The city went quiet.
Not the errie stillness Kael had grown used to nor the distant screech of echo stalkers or the sound of the broken buildings, but something felt different the silence that he was feeling is very complete.
As if the floor 6 had exhaled.
Kael stood at the base of the Central signal spire the structure towering above him like a skeletal monument to something long forgotten. The moment the final fragment merged the floating map reconstructed itself in front of him.
A perfect overlay.
Every street, every collapsed structure, every hidden passage.
Kael's eyes sharpened.
"Looks like no one saw this from past 50 years, let's see what's hiding in this map!"
He reached out.
The map expanded.
And then...
Nothing...
No glowing paths, no marked locations, no hidden zones.
Just the city diagram and the blank space.
Kael blinked.
"What there is nothing???? on the map??"
He rotated the map but nothing.
He zoomed in but nothing.
The city outline was there but stripped of all information. There was no guidance, no annotations, no hidden markers. It was as if the fragments had assembled into something deliberately empty.
"That does not make sense" Kael said slowly.
He checked the system logs. There were no error messages, no warnings, no data based on the map.
The tower was silent.
"After all this hardships of finding the fragments and there is nothing, why do I feel like that panda who once found the dragon scroll and found nothing in it, I feel you panda".
"This floor doesn't do pointless things" frustration creeping into his voice "There is no way this was the reward".
He titled the map, changing angles and rotating it in three dimensional space, still nothing.
Oh wait, why did I forget about my skill Tap, viewers behind the screen must be shouting just use Tap.
Then....
A voice spoke from behind him.
"You, where did you find this map?".
Kael's blood went cold.
Before his instincts could react, before Tap or attach skill could activate, a hand reached past his shoulder and plucked the map straight out of his grasp.
Kael jumped back violently, spinning as his hand instinctively drew a boundary line mid air.
But there was nothing to cut.
The old man stood there calmly, holding the translucent map between two fingers like it weighed nothing.
Kael's heart pounded.
"You, how did you get behind me?".
The old man glanced at the faint boundary line Kael had drawn and chuckled.
"That wouldn't stop me even if you finished it".
Kale clenched his jaw. He hadn't sensed him. Not even a flicker.
The old man looked at the map turning it slowly.
Then his expression changed subtly.
Almost unnoticeable.
"So it really did survive" the old man was subtly shocked.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Survive what?"
The old man ignored him staring at the map as though seeing something Kael couldn't.
Then he laughed, a sound that carried weight.
"Fifty years, Fifty dammed years".
Kael stiffened.
"You Know what this is?" Kael asked the old man.
The old man finally looked at him.
Not with Generosity nor arrogance.
But with something closer to gratitude.
"Yes" The old man said "And I should thank you".
Kael blinked.
"Thank me for what?"
The old man nodded.
"For bringing it back this map to me".
"I didn't get it bac----"
He handed the map back gently.
The movement it touched Kael's hand again, it felt different.
Suddenly it felt heavier.
"Listen carefully, what you are holding isn't a map".
Kael frowned.
"Then what is it?".
The old man met his gaze.
"It's a manual".
Kael breath hitched.
"A.... what?"
"A cultivation manual, a fragmented one, stripped of explanation, designed to be felt, not read"
Kael stared at the translucent map again.
Kael thought 'How does this look like a manual and it looks like a basic map but still nothing in it, I don't feel a thing in it, am I missing something?'
"Cultivation" he repeated slowly "But that's not the system class".
The old man smiled faintly.
"No, and that's why no else understood it from the start of this floor and its hidden quest, the adventurers did find this fragments but they didn't feel anything and threw it away.
Kael's thought raced.
Cultivation exists in myths, novels, ancient worlds or systems, power refined through internal understanding not numerical growth.
The tower didn't support it.
Or so everyone believed.
"You are saying" Kael said carefully "That this floor hides something outside the tower's standard framework"
The old man's smile widened.
"Now you are thinking"
Kael hesitated.
"..Who are you?"
The old man straightened slightly his posture shifting not threatening but undeniably solid.
"I'm a cultivator, one who stepped into the tower long before people understood what it truly was"
Kael was shocked 'How this is possible, tower came to the planet of Solaris fifty years ago and he claims he has entered the tower before fifty years, unless.....'
