9th Floor
For a long time, all Orthis knew was pain. Pain so strong that he not only fell unconscious but even his subconscious began to experience the pain and almost forgot to maintain its basic functions, like breathing or beating the heart.
In this state of agony and mutation, Orthis had no sense of time until his soul finally found a solution to reduce its pain, though the other two parts of his being were still violently destroyed and healed.
With his soul now no longer on the verge of collapse, his mind also grew clearer and after an unknown amount of time, he opened his eyes again and formed his first thoughts.
"Wh- What happened?" He wondered as he tried to move his body but failed and just increased the pain. He tried to look around but all he saw was his own blood.
"Wait, blood?" sudden clarity returned to his mind as the pain was pushed to the back of his mind.
He began to feel the water filling his lungs and began to panic. He knew he had the trait to breathe underwater but that didn't stop him from being frightened from this new experience. With the new adrenaline in his system, he forced his head up and began to look at his body, only to regret it a moment later.
His body was broken like shattered glass with blood gushing out from it, he could even see some of his bones which were in a similar state.
The adrenaline soon disappeared again and he slumped back on the river floor like a sack of potatoes. With the adrenaline gone, he began to feel his body again, not just the pain but also an unbearable hunger.
After desperately trying to move his body for what might have been minutes, hours, or days, a large fish, almost half his size, swam through the cloud of his blood. From the large fangs, it was probably a predatory fish looking for prey in the diluted blood.
When the fish came close enough to his head, Orthis used all his remaining strength to bite into him. Maybe the fish was very strong or he was just very weak right now but the two battled for a while before the fish finally succumbed to the bite.
After taking a few bites out of his food, Orthis was suddenly overcome by sleepiness and fell asleep again, when he woke up again sometime later, the fish was already gone, though he didn't know if he was just taken away by the current or was eaten by another predator that saw a chance.
At least now his body no longer hurt as much and minor movements were possible. While everything was still a bit blurry, at least now he could see a bit better, causing him to first look at the system for an explanation and a possible solution.
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[Holy and Demonic energies are fighting over your Soul, Mind, and Body]
[Your cells are mutating to withstand the conflict]
[Divine Touch and Demonic Corruption failed to take over your Soul]
[Parts of the two traits were absorbed by the emptiness in your Soul]
[You gained the Trait: ???]
[The presence of the two traits in your Mind has weakened]
[Your cells are mutating further]
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That wasn't all, there were many messages from Urman asking if he was ok but he was in no mood or position to even form a meaningful sentence, so he just ignored him for now.
Time passed below the surface, even though it was hard to keep track of. Orthis would take a few bites out of water plants and fishes that were unlucky enough to float too close to his mouth. With something to eat, his body began to heal and mutate at a faster rate and the pain was starting to decrease, he was so happy about that, that he didn't even have the audacity to hope he wasn't mutating into some grotesque monster.
"This is the second time I enter the next Floor unconscious, let's not make this a habit." He sighed as he looked at this Floor's quest and was glad that it also didn't have a time limit as he learned he had been on the bottom of this river for almost two months.
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[Welcome to the 9th Floor, Ice and Fire]
[Quest: Sparks and Snowflakes]
[Description: Time to think about the decision of the next floor, here's a little distraction. This floor is divided into two parts, the territory of fire and ice. Each side is ruled by insects of the corresponding element. Kill the queens of both sides.]
[Reward: 10g of 100% pure gold]
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"Well, the reward is a bit useless but I learned that it's not the quest reward that is important but the rewards you find during the quest. Besides, I couldn't ask for a better floor in my current situation, I can handle beetle, this is practically a vacation compared to what I experience."
He tried to get up and look at the surroundings but the moment he put his head out of the water, he fell back in, thought it gave him enough time to see his surroundings.
On one side of the river was a forest with caracole-like trees and ash-like dirt while the other side was also a forest but its trees were white and the ground was covered with snow. The river seemed like a supernatural barrier that split two separate worlds apart.
He tried getting up two days later and this time he didn't fall down again. Ignoring the bloody water all around him, Orthis made his way to the shore, the fire part to be specific. With his fire immunity, there shouldn't be any danger there, even in his current condition.
Just when he took a few steps on land, two fist-sized burning bugs flew at him. But they were weak, so weak that even in this condition, they died the moment they got within range.
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[You killed Fire Bug, Str +0,0004, End +0,0005, Agi +0,0007, Mind +0,0002] x2
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The increase was about as much as when he first killed goblins, which was a bit impressive considering how strong he was now. That meant that these bugs were as many times stronger as Goblins, as he had grown since then.
