In the Tower Again

After being left alone, Alex changed into a new pair of clothes before heading towards the guild hall. He still had to sell the cores that he had gotten in the dungeon so that he could gain enough gold to access the tower. Furthermore, he really wanted to improve at all costs as he had now gotten a reason to become strong. He needed to teach bullies a good moral lesson.

When he arrived at the white building, Alex got inside and headed to the counter where the monster cores were sold. Behind the counter was a young man wearing the guild's badge. Alex placed all the cores on the counter from his inventory. Of course he had Simon's ring that he pretended that he removed them there.

The attendant looked at the cores with widened eyes. He looked at the cores then back to Alex then back to the cores then back to Alex. Alex raised a brow to the man's behaviour as he was wondering if it was that surprising for someone to sell eighteen peak rank 1 cores.

Of course Alex didn't know that the attendant was trying to compare the cores and him. He was wondering if Alex was that strong so that he could accomplish such a feat. After giving it more thought, he concluded that Alex was just a delivery boy. There was no fifteen year old boy that strong right?

After regaining his composure, he counted the cores before storing them away. He then handed Alex eighteen gold coins. As Alex began walking away, he still kept staring at Alex as if wondering if what he had concluded was true or if it was the other way round. If it was true that Alex was strong enough to do what he thinking, then Alex was a once in a lifetime genius.

Alex slowly walked out of the guild and headed back to the inn. Since he was committed to becoming stronger, he now didn't care about what others may think. If worse came to worst, he eod just leave the town and go somewhere else. It wasn't like he was attached to the town anyway.

Saying hi to Jane, Alex went upstairs to his room before shutting the door behind him. He got to the bed and sat down. He then retrieved one of the rewards that he had received after his first mission, the steel hands skill book. Alex looked at the book that had a brown cover with a drawing of a fist.

With a thought, the book in his hand disintegrated before it entered his body. Then, a lot of information in accordance to the skill was filled in his brain. This was the first time that Alex used a skill book to learn a skill. His two skills were learnt through practice for a long time. He needed to swing his sword again and again or to move his feet until he collapsed. That was how he managed to get the skills and it seemed that there was a good way of cheating skills through skill books.

Remembering all that he had to go through just to master a single stage of a skill while there were people cheating here, he couldn't help but shake his head in bitterness. All the punishment that Simon imposed on him if he failed to do a certain step correctly, all that could be avoided by using a skill book. But Alex couldn't complain much as the hard work that he had to put on in training had made him know that life wasn't simple.

Leaving those thoughts aside, Alex thought of the skill and his hands from the tip of the fingers to the elbows was converted to steel. Alex could feel that his senses were numb and he could feel nothing at all. He wondered if this was going to be a pro or a con as he might as well get his hand cut off without him noticing even though he could not feel pain when using his hands to attack or defend.

After wondering for a while, Alex decided that the skill would be utilized as a last resort in unpredictable situations. He didn't want to start using something that he didn't fully understand yet. And with that, he was ready to head off to the tower. Since he had decided that he was going to get strong, he would do so and with full force, he wouldn't hold back a thing. The consequences that would follow, he didn't care for now.

Now that he had more than thirty gold coins, he had access to the tower for three days. Within these three days, Alex wanted to reach at least rank 2 initial stages. He had to work incredibly hard as a single stage required ten of the same stage or five of an upper stage. Now in the mid stages, Alex was sure that he could handle the late stage monsters from the tower. As for those at the peak, he didn't know.

With his thirty one coins, Alex headed to the tower and paid the days entrance fee. since he was a rank 1, he paid only ten gold coins. If he had been a rank 2, he would have had to pay fifty percent more, which meant fifteen gold coins. After getting inside, Alex was welcomed by the deep voice of the tower.

"Welcome back. The rules are still the same as before. You choose your battlefield and you can't escape it. That's just a summary, I hope that you have a good memory because I do really hate repeating myself,"

Alex,"....."

He didn't know how to reply to that as he was sure that the owner of the voice had already repeated himself over a hundred times yet here he was claiming that he hated repeating himself. Was it just that he had bad luck that the tower seemed to be venting its frustrations on him or what was it? That, he didn't know.

Finally deciding to ignore the voice, Alex proceeded to select the battle mode. He first selected to fight against an initial rank 1 monster so that he could have a breakthrough in his magic cultivation. He needed this core do that he could be able to save his energy rather than spending half the energy present in a mid stage core.

He finished off the monster with a single slash from his sword. Now that he had good gear, he could efficiently deal with monsters from a distance unlike when he was using a dagger. After that was done, it was time for him to hunt the next stage monsters. Before he begun, he contemplated which monster to deal with. He could easily deal with a mid stage monster now but he would need at least ten cores to advance. He could also handle a late stage monster but it would take some time.

