The Tower (2)

Cyruz, a slim young man that has short black hair and deep red eyes, stared with surprise at the system message in front of him.

「 Innate ability 'Sword God's Incarnation (SSS)' has been imprinted on the player. 」

God?! Rank...SSS?!!!

Cyruz momentarily flinched when he saw the detailed description of the innate ability that he copied from Jin.

[Sword God's Incarnation]

Rank: SSS

[With the blessing of the Sword God, the speed of growth in swordsmanship will increase a thousand times.

Mana Consumption: None.

Cooldown Time: None.]

Cyruz looked at Jin as if he was some sort of monster. A skill that enhances the growth rate in swordsmanship by 1000 times, no wonder he became too strong before his regression. This skill alone is enough to make him a cheat like existence as long as he had enough time to grow.

"Wh-what's wrong?"

Jin asked Cyruz while his hand were in his grasp. He felt wronged, looking at the envious expression that Cyruz revealed.

"Nothing."

Cyruz regained his composure and answered Jin. Although he really feel envious, he was also glad. It was because he will also benefit from this cheat skill from now on.

Skill Collector. The hidden reward of the trial is truly fitting to be an SSS rank. To be able to copy an SSS rank skill, Cyruz wanted to shout in delight but he still held himself.

The only downside for him was its long cooldown time. To copy another skill again, he had to wait for another 100 days or more than 3 months to obtain another incredible skill.

Just then, several portals emerged throughout the hall. It was the sign that many people had passed the trial and was now being summoned to the waiting room.

The desolate hall is large enough to accommodate millions of people. As the people started to open their eyes, they all made the same confused expression like what Jin had shown earlier.

It was understandable in Cyruz's perspective. The waiting room is a foreign concept to them and they had just experienced a near death scenario.

If the same thing would happen like before his regression, Cyruz suspected that many of these will become "Drop Outs" after discovering the safety provided by the waiting room.

Unlike the waiting rooms, the Tower of Trials is a dangerous place where players can actually die if they don't pull themselves together. These people have overcome the dangers of Floor 1, but they've lost the courage to continue. Some have seen companions and loved ones die in front of their eyes and succumbed to the fear of death.

The floor trials grew more difficult as players progressed through each floors, and it was inevitable that some would drop out. Likewise, a dozen people looked at him in amazement. If he paid too much attention to them, it would only distract him so he ignored all their stares.

「 Time left until Floor 2 Trial: 30 minutes. 」

「 If a player didn't attempt to clear the 2nd Floor, he/ she will be kicked out from the Waiting Room after 24 hours. 」

Naturally, the environment of the tower isn't so benevolent for them. Of course, players don't feel any hunger when they're in the Waiting Room,

"Shall we check the results?"

「 Floor 1 Ranking has been updated.」

A message appeared in front of all players. The notification that the rankings were announced.

「 Floor 1 Ranking 」

「1 - Cyruz (10,000 Points)

2 - Jin (750 Points)

3 - Franz (300 Points)

4 - Clair (240 Points)

.... 」

As he expected, Cyruz was placed at the first place. The difference in their points between Cyruz and Jin who was at the second place is very large. The interface system marked everything as Cyruz's achievements, presumably because he had taken care of a goblin without any help and finished it within a second.

In the Tower, the concept of points was very important. It was a scoring system based on a player's achievements. The Tower provided rewards based on points, and it can also be used as a currency among players after converting it to gold coins which could be used to trade for other items. Every player must do their best to gather as much points as possible throughout the Tower.

Points can be automatically converted to gold which was quite convenient, as long as the player wanted. The conversion rate is 1:100 which means 1 gold coin is equivalent to 100 points. If Cyruz wanted it, he could exchange all of his points to 100 gold coins. Not bad for a player who had just climbed the first floor.

「 Store Window has been unlocked. 」

With that message, multiple messages in separate categories popped up. Equipment, books, food, beds as well. They even have toys. All sorts of items were sold in the Store.

Countless weapons were in the shop. They looked like typical beginner class weapons. It contained different kind of weapons. Gloves, swords, daggers, hammers, axes, clubs, maces, staffs, spears; you name it and its there.

[Dull Sword]

Rating: Normal

Durability: 2/3 Attack Damage: 1~2

A sword with a very dull blade but it's still usable for a rookie.

「 Price: 1 Gold Coin. 」

The first weapon that he viewed was a dull sword that happened to be listed at the top of the sword category. Although the description was quite shabby, it costs one gold coin or 100 points.

For the other players, even the cheapest sword would be very expensive but Cyruz didn't mind. He was already familiar with it so he scrolled downwards until he saw something that's quite good to him.

[Iron Sword of a Novice Blacksmith]

Rating: Normal

Durability: 5/5 Attack Damage: 5

A sword that turned out much better than the initial expectation. The blade is a little bit dull but has a decent durability.

「 Price: 5 Gold Coins. 」

With the skill he obtained from Jin, Cyruz picked a weapon that he was familiar with. After purchasing a sword that costs him 500 points which was more than the equivalent points owned by the player who's 4th in the rankings, Cyrus lifted a one-handed longsword and it was much heavier than expected.

