Return of the Woodcutter

After waking up at the cathedral, Aito intended to take three days off from fighting. He needed rest.

His body had undergone a drastic change and required a period of adaptation, implying training.

Moreover, One Against Many had taken a physical toll on him. Right after it deactivated, he hadn't been able to move due to exhausting his soul force, entering a feeless state, then fell asleep.

He could really use a break.

There were 26 days remaining before the Tower closed. He was in a rush, but running blindly without considering his body and capabilities was plain stupid.

He wanted to understand his newly acquired powers better, in order to prevent any unwelcome surprises from arising.

Real combat is the best training, some say.

Well, he only partially agreed with that. Rushing into combat with capabilities you know you have but don't comprehend could result in disastrous outcomes.

Preparation was the key!

With a deeper trust in his partners, he also wanted to talk with the siblings, to tell them everything—albeit his past mistakes.

Since the siblings were busy with their own activities during the day, he postponed that talk for the evening and trained a bit without going overboard.

Taking off his armor to get a better feel of his current abilities, he first tried to punch nearby buildings' walls while using a moderate amount of strength and preventing fissuring them to better control his new abilities. Turned out to be more difficult than expected even if his strength wasn't buffed and remained at level 4.

He then swapped to aura training, more precisely, training his skill Impact. Even though he hasn't entirely recovered from his last fight, he could still use aura moderately.

Already able to activate Impact instantaneously, and with a better understanding of aura, he managed to overload it later in the afternoon, though it required focus.

Thankfully, since he was in the safe zone, no hobs bothered him. Only occasional passersby would stop to say "hi" or "thank you" or whatever else they wanted to say.

Some challengers even offered to pleasure him.

Almost all veterans had needed to evacuate their stress from last night. One of the best—not the only one—and pleasurable ways to release stress were through intercourses.

Thus they took advantage of new luxurious bathrooms that appeared out of nowhere to relieve themselves in all manners of speaking.

Some offers to pleasure Aito were crude, others more subtle, and one or two were from men. He declined all offers, more particularly the latter since he didn't swing that way.

He'd responded accordingly. Without tarrying for too long, training was currently more important than the satisfaction of the flesh and actually made for quite the stress reliever.

Maybe if it were Sheyla, he'd have accepted it. The thought of her gorgeous, firm, and well-proportioned bu—.

Anyway, at the end of his training, he received a peculiar visit, that of Allan the moderator, disguised as Rey Clover, the old man.

Allan sighed, seeing the destruction of many walls in front of him. "Are you doing this on purpose? It's burdensome to repair structures every time they are destroyed."

Aito stared daggers at him as he punched a wall with all his strength combined with Impact. The already badly damaged building collapsed entirely. "That was on purpose."

"Hahah, okay, okay, I deserved that one," Allan said. 

"I have two questions for you, Allan," Aito said, flashing a murderous glare and ignoring the moderator's comment or whether he agreed to answer. "First, if I receive free skill level ups, what we could call skill points, as rewards. Do I have to use them now?" 

"Hum, no. You use it whenever you want. They'll never disappear. A reward is permanent," Allan replied, then frowned. "What's with that glare?" 

"Second question, you were the one who sent the horde last night, right?" Aito replied, spreading his Domain. His Gift Instinct activated in consequence, as a dreadful feeling stretched to his entire spine, telling him Allan wasn't to be messed with. That the moderator was beyond his current capabilities.

Allan noticed the Domain, but didn't intervene.

He looked sideways, for he knew he had been in the wrong. "Sorry about that. I didn't know it would turn out this way. I expected at most fifty or so challengers to die. If it weren't for you, they'd all be dead by now. As an apology, I improved the cathedral by equipping it with modern Iris toilets and luxurious bathrooms. The kind you find in a black challenger's room."

Aito clenched his fists, preventing his boiling anger from surfacing.

"I also returned all challengers' bags that were lost during the fight, with some hob soul cores  inside them." Allan said, "You've got a special bonus since you've contributed more than the others. Two weak level 2 soul cores on the same level as the goblin shaman and two weak level 3 soul cores, all from my personal stash.

I can't figure out what level you are at right now, so that's the best I can do. It'll help you and your teammates a bit, hopefully. With the rewards you've obtained from accomplishing a feat, it should be enough compensation. Unfortunately, I can't repair equipment. Ah, I would also like to formally invite you to Blitz ou—"

"Stop," Aito interrupted, before towering him despite knowing he had no chance at victory if a fight occurred. "I don't care about your apologies. I despise you, but what's done is done. You have a job to do, I can understand that, even if it means killing challengers. I'm no better than you since I've killed and will probably have to kill a lot of people. However, you measuring the lives of two hundred humans in facilities and soul cores is plain disgusting and disrespectful."

Although he said that, he didn't plan on returning the soul cores. Aito considered the soul cores earned, not taken.

