[Normal Floor 2 Waiting Room]
Ace was lounging on the bed with his hands behind his head, casually typing in the forums and having fun.
[Normal Floor 2: Edger300: When I find you Ace, I am going to kill you]
[Normal Floor 2: Ace: lol]
He chuckled out loud, clearly amused by his own trolling. He had told some poor soul that if they ran full speed into the wall, they'd teleport to a different region. Still laughing, Ace closed the chat box and sat up.
Now that he had a moment, he took in the room.
It was a clean, sterile 12-meter by 12-meter white cube. Nothing too fancy, just a few training dummies and a cold metal bed. The room was very bleak to say the least. Bored, he pulled up his status window.
{[Name: Ace Hayes Lv. 1]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Talent: Clone]
[Class: Player]
[Skills: Basic Swordsmanship Lv.2, Dodge Lv.2, Pain Tolerance Lv.2, Bleed Resistance Lv.1]
[Titles: Beta Tester (Unique), Normal Difficulty Challenger (Common)]
[Conditions: None]
[Statuses:
Strength: 3 → 4
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 10
Vitality: 3 → 4
Luck: 0.5
Charisma: 2
Free Points: 5]
[Coins: 20 Tower Coins]
[Remarks: Needs work]}
Some of these skills were new. He knew that he picked them up during the wolf fight, but he hadn't had time to look them over.
Basic Swordsmanship Lv.2 – Makes using a sword easier and more natural.
Dodge Lv.2 – Helps avoid getting hit.
Pain Tolerance Lv.2 – Helps you tolerate pain.
Bleed Resistance Lv.1 – Reduces the amount of blood loss
"Alright, not bad," he muttered.
He turned his attention to the 5 unallocated points. His fingers hovered over Luck and Charisma but immediately got a system denial.
'Locked huh? Fine. I didn't need it anyway.'
He thought back to the fight with the wolf. Focusing on power and speed was probably the move. Decision made, he dropped 3 points into Agility and 2 into Strength.
Strength: 4 → 6. Agility: 3 → 6. Free Points: 5 → 0
As soon as he confirmed the allocation, he felt something shift inside. His muscles tensed slightly, his body felt lighter. Clenching his fist, he felt power that wasn't there just moments ago. He did a few light hops before dashing across the room.
"Whoa."
He zipped past one of the training dummies and came to a stop, almost slipping. Turning back, he gave the dummy a solid punch. It actually moved this time.
"Hah! That's what you get."
Last time he tried, it didn't even budge an inch. Feeling pretty pleased with himself, he pulled up the timer.
[Day 1 – 23 hours 40 minutes 23 seconds]
He still had nearly a full day before being forcibly moved, but he was already bored.
[Start Normal Difficulty Floor 2?]
"Yes," he said with a grin.
White walls faded away and he was now standing in a dimly-lit cave. Behind him was a sealed wall—no retreat. Stalactites and stalagmites decorated the rocky passageway. The air was damp, cool. Drops of water echoed as they fell into the puddles near his shoes
The only way out was forward
He squinted into the darkness.
[You have learned: Night-Vision Lv.1]
His vision adjusted slightly. Everything was now washed in faint gray hues. He could make out shapes, albeit barely.
Splash.
A wet step echoed from deep in the cave.
[You have learned: Heightened Hearing Lv.1]
Ace stood still, head tilting slightly to pick up more sounds. His ears picked up faint movement. Thud. Thud. Splash.
A shadowy figure came into view—a short, hideous creature with green skin, pointy ears, and a rusted dagger in hand. The thing wore torn pants and had teeth that looked like jagged glass.
Ace smirked.
"If that's not a textbook goblin, then I don't know what is."
[Goblin – Level 2]
HP: 100/100
ATK: 11
DEF: 2
The goblin hissed, revealing yellow fangs before lunging straight at him.
Ace didn't panic. He stepped to the side and slashed his sword toward its neck. The goblin tried to parry with its dagger, but its strength wasn't even close. The blade wrenched the weapon from its hand and kept going.
It made one desperate leap at him with outstretched claws, but Ace had already adjusted his footing and, with a clean downward strike, severed its head.
The goblin's body thudded onto the stone floor.
"That was surprisingly easy. Nails sharp enough to cut, but what's the point if you can't land a hit?" Ace said amusingly.
[Stats Gained from Kill: +1 Agility, +1 Vitality]
[Level Up!]
Ace instantly dumped his 5 new points into Strength.
