Chapter 406: Penalties (1/2)

The trio soon joined the monkeys in scouring the island, and with the help of Galau’s superior investigative skill they found an odd fluctuation beneath a lake. They could have explored it themselves and risked falling out with the simian sailors, but they instead called for the captain who awarded them each with a small sack of E-Grade Nexus Crystals as thanks.

Most of the crystals would most likely turn to dust the moment they exited the Tower, but they would work just fine while they were still inside. So all of happily took the reward as it meant they would save on their own stock.

The following floors went quite smoothly as well, as the difficulty could be easily managed by anyone of them. Zac did however note that the setting of the quests started to subtly change. The quests first floor had all taken place in civilized areas such as towns or established countries, with the exception of the floor guardian hiding on a mountain top.

But that changed with the second floor. The surroundings they found themselves in were more wild and untamed. The first level of the second floor took place on the tropical island, and the seventh was on an island as well. The third level took place in a fallen kingdom where order was rapidly crumbling.

They were tasked with escorting one of the surviving children of a once-great noble house to an ally waiting outside the town, and were ambushed by both rebels and random bandits who saw how richly decked the lordling was. But a blast of Zac’s massive and blood-drenched aura was all it took to force them all to run for the hills, allowing them to complete the quest without lifting a finger.

Zac felt he learned a lot from their quests, and he more and more understood the crazy gambit of the Lotus Emperor. He had split himself into 10 000 incarnations to live a multitude of lives. If this method ever came to fruition and he could fuse his incarnations back into one being, just how deep would his knowledge of the universe become?

The final level of the second floor was a simple quest to save a faltering town bordering a massive forest from a dangerous beast in the area. After asking around they learned it was some sort of recently evolved reptile and that it possessed shocking speed.

“It’s usually like this,” Ogras explained. “The final level of a floor almost always requires a proof of strength to conquer. You can’t just luck into a quest that suits your skillset. Strength is ultimately the true language of the multiverse.”

“The 9th level of a floor requires you to defeat a floor guardian 95% of the time, with the final 5% requiring proof of Strength in other ways,” Galau nodded in agreement. ”And be careful, the strength will sharply rise compared to the things you’ve fought so far.”

“It’s only the second floor though,” Zac said, but he still took out his axe just in case.

“That’s true, but the attributes of the beasts are around 40% higher because there’s three of us,” Galau said.

“That much?” Zac said with surprise. “What would happen if I brought 10 people to carry?”

“Nine is the limit, and the floors would be almost three times as hard,” Galau said. “Most carries only bring one or two people. Taking too many might negatively impact your own climb.”

“Wait, will we still be penalized after leaving you on the 32nd level?” Zac asked with a frown.

A 40% boost in attributes wasn't a problem now, but what if it stayed when he assaulted the 5th and 6th-floor guardians? That would be a pretty huge handicap, and he wasn't so sure that 3 billion Nexus Coins were worth it.

“Any floor one enters together with others will be adjusted accordingly, even if some people drop out early,” Galau answered before a hesitant expression entered his face. “I didn’t mention it because I was sure you knew.”

“So we’ll be only be penalized on the fourth floor?” Zac mused. “That’s not too bad.”

He had high confidence in defeating a floor guardian of the fourth floor even if it had a 40% attribute boost, and afterward the penalty would decrease, making it not too difficult bringing Ogras compared to going at it alone.

The benefit Ogras would bring would no doubt supersede a 20% bump in the enemies’ strength.

“Any idea of how to find the beast?” Zac asked after they had walked in the forest for two hours.

“I thought it would show itself since we’ve restrained our auras,” Ogras muttered before he turned to Galau. “You should have something to solve the situation.”

“Ahem... The person providing the Tower Carry generally includes all the materials for the climb itself in the price,” the merchant said. “But I do have some items for sale that might help. Best prices in the forest, heh.”

Both Ogras and Zac stopped when they heard the mention of money, and another standoff commenced.

“But then again it’s just a small trinket,” Galau stammered, clearly feeling the pressure. “Here. Simply place this in an open space. If the beast is near-by it will no doubt come.”

Galau handed Zac a small ball with a stench that made his nose-hair curl up. It smelled like thing contained a mix of old diapers and rancid meat, all pressed together into a ball of unholy horrors. The stench was so unbearable it made him question life, and the only reason he didn’t throw it away was that he was afraid it would break into pieces making the smell even more unbearable.

“What the-“ Ogras groaned, looking about ready to hurl. “I’ll keep watch from the trees.”

The next moment he disappeared, no doubt to escape the smell. Galau was already running as well, leaving Zac with the hot potato still in his hand. He didn’t want to spend one more second than necessary with that cursed object in his hand, so he simply left it on a stone and jumped into some bushes that were just outside of the smell.

At least the ball turned out to be pretty effective, and their target arrived just 30 minutes later.

The beast was actually a large snake rather than a reptile, and his hair stood on its end when he looked at it. He still was a bit emotionally scarred after his desperate battle with a mutated snake during the first week of the integration. He had been way too close to death at that time, and there was still some lingering fear deep in his heart.

The snake was at least not as big as Slither, Verana’s pet, as it only reached a bit over ten meters in length. It was a deep brown with green spots on its back, and for such a large snake it was pretty slim. It slithered between the trees with surprising agility, and it reached the puke-ball in the blink of an eye.

An enraged hiss emerged from the snake’s maw when it realized that it was just bait rather than whatever the ball pretended to be, but at that point Zac was already running toward it with his axe at the ready. However, the snake turned its head with shocking speed and spat out a green mist that immediately covered a hundred meters in front of it.

Zac’s brows rose in shock and he hastily infused his body with the Dao of the Coffin as he held his breath. The mist was clearly poisonous, and Zac frowned in consternation when he realized the mist burrowed itself into his pores even after having activated his defensive Dao.