What's more, he hadn't been able to collect the soul cores from the many hobs' he had killed last night, so it was, in a sense, his consolation prize.

However, the moderator's justification still left a bad aftertaste in accepting those.

"Despite the fear," Aito continued, "they fought bravely for dear life, for the chance to see another dawn. I don't know who they were before their revival, nor do I care. But that act alone deserves respect. If you truly want to make amend, start by paying your respect to those people. Don't think tangible or intangible rewards will buy back all the brave souls that were lost.

I understand the Tower is a training place that sorts out the weak from the strong. But even you have to admit, the Lunar Eclipse wasn't training. It was a death sentence. The fact alone that we all received a feat from surviving confirms it.

You and I are murderers, so I can't allow myself to judge you too harshly. I might hate the ones I kill. I might be wrong about killing some individuals. But I never undervalue a life, even if the one I kill is the lowest of what the human race has to offer."

With those words, he left a silent Allan gazing at a destroyed building and strode in direction of the cathedral.

Allan sighed. He knew he was in the wrong by almost only thinking about challengers as resources now.

He was so used to death the moderator didn't consider the value of challengers' lives. At least the value attributed to them by people who had yet to see what a real nightmare was.

To him, dying in the Tower felt like a blessing.

After all, compared to a Fearmonger's attack, a Lunar Eclipse was an enjoyable stroll in a park during a beautiful sunny day accompanied by warm weather.

***

During the evening, Aito met up with the siblings at the bell tower, privatizing the spot by casting an illusionary wall, blocking the stairs.

There, he told them almost everything. His time on the island, his new capabilities and skills, his two interactions with Belmand and Valinar, what really awaited them on the Top Floors, his goal to save monkey Jack. Only leaving out the details about his past life, summarizing it by "I was a criminal and alcoholic."

They silently ate a proper dinner in a heavy atmosphere. Although they were happy to be alive, those revelations weighed on the siblings' shoulders.

Last night's even made things worst, it had taught them they were still lacking power, the strength to clear the Tower.

With his current strength, Aito might manage just fine since he couldn't be considered a challenger anymore, but even that wasn't a certainty.

As rewards for last night's feat, while taking into account his contribution, the system had given him two skills level up and two basic stats level up of his choosing. As monetary rewards, he received 15000 GP and 150000 TP.

Finally, instead of giving him a skill, the system had evolved his skill Whirlwind into one called Cyclone Lv2.

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[Cyclone Lv2]

Description: Upon activation, the host will rotate, dealing damage all around him. Air element properties will be added to the attack, creating wind blades, further increasing the range. Current Range: 2 meters (6.6ft)

____

That didn't mean he couldn't physically recreate what he had done with Whirlwind. In fact, physical skills could always be reproduced one way or another since they didn't require aura.

The system just helped the hosts by giving them physical skills that suited their abilities, experiences, and way of fighting. But any physical skill was, in fact, just a way to move the body.

Concerning his other rewards, since he could choose and the system has never said when he was supposed to level up his skills and basic stats. Allan had also confirmed it, they could be used whenever he wanted. 

So for now, he abstained from leveling up using that method.

To his mind, keeping free level-ups for later, when he encounters a bottleneck or a dangerous situation, was the wisest choice.

He was plenty strong for now and would just keep leveling up normally as long as he could. Also, having too strong a skill or basic stat could cause his current soul to be unable to sustain his capabilities, something he had felt when buffed.

Also, Aito's skill, Fearless Aura, had undergone a change—for some obscure reason—after he gained the Ax Braver class.

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[Aura of Bravery Lv2]

Description: Upon activation, the host will emit a majestic golden aura, inspiring those he considers allies, restoring their morals to a certain extent. Also, it shields two people of the host's choosing against the lesser Fear and other similar skills.

____

After the tremendous benefits and rewards of last night's event, it could be said with almost 100% certainty that he was the strongest "challenger" in the Tower.

Hearing all this, Ogoro and Sheyla's faces darkened, for they knew Aito was strong enough to ascend the Tower. Probably even alone.

"Why so gloomy?" Aito asked.

"I," Ogoro said, "I fear that we won't be able to keep up with you."

Sheyla nodded in a silent agreement.

Aito pondered about how he could help them. He had the necessary materials for them to try their hands on what he did last night, but he just didn't understand what had happened.

It'd be too risky. It'd require a state between life and death. There was an enormous probability of failure. However, he had another method he was certain could power them up… probably.

"I might have a way for you to reach level 2 before we get to the sixth floor. Although I can't guarantee its success, I can guarantee it'll be painful."

Ogoro's eyes shone brighter. "I don't fear physical pain, Aito. But going through powerlessness again…, never. No matter how painful, I'll take the chance."

"Just tell us already," Sheyla replied.