Strength: 6 → 12. Agility: 6 → 7. Vitality: 4 → 5
He flexed his fingers and grinned.
"Hahahaha, this is too easy."
He continued forward, blade in hand. It didn't take long before another figure emerged from the shadows.
[Child Troll – Lv. 4]
HP: 200/200
ATK: 13
DEF: 6
Ace didn't wait. He dashed in first and swung.
The troll raised an arm to block—bad idea. The blade sliced clean through it. Its severed arm hit the ground with a wet slap.
"Hrraaaghh!!" it roared.
The troll stumbled back, clutching its stump, snarling with rage. Ace tilted his head. Then… the flesh started to wriggle. New muscle, new bone… the damn thing was regenerating!
"What the hell!"
Before the new limb could fully form, Ace lunged and pierced it through the heart.
[Level Up!]
[Stats Gained from Kill: +1 Strength, +2 Vitality]
[Skill Gained: Troll's Recovery!]
He felt a strange warmth circulate through him. Curious, he gave himself a small cut and watched as it closed seconds later. Although it wasn't as good as the Troll's, it was still something
"Huh. Not bad. Recovery using my stamina." Feeling the very slight drain in his energy
He kept moving through the cavern, encountering more goblins—some wielding short swords, others with shields or even crude crossbows. The ones in groups were a challenge at first, but he adapted quickly. By the end, it was more of a routine than a fight.
He was growing bored of the challenges presented in this floor and wasn't gaining much level ups anymore. Killing the monsters were rewarding less and less stats each time, sometimes giving him nothing. He gained new skills as well as improving the skills he already had.
Then he encountered something… new.
[Goblin Shaman – Level 7]
HP: 300/300
ATK: 6
DEF: 5
It was skinny, cloaked in a ragged robe, holding a twisted staff. The stats were weak for a Level 7, which made Ace grow suspicious.
Still, he approached casually at first.
"Let's just get this over with," he sighed, yawning.
The goblin didn't move.
Ace was only a couple of meters away when suddenly—FOOM!
A fireball launched from the shaman's staff.
Ace stumbled back, barely dodging.
"What the—?!"
Another came flying. No time to dodge. He braced himself and sliced it in half mid-air. Heat scorched his arms but the fireball split clean through.
Ignoring the blisters on his arms—with the path clear, he charged.
The goblin looked at him disdainfully, as if judging a being below him.
"Kratch'ta zug zag!"
Ace didn't hesitate. He drove his sword straight through its chest. The shaman let out a faint breath and dropped dead at his feet.
"Disappointing."
[Congratulations! You have cleared the 2nd Floor!]
[Stats Gained from Kill: +2 Intelligence]
[All injuries healed]
[Level Up!]
[Reward Unlocked: Shaman's Staff]
[Reward Unlocked: 80 Tower Coins]
[Bonus Reward: Mana Manipulation Lv.1]
[Forum Access Granted]
[Travel to 3rd Floor Waiting Room?]
"Yeah. Let's go."
Ace stood still for a moment, staring at the shaman's lifeless body. Its eyes were still wide open, locked in place—almost like it had something to say. He didn't know why, but he held its gaze just a second longer, wondering what those last words it spoke really meant—before disappearing.
[Error Difficulty – 2nd Floor Waiting Room]
{Aasal Hayes} [Day 1 - 6 hours 32 minutes 21 seconds]
Aasal surveyed the room just as Ace did and checked his stats. He realized he was weak—well, weak enough that the tower could easily kill him.
Thinking about the steps he had to take next sent a chill down his spine. If the monsters were only going to get more powerful as he climbed the tower, then he had to get stronger—and fast. The fact that he didn't get a single stat from leveling up? That was terrifying. If the system wasn't going to hand him strength, then he'd carve it out himself. He would do anything to survive...
Adrenaline rushed through his veins. Aasal grabbed his sword and looked down at his still clean body. He took a deep breath, braced himself—then pressed the blade to his forearm.
"AHH! Grhh—hkk… ugh!" Groans and gasps tore out of his throat. The pain of cutting into his own flesh, especially that deep, was excruciating. Blood poured out like a faucet. The edges of the gash pulsed and twitched as nerves screamed. He dropped the sword with a heavy clang, his hand trembling.
He stared down at the blood dripping from his elbow, pooling at his feet. The gash was deep enough to reach the bone. The sight of exposed muscle tissue and nerves should've been horrifying, but he held his gaze steady.
And then, before his eyes, the blood flow slowed. The wound sealed itself.
