A final swing on the twin chain blade was thrown, slashing an almost tennis-sized ball of the creature. It sliced through with ease, and simultaneously several small blades of blood created around the arena had stopped.
An instant later, the weapons lit up in a bright red before disappearing. The jagged edges stuck in his body also started to disappear but unlike the part of the weapon that was out of his body, the ones that were attached inside his body sunk into the skin as if getting absorbed.
It was a strange feeling, and it wasn't exactly pleasant to look at, including for Quinn himself. As for the others in the room, they slowly walked forward, tiptoeing toward the human.
They had witnessed him do incredible things multiple times before, but this was beyond anything they could imagine. What they had seen just didn't make sense to them. The power was what they had most likely heard of that was only achievable to those on the higher levels of the tower.
'When I look at him, it feels like he really was meant to enter this place.' Geo thought.
"Finally." Quinn huffed. "Looks like that beast isn't coming back anymore. Now we can move onto the next stage, right?"
"This doesn't make sense." Nock was the first to speak out of the three Amra. "The creature is really not coming back. Does that mean he destroyed every single part of it, so it could no longer regenerate, or it ran out of energy? I didn't know that was possible. No, out of all those who passed the test, I've never heard of anyone who defeated the Gate leader in such a way."
"What do you mean?" Quinn raised his eyebrow. "We weren't meant to defeat the creature? Is there another way?"
The thought did cross his mind when Quinn was fighting the creature. How did the others pass if what he had just done was the right way to pass this floor?
"You should try and look at your surroundings a bit more." The elder Dober commented.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSeeing how Quinn didn't still quite understand, Geo decided to explain.
"There might be more than one way to get past this Gate leader. However, the most common way is to push off the beast from the platform and into the lava below to stop it from regenerating."
At that moment, Quinn felt a bit embarrassed, as pushing off the beast did seem to be an easier option. But he had just gotten so caught up in the challenge in front of him that he wanted to figure out a way to defeat it with his powers.
In the end, a large door appeared glowing in the middle of the platform. Having seen these before, Quinn knew he had to push it open to reach the next floor.
'This tower is really strange.' Quinn thought. 'From the sounds of it, everyone who passes the tenth floor has defeated the same creature. How is that even possible unless the tower celestial of this place has beasts he can use as he wishes?
'And then there are these doors. Going through them, it's as if they teleport us to a different location. Honestly, I'm not even sure if we really are in the tower or if the large object in the city is just a ploy of some sort. Either way, this whole thing reminds me of a game, even more so than my system.'
Passing through the door and stepping onto the other side, Quinn was treated with an entirely different scene than he was used to. Usually, the door would just chuck them into a land in the middle of nowhere, and they needed to try and find the door themselves.
However, they were in front of what looked like a town this time. It looked similar to what Quinn was in before. There was a clear sky, buildings, a market place, and more. What was also noticeable was a large castle that was placed at the very back of the town. Above it, a blue light source seemed to shoot upwards, piercing the sky.
"This is the tenth floor." Geo started to explain. "There is no trial here, but it is a safety point. Those who reach the tenth floor can live in the tower. If you head to the castle, they will also make you a tower guard and explain your duties to you.
"Once you have reached the tenth floor, you can always get back to the tenth floor without the trials. Of course, there will be those from higher floors down too, and also, as I just said, if you choose to leave, you can always come back and come straight to the tenth floor.
"Of course, you can choose to go back as I did, or you can serve the tower and continue to climb."
Immediately reaching the tenth floor, Quinn noticed something: the weight on his body. Once again, it felt like the gravity had increased, and his movements were slower than before.
Geo noticed Quinn moving his hand about multiple times, and it was getting faster in seconds.
"I hear the higher levels get worse. Usually, people train here for some time before they start to climb again." Geo explained.
"We might have a problem with climbing though," Nock explained. "The door to the next floor is in the castle itself. I doubt that they would just let him through with what Quinn did to the tower. So we might have to try and sneak in or something."
"Three days and only on the 11th floor. This is taking a long time. I wonder if there is a quicker way to climb the floors. How do you get back to the tenth floor?" Quinn asked, "How does it know if you have left the tower that you have reached the floor before."
"You should have felt a strange energy inside you once reaching this floor." Geo continued to explain. "When you enter the tower's main entrance, a little rectangle object will appear in front of you, asking if you wish to head straight to the tenth floor."
What Geo was explaining sounded a lot like a system. Perhaps the whole tower had a system that was created by the celestial. How one could do such a thing was probably an answer he needed from the celestial himself. Whether Quinn would be meeting him or not was another thing.
The group parted ways to understand the situation around the town, and Quinn had used his shadow powers to summon up his trusty cape that he kept in the space to conceal himself. It was a request from the other three, and he had to stay this way, at least for the time being.
According to Dober, many trading stalls on the tenth floor might have the parts they needed to create a spaceship. If Quinn could leave this place as soon as possible, then that's what he would do.
Heading down an alleyway, the group had met up once again.
"It, as I suspected, it looks like the tower guards here have been asked to keep on the lookout for a human and as well as you, Geo."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThere were other races that looked similar to humans here, so Quinn, with his small frame, didn't stick out too much, but according to Nock, anyone who at least resembled a human figure was being treated as a suspect.
"I don't have good news either," Dober added. "Although there are parts that we can use to help make a ship, they all belong to the higher floors. The people aren't willing to trade for them unless we give them an item of the same value. So the only way to get them would be to climb.
On top of that, not all the parts are on this floor. We would at least probably have to get to the next checkpoint on the 25th floor to have everything we need."
The three looked disappointed, but Quinn wasn't worried.
"I assumed this would be the case anyway. So you don't have to worry. Let's just head to the castle and play it by ear."
The others didn't think it was the best to go without a plan, and seeing how Quinn had dealt with things before, they were worried that there would be another ruckus.
"I'm sorry, but I must climb this tower quickly and return to the others. Don't forget that you're free to step back and leave at any point and time on this journey."
The others didn't say anything and just looked at each other and smiled. Maybe with this person, they would be able to see floors they had never witnessed. And that in itself was an offer too good to refuse.
At the same time, while Quinn thought he was moving through the tower floors slowly, the others knew that it was the fastest time ever someone had managed to get to the Tenth Floor. They were witnessing history in the making.
Quinn continued to walk down the alleyway, and as he turned his head, he heard a little ping.
'What the, is that the system? Why's it going off now?' Then, just as he thought, two prompts appeared before him.
[Congratulations, you are now a level 3 Celestial]
[New skill - You have unlocked 'Enter the Celestial world']