True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.

Socrates - Old dead dude

Welcome to the Eternal Tower Floor 7 Hard!

Goal: Kill 1,000 monsters in the Luthan Beginner Dungeon

0/1,000 Monsters Killed

Time limit: None

Great another repeat floor. I appeared right in front of the dungeon, not even a 100 feet from where I had recently stepped through the portal. Either some time had passed or this was a different version of the world as none of the prince’s wagons and belongings were outside of the dungeon entrance.

Once more the Tower was not making sense. This dungeon was easy and for any beginner fighting a thousand enemies would greatly raise their levels as each monster was worth at least 10 experience. But this experience was worthless to me as I was already at another bottleneck at level 65 due to defeating the Secret Monster Horde Dungeon.

Since there was no time limit, I might as well cultivate and focus on breaking through to the next stage. Then if I was lucky, the beginner dungeon would have an increase in difficulty and the monsters would provide more experience. 10,000 experience wasn't even a quarter of the experience I needed to go up to level 65.

But before any of that I had some tasks I needed to complete that I had been avoiding. First and foremost, I needed to do some research. Sitting down I pulled out the books I had borrowed from the royal library.

I'd always loved reading. I would read anything whether it be fiction or nonfiction and was eager to read the books on stats. It didn’t take long for me to find that they were magical research and philosophical arguments on the purpose of stats. It was nothing like my cultivation manual which clearly outlined steps and information. Instead each of the books either contain a theory or half a dozen theories on the role of the different stats. Despite their boring nature I took a few days to read through all of them until I understood the content.

The general consensus was the increase in stat points only correlated to increases in physical strength and speed, not mental capabilities. It was easy to measure a person's stat growth along with the corresponding increase in strength and speed by either having them lift weights, run until fatigues, or sprint for a set period of time. In each case the increased stats were proportional to the increased physical capabilities. As such a person with a strength stat of 20 would be able to lift double the weight of a person with the strength of 10. This was my least controversial finding and something that was widely known and accepted before my Tower climb.

When it came to intelligence and wisdom, these were much more controversial topics. Despite what I had assumed, most scholars seem to agree that increasing these two stats did not have any measurable difference in intelligence or application of intelligence. When increasing intelligence or wisdom stats through leveling, the only difference most researchers found was the quantity of mana and the ability to mana control.

Buried in one of the books in a small section was a remark that cultivators viewed mana amount and mana control as directly interchangeable for intelligence and wisdom. There was clear reference to cultivators throughout many of the books, but they were often made out to be more like mythological beings than real people. It seemed every researcher knew of cultivators, but few had ever directly talked with one. I reread the cultivation manual for the umpteenth time and was able to make further sense of how the increased intelligence and wisdom stats affected my abilities as a cultivator. Best I could tell, wisdom and intelligence were used to improve cultivation which then improved the ability to level and increase the physical stats.

Honestly, I had read all the books and came to the conclusion within a day that my increased wisdom stat had no real reflection on my personal wisdom and insights, but I didn't want to believe it. I just assumed that as I leveled my intellect and judgment were improving as well.

If intelligence and wisdom stats do not actually manifest into my own intellect and ability to think through problems, that meant I was roughly the same person as before I started the Tower climb. In some ways this was reassuring to know that the Tower and the increased stats were not affecting who I am. On the other hand, I would have really enjoyed being able to know more information or think through situations more clearly.

No where in the books were any mention of a ‘luck’ or sixth stat. There were a couple sections chronicling individuals who had different names for the stats, but it appeared to be more based on cultural significance to words than any real change in what the stat did. For example there were some cultivators who did not have intelligence/wisdom stats but instead had mana/mana control or chi/chi manipulation. Really they were all the same thing. After coming to the realization of how intelligence and wisdom interacted with mana I couldn't help but feel that these other cultures had a better understanding of mana than the Marcosian Kingdom or I did.

I wonder if ‘luck’ was just an odd translation or cultural misnaming like the intelligence and wisdom stat. Perhaps it had nothing to do with being lucky and instead had more to do with how popular I was with the women I encountered. At least that would explain why women were throwing themselves at me. I wish I could find out more information but the books were lacking in any further details and honestly it didn't change the fact that I still had to climb the Tower.

My next order of business was organizing my storage bag. It had a capacity of 1,000 cubic feet so I had been in the habit of just throwing everything I found in it. Unfortunately using scan on it did not provide me with any indication on its contents or how much space remained. This was different from the coin purse.

Item: Coin Purse

Contains: Coins-1 Platinum, 135 Gold, 42 Silver, 14 Bronze. Mana gems- 85 Poor

Crap, I completely forgot that my coin purse could store mana gems. I had been shoving them into my storage bag since I left Windgate. I quickly pulled all of the mana gems from my storage bag and shoved them into the purse. I also tried to put in the slime cores but they would not enter the purse.

Item: Coin Purse

Contains: Coins-1 Platinum, 135 Gold, 42 Silver, 14 Bronze. Mana gems- 100 Low, 1281 Poor Lightning elemental mana gem- 2 Poor. Ice elemental mana gem- 2 Poor. Fire elemental mana gem- 2 Poor. Earth elemental mana gem- 1 Poor. Dark elemental mana gem- 217 Poor.

Interestingly several of the monsters from the last dungeon had provided element based mana gems. They looked nearly identical to the regular mana gems and without my scan skill I doubt I would be able to easily tell them apart.

With all my new rewards being absorbed for the time being, I needed a good inventory of my items and equipment. I took out ink, quill, and paper to create a list of what I had. Next I started to pull out items as I remembered them and set them into neat piles. Luckily I had stocked up on supplies when in Windgate.

