Macronomicon
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Chapter 92: Cracked Immortal
🕑 Added 2025-01-03 17:10:11 +0000 UTCFighting William Oh is like fighting a tornado. A force of nature. I personally witnessed no less than fifty men violently tossed around and battered with furniture, all the while grasping at nothing but air. Then he came for me.
-Bill Brion, level 30 Bartender.
A wet cough erupted from Will as he limped along the pier, followed by a sharp pain through his chest that froze him in place until he remembered how to breathe.
Will gingerly poked his ribs, trying not to aggravate the many shallow cuts covering the majority of his body. They had just finished scabbing up.
I don’t think the rib’s busted, just…a little loose.
With that in mind, Will ran his tongue along a couple teeth that were wiggling a bit more than they should, spitting the coppery blood welling up into his sleeve.
Rule #1: don’t bleed into the ocean.
“You gonna live?” A reedy voice asked, prompting Will to glance up, Phantom Hand poised to take the man’s head off with a cannonball. A bar brawl is one thing, but following him into the dark of night…
Will relaxed when he recognized the emaciated, homeless fellow from before, rather than a Party leader with a grudge.
The men at The Bridge had actually all seemed in pretty good spirits when Will had left, lots of drinks and back-slaps and un-requested shots of liquor dumped over his wounds to ‘sanitize’ them.
Aside from that, and the horrible pain he was currently in, it really had been a great time. The single lesson he’d received from Bakton had opened his eyes to a flow that he hadn’t been able to perceive before and prepared him to deal with the vast majority of Climbers without too much trouble.
“Yeah, I’ll live.”
Will wobbled in place for a moment before using Phantom Hand as a cane, pressing back against his hand to stabilize himself.
“Here, let me,” the emaciate man said, putting Will’s truncated arm over his shoulder and tottering forward in lockstep.
“Thanks,” Will said as they resumed walking through the pre-dawn light. “…What do you want?”
“What?” The man scoffed. “Me? Want something? I’m just a humble- all right, fine. I do want something.”
“What’s that? Drinking money?”
“I wouldn’t say no to that, but I’m after something a little…harder to acquire.”
“And what’s that?”
The grey-eyed man glanced over at him, searching Will’s expression for a moment before pointing up. “On a certain Floor above us, is an object I really really want.”
“And what do you expect from me?”
“Well, you’re the guy.”
Will raised a brow.
“You know…the guy. The once-in-a-thousand-years legend. The one with the best shot of making it to the top. Did they not teach you this in school?”
The emaciated man frowned and mumbled to himself. “I thought they taught that in school? They taught my kids that. Was that a different coil? Shit, is Jacob dead? No, I just saw him the other day… is a day one revolution of the sun, or one winter, or one coil? No, it’s probably not a coil, that seems like a lot…”
Will frowned as the emaciated man began muttering, staring straight down with a vacant look in his eyes.
“…Who do you think I am?” He asked.
“Ummm…”
Will waited for a solid ten seconds before giving him the answer.
“William….”
‘William… The emaciated man repeated after him.
Oh.” Will finished.
“Right. Yes. I heard your larger-than-life legends and I knew you were destined for great things.”
“You’ve never heard of me before.” Will said.
“I’ve never heard of you before.” The emaciated man admitted.
This is an interesting conversation, Will thought. This man didn’t know Will, but he had known enough to know about the overblown legends.
Typically he might’ve fallen in the category of con men who simply praise every newcomer they meet as the ‘chosen one’ until they can take what they want and cut loose.
But he wasn’t slick enough to be a con-artist. If anything, he seemed like a dog that had been beaten too many times. Hunched over and self-blaming.
“What’s your name?” Will asked.
“Reese. Probably. Maybe.”
“And how did you wind up here?”
“Well, I got swept up with Mark Wyrd’s Party as they left Akul, and they cut me loose here a couple years ago.”
“A couple years ago?” will asked.
“Decades?” Reese said with a shrug. “I dunno, I just remember getting shanghaied by them on the Ocean Floor, meeting a girl, starting a family here and being an exotic fisherman and my granddaughter took over the family business when-ah, shit, different coil. It was days. I’ve only been here like a couple days. I think.”
