Chapter 85: [Tower Restrictions!]

[Adrian's POV!]I saw her raising a single finger at my illusion. Since the opponent was really strong, I then mixed a bit of 'Energy' into those illusions to create a fake presence. Using a bit more of it, I masked my presence over my already reduced presence.

-Whoosh!

-BOOM!!!

She then tried catching the illusion as she punched hard, destroying the wall in front of her. With the extent of power shown in the [Map], I think she was barely using any of it.

'Well. At least she is underestimating me. Though how should I defeat her? It certainly seems impossible given the difference of power between us.

Even if I use everything in my arsenal, I doubt I could even put a scratch on her,' I wondered as I kept erasing and creating more illusion matching her speed, enough to barely dodge her but not enough to make her understand that I could easily do much better. Sёarch* The NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Since she is testing me, I think it would be better to let her see that I am struggling. This way, I can have her guard down for emergency situations.

Another thing that I noticed was the huge amount of dirty energy coming off from her. From the deep dirty purple color shown on the map, it seems like she too was using the same [Corruption Energy!] as that vampire baron that I defeated before.

30 seconds passed as the fight continued. A dozen houses and walls were already collapsed as I slowly moved the 'fight' towards the edge of the city, hoping to take into the forest where I can freely fight in case needs arise.

"You sure are fast. Skilled even. I am going to increase my speed a bit. Try and see if you can dodge me now," that girl spoke with excitement in her eyes as she increased her speed even faster.

Since I couldn't match her speed cause she would notice that easily. I decided to show my desperate attempts to escape using illusion. Since it won't be suspicious any more, let's take her away from here towards the forest area.

'Well. It's not like it is a completely hopeless situation either,' I sighed as I followed my illusion and that girl, observing their rapid exchange. If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it without putting any thought to this charade.

Even though I doubt I can defeat her, it was a good thing she wasn't using all of her powers. Plus I can use my [Debug] skill to erase a huge amount of her power while getting bonus GM Points. Though I should be careful with how I deal with this situation.

If I rush it, I might end up having a bounty on my head for a person capable of erasing that [Corruption Energy!]. As far as I have seen, everything that comes directly from the [Game Master System!] is an anomaly for this world. Something that players can't even dream of having.

While I was focusing on that illusion, I saw that girl stopping her punches before she stood there, while the illusion took a few steps away from her, maintaining a proper distance between the two.

"Pfft~ hahahaha…. You actually were able to avoid it! Hahahaha! You truly are something!" That girl laughed out loud with a bright smile as she looked at my illusion. She then continued speaking as she sat on one of the broken branches of the trees,

"All right. A deal is a deal. Since you have lasted this long, I will let you in on a secret."

She then took out a purple knife that gave off that dirty energy. My eyes narrowed at her, while she had a mysterious smile. She then asked,

"Tell me Crowley. What do you think of the tower?"

"…"

I was quiet as I just stared at her. Observing my face, she laughed out a little before speaking,"you see," her eyes then turned serious as she continued,"it's a prison. A confinement."

"The tower binds you in a game that you will continue for the rest of your life. You might be thinking that with your skills, you might be able to get as high as possible, reaching the heights of your glory but… it's a foolish dream. Everyone has a limit on their body, their level. A point where they cannot move forward from."

"You probably don't understand but you see I am at least a hundred times stronger than what I have shown you. But I can never cross Floor 27. Do you know why? Because that's a floor that restricts one's physical skills completely. And I, someone whose [Gift] and [Skills] are entirely based on physical abilities, can't even cross that level on my own."

Her eyes looked at a distant gaze, as if she was recalling something from a deep past before she gave out a deep sigh and then continued,"it's not just me. A lot many people have been stopped because of the stupid rules that the tower sets for them. Fun fact, the highest floor someone has ever conquered is 79. We don't even know what's past them."

She then stood up as she began walking towards my illusion.

"Since I can't break free of the limitations, I was lost, you know? I wanted to die. But then someone found me. A person whom I respect enough to give my life to. He showed me a way to break through the restrictions of the tower. To increase my power even more than I can do so."

She walked around my illusion as she observed me from top to bottom. I was worried that she might notice something, hence I put extra efforts to perfect that illusion. Though given how she was simply smiling, I doubt she figured out anything.

"It was corruption energy. It allows you to break certain parts of your system, increasing your stats and skills to whole another level. Sadly in my case, I couldn't break free through the 27th Floor, but I was still able to become one of the strongest person in the entire tower."

"Did you fail the test even with your new power?" I asked her. She shook her head before answering,

"My gift doesn't allow me to have anything other than physical skills. I even have a slot with an A-Grade Mana skill right now that I never used. It was a momentary happiness. But hey, you aren't as unlucky as I am right? You can have this power and reach new heights."

At first, I wanted to ask her what was the catch of having such a power. But somehow, I was more intrigued about something else.

"Are [Gifts] fixed?" I asked.

"Yeah. They are. In the final tutorial, the 10th one, you will get a chance to increase the grade of your tutorial but that's it. Though don't get your hopes up. In the entire tower, only 4 people were able to get to tutorial 10, and only 1 succeeded in conquering it," she answered as she looked at my illusion.

Using the [Accelerated Analysis!]I looked at her [Gift!] for a moment.

[Gift: Edge of One's Will

Grade: Immortal Grade-10

Status: Corrupted (All effects multiplied by 10)

Effects:

-All Physical Skills Cooldown reduced to 0.

-All Physical Skills will have their power increased by a factor of 100!

-All Physical Skills will have their duration increased indefinitely!

-All Physical Stats will be increased by 1000!

-Allows the user to increase their maximum physical output by a factor of 1000!

Restrictions: The user cannot use any skills or abilities other than those affecting her physical aspects!]

'A cheat skill that limits her mana potential, huh?' I thought before looking at her with a deep look.

"So. Would you like to have your power increased by at least 200%?" She asked me with a businesswoman-like smile. Though I was still in deep thinking as I answered her,

"If I… can help you get a mana based skill that you can use. What can you give me in return?"

…

[Location: About 100 kilometers away from the City where Adrian and Seat 11 were!]

A woman in white dress was walking through the forest. Though rather than walking, she was mostly teleporting from one place to another. Her eyes were curiously looking at everything around her.

Her eyes could see dozens of kilometers around her and she can sense all forms of energies as far as 100 kilometers.

She was Nora, the soul of the first floor, who just somehow ended up in the tutorial. Right now, she was sightseeing through the beautiful scenery around her. A happy smile was ever present on her face, as she looked at everything that was around her.

"Huh? What's that? That stench… hmmm… " she mumbled as she felt the dirty energy coming off from a place far away from her. Though she didn't like the feeling of that energy, she was curious to see what it was.

A dozen wolves attacked her from behind as she stood there trying to feel from where the energy was coming from. Ignoring the wolves, she carefully pinpointed where the energy was coming from.

Those wolves were just about to pound on her, until they suddenly paused and then got confused as if they forgot why they were there. Then turning around, they began running in a different direction from Nora.

"Let's see what is there," Nora spoke as she then teleported towards that direction. She was happy that she got to see so many sceneries, but she has yet to come across even a single living being she can talk to. Hence, she rushed towards that energy, hoping to find at least someone there.

"It's making me excited," she spoke with her smile blossoming even more than before.