Never judge a book by its cover.

Unknown

The mountain range was nothing like Nasijuf. The mountain on the eighth floor had a gentle slope to the top that was easy to climb. What I faced now was a sheer cliff wall rising a thousand feet straight up. I couldn't be certain how normal people would climb something so steep. But I was no longer a normal person and simply punched my fist into the rock to create a handhold before pulling myself up. It took time but it was only a couple hours later until I reached the top of the steep cliffs and found myself at the entrance to a small cave that my map marked as the location for the hidden treasure.

I could see how this was a hidden location. Unless you climbed up from the cliff wall, the entrance to the cave would be hidden from view. It was high up enough that nobody could see it from the bottom and if somebody had managed to climb up to the top of the cliff elsewhere they would easily walk past the cave entrance as it opened to the cliff wall.

Luckily the cave wasn't too deep. I was able to finally treasure only 50 feet from the entrance. There's no wall to break open or need to dig for the treasure as it was just sitting on the ground as if it had been left there by accident.

Item: Helm of Mental Clarity

A masterwork of an armorsmith. This helm is able to block magic, mental, psychic, and physical attacks that will cause the wearer to become concussed, confused, or mentally debilitated. Does not work against alcohol.

It was as useful as it was ugly. Painted a garish yellow and blue it was topped with a large white feather. It may be one of the most useful items I have received, but I would only be wearing this when I was going into battle. Without knowing its purpose people would think I was crazy for wearing something so ridiculous. Putting the helm on, I adjusted the chin strap. There was no immediate change to my surroundings but I guess that was normal since nothing was attacking me.

After the eighth floor I knew how important mental protection could be. Perhaps with the helm I wouldn't have been as confused or disoriented with the Klawm Aerd. Or maybe I still would have experienced the same effects as the helm didn't protect against alcohol. Maybe it only protected against attacks, not things I ingested. There was no way I was drinking poison to find out if I was protected against poison. That would just be stupid.

As useful as the helm was, it wasn't what I was hoping to find. I really needed something to protect me against fire. Everything I knew about dragons told me that they breathe fire. My leather armor would not do anything against a fire attack.

For half a second I was tempted to go back to the sect and see if I could try to convince them to sell me some fireproof armor. Yet my time dealing with the other cultivators told me that I did not have anything that would be useful for the sect. The elder was higher level than me so he clearly has a cultivation technique. Just because the sect could help, didn’t mean they would help.

I could try finding a leadership of Princip to see if they could get the sect’s help, but they were powerless against cultivators. How long would it take for me to convince the leaders to help me and then how long would it take for the sect to agree. I was doubtful that the sect would even listen to the leaders of the city.

There really was no choice other than to fight the dragon as I was. All the monsters I encountered on my way to the mountain gave so little experience that even if I spent another 20 days killing them, I would not get anywhere close to the 60,000 experience needed to go up to level 61. Even moving up a single level would not do me that much good anyway. Most of my stat increases came from my cultivation, not my levels. There was no way I would gain five levels worth of experience before my self imposed time limit on this floor expired.

I still had to decide what route I would take to reach the quest marker. I could climb back down the cliff face and travel east on the flat ground at the base of the cliff. Alternatively I could walk along the crest of this cliff without having to go down the cliff only to climb back up in a day or two. Walking along the top of the mountain was likely going to be slower. Plus if the crest of the mountain became too treacherous, I might fall down and injure myself. I was strong, but I doubted that I could escape a fall from such a height without getting seriously injured.

As I looked over the edge trying to decide if I should climb back down or not I heard a noise from behind me. I turned to see the most evil looking creature I had ever encountered.

Level 105 Mountain Goat.

I hated goats. Their slitted eyes and curved horns just made them look demonic. I had never liked goats but the eighth floor only increased this dislike. The mountain goat caused unhappy memories to stir in my mind.

The mountain goat opened its mouth bleating as a mental force hit me. Without the helmet I likely would have been stunned from the attack. Luckily the helm protected me and I had the mental clarity to realize this was a truly demonic goat. Instead of the normal flat teeth I was expecting to see on a goat, this once had the sharp teeth of a carnivore. As if to prove my point it charged at me and tried to take a bite from my arm.

Enemy defeated. 3,500 exp awarded.

After fighting hundreds of the cave bears the goat wasn't much of a challenge. Fighting the bears I had perfected the ability to cut down charging monsters with a single strike. The goat was smaller and slower than the caver bear, but the result was the same.

Since monsters this powerful were on the mountain ridge and the goats granted such a nice amount of experience, I might as well continue along the ridge instead of climbing down. Just 20 of these goats would be enough to raise me a level. With enough of them I would be able to get my level to 85 and increase my cultivation as well. This is just what I needed.

Despite my initial thoughts that walking along the top of the mountain would be more difficult than walking along the bottom, there was a clear trail along the top that I was able to easily follow. The path was relatively flat and while it varied in width, it was never less than six feet across. With such an easy path along the mountain, I never felt concerned about falling off. As I made my way closer to the marker I continued to encounter mountain goats.

The goats seemed to live isolated from each other and would attack me individually. While that made the battles easier, it limited the number of goats I encountered on my way. My hope of quickly leveling was gone. That's not to say that I didn't encounter a lot of goats. By the time I was within a mile of the quest marker I had already pushed my level up to 82. I just had not encountered enough to move me to the next level of cultivation.

