Chapter 14

A light faded and I read the notifications that bombarded me.

'A rock? What the hell?' I thought as I withdrew it from my inventory an inspected it.

{Rock}

{Classification: Trophy}

{Description: The first object Xeroc ever created}

It sounds important but since it's a trophy does that mean it does nothing? On another hand, I think I did well in the tutorial at least I got first place above Yu-Won. I finally checked my surroundings, it looked like we were outside, the ceiling looked as high as the sky and we were surrounded by greenery and by thousands of other participants.

"We're here." Hargaan said, I spotted Yu-Won looking up as he said that. The intro was finally done, we were getting into the meat of the Tower. I noticed around the platform that the participants were on there was a group of strong-looking players that were probably here to help the newbies settle.

I don't really want to deal with this stuff so I decided to just leave, luckily I was able to blend in with the crowd and make my daring escape. Instead of heading towards the city on the 1st floor, I decide to head to where the dungeons are located to test out the skill the administrator got me, the description sounds broken.

{- Absorb: Can absorb things from dead creatures. Proficiency: 0.00%

+ Can absorb Stats

+ More available to absorb at later proficiencies.

Rank: EX} }

I continued walking until I found what I was looking for.

{Moon Spider Dungeon - Rank: A}

(A/N: The rank is based on how hard it would be for a normal 1st-floor player to do!)

Bursting with curiosity I entered the dungeon, I was greeted with a rush of wind, maybe it was supposed to be cold, I wouldn't know. It didn't take long for the so-called 'Moon Spiders' to show up, they were by far the hardest fodder to kill so far, but that's to be expected since this is now for real. After killing the first group that assaulted me I activated 'Absorb'.

{Your Dexterity Has Increased By 1}

{Your Dexterity Has Increased By 1}

{Your Dexterity Has Increased By 1}

{Your Perception Has Increased By 1}

This result was amazing I had only killed around 100 spiders and gained basically a level off of their corpses this life might be a little easy. I continued running through the dungeon killing anything I came across using 'Absorb' on their corpses and moving on until I had encountered the boss.

{Moon Eating Spider - Dungeon Boss}

The fight wasn't much of a fight, one hit with my frozen sword with 'Sword Ki' and it was over.

{You Have Leveled Up}

I was sure of two things, 1 training via dungeons is the definitive way for me to get stronger and that 'Absorb' was overpowered. A question popped up in my head if I absorbed the boss would it be treated as a normal mob or as a boss, in other words, does the strength of what i absorb matter? Time to find out 'Absorb'.

{Your Strength Has Increased By 1}

{Your Strength Has Increased By 1}

{Your Perception Has Increased By 1}

I was delighted to find out that indeed the strength of what I absorb does indeed reflect in the stats I gain. After a long hunting session and a long day, I make my way into the starter town of the Tower for the first time.

'System, where is the nearest inn?' I ask my system, but to my shock, I got no reply back, ultimately I figured that its because we are in the tower and something weird has happened to the signal or something. Instead, I just asked around and was directed to a fairly decent one, and one that was used commonly among active players. I also asked where I can sign up as a player and got that process done quickly and obtained my Player Kit.

(A/N: a Player Kit is just an item that allows communication between people registered in the Player KIt)

I visited the inn and I paid for a month upfront and stated that at no point in time did I want to be disturbed, they seemed a bit disturbed by the concept so instead I paid a bit more and they were delighted to have me. I went into my room and started meditating using my skill, now I could accomplish three things. First of all of course I can increase the proficiencies of other skills, and I plan to only use 'Absorb' this time around. Secondly, I want to increase my proficiency in the 'Heavenly Demon Art' so I can cultivate draconic energy in the future. Lastly, I can obviously increase my 'Meditation' proficiency.

1 month later

I was met with an incredible notification that finally prompted me to stop my meditation for the moment.

{Absorb Can Now Increase Proficiencies} I had made striking progress in the last month. This unlocked at 5% imagine what could come afterwards if this unlocked now. I finally got up and stretched and then my stomach grumbled so after a month I finally ate some food, I almost ran the inn dry with the amount of food I ate, but I finally ate my fill. I went out with the goal to find Yu-Won, I remember that he hung out a lot with Hephaestus so I use my senses to try and find some intense heat sources in the slums of the central region. Before I could get too engrossed in my search I heard a large explosion coming in the direction of the slums.

'If you want to find the main character, and hear an explosion, go to the explosion, you will definitely find them there.' I think to myself and follow my own advice. I quickly make my way to the sounds of fighting.

I finally found where it seems the fight is going on, I saw what looked like an army headed by some guy in golden armour and a short stone statue on the other side.

'Ah, so this is where the story is now, I see. That must mean that that red-haired guy is Chris or something or other, what was his name again. And he's kneeling down because he's experiencing the penalty of attacking a 1st floor player as a ranker'

Yu-Won soon emerged from a half destroyed building with some type of weird mana surrounding him, I heard the small army comtemplate before Yu-Won suddenly burst forward in what I thought was a last ditch suicide attack, but hat stunned me more was that the small army seemed to not be able to see Yu-Won even though he was right in front on them. Yu-Won made his way to the stone statue, I decided to join him there.

"Sticky situation you got yourself in here bud, need some help?" I ask my former teammate but still good friend.

"Handle the small fry, protect the statue" he said and I nod in understanding before I make a frozen sword.

"KILL THEM!" The guy in golden armor yells as the small army charges. I coat my frozen sword in 'Sword Mana' then add more 'Absolute Zero' then make a long slash decimating many of the soldiers on the frontline. Yu-Won goes to confront the red haired ranker. I fire some Magic Missiles powered up with Draconic energy at them as well it pierced through their armor like butter until the only soldier left standing was the leader of them all. Instead of trying to fight and giving himself a last stand, he ran like a coward. I let him go since he should live on with the guilt of leading all of his dear subordinates to death.

It was then that the stone statue started to crack and open up revealing a cocoa skinned individual with a white beard and hair. His face just looked like he was mad all the time.

"The statue is an old man!" I say in response Hephaestus grunts instead of getting real mad he asks me a question.

"Are you the Gojo kid that Yu-Won talked about?"

"One and the same!" I turned back around since I thought that I heard a large crash coming from where Yu-Won and the ranker were fighting.

(A/N: I'M BACK!!)