5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on the unknown floating island.
The 5th Floor was one of the most spectacular and breathtaking places across the entire Cosmos, due to consisting of hundreds if not thousands of floating islands, which were floating above the ocean. Places like this were exceedingly rare because the Floating Islands or generally floating landmasses were extremely rare and naturally one could find them only in places with very special environmental conditions.
Underneath the hundreds, if not thousands of Floating Islands in the enormous ocean, there was a plethora of countless species of marine-type lifeforms, ranging from ordinary fishes and lifeforms to frightening magical beasts, that were dwelling in the depths of the ocean.
Each floating island had its own biome, each unique flora, and fauna native to them, and all of them commonly had a tranquil aura seen in them, due to the special kind of trees and plants that were growing around the entire Floor.
Because of the mind-calming effects of the native flora, countless people were coming to the 5th Floor, because clearly, the mind-calming effect was helping various martial arts to achieve enlightenment and helped countless warriors to break past their limits.
Due to that, some of these floating islands were controlled by powerful Legendary martial artists or wise sages, who became hermits on the 5th Floor of the Tower for untold years. Many mighty factions across the entirety of the Cosmos controlled at least several of these floating islands for their members to train on.
Controlling a Floating Island on the 5th Floor of the Tower already became a thing of social status, and only those who were very powerful had the capability to control their Floating Island. Of course, this was not counting several specifically designed Floating Islands, were generally people are transported to the from the 4th Floor of the Tower, and then subsequently, after a short while, are transported to the 6th Floor of the Tower.
Samiel arrived at the 5th Floor after he crossed through the 4th with relative ease, as the 4th Floor didn't have anything significant that would catch his attention, so he quickly completed the assigned Advancement Quest from the Tower System, got some insignificant rewards, as the Quest itself was relatively easy, and went further.
Originally, he advanced together with Yvraine as they went together, but right now, a slight miscalculation happened on his, her or their part, and they were separated because he felt that he was alone in the vast distance.
Even the artifact they were using to get teleported to approximately the same location didn't really work, and he was now alone in the forest of some kind. Everywhere around him were the pine trees, and contrary to that of the 3rd Floor, they were of the average size like that on Earth.
As Samiel looked around, he suddenly got the notification from the Tower System as the new Advancement Quest was issued.
[Advancement Quest: Make a Martial Achievement
Description: The 5th Floor has the natural enviroment for enlightenment and achieving martial breakthroughs. Make the martial achievement during your stay on the 5th Floor; the reward would be appropriate for the achievement accomplished.
Reward: Frost Crystal]
In the course of reading the Advancement Quest, Samiel discovered that even though the Quest appeared to be rather simple and straightforward, making a Martial Achievement that is deemed worthy by the Tower System may not be as easy as one might think.
No Quest issued by the Tower's System was as easy and simple as it could be at first glance, but the rewards were always corresponding to the Quest's difficulty. Still, Samiel had already completed four of them, so this would be just another Quest that would be completed by him in the near future.
Samiel had only a vague idea of what the Frost Crystal was, but he knew that it could enhance and strengthen his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to a certain degree. Many of the things across the Cosmos and the Tower could be used as the evolutionary materials to evolve the Level Abilities.
Unfortunately for Samiel, he didn't even have any idea how to start and where to start, so he decided to just walk around the island he was on and map his surroundings, possibly finding some magical beast that could serve as food.
'Go and fly over and gather some basic info.'
He said to his familiar Nefertari, who was lazily sleeping over his shoulder, not moving an inch, enjoying her nap, like usual. It was clear that they were separated and probably Yvraien landed on an entirely different Floating Island from him, or at least, this was something that his intuition was telling him.
'Okey hooman, but I await a fair share of threats afterward.'
She answered through their telepathic connection, flapping her wings as she bolted through the air with tremendous speed. She was scouting the entire area, flying high in the air, seeing the entire floating island.
'We are located on the floating island hooman. Inhabited entirely, aside from the magical beasts.'
Nefertari said to Samiel as she landed down on his shoulder.
"Excellent, then I am alone in this place and need to make a martial achievement."
Samiel cursed under his breath; after contemplating about the next course of action, Samiel opened his records to take a look at them. He didn't look at the Record for a very long time, but now it was more suitable to decide on which aspect of his strength he would be focusing on completing the Advancement Quest.
