Chapter 142: The First Peaceful moment
[Ding! You have entered Floor 97!]
After conquering the upper floors without any worries and constantly climbing one after another, months had passed in what felt like no time at all. Alen finally reached Floor 97. It was the exact same floor he was now re-attempting for the dozenth time.
Originally, he had already conquered Floor 96 before, but he later died twenty to thirty times on Floor 97, which led him to reclimbing the same floor again and again.
That was also the primary reason why he had been so calm when he entered Floor 90 and faced the demonic monster. He already knew the precise way to climb the floor from the very beginning, but he just wanted to torture the demon. It was not because he had suddenly become a sadistic person who found fun in torturing others. It was just an act of revenge taken by him, because once back in time, that specific demon had been the one who played with him and tortured him while he was in a depressed and weak mental state.
But since his core emotions were suppressed deep under his heart because of the continuous loop of death and respawning, he forgot to care about anything else. Morality, respect for life, personal dignity—everything had gone to the gutter when he was just endlessly revolving in the cruel cycle of life and death.
He had already lost track of how many times he had died; maybe thousands, or maybe two thousand. Now, he simply stopped caring about the numbers. The only thing that currently mattered to him now was ’to survive’, and he was not going to back down from it.
As he stepped inside the 97th floor, what stood in front of him wasn’t a hall, a closed room, or some magical domain.
A low valley of land could be seen trapped between two mountains. The street was a dirty pit filled with black sand, and whatever disgusting garbage was thrown around the street littered the path. The putrid scent hanging in the air was disgusting enough to make a normal person fall unconscious or lose their mind completely.
The land was barren and devoid of any natural greenery. But in its place, strange purple plants could be seen shining in the black, ashen soil. They looked strangely enticing and gave the landscape a beautiful, contrasting view.
If the place didn’t possess such a disgusting smell, Alen wouldn’t have minded prefer staying in this place rather than fighting like a battle junkie on the different floors.
The ’Law’ of ’Darkness’ was highly dominating around this place, as there was barely any natural light that could be seen. Even after stepping into the open space where a dark sky existed, there was no sun to illuminate the world. Alen couldn’t even see a moon, as if this pocket dimension simply didn’t have one. The only light he could see was that of the shining purple plants scattered around the different areas, reflecting a soft, eerie glow. It was beautiful at first glance, but Alen didn’t care about the beauty. What he desperately wanted was the way to get out of this place.
He knew that this beauty was just an illusion. Not that the plants were an illusion, but the whole atmospheric space around him was an illusion.
He stepped forward, walking carefully through the low land of the valley to avoid stepping in some disgusting item which he didn’t even know about.
So, why was he calling this place an illusion when there was no obvious sign of it? And why would he easily fall into the illusion when he was already prone to expecting it? Was some hidden entity present, sending him into an illusionary trap?
Neither of those possibilities were correct. After respawning here again and again on the same floor, he had gained a pretty solid knowledge of this place and understood exactly how it worked.
It was not much difficult to understand this floor’s hidden mechanics. The only difference was that he had to think with a twisted mind in order to align the puzzle correctly.
He considered this place as a vast solar system in which various planets existed. He considered the shining purple flowers as those planets. And he considered the barren, blackened land as humanity and the different struggling races.
So, he just had to find the specific flower which represented the planet he lived in.
It was a strange and bizarre line of thinking which no sane person would consider. It was only his wild theory, and there were various things which did not perfectly align with his theory. But did he care if his theory was actually factually correct or not? He had already been through so many different kinds of trials across different floors, so his mind had completely become a complex whirlwind of thoughts. His thinking had become so bizarre that he might even doubt the difference between genders, items, or any normal thing.
He stepped forward across the black sand, deliberately searching for the least attractive flower in the valley.
So, why was he searching only for the least enticing flower?
It is quite simple. Every person likes to look at the bright, shining life of another person. They feel either jealous or just harbor a lingering thought of getting the exact same happiness and enjoyment as those others.
Everyone has their own personal thinking, so many will hesitate to openly accept that fact. But in life, there is always a quiet moment when we compare our lives to another, thinking, ’What if my life were like that person’s?’ It was not actually a wrong way of thinking. Everyone secretly hopes to live a better life than their current one.
That is why everyone sees bright lights around others while their own personal world remains dim. Not because their own world is actually dim, but because their envious thoughts have made it dim.
Alen had already passed through several yards of the valley and started to go sideways, climbing the barren highland. There, he finally found a peculiar flower. It held the exact same purple colors as any other flower, but it was withered around the edges and seemed to be in a state of near-death. Many petals had already fallen off; barely one or two had managed to sustain themselves on the fragile stem.
Alen stepped forward and closed the distance, climbing higher while maintaining his balance on the ash-like sand. He lifted his hand and took the fragile flower gently into his palm.
Just as he touched the flower, for a brief second, nothing happened. Both of the remaining petals fell down onto the black ground.
Then, suddenly, a blinding ray of golden light raised from the withered flower. It shot straight toward the dark sky that was devoid of any natural light, cleaving cleanly through the dense darkness as it illuminated the whole dark world, filling it with bright, warm light.
The dark sky cleared apart instantly just as the ray of light passed through it. Colors started to fill the surroundings. The once black, charred soil which looked like dead ash now started to fill with vibrant greenery. Small patches of grass began to grow, and the disgusting garbage vanished completely into thin air. The foul street cleared up. The whole valley was now filled with beautiful flowers showing off different kinds of vibrant colors.
A fresh breeze of cool air ruffled Alen’s silver hair as he looked around. His azure eyes shined as he took in this place. As the ray of light thinned around him, the world was now illuminated with natural, warm sunlight. The source was entirely unknown, but it gave the world a colorful, breathtaking scenery.
After traveling through this brutal hell of a Spire, it was the very first time Alen had found a place which actually looked beautiful and peaceful. It was his first time seeing something which hadn’t disgusted or tried to kill him. The peaceful, calm atmosphere and the cold air of the gentle breeze were the most natural things which he had desperately needed for days.
A single drop of tears fell from his eye, which he hadn’t even noticed falling down his cheek.
He looked around, overwhelmed, and finally slumped onto the fresh green grass. He lay down, looking up toward the sky as he closed his tired eyes, thinking that this might just be another one of his bad dreams. But as he opened his eyes again, the same warm light illuminated the surroundings.
Suddenly, a short distance away from him, a crystal staircase made of golden energy manifested in the air. It was similar to the ones formed earlier, leading him directly up to the sky where he didn’t know where it might take him.
He stayed laying down like this for a few minutes, soaking in the peace and quiet for just a brief moment.
He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then stood up, stretching his aching body.
"Sigh... I can’t just rest now. I don’t know what is going to happen on the upper floors, and I don’t know if I’ll die again and have to re-climb all of this again... There’s barely a month remaining now, no time left for resting!"
He looked at the golden staircase leading him toward the sky. He stepped forward, closing the distance in no time, and began climbing it. As he continued to climb the ladder, his eyes fell one last time on the beautiful, peaceful landscape below him.
’I hope I never get to come back here... It is far too intoxicating for me...’
He forced himself to look away and began his steady ascent, waiting to see what new, deadly surprise was waiting for him on the next floor. But whatever that surprise would be, he was sure of one thing: his life was never going to walk an easy path.