Conquer your fears or the Tower will expose them.

Davies - Head of Climber Academy

This was the worst fucking experience of my life.

Why had I thought I would enjoy this dungeon?

Stupid dungeon.

Really I was to blame for this misery and I knew it. At any moment I could just break the token and leave the dungeon.

The sixth floor had started easy enough. The same stone tunnel I had walked down several times greeted me. The issue was that the tunnel quickly decreased in size until I had to proceed crawling to get any further. The further I moved the more it narrowed until there was just enough room for me to pull myself forward with my arms. A dozen different times I had attempted to crawl through the narrowing passageway and each time the claustrophobic tunnel caused me to turn back.

Eventually I had decided to sit at the entrance to the floor and see if I could force myself mentally onward. I never knew I had an issue with tight spaces before this point. I could not overcome the sensation that I was getting stuck each time it narrowed to the point where I had to pull myself forward. Since I did not have the mental energy to try another attempt, I decided to start cultivating.

By this point I had grown accustomed to cultivating. The best aspect of the meditation and inward focus was that it helped to calm my mind. The negative aspect of cultivation was that I could quickly lose track of time. I closed my eyes and focused on circulating my mana while trying to stretch the nodules that I knew needed to be enlarged. In hindsight I should have realized I was spending more time than I thought as I was able to enlarge the nodules and finally make the breakthrough to push my cultivation to the next level.

Congratulations! You have reached peak stage sky cultivation. +10 to all stats.

The bliss from the breakthrough washed all my troubles and doubts away. What did the tower matter? All that was good and right in the world was cultivation and chasing the next breakthrough. With each stage increase the bliss lasted longer. If I could reach a high enough stage perhaps it would be permanent. The waves of joy wash over me for about 8 minutes. Too soon the feeling left and I was struck by sudden depression and longing that made me not care if I was ever killed in a narrow passage.

I rushed forward and crawled through the tunnels. I scraped my body against the stone as I crawled through the ever shrinking opening. I didn’t pause when it forced me to crawl around corners that seemed impossible for the human body to bend around. Finally I managed to push through and see the arched opening marking the end of the floor.

Floor 6 complete.

Time remaining: 5 days 12 hours, 25 minutes*

I had spent a total of 11 days on the sixth floor. The crawl through the tunnels had only taken a half an hour while the majority of the time was spent cultivating. I was running low on time and I knew I needed to try and push for a couple more floors as I wanted to complete as many as possible before I had to return to Tinder City.

The seventh floor was blessedly wide compared to the last tunnel. It didn’t take me long to figure out what the theme of the floor was as I soon was jumped by a pack of wolves. It was simple enough to kill each wolf and the only difficulty was their pack dynamics where multiple wolves would attack me at once. Usually one wolf would always go for a blind spot or a perceived weakness. One actually managed to land a bite on my upper arm. Luckily the merchant who had sold me the armor wasn't lying when he said it could take a monster attack and the wolf's teeth didn't even pierce the armor. Four hours and 30 wolf packs later I was moving onto the next floor.

Floor 7 complete.

The eighth floor at first appeared to be similar to the third floor. As I step forward traps would be activated, but I couldn't find the cause of the traps being activated. After about two hours of experimentation I realized that the traps were being activated just by me moving forward. As soon as I realized that I just ran through the floor as fast as possible. My speed easily allowed me to leave the area before the trap activated. Looking back this would have been a better tactic for the third floor as well. All it took was about 30 minutes of sprinting across the floor and I was able to arrive at the arched opening to the next floor.

Floor 8 complete.

Time remaining: 5 days 6 hours, 33 minutes*

As soon as I stepped on the ninth floor, the doorway behind me closed off as a stone slab slid down from a hidden opening. I heard a rumble as the whole tunnel began to shake and looking above and behind the entrance I saw a large stone boulder rolling on a ramp head down towards me.

Honestly it was kind of funny. This was like the fifth time the dungeon required speed and dexterity to complete a floor. I barely even had to jog to keep ahead of the boulder. I'm sure if I were level 3 or 4 this might have been very difficult, but after everything I had been through and my current cultivation, this was a piece of cake.

As I moved forward, obstacles appeared in my way such as branches and pit traps to trip me and vines to slow me down. Neither were too difficult as I easily cut the vines out of my way and the pit traps were small enough to just step over as anything too large would likely stop the boulder. Finally there was a sharp curve with an arched opening. I entered and a few seconds later the boulder smashed into the wall at the end of the sharp turn.

Floor 9 complete.

Entering the 10th floor I was surprised to see something familiar. Three orcs with long knives stood waiting for me. I didn't hesitate as a dashboard and cut each of them down. I think it took me about three seconds to kill them.

