Tower of Trials 16th Floor
I took off my armor for a moment and pulled out a clean towel to wipe the back of my neck. It was filthy with a mix of cold sweat and blood. Of all places, on the 16th floor where finding lodging is a pain in the ass.
The indescribable agony had finally completely subsided, and my depleted MP was filling back up. All my other conditions were normal too. Fuck, I still had no clue what the hell had happened.
It started after I teamed up with that pigeon monster to clear the map and fell through. Then, out of nowhere, a weird message appeared.
[Higher Being: GM ■■■ blocks your vision.]
With that message about a higher being—some GM—blocking my vision, everything plunged into total darkness. In that instant, I felt an unidentified terror and thrashed against the blackness covering my sight like I was having a seizure.
I'd brushed with death countless times before, but this was only the second time I'd felt fear like that. The first was after getting my ass handed to me by the Goblin Lord and crying like a bitch.
I wasn't sure exactly what had terrified me. But I had a hunch. The moment the GM blinded me, I felt the fear—so obviously, it had to be that higher being, the GM.
That led to the next question: why the hell would this GM—whose existence I hadn't even known about—cover my eyes? No matter how much I scoured the community posts, there wasn't a single mention of a GM. Just vague speculation that something like the Tower's owner might exist somewhere.
Why would an unknown entity intervene with me directly? Because I broke through the system barriers and went outside the map? And the GM's interference wasn't just blinding me. It sent me here too.
The labyrinth zone got solo-cleared, and without using a transfer gate, I was suddenly warped to the 16th floor. The clear itself makes sense if it's because the labyrinth collapsed. But why straight to the 16th floor?
With so little basic info, it's hard to speculate. Still, one thing I could be sure of: I was still way too weak.
Just resisting a simple vision block drained all my mana. And even then, I could only hold out for less than a second. In that brief glimpse, I couldn't handle whatever unidentified thing I saw and collapsed. Because it's a higher being—literally a difference in realms? Pathetic that just catching a glimpse did this to me.
I didn't know if it was the GM that blinded me or something else outside the map that drove me mad. But it was definitely connected to the Tower's system somehow. In other words, an enemy I'd eventually have to face to achieve my goal.
And at my level, I couldn't even look at it properly.
"Still a long way to go, huh?"
I needed to get stronger.
The 16th floor's backdrop is a massive island isolated in the middle of the ocean. A straightforward combat-focused floor centered on a labyrinth after a while, with minotaurs as the main monsters. Like the various goblins in the 1st floor labyrinth, there are different types of minotaurs here too. Just as the goblin floor boss was the Goblin Lord, the boss here is naturally a minotaur too.
The unique thing is that this boss has a specific gimmick to perform, allowing a self-imposed hard mode. No hidden boss, but the regular boss has a hidden phase. As usual, the hidden phase boss has strength disproportionate to the floor, but nothing insane. I could probably take it down without much trouble right now and move to the next floor.
So, the real focus isn't the boss or monster strength—it's the 16th floor's other feature: no NPCs or sub-quests at all. Perfect environment for pure solo training.
Sword Spirit Awakening
I slotted a low-grade magic stone into Kaleon and summoned the sword spirit.
"Where to this time? Come at me if you dare!"
The moment he was summoned, the sword spirit wildly swung the blade around dangerously. I immediately prescribed a sedative to the overly excited spirit.
Clang!
"Krak!"
Hit square on the crown with the mithril wand, the sword spirit flopped to the ground. He looked pathetic like this, but I'd glimpsed his swordsmanship once, and it was undeniably impressive. My guess was that his claim of conquering the demon realm with a single sword wasn't just bluster.
"Hey, teach me some swordsmanship."
It was time to step up beyond dark elf style.
"Hmph, you want me to teach you swordsmanship?"
Maybe because I'd used him as a disposable meat shield until now, the sword spirit threw a massive fit at my request. Swear to treat him like a master, use honorifics, bow deeply—he spouted all sorts of bullshit. So, I had no choice but to have a brief, serious persuasion session.
My meager eloquence made convincing this old fart sword spirit tough, but luckily, the mithril wand knew the answer.
Clang!
"Krak!"
Clang!
"Keuk!"
Clang!
"You bastard!"
For reference, the sword spirit summoned with a low-grade magic stone could take exactly three hits from the mithril wand.
"Fine, you punk! Keep going! You could hit me a hundred times and not break me!"
His mental fortitude and pride were far tougher, but I had plenty of time and opportunities. A hundred times? This guy had no idea how many magic stones I had. Three hits per stone, over 3,000 stones—that's damn near 10,000 hits.
"Stop, stop! You rotten bastard, fine—I'll teach you!"
Sword spirit Kaleon: surrendered.
I first asked Kaleon if he could handle auras and sword ki.
"Of course. I conquered the demon realm with a single sword. To cut down demons with a human body, you need at least auras."
So, what I saw back then was indeed an aura. My heart raced at the thought of learning one of the warrior's three divine arts.
"Rather, I want to ask you—how'd you take down a demon king without even auras?"
"Did I need auras to catch one puny guy?"
"Hm, demon scum were pretty lame. No real technique users, so yeah, possible."
Apparently, Kaleon wasn't sealed in the sword by the Gray Demon King's curse—he chose to possess it himself in his later years. Regretting dying without reaching the pinnacle of swordsmanship, he sought a way to extend his life and ended up like that. Plenty of ways to just survive, but as a swordsman, he wanted to become a sword, even if cursed.
That led to him being fully corrupted by the Gray Demon King's curse and turning into an evil ego sword, but no regrets. "But if I'd known I'd suffer this humiliation from a punk like you, I'd have quit."
"Who told you to strut around like that? Teaching one sword technique ain't a big deal."
"You punk—do you know how many begged to learn my swordsmanship?!"
Kaleon yelled noisily, but quieted down when I raised the mithril wand.
"Damn it, if I'd been alive... if I just had top-grade magic stones... kuhk."
Anyway, the swordsmanship training began like that. Kaleon said he'd assess my skills first. How the hell do you show skills in a place like this? He told me to pick him up and demonstrate a technique. No need for flashy stuff—just basic moves to gauge my level. But since I asked for auras, he'd check mana operation too, so use mana.
Kurrrung!
"Oho."
Activating mana reinforcement and gripping Kaleon, the sword spirit admired it.
"Young, but already mana reinforcement? Well, you need at least that to qualify for this body."
I ignored his admiration and demonstrated some swordsmanship—mostly basic dark elf forms. But one problem: I couldn't concentrate because of this damn sword spirit bastard.
"Mm, hmm, ahh, kuh, huu..."
Every swing, he chimed in like he felt something, ruining the flow. And when I infused mana? Total freakout.
"Gaaah! This mana is too much!"
"Damn, hero! What the hell is this mana?!"
"The blade—the blade is heating up!"
I even wondered if he was seriously trying to sabotage me. Anyway, ignoring his bullshit, I showed a rough set of techniques, and his evaluation was:
"What kind of freak are you? What the hell are you?"
Couldn't tell if it was praise or an insult.