Tower of Souls

The upside of a Swarm Floor was the general lack of a Boss fight, and the Floor effectively being done once all of the trash mobs were cleared... but that was also the downside, at least for Cam.

Because trash mobs didn’t have Abilities, as far as he had seen.

The souls of the Bookbats were... odd. Not in a sense that they were truly different from the other Tower monsters, just that it was odd to imagine an object like a book having a soul- yet, floating above each of the corpses was a small, nearly transparent soul shaped like a book...

While Cam and his clone were both eager to check out what sort of Perks they were offered, both agree it was a good idea to check for an Ability before the souls all dissipated... and both were incredibly disappointed when they came up empty, even if they had kind of expected it. Though they also didn’t make it to check all of them, considering just how many Bookbats there were and the limited time they had, they were trash mobs...

Of course, while they were searching through the numerous souls, the pair also took the time to gather their loot... which turned out better than they had expected.

Equipment drops were typically uncommon, especially usable equipment, but it was even more so with trash mobs. Out of the estimated thousand Bookbats- a number Cam reached just by how much XP he had gained total versus the paltry 3XP each had awarded-, only ten items dropped; Higher than he expected out, even if it didn’t sound like much.

And, as expected of drops from trash mobs, most of them... weren’t anything special.

Three trash weapons, a hammer, sword, and staff- and not even a magical focus, just a plain staff for fighting- that he checked before quickly discarding; None of them were really an upgrade over his other weapons, and he just didn’t have the space to hold onto everything.

Some trash armor as well... but, considering how desperate Cam and Eron were for any sort of protective gear, not all of it was tossed aside.

Two pairs of boots had dropped, both looking nearly worn out and neither anything special as they just added a few points of armor... but with Eron still wearing the plain shoes he was summoned with, anything was an upgrade there.

A Tattered Leather Chestguard was almost enough to start an argument, as neither had anything for that slot yet... though the pair found it amusing that they were each arguing for the other to wear it; Eventually, Cam caved to the argument that his safety was more important, as Eron would always come back...

But not all of the items were trash, which was even more surprising to the pair.

The Relic, a Petrified Bookbat Egg, went without saying as a keeper, even if both found it extremely peculiar- Tower monsters didn’t lay eggs, and bats were mammals anyway... though being both a book and a bat was already weird. Nothing about the item made sense to them, other than the fact that it was absolutely worth feeding to the War Chest.

Somehow, that wasn’t the end of their good luck, and Cam could only stare in awe at the last few items that dropped, as they were more than worth checking out.

Thirteen Ring Dadao

Tower Value=12

Damage = 10/18

Special Effect: Thirteen Ring Dadao’s weight is reduced when wielded with a single hand, and increases when wielded with each additional hand.

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Cam genuinely wasn’t sure what to think of the weapon. Appearance wise, it was unlike anything he had seen in school. The blade was wider than he would expect considering it was only two feet long, and looked suited more for heavy slashes than thrusting; Single edged, it had a line of thirteen rings threaded through the spine of the blade- clearly the source of its name- that clinked softly as he lifted the weapon...

More than that, though, was the hilt, which was nearly as long as the blade itself, much more than was needed to wield it with both hands... which brought him back to the description of its effect- it specifically mentioned each additional hand... and made him wonder exactly how many hands the Tower thought he had!

Though... he had heard rumor of some rare Abilities that allowed the caster to grow additional arms, so it wasn’t entirely ridiculous...

The damage was different from what he had seen, but something he had at least heard of, and only indicated the difference between using one hand or two... Not exactly common, but some weapons, like bastard swords, required the distinction. More importantly, whether one handed or two, it was better than all of the alternatives he had found so far.

Definitely a keeper. For him, specifically, as Eron still had his Haunted Cudgel.

Reinforced Bronze Kilt

Tower Value=16

Armor = 5

Special Effect: Vitality +4 when worn.

This one was a no brainer for Cam. Even if he wasn’t lacking armor for his legs, the amount that the kilt offered was too good to pass up, to say nothing of the increased Vitality- Stat increasing armor was always sought after, as the straightforward benefits were obvious... And, despite it looking like an armored skirt to him, the shiny bronze plates lent it what he thought of as a heroic appearance.

There wasn’t even a discussion for the kilt, as Eron already had his Sneaky Pants... Plus, the extra 40 HP for Cam didn’t hurt.

But the last item...

Chief Librarian’s Registry(Accessory)

Tower Value=40

Special Effect: Regain 1 HP and 1 MP on kill.

”What is with these accessories?” Cam couldn’t help but ask his clone; He knew how rare accessories were, with many teams not seeing a single one during their entire careers as climbers... and he had found two. And both were incredible!

Recovering a single HP or MP, while it didn’t look like much, could make a huge difference inside the Tower, especially with the ’on kill’ designator, meaning it happened every time he took down a mob! While not a large amount, the frequency made all the difference in improving his survivability.

It was a little odd having the palm sized book hanging from his belt on the side, more so considering he couldn’t actually read it, but the benefits were certainly worth it.

”Does it feel like our loot is a little too good?” Eron asked after checking out the new items. ”I mean, I don’t think we’re getting more drops than other teams, just... I thought finding stuff this good was supposed to be really rare, you know? And we’ve found several items that are just crazy good!”

”Yeah, I know what you mean... but we’ve also dealt with more weird stuff than what I expected.” Cam answered slowly. ”I mean, how many teams can you think of have reported seeing two types of new enemies as well as a Puzzle Floor and a Swarm Floor... before Floor 5!? It’s like we’re hitting the jackpot on loot drops while also drawing the short straw on Floors!”

”Maybe high rarity Classes skew things?” Eron suggested hesitantly, the thought already having occurred to both of them. ”I know we’ve never heard about anything like that, but there’s a lot of stuff the Innies don’t really tell us Outcasts- and this is starting to feel like something other than coincidence...”

”But this is only Floor 4; We haven’t seen enough to really support that conclusion.” Cam countered uncertainly. ”It’s possible we just have really crazy luck!”

”Even the guy with the Gambler Class didn’t have luck like this!”

”True, but... still...” Cam couldn’t come up with an argument to that- though that was partly due to how little information was actually known about the Gambler Class, as that particular climber didn’t share much information about his Abilities; Still, he hadn’t held back on the Floors he faced during his climb, as well as the items he had contributed to the War Chest...

”Whatever. It’s not like we’re going to figure it out by standing here talking.” Eron waved off the odd discussion, his grin quickly returning. ”Now stop stalling! We have a Perk to pick!”