Floor 10 complete.

Time remaining: 5 days 4 hours, 34 minutes*

Searching around this floor I didn't see any exit. I took the knives from each of the orcs and then started searching the walls. Since I received the prompt immediately after killing the orcs, I was certain this was the end of the dungeon but wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Walking around the small room I hit each wall firmly to make certain there was not a hidden exit. After thoroughly examining all the walls, I decided it was time to break the token and return to the entrance.

When I broke the tablet it was like my surroundings changed around me and I was suddenly back in front of the stone table at the start of the dungeon.

Congratulations you have completed the dungeon: Heart of the Wilds

Rewards for completing 10 floors:

Skills: interactive map, enhanced senses-vision,

Items: Skill upgrade crystal x2, Boots of Swiftness, Low quality health potion, medium quality mana stone x3

Completion bonus item: Mana stone synthesizer

What a gold mine! Note to self: always complete any dungeon I come across. This was more rewards than all the previous floors of the Tower combined. I decided to do a thorough scan of all the skills and items before leaving the dungeon.

Skills: Interactive map

Creates a map in your field of vision documenting places you've been and highlighting friends’ and enemies' most recent positions. Activation: mental thought to open map.

Skill: Enhanced senses-vision,

Grants improved vision. Able to see in low light as easily as during the day. In complete darkness able to make out general details.

Item: Skill upgrade crystal x2

When consumed allows the user to upgrade a skill of their choice.

Item: Boots of Swiftness

Not only are these boots highly fashionable and comfortable, but they also help you to run faster. You are less likely to stumble over small obstacles while wearing these boots.

Item: Low quality health potion

When consumed it will restore 250 HP. Can reduce healing time of broken bones and other severe injuries.

Item: Medium quality mana stone x3

Mana stones of this quality are usually found in monsters over level 200. Can be useful to an alchemist. Possibly useful for a cultivator.

Item: Mana stone synthesizer

While it appears as a simple box this magical item can combine mana stones to form higher quality mana stones.

I took some time and played around with my new skills. That map was amazingly detailed but was of limited value at this time. I played around with the skill and found I was able to shrink the map until it only covered a small part of my vision and wouldn’t distract me. I wish I could take credit for coming up with the idea but this skill was well documented with several previous climbers finding it. Once I was done messing with it and reached for the health potions to put them in my back but was distracted when a new prompt appeared.

Hidden bonus received: Skill- Hidden item detector

For finding hidden items on five floors in a row you have received this.

Is there a hidden item near you or does your shoulder just itch? The skill lets you get a vague sense of the location of hidden items in the Eternal Tower. This skill synergizes with the skill Interactive Map

This day just kept getting better and better. Maybe it was my birthday and the Tower was giving me gifts. I had never heard of this skill before and knew of several climbers who had managed to get hidden items on multiple floors in a row.

I quickly stored the health potions and put the boots on my feet. Holy hells, the boots were comfortable. They hug my feet in all the right ways and just walking around I could tell they were far better made than the shoes I had bought in Windgate. I hate to admit it but they were fairly fashionable as well.

I thought for a minute on if I should use my skill upgrades later, but decided it was better to use them now. If I died because I didn’t upgrade my skills, it wouldn’t matter if there was a better skill to upgrade later in the Tower.

I didn’t even have to think twice about what skills to upgrade. I quickly upgraded “Scan” and “Let Your Sword Do the Talking”. They were the first two skills I received and as such were the ones that would benefit the most from the upgrade crystals.

Skill: Superior Scan

This upgraded version of scan now displays more information when used on items and individuals. This skill now synergizes with the skill Interactive Map.

Skill: Let Your Sword Do the Translating

After killing 100 enemies who speak the same language you are able to speak and the language like a native.

Wonderful. I used my new scan on all my items and two had new information.

Item: Medium quality mana stone

Mana stones of this quality are usually found in monsters over level 200. Can be useful to an alchemist.

Cultivation aid, useful in breakthroughs for human cultivators. To use: place in mouth while cultivating.

Item: Mana stone synthesizer

While it appears as a simple box this magical item can combine mana stones to form higher quality mana stones. May combine other similar mana based items.

Requires:

110 poor quality gems to 1 low quality gem

110 low quality gems to 1 medium quality gem

110 medium quality gems to 1 high quality gem

110 high quality gems to 1 peak quality gem

Well that was useful. I wanted to play around with the synthesizer but knew it would be better to get to Tinder City first.

As I exited the dungeon I looked up to see an unexpected sight. It was a tree monster towering high into the sky as it looked down on me.

Level 65 Treant

Well this is fucking fantastic.