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Published:2026-07-30Updated:2026-10-08Words:229,398Chapters:49/?Comments:440Kudos:443Bookmarks:87Hits:17,439

Tanya's Defiance of the Fall

Failninjaninja

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

Special thank you to Massgamer for proofreading!

Chapter 25

My new E-grade weapon was strictly better than [Sword of Storms]; however, it didn't mesh as well with my Dao Seed of Volition. It still was the better weapon to use, but the affinities within [Sword of Storms] had allowed for better integration with Volition. Depending on what I was fighting, one could be better than the other despite one being a whole tier in quality higher.

I finally found a decent spot to grind some levels and took a whole week to slaughter a near endless supply of what were basically slow-moving bipedal roaches. They weren't incredibly easy to kill, but I was too fast for them to surround. The Cosmic Energy gains were nice, but after gaining a few levels the time vs. Cosmic Energy gain ratio tapered off again.

Pulling ahead of Salvation on the Level Ladder did bring a smile to my face, however, and I moved to the 8th level of the 2nd floor.

Quest: Compete and place in the Array Contest

The place I was now in looked like one of the fancier auction houses in Base Town. Glittering crystals and Dao imagery littered the place, and everyone present looked rather posh. A man in robes walked up and bowed.

"Young mistress, are you here to enter the contest?"

"Can you explain the rules of it?" I asked curiously

"Certainly. Each contestant has 24 hours to create the most efficient Gathering Array possible. Materials will be provided."

I had talked to Dorel about what he did as an Inscriber. I also knew that you could basically do any craft without having the Class, but you would be unlikely to be able to do them as well. For one, you missed out on key Class Skills that could be used to improve on them. Combat focused cultivators also probably did not have a Dao that meshed well with the process. Of course, simple experience was also a factor. If you were an Inscriber or an Array Master, you made such things probably almost every day.

After having slaughtered roaches for the last week, I felt a desire to do something else. Plus, with my Enchanting, I hoped I could find a way to cheat.

Arrays could be almost anything. Flags were a common tool, but by no means were they the only ones. You could use ink, carvings, heck, even people could form an Array, nothing said they had to be attached to Disc Arrays, after all. Rock formations could be Arrays, after all. Really, the only major limiting factor was your ability to mesh what you desired and what the Cosmic Energy did through spacing, symbolism, and structure.

My new Dao Seed really is coming in handy here!

As I began forming the Array using flags, because that was what I was most familiar with, having seen them used in the System-purchased Arrays, I thought more about how I wanted it to be structured. Ultimately, everything was made of its component parts. A building wasn't all a building, it was timber, concrete, caulk, nails, windows, and more. The struggle I sometimes had was that for many objects in the Multiverse, there was some sort of perception enforcing mechanism. I theorized that it had to do with the Dao and how it permeated everything, but they were just well-grounded guesses.

With my flags though, I could make each one unique. I would use the Dao Seed of Structure for the entire concept, but for the creation of the individual parts, I would imbue them with the Dao Seed of Volition. This was a Gathering Array, so the free movement of energy should allow for the final effect to be stronger.

It took me the better part of the day to complete the project, and then I observed the scoring. My Array was rather simple compared to the others, and then I realized that I had goofed a bit. Formations and patterns could continue to be built out and be self-reinforcing. Different materials had different effects as well, one used metal poles, but each was a different kind of metal to allow for the passage of Cosmic Energy from higher to lower states. These different concepts were honestly fascinating, and I had a dozen new ideas for what I could do with Dorel in terms of combining our crafting skills.

Fortunately, this was only the 2nd floor of the Tower of Eternity. While some of these creations were absolutely more efficient at the design-stage, I had done very well due to the power of my Dao. The judges frowned at it, but when they actually tested the Arrays I managed to snag second place, which was good enough to win a prize and clear the level without facing the level guardian.

The prize ended up being a cultivation manual titled [Innate Patterns]. Studying it for a moment or two, I realized that this wasn't any better than my current cultivation manual, at least not for me. But this might be useful for Dorel. I had no desire to alter my pathways completely away from a combat setting, even if it might mildly improve my crafting ability. Maybe in the future, but not now with all the threats Earth was facing.

The experience here was much better than the actual prize for me, personally. The way I was doing my Enchanting worked, but it had a bit of a brutal efficiency to it, whereas my eyes were being open to new and exciting possibilities.

Time to face the 2nd floor boss.

***

Jared let out a big cheer along with most of the Salamander Group as they checked the Level Ladder and saw that Tanya had reached second place on it! Some were more restrained in their enthusiasm, like the Ishiate and Zhou, but they were all happy.

"I'm telling you, she's going straight to the top!" Kim said with a wide grin.

They were outside in their little camp surrounded by Arrays. Zhou had finished his 'solo' hunt and there was still decent prey in the era to hunt later, so it wouldn't make sense to go all the way back to Town. Normally, everyone would be sleeping, cultivating, or speaking briefly before going back to doing one or two of those things. Jared rather liked this change of pace.

Jared missed days and nights like this, just people 'killing time' and hanging out. Now, everything was focused on cultivating Cosmic Energy, going out and killing for the same, or getting it through creating something through crafting. There was never any time to just… be.

It won't always be this way. Earth is in an existential crisis.

Cultivation, especially for those who wanted to eventually ascend into the upper ranks and live practically forever, required constant work. And honestly… Jared wasn't sure he wanted to live like that. He would absolutely buckle down and do his part, even if his contributions were slight compared to others, but when Earth had dealt with the Incursions he was looking forward to just destressing and relaxing. Not every day had to be full of productivity, especially if he was going to live to be over three hundred.

He hadn't upgraded his Race yet, but the medicinal baths were doing something. Tanya had done it with the help of a lot of [Constitution Pills] and was of course a prodigy, but even if it took ten times as long as she had taken, it would still be within less than ten years. The idea of living four times as long as he thought was going to be possible was pretty damn cool, but not if every day involved constant striving to reach a new height!

"Hear that, Doc?" Will asked. "You gotta stop worrying about the duel she'll be fighting when she gets back. She's going to smoke that oversized rock!"

"The heart worries, even if the head does not. I know my daughter, she will win. And yet, a parent always worries. You'll learn how that is one day."

Zoey let out a bitter laugh. "Sorry, but who would want to bring up a kid in this world? I mean… I know I thought it was bad before, but it's so much worse now. Kids can't even start gaining levels until they are sixteen years old!"

"That is a problem," Edwin agreed, "but Tanya has already created a solution for Billyville, and from what we have learned about the Multiverse, there are plenty of stable areas once the dust settles. I'm not suggesting you go out and get pregnant right now, not with the war against these Incursions, but one day I urge everyone to consider it. Tanya would say it is necessary to repopulate the Earth, but I'll tell you this; nothing has meant more to me in my life than Tanya and Julia."

Jared chewed on his lip. He'd like to find a nice girl one day. His girlfriend was almost certainly dead. She'd been chosen for the Tutorial and the group she was in was identified, but they didn't recall seeing her after the first couple of days according to the information they had been given.

Must have been one of the early missions. At least the NWG was able to give me some closure.

He and Angela hadn't been that close, just dating for a month, but it still had hurt. Not even the loss 'what if' that may have happened, but just a good soul gone too soon.

Dorel nodded. "Shella and I hear your words and agree. When the Incursions are closed, the cycle of life will continue. Will Tanya decide to make Billyville her home in between missions?"

Edwin leaned back. "I'm not sure. I imagine our temporary living area will be wherever we are located, but Billyville treated me well. Billy is an incredible protector, and Nigel runs a smooth ship. I can't think of anything better, personally."

"What about New Washington?" Toby asked.

"They give me bad vibes," Will replied instead. "The head man, Thomas Fish or whatever, seems okay, but the old world is dead. We need people like Tanya or, heck, even Super Brother Man, Monk, or whatever his real name is to be the ones to step up. I don't think democracy works anymore, not that the NWG is even pushing for that."

Before things could start up on a more serious bend, like future politics, Jared interjected.

"Can you imagine the last football game that was played was with…"

After that, a few others insisted that the NFL would one day make a return and the track of the conversation went toward more lighthearted matters. Jared didn't know what the future held, but he knew they weren't going to solve it sitting in the woods yapping. Will was right, it would be the likes of Tanya, Thea, and the number-one ranker to decide how things on Earth ran. For now, he just wanted to enjoy the night and think about the days before the Fall.

