Chapter 62 - reaching bronze rank

Chapter 62: Chapter 62 - reaching bronze rank

I nodded at her and finished my meal. Then I asked the most important question.

"What is the task here, Nyx? We are completely new to this. What’s going on?"

"In the academy, no one told us something like this could happen."

She nodded and said, "Calm down, and let’s think this through, Asher."

I nodded.

"You don’t need to worry about that. Even if the sky falls, I won’t panic as long as you stay here."

Her eyes twitched.

I continued, "If something really happens, I’ll just hug you and wait."

She glared at me.

"You are shameless."

I nodded and gave her another view.

"What if, like the tower said, from now on there aren’t level floors like the past ten?"

She nodded.

"That is a possibility. But what is our objective then?"

I said to her, "It might be to go higher. Didn’t we see that floating continent-like thing?"

"So our objective is to climb the tower, and there are endless spans for us to cover in this new world inside the tower."

"And this time, the tower didn’t say this is something like World-61. Instead, it said this is the World of the Tower, and those previous ten floors were only a test. Just like before we went to those ten floors, we had to face a test trial."

"So what if those ten floors were another test run for this?"

She thought about it for a moment and nodded.

"That’s possible."

"But if that’s true, then think about it, Asher. This tower has existed for thousands of years. Do you really think no one has climbed to the top? Or is this an infinite tower?"

I shook my head.

"It can’t be infinite. But do you remember the blood contract we signed? It stated that we have to climb at least to the 50th floor. That means they still keep track of how many floors we climb."

She nodded.

"Now that you mention it, we can also exit this tower if we find a location or an item."

I nodded.

"And we already have such an item, but we need to keep it safe."

Then I pointed at a few elves sitting not far away.

"See those guys? They have bows, and from the look of it, they use bows as their main weapons. The attacker who attacked us might have been from their race."

She observed them as well.

"But we can’t point fingers at them based on that. And even if we find out they are connected, what are we going to do? We can only run. We don’t stand a chance against them."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Huh? We don’t stand a chance? Don’t joke, Nyx. I don’t care who they are or how strong they are. If I can deal an injury, I’m going to kill them."

She just sighed.

"Ah, you are impossible."

I nodded.

We both got up from our seats and exited the tavern. We had already paid for our meal and everything else.

We looked at the peaceful city for a moment.

I looked at Nyx.

"Hey, as soon as we become Bronze Rank as well, let’s come to this town to spend some time. We can go on a date or two."

She didn’t refuse this time.

"You don’t have to be so roundabout, Asher. I love you. That’s a fact."

I smiled.

To hear that from her is more than enough.

We were holding ourselves back because of this damn world change. To survive in this damn world, we needed power.

If I developed a relationship with her without having the power to protect her, it would be a massive joke.

I nodded at her.

"I love you too. Let’s go and kill a few of those bastards and level up."

She smiled, and we both moved through the darkness toward the forest.

I saw my first prey.

It was a dog-like creature, but it wasn’t the same kind of creature I had seen before awakening. This one had one eye and a massive mouth.

I went forward and used my sword to attack the dog.

But my strike went straight through the dog-like thing.

My eyes widened.

"What the—?"

I immediately created a large water ball and launched it at the creature. Nyx didn’t hesitate either. She used Frost Fire on it, freezing the creature in place.

I immediately turned my sword into a hammer and shattered the ice.

The fragments fell to the ground.

[Congratulations. You have killed a Level 98 Corrupted Creature.]

[You have gained 30,000 EXP.]

[Congratulations!]

[Level Up!]

[Level: 96 → 99]

[Reward: 9 Free Attribute Points]

I looked at the number with wide eyes.

So close to Level 100.

I immediately absorbed the monster’s essence through the ice fragments.

[Devoured Intelligence: 26]

[Devoured...]

I continued devouring most of the monster’s power and became even stronger.

My attributes began reaching their limits, and I realized we only needed one more creature.

I looked at Nyx and asked, "So how many attributes do you need to max them out?"

She thought for a moment.

