I had about the same likelihood of sneaking up on Níðhöggr as a garbage truck had sneaking up on a cat.

Except, reverse the sizes on that metaphor, because I was well under a thousandth the size of this massive snake—or underground dragon?—that I was approaching.

To make matters worse, I had a bad feeling about the Schema’s instructions to “Kill Níðhöggr before he consumes the roots of Yggdrasil.”

From my knowledge of how the Schema worked, eating massive amounts of Life-attuned Mana—and the accompanying Aether—could rapidly elevate this creature’s level.

All the time I had just spent wasting in my Aviaton, this massive worm had been munching on Aether and likely growing stronger.

Level up, just by eating.

I see you.

For better or worse, the tunnel I had been following this whole time led me straight to Níðhöggr. I continued my charge inside my Aviaton.

When I was about fifty yards away from Níðhöggr, it finally deigned to react to my presence.

It sent its tail blurring down the tunnel towards me, as if it were about to flick away a pesky ant.

Did I mention yet how large this thing was?

I fired my Void Cannon immediately, and I was pleased to see the Níðhöggr retreat immediately in pain.

I heard an incredible, earth-shaking roar.

Literally earth-shaking. The tunnel around me collapsed, and suddenly I was buried in mana-infused rubble.

But the Mana Shield held strong.

I broadened the beam more, and then fired forward, moving forward simultaneously.

I knew exactly where Níðhöggr was. It had abandoned its meal, and it was circling around me.

It was capable of rapidly digging tunnels with its mouth, and as I watched, it circled around me, leaving about twenty yards of solid rock between us.

It was almost as though it thought it could trap me by surrounding me.

The interesting thing about watching a snake dig its way underground is that even if its head moves quickly, its torso seems to stay in the same place.

It’s like a game of snake, when your body gets so long it actually looks like you’re not moving at all.

This was perfect for my humble targeting skills.

I picked the part of the Níðhöggr that was closest to me, and then I started firing, rapidly, at that same location.

Most of the power of the first shot was spent clearing the path to the Níðhöggr.

Then the next shot tore through the Níðhöggr’s scales, leaving a hole in the Níðhöggr’s torso.

But compared to the size of the serpent, it was likely nothing more than a bee sting. This creature had a circumference more than twice the size of an outdoor trampoline.

Dealing damage to the snake seemed to change its strategy.

The serpent gave up on circling around me, its massive head rushing towards me.

And now I could tell just how fast it actually was traveling.

I rapidly fired towards the approaching head, but this time, the head of the snake was swerving—every shot landed, but they always landed on a different part of the serpent, and I never once hit the creature’s skull or mouth.

Then it was on me. I caught a brief sight of the creature’s maw. A single row of massive teeth, a distinctly snake-like head, with black scales the size of my fist studding every inch of its skin. Its eyes were a brilliant yellow color. Then its mouth opened and crunched on my Aviaton.

Feeling distinctly unsportsmanlike, I put all my points into Physical Defense, activated the self-destruct button on the Aviaton, and lost myself to oblivion.

You have reached 0 HP.

Your skill “Death’s Defier” has taken effect. +1 HP.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

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I appeared in the lobby, bleeding all over my body, and crying in pain.

There was no Samantha, which meant no pain mitigation.

I forced myself to drink a Health Potion, watching as my health gradually recovered.

It was an incredible, intense pain, but the pain vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Are you there?

If Samantha were playing hooky, then certainly, she would want to have a say when I cash out of the Infinite Tower.

There was no way in hell I would challenge B-rank opponents. I had only managed to fight off the C-rank monsters and humans because of my Aviaton, which I had now lost.

I approached the store, limping with phantom pain.

“Congratulations, Challenger,” the old man behind the counter said.

I was starting to wonder if he was essentially a robot. He had said more or less the same thing, each time I approached him, and his facial expressions were extremely bland. He never moved unnecessarily—no rubbing his nose, no scratching his body, or shifting his weight.

The first thing I did, after touching the Information Crystal with all my points put towards Luck, was I traded everything I had collected by this point. My total points had risen by 500 for completing all five floors, and an additional 500 for again selling loot that reached the top 1% of value compared to other challengers. I ended the previous floors with 2410, taking my new total number of points to 3410.

I had only gained one Achievement during the last five floors, for the amount of loot I had sold, leaving my total number of achievements at 19.

Each Achievement could be cashed out for 100 points, taking my new total to 5,310.

This was, I knew, an impressive sum.

Looking at the Infinite Tower’s store, a single B-rank item cost around 2,000 points. I had enough to buy two B-rank items.