***

I prepared myself for another ambush as the platform took me to the apex of the 2nd floor. The desert area was pretty warm, but as a cultivator of my level, 120 degree weather wouldn't even make me sweat. An oasis shimmered in the distance and I approached it.

Guarding it was a minotaur-looking fellow in robes. I activated [Temporary Enchantment] as I approached, and from about 100 meters away he made a thrusting motion with his hand and the air shimmered with monumental force. I didn't even have time to dodge as it smashed and overwhelmed my magic barrier, slamming me back. The residual impact hurt, but it hadn't had enough leftover force to trigger my contingency defenses.

I sent [Crimson Siphon] flying toward him while summoning a Fireball. The Fireball flew faster, but had taken time to generate a sufficiently powerful one, so they both neared my opponent around the same time. A small gesture sent both Fireball and Spirit Tool flying high away. My Skill dissipated under the powerful ripping forces while [Crimson Siphon] was sent so high I couldn't even see it anymore.

I drew [Sword from Stone] and began to zig-zag as I powered up [Blink]. My Dexterity gave me speed and his next blast of force at me was almost fully dodged, but sadly not quite completely. Instead of having my bones broken, my protective amulet triggered and the partial hit was almost fully negated. I came within the range I needed and teleported behind him and stabbed into his spine.

My E-grade weapon pierced through his robes and skin, but somehow he was still able to twist around and backhand me. I raised an arm to block and my Pseudo E-grade armor did what it needed to do to keep it from breaking, but I was still painfully hurled away, my sword ripping out of the minotaur's back as I flew backwards. As I was flying through the air from the blow I was already summoning a Fireball and sent it at my wounded enemy.

He deflected it again and used the same ranged force attack. My dodging and [Temporary Enchantment] fueled active barriers, allowing me to weather it as blood loss seemed to slowly weaken him. Considering that I was pretty sure I had stabbed him through the spine, I was a little annoyed at his durability. After a more successful dodge, I began fueling up a truly massive Fireball, pouring more and more power into it to shape the Peak proficiency Skill into a truly massive balloon of power. The minotaur stood on guard, ready to disperse the energies with its spatial blast when I finally launched it.

I grinned as his intense focus on what I was doing allowed [Crimson Siphon] to spear down into his skull, which allowed my charged up Fireball to finally hit. That did the trick.

I breathed a sigh of relief. The Tower of Eternity was, unfortunately, no joke. Even with my incredible armor and pretty decent Endurance, one of those blasts would have severely wounded me without my use of defensive treasures and [Temporary Enchantment] barriers. I realized I needed to up my game pretty badly, but the Array contest gave me a really good idea on how to do that.

The idea of creating miniature formations instead of just one and combining them all together under one umbrella had a lot of merit. What I intended to do was imbue and chain together multiple defensive treasures. I would then infuse the whole design with the Dao Seed of Structure. Instead of expending the entirety of one treasure and that being my final defense, I would essentially layer three different defensive treasures. The outermost layer would be my older and weaker protective amulets, followed by my stronger ones, and finally my most potent one.

There were costs to this. If I had to survive a significant strike that ate through all three layers, I'd have to Enchant three new protective items. That would take many resources. I also, at least at this stage, couldn't really do more than three layers. I had hopes when I evolved my Structure Seed I would be able to do more, but for now this was my limit.

The other cost was the precious resource of time. I could Enchant my weaker defensive treasures fairly quickly now, but to use my full strength to give me the best protection possible with the Dao Seed of Sanctuary would not be quick.

There are always trade-offs.

To my irritation the Floor Boss did not have anything worthwhile on his corpse.

[Second Floor Complete. Rewarding Title.]

[Choose Reward: Spiritual Tree Seeds, Large Cosmos Sack, Nexus Crystals]

The Nexus Crystals were tempting because, depending on quantity and quality, they could help me gain a Level pretty quickly. The Large Cosmos Sack was nice, but thanks to the one I got from the Ogre Incursion and the two extras I had, I was good on storage space.

Probably because I keep having to Disenchant so much to keep replenishing my protections!

I really wish the System gave me more details on things so I could make an informed choice. It probably would never fail to irritate me. The Spiritual Tree seeds could be anything, but they were a floor-clear reward, so I suspected they might be useful long term. With any luck, it might be something that could provide things like Attribute Fruits in the future.

Or it could just be a nice, relaxing tree that can grow in any environment. I really don't know.

I shrugged. I wasn't going to agonize over the choice at this point while I floated in the System-made void between layers of the Tower. I selected the seeds and obtained my upgraded Title.

[Tower of Eternity – 2nd Floor. All Stats +5]

This wasn't a second Title; it was just an upgrade of the first one. Which meant it didn't do a whole lot, but did round out my attributes more. I knew that I'd get an extra +5 again to all attributes based on the Title Ogras had, but what I was really looking forward to were the higher Titles. I had probably underestimated just how challenging this place was, but still felt that I had room to grow stronger as I climbed, gaining levels and refining my Enchanter powers.

It was time to tackle the 3rd floor.

***

The Quests were starting to get more complicated on the 3rd floor. Things like 'dive a kilometer down into the depths and retrieve a sentimental item'. Since it wasn't magical, the search would have taken forever. For Quests like those, I just killed the level guardians. Those were starting to get more challenging, but for the first few layers they weren't as challenging as the floor boss of the prior layer, so nothing was too challenging.

I took the time to create my triple-layered defense amulet and gained another level. I was making decent progress when I encountered something that scared me out of my wits. Coming up onto the 5th level of the 3rd floor, I felt scores of blood-soaked auras that were almost stunning in their intensity.

The chilly tundra I had rode the platform into was filled with mighty beings clashing in the snow. Ogres in armor were fighting against Demons. Their horns and eyes looked like Ogras, but they were a bit more bestial and towered as high as the Incursion Leader had. My nerves were jittery because I knew that, as far as I had advanced here in the Tower, there was no hope at all of defeating one of these mighty combatants.

They, naturally, weren't the only people on the field of battle. Other Ogres and Demons of similar size, but without the overwhelming feeling of strength, also fought it out. A Quest appeared before me and I hastily read it, completely paranoid about a stray blast of energy incinerating me despite my protections.

Quest: Slay the Ogre traitor within the Demon camp. Time Limit: 3 days.

An Ogre approached me, gliding lithely on his feet. Even though he was massive and heavily armored, I knew his Dexterity absolutely dwarfed mine. He was an E-grade warrior, and almost certainly not at the Early stages.

"Mercenary, huh? Well, you better get a move on and deal with the traitor before he spills his guts. Their Hegemon is coming from the rear to hear his tale personally. Silence him or we are all doomed."

I blinked. This was an insane mission, but I figured the System wasn't throwing me against these unkillable monsters directly. Instead, this seemed like a stealth mission for assassination.

I glanced at the battlefield. I saw the insane power people were using. Dao Fragments flashed and I felt the way they even used multiple Dao attacks at the same time. One Demon raised a claw wreathed in writhing crimson Dao of both Fire and Darkness. The twin energies coursed together like stitching as an Ogre activated a defensive treasure that caused a golden shield to appear to weather the black flames.

How did they do that?

Powerful bursts of combined energies were being used, but despite all the explosions, danger, and esoteric attacks, they were evenly matched all along the battlefront. More than likely, the System had set it up so that no side would gain an advantage while the Tower climber tried to complete the Quest.

But what if…

"Sir, I have a better idea. I've actually had an in-depth discussion with a Demon recently, a traitor to his kind. With your senses, you should know I am speaking the truth."

"Eh, huh, yeah I suppose you are. But you still need to get moving."

"I see the flow of the battle. I can provide insights to make our side fight better. Give me two days and we'll break through," I said confidently.

"Eh… what can someone with your strength really have to tell us about battle?"

"You don't have much of a choice. If you pull anyone else off the battleline. you risk the other side gaining an advantage. I'm looking at the battle and even now you talking to me is putting pressure on the line. I'm not going to try to assassinate someone in the Demon camp when we can win here and now. All I need is your trust in me. Allow me to use my advantages and see this through!"

