The seventh-floor challenge was supposed to involve a massive group of challengers, yet now he stood completely alone. This realization made him take a deep breath.
'Huff. As expected, another change,' he thought, his gaze sweeping across the desolate flamescape where wavering heat distorted the distant horizon. Embers drifted through the air like malevolent fireflies.
Eventually, his attention settled on a single stone bridge in the distance. Charred and cracked, it stretched forward like a scar slicing through the fiery abyss, its ancient surface pockmarked with countless battle scars.
Occasional fragments crumbled from its edges, disappearing into the churning sea of magma below with tiny sizzling sounds that were barely audible over the constant low rumble of this hellish realm.
Just then...
===========================
[>>[QUEST]<<]
You have reached the 7th floor of the Tower of the God! A place where the Titan Lords are trapped for eternity!
[>] Objective: Defeat the Titan Guardian within 1 day!
[!] Consequence: DEATH!
===========================
Only after reading the screen did Ji Wuye step forward, making his way across the charred and cracked stone bridge.
'Defeating the Titan Guardian... all on my own,' he thought, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. Letting out a soft chuckle that echoed briefly across the vast emptiness, he glanced briefly at the fiery sky above.
…
The journey was short. At the end of the bridge, what awaited Ji Wuye was an enormous volcanic plateau. As his white shoes touched its surface, a fine layer of ash puffed up around each footfall, the land expanded before him, revealing three gigantic statues.
Each statue stood over 66 chi tall, towering like small mountains. Their forms were intricately carved from gleaming metal that somehow remained untarnished despite the corrosive atmosphere.
Their eyes blazed with an ethereal glow—one amber, one azure, one emerald—as though judging all who dared to approach.
'Titan Lords,' Ji Wuye murmured inwardly, his eyes narrowing as he tilted his head back to take in their imposing forms.
'If I recall correctly…' his thoughts trailed off as his gaze landed on a small, polished stone lying near the feet of one of the titanic figures.
Unlike the rough, volcanic terrain surrounding it, this stone gleamed with an unnatural smoothness, its obsidian surface reflecting the crimson glow of the smoldering landscape.
Ji Wuye crouched down, his fingertips hovering just above the stone's surface, feeling the subtle heat radiating from it before carefully tracing the inscription etched deep into its surface for challengers to read.
The inscription read:
The Titan Lords were once primordial beings who forged weapons for the gods of old. They ruled the Smoldering Forge—this very world—shaping blades capable of cutting through fate itself.
'But…' Ji Wuye's inner thoughts trailed off as his attention focused on the small stone before him. His brow furrowed slightly as additional text began to materialize beneath his fingertips, the characters glowing with a molten orange light that pulsed like a heartbeat.
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"Once, the Titan Lords forged the mightiest weapons for the gods.
But one day, a weapon was created that even the heavens feared—so powerful it could sever destiny itself."
It was a line he'd neither noticed nor had the time to read in his previous timeline.
'So, this was originally a world separate from the Tower, forced to submit?' he surmised thoughtfully. He rose fluidly to his feet, brushing a speck of ash from his sleeve as his mind worked through the implications.
But just as his mind lingered on this question—
RING!
The sound struck like a physical force, causing tiny fissures to appear in the ground beneath his feet.
"No warrior is complete without a blade of their own making. Shape your weapon, or be broken by the Guardian," a voice boomed, reverberating through the air as though it came from deep within the mountain-sized statues ahead.
The immense statues seemed to vibrate with latent power as the voice faded, their metal surfaces humming with energy that made the very air crackle.
Beyond them, the ground split into three distinct paths with a thunderous crack that sent showers of sparks and molten rock into the air.
Each path led toward a different forge, each one infused with the essence of its respective Titan Lord.
'I know,' Ji Wuye thought, his gaze lingering on the towering figures. Then, he turned his attention to the first statue on his right.
'Varkos… Varkos, the Flame-Warden,' Ji Wuye recalled silently.
The statue was crafted from an alloy so dark and dense, it seemed to consume the light around it, creating a void in the shape of a titan.
Small ripples of heat distorted the air surrounding the massive figure, as though the metal itself radiated an ancient, smoldering rage.
In his enormous hands rested a massive warhammer, its head split and jagged, as though once used to shatter mountains. Fine cracks webbed the hammer's surface, each one filled with what appeared to be molten ore that pulsed rhythmically like blood in veins.
