Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 467: Perks of a Bond

Max looked at his friends, watching as each tried to process the discussion they had just had.

Batrire was slowly brushing her beard while Fowl was asleep beside her on the couch.

Cordellia stared up at the ceiling, making small noises with her lips as she blew air out.

Max wanted to sketch Tanila as she twisted the hair at the end of her braid around a finger, eyes shut the entire time.

“This is what I get for grouping with a human,” their archer said after a few minutes of silence. “Reach high levels in the tower and get told that on some world, merfolk are using my name.”

“It could be worse,” Batrire replied. “Think of all the Fowl children.”

Both women snickered as their warrior snorted, his name having caused him to open an eye for a moment before closing it and returning to sleep.

“Max… I… I can’t imagine what you’re dealing with, but thank you.”

He nodded at Cordellia.

“I appreciate that. Knowing I’ve got you all and my Faction and family help. Part of me is upset because we now have more questions. The other part of me is focused on what we know.”

“Which is so little,” Tanila muttered.

“Exactly.”

“Well, I, for one, am interested to see what the next few tower floors hold,” Batrire said before letting out a yawn. Closing her eyes, their healer quickly started to snore like Fowl, only slightly louder.

“You two okay?” their archer asked.

Rubbing his thumb on Tanila’s ear, Max nodded.

“We are. You?” he replied.

“Absolutely! I can see it now. My own world of Cordellias, all beautiful and amazing with a bow.”

He chuckled and nodded.

“Perhaps you’ll need a few others in that world. Maybe a Max or two.”

“Gods no… one Max is more than enough,” Cordellia replied.

***

“Wew, you all need a bath!” Bidforo exclaimed, holding his pudgy nose. “I’ve smelled some ripe adventurers in my time, but you all win the award right now.”

Groaning, Max raised his arms to stretch and immediately put them down, assaulting himself from the stench that came. freewebnσvel.cѳm

“Yeah… I think you’re right.”

Glancing at the other four—all equally spaced apart— Max couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m assuming you’d prefer it if I didn’t make us take a carriage ride back?”

“Only if you don’t want to die,” Fowl muttered. “I’m pretty sure we all smell worse than an ogres arse.”

“Before you go, can I ask what floor? For the King you know.”

Max checked with the others who all shrugged.

“We’re about to do the 69th floor.”

A whistle came from the dwarf as he jotted that down in his book.

“It’s not even been two weeks. You all have been flying through them.”

“If only,” Cordellia grunted. “Then, we wouldn’t smell so bad.”

“Alright, let’s endure each other for just another moment, and we’ll be able to go bathe. In fact, let me make this easier,” Max said.

His shirt and armor vanished, leaving just his musclebound upper body.

Immediately an odor was released, and Bidforo was heard coughing and crashing against the stone. “Gah! Don’t! My eyes, they burn!”

Chuckling, Max pinched his own nose.

“I’d suggest you do the same, but this way you can at least touch me”

Grunts and groans came as they all mimicked him, moving at the same time to put their hands against his skin while holding their noses.

***

“Remind me to punch whoever in the tower designed that level,” Fowl said as he reached for another turkey leg. “I mean… the whole tower floor was one big stench fest. Worst yet was how it changed every so often so by the time I thought I would start not to smell it anymore… wham! A new one!”

Cordellia nodded.

“For once, I agree with Shorty. I think I used four bars of soap.”

“Glad you’re willing to sit by me again,” Max said as he winked at Tanila.

“Please… you were the one who kept saying you needed to stay ahead. I know you were avoiding me,” their mage replied.

“So it was that bad?” Erwini asked. “I mean… thankfully, I avoided whatever stench you all had, but how you talk about it…”

“Never in my whole life has anyone stank so bad,” Batrire stated. “I’ve changed diapers and waded through some awful things before… but this… if my man smelled like this every day, I’d send him back to his mom.”

The kind of gut-holding laughter Max hadn’t expected from the Faction leader echoed around the room as she obviously got some joke that didn’t translate well.

“I woulda made her send me,” Fowl said between bites.

“So the next boss… that’s impressive. I know you all have a lot of stuff to deal with, but I’ll send a note to Everett and let him know you’ll be home soon. He’s been bugging me every day.”

They waved as the dwarf left them alone, letting them eat and recover in peace and quiet from the mess hall that always swelled with other adventurers trying to meet and talk with them.

“So you going to try and talk with whatever we face tomorrow?” Cordellia asked after the door shut. “I mean… just in case.”

“I might as well, especially after these last four floors.”

Max considered the nonstop waves of monsters that they faced, forced into tunnels and hallways against undead, insects, and other creatures that ignored any attempt he made to communicate.

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“I’m really wanting to know where the crystal circles have gone. Not since old shiny head and body… thing, has there been a single one,” Fowl complained. “Just the old way of tower climbing. Kill till ya reach the portal.”

“But they have been easy, even if a little long. Not once did we have to search for the portal. These were all simple follow a course and just kill the entire way.”

“A blessing or a curse, I’ll take it,” Batrire declared as she filled her cup for a third time. “Made healing easy, even when things got a little difficult.”

