin, the exo-skeleton," Kopius answered, like it was obvious.

Cici shrugged.

"Won't it make great armor–or something?"

He just shrugged again.

Kopius let the matter drop. The stinger had to have some value or functionality, besides, even if there was a use for the rest of the redwhip he was out of inventory space. A fact that gave him an odd hint of claustrophobia. It was a silly feeling but it sat on him; a noticeable weight. To ease his fragile mind, Kopius removed the applewax ball from his ring and placed it in his backpack. Placated, he was able to move on. The two hit the trail with a little more gusto than before.

"I want to learn this spell," Kopius protested on the walk as the two discussed point allocation. He waved the spellbook of Shock Treatment around as if that would further support his point.

"Do what you will, lad," Cici responded. The big man wasn't in the business of how others used their points. "I was only reminding you of what you said before; balance and whatnot."

"This would actually make my numbers more balanced," Kopius said after a quick look at his Attributes.

{Attributes: STR14, INT10, DEX15}

"It brings my Intelligence to thirteen. I'd be two away from being able to use this." He slapped the book one more time and then returned it to his inventory.

"Have you read the whole book?"

"No."

"You've started it then?"

Kopius cleared his throat. "No."

Cici laughed. "Spellbooks aren't Scrolls lad. They have to be read first."

Kopius had conveniently glossed over that part of Julz's explanation. Though Scrolls and Tomes could do damage, they were more functional offensive magic rather than destructive–when compared to a Spellbook. She had used an example with the Flare spell.

A Scroll of Flare would create fire; it could be used on a target at a short distance but the target wouldn't be killed by the fire. It could–its just that it would require more mana than most people can cultivate in a year; though that is besides the point. The target would get injured but not slain; or even maimed. A Spellbook of Flare–leveled up–could encase a foe in a fire storm. Leaving nothing but the shadow of the victim burned into the ground.

"I'll start reading it tonight," Kopius finally responded.

"We'll see about that."

The two men laughed.

They kept walking. Kopius opened his profile and invested his three accelerators into INT. His brain twitched, spasmed and his eyes oddly refocused. The sensations came and went in an instant leaving behind the impression of a higher mind.

I don't feel any smarter, he lamented; looking over his body for a physical change that might have occurred. That's when he saw it.

"Awww man," Kopius spat, seeing the condition of his new shirt. He stopped walking. His gaze honed in on his pants. "Fucking hell!"

"I was wondering when you would notice," Cici laughed.

To begin with, the left shoulder of his shirt had a five inch slice through the front and back; he was aware of this. There were some other marks or stains, a few splotches of now dried puke but otherwise unblemished on the front. The back right side was a different story.

His brand new gear–custom made gear–, –hell, Cory didn't own a single piece of custom made anything, ever, and Kopius is over here like he has a seamstress in his pocket–looked as if it had been melted and torn. His pants had the same burned out blotted complexion, all running down his back pant leg like he had just shat himself.

"When Savil said they would repair the gear," Cici began, gesturing at the mess. "I don't think it was meant as a challenge."

Kopius laughed despite the condition of his new gear. In a moment of dread he removed his new cloak and examined its pristine surface for any of the same blemishes. He was both relieved and surprised that it had avoided any damage.

"Must have happened when I slid through that acid." Kopius said more to himself than Cici.

"You probably shouldn't do that anymore," Cici replied.

"I'll keep that in mind," Kopius answered and put the cloak back on. He looked over his ruined gear one more time and they moved on.

Roughly a mile into their journey the pair veered down a more narrow passage. Where they had been walking in relatively open space was now a single file path through a stalagmite infested scenery. The area was littered with the things; countless protruding stone spears jutting out everywhere except the straight path they walked now.

The rock formations–wannabe Spires–stood no taller than ten feet, no thicker than the trunk of a palm tree. The closer they were to an actual Spire, the taller they appeared; many even running up the Spires themselves. Cici's hammer could fell any one of them with a swing, more if they were any in reach.

Bleak would be an apt description. The jagged nature of the Spires with the now added mindfield of the teeth-like stalagmites gave off desolate, post-dystopia vibes. If someone were to replace a quarter of the stones with plants, things wouldn't seem so glum. Absent any immediate gardening, they continued to scootch down the trail.

The two Spires looked to reach the clouds as the two passed in between them like stray alley cats. Of the many tall Spires within Joatsu, these two were the tallest and the closest in proximity to each other. They were not themselves of the same height but towered over the landscape nonetheless. A day prior, when they had seen the Spires across Escher Pass these were the two peaks they had seen.

The pass through gave Kopius 'Iron Maiden' vibes–and not the good kind either. The pointed stalagmites littering both sides of the trail and up the sides of each Spire were menacing. As though the whole place would close in on them in a gruesome puncturing-type death, all before swallowing them whole.

"This is nice," Kopius remarked to break the silence.

"The place brightens up a bit," Cic answered with a knowing laugh. "Just up through here."

Five minutes of walking later and the two emerged to a small basin wedged inside the base of multiple Spires. Opposite them now, a short distance away, the rocky formations resembled a traditional mountain with a single peak but its wide base blocked any way forward. If it were not for a large opening at the base of the mountain, they would have come to a dead end–unless they wanted to put their climbing Skills to the test.

Only shadows remained in the dry gully. Patches of wild grass and bushes were sparsely distributed in the space roughly the size of a major league baseball field. The way the ground all slanted towards the center and the more rounded nature of the rocks gave the impression that a pocket of water existed here at one point long ago.

The sun had begun its downward ark, taking the star behind the two towering Spires behind them. Even though it was more mid-afternoon, the place looked like night would be upon them soon. Even the cave across the way was in a lazy shadow.

"We'll make our way across." Cici said, vaguely gesturing across the small expanse. "Set up camp inside the Hall."

"That's the Hall of–whoever? The sculptor guy?" Kopius asked.

"Dashwrath."

"Yeah, that guy."

"That, it is."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.