My voice had reached a crescendo as I held up the [Sword from Stone] and pointed it at the line.

The Ogre growled, but then gave a sharp nod. "I've no more time to argue with you. Fine, show us what you have, tell us the Demons' weak points."

I didn't have any special insight, but I did know battlefields. I did make up some bullshit that sounded plausible, though. That was important, because the goal was only to activate [Commander of Men]. When I did, it granted a 2% bonus to everyone who recognized my leadership.

I don't know if the E-grade monsters fighting got the full effect, but the advantage was noticeable because of how knife's edge the battlefield truly was. In a normal fight, the outcome would not be decided by some tiny edge in Strength or Dexterity, but in a System set-up perfect stalemate? There, almost any tiny added advantage could lead to success.

The battlefield was massive and I infused my Dao Seed of Delegation when using [Commander of Men] to stretch the effect over the full length of the battle. Slowly, but surely, some fights were won where they would have remained stalemated. An E-grade champion of the Demons fell to an Ogre who had caved in a Demon's horned skull. That then freed up the E-grade Ogre, who slaughtered hundreds of F-grade Demons. The Ogres advanced and advantage after advantage piled up. I was careful not to engage directly with the E-grade monsters, but I was quick to zip in and grab dropped Cosmos Sacks and two Spatial Rings.

The treasures I had uncovered were almost certainly not going to persist after the end of my Tower of Eternity run, even if I was very tempted to give it a shot just for the slight chance it would remain real. No, my plan would be to use [Disenchant] and go on a crafting spree with some incredible materials and vast amounts of Cosmic Energy, as well as unique essences.

[Crimson Siphon] was already practically drooling, so it would be fed quite well indeed.

The battle didn't last two days, it didn't even last one. Within eighteen hours the Demons were in full rout, the Ogre who was kept in one of their temporary fortifications was slain by the overrunning army, and I accomplished the Quest successfully.

My prize was an Attribute Fruit of Dexterity, which I immediately ate for additional +3 to the stat. Not only that, but I had finally completed the [Leader of Men] Quest and my title was upgraded. A new Quest was slotted in the place of the one before it. This one ended up not being 'Upgradeable', so it would be the last in the line.

[Supreme Warlord] (Unique): Have followers that recognize your leadership slay 1,000,000 dangerous E-grade foes. Reward: Title: Supreme Warlord. Followers who recognize your leadership gain 5% to all stats under your direction. Improved Merit Awards during War. May Issue Telepathic Commands 3/day to all followers. (0/1,000,000)

The telepathy reward seemed interesting. I suspected like with the previous ones, there was a range component and that it would only work on the battlefield. Either way, I wouldn't be learning how that worked as fighting E-grade foes wouldn't be something the Salamander Group would be doing very much of for some time. Hopefully.

Plus… a million is a bit crazy.

The real prize was the all stat +5% while in combat for my people I had just picked up. A Title someone earned that granted that much would be highly prized, and I was giving it to multiple people during a fight. It was a true force multiplier. I also had a bit of an insight that finishing the Quest line might very well give me something else. I wasn't always right in guessing when the System would give out Titles, but it seemed to fit.

After a wildly successful day, it was time to sit back and do a lot of crafting with the loot I had just acquired. Some of the Cosmos Sacks had some really nice things in them. I probably wouldn't be able to use it all for the simple sake of time, so I would set aside some very expensive-looking high-tier items on the off-chance I had some good luck when I finished my run.

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Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Bookmark Mark for Later Comments Share Download

Work Header

Rating:

Not Rated

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Fandoms:

Characters:

Tanya von DegurechaffThea MarshallZac

Additional Tags:

Crossovers & Fandom FusionsStrong Female CharactersPost-ApocalypseLitRPG

Language:

English

Stats:

Published:2026-07-30Updated:2026-10-08Words:229,398Chapters:49/?Comments:440Kudos:443Bookmarks:87Hits:17,439

Tanya's Defiance of the Fall

Failninjaninja

Chapter 26

Chapter Text

Special thanks to @Massgamer for their proofreading assistance!

Chapter 26

After taking a full inventory of everything I had, I realized I now had more wealth than I would likely see again for years… And I couldn't take it with me. It was like putting a cushy retirement job right in front of an impassable glass wall. Too cruel.

Still, it provided an incredible opportunity, especially for me.

First, [Crimson Siphon] ate to its heart's content. The glutton now had a razor-sharp gleam and a rune had appeared upon the blade itself. I could tell it still qualified as an F-grade Spirit Tool, but it seemed to have grown significantly more lethal. Not only that, but I also sensed an ability that it eagerly wanted to use on the next suitable prey. I got the sense that it would only be able to use it at full capacity, meaning it would take some time to recharge, so I didn't test it out just yet.

The items that it consumed were those that it wanted and that would improve its growth, but that still left an amazing amount of other things for Enchanting fuel. I did keep four combat items separate, as I intended to potentially use these one-use items in the Tower of Eternity.

[Void Ball], [Frozen Zero], and [Bolt of Heaven] were all Mid-Quality E-grade one-use offensive talismans. With my Enchanter class, I could 'feel' the usage of magical items and a bit of their inherent properties. The first seemed to be a powerful spatial treasure that would likely rip the very fabric of reality, and whatever was within it, briefly apart. The other two held strong Daos of ice and lightning respectively within them. These would be my trump cards against things I might not be able to beat on my own.

Meanwhile, [Nimble Time] was a defensive treasure that, as best as I could tell, combined an automatic short-range teleport function along with a slight temporal adjustment. After studying it and mildly probing it with my Cosmic Energy for about an hour, I was fairly confident it would trigger when I took potentially significant damage to the body, rewind that damage, and shunt me away from the danger. It seemed to have a highly volatile field around it, so I suspected it wouldn't play nice with other defensive treasures, which was why it had been stored in the Cosmos Sack instead of worn. A pity for its former owner, since it meant they didn't have the time to take it out and use it before they were slain. But their loss was my gain. I decided to put it in the Spatial Ring near the 'top' of the stack, so if my triple shield amulet was triggered I could quickly gain access to the brooch and put it on.

Beyond that, there was a smorgasbord of various things; rare metals, cultivation manuals that seemed primed for Demons, a bunch of lesser offensive talismans and defensive treasures, lots of liquor, tons of F-grade weapons, and stuff in general. It would remain to be seen what the System would let me keep. My next project before tackling the rest of the 3rd Floor and the boss at the end was to finally finish my Crafter's Wisdom Quest.

There were a few movement-based items and other things I could use [Disenchant] on to allow me to upgrade my boots, hopefully, to E-grade. Using [Careful Path], my additional levels, and the properly attuned material for air and movement, along with my Dao, I wanted to finally create an E-grade item.

I can do this.

I ate food, readied myself, and began.

For four days. Over one hundred hours of crafting… I finally did it!

A number of things happened all at once.

The first was confirmation that I had crafted [Boots of Flight], the second was that I had gained a new Title, the third was I had completed my Skill Class Quest, the fourth was that the completion of the Enchantment pushed me to Level 60, and the fifth was a very odd sensation. It felt like the start of one of those brief Dao Visions that granted me a Dao Seed, only nothing happened. I had been told before that the Dao did not grant insight within places of great temporal flux, like the Tower of Eternity, and I felt like I may have missed out on something critical.

Oh well, maybe it will hit me when I leave the Tower. If not, I'm sure I'll create some powerful item again in the future.

I looked at my new Title.

[Maker: First in world to craft an E-grade item. Reward: Effect of Attributes +5%]

The surge of power that had come with it was incredible. Every single attribute had an additional 5% impact. Combine that with [Unmaker] and it was 10% across the board. That was an incredible bonus and showed just how much priority the System put into pushing people to achieve things first. Of course, if the System had bothered to mention that to people so they could make an informed choice, that might have helped…

Regardless, I was beyond thrilled. Now I had to check what [Crafter's Wisdom] gave because I had not felt a new Skill Fractal form. The 'Skill,' which I felt was a rather silly misnomer, instead had given me a powerful boost to Wisdom and more knowledge about making enchantments. I was able to now calculate, based on my attributes and past performance, the likelihood of succeeding in making an E-grade Enchantment without [Careful Path].

