Chen Yu sat in the safe zone he'd discovered—a small alcove between zones where monsters couldn't enter—counting his resources for the third time.
Twenty-seven days, fourteen hours, thirty-two minutes until the tower opened to others.
When they come, everything changes.
He pulled up his status screen:
[Name: Chen Yu] [Level: 5] [HP: 170/170] [MP: 100/100] [Strength: 23] [Agility: 22] [Intelligence: 24] [Endurance: 21] [Tower Coins: 847] [Skill Points: 3 (Unspent)]
Three days of systematic grinding through thirty zones. The pattern was becoming clear:
Zones 1-10: Basic Goblins Zones 11-20: Dire Wolves Zones 21-30: Mixed packs Zones 31-40: Elite variants Zones 41-50: Unknown (current target) Zones 51-100: Complete mystery
I need to find shortcuts. The math doesn't work otherwise.
Chen Yu ran his hands along the safe zone walls. His increased Intelligence made patterns visible—worn stone, ancient pathways. His fingers found a depression.
[Discovery: Ancient Passage Network] [Hidden route found: Zone 31 → Zone 45] [Warning: Bypasses experience zones]
The passage opened into Zone 45: The Twilight Grove. Black trees, silver leaves, and strange calm. Neutral creatures moved with purpose toward the grove's heart.
[Elite Monster: Grove Guardian - Level 15] [HP: 1,000/1,000] [Status: Neutral Guardian]
The Guardian—tall, antlered, armored in bark—looked directly at him. Its thoughts were different from the monsters, complex and layered:
Young one. Thirteen summers, alone, the first in twenty cycles. You rush toward Zone 100, toward the Keeper, but do you know what you're missing?
"I need to clear the floor," Chen Yu said carefully. "I only have 27 days before—"
"Before others come. Yes." The Guardian's voice was like wind through leaves. "But speed has a price. In your haste to reach the Keeper at the floor's end, you'll miss the trial. Zone 100 holds two tests—one obvious, one hidden. The Keeper guards the exit, but the hidden piece... that requires understanding, not strength."
The Guardian waved its hand, opening a path to Zone 50.
"Go. Race to your boss fight. But remember—some things, once missed, are gone forever."
Chen Yu bowed and ran. He needed to reach Zone 100, face this Keeper, and clear the floor. The hidden piece would have to wait.
Zones 46-99 blurred together. Elite monsters, mini-bosses, increasingly complex formations. By Zone 90, he was fighting Level 12 Hobgoblin Warriors in groups of ten. His Omniscient Interference evolved through constant use:
[Skill Evolution through repetition!] [Trajectory Prediction → Combat Precognition] [Now shows optimal counter-attack paths]
Finally, after six days of grinding, he reached it.
[Zone 100: The Keeper's Domain] [Floor Boss Arena Detected] [Warning: Must defeat boss to access Floor 2] [Recommended Level: 15] [Recommended Party: 5 members]
Chen Yu was Level 14. Close enough.
The arena was massive—polished obsidian floor, supernatural flames, and in the center...
[Floor Boss: The Keeper of the First Gate] [Level: 20] [HP: 5,000/5,000] [First Challenge Bonus Available]
The Keeper was a nightmare—four arms, each with different weapons, chains for hair, a crown of broken keys. But its thoughts were clear:
Finally. The first climber. Level 14, alone, using mental abilities. Interesting. Let us dance, child.
Four red trajectories appeared. No dodge pattern existed for all four.
But Chen Yu had spent six days reading monster minds. He knew their patterns, their delays between thoughts and actions. The Keeper thought like a human—complex, but still bound by the time between decision and movement.
[Thought Edit activated] Original: "Strike with all four weapons"Edited to: "Feint with three, commit with one"
The Keeper's attack pattern shifted mid-swing. Three weapons pulled back while one continued—straight into Chen Yu's prepared counter.
[Critical Hit! -287 HP] [Bleed applied]
Impossible! You changed my—how did you—
Chen Yu didn't answer. He couldn't maintain conversation and combat precognition simultaneously. The fight became a brutal exchange—the Keeper's overwhelming stats versus Chen Yu's ability to rewrite its strategies.
[HP: 43/170] [MP: 12/100] [Keeper HP: 1,847/5,000]
Twenty minutes of perfect dodging, thought manipulation, and desperate attacks. Chen Yu's health potions were gone. His MP nearly depleted. One more hit would kill him.
The Keeper raised all four weapons for a final attack—no complex pattern, just overwhelming force.
Chen Yu used his last Thought Edit:
Original: "Kill the child"Edited to: "Kill the unworthy"
The Keeper froze. Its complex mind struggled with the contradiction—was the child worthy or not? He'd survived longer than should be possible. He'd altered the Keeper's own thoughts. He'd come alone when five were recommended.
That moment of hesitation was enough.
Chen Yu's blade found the gap in the Keeper's armor—the same spot he'd been targeting for twenty minutes, now weakened by repeated strikes.
