Chapter 16 (part 1/2) - Hero

  Vincent was in trouble. Serious trouble. Despite all his impressive maneuvers, the day came, once again he was dangerously short on money. One would think a billionaire would be far more conscious of his spending and more careful with money, but the truth was that after living for almost a decade with what could be considered "infinite money", Vincent had grown quite lax with expenses.

  He never cut costs, spent freely without thinking too much, convinced that everything would, with a bit of luck, converge into far more money by the end of the road. In his past life, money was never an issue. There was always liquidity, always investment, always the option to take a loan or restructure. His companies had always been in the green, and even if one had operated at a loss, it would not have sunk him. That was what he was used to.

  Now, with just over six towers in his pocket, he had been forced to sell part of the research material he had accumulated, and at a loss. He managed to recover seven silver towers by selling the burner and the pipes he had used to design his vaporizer. On top of that, to make a bit more money, he rented out his room to a couple who wanted some time alone. After noticing the tangled sheets and the lingering smell of dampness, he decided it was better to resort to other methods of making money.

  How am I supposed to worry about automating production if I barely have the money to make half a dozen vaporizers?

  His plans for a fabrication circle would have to wait. By his calculations, the amount of absorption crystals needed to make it run at a worthwhile speed would put him deep in the red. Unfortunately, the solution that came to mind, stealing crystals from the tower, was considered a serious offense, and the person who caught him in the act was none other than Lily.

  "Vin? What are you doing?"

  Lily shouted when she saw Vincent perched on a small stool, trying to pry one of the quartz crystals out of a nearby lamp.

  "Lily?"

  Vincent managed to say before wobbling and nearly falling off the stool.

  It was not the reunion he had imagined. For Lily’s return, he had pictured himself solvent, able to tell her that everything would be fine. Instead, what Lily found was Vincent doing the equivalent of stripping copper cables to sell them.

  Lily's reproachful look did not last long. She was far too relieved to see him safe and sound. Apparently, someone had informed her during her journey that Vincent would be put on trial, but she had not been allowed to abandon the expedition. Upon arriving at the tower, and thankfully, she learned that Vincent's fate was safe for the moment. She checked the usual places, his new room and the workshop where he was supposed to be working, but it was not until she used a tracking spell that she managed to find him among the rubble of an abandoned bathroom.

  The tower’s organic growth and constant expansion left many rooms unusable over time, especially those with very specific purposes, like bathrooms and service areas. It was in those dilapidated bathrooms that Vincent found much of the material he needed for his next experiment. Since his fabrication circle would require a great deal of power to operate, salvaging the abandoned quartz crystals from those forgotten rooms seemed like a good idea. After all, they were only being used for lighting.

  “You can’t just steal materials from the tower like that. The bracelet will notice and charge you for it!”

  “I know, I know. I could feel it pulsing when I put them in my pocket, but if I just clean them and gather them in this room, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Gather crystals? How many do you need?”

  “Dozens… hundreds, if possible…”

  Lily’s eyes widened, this time in concern.

  “You want to build an accumulation array?”

  Vincent nodded.

  “And since when do you know about that?”

  She had heard the rumors. Long-distance communication was not impossible in this world, and a friend had been feeding her details ever since she left. Stories about the empty husk turned genius spread quickly. According to them, Vincent had invented a revolutionary circle capable of thinking and, with it, had paid off his entire debt, , remaining in the tower only to pay off the debt of his former caretaker and lover...

  Lily knew that was nonsense. She chose not to believe anything until Vincent confirmed it himself, with one exception she verified upon returning. It was true that he had created something revolutionary, but it was only a calculator. And while it was false that he had cleared his entire debt, Lily had indeed been summoned to the treasury upon her arrival to have her second bracelet removed.

  Vincent then went on to explain his second plan. Escaping once was not enough. If he wanted to stay safe, he needed solvency, and he would never get that from the scraps the tower would give him. He needed to produce his vaporizers quickly, before the upper ranks seized his invention, and to do that he had to automate the process. It required a massive amount of energy, but any profit would have to be reinvested into buying more materials and producing more units. He could not afford a single gem powerful enough to fuel the machine. Instead, after some study, he concluded that the best solution was to use an accumulation array with cheaper gems dedicated solely to absorbing energy.

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  Geometric shapes and patterns attracted energy, and by arranging multiple luminous quartz crystals it was possible to build up enough concentration to power his fabrication circle. The tower had similar setups for public use, but for what Vincent wanted to do he needed privacy, which he found in one of the many abandoned bathrooms.

  “So, as you can see, I’m not technically stealing the crystals. I’m just rearranging them and moving them around, look.”

  Vincent showed Lily his bracelet.

  “It’s completely smooth. Besides gathering the crystals, I’m also sweeping and clearing some of the debris. That counts as work.”

  “Hmmm…”

  Lily was not entirely convinced, and she did not like the idea of him selling his inventions on the parallel market, especially since it could damage the goodwill he had built with the tower.

  “I don’t like it… but I suppose it’s better than you trying to take some monster-hunting contract in search of big rewards.”

  “Rewards? What are you talking about? How big are these rewards?”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Lily warned him, even though Vincent was clearly joking. “You’re no hero.”

  “I know, I know. I wouldn’t dare fight whatever this world has to offer. I don’t have any offensive abilities.”