What was particularly mind-boggling about this was that the knowledge was almost instinctive, I just needed to picture what I wanted to do and think of the needed materials. It seemed that, for almost all higher-level Enchanting, there was a failure rate. But also, in a bizarre fashion, there was the possibility of a breakthrough of genius that could make an item even better than originally planned. The failure rate got significantly higher and the breakthrough rate highly unlikely, less than a hundredth of a percent, making it almost feel like some demented Gacha game. I wonder if massive B-grade forces had tens of thousands of crafters all focused on making something this way, picking out those rare RNG strokes of genius and giving those items to their favored scions. It certainly would make sense as to why things like [Nimble Time] seemed so ridiculous.

My next Enchanter Class Quest was already auto-completed because I had unknowingly finished it already, which unlocked a new true Skill for me that added a fractal to my arm. The Quest had been to Enchant 500 one-use items. Having already done so it rewarded me: [Reusable].

That Skill opened yet more doors for my Enchanter skills. I was currently operating on two modes; one-use items and permanent items. Now when I crafted anything I could use this Skill and forge what would have been a single-use item and instead give it a cooldown. This made the item worse than a single instance of a one-use item, but in return, it allowed the user to potentially use it multiple times, though not in quick succession.

It seemed like the cooldown times were highly dependent on a variety of factors, but they seemed to be measured to as little as one day and to as much as a hundred years. The longer the cooldown time, the higher the fraction of the output the item could use. If I created a defensive amulet that could shield a single Level 40 mutated beast's attack one-time only, I could also create a defensive amulet that could stop a Level 30 mutated beast's attack, but it could be reused in a year. Or I could create one that could be re-used every week, but it would only fully stop a Level 10 beast's attack.

The Skill was marked as Low-proficiency, so like my [Fireball] Skill that I spammed so often, I could advance the Skill over time. Though it would likely take me quite a long time to get it to Peak, I saw a lot of potential in this Skill. Especially if I used the Salamander Group as a strike team for quick decapitation strikes, like I was known for during my time as an Imperial Mage. In those kinds of circumstances, we wouldn't be fighting daily, but instead going from place to place and having just one big fight every few weeks.

Which gives me a lot of time to craft…

I had focused a lot on life-saving defensive treasures, but there were all sorts of potential other options on the more offensive beat. I really wanted to dive in and start experimenting, but time in the Tower was precious and I had already eaten through about half my time here without even reaching the apex of the 3rd Floor. That said, I now felt far more powerful with my new Title, an upgraded [Crimson Siphon], ten levels of stats, a literal flying treasure, and a whole slew of offensive one-use items!

The [Boots of Flight] did have one depressing downside to them, however. They used a lot of Cosmic Energy. A lot, a lot. They were absurdly hungry for it, to the point where I could not practically use them for more than a few minutes. For overland flight I could siphon an E-grade Nexus Crystal while I flew, but losing those little 'EXP Crystals,' as I liked to think of them, just to get somewhere marginally faster hurt me deeply.

With only about forty-nine days left to be here, I needed to make up a great deal of time as future battles and Quests would likely be far more difficult.

***

"What? You're a mortal?" Thea said, her eyes opening in shock. "Then why are you so strong?"

"Lucky, I guess," Zac muttered.

Thea couldn't believe it. It was bad enough that Tanya had crushed her utterly in their leveling race, but now she learned that Zac wasn't even a cultivator! At least with Tanya she understood why, the Tower of Eternity opportunity her grandfather had told her about. But this? He was only a mortal but was still this strong! It was embarrassing, mortifying, and depressing.

"Uh, are you okay?"

"Every day," she said with a hollow voice. "Every day I've fought with my life on the line, one battle after another. Just so that I can protect my family and humanity. But I couldn't even save John. Instead, he had to sacrifice himself to keep me alive."

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes.

"Meanwhile, you just keep getting stronger, increasing the distance between yourself and the rest of us. We thought you might have gained a top-grade cultivation manual from the Tutorial, as that was the only thing that could explain it. But it turns out you're not even a cultivator!"

The number one ranker coughed awkwardly, walked around her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

What the hell is he doing?

She shot him an angry look, but then he explained himself, "I have the Dao of Trees, and it has healing properties. It will speed up the process with absorbing the pill," he explained as he infused the Dao into her through his hand.

Thea felt tension leave her body. He had saved her life against the Medhin Prince and given her a top grade healing pill. If he meant her harm, why waste the pill? He also just seemed too awkward to try something… else.

As the healing energies filled her, he explained where he was when an Incursion began and how he had been able to close said Incursion all by himself, which gave him a large number of advantages. It still sounded too absurd to be true, but it had the ring of truth. Zac Atwood had closed an Incursion, saved her life, and was even healing her while sharing valuable information. That decided it for her. It made the most sense for them to work together on this Eastern Trigram Hunt.

And if I can get my hands on a Tower of Eternity token as well, I'll catch up to you, Tanya!

***

The 3rd Floor Boss seemed very angry that I had burned down her home. It felt a bit cheap, but despite my flybys with dropped 'bombs'/[Temporary Enchantment] exploding rocks that destroyed her home, I hadn't managed to actually kill her with the tactic.

"Murderer! Defiler! I will end you!"

The Tal-Eladar, some elf-like being with goat-like eyes, bared her sharp teeth and fired her bow at me. I cut off the Cosmic Energy to my boots and dropped to the ground. Her arrows, that had a stupid amount of potency in them, shot out like bullets from the hazy smoke of still burning land. My active barrier shattered as I dodged three arrows, but the fourth one hit me. I knew something magical was up there, as there was no way she could have that many arrows in a single quiver otherwise.

Unleashing [Crimson Siphon] and its pent-up Cosmic Energy left me filled with curiosity as to what it would actually do. The woman dodged the blade with ease while continuing to fire up at me, requiring me to constantly pop out new [Temporary Enchantment] barriers anytime she managed to strike true. I was literally dodging and imbuing every step with the Seed of Volition, but she was like a damn sniper. I couldn't get free from the constant harassment as she smoothly fired while dodging [Crimson Siphon].

With a bit of glee, however, I felt the Cosmic Energy surge in my Spirit Tool and watched as it flew high and then surged downwards from a distance. Eight copies of itself formed, not out of steel, but out of blood, and their semi-solid forms attacked the 3rd Floor Boss from all sides.

Finally a moment to breathe! How the heck did Ogras manage to clear this floor with lower stats and none of my unique advantages?

I charged up a Fireball, focusing on area and not on potency, and sent it flying into the mix of whirling blood swords. Her shriek of pain and hesitation caused several Spirit Tool copies to strike true, but the damn Tal-Eladar was still alive. Cosmic Energy flowed into a single black arrow she pulled out, despite her grievous wounds, and sent it straight for my heart. I felt a sudden impulse to freeze in place. It wasn't shock, it wasn't fear, it was a demand, a command over my entire being to remain still and accept the black arrow's strike. In an instant I threw it off and dodged to the side. The arrow barely missed me and I saw it strike dead center into a tree, which quickly withered and died within moments.

That was the last thing she ever did as [Crimson Siphon] and its copies finished off the dying elf-like woman before greedily drinking her blood. Her bow was great, but it likely wouldn't stick around after my run was done. I hoped I could get lucky, because while my dad used [Ice Shards] for a bit, I had recommended to him to use a bow so I could Enchant it and powerful exploding arrows for him to use for greater punch.

I then found myself in the black space of the System waiting room.

[Third Floor Complete. Upgrading Title.]

[Choose Reward: Longevity Medicine, Race Medicine, Energy Medicine]

I glanced at my Title to make sure it was the same as the one Ogras had said he had received. I assumed they were all the same, but always good to double check.

[Tower of Eternity – 3rd Floor: Reach the 28th level of the Tower of Eternity. Reward: All Attributes +10]

The bonus had gone from +5 to +10. These flat bonuses were never as good as % gains, but they themselves got boosted by my percentage increase and my effectiveness increases.

Given the nature of the Tower of Eternity, the Race Medicine was almost certainly something that could help me once I became E-grade. It would probably help me upgrade my E-grade Race to D-grade. That itself was incredibly tempting, as the lifespan in an E-grade Race was 300-500 years, while a D-grade race was around 5,000 years. However, the idea that I couldn't manage to upgrade my Race in 300 years seemed incredibly dubious to me.

