Chapter 340: 25th Floor

***Jason Salazar, level 75 Prophet of Ouroboros***

Jason Salazar sat across the table from a rather rowdy bunch, the mood just right to get another drink out of them.

They were inside the tavern inside William Oh’s Stronghold inside the Wandering Lord, Mason Lanover, and they had just powered through the 24^th Floor with zero losses.

Sammohan had even found some materials that could be used to enhance weapons to be far more deadly than before. Deadlier weapons meant higher survival rate. Higher survival rate meant less dead friends.

And that was worth celebrating. The rowdiness was the perfect seedbed for making some profitable bets.

“Alright, alright,” Jason said, bringing Hand of Fate nearby as he spun Will’s coin across his knuckles. “Calm down. How about this: Let’s flip a coin. If you win, I’ll tell you another story, and if I win, you buy me another drink.”

It was always good to test the vibe with some small bets before you work your way up to something more valuable.

“Alright,” The hardened Climber said before reaching into his pocket and producing an ivory coin.

“But I’m flipping my coin.”

Doesn’t matter which coin you flip, Jason thought, tapping his own shoulder with Hand of Fate, marking himself as the target for the Luck buff.

Hand of Fate

514->513 Charge remaining.

With all his upgrades, bonuses and kit, it gave him an 8X boost to his odds of winning a gamble. That raised a coinflip to 99.97% chance of winning. Now that wasn’t to say it gave him a 99% chance of succeeding at anything. The chances of winning a coinflip were already pretty high, so his 8x boost raised it to a sure thing, but if something was extremely unlikely it only made it just unlikely. A 1% chance became a 7.8% chance.

Something impossible remained impossible.

After Will had punched him in the face that one time, Jason had put a lot more thought into his own Ability and realized that Will had been going to punch him in the face either way for saying some stupid shit about his girlfriend, so the outcome of the coin toss itself was meaningless. After that he’d studied probability, scrying, philosophy and math, making sure he understood his Ability as deeply as possible.

There was no one more favored by Luck than Jason Salazar.

“Heads.” The Climber called in the air. Jason sat back in his chair and relaxed, anticipating the drink that would inevitably come when the coin showed tails.

“Hah!” the grungy man crowed as he slapped the coin on the back of his hand, revealing the head of some long-dead emperor that only The System remembered.

Jason frowned.

“looks like you ain’t that lucky, kid!” The man said with a grin, taking a deep swig and slamming his drink back down onto the rough-hewn table.

So either this guy is the type who welches on bets, or me telling another story about Will is the best outcome for me? Well, whatever.

“What’s the matter, headcrabs render you mute?” Annie, get this kid another cider to loosen his tongue!” The Climber called out to the waitress, chortling as he took another swig.

Oh, so I was going to get a drink either way. The coin flip was meaningless.

Except I have to tell another tall tale. Well, that’s my job anyway, Jason thought, mentally rolling up his sleeves as the mug of mild cider found its way to him.

“Alright, have you ever heard the one where William Oh went down into the underworld and-“

“Heard that one!” The man cried, his fellow miners joining in.

“Both of them?” Jason asked.

“Both of ‘em!”

“How about the one with William Oh and the vampire-“

“Heard it!”

‘William Oh and the mermai-“

“Heard it!”

“We want something new!”

“Yeah, something new!”

Jason pursed his lips, turning his attention inward.

Over the years, he had learned to tap into that odd, jittery, bubbling state that allowed him to come up with new stories at a moment’s notice.

“Alright, you want a new one!? This one’s about William Oh and the Labyrinth of Twisted Time!” Jason cried, taking a massive swig of his cider.

“So there William Oh was, on the twenty-fifth Floor, venturing into a labyrinth not made of walls, but time, twisted in on itself again and again, orchestrated by the mad wizard Kyle Eggers!”

“Don’t evil wizards traditionally have ‘mal’ or ‘zan’ in their names, you know, to be more imposing?” One of Jason’s audience members asked, hand raised. “I mean, Kyle? Sounds like a kid.”

“No questions until the end of the tale!” Jason said, waving it off imperiously.

“So, the Labyrinth of Twisted Time was designed to seem like a safe haven. The perfect spot to set up a Stronghold and rest a bit. Manageable monster populations, lush lands, wide open spaces, plenty of raw materials for everyone to settle down and stay a while.

