After hearing that annoying voice informing the start of the battle, Ken looked at me, but then he took a few steps backward.
“Hey…”
“What… who are you?” Ken showed a pale face.
“Don’t ask stupid questions.”
“Ethan?” Ken asked.
I sighed, but it couldn’t be helped. I was a bit different because I didn’t take a shower in an entire week. I was covered with my own blood and monsters blood. Not only that, my clothes were in tatters. I barely resembled a human from the modern age.
“Yes, that’s my name, I guess. If you behave yourself, I won’t explode your limbs, and you will be able to live for four hours. Don’t try anything funny, alright? This week has been a very long week…”
Ken was a stupid guy, but soon he noticed that he didn’t have a chance against me. He was pissed, but he didn’t try anything. For some reason, he was with the spear I gave to Charles, but ignored it and then I began to meditate and create steel bolts.
“How long time has passed since you killed me?” Ken asked.
“One month.”
“Just one month?!” Ken said astonished.
It was hard to notice the flow of time when you aren’t alive; I was pretty sure of that after fighting against almost fifty ghost survivors.
“How did you change so much in just one month?” Ken asked, his eyes were wide open, and he still was pale.
“Because I fought a lot, or it is because I killed a lot of survivors. Perhaps it’s because I discovered about my origins, but I guess I changed a lot because I’m stuck here for the past week.”
Judging by the look on Ken’s face, he probably knew what I had to do to complete the challenge. He was a resilient guy, he was angry, but Ken didn’t give in to despair.
“What happened after my death?” Ken asked, clenching his teeth and fists.
“The survivors you controlled became our allies. After that, I killed the woman in the west and many of her minions. Now all the survivors in the city are fighting together, and then this tower appeared.”
“So, you are ruling the city now?” Ken asked.
“Do you think that I’m like you? Dealing with other survivors is a pain, as long as they don’t cause problems to me, I don’t care if they die or do anything else.”
Ken looked even more annoyed, and that was the problem of those full of pride. Always thinking they are better than the others and they hate, more than anything, being looked down by others. He and Ann probably slept during history classes, no one who tried to rule over the others because they thought they were better than the others lived long. What is the point of creating an empire? No empire lasts forever; they probably thought they would be different because of their powers. But they weren’t the only ones with power. In any case, just like many other ‘’rulers’’, they fell because of their pride.
“Better luck next time.”
Ken’s face was filled with anger and hatred, too bad those two feelings wouldn’t do a thing for him. If it weren’t so expensive, I would bring him back to life and make him my minion, someone so stubborn would be very useful.
“… Why am I dead, and you are alive?” Ken asked, looking at his trembling hands.
“For many reasons, you died because I had two skills when the monsters appeared, because you underestimated humans and because you did what you wanted to do.”
My answer was clear and direct, but he obviously didn’t accept it. He was that immature, after all. I was also immature, but for different reasons. After four hours, I got up and pointed my crossbow toward his face.
“Any last words?”
“I… want to live,” Ken answered, showing an expression full of fear, hatred, and shame.
“Got it, I will pass your message to Charles, his sister, and his girlfriend. I won’t revive you, but maybe they will.”
In the end, Ken showed a face full of despair and didn’t even try to fight. I exploded him, and then he became dust. Without a second thought, I touched the door, and then I reappeared at the bottom of the tower. At that point I time, those steps had already become something natural to me. So, I just repeated them without caring about what I was doing. I killed the monsters as if it was something natural, I climbed the stairs and killed more monsters as if it was something natural, and then I killed the ghost survivors as if that was something natural.
Speaking of the ghosts survivors, even after death, Ann’s lackeys still looked me like I was the worst creature in the world. Once in a while, the survivors who weren’t under Ann’s control would appear, and they would cry and ask for forgiveness. Although I didn’t have to forgive them, they had already paid for their actions with their lives.