Will asked the obvious question.
“What is a coil?”
“You know…when all human civilization gets wiped out and The Tower adds a floor and everyone starts over from scratch. You know. A Coil. Happens like every year. Don’t they teach that in school? I guess school gets destroyed too…”
Reese got a vacant expression on his face.
Will thought back to Baron Akul’s ominous observations on the gradually worsening situation in the Tower as Lords died faster than they could be replaced.
“…How old are you?”
Reese gave a small squeak and shrugged.
Will saw the morning light beginning to touch the tops of the surrounding ships, and he knew he was going to get an earful from Loth.
“I have a thousand questions for you, but right now, I only want the answer to two things:” Will said. “Number one: Tell me exactly what the item you want is. Number two: tell me exactly what you are going to pay for it.”
Reese took a deep breath.
“Okay. I want access to a System Administrator panel that will allow me to revoke my protections and finally shuffle off this mortal coil. I think we made some in the high-tech coil.”
“And how I will pay for it: I have personally witnessed more Floors than anyone alive. I’ve studied the pattern. I’m betting that above the tenth Floor, information is limited about hazards and points of interest and such. I can help with that.”
Will decided to test him. First he’d ask about this floor and a few of the ones that came before to figure out what it looked like when Reese was telling the truth, then move on to the higher floors.
“Alright, what’s the major hazard on this floor?” Will asked, expecting something along the lines of ‘leviathan’ or ‘skyshark’
“Secret society of fish people.”
“What?” Will asked.
“What?” Reese asked with a frown.
“There are no fish people on this floor.” It was entirely environmental hazards like storms, and mindless monsters that tried to eat anything they could get their mouths around. At least according to Steve.
Steve doesn’t know everything.
“Shhhh….” Reese put a crusty finger to his lips, glancing around suspiciously before lowering his voice. “That’s what the fish people want you to think. I only found out about them when I got blown off course while fishing yesterday and sailed into the wrong port under the cover of darkness. I saw the some of the local powers making deals with them. Horrifying deals.”
“You sure it was yesterday?” Will asked.
“…no.”
“…Okay, you can come with me for now.” Will said. There was something about the matter-of-fact way that Reese spoke that made Will stop and take notice. He wasn’t exaggerating, he was spilling what he perceived to be the absolute truth in the disjointed, stream-of-consciousness manner a person would if they were musing to themselves.
There was no sign of deception.
And that made Will’s hackles stand on end. Either this man was telling the truth, haphazardly spilling secrets that could shake The Tower to its core…or he was so Cracked that he needed adult supervision. Might as well keep him close until we know which one it is.
Will almost toppled over as Reese let go of his arm and turned to grovel in front of him.
“Oh, thank you! You won’t regret this, Mr. Gandr!”
“Oh.” Will said.
“Eh?”
“Mr. Oh.”
“s’wat I said.” Reese said, getting back under Will’s arm and helping him stagger towards the warehouse dock, where Shimmer was tied up.
In a matter of minutes, Will was back on the ship, being hosed down on the deck while the Bakers attended to his wounds.
Sadly, he couldn’t enjoy the proximity to multiple Anna’s doting on him simultaneously because he was also getting chewed out by Loth at the same time.
“I expected Travis to make trouble while he was out, not you!” Loth said, hands on her hips.
“Hey.” Travis grunted, glancing up from where he was eating blueberry ice. A specialty of the druids on the more central barges. Tasty and prevented heatstroke and scurvy.
Not that they had to worry about heatstroke this time of year.
“I didn’t make trouble,” Will said, wincing as Anna # 2 scrubbed his cuts with soap and boiled water. “I got jumped by half the bar because my name got out.”
“What?” Loth’s eyes narrowed.
“Don’t kill them.”
Loth clenched her jaw and glanced aside.
“Don’t do it.”
Loth heaved a sigh.
“Foo.”
“If anything I saved us a ton of trouble by getting all the Party Leader fights out of the way at the same time. I’m very solidly in the pecking order now. Near the top, too. They even said they were gonna have to change laws because of me. How cool is that?”
“You can’t possibly have won. The fights are to first blood, aren’t they? You’re a mess.” Loth gestured at him.
