[TUTORIAL FLOOR TEN: GRAVE OF THE ASCENDERS]
Objective: Reach the inner gate by walking through the Valley of the Fallen.
• Combat is not required.
• However, they may still rise.
"Do not speak. Do not sympathize. Do not remember. They will know."
Wang Ling arrived alone.
Yue had not been allowed entry.
There were no allies on this floor.
Only failures.
The gate behind him sealed with the sound of falling tombstones.
Mist rolled across the floor like fog through bone.
Before him lay a valley carved from cracked obsidian, etched with names of the dead — not the physically dead, but those who had reached the top, and still failed.
They weren't buried.
They were displayed.
Wang Ling stepped forward.
Immediately, the first whisper came.
A shattered voice… female, older.
"You think it's different for you?"
"So did I. On Floor 99. I laughed then, too."
He walked past.
Didn't blink.
The next corpse opened its eyes.
A giant made of golden stone — a former Titan-King who'd once ruled a floor entirely.
"I challenged the Tower to a duel."
"It showed me my mother's dying breath on loop until I begged."
"What will it show you, boy?"
Wang Ling paused… just long enough to say:
"Nothing I haven't already survived."
[Tower Response: Memory Core Ping Rejected]
"Player #00192-ZH resists psychological reconstruction."
Mind-state: Hardened
Spiritual trauma resistance: MAX
Further in, the dead began to rise.
They weren't hostile.
They simply walked beside him.
One-by-one.
Every one of them looked at him with tired eyes.
"You'll bend."
"You'll break."
"You'll want the dream back."
He said nothing.
Because he had already died with dreams once.
He wouldn't make that mistake again.
Halfway through, one of them reached for him.
The hand was scorched.
The face was like his — not physically, but in spirit.
Another regressor. One that hadn't made it.
It smiled bitterly.
"You're the same as me."
Wang Ling stopped.
Looked him in the eye.
And spoke with quiet certainty.
"No."
"I'm what comes after you."
The figure turned to ash.
The others paused.
Some stepped back.
One wept — silently, without tears.
[System Alert: Presence-Level Disruption Detected]
Emotional density of floor collapsing.
Grave Echoes destabilizing.
Path to Gate: Cleared
The last corpse at the end of the valley sat on a black throne.
Thalor the Iron Heart.
He was watching.
Not moving.
Still broken, still barely breathing.
But his voice carried.
"Then go, Cold One."
"We remember what came before you."
"Now we'll remember what comes after."
Wang Ling didn't bow.
Didn't speak.
Didn't respect.
He simply passed through the gate.
[TUTORIAL FLOOR TEN COMPLETE – FINAL SCORE: SSS+]
Bonus Unlocked:
+100 AP
+5 Trait Fusion Nodes
Title Gained: "The One They Couldn't Break"
Immune to despair-type status
Mental pressure now reverses into aura
Enemies who try to break you are drained instead
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT – TOWER DESCENT INITIATING IN 11 HOURS]
⚠️ The Tutorial Phase will end.
⚠️ Earth's gates will open.
⚠️ Global Players: Prepare for descent to Floor 1.
Wang Ling stepped into the final dormitory chamber.
He sat.
And for the first time in 10 days…
He closed his eyes.
Not to rest.
But to calculate.
"Now the real Tower begins."
"And this time… the others start at the bottom."
"While I begin at the top of death."