Chapter 6 — Echoes of the Climb
The light faded.Stone replaced sky.
Kai stepped forward, Shade at his side, his boots scraping against smooth white marble. The new floor was eerily silent—just a long hallway that stretched into the horizon, lined with glowing glyphs carved into the walls. Lira appeared beside him, weapon ready.
They'd done it. They'd cleared their first floor.
But the tower was never kind twice.
[You have entered: Tower – Floor 2][Recommended Level: 20–30][Environment Type: Memory Corridor][Objective: Reach the End Without Losing Sanity.]
Kai frowned. "Without losing sanity?"
Lira scanned the walls. "Illusion type floor," she muttered. "These are designed to break your mind before your body."
Shade growled lowly, fur bristling. The wolf's violet eyes reflected the shimmering runes that seemed to breathe like living things.
Kai summoned his interface:
[Status Window]Name: Kai CrestfallLevel: 12Ability: Drop Maker Lv.3HP: 180Strength: 9Agility: 10Stamina: 9Intelligence: 8Luck: 12Synchronization: 17%Shadow Companion: Shade (Evolved Fragment Stage)Power Rating: 3.8
Still weak by tower standards—but he'd learned something: the system didn't reward grinding easy fights. Growth came through risk, blood, and survival.
The floor ahead shimmered. A doorway pulsed open, revealing a new section.
"Ready?" Lira asked.
Kai nodded. "Let's see what the Tower remembers."
They entered a ruined courtyard filled with floating fragments of time.Images flickered around them—moments repeating endlessly.A child crying.A knight dying.A monster howling.
The air rippled.
Suddenly Kai wasn't standing in the courtyard anymore. He was back inside the training dungeon—the day he awakened. The screams, the betrayal, the slime. Everything was exactly the same.
"Not again…" he whispered.
[Sanity Stability: 95% → 92%]
His chest tightened. He could feel the weight of that day pressing down on him. His classmates' voices echoed in his skull.
"Just die already, Kai!"
Shade's growl cut through the illusion. The wolf's shadow pulsed outward, distorting the false reality. The training dungeon melted away, revealing the real marble floor beneath.
Kai gasped and fell to one knee. Sweat soaked his back.
[Mental Interference Neutralized.][Companion Effect: Shadow Instinct – +10% Sanity Resistance.]
Lira appeared a few feet away, panting, her rifle smoking. "You saw it too?"
"Yeah," Kai said quietly. "They used our memories."
"That's how most people die here," she said, reloading. "They relive what they can't change until their system collapses."
Kai clenched his fist. "Then we keep moving. No looking back."
The path twisted downward. The deeper they went, the heavier the pressure became. The air thickened, as if the Tower itself was watching.
Every few minutes, a new illusion struck—sometimes showing a future that hadn't happened. Sometimes a past that Kai refused to face.
He ignored them all.
Shade destroyed the illusions by flooding the area with shadow essence, each pulse leaving cracks in the walls.
Hours passed before they reached a massive stone gate. It was sealed with seven glowing locks.
[Sub-Boss Detected: The Keeper of Regret – Lv. 27]
The temperature dropped instantly.
A humanoid figure emerged from the shadows. Its body was stitched together from the corpses of those who failed this floor. Its eyes were pits of white flame.
Lira exhaled slowly. "This thing… it's strong."
Kai checked his weapon—a spear reforged with Sky Essence and Sentinel Core fragments. His durability stat was low, but Shade could tank at least one direct hit.
The Keeper roared. The walls cracked, illusions spilling out like smoke.
Kai charged.
The creature's chains lashed out. Shade intercepted, teeth biting through one chain with a burst of dark energy. Kai ducked low and thrust upward, his spear embedding into the Keeper's chest.
[Damage: 214][Effect: Regret Chains weaken.]
The Keeper laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "You think pain ends here?"
Kai twisted the spear. "Pain is the only reason I'm still alive."
The monster grabbed him and hurled him across the courtyard. He crashed through a wall, blood spraying from his lip.
[HP: 180 → 73]
Lira's rifle crackled as she fired several mana bullets, drawing aggro. "Move, Kai!"
Shade lunged, tearing through another set of chains. The wolf's fur burned, but it didn't stop.
Kai staggered to his feet. The Drop Maker pulsed in his mind.
[Emergency Drop Activation Available.][Cost: 40% HP][Create: Temporary Power Module (Experimental)]
He gritted his teeth. "Do it."
His vision blurred. Blood misted from his arm as glowing fragments spun around him, forming a dark core. He slammed it into his spear.
[Weapon Upgrade: Abyss-Touched Spear – Tier II][Temporary Skill: Void Pierce (1 Use).]
Kai charged again. The world slowed as he leapt forward, shadows curling around his weapon. The Keeper raised its arm to block—
He pierced straight through its chest.
The spear exploded with black light.
The Keeper screamed, its body disintegrating into mist.
[Boss Defeated.][EXP +1850.][Level Up: 12 → 15.][Sanity Restored.][Drops Available:]
Chain of Regret (Uncommon)
Heart Fragment (Rare)
Abyssal Memory (Legendary – Locked until Level 30)**
Kai took the Heart Fragment. It pulsed once, sinking into his chest.
[Passive Unlocked: Pain Conversion – Converts 5% received damage into Strength for 10 seconds.]
Lira lowered her gun, whistling softly. "You're full of surprises."
Kai wiped blood from his mouth. "The Tower doesn't care how you win—just that you survive."
They looked at the crumbling gate.
[Next Section: The Stairway of Whispers – Optional Trial.]
Lira sighed. "Optional means deadly."
Kai glanced at Shade. The wolf's fur shimmered like smoke, its form growing darker, sharper.
"I need stronger drops," Kai said. "We take it."
She smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that."
They stepped through the next gate.
The world bent around them, the air filled with thousands of whispering voices. Memories, regrets, hopes—all echoing at once.
[Entering Optional Trial: Stairway of Whispers][Objective: Ascend before the whispers consume your mind.]
Kai gripped his spear tighter. "Let's climb."
Shade howled, and they moved forward—into the madness that waited above.