Unconquered Tower

NINE

The Tower A.I wandered the digital halls of its domain. Golden streams of data flowed by, towering pyramids of data, worlds of it, filled its vision as its many split consciousness watched everything in the tower. Here in the heart of its domain, it could focus on the encroaching darkness.

A great storm of malevolent energy, it pushed on the edges of the A.I’s territory. Pyramids dissolved before it, skyscrapers fell, and the constant stream of data was consumed by the sickly waste. It was all there still the A.I knew, but it was no longer accessible. Slowly, with the patience only an immortal could possess, the corruption ate away at the A.I.

Level by level, floor by floor, from the prisoner’s cell, the corruption spread. Enchantments so complex they were bordered on the divine were twisted, the honeycombed floors that formed the tower infiltrated and subverted. Frustration was something mortals felt, but for the last two centuries the A.I had begun to believe what it was experiencing was frustration.

Every attempt of flushing the corruption failed. There was nobody left in the tower who had the necessary knowledge to fight the corruption, nor the power to face the remnants of the prisoner. Not until the master awakened.

Not until this last level. Not until the corruption had infiltrated to the ground floor, so close to escaping. When that tendril had been destroyed it had weakened entire sections of its advance and the A.I had managed to recover portions of itself.

It stood at the heart of its domain and replayed the sequence of events over and over. The Chamberlain and the rest of the servants had set their course of action, a course the A.I had agreed with at the time. Millions of variables had been thrown at the climbers, opportunities, challenges, skills, anything and everything the A.I could summon from its vast memory and access to the Tower’s wealth. Several had come close to reaching the power needed to aid them, but none had done so yet.

With the newest cycle there were now 9 contestants who had entered and managed to secure enough power to begin the journey. It reviewed all nine of the contestants and settled on the one that had faced the corruption.

Roan. The climber had crafted a weak bloodline that was perfect for dealing with the corruption if he could strengthen it enough. Placing the ingredients in his path had been trivial, the A.I had done much more than that, but to see the boy actually succeed had been rewarding. So few of its models had shown success.

The A.I’s primary focus returned back to the corruption and where it was battling now. Near the weakened sections that the A.I had reclaimed. For so long their entire focus had been on preventing the corruption from spreading, building crumbling defensive walls that had slowed but not stopped the spread.

A half-million models began to run as the A.I watched. There were too many variables, too many even for it to calculate. But it knew as it stared at the corruption that they would all fall to it before the master awoke. Not unless something slowed it down.

The models finished their running and the A.I acknowledged them. Few showed signs of success. It would be a powerful force multiplier which would allow it to reward the climbers even more. Skills and items locked in the depths of the treasury that could only be given to those who had accomplished the greatest of tasks. Tasks even the master would think impossible for their skill level.

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

It ran the risk-to-reward calculations and nodded to itself. If it created a gap in its defense for the corruption to sink into the second level, then it could open up the deep vaults for rewards. The risk was high though, if they failed to destroy the tendril then it would give the prisoner a foothold in the lower levels. It had agents there that would be able to purge it, but the use of resources was high.

In the far distance part of its defense collapsed and more of itself was consumed. Back up memory mostly, but it was another redundant system broken by the corruption. Based on current consumption rate, the A.I had less than twenty years before it would no longer be optimal. Less if the corruption spread faster.

With a flick of its will it lowered its defenses. In the real world thousands of enchantments lost their power, seals were broken, secondary automated defenses were turned off. In its digital world a single spear of darkness launched itself instantly, piercing through floors by using the the tangled nature of the binding enchantments to arrive in the second level.

The A.I secured its perimeter again, keeping the tendril isolated. What had escaped would be the only tendril that would pierce through. Even now the A.I could see it had taken something from the corruption. That desperate attack had made the rest of the offensive front stall out as the power use drained it.

“We must be proactive,” the A.I decided. Summoning deep wells of mana from its reserves it launched an assault on the corruption and was pleased to see golden streams of data return to it. A fraction of a percent of itself was returned, but it was only the second time that the A.I had managed to regain ground.

It turned its attention to the splinter and saw it had entered near the exit to the third floor. The first floor’s storyline echoed the reality of it and the corruption found its facsimile and bound itself to it. The increase in difficulty for that instance skyrocketed as the sliver began to spread. The A.I would have to trust in the climbers who had already purged one of the slivers of corruption.

In the meantime it looked upon the planet it was anchored to. Changing the purpose of the mana engines had not been difficult, but the spread of the dead zone was growing and mutations were starting to form in greater numbers. It went against the Laws that bound it.

“Query: Will activate Greater Zone Quest? Hunt the Twisted?” the A.I sent the question to the Chamberlain. They weren’t yet at critical levels, but it would not be long until this entire region’s populace began to twist and warp. It accessed its storage vaults and found the appropriate rewards it could distribute to those who weren’t climbers.

“Agreed.” The Chamberlain’s words came after only thirty-seven seconds. Whatever occupied the beast-kin’s thoughts, it was not enough to completely divert him of his duty. They were to stop the twisted from forming.

Its digital eyes swept over the ruins of the desert city and it found the powerful mana signatures. Over a dozen of them now ran around the city, chasing and hunting for the Hidden One. With its limited functions the A.I had only caught traces of the powerful climber, but it had been impressed. If there was some way for them to allow that one into the Tower, then maybe he’d have the strength to destroy the wounded prisoner. But he’d also have the strength to slay the master.

Protecting the Tower Master was a key Law. But there were other Laws that would be activated. Laws for when the Tower Master had become too weak to fulfill their duties. Laws that were close to activating the longer they did not fulfill their duties here on this planet.

The A.I ran more models, its attention split in a million places as it tried to find the exact time those redundancy Laws would activate. When having the master lose his title would be required. And if the Hidden One was strong enough to complete the tower’s duties.