CHAPTER 35.

Amber jumped as a vast chasm was formed where she had just been standing. The tortoise was defiant, even though she hardly attacked it! Amber stared at the flaming monster, large parts of its shell were slowly falling apart; crumbling as they carbonized to the raging fires. She had been fighting the monster for over ten hours now, only using Curse Battery for the most part.

And the tortoise, or the Rockis Dinidae, as the System called it, was furious. The monster was using complex earth magics to attack Amber, and at times she’d find herself needing to stand on top of the monster itself; burning to her own flames. Her flames would hurt her, that was why she could obtain rage from them, though luckily they didn’t spread onto her and continue to burn her for all eternity⁠— that certainly would’ve been troublesome.

Though all in all, even though she found the battle tedious she didn’t mind it too much, and that was for one simple reason:

Amber smiled and slammed her hand down upon the Rockis Dinidae⁠—

Curse Battery.

A deluge of flames exploded in a single area of the shell as lacerations erupted all over⁠— blood ruptured, pouring out from being thinned, and the tortoise in response screeched. Its shell shifted and the rocks on top of it slammed. Amber found herself caught in between the burning and melting stones, but she didn’t care as she grinned instead and raised her sword.

“I’ve been meaning to test this, and now it’s the right time.” She swung the sword down. “Flamethrower!”

And at that moment a deluge of red flames blasted downwards engulfing the entirety of the Rockis Dinidae in a single moment. Even the previous fires were snuffed by the crimson flames that melted everything in their path. The rock of the tortoise, even its own flesh as the heavily weakened monster was reduced to nothing but cinder in mere seconds.

The attack lasted for almost ten seconds, and by the time it was done, only chunks remained of what had once been a gigantic house-sized turtle. Instead, all that remained were small crimson embers that clung onto the monster’s remains, trying to reduce its existence to nothing but pure ash.

Amber looked at her charred surroundings; small columns of smoke billowed all around, flames continued burning, and ash was beginning to slowly rain.

“That’s just… amazing.” Amber panted.

The sword used a lot more mana than she had anticipated, but she couldn’t deny that the effect was nothing short of great. Besides, she was sure there was a better way to regain mana while in battle.

Perhaps mana potions existed? Amber wasn’t quite sure but she had a feeling that there was something like that.

She smiled to herself and turned to the monster’s remains.

“You were tough, but nowhere near as tough as that centaurus.” She paused. “Probably.”

Amber wasn’t actually quite sure how well the centaurus would survive that many uses of Curse Battery; the turtle had survived four if not five⁠— she didn’t quite count properly. But Amber was still happy, after all, she was being rewarded for her struggles. Or her time rather.

[You have defeated a [Rockis Dinidae. Lvl. 110].]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 2 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 2 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 2 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

Amber grinned at that, every single one of her resistances had leveled up, and for good reason. After all, she tanked the hits from the turtle directly, its magic, and she was also constantly burning from her own flames.

And that wasn’t all, her skills had leveled up too.

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 6 to 2nd Rank level 7.]

[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 4 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

Most of her 3rd Rank skills had hardly been used so it made sense that they hadn’t leveled up, but they were far from Amber’s priority at the moment, she wanted to obtain the 3rd Rank of her other skills.

If her other rank ups had been so good, then she couldn’t imagine what was waiting for her.

Amber smiled and turned to the Flamecursed Sword, it was a strong weapon; incredibly strong really. As for why it was Firecursed instead of Fireblessed⁠— her only guess was that the monster hated her so much in its death that its hatred turned into a curse. It sounded feasible to her at least.

She felt slightly tired given the mana drain from the sword, but Amber still felt more than ready to ascend to the next floor. However⁠— she walked over to some flames and stuck her hand into them, immediately refreshing Cursed Supreme Momentum. She also sliced her hand open with the dagger to refresh Crimson Fervor.

Then, Amber turned to the room. Everything was torn asunder, and even though she was in a tower; there were deep pits everywhere and the ceiling was hard to see⁠— resembling a sky instead. She didn’t know how towers actually worked, or how all of this was possible but she didn’t actually care.

While she felt more than strong enough, Amber wasn’t so sure about leaving the tower yet.

“The person from the Arcane Council would easily wipe the floor with me if he was in full health…” that declaration was hard to believe for her, but it was true. “I have to grow stronger.”

There was also one more reason for her to stay in the tower:

I want to see the top.

I want to see if there is a Primordial Spirit here.

The cube had gone silent, and the tower gave a robotic feeling so she was growing more certain of that fact. But at the same time… Amber smiled. The tower was the perfect opportunity for her to grow, and she wasn’t going to waste it. Like many times before, she wondered if she would encounter someone inside the tower, but like many times before she decided to not think about it. If it happened, it happened.

Though…

Amber looked down at herself, her armor was in tatters, and a lot of her skin was showing at this point. She had managed to keep the cube inside her chest piece all this time but at this rate it was most definitely going to fall out mid-battle.

Perhaps I need to skin a monster…

Amber saw the remains of the turtle and then turned towards the stairs in the distance before going in their direction.

