The 3rd Floor Ascension Trial (2)
It was astonishing enough that Hajun had appeared at the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial grounds at a pace no one had anticipated. But the prevailing sentiment across the community was that reclaiming the number one spot on the Hall of Fame this time would be another matter entirely.
There was no helping it. The 3rd Floor Ascension Trial was simply not a place where raw power alone could produce a good record.
↳ Same. Like, why do I have to go hiking up a mist-shrouded mountain?
↳ And it's not even daytime, it's at NIGHT lmao
↳ Plus the traps and monster ambushes along the way. Ugh. My teeth still grind when I think about it.
Everyone was deathly sick of talk about the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial. As mentioned above, the trial consisted of climbing a mountain so shrouded in fog that you could hardly see a hand's length ahead — in the dead of a pitch-black night, no less.
Body: Everyone already knows what kind of place the 3rd Floor Trial grounds are, right?
Visibility is limited, your senses get scrambled, and the paths are tangled up like a maze. The traps and illusion monsters that pop up along the way drive ascenders absolutely insane.
And you think that's the end of it? Nope. Just try taking one wrong turn into a dead end. That deep, boiling rage rising from your core as you trudge back down... Ha. It happened years ago and I'm getting mad just typing this.
Anyway, after all that suffering, you're supposed to hunt down the Lantern to burn away the hidden mists and the Compass to find your bearings, and by the time you manage that, whole seasons have passed.
If you want to crack 1st place, you NEED the Pathfinder trait. Period.
It was an enormous fortune that had allowed James to set his 1st place record. Excluding him, not a single one of the Seven Ascenders had ever broken into the top ten.
And so the prevailing mood was that for Hajun, merely placing in the top ten — let alone taking first — would be nothing short of a miracle. It was precisely while that sentiment was at its height that Hajun began the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial.
Commencing the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial.
Kuuung!
Along with the message blooming before his eyes, a colossal mountain wreathed in thick, billowing fog materialized before him.
There it is.
A pillar of golden light surged upward from the mountaintop.
"Unknown, I find myself thinking that you, of all people, may yet lay eyes on the golden Evening Primrose that even I could never reach."
James's words to him, spoken long ago, flashed through Hajun's mind.
Not that I have any clever trick up my sleeve. A faint smile tugged at his lips. If a boss-grade monster everyone had written off as unbeatable had appeared instead, that would have been a different story — with his absurd mana amplification combined with weakness discernment, he might have puzzled out some solution. But this was a battlefield that demanded nothing less than finding a path. This time, without the Pathfinder trait or any related items, there was truly nothing he could—
"—or so I was thinking."
"Hoh. This is no ordinary fog. It is the Mirage Mist. In that case, your Sage's Sight may well prove effective here."
Ellaon's words made Hajun's ears prick up.
Sage's Sight will work?
"Of course it will. Why else would I bother telling you? Use it at once."
Without a moment's hesitation, Hajun activated Sage's Sight.
And then—
Fwaaaaaash!
Beyond the fog-shrouded path, countless points of light began to flicker and pulse.
Red. Blue. Green. And even gold.
Good heavens! Hajun's jaw dropped at the sight.
"As I expected! With your Sage's Sight advanced as it is, you can now unravel the battlefield's traps themselves. Now! Set off at once along the golden path!"
However he looked at it, acquiring the Sage's Robe had been a move of divine inspiration. Thanks to the robe's enhancement of his Sage's Sight, he was now capable of working miracles like this.
Tatadada!
Hajun immediately broke into a sprint along the golden path.
For all the warnings that every few steps would spring a trap or draw a monster ambush, the road he ran down was as clear and unobstructed as an open highway.
He glanced up at the summit, where the golden pillar still soared proudly into the sky, and let his thoughts drift as he ran.
Could it be... that I might actually claim the golden Evening Primrose?
On the 3rd Floor of the Sky Tower lay the Dragon's Nest.
There, scholars and researchers affiliated with Tiamut were stationed in force, in the full swing of excavating the ancient ruins.
"We've checked again and again — there's no doubt. These are the traces of a Hatchling."
"Ahhh!"
"Good heavens!"
The reason for the uproar was simple: they had discovered the traces of a Hatchling — the offspring of a dragon spoken of as legend even within the Sky Tower, the greatest of that majestic breed.
"It's really on the 3rd Floor?"
"How is that even possible?"
"My guess? It was summoned to the Tower while still in its egg."
"Ah! So it hatched here on the 3rd Floor?"
"Yes. That would explain it."
"Bound by the Tower's restrictions on this floor, it would never have been able to grow."
"We track it down. Immediately."
"Effective now, priorities are changing. Securing the Hatchling itself takes precedence over excavating the ruins. Relay that to every member on the 3rd Floor."
