First to Third floor
I am Officially done with the tutorial after Samuel puts the passing badge on my chest along with the others passing this time as I have to oblige by the ceremony, I have already spent 7 and a half years in this area one more month won't hurt me.
After officially Advancing I return to the pure white room to leave the tower to begin my testing for grade skipping.
You need at least peak E-level in energy amount and control, with at least Peak F-level in physique to be eligible. Although his energy amount didn't reach with the purity of it they would bump it up a level making it count as low D-level while the rests are more than enough to pass, he had already done the advance test for energy reading the second week of school and got the same results as the clear tower sphere meaning all he had to do was test his theoretical knowledge.
So the week everyone took their physical exams to remain in the tower I was taking the theoretical test to skip a grade, one would count as officially graduated at D-rank and although he could technically count as that they would not let him just skip all the way to graduation, he would instead have to graduate with the rest of the now nineteen year old's.
Most spent four years between the ages of 15 and 19 to graduate, some graduated earlier or later depending on talent and what they are studying in the school.
I had no need to remain past the age of eighteen as I only came to enter the tower early, with him being of age soon he would be allowed in without a government written excuse, he could just use the public means of entering.
So he would be graduating the same year he entered at and would count as the 79th one to do so, he was far from the first genius to bless these halls it is just most choose to remain so as to spread their names and get better offers. But I had no need for that and so will leave as soon as possible, especially since he noticed a change in his cultivation.
Until this point the time between condensation times has grown exponentially, but the energy in his body was gathering at the same rate as it did the last time around, meaning he was half full of liquid energy and needed to be out of school come when the time to condense it to solid energy came.
Why the sudden change he was unsure but he can only pray that he can last till he returns home to advance.
With an unexpected emergency and a chance to get out with a viable excuse he immediately begins to study in the afternoons he has off so as to guarantee he passes, he needs to study his body to see why such a drastic change had taken place and that can only be done in a energy containment room.
While waiting for the scores I return to the tower, I won't have as long as I had thought to practice and I need to make the most of the week break following this exam to practice as much as possible.
Returning to the white room I look at my status screen which has changed slightly.
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Status Window
Name: Aadi Null
Age:17
Awakening Age:10
Affiliations: Planet Cerulean Base no.4, Neelan-Turnover city
Spirit Energy status: Core forming stage
Mental realm status: Body and mind melding phase
Energy type: Healing, buffing, water, fire, earth, wind, ice, lightning, metal, mist, oscillation, etc.(expand to see full list)
Combat arts: Conductor spearman ship, Military style dagger art of planet cerulean base no.4, etc. (expand to see full list)
Strength:19 (the human limit with no energy is 3)
Speed:20(the human limit with no energy is 3)
Agility:23(the human limit with no energy is 3)
Stamina:26(the human limit with no energy is 3)
Endurance:25(the human limit with no energy is 3)
Spirit Energy: 55(the average amount for your current level is 0.1)
Mental energy: 100(the average amount for your current level is 1)
Current skills: sense control D-grade, reaction speed D-grade, mental energy control High D-grade, etc. (expand to see full list)
Current Talents: low-grade Mental Energy Forging
Current level: mid D-rank
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His mental energy control had slightly increased along with his strength, agility, stamina, spirit energy, and current level, his Mental energy forging had become a talent as well. He was ever so slowly increasing his strength but he knew it would jump when his next energy expansion was to occur so he did not mind the slower than others growth as his current cultivation put him far above those his age as he was a year ahead for everything and his energy's density was far beyond what they could reach.
Although he looked like he was barely ahead he had a massive advantage as he was limited in the amount of energy he could make proper use of due to how heavy and thick his mental energy is. It was always easier to manipulate hot metal then metal that has partially cooled off. But one will allow more oxidization to occur allowing the metal to be even harder when finish, they heat it up and cool it down for a reason and that is to increase its durability.
And the same happened for me, although I have barely more energy than them I had energy that can do far more powerful things with only a tenth the amount. It is like comparing my old worlds grenades to an atomic bomb, there is no comparison. One has a far greater effect but at the same time harder to control and prevent backlash from, it is simply the price paid for to much purity of energy means my body can't fully handle that highly pure energy.
