Chapter 75. Breakthrough (2)
[The tenth floors trial will now begin.]
[Description: You are in the Realm of Void, an outside world, isolated from those of the living and the dead, where the laws of ti and space do not exist.
But a living being such as you does not belong here. Escape from the Realm of Void by any ans possible.]
So, among the Beginner Zone, this floor is where the second largest number of players end up dropping out. I can see why.
It was said that the difficulty of the tenth floors trial was harder than those of all first nine floors combined.
lightsnvl A trial where players who may have been on a roll until now could suddenly et a wall.
Conversely, a trial where players who had barely managed to clear the previous floors, might suddenly find it easy.
As such, the trial of the tenth floor was very unpredictable. What was tested on this floor was one simple thing.
Willpower.
Consecutively setting new records all the way up till the ninth floor, wemy teammates and Ifelt like we were on top of the world.
We thought we could clear the tenth floors trial just as easily as the other floors.
But this goddamn Tower, it knows how to shatter peoples hopes too damn well.
They took everyone away from .
Without a family, a friend or a teammate, I was left alone in that world of nothingness.
And I was required to escape that place without a single clue of how to.
But of all things, the most difficult aspect of the trial was the lack of stimulus.
Man is a social animal.
No matter how ntally strong one might be, if they were left in this kind of place, I am 100% sure they would go mad within a few days.
For that reason, even knowing this, players who entered the tenth floor often failed to pass the trial.
ntal strength and physical strength are two different things.
Solitude can devastate any physically healthy persons mind. The more confident they are in themselves, the most adverse effect it has on them.
And that was exactly why his brother and his team, Arthia, reached a deadlock during their winning streak.
Being forced to play alone in a trial where they couldnt even tell whether there was progress or not. Such feeling of apprehension slowly took over their heads and made them go out of their minds.
His brother ntioned that he also had a hard ti because of this.
However,
It wont work on .
Years of experience on the battlefield had made Yeon-woo dull to such negative emotions.
Rather, he had trained himself in order to be able to keep his rationality under much harder conditions.
There must be a door sowhere around here.
But it wasnt just one door.
A total of 10 doors, all different in colors and shapes.
Yeon-woo closed his eyes. He activated Sense Strengthening and tried to pick up any abnormality.
Dozens of eyes slit open from the lines drawn on his armor.
Then suddenly, Yeon-woo opened his eyes and swung Magic Bayonet to his side.
*Puck*
The bayonet made a hitting sound as it stopped mid-air.
He pulled the bayonet downward and sliced what seed to be an empty space.
As the space sliced open, it revealed a red door.
Found it.
* * *
The tenth floors trial was sowhat like a labyrinth. A labyrinth full of doors that connected to other blank spaces
Finding doors in this world full of nothingness was a difficult task, but the most troubleso part ca after finding one. Because each space contained more than just one door.
In each space, there was a total of ten doors, each one of them different in color and shape.
And when players faced these doors, doubts would sprout in their minds.
Why do all doors have different colors?
Did I open the wrong door?
Should I have settled with one color?
Is there any order to it?
Could there by any hidden trick with these doors?
This place, it digs deep into the psyche of players.
There is a Chinese term, Heart Devil.
It ans that doubts, even small ones, can grow in one persons mind. Eating away at them from the inside, and in the end, making them go insane.
Most players fell prey to their doubts and ended up dropping out of the trial.
He heard that many of the dropouts ended up suffering from ntal disorders. So even committed suicide while they were trying to figure out the answer to the doors and to the trial.
But sadly enough, the answer to the trial was very simple.
Just go enough tis through any of the doors.
There was no hidden trick nor problem to the color or the shape of the doors. The doors were just doors, all leading to the next section of the labyrinth.
Whatever door the players may select, if they kept opening them, they would eventually make it outside.
The only things required were ntal strength and faith in ones choices. Only the players who could overco their self-doubt were allowed to pass the trial.
And of course, there were players who entered the tenth floor with this information at hand. But the problem was that coming up with a plan was one thing, and putting it into practice was another. Even if they knew the answer to the doors, the players going through the trial couldnt act as they originally planned.
So spaces had doors at places where they were easy to find, but so didnt.
Wandering around the vast expanse of nothingness while trying to find those doors, players easily forgot about their plans, advice or whatever they got from the outside.
But that was a problem for other players. Yeon-woo didnt have to worry about it at all. All he had to do was to scan through the area based on his strengthened senses, move straight toward any door he detected, and go through the door to enter another area.
But at so point, Yeon-woos steps began to slow down.
He even started to turn back after finding a door and go for another one.
Not this one.
Not this one either.
And this one no.
Yeon-woo didnt give a second glance at the doors he found useless.
In fact, what Yeon-woo was after was not the exit of the tenth floor.
There are hidden pieces lying sowhere beyond these doors.
Hers Key was the hardest hidden piece to complete among all the other ones in Beginner Zone. In fact, it was harder than completing all the other keys combined.
And that was exactly the reason why only a handful of players succeeded in opening Olympus Treasury.
To complete Hers Key, he had to collect 100 shattered pieces of the key that were scattered through each trial.
And if he opened the door that leads to the exit before he could find all the pieces, it would end the trial, making it impossible to complete the Hers Key.
In other words, he had to go through the labyrinth while being careful not to finish it by mistake.
What a ridiculous task.
However, Yeon-woo was confident in himself. He trusted his senses and looked for the unique mana that the hidden pieces possessed.
But above all,
Find them.
He had Gyges Eyes with him.
