Olivia arrived next. She teleported to the Ent’s shadow, arriving at its feet. Like an agile monkey, she climbed up the Ent’s body, jumping from branch to branch with ease. When she reached its neck, she just so happened to spot a groove in the bark. Without hesitation, she used backstab, aiming for that very spot. The Ent froze, its body trembling in pain. To Olivia’s surprise, sap leaked out of the groove. In the next moment, the bark wriggled, the groove disappearing in a flash. Her eyes twinkled when she connected the dots. I found its weak spot. Her mission was now clear. She searched for another groove, not forgetting to attack as she moved.
Roy closed in. Just as he was about to activate consecration, he paused, realizing that the center of the battle was constantly moving. Consecration would be useless in this fight. It was then that he understood consecration wasn’t as powerful as he thought it was. Maybe his other skills had weaknesses too? If he only found out his weaknesses at a moment of life and death, he could only die with regret. Still, now wasn’t the time to think about this. He sprinted after the Ent, making sure to pay attention to the status of his allies.
Contrary to Roy and Olivia’s silent approach, Cheslov roared with laughter, his veins pumping with adrenaline. He charged forward, dragging his two greatswords behind him. His strategy was laughably simple, and yet, terrifyingly effective. With the Ent’s attention on Jason, he cared not for his safety as his muscles bulged up. His greatswords smacked against the Ent’s legs, cutting half an inch in before stopping. Cheslov had one goal: cut this boss’s leg right off.
Jason focused on dodging. Whenever the Ent started to focus on his allies, he activated warcry or used sever. The fight was going smoothly. When the Ent’s health dropped to 50%, it started using skills. Spears of wood erupted from the ground, attempting to skewer its enemies. Thankfully, everyone was on guard for something like this, and changed their tactics accordingly.
Thanks to Cheslov’s hard work, the Ent’s leg was chopped off, dropping the difficulty of the fight several degrees. When the Ent’s health dropped to 5%, it curled up into a ball. Instead of rushing in for the kill, everyone grew cautious. Bosses usually had a skill that they only used when they were near death.
Cheslov’s senses suddenly tingled. He felt that something dangerous was coming and called out. “Dodge!”
All of the branches on the Ent shot out. Hundreds upon hundreds of branches grew at an alarming rate. The tips of each branch easily tore the ground apart. Jason and Olivia had the easiest time dodging the attacks, while Roy was struggling. In just a few seconds, his arms and legs were covered in wounds. Jason had already put defense aura on Roy, but it was still at a low level, so the effect was minimal.
Jason tried to make his way over to Roy, but the branches were too numerous. He was cut off. Just as he was about to unleash his battle energy and tell Tank to shield Roy, he saw something that triggered memories from the past. As Roy’s situation grew more dire, Cheslov appeared in front of him. With every swing of his greatsword, a branch was cut in half. Shockingly, Cheslov’s eyes were closed. Cheslov’s agility was pathetically low, so there was no way he should have been able to react to the branches, but even so, they continued to fall. It was like the branches were attracted to his greatsword. A strange sight.
Jason’s expression abruptly turned grim. He noticed that Cheslov was getting slower with every passing second. The reason was obvious. While the heavenly instinct realm was absurdly powerful, it took a tremendous toll on one’s soul. Not only that, but Cheslov had an immature heavenly instinct. He would only be able to use it for ten seconds at most.
Realizing this, battle energy erupted from Jason’s body. All of the branches within five feet of him were instantly shredded into dust. Using battle energy in such a way was incredibly wasteful, so he quickly focused his mind to take direct control. Only the branches that were about to hit him were destroyed.
Just as he was about to charge over to Roy, a mournful cry echoed from the Ent. The branches grew stiff. Jason turned, only to see Olivia standing below the Ent’s chest. Her dagger was stabbed into a groove. In the next moment, the Ent collapsed into motes of light. A slew of items dropped to the ground, but Jason paid them no heed.
Cheslov’s face was pale and each breath was a struggle. He was utterly exhausted. He tried to fight it, to will his body to stay awake, but it was useless. Just as he was about to fall over, Jason’s hand clasped his shoulder. “You’re fine, you just overused your soul. Take a nap, we’ll watch over you.”
Cheslov gave a soft grunt before falling asleep on the spot. Jason carefully laid Cheslov on his back and sighed enviously. “Heavenly instinct is indeed amazing.”
Roy healed his wounds and then knelt down next to Jason. With a grateful look at Cheslov, he asked. “Can I heal him?”
Jason shook his head. “No, the damage isn’t done to his health. His soul is just exhausted after using heavenly instinct.”
“Oh.” Roy’s eyes sparkled. “So that was heavenly instinct? It was like he was able to see the future.”
“Hey, Jason!” Olivia ran over, a bright smile spreading across her face. In her hands was a large round shield made from bark. “Look at this.”
Jason recognized the shield and was stunned. He was in disbelief. The shield actually dropped? He knew what items the Ent dropped and he’d had zero hope of obtaining this shield. Contrary to his expectations, luck seemed to be on his side today. His excitement was palpable as he read the shield’s information.