It means rather than one big outburst like most others I spread the energy use over a long period of time as I can't handle using all the energy at once like they potentially will be able to, it has also allowed my body to more rapidly adapt to more energy use at once than others my age so the amount I can properly use comes out to low E-level and the amount the tower says is the same but the worth of that 100 is more like another persons 1,000.
It is simply an advantage that will show it's worth the further I advance and the better my body can handle it.
Shaking my head to stop thinking about it I take a deep breathe and say, "Go to first floor."
Appearing in a big village with about 500 other people around me I can see our gear from the tutorial has been enhanced once to fresh low grade leather armor, and a new basic iron weapon.
We appear in what appears to be the village center around a small wooden stage with a man standing on it in decent metal armor and a well made bastard sword strapped to his back. He is clearly a strength based person with the weight of both his armor and weapon being quiet high.
He appears to look us over before saying, "you have all come from the training grounds and are now ready to start helping out with different low grade tasks, the only way to advance past here is to kill 100 slimes by the end of the week, the tower will track how many you have killed and will give the prizes to you itself, first one of your advancement group to succeed is given one Revival coin. It will allow you to revive once after death after the tenth floor no matter what floor you are on ignoring the cost of revival. Now you may begin your hunting once the gates have opened."
With that he steps off the stage and leaves the open area, everyone else rushes the gate and is prepared to leave as soon as possible, I see no need to rush as my knowledge of slimes from the time in the cavern had let me see many behavioral patterns and from the looks of things the ground of the town is extremely dry. Going to the guard standing slightly out of the spawning area I ask him.
"Is there a mine or underground area nearby with low water content?" I see him give me a grin.
"There is an old dried up coal mine that is over a lava pit with no water flowing nearby for easily 5 miles, you can use it if you want." He clearly understood what I was after.
He shows me on the town map near the spawn point exactly where the mine is and the quickest path there, bidding him goodbye I head to the back of the line for the gate and only a few minutes later it opens.
I walk slowly out of the village and take in the surroundings, although there should only be the lowest monsters here goblins are known to sneak attack and getting surrounded by them would be a quick and very painful death. Although strongest of the low level monsters kobolds are also group creatures and although lacking in intelligence compared to goblins they are peak F-level in physique. Alone I can handle a small group but to many and even I would be in trouble, best to avoid a death as much as possible, practice makes perfect and I rather get in the habit of being cautious early on then to late.
I take thirty minutes instead of the expected ten due to a kobold group being in the way of the path I intended to take.
Entering the cave I look for the location with most echo that indicates a large opening, finding it and heading in that direction I arrive to a large swarm of slimes equaling around two hundred, I attack immediately using buffing mental energy on my knife to allow me to kill them.
Although I can't buff my self or heal myself I can buff items to give them energy attack effect and slight durability increase.
With my senses on high alert I avoid getting surrounded by slimes while picking them off rapidly, in only ten minutes I have killed fifty of them with no trouble and little energy wasted, another ten minutes and only an hour in the floor I have completed the quest and done so as the first person.
---The first person has successfully passed the test and will proceed to the next floor---
Is heard by every one of this advancement group while Aadi hears.
---You are the first to pass the tests, awarding a revival coin, you will now be sent to the next floor when ready---
Returning to the white room once more he then contemplates how fast that was, no more than a minute has most likely passed outside.
Thinking he decides to continue his climb until his time is up.
"Go to second floor" He says.
He appears in a small room with a bed and night stand in it with the tower giving out the tasks instead of a person.
---You are to kill three other climbers to pass the test, the first of your group to succeed will be given a revival coin---
It was a surprising task, he did not know the tower would make the climbers fight internally in such a obvious way, but humans of this world have far more internal struggles than external ones unlike in his world.
And no permanent death would occur due to this happening.
Leaving the room he heads straight to the center fountain area and shouts, "I AM A CLIMBER IF YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME COME ON AND TRY."
