Seren tilted her head about fifteen degrees as she looked at me. Her face was unreadable, but her voice remained surprisingly calm. "You came faster than I thought."
Maybe I was reading too much into it, but the sentence felt loaded with meaning. It sounded like, "You came faster than me," or maybe she simply hadn't expected me to reach the third floor at all.
"What do you mean?" I asked bluntly
"It doesn't mean much. I'm not sure about the first floor, but I figured you'd struggle on the second."
I felt a flicker of embarrassment. If it hadn't been for the Martial God, I'd probably still be wandering that floor. I changed the subject. "Are you going to take on the third-floor trials?"
"Yes."
"How far do you plan to go?"
"Let's see." Seren thought for a moment before calmly answering, "At least the fourth floor."
Alright. For now, our goals aligned. "To get to the fourth floor, you need to score a total of 150 points from the three rooms behind me. It is 100 points per room."
"Really?" Seren nodded, walked past me, and stared at the three rooms. After a moment, she headed to the Room of Reflexes.
Is she thinking the same as me? I didn't know her plan yet, but I suspected as much.
Seren noticed me following and asked, "Why are you following me?"
"I want to watch."
She paused.
"You don't want to?" I asked.
"Do as you please."
I couldn't help smiling. I'd always lived life my own way.
I followed Seren into the Room of Reflexes. Knowing what would be thrown and from where, I stood just outside the danger zone to observe.
Come to think of it, she didn't ask about the trials. It would've helped to hear the details beforehand. Is she overconfident? Or does she already know the trial's nature? Just like on the first floor, I watched her with those thoughts in mind.
"The first stage is starting."
Seren easily dodged the incoming balls and passed through the rain of arrows in the second stage.
What I really wanted to watch was from the third stage onward.
Her eyes sharpened the moment she saw the spinning discs lined with blades.
Is she thinking about how to handle them? There wouldn't be time for that.
At that moment, Seren took a deep breath. Immediately, her long hair turned white, and a chill radiated like a wave from her body. The flying discs froze the moment they touched the cold air around her.
I see. It wasn't a blessing. She was releasing the essence of Cold Qi through her skin. Structurally, it resembled the Breath of the Sapphire Snake from the Jewel Mountains.
She's imbued her mana with an attribute.
I was a bit surprised. Seren's ability went beyond merely surrounding her body or weapon with mana. Not only did her mana have an elemental attribute, but she also emitted it through her skin instead of her hands.
Now I wasn't sure how strong she really was. She seemed far more powerful than the Seren I'd known before the regression. Maybe the Altar of a Forgotten God she had found in the forest had changed her.
Either way, it works.
This counted as a defensive action, didn't it? She never touched the discs, so she passed. Well, It felt a bit unfair for a martial artist like me, who fought with just my body. In any case, even the fourth stage wouldn't challenge Seren much with this skill.
As expected, she froze the torrent of weapons raining down from the ceiling.
"Congratulations! You have cleared all the trials prepared in the Room of Reflexes! Calculating the score. Please wait."
...
"Score calculation is complete."
"NEW! 1st place: Seren Goodspring – 97 points."
It was a new record. With the Iron-Blooded Lord in the mix, my rank had dropped to third place.
Seren let out a cold breath, glanced at the leaderboard, and paused slightly.
Whose name had caught her eye?
I tried to guess where she was looking, but before I could, Seren passed me and moved toward the next room. Naturally, I followed.
The first stage was a simple run. The second added obstacles. The third introduced a powerful headwind. And then came the long-awaited fourth stage.
Rumble...!
Suddenly, the room's interior collapsed, shrinking the running path to a narrow rope. The ground on either side had vanished into deep darkness, with no bottom in sight.
Of course, falling wouldn't kill the challenger. Alderson had designed it that way. Still, the visual impact was powerful. Whether hallucination or illusion, the scene tricked the mind, even when one knew it was a deception.
Even Seren looked slightly uneasy, though she didn't back down. At the signal, she dashed forward along the narrow path.
