Jungle…it had to be jungle. Complete with giant bugs and all the creepy crawlies that make jungle biomes so pleasant. I left the crew a day earlier so Kaj and I could get to the second floor and do some recon. I wasn’t too worried about how everyone else would fare with the likes of Tiff and Kinthragor in their group, but this tower had proven that it could throw some gnarly shit at us, so I figured it would be safe for me and Kaj to get out in front of it.

  I was greeted by hot, humid, thick air as we passed through the gate to the second floor. I could smell rain, mud, and rot all around me. A thick canopy swallowed the sky above me as trees as thick as buildings littered the landscape in front of me. The ground was a tangle of vines and rotting foliage, littered with fruit fallen from the canopies above. Insects ranging in size from small ants to alien insects the size of small dogs roamed, looking for fallen fruit to feast on or hunting smaller insects, oblivious to the dangers surrounding them.

  “Ah, this is a pleasant surprise!” Kaj took a deep breath and sighed excitedly. “This place is much like the training grounds where I spent the majority of my youth.”

  “You trained in dense jungles? Isn’t it kinda hard to fly around in here?” I asked.

  “A Malakim is master of the skies from birth, Captain. We train to hone our skills in environments ill-suited to our strengths. How else will we be effective in strange and uncomfortable environments?”

  I shrugged. “I guess that makes sense. I’m not a big fan of bugs, though, and this place looks like it is crawling with them.”

  “These insects will pay you no heed, Captain. They are merely trying to survive another day. No, I fear there will be much more dangerous enemies lurking here, and we must be vigilant in our training. It is lucky that you have the aid of Ka’Jarat this day. I will ensure that you take full advantage of the bounty this floor of the tower has to offer.”

  “Fair enough,” I replied nonchalantly. “Should we take a peek above the canopy? See if we can get an idea of how big this place is?”

  “An invitation to stretch my wings? I would be a fool to refuse, Captain!” Kaj smiled as he flexed his powerful legs, spread his wings wide, and shot up into the canopy, leaves and dirt exploding around him as he launched.

  “Damn, I gotta work on my take-offs, that looked cool as shit,” I mumbled to myself as I activated my armor, engaged my thrusters, and followed. I didn’t know what to expect as we left the suffocating jungle canopies, but it was not what I saw. The jungle floor covered about half the landscape. Several miles to the north, the Jungle thinned and turned rocky and barren before being completely taken over by rocky outcroppings that built into several large craters and active volcanoes with lava lazily bubbling and spewing over their edges.

  Even using the zoom function on my armor’s interface, I couldn’t see to the edge. I wondered about that internally. How big were these floors really? I had yet to find any sort of barrier or wall that would stop me from travelling further. Was there a barrier? or was it a procedurally generated space that generated more landscape as I travelled further? Either way, the idea of a small piece of reality being generated solely for the purpose of grinding and getting stronger was impressive.

  Initially, this place was created as a test, a way to weed out anyone too weak to complete the tower, who was not a suitable candidate to activate the Seed of Power. Karis, or the Facilitator, as I came to know him, wanted to be sure he had someone with enough strength to tear a hole in the dimensional membrane that kept his people from returning to our universe. Unfortunately, I had enough power to tear the membrane, but luckily, I stopped short of opening it permanently. I still wasn’t sure how many True Havokium made it through, or how many were left stranded in their prison dimension. I was sure enough had gotten through to create chaos in our galaxy.

  I was still sick at the thought that I had been used like a pawn in Karis’s plan. I knew that I was dealing with a species more powerful and technologically advanced than I could even imagine, but still, Karis was a dick, and he used me. That didn’t sit right with me.

  “It is beautiful, is it not?” Karis said as he came to the apex of his ascent and hovered to take in the view.

  “I would rather fight in that rocky area than in that jungle.” I pointed toward the volcanic terrain. “Swamps were bad enough with the Swamp Donkeys and giant crawfish. I can’t imagine what is lurking in that jungle down there.”

  “You are seeing this all wrong, Captain! Think about the experience you will earn over the next few weeks. You have a treasure at your disposal with this tower, a treasure indeed. Most initiates must wait for reapings, fight in initiate arenas, or hope to find an initiated combatant in territorial squabbles and conflicts. You have no such hindrance. Your progression will be practically limitless if this tower keeps producing enemies of a high enough level to allow you to cont….” Kaj was stopped mid-sentence as a blur of brown leathery flesh slammed into his back.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Kaj!” I shouted as I spun around, trying to see what had happened. I caught a glimpse of movement below me, closer to the jungle canopy and used my interface to lock on and zoom in. I froze in confusion for a second, not fully registering what I was seeing. Kaj was gripped in the talons of a beast that didn’t register with my human brain. It was a beast I was familiar with; I had seen drawings, movies, and video game depictions of it. Still, I couldn’t quite register seeing a dragon in real life. I identified the beast as I activated my boosters and materialized a weapon.