Over 20 more people show up to the area in leather armor and a system given weapon, clearly they knew it would soon be a blood bath and decided they would rather take a shot early then try and hunt players hiding amongst the town people as at least this way you don't need to worry about someone poisoning your food or drink and failing that way.
The free for all starts and I kill three of them in less than five minutes, making me the first to complete the task and in under 30 minutes at that.
---You are the first to pass the tests, awarding a revival coin, you will now be sent to the next floor when ready---
He had finished the first two floors in a hour and a half, with not even 10 minutes having passed outside.
"Go to third floor."
He appeared in a group of ten people with what looked to be a maze like structure before them.
---Get to the center of the maze with at least half the group remaining, there are 50 groups attempting to finish the maze only half will be allowed. The first group to finish the maze will have all members awarded ten tower coins.---
I look at my group and realize they are all older than me, I knew they were unlikely to trust me or follow my words as the youngest person here they will assume me the weakest and therefore most useless.
Most of them look between the ages of twenty and thirty with the same basic tower equipment as everyone is given.
"My name is Ferin, I am a front line attacker using a two handed sword, my energy type is wind so there will be no problems in the corridors when fighting for me." The gray haired man says, clearly trying to take leadership of the group.
"I'm Mary a back line shooter using fire energy, I will be of little help in this group so I offer to carry any supplies we gather throughout the passage ways." A blonde woman with red eyes say's, she is on the more mature and harsh side with her looks.
"Brent, shield user with earth energy I will walk in front in case of any surprise attacks or traps." The handsome white haired and brown eyed man says.
"Jenna I am a debuff/curse person I will try to help where it is open enough for me to accurately hit the enemy." A black haired, black eyed beauty says.
Deciding it was better to not be last I step forward, "Aadi I am a buffer/healer I will help you preserve stamina and recover faster after the fights." I can see a look of joy on all the faces, healers/buffers where rare so getting one in a random team assignment is truly lucky.
Although the same can be said for debuff/curse people she has limited use in this situation.
"Darrel a barrier person I will allow us to get sleep safely and peacefully." We must have a lucky person in this group with who all are on it.
"Jared a bowmen, lightning attribute I'll help Jenna with that supply carry task." the man with a decent face and blonde hair blue eyes says.
"Dani, fire energy attacker I'll take on cooking duty if your all fine with that." We nod at the red haired blue eyed woman.
"Jean, water energy attacker I'll be cooking along side dear Dani here." The man grins, with a solemn looking face with dark brown hair and eyes.
"Shawn, an assassin with poison attribute, I'll help help pick off as many enemies as possible and run anti-recon to prevent an opposing assassin from getting near." A taller black man says, he has green hair and purple eyes, clearly a cross breed from another race.
And so we begin our journey, we find two supply packages on the first day of our exploring while not encountering anything else, person or monster.
That luck did not hold through the night as a group of fifty kobolds attacked us from in front, fortunately we had a barrier person so no one was injured do to being attacked while sleeping, we spent an hour dispatching them all.
We were ambushed by goblins in the afternoon of the next day and ran in to another group on our third day but neither side wanted to fight so we just passed each other and continued on, getting on our fourth day we found another supply location.
I was getting tired of Ferin's attempt to hit on every person in the team with a even slightly soft and pretty look to them, including me.
Releasing my mental energy full force I use it like a sonar to see if I couldn't identify where the center is, we are fortunate that at the edge of my senses I can feel a large opening in the tight walls that surround us, that is most likely the center area.
Telling them that I think we should head in that direction we agree to go, I had been pretty quiet up until this point so no one really had anything against me and for me to willingly speak up meant I either knew something, like with the trap we met this morning or that I had figured something out like with the jigsaw pattern required to get the third supply chest.
So we head there and 7 hours later we come to the large room I had sensed earlier and the voice from the tower says
---Your group is the first to past the test, awarding all members ten tower coins, you will now be sent to the next floor when ready---
I once more appeared in the white room, with four day spent with a pervert annoying me and everyone else on the team whenever we rested I had not had a proper sleep since before I entered the tower.
Laying down on the provided bed I drift into a finally peaceful sleep.