Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Chapter 35 Floor of Trials.
'Oh. Is this the Tower?'
It was a place I hadn't even gotten to see during my first round, so I felt somewhat restless.
A place that gave off the feeling of a ruined temple.
I hadn't heard any stories about the Tower's trials, but I had roughly heard about what kind of structure the Tower was made of.
This place is the Tower's 0th floor.
It's a place that assesses the level of climbers who are about to enter the Floor of Trials. That's why Yoo So-eun had said something like this before.
'Having overflowing talent isn't necessarily a good thing,' she had said.
She wasn't the type to suddenly deceive me, so the presence of talent must have some kind of influence here.
[Measuring the climber's level.]
White light envelops my body. A power similar to the divinity I had been handling frequently recently—I could feel it conducting a precise investigation of me.
[You possess 3 or more S-rank Traits.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[Current difficulty: Lower-Middle.]
I had heard that difficulty was originally divided into Lowest, Lower-Lower, Lower-Middle, Lower-Upper, Middle-Lower, Middle-Middle, Middle-Upper, Upper-Lower, Upper-Middle, Upper-Upper, and Highest, but even though I had just started, it immediately jumped up two levels.
[You have reached the realm of transcendence in a field.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[Current difficulty: Middle-Lower.]
'Already..?'
Just because I had reached the realm of Harmony, it immediately jumped up another two levels. At this point, I was afraid of how far it would go.
[You possess a Legendary-grade artifact.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[Current difficulty: Middle-Upper.]
The Demon God Lotus Armor also played a part in raising the difficulty.
I had heard that up to Heroic grade didn't affect difficulty, but it seems Unique grade raises it by one level, and Legendary by two levels.
[You possess the Qualification for Transcendence.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[Current difficulty: Upper-Middle.]
The Qualification for Transcendence, which had become such a constant passive that I had momentarily forgotten its existence, shows its face here. There was no need for it to assert its presence this much.
[You possess an Ex-rank Trait.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[Current difficulty: Highest.]
'Yeong-min's Body, is it your turn this time?'
The True Yeong-min's Body that had entered a new realm through evolution. It had helped my growth tremendously, but thanks to that, I was now able to enjoy the Floor of Trials at the highest difficulty.
"I kind of expected this would happen, but in the end it's Highest, huh..."
I had imagined whether I could reach the Highest difficulty that even first-round Yoo So-eun hadn't been able to see, and my imagination had become reality.
—Remember. The Tower always gives appropriate rewards for trials.
'Well... this actually turned out well.'
If it were too easy, it wouldn't be satisfying to clear, and since I had accumulated so much, I thought this level of treatment was natural.
But... this wasn't the end.
[You possess divinity and divine authority.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[You are an existence that cannot be handled by the existing grade system.]
[Creating a new grade.]
[Current difficulty: Nightmare.]
"Damn it. Nobody mentioned anything like this."
The abilities that the fathers had earnestly sponsored for their son were now creating an unprecedented grade.
The name itself was Nightmare. Damn ominous.
Still, pioneering new territories was an enjoyable thing, so I tried to accept it with a joyful heart.
Until there was more.
[All beings in the Pantheon and Demon Realm are watching you with interest.]
[The difficulty of the Floor of Trials increases greatly.]
[You are a singularity that cannot be handled even by the new grade.]
[Recreating trials exclusively for the singularity.]
[Current difficulty: Hell.]
'Fathers..?'
Those beings' love for their son had led the Floor of Trials' difficulty into uncharted territory.
"What the hell is Hell difficulty?"
It didn't make sense that they recreated trials just for me. Couldn't they just use what already existed?
[All beings in the Pantheon and Demon Realm are enjoying watching you.]
Still, I had been filial. They said the fathers were watching with enjoyment. Haha... damn it.
A portal began to open before my eyes. But it wasn't the blue portal I had seen when entering the Tower—it was a portal with a deep red color. Just looking at the color felt ominous.
Even the entrance wasn't normal. The feelings of not wanting to go in and wondering what exactly was inside coexisted, but ultimately the latter won.
If I didn't go in, nothing would progress.
'I can't stand being curious.'
My personality played a part again. I threw my body into the red portal. What I encountered inside was a maze-like place made of some unknown material and a message that appeared before my eyes.
[Floor of Trials Hell Difficulty 1st Floor Trial.]
[Break through all traps and reach the end of the path.]
[During progress through the Floor of Trials, the use of Limit-Breaking stats, divine authority, and manifestation is restricted.]
[Due to the penalty, trial rewards are further enhanced.]
My physical abilities were greatly reduced due to stats, and I became unable to use some abilities.
It was exactly the level of strength with all stats at 20.
