Karnickel's Warning

Some days earlier.

Daniel sat in his room, contemplating what the gifts which he had gotten from his brother's avatar could do. He was not just looking at a superficial function but the full extent of their abilities.

With the Body Purification process being successful, Daniel's body was opened up to the mysterious energy known as mana which flowed inside Heaven's Tower and even on Earth albeit in a smaller quantity in the former.

Daniel rubbed his chin as he thought about it. 'I feel a little bit more refreshed and brand new. I notice the subtle changes in my strength, speed and how I process things. Could it be from the mana? If yes then, this energy is certainly very resourceful. 

'But there are still a lot of things I need to test out for myself and I can't do that in a public place for now. At least until mana becomes known and is accepted here on Earth.'

Understanding the need and importance of getting familiar with his new abilities, Daniel made arrangements for a training ground away from public eyes. His line of work afforded the contacts for such secret hideouts when needed and as such it was not a hard task to get one.

Daniel arrived at the abandoned mining ground that his connection had linked him to and as he stared down from the edge of the massive hole that had been blown into the ground, Daniel smirked with satisfaction.

"This is perfect," he muttered to him as he jumped from a height as high as about fifteen metres like it was nothing to him.

Using this act, he got a whiff of just how durable his draconic body was and he liked it. Daniel brushed the dust off his clothes and stared around his new training sight, analysing every corner of it as his eyes changed colours from red to golden.

< Draconic Sight > 

*********

Karnickel already knew what Daniel was capable of. After all, he appraised him and saw what he could do. The administrator's face was etched with a subtle smile as he watched the half-human, half-dragon struggle against the pressure of an administrator's mana.

Daniel pushed forward and hard against the mana force field but it deflected him back every single time and he was not having it. It was even worse that he didn't have time on his side since Karnickel the Rabbit had given him only three minutes for the test.

"If you can't cross over to this side," Karnickel spoke, taunting the human, "then you are not worthy to enter the tower, Thanatos."

Hearing this, Daniel grit his teeth in anger and glared at the administrator. A threat to his goal was not something he was going to take lightly. Tell me such was the same as saying that his brother, David, would not be avenged and his mother would die without him ever acquiring the panacea.

Daniel's eyes changed colours like they had done that day at the mining ground where he trained. Going from crimson colour to a beautiful golden colour that glints with glory.

'The eyes of a dragon, huh,' Karnickel noted as he noticed this change. 'His aura has changed as well. Are you truly human, boy?'

< Draconic Sight > 

Daniel's vision instantly heightened as he gazed forward. This time around, he was not just seeing Karnickel standing a distance ahead of him… he also saw what the obstacle that separated him from the administrator was.

…A giant wall of mana.

It appeared something like a gelatinous fluid with time strings of lights that were woven into each other in a complex network.

'I can see it,' Daniel thought to himself as he smiled at the sight. Now, he understood the extent of what he was facing compared to when he went against the huge wall of mana blindly.

Daniel darted and paced speedily within his sockets as he analysed the mana network, using the knowledge from his training and what David's recording had taught him. He needed to find one thing: a loophole… a weakness in the network that served as a weak link in the connection.

Once he does that he would make his way to the other side easily and that was where the complete advantage that [Draconic Sight] gave him comes in. In seconds, Daniel had searched and sooner than later, he found a weak link.

'There it is!' he exclaimed in his mind, dashing towards that side of the wall before Karnickel would outmanoeuvre him and reinforce the weak point. Little did he know that mana reinforcement was not as simple as he believed it to be, not at the scale it was now.

'I cannot guarantee for the latter floors but Dave's power should certainly give me an edge at the beginning since I don't believe that many people would waltz into the tower with golden fingers and cheats,' he contemplated as he drew closer to where he had detected the weak spot, clenching his right fist hard and tight.

Karnickel chuckled in a low tone while observing the young man. 'He noticed it just after a few glances? That is something the newbies seldom notice without special skills or abilities… maybe luck.'

Contrary to what Daniel had believed or expected Karnickel to do, the Floor Administrator remained interactive and simply watched the climber do his thing. The weak point in the wall of mana was purposely left inside the network, just to give the new climbers a fighting chance.

If Karnickel completely reinforced the entire wall of mana, there is no way any of the climbers would make it through. Even if he was the administrator of the Zeroth Floor, he was still an administrator and his ability cannot be compared to the babies of the tower whom he had to get before they were to climb to the first floor.

"Hyaaah!" Daniel cried out with his fist poised for action as he aimed for the exact spot that was feeble. Combining his natural strength and that granted to him by his Divine Dragon Body Constitution, the climber punched through the weak spot, following up with two more blows until the wall of mana came shattering before his eyes and he walked over to the side where Karnickel was standing.

Gasping mildly, Daniel approached Karnickel. They stood side by side but faced the opposite directions while the human gave the rabbit a sidelong glance.

"Did I pass then?" he curtly asked.

"Hmm. Beautifully," the rabbit replied, clapping his paws just afterwards. "Almost beat the record time but unfortunately, you are short by 15 seconds."

This accolade didn't matter to Daniel, who, at this point, wanted nothing more than to proceed.

"Not impressed, I see," Karnickel pointed out as he noticed Daniel's listless face. 

The rabbit clapped his hand and a dark brown door appeared out of nowhere. "You can proceed to the first floor through the elevator. Don't worry, you will get your reward for clearing my test once you get upstairs."

Daniel slightly nodded and continued walking toward the door until he reached it, causing the door to open on its own and ushering him into a lift.

"One more thing, Thanatos," Karnickel said, sparking interest in Daniel's eyes. "Seems like you have caught their eyes as well. I hope you make this tower interesting just as those like you did."

Daniel's eyes narrowed but before he could ask any other thing of the Floor Administrator, the door closed.

The door vanished as soon as it shut, leaving a space with Karnickel willing himself back to the lounge. Appearing inside the lounge, he turned and gave a sidelong glance at a presence that lurked in the shadows behind him.

"How long have you been watching, God Mars…?"

Karnickel received no replies, instead, he heard a sinister cackle that resonated throughout the lounge that soon began to fade away into the distance an instant later.