[Name: Samiel Zentaur
Title: Blessed by Azathoth
Age: 21
Race: Old Deus - Human / Eldritch Creature
Class: Knight of Niflheim (22%), Grand Necromancer (17%)
Sub-Class: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)
Magician Level: Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)
Records Points: 2,490
***
Tier: Steel
Level: 22
***
Abilities:
Winter Ruler (19%) - Ultimate Ability
Soul Devour (25%) - Ultimate Ability
***
Necrosis Magic:
Necromancy Arts (27%)
Void Magic (16%)
Winter Magic (2%)
Skills:
Undead Creation (40%)
Swordsmanship (14%)
Polearm Mastery (5%)
Metamagic - Spell Fusion 2nd Level Spells (34%)]
Polearm Mastery was new addition he learned, as he started learning to handle the Trident on the 3rd Floor, due to having collected the shards of the Trishula, which he decided would probably become his main weapon of choice.
While on the 4th Floor, the increase in his Level was minimal, but that was to be expected because Samiel's advancement was already being slowed down considerably, though Samiel was already sensing that he was nearing the Bronze-Tier. In fact, if he wanted, he could have already reached it some time ago, but he chose to be patient.
Aside from that, the proficiency with his Skills, Abilities, and Classes was increased slightly in each category, especially in his Magic, mainly the Winter Magic, where it was most observable. The Winter Magic specifically, because it was something that Smaiel took great enjoyment in, probably because of his Lord Class Knight of Niflheim and his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler.
Samiel observed his records before deciding on what path he should take, before deciding on the path of the Polearm Mastery, as that was the one where he had the greatest potential to make a martial achievement.
"Whatever... we should look around... I am getting hungry."
Samiel stated mainly to himself, as Nefertari was already napping on a nearby tree branch, because the moment she returned to him, she decided it would be prudent of her to take a nap after working so hard.
***
5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on another unknown floating island.
Far away from Samiel's location, on another part of the 5th Floor of the Tower, on an even more oversized floating island, the space cracked a figure was teleported in. A beautiful female elf, with long silverish blonde hair, and pointy ears, wearing a combat outfit, was looking around while gripping a weird item.
"Welcome to the 5th Floor, Your Highness."
Of course, this elven woman was Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon, who, similarly to Samiel, was teleported to the 5th Floor, absolutely to somewhere else compared to Samiel's location as they were separated.
Contrary to Yvraine, Samiel never asked about the Floors beforehand, mainly because the unknown filled him with a sense of thrill and adventure, so he chose not to read anything about the higher Floors where he would be ascending.
In her opinion, this was plainly stupid, but she didn't take the "happiness" from him by "spoiling" him the future events. For him, this sense of adventure was giving him something akin to reason to live and it was one of the very few things in his life that brought him any joy and interest.
"Can we start already?"
Yvraine asked, irritated as she looked at the Legendary Level professional from the Nesser Dynasty, one of the hermits who were meditating for the enlightenment from the Nesser Dynasty on the 5th Floor.
Yvraine actually received the same Quest as Samiel because, unknown to him, the Quests of the 5th Floor were the same because this Floor didn't have a Floor Ruler, and the Tower System was testing everyone who wished to use the Quest Method to ascend to the 6th Floor. This was one of the very occasions across the entire Tower where everyone got the same Quest issued by the Tower's System.
Of course, the requirements, or basically the grading system if someone passed or not, are vastly different for every participant. For example, Samiel, who was regularly getting the Advancement Quests from the Tower's System, would be evaluated countless times stricter than, for example, Yvraine.
"What do you wish to focus on, Your Highness?"
Asked the Elven Legendary from the Nesser Dynasty, the elf who was leading the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty. He was one of the hermit martial artists who dedicated their whole lives to pursuing martial arts. Due to the natural conditions of the 5th Floor, countless of them have been living here for whole centuries, if not millennia.
"Silvermoon Swordsmanship, I still cannot harvest the Essence of the Moon into my sword."
Yvraine answered instantly because the Silvermoon Swordsmanship was something that had been bothering them for some time already. In the later stages of her sword style, she needed to harvest the Essence of the Moon, subsequently incorporating the Essence of the Moon into her swordsmanship, further increasing its already fearsome destructive capabilities.
