The Most Likely Path II — Ambrosya

With the new ability given to me, perhaps I could craft a few more wonderful schemes. This gift had never been a part of my book, as Lappei should have dissipated into the void some time ago. A lot of possibilities have thus opened their arms to me.

While I wallowed in my thoughts, I moved. I put on my hood once more and dove into exploration.

I left the room where I had met the three fairies. My footsteps brought me through hallway after hallway, still completely free of any obstacles in my way.

'If I don't encounter King and the others before I grab the last item, I'll have to leave things up to fate...' I pursed my lips.

Losing a friend or two left a foul taste in my mouth, but alas, those guys hadn't even breached rank C. Surely, they would've been tempted by the alluring treasures displayed in every room.

Human greed called for such tendencies.

It would honestly be more shocking to me if they were alive and well. I was too preoccupied with making the tower appear to prevent us from dying that I forgot to give them an all-important reminder.

If they all appeared before me with their lives still intact, then I would happily eat shit—

Crash—!

As I was thinking about which route I wanted to take, a suit of armour fell to the ground nearby. I looked over and spotted several bloodied bodies, all heaving heavy breaths, their shoulders bobbing up and down.

I blinked. The monster that had fallen onto the floor was a phantom that wore shining silver armour. Its kind was usually ranked at around C+ and above.

As for the ones who felled such a being...

"..." I ended up staring.

Two men and two women. The two men were of starkly different builds, one was a warrior, while the other was lithe and panther-like. As for the women, they were both blonde and blue-eyed, with stunning looks that could wow crowds.

"Caelum!"

King was the first to exclaim my name.

"You're alive! How?" He went in for an embrace, staining my clothes with the blood from his wounds. He winced from the exertion, but he was able to bear through it.

"It's not that hard to survive in the Roaming Towers," I replied, suffocated by the hug. "Just don't take any of the treasures."

King suddenly froze and took a step back. As he distanced himself from me, he put his hands on my shoulders and shook my weak rank E body.

"Tell me you're lying, Caelum." Tears were welling from King's eyes, "Please tell me that the answer to staying alive isn't something so stupidly simple."

I looked away from King's gaze, barely capable of bearing the awkward guilt of not informing them of something so crucial. I looked at Camellia, Rose, and Han. They were all stunned silly. The treasures that shone on their bodies were all I needed to figure out what had happened.

"I'm not lying," I wrenched myself out of King's exhausted grip, "That really is the reason why I'm still alive. Do you think that I could fight my way through C rank and B rank beings with my measly strength?"

King fell to his knees when he heard my words. "No way..."

The rest of the group also fell to the ground, shaken by such a revelation. It made sense though. They probably went through a lot of suffering just to make it here.

There was one thing that bothered me, however.

While I tried rubbing off the blood on my clothes, I spoke, "As for you guys, the difficulties that you would face after taking a treasure should be much greater than your rank... How are you still alive?"

"...It's because of this," After a moment of silence, Camellia spoke. She revealed a golden playing card. It glistened with magical effects, looking way too mystical for its own good.

On the card was a chessboard populated only with pawns.

"Oh..." My mouth gaped open, "No damn way,"

It was the [ Equalizer Card ]. An item that should have been in the possession of a major character in the later chapters of my novel. But why was it here, in the seventh Roaming Tower?

I silently closed my eyes, and eventually, I realised how this item had made its way into Camellia's hands.

It probably had to do with the fact that I made that character an explorer of the Roaming Towers. He was an S-rank elemental, another intelligent race that thrived on Emerallia.

"It's a card that forces everyone in the area to my rank," Camellia explained.

"...I know," I replied in an instant, "It's the perfect card for someone who wants to fight through skills alone. Pairing that card with your Dice Staff and you have a combination that cannot be beaten."

With the versatility gifted by the Dice Staff, any regular person under the Equalizer Card's effects would have no way of surviving. They would have to face a barrage of assorted spells, all of differing magnitudes, thus making any spell a threat when one sat at the same rank.

After all, how would you know if a certain exotic spell was strong or weak when you had nothing visual to compare it with?

I couldn't help but sigh. Excitement bubbled from deep within me, however.

With such an item in my possession, I could go crazy and challenge whoever I wanted to challenge. I just had to be careful that no one stronger than me touches the card itself.

Camellia probably didn't know of it yet, but the specific description I gave to the Equalizer Card was the following,

[]=[]=[]

Equalizer Card

- Sets the maximum rank of all beings within a certain radius to the rank of the strongest person touching the card.

[]=[]=[]

This meant that this card was only for a weaker person's use. It pulled the ranks of those stronger than them to their level. However, it didn't work the other way around. If a stronger person used the card, those who were weaker than them wouldn't experience an increase in strength.

That, and the card did not have limits on a person's raw skills. Stronger people tended to have much more refined control over their own powers, still making them a formidable foe even when weakened.

Thus, if the being I was fighting somehow grabbed hold of the Equalizer Card, or even touched it for a second, then I would surely regret ever being alive.

I needed to keep the card's effects an absolute secret, hidden from any probing or analytical abilities.