"This feels… weird. Something about the absorption process changed. It still does what it is supposed to and with the exact same result and efficiency but the process feels different." Orthis tried to understand what this feeling was but soon gave up and blamed it on World-Eater's still ongoing evolution.
Besides that, he enjoyed the feeling of the spear healing him slightly with each kill. He already had regeneration, which proficiency increased a lot during the last two months, and the Healing Gem but he still wasn't healing fast enough to shake off the damage his body was constantly suffering.
As he walked deeper into the forest, more and more bugs came flying at him, improving his condition to the point where he could at least walk normally.
During his walk, he came across some fruits hanging from the trees, which he thought was a bit strange but inspected it anyway.
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[Item: Scorched Fire Fruit]
[Description: A delicacy for Fire Bugs but incredibly toxic to any other life form when eaten directly. Its fiery properties can but used for alchemy but with way less efficiency.]
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Even if they were uneatable, they had some worth, so Orthis grabbed a few in case he might need them in the future. The flaming insects weren't just standing by either as he took their treasure and he was attacked with newfound ferocity, thought that only made him recover even faster.
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[Mutation ended]
[You lost the Traits: Divine Touch and Demonic Corruption]
[You gained the Trait: ???]
[???: Something new, neither Holy nor Demonic but it's still incomplete]
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He didn't know how to feel about this. He lost two traits with great potential had they not clashed and gained something incomplete and unknown. He already felt that the holy energy and demonic energy lost something important when the void in his soul absorbed some unknown part of what made these two energies so special but he didn't, and still doesn't, have a clue about what exactly happened.
All he knew was that this mutation had brought him great change as evident in his stats.
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[Name: Orthis]
[Talent: Sage (???-rank)]
[Race: Tower Human (Variant)]
[Health: 83%]
[Mana: 1920] (Multiplier now Mind x40)
[Strength: 41]
[Endurance: 49]
[Agility: 41]
[Mind: 48]
[Skills: Crafting, Spear Mastery, Focus, Regeneration, Presence Concealment, Intimidation]
[Traits: ???, Strong Body, Cell Mutation, Genius, Advanced Bronchioles, Tenancy, HUD, Strong Bones, Eldritch Taint, Balance, Fertility, Fire Immunity, Unpredictable]
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All his stats increased by 5 at least and he had no stat lower than 40, though he was miffed that Mind once again became his second strongest stat. And even though he couldn't use his Mana, for whatever reason, he still felt how his Mana more than doubled.
With his unnatural energy affinity, he could still clearly feel the massive energy inside him. It wasn't just more, it was also stronger. The increase from the original Mind x20=Mana to the current Mind x40=Mana was also only possible because the two races his body mutated to accommodate were incredibly advanced beings, they were just naturally stronger and had more Mana than a Human.
It wasn't just his stats that changed, after inspecting himself in the river and using his HUD to scan himself, he found that there were some biological changes.
What changed the most was his inside. He now had two hearts, one on each side, a third lung, thicker bones, and his ribs had fused together to form a plate to shield his important organs better.
From the outside, not much had changed except his now slightly pointier canines and ears and a single two-finger-wide strand of silver hair on the left side of his brown hair. They weren't vampire or elf-like, just a bit pointier than what a normal human had. He had also grown a lot, now standing at a staggering 2,24m.
When the Tower removed the species' upper growth limit, it wasn't just about strength and this wasn't just the case for humans. As a being gets stronger, their size would increase inevitably, even the Gods from Earth, who Orthis was now certain existed, were said to be 12m tall.
Luckily the floors were adjusted to fit climbers' size, so although Orthis was now a giant in the former human society, he still felt normal-sized as the world grew bigger with him. Of course, even the "fist-sized" bugs were bigger, if measured by Earth standards, they would be small heads or the size of Shaquille O'Neil's fists, which was roughly also his hand size now.
In the last two months, he had lost all the weight he had gained after the 4th Floor but at least his sudden increase in height didn't make him even skinnier as his bones, whose thickness more than doubled, filled that gap. If he ever managed to regain all his weight, he would be a rather chunky guy.
"It's kinda funny how everyone was worried about weighing too much until now and here I am, worried that I will never weigh enough again. But seriously, I really hope losing weight won't become a normal routine, I don't know how much more I can lose."
After coming to terms with his new appearance, inside and out, Orthis began wandering through the fire forest while gathering the fruits and killing any insect he came across. As he went deeper into the forest, he began to beet other insects, mainly some mantis-like insects but they were still too weak.
The deeper he went, the hotter the air got but he barely even noticed it and finally arrived at a large hill made from ember. The unnatural number of insects and very conspicuous glowing hill with the immense heat radiating from it made it rather easy to guess this was the place where the queen was living.