'Isn't this really too much?'
They raised the difficulty because I had the Qualification for Transcendence, raised the difficulty because I reached harmony, raised the difficulty because I possessed divinity and divine authority, but then they prohibited the use of those very powers.
If what the Floor of Trials really wanted was to 'test' climbers, then restricting abilities that could break the very framework of such tests was correct.
It wasn't just restriction either.
Seeing that they compensated with rewards as much as penalties were given, I understood what was meant by the Tower giving appropriate rewards for trials.
"Still, I was worried since they said they recreated the trials, but it's not that unusual."
Avoid traps and reach the end of the path. It was a very simple type of trial.
Wasn't this a cliché that frequently appeared in tower or labyrinth-related games I had played?
Of course, traps weren't something to take lightly, but if you already knew of their existence, avoiding them wasn't difficult.
The first thing I tried was crack play. I experimented to see if I could somehow cheese the trial.
There was clearly a path right in front of me, but if it were possible to break walls and move around, I could reach the end of the path without having to face traps.
CLANG!
Even a punch imbued with the enlightenment of Transcendence Limitless Path didn't even crack the wall. It wasn't simply made of sturdy material—it was imbued with special power like divinity.
'Tsk. Too bad. If only I could use divine authority, intervention would have been possible...'
Curiosity about new materials was something that couldn't be left out for an artisan. So I had tried to break the wall while also gathering materials, but it was disappointing.
Next, I tried to take out my Sweet Home from my inventory.
Since Sweet Home's height was much higher than this labyrinth's paths, I was curious about what results it would cause.
I wondered if the labyrinth might collapse. It seemed fun, so I tried it right away.
[This artifact cannot be taken out in the current location.]
Of course, such a thing wasn't possible. After that, various other attempts all failed, and I decided to just honestly take the trial.
Even without Limit-Breaking stats, without divine authority, without being able to use manifestation, my essence doesn't change.
To me, who had mastered Deep Insight, the advanced skill of Energy Sense, such a narrow space felt like my own home, and since I could clearly see the locations of traps, there was no reason for the trial to be difficult.
I had tried crack play because it would be fun if it succeeded, not because my abilities were lacking.
'If I step here, there's a trap... so I should avoid it... huh?'
A fundamental question arose: did I need to avoid this?
Traps were certainly dangerous, and dangerous things could also make me grow.
Between reaching the end of the path while avoiding all traps and reaching the end of the path while hitting all traps—which would make me grow more?
Obviously the latter. I was already accustomed to pain, but I could grow just by feeling pain? This was completely beneficial.
With the feeling of hitting the jackpot, I deliberately stepped on a trap.
SWISH! SWOOSH!
Countless arrows flew toward me.
So many arrows they could cover my entire body. Among them, I only caught the arrows flying toward my precious parts, dantian, and neck, and obediently took the rest.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
Whether it was because my stats had decreased or because the level of Hell difficulty traps was high, my skin, which I had believed to be quite sturdy, couldn't offer any resistance and allowed the arrows through.
"Ow. That stings."
Through training Immortality, I had gained the mental strength to move as usual no matter what pain I received, but pain was still pain.
Having my entire body pierced by arrows was really damn painful. Moreover, poison applied to the arrows was even seeping into those areas, so I could feel my body repeating cycles of poisoning and detoxification.
Just in case the poison might invade my groin area, I blocked that with internal energy. I didn't want to just take it there, no matter what. All men would understand.
[The level of Intermediate Comprehensive Resistance increases.]
'Oh. This is good?'
Pain that couldn't kill me certainly made me stronger.
Since I had left the tutorial, the restriction that I couldn't raise proficiency beyond Intermediate Level 1 had disappeared, and my skills could grow further.
Especially skills like Comprehensive Resistance weren't skills that could develop just by investing 10,000 more hours at Intermediate Level 1—they were skills where level was everything.
It was a skill that had no meaning to train further in the tutorial, but here it was different. This way, not being able to use Limit-Breaking skills was actually better.
If my stats had remained the same, those arrows wouldn't have been able to pierce my body. The Tower had thought everything through. It had deliberately given me restrictions to tell me to grow diligently.
'You had it all planned out, didn't you?'
Since the Tower desired my growth, I would simply accept it.
I moved further forward, stepping on all existing traps—even traps I would never touch if proceeding normally—deliberately raising my resistance.
[The level of Intermediate Comprehensive Resistance increases.]
'Isn't this Heaven difficulty instead of Hell difficulty?'
This was exactly my heaven.
If the Tower had a personality, it would be clutching the back of its neck.
[All beings in the Pantheon and Demon Realm are watching you with shock.]
'Why are you surprised by something like this?'
This was just the beginning.