「 Skill, 'Sword Mastery (Beginner)' has been acquired. 」

'This is... All I did was hold the sword but my experiences are flowing back to me.'

Cyruz immediately felt something inside his body. He caught himself in a middle of a sigh.

'I guess I should party with someone else for the meantime. There's no hidden pieces in the 2nd to the 4th floor anyway.'

Unlike the first floor where the test's purpose was to examine a player's potential if they had any, the second floor until the 4th floor are just ordinary trials. Of course, these trials aren't easy to clear. Before his regression, Cyruz basically preferred to play solo. However, this time is different. Unlike him before, he could use his knowledge about the future to gather the strongest rankers to be his companions.

"Jin. I have an idea. How about we form a party?"

At the words of Cyruz, Jin was taken aback for a moment. As someone from the modern world, Jin had played video games before so he understands what a party means.

Then he pulled a very pleasant smile.

"Huh?! Now that you mention it, why not."

[Player 'Jin' joins your 'Party'!]

As the two of them formed a party, a lone young man approaches them. He has shiny dark purple hair with long fringes parting between his eyes and purple eyes. He has a slim figure and has little muscles which was clearly visible.

"C~can I... join with you guys?"

Stuttering, he meekly said while lowering his head in shame. You can see that he was ashamed but he still tried to suppress his lack of confidence.

Cyruz grinned. Although the meek teenager in front of him looked younger than what he was familiar, he knew who he was. Although this young man wasn't able to place his name in the rankings on the first floor, Cyruz knew his value.

He was definitely a genius. He is the all time 1st rank assassin in the ranking, specializing in stealth and agility.

As the Tower of Trials was similar to a game, the society inside became ruthlessly stratified. Numbers were everything. There was a huge difference between the reputations of rankers, which were rumored to get a preferential treatment and the unpopular players.

"I don't mind."

Cyrus replied with a smile. Even Jin has no qualms with the decision of Cyruz. The one who will have the alias of legendary assassin and the God of Slaughter introduces himself.

[Player 'Raven' joins your 'Party'!]

"My name is Raven. Th~thank you for accepting my shameless request!"

Raven who has still low self-esteem unlike what Cyruz's impression from his future self, bowed his head in deep gratitude. Both Cyruz and Jin then followed as they introduced themselves.

"You're the number 1 and number 2?!!!"

Hearing their names, Raven was surprised. Unlike what was shown in the rankings, there's no way to identify the identities behind the names in the ranking aside from personally asking them.

As he was afraid earlier, he just approached the two of them because they were calm unlike the other people that were panicking to themselves. If he could work together with Cyruz and Jin despite not knowing who they are, he believes that his survivability will increase.

As the hall was filled with millions of people, Cyruz signaled towards both Jin and Raven to follow him as they moved to a vacant area.

"I believe that we all share the same understanding that this place is similar to a game, right?"

As they sat down on the white floor, Jin started the conversation which Cyruz and Raven nodded.

"I just opened the store and the system let us buy a weapon, we even have a character status panel. It definitely resembles an RPG game."

Both Cyruz and Raven agreed to his voice again.

"One of the most important things about RPG games is team play. In a party, we all get assigned a role and play as a team. How about we train before the trial starts so we can assign these roles to each other?"

"So, what do you think?"

The two agreed. Since they only have more than 20 minutes left, they began their group training. At this point, players had already discovered something in the waiting room.

No matter how far they went, they were in an area where they weren't able to get hurt, tired or even hungry. This was the perfect place to train.

Although both Jin and Raven were a bit unfamiliar of what they were doing, Cyruz guided them a little. Well in front of Cyruz was Jin wielding a sword that was provided at Floor 1 and drew it across the arm of Cyruz.

Drip! Drip!

He didn't let out even a little groan, even though he had cut deep enough to see the bone.

"Why didn't you avoid it?"

Jin raised his voice, looking at the bloody state of Cyruz. Even though he discovered that the waiting room heals any injuries and recovers fatigue, it doesn't remove the sense of pain when being injured.

"Don't worry. We are in the waiting room, it will heal itself after a second."

Cyruz replied but there was a look of interest in his pained expression.

[You have received a bone fracture injury.]

[Bone fracture tolerance has been added to the cells.]

[You have received a slash injury.]

[Slash tolerance has been added to the cells.]

It was the effect of his innate skill, Hyper Cell. This skill was evolving the user into a more powerful being the more injuries they sustained.

"…Why are you smiling?"

"Just because. I like it." Cyruz simply grinned and thought.

What you need the most to climb the tower is luck. The luck to be born with exceptional brain or brute strength.

'I simply passed the test because of luck.'

As Cyruz was feeling delighted, magical portals appeared in the waiting room along with a message that appeared.

「 The Floor 2 attempt will begin shortly. A portal to the 2nd floor stage will now appear. 」

「 Welcome to the 2nd Floor. 」