Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Wrik brought the bald and short man inside the first floor to the room he was using for the last week. Ryat seemed to expect such behaviour from him and went with him without question. 

Walking into the room, Wrik gestured towards a seat, and Ryat rested on it. He closed the door behind him.

"So, tell me what you wanted to know?" Ryat asked.

Wrik did not answer, found the space pouch, and brought out the light element awakener catalyst from it. He felt a little regret, but chose to return it to Ryat. 

"First you should collect what's yours," he said. 

"Are you sure?" Ryat asked smilingly. "Mister Everknight."

Wrik nodded slowly. 

Ryat sighed but took the tiny vial. "It might be a wrong choice," he said. "You don't know how important an element is." 

"You are perhaps right," Wrik said, nodding. "But you might be wrong, too. I don't believe in freebies."

"Then how about you buy it from me?" 

Wrik raised an eyebrow. "What's the price?" He asked nonchalantly. 

Ryat thought for a second. At least seemed like calculating or pondering over something. "Thirty thousand omega points," he said at last. 

"I don't think, I can give you that much of a point," Wrik said, shaking his head. "It could not be bought by credit, right?"

Ryat confirmed with a shake of the head. "But there is another way to pay for it."

Wrik raised his eyebrow. "It won't be anything easy, right?"

"Wait a second," Ryat stopped Wrik from conversing. He put his arm inside his cloak and brought out an omega cube. The little cube lit up in flickering blue light as Ryat infused mana into it. Before Wrik could ask for anything a halo of mana covered the entire room.

A sound and sight cancelling barrier. None from outside could hear of seeing anything inside, and the reverse was half true. Wrik could not hear any noise from the outside, but he could see past the halo of the barrier. 

"Now you're good to go," the bald man said. He continued to gaze at the ceiling. "Who knows who was listening to us now."

Wrik felt a little cold shiver inside, but it did not show on his face.

"By the way, I read your note," Wrik continued. "What do you think of our chance of winning?"

Ryat smiled. "I had kept an eye on you guys so far in the test. You did quite great," he said. "You would have been enough to win another year, but not this time." 

"What's so special about this time?" Wrik's expression was dull, lacking most of the emotion. 

"You better not know it now," Ryat said. 

"That this game is unfair?" Wrik asked. "The winner is set even before the game?" 

"Smart," Ryat chuckled. He only gave a little hint of it in the note. He didn't know Wrik would be able to pick onto it. "But you should still try your best. Even if you fail it's best to get as high ranking as possible." 

"I don't know much about what you're saying, but I have no intention of giving up." 

"As long as you understand when to walk out."

Wrik frowned. "So what other way of payment are you talking about?"

"It's a job," Ryat said. "But that's not important now. Focus on the test for now."

"What type of job?" Wrik still asked.

"The dangerous type." 

"That was like not answering," Wrik scoffed at Ryat. "Give me a little detail."

"I can not," Ryat said. "I can only leak out, it's something illegal by the so-called law of the tower. But the rewards were relatively exceptional, especially for you." 

"I'm listening."

"You will get the Light element awakening catalyst unrelated to the success of the job."

"That's quite good," Wrik nodded. "Anything else?" 

"You will get a portion of the loot according to the contribution, and that's not all," Ryat paused and looked at Wrik. "I'll give you news of something very important to you." 

Wrik frowned again. He waited for the salesman to continue. 

"The place where you could find the elixir to cure any illness," Ryat said quietly. 

"How do you know?" Wrik asked. Voice cold, eyes narrowed. 

"I know a lot more than that," Ryat said. "But today is not a good day to discuss that."

Wrik squinted his nose and pondered. It appeared this bald man spent quite a lot investigating his background. According to the information Lucas left on in the ruby, even though Elania was inside the tower, on the very first floor of the tower, not many could access it. That place was like a safe sanctuary, free from all the dangers and threats of outside. 

Few could acquire a place there. It was supposed to be a place for the children of the Mahasayer or any ex-personnel of the tower. It was a place where anyone could live without worrying about the danger of infectors.

