I felt a thrill of excitement on hearing Samantha’s explanation. I finished up my last Personal Mana Shield, and then contacted Petra, Ryker, and Uman, letting them know I would be unavailable for the next hour.
Then, I took out the Infinite Tower Token from my Interdimensional Pouch, and activated it.
I appeared inside a gaudy, large building with high ceilings that reminded me of a fancy train station.
I glanced around curiously, wondering if I would see anybody, but the large space was completely vacant.
Besides walls adorned with shining gems and crystals and intricate patterns that bespoke immense wealth and opulence, there were really only two main features of the room.
The first was a counter in the middle of the room, a large storefront that had a polished marble countertop and several dozen Information Crystals secured on the counter.
The second thing that immediately drew my attention was that one wall was completely missing.
In the place of the wall was a shimmering blackness, which reminded me of the teleportation portals that I had traveled through during the tutorial.
The key difference was the size—with the size of this portal, you could easily fit a whole building through.
I walked up to the marble counter, slightly surprised by the echo of my bare feet slapping against the marble floor.
Looking down, I saw that all of my items and equipment had disappeared. I didn’t have my pouch, my sword, my knives, my Mana Shield…everything was gone.
When I was just ten feet way from the counter, a hologram appeared behind the counter silently.
The hologram took the appearance of an elderly human, with a long beard and kind, knowing eyes.
“Welcome, challenger,” the hologram said. “Welcome to the Infinite Tower. To challenge the tower, simply walk through the portal. You do not currently have points, but you can still buy equipment and items available here on loan. Keep in mind that this is your only opportunity to take out a loan here at the Infinite Tower.”
I nodded my understanding, reaching out my hand to the Information Crystal, but flinched, when I heard Samantha’s instructions.
I followed Samantha’s suggestion, then touched the crystal.
A familiar blue screen appeared in front of me, with hundreds of options to choose from, each item costing around 100 points.
Why is everything F-rank? What was the point of putting all those points into Luck?
I studied the option and the picture provided.
Tino’s Sword (F-rank): A sturdy weapon for a swordsman who dreams of greatness. Cost: 290 points.
From the picture provided, the blade itself was worse than unremarkable, half-rusted and chipped in places. The most impressive thing about the sword was the price—it was among the most expensive blades available for purchase.
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I bought the blade right away, not really wanting to hear Samantha’s smug explanation about how the blade was some kind of unpolished diamond in the rough.
Yes yes, I’m very impressed. I shot back. What do I do now?
Tino’s Sword appeared on top of the marble counter, and I gave it a thorough study.
Identify didn’t reveal anything unusual about the sword. My Perception showed that, although the sword was in disrepair, the blade still looked sharp and sturdy. Mana Sensing showed nothing but a small mote of mana inside the blade.
I thanked the elderly holographic man, and approached the black wall that would soon teleport me to the first floor of the Infinite Tower.
So, you’re saying that Tino’s Sword is useless, I said, in disbelief.
Whatever. Let’s go.
I waited until I had regained my full Mana Pool, and then I waited a little while longer, building up a cloud of mana under my control around me, approximately equal to half my Mana Pool. Then, I put all my floating points into Luck, and I walked through the black wall in front of me, bracing for the worst.
I appeared in a grassy prairie, surrounded by rolling hills that seemingly continued forever.
Just ten yards away from me, I could see my opponent.
Insectoid (Level 39)
The creature stood upright on two legs like a human, about five feet tall, but it had four other legs which it looked like it was capable of using as arms, serrated blades making up one set of “arms,” and sharp pinchers making up the other set of arms.
Its whole body was covered in chitinous armor, and its bulbous eyes surrounded its head completely. The antennae twitched, likely in response to my appearance.
I activated Mana Sensing, searching through the plains, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Then I glanced again at the Insectoid, somewhat stumped. Is that it?
I was already searching the area with Mana Sensing. It was unnerving, being in such a vast expanse, where the only living things were the grass on the hills, and this random insect.
I perked up. Where?
The Insectoid jumped and a set of translucent wings opened up behind it, allowing it to leap into the air and easily close the whole distance between us.
I sidestepped easily and swung Tino’s blade.
The blade easily chopped off the arm that was reaching towards me, and I retreated, somewhat flummoxed.
It wasn’t that this F-rank blade was too sharp. It was that this Insectoid was too weak.
As I watched blackish blood flow out of the Insectoid’s dismembered arm, and the insectoid rushed frantically at me a second time, I started to wonder if the true challenge of this battle would be keeping the Insectoid alive.
I backed away, following Samantha’s instructions and slicing my left arm with my own blade, letting a substantial amount of blood drip down to the ground.
And then I sheathed my blade and we began a game of cat and mouse, where the mouse chased the cat, and the cat did its best to not hurt the mouse.
Even though the Insectoid had wings, I felt like I was faster than the creature.
The whole time, we stayed in the general vicinity of where our blood had fallen, and I was running in literal circles to avoid clashing with the Insectoid.
The Insectoid didn’t reveal any skills as it chased me, unless you counted its flying leaps as skills. It buzzed angrily, at me, but it never seemed to second-guess the fact that I had it running in tight circles.
After about ten minutes of running in circles, I was feeling well and truly dizzy.
Then, I felt the earth tremble beneath me.
I followed Samantha’s combat shadow carefully, stopping in front of the Insectoid and allowing it to barrel into me. Then, with heavy-handed karate chops, I broke each of its leg-like joints until it was lying on the ground in front of me.
The Insectoid was writhing in fear and shaking, but something told me it wasn’t me that it was afraid of.
I could sense a dense collection of Mana approaching from underground, and I dragged the Insectoid away from the location where both of our blood had been spilled.
We had barely cleared the area when a massive spider burrowed its way out of the ground, rearing its fuzzy head.
The creature was the size of a barn, when you included its bulbous body and long, spindly legs that sunk into the ground like pylons. From its murderous aura, it certainly wasn’t something you should expect to see on the first floor of the Infinite Tower.
I was getting Zone Lord vibes from this monster.
I glanced at the Insectoid that I had dragged away from the giant spider. Did you say that if I kill the Insectoid, I can move on to the next level?