Hopefully there is no barrier.

She arrived before the stairs and extended her hand⁠— it passed through without problems. Amber raised her brow at that and then took a step forward, then another, and another. And she smiled.

There was no barrier.

She immediately rushed to the next floor.

* * *

Amber had ascended through four more floors taking her a total of two and a half days. She was sure that about three days had passed since she had her advancement which was nothing short of amazing. Six floors in four days. She had never been able to climb that fast, the only time she was able to do that was on the first two floors of the tower with the Venomous Vencer and Grand Sarwk, and since then she hadn’t been able to match that pace.

Of course, she conveniently ignored the fact that two floors were trap floors.

Amber felt glad. She had gotten her advancement and she had grown so damn strong from it. That said, it surprised her how much experience was needed for a single level now. She didn’t know if part of it was due to having a Legacy Branch or just a natural increase.

Nevertheless, she had made a lot of progress. She had killed a gigantic black alligator type monster and a monkey type monster in the past day and a half. While Amber was sure she could defeat them much faster, she took her time in order to level her skills.

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[You have defeated a [Dark Allitoris. Lvl. 112].]

[You have defeated a [Leviathan Simiasani. Lvl. 112].]

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 7.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[You have reached level 107. 5 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

She had only leveled up once so far, but she didn’t mind the incredibly slow progress now. At least not while she was focused on leveling her skills.

That said, I’d really like to be able to get the 3rd Rank of Toxin Resistance. She frowned. She had yet to see another monster or place where she could train her Toxin Resistance, which she found to be a shame. And then, there is Sharp Instincts, getting it to 3rd Rank would be good too…

She made sure to add that to her to-do list in terms of leveling. She was rushing to the fifty-seventh floor now, and she felt slightly awkward feeling the leather of the alligator stuck in-between her armor pieces. It was the best she could do for now, but she was sure it would last quite some time before she would need to fashion herself new equipment.

Amber arrived at the next floor, and paused feeling a slight dizziness as soon as she arrived at the floor. The floor reminded her of a cave system, except the ground had pits of acid.

“Well, isn’t this just great?”

It was the perfect place to level up her Toxin Resistance!

* * *

Amber spent the next two days fighting the monster inside of the floor, part of it was not wanting to kill it, but the other was that it was exhausting to fight with the poisonous fumes. Amber had leveled up her Toxin Resistance to Rank 2 level 10 in that time period, she had also leveled up some of her other 2nd Rank skills too.

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 4 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 4 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 4 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

And at the end of the second day, she finally killed the resident monster of the fifty-seventh floor. The gigantic lizard fell from the ceiling; the flames engulfing its body actively burning the toxin fumes into nothingness. Amber had to give it to the lizard, it was strong, much stronger than she had ever expected. Which was great, since it helped her level up her skills during and after the fight.

[You have defeated a [Venomous Repti. Lvl. 112].]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

Amber smiled at that, and minutes later the fumes of the room cleared and the lizard’s corpse disappeared. She had taken quite a lot of time on this floor, but she deemed it worth it. Amber did wonder how fast she could clear the floors if she only focused on that. And… after pondering for a few minutes she decided to do just that.

She had been leveling her resistances for the longest time now, even before fighting the Fireblessed Velstalker, and while her resistances were only level 5 into the 2nd Rank, they probably had advanced enough. And Amber also felt like she could level them up whenever she wanted and so⁠—

Amber went to the stairs of the next floor but this time with a different agenda in mind.

In the end, I want to see what is at the top soon.

Of course, given how long she had spent in this place, she felt like her resolution on doing it as fast as possible was fickle; her main goal was keeping herself entertained after all. While she was fairly introverted, the main thing that got to her was that the tower was at times incredibly boring. However, she had made it this far, and quitting just because she was bored would be nothing short of idiotic in her mind.

And so, Amber climbed up the stairs.

* * *

The next floor had a bunch of traps which she bulldozed right through, and while it went well for an hour she eventually ended up impaled in one spot for a few hours. The reason it took her so long was due to the fact that the traps were laced with a paralytic agent, but she also figured that it was making progress towards the 3rd Rank of Toxin Resistance, so she didn’t mind too much.

In the end, Amber ended up spending about twelve hours on the trap floor, having gotten numerous painful injuries but also learning quite a lot in regards to traps. Mainly, in having to rely on her Sharp Instincts skill to make it through. However, Amber did wonder if she could destroy all the traps on a floor without getting injured.

Of course, without knowing the type of traps that was basically impossible, but thinking about the floor she had just been through it sounded possible to her.

Well, that was something for her to test later. Because now, she had a new enemy to focus on.

Amber found herself in a forest-like scenery and in the middle of it, a slumbering beast laid. It resembled a wolf, except it was gigantic⁠— its body was multiple meters long even sleeping and she was quite sure she would be hard pressed to try to lift the monster even using all her strength.

Though, none of that mattered because⁠—

Amber pointed her sword at it. “Flamethrower.”

And a deluge of crimson flames engulfed the wolf. Amber didn’t bother to use Identify on it as she heard pained shrieks echo inside the forest. The flames quickly proliferated and what would have originally been a pleasant environment to fight on instantly turned into the incarnation of hell.

