CH 56

Moolkung! Moolkung! Moolkung! Moolkung!!

A slime the size of a large cushion shook its sky-blue pudding-like body, threatening me. It looked like nothing but dancing around.

The embodied Agnes covered her mouth with both hands. 

<Oh my, what should I do? So cute……!>

Pooch!

I put aura on Europe and cut the slime with a single slash. Hm! As expected of a famous sword.

“Let’s go up, Agnes.”

<……>

“What’s wrong?”

<You really value efficiency.>

“Thanks for the compliment.”

The loot was retrieved from a pool of sticky sap. There were plenty of ingredients to make alchemy coagulants. This is quite good.

I went straight up the stone steps to the next floor.

[<System> Tower of Trials 2nd floor boss, ‘Lumpy Poisonous Spore Mushroom’ has appeared!]

Pussack!

Kueek!

Mushrooms burst and spores fell like sleet from all directions. If left alone in contact with the body they could cause poisoning.

“Detox.”

I also need to raise my Holy Power skill level.

“Come on, to the next floor!”

[<System> Tower of Trials 3rd floor boss, ‘Hungry man-eating plant Nepenthes’ has appeared!]

Whoops!

A huge tulip with tentacle roots shattered into pieces.

“Hmm, is this the difficulty of climbing the stairs up to the 300th floor? Well, next.”

[<System> The 4th floor boss of the Tower of Trials, ‘A vicious Ogre’ has appeared!]

Slash!

“Ugh. Mammals are a first, this could be seen as stomach training. Next.”

[<System> Tower of Trials 5th floor boss, ‘Skull knight crazed by resentment’ has appeared!]

“Oh, undead? He could be killed with heal. Come on.… Oh, he’s not coming. It must be scared because of the passive ‘Notoriety that resonates in the underworld’. Seems like my side has to go, Heal! Heal! Heal!”

Kii-Kiiieik!

“May you sleep peacefully under the name of God. Then on the next floor.”

It was roughly like that.

As the kids who looked like bosses came out but died in one hit, the time to climb the stairs was longer than the time to kill the boss. The most successful place, however, was the 15th floor.

[<System> The Tower of Trials 15th floor boss, ‘Infinite Zombie Summoning Circle’ has appeared!]

Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-hoo!…. 

“I will stay in here for a while and work out. Healing level will go up a lot.”

<What kind of Heal do you learn by attacking……>

“What do you mean attacking? Attitude is important. I treat zombies as patients and heal them with compassion.”

<That’s not what your face says.>

“Patients keep running away. Sheesh, it’s not like I can turn off this infamous passive. Hey, stop there!”

Whoo whoo……!

I worked out until the overloaded summoning circle burned down and disappeared and Heal level had just reached 10 after a beautifully successful completed mission.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

<I can’t believe you’re hungry after dealing with zombies.>

During the tutorial, the system reduces the emotional shock I received, so it didn’t hurt me much even if I watched a pretty horrendous scene.

If I get used to it visually, I wondered if I would become dull to some extent even after the tutorial was over and the mental barrier was lifted.

I hope so. In order to survive in this world, it seems that training my stomach is essential.

I gave an appropriate reply to Agnes.

“There are no zombies now. After a certain amount of time after the attack is over, the body disappears, so it’s really handy.”

I sat down in a suitable place on the floor and ate a sandwich.

The menu was a sweet potato salad sandwich and a chicken breast sandwich. Perhaps because of the dry food, I suddenly wondered about someone’s well-being.

‘Is our Pushover Free Pass doing well?……’

……no way.

He will be rolling over and over again in the sweet potato field, before the beginning of the original work, to build up the heartbreaking background history of the protagonist.

I’m stuck on tutorials and there’s nothing I can do for him. I can just try my best to do what I can right now.

After finishing my meal, I shook off my seat and stood up.

“I’ll go up to the next floor.”

✠

I dashed up by defeating each floor of the tower in a ruthless way.

I think it was a great attack speed.

On the first day alone, I cleared up to twenty-five floors, on the second day, twenty-two, on the third day, eighteen floors, on the fourth day, fifteen floors, on the fifth day, ten floors, on the sixth day, seven floors.

So on the seventh day…

Kiiieehhh……!

Woohoo!

The half-human half-beast harpy, whose wings were cut off, plummeted to the floor. When I saw it wriggling in the middle of a pool of blood, I decided to show mercy. 

Pusch.

I put Europe into the harpy’s vital point and turned it at a right angle.

[<System> congratulations! You defeated the 100th floor boss of the Tower of Trials, ‘Raging Harpy’.]

It was when I was looting over the corpse of the boss.

[‘The Harsh Commentator who adjusts the balance’ is crying because an OP climbed to the 100th floor in a week!]

‘I’m pretty good, right?’

[‘The Troubled Architect of the Tower of Trials’ says that it was just a tutorial so far, but the real Tower of Trials starts on the 101st floor.]

