11th Floor

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[Welcome to the 11th Floor, Trial of Senses]

[Quest: Senseless]

[Description: Choose one or more of your senses to be sealed for the next two weeks. To allow better concentration, the system will not be visible during these two weeks, starting the moment you seal your sense(s). Since the beginner period is now over, no rewards will be given for completing the standard quests. During these two weeks, you will not require any sustenance]

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Orthis appeared in an infinitely white room with no end in sight but he was too distracted to care as he was pondering if he should use his new privilege to make this floor a bit harder.

Sure, suddenly losing senses was terrifying for the first few days but climbers were incredibly adaptable. After a few seconds of thinking about the pros and cons, he clicked on the Hard Mode button.

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[Hard Mode selected, auto-sealing all five senses in 3, 2, 1]

[Extra senses have also been sealed]

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And then everything went dark for Orthis. He was pretty certain his body just fell to the floor like a puppet without strings since he lost the probably most important sense of them all, the sense of touch.

This sense was often looked down upon too much. People think if they turn it off they will just not feel pain anymore but it's much more than that, your brain will no longer feel the existence of its own body. With no feeling over the body, even subconscious, no muscles can be used.

While Orthis' body was just lying there in an awkward position, his mind was surrounded by a darkness that couldn't exist in the real world.

Even when knowing what was happening, he still felt a sense of dread and panic as he suddenly lost all connections to the real world.

He didn't know how long it had been as it was hard to track time in this darkness and even his sense of time had been sealed for being considered an extra sense but he slowly grew used to his new state.

And so he waited in this darkness for what felt like weeks, months, or even years until he felt something change. Two things actually, but one of them was bad news.

The good news was that while in this state, he began to feel something new. It was weak but it was there and he was currently trying his best to catch the feeling of this something, so far without much success.

The bad news was that he felt like the darkness was becoming more threatening, slowly weakening his mind and trying to devour it. It felt like he was just tired and going to sleep but something told him that he would never wake up. Such was the danger of Hard Mode, now the feeling of dread was coming closer again.

As the darkness grew closer to permanently enveloping his mind, the feeling of death was also coming closer and closer, something Orthis learned was a product of this fleeting feeling he was trying to catch. The closer the darkness came, the closer Orthis felt he was to get a proper touch at what he was rather certain was his 6th sense.

An unknown time later, he finally caught that feeling and didn't let go of it anymore. The longer held on to the feeling, the further away the darkness seemed to be retreating until it disappeared completely.

After getting a good feeling about his new sense, it became more natural as time went on and he no longer had to focus on it.

Despite now no longer feeling threatened by the darkness, it still gave him the creeps and he has stopped making progress with his 6th sense. The good news was that after staying in this darkness for so long, he began to feel something familiar.

Orthis was slowly feeling the immense Mana inside himself and he had a feeling that he could now access it after whatever locked it disappeared.

With each moment, the Mana inside him became clearer and easier to sense until he finally reached the point where he could touch it with his mind and interact with it. He didn't know if it was because of his unnatural affinity or if it was just that easy to begin with but controlling his Mana soon became an instinct and didn't require any effort or thoughts.

After messing around for a while, a blue screen appeared again.

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[The two weeks are over, do you want to continue?]

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Despite having fun controlling his Mana, he still needed to get to the next floor, so he decided against it.

From one moment to another, the eternal darkness turned into the endless whiteness of this floor, and all feelings returned to his body. After being deprived of all senses for what felt like a few years, he suddenly began to feel the things his subconscious filtered out, like the rhythmic movement of his bowels, the sound of blood rushing through his head, and his heartbeat.

Even though nothing changed, he felt like he woke up in a whole new world. After pushing the useless sounds and feelings in his body back into his subconscious, he looked at the notifications he missed due to them being deactivated during the last two weeks.

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[Auxiliary Skill: Focus reached 100% proficiency and evolved into Auxiliary Skill: Instinct]

[You gained the Auxiliary Skill: Meditation]

[You gained the Auxiliary Skill: Mana Manipulation]

[You unlocked your Mana]

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Focus was the first skill to reach max proficiency and evolve into a higher form, though the effects of the former skill didn't disappear, in fact, Focus was still shown in his status as a skill. He could now also feel the Mana respond to him outside of the dark space, though his mastery over it still sucked and almost all of it dissipated once he tried to bring it out.

