M28

Morgan climbed the hill to the monolithic Colony Stone, ignoring the many sidelong looks he got from the people he walked by. By now, most people know who he was, so he didn’t get confronted by anyone, but he knew he looked a sight: halfway between six and seven feet, heavy bronze-colored armor on his wrists and shins, and tattered, bloodied black robes hanging in strips from his body. At least Morgan had put his spear away while he walked through the colony. He knew it was more than his height and attire that drew looks, though. He had a presence now that he hadn’t before. Issa had referred to it as an aura, and Morgan knew that with each improvement to his being, his aura increased in weight. Morgan didn’t know what increased the aura the most. It could be his increased stats, higher total Energy, or racial improvements. He felt like it was a combination of all those things. Whatever the cause, it had an impact: people noticed him coming, and they got out of his way.

He laid his hand on the stone, noting his minimal permissions. He selected the Contribution Store and looked through the various lists of items. He found some simple clothes like most colonists were wearing and noted that they were reasonably cheap - only twenty points for an outfit. Thinking about how cheap they were, he looked at his zero balance and realized he needed to sell some things.

Morgan dug the Energy beads from his pouch that he’d hoarded in the Crucible. He thought of keeping some to absorb in a pinch but decided that he had his healing potion and could buy others that would serve him better in an emergency. He placed his hand back on the stone and noticed a new menu for exchanging the beads he was holding for contribution points. Altogether, the System was offering him 3200 points for his beads. He touched the “Accept” button, and he was suddenly holding empty pouches in his hand.

Morgan bought a couple of the soft, linen-like pants and shirts in a simple unstained cream color and two other sets in black. He figured he’d want to wear black under his armor to hide stains. Then he turned to a list of armor; the store had everything from leather bracers for 100 points to something called Gatallion Empire Battle Plate for 317,000. Morgan narrowed his search to items for the torso and scrolled until he got to items costing 1000 points. He saw an Artificed leather vest and a steel chain hauberk at that price point. He kept scrolling to 2000 points and saw what he was looking for, an Artificed bronze breastplate. He pushed the “Purchase” button, and a stream of yellow and blue smokey Energy flowed out of the Stone and coalesced into a silk-wrapped bundle on the ground by his feet.

Morgan picked up the bundle, noting the significant weight, and pulled the pale silk wrapping off. Before he looked at the contents, he marveled at the nice swatch of silk about the size of a bath towel that he’d gotten as a bonus. Smiling, he stowed it in his dimensional satchel. The breastplate looked similar to his greaves and vambraces, but it was a slightly lighter color of bronze and had quite a few more runes etched around it. The straps that fastened it to his shoulders and waist were made of soft, oily leather and also had runes burned into them. Morgan put his arms through the leather loops and tightened all the straps. Then, he attempted to bond with the item, and the breastplate shifted slightly, stretching and changing shape to fit him perfectly.

***Artificed Bronze Breastplate: enchanted to match its owner’s size and to repair damage gradually.***

That was interesting; he hadn’t gotten a description like that when he bonded to his greaves and vambraces. He imagined it was because the System had provided this, so its properties were fully known to him.

He spent the next several minutes buying several different kinds of food, from apples, to rye bread, to elk jerky. He was intrigued to see that the contribution store had foods familiar to him. Apples and elk? Was it simply because the System had access to millions or billions of worlds? The more Morgan thought he was getting a handle on this new world and the System, the more questions he seemed to come up with.

After stocking his satchel with spare clothes and provisions, Morgan spent a bit of time shopping through the miscellaneous sections of the store and bought some blankets, towels, a bucket, gardening tools, and a couple of bars of soap. He walked away with about 900 points remaining that he’d decided to save for future purchases. Morgan had just finished stowing all his goods in his satchel and was stepping away from the Colony Stone when he saw that a group of four men was standing quite close and staring at him.

“Can I help you?” he asked, not liking the expressions on their faces.

“Yeah, what’s your name? Morton, innit?”

“No, Morgan. You are?”

“Right, right, Morgan. Hey, why don’t I see you on the leaderboard?” The man speaking was a big fellow with a bushy reddish-blonde beard. He looked Morgan straight in the eyes and stepped forward. His mouth was straight, and his posture leaned forward like he was trying to intimidate him. His three friends, all wearing scowls and clenching their fists, stood in a semi-circle around him and stared at Morgan.

“Leaderboard? Is there a problem here, guys?” Morgan didn’t like their threatening posture, and he stood up straight, scowling at the big guy.

“Yeah, the Contribution Store leaderboard. I don’t see you on it, Morgan, and I want to know how you got the first luxury home.”

“You mean my tower? I got that from killing a bunch of shit that was a lot scarier than you, so back the fuck off, and don’t ever get in my face again.” Morgan wasn’t sure how he did it, but he somehow pushed his aura out, almost like he was flexing a muscle. The weight of his accomplishments bore down on the man and his friends, and they blanched a little, backing off a step. Morgan nodded and walked right through them, bumping shoulders with the ginger-bearded guy. They didn’t follow him or even say anything as he strode away. Morgan wasn’t sure why he’d reacted so strongly to their bullying tactics. He wasn’t sure if it had been smart, but something about some colonists, who hadn’t even faced a life or death battle, talking down to him had really pushed the wrong buttons.