So, I settled in to consider my options.

What would Samantha do? What would Petra do?

Previously, Samantha had ranked items in the C-ranked treasury by value. She had said that Classes were most valuable, then Professions, then blueprints.

There were no B-rank classes or professions available. There were C-rank Classes and Professions, though…

The first thing I looked for was what I’ve been envious of since the first time I saw Dawnbreaker: Unisuits.

Most B-rank Unisuits were actually bio-engineered symbionts that live inside of humanoids, protecting them from damage while feeding off of their life energy and converting that energy into a shield, or a propulsion system.

It made me a little leery, since I already had a bio-engineered symbiont that was continually attempting to mind-control me, but it seemed as though none of these B-rank suits were sentient or intelligent. I didn’t have to worry about becoming Dr. Octopus or Venom anytime soon… according to the blurb on the Schema’s storefront, which, all things considered, might not be the most reliable source of information.

There were, of course, other examples of B-rank items and equipment. Swords, breastplates, Invisibility Cloaks, Personal Mana Shields, items that would permanently boost your stats, and so on.

These items were nothing to sneeze at. Most of the equipable items offered around 40 points per item—a single sword might add 20 points to Strength, 20 points to Agility, as well as having a Martial Energy skill attached.

I looked through the catalogue carefully. So far, throughout my time in the Tower, thanks to my boosted Luck there had been a few hidden gems. But at this point, everything looked normal.

And then I found it, buried in a “miscellaneous” category.

Yggdrasil’s Seed (B-rank): A seed of the World Tree. Cost: 3,000 points.

The first sign that it might be valuable was that the cost was so high. This was certainly one of the most expensive items I had the opportunity to buy. The second sign was that the description was very cagey, as if it were trying to convince me not to buy it.

Of course, these could just be clever marketing schemes. But, I had heard of Yggdrasil. A tree that connected different realms. And I had seen the dense life-attuned mana just at the roots of Yggdrasil—if the roots were that mana-dense, then surely the branches, leaves, and fruit/flowers would be valuable.

Ideally, this would be something I could plant on my Aether Vent, and then it could convert Aether into something more useable by humans.

I bought Yggdrasil’s Seed, and then browsed the rest of the available options.

I had 2,300 points left. It was enough to consider some of the more expensive Unisuits.

Shadowless Unisuit (B-rank): A Unisuit geared towards stealth and mobility. When desired, forms a lightweight, fluid, protective shell around your body.

Stealth: When activated, grants C-rank Invisibility for up to 10 minutes. Cost: 200 mana/minute. Cooldown: 1 hour.

Mobility: When activated, grants independent flight. Cost: 100 Mana per minute. +30 Agility, +10 Strength

Cost: 2200 Points

I had a feeling Samantha would be happy if I bought this. She would appreciate the Invisibility, and the ability to fly would increase the options of the Combat Shadow drastically. She had wanted me to buy the Invisibility Rune Pattern at some point, too.

No, wait. Maybe she wouldn’t want me to buy this.

I took a step back, and looked at the Unisuit again. Independent flight.

Samantha had complained earlier about overlapping blueprints.

I already knew the propulsion and antigravity blueprints, and I already had rudimentary flight, thanks to the Mana Cannon. Samantha was most likely capable of forming those rune patterns inside my skin if I wanted. Believe it or not, that might be even less invasive compared to these symbiont options.

I had the feeling I would eventually learn the D-rank Invisibility Rune Pattern. Samantha would most likely find a way to make that happen, and then I could turn invisible at will.

In both instances, I would likely be able to power these rune patterns using Mana Crystals, thus not depleting my own mana.

So, the Shadowless Unisuit was a no-go.

Instead, I went for an even pricier option.

Axillary Auxiliary Unisuit (B-rank): When desired, forms a protective membrane around your body. When desired, can connect to your nervous system and augment your own physical body with up to two additional limbs. +20 Physical Defense, +20 Dexterity. +1 equipment slot. Cost: 2,250 Points.

Honestly, the name itself was off-putting. I hadn’t wanted to pick this originally, because it didn’t mention flight. But extra arms—with no cooldown or mana cost—was a huge deal, especially as a Rune Master. Hopefully, the additional Dexterity would help me control the additional limbs. But I had a feeling even if I couldn’t control everything simultaneously, Samantha could probably control the extra limbs while I controlled everything else.

I was aware, of course, that I was banking on Samantha being ok.

I bought the Axillary Auxilliary Unisuit, cringing again at the name, bid farewell to the man behind the counter, and returned to the real world.