154: Neve's Reward, Part Two

Neve's Reward, Part Two

The 7th Floor's quest was pleasingly simple compared to all the others so far. 

Neve had to find four different books, scattered throughout the coalescing clouds and glass that formed this odd location. 

Currently, she and Erin moved around the map, trying to do just that. They'd found 3 already and were now trying to find the last. 

"Hm... You're certain we won't be encountering any enemies?"

"That's not what I said," Neve replied to the lamia. "The group I'm chasing killed a lot of them, but probably not all of them. There might be a few hiding around a... Floating around somewhere," Neve corrected herself. She had been about to say "hiding around a corner" but she stopped as she realized that they'd be able to see them still, given that all of the walls and structures were transparent.

"Good," Erin responded.

"Good?" Neve paused to look at her. 

"I can't help but wonder what a fight in this place might be like," she said. "Here, let me ask you. Do you think I could touch your face from where I am?" 

"Uh... Probably not." 

Erin then casually reached up and did just that, pressing a warm claw against Neve's cheek. Neve flinched, surprised. 

"It's the floor," Erin declared with a smirk. "In fights combatants will often track the lower halves of their opponents to gauge distance. The fact that we can't see the ground on which we're standing makes that a little harder. Not impossible, but harder. Not just for ourselves, but for our enemies too, I'd imagine." 

[Hm... Good to know.] 

Empty chests, looted monster corpses, triggered traps. It felt so strange to see this many signs that others had been here. 

And, it looked like the battles they'd fought were quite prolonged, as each monster had dozens of little scars on them to tell the tales of what had happened. 

"What are you seeing?" Erin asked as Neve knelt beside one of the corpses. 

The body before her was that of a four-armed humanoid creature, with pearl-rose skin and thin, long limbs. It was dressed in what Neve would call monk-like robes, and even in death, this creature carried a solemn, calm expression. 

"The people I'm chasing killed these creatures. I'm trying to get a feel for the kinds of weapons they used." 

"Perhaps I could do that for you, then," Erin offered. She slithered to where Neve was kneeling and the healer watched as her eyes scanned the body. "Magic was involved, clearly. As to what kind, well, the discoloration here suggests that this group has an ice mage among their numbers. Also, see this hole over here?" She tapped one of those four arms. "This looks as though an arrow had been extracted from there." 

"... There are no cuts," Neve noticed. 

"Indeed. Is that surprising?" Erin asked. 

"The leader of the group uses daggers. Unless he found something stronger, but, I have no way of knowing," Neve muttered. 

[... There's no way he's dead, right?] Neve thought, hoping with all of her heart that Thomas was still alive. 

So she could kill him herself, of course. 

"He's alive, don't worry," Tamira quickly said to her. 

[Oh. Okay then.] 

"So, where do you believe you will find this last book you're looking for?" Erin asked. 

"Well... If my guess is right, I'm thinking it'll be up there." 

Neve pointed at what was the highest point of this Floor. A transparent tower, standing proudly behind the boss marker. 

[Hm. The way this would probably work if I had been clearing this floor the standard way is that I'd get the first three books and then the last would be gated behind this boss fight, whatever it was. Thomas's group already did it, though, so is the Floor Quest still going to be available?] 

Neve shrugged. 

[I guess I'll find out in just a bit.] 

The boss arena itself was akin to fighting atop an ocean of glass, illuminated by a curious sun gazing down at the hovering platform. Here, Neve found a pile of ashes in front of an open portal that would lead to the next Floor. 

But, additionally, there was the tower she'd seen before, standing behind the temple. 

[Hm... This takes a little bit of faith, I guess,] Neve thought as she looked at the path leading to the tower.

Or lack thereof. There was a massive gap between the tower and the boss arena. 

[Uh, either I need some sort of item or I'm literally supposed to just trust that I won't fall. Luckily, though, I can test this theory without potentially dying.] 

Thus, Neve signaled to Erin and the lamia agreed to slither forward. 

Indeed, she did not fall to her death. Instead, invisible blocks held her up. 

[Alright, then. Nice.] 

Neve entered the tower and made her way up. It was a cramped, tight space that almost felt like Neve was going to find a trapped princess at the top. 

Instead, she found a creature that very much looked like the ones she'd seen littering the ground leading up to this place. 

A woman with four arms stood over a balcony that overlooked the 7th Floor. As Neve walked up to her slowly, the woman glanced back briefly before fixing her eyes back on her glass city. 

"... I had wondered if the distance between my home and my people would save me from your murderous streak. I guess not," the woman said. 

With just those words being said, Neve understood something that made her anger flare up. 

Those bodies, at least some of them, were not monsters. They were NPCs. 

Or, as she'd come to understand, regular citizens of this fallen world. 

