While clearing floors 5 to 9 was a breeze for Rocky, the horror of the mysterious phenomenon 'Vorithra Slyithen' finally caught up to him as he stepped into the first evaluation floor of his Climber journey, Floor 10.
Rocky had been nervous heading into floor 10, as after reading about Vladimir's warnings and the experiences of the champions of the past, he knew that the floor evaluation test that he would be receiving would be completely different compared to what other climbers would, as for the normal climbers, a floor 10 evaluation usually revolved around them participating in a test of basic qualities such as speed, intelligence, strength etc.
If the climber was considered as above the par standard, he/she was allowed to move past floor 10, while if they failed in 3 of the six basic tests, they were barred from climbing further until they improved.
Erin and Buhara had both appeared for the floor 10 promotion less than a week ago, having successfully completed theirs with a 'S' and 'SS' evaluation respectively, however, curiously, Sophia had not attempted her floor10 promotion yet, suddenly pretending to fall sick on the day that the entire class was supposed to take it.
Rocky suspected that she definitely knew something about Vorithra Sylithen that he did not, as while she did not seem to know about the exact term or its meaning, she seemed to know the fact that ascension tests were different for other climbers and Champion's.
Rocky tried his best to probe her regarding this topic, however, failed to get anything significant as her own knowledge regarding the topic seemed redundant as she was only told as much as she was needed to know by her brother and father and not shown the full picture, making the limited knowledge that she did possess useless for Rocky.
Taking a gamble, Rocky decided to enter floor 10 anyways as he desperately wished to catch up to the rest of the class, before their weekly trips through the tower from floor 11-20 began.
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Through a nervous heart, Rocky stepped into floor 10, as he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Usually, ascending the tower or reaching a new floor felt just like teleportation, where one just went from a lower concentration of mana to a higher density mana environment, however, overall the experience of jumping between floors felt the same.
However, as Rocky tried to enter floor 10, the chants of Vorithra Sylithen immediately echoed in the air around him as instead of experiencing teleportation, Rocky felt like he had jumped into a warp portal where his body was being constantly stretched and sucked forcefully, as he entered a domain that was forbidden for others.
As Rocky looked around to check for any signs of life or monsters, he found none and instead, a figure materialized before him, stepping out from a dark portal which undoubtedly looked like an extremely high leveled spell.
'A three eyed demon?' Rocky wondered as he looked at its appearance.
The three-eyed demon was unmistakably female, standing at a staggering height of over seven feet.
Her crimson skin shimmered under the ethereal purple glow that enveloped the entire domain, while three piercing eyes adorned her face, with the third positioned squarely on her forehead.
Her three eyes unmistakably radiated a predatory yellow light, fixating on Rocky with an unwavering and almost unsettling intensity.
Her hair, as black as night, cascaded down her shoulders in thick, curling waves, framing her angular features, while sharp cheekbones accentuated a sinister smile, revealing rows of gleaming, dagger-like teeth as two twisted horns jutted from her temples, curving backward like a crown of darkness.
Her physique was formidable yet elegant, with lean, corded muscles visible beneath the intricate armor that adorned her form.
The armor itself seemed crafted from some ancient metal, shaped into swirling patterns and adorned with arcane symbols that glowed faintly in the eerie twilight.
She stood alone confidently in this barren landscape with her long, barbed tail swaying gently behind her as she spoke in a voice both commanding and melodic, "Welcome to the origin realm, Champion of Gemini."
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/// A/N - Mass Release chapter 3/3 ///