The Longevity Medicine provided an ambiguous boost to my lifespan, but without more context, or even certainty it would matter once I upgraded my Race to D-grade, I felt ambivalent about it for me, personally. However, there may be some benefit in taking it and keeping it for my dad. I was pretty sure he would be able to advance to E-grade with his Race through [Constitution Pills] and medicinal baths. However, evolving from F-grade to E-grade after hitting Level 75 was more difficult, especially for someone who avoided fighting when possible like him.

The levels, the E-grader Race, and a Dao Seed were required. In addition to that, you needed to have impressed the System enough to give you a Class. It didn't necessarily have to be a direct upgrade, as Hybrid Classes existed, as well as Divergent Paths, but generally you needed to have made some accomplishments. My problem was that I didn't know exactly how the System calculated support roles like his. If it gave him a proper share for helping with the things the Salamander Group had accomplished, no problem, he'd break through just fine. But if not…

I'm not losing my dad too.

Energy Medicine might improve pathways and allow better cultivation, but those could be improved naturally over the long-term. Dad getting bottlenecked and not being able to advance to E-grade would freeze him out of being able to upgrade to a D-grade race, which would be awful. But if that happened, at least I could give him some more years. As a 3rd Floor reward, I would hope that it would provide, at a minimum, another century. Hopefully we wouldn't have to find out and he could advance shortly after I did. Either way, my choice was clear and I selected the Longevity Medicine.

Despite my triumph and better attributes, I felt… off. Something about the last attack the Tal-Eladar had attempted had impacted me in an odd way. I had resisted the effect, but the overwhelming compulsion felt like something had torn within me.

Mental attacks can damage the Soul.

It was hard to parse the way people referred to things in the Multiverse. After my encounters with Being X, I assumed the Soul was the eternal non-biological portion of ourselves. Here in the Multiverse, I wasn't quite sure if that meant exactly the same thing, but through meditation one could examine the Soul. Now, it wasn't a physical thing… well, probably. The way spatial dimensions worked was squirrelly, so it may be possible there was a physical dimension to the Soul that was locked in some sort of ethereal higher dimension, but that stuff sounded way too theoretical and abstract. Like string theory, something that might have answers, but ultimately if it wasn't testable, it wasn't a useful model.

After leaving the void I meditated and attempted to visualize my Soul. It would almost certainly be an approximation, but it felt like it was something I could do. A cultivator had instincts due to their connection to the Dao. Like all instincts, trusting them too greatly could be foolish, but it was a source of potential information. Internally, I saw my Soul as three embedded spheres, all overlapping. I suspected that the vision was showing me the natural threefold refinement of who I was.

The innermost sphere felt like a heavy foundational substance. The middle felt like the circulating current that moved upon the desire of the foundation, and the final layer was the moderating force keeping the whole thing together. It was a simplification because the spheres spun and danced within each other, but I felt a distinct layering.

Maybe that hack, Freud, was actually right.

Regardless of how it all worked, the big issue was that there was a small crack diagonally across the surface of my Soul. I tried cultivating, willing the Cosmic Energy to fill it, but nothing happened when I looked inwards. The Cosmic Energy didn't even register in my visualization of my Soul. I knew at the Base Town there were Soul-Mending pills for sale – which were pricey, but assuming I completed the 5th Floor, certainly affordable after I won my bet. For now, I didn't think I could do much about it myself, so I moved on.

For the 4th Floor I attempted to complete its Quests as quickly as I could. I picked up some more Nexus Crystals after I solved a murder mystery, which fortunately only took a day. The way the System had set up these scenarios tended to be a bit obvious and contrived, but since this place's purpose was that of a training tool, it made sense.

I skipped two Quests that seemed inordinately complex and had to deal with a few difficult level guardians as result, which unfortunately triggered my triple defensive amulet and still managed to break my clavicle. Fortunately, having a high Vitality on top of healing pills made that less serious than it sounded. Unfortunately, because the powerful attack had a strong Dao attached to it, the wound didn't heal properly at first and I had to evict the foreign Dao from my body.

I tried a couple of approaches, Fire seemed the most effective, but it also seemed to create some sort of internal scarring in my pathways. I studied that carefully and tested if those pathways could be healed via cultivation, and while they could, it took time. Fury ended up being surprisingly useful for some reason, almost as if I was scaring the foreign Dao out of my body.

As I neared the top of the 4th Floor, I was given an interesting Beast Tide Quest. I had to hold a keep for three days, but I had twelve hours to purchase and arrange Arrays along with purchasing defenders. These were sadly not counted as sentient beings, so my [Leader of Men] wouldn't trigger for them, but I learned that Lords and Planetary Rulers could create defenses that included things like these golems. Despite not being proper technology with circuits and electricity, for all purposes, they were basically robots.

The options I could select ranged from shield golems, who had high Endurance, to striker golems, who had high Strength, and finally spell golems, who used a variety of elemental attacks. I had to balance between that and Arrays that would keep the structure standing. It was a good old-fashion siege, and I had to think about the best way to take advantage of my Class.

The golems in question were Peak F-grade, which meant I would almost certainly be fighting against beasts around that level. I hit upon a strategy of using Gravity Arrays, protected by shield golems. The, hopefully, instinctive beast swarms would charge, get slowed by dealing with stronger-than-normal levels of gravity, while I rained down Fireballs from a vantage point on the roof of my keep. Some cheap Illusion and Offensive Arrays were scattered about as well, but the bulk of my currency that I had been given for this Trial was used on that.

The first day was great. I was having a ball, as was [Crimson Siphon]. I was right about the strength of the beasts, but each wave of a hundred or so would also have a leader that was low E-grade. Dealing with them was difficult, because their Endurance and Vitality was so high that even a max-empowered Fireball was unlikely to kill it. Fortunately, I still did damage, and the striker golems had the strength necessary to finish off the wounded ones.

Day two had me starting to feel the exhaustion as each wave continued after the last of the prior one was slain. It was non-stop. Even with [Crimson Siphon] leeching Cosmic Energy for me, I was getting fatigued and running low. I had to use some of my E-grade Nexus Crystals as energy and I lost some golems as I desperately tried to keep going.

Halfway through the second day, I decided to cheat a bit. I deliberately crippled a beast and then had two shield golems pin it down. That gave me an hour of respite, but then the next wave still appeared. This was interesting to me, because this meant this challenge was probably partially an endurance test and not just a 'kill x beasts in a set amount of time' one. I repeated the process and while I was sleep-deprived and still worn, I had found a trick to keep things manageable.

Day 3 proved even worse as the beasts were all variant types. Instead of huge tigers with sharper teeth, I had to deal with fire breathing ones. Instead of giant rats that moved with a Dexterity of over 100, I had rats that bled acid, causing damage to my Arrays and golems. Everything was harder and worse, I realized just how crazy stupid I must have sounded in the bar. This was nuts!

Everything around me was falling apart as my Arrays were destroyed and my golems defeated. I was battered, bruised, forced to use another triple-layered shield amulet, when the final wave came. With a grunt, I realized I didn't quite have it in me to fight another E-grade beast. Since it was a giant gorilla belching flames I dropped down and baited it in before using [Frozen Zero].

The power of the offensive talisman was jaw dropping. Cold the likes of which I had never felt erupted from the talisman and flash-froze the rampaging beast. I hadn't gained Cosmic Energy yet, which told me just how much stupidly stronger this final beast tide mini-boss was. In order to finish it, I charged forward and used [Sword from Stone] to stab into its brain via its right eye.

After that, I blinked away as others tried to avenge it, but the last of my golems and [Crimson Siphon] were able to defeat the rest of the beasts. It had been a hard-fought battle and the Quest reward was actually worth it. Beyond the additional level from the kills I managed to accumulate, I also obtained a Low-grade All-Attribute fruit that I quickly consumed, giving me +2 to all my stats. Furthermore, my accomplishment of fighting for three days in a row granted me an additional point in Vitality for my efforts. I had also gained another Level, and when I looked inward to my Soul I saw that the small crack had shrunk an almost imperceptible amount. Leveling up did help heal the wound, but it had a ways to go.

The area seemed safe, but unfortunately the Arrays and golems dissipated with my victory. It was time to rest, recover, and then tackle the 4th Floor Boss.

