What a Bloody Slaughter.

That’s the first thought James had after two hours of Treasure Hunting.

His new ability gave him the knowledge to find every treasure the fog touches in James’s mind. He feared no creature on the first floor, no terrain could stop him with his movement techniques and physical prowess, there was only time to reap rewards, some never found before.

“Missed Opportunities”

James hounded over those words in his previous life, two simple words meaning another simple one, regret. It was not just him but 99.99% of every ascender had these thoughts constantly, especially when climbing The Tower, they simply were too frightened or weak to grab at the possibilities the first floor through the tenth floor had offered.

Once one became a Celestial, they had access to literally, another plane of existence, one much bigger than any single mortal entity could comprehend. Ancient records in that plane and from other Ascenders told of countless found potential riches, as The Towers have long been studied thoroughly by the rich and mighty.

With enough Time, anything is possible.

Those were the words that James always told himself, maybe for comfort, maybe for ideals in this new life.

*SHHLLLICK*

James removed his new crystal blade from a Giant spider's head, a single deep piercing strike on the forehead had collapsed an eight-foot-tall spider. Terrifying until one notices that the spider doesn’t have a venomous bite, its head is in fact extremely weak and small in comparison to its torso, and its legs are skinny, easy to cut, although each was sharp at their points.

Should be about there.

With a thought, James entered a cobwebbed ruin, it was a simple stone temple, only a relative ruined depiction of an ancient ceremonial ground could be seen, due to both pure age and the cobwebs which overlaid most of it.

The cobwebs were actually very weak, more like untaught string, not capable of trapping, however, it did reduce James’s visibility considerably, that was unless he used his Shadowless Echo. Which he did, and quite often, though his medication self-prescribed doses had similarly grown.

Taking a deeper glance into the webbed temple James saw a collection of spider eggs, which he proceeded to stomp over as he reached a cobwebbed part of the wall.

I believe it’s here…

A quick use of his new ability Shadowless Echo, James saw his environment in a sonar-like fashion, with some obvious improvements such as pure knowledge of what each source of detection was flowing to his head.

With a simple glance, James understood that the remaining eggs were long dead, apparently, the entire batch was a failure, making the eggs nothing more than green-goop egg decoration.

Behind the wall of webbs which James stood in front of was a hollow area, with a strong punch, he blasted open a dark hollow area.

Taking a step in, a small room appeared. There was a simple stone statue of a Buddhist praying, behind the statue was a golden-lined tapestry of a temple that was at peace in a war-scarred world.

James' head, however, ignored everything besides a golden and silver spherical pill that were in the buddha’s right and left hand respectively.

Golden Arhat Body Pill. Moon Essence Gathering Pill. Let’s speed things up, it's likely that a few have already found an exit to the next floor.

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Unlike James, who was scavenging across the 1st floor of the tower, most of the other summoned Treyan Human participants were going through their own turmoil, some were frightened to literal death such as heart attacks, some were killed by the frightening monsters. However, there are times when someone sees through the illusion and starts to fight viciously.

These heroes had already begun their ascent.

Furthermore, James knew he had to be the first one to the tenth floor, or else he would definitely have regrets. Yet right now he was simply taking his time, he knew floor 5 was going to be the barrier that could hold even heroes amongst heroes back, at least for a while.

Amatures, The Tower isn’t so easy. It’s not a race, it’s a game of survival. James chided inwardly. With his previous life experience, James wasn’t willing to be an ant, he simply refused. With his knowledge, he was going to pave a new future for himself. One without shards of regret.

However, this meant one thing, unlucky for the rest of the Ascenders. James wasn’t willing to play fair.

James put his pills in one of his combat pouches on his side. With his full-advanced military black market bought gear, there were many advantages James could take, such as him being far less worried about fatal accidental injuries.

With his past experience, he knew the best floor to loot was actually the first floor. It was one of the few floors where the purpose of the tower was Psychological in purpose. Furthermore, the first floor often had extremely powerful artifacts and supplies to reward bravery and courage. An edge to give to climbers, but James figured the Creator didn’t think someone of his caliber would come along so early… or at all.