‘I see. I’ll look forward to it.’ 

As always, I climbed the stone steps to go to the next floor.

The structure of the tower was simple. If you go up the stone stairs that seem to surround the rim of the tower, you will see an iron gate leading to the next floor. Behind the iron gate was a gym-size hall, and the boss was always waiting in the center of it to welcome me warmly.

However, this formula was broken on the 101st floor.

Twitetete!

When I opened the iron door, a forest appeared. It was too big to be an indoor garden and I could even see the sky.

<From the 101st floor, the battlefield appears to be transformed into a special environment. It’s like a dungeon.>

“Uh, well, it’s nice to see the sunlight after a long time.”

<It was a shame that we only fought on a well-polished floor of a training gym, but this worked out quite well. You should fight in places where various terrain features are different.>

The boss on the 101st floor was the Magma Golem in the middle of the volcano. I was able to encounter the boss only after untimely mountain climbing. As the architect said, I felt the jump in difficulty from the 101st floor. I couldn’t finish it like I used to.

Agnes showed off her skills as an instructor.

<Keep your view wide. You can’t look back during battle. You have to figure out the terrain of the place you are fighting in by shifting your point of view.>

<It’s better to have on hands experience. Let’s use this terrain. The more cunning and agile the enemy, the better indirect attack works. Try deflecting the whip at the obstacle.>

As a model cadet, I diligently followed Agnes’ instructions.

“Whoa, haha……, ha……”

When I finally caught the boss, I was completely exhausted. All I could do was stand on top of the cooled magma golem with Europe cleaved on it.

<You did a great job, Ellet.>

“This…… Is this what an A-level boss looks like?”

<Yes.>

It meant that this one was on the same level as Ardiman.

At that time, I used Descent and made Ardiman almost die with only one ultimate skill. I realized once again how deceitful Descent was.

‘No wonder the penalty was also fatal.’

As I went upstairs, the attack speed gradually slowed down, and I could attack only one or two floors a day.

After a month had passed, it became difficult to clear even one floor a day.

After the seasons changed and I broke through the 200th floor, it was only possible to clear a floor in three or four days after making several attempts.

The attack period gradually increased. One a week, one every ten days, one every quarter… …Sometimes it was one a month.

That’s how much I’ve grown. In particular, the ranking rose a lot thanks to the high level of Holy skill. 

The seasons cycled and the year changed twice.

It was the summer of my fifteen years of age. 

The day I succeeded in clearing the 265th floor I smiled with satisfaction and tried to activate the healing skill on a scratched wound.

[<System> Basic skill ‘Healing Lv.60 (+10)’ is activated.]

It’s a great level. Now, there is no shortage of places to go as a bonafide healer. This was even a pretty decent level that was purely raised by actual practice and hard work.

The necklace rang.

<It’s overwhelming compared to the other skills. The sacrifices of the undead were valuable.>

“It was a noble sacrifice.”

<But can I be honest with you?>

“Of course. We are that much close after all.”

<You and Healer don’t quite match. No matter how I look at it, you are an attacking type.>

“Well, didn’t I tell you that my hope for the future is ‘a useful healer’? That’s why I choose to awaken the divine power first.”

<Really? I can’t believe it.>

I smiled happily and looked up at the blue sky on the 265th floor. It felt like I wanted to shout something like.

‘Are you watching, Pushover Free Pass!’

I raised the level like this to heal you.

It was a time when I was happy. 

<By the way.>

Suddenly, Agnes embodied herself in front of me with divine light. Her face had been erased of playfulness.

<I think the time has come, Ellet.>

“Yes.”

I also took a serious attitude and posture.

Coming here, my growth was not limited to the divine power. Especially today, there has been a big change for me.

Agnes opened her mouth in the most solemn atmosphere.

<I’ll ask you again. Cadet Ellet, do you still want to learn the Whip Sword?>

“Yes, Agnes.”

I have reached the level of an aura Expert, the minimum standard for beginning to learn The Whip Sword technique.

[<System> Your ranking changes. Current Rank: 52nd (▲51)]

As the heat in my core was captured, the rankings rose sharply. It seemed that the system finally recognized me as a person with dual abilities.

[<Quest> Achievement of ‘Compulsory education time for a wise transmigrated life (for S-class transmigrators)’.]

[<System> This quest can be completed and rewarded when the tutorial ends. Keep your rank in the top 100 until the end of the tutorial.]

It’s not bad. I need this quest to remain so I can keep checking my ranking.

‘There are people I want to compare with.’

Agnes smiled before my eyes.

<Welcome, now you are my cadet and disciple.>

“I will do my best, Master!”

I took out a whip sword for training that I had prepared earlier as I shouted loudly.

Agnes ordered the training in the dungeons inside the Tower to be suspended for a while so I could focus on training in whip sword fencing, footwork, and meditation.

I steadily followed, mastering the techniques, building up aura, and laying a solid foundation.