The traces of the Hatchling that Tiamut had found — this was the event unfolding while Hajun was in the very midst of his 3rd Floor Ascension Trial.
Tatadadada!
Hajun ran down the open road, and kept running.
It wasn't a straight line. The trail wound and zigzagged through the mountain. Slower than running dead ahead, certainly — but one thing was certain: he was climbing toward the summit faster than anyone who had ever attempted the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial before him.
They were right — everything revealed about the Sky Tower so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
At this pace, he just might reach the Golden Evening Primrose in time. Everyone had declared it impossible to reach the summit while the golden pillar still burned. And yet here was a way, wasn't there?
Still — no letting my guard down.
Hajun crushed the complacency quietly blooming in his chest and sharpened his focus. He hadn't lived all that long, but life had taught him one thing for certain: the carelessness that creeps in at moments exactly like this was the most dangerous kind.
And sure enough—
KWAAAAAANG!!
Out of nowhere, massive vines erupted from the ground beneath his feet — thick, gnarled tendrils bristling with razor-sharp thorns. If he'd been running mindlessly, drunk on confidence, he might well have taken the hit full-on.
Knew it.
Hajun, silently proud of himself for never relaxing his vigilance, immediately cast Mana Shield.
Pabubububububeok!!
Countless thorned vines hammered against the shimmering barrier, and his mana began to drain away by the second. It was a perilous situation — one careless moment and he could find himself completely drained dry.
But instead, Hajun grinned and reached his hand out toward the vines clinging to his shield.
Mana Drain!
Kwagagagagagaga!
Emerald motes of mana came flooding in from the thorned vines. They, too, were a species of monster, and Hajun siphoned off a substantial store of their mana for himself.
And now.
Double Casting.
"Fireball!"
The perk skill that made up for everything he'd regretted in his fight against João — as Double Casting manifested, a Fireball streaked straight into the heart of the thorned vines, momentarily petrified by the Stun effect.
KWAAAAAAAAAAANG—!!
A colossal explosion split the air, and the flame storm swept the thorned vines away without a trace.
"Cleanly done!"
Ellaon burst out in admiration at the sight of Hajun responding to a sudden ambush without so much as a flicker of panic.
"This much? Please."
Basic by now. Hajun flashed a grin and took off running again.
Even after that, as if determined to punish any lapse in attention, a whole menagerie of monsters and traps kept rearing their heads along the way. Next after the thorned vines came the man-eating flower, the Rafflesia. It tried to ensnare him with hallucinations; he cut through them with the Sage's Tome and lightly roasted the thing with a Fireball.
"Gwoooooaaah—!"
It was boss-grade, but it couldn't withstand a single one of his Fireballs. Partly because Sage's Aura and Weakness Discernment inflated his attack power to absurd heights — but mostly because fire-attribute magic was simply rat poison to the wood-attribute monsters that populated this mountain.
Without Fireball, I never would have made it in time, would I?
He felt it in his bones: to witness the golden pillar with his own eyes, he needed not only the ability to pick out these hidden side-paths, but a Mythic-grade fire attack as well. The Mythic-grade Fireball he'd won way back at the very first Proof of Qualification had been linked, all this time, to the final gate of the 3rd Floor Ascension Trial.
And there's one more thing I need.
Hajun pushed on through another fork in the trail, thinking. To arrive in time without breaking this pace, he needed endurance — and endurance meant not just stamina, but mana. And what was a mana-leaking wreck like him supposed to do about that?
Looks like I'll have to call in another debt of service.
That's right. At the moment, Hajun possessed a mana potion superior to any potion money could buy.
"Come forth. Mana supply!"
KWAAAAAAA!
At his words, black demonic energy came swirling together out of empty air.
"What business have you with me, my mast—"
Grab.
Before Snikle could even finish the sentence, Hajun seized the demon's body and said:
"Sorry, Snikle. And I love you!"
"Wh-what. D-don't tell me. N-not ag—wait, just a momen—!"
"MANA DRAIN—!!"
KWAAAAAA!
The black demonic energy gushing out of Snikle's body converted into pure mana and came pouring into Hajun.
"GYAAAAAGHAGHAGHA!"
Leaving Snikle shrieking behind him as the status abnormality wracked his body, Hajun roared:
"Fireball, Fireball, Fireball——!"
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWABOOM!!
He blasted through every obstacle that appeared before him.
Thud.
And so, without pausing even once, Hajun set foot upon the summit of the mountain.
KWAAAAA!
Before his eyes, the golden pillar rose shimmering and radiant — and at last, nestled within its glow, he discovered a single flower in bloom.
"Ah!"
The very instant he cried out in awe at a sight no one had ever witnessed—
A single golden-glowing flower settled into Hajun's hand.