“Little did William Oh know was that the world reset at the end of each day.” Jason said in a hushed tone. “Each morning, the world is brought back to the very moment one entered it, except for one thing:”

Jason held up a finger.

“And that one thing is animosity. Every memory, every feeling that was experienced over that one day is completely erased, but any minor irksome event that happened…an echo of the emotion remains so that day by day, gradually you begin to hate the ones who entered with you. Eventually, without even questioning why, they immediately begin tearing each other apart until only one remains.

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“Of course some people are too strong mentally to let a few minor bad feelings dictate their behavior, and for those people, Kyle Eggers inserts himself into their group and stirs things up, turns them against each other, and creates the tiny cracks in his victim’s hearts that the endlessly repeating Floor can slowly wear away, like ice breaking apart a stone.

“Well, you know what William Oh did? He’s too damn smart, too damn strong, and too damn lucky to let something like insurmountable odds stand in his way.” Jason said, raising a finger. “William Oh noticed a tiny inconsistency and managed to figure out what was going on and escape the loop. He took that nightmare world and balled it up before shoving it right up Kyle’s ass.”

Across the table, one of the younger Climbers raised his hand, prompting Jason to point at him.

“How do you ball up an entire Floor and shove it up someone’s ass?”

“Now that is an excellent question,” Jason said with a grin. “So you see-“

“Wait, wait,” A nitwit interrupted. “Right at the beginning, you said this happened on the twenty-fifth Floor?”

“Yeah?” Jason said.

“Aren’t we on the twenty-fifth Floor now?” The nitwit asked.

Jason’s mouth hung open as his stomach sank.

“Yeah, we got here last night around midnight, actually.” One of the other Climbers chimed in.

“You know I was kind of pissed off last night when we entered the Floor. like all of a sudden I was in a bad mood.”

“Me too!”

“…Me too.”

Me too.

“What time is it right now?” Jason demanded, his skin going cold.

“Like…around midnight?” one of the other Climbers said with a shrug.

“Quick, somebody stab me!”

To their credit, the hardened veterans didn’t hesitate to stab him, with one lunging across the table and driving a magic dagger into his gut.

***24 hours earlier***

The mood was pretty festive inside Mason. They were just about to go up a Floor and despite how harsh the 24^th Floor had been, they had made it through without any losses.

But that festive atmosphere was overshadowed by one question: How bad is the 25^th Floor going to be? That one question loomed over everything.

They couldn’t celebrate until they knew for certain.

The citizens inside Mason’s miniature world stood outside the buildings, staring up into the sky at the view of the outside world, seen through Mason’s eyes.

Jason joined them, standing amongst the crowd, tightly packed in the street like a fair, every single one of them staring into the sky.

What’s it gonna be this time? flying psionic jellyfish? Stubby flightless birds that explode on contact? Worse?

Above them, they saw the Door appear in front of Mason’s eyes. He waited thirty seconds for Will to test the waters before he stepped forward as well, causing the large yellow-orange door to expand, consuming the entire sky.

An instant later, the view shifted, and they seemed to be standing on a cliff overlooking a lush valley lit by a merry sun.

Ugh, the time zone is differen-

Jason only caught a quick look at the picturesque scenery, because his stomach suddenly hurt, bad, and his body seemed to flood with stress.

“What the F-?” Jason groaned, doubling over while clutching his stomach, his heart hammering in his chest as a strange irritation settled over his shoulders like a cloak. It felt as though he’d gone an entire day with people hounding him with no rest.

Everyone kind of pisses me off, for some reason.

Psychic attack!?

Jason tore up the hem of his shirt and checked his stomach. The phantom pain was rapidly fading and there was no evidence of any kind of wound.

That’s not normal.

Jason heightened his defenses and began buffing the shit out himself.

Made Manifest.

William Oh Vs the Fae King

514->513 Charge remaining.

Jason took a deep breath as Will’s legendary fight manifested around him as a powerful shroud of energy.

“Step off, asshole!” one of the nearby Climbers said, shoving someone who had stepped on his shoes.

Oh, crap, what is going on? Some kind of aggression debuff?

“Excuse me, miss?” Jason said, pushing through the crowd and singling out one of the priestesses of Holdna.

Jason had a pretty good relationship with the church of Holdna. Since he was the oracle of their boss’s husband, they usually gave him the benefit of the doubt as long as he didn’t overdo it.

“What?” the tall priestess asked, her eyes narrowed as she tore her eyes away from Mason’s view of the wilderness.