The Meditation skill allowed him to reenter the state he was previously in and train skills like Mana Manipulation better and faster, Insight even informed him that there would be more benefits if he increased his proficiency.

Mana Manipulation on the other hand did exactly what you might think, only that it was a lot harder than he thought. Orthis thought that with his current mastery, he could maybe reach 10% but it wasn't even close, standing only at 4,3%.

"That means 100% equals absolute control over your own Mana? That's rather OP, I wonder how hard it is to reach absolute control with no waste or leakage." Orthis wondered as he understood the absurd concept of absolute control.

With the three new skills in tow, Orthis was teleported to the next floor, one he would spend quite some time on.

And with this, the 11th floor ended. It might not have had any battles or any excitement but it provided him with skills that would take him a long way.

[Congratulations on surviving the 11th Floor, Hard Mode]

[Teleporting to the 12th Floor, Empire of Kersihm]

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--(Current Status)—

[Name: Orthis]

[Talent: Sage (???-rank)]

[Race: Tower Human (Variant)]

[Class: Sage]

[Floor: 11]

[Health: 100%]

[Mana: 2120] (Mind x 40)

[Strength: 41]

[Endurance: 49]

[Agility: 41]

[Mind: 53]

[Skills: Crafting, Spear Mastery, Focus, Regeneration, Presence Concealment, Intimidation, Wisdom, Meditation, Mana Manipulation]

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[Weapon skill: Spear Mastery]

[Proficiency: 58%]

[Sub-skill: Cleave, level 53]

[Sub-skill: Pierce, level 49]

[Sub-skill: Throw, level 25]

[Sub-skill: Block, level 44]

[Sub-skill: Dodge, level 49]

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[ Life skill: Crafting]

[Proficiency: 24%]

[Sub-skill: Cooking, level 11]

[Sub-skill: Brewing, level 15]

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[Auxiliary skill: Focus]

[Proficiency: 100%]

[Evolved into Instinct]

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[Auxiliary skill: Regeneration]

[Body (Mid): 1%]

[Mana (Low): 15%]

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[Auxiliary Skill: Presence Concealment]

[Proficiency: 7%]

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[Auxiliary Skill: Intimidation]

[Proficiency: 1%]

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[Exclusive Skill: Wisdom]

[Description: Each killed enemy gives at least +1 Mind, higher based on opponent's knowledge, chance to gain some of their knowledge/magic/skill proficiency]

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[Auxiliary Skill: Instinct]

[Proficiency: 8%]

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[Auxiliary Skill: Mana Manipulation]

[Proficiency: 4,3%]

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[Talent: Sage]

[Rank: ???]

[Talent ability: Insight]

[Description: You are far more perceptive than others. Based on your strength and knowledge, there is a chance you can interact with pure knowledge to learn hidden things.]

[Talent ability: Sage's Mind]

[Description: You have the mind of a scholar. Your mind works exceptionally fast and has an astounding memory. You are also very resistant to foreign mind interference. You can adapt to emotional distress and keep a calm head. (This ability can grow)]

[Talent ability: Speed reading]

[Description: You have mastered the art of speed reading. Your pace of reading is just abnormal and it will only continue to grow from here on out.]

[Talent ability: Practical application]

[Description: You don't just read, you also know how to put it to use. As long as you have the necessary knowledge, you will find it very easy to put your knowledge into action.]

[Talent ability: Knowledge is Power]

[Description: You can gain powers by reading about them. The better the explanation, the higher the chance of acquisition]

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[Affinity]

- [Fire: High]

- [Earth: Mid]

- [Metal: Extreme]

- [Energy: Unnatural]

- [Shadow: Mid]

- [Soul: Mid]

- [Ice: Mid]

- [All: Low]

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[Resistance]

- [Fire: Immune] (below divine)

- [Ice: Mid]

- [All: Low]

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[Items]

- [Lost Eye of Odin] x1

- [6/6 fragments of the Eye of Horus] (Kingship, Healing, Sky, Sun, Protection, Moon]

- [Challenge Card] x1

- [Dimensional Prism] x1

- [Talent Awakening Elixir] x25

- [Newborn Spirit Soul] x1

- [Ariadne's Thread] x1

- [Mana Core (Mid)] x1

- [Sphinx Brain] x1

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[Mana Mutation]

- [Infinite stamina when body reinforcement] (Skeleton)

- [Super effective Self-sustenance] (Skeleton)

- [Robust] (Aura)

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[Energies Absorbed into Mana]

- [Aura]

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