The 15th floor was a realm of heavy, suffocating pressure, where the air itself was saturated with the smell of scorched ozone and ancient blood. Austin stepped out of the translocation light, his boots crunching on the obsidian soil of a battlefield that spanned the entire horizon. This was the 15th Floor: The Bastion of the Iron Legions.
The sky was a dark, bruised crimson, lit by the constant discharge of lightning from massive, floating fortresses. To clear this floor, a challenger usually had to navigate a complex series of trenches, disabling mana-cannons and slowly whittling down the automaton army. It was a test of endurance and tactical warfare that usually took a standard "prodigy" weeks to complete.
[Tower Notification: Floor 15 — Bastion of the Iron Legions]
[Objective: Destroy the Core of the Central Fortress]
[Enemy Forces: 100,000 Iron Sentinels (Level 350-400)]
Austin stood at the edge of the battlefield, his violet eyes reflecting the flashes of lightning. To anyone else, the sight of a hundred thousand Level 400 machines charging toward them would be a death sentence. To Austin, it looked like a mountain of experience points waiting to be claimed.
"A hundred thousand?" Austin whispered, a cold, predatory smile tugging at his lips. "It's a start."
He didn't move toward the trenches. He didn't take cover. He simply stood in the open, letting the radar-eyes of the entire legion lock onto his signature. The ground began to shake as the Iron Sentinels—massive, four-armed mechanical warriors—began their charge. Behind them, the floating fortresses leveled their mana-cannons, charging beams of concentrated destruction.
"Let's see how the world-logic handles this," Austin muttered. He activated [Primordial Archive: Law Breaker].
In his vision, the 15th floor's reality dissolved into a sea of golden code. He didn't target a single enemy. Instead, he targeted the Law of Physics governing the floor. He located the string of code responsible for "Kinetic Impact" and "Energy Conversion."
With a flick of his mind, he "rewrote" the impact of the Iron Sentinels' weapons.
The first volley of mana-cannon fire hit Austin simultaneously. A hundred beams of white-hot energy converged on his position, enough to vaporize a minor moon. But as the energy touched his Chaos Domain, it didn't explode. Because of the Law Breaker rewrite, the heat and kinetic force were converted into Spirit Qi.
Austin stood in the center of a roaring pillar of white light, not screaming in pain, but exhaling in satisfaction. His Foundation Establishment Dantian acted like a black hole, greedily absorbing the converted energy.
[Absorbing External Energy... Purity 98%...]
[Cultivation Progress: Stage 2 \rightarrow Stage 3 (Foundation Establishment)]
"My turn," Austin said.
He didn't use a flashy skill. He simply took a deep breath, his chest expanding as he channeled the newly absorbed Qi into his vocal cords. He unleashed a Sovereign Roar, infused with the weight of the Chaos-Devouring Sovereign Dragon.
KABOOM.
The soundwave wasn't just noise; it was a physical wall of Primordial pressure. The shockwave ripped across the battlefield, traveling faster than the speed of sound. The hundred thousand Iron Sentinels didn't just break; they disintegrated. Their armor plates shattered, their internal cores melted, and their very frames were ground into metallic dust by the sheer weight of Austin's voice.
[Target(s) Slain: 100,000 Iron Sentinels]
[Calculating Experience... Massive Slaughter Bonus Applied!]
[LEVEL UP! Current Level: 135]
The Central Fortress, a massive structure the size of a city, began to tilt and crumble. Austin didn't wait for it to fall. He flickered into the air, appearing directly in front of the Fortress Core—a massive, glowing orb of concentrated mana.
He reached out and grabbed the core with his bare hand. The energy within it tried to reject him, lashing out with arcs of lightning. Austin's 1,200,000 Primordial Essence surged, easily suppressing the Core's resistance. He squeezed, and the heart of the 15th floor shattered into a thousand fragments.
[Floor 15 Cleared!]
[Total Time: 3 Minutes, 12 Seconds]
[Tower Authority Increased: 8%]
As the floor began to dissolve to transport him to the 16th, the Origin Consciousness chimed with a different tone.
[Achievement Detected: Legion-Slayer]
[Reward: Permanent +1,000 to all Attributes]
Austin felt the surge of power settle into his bones. He was now Level 135. Only 15 levels remained until the Level 150 Milestone. He could feel the universe preparing itself for the next Primordial gift.
Outside the Tower, the leaderboard was no longer just a source of shock; it was a source of terror. Austin Zenith's name was now flashing with a gold-and-violet light that signaled a "System Overload."
Morrigan Void-Walker, the Demon Heiress, licked her lips as she watched the floor counter jump from 15 to 16. "He's not even breaking a sweat," she whispered to herself. "He's treating the Tower of Eternal Beginnings like a private playground. I need to meet him. I need to know if that power can be shared... or if it needs to be stolen."
Austin stepped into the 16th floor, his aura now so sharp it was cutting the very space he occupied. The "Idiots" of the Academy were no longer on his mind. He was looking higher. He was looking for the limit of the Tower itself.
[UPDATED STATUS PANEL]
NAME: Austin Zenith
LEVEL: 135 (12.10% XP)
CULTIVATION: Foundation Establishment (Stage 3) CLASS: Primordial Chaos Overlord (Rank: PRIMORDIAL)
[VITAL STATISTICS]
HP: 28,000,000 / 28,000,000
PRIMORDIAL ESSENCE: 1,950,000 / 1,950,000
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: 42,500 (+Legion-Slayer Bonus)
AGILITY: 38,200
INTELLIGENCE: 36,900
VITALITY: 40,000
[POWERS]
MARTIAL SOUL: Tenebris (Evolution Progress: 22%)
SKILL (LVL 100): Primordial Archive: Law Breaker
SKILL (LVL 50): Chaos Domain: Absolute Zero
[TOWER PROGRESS]
CURRENT FLOOR: 16
TOWER AUTHORITY: 8% (Ability to 'Scan' the contents of the next 5 floors)