Once his wounds fully healed, Joe was ready to attempt the fourth hall. It felt reckless to proceed so soon, but the issue regarding the lack of food still wasn't resolved. He couldn't afford to sit around as his body went gaunt from malnutrition, and there was no way to return to the prior halls to train without undergoing the same ordeal that had left him so close to death.
It was regrettable there wasn't more he could do to prepare, but he couldn’t complain. He had already gained a decent number of stats through training, and the effort to increase an attribute by a single point had gotten to the stage where it was no longer worth the time investment.
With his decision made, Joe walked up to the large wooden door, gripped the bronze handles, and tugged. The door's weight had continued to increase after each trial, causing his muscles to strain from the pressure. Yet Joe's strength was more than enough to overcome the challenge.
However, as soon as the door began to creak open, a sudden wave of cold air burst out from the other side, forcing Joe to recoil back and cover his torso to protect himself. The freezing chill felt like climbing a snow-peak mountain in the middle of winter.
Joe rushed to close the door but changed his mind at the last second. No matter what was waiting for him, he needed to see what was on the other side. Gathering his resolve, Joe grabbed the door's handle again and pulled. However, no matter how hard he tried, the door wouldn't budge. Frost and ice had covered the floor and archway, freezing the hinges. Joe bit his lip in trepidation. The freezing air would quickly turn the recovery room into an ice glacier if he didn't do anything soon.
Joe's body shivered, and his teeth clattered relentlessly from the sheer cold that battered his exposed skin. Still, he gripped tight, closed his eyes, and activated his Aura to give him a burst of strength. Suddenly, he felt a soothing sensation of heat infusing across his body, providing a much-needed reprieve from the cold. He looked down at his arms and body in bewilderment. The discovery that Aura could also regulate and protect him from external temperature was a welcome find. Joe briefly played with his technique to find the right amount to hold back the frost without depleting his reserves too quickly. Fortunately, his skill at controlling energy had improved over time, making the adjustment easy.
Once he had found the right balance, Joe steeled himself once again. He grabbed the handles and pulled open the doors while imbuing Aura into his muscles. The ice around the hinges finally shattered, and the door began to shift open. Freezing air continued to slam into him with the same ferocity as before, but Joe weathered it thanks to the thin layer of energy wrapped around his body. While it was still cold, it was now bearable.
Eventually, the doors swung open, revealing what lay ahead. Joe blinked open his eyes and looked around in shock. The hall was similar in style to the prior halls, except for a thick veneer of frost that covered the walls and floor, giving the place a blue glint. It was as if he had entered a castle made for frost giants. Further down, the frost and ice became thicker until the way ahead became obscured by a thin layer of mist beyond the halfway point. What lay beyond wasn't clear, but Joe knew it couldn't be anything good. With nowhere to go but forward, Joe took a deep breath and then slipped through the entrance.
Each step made Joe want to yell in agony. The floor was pure ice, causing his toes to burn against the frozen ground. Joe knew he shouldn't have gotten conceited after completing the last trial. Now he had jinxed himself. This trial was one of the worst types he could face with no clothes or shoes.
Joe tip-toed forward while lamenting his bad luck. His face had turned blue, and every breath produced a thick gust of vapor, inducing tiny icicles to form on his hair and eyebrows. However, the worst was his fingers and appendages. The cold tore into them relentlessly, with his feet suffering the most. The ground was cold enough that his skin began to stick to the surface, causing them to blister. After each step, he had to peel his feet off the floor, leaving them red and raw. He stared back at the entrance to see he had progressed a quarter of the way. His Aura and Vitality helped stave off some cold, but not all. He needed a way to concentrate the energy on particular parts of his body, but unfortunately, he hadn't managed to glean that information from the orb. Joe tried clenching his fists to increase blood flow to his arms. He wished he had a skill like [Flames of Purgatory]. No doubt those with fire skills had laughed their way through this place.
