[Error Floor 3 Waiting Room]
Arriving back at the waiting room, Aasal collapsed on the bed. He reflected on Floor 1 and tried to figure out if there was an easier solution than the one presented by the system. Realizing there was nothing he could have done, he felt frustration. The stronger he became, the more he realized how weak he was.
He pulled up his status:
{[Name: Aasal Khara Hayes Lv. 4]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Talent: Clone]
[Class: No-Class]
Skills: [Aeolus's Spirit, Pain Tolerance Lv.14, Bleed Resistance Lv.12, Recovery Lv.11, Fainting Resistance Lv.10, Cut Damage Resistance Lv.9, Heightened Senses Lv.9, Will Lv.8, Dodge Lv.8, Basic Swordsmanship Lv.7, Blunt Damage Resistance Lv.8, Mana Manipulation Lv.7, Survival Instinct Lv.6, Mana Sense Lv. 5, Spearmanship Lv.5, Archery Lv.4, Gauntlet Combat Lv.4, Mana Augmentation Lv. 1]
[Titles: XfhD#2q9… Difficulty Challenger (???), Beta Tester (Unique), Masochist (Epic)]
[Conditions: None]
[Statuses:
Strength: 30
Agility: 33
Intelligence: 17
Vitality: 26
Luck: 0.5
Charisma: 2
Free Points: 0]
[Coins: 240 Tower Coins]
He noticed a sharp increase in his agility as well as a moderate increase in his strength and vitality. It only made sense since the floor focused mostly on movement. He then read some of the new descriptions.
Mana Augmentation Lv. 1 - Infuse mana into your mind and body to enhance yourself
Aeolus's Spirit (Passive) - A long lost small part of the God of Wind's spirit that has been absorbed by the user. The user will gain an increase in speed as well as so much more.
Windrunner Boots (Rare) - Helps the user be quicker and react in the air better, as well as fall from higher heights.
He finally had something to wear on his feet other than his socks, which had long been torn up. They were his fuzzy socks he used to wear to bed when it got cold during the night.
He knew he had learned mana augmentation when jumping to the last platform and reminisced about the feeling of the mana going to his feet. Feeling the mana in his body, he moved it to his hand. He then punched out into the air, causing a small gust of air to be pushed away.
So much more power... He could instantly tell that his punch was now multitudes stronger than it was before. His plan was to study the feeling and explore his mana pathways in his body. He knew he would need it for the next floor.
Checking the last skill, which was actually given to him by the system, he was left confused. The God of Wind's spirit? Aasal never really believed in the gods, but now he knew of their existence—a part of one's soul even being absorbed.
Testing it out, he started running around the room again. He could tell that his agility increase as well as the boots he wore now boosted his speed further since he was way faster than before. But he felt something more. He couldn't place where it was originating from, but it was spread throughout his body. Dashing from end to end of the box, he could tell the influence his body was having on the environment. It was almost like the air was helping him forward.
Was I given this reward because of the theme of the floor, or was the theme of the floor based off the hidden reward? The only thing he knew about the floor was the fact it being in the sky, there being rock platforms, and arrows being shot.
Curious, he took out his bow and arrow and fired an arrow at the training dummy. Before challenging the floor, he was able to consistently hit the training dummy without fail. Now? When he drew the bow back and placed the arrow in, and let go, the air assisted the arrow, not only pushing it forward, but reducing the air drag and guiding it to its intended location.
It pierced right through the dummy's head, now allowing him to see a small part of the wall that was blocked by its head. He knew that his other weapons would also see an increase in effectiveness from being assisted by the air in the surroundings, but his archery especially.
[You have learned: Archery Lvl. 5]
He grinned. He would need a multitude of new ways to further his strength, and this was just a drop in the bucket if he wanted to not only survive the floors, but flourish.
Checking the Forums, there were 2 things happening at the same time.
One: there was a person from hell's difficulty chatting, saying everyone else died. It was unknown to the other difficulties how many people were in different difficulties, so he was the only one to know. The only alarming thing he mentioned was that he was the only survivor out of everyone in the tutorial.
The other chats had him surprised. It was a guy named Ace selling information on the normal difficulty second and third floor using tower coins. Aasal knew that the tower coins hinted at the tower having a shop, and it seemed like this guy was taking advantage of that. He didn't even know you could trade coins over the chat.
Although the waiting room healed his body, his mind was still tired, so he went to take a nap for a bit.
[Day 2 - 23 hours 41 minutes 17 seconds]
He had time. Closing his eyes, his body slumping over the side of the bed, he passed out.
[Normal Floor 4 Waiting Room]
Ace just teleported back from Floor 3 an hour or two ago, it being easier than Floor 2. Before entering Floor 3, he used the Shaman's staff to first practice feeling the mana inside his body as well as around him. But after a certain point, it became useless and he started practicing his mana manipulation into his sword, causing a blue glow to emit from it. It took a couple of hours to get the hang of it, especially manipulating the mana from his body to his sword.
He tried to further amplify it with the atmospheric mana, but he wasn't able to control it for long enough, so he gave up for now. He also attempted to use the mana to augment his body, but he couldn't get it to work properly.
Before entering that floor, he divided the 25 free points he got from the previous floor into his strength, agility, vitality, and intelligence, spread evenly.
He got a bit of level ups on the floor in which he had to fight Lizard men with strong whipping tails in mud. His mobility was compromised in the beginning of the fight, while the monsters were not affected since they were tall enough. He considered them like trees and chopped them down.
Pulling up his stats:
{[Name: Ace Hayes Lv. 11]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Talent: Clone]
[Class: Player]
[Skills: Troll's Recovery, Basic Swordsmanship Lv.5, Mana Manipulation Lv.4, Pain Tolerance Lv.4, Dodge Lv.4, Heightened Hearing Lv.3, Bleed Resistance Lv.3, Night-Vision Lv.2, Mana Sense Lv.2]
[Titles: Beta Tester (Unique), Normal Difficulty Challenger (Common)]
[Conditions: None]
[Statuses:
Strength: 27
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 19
Vitality: 22
Luck: 0.5
Charisma: 2
Free Points: 20]
[Coins: 180 Tower Coins]
[Remarks: Use your points!]}
Satisfied by his gains so far, he put the remaining free points into strength, agility, and intelligence, further boosting his power.
Strength: 27 → 34
Agility: 18 → 28
Intelligence: 19 → 22
Ever since the second floor, he has been collecting tower coins through the chat. It should be any day now that a shop comes online, and he can use the coins. He's been sending information on how to defeat the monsters as well as the general format of the floor. Not everyone has an easy time like Ace, and people die. Spending some tower coins in exchange for information that could save their life is better than the alternative.
Normal difficulty wasn't a real challenge for him. He regretted his past decision, but there was nothing he could do about it. Ace knew it was time to start speedrunning the tower to further monopolize getting more coins. Ace used to speedrun Call of Duty maps when it first came out, even setting some records that are still around today.
It's time to fight again...!
[Start Normal Difficulty Floor 4?]
Ace teleported away.