Kael asked carefully..
"Are you from other world and the towers are even connected to that world too???"
"Hmmmm you are half right and half wrong, yes I'm from other world and towers exist in other worlds too and I entered the tower from another world and false part this tower and my world tower does not connect each other"
Kael swallowed and he felt it the old mans aura and he's strong.
The old man felt his thoughts "Compared to you? Yes. Compared to what above this tower exist, not even close"
Silence settled between them.
Kael clenched his fists.
"Then why are you here?"
The old man's gaze softened.
"Even I don't know why am I in this tower and in your world. And I'm trapped in this floor 6 for many years and decades"
The old man continued his non nonchalant response "And my manual became this city and replicated your world and after some research I can get out once I collect all the fragments of my cultivation manual".
He gestured to the map.
"And the tower is restricting me to collect those fragments because it knows that its one powerful manual that can bring destruction"
Kael swallowed and exhaled slowly.
Something inside him stirred.
"....Spar with me" Kael said suddenly.
The old man raised his eyebrow.
"Hmmm?"
"I want to test myself" Kael said his voice steady despite the pressure crushing down on him which was radiating from the old man "I know I'm not strong enough. I know higher floors will tear me apart if I rely on luck".
He paused.
"But I can feel it, I'm growing and if I don't understand how far behind I am, I'll die thinking I'm special".
The old man studied him.
"You are aware you'll lose".
Kael nodded.
"I already know that".
A long pause then the old man smiled where there was no kind face and mocking face, but with the interest.
"Very well, One exchange and I wont kill you"
Kael swallowed 'That means he has the power to kill me'
"That's reassuring".
They stepped into an open plaza.
No system announcements and no duel confirmation and no safety barriers.
"This isn't a fight like you fight with monsters, If you hesitate you will break your body apart".
Kael nodded.
"Understood".
The old man raised one hand "Come"
Kael moved instantly.
He drew a boundary and activated Delimited Edge slicing toward the old man's torso with a clean conceptual severance.
The old man stepped forward.
Old man did not dodge, he directly went through it.
The line bent and collapsed.
Kael's eyes widened.
"WHAT----".
Pain exploded across his chest.
Kael was sent flying crashing through a broken wall and skidding across rubble.
[HP Reduced: 40%]
Kael coughed, blood staining the ground.
"He's way too strong, because of it I got a huge recoil damage, and he's so fast".
He forced himself.
The old man hadn't moved from his spot.
"Again" the old man said calmly.
Kael gritted his teeth and attacked again even faster, sharper, layering lines and stacking erasures, forcing boundaries to overlap.
The old man walked through them.
Each step disrupted Kael's definitions like ripples through water.
Then...
A palm strike.
Kael felt his entire internal structure collapse.
'This is supposed to be a friendly spar, why is he trying to kill me, resent the tower and the floor don't take it on me damm it' Kael thought.
He slammed into the ground, vision blurring.
[HP Reduced: Warning very low health] [Critical Please Escape]
"Still standing" the old man said thoughtfully.
Kael forced himself up again. legs shaking.
"I'm not done" Kael gasping for air.
He attacked again.
And again.
Each time losing.
Each time learning nothing.
Until finally.
Kael collapsed completely.
The old man stood over him.
"Interesting" he murmured.
Kael laughed weakly knowing how much of a weak person he is.
"Yeah, that was bad, not even close to spar".
The old man crouched "The power you use, what is it?"
Kael hesitated.
Long enough for the old man to notice.
"Talents and skills" Kael said finally "I define boundaries, I cut definitions, I erase where something ends"
Kael was screaming inside what was he even saying was he trying to aura farm right now in front of this old man who he has lost so badly.
The old man's eyes sharpened.
"You define" he repeated.
Kael nodded.
"But I don't fully understand it yet".
The old man straightened slowly.
"No, you don't"
He turned away shaking his head slightly.
"You are treating authority like a blade, like something external".
Kael struggled to sit up.
"Isn't it what that's how it is supposed to be?"
"No" the old man said quietly.
"That's not the way you use it"
And with that.
He walked away.
Leaving Kael staring at the blank map in his hands realizing for the first time.
He had been using his power wrong.