Chapter 27：Epiphany

With the end of each round, a new monster is summoned to the trial grounds. A round ends when someone clears the tower in the middle. On top of the tower, a single giant bell exists. Whoever rings this bell would gain the insignia of the conquer, signifying their achievement in the tower. There were other types of insignias, each type having a different requirement to be obtained. The Conqueror's Insignia was only one of many, whoever conquered the tower gained this one.

The monster summoned is unleashed into the trial grounds when a round ends. Whoever slays this monster would be bestowed with the insignia of the slayer. This was also to prevent people from hiding in the trial grounds forever. To escape the powerful monsters, it would be better to try to conquer the tower or gain other insignias. Different actions provided different insignias, each having their differences. However, the one you get on the first round would usually determine your path in the later trials.

They were 5 floors in total in the tower, but each one looked like a different world. On the first floor, Yurirl found himself in a circular arena. Armored knights rushed out of the door and they started to encircle them. Yurirl wasn't fazed in the slightest as he believed his conviction would break through everything. He wondered if Jenny was alright but slightly chuckled as he remembered her fighting style. It was her specialty to fight for large battles like this one.

A knight approached him and Yurirl's Divine Sense showed its powers. He studied the approaching enemy in slow motion as red spots appeared along with the knight's armor. They were the weak seams made in the blacksmithing process. Mana surged from his blade as he slashed toward the red spot. With the mana he honed until now, he was able to slash down the knight effortlessly.

Another one attacked, the same happened again. This process repeated itself until all of the knights were down. Yurirl breathed mana in and out to replenish his body. Although it didn't take a toll on him, he still wanted to challenge the next floor with optimum conditions.

As he ascended to the second floor, he was met with a flower field. As he didn't expect such scenery on this floor, he was dazed for a second. However, he regained his calm and started plodding through the field of grass and flowers. He trampled over many flowers leaving a path of destruction in his footsteps. He finally reached the tree in the middle where a single figure had their back towards him.

"Is that who you became, Yurirl?" The figure turned around. Yurirl's body was shaking visibly as he saw who it was. A girl with a one-piece sky-blue dress stood in front of him. Her eyebrows were curved giving her a gentle appearance along with her oval face. Her gentle face, however, was adorned with a sad expression.

"You… How come you're here? No, no! This is fake! You're dead!" Yurirl took a step back and his foot stepped on something. As he looked down, it was a hand stained with blood. His gaze followed the trail he just came from. Corpses filled his way, there was so much blood that it was hard to see the ground.

"This is what you've done." The girl was next to him.

"No! I did it for you!" Yurirl let go of his sword as he grabbed the girl by the shoulders. She winced in pain and he had to let her go. Her sky-blue dress was dyed with blood now.

"That's what you did to me. Believing everything was for my sake, you killed all those people. What about what I want?" She took a step forward. She reached out her hands placing them around his neck.

"Did you do it for me, or was it simply to get me back by your side?" The girl whispered as she tightened her grip around his neck. Yurirl couldn't breathe nor could he see through his tears. But he knew one thing, that these words were true. This, however, was not her.

His Divine Ability refused to work. Yurirl used his mana to shake her off and grabbed his sword again. With the handle back in his hand, his conviction was back. He slashed at the person he loved the most and tore her apart. This was the part of the path he chose. The path of the conqueror. Everything he did was to reach the goal he had in mind.

As the scenery disappeared, what remained was a desolate brick floor. There were no flowers, no greenery, nothing but a stairway to the next floor. Yurirl looked at the floor. This was what he chose, this was all that is left. That's why he needed the holy crown.

***

With a poison strike, Arthur finished off the other monster. His mana was now empty and he needed to rest. However, before that, he needed to absorb the essence of these two monsters. He walked over and absorbed the essence of the red-gem monster.

[Strength has increased by 1.]

[Strength has increased by 1.]

It seems he could hunt these monsters for a while as they still gave him two stats point. Arthur enjoyed the feeling of getting stronger as the sword felt slightly lighter in his hand. He then walked over to the other monster and absorbed its essence. However, he was surprised that it didn't give him a Strength point.

[Agility has increased by 1.]

[Agility has increased by 1.]

It seems their essence was different depending on their task. That meant that he could hunt more as each monster gave him a different essence, in theory. However, he still needed to make sure.

Arthur picked up the mana cores and absorbed one of them while he pocketed the other. He wanted to use the other core for research later about his permutant runes.

[Mana has increased by 1.]

[Mana has increased by 1.]

He read the messages that appeared in front of him as he felt new strength enter his body. He enjoyed the feeling of growing stronger after every battle. Arthur resumed his hunt after resting for a while and refilling his mana, hunting several other monsters. The number of stats dwindled after the first two monsters becoming only one point per monster, but it was still fine. Arthur hunted until it was late at night before he walked out of the underground cave. He needed to hunt some prey to eat before finding a place to sleep.

***

The next morning, Arthur woke up in the underground cave. He had moved some rocks from here and there to block the dead-end he hunted the first two monsters at. Even though the monsters could break down the rocks, the obstacles serve as an alarm too.

As he got up and dusted himself, he missed the bed he took for granted dearly. It has been several days since the last time he took a shower, and he made a mental note to swim in the stream when he gets out of here. But for now, he needed to get stronger.

[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]

[Level: 6 (56%)]

[Strength: 31]

[Agility: 33]

[Stamina: 22]

[Perception: 14]

[Mana: 18/18]

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (7%), Useable Runes: 7]

[Skills: Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill (F), Poison Strike (F), Camouflage (F)]

Two of his stats have shot through 30 and with his runes, he was well over 35. This change was so drastic that Arthur felt like a different person. He wondered if his body could handle so much strengthening in a short amount of time, but he wasn't too worried as he felt great.

Before he started hunting again, he sat down to try some things. Right now, he had 3 runes that he didn't make a permanent rune for. Those were [Protection-I], [Detection-I], and lastly [Absorb]. He took out his core and tried to fuse it with his Legacy rune, but it didn't work. Furthermore, the legacy told him that he wasn't able to make permanent rune from Legacy runes. It was as he expected and that left him with two more options.

He had left three mana cores to try these runes, now he had an extra one. He then fused the Protection-I rune with one of the cores, and he got a new message.

[Active rune has been inscribed. A Skill has been created: Barrier (F)]

Arthur felt his blood coursing through his veins as adrenal rushed. He was so excited by this discovery and the unlimited potential it brought. He held into the semi-ethereal rune as he tried to fuse it into his own body. Unexpectedly, his body rejected it.

[Rune has already been learned.]

That's when it clicked in his head. Skills were a manifestation of runes. The two had similar effects, but a very fundamental difference. If skills were a program, then the runes were the code that created this program. He always thought of runes as new powers he obtained, but he was wrong.

These were the alphabets of creation.

The difference between skills and runes was the same if Arthur used the same analogy of a program and a code. Everyone could use a program; it was created so that a user could have its benefits without needing to understand how the program worked. The skills were the same. No one knew how a gesture of hand brought down lightning.

Arthur had an epiphany at that moment. He wasn't a fighter, king, or conqueror. He wasn't walking the path of supremacy and power; he was walking the path of creation. The legacy he obtained wasn't meant to make him simply a powerful person that could destroy the world if they wished. It was to make him… someone who could recreate the world.