Ultimate Level 1

Max should have been excited that they were all D-Rank adventurers now. The guild had verified that they were now the next rank after the assistance they gave the guards with the bandits.

“So tell me what I am missing,” Max pleaded as Fowl ignored him, sipping on his second ale and listening to the music played in the main dining room.

Batrire motioned for Tanila to take the lead.

“Every time we complete a task, kill a monster, turn in a trophy, or clear a dungeon, those acts give our gods power,” she explained. As she spoke, she took a handful of silver coins and set them on the table in a pile. “Imagine this stack of coins is energy from our world. When we do something in the name of our god, energy gets moved to them.”

Tanila took three coins from her larger pile and placed them apart.

“Your god is Phaius, so every time you do something for him,” she paused, taking another silver coin off the large pile and putting it by the single coin she had just placed, “he gets stronger. When I do something, Thuyja gets the energy.”

Slowly, Tanila took the coins and spread them out from her big pile into the three groups.

“Now, I cannot tell you where the energy that produces the towers, the dungeons, and everything else comes from. Only a few probably know that, and it's something they aren’t willing to share.”

“What if my god isn’t Phaius?” Max asked in a quiet voice.

Batrire scowled, reached over, and plucked a few coins from the stack Tanila had mentioned was his. She moved them off to the side and placed them away from the main three stacks.

“That’s a dangerous statement, but if that was true, that god would get something for your efforts.”

Tanila shook her head and returned the coins to the stack Batrire had taken them from.

“That isn’t possible,” she stated, her voice taking on a disapproving tone. “We both know that kind of talk cannot be had in the open.”

Max glanced around the room and saw the number of people enjoying their food and drink. The noise was loud enough that none of their conversation could be overheard. Then, his skill began picking up other tables' conversations as he concentrated.

“She’s right,” Max said, tapping his ears. “I was foolish to forget that.”

Grunting, Batrire shrugged and leaned against the booth.

“Now the tower is different.”

Tanila took all the coins and put them into one pile again. Slowly, she began to split them into two piles. Sometimes, one to one and sometimes two to one.

“The tower is where you earn power for yourself. Your god still gets some. It is also a chance for you to become something greater. The higher up you make it…” She paused, using her hand to sweep the remaining original pile into the stack meant for a person. “It all goes to you.”

Max sat there, looking at the pile she had created, and felt the hunger inside him beginning to grow. Knowing that the tower would provide him with even more strength ignited a flame he had not realized was there.

“Are you ok?”

Max took his eye off the pile of coins and looked at Tanila. He saw a concerned expression and knew something must be different.

“Yeah. Hearing what you said made me want to get to the tower as quickly as possible.” He tapped his chest slowly. “It’s like something inside me wants to get there sooner rather than later.”

Tanila nodded, glancing at Batrire, who frowned.

“We have a long way to go before that. Besides, we still have to look for a healer for your eye and start considering which faction we might want to join when we hit level thirty-five.”

Seeing the confused look on Max’s face, she couldn’t help but groan.

“Do they not teach you humans anything?”

Max shrugged and leaned over the table. “Some of us missed the training class, remember?”

Scowling, Tanila picked up her tankard and took a long drink.

“She’s right,” Batrire interjected. “ You’re like a babe who just got off its mother’s teat. Still, so much you don’t know about.”

The sound of Tanila’s tankard hitting on the table brought his attention back to her.

“Forget that for now. We can worry about that later. Just know that the four of us will need to join the same Faction if we want to group together. Being that we are a party of three different races, it will automatically prevent us from joining six of the twelve.”

“Some don’t intermix?”

She nodded and shrugged. “Just like you ran into some of my kind who don’t like you, there are dwarves and humans with the same mindset.”

“That’s because each race is full of idiots,” Fowl said, breaking his silence. “I’ve seen it all, and by no means are any of them right. That’s what I like about you, Seth. You don’t care about any of that stuff.”

Both women nodded, and Max smiled.

“Ok, so plans for tomorrow, find a healer for my eye and pick a dungeon we want to explore.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You expect me to believe you don’t have a dungeon picked out already?”

Max grinned at Fowl and then elbowed him.

“Well, I was doing some studying as we rode here. I would like to try fighting a few creatures and monsters.”

Pulling a notebook out of his storage, Max laid it on the table and opened it up to the pages he had been writing on.

“Here is my small list.”

Batrire scoffed, trying to read the list upside down. “Small list, my arse, that things like eight pages long.”

Turning the book so the other three could read it, Max nodded.

“I tried to take into account that there are multiple dungeons in all of the different quarters of this capital.”

Tapping the list, Max pointed to a second column he had written.

“Are those skills?” Fowl gasped louder than he had intended and then covered his mouth.

Max nodded and tapped a few of the top ones.

“Low level…” Tanila whispered. “Those are low-level monsters.”

“So my thought was that each day, I would try to run a few of the smaller dungeons before we started. That would give me a chance to see what I might acquire.”

Fowl scratched his beard as he nodded. The grimace on his face showed that he was a bit pained by the idea.