(Celestial) Living Shield of the Forest
+500 Health
+500 Stamina
+15 All Stats
+5% All Stats
Hardened Bark Passive Skill: Reduces all damage taken by 5%. In addition, all damage under 10 is negated.
Sticky Sap Passive Skill: When blocking an attack, slow the attack speed of the target by 5% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. New stacks refresh duration.
Vitality of the Forest Passive Skill: When attacked, gain +5 health regeneration a second for 30 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. New stacks refresh duration.
Twisting Roots Passive Skill: When an attack is blocked with your shield, there is a 10% chance of rooting the target for 2 seconds, preventing movement.
Requirements: Level 60
Chapter 29
The shield was the strongest item Roy and Olivia had seen to date. It boasted incredible stats as well as four passive skills. Tank let out happy squeaks; she could sense Jason’s excitement. Not only that, she desperately wanted to devour the shield, but understood that it was valuable to Jason, so she reluctantly quieted down.
Jason equipped the shield, immediately feeling more powerful. He took a look at his stats.
Name: Jason
Title: 14th Challenge Completion
Age: 28
Race: Human
Level: 61
Stat Points: 0
Health: 2,815/2,815
Health Regeneration: 19.95/s
Stamina: 2,419/2,419
Stamina Regeneration: 17.23/s
Battle Energy: 510/510
Battle Energy Regeneration: 5/s
Strength: 289
Vitality: 265
Agility: 235
Endurance: 252
Tenacity: 96
Fortitude: 99
Willpower: 32
No longer were his stats as pitiful as half a year ago. Still, even as he felt that all his hard work was worth it, he was still a shadow of his former self. The thought left him irritated. Baby steps, baby steps. As long as he continued to work hard, his diligence would be rewarded. That was one thing he loved about the tower. It always rewarded those who put in effort.
Olivia organized the loot from the Ent. As it was a field boss, it generally dropped a lot, but this time it seemed to be at least quadruple the amount of other field bosses. Olivia glanced down at her feet. “There’s a lot of bu
ilding materials.”
Over half of the loot was building materials that were to be used on the community floors. Compared to the other monsters in the forest, the Ent was very generous. The quality was much higher as well.
Olivia spotted a sparkling badge and picked it up. Her eyes brightened before tossing the badge over to Jason. “Look, a boss token.”
He caught it with a smile. “One down, four to go. We’re on our way to building a guild hall.”
Jason glanced at Roy, expecting him to be full of excitement, but contrary to his thoughts, he was silent. Jason asked with concern, “What’s up?”
Roy was recalling the battle until he was broken from his thoughts when Jason clasped his shoulder. Roy clenched his hands as he said hesitantly, “I was just thinking about how useless I was. During the fight, I didn’t know what I was supposed to focus on. Healing or damage? Previously I was always fighting up close, but this time I was unsure and stayed in the back doing absolutely nothing.”
Jason fell silent as he considered Roy’s feelings. Even in the alternate future, Roy was never really a full healer. His main role was damage, and healing was secondary. Perhaps he was forcing things? Jason shook his head with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t force you to perform a role you’re not comfortable with. It’s just that your healing spells, while small in number, are very powerful. It would be a waste not to use them.”
Roy only felt worse. This was why he had been hesitant about telling Jason. He was endlessly grateful to Jason and wanted to live up to his expectations. Yet here he was complaining, saying he was unfit for the role. Not only was Jason not upset, he sympathized with him. Roy immediately voiced his feelings. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t try. I just need some practice, that’s all.”
“All right.” Jason chuckled and gave what little advice he could. “Just focus on dealing damage like before. Healing is secondary. Besides, once you get the life sense passive skill, things will become much easier for you.”
Olivia walked over and asked a question. “Are there any other field bosses?”
Jason pulled out a copy of the map he sold to the top-tier guilds and handed it to Olivia. “There are plenty. Take a look.”
Roy jumped up and hovered over Olivia’s shoulder. Their eyes jumped all over the map, absorbing all its information. When they found the location of a field boss, they looked at each other with twinkling eyes. They were thinking the exact same thing, or at least they thought they were. Roy wanted boss tokens to build a guild hall, while Olivia wanted to fight against strong opponents. “Let’s go!”
Jason reminded them of something. “We have to protect Cheslov while he recovers his soul.”
“Oh, right.” Roy grew solemn as he remembered Cheslov jumping in front of him like a hero.
Less than an hour later, Cheslov woke up with a groan and immediately clutched his head. “Damn, this is the worst headache I’ve ever had.”
Roy promptly handed over some water. “Drink up.”
After Cheslov devoured the water, Jason asked. “Do you remember what happened?”
Cheslov tried to recall the feeling at that moment. “When I saw Roy’s situation, everything just seemed to become connected.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow. “Was it slow motion?”
Cheslov firmly shook his head. “No, nothing of the sort. Um, if I were to describe it, it was like the branches were speaking to me.”
“The branches were speaking to you?” Roy and Olivia couldn’t understand. On the other hand, Jason did. In the alternate future, near the end, Roy had shared everything he knew about the heavenly instinct state. But even though Jason knew everything about it, entering the heavenly instinct state was a different matter entirely. It required enlightenment and couldn’t be sought.