At Yeon-woos command, the dozens of eyes engraved on his armor started rolling in all different directions, searching for the pieces.
And thanks to them, he was able to feel what lied beyond the doors.
The reason why Yeon-woo had wasted a whole month in the Outer District.
Without this artifact, he wouldnt be able to complete Hers Key.
Well, to be precise, I could probably make it.
If he groped his way through the labyrinth with his strengthened senses, he would be able to find all 100 pieces.
But not in ti to acquire Hades Key.
Concluding his assumptions, Yeon-woo kept on walking forward.
With each step he took, Gyges Eyes busily rolled around in search of the hidden pieces.
And a few more hours later, Yeon-woo brought together all 100 pieces he gathered throughout the labyrinth.
*Click* *Click*bender
As the Hers Feathers snapped into their places, they started to take the form of the key.
This is the end.
Then.
[You have set the greatest record on this floor. Will you register your na in the Hall of Fa?]
[You have refused to register your na.]
[Your record has been deeply engraved in The Tower. You can register your na later on whenever you wish to.]
[All the trials of the Beginner Zone have ended.]
[Your ti spent on clearing the Beginner Zone is 151 hours, 35 minutes and 1 second. You have broken the previous record of Jeong-woo Cah by 83 hours, 2 minutes and 9 seconds.]
[You have set the greatest record of the Beginner Zone. Will you register your na in the Hall of Fa?]
For a very bried mont, Yeon-woo silently stared at the na Jeong-woo Cah registered in the Hall of Fa.
Its been so long since Ive seen your na.
In a flash, all kinds of thoughts went through Yeon-woos head.
But soon, he shook his head and spat out a short answer.
No.
[You have refused to register your na.]
[Your record has been.]
[You have acquired Hades Key.]
[You have acquired Ring of Ice.]
[You have acquired Skull Crest.]
Though there were a lot of rewards, there was only one thing that caught Yeon-woos eye.
A key carved out of athyst.
It was the Hades Key. The sa hidden piece his brother acquired.
Yeon-woo put Hades Key and Hers Key on the floor, took out the rest of the keys and spread them out next to the two keys.
Just then, the twelve keys shone with brilliant colorful lights.
[You have gathered all twelve keys of the Olympians. The new key will be created.]
Just like how they were created, the twelve glowing keys rged together, creating one single key.
Visually, the new key looked too ordinary, unlike the other twelve keys.
It was silvery-white in color, without any complex design. But Yeon-woo could feel the mysterious energy emanating from the key.
[You have created Olympus Key. You are now qualified to enter the Olympus Treasury, the vault containing gold and treasures that the Olympians had accumulated during tens of thousands of years.]
[You can take only one item from the Olympus Treasury.]
A golden door appeared before Yeon-woos eyes.
This must be the door to Olympus Treasury.
Yeon-woo found a keyhole below the doorknob.
Without any hesitation, he pushed the key into the door and turned it.
*Click*
With an unlocking sound,
*Fshsh*
The Olympus Key disintegrated into fine sand.
Thinking about all he had gone through to acquire that key, it was a very forlorn end.
However, Yeon-woo quickly shook away his frustration and pushed open the golden door.
*Creak*
When he opened the door, he was greeted by a world of pitch darkness.
A world that was the opposite of the Realm of Void.
And only when he stepped through the door, he was able to see an imasurably huge iron gate lying just ahead of him.
The giant gate was engraved with a sculpted painting of what looked like a description of Titanomachy, the war between the Titans and the Olympians.
The re sight of it made him feel overwheld. Similar to what he felt when he saw The Tower, but this was more close to a feeling of awe.
And when he turned his gaze towards the bottom of the gate, he found a man sitting right in front of the gate looking at him with eyes full of interest.
The man in a winged helt and winged sandals, and a rod entwined with two serpents in his hands.
He must be Hers.
The very great being laughed as he spoke to Yeon-woo.
Its you. The man who shocked all the Guardians.
As the god who could move freely between the worlds of mortals and the divine, Hers was given a task.
The gatekeeper of Olympus Treasury.
Because he could look into the world of mortals, it was his task to keep his eyes on the mortal world and protect the Olympians treasures from those who coveted them.
But in other words, this also ant that he was always watching down at the mortal world, observing everything that happened all around the world.
And because of that, he gained a nickna from the mortals.
The Beholder.
Ive had visitors before, and it has beco frequent as of late, but I dont think there has been any mortal as surprising as you.
Hers expressed his admiration as he looked at Yeon-woo.
I have never seen a mortal like you.
It seed he was genuinely shocked by Yeon-woo
However,
Id like to enter the treasury.
Yeon-woo turned a deaf ear to Hers praise.
He wasnt in the mood to stand and chat with Hers. Because he was dying to enter the treasury as soon as possible.
He had already thought of the artifacts he wanted.
Zeus Astrape and Athenas Aegis.
Astrape, a spear that annihilates the enemies by launching lightning attacks. And one of the best weapons one could get in The Tower.
Aegis, also known as one of the best shields, with durability that allows it to fend off most attacks. And with Gorgons head embedded in its center, it can even paralyze or petrify ones enemies.
Both artifacts, each representing a god, have made their na several tis in myths.
Holding gods nas, the wielder of the artifacts could also obtain the power of the gods.
Haha! I see your heart is already set on opening the treasury. Very well. I will attend to your wish.
*Clap*
Hers clapped his two hands with a cheerful laugh.
Just then,
*Rumble*
The iron gate began to open on its own with a thunderous noise. And through the gap, a beam of golden light brilliantly poured down onto the once pitch dark world.
End of volu 3
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