The next morning Nick got up early and made his way back to the restaurant, sushi for breakfast sounded like a really good idea to his sleepy brain. As he stumbled his way into the room he found Jamie sitting in one of the booths and took a seat across from him.
“Good night?” Nick asked with a smirk.
“Yeah, not too bad,” Jamie didn’t sound convinced, “it’s just hit me how real it all is ya know?”
“Yeah look man, I’ve been there. It doesn’t make much sense, all of this,” Nick gestured around them. “I mean, monsters, strange buildings, it’s all a lot to take it. But we’re here, and we’re living it. At least I think we’re still alive, I feel alive. When I look at the people around me, they feel alive, well most of them. While I’m still breathing I’m not going to just lie down and take it, I’m going to live it to its fullest. Whatever this happens to be.”
Nick wasn’t quite sure where that had come from and it felt more like he was trying to convince himself than Jamie. It seemed to do something for Jamie though and he grinned at Nick. “You’re right, nothing good comes from sitting around and having a mope. Wanna help me go get a class?”
“Sure,” Nick said, “let me get some breakfast first though.”
After Nick had chowed sufficiently down, the duo walked off into the hotel together. Nick’s map had the location of the button room so it wasn’t too hard to make their way towards it. Nick was a little cautious as he moved through the hallways, the drips of water and echoing footsteps kept him constantly on edge, he hated it. Jamie didn’t seem fussed at all, Nick chalked it up to the fact he hadn’t experienced being almost killed by bandits.
“Clare said that there isn’t anyone else on the floor right now dude, her companions, the three brothers, keep a pretty tight track of that sort of stuff,” Jamie said, giving Nick a quizzical look.
“Uh-huh,” Nick said, “and you didn’t think to tell me this before we set off?”
Jamie shrugged. “I don’t know man, I thought you’d know. She described this floor like a flyover state. Nobody really comes here, it’s just her and the brothers most of the time.”
“Damn that sounds lonely. Why do they stay here then?” Nick asked.
“She didn’t say. She avoided the topic pretty hard when I asked, so I dropped it.”
Nick suddenly felt bad for the group, he absolutely hated this place and couldn’t imagine staying here for a long period of time. He was very curious about why they’d stay here of all places, all alone. Were they hiding from someone? Avoiding something? There were a lot of possibilities, but like usual pure speculation wouldn’t get him very far. It wasn’t his business at the end of the day, it wasn’t him confining himself to this hellscape of a floor.
After Nick relaxed a bit, the pace sped up a fair bit and the duo made it to the button room pretty quickly. The room was much the same as the others Nick had encountered during his time in the Complex, and thankfully it wasn’t tiled. Before Jamie hit the button Nick gave it a tap to check out his own status.
Name
Nicholas Jones
Stickers
+1s (4/4)
Please find better stickers!
Endurance x1
Intelligence x1
Strength x1
Agility x1
Please find better stickers!
Classes
Violent Explorer (Level 3)
Gritty Brawler (Level 4)
Skills
Treasure Sense - Active (46%)
Lucky - Passive (6%)
Hasten - Active (44%)
Map - Active (2: 50%)
Fight for your Treasure - Active (6%)
Gritty Constitution - Passive (77%)
Deep Blows - Passive (26%)
Jeer - Active (7%)
Punishing Combos - Passive (21%)
Endurance Sap (4%)
Intolerable Weakness Evolved (5: 60%)