Chapter 38: Second floor

He and Max had been close friends in their previous life. They had known each other for years and had spent a lot of time together.

However, everything had changed during a vacation trip when their entire group was killed in an accident involving a truck.

At first, Raghur had thought he might be the only one who had been transferred to another world.

But now, he finally had proof that Max had made it here too.

Raghur leaned closer to the ranking screen.

"So I was right. Others were transferred to different worlds too."

A smile spread across his face.

He quickly opened his own ranking information.

His displayed name was still the one he had chosen when he first entered the Tower.

Without hesitation, Raghur changed it.

He erased his current name and replaced it with the name he had used in his previous life.

Raghav Gupta — Delhi — Ancient Blood World

He looked at the new name for a moment before nodding in satisfaction.

"Much better."

Raghav then turned his attention back to the ranking.

His position was much lower than Max’s. Although he had also completed the First Floor Guardian Challenge on Heroic Difficulty, he had taken considerably longer to clear it and had only managed to secure fourth place.

Max, on the other hand, had taken first place.

The difference between their rankings made one thing clear.

Max had become much stronger than him.

But rather than feeling discouraged, Raghav became even more motivated.

Now that he knew Max was also in the Tower, he had another reason to keep climbing.

"I should aim for the Second Floor Heroic Challenge."

Raghav smiled.

"If I manage to clear it first, Max will be able to find me too."

He leaned back in his chair and opened his status screen.

There was another reason he was confident about clearing the Second Floor Guardian Challenge.

His talent.

Blood Supreme — SSS Rank

It was an incredibly powerful talent that gave Raghav an extraordinary affinity with blood. It allowed him to strengthen his abilities through blood-based powers and even steal certain abilities by ingesting the blood of other creatures.

Raghav had already spent a considerable amount of time learning how to use his talent properly.

"Since things really are like the stories I used to read, I guess Max should have received a powerful talent too."

He wondered what kind of talent Max had awakened.

Raghav knew Max well enough to understand that he wouldn’t have reached first place in the Heroic Challenge ranking without having something special.

"Knowing him, he probably got something ridiculous."

Raghav laughed quietly.

"Well, I’ll ask him when we meet."

He closed the ranking screen and stood up.

For now, he needed to focus on clearing the Second Floor Guardian Challenge.

If Max was already moving ahead, Raghav had no intention of falling too far behind.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Tower, Ryan had already arrived on the Second Floor.

Ryan stepped out of the pillar of light and found himself standing in a completely different hall.

The moment his feet touched the ground, several system notifications appeared in front of him.

[Welcome to the Second Floor of the Origin Tower.]

[Calculating accumulated experience.]

[Experience accumulated beyond the previous Level Cap has been detected.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[...]

Ryan watched the notifications continue appearing one after another.

He had reached Level 100 some time ago, but he had continued hunting monsters after reaching the level limit. Although he could not level up at the time, the experience he gained had still been accumulated by the system.

Now that his level limit had increased to 200, all of that stored experience was finally being applied.

[Level Cap: 200]

[Current Level: 200]

[All accumulated experience has been processed.]

Ryan stared at the final notification for a moment before chuckling.

"Okay, then. Once again, let’s max out my stats and reach the third floor."

He opened his status screen and looked at his current attributes.

Ryan Drake — Status

Name: Ryan Drake

Race: Human

Age: 18

Level: 200

Class: S-Rank Death Blade Knight

Titles: The One Who Reached the Limit

Talents

Perfect Loot (SSS)

Totem Creation (A)

Poison Manipulation (A)

Race Traits

Lesser Draconic Physique

Greater Undead Physique

Special Abilities

Perfect Poison Affinity

Dragon’s Vitality

Attributes

Strength: 999 (+400)

Agility: 999

Constitution: 999 (+450)

Intelligence: 999

Stat Points: 700

Health & Mana

Health: 11,988 / 11,988

Mana: 11,988 / 11,988

Class Skills

Death Blade Aura

Death Knight Physique

Death Blade Execution

Death Armor

Death Step

Death Blade Domain

Skills

Common

Basic Sword Mastery

Basic Shield Mastery

Uncommon

Dark Empowerment

Spirit Sense

Spirit Wolf

Spirit Serpent

Spirit Bear

Ritual of Blessings

Ritual of Purification

Brutal Swing

Black Water Breath

Venom Claw

Wing Gust

Death Slash

Death Pressure

King’s Command

Bone Armor

Undead Strengthening

Death Blade Mastery

Bone Spear Storm

Soul Flame

Fallen Blessing

Holy Ruin

Dark Purification

Corrupted Healing

Blood Step

Blood Blade

Blood Drain

Night Vision

Rare

Elemental Communion

Bone Crushing Strike

Passive Skills

Death Resistance

Physical Damage Resistance

Ryan looked at his status screen for a few seconds.

His level had reached 200, and he still had 700 free stat points.

"Seven hundred points."

He smiled.

"That should be enough."

Ryan looked at his maxed attributes before focusing on the free stat points.

He had no reason to save them.

His main attributes had already reached their current limit, so he began checking whether the system allowed him to increase them further.

As expected, another notification appeared.

[Attribute limit has been increased due to reaching Level 200.]

[Maximum base attribute value: 999 → 1,999.]

Ryan’s eyes lit up.

"I wonder how much I can grow more."

He immediately began assigning his free stat points.

After several moments, all 700 points had been used.

Ryan looked at his updated attributes and nodded with satisfaction.

"Much better."

He closed the status screen and looked toward the massive hall ahead of him.

He walked out of the teleportation platform. As soon as he stepped into the hall, many people noticed him and quickly approached.

"Hey, are you a solo challenger? Join our guild, young man. You won’t regret it."

"Don’t listen to him. The Black Dragon Guild is the best guild on the second floor."

"Forget those small guilds. Our guild has several powerful Climbers."

"Young man, have you already joined a guild? If not, you should consider joining ours."

Ryan stopped and looked around.

He had expected to see many people on the second floor, but he had not expected so many of them to approach him immediately.

Most of them were trying to recruit him.

Some were ordinary guild recruiters, while others clearly represented larger and more powerful guilds. A few people were even wearing equipment that made it obvious they were experienced Awakeners.