Chapter 5: Resourceful Climber

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Will’s eyes creaked open, which was, frankly, a surprise.

He was still in the white room, but there was A DOOR!

Ignoring the voice, Will pushed himself to his feet, hissing in pain as he lightly nudged the scabbing edge of his arm against the floor.

Once he was standing…he went back down. Will had never been faint before, but he’d never had this much blood loss, either.

Will turned it into a process.

Once he was confident he wouldn’t falter again, Will pushed himself to his feet.

He needed to see his Trial before he decided on his Abilities.

Oftentimes, people could pick whatever Abilities they wanted for their future Class, breeze through The Trial, then move on, but if Will didn’t choose the best primaries suited for finishing The Trial, then he might just die.

Will took a deep breath and stepped through the glowing yellow portal.

His eyes adjusted.

He was standing on a narrow ridge in a canyon of some kind, with rugged terrain in every direction. There were cactuses, scrub brush, and the unnaturally strong sun beat down on his dehydrated frame like he owed it money.

Above him, sheer cliffs trapped him inside the Trial. Below: jagged crags, narrow footholds, and the occasional patch of flat ground which was completely dominated by plant life.

“Huh.”

Will thought, sitting down.

“Sta—” *COUGH*

Not having spoken except to scream or cry in a couple days, Will’s voice was gunked up.

“Status.”

Will’s stat sheet began to print itself in the air in front of his eyes.

“What’s a Resourceful Climber?” Will mused, interrupting the display of his primaries to go back and study his Class. Again, he needed to know the context of his Class to have a better inkling of how his abilities might develop.

The orphanage did have basic instruction in how to pick your Primaries, and what Classes did what.

“Oh, like a climber? Not a Climber? One who climbs? Shit.”

That sounded like the sort of thing that having hands would be fantastic for.

It sounded like a scout archetype, which wasn’t the worst. The Focus per level was better than a scout should’ve expected, too. The resistance, as well...

5 from the Uru Drake, 3 from the gravity goat, and…4 from his hand?

That was 3 points per level more than a typical Climber. That was the kind of stat growth that could give birth to a Lord.

Will thought.

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Everyone started with two Primaries. The first two abilities a Climber picked gained the most upgrades over time, which meant that whatever he picked would grow and change and become more powerful as his Class advanced, forming the core of their style.

Every ten levels, he could pick a new Ability, but of course it would be 10, 20, even 30 levels of growth behind the Primaries.

Will only had 2 Charge at the moment. Not enough to take out or bypass an entire camp of maksu twenty feet at a time.

Will’s eyebrows rose.

Will mentally marked it down as a possible choice.

If the portal was guarded, then sneak up to it and cover the last thirty feet or so in a single leap, bypassing the fight entirely.

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It help with survival, definitely, but since it didn’t help with actually anything, that assistance was limited.

? That seemed like an Alchemist archetype minor ability. If it was strengthened enough, it would probably allow someone to grow consumables in batches, like…sourdough.

Upgrades might expand this ability to include equipment maintenance, or food-creating abilities. It gave Will the impression that it was pretty useful for a Climber. Or a climber, for that matter.

Abyss, if he raised it high enough to produce more than he used, he could make a living off of selling batch-grown Healing Potions.

But it didn’t help survive He didn’t have any Relics to hand.

Will took it. He’d never heard of Phantom Hand. It wasn’t a rational decision, he just wanted his hand back.

Will took a deep breath and rationalized his decision. If he continued raising it as his Primary, there was a good chance it would unlock an upgrade that allowed it to touch real things and substitute for his lost hand. Which would be just…really, really great.

Will went back through the other Abilities, and settled on Aspect of the Goat. It was just too helpful in a survival situation to pass. And, like everyone was telling him: Gotta be alive to make it to the top.

Will thought.

There was a saying: ‘Magic is a wonderful, glorious thing that can be doom or savior…but it takes a week off. Strength is Strength.’

If Will was going to be climbing cliffs with one hand, he needed every bit he could get.

A tingling sensation prompted a shudder as it felt like an ephemeral force moved him, locking in his selections.

