As Ragnar pushed himself up, his muscles aching from the struggle. The reader, clutching his bloodied knife, looked at Ragnar with terrified eyes. "Are you... are you alright?" he stammered.
Ragnar nodded, "I am. And you?"
"I... I think so," the reader replied, his hand still shaking as he lowered the knife.
Ragnar assessed the man who had just saved his life. "Tell me your name. Now that you have saved my life. I should know at least that much."
"I'm Togli."
"Ragnar," he responded, a hint of suspicion in his tone. "Why did you do that, Togli? Why save me?"
Togli swallowed, his eyes darting to the dead guard, then back to Ragnar. "I... I'm part of a research team," he began, his voice gaining a fragile confidence. "From the capital city. However, I've discovered some of the thing the higher-ups resort to and... it lead me to this prison. I got in here with a fake pass. It wasn't hard to forget it, with my skills."
He gestured vaguely to his head. "And after reading the mind of my comrade down there in the cell, I decided those guards can't be good either. And since you're trying to escape from here, I would rather have you stay alive than the guard."
Ragnar's eyes narrowed. "You can read minds? How does that work?"
"It's... a part of my research. A skill I've developed. It allows me to... perceive thoughts and read memories."
"So I guess you're a revolutionist now?" Ragnar asked, a flicker of understanding in his eyes.
Togli hesitated, then gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. "You could say that. I believe in people's freedom and right to live, and what they are doing here... it's not right."
"Other than the mind reading, is there anything else you researching in the capital?" Ragnar pressed, his curiosity was picked, and since he still didn't know why did the tower bring him here, or what is the goal of this trial, he needed more information.
Togli's gaze became distant, almost haunted. "The tower," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "It's all about the tower."
As Togli spoke, a sudden, searing pain lanced through Ragnar's head. It was sharp, blinding. The room spun. He stumbled, clutching his head, a guttural cry escaping his lips. The world tilted, and then, Ragnar's sight blacked out.
He felt the terrifying sensation of being compressed and then stretched, like hot metal being forged on an anvil.
A moment later he reappeared in the black room within the tower.
The glowing screen flickered.
[STATUS UPDATE: FLOOR 0 CLEARED]
[Climber Information]
[Name: Unnamed]
[Race: Human]
[Floor: 1]
[Titles: Resurrected from Death, Pearl Dragon]
[Accumulated Will: 10 ] +1 (x10)
[Status]
[Power Stage: Commoner]
[Physical] (Can be increased using Will.)
> [Qi: 0] +
> [Strength: 0.8] +
> [Speed: 0.7] +
> [Dexterity: 0.6] +
> [Endurance: 0.9] +
[Mental] (Cannot be increased.)
[Presence: 0]
[Intelligence: 3.7]
'Floor 0 cleared just like that?,' he thought, but then his mind went elsewhere 'The guy said the research was all about the Tower. They know about it. But if they know, why am I the first on the leaderboard?' The questions gnawed at him. 'Or maybe they can't get inside here?'
He looked at the [Accumulated Will: 10] and the stats below.
"It is trully like a game..."
Physical stats could be increased using Will. He remembered that he almost dies to the guard, and then he remembered the woman from the tavern, the old man who had crushed her with a wave of his hand.
He needed strength and speed. Those were multipliers. A square, he thought, a simple geometric progression.
"But how do I increase them?"
He tried saying that he wants to increase it, but that didn't work.
He focused on the numbers, on the idea of increasing them. He wanted it, badly. He felt a subtle sensation.
[Will: 1 used. Strength increased by 0.1]
[Strength: 0.9]
It worked. He felt a surge of exhilaration. He allocated three Will to Speed, then three more to Strength.
[Will: 3 used. Speed increased by 0.3]
[Speed: 1.0]
[Will: 3 used. Strength increased by 0.3]
[Strength: 1.2]
He had four Will left. His eyes fell on [Qi: 0]. Qi. He knew the word from cultivation novels back on Earth. If it was anything like those stories, it could trully be strong. He decided to risk it. He put one Will into Qi.
[Will: 1 used. Qi increased by 0.1]
A searing pain ripped through him, far more intense than anything he had felt before.
He screamed, clutching his head, his body convulsing as the black room spun into a vortex of agony.