[Fiona's POV]
The world bent around me as the teleportation circle flared to life. That familiar hum, half vibration, half whisper, threaded through my ears. Then everything snapped back into place.
A sky as blue as polished crystal stretched above us. Thin clouds drifted lazily across the 4th Floor, and the air felt light… gentle… nothing like the suffocating heaviness of the 3rd Floor. A faint scent of wet soil hung in the breeze.
I tightened my grip on AetherBlade.
Boss Max stood next to me, hands in his pockets, posture relaxed as always, like the Tower couldn't bother him even if it tried.
"We need to clear the 5th Floor today," he said calmly. "Same pace. But you can refine your sword technique while we move."
"Yes, Boss." Today, my body didn't feel like it belonged to a terrified rookie. I was steadier. Clearer.
He didn't comment further. Just walked forward.
A wormhole opened a few seconds later. I stepped in first without needing instructions. By now, moving with him felt natural.
We emerged in shallow water, splashing lightly as we landed. Our clothes dampened, but nothing serious. Another dungeon entrance yawned ahead.
Boss didn't even glance at the system prompts.
Of course he didn't, He simply walked in.
The pattern repeated itself monsters, motion, annihilation. But today, the air vibrated with floating Orbs of condensed wind. They fired slicing blades sharp enough to butcher anything before it reached us. Boss tossed a few Water Serpents my way so I could fight.
Yesterday, swinging a sword in his presence made my hands shake. Today?
My hands didn't tremble.
My breathing didn't break.
My steps didn't falter.
His words, his goals, the glimpse of what he was aiming for… they had changed something in me.
I wasn't following him because he saved me.
I wasn't following him because of a contract.
I was following because, for the first time in years… I trusted someone.
We reached the Boss chamber. He let me exchange a few strikes, stepping in only when the Boss retaliated. After a minute, he erased the creature with a storm of wind blades.
I couldn't help thinking:
Just how many affinities does he have?
Outside the dungeon, I finally asked, "Boss, about the Codex… since it's a Tower-wide update, will everyone change how they fight?"
"It'll happen," he said instantly. "But not soon. Most won't unlock it. Many won't know how to use it. Some won't have Myth Points. And others…" His eyes narrowed slightly. "…will become dependent on it."
"You don't plan to?"
"No. I don't need it. It just compiles my techniques and spells."
The corner of my lips twitched. Only he would call a special system feature "unnecessary paperwork."
We moved through dungeon after dungeon. I asked about his affinities. He smiled and told me to keep counting.
The next dungeon was more water than land. Boss formed wings from his orbs so I could fly. He didn't even need wings, he floated with absolute silence, as if gravity itself respected him.
We moved like assassins. Monsters died before they realized we existed.
Three more dungeons. Three hours. Same calm pace. Same terrifying efficiency.
Players outside whispered rumors about Domains on lower floors being cleared instantly. A bounty on the unknown group. Boss heard it. He didn't care. So it didn't matter.
Only an hour remained before Domain reset. Boss brought me to a quiet clearing.
"Remove your equipment."
I blinked. "All of it?"
"One by one."
My mind flickered to strange interpretations, he really could've chosen a hotel if he had some odd intentions but he cut through my thoughts before they grew stupid.
"Your sword is fine. The rest is lacking. I'll enhance it."
"Oh" I wanted to bury myself for even imagining anything else. "Sorry, Boss."
I handed over my armor.
He touched an armband and dozens materialized around him.
Before I could speak, he began merging them. One after another. Metal bending like clay at his fingertips.
I had sworn not to be shocked by him anymore.
I failed instantly.
Piece by piece, my mediocre equipment transformed, reforged, strengthened, elevated. By the end, every item I owned was Mythical grade.
Mythical at Tier 0.
No one else in the Tower had something so absurd.
Boss didn't even act like it meant anything.
He simply gave me feedback on my sword technique.
And I absorbed it greedily.
After some knowledge about sword, he opened a portal to Domain boundary and we appeared near it and we entered the Domain to continue our silent conquest.
The Domain opened beneath us like a shattered archipelago, a scattered maze of miniature islands. Boss set the pace, gliding above the terrain with effortless calm.
This time, he stepped back.
This time, he let me breathe.
A monster lunged.
I moved first.
A single arc.
A clean cut.
The head rolled before the body understood it was dead.
Boss glanced briefly.
"Faster."
My pulse tightened. "Yes, Boss."
We dove deeper into the Domain.
More monsters.
More steel.
More corpses at our feet.
He barely intervened, only when something targeted my blind spot or several monsters lunged at once. Even then, he handled it like flicking dust off his sleeve. Simple. Natural. Effortless.
By the time we reached the Boss, a massive Alligator monster, Boss took over. Wind orbs spiraled around him, merging into a massive sphere. One colossal blast shot into the Alligator's open jaws.
Its head burst like fruit under a hammer.
Before the spectators outside could blink, Boss tore open a portal and pulled us straight to the Labyrinth.
Inside, hunting became rhythmic. Clean. Simple. Almost peaceful. I attacked, he observed. When an extra batch of monsters tried to overwhelm me, he removed them with frightening precision. A silent guardian walking at my side.
Hours blurred.
Bodies fell.
Steel whispered.
We cleared the 4th Floor in nine hours and stepped into the 5th.
A crunch echoed under our boots. The scenery shifted, a vibrant, living forest infused with elemental energy pulsed around us.
Boss looked at me.
"You've fought enough. I'll handle this floor. We're speed-running it."
Speed-running?
What had we been doing until now, taking a stroll?
But whatever I thought was "fast" before… I had seen nothing.
He didn't just clear monsters.
He erased everything that might have appeared.
Metal screamed through the air, bullets, blades, spears, axes, maces, hammers. Shapes shifted at his will. Monsters died before their instincts caught up.
A dungeon that took an hour before?
He finished in thirty minutes.
And as always, he didn't touch a mana potion, Not one.
We moved like a storm through the floor—well, he was the storm. I was just following in its wake.
Five dungeons.
Three hours.
Done.
He sensed someone close to killing the Domain Boss, so we arrived early. When the barrier dropped, he took flight with me in tow and unleashed a metallic rain that shredded the Domain apart.
The Boss Monster, a D-Rank–level Eagle, never had a chance. Boss boxed it inside a cage of steel, then turned the prison itself into a hundred spears that pierced through its vitals.
Less than ninety minutes.
Domain cleared.
Then came the final hurdle, The Labyrinth of Skarsdale, a nightmare of lava and stone.
But lava meant nothing to him.
Steel danced.
Shapes shifted.
Death followed.
Some monsters were skewered by swords.
Some crushed by maces.
Others cleaved by axes.
Many shredded by metal pellets.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a lesson in creativity.
A demonstration that metal obeyed him like a living limb.
Two hours later, the highest-difficulty E+ Rank dungeon lay silent behind us.
As we exited, the system chimed.
[You have
cleared all 5 Floor of Rank E]
[You meet
Stats requirements for Rank up]
[You need
2 D-Rank skills to level up]
Right, two D-Rank skills.
I'd forgotten.
Four skill books materialized in front of me, courtesy of Boss Max of course.
Light element: Corona Step, Lance of Dawn
Water element: Hydroburst, Siren Spike
I absorbed all four.
Another window appeared.
[All requirements
met for Rank up]
[Increasing
Rank from Mortal (E) –> Mortal (D)]
=====================
[AN: Do leave your thoughts about this chapter, it was very fast paced. From now on fights which has an impact on story or character will be detailed, other fights will follow same pace like this.
Keep supporting the chapters through Power stones, it helps a lot.]