Matters weren’t going to be decided that easily. For a while, Nykal was stunned by the weight of the world crashing down upon him. Amon knew that choosing to make this enemy wasn’t a light choice to be made at all, but something in him just couldn’t help but act the way he did.

He made it out of the dungeon and, luckily, he didn’t even have to swim back to the surface this time. It deposited him in the camp, where the woman he had subdued was already back awake and alert once again. It was still the dead of the night, so he wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

They looked at each other in silence. She didn’t attack him, nor did she present any ill will that he could pick up on.

“You didn’t have to keep my body somewhere safe. Thank you.”

He nodded softly, then mounted Blue alongside Seru and took off with the two of them. He didn’t even have the chance to make it far before he heard Nykal’s screams of rage behind them. Luckily, though, he was just far enough to avoid detection. The mage even went so far as to send Nykal in the wrong direction when asked about which way he went.

He made it back to the inn without any further hiccups and, as soon as he was in the room with his summons, he made sure to return to his dungeon.

‘Rewards have been calculated!’

He leveled up a few times and received a hefty sum of DP, 50,000 to be exact. He also received that amount of coins and two new skills. The first was called Mana Blast, but the second? It was something that he had no way of anticipating. It was a skill called Point Warp. The skill allowed him to mark certain objects and teleport to them at will. It even gave him the Space stat, unlocking an element he had no idea he would receive so soon.

Even if he didn’t find much use for the skill, which he absolutely would since it gave him the ability to mimic two of his favorite characters from all of fiction, he would’ve appreciated being able to use the legendary element of space alone.

His village had grown in his absence. There were way more people, but it looked as though they were cramped.

“Greetings to the All-Father.” sounded the voices of a few dozen Amonians in unison as they became aware of his presence and dropped to one knee. Nel was amongst those that welcomed him back home, so he got up first and began to speak to him while the others returned to going about their days.

“Lord Amon, we’re unable to further the progress of the village without your input. What should we prioritize?”

A list appeared before him. He could’ve chosen for them to focus on trade or conquest, and both choices had a price tag attached. They were both 30,000DP just to choose, but he knew that it was worth the investment.

“Focus on growing into a Hegemon.”

He lost the total sum of DP, choosing to become a military powerhouse. The very first floor had to be able to show any would be invaders exactly why it was foolish to even so much as think to go against him.

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He couldn’t loiter around for long. He needed to get off the first floor of the Tower so he had more distance between himself and Nykal. He didn’t want to underestimate the noble and waste too much of the time that he had received to make his escape.

He returned back to the inn and followed his mini map to the testing location, keeping an eye out for anyone that seemed to be paying particularly close attention to him as he traveled. Nobody paid him any mind until he walked into the doors that opened up to a large gymnasium.

There were probably a couple dozen people gathered, most of which Amon assumed to be Players. They were all standing in front of a stage, which was currently occupied by a woman and a machine.

He was apparently right on time because she started to speak into the microphone not long after he slipped his way into the middle of the crowd.

“The challenge here is simple. Create teams amongst yourselves. There is no size limit. You will choose a Player representative in your team to come up to the stage and punch this machine beside me. The three teams that receive the highest score will pass, while the rest of the teams will be forced to wait for the next testing period.”

Amon looked around him as people started to gather into teams. This wasn’t about individual strength like he assumed it would be. He felt as though they devised this testing method to force people to create bonds while they were still on the lower floors. There was nothing that said that they couldn’t all join the same team to make sure that everyone passed, and a few people seemed to understand that as they tried to recruit all the Players present to the cause.

There was a blonde woman that didn’t seem to care for creating a team as she walked onto the stage in the midst of the noise that resulted from people speaking all at once. The machine was a punching one, so she hit it once and forced it to buckle slightly under the pressure of her punch.

“5,000 recorded for Team 1.” Team 1 only consisted of the woman, so if she won she’d be advancing by herself. Amon didn’t know what was high and what wasn’t, but judging from the wary reactions of some of those in the crowd, it appeared to be pretty high.

He smiled to himself.

His main character senses were tingling!

He had two choices. He could be selfish and set his own score that showcased his strength and further lifted him up on his imaginary pedestal to put more distance between himself and the regular Players of the Tower. Or, he could do the exact opposite.

He walked up to the stage and spoke to the examiner very softly while he gathered all of his mana into his hand.

She looked at him, squinting her eyes. He felt a weird, tingly sensation while he was under her gaze. She wasn’t looking at him, but at something around him.

“Ah, Amon, right? I was wondering when the #1 Rookie would show up here. It took you a little longer than I thought.”

He didn’t respond to her. He took a deep breath, all the eyes in the room on him. 5,000 was the score to beat, but he didn’t just want to beat the score. He wanted to set the highest score possible and leave a lasting memory in the minds of those present. He hadn’t been able to control their perception of him during the tutorial, so he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

He dumped every last drop of mana into his fist, which he felt like he had quite a lot of since he’d leveled up and solidified the ring around his core. Overkill? Possibly. But that was his brand.

He used his mana cannon on the machine, uprooting it from where it stood on the stage and sending it flying in a thousand directions as it shattered under the force of his blow. The recoil definitely made his arm go numb, but it was worth it. The skill output was way beyond his expectations, though. Not only did it completely destroy the punching machine, but it blew through the wall behind it and left it in crumbles.

“90,000 points, a new top five score.”

He silently cursed.

Just top five? I was hoping for the all time high score.

Legends had passed through before him, and that was to be expected, but to think that there were so many people that were able to destroy the machine as well when they took the test. It was frustrating, but it was also exciting. How could he find out who they were? How did they go about gathering their strength? He put every ounce of his mana into it, but there were definitely other methods of displaying strength. There was a good chance that some of them left the first floor with a baseline strength that was comparable to his maximum output.

The room was completely silent as everyone stared in awe. Before anyone could speak up and complain about him shattering the machine before a third team could even step up, he spoke.

“Everyone left is on my team.”

The administrator was taken aback by his words, but she smiled and nodded.

“Congratulations, everyone qualifies for going to the second floor. You will all be transported now.”