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Tanya von DegurechaffThea MarshallZac

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Published:2026-07-30Updated:2026-10-08Words:229,398Chapters:49/?Comments:440Kudos:443Bookmarks:87Hits:17,439

Tanya's Defiance of the Fall

Failninjaninja

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

Special thanks to @Massgamer for proofreading!

Chapter 27

What in the damn Naruto-verse bullshit is this?

The Floor Boss was just an old man floating at the top of a squat building. I had started the fight by unleashing [Crimson Siphon] and sending a Fireball up at the white-haired old man. He had dodged, and then six versions of himself sprang to life around him. A cloud of smoke exploded around him and it somehow obscured both my enhanced senses and my crafted contacts. From out of that smoke, they bum-rushed me. I didn't know which one was the real one, but all of them were corporeal; these weren't illusions. They were real and, even with my relatively high Dexterity for a magic-user, I was so much slower.

Within moments, I had been forced to use a [Temporary Enchantment] barrier while I charged up [Blink] to get some breathing room while [Crimson Siphon] hopefully got to work. Unfortunately, for me, they were incredibly good at dodging my Spirit Tool with their high Dexterity and mastery of martial arts. My barrier shattered after a few lightning-fast jabs and, even as I tried to throw a Fireball at my feet, my leather armor barely protected me. When a blow came sweeping in to cripple the side of my knee, the first layer of my yet again reforged triple barrier shattered and the second layer cracked. I barely avoided a kick to the head, but the strike turned into a heel drop that finished off my second and third barrier.

[Blink] finally triggered and I immediately played one of the cards that seemed potentially suited for this guy. I've had to fight a lot of sky-high Endurance and Vitality beasts and beings recently, but this guy didn't seem all that sturdy, just stupidly fast and with a bizarre Shadow Clone Technique that quickly had me on the ropes.

I took out a few poisoned pills and triggered [Lasting Breath] while putting up another barrier. The old man and his clones swarmed me. I needed to keep them around me for the odorless nerve toxin to hopefully work, with my Seed of Volition lending a helping hand. Thankfully, almost immediately it was having an impact. Their smooth movements began to get jittery and some even began to shake. Still though, somehow the absurdly potent industrial-strength alchemically boosted poison wasn't enough to kill a cultivator of this level.

On the plus side, I feel at this point I could probably survive nerve gas, artillery, missiles, and straight up tank shells. And that's with Endurance only being my fourth highest stat.

While the poison didn't kill the 4th Floor Boss, it did dramatically weaken him. Blood poured from their ears and nose, and that, along with their jerky movements, allowed [Crimson Siphon] to move in. This time they were too slow to dodge. It carved a bloody path and the pressure was suddenly gone, which allowed me to fly up and rain down Fireballs on the old man clones. The last one was seizing up when my flames incinerated him.

Cosmic Energy filled me and I let [Crimson Siphon] drink his fill. All of their bodies remained behind, which was weird to me. The old man had a pendant that had a reusable function of creating thick clouds of smoke that blocked people's perception.

Huh, so not the smoke from some Shadow Clone Technique, but some ability to replicate himself and then use the [Pendant of Obscuring] to avoid being found out as the real one. What a complete rip off! This damn thing has a long cooldown, so I won't even be able to use it before I exit here!

I put it into the [Disenchant] pile of my extra Cosmos Sack. I had to do some more crafting just to rebuild my defenses, and as it was, I had more things than I could possibly use before my time was up. I was soon transported to the 'waiting room' of the System.

[Fourth Floor Complete. Upgrading Title.]

[Choose Reward: High-grade Strength Fruit, High-grade Intelligence Fruit, High-grade Vitality Fruit]

That was an easy one. I selected the High-grade Intelligence Fruit. I was a little miffed there was nothing Wisdom-related, but it was still High-grade, which ended up giving me an additional +6 to my Intelligence.

As far as my new Title, I liked what I saw.

[Tower of Eternity – 4th Floor: Reach the 37th level of the Tower of Eternity. Reward: All Attributes +10, Wisdom +5%, Intelligence +5%, Dexterity +5%]

If the pattern continued, the 5th Floor would see me get 5% to the other four attributes. These flat percentage increases were only growing in importance as the raw base stat grew higher.

I miss Dad.

I had pushed hard during this Floor and I dread that I still had eight levels and a Floor Boss before my financial chicanery would be resolved. I was determined to press on after that, the Titles were simply too good, but having no one else's company for so long was a complete rarity in this third life. I had always been around my family, or after the Fall, at least other people. Even in the Tutorial, when the bonds were perfunctory at best, I was still around others.

It was strange, as I had never truly enjoyed being around people in my first life. I would much rather read a book and work on improving myself than socialize. I, of course, did socialize at least the minimum amount, to not damage my reputation among my fellow workers, but I had never enjoyed it. I would much rather learn about various historical battles or read the latest development book written by business leaders. But here, in this slog of a time where I had to balance fighting, healing, and Enchanting, I found that I missed the camaraderie of the Salamander Group.

"Enough moping, Tanya. There are Incursions to close and a sister to find. Get your ass moving," I said to myself as I was deposited onto the next floor.

I felt mildly embarrassed speaking to myself, and I wondered if really high-grade beings sometimes did that in their century-long periods of isolated cultivation. That definitely was starting to sound nightmarish. Maybe that's why the Multiverse was such a horrible place with despicable factions that regularly violated other people's sovereignty.

Nah, it's the System. It rewards aggression to an immense degree. One day…

***

She did it! Number one on the Ladder!

Edwin was happy just seeing her name on Level Ladder because it meant she lived, but he could not deny the intense pride that coursed through his veins. His little girl was the strongest person in the world. She had faced the Fall with unflinching resilience that went above and beyond what anyone could ask for.

If only you could see her now, Melissa. I miss you so much.

"Hey, Doc, do you think she'll want a celebration when she gets back? Or will that just annoy her? Based on her timetable, she'll only have a day before her duel," Kim asked after the cheering had died down.

He laughed. "She will most certainly tell us that there isn't enough time for all that. When she graduated and got her degree, she didn't even want to attend the graduation ceremony. Said that it was a 'waste of time', and that she 'needed no external recognition'."

Zhou frowned. "It would not have been for her, but for you, as is proper. You nurtured her, and your reward should be the recognition of your daughter's talent as a reflection on your abilities as a parent."

Edwin shook his head. "I don't think we really considered the matter that far, Melissa just put her foot down and that was that. She said she wanted pictures of her walking the stage since we didn't get one for high school since she skipped so many grades."

"So… no party or yes party?" Zoey asked.

Edwin knew his daughter. He also knew the stakes.

"No to the party," he answered after a moment of thought. "She'll have a short window to potentially prepare for the duel and return the Nexus Coins that she borrowed."

Zoey pouted for a moment, but nodded.

While everyone was ecstatic for Tanya's progress, they knew that an Incursion Leader was likely at the Peak of F-grade and would be dangerous. Previous fights against Incursion Leaders had them heavily limited by the System. Based on what Tanya had told them from her conversation with Ogras, those limitations were a massive deal. Based on the time left after she started gaining levels, it didn't look like she would hit Level 75 before finishing the Tower. Tanya would need every moment to prepare to maximize her odds of victory.

He had been honest earlier that night. Edwin would always worry, but for some reason, he didn't feel it nearly so strongly anymore. Tanya had tackled every challenge of her young life with aplomb. The only time she had ever lost her cool was learning about her mother dying. Everything else was done with an economy of motion and effort that belied her years. He could not help but feel as if there was nothing she couldn't do.

The group continued to talk amongst each other until the normally quiet Toby spoke up.

"After Tanya wins, what is going to happen with the Yrd Stonemen she bargained for? Are they going to really be one of us?"

"Maybe they'll be our gofer," Will joked.

Edwin was a bit hesitant about that whole affair. He knew why his daughter had done it. She had moaned a few times about how Super Brother Man had such an edge due to having Multiverse-knowledgeable advisor like Ogras.

"We won't be able to trust it. Remember, these guys are invaders. They came here to conquer our world and exploit its resources. They're basically colonialists!" Zoey said passionately.

