The first six months of any relationship are the easiest. Initially you ignore the other person's faults as they ignore yours. After that phase is over, you really have to decide if you are willing to make the changes and sacrifices that every relationship needs to survive.

Herbert Meadows - Father

“Miki, we need to talk,” said Kelly's father, Samson. He was a good man who had continued to warm up to me over the past six months.

“Sure,” I replied, putting down the book I was reading. “Kelly said she was going out with your wife today and that she wouldn't be back for a while.”

Samson tried to hold in a grimace.

“Yes Miki, that's actually what I need to talk to you about. It seems you said something to Kelly the other day. There is no easy way to put it, it terrified her.”

“I don’t remember saying anything that should have frightened her.”

“So you didn’t tell her that you reached level 50?”

I had in fact reached level 50 a while ago. Recently, I managed to push through a breakthrough into high stage sky cultivation after our most recent trip to Tinder City and told Kelly about the breakthrough. This cultivation stuff was getting more difficult. The experience points are easy enough to earn. Most of the cultivation in sky grade was circulating mana throughout my body while trying to enlarge certain nodules to act as fixed pools of mana in my body. I knew each of these nodules would help my body transform once I reached higher levels of cultivation. While those pools did not increase my stats or the size of my mana reserve, the cultivation guide made it clear they were needed.

“Sorry, is my level that big of a problem?” I asked, focusing back on Samson. Sure I was stronger than most humans on this floor, but I didn't see why it would be an issue.

“Do you know who has the highest known level in Marcosia?” Ask her father. “It's the retired knight captain. He is widely reported to be level 40. A level he was only able to obtain by serving through multiple wars and killing thousands.

“While she has seen you slay multiple beasts, she's a little concerned that the amount of power you have isn't able to be naturally obtained. She is worried that you've murdered people. A lot of people. Now I am not one to judge, but as her father she asked me to talk to you about this.”

I hadn't really murdered that many people. Sure I had killed a couple of thousand Orcs but they weren’t really people. They were more like animals who could think and talk.

I guess there were also those knights from the last floor, but there were not thousands of them. And the soldiers that were with them. And the mages. My skill “Let Your Sword Do the Talking” activating indicated that over a thousand of them had died, but I didn’t really murdered them. They attacked me so it was more like self defense.

Then there were the shadier people I had come across. The smuggler and his three goons in Tinder City I had definitely murdered as I has sought them out. But the groups of bandits on the road that I had come across never actually got a chance to attack me, so they were in a gray area where murder was concerned. I had always made sure that Kelly didn't see any of the bandits as I didn’t want her to be afraid to go on the road with me.

There was also the time Seth, Anderson’s son, and the squad of 30 mercenaries he hired to kill me, those clearly didn’t count. Once more that was self defense. And the argument could be made that all the men that tried to stop me from killing Anderson afterward didn’t count either, just like Anderson himself. Clearly if his son attacked me and was killed he was going to retaliate.

So besides four smuggler in Tinder, I hadn't really murdered anybody.

“I'll be honest,” I said. “I have had to kill a couple people in the past. But I definitely didn’t murder thousands of people.”

“Look Miki, I like you. I've thought of you like a son for the past half a year. And you know I am smart enough to know what you and Kelly do in your free time and why you are always eager to go on those trips back and forth to Tinder City. But Kelly's my daughter. As the initial romance has worn off, she would like to return to a more sedate life.”

“I see,” I said. I didn't really see, but the sinking sensation in my gut told me that this wasn't just her not wanting to go on trips with me anymore. This felt like a breakup.

“You look angry. I know this is upsetting but really this is for the best for both of you. She's a little scared of your power and was worried that if she talked to you about this then she wouldn't be able to fully confront you. As such her and her mother have decided to go away for the next few months.”

“To where?” I asked, trying to keep the heartbreak out of my voice.

“I don't know. I felt it was safest if they didn't tell me. You're a good man Miki and you didn't have to help her when you did. But surely even you realize that someone with as much power as you could topple the whole country if you desired. How can any of us stand up to that? But I'm her father and she wanted to end things. And here we are.”

“So what now?” I was asking myself more than him. In reality I knew what was next, floor 5. I guess I had been putting it off far too long. Maybe I was just bad at relationships. I miss the signs with Joanne and now with Kelly.