“Seems a tad unfair, but it’s smart. I mean, real smart.”

Max’s smile grew more prominent as he nodded faster. “Exactly. If I can get lucky, think of how much this would help in the coming dungeons.”

“May I?” Tanila asked.

Max let go of the book as she pulled it toward her and Batrire, flipping through the pages as they scanned them.

Each of them would tap on a line before nodding at the other and sliding down the list.

“You seriously planned out all the way through level fifty. I mean, that's… impressive.”

Batrire looked at Max and then at Fowl.

“Why can’t you be this smart?”

Fowl coughed and held up his hands. “I’m sorry the gods didn’t…” he lowered his voice and motioned at Max, “give me the same thing.”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” she replied, tapping the book. “You should start planning our dungeons like this. He mapped out which ones are going to be harder and easier based on our current skill choices.”

Wincing, Max felt Fowl glaring at him for a moment. “Way to help a brother out,” Fowl growled before picking up his tankard and guzzling the rest of his drink.

“Can I have my book back before I get into trouble?”

The woman relented and passed it back to Max, who quickly closed and stored it.

“Alright. So tomorrow morning, have breakfast, and then find a healer. Sound good?”

Everyone agreed with him.

“With that settled, if you will all excuse me,” Max said as he slid out of the booth. “I have a date with a bathtub.”

Batrire and Tanila both started moving to get out of the booth.

“Why ya all rushing off?” Fowl grumbled. “It’s just a bathtub.”

The three of them just laughed, ignoring Fowl’s ignorance.

There was no time like the present to enjoy warm water in a stone bathtub.

The morning started with a fantastic breakfast that left the four full.

Alexander had given them each a small snack to take with them, a little treat for their one-month commitment. He also had given them directions to three different healers on this side of town that might be able to help with Max’s eye.

“I’m sorry, sir, but as much as I would like to guarantee it would be like before, the damage is very extensive.”

Max held back the frustration he felt. The other two healers had said the same thing. While impressed with how well his eye had healed and the fact it had not rotted or fallen out, no one felt they could repair it outside of a very rare item or tonic found only inside the tower. Something like that was typically valued at over one thousand gold because it could also regrow limbs.

“Had it been a few fingers or perhaps even a hand, a regeneration potion made from the troll boss could have done that. Or if…” The elf paused as Max turned and looked at him. “I don’t want to say it's definite, but had you taken the potion right after losing the eye, it might have grown back, but even then…”

“There is no guarantee...”

The healer nodded and put his hand on Max’s shoulder.

“The fact that you have lived this long with that injury is a testament to your skill and power. I would recommend considering if this life is a wise choice. Eventually, that injury will put you in a bad situation that could cost you your life or, even worse, the lives of your allies.”

“That bad?” Fowl asked.

“Just like the other two,” Max replied. “It was worth trying, but at least I now know there is an elixir in the tower that can possibly fix it.”

“So in a year or two, you won’t be so ugly?”

Max smiled and nodded. “Yup. Soon enough, people will stop thinking we are twins.”

“Elf tits! Get that raptor!”

Max raced towards the raptor that had broken off from the pack, trying to rip Fowl’s body apart.

The red and brown raptor raced toward Tanila, who summoned an air wall, causing the creature to slam into it and stagger momentarily.

As it shook its head to clear its loss of focus, Max tossed his spear, sending it through the creature's body completely.

It shrieked, turning to face Max as he ran toward it, a sword now in his hand. It leaped at Max, the massive talons on its feet spread wide as they collided, his shield against those dagger-like talons.

The raptors weren’t strong, speed being their biggest strength. Max grinned as he hacked both feet off the raptor, its shrieks and wails echoing as it fell to the ground.

“Coming!”

Max ignored the thrashing on the ground, knowing it wouldn’t be a threat. Those small front arms and claws had no reach and now it couldn’t move.

Fowl was swinging his hammer, landing hits, which brought angry cries from the raptors that stood just a few inches shorter than him. His massive shield held off two of them as he turned sideways, but the third flanking him was causing a few problems.

An ice spear impaled its back, a gift from Tanila now that she was no longer under attack.

It sent the creature to the ground, and staggering, it rose, a gaping hole where the spell had struck.

Max swapped to two swords, going for the injured one and taking off its head in a dazzling double swing that sliced through its neck just as the raptor managed to get back on two feet.

A few attacks later, both of the other raptors were dead.

“Gods, those things are fast,” Fowl groaned as he slammed his hammer into one of the corpses for good measure. “It was like they took offense at my feather or something.”

“Well, at least we know it wasn’t your looks,” Batrire teased as she harvested the liver. “Now stop beating a dead corpse and get me that liver.”contemporary romance

Fowl groaned and just nodded. “Why the liver… I mean, can’t those alchemists want something not so hard to get?”

Max just smiled as he finished cutting out the liver from the first raptor he had killed. “Five of these guys at a time isn’t fun. I’m not looking forward to the boss.”

Tanila groaned and glared at Max. “Stop talking like that… whenever you do, it always makes things worse in the long run.”

done.co