Weapons: 30 daggers, 2 knight swords, 5 sword-axes, 1 crossbow.

Clothes: 2 full sets pants and shirts, 12 pair socks, old boots, leather vest, cloak

Potions: 1 Low quality health

Food: 90 lbs dried rations, 10 full water skins, 200 loaves bread, 300 apples, 100 pears, 90 onions, 300 potatoes, 90 lbs of beef, 30 lbs of lamb, 20 lbs of chicken, 1 lbs crappy jerky, 12 bottles wine (Kelly’s dad favorite), 5 bottle fruit wine (various), 6 beers, 10 pounds hardtack, 1 large wheel of cheese.

Slime cores: too many to waste time counting.

Misc: Firebox, Tinder, Wood for fire, Bed roll, Blanket x2, Towel x2, Bath gems, Soap x10, Stolen goods from Tinder City, Cooking pots and pans, 5 sets of utensils, bandages, burn cream, straight razor, shovel, pick

Rewards: Cultivation manual, Mana gem synthesizer

Besides all those items I also pulled out a large amount of trash and junk that I needed to just discard. I had a bad habit of just throwing things in the bag whether I needed to keep it or not.

The most surprising thing I found were bones and a dozen bodies of smugglers and thieves that I had honestly forgotten about. I was lucky that the storage bag seemed to keep everything preserved just as it was put in but it was a little gross to be carrying around bodies and bones. I quickly dug a hole near the dungeon and put them to rest.

All told it took an entire day just to get a proper inventory of my bag. Now that I have the items listed I would just need to note whenever I added or used anything in the future and I wouldn’t need to worry about doing this again. I was tempted to use the mana gem synthesizer as I had not played around it, but I felt there was a chance any mana gems I created would be absorbed to pay for my new skill.

Finally finished, I moved on to cultivating. Unfortunately, I did not have any mana gems of sufficient quality to help with cultivation. I tried using one of the low quality mana gems to see if it made a difference but after I absorbed it there was no noticeable change in my cultivation.

Well there was nothing better to do so I returned back to my normal long method of cultivating. Honestly the meditation and cultivation technique I used was a little scary. I had always been a person who enjoyed doing things, whether that was reading or spending time with people. If anyone had told me before the Tower that I would be able to sit for hours with nothing but my thoughts and not go crazy, I would have laughed at them. Now I would sit and start moving my mana and a whole day would pass in what felt like minutes. I even needed less food and water when cultivating; as little as a single meal every four days. It only took 2 months and I was able to make my next breakthrough.

Congratulations! You have reached middle stage heaven cultivation. +20 to all stats.

Now that I could gain experience again I wasted no time and dashed into the dungeon. Unfortunately the monsters were all level one and two. I didn't even need to slow my movement through the dungeon as I took out each monster. Since none of them were near level 25 there is no point in stopping to check for a mana gem.

That isn't to say I found the whole experience boring. My first go through the dungeon I checked the false wall where I'd found the hidden dungeon, but this version of the beginner dungeon did not have any secret entrance. What I did find on that first lap around the dungeon was a pile of bones and armor pushed into a corner that could have easily been overlooked. Debris and rocks covered the pile and made it blend into the scenery. If it wasn't for my hidden treasure detection skill I would have easily passed it up as well.

Rummaging through the pile I found something familiar. It was the prince’s armor. Either I had sped forward in time and the prince died after I left him or in the version of the world the assassination was successful. While I would not count him as a friend, it was sad to think that I had just talked with him not that long ago and now he was gone. But upon further reflection there was no point in being too upset, he was likely not even a real person.

Not being one to waste anything I gathered up the armor and left his bones in the dungeon. Along with the armor was a medallion he had let me examine when he was explaining that he couldn't be tracked by magic easily. As I reached for the medallion it disappeared and a familiar prompt appeared.

Items absorbed. [??]% complete to unlock skill [??????]

After absorbing the item I still didn't get the skill and I had no idea if I was actually getting closer to unlocking it. Why did the Tower hint that there was a percentage completed but not actually tell me the amount. The Tower is a total asshat.

As I moved through the dungeon and killed monster after monster, I purposely chose to sing out loud. Really this was the best way for me to honor the prince and his life. Besides, it seemed like a goddess was attracted to my singing since one blessed me with a skill.

Despite how easy it was and how quickly I made progress I hated this beginner dungeon. To this point I have avoided saying what I've been fighting because honestly it was embarrassing. They were large rats. By large I mean about the size of a house cat. They put up little to no defense and were easily cut through with my sword. Calling them a monster felt cheap after having battled orcs, tree ants, and monstrously large wolves. Regardless, the rats still gave me a small amount of experience. Outside the dungeon I can't imagine most of them giving a single point of experience, so the bonus experienced from the dungeon must be great.

Floor cleared! Proceed through the portal for rewards!

Name: Miki Meadows

Age: 29

Race: Human - Earth

Cultivation: Heaven - Middle Stage

Level: 65

Exp: 13,580/43,000 to next level

HP: 1135/1135 HP Regen 9.46/min

Stamina: 1153/1153 Stamina Regen 9.60/min

MP: 1105/1105 MP Regen 9.21/min

Strength: 217

Agility: 220

Endurance: 221

Intelligence: 221

Wisdom: 211

Luck: 233

Skills:

Let Your Sword Do the Translating

Superior Scan

Enhanced Interactive Map

Enhanced Senses - Vision

Hidden Item Detector

Languages:

Orcish - Tamerish

Marcosian

Treant

Hopefully the next floor would be more interesting. I took a step through the portal and left the dungeon for hopefully the last time.

Floor 7 complete!

Rewards: — Items absorbed. [??]% complete to unlock skill [??????]