Chapter 138: Second phase of Second Floor
Ding...
[Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Sword Aura!]
Ding...
[You have cleared the first phase of the second floor of Ascension Dungeon!]
[The next phase will begin in four hours.]
"I did it," Vlad murmured, his eyes shifting to the sword in his hand, crackling with Electro Mana. "I reached the level of a Sentinel Knight!" His words were louder this time, his face carrying a wide smile as he raised the blade high.
After a few seconds, allowing the sweet taste of his achievement to settle, he sat down on the floor, stabbing the blade into the ground beside him.
The wound on his shoulder was slowly healing, a silver glow covering the injury, exactly like the glow emanating from the bracelet on his wrist.
"Ren, show me the status screen."
---
Status Screen
• Host Name: Vlad
• Rank: D
• Attributes:
– Umbra (Res: Mortal)
– Electro (Res: Mortal)
• Core: Primordial
• Stats:
– Strength: 55 Speed: 59
– Defense: 51 Agility: 54
– Endurance: 70 Vitality: 63
• Skills:
– Foresight Eye
– Lightning Step
– Mana Blade
– Art of Dragon Breathing
– Sword Aura
---
"With this, I have reached the full potential of my rank," Vlad murmured, his brows furrowing as he looked at that cursed alphabet beside his rank. "I have reached the enlightenment state for both Umbra and Electro Mana. My core and meridians cannot be improved without further enlightenment."
The satisfaction from his victory slowly vanished, leaving a foul taste in his mouth. With D-Ranked talent, even learning to wield Sword Aura was a miracle in itself. Due to the small capacity of his core to store mana, even if he learned sword skills that could only be unleashed using Sword Aura, they would be completely useless to him. Forget about unleashing them, even trying to learn them would immediately empty his core, causing Mana Deviation.
Rarely did anyone with D-Ranked talent choose the path of an Awakener. And even among those who did, hardly anyone reached the level Vlad had achieved. However, it still did not change anything. He had only reached the limit of his talent sooner than others of the same rank.
"I should not beat myself up over things that aren’t in my hands," he said, shaking his head. "There are still three more quests remaining, which will most likely unlock the next three floors of the dungeon."
A smile formed on his face as he cheered himself up. "If I had already reached my limit, there shouldn’t have been any more floors here. I have merely taken a step toward my goal. There is still a long road ahead."
He spent the break resting in a deep sleep. It was only after the familiar ringing notification of the system that his eyes opened.
Ding...
[The second phase of the second floor of the Ascension Dungeon is about to begin.]
The plain stone door behind him rumbled, its reverberations traveling through the floor where Vlad sat.
Only darkness was visible beyond the doorway. Vlad slowly rose to his feet, pulling the sword from the ground. His eyes narrowed at the dark opening as he heard numerous metallic cracking sounds and gears shifting.
"Wh-what the..." he gasped, his grip around the sword instinctively tightening as numerous humanoid puppets made of iron and steel bolted out from the opening. Each one stood twice Vlad’s height, carrying a different weapon in its hands, such as a hammer, machete, sword, or spear.
What shocked Vlad was not their sheer numbers, which continued to increase with every passing second. It was the fact that each of their weapons was coated in Aura. Although it was unstable, nowhere near as sharp or oppressive as the Sword Aura of the puppet knight, their overwhelming numbers were enough to make any Sentinel Knight run for their life.
Ding...
[You have entered the second phase of the second floor of Ascension Dungeon.]
[Defeat the puppet army to clear the second phase.]
"Not like I have any choice in the matter," he muttered as he hurled himself high into the air. His raven-black hair swayed behind his back, his blade crackling with crimson lightning as he descended directly into the horde of puppets, all of their weapons pointed toward him.
Bam!
---
"I am already twenty-one, yet there isn’t even a sprout of hair on my face," Vlad murmured, touching his cheeks. He took a gulp, a crease of worry etching on his forehead as he continued, "please don’t stay like this. I want to have a cool beard like Dad."
While lying in a relaxed posture, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"Now that I think about it, even though the deadline for the S-Ranked quest has already passed, I still haven’t received any notification of its failure," he murmured, his eyes fixed on the dark ceiling embedded with glowstones. "Are quests not updated while I’m here, or... is there a chance I could still join it?"
It was a far-fetched theory, but it was not entirely impossible.
"I’ll find the answer once I return." He rose into a sitting position atop the mound of broken puppets on which he had been lying.
Creak... creak... creak...
His gaze shifted to the last puppet that was still active. Both of its legs had been cleanly sliced off, while Dark Heart and Éclair had it pinned to the ground, each sword piercing one of its arms.
"Yeah, yeah, stop squirming. I’ll free you now," he said as he jumped down from the mound, landing on the floor beside the puppet.
He had deliberately kept the last one alive so he could recover from the injuries he had suffered during the clash before returning to the academy.
He wanted to avoid the excruciating pain of using a healing potion like last time.
Grasping the hilt of each sword, he pulled them free before instantly swinging them downward in a cross, cleanly slicing off the puppet’s head.
Ding...
[Congratulations! You have cleared the second phase of the second floor of Ascension Dungeon!]
[Returning to the real world...]