“You do look you went through a meatgrinder,” Anna#3 said, following behind her clone with salve to seal the wounds.
“I challenged the entire bar to a fight. If there are no neutral observers, then no one can objectively say who got cut when and by what. They only realized this after I’d already took out a few of them, took my first hit and kept fighting. It was technically a draw, but it was a 50-on-1 draw, so…they were impressed.”
“Alright, then what about him?” Loth asked, pointing at Reese, who was coiling some ropes, peering down at them with dissatisfaction.
“Experienced sailor and fisherman.” Will lied. “I figured we could use someone who actually knows the Floor.” Will tapped on Loth’s hand with Phantom Hand, indicating they would talk about it more later.
“I have been fishing longer than you’ve been alive.” Reese said. “Jason, can you help me seal the ends of these ropes? Whoever did it didn’t know what they were doing.”
Mason glanced around, realizing Reese was looking at him. “My name’s Mason.”
“Right. Right…Mason, would you mind helping me with a bit of sizzle?” he wiggled his fingers.
Loth glanced back at Will, a single scaly eyebrow cocked.
He knew the ruse was already shredded by Loth, so he’d have to clue her in, but the others could just assume he was a weird old man with poor memory for names and faces.
“Incidentally, I want to discuss our plans for the next outing.” Will said once Anna #3 finished sealing the last wound, standing and donning a fresh shirt.
Anna and Loth clicked their tongues.
“Loth, if you would.” Will motioned towards their offices.
“Of course.”
Together the two of them entered Loth’s office, pried open a hatch in the floor and then entered a pitch back crawlspace, sneaking their way to the back of the ship before they spoke.
“Why does he know Mason’s Ability and almost his name?” Loth whispered. “Did you tell him?”
“No. I honestly don’t know.” Will whispered. “I’m waffling between him being Cracked, and him being some kind of immortal. Some of the things he says…”
“What if it’s both?” Loth asked.
“Could be. He’s offered to give us critical insider information on each floor in exchange for taking him up with us until he finds a way to kill himself.”
“How do we know he’s not just lying?” Loth asked.
“Well, we could just kill him. If he dies… then it’s the former. Just doesn’t feel right, though. Reese mentioned something about a secret society of fish people pulling the strings of The Flotilla from the shadows. Sounds pretty crazy, but if it checks out…”
“Verify that, and he stays.” Loth surmised.
“For this floor anyway,” Will whispered back.
“You know…we haven’t gone out for a nighttime walk together since the Church of Granesh.” Loth said.
“Loth the Luminary. Are you asking me out on a date?” Will whispered in mock shock.
“If by ‘date’, you mean ‘reconnaissance mission’, then yes.”
Comments
Meredith
typo: emaciate man → emaciated man
JACOB HEBERT
Keep pushing Loth (and learn to bake), you'll get there!
Beeees!
Loth and Will dates always promise to be exciting
Khani
I might have been under a trance while reading that chapter because I don’t remember all of that. But yeah thanks ima go read that chapter again! 😭😭
Daniel Pataki
Good catch on the Jason part, though now I'm sad Reese didn't call Loth Pluuk instead. I think the rest was pretty much told to us though. At the part where Baron Akul is examining the broken coffin with the artificer (Chapter 69), he orders them to take apart the coffin to learn how it's made, and put its occupant (a mummified guy, who's asleep) in a high security cell until he's needed. The baron was also sad his immortality no longer works without the coffin. Then in Chapter 79, Void is in a high security cell, and meets his neighbour, an emaciated Cracked person, who calles himself Reese, says he's immortal, and who's let out by one of Wyrd's tangled to meet Freddy. I don't know if any reading between lines was entirely necessary.
Pseudo
I don’t think that’s where the story IS, but a possible way it got here. Also that wasn’t my comment, I just remembered seeing it after reading this chapter.
Fuyge
Yeah if this is way it actually is I’d be pretty upset. You’re telling me all the characters we love are just npcs or some shit like that? That sucks. I don’t think that’s what’s going on here though. Clearly there is some weird time loopy stuff but I don’t think its vr.
