“Get it from the back!” Yells a voice. Adrian doesn’t question the voice as with the help of two avatars, he quickly jumps on the back of the large worm, and almost slips.

  Its body is covered in a slippery liquid which makes standing straight almost impossible, but he pulls his body, almost breaking his spine as he pushes the blade into the beast, staying stuck even as it tries to thrash in pain, while being held down by many invisible hands .

  Adrian switches minds, suddenly appearing on the ground by Mark. They nod at each other, and Adrian holds Mark’s hand tightly.

  It wasn’t tight enough though, as the ground beneath them is suddenly encased in a white ice, and Mark starts gliding on top of it like she belonged there, bringing Adrian along for the ride.

  As they close in on the avatar who still hangs from the worm, the hanging avatar looks at them and gives his hand. Adrian takes it, and both him and the avatar pull with their newly enhanced Body stat, creating a two pulley system, throwing Mark into the air, above the worm.

  Mark spins a little for a while, the ice gliding skill cancelling almost instinctively. As the upward momentum comes to a drop, she uses the skill she has been preparing all along. A silver gun appears in her hand, a single shot loaded into it.

  She takes a deep breath, a chill travelling through her spine, makes her smile. Then she looks at the worm on the ground, almost about to break free from the grip, and she takes the shot.

  The bullet tears through the air with a whistle, and then goes on to tear through the skin of the worm as it lodges deep into its skin, permeating the poison within it.

  Adrian and another avatar stand below where Mark falls to catch her, and they look at the fate of their avatar brethren still hanging on the worm. The icy chill within the bullet leaks very quickly, travelling through the worm and the avatar’s body, freezing them till they are covered in a white surface.

  Adrian switches his vision again, this time near one near his main body. He looks at the main body, laying by the tree, eyes closed like in some deep meditation.

  A huge explosion happens in front of them, as the worm completely explodes in chunks of frozen meat at Michael’s final attack.

  You have killed a Lambton Worm lvl 22

  No level ups this time. He had only levelled up once yesterday during their expedition together, but not once since then.

  Levelling up is getting harder.

  Name: Adrian Alphona

  Class: Manifold Warden lvl 21

  Body: 32

  Kinesthetics: 63

  Resistance: 7

  Mind: 74

  Mystics: 116

  Mana: 1070

  Free Points: 2

  Primary Abilities: Avatar*, Timer, Prison

  You have three Upgrades pending!

  Adrian has by all means come far from when he gained the Status. His Mystic especially has grown so beautifully, that it still fills his heart a little bit.

  But he also cannot forget the demonstration from the High Ranker he saw a week ago. That display has changed him in some ways. When he had barely started this journey, he only had an idea of what it might mean to be so strong that he could level the Tower. But seeing the man that day, and knowing that even someone like that is not worthy of going against the Tower, has really done a thing on Adrian.

  It once again grounded him to his reality, that no matter how far he thinks he has reached, he still has a long long way to go.

  As the others start to celebrate the win, Adrian leaves the mind of the avatar and gets up from his seat. He could’ve participated in the fight and fought with his avatars, but he had wanted to see how well he could hop through minds in the midst of a battle.

  The answer is: well enough.

  Only if the avatars could cast spells, my life would become so easy.

  “Nicely done!” Michael exclaims, high-fiving Mark and one of his avatars. Ji-a too gets off the tree she has been sitting on, and says, “Good teamwork. You guys really tuned in just a few days of working together,”

  “The avatars help a lot really. They keep the team working seamlessly. Also the extra knowledge about the monsters helps a lot!” Mark says, patting one of the avatars who has lost a leg and is now limping along.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Adrian dreadfully dissipates him, and lets the pain and experience of running on a single leg come to him. That’s one more thing which will haunt him in his dreams, along with the death by freezing over.

  “Having many eyes to look at a battle really helps. You learn a lot about people,” Adrian shrugs as one of his avatars looks through the broken monster for its core.

  The morning is coming to an end so they quickly pack their stuff and head back home, Adrian sending a few of his avatars in the front and back to keep an eye on any monsters. Or something worse.

  “Anyone coming to the bazaar with me? I think I have enough to buy a new sword for me. I also need some defensive trinkets, life saving ones to protect myself,” Michael says as they near the large wall around the settlement.

  “Sure I’ll tag along. I need some stuff too,” Mark says, and ropes in Ji-a as well.

  “Sorry, I’m meeting with some friends. I’ll see you guys later then. Same time tomorrow?” Adrian asks as they move through the small opening in the wall where guards are stationed. They don’t do much except look intimidating and check their wrists for the golden brand.

  Adrian and the others quickly pass through the gate–he has already dispelled the avatars coming with them–and walk together till the bazaar, where they split. The others walk deeper into it, while Adrian moves in the other direction, towards the pubs.

  Pubs have always been a big part of any settlement. Climbers like to drink, and with their increasing Resistance a demand for better and stronger alcohol will always keep growing. One can always expect to find several apothecaries in a settlement, focused just on making alcohol.

  It is said that the current best apothecary in the Tower started from making alcohol as well. He and his wife opened a pub, which quickly grew due to his special brews, earning him power and fame and means to quickly gain power and ascend to higher and higher floors.