Max sensed Tanila looking at him and realized he was drumming his fingers on the table.

“Something on your mind?” she asked.

“Nothing more than what we all have talked about. I mean there’s always something on my mind, but I’m still working through some stuff.”

“The whole the tower is watching you?”

He nodded at her.

“Also how the… thing… speaker… I don’t know… should we call it Chrome Face?”

“Chromie?”

“Chromie!” Max exclaimed pointing at Fowl and ignoring the groan in his head.

You and these names.

“So, Chromie appeared to be disciplined or punished or something when he tried to say certain things. As we discussed, it appears the other black skills are in a tower.”

“Which is why we’re pushing so hard lately,” Tanila quickly interjected.

“Exactly. But the power… I’ve been thinking about that. Phaius mentioned spending power to help. So what if gods are doing things to influence us or others with power? And what kind of things could they influence? How many times in the past did we say the gods touched me? Could that have been true? Which then leaves my mind going wild to figure out how many gods and why.”

“Uh… because of your skill.”

Max nodded, and the idea Bob and he had been discussing finally felt plausible.

“Some… god gave me this skill. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but after we started our journey together, things got crazy. This means they knew I had it… so they spent the power on me afterward to ensure I would grow stronger.”

“Wait…” Fowl said as he held up a mostly eaten turkey leg. “You’re telling me you actually know which gods are doing stuff up there personally just for you?”

Taking a deep breath, Max let it out slowly.

“There are things that I know that I cannot share. Not because I don’t want to but because I can’t.”

He tapped his head and made sure each of them saw it.

“Why I have this, I’m still not sure, but I don’t think whoever gave me this skill expected me to be the way I am. Often, I wonder if my friend Caleb had skipped ahead of me, if he would haveacquired it. Would he even be alive? What would he have become?”

He could see their reactions to that thought again, each having already shared the truth of what would have happened if they had his skill.

“My head hurts trying to think about all that,” their warrior bemoaned before taking another bite.

“Welcome to my world.”

He stayed silent, waiting for someone else to say anything. After no one did, he stood up.

“I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Going to go see him?”

Max bent down and kissed Tanila on the head.

“You know me too well, my love.”

“Tell Rakonath I said hi.”

***

“You look to be in better spirits than how your dragon described you last time,” Aerthen said as she studied him.

He could feel her large gold eyes trying to read him after finding them both in the field they had been lounging in. Part of him wished Rakonath was still here, but she felt they needed to talk in private.

“Yes… I might have been in need of some wisdom. Thankfully, you have taught him well.”

“I cannot take all the credit. He has grown faster than he should and is maturing far quicker than I believed possible. Soon… very soon, he will be ready to strike off on his own.”

“Seriously? I thought we were looking at years of watching over him.”

Aerthen thrummed, her large body shaking the ground and causing dust clouds to form around the base of it where she was lying.

“A boy brings me a dragon egg that he stole–”

“Liberated.”

“Liberated from another. Ignoring the fact he bears the mark of our father, he proceeds to bond with it, something that as I’ve mentioned countless times shouldn’t have happened.”

“You have mentioned that a few times,” Max said.

She huffed, sending a moist, warm wind over him.

“Please stop interrupting me. I know your kind is used to doing this, but I do not like it.”

Holding up both hands, Max didn’t reply.

“Then what you gave him with those elves… he has made that core his own in ways… that I do not understand. Inside him, things that make little sense take place. Let me ask you this. Do any of your kind ever grow too quickly?”

It only took a moment for an image of a teen he knew back home to appear.

“Yes. I know one in my town who grew so fast his parents had to constantly spend money on him for healing.”

She nodded and a few teeth appeared as she smiled.

“And why did he need healing?”

Sighing, Max knew exactly where she was going with this.

“His body grew so fast that it couldn’t handle the stress. He was over seven feet tall by the time he was fourteen.”

“As with your kind, for a dragon to grow as Rakonath has is dangerous. His bones should be weak and his scales and skin stretched thin, yet none of that has happened. Every part of him is stronger than a dragon of his age or size should be and just a week ago he has learned to master his breath.”

“You mean he can now belch out fire?”

A groan came from the red dragon.

“Rakonath was just as excited as you are now. Yes, he can breathe and control fire in ways that typically take a dragon years to learn. His mind is immensely sharp, and his physical prowess is beyond normal. Had he been this ready when Kemruss appeared, we would have torn him apart.”

The bond. Check it.

[ Bond ]

*****

You are bonded with Rakonath.

Rank 1 of Bond Unlocked: Rakonath gains 20% of your stats.

Rank 2 of Bond: Pending.

Know that Wekime is watching.

*****

“Wow…”

Aerthen lifted her head slightly. “What do you mean by that?”

“It appears our bond has reached a new rank. He now gets 20% of my stats.”

A low growl came from her as she cleared her throat.

“Humor me and give me a rough number.”

“He will be getting a little over two hundred points in each.” Max stood there, unsure what to do as it looked like Aerthen might have just fainted.

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