I tell the innkeeper that I will keep my room today and depart to the farm. This time the Elf gives me a new task. Cleaning the animal’s barn. It takes me all morning to shovel the poop outside. Once I’m done, I collect my 6 silver coins salary. The weather is cloudy today. I reach the place I slept in the first day before it starts to rain. Here I take my lunch before resuming my spell training. Even though I am proud of my burning hand technique, it won’t suffice to take down those knights. While searching for a practical application of my new spell, I get an idea. I try the levitation spell at contact, and to my surprise, it works perfectly. I try to lift various objects from the barn; my strength is multiplied. I don’t stop here; I modify the spell to automatically use levitation on my body parts to assist me. I am surprised by the effect; I feel 10 times more potent. I can jump higher and run faster.

I play around in the barn, feeling like a superhero. I try the Black Knight's armor with this new capacity. I have no problem wearing it. After twisting the code for better performance, I rename the spell “Exoskeleton.” Even with this new power, I feel afraid of the armored foes that attacked me yesterday. I try to test how long I can keep my new technique activated; I am exhausted after 30 min of use. I disable the spell and fall due to the armor's height; I am stuck on the ground. I use the inventory to unequip it and remember that I can’t do that in combat. Since I’ll need more than 30 min to clear those castles, I decide that I’ll train hard during the next few days. I return to the inn. I try to negotiate my room price by telling the innkeeper that I’ll keep my room clean and obtain a night at 3 silver coins. I order supper with my saved money and head to bed right after eating. During the following days, I engage in my training; I practice my physical abilities at the farm and develop my spells in the afternoon. Day after day, I adjust the Exoskeleton’s code so that it consumes minimal resources. My body seems to adapt well to the peasant job.

It is the fifth day, I’ve gained a bit of muscle and attained two hours of activation with my spell, but my progress seems to slow down. I need to test my combat capacities and decide it is time to take the floor’s challenge. Since attacking the castle directly is not a good idea, I will look for another way tomorrow night. I return to the inn to end my day. Before going to sleep, I slightly adjust my pain limiter from arm breaking to heavy stab. I don’t want this to end too quickly, even though I might regret my decision.

I have a dream during the night; I climb up the castle’s walls. I wake up and think about it. I realize it is a genius idea. I have taken my morning off to rest more, so I take my breakfast and head right to the training spot. Here I create a new spell and call it “Spiderman.” Instead of using the levitation function to lift an object, I use it to stick my hands and feet to the wall. The ability works perfectly. I can climb the barn’s borders with no effort. I adjust my spell until lunch, then eat some bread and butter that I bought at the market on my way here. After that, I spend the afternoon reading and resting. In the “Station Operating Manual”, I read that the next floor is typically unlocked when you defeat more than half of the current floor’s bosses. By that logic, I’ll have to defeat two bosses on this floor (since it has only two). And I’ll need to defeat 2 bosses on the next floor since it should have 3 bosses. I realize that on the 100th floor, there should be 99 bosses and that I’ll have to defeat at least 50 of them. I’m thinking about the game and that attaining such floors could take years. I take a good nap on the hay blocks.

When I wake up, it is almost dusk. I eat dinner, then head to the black castle. I wait for the night to fall before approaching. I’m at the bottom of the rampart, and nobody noticed. I equip the armor and start to climb the wall with my new abilities. Before reaching the top, I hear a guard patrolling. I wait for him to pass, then sneak behind him. Luckily he has no helmet; I split his skull with my ax in one clean move. As the foe falls to the ground, I realize it is not human. It has green skin and seems a bit short. The augmented vision shows more information: “Orc Warrior.” I pick up the creature’s weapon, a bare steel short sword. I throw the body over the wall and put my ax into my inventory. The rampart’s interior is not surprising; it has a barrack, a stable, and a forge. The actual castle is not very far from the walls. Since I had already taken an excellent shortcut, I decide not to stop. I approach the building and make the jump; I climb to the top. Here I find what I was looking for; a trapdoor. I enter it, climb down a ladder, then a few stairs. I arrive in a large room, and something emerges from behind the pillars as I walk through it.

Without time to react, I am hit by a giant flail. I am projected against the wall; the impact stuns me. I heard a few cracks, but luckily the armor protected me from the boulder’s spikes. As I come back to my sense, I observe an immense ogre approaching me. The beast is entirely white and carries a silver flail. Right before it hits me again, I jump out of its range. I run to my sword that I let go of. I sense a significant pain as I run; it seems that I have cracked ribs. I pick up my sword and face the ogre; I try to maintain distance using the pillars. My entire body is shaking. The beast attempts to hit me again and misses; it breaks the floor instead. I take this opportunity and charge the enemy with all my strength; my sword enters its belly while it screams. I continue my attack by ripping the thing open completely. The ogre falls to the ground, its inside spreading out. The loud scream attracts the guards who rush into the room. They look at me and see their master dead on the floor; that’s enough to make them panic; they leave as fast as they came. As for me, I lie down in pain. As the adrenaline lowers, every movement becomes difficult. The “Magic For Beginners” has one healing spell, now might be a good time to try it out. Unfortunately, I discover that I am bad at healing magic; the conjuration has little to no effect. The pain pushes me to use the spell at maximum intensity; after a few minutes, I lose consciousness. I come back seconds later and realize that I’ve emptied my outer pool.