Chapter 309: The Welcome Gift

Chapter 309

The Welcome Gift

"Assist the Second Young Lord!" One of the elders commanded. Aman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Even though they were in the midst of battle, no one was on guard. Perhaps, after this...if they survived, he would need to ask his father to increase their training intensity.

"I’ll go check on him. You don’t need to worry," Ellie said, summoning her little rabbit again and departing swiftly. Owen pressed his lips together, needing to focus on the ongoing battle. It seemed the challenges were indeed progressing gradually. By carefully observing, he could better anticipate the next fight.

He couldn’t help but worry about the perceptive young girl. Ellie had assured him she could handle Aman’s condition. She could, indeed, because Ellie was quite special. She could identify the beasts around them with just a glance and had exceptional cultivation and potion concocting abilities.

However, she often acted as if she knew nothing. Owen feared that if she showed too much of her talent and became the expectation of the Setter family, she might be trapped in the family. If Ellie wanted to explore the Tower of Eternity freely, the pressures from the family could become overwhelming...

Without waiting for Owen’s response, Ellie left after telling him. Seeing Aman...being attacked so severely and foolishly made her furious. Aman had always been smart and cunning, so why did he do something so stupid this time? He knew his magic power wasn’t a match for the beasts’. Even if he wanted to help, sacrifices were inevitable.

The only fortunate thing was that Aman had previously consumed the Pure Flame Dragon herb. Without it...could his magic power of level 3, nearly 4, withstand the level 5 beast’s magic power? The herb had refined his fire magic power, making it pure, whereas the Naemorhedus’ fire magic was ordinary. Of course, Owen’s protection also played a role, so Aman didn’t die immediately even from a direct hit.

The magic shield Owen had provided for others was a standard one. If he had given everyone the same magic shield as Ellie’s, his power would have significantly decreased. That’s because the shield he gave Ellie contained part of his own life force—a high-level protection Steven had once asked him not to use it.

However...Ellie had given him a new life, so even if he had to permanently share part of his own life force, he did not regret it...

A high-level potion was quickly poured into Aman’s mouth, treating his internal injuries and gradually restoring his magic power. Nonetheless, the severe impact that should have taken his life had significantly damaged his life force. Ellie had no choice but to take out a high-level life force restorative potion from her dimensional ring.

This potion was unfamiliar to most, but not to those under the cloaks who followed the eldest young lord, as each of them had a bottle. It was known to be a high-level potion made from the rare Tezetrons herb’s flower. It was surprising to see that the lady had it and intended to use it on someone else.

“My lady, if you intend to use that potion...please use mine instead,” one of the cloaked men quickly offered, understanding that she probably wanted to sacrifice her potion for the second young lord. If that was the case, he would rather make the sacrifice.

Of course, he had no idea that Ellie had over 200 bottles of this potion in her dimension. After knowing she would face many dangers in the kingdom wars and to prevent any unexpected events, she had given the Tezetrons flowers to the Setter family to concocting high-level life force restorative potions for her. Naturally, the Setter family was more than willing to do anything for her, so these potions had been stored in her dimensional ring ever since.

If people knew this, they would probably cough up blood in shock. While no one else could even find a single Tezetrons, Ellie had casually used its flowers to make rarely used restorative potions!

Even so, Ellie appreciated the kindness of the cloaked man, recognizing him as the one who had been following her all this time. Therefore, she responded kindly.

"It’s not necessary. Keep the potion for yourselves. I don’t engage in combat that much."

"But... understood. If I’m still alive or don’t use it yet, I’ll give it to you when you need it, my lady."

"Thank you." Ellie smiled at him. Seeing Ellie discuss the potion with the eldest young lord’s men surprised many of the elders, as they were unfamiliar with it. However, this was not the time to inquire.

The girl administered the high-level life force restorative potion to Aman. As soon as he received it, his complexion turned normal almost instantly, surprising the elders and others nearby.

"Cough, cough. I knew it had to be you who saved me," Aman laughed, still in pain but significantly better. Seeing the young man’s smile, Ellie felt like hitting him once or twice, and Aman seemed to sense it too.

"Don’t even think about hitting me. I just got injured."

"But you can still manage to be annoying, can’t you?"

"Well, that’s because I was right about everything. I knew you’d come to save me. Eldest Brother wouldn’t let me die. Besides, you have that potion, don’t you?" Aman laughed contentedly. Even when he was near death, his last glance was towards Ellie, as if telling her, "Hurry up and save me." And waking up to find that Ellie truly came to help him made his heart flutter.

"You were too reckless," Ellie scolded him seriously.