As incredible as that may be, my days inside of the doomsday tower passed really fast. I didn’t have to think about anything; I just have to act and feel my body getting stronger. Thanks to it, my annoying feelings didn’t bother me. Slowly, my worries and fears were getting smaller. It wasn’t only my body which was getting stronger; my mind was also evolving by leaps and bounds.
Two weeks after I killed Ken again, my physical limit reached level ten, and I finally could complete all that circuit in two and a half hours. I also learned a new skill.
Hot Blood: this skill can increase your physical attack, defense, and movement speed by five percent for ten seconds.
Cost: 05 STA.
I couldn’t expect much after learning teleportation, I rarely used my own strength to attack, and I was a survivor who would try to evade instead of blocking the enemies’ attacks. At least that skill would help a little bit when I ran out of MP.
Another two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, and just before my second fight against Ann, my mental limit also reached level ten, I obtained a new but totally useless skill.
Fire arrow: You can create an arrow made of fire. You can create a new fire arrow after three seconds.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Cost: 03 MP.
That skill would only be useful to create bonfires since I already had the explosive bolts and the elemental magic arrow. In any case, I didn’t waste time testing it. More than thirty days had passed since I entered that tower, but it was hard to tell. Inside the tower, I couldn’t see if it was day or night. I already obtained the strength that I wanted for the time being, so it was time to complete this challenge and the next ones.
When I stepped on the arena, I saw the light appearing on Ann’s eyes. She already knew what she had to do, but bad memories prevented her from doing anything. She was trembling like a leaf, and even though she also had the two rings that I was wearing, she chose the easy way out. She created a rain of fire, and all the fireballs feel on her.
“That was… disappointing.”
I wondered why she did that. Was I that scary? Or perhaps she was too afraid because I had already killed her? Or it was because she knew what I was? I touched the door, and when I appeared on the bottom of the tower, shot a few thunder arrows on the river. The piranhas died I could see the river reflecting myself.
‘That explains a lot.’
Most of my hair had been burned, some parts of my ears were missing, and all my body was covered in wounds, scars, and burns. My lips and eyebrows had some cuts in them, and my clothes couldn’t even be considered clothes anymore. All in all, I looked like a man who had become a zombie a few years ago.
“I scared the shit out of her, huh. I bet she thought dozens of years had passed and was much stronger than her.’
Only my crossbows were clean. So, even when fireballs or any other magic projectiles were hitting me, I made sure my weapons wouldn’t suffer any damage. Aside from my brain and heart, my weapons were the most important parts of my body.
Since Ann didn’t have anything meaningful to say to me, I doubted Karl would have, so, when he opened his eyes, I just put some steel bolts on his face.
“Congratulations, you completed the third challenge.”
I didn’t even have to touch the door; I got teleported to the outside of the tower. When I appeared on the outside, the city was still hot… no, it became hot again. The stations changed four times while I was inside the tower. In any case, I had been received with a warm welcome, the special team and all the other fighters pointed their weapons toward me. It was almost like I was the new monster boss they had to kill.
I looked at the survivors, and they trembled when they made eye contact with me, I heard the sound of all of them gripping their weapons just like they were ready to attack, but Claire stopped them.
“Wait! Wait,” Claire shouted. “Those crossbows… is that you, Ethan?”
After hearing Claire’s words, Harry and others looked at me suspiciously. But at least none of them tried to attack; otherwise, I would have to retaliate. I used that opportunity to analyze them, and it seemed they didn’t slack off. Most of the special team members had broken their limits forty-five times, the kids had already broken their limits more than forty times, and all the other survivors broke their limits at least more than thirty-five times.
“How many days are left?”
“Wow… it is really Ethan!” Harry said astonished. “As expected of you, to survive for so…”
“Can you answer my question?”
“… Six days,” Harry showed a surprised expression. “Can you stopping looking at me like that?”
