Sami and Lyra found themselves in front of the tower, staring at the glowing doors. Unlike the rest of the tower, the doors glowed with a light blue and were made of metal.
Floating in the center of the doors, the letters spelled "Enter."
Sami took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I can do this. I survived the Gbahali and defeated the Minotaur."
The tower was different; the weight of not knowing what would be on each floor was slightly intimidating but also exciting.
"Earth to bookworm, you with us?" Lyra's voice cut through his thoughts, her playful tone bringing him back to the moment.
Sami blinked, forcing a smile. "Sorry, haha. Just nervous about stepping inside for the first time."
She bumped his shoulder, her grin wide and teasing. "Come on, we've been training every day, you're more than ready. Plus, I know you're itching to fight someone other than Anna, right?"
He pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah, you're right! It'll be nice not to deal with her for a day."
"See, that's the spirit! Plus, with me there, you won't have to worry about anything happening to you."
"Then I'll be in your care!" Sami nodded in mock seriousness.
Lyra's cheeks pinked slightly; she turned her head to hide it from Sami's eyes. "Yeah, yeah, just don't get in my way."
"What are you guys waiting for? You're burning sunlight standing around," Anna called out from behind them.
She marched up to the duo with an amused smile. The peaceful moment is now shattered with her arrival.
Onyx was staring blankly ahead while being held by Anna.
Sami had to stifle a laugh.
Anna had forced Onyx to wear a small maid's outfit. It even had a small skirt for her to wear.
Lyra turned towards Sami. "Well, you heard the woman, let's get going, bookworm."
"Hell yeah!" Sami pumped his fist in the air, his nervousness giving way to excitement.
Anna waved one arm around. "Then go forth, adventure, and remember, as my students, we never surrender; we either fight or die!"
Sami took the initiative and stepped forward.
Taking a deep breath, he walked through the blue light in front of the door—a cool sensation through his body. After a second, he appeared in a dark room.
Sami couldn't see anything with how dark it was; a few moments later, Lyra appeared behind him.
"Oh, kind of spooky to see a dark room like this," Lyra muttered.
Sami nodded in agreement. Gathering his courage, he took a step forward when a light turned on. On the wall, words appeared similar to one of Sami's menu items.
>Welcome to the Training Tower
>Floor One is through those doors straight ahead
> Leave by turning back around or saying I give up
After the messages appeared to the left of them, a door opened up.
Sami didn't hesitate to march forward, with Lyra quietly following behind. Both are ready to take on a new challenge.
Once both of them stepped through the door, it slammed shut behind them, and the feeling of weightlessness accompanied them as they started floating.
Lights flashed around them as they floated upwards; Sami's hair was whipping back from the speed. Soon, they slowed down and finally stopped.
The weightless feeling left as they touched the ground. Now, in a small corridor with a fog gate in front of them. Behind the gate was a room that had sand on the floor and two figures sitting in the middle.
"I don't know if I enjoyed that or hated it," Lyra commented.
Sami shrugged. "Honestly, I enjoyed the feeling of floating. Do you know if other towers are like that?
"I can't say since this is my first one. Though leave it to our teacher to find someone to build her a tower."
"Nothing amazes me about Anna anymore." He replied, stretching his muscles, hopping from foot to foot as he warmed up.
Lyra nodded in agreement. She took a deep breath before passing through the fog gate, followed hot on her heels.
In the middle of the room, two humanoid lizards stood. The small lizards had shiny scales, long, spiked tails, and very sharp-looking teeth.
One with red scales had two dual blades in its hands, and the other with green scales had no weapons, instead flexing its sharp claws.
The red scales stepped forward, disappearing.
Clang!
Lyra had already summoned a sword and was blocking a blow from the red-scaled fighter. "I'll take this one."
He didn't have time to reply because he had to duck quickly, the green-scaled fighter soaring over his head. 'If I didn't have mana sense, that attack would have blown my head off!' Sa
The green-scaled fighter quickly forced Sami to cross his arms, the creature appearing before him, fist outstretched.
He clenched his jaw as he tried to resist being pushed back. He snapped his leg, aiming a kick towards the stomach, but the green-scaled fighter jumped.
Sami soon found himself forced to defend, overwhelmed by the speed of the green-scaled fighter. Being forced to either dodge or block attacks. 'Tch, this monster is just too fast.'
Lyra wasn't faring much better. While she was stronger, she was easily able to block and parry the red-scaled monster, but it was still much faster than she was.
"Stand still, and die!" She roared, parrying a blow aimed at her side. She swung her sword around, light flashing off the blade as she aimed a strike at its throat.
The red-scaled fighter dropped to the ground, her blade passing harmlessly over its head. It then flicked its wrist, bringing on its blades around, trying to slice her ankles.
Lyra jumped over the attack, but the red-scaled fighter expected this and jumped up as well, launching an upper strike with both swords.
She could barely get her guard up before the attack sent her flying backward, landing on the ground with a heavy thud.
Seeing her get launched away, Sami's gaze turned serious. He swore the green-scaled fighter's lips were turning upwards, as if mocking him.
He took a deep breath and started focusing more closely on the fighter. In his eyes, the green-scaled fight moved much more slowly. The muscles in its left side flexed before it moved forward.
He activated Phantom Veil, allowing the green-scaled monster to pass harmlessly through his body; the green-scaled monster slid across the ground. As his form flickered, he stomped the ground.
A circle appeared from underneath the green-scaled fighter, chains shooting out before it had a chance to dodge.
The green-scaled fighter fought with all of its might, trying to break the chains, but it failed. It lifted its head back, letting out a roar. "Graaawwr"
Sami launched himself forward; while the green-scaled fighter was letting out a roar, Sami leaped in the air.
He aimed his hand at the green-scaled fighter's face, focusing as much power as he could.
A bright light began shining from his palm, a warm sensation flowing through his hand.
Sparkles!" Sami shouted, and a giant firework shot out of his hand, flying into the green-scaled fighter's mouth.
The green-scaled fighter began expanding before bursting open, blood and guts flying everywhere.
[Defeated → Kobold x1]
"Huh, so that was the name of the monster," he muttered under his breath, shaking his hand free from blood.
The sound of fighting brought him back into focus as he watched the red kobold rush forward, blade aimed at Lyra's head.
Lyra groggily got to her feet, barely getting her blade up to black.
Stomping the ground, Sami had chains appear, wrapping around the red kobold's sword, ripping the blade out of its hand.
Lyra took advantage of the kobold being off balance by knocking its remaining sword out of its left hand.
With a wide swing of her blade, she could cut the red kobold's head off; blood spraying in the air as the body promptly dropped to the ground.
[Defeated → Kobolds x1]
Sami wiped the small bead of sweat off his face as he continued forward. "Thankfully, I was able to place my chains in the right place."
Lyra stood, her head pointed to the ceiling, with her sword pointed at the ground.
"Are you okay?" asked Sami, while jogging up to her. He was worried that she had sustained an injury he couldn't see.
Lyra lowered her head, a big grin on her face. "Did you see the way the kobold's head went flying? It was amazing!"
'Yes, she's doing just fine,' he thought, feeling exasperated by her enthusiasm.
The smile on Sami's face dropped, and a blue circle appeared on his hand. Twirling around, a small shield flickers into existence in front of him, blocking multiple arrows flying towards them.
"Gragrgag!", a blue kobold roared, holding up a battle axe in his hand. Behind him was a yellow kobold with a bow in its hand, and next to that was a purple kobold holding a staff.