[Critical Hit! -502 HP] [Fatal Weakness Exploited] [Boss defeated!]
The Keeper collapsed, its final thoughts fading:
Worthy... the first human is... worthy... but you missed it... the hidden piece... in the Grove's roots... the true tutorial... what a waste...
[Floor 1 Complete!] [Clear Time: 7 days, 6 hours] [Rank: S (First clear, Solo clear, Speed clear)] [Rewards: 10,000 Tower Coins, Rare Skill Book, Floor 2 Access]
[WARNING: Hidden Piece Unclaimed] [Grove Guardian's Trial incomplete] [True Clear Rate: 67%]
Chen Yu stared at the notification. The Grove Guardian's trial. The hidden piece in the roots. He'd run right past it in his rush to reach the boss.
[Floor 2 Portal Activated] [Warning: Cannot return to Floor 1 after entering Floor 2] [Enter? Y/N]
His finger hovered over the choice. Should he go back? Search the grove? But he was nearly dead, out of potions, and every second counted.
With deep regret, Chen Yu selected 'Y'.
[System Announcement Unlocked:] [Upon reaching Floor 5, the boss battle will be broadcast worldwide] [Victory grants one message to Earth] [Defeat marks humanity as "Low Potential Species"]
As Floor 2 materialized, Chen Yu couldn't shake the feeling that the hidden piece he'd missed might have been more important than clearing quickly.
[Floor Transition Complete] [Full restoration granted upon floor entry] [HP: 170/170] [MP: 100/100] [Welcome to Floor 2: The Sunken Crypts]
Chen Yu materialized in absolute darkness, his wounds from the Keeper fight instantly healed. The relief was overwhelming—he'd been one hit from permanent death.
[Floor 2 Special Conditions:] [- Zero visibility (magical darkness)] [- Healing items 50% effective] [- No combat encounters] [- Theme: Intelligence Trial] [Warning: This floor tests problem-solving, not strength]
No combat? Chen Yu reached out with Omniscient Interference, expecting to sense monsters. Instead, he found... nothing. Not even the absence of thought—just void.
His hand touched a wall. Cold stone, covered in moisture. The air smelled of centuries-old decay and stagnant water. Each breath echoed infinitely, suggesting massive space.
[Zone 1: The Blind Man's Entry] [Puzzle Rating: E-Rank] [Hint: Sometimes, the blind see clearest]
Chen Yu took a careful step forward. His foot found solid ground. Another step—
CLICK
[Trap Activated: Poison Dart] [Damage: -20 HP] [Poison Resisted]
The dart had come from his left, completely invisible even with his trajectory prediction. Because there was no mind behind it—just mechanical triggers.
This floor neutralizes my biggest advantage.
He couldn't read minds that didn't exist. Couldn't predict attacks without conscious intent. The tower was teaching him something: don't rely on one ability.
Chen Yu closed his eyes—pointless in the darkness anyway—and listened. Water dripped somewhere ahead, regular intervals. Air moved slightly from his right, suggesting an opening. The echo of his breathing bounced differently off the left wall—closer than the right.
He pulled out a Tower Coin and flicked it forward. It clinked across stone, then—
WHOOSH-THUNK
Multiple impacts. Blades probably, triggered by the coin's weight.
Pressure plates. Classic.
Chen Yu got on his hands and knees, feeling the floor carefully. His Intelligence stat of 32 made patterns obvious—slightly raised stones every two meters, arranged in a grid. He traced a safe path mentally, then stood.
Three minutes of careful movement later:
[Zone 1 Complete] [Reward: 100 Tower Coins] [Lesson Learned: Sight is not insight]
The darkness lifted slightly—not enough to see, but he could make out vague shapes now. Zone 2 stretched ahead, and Chen Yu could hear something new: grinding stone.
[Zone 2: The Mathematician's Tomb] [Puzzle Rating: D-Rank] [Hint: The answer is always prime]
A massive circular room with a stone platform in the center. The grinding sound came from above—Chen Yu could barely make out massive stone blocks sliding in and out of the ceiling in a pattern. Standing on the platform would mean being crushed unless...
Numbers glowed faintly on the floor: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47
Prime numbers. The platform had similar numbers carved into sections. Chen Yu watched the crushing blocks for five minutes, counting intervals.
Block 1: Descended every 2 seconds Block 2: Every 3 seconds Block 3: Every 5 seconds Block 4: Every 7 seconds
They match the prime sequence. So the safe spots are...
He worked it out: When all blocks descended simultaneously (every 210 seconds based on least common multiple), position 211 would be safe—the next prime after their convergence point.
Chen Yu waited for the synchronized crush, then sprinted to section 211 on the platform. The blocks slammed down around him, missing by centimeters.
[Zone 2 Complete] [Reward: Intelligence +2] [Lesson Learned: Patterns hide in chaos]