The Ruby Magician

Xander, standing on the desk by himself and towering over the Climbers, was as loud with his voice as his appearance. Though his effect was too effective, as he wanted responses but he only managed stunned and scared silence.

He cleared his throat, which seemed just as loud. “As I was saying, there are some rules we must follow. We will split you all into groups of six led by a veteran. We have already mapped all of the first floor and cleared some of the monsters for today. Our goal is to have you proceed to the final challenge of the floor safely, though you still need some challenges! We’re here to keep you alive but not do it for you. At least not from here on out.

“Also, any drops and rewards that occur during our first climb will be given out on decision of your group. If you are unable to make a decision or you simply don’t care, your leader will decide and have the final say. Now! Let’s split up into parties and find your teammates!” He pumped the air with his armored fist, striking a pose. There was a moment of awkward silence.

The large group of Climbers moved slowly, not separating at all but growing louder with conversation. Wyn looked over at John who was giddy with excitement.

“Well?” Wyn said, nervous to ask but wanting to jump on the opportunity. “Would you want to be in a party together?”

“Absolutely!” John replied. “I’ll help keep you alive after all. That pointy stick will only get you so far.” He laughed. Wyn did not, though he couldn’t help but smile.

“I think I’ll be fine,” Wyn said. “And to answer your question, yes, I was. Seven years, actually.”

John’s eyes went wide. He stopped perusing through the crowd and looked Wyn up and down. “Woah. You fought in the Great War? And made it out in one piece?”

“Sort of. I wasn’t in it the whole time. It’s a long story.” Wyn’s cheeks flushed. He shook his head, trying to keep his focus on the present and not dwell on the past. He was thinking about his unit and allies, the good times they shared and the bad times they suffered.

“Fair enough. But I guess I don’t need to worry about you, then. I take what I said about it,” John said, pointing to Wyn’s spear. “You could probably use that better than most. Plus, I’m curious to see your magic!”

Wyn paled. Maybe he should stick to his combat only for this climb if he meant to keep friends and not embarrass himself.

John looked around at the other rookies. Most of them had started to pair off, and he noticed the mentors had left, too.

Wyn quickly realized it as well. “Let’s finish getting a party together first. Do you know anyone here?”

“Well, yea, I trained with a bunch already. And there one is,” John said, and ran over to another Fighter. They bumped forearms in a friendly, informal greeting.

The Fighter was taller than both John and Wyn, and stout. He wore chain mail under a shirt with a coat of arms on the right breast though Wyn couldn’t make it out. Which was odd, because he was familiar with most emblems of the country. The Fighter had two war axes on his belt, one looped under each arm. He was just as big as the veteran Climber who climbed on the desks though not nearly as flashy or well-equipped.

Wyn walked over, eager to meet his potential new teammate.

“I’m Wyn,” He said, and extended his hand out for a greeting. “Nice to-”

“Oh shit, you’re that Red Mage, aren’t you?” The man said, cutting Wyn off mid-greeting. “John, why are you so nice helping out the needy?”

Wyn balked as he was rudely cut off, and he felt as though the voice sounded familiar.

“Easy, Lionel,” John said. “He’s a good guy. And experienced. We’ll be fine!”

“Ugh,” Lionel sighed. “I’m always having to do the work. You’d be more useful as a Sorcerer,” he said, pointing his thumb towards Wyn. “It’s your lucky day, Red Mage, to be paired with me and John.”

Wyn instantly remembered. His voice was the voice of the person who ridiculed him in the training hall, the Fighter that made the comment about his class. And now he’s in his party.

“Yea, we’ll see,” Wyn said. “I think I can handle myself.”

Lionel laughed. “Oh, I’m sure you can, Mage.”

Wyn started to reply to him, but stopped. It wasn’t worth a response - his opinion didn’t matter. They’d work together now but he’d move on in the future. It was a necessary evil for this one climb.

“Anyway,” John said, patting Wyn on the back, “we need a couple more. Hopefully a Garnet or Sapphire Mage to round us out? We can power through this tower in no time at all with one or two!”

“Shouldn’t we have some healing or protection?” Wyn said. “And we still need three more for a group of six.”

“Look at the Mage, thinks he’s so smart,” Lionel said, looking around the room. “Most are already partied up. We’re too damn late.”