[You have learned: Pain Tolerance Lv.3]
[You have learned: Bleed Resistance Lv.3]
"Amazing," he whispered with a wild grin.
He went right back to it. Cutting different parts of his body. Deeper each time. The pain was maddening—eyes watering, vision blurring, body screaming—but he endured it. He dug the blade under his skin, twisted, carved.
When his pain tolerance and bleed resistance finally stopped leveling, he switched up his plan.
Push-ups until failure. Sprinting until his lungs burned like fire—resting only to go harder the next round. Swinging swords and spears until his forearms quaked and legs trembled—collapsing beneath him. Every second was torture, but the rewards were undeniable.
He tested every weapon. The training dummies were beaten senseless. His fists were a mess of blood and broken fingers—until they weren't. The healing room kept fixing him and everything around him.
Then came the gauntlets.
He punched himself in the ribs so hard he cracked them. Again and again. Bones breaking. Ribs snapping. He kept at it until they stopped breaking.
At one point, he used his two hands to hold open a massive gash across his thigh— using his teeth to rip the nerves out. The pain hit him like someone was hammering into his skull, and the shock of it rippled down his spine like electricity. The pain was enough to drive a man insane— but as long as he felt pain, that meant he was still alive. Aasal smiled.
When his skills stopped upgrading and his stats plateaued, Aasal began to question how his body was healing so rapidly. Holding his skin open, he focused all of his senses on the wound. It took some time but then… he felt it. A mystical sensation beneath the surface, something foreign yet natural. It was flowing towards the wound.
It was like discovering a new limb he never knew he had. He tried to stop it—this strange flow that kept fixing him. It didn't work at first, but eventually, it did. He could halt it. Then start it again. And in that moment, he knew.
[You have learned: Mana Sense Lv.1]
[You have learned: Mana Manipulation Lv.1]
He had tapped into something else entirely. Something fundamental.
He kept going. Harder. Wilder. Pushing beyond limits that would break any normal man. And the tower rewarded him for it.
With time blurring. . .
[Day 1 - 10 minutes 12 seconds]
Finally, he collapsed onto the bed, body covered in dried blood and sweat. He didn't have enough time to continue.
He pulled up his status.
{[Name: Aasal Khara Hayes Lv. 4]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Talent: Clone]
[Class: No-Class]
Skills: Pain Tolerance Lv.13, Bleed Resistance Lv.11, Recovery Lv.10, Cut Damage Resistance Lv.9, Basic Swordsmanship Lv.7, Will Lv.6, Fainting Resistance Lv.9, Blunt Damage Resistance Lv.8, Spearmanship Lv.5, Mana Manipulation Lv.5, Mana Sense Lv. 4, Archery Lv.4, Gauntlet Combat Lv.4, Dodge Lv.2, Survival Instinct Lv.1]
[Titles: XfhD#2q9… Difficulty Challenger (???), Beta Tester (Unique), Masochist (Epic)]
[Conditions: None]
[Statuses:
Strength: 22
Agility: 25
Intelligence: 15
Vitality: 21
Luck: 0.5
Charisma: 2
Free Points: 0]
[Coins: 40 Tower Coins]
[Remarks: Even masochists don't go to such lengths!]}
Satisfied with the gains, he reviewed some of the more mysterious skills.
Masochist (Epic) – You grow stronger through pain and suffering.
Survival Instinct Lv.1 – In life-threatening situations, boosts reaction time, perception, and reflexes.
Mana Manipulation Lv.5 – Allows the user to control and guide mana.
Mana Sense Lv.4 – Passively detects ambient mana in the environment or living beings.
Will Lv.6 – Boosts resistance to fear, panic, mind-affecting effects, and sharpens focus under pressure.
From what he had read on the forums, he knew skills often came with built-in understanding. Like mental shortcuts. If someone gained the [Salad Making] skill, they wouldn't need a recipe—they'd just know how to make the salad.
In Aasal's case, he still had to find the ingredients, wash them, chop them, and build it from scratch. It was that more or less.
He also noticed something else. His titles gave actual stat boosts—but his skills didn't. They felt more like achievement trackers than anything. And any title that boosted allocated stats were completely useless. He didn't get free points to begin with, so there was nothing to exactly boost.
"There's no understanding this broken system," he muttered. "So, I'm not going to depend on it."
[Start Error Difficulty Floor 2?]
He stood, steeling himself for what's to come. Hands clenched. Heart steady.
"Yes," he said quietly, voice firm.
He braced himself.