Even in his statue form, Varkos exuded an aura of grim authority—his expression cold and unyielding, lips pressed into a hard line beneath a beard of metallic spines.
His eyes, sculpted to resemble burning coals, flickered faintly with an inner fire that seemed alive, tracking Ji Wuye's movements.
What truly distinguished him from the other statues, however, was—
"Strength is the foundation. Weak metal, weak warrior. Strike until the blade sings, or be forgotten in the fire," Ji Wuye recited, reading the words engraved on the small stone beneath the statue of Varkos.
Much like the 6th-floor challenge, this 7th-floor trial also seemed to be layered—a set of challenges stacked one upon another.
'And this time, Varkos—a Titan Lord whom challengers regard as the test of Endurance and Strength,' he recalled inwardly. His eyes then shifted to the middle statue.
This second statue was sculpted from a glowing stone, its surface shimmering softly as though fire danced perpetually within it, casting prismatic reflections across the volcanic plateau.
Unlike the massive bulk of Varkos, this figure was lean and fluid in its design, possessing an almost musical quality in the way its limbs curved and extended.
Its carved robes appeared to flow like molten silk, adding an air of grace to its form, each fold and ripple seemingly in constant, hypnotic motion despite the solid material from which it was crafted.
The statue held a chisel and hammer, frozen mid-strike as it seemed to carve a blazing inscription into an unfinished blade.
Despite its serene appearance, the figure radiated an intensity—a quiet, eternal flame radiating from the hollow sockets of its eyes and mouth, illuminating Ji Wuye's face with a golden light.
Just as with Varkos, a phrase was etched beneath this Titan Lord, glowing faintly against the base of the statue. Unlike the rigid, angular script beneath Varkos, these characters flowed like liquid gold, pulsing with a rhythmic intensity that matched the beating of a heart:
"A blade is dead without a soul. Inscribe it with purpose, and it will burn forever."
Ji Wuye softly recited the words, his voice causing the golden letters to brighten momentarily as if responding to his recognition.
Tiny motes of light drifted upward from the inscription, swirling around his fingers before dissipating into the superheated air. 'Igrion, the Ember-Smith—The Craftsman of Living Flames,' he thought.
'A test of Fire Affinity and Agility,' he added inwardly as his eyes lingered on the vibrant, life-like figure, noting how the statue's metallic robes seemed to ripple slightly, as though still molten despite their solid form.
Finally, Ji Wuye's gaze shifted to the far-left statue—the last of the three Titan Lords.
'Orvus, the Starbound Forger,' Ji Wuye whispered to himself.
Unlike the other two statues, Orvus's form did not rest on the ground. Instead, it hovered just above the entrance, suspended in the air by unseen forces.
The space beneath the floating colossus shimmered with distortion, tiny particles of dust and ash swirling in complex patterns as if caught in an invisible current.
The statue's material was unlike anything —a silver-like metal that shimmered with shifting constellations, as though fragments of the night sky itself were trapped within its form.
As Ji Wuye watched, stars within the metal's surface moved in slow, deliberate patterns, forming and reforming ancient celestial configurations.
Where the other statues reflected the light of the flaming landscape, this one seemed to generate its own illumination from within, casting shadows that moved independently of the surrounding fires.
He was depicted mid-swing, his hammer striking a chunk of fallen metal, causing a ripple of energy to freeze in time. His eyes glowed like twin stars, and his expression…
It was the look of someone burdened by immense wisdom—one of vision and mastery. Deep furrows lined the celestial metal of his brow, not from strain but from contemplation of cosmic forces beyond comprehension.
He gazed not at the forge beneath his hands, but far beyond, peering into the endless unknown of the cosmos, as if the act of creation was merely incidental to the greater truths he perceived.
"The heavens fall so we may rise. A true forger does not shape metal—he shapes destiny," Ji Wuye silently read the words inscribed beneath the statue.
Unlike the other two statues, this Titan Lord—the figure of Orvus, the Starbound Forger—had been the most popular and widely discussed among challengers in his previous timeline.
"But..." Ji Wuye's words faded as he examined the statue more closely. He took three measured steps closer, tilting his head slightly as the starlit metal of Orvus's form shifted in response to his proximity.
'It's a test for Mental Focus and Technique,' he thought.
To succeed here, it wasn't just about raw strength or talent—it demanded true mastery. It was not a place for someone like him, who was not a true blacksmith.
Eventually, Ji Wuye’s eyes landing on…
