Earth armor has leveled up.
It is now trainee grade level 3.
Earth armor has leveled up.
It is now trainee grade level 4.
Time dragged on. Only pure willpower pushed Jason onward. He rationed his food, and because he wasn’t doing anything strenuous, he would be able to last much longer until he starved. Finally, the moment he was waiting for arrived.
Earth armor has broken through to the next grade.
It is now beginner grade.
Earth Armor - Level 1 0% - Beginner
Reduce the damage from all attacks by 1
Now every time it leveled up it would increase by a whole digit. A smile broke out on Jason’s face. He couldn’t be more delighted. In just six hours of lazing about, he had broken through an entire grade. Standing a hundred feet away from the sword now dealt no damage, and yet he was still gaining progress towards a battle physique. He stepped forward to stand ninety-nine feet away and started taking damage again, but it was only a fraction of a digit. Jason made his way until he was ninety feet away before being unable to progress further.
The battle physique was now progressing much faster than before, but at this pace, it would still take hundreds of years. I gotta be patient. The reason why he was able to bear the pain and boredom was the anticipation of increasing his skill level. He knew how hard it was to level them. He once again sat on the ground. It would be some time until earth armor upgraded again.
As Jason was bearing the pain of being slashed apart, the god of battle, Aros, was watching from an independent space.
When the first humans entered the tower, Aros was at a glance able to tell that the humans of Earth had no potential. It was clear that the planet was devoid of mana. He had been a bit impressed that Jason was able to deal with a higher-level field boss with no skills, so he thought he might as well give Jason a chance. Unlike the other gods, Aros had incredibly high standards. No other human had demonstrated decent battle prowess until he saw Jason.
Jason was level 7 with a near perfect mastery over his body, was able to see through to an enemy’s weaknesses and exploit them, anticipate enemy attacks, keep an eye over his surroundings, and so much more. He was lacking in some areas, but considering he had just entered the tower, he was the best seedling Aros had seen. Even if that was the case, Aros’s bottom line was that his champion must possess a battle physique. No ifs ands or buts.
The closer to the sword one was, the purer the battle energy would be. If Jason in his current state was able to touch the sword, he would instantly complete the battle physique trial and be shredded to pieces at the same time.
As time passed, Aros started to grow more and more excited. “The other gods have been picking on me for not having a champion. Has the time to show off my skills finally come?”
After three days, Jason reached the sixty-foot mark. In one week, the forty-foot mark. In two weeks, the thirty-foot mark. It became increasingly harder to progress the closer he got. Aros guessed that the ten-foot mark would be his limit, and after three weeks, his guess turned out to be correct.
Jason’s condition was appalling. He was much thinner than three weeks ago because of rationing his food. There was nothing to quench his throat or satisfy his stomach. In addition to starving, he had a splitting headache.
I’m so close, and yet so far away. He was a mere ten feet away from the sword. The grey tendrils of battle energy were but an arm’s reach away. Jason was certain that if he even touched one of the tendrils, it didn’t matter how high his defense had become, he would instantly be killed.
Even if Jason had more food, he wouldn’t be able to progress the skill much further. The higher a skill was, the harder it was to level. After earth armor reached the veteran grade, it gained experience at a snail’s pace.
Earth Armor - Level 1 0.9% - Veteran
Reduce the damage from all attacks by 100.
Battle Physique: 99.9%
At any moment he would gain the battle physique, and yet a frown appeared on his face. His mind raced. Will the trial end immediately after I gain the battle physique? Should I go for it?
Jason had a crazy idea. He wanted to rush up to the sword and store it in his inventory. It was a daring plan. If he miscalculated, he might end up dead. Yet even so, he wanted to give it a try. Aros might have said the sword has no grade, but it's definitely comparable to a divine-grade sword.
Jason knew better than most how powerful a divine-grade weapon was. Roy was the only one among the last hundred survivors to have a divine-grade weapon, and it was of significant help in killing Baal, the final boss of the tower. If he gave up the chance to acquire a divine-grade weapon now, he would definitely regret it.
“Screw it!” Jason commanded his body to summon what power it had left. He kicked off the ground and dashed madly towards the sword. For the past minute he had been watching the grey tendrils of energy, and he had seen an opening. This was his chance.
As soon as he stepped within eight feet a cut appeared on his cheek.
-1
At six feet, blood sprayed from his chest as a long gash appeared.
-24
At four feet, he gritted his teeth as pain shot up from his waist. Without looking down, he knew it wasn’t good.
-53
At two feet, he tumbled to the ground. His leg had been cut straight off by the battle energy. Instinctively, he pushed out with his arm, his fingers stretched. In that split second, as he hit the ground, his finger touched the surface of the blade.
“GET IN!” he roared with all his might.