"Not much. I need a little as well, and I’ve already reached the maximum EXP. I only need a few more attributes."

I nodded.

We moved through the forest and killed every hostile beast we could find.

Eventually, I finally reached the Bronze Rank.

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STATUS

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Name: Asher

Age: 17

Level: Bronze 1

EXP:

Race: Human

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ATTRIBUTES

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Strength: B 1

Agility: B 1

Vitality: B 1

Mana: B 1

Spirit: B 1

Intelligence: B 1

Perception: B 1

Luck: ???

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ELEMENT

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Darkness

Water

Fire

Space

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BLOODLINE

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Primordial Devourer Bloodline

Rank: Unknown

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BLOODLINE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS

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Devour ( upgraded )

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I looked at the status with satisfaction.

I could feel my entire body changing.

Every part of me seemed to reconnect and become much more powerful than before.

I gave all the cores to Nyx.

She absorbed them all and suddenly looked at me with excitement.

"I did it, Asher. I became Bronze as well, and I awakened Lightning."

I nodded.

"Me too. I awakened mine as well."

She looked at me.

"What did you awaken?"

I grinned.

"Space."

Then I went to her side, and we decided to leave for the town.

Nyx was shocked by my new element, so I decided to try it out.

I could feel the space around me.

I coated my sword with Space and swung it at a tree.

The tree was cleanly cut in two.

Nyx’s eyes widened slightly.

"That’s..."

"Cool, right?"

She nodded.

Then she tried out her Lightning.

First, she created normal lightning.

Then dark lightning.

Finally, she combined her elements and created red lightning surrounded by flames.

I looked at it in awe.

"That looks so cool."

She smiled slightly at my reaction.

"Your Space isn’t bad either."

"Not bad? It’s amazing."

I proudly looked at my sword.

"I’m going to become even more amazing with this."

Nyx rolled her eyes.

"Of course you would say that."

"Okay, let’s go to the town."

She nodded.

We moved through the trees.

I used small Space Jumps, moving through the forest much faster than before.

When I absorbed the demon bloodline from the corrupted beast, I gained a lot of knowledge about Darkness and how to enter it.

It was similar to Space.

So when I tried it out, it actually worked.

I could disappear into the darkness and reappear somewhere else.

Nyx used Lightning to boost herself as well, so we approached the town much faster than normal.

When we arrived, I directly went to a tavern while wearing the robe to cover my head and face.

Nyx followed me inside.

I looked at the receptionist.

"I want a room."

I paused for a moment.

"Actually, just one room."

Nyx immediately looked at me.

I could practically see the question forming in her eyes.

She started to say something about booking one for herself as well, but when she realized what was happening, she immediately stopped.

Her cheeks became red.

Then she smiled and followed me.

We went to the room, and as soon as we entered, Nyx immediately lay down on the large bed.

"Ahh, so tired."

I looked at her and smiled.

"Ahh, you lazyborn."

She glared at me.

"You’ve become bold, Asher. Booking one room."

I showed her my empty pockets.

"See? I have no money."

Her mouth twitched.

"You have to find a better excuse than that, Asher."

I just shrugged.

"How about this? If we stay in separate rooms, our relationship is going nowhere."

I looked at her seriously.

"I don’t mean we have to rush things or do anything like that. I mean, let’s just be with each other, sleep in the same bed, and take a small step at a time."

She was silent for a moment.

Then she sighed and nodded.

"That’s a good excuse. I like it."

She pointed toward the bathroom.

"Then go and take a wash. I’ll rest here."

I nodded.

"Okay."

I walked toward the bathroom, but my face was already flushed.

Why did I say that to her so directly?

It was embarrassing.

Meanwhile, outside the bathroom, Nyx buried her face in the bed.

Her face was as red as a tomato.

"Ahhh! That idiot blurted those things out without even thinking. Doesn’t he get flustered?"

She stayed buried in the bed for a moment.

Then she quietly muttered,

"...But I don’t hate it."

Inside the washroom, I was in the same state.

My face was burning.

I immediately turned on the water.

Just calm down.

I took a deep breath and got washed.