Calming herself down, she said: 

"I'm not with the people who... did all of that." 

"No?" That made the woman turn toward her. Her pink hands were held together lightly. "You look just like them, though. Well, you do," she said, looking at Erin who stood next to Neve. "She doesn't, but... Well, maybe she's here for a similar purpose." 

Her words made it seem like she believed Neve was here to kill her, but it would be hard to tell that from just her tone and posture. The way her cold eyes looked into Neve's own was also quite perplexing. 

"They, uhm... Belong to a different faction," Neve offered up as an explanation. "I am not affiliated with them." 

"Is that so? Oh, what joyous news, then." 

[... Is she being sarcastic?] 

"Could you be so kind as to explain why you are here, if not to kill me?" 

"Yeah, I'm looking for a book." 

Neve walked up. Understandably, the lady took a step back as Neve approached her. The healer held her hands up, though, before walking forward again. This time, the lady remained where she was. 

"I found these three," Neve said, pulling the books she already had out of her inventory. "There's a fourth one that I'm-" 

"Where did you find these?" 

The woman's voice had taken a sharp turn from slightly hostile to incredibly curious. She looked at the tomes Neve carried like they were relics. Pieces of forgotten times. 

"Uh... Just kinda lying around. You know, here and there," Neve answered with a shrug. 

"May I?" Neve was asked by the lady, as she extended a hand toward the books she held.  2

Sensing that this was what she needed to do to progress the Floor Quest, she handed the books over. 

The woman's bare, pink feet glided over the glass, moving to the platinum railing from which she'd been looking down at the city earlier. 

With her fourth arm, she pulled out the last book Neve needed to find from thin air. She stacked them all on top of each other before asking: 

"... What is your name, traveler?" 

"Neve." 

"Neve... Would you like to know why I am so elated?" 

"Uh, sure." 

Suddenly, as the woman held the books in her hands, she pressed them against each other. 

And the volumes began merging into one. 

"The Unity Trials were a difficult thing for my people to understand," she stated. "We were a community of pacifists. Peaceful, for the most part. We could not comprehend what we had done to deserve these trials being thrust upon us. It was only after our society had completely fallen that I understood something." 

Neve then realized that, no, the woman wasn't merging the books.

She was burning them. 

"Neve, are you familiar with the concept of punishment? Is that something your people understand?" 

"... Yeah," Neve responded. 

"Then, already your people are in a better place than mine were. See, we thought ourselves enlightened. And so, it was as I sat here, hiding from the monsters that invaded my community, that I realized this enlightenment was our prison." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Punishment was something that our community had been sorely missing," she stated. "In our pacifism, horrible deeds would be ignored, murderers would be allowed to repent all too easily, and, well, there was no punishment for stepping out of line. No punishment for betraying your kin." 

She tossed the ashes away and said: 

"These books were our history, Neve. Shameful recollections of delusion. Once I made my discovery I had taken the one book I had and held it closely, for as long as I can remember. I could not gather the others, but every night I dreamed of erasing our past. I dreamed of starting anew." 

She walked forward, her hands placed over her chest. 

"Now, with our society properly punished... Maybe something better can begin." 

---

Neve wasn't too sure what to make of everything she was told, but she got the IP she'd wanted and so, now, she was ready to move on. 

But, then again, maybe she could spare an hour or two, seeing as how Ahlakan liked it here.

She returned to the safe zone and found the alchemist looking out at the clouds around her. The sun draped over her skin made her look like a grey star amidst a pale sea. 

As much as Neve was eager to go and get her vengeance, this sight briefly pulled her attention away from that and made her say: 

[God, she looks so beautiful.] 

Almost like she'd sensed Neve's thoughts, Ahlakan turned toward her. 

"... Perhaps I should take this moment to lay down on that soft bed of yours," Erin said, whispering in Neve's ear. "Enjoy yourself~" 

"I'm not..." Erin moved away before Neve could say anything else. 

Neve joined her, sitting on the same bench. Ahlakan placed a hand over hers. 

"I spent so long wondering what a 'sky' was, back home," Ahlakan stated quietly. "Now, seeing this... I am sad to have not seen it for so many years." 

"... We can stay here for a while if you want," Neve shrugged. "I'm making pretty good progress... I think I can afford an hour or two." 

"Really? How sad." 

"Huh?" Neve raised a brow. 

Suddenly, Ahlakan got up, off the bench.

Only so she could sit on Neve's lap immediately afterward, straddling her. 

Neve's face turned red. 

"These surroundings are beautiful, but... If you have time to take a break, I'd much rather spend it with you than looking around. It's been a bit... Hasn't it?" 

Neve swallowed. 

"R-Right. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Right." 

"Eloquent." 

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