“Naturally you must do whatever you think is best. But if I were to offer some advice, it would be to move on. Maybe go home and see your family. I'm sure they miss you.”

He was right. I gathered my things and left the city without any further discussion. It was time to move on. And it's not like I had to make great progress.

Name: Miki Meadows

Age: 29

Race: Human - Earth

Cultivation: Sky - Early Stage

Level: 50

Exp: 0/18,700 to next level

HP: 710/710 HP Regen 5.92/min

Stamina: 728/728 Stamina Regen 6.06/min

MP: 390 MP Regen 3.25/min

Strength: 132

Agility: 135

Endurance: 136

Intelligence: 136

Wisdom: 126

Luck: 148

Skills:

Let Your Sword Do the Talking

Scan

Languages:

Orcish - Tamerish

Marcosian

My stats had grown leaps and bounds on this floor. Perhaps more impressive was the knowledge I had learned from reading the books from the Wizard’s library.

With my down time over the past 6 months I had slowly worked my way through most of the books from the wizard’s library. Unfortunately, most of the information was designed for wizards who had graduated from some sort of wizards’ academy and knew baseline spell work. I had the wizard’s memories of learning the spell work, but it was not helpful. It was the difference between seeing somebody juggle and learning how to juggle yourself. If I ever crossed into being able to use magic I was certain the wizard's knowledge and everything I learned from his library would augment each other and I would rapidly gain skills and power. For the time being I had given up on being able to use magic.

That's not to say that the books didn't hold any other useful knowledge. I had learned much about the Eternal Tower and how it affected regular people. According to the books, the world of this floor once had towers appear as well. And after someone was able to complete multiple towers, all the towers vanished. Since that time all people on this world could check their status screens and use magic and some baseline abilities. Interestingly, some people had innate abilities not granted by the Tower and that did not appear on their status screen until discovered.

I also learned cultivation was only one of the methods of beating the limitation of the body and allowing further leveling. Each person and profession had different paths that they could go through to unlock the limits of their bodies. For example, wizards and magicians were able to utilize mana and somehow change the nature of their body. Meanwhile warriors could do something similar with the physical characteristics of their body.

And that's what led to the biggest revelation. It turns out skill points did not have to be automatically assigned to each stat. It would default that way for the first few levels but after level five a person was able to decide how best to distribute their stat points. I read through the cultivation manual a few times and several sections that hadn't been clear, now were understandable. It made more sense for a wizard to dedicate all their points to intelligence and wisdom instead of strength and endurance.

For cultivators, all aspects were equally important. It was recommended to keep the default of one point in each stat per level. It was amazing knowledge, and was wonderfully helpful for future climbers who didn't want to spend time cultivating. But it was kind of worthless to me at the present.

In addition to the gains in my knowledge and levels, my wealth had once more increased. Helping Kelly's family and their trading company was very profitable. For every expedition to Tinger City and back I kept half of the profits from the trades and all the profits from the mana gems. We had done about two trips a month. Now I had well over a thousand gold in my purse. It was more money than I could probably spend in my lifetime but had little real value to me. I already had the best armor and sword that could be bought in this kingdom. I ensured my storage bag had plenty of quality travel safe food and rations. I was not going to fall into a situation of being dependent on crappy jerky again.

Running through the Wilds for the last time, I once more felt hollow. I craved the sense of elation from increasing my cultivation. It was that joy that led me to tell Kelly about my breakthrough. I could spend a week or two in the Wilds and probably force my level higher, but it was hard to predict when I could break through the bottleneck and it could easily take at least a week.

I ran through the Wilds non-stop. My stats and cultivation let me move swiftly far more swiftly than I had been when I was escorting a wagon full of goods. I was done with the Wilds. I was done with these two cities. I was done with traders and merchants. I was ready to move on.

It only took me a whole day of running and I was in Tinder City. Roy the guard ignored me as I headed through the gate. He had seen me enough over the past 6 months to know who I was. I made my way to the point of the city where the portal had opened. I saw people walking back walking all around ignoring the portal. In fact, several walked straight through it as if it were an illusion.

Floor 4 complete!

Rewards: Item: Merchant’s Enchanted Traveling Cloak

This cloak does more than just keep off the rain. It makes you look stylish as well. Enchanted to keep the wearer comfortable in any weather.