While everyone was deep in thought, Jason clapped his hands. “Ready to move on to the next field boss?”
Everyone jumped up. “Let’s go!”
Jason and company immediately headed to the location of the closest field boss. Unfortunately, another guild was already fighting it. Thankfully, the next field boss was available. It was an iron rock golem. Compared to the one Jason fought on the lower floors, it was a hundred times stronger.
Now that Roy was focused on dealing damage, he was much more useful during the fight. After a fierce battle, they were victorious. One of the items the golem dropped was iron nails, much to Roy’s bafflement.
The day passed quickly, and after hunting five field bosses, they teleported back to their newly built homes. The first sound they heard was hammering in the distance. When they gathered outside, Roy was jumping in place. “We finally have five boss tokens. What else do we need to make a guild hall?”
Cheslov pulled up the guild hall’s information and named off the list of materials. With each one, Roy’s enthusiasm dropped.
Jason commented. “It’ll probably take us a month or more to gather the materials.”
Roy shouted in disbelief. “Over a month? That’s too long!”
Olivia spoke up. “Can’t we just purchase them?”
Roy turned to Olivia and gave a thumbs up. “Right! The boss tokens are bound to us, so they can’t be sold, but the other materials can. Good thinking, Olivia!”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Do you know how many people want to build a guild hall right now? The materials in total would cost over a hundred thousand gold. I don’t have that much. Do you?”
“A hundred thousand?” Cheslov and Olivia frowned. They only had a few thousand gold, much less than a hundred thousand.
Roy placed his hands on his hips and laughed heartily. “My parents left me a fortune. A hundred thousand? That’s nothing! Come on, let’s go purchase the materials right away.”
Jason suddenly recalled a memory he had long forgotten about. Roy’s parents were among the first to enter the tower, and they quickly became some of the strongest. Things were very chaotic back then, what with the military and government and all. It was only until several years after the tower arrived that services like exchanging gold to dollars became available. There was a rumor that Roy’s parents had a hand in the creation of the bank. Considering that there was a small service fee, the owners of the bank must be very wealthy. Since Roy’s parents were no longer alive, was Roy now one of the owners? If that was the case, he might be even richer than Su Long!
Jason gulped before tossing the idea aside. There was no way that was the case, right? He caught up to Roy and asked. “Do you know where to buy the materials?”
Roy froze. “Uhh.”
Jason pointed to Su Long’s workshop. “Let’s ask Su Long. He has many contacts and knows the prices of the materials we need.”
“Okay.”
After a few minutes of convincing Su Long, he finally agreed to help them with purchasing the materials. “Fine, fine, stop asking. I’ll do it, all right? BUT! I won’t give out my contacts. I’ll meet them myself, and don’t bother asking why! Hmm. It’ll cost about a hundred and ten thousand gold.”
“Thanks, Su Long.” Roy promptly handed over the gold without a change in his expression. It was like the money was nothing to him.
Even Su Long was surprised, though he quickly hid it. “Hmph. I’ll get everything by tomorrow. Don’t worry about a thing. Now scram! Let me get back to work.”
Su Long kicked them out via telekinesis.
Everyone had had a long day of fighting, so they went home and fell asleep. By morning, they were raring to go. Roy in particular was shaking from excitement. As Su Long promised, he arrived with the materials, as well as a piece of shocking news. “Take a look at this notification.”
Tournament of Champions
Register at the colosseums on the thirtieth floor to participate in the Tournament of Champions one month from now. Details will be announced on the day of the tournament. There are no requirements to r
egister and the event is a safe activity.
Jason frowned. Yet another change. In the alternate future, he had never heard of the Tournament of Champions. Still, he had expected changes like this. Like Roy, Olivia, and Cheslov, he too was moved at the prospect of a tournament.
Chapter 30
On top of the pillar, a wondrous sight was unfolding. Thousands of pieces of wood, bricks, stones, nails, and glass flew through the air. It was complete chaos, and yet none of the materials crashed into each other. In one area, a nail stuck two pieces of wood together. In another area, square stones piled on top of each other, forming a wall. Hundreds of materials connected every second.
Jason, Olivia, Roy, and Cheslov stood not far away, mesmerized by the magical event taking place. The foundations were completed in ten seconds. The walls in twenty. The roof in fifteen. In less than a minute, a brand-new guild hall stood in the center of the pillar. As if to celebrate the completion of the building, fireworks exploded above the guild hall. At the same time, a notification appeared in front of everyone. The information contained in the notification was overwhelming. It explained all of the functions of the tier one guild hall.
Besides the symbolic value of having a headquarters, there were numerous benefits. One was that guild members were able to teleport to the guild hall, regardless of their location. The cooldown was also much shorter than the ability provided by the cheapest house. Another important function was the portal room. There, guild members were able to teleport to different floors, for a small fee. With this, guilds were able to travel through the tower much more easily. Besides the many other benefits, the most important one was the guild altar.
The altar provided buffs to every guild member, much like the kingdom-building floor’s statue. Only, the altar provided a much wider variety of buffs. To gain these buffs, a guild needed to gather boss tokens and sacrifice them to the altar.
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