“…Can you check to see if the crowd is under any debuffs, and if so, remove them?” He asked, as politely as possibly.

“Nobody’s under a debuff. Get lost, Jason, I’m trying to see the new Floor.”

“Well, F-“ Jason bit his tongue, fighting against his own irritation at her flippant dismissal. “Thank you for checking.”

She scoffed and turned back up to the sky.

Slap her. Slap her right in her smug face. Jason took a deep breath and switched his Buff.

Made Manifest.

William Oh Charms the fae Princess

513->512 Charge remaining.

His urge to slap evaporated as his buff switched to something better at helping him control his emotions and ease tension between people.

No debuffs? Jason thought, scanning the crowd. The mood had turned ugly in a matter of moments ever since they stepped foot onto the Floor, with more than a few people shoving each other and snarling idle threats while fingering the handles of their weapons.

…My ass. Something is going on.

Since I’m buffing myself…

Hand of Fate.

512->511 Charge remaining.

Jason tapped himself on the shoulder with his Ability. He didn’t normally boost his luck for no reason, but something was off, and he had an extremely bad feeling about it.

Jason turned to leave the crowd and suddenly tripped over his own feet, stumbling into a nearby warrior, a veritable wall of muscle looking down at him with a massive vein throbbing in his temple.

“HEY!” He roared, shoving Jason off of him. “If you’re a wobbly kneed faun who can’t stand on his own, then maybe you should get the fuck OUTTA HERE!”

Jason reeled backward and slammed into a nearby wall before collapsing to the ground.

“How was that the luckiest of eight possibilities?” He groaned before flinching as he realized.

‘get the fuck outta here’ indeed. I really should.

This was no time to be screwing around inside Mason. He needed to go outside and tell Will and the others that something weird was going on, and just leave.

Jason pushed himself back to his feet and sprinted to his house, swapping out his daily wear for the Family Gathering Set before sprinting to the castle, where Mason’s internal organs were kept safe by his loyal guards.

“It’s Jason Salazar! I need to go outside!” Jason shouted at the gate guard.

“Reason for leaving?” the guard asked, his voice tinged with irritation.

“I have a really bad feeling!”

“Bahahahaha!” The guard burst into laughter, slapping his knee with an uproarious chortle. Even the man’s partners, hidden behind the other side of the wall, ducked their heads out and laughed at him.

“I’m a goddamn oracle!” Jason said, but the laughter only got louder.

Jason scowled, his eyes narrowed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the coin that Will had given him.

“Whaddya gonna do with that?” The guard asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Make a decision.” Jason said, flipping it.

It landed tails in his palm.

“…You get to live.” Jason said.

“BAHAHAHAHA! Good one. Well, it seems safe enough out there and the madam is ready to link you to the outside world. Take a left and meet her in the courtyard, can’t miss it.” The gate guard said, waving him in as aftershocks of giggles wracked his body.

“Gods I needed that. This shift has been terrible.”

Jason put his head down and marched through the gate, ignoring the giggles and heading straight to the transfer area.

Sherry met him there, wavy brown hair and freckles. Not the most beautiful woman Jason had ever seen, but she had a strong will and a gentle air.

Even with this weirdness going on, she held on to her business smile.

“Hello Jason, how can I help you this evening?” She asked. “I was just about to go bed.”

Judging by her frazzled hair, she’d already been in bed.

“I need to speak to the outer Party. I think something weird is going on.”

She let out a soft groan, visibly restraining herself from yelling at him.

“Does this need to happen rightnow?” She asked, glancing longingly at her bedroom in the castle above.

“Did you start feeling extremely irritated about fifteen minutes ago?” Jason asked.

Sherry blew out a breath past her hair. “Yeah, because you woke…” She paused, seemingly surprised at even that mild outburst from herself. “…I’ll get it done.”

She hustled up into the tower to speak to Mason, and less than a minute later, one of Mason’s black portals opened.

Jason jumped through and found himself…not standing on a cliff overlooking a valley.

It was pitch black around him. His stats were good but his Acuity wasn’t high enough to feel things with his skin like Will. It felt…deep, dank, and musty.

…Some kind of cave? Jason thought, his grip tightening around the tomahawk.

That was when a man’s voice cut through the darkness.

“In a large group like yours, there’s always someone who notices early on that something’s wrong. I’ve gotten very good at pruning them.”