It was afternoon by the time he stepped back into his tower. Once again, he was greeted by Tiladia asking him how long he’d been gone. “Just a little while, Tiladia. I’m going to spend some time cleaning up my mess upstairs, and then I’d like to hear what you learned about the plants in the atrium while I was gone.”

“Of course, Morgan.”

“By the way,” Morgan continued as he stepped onto the stairs, “what would happen if I got a few people to come to help me kill the guardians on the other floors?”

“I’m afraid that wouldn’t work. Just as the stairs manipulate space to allow you to climb them quickly, they can do the opposite, making an ascent interminable.”

“Let me guess, anyone else trying to climb the stairs with me would take a step and not move while I quickly ascend without them?”

“Yes, Morgan, guests you bring into the tower can only ascend to the floors you control. Once you’ve mastered the tower, you will also gain control of the stairway.”

“All right, thanks, Tiladia.” Morgan spent the next hour or so cleaning up the blood he’d spilled all over the second-floor landing. He made several trips to the sink in the kitchen to fill and rinse his bucket. Tiladia assured him that he’d never run out of water. Apparently, the enchanted equipment in the tower’s basement drew water from a dimensional rift with access to a space with billions of gallons of freshwater. Tiladia showed him a well-hidden set of chutes in the tower wall where he could drop his towels for laundry and his robe to the incinerator. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to get to the laundry until he’d opened the basement, but he figured he’d worry about crossing that bridge later.

Once he had cleaned up his mess, he started to work on the atrium. As he cut back the growth that blocked the door, Tiladia gave him pointers on what was valuable and what was just overgrown plants and branches that he could toss down to the incinerator. Morgan removed his armor and got to work in just his loose black outfit and his boots. Soon, he lost himself in the good honest work of gardening. Hours later, he was standing in the middle of the atrium. He could see why it was called an atrium and not a greenhouse. It really looked like the ceiling led up to an open sky. He couldn’t discern any sort of roof, instead seeing a pale blue expanse and a bright sun directly overhead. “That’s a sunstone, you say? And what about that sky? It looks real.”

“The ceiling is quite high, thanks to some dimensional magic, and the blue expanse is a trick of illusion. The sunstone is mounted a hundred feet up. Vormendion was quite proud of this room.”

“I can see why!” Morgan stood on a stone bench situated in a square with three others at the atrium’s center. He could see the glass windows leading out to the landing about fifty feet from the center, but he just saw trees and plants in every other direction. He could see that the stone pathway he was on continued in every direction, but he’d have to spend some time clearing the way through the whole atrium. A bit further from where he was standing, he could hear running water and knew it was the stream Tiladia had told him about earlier.

While clearing the path to the center, he’d amassed a sizeable stack of leaves, flowers, and fruits that Tiladia said would be valuable to an alchemist. “Tiladia, does it hurt things like fruit to put them into a dimensional container?”

“Things that are preserved in most dimensional storage containers. Anything that needs to breathe will surely be harmed, though. Never try to put a pet into a standard dimensional container, Morgan!” Tiladia flashed rapidly and spun around, and Morgan interpreted her behavior as agitation - like she was trying to get him to take her seriously.

“Alright, Tiladia, thank you! I won’t put any furry friends into my pouch!” Morgan stowed the cuttings into his pouch, hoping to either meet an alchemist or learn about it himself at some point. After that, he went downstairs and, with the help of his new blankets, made a cozy bed out of one of the couches in the library. He was beat, and though he wasn’t sure what time it was, he wanted to get some sleep. “Tiladia, please wake me if someone beats on the door, and please dim the lights.”

Morgan woke on his own, feeling rested. He sat up in the dimmed light of the chandelier, yawning and stretching. He was just pulling his boots on when Tiladia floated through the doorway. “Good morning, Morgan.”

“Is it morning? Thanks, Tiladia. What can you tell me about the third-level guardian?” Morgan ate some bread, some dried meat, and a piece of fruit called a yulanox; it was sort of like a banana, but it was tinted red and had a more savory flavor that was less sweet.

“I think the third-level guardian will be a dangerous challenge for you, Morgan. I can’t tell you more than that. I’m so sorry! I wish I could give you clues about it being an elemental creature or…” Tiladia suddenly emitted a high-pitched shriek that sounded like a thousand crystal bowls shattering on a marble floor and spun around rapidly.

“Tiladia, are you okay?” Morgan stood up and tried to reach out to her misty form, but she spun away from him, and a moment later, the shrieking sound stopped.

“Oh, oh, I shouldn’t have done that, Morgan. I knew better, but I so wanted to help you. I’m sorry I can’t help you more.”

“Don’t mention it, Tiladia! I don’t want you to do anything that causes you harm. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Morgan, but I don’t want to go through that again. I felt like Vormendion’s fingers were wiggling around in my brain.”

“Jesus.” Morgan shook his head and, though he liked this home he’d been granted, quietly cursed the faceless mage who had created it. So, the next guardian was some kind of elemental creature? He’d need to prepare for that, and he was pretty sure Olivia could help; she’d mentioned that she was learning to cast elemental spells.