The fires engulfed and consumed everything, and Amber coldly stared ahead, she didn’t derive joy from the destruction but from her capabilities instead. And even though a lot of the forest had burned, she didn’t think enough had burned. She needed more points in Wisdom to achieve that, and she was going to do just that.

The fires raged, and the wolf⁠— pounced through them. Its fur had been set ablaze, crimson flames surrounded it, and the monster roared at Amber as its speed nearly tripled⁠— it was actually faster than her, much to her surprise. But that didn’t matter.

Amber had one goal, and one goal only.

Killing the monster as fast as possible.

* * *

Amber did find the monsters in the tower to be incredibly durable, though none of them seemed to have as much attack strength as the Fireblessed Velstalker. Maybe the tower was doing that on purpose; she most certainly was curious how she’d fare against some kind of glass cannon. Unfortunately, it seemed that she wasn’t going to be finding that out any time soon.

Some hours later, the wolf fell down dead. The monster, like many others had quite a lot of preservation skills⁠—

Was the tower trying to stall her or what? Was it trying to tell her to train her resistances while she could? Was it just designed to be like that? Amber had so many questions but so little answers.

Shaking her head, she headed to the next floor going over her notifications.

[You have defeated a [Vorestwelf. Lvl. 112].]

And while none of her resistances had leveled, two skills that she didn’t expect had leveled.

[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from level 1 to level 3.]

[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from level 1 to level 3.]

[You have reached level 108. 5 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

Amber blinked at the sight.

“Two skill level ups at once? That’s not something I expected.”

Though perhaps it made sense given they hadn’t leveled so far before despite always being active. She didn’t think too deep into it and went to the next floor. To her surprise there was no barrier for this one either. So, she went on ahead, renewing her resolution to ascend as fast as possible.

* * *

Amber found herself on a floor reminiscent of the ones in the Ax’thra tower. It had multiple passages and it resembled the insides of a temple, and from experience she knew it was a trap floor. She took a step forward and paused, already sensing the pressure plate before her. She knew that spears would shoot out of the wall as soon as she took out another step.

“Destroying all the traps and not taking damage seems doable.” She tilted her head.

And after a moment of deliberation, she decided to try it. She pointed the Flamecursed Sword at the wall, and swung⁠— the 3rd Rank of Cursed Cleave immediately exploded the wall and destroyed it, leaving flaming embers behind. And just like that the first trap had been destroyed.

Amber grinned and took a step forward and her eyes slightly widened seeing a near invisible string right in front of her.

“This floor is interesting, isn’t it?”

She grinned and raised her sword, and this time, she was truly indiscriminate with her slashes, tearing apart anything that alarmed her senses. Amber sprinted through the room, slashing and avoiding numerous traps, and even then she destroyed the ones that were already set off.

She pushed her senses to the limit as she pushed forward with an inhuman focus.

She wanted to clear the room without taking damage, but she also wanted to be fast at it. Which is why she tried her best.

* * *

Amber spent the following hours going through the trap-infested room, at some points she had had to block the attacks from the traps with her sword⁠— she didn’t know if that counted as not taking damage, but she decided to count it.

She tore through walls, sometimes charged right through them instead of taking the main path, and at times she had to stop to even figure out where to go. However, she got through them all by sheer brute force.

In the end, she used all of the skills in her arsenal to destroy every single trap, and she was rewarded for it. Though, she was also exhausted after the fact; it seemed that mana was her current bottleneck.

While Amber’s advancement had helped her tremendously, it didn’t make her undefeatable or anything, which made her glad. She didn’t desire to be weak, but she did desire to have higher mountains to climb. And she was sure that if she fought the Fireblessed Velstalker now, it would still be a somewhat difficult battle. Not something she could take easy anyway.

At least, she had gotten some nice level ups.

[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 1 to 3rd Rank level 2.]

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 1 to 3rd Rank level 2.]

[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 1 to 3rd Rank level 2.]

Though, instead of continuing to the next floor she rested. If Amber’s time perception was accurate, it had been about a week since she advanced. And if she was honest, it made her feel good. A lot of her 2nd Rank skills were nearing 3rd Rank, she could feel it. That said, the feeling seemed to get infinitely stronger until they eventually ranked up, so it was hard to tell when they would do so.

Still, considering how long it had taken her before, she was sure that this was going to go a lot faster. She closed her eyes.

Hopefully.

A sigh left her. She was going to recover her mana and then maybe sleep; she hadn’t slept in quite some time, and while at this point it didn’t quite feel like a necessity to her she still enjoyed it.

She looked at the ceiling.

“I wonder how many floors are left for me to climb?” She closed her eyes.

She really wanted to see the top, and see if there was anything there.

And just when she was about to sigh, a small light at the corner of her eye caught her attention. She snapped in the direction of a hallway where a light seemed to be growing stronger, and⁠— she began to hear a multitude of footsteps, she also heard voices but she didn’t manage to pick up what they were saying due to the shock she felt.

People were here.

And they were in the same floor as her.