One of the veteran Climbers came over to them with a rookie Climber trailing behind. They both were Magicians of some sort, Wyn could tell, as the veteran wore grey robes lined with yellow patterns interwoven in basic but beautiful designs. He had a book lashed to his side in a leather sling like a sheathed weapon. He was also walking with a staff that had a gnarled top with a topaz gem set within it.

There was no telling how much that gem was worth. Easily several hundred crowns. Selling it could feed a family through an entire winter, and this young man carried it around for a weapon.

Climbers were very, very different breeds of people.

The rookie, which Wyn saw was a young woman, wore a robe and carried a staff herself. Her hair was dark and curly, and she seemed well put together though simple overall.

It was as though she was trying to blend in with the other rookies, looking plain and boring despite her barely cracked leather boots and well-hemmed clothes. She obviously had money, likely a merchant’s daughter. The staff she carried didn’t have a jewel set in it and she had a dagger sheathed on her side, so she didn’t have the background like John.

“You three need to round out your group,” the veteran said. He had a husky voice despite being about the same age as Wyn, and clearly enunciated his words. “We’ve already placed the rest of the rookies in groups of six.”

“Damnit,” Lionel said. “Do we need to split up and join a different group? ‘Cause I’m alright with that.”

Wyn glared at him.

“No,” the veteran said, “I have a rookie Diamond Mage here. Her name is Tasha.” He waved his hand back towards the rookie to introduce her and she shyly stared at the ground. “She will join our group.”

“Our group?” John stepped in. He extended his hand to Tasha. “I’m John, by the way. This is Wyn and Lionel.” He pointed to each of them when he said their names.

“Yes, our group. I’m Cedric. And we’ll have an extra veteran with us since our group is short.”

“There really aren’t any other rookies for a group, huh?” Lionel asked. He kept scanning the other Climbers in the room, though Wyn wasn’t exactly sure why. It could’ve been any number of reasons, though he was only half paying attention to the current conversation. He must’ve really not wanted to pair up with them.

“Afraid not,” Cedric said. “But here she is.”

“She?” Wyn asked.

Another Climber walked over to the group. She was obviously an archer, with a quiver on her back and a bow slung around it. The fletched feathers on the arrows were made of several different colors. Her armor was furs over leather, and it was covered in a strange green substance.

“Good afternoon, rookies,” Marcy said, cool and confident. She winked at Wyn. “I’m Marcy.”

John introduced himself again, and Lionel simply shrugged her off. Wyn was not getting a good impression of him, and something didn’t sit right about him. It wasn’t just that he was rude, but something deeper he couldn’t place.

The rookies in the room all began to walk further into the tower, escorted by their veteran guides for their climb. Wyn was getting restless and excited, and apparently he wasn’t hiding it well.

Marcy cleared her throat in the silence of the group. “Well, this isn’t awkward at all. Hopefully all of you will open up some when we get inside. I don’t want to be carrying all of you through the whole damn floor.” She patted Wyn and John on the back before setting off to lead the group.

John, Lionel, and Wyn smiled. Tasha gulped.

“I like her,” Lionel said. “I guess this is it, then.”

“Good,” Cedric said, ignoring Lionel. “Let’s proceed to the portals. Marcy and I will show you the entrance and exit into the tower’s actual challenges.”

The rookies followed behind as Cedric and Marcy led them. The other groups had already begun to file off in the same direction and they seemed to be last. They walked past the guild desks and into one of the wide, large hallways. It had the same look as before - stone walls and stained glass windows, though both on a smaller scale.

At the end of the hallway was a smaller room, with multiple portals floating in the air, all scattered about. They were as big as a door but oval shaped, seemingly able to take a person in one at a time. Wyn had never seen anything like it, but he immediately noticed they were beautiful. He stopped to stare at the closest one. It was shimmering like a brilliant gemstone and radiated a heavy aura of magic. It was thick in the air and clear in color. Wyn was in a trance.

“This is an entrance portal,” Marcy said, and ushered in the rest of the group around the one portal.

The rookies were staring at it, all with differing feelings. Cedric and Marcy simply smiled at each other.

Cedric cleared his throat. “We’ll step inside this to start the true interior of Alistair.”

“How does it work?” Wyn wanted to reach out and touch it but was terrified. And mystified. He was feeling many emotions.

“There are many portals to enter different floors of the tower,” Cedric said. “Each floor has several portals, too. The difference is each portal will place each group at a different starting location on the floor.”