"Yes, I know. But at that moment, I had no choice. If I fought, a chance of surviving was about 3 out of 4. But if I didn’t, that magic power would have killed more than 10 people here. I had to take the risk." Aman shrugged, he was even able to stand up now. It must be said that the potion that could quickly bring back the life of a person who should have died made people feel like they were being deceived.

But they knew how severe Aman’s injuries had been, so they believed he wasn’t lying about being hurt. His words also served as a slap to everyone’s face. In the heat of battle, they hadn’t ensured their own safety, only commenting on the fight of the strong. As Aman had said earlier...more than 10 people felt they had just walked along the edge of death.

Ellie wanted to scold him a bit more, but Aman’s words were indeed correct. Seeing how much she cared for him, his smile widened with satisfaction.

"Don’t worry too much about me. I’m safe now, see..." However, Aman was cut off by a familiar sound, "Creak!!" The overwhelming aura and spreading pressure made everyone shiver.

"Oh my god, what is this?"

"It’s not over yet, it’s, it’s not over?"

"Those new creatures don’t seem ordinary at all. One of them makes me feel like I’m standing on the edge of death!!" Many people voiced their fear. Although they were from the Setter family, who could risk their lives for the hunt, what exactly was this situation?

Before they could proceed to the next stage, it appeared this stage wasn’t over yet???

Ellie was also taken aback. More than 100 level 5 Naemorhedus, 7 level 6 Naemorhedus, and 1 level 7 beast!! Despite this only being the 7th floor, they were testing them with level 6 and 7 beasts? Wasn’t this too much of a leap? Even on the 6th floor, there were only level 3-4 beasts, and level 5 ones were rare. But this was level 6-7 beasts!!

"The newly born of a high-ranking race. Do not be overly afraid. What do you wish for me to call your race?"

A powerful, authoritative voice rang out, causing hunters below level 4 to collapse. Even Aman had to kneel. Only Owen’s men and Ellie remained standing, which pleased the speaking level 7 beast, nodding approvingly.

"It has been a long time since a high-level specie has tested here. We haven’t had such fun in a while. So, let us get to know you better."

"Humans."

"Hmm?"

"We are the human race," Owen responded on behalf of everyone.

"Oh, “humans”? Quite a peculiar name for a race. Before you, there were the “elves” who took the test. However, their existence after reaching the 7th floor wasn’t very pleasant. It’s really sad," the large beast’s voice feigned sympathy for the elves, but Ellie sensed its underlying joy.

"You humans must be their descendants. Judging by the way you use your powers and your equipment, it’s just like theirs. Haha, how pathetic," the more it spoke, the more Owen’s brow twitched in displeasure. They were here to participate in the challenge to ascend to the 7th floor, but why was the beast acting like this was all a game?

"Poor humans, all this has just been a fun test for me. But the true creator of the tower has set the real test for you. Of course, it’s not fighting us, though I would like to play a bit more. But if I don’t proceed with the true test, I might get punished by the tower’s creator. So...I am just here to welcome you in advance. Well...see you on the 7th floor if you can pass this test. My offspring live there quite well."

"And this...a gift for bringing me such amusement playing with you all." The large beast spat out something spherical, resembling an egg, but no one knew what it was for.

Owen did not pick it up directly, cautiously observing them. The large Naemorhedus laughed joyfully, tapping the ground 3 times before all the Naemorhedus slowly retreated into the adjacent room. After they left, everyone finally felt they could breathe more easily.

A man in a black cloak quickly fetched the gift left by the level 7 Naemorhedus for his master. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much time to inspect it. Suddenly, the walls around them began to move, enclosing them in a square room with no exit.

The ancient stone walls slowly began to glow, transforming the dark, dingy room into a colorful space. A synthesized voice that Ellie was familiar with suddenly spoke.

"Greetings, participants. First of all, congratulations on passing the tests of observation, learning, and survival skills against my pets earlier. I am the spirit of the creator of this tower. This is likely your first time speaking with me.

"For those who have passed the tests, I deem you strong enough to be made aware of my existence. However...before you can ascend to the Civilized Heavens, you must first be tested to see if you are worthy of becoming a high-level specie to be recorded in history.

"I distinguish high-level specie by their intelligence. Thus, on this 7th floor, you will be tested on your wisdom. I will present you with 12 questions. If you answer correctly, you may proceed to the next question. However, if you answer incorrectly, the one who gave the wrong answer will lose their life here.

"I do not specify who should answer or how many times you may answer. Just provide the correct answer. But be careful...many beings have lost their lives here because they could not find the true answer. So...let’s start with the first question."The synthesized voice, which expressed happiness, instilled great fear in everyone. Ellie secretly swallowed hard. It seemed the setting of this novel had been heavily influenced by the author. Even the synthesized voice, similar to AI, was present!