Khani
In that diary that was mentioned a while back there was a guy named Jason in previous party of William. Also I went back and checked and found that Reese mentioned being trapped in a lightless box. Him being the man in the coffin was kinda not mentioned so I had yo read between the lines
Bookworm bibliophile
I don’t think I would personally enjoy it if the world were VR or if the scope of the world kept shrinking as one progressed upward. I would have preferred if the scope of the world kept expanding, like in Hunter x Hunter. MC and company are exploring a single tower within a much larger world.
Stephen E Wilson Jr.
I think there is a lot of overlap between bakers and housewives.
Nate O
Little mermaid reference for all the parents out there
SuperNewbie
I fucking hate video game/vrmmo crap ass stories. Removes all stakes and interest for me.
KipBR
From Macronomicon's other series industrial strength magic.
Antony Claughton
Who was paradox?
Antony Claughton
“ “Incidentally, I want to discuss our plans for the next outing.” Will said once Anna #3 finished sealing the last wound, standing and donning a fresh shirt.” can be read as Anna standing and donning a fresh shirt.
Ryan Bimson
I love the idea of not just Reese’s mind being cracked by his immortality, but his build and abilities. Not cracked as in OP. Cracked as in broken beyond repair and functioning in extremely unusual and mostly unhelpful ways. Say he has a tank or shield ability ‘cos that tracks with something that could lead to immortality: stone skin as an example. He just starts shedding stones made of skin from his body.
Daemion
My impression so far is that Will is the legend in each coil, possibly because he's connected to the immortal serpents. This why there's always a theme of Jormungandr, Ouroboros or similar, too. This would explain why there's always a legend of an ancient hero, only it's always himself. When he summoned up the previous legend, that person remembered Will as being that hero. So it goes round and round. Reese is immortal, so he survives the reboots. His mind can't quite keep up but he remembers everything, if not chronologically. He recognized Will but didn't know his name because the name always changes. I think the same might be true for Mason/Jason. Perhaps everyone reincarnates and souls that were close in a previous life are drawn together. Maybe Will and his party climbed the tower dozens of times together, so now they often find each other again. Just look how paranoid Will usually is... but he trusts his party despite only knowing them for a few weeks or even having a bit of an adversarial relationship at first.
Matt
I've got some real bad... or good... news about the Uru Drake sacrifice effects... :o
bbwhistler@outlook.com
A very human-like lizard.
bbwhistler@outlook.com
Hey, plenty of humans enjoy anal, which requires plenty of prep and tolerance for grossness. I don't think lizussy is gonna be an issue if it comes to that.
SunderGoldmane
Bleh
SunderGoldmane
It would be interesting for will and loth to work the conversation through each of the previous floors while interviewing Reese and then realize that his ground floor is floor 3 and he’s been out of the loop for two coils.
bbwhistler@outlook.com
This and the last one were such a fun read! Really glad I missed the last one so I could get them back-to-back hehe.
SunderGoldmane
If loth becomes a housewife I think he would lose all interest.
SunderGoldmane
[waiting for the larping party]
SunderGoldmane
Yeah this is just a totally basic “brain off” tower climber. No deep lore to see here.
Macronomicon
That's such a cool premise. you should totally do that.
Crispined Glover Potato Snacks
Since as far as we know Will doesn't have a hemipenis I think it's safe to say that a lizussy would be the most compatible.
Pseudo
joe ?'s comment on chapter 42: "· So my read is: will is paying a really immersive video game. When you die you're reborn as someone else and you start over with a sacrifice from them, like a rogue-lite in the style of rogue legacy. His last iteration made it very far up and got a really good sacrifice to pass on. The problem is, he's been taking too long and some of the God NPCs figured out they aren't real, and that when the game is beaten it ends, so they have to just really try to keep the player from beating the game forever so they get to keep existing. " i think thats where this all started
Nate O
William Oh and “the dragon” heard melodious sounds coming from the edges of the Flotilla. Upon discovering the sounds were coming from a little mermaid with red hair who Will promptly commented was pretty, “the dragon” stole her voice and the mermaids fathers trident and became the queen of the ocean on the 6th floor.