  Red Wyrm Drake

  Level – 63

  The Drake was huge. Big enough to comfortably hold Kaj in one of its massive clawed feet. Not only was it big, but it was also fast and nearly completely silent as it flew. It was a brownish-red color, with tough, leathery flesh. A menacing head with giant black teeth protruding from its mouth as it noticed me and let out a hair-raising roar of protest.

  “Kaj! you good?” I asked through our internal comms.

  “Y-yes, C-captain,” Kaj said choppily as he pulled a dagger and began trying to slash at the drake’s talons. “The beast caught me by surprise. I have never seen one so big! We must act quickly, Captain!”

  “On it, Kaj. Just try to get free. I’ll see what I can do to take this thing down.”

  “You will not be able to slay this beast alone, Captain! Teams of Malakim have died hunting these beasts for sport. Try to focus on its foot, force it to release me and we can flee!”

  “I say we do both, C’mon, Kaj! Think of all the XP!” I smiled wryly as I dove toward the drake. I pushed my thrusters to the max while at the same time mentally creating constructs from my armor. The black substance that made up my armor began to flow from my back in several small streams before amalgamating into four medium-sized drones.

  “Ses, I need you here, buddy,” I grunted as I banked to keep pace with the drake who had gotten significantly faster.

  “I am here, Andrew. What can I do to help?”

  “I need you to pilot those drones. They each have plasma cannons. Target Drake’s leg and see if you can hurt it enough to make it release Kaj. Can you do that?”

  “I can do that, Captain,” Ses said as the drones were completed, and I saw them accelerate toward the Drake’s underbelly.

  “Kaj, do what you can, but Ses is going to help make that thing let you go.”

  “I would very much appreciate that. W-what are you doing, Captain?” Kaj asked through grunts.

  “I’m about to kill me a dragon, Kaj,” I replied brashly.

  “Captain! I do not advise that you engage the beast alone!”

  “What’d you say, buddy? You’re breaking up a bit.”

  I pushed my thrusters to the max once again and began gaining on the furious Drake. It turned back in my direction and roared furiously again before it quickly dived, gaining speed before shooting up into the air, spreading its giant leathery wings menacingly and flapping them furiously to maintain its altitude.

  “Captain,” Sherlock said. “ I advise you to take precautions.”

  “Precautions for wh…” I started to ask before I realized what was happening. The drake opened its mouth to reveal a tube-like purple tongue. It roared and began spraying a thick line of fluid toward me, catching me off guard as it splashed against my torso.

  “Did it just fucking spit on me?” I pulled up and hovered, inspecting the thick gunk that covered my torso.

  “I advise evasive maneuvers, Captain. I advise that you make them with haste before that drake spits again! And mind your thrusters!”

  “Mind my thrusters? What are you talking about?” I asked, raising my arms to see the green goo dripping from my arms.

  The drake opened its mouth again, but this time it didn’t spit; it exhaled deeply, and a light fog filled the gap between the drake and me, nearly obstructing my vision completely. I could see just well enough to watch the drake slam its mouth shut, its black teeth slamming and grinding against themselves, and to my utter despair…creating sparks.

  “OH FUCK ME!” was all I had time to say as the sparks turned the cloud into a wall of flame that consumed everything in its path, including me.

  The explosion of flame knocked me from my position with a concussive blast that knocked me unconscious mid-air. I fell toward the jungle canopy as Sherlock quickly acted to cushion my landing, locking the joints of my armor and creating absorption pillows that, luckily, allowed me to survive the impact. I woke to a haze of alarms and warning lights sounding as I saw my torso still burning.

  “Sherlock? Am I on fire?” I asked groggily.

  “Ah, it lives. Yes, Captain, I am afraid you are currently on fire. The first substance the Drake spat on you acts as a sort of biological napalm. Your armor will be mostly unharmed by it, but the longer it burns, the hotter the interior of the armor will become. I would advise you to stop, and roll as you already did the dropping part.”

  I tried to roll, tried to shake the fog from my head, but couldn’t even budge. “Sherlock? what the hell is wrong? I can’t move!”

  “Ah, that would be…how do the youths say it? My bad. I engaged the impact suppression system on your armor when you were knocked unconscious. Disabling now. Please proceed.”

  The flexibility of my joints returned, and I began furiously rolling around in the damp, rotting jungle floor. A few seconds later, the flames were out, and I shot back out of the canopy to look for the drake.

  “Kaj, do you copy?”

  “Damn you, Captain. I told you not to engage the beast alone!”

  “It’s all good, Kaj. Trust me, after that, I gotta kill this thing now. Momma didn’t raise no pussy, and Dad said a fight ain’t over till one of you can’t walk anymore. Seems like I still got a few steps left in me, so let’s go for round two.”

  “Was the trailer park a pleasant place to grow up?” Sherlock mocked.

  “Do you want me to take your voice systems offline?” I snapped.

  “On second thought, Captain, I can see the charm of the simple life.”