A semi-transparent left hand appeared on the end of his truncated wrist, glowing a faint blue.

He clenched it. Unclenched it. Wiggled the fingers.

If anything, the hand had more dexterity to it than the one he’d been born with, responding with unnatural smoothness and precision.

Heart pounding, Will reached out and poked a nearby bush. The hand went right through it, living up to its ‘phantom’ moniker.

Will sighed, crouching down before leaning back, allowing his legs to splay out in front of him. “Yeah, I figured.” It wouldn’t be useful for some time. No sense crying and wasting some of the little remaining moisture he had.

Will reached out with his good hand and carefully plucked a cactus out of the soil, and began munching on it.

Will thought, spitting out thorns as he went, amazing himself at the sheer toughness of his mouth.

There was no time limit to this Trial, and if the Aspect of the Goat Ability told the truth, a whole cornucopia of food had just opened up to him. So Will resolved to recover his condition as much as possible before he sought out the tribe of maksu.

Will crushed the thick cactus flesh between his teeth, drinking in the doubtlessly poisonous moisture as it flowed down his throat, spitting out the spines.

Whatever else Aspect of the Goat did, it kept the food down, and the unnatural moving sun of The Tower that had been scorching hot against his unprotected skin now felt like the gentle warmth of the real sun.

Will mused to himself as he tucked the scabbing stub against his chest, lying down on the tiny ledge and trying to make himself comfortable.

Will thought as the gentle rustle of the wind through the nearby bushes lulled him to sleep, despite the rocks and thorns and insects making their presence known against his unprotected flesh.

Will grabbed a branch from the bush, snapped it off and started chewing on the tough, sun-baked leaves, falling asleep with the branch half-eaten.

When he woke up in the morning, Will was again surprised, having expected either the sweet release of death or an acute case of food poisoning in the night, which, in his current condition, would also mean death.

he wondered, sitting up to scan his surroundings.

There was lingering coolness in the stone, despite the sun baking the surroundings.

It had felt like noon when he passed out, although Will couldn’t be sure, with the unfamiliar sun.

Will felt surprisingly good.

Sure, his skin was red and peeling, and his left hand was missing…but he felt better. Like he’d gotten a big dinner and a full night’s sleep…which he supposed he had.

Will thought, patting his stomach.

Further down the cliffside was more food and water: a bit of brush and another cactus.

Will’s mouth started watering involuntarily.

The plants were over fifteen feet below him, with only tiny ridges sticking out of the rock between here and there.

Will tucked his wounded arm in and began carefully setting his feet on the tiny variations in the stone that he could barely snag a toenail on…

And found a solid surface.

Will pulled his foot back and glanced down, spotting the tiny lip. There was no way he had managed to fit his whole toe on that vestigial outcropping.

Watching the entire process, Will carefully lowered his foot to the toehold.

It subtly grew as his toe came down on it, extending outward an extra inch to meet his foot.

Will deeply suspected the Uru Drake’s spacetime abilities had enhanced Aspect of the Goat to make it go beyond simply being good at climbing, altering the size, sturdiness, and orientation of his foot- and handholds.

Will took another step down and a tiny protrusion jutted out to meet his foot.

Will thought, letting go with his hand.

The tiny ridges he balanced on supported him. The whole process was almost as simple as walking down a staircase.

Will grabbed a tiny outcropping, which smoothly jutted outward, conforming to his fingers in an ideal grip.

He let go with his feet, then unscrunched his body, catching unseen footholds several feet lower.

In a matter of seconds, Will was at the bottom of the cliff, with less effort than he would’ve spent if he’d had both hands and no Class.

Will thought, surveying the surroundings as he munched on cactus and scrub brush.He had entered this canyon with a frame of mind that the steep cliffs and boulders were nearly impassable terrain, and that he would have to carefully pick his way down to the bottom in order to reach the portal over the course of several hours.

But this place was his playground, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a disadvantage for a Resourceful Climber. He was on his home turf, even missing a hand.

In the far distance, Will saw a tendril of smoke wafting up above the canyon.