Tower of Souls

”It doesn’t matter.” Cam said softly with a shake of his head. Seeing the same weight behind the eyes of his clone, and the same conviction- which wasn’t surprising, since they were the same person-, he knew that he had already made his choice when he snuck into the Tower right under the noses of all the Families and Guilds.

He wasn’t going to be just another pawn- though, considering his Mythic Class, something like a knight or a rook was more accurate- in their games of power and control. He was going to climb the Tower his way. Help the city in his own way. And that meant climbing high enough- alone- to be able to push back, even if they try to put pressure on him.

”We just have to push to a high enough level to cost them too much if they mess with us.” Eron added with a nod. ”The highest known level in the city is only... 47? I think? All Legendaries, too...”

”But they won’t risk sending their high level Legendaries after us.” Cam countered, even if he knew his clone was thinking the same thing; Saying it out loud just helped to firm up his thoughts... and he felt better after actually hearing it said. ”Everyone pays attention to them; The last thing they want is another faction interfering... Or reporting their actions to the Council.”

”Yeah, the Council would have to act if they were too obvious, if for no other reason than to prevent open conflict between two of the big groups...” Eron agreed. ”Though... them stepping in could mean just fines and temporary imprisonment- which would hurt, but wouldn’t cripple any of the big Families or Guilds.”

”But they would also lose standing and trust with some of the others, which would hurt them in the short term; That means a loss of power, which none of them want... And whichever Family made such a major move would likely not be able to keep their hands on us... Which would mean someone they are competing with would...”

”So, they’ll be restricted to sending groups that are less visible- lower level and lower rarity...”

”...because high rarities get more attention, making it harder to use them for something shady... unless it’s a stealth focused Classer or group.”

”I don’t know of any high level, high rarity stealth Classers. Do you?”

”...We’re the same person. So no... Not that information about such a stealth specialist would be public knowledge anyway.”

”Ah, that’s... fair.” Eron blushed slightly; Sometimes it was easy to overlook that they were the same person when they got rambling like that with their back and forth... ”So... My guess would be that, if they did send a group or two after us, they would be around level 30 with Rare Classes- maybe Epic Classes.”

”Maybe as high as level 35. No one really pays much attention to them; All the attention is on the high levels, and the high rarities... So anyone above level 35 with a rare Class would probably be noticed- or level 30 with an Epic...” Cam was smiling now as he worked through the logic as he saw it- which, he admitted, could still be off. ”And most Commons and Uncommons stop pushing well before then, preferring either a slow progression, or just farming lower Floors to help feed the War Chest.”

”Or they quite climbing to be security. Can’t forget that.” Eron pointed out what Cam was already thinking. ”Which... kind of pisses me off. They could be doing so much to help hold back the Waste; Instead, they just... stand around, looking important.”

”They may be protecting the Family they serve from the other Families and Guilds; I’ve heard there are fights between them sometimes...”

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”Yeah, fair.”

Silence fell between them for a moment as they considered everything once more, working through the situation as best they could.

”So, the way I see it...” Cam started, doing some quick math. ”Odds are, anyone they sent after us- minus some hidden stealth specialist- is likely to have less than 250 Stat Points from their levels. Even if I go with the hybrid build like I’m thinking, that means getting to level 20 will put me ahead of them for stats- though that would leave you lower than them for Stats.”

”If we can push to level 25, I’ll be slightly ahead of them for Stats.”

”Ok. We aim for level 25, but level 20 can work- it’ll just be harder.” Cam nodded firmly, before his expression wavered with concern. ”But... They’ll get more Abilities just by levelling. We won’t.”

”Yeah, us trying to match them with just one Ability wouldn’t work.” Eron sighed... until both their expressions turned thoughtful. ”Unless...”

”Soul Harvest says one week couldown. Does that mean one week in Foundation City...”

”...or one week for us in here?”

Cam hesitated, uncertainty filling him for a moment. He hadn’t really considered the wording of the Ability, or the difference of the passage of time while climbing the Tower. If it was one week based on the passage of time in Foundation City, then even getting to level 30 may not be enough for his plan, as even the Stat disparity can be overcome by the sheer number of Abilities the others would have...

But, if it was based on time passing inside the Tower... then maybe he could stay long enough, and find enough Abilities, to make it at least a little closer?

”We have 500 T-Rations...”

”...and I don’t actually need to eat as long as you do.” Eron cut in with a cheeky grin that Cam matched.

”Yeah. So, that’s enough for five hundred days... Until our level gets a little higher and I start needing more. Call it three hundred, to account for needing more as we go up...”

”We can gain a lot of Abilities with more than forty weeks... Except, to try and farm that many, it would mean camping on some levels for a week without fully clearing them.”

”Not the safest option.” Cam agreed. ”We should estimate it at one Ability per floor we climb, camping in the boss room after fully clearing the floor... Which, honestly, would still put us as having more Abilities than Legendary Classers of the same level. Just a mishmash of them, instead of a focused progression.”

”That does mean we’ll have answers to a wider range of situations, and be harder to counter; Every Class has it’s weaknesses, after all... Except maybe ours, unless you count the need to spread out Stats so much.”

”We’ll be weak against other’s specialties, but strong against their weaknesses... We’ll have to play things smarter than them that way, but it could work... Though not if we just sit here chatting away in the dark.”

”Then what’s the plan, boss?”

Cam rolled his eyes at his clone; He knew this cheeky attitude was really just his, one that had been suppressed by years of trying to avoid notice and abuse... But did he really have to sass himself? ”We check the other paths and try to level before we tackle a big group. The extra Stats will make a big difference, and there is a chance we’ll find a useful Ability.”

”Anything would be better than ’Minor Accident’.” Eron huffed as he started moving back towards the start of the floor. ”I would happily take even ’Dirty Look’ or ’Jump!’ over that crap!”

”You won’t hear any argument from me...” Cam muttered with a smirk, happy to throw the sass right back at his clone. ”And those Abilities are pretty bad themselves.”