"Then I will bring you to Lord Moon Sword's floating island."
Stated the man with a high amount of respect when he mentioned the title of Lord Moon Sword. Even Yvraine couldn't contain her surprise hearing that someone of that Level was actually on the 5th Floor all the time.
Lord Moon Sword was one of the strongest powerhouses of the Nesser Dynasty and Silvermoon Species and could be counted as one of the most powerful Holies in the Tower. On the top of that, he was also one of Yvraine's Ancestors from her mother's side.
Of course, powerful experts like him or even Limit Legendaries would just take over the entire floating island to themselves. At the same time, the weaker Legendaries must fight for the one or either learn how to share.
This certainly depends on the floating island itself, as some had better conditions than others. They differed in terms of Mana Density, as some had more Dense Mana and some less Dense Mana, and then there was the matter of the "enlightenment flora" which fell under the same principle as the Mana.
Yvraine thus followed after the Legendary Level Elven Martial Artists until they arrived at the shores or the outskirts of the floating island.
"Be careful, Your Highness... in that ocean, many fearsome marine-type magical beasts are living, and even if a powerful Legendary fell there, he would be ripped apart by the fearsome creatures of the depths from the seas."
When he saw that Yvraine was looking at the ocean beneath them, above which the floating islands were floating, he proceeded to explain the dangers of the oceans. In comparison, the floating islands themselves were not that dangerous when it came to magical beasts, as, on average, they were still only around Steel-Tier or some Bronze-Tier.
The depths of the oceans were something where the real danger was.
And till now, nobody explored it entirely and lived to tell the tale, so even the strongest of the 13 Gates were left in the dark about what the fearsome oceans of the 5th Floor were hiding. Some speculated that it was inhabited by powerful Transcendent Level magical beasts that lived on the bottom of the seas, but those were only speculations.
Nothing was proved... yet.
As both of them were standing on the cliffs of the floating island, suddenly, from a nearby island, a beam of light was seen, which split the sky and created stairs with moon-like color, connecting the two islands.
"Lord Moon Sword has opened the path for you, but don't dwell on the start too long... some of those monsters deep there could jump to even floating islands."
The Legendary Level Elven Martial Artists bowed to her after giving out his warning and returned back to the forest. At the same time, Yvraine heeded the warning and swiftly crossed the moon stairs to another island.
Just as she was about to step onto the island, the oceans shook, and not even a second later, an enormous sea monstrosity jumped from the depths of the sea, attacking the moon stairs connecting the two islands.
"5th Stance: Crushing Moon!"
Just as the sea monstrosity was about to reach the moon stairs with its enormous jaws, with the entire body even bigger than the dragon form of the Cardinal Zalidraax of the Hall of Kadath, the giant sea creature measures several hundreds of meters in length, a soft male voice was heard across the entire area.
And instantly, sword-shaped moon energy fell into the sea monstrosity, cutting deep into its flesh as it effortlessly tore one of its fins and even part of its tail, as the creature roared in agony and pain.
Amidst all of this, Yvraine swiftly stepped onto the island, while the moon starts crumbled swiftly afterward.
"That was one of the Charybaxos... really nasty creatures that are inhabiting the oceans here... due to them, crossing from one floating island to another, is almost an impossible task because they are typically preying on people attempting such so they could eat them."
Yvraine woke up from her stupor seeing the battle scene, which nearly cost her her life, by hearing the voice of the same man who drow away the sea monstrosity. She could feel that the creature was already nearing the Limits of the Legendary Level, and based on what Lord Moon Sword said, they appeared to be thriving here.
"So you came here for the training in the Silvermoon Swordsmanship?"
Lord Moon Sword appeared near Yvraine and just asked the question, probably not even awaiting the answer itself as he was scanning the Silvermoon Crown Princess entirely with his senses before he nodded and turned around.
He motioned with his sword to follow after him to his hut. On the 5th Floor, the majority of its inhabitants, if not all, were basically those who wished to undergo enlightenment. While there were a few cities and towns, they were excitingly rare and usually were on the largest of the islands, which were very far away from here.
Thus, most of the people, be it weak mortals of various Tiers, to mighty Legendaries and even Holies, lived the simple life of the resources they found on the floating island they were living, as their utmost priority was to get stronger and not to live in opulence and luxury.
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