Unfortunately, she was too slow.
"Room of Speed: 71 points."
Yes! I'd won. And not just won—it was a complete blowout.
I chuckled. Seren glanced at me, then at the leaderboard. Her voice carried a note of disbelief. "Ninety-seven points...?"
"Killer score, right?"
She didn't rise to the bait, staying silent.
Finally, we reached the last room, the Room of Strength. Unlike Rooms of Speed and Reflexes, this one didn't rely on surprise or psychological tricks. One could even call it the simplest trial.
The first stage required breaking a wooden scarecrow. The second, a massive boulder. The third, a suit of armor. The final stage? A large, black shield.
I crossed my arms, remembering my own run through it.
The last shield was pretty solid. NNot that it had been a problem. After all, both the First Fire Technique and White Sun Eclipse specialized in destructive power.
What about her?
Seren's biggest weakness was exactly that—raw force. As I expected, she broke the scarecrow and smashed the boulder with her bare hands. But when it came to the armor, she only managed to dent it. She wasn't even qualified to attempt the final stage.
"Room of Strength: 52 points."
That score clearly stung as Seren grimaced. She sighed and checked the rankings again, then looked at me with even more astonishment. She must have seen my score.
"What is this? How did you do that?" she questioned.
"I'm pretty strong," I answered proudly.
Seren just stared at me. Surprisingly, she wasn't annoyed by my usual nonsense. Then she said something unexpected. "You..."
"Yeah?"
"You are really strong."
She didn't just mean physically. It was something I often heard these days, but it still caught me off guard coming from her.
Seren looked at me with a conflicted gaze.
Anyway, her total score was 220 points. It wasn't high enough for the leaderboard but enough to challenge the fourth floor.
A low rumble echoed as a section of the waiting area wall slid aside, revealing hidden stairs.
Oh, so that's where it was. I thought.
We headed straight for the stairs. Fortunately, it wasn't a spiral staircase, and we could clearly see the destination. Still, the climb was long.
As we ascended, Seren asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Are you the righteous type?"
"What?" It was the most absurd question I'd ever heard, and I stopped in my tracks. I looked at her, half expecting a joke, but Seren's expression was serious.
I couldn't help answering, "Sort of? Depends?"
"I see." Seren hesitated, then continued, "Can you help me at the academy?"
"With what?"
"It's hard to explain. But it's for the peace and safety of innocent people," she replied cryptically.
I didn't respond, so Seren added urgently, "It's absolutely nothing shady. I'll stake my life on it. I swear."
What was with this sudden tension? I was taken aback by her seriousness. I didn't like the heavy atmosphere.
"Is it really dangerous?" I asked.
"You might die."
That was blunt.
I nodded. "Helping isn't hard for me."
I owed her.
"But if you stay vague, I can't help," I said. "If you want my help, you need to be honest. Clear about what's going on. That's the foundation of cooperation."
Seren fell silent, then suddenly glanced around.
Was she checking for eavesdroppers? I spread my senses but found no signs of life or activity on communication crystals.
She finally said, "The academy might be in danger. I'm not sure, but..."
"Danger? From what?" I pressed.
"It is hard to say."
"Why?"
"You will call me crazy if I tell you."
Those words triggered a memory from our training camp before the regression.
" I'll tell you later."
" Why?"
"I don't want to be treated like I'm crazy."
What followed? The priest, Juan, was unmasked, Evan became the Young Dark Pope, and a demon king eventually descended. As a result, more than half of the participating hero disciples died.
I understood Seren's hesitation. If she had told me the truth—a priest had infiltrated the Badniker family, and a demon king would be summoned— how would I have reacted back then? I would have dismissed her as crazy.
I sighed. "I understand. I will help you."
"Really?!" Seren's voice rose in surprise.
I'd never seen her so excited. But I felt nervous. At the Badnikers' training camp, she never asked for help until the very end.
