The Insider System

Chapter 46: Climbing the Spire

Lake thought back to what had happened yesterday; drawing a blank Lake just answered honestly. "No, Master Lucas." Lake just wanted to get this out of the way, so he could ask about his Intelligence being maxed out. "Did you see what skill the core held?" Lake did remember it was called Golden Vision or something.

Lake nodded his head yes. "If you had failed I would have brewed the core into a skill potion and having that skill gives you a 100% chance of unlocking Appraiser." Lake took the core out of his pocket and handed it back to Lucas. "These are pretty rare, so I\'m happy we didn\'t need to use it."

Lucas had made Lake want to know more about Appraiser. Lake hadn\'t even looked at the details of the job after he unlocked it. Lake opened his stats and then looked at the details of the job.

Appraiser (E) Lv.1

On level up:

Perception 5

Exp conditions:

Revealing details of items.

Bonus Exp conditions:

X2 Revealing hidden details of items.

Skills from job:

Lake was starting to think he was never going to find another Unique job ever again. Lake guessed Appraiser had nothing to do with being a thief really. Lake thought maybe since you could use it to see how valuable something was, but he guessed it was able to do this without it being upgraded.

"So have you leveled it up yet?" Lake needed to cut in or Lucas was just gonna keep talking about this. "Master Lucas I actually came to talk about something else. I was leveling up Alchemist earlier and my Intelligence hit 100, and now it says it\'s maxed." After Lake said this Lucas just blankly stared for a few seconds before he asked.

"What Level is your Alchemist job?" Lake looked real quick and said. "It\'s level 7." Lucas looked a little troubled after Lake said this. "Ok well, we need to go to the top of the spire so lets talk on the way up." This wasn\'t what Lake wanted to hear, surely there was something they could do without having to go all the way to the top.

Sighing Lake lined up behind Lucas to follow him up the stairs. "Can we go full speed?" Lake bet Lucas didn\'t want to spend all this time going up either. "After we get done talking we can speed up. You know you\'re the youngest person I\'ve ever met to max out a stat. That being said Intelligence is usually the fastest to max out because of all the mage jobs."

"So what does maxing a stat do? Like if I leveled up a job that gave me Intelligence what would happen?" This was what Lake was most worried about. He was scared he was going to lose all the points he earned from now on. "That\'s not how it works, you won\'t be able to level any jobs that give you Intelligence until you raise the max."

"And how do I do that?" Lake was happy to hear there was something he could do about it, and his excitement got the better of him. He was pretty sure Lucas would have told him if he hadn\'t cut him off. "There Are a few different ways, the best known being becoming a demigod. That\'s not what we\'re going to do for you though."

Lake was surprised to hear he was already getting to the level where he could become a demigod. "So you already have a way to fix it? How are we going to do it?"

"We\'re going to give you an elixir that will allow you to artificially break the limit before you should be able to. It\'s pretty common for people in big guilds to use these elixirs on their talented people." Lake guessed this was one of the ways the guild made its money. "So will this elixir allow me to go past 100 in every stat?"

"Yes, you\'ll be able to get all your stats to 200 before you have to worry about it again." This gave Lake more room to mess around with different jobs, Lake had thought he would have to be more picky from now on, so he wouldn\'t accidentally max his stats and not be able to level up any jobs he needed in the future.

"So what happens after I reach 200, will I have to find a way to become a Demigod?" This would make sense to Lake unless there was another potion they could give him that would let him increase the limit even further. "That would be the dream, but becoming a demigod has never been harder. Anyone with even a shred of divinity is in constant danger."

Lake didn\'t even need to ask why it was so dangerous at this point, Lake understood the Demon Lord was like the boogieman to people in this world. Lake guessed he would come and steal any divinity you had accumulated. He already had a history of stealing divinity because he had done so to the Dark Goddess.

Lake was out of questions; he just wanted to get to the top of the spire, so he asked Lucas. "Is there anything I need to know about the top of the spire, or can we go faster?" Lucas shook his head and said. "Nope, let\'s go. You should get in front of me." It was just like last time Lake went as fast as he could and Lucas kept up with him.

...

30 minutes of running later Lucas told Lake to stop. "Ok we\'re here. I need to let us in so watch out." After Lucas said this he moved past Lake, walked a few steps up and waved his hand. "Ok we can go through now." Lake hadn\'t seen what Lucas had said, or what he had done to open it so Lake just assumed it was some form of magic.

Walking up the few steps that separated them Lake passed where Lucas had waved his hand and felt like he was walking through some sort of membrane. "What\'s that I\'m feeling?" Even now that he had moved a little deeper, Lake could still feel it. "There\'s a formation that changes the environment to be more dense in mana. It\'s one of the few grand formations of the former Mage guild that\'s still in use, just at a lower setting it used to cover the whole spire."

"What are the benefits of denser mana?" Lake could guess that casting spells was one of the benefits but he bet it went deeper than that. "The elixir that you\'re about to drink is one of them that couldn\'t have been made in a normal environment." Lake didn\'t understand the finer details of alchemy yet, so he was just going to have to take Lucas\'s word for it.

Lake knew the top of the spire encompassed the ten top floors so he asked. "What floor are we going to?" Now that he was here he was hoping to go all the way. He would be a little bummed if they only went to the 91st floor. "All the way to the top I\'m using this as an excuse to introduce you to some of the most important people in the guild. They don\'t really ever leave the top of the spire so this might be your last chance to meet them for a while. You\'re not really supposed to be up here, but this is where we keep the best elixirs. The increased mana helps keep them stable while they wait to be used."

"Is the vault up here?" This is something a criminal would ask so Lake felt he had to. "One of them is but it\'s also the hardest to get into so it\'s never targeted; the thieves guild always goes for the other ones."

"But all the best stuff is kept here?" Lake just wanted to make sure in case he was ever in the position to rob them. "That\'s right most of it is stuff made here anyway and the rest of it is equipment used by the guild masters so there isn\'t a reason to ever move it." Lake knew there were more advanced forms of alchemy that needed special equipment so he wasn\'t surprised to hear there was a lot of good stuff kept up here.

"When we get up here, don\'t talk to anyone who doesn\'t say something to you first. That means they\'re busy and if you distract them you\'ll get an earful." This fell in line with how Lake would expect people called Guild Masters to act but he was fine with it; he didn\'t want to talk to a bunch of people anyway.

Lake could feel the mana slowly getting stronger and assumed that meant they were about to reach the top; they had passed a few doors but the floors weren\'t marked with numbers anymore. Seeing a really fancy door and the staircase ending Lucas said. "This is it. Remember to keep your voice down, even if you see something crazy happening there\'s no danger." This made Lake think this trip was definitely going to be worth all the effort.