Kim tutted. "We know about System Contracts. They won't be able to betray us, it's literally impossible, so this isn't about trust, but about using an asset. If whoever we end up getting can give us advice that saves millions, why the hell wouldn't we listen? And honestly, regardless of how you feel about them, you shouldn't treat the person like shit either. More intelligence has been gained with hot food and drinks than with enhanced interrogation. I'd rather have a Yrd Stonemen want to help us than be grudgingly forced to."

Zoey made a face. "That feels gross."

Zhou rounded on her. "You value human lives less than feeling gross?"

Edwin put his hands up. "Easy now, she's just sharing how she feels. I doubt Zoey is going to deliberately antagonize someone if Tanya asks everyone to play nice. Right?"

Zoey saw the lifeline and gratefully nodded. "Yeah, of course. Tanya's the boss lady. No one is going to mess up whatever she is planning, least of all me."

Toby added, "Sorry, I was just wondering. Dorel, Shella, you guys are really laid back, but those rock guys seem… intense. Like I said, just wondering."

The charged atmosphere defused and Jared speculated about whether Tanya would reach the top of the Dao Ladder too.

"Probably not right away," Kim replied. "Remember, temporal stuff messes with Dao insights. But she's so far ahead of everyone here it is a bit wild thinking that someone is even further beyond that."

Shella nodded. "She understands the nature of things. Her manner is not… spiritual, but her insight borders on the divine. Tanya hears what others do not."

Will grinned. "Or… she's just really smart."

Edwin grinned. Both the Ishiate flicked their ears in amusement. Neither of them took offense. Edwin was rather curious as to how the Dao worked in conjunction with being a mortal or a cultivator. He wasn't one to toot his own horn, but he had always scored very highly on exams and done well in school. Nothing like Tanya, but above the norm. And yet he was not a cultivator and had only just formed his first Dao Seed. The correlation between intelligence and Dao insight was probably not strong in his estimation.

Despite the late hour, no one was intending to get any rest that night, and despite it only being a few minutes, he rechecked the Ladder. Tanya was still there.

Just a few more days and you'll be back.

***

Things were looking dire as I approached the apex of the 5th Floor. Fighting the level guardians was a tricky prospect as they were all clearly above Level 75. My stats were good for someone in their 60s, but I suspected they had at least 20 levels on me and were probably tougher than ordinary versions. And when it was some sort of beast or monster, the custom poison pills no longer did the trick.

Not that it matters anymore, now that I used the last of them.

I also got my fill of fighting the Undead as I completed a Quest to slay an Undead that had been preying on a village. Seeing a potential for a Quest reward for fighting something that was likely just the actual level guardian anyway, I eagerly accepted and sought out the creature in the woods.

That fight had been aggravating. It. Would. Not. Die.

It looked like a damn skeleton wearing bone armor and it didn't even have eyes or any organs that I could see. The massive axe it wielded was deadly and it had an immense Dao imbued into it, far higher than I associated with the Dao Seeds that I had. Seeing how fast and strong it was, I activated my [Boots of Flight] and rained down Fireballs while unleashing [Crimson Siphon].

To no avail.

It just sat there and ate my Dao Seed of Fire enhanced Fireballs. My Spirit Tool even used his build-up attack and still… nothing. I was at a loss and losing Cosmic Energy fast with my flight, while the thing started ripping up trees and throwing them at me. I had ended up having to use [Bolt of Heaven], shattering its skull and the three gems within. But I hadn't received any Cosmic Energy.

To my horror, even without its head it continued to fight!

Fortunately, it became clear it was blind and now had a weakness in its overall defensives. I used [Sword from Stone] as I was flying while [Crimson Siphon] pecked at its front, distracting the blinded attacking Undead. The wealth of Cosmic Energy from the kill was a relief.

Fortunately, the second to the last level of this Floor was an exam. A written exam about the history of Earth. I hadn't wanted to look a gift horse in the mouth but… huh?

Ogras did say a broad range of skills was necessary. Was this testing the Tower climber's ability to recall information?

The test was incredibly long and had some really esoteric details, but they were all about subjects that had interested me; the structure of business, military trivia from a thousand battles, and similar things. As I turned the pages, I felt an odd tension even though I knew the answers to all of these. The tightness in my shoulders and neck increased, and a small headache formed. I realized it was likely due to me waiting for the other shoe to drop… but it never did. The tension just mounted, but after several hours I was done and nothing bad happened.

The reward from slaying the Undead had been an Information Crystal that was a primer on the Undead Empire and the Kavriel Province. It had a rich biography of the major players, including the leader of the Undead Empire in this sector, a Draugr named Tassar Kavriel. He was called a High Monarch, which confused me as I thought the distinction between Monarchs was Early/Middle/Late/Peak/Divine.

Maybe they are interchanging High and Late? The author is from the Empire of Light, and those were one of the forces that have a presence in Base Town. Ugh… if I have time, it really doesn't matter as any level of Monarch will be beyond my capabilities for centuries. Still, the nomenclature is important.

This did nothing to help my climb, but just glancing through the information gave me quite a bit of knowledge and understanding of just what I was facing with the Undead Incursion back home. The Undead Empire was somewhat of a racial oligarchy with the Draugr, Izh'Rak Reavers, Eidolon, Eternal Clan, and Founders. While not all the details were provided, I was able to tell that the Undead axe wielder was an Izh'Rak Reaver, one of the most physically powerful Undead.

The lower caste Undead included Revenants, Corpselords, Specters, Liches, and Zombies. Interestingly enough, the Zombies weren't properly sapient until they 'awakened' and became a Revenant. The author acknowledged that the Undead Empire held a slightly different view, but that was the pragmatic view of what happened. The author went on about how the Undead Empire were corpse thieves and regularly stole the bodies of powerful opponents, as those could make powerful Undead.

The reward for my exceptionally well-scored test was a Dao Treasure; a miniature mango that could aid with Dao insights of the more cerebral variety. I wasn't sure how it would react in a temporal area, or really, which of my Daos it might even benefit, so I figured I'd hold onto it until I exited the Tower. I knew Dao Treasures didn't necessarily mean you would even advance one of your Seeds. It helped though, which was why many people in the Tower would hope for an apparition to appear when someone cleared a higher floor so they could combine the effect of the fruit with it.

Since I only have three days allotted before my return, it will be very unlikely I'll see a vision other than my own. I could get lucky though.

Though that brought me up short for a moment. It had been a Quest reward, but not a Floor reward. Would it also disappear? I groaned… I also had [Sword from Stone] that I was getting a lot of use out of. Then there were the cultivation manuals. None really worked for me, but they were just information. I wasted a few hours Enchanting my own Recording Crystal and then used it to scan all the cultivation manuals I had picked up as Quest rewards and from the Demon spatial tools.

I weighed the options of going one way or the other. The Tower of Eternity was a training tool, at least that is what everyone said. It helped separate the worthy from the unworthy and pushed cultivators to have a well-rounded skillset. If Dao insights were cut off, why would it provide Dao Treasures? For use later, potentially, but many times items seemed to help in the climb itself.

Well, this will also let me inform the others. Getting as much info as I can will be important for Earth as the Tower of Eternity seems to be one of the few ways we can make rapid growth gains before it's too late.

I took the mini-mango and popped it into my mouth. As the sweet juice filled me I felt my eyes roll back and suddenly I was seeing through someone else's senses. I was a man again. I was overlooking tens of thousands of cultivators who were wearing robes. Each of those cultivators was a teacher. As I taught, they learned, and I knew they would go on to teach others.

The vision lasted for a bit as basic ideas of cultivation were expressed. There really was nothing all that groundbreaking, but the thoughts of the person flowed about how this would revolutionize the potential of an entire world.

I was jerked back into the real world. Something had changed.

[Dao Seed of Delegation – Middle. Wisdom +25, Intelligence +5]

The attribute gains were nice and having confirmation that Dao Treasures could work within the Tower of Eternity was great information. However.. I also felt something off. My perception of the concept of Delegation was not about a principal or a teacher who taught others and set up curriculum. My concept had been different, the idea of passive income and delegating work out to employees and providing a resource to myself. With the alteration to the shape of my Dao Seed, I worried that I would not be able to use the insight in crafting my Cosmic Energy-leaching weapons in the same way.

No… I can probably still force it. It might not be as effective, but then again, the Dao Seed has advanced to the Middle tier so perhaps the additional impact of it may make up for the downside.