Now she was reaching out. It wasn't just because I was strong. Therefore, the answer was clear: sooner or later, the academy would face a disaster worse than what happened with the Badnikers.
Something involving a demon king is about to happen here too. Damn it. This empire is really a mess.
***
Alderson stared at the screen.
The once-noisy control room had gone silent—an eerie, charged stillness, like the calm before a storm. And with good reason. From the fourth floor onward, the tower offered real rewards to the climbers.
And those rewards? They came from none other than Alderson's private collection—items he had gathered through years of blood, sweat, and youthful sacrifice.
He gripped his teacup and tried to appear calm, but his hands trembled slightly. They don't know, do they?
The fourth floor held a treasure trove. So few hero disciples had ever reached it that Alderson had long since started using it as a personal safe. Whenever he came across something valuable, he tossed it in there. Every item in that vault was something he'd acquired with painstaking effort.
Of course, the treasures varied in worth.But right now, there was one especially precious item stashed there. He had stashed it there a while ago and hadn't retrieved it yet.
No way, no way, no way. They wouldn't choose that. It's impossible. The item is shabby and useless. Only someone crazy would pick it. Yet... Alderson's anxious gaze snapped back to the screen. He swallowed hard as he saw the two hero disciples step onto the fourth floor.
A Badniker... The name echoed in his mind, sending a chill down his spine.
***
There were a million things I wanted to ask Seren.
I'd had a bad feeling ever since she chose to go to the academy. Now, that vague unease had solidified into something certain.
What could happen at the academy, one of the safest places in the capital? I was dying to find out. But I'd wait for now. We still had the tower to clear.
Welcome to the Sparring Floor!
※Fourth rule※
A minimum of two people is required to complete the trial of this floor.
"Verifying... Two challengers detected. Confirmation complete. Choose your reward before the sparring begins."
I tilted my head, puzzled. "Reward?"
The voice continued, "All challengers who reach the fourth floor become eligible to enter the treasure trove. You may select one reward before starting the sparring."
I muttered, "They're giving out rewards before the fight? That's pretty generous."
Seren replied cynically, "Generous, my ass. We got nothing from floors one to three. They're pretty stingy."
"You do know they can hear us, right?"
Seren snorted, as if to say, "Let them listen."
I didn't say anything because I agreed that the dean was a bit stingy.
Soon, we stepped into the so-called treasure trove.
" Oh... " My eyes widened at the bright glow.
It wasn't the usual mountain of gold coins, jewels, or expensive trinkets I'd expected. Instead, many weapons and armor, each looking valuable, were on display. I also spotted old books, elixirs, and magic tools that seemed like antiques.
"Hey, there are so many amazing things. What is this? It looks like a kettle."
No explanation accompanied the items. Were we supposed to choose on our own?
As I scanned the room, Seren pointed to something and said, "I'll take this."
I looked at it and saw that it was a necklace.
"What is it?"
Seren opened the necklace without answering. Inside sat an ice bead radiating Cold Qi. It was an elixir.
"It's a 10,000-year-old crystal. I've never seen one this big before," she explained.
Was it the ice equivalent of my Spirit Jade?
As if to confirm my guess, Seren popped the crystal into her mouth. She rolled it around, her cheeks bulging like she was eating candy.
"Is it tasty?"
"It's cold," she replied flatly.
Seren gave me a look that clearly said, "Don't talk to me." Taking the hint, I turned my attention back to the treasure trove.
Weapons? Pass. Armor? Also pass. Accessories? Nothing I really need. Jewelry, maybe? Having more money was always nice, but I wasn't exactly desperate. I already had 5,000 gold coins. By most standards, I was rich.
This is harder than I thought. I didn't need anything, which made choosing even more difficult.
Still, it was fine. I had a secret weapon. I took a deep breath and called out in my mind.
"Martial God!"
—What is it?
Despite my slightly exaggerated summons, the Martial God answered in his usual serious tone.
I smiled. "What is the most valuable item in this treasure trove?"
When in doubt, it's best to grab the priciest item.