  So many apothecaries try to follow the same path as the man. Opening pubs, failing at it, and going back to doing apothecary stuff. Only a few after him have actually made a business and grown it across floors. But the survivorship bias always keeps throwing more and more people into this wall of fame and success.

  The place he is going to is part of those few pubs which have gained fame over the years.

  The area is a little cozy place with food stalls and restaurants and pubs shading the road in between. Lights float in the air over them, casting a lovely serene atmosphere over the area, especially as the night comes closer.

  Adrian enters the pub with a chime welcoming him. The place inside is warm and empty at this time, a soft music like a breeze flows through the air. There are several seats for people to sit across the floor, and appropriate gaps for people to walk to the bar.

  The bar is designed splendidly, with a long wall chock full of bottles, placed in an artistic manner. Few people sit at the bar, some with their heads on the table as if they have already drunk themselves unconscious.

  Adrian sits by the bar too and orders a beer, waiting for his party.

  “Hello shiny man,” The woman who sits a few chairs away from him with her head on the table comments.

  Adrian takes a moment to look around before confirming she’s talking to him. The direct eye-contact really settles it.

  “Hello drunk lady,” Adrian says.

  “Have you seen my brother?” She asks.

  “What does your brother look like? Maybe I can find him,” Adrian entertains.

  “He’s just so small. He’s like a small baby really. I remember when we were kids and he was shorter than me and I used to make fun of him so much for it. He’d always get mad, and cry to mom. I always felt bad in the end, and did one house chore for him. Anyyyyone he wanted.

  “He grew up so long someday. It’s so unfair,” The woman mumbles under her breath, lost in her own thoughts.

  Adrian looks at her, and his shoulders slack and lays his head on the table as he asks, “Tell me more about him, would ya?”

  The woman stares at him for a few minutes before the words start spilling. She’ll laugh at times, cry sometimes, stay quiet and stare at nothing as if looking for her brother, and then she’ll continue the story.

  Adrian doesn’t know how long the story lasted, but eventually the woman falls asleep on the table.

  “Thank you for talking to her,” A man beside the woman says. He has been looking at them talking with tense shoulders in the beginning, but got more comfortable with time. “She needed that.”

  “Same party?” The man nods.

  “Did her brother…?”

  “Taken. By the terrorists. We checked the list so many times, hoping that we might’ve missed him somehow, but the list never changed, and he never came back. Dying would’ve perhaps been a better fate for a man as valiant as him, but…”

  Adrian stays silent after that. He simply enjoys his drink, lost in his own thoughts, when a familiar footstep from the entrance catches his attention.

  “Good to meet you folks,” He says to the others at the bar, toasting them with the beer in hand, the others raising their glasses in toast, and walks away.

  At the entrance he sees Matthew pushing a wheelchair on which Buren sits, waving at him with a weak hand. Buren has changed a lot from the man he saw all those days ago. Much shorter without his legs, weak, almost starved. Adrian returns the greeting and they take a table to populate.

  “How are you, Buren?”

  “Alive. Feeling a little better everyday,” He says with a small smile. The waiter comes to give them a few glasses of water, and Buren picks up his own with a somewhat shaky hand.

  “What about you? Still going outside with others?” Matthew asks. Removed from the armour, without his long shield, and in casual clothes, one can finally appreciate his handsome face and impressive body.

  “Yes. I need to do this, and also… I’m looking for the terrorists too.”

  “Alone!? That’s dangero-”

  “It’s fine. I’m keeping an avatar constantly at it. He has a mask stitched to his face so it won’t fall off either. I’ll be fine. Mostly,” Adrian shrugs.

  “What do you mean…stitched?” Buren asks.

  “Exactly what it sounds like,” Adrian says with a sad smile. It is going to hurt a lot when it comes back.

  “That’s a very metal thing to do. I can imagine you sitting in your room stitching faces,” Buren laughs, but it's a weak laugh.

  “Have they said when they’ll be able to fix your legs?”

  “They want me to stabilise a bit before actually going through more healing. Saying some nonsense like I’m too weak and don’t have enough vitality to support a procedure like that. Bunch of nonsense I’m telling you. By the way, do you think I can order some food? I’m endlessly hungry.”

  “Sure, knock yourself out. On me.”

  “Good man!”

  While Buren orders his food, Adrian looks at Matthew who smiles at them with a small smile. “Something funny?”

  “Nothing. I’m just happy. You’ve changed a bit.”

  Adrian stays silent. He has perhaps changed a bit. That day has not only shown him his inferiority in front of the Tower, but also opened his eyes to some of his own shortcomings. He cannot go around blaming everyone for what happened to him. He cannot play the victim forever.

  “Just trying to be a better teammate, really.”

  “Leah would appreciate it. I’ll try talking to her about going on some expeditions together. Buren would definitely not be able to come, but maybe the two of us can join you and your friends in some hunting…” Matthew’s words fade in the background for Adrian as he taps into the senses of the avatar he has sent tumbling through the forest, looking for the revolutionaries.

  And finally, after a week, something happened.

  #