Chapter 304: Is The Tower Too Weak For Him?

Outside the Heaven Reaching Trial Tower.

The black stone monument stood at the center of the plaza, dark golden light slowly flowing across its surface. There were still quite a few names glowing on the monument, but only one line at the very top held everyone’s attention.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twentieth Floor.]

Ever since entering the Twentieth Floor, his ranking on the monument had not changed. Meanwhile, the names below him, which he had previously left far behind, were steadily climbing from floor to floor. The gap was still there, but it was no longer as ridiculous as before.

At first, the Players in the plaza simply waited. They had already grown accustomed to seeing Zich’s name suddenly jump upward, accustomed to him entering the next floor before they had even processed the previous change.

But after several minutes, his name was still sitting on the Twentieth Floor, and the anticipation gradually faded.

"The Twentieth Floor really is different."

"No matter how fast he was climbing, he was bound to hit a bottleneck eventually."

Low discussions came from the back of the crowd, but no one found it strange. A challenger who had reached this point could not possibly maintain his previous speed forever. The higher one climbed, the more difficult the trials became, and any single floor could completely halt the person in the lead.

Besides, Zich’s earlier progress had been far too fast, so fast that it almost felt unreal. Now that he had finally stopped on the Twentieth Floor, things seemed to have returned to a level they could actually understand.

Some people had already shifted their attention toward the rankings below, beginning to estimate how long it would take the next few Players to catch up.

Just then, a low hum suddenly came from the black stone monument.

And what happened next left everyone speechless.

[Twentieth Floor Trial Evaluation: SSS.]

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twenty First Floor.]

The Players who had just turned their attention toward the other rankings immediately looked up.

SSS!

He had not barely cleared the floor after being held back for so long. The reason he had taken that much time was because he had taken the Twentieth Floor’s highest evaluation with him!

All the earlier talk about him hitting a bottleneck shattered completely before those three letters.

Someone instinctively stepped forward, almost as though afraid they had seen it wrong, but the words on the monument were perfectly clear.

They did not change. Zich had already entered the Twenty First Floor!

Normally, after such a long battle on the Twentieth Floor, he should have stopped at the completed floor portal to rest for a while. It was the only place where challengers could recover after completing a floor, and once someone left the Heaven Reaching Trial Tower, their challenge would immediately end. Therefore, as long as they intended to continue climbing, that brief period of rest before the portal became especially important.

But Zich clearly had no intention of wasting much time there.

The discussions in the plaza had barely begun again when the ranking at the very top suddenly changed.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twenty Second Floor.]

Several people stopped breathing for a moment.

Before they could even react, dark golden light swept across the monument once again.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twenty Third Floor.]

As if that was not enough, the monument glowed again.

[Twenty Fourth Floor Trial Evaluation: SSS.]

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twenty Fifth Floor.]

"This kid." Staring at the huge monument, Arthur did not know whether to laugh or cry.

This level of speed and progress was almost absurd, so absurd that he was beginning to think the tower was too weak for the kid.

Which was strange because the tower was the perfect testing ground for all Layer One Players before they ascended.

Still, even though it seemed as though Zich was about to break his record, there was no envy or jealousy in Arthur’s eyes. If anything, he felt joy in his heart. After all, the progress of one human was the progress of humanity.

"Hahahaha."

Arthur began to laugh all of a sudden, attracting the attention of everyone.

They looked at him, wondering what was going on with him. Shouldn’t he be scared that his record was about to be broken?

"And he’s not the only one who is progressing quickly," Arthur muttered as he watched the other names, which showed no sign of stopping.

And although their speed was comparable to his in his time, there was something very noticeable.

They were much faster than his group!

Seeing all this, the smile on his face only grew and grew.

’It seems humanity is in good hands.’

...

Back inside the tower, Zich glanced around the Twenty First Floor.

The reason he had been able to progress so quickly was because he had used the spirit bombs repeatedly, blasting his way through floor after floor.

It was very efficient, so efficient that he had not even needed the help of his summons. They had all simply been resting in the graveyard, recuperating.

Plus, thus far, he had never really brought out the Myriad Beast Chimera.

’If I bring that guy out, I bet I’ll solo this entire thing.’ Zich smirked as two black and blue spirit bombs materialized in his hands. "Unfortunately, the mana consumption is too much to use it casually."

This was not the only reason he had chosen not to bring the Myriad Beast Chimera out from the graveyard. The main reason was that, so far, he had not really considered any of the floors troublesome enough to summon it. His summons could handle them pretty well already.

So until he met an insurmountable enemy, it would remain there.

Twisting his neck from side to side, Zich took a step forward on this new floor, two spirit bombs in his hands. This floor was an extremely long corridor.

And thus far, there was nothing in sight. Zich had to take a few steps deeper into the corridor before he encountered the first enemy, and almost simultaneously, the rule of this floor also lit up.