Every Floor ending in 5 was special with a duel. Josh entered the Tower.
The previous floors had been extremely spacious but this one was different.
Josh found himself in what looked to be a castle room. One that was crumbling. The stone floor was cracked in many places. The ever-present red glow was there…indoor, somehow.
[Welcome to Your First Duel! Please choose! Boring Opponent! | Fun Opponent!]
Josh unhesitantly picked the second option. He liked that he was given a choice again.
[Have Fun! Try to Unalive Your Opponent! ;)]
Sometimes the Tower system really liked to be cheeky. Before long appeared a green and small creature. Obviously a goblin. One with a red name that was surrounded by a red glow.
<Gobu The Swift Lv8☠️ >
Josh dashed forward and slashed its neck promptly.
*TING*
His dagger seemed to have been stopped by the red energy used for the teleportation.
Spawn invincibility?
It too had a small dagger. It used it to stab Josh. It is only when it went on the offensive that finally its protection went away.
Josh figured out a few things.
One, the goblin was faster than him. That much was a given with his name and higher level.
There was also something else. It had a skill. It was the first time Josh saw a melee one.
From time to time, the goblin's attacks would generate illusory images. As in Josh would see a phantom blade and arm aimed at a weak spot before realizing it was only a trick.
Thanks to this skill, the goblin managed to fight Josh for a long time. Not that it was strong, but that Josh kept observing the target. He wanted to figure out exactly how it worked.
After an hour or so Josh figured he wouldn't be able to learn anything. That is when he ended it, with one plunge of his dagger in the goblin's throat. Blood came pissing out as he retracted his weapon.
Josh wasn't sure how Health Points worked exactly. This creature's HP couldn't be that low and yet it had died so easily. Josh couldn't help but think that maybe destroying the vitals would mean death regardless.
Now how was Josh able to easily defeat it? Well, he had found a glaring flaw in the technique. The after images were very realistic. So much that even Josh could barely tell the difference with his eyes.
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Instead, he felt it. There was no killing intent at all in that blade. It was after all nothing but a mirage.
As the goblin used its energy on wasteful deception, Josh had used his for killing.
Josh also realized that the creature's swordsmanship (daggership?) was substandard.
But maybe that was just Josh being stronger than his level. He had trained for a while on Earth. Maybe that was why he had completely stomped the competition in the level-based match-up.
Not that he thought himself invincible. Anyone that trains for barely 2 years and thinks so is a fool and an idiot. That is when Josh noticed something on the ground.
As the goblin disappeared in red particles, he saw a small gem on the ground.
<Memory Fragment F: Phantom Blade>
Wow! Was this what Josh had been needing all this time?!
He had skill points now he just needed to…no! He wouldn't recklessly use it. Anyone else would have been ecstatic in his position. It was a skill after all!
Josh remained calm. He wanted to learn more about it before he used it.
Then he paid attention to the system prompt. It offered him to challenge it again.
How awesome! There was no respawn to wait for?! For some reason, the Fun option was greyed out. Josh still clicked on it.
[Error you have already completed this challenge!]
Josh still kept clicking it.
[Error you already claimed your guaranteed reward!]
Josh still kept tapping the option.
[…. Enjoy fighting a hard life and death battle again for no reason….!]
Then with a red glow, another goblin appeared.
<Gobu The Strong Lv8☠️ >
Now that was more like it! Josh simply played with this one again.
It seemed the only thing it had going for it was that it had increased strength. Absolutely nothing else.
For some reason, it had a dagger too. It did not fit its fighting style…at all. It seemed the tower did not care about such incongruities. Josh wouldn't care either.
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As it didn't have a skill Josh simply slew it. Then started another grey button mashing.
Until finally the system stopped fighting it. It seemed like the system had some intelligence to it. But it didn't seem to have a developed consciousness.
Quite like an AI that would plug premade sentences at the right moment. At least this is how Josh saw it. Before long he had fought…
<Gobu The Sturdy Lv8☠️ >
<Gobu The Anti-Mage Lv8☠️ >
<Gobu The Wise Lv8☠️ >
<Gobu The Charming Lv8☠️ >
<Gobu With Glasses Lv8☠️ >
With some repeats.
Josh found some of these to be questionable, to say the least. Every time a repeat came, Josh simply got rid of it instantly.
At some point, the system stopped using the life and death expression. Even its non-conscious self figured out there was no danger whatsoever. Josh finally left after leveling up.
He couldn't help but think that whoever designed this tower was catering to the casuals.
A level every Floor?!
Then again it was possible to go faster but it didn't seem worth it. As in fighting stronger monsters didn't provide more XP.
Ah, but fighting lower-level ones was worthless too. This in turn would force people to climb.
Honestly, Josh could already predict that at some point it would become harder. Simply because it was called the Dimensional Tower. One that connected many worlds together.
What were the chances that humans were the strongest race across the many worlds? Low. Very low. Humans relied on technology to dominate. Said technology was disabled in the Tower. Even the UW.
Exiting the Tower, he decided to look into his new Memory Fragment. Josh was that sort of man, reckless on some things, but extremely careful on others.
A quick search gave him the address of a self-proclaimed Skill Researcher. Self-proclaimed because he wasn't part of the government.
Most people only cared about the list of all available skills and how to get them. Josh checked the man's official page and quite liked it. This man apparently pushed it a step further. Researching the why and how.
Something that most netizens seemed to deem extremely useless. At least judging by the number of hate comments he was getting.
Josh couldn't help but think that the government probably had these projects going on but was simply not sharing them with the public.
Thus, he left for the D district where most houses were located. Why did he pick such an unreliable target in his search for information?
Because Josh figured out that his situation was pretty unique anyway. He had also seen how ignorant most people seemed to be. Something they disregarded may just have potential.
Just to prove his point Josh entered a random message thread. Then on the Floor 5 entry, he wrote:
JustBuyingSoySauce:
"For this Floor, you want to pick the harder option over and over so you can get used to many fighting styles. Especially since enemies are still sluggish."
Indeed, before long he got many negative reactions. A ban later, he resumed his walk toward his destination.
Josh couldn't help but look forward to it. The man he was going to meet seemed…unique.
[Status]
Josh Malum Lv6
#STATS# (12)
HP: 600
Mana:600
Magic Ability:60
Strength:120
Agility:120
Defense:6
Magic Resist:6
#SKILLS# (12)
-F Weapon Mastery
[Credits: 51]