He was trying to see the fastest way for him to level up as he didn't want to waste much time. Considering that it would take him the shortest time and many mid stage cores or longer time for the smallest amount of cores requirement. After contemplating for a while, he decided that it was better if he dealt with the late stage monsters. Although it would take long, he would continue gaining battle experience.

With that, Alex decided to hunt the late stage monsters till his time limit was up. He could always ask the tower how many hours he had spent inside there. He was allowed twenty four hours but since he was a human that needed rest, he couldn't spend all that time grinding for the cores.

He selected a plain terrain with short grass. He again selected offensive type monsters and he began the fight. This time, he fought against goblins. Bald headed, long and sharp nose, red eyes, pointed ears, green skin and having nothing on but a loin cloth. As usual, each of the goblins that Alex fought against were carrying a specific type of weapon.

Alex was ecstatic as the goblins fought like humans. Even though they had low intelligence, they were better than fighting monsters that only used their paws and fangs to attack. Here, he could gain experience fighting different weapon type wielders. He was sure that after today, he would have a good chance while fighting his fellow humans.

Someone asked for trouble and Alex was going to pay it double. He wanted to teach some idiots what it meant to bully someone. He had been bullied since he was seven when he failed to awaken till he was twelve when he left with Simon for training. He had experienced it all. Some cheap tricks from the hunters that were trying to make his life difficult was nothing, he could take it head on.

Fighting against late stage monsters was a real headache. This was the case as the battle started but as time went on, Alex got used to it and he was holding his own against these monsters. He had the capabilities to defeat them and he had the best equipment for the job. The dual swords were showing their might upon these goblins that had weak defenses.

When he began fighting 2 versus 1, he began unleashing his dual sword technique, swirling wind. With this, he was able to easily dispatch them while also avoiding injuries. He also activated his light steps movement technique at times but he didn't dare utilize it all through the battle as using two techniques at the same time was too stamina draining.

Whenever he got drained up, he would take a rest before continuing. He needed as much resources as he could since he needed to up his power. Since he was capable of coming to the tower for three days with his present income, he wanted to enter the dungeon as a rank 2. Nothing more, nothing less. That was his aim.

Even though he was planning his revenge, he was also planning how to fully utilize the tower. Once he breaks through to the second rank, he would be capable of entering the second floor of the dungeon. This meant that his income would also increase and thus even if the price to enter the tower as a rank 2 would increase, he would afford it.

Seventeen hours had passed and Alex was still fighting goblins. He had already killed two goblins in a 1 versus 3 fight. The final one was charging towards him with a bloodthirsty expression on its face. Alex didn't was time and activated his movement technique. His speed was lower but his movements were lighter than before indicating that he had improved his skill.

He reached the goblin before using his dual swords technique's first movement. The goblin didn't know how but it only saw that the world was suddenly upside down. Alex had severed its head cleanly. The body of the goblin kept moving forward before it stopped and plopped to the ground.

Finally, Alex had some time to breathe. The fight was intense when fighting multiple monsters. He had now gained experience on how to handle multiple opponents since he would be facing off against them soon enough. In total, Alex had fought eighty four late stage monsters in the past seventeen hours. With the a hundred percent core drop rate, Alex had eighty five cores with only one being in the initial stage. Now, Alex was sure about reaching the late stages of rank 1 in both warrior and magic paths.

It was now time for him to get out of the tower. He needed to head back to the inn and take his well deserved rest before he began his series of breakthroughs. Saying to the tower that he wanted to leave, Alex found himself outside the tower. The guard there eyed Alex curiously wondering what he was fighting in the tower that made him look like a mess.

Indeed, Alex was wounded but thanks to the potions that he received from the dungeons, his wounds were healing up. Furthermore, his injuries weren't serious as he was careful during his battle. Walking towards the inn, Alex became vigilant. He knew that the squad might just pop up at any second so he kept himself from passing near the alleys.Luckily this time they didn't approach him. He was thankful for that.

When Jane saw Alex with tattered clothes, she frowned and called him. When he got to where she was, she checked him for any serious injuries but she didn't find any. She sighed in relief since she wouldn't be okay with Alex getting hurt as she saw him as a younger brother. "What did you do this time? Have you began taking great risks?" she asked.

"Not at all, it was just normal because I fought several times for long and these injuries were from those fights. But there's nothing serious so don't worry," replied Alex.

"Be careful Alex, don't push yourself too much, it ain't good at all," said Jane in a gentle tone.

"Got it, I'll reduce the work rate then," said Alex before heading upstairs. This time, he managed to hold off the tiredness and took a shower. He wanted to start cultivating once he wakes up. After the shower, Alex dozed off as usual forgetting about everything else for the time he wakes up.

*****

Outside the inn.

"Mmh, I guess he was lucky today that he didn't pass in an alley, otherwise....Now I am wondering why he didn't carry anything after spending so long in the tower. I guess I'll have to wait till he visits the dungeon to know it all..."