Chapter 13: Another Path
After equipping my new class, Tiss and I approach the treasure chest together. Surely, with my higher LUC, there will be a great treasure inside. Right?
I kneel down to lift the lid of the red and gold ornate chest. Inside is a strange object. A large golden ring, maybe just a bit smaller than the circumference of a basketball. I hold it aloft by the golden chain connected to the top of it. Inside the golden ring is a thinner ivory ring that can spin within the gold ring. In the center of the ivory is a writhing, pulsing nucleus of pure darkness. As I’m looking closely at this item, an info window appears in front of me.
<Doppler Shift>
[Off-Hand Weapon]
[0 ATK]
[0 DEF]
[0 EVA]
[Ability: Relativity Shift: Change the position of a target to be closer or farther away from the user. This ability can only move a target up to 50ft. This ability has a cooldown of 30 seconds.]
So this is a weapon, but it only provides this one ability. It seems useful, but it does nothing for my stats.
[Tiss] "What is it?"
[Wade?] "It’s a weird weapon with an ability. I can change the position of something on a cooldown."
[Tiss] "Sounds like another weird item."
[Wade?] "Hey, what does that ring do? The one that dropped from the STRING THEORY."
[Tiss] "Nothing from what I can tell. The info window for it is totally blank. It just gives me a name."
Tiss holds out her hands and looks at the simple gold band on her left middle finger.
[Tiss] "Even if it doesn’t do anything, it’s still a pretty ring."
[Wade?] "Well let’s hope it does something."
I put the Doppler Shift away in my Item Box and then move to leave the room. I feel like it’s time that we get back to exploring this place.
[Tiss] "Wait."
Tiss grabs hold of my arm and stops me before I walk by.
[Tiss] "Take this."
She holds out her hands and summons a simple iron dagger into her hand. It’s much less ornate than the pair that she uses. I receive it gladly.
[Wade?] "Thanks."
<Common Iron Dagger>
[Main/Off-Hand Weapon]
[10 ATK]
[1 DEF]
[1 EVA]
[100/100 Durability]
It’s a simple weapon, certainly, but it’s probably better to attack with this over a stick, no matter how high the quality of it is.
[Tiss] "It’s better than a stick."
She agrees.
------
Tiss and I continue walking through the bleak halls. We hold hands just like before, but the awkwardness we had felt earlier is gone now.
Every time we enter a new cube, I mentally keep note of the order of these numbers. 4, 1, 6, 8, 2, 1, 5, 3, 9, 4... And it just continues with no real pattern.
Then a number appears that I hadn’t seen appear before at all.
10.
The number 10 is on the floor of one of the cubes.
[Wade?] "Hey, let’s stop for a sec. I think there’s something special about this one."
[Tiss] "Why do you think that?"
[Wade?] "Something to do with the number 10."
Tiss looks at the floor, perplexed. She let’s go of my hand and kneels down to look at the engraved number. She reaches out to touch it and feel around for something different about the grooves. When she does, the Superluminal Ring shines a bright gold.
We both fall as the floor below us disappears. Instinctively I reach out to grab the edge of the next cube and extend my other hand to grab hold of Tiss. My fingers brush against her wrist as she reaches out to me, but we both fail to get a grip.
I watch as she falls away from me. Panic floods my mind. If I lose her, then we’ll both be alone here. We need to stay together!
I let go.
...
But I don’t go anywhere. I stay right where I’m at like I’m just lying on the floor. Because I am.
I watch Tiss stop falling away from me in that moment and, instead, collide with the surface I’m lying on. It’s like gravity shifted directions.
Although we’re both disoriented, we both stand up and wobble around until we get our equilibrium back. We’re now standing together in a hallway that looks exactly the same. However, light seems to be a bit more erratic.
In the last section, light flickered only just barely and the range I could see was limited. Now, the changes are more dynamic. I can see 3 cubes ahead one moment, then 4 cubes ahead, then 2 cubes ahead. It alternates randomly, but I can always see at least 2 ahead, and no more than 4. Brightness also fluctuates each time. Sometimes I can clearly see the grooves separating the cubes and clearly read the numbers. Sometimes it’s too dark to clear see any definition at all.
[Wade?] "It’s a bit weirder in this section, but... I think this is the right way."
[Tiss] "If you say so. The lights are making me a bit nauseous, though..."
We hold hands again and walk slowly through the hall. There’s something special about the number 10, so I will keep an eye out for them.
As we’re continuing through the passage, Tiss and I are stopped in our tracks when a black orb spawns a few cubes ahead of us. It starts emitting pressure as strings flow out from it and begin to form the body of a STRING THEORY. Behind us, another orb spawns and is also forming into a STRING THEORY.
[Tiss] "There’s no escaping from this one, I think."
[Wade?] "I think you might be right. But I couldn’t ask for a better chance to test out my new Job. Plenty of EXP to gain from these things."
[Tiss] "Are you really thinking about EXP at a time like this?"
[Wade?] "EXP gains are always important! Especially at a time like this!"
[Tiss] "You’re insane!"