Myrdin
I think she will eventually transform into a human
Dax
You mean a herd of ancient and malevolent gravity goats whom none alive have witnessed due to getting their gravity multiplied in strength a thousand-fold and it's locus irrevocably set to the sun?
Sam
I wonder how many times Reese has seen Will
Matt
That's a hilarious take. Love it.
Stephen E Wilson Jr.
It's much more likely that lolth will take an evolution that makes it more likely to get what she wants. She is attracted to intelligence, Shifting her appearance and taking on baking to with Brianna is appropriate Lolth level intelligence move. When it makes sense for the story anyway.
Emily Gurnavage
I was figuring so far that he was the "original Will/Hero/Legend" but yea some of what the old guy said this chapter has that feeling much less likely. Doesn't even feel like a past party member personally, but more like an outside observer. I feel like he knows about em from the repeated legends/myths/rumors and his lives lived as what sounds like a civilian at times rather than from personal up-close experience. Or both. He prolly tried both over the many many coils.
God
First ouroboros and now Jörmungandr (mr.gandr), what's next?
Treeman4
Give him a few more floors of paraphillia
Domy
If the larping party turns up you know you’re on the money.
Domy
Honestly for some people high stakes reconnaissance against shadowy secret societys would be a great date. Bit of dinner/breakfast after for the debrief and that sounds like a great night.
Daemion
What are the chances that Reese was part of Will's party in a previous coil? Or that Will selects the same people for his party each time?
Mobious
Been thinking that since this series started, that the twist will be that Paradox or obe of his kids made the tower. This chapter has not helped with discouraging that idea
Andrew
Thank you!
austin kutz
No, if the stronghold is destroyed, they're no longer a lord. That's confirmed by Travis when Oilton was destroyed, IIRC. I don't think they can become lords again after they've failed to defend their stronghold either.
austin kutz
I'm going to ask you what I've asked a few others: does a kobold have a cloaca or human reproductive organs? Because I don't think Will really wants anything to do with a dry scaly hole on a lizard girl.
Crispined Glover Potato Snacks
Some thoughts: the implication that "The High Tech" coil was able to hack The Tower opens up the possibility that The Tower is operating outside it's original parameters somehow. If every coil ending adds a Floor to The Tower I wonder if that Floor generates it's character from a component of that coil; maybe that coil's Tower Topper gets to pick a biome before the new coil starts.
Matt
Still shipping ittttttt
Ryan Naquin
Sorta unrelated question. If the stronghold a lord controls is destroyed are they still a lord? Can they abandon the stronghold after becoming a lord and let someone new become a lord with the same stronghold? I ask this wondering if Will can game the system in order to mass produce lords that will stabilize the tower and make it easier to maintain logistics in order to climb higher.
Nathan Ganesan
Jormungandr, the world serpent from Norse mythology.
The Human
I don't get it?
Crispined Glover Potato Snacks
The Mysteries of Mister Reese accumulate.
Exrotes
Obviously the first step after verifying the fish people rumour is to ask about what the hazards are on the previous floors. For all Will and Loth know the main threat back on the 2nd floor aren't actually Kaith but instead something like a Gravity controlling Yeti variant that can manipulate the floating mountains and he'd be able to get sweet unique sacrifices/loot by backtracking and taking out the hazards.
SuperNewbie
[insert 4 dudes sitting excitedly on couch here]
David Giles
She also passes the Harkness test.
David Giles
And if by 'reconnaissance mission' Loth means 'date' then also yes.
ADONUS GREEN
A date with best girl. Yay.
Bookworm bibliophile
She is a lizard. A smart lizard but still a lizard.
Apotheosis
I SHIP IIIIIITTTTT AND ILL NEVER STOP SHIPPING IT
Logan
Tftc
Bunny Waffles
And so Loth continues to maintain her throne as "Best Girl"
EDMANGO
> are you asking me out on a date My heartstrings, why must you pluck them
Eli Loeb
Excellent way to make the fight cool. Also, Reese is fascinating.
Nathan Ganesan
"Mr. Gandr". Heh.
Matthew Dauber
look all im gonna say is that i wouldnt be upset if they kissed eventually
Jonty
Amazing chapter as always thanks 👍