"So are you in or not?" Ryat asked, noticing his silence. 

"I can't say anything now," Wrik said. "I need more time." 

Ryat nodded. "You have time," he said. "I will find you later when the test ends." 

Ryat stood up, saying that. They had nothing more to discuss between them. "So goodbye then." 

Ryat was about to end the barrier, but Wrik stopped him. 

"Wait," he said. "I need to buy something more."

"What is it?"

"Something like that," he said, pointing to the omega cube in Ryat's palm. "I need something that can create a barrier like this."

"Oh," Ryat gave a curious look, but Wrik did not say anything about where he intended to use it. 

In the end, the bald salesman left after Wrik bought a few items from him. Other than the device that could create barrier, he spent quite a sum to buy equipment in mass. 

Wrik did not leave the room after that. He lay on the bed thinking about the plans he made for dealing with all the problems in the test. Ryat seemed to think they had no chance of winning, and he was probably right. That was why the bald man told him to know when to quit.

'So many problems,' he thought. 'Scythe, Arjamith, Slaves, Theiron.. . .'

Theiron was their ally now, but Wrik did not believe in that fragile maha contract. But that guy of little worry for now. Scythe and Arjamith were at the core of his problem. 

He still remembered the fight he had with the giant man. The way he used his spear was like it was the part of his body.

After converting with Lily, Wrik found out it was a realm of mastery in spearmanship. Called the Unity Realm. Sword, blade, axe or oven a club has the Unity realm, and the way to achieve it was the same. 

Use the weapon as a part of your body. Unity between man and weapon. 

Wrik sighed, knowing he was far away from that place. 

'Doesn't matter for now,' he thought. 'You have the brawl, I'll beat you with the brain.'

"It is time to get busy."

. . . 

Later on the same day, Wrik called everyone for a meeting. By everyone, it was the people who have a say in the matter. It was the same fourteen people with the addition of Theiron and his bald underling Oblak.

"So what's this about?" Theiron asked, gazing that everyone had arrived. 

"It is time for us to move our plan faster," Wrik said to all of them. "First, let's look at our current situation.

"How many men do we have?"

"In total, it is three hundred sixty-two," Dairyl answered his call. "About one hundred and fifty of them are liberated from slavery, and among the rest, and about seventy were under Theiron and his group. While the slaves and rest of the people are divided into groups and lead by Lily, Sepiel, Davin, Jacob, and Sitara." 

"That's still too few," Wrik muttered. "We need more liberated slaves."

"How many are you talking about?" asked Lily.

"We have seven days or less," Wrik continued. "The more we could bring in, the better it would be." 

"Don't you have to worry about food?"

"Yes, how long would it last?" Wrik asked. 

"Not long," Dairyl answered. "Not counting the people we have to bring in, the current storage would last nine or ten days."

"That's a problem we have to deal with," Wrik said. "There was no way of stealing from another fraction. For now, looks like we have to wait for more ration to arrive seven days later." 

"Other than that, there is a problem with pieces of equipment as well," Lily continued. "More than fifty men did not have armour, only holding some sword or spear." 

"Oh, I forgot to mention. I already solved that problem," Wrik said. "I bought a couple of hundred pieces of light armours of marginal quality and some weapons from Ryat."

"What?" 

"It's an investment," he said. It cost him just under five million credits, but he did not compromise. It looked like the five hundred million credits won't last for long. 

"You are investing credits like it was nothing," Lily complained. 

"Don't worry about it," Wrik said. His eyes moved to Davin, and others who are in charge of the commanding men. "Davin, Jacob, and Sapiel, you three would be the liberator, find as many slaves as possible. Hunt middle length group if you have to bring them in."

"Roger that." The three of them said, nodding. 

"While, Anton, I, and Aeriel would go for more investigation. In those times Lily would be in charge with Michelle and Theiron."

_____________

End of the chapter: Power Up.

Next Chapter: The War.