Unconquered Tower

TWENTY-FIVE

PLACE ITEM ON AUCTION BLOCK Y/N???

WARHAMMER

COMMON-GRADE

1 POOR-GRADE ENCHANTMENT

BLOODLINE ENHANCEMENT

“Poor-grade enchantment?” Roan asked, looking over to Jerry. It was the end of their session time and the pre-recorded teaching had ended a minute or two ago.

“Not bad for your first enchantment. Better than I thought you would do,” Jerry said looking up from Roan’s new weapon. While Roan had been busy making an inferior-grade enchantment, Jerry had been working on enchanting the weapon.

The first enchantment was the same, a bloodline amplification enchantment, but it was common-grade and not poor. The second one had been hard for Roan to choose, he’d waffled between the options of what would be the best for him to use. His nascent bloodline was weak and offered little in the way of offensive power, even if it was good to use against the corruption that plagued the levels.

It was the second enchantment that Roan had struggled with. He needed something with offensive power, but what? Jerry had given several suggestions, but with Roan’s lack of mana intense materials to power the enchantment, and no core to do it, they were rather limited. Roan wanted an ace up his sleeve, a powerful attack that could kill instantly.

“Don’t we all. Buy a bomb on the market and just use that then,” Jerry had said while pointing at the enchantment list he had.

“These are what are realistic for both your current and future power levels, at least for this floor. Be practical.” Having his own words used against him had soured his mood for a few moments until he’d chosen the life drain enchantment.

“With the materials you have there is no resonance for this, but it’s better than a poison or something similar as there is no cure. You cut something with this and it’ll counter regeneration or healing skills, up to a point,” Jerry had told him.

“How much?”

“Depends on how strong your opponent is, what their regeneration is like, what their healing elixirs are made, what equipment they have on, you see where I’m going with this?”

“But it will slow down regeneration?”

“Yes. The more you cut them the more the enchantment will have to drain vitality out of specific regions. If you had a better weapon or perhaps a few gems you could catch and transfer that vitality to yourself, but for now you will simply bleed it out through heat,” Jerry paused and ran his fingers over the tip of the spear.

“If the top of the spear starts glowing too bright, quench it,” and that had been the end of their conversation as both of them focused on working on their personal projects. Now that it was over and they were looking to leave, Roan wondered if it would be enough.

He’d never killed a dragon before after all.

BIDDING HAS BEGUN.

INITIAL BID: 1 CREDIT

“Cheapskate.” Roan couldn’t help but think as he saw someone trying to swoop in and get his weapon on the cheap.

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“I taught you that rune by the way, I’ll be wanting my fee,” Jerry said, packing up the last of his equipment.

“I’ll pay you, don’t worry about it,” Roan said. With the deal being system enforced he didn’t really have an option.

“Wait a moment. From what I understand about your plan,” Jerry began before Roan cut him off.

“How do you know about our plan?”

“Group chat with the others. Hana told us when she overheard you. We do have spectacular hearing,” Jerry said, pointing to the big ears on his skull.

“But, if you are forced down the stairs to the next level I won’t see you again. And as I have only taught you the one enchantment, I’m not getting my money worth of our deal, so here,” Jerry said, tossing Roan a loosely held together sheaf of papers.

“I’d have put it in a ring, but I’m not allowed to give out items like that,” Jerry explained as Roan hurriedly juggled weapons and loose papers.

“I appreciate it,” Roan said as he activated his own ring and stored the loose papers. The small ring was filling rapidly with the mana core shards, his emergency elixirs, and now the papers.

“I’d prefer you didn’t die until I’ve been paid back for this,” Jerry said, turning his attention back to the new stream of students pouring in. The rabbit-kin sighed and rubbed at his face before leaning over to restart his enchantments.

“Not the most engaged, but I think I got a good deal out of him. Just needed a bit of leverage and patience.” Roan left the temporal chamber and exited onto a mostly empty street. While real time hadn’t gone far, he was hungry, so he headed toward the restaurant while watching the credit counter climb higher and higher for his warhammer.

CURRENT BID: 967 CREDITS

“Already profitable. Even with the tower’s ten percent cut. And Jerry’s five hundred credit fee.

“A steak, please,” Roan ordered, hooking a chair out and sitting down with a groan. He set both weapons to the side and waited patiently, watching as the bids continued upward.

“Could we use the auction system to send messages to other instances? Would be interesting, but can’t ensure they arrive to the right person. I’m sure the instances will be absorbed into one soon enough. Not many survivors left at this point.” The waiter arrived with his steak, tossing it to the table and turning away in a hurry.

“There’s no way that’s meat from the same lion-cub I killed. Is it just that we unlocked it for the mobs to use or have more people hunted them?” Roan asked himself, poking at the steak before shrugging and eating the mana rich food.

CURRENT BID: 1,697

The bids were racing up. That put a smile on Roan’s face as he ate. He could start raking in the cash by selling enchanted items on the auction block. It wouldn’t be long before more people figured it out though.

“Going to kill the dragon, let the Support Guild and non-combat specialists off of the level. Blow up the last village and survive one more night. Then slip out before the timer ends.” Roan hummed as he settled on what he was going to do. He’d thought about what he wanted but the desire to face the false-dragon and see it slain had become a stronger and stronger urge as the day continued.

“Claim its territory and horde for ourself,” his mind whispered. There was probably good stuff down in the caves besides just the doorway. Roan was hoping for another shard of the mana core, the sooner he had one the sooner he could start the next layer of his body temper.

“So many things are waiting on the damn mana core. Can’t have any good offensive skills until I get the engine to run them. All five of the cores and I can get something good,” Roan thought, chewing on the last of the steak.

CURRENT BID: 4,698 CREDITS

“About to hit common-grade prices,” Roan said, not realizing he’d spoken loud enough for others to hear. Someone leaned over from their seat, they still smelled like they’d just finished their first round of their temper.

“Are you watching this auction too? I’m thinking about putting in, but bloodline amplification isn’t what I’d want,” the man complained. Roan focused on breathing through his mouth as he sensed a business opportunity. The sheaf of papers came out into his hand.

“And what type of enchantment would you like?”