Dao Treasures seem to be very good at getting quick results, but if they didn't quite mesh with the part of the concept of Delegation that I wanted to focus on, it could leave me in a weird limbo situation. On the other hand, maybe it could open me up to a different path. If I could improve others like an instructor, something that my Mage Battalion had shown I was rather good at, then maybe that was something to hone and perfect via the Dao.

I really wanted to meditate on these ideas and consider how to maximize my use of that Dao Seed, but I had an important fight on my hands. I wanted to climb as high as possible to get the best Title I could. This type of Title would stay with me forever, and the odds are I would only have one shot at it. But more than anything, I desperately needed to get through this 5th Floor Boss so I could win my bet with Balos.

I had [Void Ball] and [Nimble Time] for absurdly powerful one-time use items. I also equipped [Nimble Time] instead of one of my tri-layered defensive treasures. This one very well might be for all the marbles.

***

I took the platform up and found myself in a hurricane. As a cultivator in an E-grade body, I had no issues with not being blown away. Lightning crackled across the sky and my mission here was a simple one; slay the massive golem of rock.

When I say it was massive, it is hard to overstate that. This wasn't like the Yrd Stonemen who were sized like bulky NBA players. This wasn't like Billy who towered even them. It wasn't even like some of the E-grade gigantic beasts. This thing was the size of a giant building. The ground trembled, and as the platform disappeared behind me the massive creature looked down at me.

Orbs of golden light were its eyes, and might be a good target. The ground split apart around me as jagged rocks speared up to pierce me, but I had already sensed the attack and activated my [Boots of Flight]. I sent my Spirit Tool to try to poke its human-sized eyes as I readied for a potential attack on my person.

The golem, or titan, or whatever it was, gestured toward me and small bits of rock came off its body and lashed out toward me. Small bits of its body were boulder-sized to me. With our distance I could see them coming and dodged despite their speed. More boulders were sent at me and as I used my years of practical experience of magical flight to good use, I realized the rocks that had missed me were circling back.

You've got to be kidding me!

None of the boulders that missed ever stopped chasing me, which meant I had to do something or eventually get overwhelmed. Even I had my limits as I soared through the lightning streaked sky. I took out a Nexus Crystal to absorb some Cosmic Energy as I flew at the golem. I caused its own boulders to crash into its own body, but if that hurt it, it wasn't clear to me. Using [Sword from Stone] I tried to stab into its back and the E-grade weapon was able to pierce cleanly in. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to strike anything vital. I was forced to dodge as the boulder smashed into its body.

I turned off my flight and instead conserved energy by using the boots' lingering effect to stick to surfaces. I tore gouges out of it, but nothing actually seemed to hurt it and looking back at my previous attacks, they were slowly starting to reform.

I wracked my brain as to what to do as [Crimson Siphon] had no luck at all at damaging it either. Even when it struck the glowing eyes of the creature, they seemed liquid and just reformed.

Then things got worse.

From its body sprouted smaller earth golems. They chased after me and they were stronger than I was, though fortunately I had a strong edge in Dexterity. I slew a few of them as boulders continued to rebound across the huge golem.

An idea came to me.

I sent a mental impulse to [Crimson Siphon] to pull back. I rolled across the surface of the Floor Boss, struck down one mini-golem, then jumped away and activated my [Boots of Flight].

I probably only have one opportunity!

Using the Spatial Ring I pulled out a bunch of enchanted explosive rocks and quickly tied them around the hilt of [Sword of Storms] while I triggered [Void Ball] and pushed it away from me toward the mountain of a creature. The crackling sphere of raw energy physically attracted the flying boulders still swirling around this insane battlefield. Spatial tears ripped free pockets of reality and then the E-grade item struck the monster. The ground quivered as the hungry orb consumed the earthen flesh of the 5th Floor Boss.

As it ate into it, I knew it wasn't going to be enough. I sent a mental impulse for [Crimson Siphon] to trigger his ability and eight bloody swords slashed into the hole that the [Void Ball] had caused. I wasn't done; I then threw my [Sword of Storms] with as much force and as much focused Dao Seed of Volition as I could muster, right into the gaping wound. Pure annihilation, a powerful Spirit Tool attack, and a homemade bomb shoved into the heart of the thing had to be enough. Right?

Right!

The explosive rocks detonated and fissures grew across the Boss' entire body. With a cataclysmic crack the entire creature fell apart. A surge of Cosmic Energy, more than I had ever received from a single kill, filled me up to the brim and granted me another Level.

"YES! YES!!!!"

I was exhausted from the relatively brief flight. I had won, but by the skin of my teeth. I looked through the debris of the giant golem and found a rather large yellow-diamond-looking thing. It felt like the core of the creature. I could tell it could create something seriously powerful, but I worried about even daring to even try crafting something with it. Using [Crafter's Wisdom] I looked at some ideas and realized the success rate with my current attributes and knowledge was below 10%. That left me with the option of using [Careful Path], which would eat up all the rest of my time here, or risking keeping it within my Cosmos Sack and hoping it was a treasure that the System would let me keep.

Ugh.

On the plus side, as I suspected, [Sword of Storms] was still in one piece and I hadn't had to use [Nimble Time], so I still was walking away from this fight with at least one fantastic defensive tool. I moved on to the empty void where I could see what the Tower of Eternity would reward me with for clearing this floor.

[Fifth Floor Complete. Upgrading Title.]

[Choose Reward: Offensive Skill, Defensive Skill, Support Skill. NOTE: All Skills will have 80% compatibility or higher.]

There was only one option for me to select. The reality was that my [Temporary Enchantment] magic barriers and my defensive treasures had me pretty well set in terms of protecting myself. Support Skill looked like a decent option, but I already had magical items I had crafted like my contact lens and boots, plus [Lasting Breath]. No, what I lacked here was an alternative to Fireball. What if I ran across someone who had an immunity to fire? That would put me in a difficult situation. I made my selection.

[Mind Splinter – Drive a sliver of will into another's Soul and fracture it. Upgradeable]

This was an F-grade Peak Quality skill at Early proficiency. The fractal seared onto my head and I could sense immediately that this was a very potent Skill. It would, however, use a lot more Cosmic Energy than Fireball and potentially also exhaust my Mental Energy. I had learned I was somewhat mixing the two concepts, because early on in my cultivation career I couldn't quite tell everything apart.

Cosmic Energy was used to power the fractals embedded into my flesh when I used a Skill or a spell. That was another silly nomenclature issue, all spells were Skills. What was a spell? Something people viewed 'mage' Skills as. Typically Skills that were dependent on your Intelligence attribute, but the line grew muddy as there were spells that functioned regardless of your Intelligence Attribute, but in the end a Skill was a Skill was a Skill.

Mental Energy was a separate reservoir to draw upon. It seemed to replenish with rest, but I had never really felt parched in that regard even when I used Mental Energy. Mental Energy was what allowed you to use your Dao and, in theory, if you overused it you would have difficulty properly channeling your Dao into your Skills. In this case, the Skill itself also utilized Mental Energy to directly attempt to shatter your target's Soul, killing them in a pretty brutal way.

Ogras seemed to think I was some sort of Dao genius, so I guess I'm efficient in using it. But… I guess the true test will come with a Skill like this.

I looked around, I was now on the 6th Floor and in the middle of a barren wasteland. Far off into the distance, I saw there was a city. Nothing around me was immediately hostile, so the last thing I did before switching out [Nimble Time] for my layered protection amulet was check my upgraded Title.

[Tower of Eternity – 5th Floor: Reach the 46th level of the Tower of Eternity. Reward: All Stats +10, Wisdom +5%, Intelligence +5%, Dexterity +5%, All Stats +5%.]

As I suspected. So what do I get if I somehow manage to defeat the 6th Floor Boss?

I had eleven days left and eight levels to climb before the Floor Boss. It seemed an almost impossible task, but with all my recent improvements, I was feeling better than ever. Without a much-needed E-grade offensive talisman to deal with troublesome bosses, I figured my chances were low. It still felt pretty safe to try, even if I couldn't conquer the 6th Floor, I could just break my token and since I had some good defenses on hand to keep me alive for a precious second or two, so the risk should be minimal.

At this point, I had achieved my original goal, so it was time to see how far I could go.

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