It seemed fighting for so long affected me even more than I thought, everyone was looking at me like I was a beast. Not because of my appearance, but because I was also looking at them like they were targets. I needed to rest, I spent almost forty days treating every living creature near me as an enemy, and that mindset wouldn’t disappear that fast. But a shower, new clothes a good sleep would probably speed up the process.
“I’m going to sleep for a day, feel free to complete the other challenges, but don’t bother me for the next twenty-four hours.”
“Hey, Eth...” Claire said.
Before I could hear Claire complaints, I teleported back to the entrance of the hotel. Silver was already there and easily recognized me. Although I looked like a zombie, Silver didn’t look disgusted when I touched him.
You have received 124563 Evolution Coins.
Silver – HP: 1110/3100 MP: 201/2300 STA: 452/700
Physical Limit Lv 18, Mental Limit Lv 15, Sensorial Limit Lv 13.
Skill: Lightning Lv 06 42%, Bite Lv06 51%.
Evolution Orbs: 7452/15000
“Good boy… you also fought a lot while I was away.”
Although he obtained enough orbs to break his limit several times, he had a lot of scars on his body because his status couldn’t increase unless I decided what limit to break. The enemies got stronger, but Silver survived. To make fights easier for him without using MP, I made him broke his physical limit eight times in a row. And he became as sturdy as that evolved alligator, that would be enough for the time being.
I had a lot of evolution coins, but I decided to spend those later. I ignored the whispers and stares once I entered the hotel and created a few clothes and other things to clean myself. I headed toward the bathroom, got rid of my old clothes, and I spent one hour to clean myself. The feeling of getting stronger was good, but the sensation of feeling clean was also very good. After putting my new clothes, which were pretty much the same clothes that I was wearing when I left my home ninety days ago, I teleported to my bed. Once I closed my eyes, I slept like a rock without any worries because tomorrow, I would end those challenges.
HP: 201/245
MP: 136/674
STA: 47/245
Evolution Orbs: 4963/50000
Evolution Coins: 481246
Skill list:
Concentration Lv09 2%: Raises your attack power and range by 9% each hour. The bonus resets when you sleep.
Crosshair: Lv09 52%: Creates a crosshair in your field of vision to aim at enemies.
Radar: Creates a radar in your field of vision to detect any living creature on your surroundings. Effective Range: Sensorial limit (40) x 10 meters.
Analyze Lv09 1%: Analyze and show enemies status and information. Cost: 01 MP
Spiritual Knife Lv05 11%: a weapon created by the spiritual energy of its user. It can be safely stored inside the user’s body. 5 MP will be used to summon and to store the weapon. It's able to ignore the target's defense. This knife will disappear after being used a single time.
Domination Lv 06 21%: It grants you the ability to command other living beings. To activate the skill, you need their permission. Survivors currently under your control: 39
Search Lv04 03%: By activating the skill, you can search for specific items, monsters, or survivors in a certain range around yourself. Effective Range: Sensorial Limit (40) x 5 meters. Cost: 10 MP.
Meditation Lv 07 11%: By putting yourself in the lotus position, you can restore seven points of your MP every minute. Your MP can also increase by seven points every four consecutive hours of meditation. Moving or receiving damage cancels the skill.
Elemental Magic Arrow Lv 05 97%: You can create an arrow made of magic possessing one or more of the existing properties in the universe. The arrows won’t move or disappear until you select a target. One arrow can be created every six seconds.
Cost: 20 MP
Teleport Lv 03 89%: You can teleport to any point in your field of vision; you also can teleport to other locations as long as you have been there or you can feel the presence of someone or something on that place. You can teleport any numbers of allies as long as you are touching them or them are touching you, the cost of the skill will multiply accordingly with the number of allies teleported.
Cost: 01 MP/03 Meter.
Hot Blood Lv01 44%: This skill can increase your physical attack, defense, and move speed by five percent for ten seconds.
Fire arrow Lv 01 00%: You can create an arrow made of fire. You can create a new fire arrow after three seconds. Cost: 03 MP.