“So will we all be scattered at the start?” Tasha spoke up. She wasn’t feeling many things. She was just scared.

“No. Since you are all in a party, you’ll start in the same place. The tower will separate parties from each other to give you all a bit more room to roam, so to speak. But you can still find other parties inside. It’s strange, I know, but that’s the tower’s magic. Check your parchments.”

The rookies took out their papers. Wyn noticed something interesting on the main page towards the bottom.

PARTY: 6/6

Alistair’s Base

He had no idea how or when it showed up, but sure enough, it was there in ink as clear as if he wrote in himself.

The others must’ve seen something similar. They were all silently reviewing their own parchments.

“So you can see and check the new status,” Cedric said. “You’ll get changes like that on your parchment often. The tower keeps updating it periodically.”

“Like what?” Tasha asked.

“Like the number in your group, your task at hand, or if you’ve cleared a floor. Oh, and a summary of your potential growth and rewards when you leave the tower and return here.”

“A summary?” Wyn asked. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I got this one,” John said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but after you spend time in the tower and then leave to return to the base, you get updates on your class growth and any treasure the tower rewards you with. You show your papers to the guild members at the desks when we walked in and they pay you! I think.”

“Yes, you’re correct,” Cedric said. “The tower chooses how to reward you based on your performance. As I said, it’s strange. You’ll find out for yourself before long.”

“My growth says any though,” Wyn said. “What exactly does that mean?” He remembered Daniel mentioned all Ruby Magician’s had any as their growth, but he didn’t explain much further.

“Any?” Lionel asked. “As a Red Mage? I call bullshit.”

Wyn pulled out his piece of parchment that described his class. He showed Lionel, who snatched it and scanned it. He huffed and handed it back to Wyn.

“What a bunch of shit,” Lionel said. “A Red Mage with the ability for any growth, and here I am, a Fighter with strength, toughness, and stamina.”

Wyn smiled. He enjoyed the thought that Lionel was jealous of him.

“Not exactly what that means,” Cedric said. “Sorry, Wyn, but any growth means all of your characteristics have the potential to grow but none will grow as quick as others like yours, Lionel.” He looked over at the Fighter. “You essentially have the ability to grow in anything but specifically will grow faster in those three traits, and have future skills available that relate to them. When your growth is any, your skill progress is slower and future skills could be anything, making your skill set potentially too broad to be specifically useful.”

Wyn’s smile instantly faded. The next instance of what made a Ruby Magician less popular and desirable showed up like a slap in face. It was nice to hear that his class could grow as he climbed, but if he was spread too thin with his potential growth he’d fall behind others who were more specialized. Yet another reason why the Ruby Magician was less desirable that Daniel warned him about. It was hard to hear.

Lionel laughed, hearty and excessive. “That makes way more sense! I knew something had to be off. No way a Red Mage would be better!”

“But don’t worry,” Marcy said. “It still depends on how you use your class, Wyn. You could be the best class on paper but still make poor decisions or not be a team player,” Marcy said, eyeing Lionel.

Wyn inhaled and exhaled deeply. His resolve to prove other Climbers wrong about his class was strengthened. Even if he obtained skills that didn’t completely work in his favor he’d use them to the best of his ability and make himself useful. It would be a challenge but he was up for it. He’d faced worse and overcome them. His family depended on his success and he wouldn’t fail them.

“True,” John said. “And he was in the Great War so I’m going to stick close to him!” He inched himself away from Lionel a bit.

The others looked at Wyn. Cedric and Marcy sized him up, and Tasha’s eyes went wide. Lionel simply narrowed his eyes and stayed quiet.

Wyn felt his cheeks flush from the sudden attention. He didn’t particularly like having so much focus on him, especially when it came to his time in the war.

“How about we move on and try out the floor,” Cedric said, seemingly reading Wyn’s mind.

“Loud and clear,” Marcy said. “The day isn’t getting any shorter, after all!”

Wyn smiled and took another deep breath to calm himself. “You’re right. I’m ready!”

“Looks like we got to party up after all,” Marcy whispered. She smiled to him, then stepped into the portal. It swallowed her, or maybe allowed her to enter. Wyn wasn’t sure which. It was a strange but exciting sight.

Wyn reached out with his hand at the portal to follow her. He didn’t exactly know what to expect but he was confident - more than he had been in some time. He felt the pull of the portal and stepped inside.