The air turned gentle. Jason lifted his head and saw a hole in the ground. There was no sword. Next to the hole were bits of bloody flesh. His hand, wrist, and lower arm were cut down to the bone. Looking down at his body, he saw that his left leg had been severed at the knee, and that he was covered in gashes of various sizes. He broke out in a cold sweat. That was more dangerous than I thought.
“Are you crazy?!” Aros’s voice rang out from beside him.
Jason forcibly bore the pain racking his body as he gave Aros a grin. “Hey, it’s a nice sword, all right?”
Aros trembled in rage. His sword! His beloved sword had been plucked away by some twenty-something-year-old baby. That sword had accompanied him for hundreds of years; it was a precious keepsake of his. Yet now it had been taken by some brat?
“You-” Aros forced down what he wanted to say when he noticed Jason was unconscious. He took a closer look at Jason’s wounds and fell silent. Having the will to enter that field of battle energy to take the sword when he is so weak takes incredible determination. Bah, I might as well let him have it.
“Forget it. Let the karma between me and the sword be severed.” Aros waved his hand dismissively, but his heart was pained.
A short time later, Jason awoke with a start. He habitually inspected his surroundings, and only when he determined he was safe did he let out a sigh of relief. No longer was he in that white space, but instead back on the third floor. He no longer felt any pain, hunger, or thirst. Looking down, he found that his body and weight had returned to normal. I’ll have to thank Aros for restoring my body.
He froze. What happened? Did I pass? And the sword? Where’s the sword?
Jason quickly sent his mind into the inventory ring. Only when he found the sword hovering in the air did he relax. The rest of the inventory was empty. Where’s my equipment?
He laughed bitterly when he realized the equipment he stored inside his inventory had been destroyed by Aros’s sword. Looks like I need to get new gear. His earth armor skill was better than the goblin equipment anyway, so it was no big deal.
There’s no way I can wield Aros’s sword as I am now. If Jason took Aros’s sword in hand, he would be killed in a matter of seconds. He’d have to wait until he was stronger to use it. He wondered if he passed the trial of Aros.
He summoned his character screen and froze.
“This, this is a lit
tle too good to be true right?” he muttered aloud.
Being the champion of Aros is a little too overpowered, isn’t it?!
Chapter 8
Battle Physique Stage 1
Gain +25 Strength, +25 agility, +10 Vitality, +10 Endurance, +5 Tenacity, +5 Fortitude.
Gain 100 Battle Energy.
Gain the 'Chop', 'Cleave', and 'Sever' skills.
*Regenerate 1 Battle Energy a second up to a maximum of 100.
*A Battle Physique can be upgraded to the next stage by absorbing Battle Energy from weapons.
Battle Energy required to reach Stage 2: 0/100,000.
Becoming the champion of a god gave a boost in stats. It differed depending on the god, and it looked like Aros focused on strength and agility, with vitality and endurance coming in second. Roy was always discreet about what he gained from being the champion of Piety, so Jason didn’t have a clear idea on what being a champion truly meant. Only now did he realize how powerful a champion was.
In total, he gained eighty stats, which was the equivalent of sixteen levels. He was only level 10, and yet he had the same stats as a level twenty-six ascender if you didn’t include their equipment.
After gathering his thoughts, he focused on the three skills he’d gained. He was familiar with the skills chop, cleave, and sever, but when he read their information, he was completely baffled. Aren’t they completely different?
Chop - Stage 1
Consume 10 Battle Energy to deal (150% Damage x Battle Physique Stage) to a target.
Kill 10,000 monsters with this skill to reach Stage 2: 0/10,000.
Cleave - Stage 1
Consume 50 Battle Energy to deal (125% Damage x Battle Physique Stage) to all enemies within ten feet in front of you.
Kill 10,000 monsters with this skill to reach Stage 2: 0/10,000.
Sever - Stage 1
Consume 100 Battle Energy to deal (100% Damage x Battle Physique Stage) to a target. Has a high chance to sever a limb.
Sever 10,000 limbs with this skill to reach Stage 2: 0/10,000.
Not only did the skills consume battle energy instead of stamina, they were also superior to their ‘normal’ counterparts. Jason had leveled chop, cleave, and sever to high levels before he’d traveled to the past, so he was deeply familiar with them. Most importantly, the skills had no cooldown. He could use them repeatedly if he wanted. The skills given by Aros were far and beyond the ones Jason was used to.
Hm? Jason focused on the requirements to upgrade the skills to stage two. It looked like the skills didn’t require continuous use to upgrade them, but actually had a quest within the skill itself. Considering that he could only use chop ten times, cleave two times, and sever one time before he ran out of battle energy, it would take quite a while for him to complete the skill quests.
I need to get more battle energy. Most likely, he would gain even more battle energy once he upgraded his battle physique to stage two. Jason took another glance at the battle physique information and sure enough, there was yet another skill quest.