10 minutes later, Orthis walked back to the river, not even bothering to look at the collapsing hill behind him. The bug queen was barely stronger than the elite soldiers protecting her and she died even faster than them as her large body was meant for reproduction, not fighting.
When he jumped across the river, this was the first time in a long time that he noticed how uncomfortable temperatures could be. The sudden change from hot to cold was unpleasant but the edge of the forest wasn't enough to make him shiver yet.
Snow-white insects began to ambush him from either threes or from under the snow but they were just as weak as their counter version.
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[You killed Snow Insect, Str +0,0004, End +0,0007, Agi +0,0006, Mind +0,0003] x7
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It wasn't specifically mentioned but Orthis was sure that his Ice and cold resistance was also slowly growing to Mid-rank, though at a rate that made it irrelevant to even mention. Even after killing about two hundred insects, he was still only halfway to the next rank.
As he went deeper, he began to finally feel the cold. He wasn't exactly dressed for cold weather, making him wish that he had packed better and had more insects to kill. While there weren't enough bugs around him to reach Mid-rank ice resistance, he did find the Ice version of the Scorched Fire Fruit.
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[Item: Chilly Ice Berry]
[Description: A delicacy for Ice Bugs but incredibly toxic to any other life form when eaten directly. Its icy properties can but used for alchemy but with way less efficiency. If consumed at the same time as the Scorched Fire Fruit, the toxins cancel each other out.]
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Orthis looked at the blue cherry-like berry in his hands and began thinking. It sounded like the benefits of these fruits were very good but consuming them could also be very dangerous. While the toxins might cancel each other out, he could feel the temperature radiating from these two items.
While he wasn't worried about the intense heat coming from the fruit, the berry was so cold that he could barely hold it for more than a few seconds. He wasn't so hasty anymore and didn't just eat them right this moment but made his way back to the river, which he learned by now is a natural border that neither side enters, so if something happened while he ate them, he would be safe.
Once back, Orthis sat on one of the stones coming out from the surface and ate the fire fruit that looked like a crimson apple. The fruit tasted rather good and he could feel his body heat up. This heat might have been harmful for most others but the only thing he noticed was that his skin was getting increasingly redder.
Ignoring his red, itchy skin, Orthis tossed one of the blue cherries in his mouth. If he hadn't consumed the fire fruit before, he might have lost his tongue due to hypothermia. He could feel how the ice-cold berry wandered down his scorching esophagus and began to dissolve in his stomach.
His skin's redness began to recede and he could feel how something in his body began to change.
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[Ice Affinity increase slightly]
[Ice Resistance increased slightly]
[Str +0,00002, End +0,00005, Agi +0,00003]
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The increase in his ice affinity and resistance was minimal, the increase in fire affinity and resistance non-existent, and the stats might as well not be there at all.
"Such is the burden of being too strong too early" Orthis sighed. He was well aware that this was not how it was supposed to go but he was just too strong already.
The effect of these two fruits was meant to be discovered by people who are willing to take risks, not a walking cheat with the Insight plug-in that revealed secrets to him he wasn't meant to know.
Orthis' ice resistance and affinity, like every other possible element out there, was already at Low rank, not to mention his High fire affinity and immunity. Let's not even talk about the stats this little secret was meant to give him.
Although the effect on his ice resistance and affinity was small, it was there, so he began repeating the action over and over until he almost ran out of fruits.
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[Ice Affinity reached Mid-rank]
[Ice Resistance reached Mid-rank]
[Regeneration: Body (Low) reached Body (Mid)]
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The sudden evolution in his physical regeneration was unexpected but welcome. The skill already reached 100% proficiency after working in tandem with his cell mutation to keep him from dying but it still missed something to reach the next ranks.
After a few tests, he learned that not only did his regeneration speed increase drastically, it now increased in potency. There was a large difference between these two, you could regenerate at the speed of light but that didn't mean much if you couldn't regrow limbs and organs, at the same time, you could regenerate every part of your body but take several days to regrow a finger.
Body regeneration at the Low rank was already very rare so early on, not to mention the Mid rank. Just this skill alone would make organizations and groups in the Tower fight over him, and that's without taking his other uniqueness into account.
Orthis now headed back to the Ice Forest for the second time but he no longer felt like dealing with all the pesky insects, so he began to practice a skill he hadn't used so far, Presence Concealment.
You might think that even if the proficiency was only at 1%, he shouldn't have a problem hiding from a few insects but you would be wrong, these insects were surprisingly perceptive.
As he made his way deeper, he was wound less and less and this time he wasn't feeling the increasing cold anymore. It didn't take him long to locate the small glacier on a frozen lake and deal with the second queen.
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[You completed the Quest]
[Welcome to the 10th Floor, Trial of Choices]
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