Once more I had a choice. I could continue forward to fight the dragon or I could double back to get more goats and try to raise my level to the point where I could also increase my cultivation. It has only taken me six days to make my way along the top of the crest so I still had plenty of time to complete the floor before a month had passed. I needed more power to move through the Tower quickly and I didn’t know how strong the dragon was going to be. In the end, I didn’t really have a choice as I turned around and went hunting for more goats.

I returned one day later frustrated. I had walked half a day back towards the hidden cave without encountering a single goat. Realizing this would be a waste of time I had turned around and journeyed back. Clearly the goats were not like the monsters in the dungeon that constantly respawned or the monsters in the wild would be attracted to travelers on the road.

It was beyond frustrating to waste a day. If I managed to push my level up to 85 the extra time spent would have been worth it, but now I had just wasted another day.

Despite wanting to hurry, I took my time approaching the location marked on the map. As I came closer to the location I started encountering signs that the dragon was near. Splintered bones were on the ground along with some horns. I was not the only one who was hunting goats.

I didn’t know what to expect for a dragon's nest but when I finally came to the location, I was surprised by how normal it looked. It was just like any other stretch of the mountain I had crossed over the past several days. I couldn't even see any trace of the dragon. I guess I was letting stories influence my judgment. It wasn’t like the dragon was really going to have piles of gold and treasure lying around in the open.

I slowly circled the area, hypervigilant for anything out of the ordinary when I spotted something bright blue on the ground. At first I thought it was a snake, but it would have been the weirdest snake I had ever seen.

Level 120 Lesser Dragon.

This was it? It was only about 4 feet long and only a few inches wide. This is what I had been preparing to fight? It didn’t even look terrifying. I haven't been scared of snakes since I was a child and while this thing may have been stronger than a normal snake, it wasn't the size I expected. If it wasn’t for its level and the bones I had found on my way I would have let my guard down. Likely it could breathe fire or was venomous since it was able to take down the mountain goats despite its small size.

As I pulled my sword out and prepared to cut the thing in half, music began to play.

It was music unlike anything I'd ever heard. There were drums and an odd guitar and other instruments that I couldn’t identify. I found the words of the songs on my lips as if I had heard them a thousand times and I sang along as I charged at the little lizard. The words spoke of fire and flames and battling on through them.

If my skill activating hadn't been a clear indication that the dragon was more than I initially thought, the massive wings that spread out from its tiny body would have. I don’t know how I had missed them when I initially saw the dragon. The four wings were spread out on its body, each one a foot and a half in length and covered in bright blue scales.

Before I could get within striking range the dragon vanished from my sight. The little thing was impossibly fast. I barely managed to glimpse the movement of it as it went to attack my right side.

I rolled to avoid its attack. Standing, I tried to swipe at its body. Instead of dodging, it changed directions and quickly wrapped around my arm and sword. My sword hit its scaled body without any noticeable effect and I grabbed it with my free hand to pull it off me before it could bite into my arm. It darted in again, showing it was a true predator. I tried every trick I knew of but it was difficult to hit the small fast creature and when I did my sword would bounce off its scales. Worse yet my attacks failed to move the creator. Despite everything I knew about physics telling me that such a small creature should be pushed backward with each blow, it didn’t move from my strikes.

I finally managed to do some damage when I landed a hit at the base of one of its wings. Luckily Gregor's sword seemed up for the task, as it tore through the wing despite the resistance I felt. Without the Divine Battle Chant, I don’t know if I would have been able to land a strike or sever the wing.

Despite losing a wing the creature was still able to fly, although it was noticeably slower. I continue to fight on, screaming the words of the sounds of the song. And I do mean screaming. It was not that I was terrified from the fight, but that appeared to be how the words of this song were sung. There was a certain sort of bloodlust in the words and the way they were spoken in time with the music. The skill may have increased my stats, but the music had an even greater effect on me. It was as if my body and blood were on fire from the tempo and the words of the song. It pushed me to fight harder and more recklessly than I ever have. And while that might sound like a bad effect of the skill, in this particular battle it was just what I needed to overcome the dragon's insane speed and durability.

After another minute of battling the dragone I was able to sever a second wing which further slowed the dragon. It was now moving at my speed and I was able to strike at its head and body. Unfortunately my strikes continued to glance harmlessly off of its scales. Trusting my instincts and the mood of the music I remove the final two wings. Now the dragon really resembled a snake. The frightening little creature didn't even pause after losing all its wings and dashed towards me on the ground before throwing itself in the air towards me.

I caught it in my left hand and as it opened its mouth to bite at me I shoved my sword down its throat, skewering it.

Enemy defeated. 50,000 exp awarded.

Floor cleared! Proceed through the portal for rewards!

Despite the battle now being over the music continued to play in my mind while no more words came to my lips. I could not tell if this was how the song was meant to be performed or a side effect of me killing the dragon. After half a minute the music came to an end but even though the music stopped I could feel my heart still pounding from the experience. It was honestly one of the greatest moments of my life.

And holy crap did the dragon give a good amount of experience.

I gathered up the parts of the dragon including its severed wings and tossed it into my storage ring. Who knew when it would be useful. Plus it's not like I could cut it open to find its mana gem. The scales were just too damn durable.

Well there is no point in wasting any more time on this floor. I stepped through the portal.

Floor 10 complete!

Rewards: Titles unlocked

Titles granted: Tower Climber rank 10, Hero rank 2, One Man Army rank 3, Dungeoneer rank 3, Anti-Druid, Harbinger rank 2, Paladin, Dragon Slayer