Chapter 192: First on the Skyreach Ranking

The dizziness of the transfer faded. Cassian’s feet touched solid ground inside a chamber a hundred meters across. It felt as though he really had entered one floor of an enormous tower.

From outside, the Skyreach Tower occupied only a few hundred square meters. Inside, it seemed boundless. No one knew how many floors it had. Even among the invincible Lords of the First Realm, no one was known to have reached the top.

Several hundred monsters waited on the first floor, all Level 60 or higher. More than a dozen Rare Half-Orc Chieftains led a mass of Uncommon Half-Orc Warriors.

With only a few dozen companions allowed inside, this floor alone could stop eighty percent of the Lords entering the Tower at present. Death was real here. No sensible Lord would throw troops away just to force a clear.

For Cassian, these enemies barely counted as a warm-up.

"I’ll stretch my legs first."

He drew the Seven-Star Sword and shot into their midst.

There was no need for Origin Divine Fist. He moved from one monster to the next, his blade flashing. Not one Half-Orc fell in a single piece.

This was the kind of fight he liked. Complete domination.

The bodies faded almost as soon as they hit the ground. Unlike monsters outside, they gave no individual notices for Battle Essence or loot.

A minute later, every monster was dead.

[Floor 1 cleared. Battle Essence +1,000,000. Aether +30,000.]

[Random floor reward resolved. High-Fortune Result: Rare Chest ×1.]

Cassian laughed.

A Rare Chest meant little to him now. What mattered was the result it had confirmed.

"The Vein works on the Tower’s random rewards too."

The random floor reward had resolved as a Reward Container. His existing High-Fortune effect applied, just as it did when he opened a Chest. It did not multiply the fixed Battle Essence or Aether award.

Normally, only every tenth floor guaranteed an item reward.

A beam of light descended from the center of the ceiling: the entrance to the next floor.

The four of them stepped into it.

Undead waited on the second floor. Their Quality was unchanged, but their Levels had risen by one or two. Cassian disposed of them just as easily.

Third floor. Fourth floor.

By the ninth, the monsters averaged Level 75. Their dozen-odd leaders had Combat Ratings approaching five thousand stars.

Cassian tried a strike. When his target failed to die in one blow, he lost interest.

"Celia."

She sent a single sweep of sword energy across the chamber. Every monster on the ninth floor fell.

An overwhelming difference in attributes. Nothing more was needed.

They entered the tenth floor.

This chamber stretched a kilometer across. At last, a Boss stood before them.

[Destruction Knight — Epic Hero]

[Level: 80]

[Combat Rating: 12,000 stars]

"Human Lord, to die at the hands of the great Drazhul is your—"

Celia attacked before he could finish.

The chamber shook with the impacts.

Twelve thousand stars. Even Tobren’s mountain of flesh had been a little weaker. More than twenty days had passed since that battle, and everyone had grown stronger, but a Boss like this would still make most Lords turn back.

Against Celia, Drazhul did not last ten seconds.

[Floor 10 cleared. Battle Essence +20,000,000. Aether +400,000.]

[Random floor reward resolved. High-Fortune Result: Epic Chest ×1; Epic Troop Sigil — Destruction Knight ×1.]

In a little over ten minutes, they had earned tens of millions of Battle Essence, nearly a million Aether, and a collection of items.

It could not compare with slaughtering the Black Banner invaders. But this income would keep coming. He could enter once every day.

"That’s enough for today," Cassian told the others.

Celia had barely warmed up.

"I can clear a few more floors."

"That Boss took you nearly ten seconds. Today was only to learn how this place works. We brought neither a dedicated shield line nor a healer. There’s no need to take risks."

Celia glanced at him as though she wanted to ask whether that truly counted as a risk. She let it go.

Cassian chose to leave.

Caution was only one reason. He had just received word that Darian had reached Rank XII too.

The first Lord to finish a Tower run would receive a reward.

The moment they left, notices filled his view.

[Highest floor cleared in this attempt: 10.]

[Skyreach Points gained: 10.]

[Skyreach Points Exchange unlocked.]

[You have opened Tidecrown Province’s Skyreach Ranking. Skyreach Points +1,000.]

[Current record: Floor 10. Tidecrown Skyreach Rank: 1.]

[The top 1,000 Lords on Tidecrown’s Skyreach Ranking receive daily rewards after midnight. Select to view the rules.]

Cassian opened the Ranking. His was the only name on it.

The rewards matched what he had learned at school.

[Daily reward for first place: Renown ×100; Skyreach Points ×10; Skyreach Sweep Writ ×1.]

Skyreach Points were valuable. As a Lord’s accumulated points reached the required thresholds, higher tiers of the Exchange would open. Supposedly, the highest offered Mythic items.

A permanent Hall of Renown, in a way.

He opened the Writ’s description.

[Skyreach Sweep Writ — Bound]

[Instantly collect the rewards for floors up to half your highest recorded clear.]

His current record was Floor 10. If he used a Writ tomorrow, he could collect the first five floors’ rewards at once and begin on the sixth.

It would save little time now. Once he reached a hundred floors, a single Writ could save half a day, perhaps a full day of climbing.

Another steady source of Battle Essence. Cassian was in an excellent mood.

He sent an order through his Lord’s Heart.

"All main combat troops are to return to the Domain before tonight. We relocate at eight tomorrow morning."

He had spent more than ten days watching the Worlds Market for a suitable weapon forge Blueprint. A Legendary version would spare him the trip.

He had seen only one: a billion Aether for the Blueprint, with an eight-hundred-and-eighty-billion transaction fee.

More than eight hundred times the asking price. Was the seller in another universe?

Cassian would not pay that. Nor did he intend to keep waiting.

The Swordgrave offered another route. He still needed an Epic Heavenwork Design to recover its Blueprint, then a Legendary version through the Exchange. The sooner he obtained the forge, the sooner he could start producing Legendary equipment.

With his strength, exploring a Region abandoned for a hundred years should be manageable. Three to five days if things went well, seven or eight if they did not. He should be back before the Governorship contest and the Contest of Champions.

Before leaving, though, he had arrangements to make in Tidecrown.

Darian, Seraphine, Elara, and the others were already strong. He could still make them much stronger.

——

Ironwake. Ninth floor of the Skyreach Tower.

"Twinflow Palm!"

An enormous palm of Aether struck the last Shield Warden. The monster’s fifty-two-hundred-star strength could not save it. It flew hundreds of meters and fell, barely clinging to life.

After reaching Rank XII, Darian had emptied his Domain’s Battle Essence reserve to bring Maren to the new Level-65 limit.

A Legendary One-Star Hero in an Epic equipment set. Her Combat Rating had surged to nine thousand stars. Clearing the first nine floors was well within her strength.

"One more floor to the tenth," Darian said. "What do you think, Maren? Can we go on?"

"One moment, Lord Darian."

Two currents of Aether wound around her fingers as she assessed their chances. A full minute passed before she answered.

"We can defeat the Boss on the tenth floor. But I expect casualties among the Hundred-Battle Guard."

"Then we’ll leave. There’s no reason to sacrifice good soldiers."

Darian did not sound discouraged. In fact, he brightened.

"I remember something about a thousand Skyreach Points for the first Lord in the Province to finish a run..."