After ten minutes of wrestling with the bitter cold, Joe reached the halfway point where the layer of mist swirled in the air like a cloud, making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of him. Joe took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He only needed to travel another twenty minutes, and he would be through. Joe lifted his head and stepped forward into the mist.
However, as soon as his foot entered the fog, an extreme pain shot through his entire body, causing Joe to yell out in agony while falling backward. It felt like he was getting frozen alive. Joe looked down in horror to see his foot had become encased in a light blue frost. Joe held back the tears, resisting the pain that shot through every one of his nerves. He needed to head back. There wasn't any hope for him to cross through this mist, not the way he was right now. Joe took one last look forward before he hobbled back. The pain of stepping on his foot caused excruciating agony. But he couldn't let himself fall after he had come so far.
Finally, Joe returned to the recovery room and closed the door to the hall. He hobbled over to the fountain and immersed his leg into the basin, causing his whole body to shiver violently. His fingers and feet were blue, indicating signs of frostbite. However, the fountain's water helped, and soon Joe could feel the sense of numbness dissipate as his body healed.
The experience had left him with a sense of despair, making him want to crawl into a ball and give up. He had suffered so much since entering the Tower. Dying in untold ways. Every past encounter had pushed his body and mind to the limit, helping him become stronger. But each incident chipped away at him, his sanity, and his Will to continue. He was only a regular guy with an average family and a low-paying job. How was he meant to overcome challenges that would push even the strongest person to breaking point? Joe thought back to his home and family, remembering when his dad had taken them all camping for the summer when they were kids. It had been his favorite memory, reminding him of simpler times. But at this rate, the chance of ever seeing them again was unlikely.
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For almost a whole day, Joe lay next to the fountain, gently basking in the water. He allowed his mind to wander as he thought about distant memories of his past life, good times and bad. Soon, the pain from the frostbite diminished, and his mental state slowly pieced itself back together. The feeling of despair slowly ebbed away until it became a distant memory of its own. Joe wasn't sure what a mental breakdown felt like, but he was sure he'd had his fair share by now. It was fortunate he had invested in Willpower. Otherwise, Joe doubted he would have overcome the mental anguish the Tower had put him through.
However, one benefit of his brush with death had been the impact on his stats. His Vitality had grown by another point, and his Will Power had increased by 2. It was a welcome gain, vindication for the pain he went through. It reminded him that even though the Tower was merciless, there was an opportunity to be found in adversity.
Eventually, Joe stood up and reaffirmed his resolve. He couldn't let himself die here as just another nameless face sacrificed to the Tower. Joe had his family waiting for him back home. Besides, he was no longer the same person he had been before. Here, there were no limits to how strong he could become. Even if it took months, even if he became skin and bones, he would make it out.
With renewed commitment, Joe got out of the pool and grabbed his beaten and dented sword. If the direct approach didn't work, he would have to find an alternative way. Joe went over to the bed and smashed apart a section of the frame to create a few small blocks of wood to act as makeshift shoes for his feet, then cut out strips of fabric from the mattress to make socks. The wood would help protect his feet from the cold floor, while the cloth would keep them warm.
Next, he cleaned the material in the fountain's water as best he could. He didn't know if the water killed harmful bacteria, but he thought it best to be safe. After it dried, he placed foam from the mattress around his feet before wrapping it together with the strips of fabric. He then put the wood blocks under his feet while using extra strips of cloth to tie them in place. Once done, he got to his feet and did a few laps around the room. It wasn't the most comfortable solution, but it was something. Joe also made some makeshift gloves, underwear, and a head turban with the leftover material.
A few hours later, he was ready. A glance in the water's reflection showed he now looked like an aspiring sumo wrestler. However, Joe didn't care. He was just happy to be partially clothed again. Joe returned to the entrance and pulled open the wooden doors to the frozen hall again. He placed a foot down on the frozen ground to test the new shoe's effect and soon smiled with glee. The wooden base and fabric perfectly protected his foot from the bitter cold floor, meaning he wouldn't need to worry about his skin sticking to the ground.