It looks like I can extract battle energy from weapons. I wonder how much a crude grade weapon gives? The skills granted by being a champion were powerful, but so were the requirements to level them up. He was already getting a headache just thinking about how difficult it would be. If I had enough money, I could purchase weapons in bulk. Right now, he only had less than a silver to his name.
Looks like I need to speed up the plan to sell maps to those top-tier guilds. He was planning on waiting until he was stronger before initiating contact with the top guilds, but if he could acquire a vast sum of money now, his power would skyrocket. The only problem was what they would do if they found out how weak he was. He just gained quite a bit of strength, true, but compared to top-tier guilds, he was still an ant. Would they try to capture him to torture him for his knowledge? He wanted to avoid such a scenario at all costs.
After familiarizing himself with his skills, he raised his hand and willed the skill chop to activate. Jason felt a foreign energy rise up from within his body and travel to his hand. A thin grey energy covered his hand. It reminded him of the energy exuded by Aros’s sword.
Jason found a nearby goblin miner to test the skill on. Even though he didn’t wield a weapon, the skill could still be used, it was just that the damage would be much lower. An attack was based on the stats of the user plus the damage of the weapon. Considering that Jason’s stats were vastly superior to the goblin miner, the attack dealt significant damage.
Goblin Miner - Level 10
Health: 26/100
A deep cut down to the bone appeared on the goblin’s chest and it was sent into a stunned state. Before it could recover, Jason finished it off with another chop. As the goblin miner dispersed into light, he looked at his hand in surprise. It’s so powerful without a weapon.
“Hey, you!” A familiar voice came from behind him.
Jason turned around and saw Ashley standing not far from him. Unlike her cheery appearance from before, she looked like she had something weighing heavily on her mind. “What’s up?”
Ashley furrowed her brows as she saw the tattered clothes that Jason was wearing. Big sis said he might be one of them, but can’t he at least take care of his appearance? I can almost see it. Ashley stepped closer and forced a smile. “Are you perhaps taking the trial of a top guild? Which one?”
Oh? Her mistake might benefit me here. Jason knew what she was referring to. Top guilds didn’t care about how powerful your gear was or how mighty your skills were. What they cared about was talent and only talent. Equipment could be traded and skills bought, but talent could not. As such, top guilds had a different trial compared to the other guilds.
Enter the tower and climb to a designated floor without any help. You had to rely on yourself and only yourself. Only those who passed this trial would gain the qualifications to join those top guilds. Jason had poor equipment but high combat prowess, so Ashley had mistaken him for one of those legendary characters.
Jason smiled faintly. “I can’t tell you what guild.”
“Oh.” Ashley was slightly disappointed, but she quickly hid it away. She bit her lip. “Since you don’t belong to a guild as of right now, can you help me out?”
“That depends.” Jason shrugged. He had a guess of what Ashley was going to say next.
Ashley clenched her hands in frustration. “The competition for determining farming spots is coming up, but that bastard Henry hired an outsider to help out.”
“You don’t have confidence against him?” Jason already knew who the outsider was.
“He’s rumored to be just like you, undergoing a trial for those legendary guilds.” A hint of awe and fear flashed through Ashley’s eyes.
“Hm.” Jason put on a thoughtful expression.
Fearing that Jason would decline, she quickly said. “We’ll pay you of course. My guild, Purity, has plenty of ores and minerals.”
“I don’t need those things.” Jason shook his head. What could he do with ores and minerals? He wasn’t a blacksmith. Sure, he could sell them for a profit, but he would rather just get straight up cash. Jason put up a finger. “One gold.”
Ashley paled. “One gold? Are you serious?”
Jason gave Ashley a knowing look. “I know how much your guild makes a month by occupying the best farming spot on the third floor. A gold coin is about 20% of your monthly income, and that’s for just one spot. How many spots does your guild possess? About ten?”
“How did you know?” Ashley was stunned silly. Jason might be incredibly talented, but he was just a newb who didn’t have much knowledge of the tower. She quickly understood that she had underestimated him.
Seeing that she was still hesitant, Jason added. “How about this. If I lose, you don’t have to pay me anything, but if I win, you’ll need to pay me one gold. How about it?”
Ashley fell silent. After a few moments, she gripped the necklace of communication around her neck and contacted
her big sister, the guild master of Purity. Jason waited patiently. He had worked on the third floor for months. He knew what these guild’s bottom lines were.
After around a minute, Ashley nodded. “Okay, we accept. The competition is tomorrow at 12 p.m. at the coliseum on the thirtieth floor. Can you make it?”
“I need a teleportation scroll.” Jason said after a moment. The highest floor he had traveled to so far was the third floor. To reach the thirtieth floor might take him a year or more. Thankfully, the thirtieth floor was different than most floors. There was an item called a teleportation scroll which was sold on that floor. If used, it teleported the user to the thirtieth floor, nowhere else.
Towers of Heaven Page 5