Class Competition - Part 3

15 minutes later...

"Um, Prof. Niko are you sure that's a freshman?" Serena asked with confusion in her soulless eyes after paying close attention to Rin's performance from the minute he entered to his recent clearing of the 25th floor.

"To be honest, I don't even know anymore," Niko replied as he just looked at the screen with disbelief and bewilderment before sighing, 'Truly, the times are changing but is this really something a first-year student should be capable of accomplishing?'

"Hmm, well then considering he managed to reach the 25th floor in under 25 minutes… it seems, you will now have to take this a bit seriously, Niko. Or else you might just embarrass yourself in front of your students." Serene smiled as she remembered the deal Niko made with his students.

"Fuck… thanks for the remainder," Niko said.

***

Meanwhile, after Rin entered the Tower of Shadows...

[1 Minute! - Until Veteran Trial 1 Begins!]

[May all participants take a step forward and choose their weapon!]

"Hmm, so it repeats the same thing for everyone, huh? Regardless of the time you entered," Rin muttered as he glanced at the array of weapons that appeared before him and swiped his hand in disappointment.

Before just walking to the center of the room and clapping his hands twice, causing a spew of reddish gas to disperse from his hands and coating the entire room in a faint red fog.

"Sigh hopefully, whatever spawns isn't too weak," Rin hoped as he glanced at his work and smiled excitedly in anticipation, before sitting in the center of the room and closing his eyes as if he were about to meditate.

[All monsters summoned will be augmented towards the participant's current power level!]

[Current Clear Time - 0:1:30! - Made by ??? on January 5th, 2525!]

'So, if I remember correctly the first twenty-five floors should be composed of human and demi-human shadows. Or as those in the higher realms would call them Jasper's, beings of darkness that are nurtured by various organizations or sects for recon, espionage, and assassination, or even cannon fodder when exploring new mystic realms.' Rin thought before summoning a pair of black gloves that had four rings on each glove that aligned to a specific element (fire, water, wind, and earth). 

"Hmm, while a bit tricky to use… wouldn't this be the best weapon to use to complete this task in record times," Rin said as he opened his eyes and stood up after putting on the gloves, causing the rings upon them to shine as elemental energy began to be swirl around his hands.

[First Wave Begins in 3...2...1...0!]

Spew. Spew. Spew.

'1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 15, 16, 17, 18... 25. Right on the dot nothing more, nothing less so does that mean every floor spawns a wave of twenty-five or does it fluctuate?' Rin wondered as it would not be fun if each floor kept the same spawn rate, "Well, we won't know until after defeating this floor, so let's lock in and get this over with as we've already wasted fifteen seconds pondering on stuff that isn't important."

Snap. Swish. Swish. Swish. Pop! x3

Sometime later after defeating three floors…

"Hmm, a 1% increase truly isn't anything special, but it's still something thought," Rin commented nonchalantly after only having to snap his fingers to clear a floor as his enemies combusted into flames.

Even though from an outsider's perspective this was by no means a simple feat. Considering that if you slowed down the footage and looked closely, you would notice that even though the entire floor was coated in a reddish fog. 

Within that fog existed a multitude of thin translucent strands of thread, which were as light as a cicada's wing and concealed a tricolored flame. That was a mix between purplish-blue, goldish-red shade, and white and manifested itself for a second, whenever a shadow grazed past it.

Marking it with a sigil which exploded the moment Rin snapped his fingers leading to him being able to clear a floor in groundbreaking time.

"And now onto the next floor, we go!" Rin smiled as he stepped through the glowing blue portal that appeared before him and teleported him to the next floor and the rest was history.

Until the 25th floor, where Rin had to use the gloves, he took out, earlier to defeat the boss and its twenty-four minions, which took a bit of time to defeat due to the 1/4 increase in all stats. That at first glance may seem like nothing but when that is attributed to a boss who is 5~10% already stronger than an ordinary spawn.

It becomes not a question, of whether you can defeat the creature, but just how much are you willing to expose in Rin's case? Since he was currently suppressing his cultivation to mid-stage Lower God.

"Sigh, while a bit troublesome… I guess, I will just have to resort to Razor… wait, why did not I think of this sooner!" Rin exclaimed, causing a particular set of rings on the glove which were green to begin to shine as earthen elemental energy to coat his hands.

Following Rin's choice to end his run by engaging in hand-to-hand combat on the 25th floor, leading to him clearing the floor in about two minutes. Breaking the previous record holder's time by 45 seconds; something many seniors and juniors considered, a hassle to achieve during their first year.

"... well, that was fun, yet I was strictly ordered to only go up to only the 25th floor," Rin muttered with vexation after only peeking at what floor twenty-six had to offer, before having to surrender right afterward as there was no point in staying here any longer.

[Floor Failed! Participant X1234RQ will be teleported out shortly!]

[Please hold on, Participant X1234RQ's as the System is currently undergoing an update! Causing all previous clear times to be deleted and renewed!]

[Would Participant X1234RQ like to share his data?]

"Hmm… on second thought no."

[Thank you for your feedback and patience would you like your rewards to be sent to your student inventory, or issued in a storage ring?]

"I'll take the storage ring, thank you."

[Okay, then Participant X1234RQ please wait a bit longer as we get that settled!]

"Okay, but could you please hurry up?" Rin asked politely with a bit of urgency in his voice.

[...]

[Thank you for playing Tower 101 and I hope on your next run you will be able to clear floor twenty-six, Participant X1234RQ!]

"Hopefully, I will but anywho thank you!" Rin said as collected his rewards and placed them in his inventory before disappearing from the tower and returning to the outside world.

To confront his teacher and the headache, he brought upon himself, due to his actions.