These are all of the good ones I believe. With that concluded James made his way out of the hidden ruins, and the root-filled forest came back into view.

It’s time to get stronger again. I still don’t understand how those creatures are allowed to be so low in the Dungeon’s Floors, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to reap every benefit I can get.

James made his way towards the center of the foggy forest.

On the outskirts of the core area of the first floor, James found a short cave that was well hidden. On the first floor, wandering goblins, crows, and spiders will attack the Ascenders on sight. Thus James found a quiet cave for his personal upgrades.

Two hours was a short time to most, however, the first floor was usually meant to be quick, only the adventurers with a brave spirit to explore will spend longer times, though they also usually get their investments back from what the forest has to offer… usually.

James, with his movement techniques, killing techniques, and pure prowess, seemed to fly across the first floor; within two hours he had found a total of eight treasures.

Unfortunately, other than the Dusk Blade, only a few trinkets are permanent, the others are good for temporary boosts though. James thought as he took out his items from various pouches.

The Dusk Blade was his first item.

It was no longer ethereal like it once was, however, a wispy wrapping was coiled around the handle, with a piece hanging off loosely and floating in the air even when no wind was occurring. The blade itself was similar to Damascus steel, yet it was almost like a pitch-black color, with only a faint white splotchy ghostly pattern showing.

The handle guard was a simple ornate design, the grip was simple and smooth, easy for quick drawing, with the cloth keeping it easy to grasp. Gidden on the butt of the handle was a sunset that was made of black wood which seemed to blend in with the black grip wrapped by ghostly fabric.

James noticed the dark steel blade had two auras, to the untrained eye they might only think the blade seemed oddly sharp or anxiety-inducing, yet to James’s trained eye, he knew that the edge of the blade was made up of constantly growing small amber crystals on a microscopic level.

Only thanks to the Shadowless Echo technique could he understand this unique point of the Dusk Blade. Furthermore, James knew the blades' other hidden abilities such as its growth aka consuming ability.

The other items that James grabbed were considerably less impressive, however, they had great potential uses which will help with his future plans.

A Mysterious Compass, which James knew its purpose as a Rare-Grade Artifact with its purpose to lead James through mazes, labyrinths, and other similar scenarios, in the end, the compass had the simple purpose of finding an exit of the Tower’s Floor.

Exits were an odd concept in the Tower, they were ever-changing, constantly shifting, yet there was an obscure pattern to it all, an entrance to a higher floor might be open for a day and then be closed for 364 days. There might even be a permanent downward exit, which could be seen on a few “certain” floors.

After the Compass came, a Rare-Grade Mirror with the ability to view the surroundings from a top-down perspective, similar to an eagle-eye ability commonly seen by rangers.

After those two new artifacts, were a series of collectibles. Pills for body, mind, and soul enhancements. Oddly cultivation is more of the way of Ascenders, unlike most common tropes seen by entertainment, there is no level system.

Supernatural Power comes from mana and one’s will to improve, a simple fact that Treya’s citizens and his galaxy will have to learn if they want to improve.

James wasn’t ahead on just knowledge, his experience of his life before is worth far more. The battles he fought, both emotionally and physically have long ago changed him drastically.

For the next 30-minutes, James underwent a living hell, his body tormented by various sources, pills made by ancient monks, ancient cultivators, and serums created from miraculous technology ran rampant throughout James’s meridians, veins, and muscles.

Black Gel would form on his skin, but it would shortly simply burn off his body, leaving a pungent foul smell in the air, yet James' skin was slowly becoming paler and tender, soft-looking, yet a power was rising, hidden from the normal eye.

“GHAAAA”

James could no longer handle the pain of several already tormenting pills running through his body, and he screamed.

A visible glow shown from James’s throat, shining off the cave walls, before quickly dimming, hiding its power from the world once more.

The cave became silent and dark once more.