  “It’s not just that. This world is far more complex than you think. It’s very easy to get hurt. That’s why I was called to the expedition.”

  Vincent had not noticed it at first, but when he looked at her more closely he realized Lily’s robe was stained with dried blood. Blood that was not hers.

  I thought it was dirt… I had no idea.

  “Lily… where have you been?”

  “It’s not important…” she replied, avoiding his gaze and trying to change the subject. “It’s not something you have to face.”

  Out there, in the real world, there were things Vincent was not prepared for. Things whose scale he still could not fully grasp, but which, apparently, were the aspiration of many husks and resurrected. Having the courage and skill to fight opened a much faster path to freedom, and the tower was a major supplier of bodies for the conquest of the wild continent.

  Not everyone desired a life of study. Not everyone could be forced into it, nor did everyone have the aptitude to become a scholar. That left the tower with a surplus of lives, once they had delivered the knowledge expected of them. Outsourcing adventurers was a common practice, and it offered a fast way out of the tower for those brave enough.

  Is it possible? I’m no warrior… but if I get to it, I’m sure I could make a weapon…

  “Enough. Don’t even think about it.”

  Lily interrupted him as soon as she saw the thoughtful look on his face.

  “You have no idea of the level adventurers operate at… the level heroes operate at. You should study them when you have time. Saito, the most powerful earthling hero we have, arrived with our caravan. You should go greet him too and listen to his stories. I’m sure they still haven’t let him leave the entrance.”

  “An earthling hero? What do you mean by hero?”

  “A hero is an adventurer who has transcended the acts of a mere mortal. Saito is the strongest of the earthlings, possibly the strongest ever to come out of this tower and still be alive. He has a perfect memory and has been conscious since he was a baby. He can use any spell with ease, identify any object, and move like no one else. At just sixteen years old he has defeated armies, courted princesses, and tamed dragons…”

  Vincent replied with a look of disbelief and disdain. He had no time for that kind of story, so he dismissed Lily’s suggestion and kept scavenging crystals while she told him details of her journey.

  After a while, Vincent assured her that he had no plans to put himself in danger, neither in the short nor the long term. Action was not his thing. His only real concern was financial solvency.

  When Lily left, Vincent had already finished clearing the debris from the abandoned bathroom. He stacked the stall doors to one side and cleaned the floor. The room, now free of filth, was wide enough to draw an accumulation array on the ground. He only needed more quartz crystals. During the day he had gathered around twenty-five and hoped to reach at least thirty before attempting anything, so he headed to the dining hall for a quick lunch before continuing the search.

  “Did you see him? Saito’s harem keeps growing!”

  One husk was saying to another at a nearby table.

  “How many are there now? Five? Seven?”

  “No idea. I stopped counting when the female knight joined his party.”

  “Now he’s got a demi-human with feline features in his retinue, but I think she’s a slave,” a third added.

  “Saito wouldn’t have slaves. She was walking at his side and looked happy. Must be another member of his harem.”

  “Do you think so? She looked rather young...”

  The gossip didn’t interest him, but apparently the hero was moving around the nearby floors. The romantic soap opera was irrelevant, but if it was true that he had perfect memory, then it did worry Vincent whether that “hero” had introduced any technology into this world.

  I should look into what he’s done. I hope he hasn’t revealed anything that would alter this world’s natural order.

  It would be problematic if he had invented something Vincent planned to present later. There was much to do and many achievements to claim, but first of all he needed more quartz.

  His next target was an abandoned storage depot. The tower didn’t only accumulate knowledge, it also stored a massive number of failed prototypes. No one would miss a handful of crystals in a dusty warehouse, so with the excuse of helping to organize and clean, gaining access was easy. These depots were located between the exterior and the central cloister. They didn’t need natural light, but they did require wide access for the rapid transport of large prototypes.

  The depot was about four levels above his room, still within the Fifth Heart. When he arrived, Vincent ran into an unexpected surprise.

  The door was open.

  It wasn’t strange for husks to slip into lonely, abandoned places. Lack of privacy was common among low-rank resurrects, whether for training or for… other activities.

  I doubt I’ll run into a couple here… the atmosphere isn’t exactly inviting, Vincent thought as he dodged cobwebs and dust-covered tarps.

  Many of the inventions and prototypes were covered by large sheets to protect them from wear, but even from their silhouettes their purposes could be inferred. Enormous machines, boilers, and other contraptions lay there, inanimate and abandoned. Even if one attempted to replicate modern machinery, there was always the question of whether its use and manufacture would justify the effort and complexity required, and whether this world would even adopt it.

  Even if modern technology can be recreated, if it is not adapted to coexist with magic, it is useless in this world.

  Still, there was a lot that could be salvaged. No one would miss loose gears or components from failed machines, and reusing them for something practical wouldn’t count as theft. Vincent’s mind raced. There were so many parts, so many possible combinations, that the opportunities felt endless.

  That was why it took him a moment to notice the person standing in front of him.

  Between a pair of machines stood a young man in a black trench coat, simple in cut but adorned with solid plates of black gold. A pale metal sword rested on his back, and his smooth, glossy black hair reflected the blue glow of a holographic screen displaying numbers, levels, and items arranged in a grid. The screen vanished the instant the boy noticed him, but it was already too late. The hero’s furtive gaze had locked onto him…

  Vincent had seen something he was not supposed to see.