The second trip through the first half of the hall went without a hitch. Joe didn't waste a second and soon arrived at the halfway point after only five minutes. His body still shivered from the cold air, but his makeshift gear dramatically reduced the cold's impact. Joe stared at the mist hesitantly. He first waved his sword over the vapor to expose the stone floor. The fog seemed to resist the intrusion into its natural flow but eventually parted to reveal another complex carving. The inscription had symbols different from any he had seen before, confirming his suspicions that the mist wasn't natural.
"Is it an inscription to produce the mist, cold, or something else?" Joe mused while clutching his arms.
He suspected the formation was more nefarious than just a mist creation array. The pain he had felt when stepping through last time was close to the level he had experienced after the respawn skill malfunctioned. Joe hesitated but soon clenched his teeth with determination. There was no time to be indecisive. He tightened the fabric knots around his feet to ensure his shoes were firmly attached, released a burst of Aura, then drove into the mist.
The air temperature around him plummeted, sending an icy chill penetrating his body and bones. Even with Aura protecting him, icicles began to form over his hair and eyebrows, causing his vision to go cloudy. It felt like he was getting frozen solid and encased in ice for eternity. However, Joe just gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain. He couldn't give up, not this time.
After walking for what felt like hours, Joe felt ready to give in. His lips were blue, and his vision hazy. His arms felt numb while his legs burned from the bitter cold. His energy reserves had long since depleted, forcing Joe to reduce his Aura to match his natural regen rate while relying on pure Willpower to push ahead. Each step was agony as the cold bit at every part of his body, yet he didn't stop. He had assumed it would only take ten minutes max to reach the other side. However, an extra wave of mist had descended once he fully entered the formation, obscuring his vision. He had no idea how much further he needed to travel since the fog made it impossible to judge distance. The only confirmation that he wasn't walking in circles was thanks to the walls and torches that lit the side of the hall, acting like lights in a storm.
It took another hour for a change to occur. The once still air began to churn, and winds started to gush throughout the hall like a blizzard, battering Joe's exposed skin and making it hard to breathe. He had to hold his arms up to his face to stop the cold from burning out his eyes.
"Is this it?" Joe asked himself with sullen apprehension.
Joe knew he wouldn't last much longer. It was time to make a choice. Push through and risk it all or turn back. The choice seemed logical. He should turn back and continue training. Starvation was an issue, but it was better than freezing to death right now. He could take things slow and be fully ready in another week. But a part of him didn't want to give up now. For some reason, he thought back to the final words of advice left by the Angel.
"It is only through struggle and perseverance that one can rise and ascend to greatness."
It was as if this was a test, a challenge of one's Will to fight and overcome challenges. If he gave up now, he might never be able to climb higher. Joe gritted his teeth and yelled out in defiance. He would pass this trial no matter what it took.
Suddenly, as if responding to Joe's resolve, the winds died down, and the mists faded away. The temperature in the hall rose from unbearably cold to a mild, warm climate. Joe stood there, transfixed at the sudden change. He lowered his arms around his head and looked around in a stupor. The corridor to the next hall was right in front of him, meaning he had somehow arrived at the end without even realizing it. Joe spun around, desperate to know what was going on.
Thanks to the dispersed mist, the hall was now visible, revealing two different environments. In the distance, Joe could see the frozen wasteland of the first half, while the second half, where the fog had been, appeared completely normal except for a large formation carved into the floor. Joe blinked in confusion. How had it taken hours to travel such a small distance, and where had all the ice gone? The hall itself would only take ten minutes to cross completely. Yet to Joe, it felt like he had traveled for miles. Joe's attention focused on the formation on the ground. Had he been trapped in a sort of illusion array? It was another mystery to add to the list.