The Villain's Story

I passed the second floor of the tower with no difficulty, It was similar to the first trial.

It was also a test of proving something, proving your strength.

A weight incomparable to anything I had felt was on top of me, It was Invisible and intangible but somehow I thought it.

It was massive, but my strength is my most significant stat, apart from Mana. I didn't even need to enhance myself with Mana to bear the weight, my raw strength was enough to crush it. The third and fourth trials weren't anything special either.

"Isn't this tower supposed to scale difficulty with my level?"

I questioned as I entered the fifth floor.

[Supreme Dragon of Chaos Suleras explains it is because you are the anomaly.]

I glanced at the information about the fifth trial, and just as I read it, I had to dodge an arrow-like projectile hurling towards me at a high speed.

My eyes almost failed to catch it.

[Trial of Instinct.]

So that was what it meant huh…

I thought as I dodged another arrow which came from who knows where.

The entire area around me was dark, and the arrows didn't even emit any sound, they just hurled themselves at me from the dark void.

"..."

*SWISH*

"Damn that's fast…"

I said, marveling at the speed of the projectiles. But it was still bearable.

"Suleras, mind elaborating on it a bit more? How am I an anomaly here?"

I asked Suleras as I dodged the projectiles, I wanted to know what he meant by anomaly.

[Supreme Dragon of Chaos Suleras elaborates that the Tower is adjusting the difficulty of the trials, the basis of difficulty is your rank, the higher the rank the more difficult the trials become.

You are an anomaly because you are far stronger than your rank.]

Explained Suleras.

"Oh."

*SHWISH!*

"Hmmm…"

*SHWISH*

The projectiles are getting faster now…But they come in fixed intervals of 2 seconds.

That gives me ample time to think.

'So that's why I'm passing these trials with relative ease…'

If I recall correctly, each trial of the tower was supposed to make you reach your limit. The trials would perfectly be at the point where it would take your all to succeed.

It would boost your growth as well, but it was harsh.

Well, Master Arken did tell me the hardest ways are the best…so can't complain about that.

[Supreme Dragon of Chaos Suleras advises you to focus on the trial.]

Advised Suleras sternly.

"Yeah…I should."

I figured I should take these trials more seriously, who knows if I failed due to carelessness and couldn't access the tower again? It would haunt me for the rest of my life if I failed these trials for a moment of carelessness and was unable to acquire Samantha's cure.

I determined myself and took the trials more seriously, I carefully followed my instincts as a Dragon and avoided the projectiles.

'How long is this trial?'

I asked myself, it had been going for quite a while…maybe an hour or two?

The speed of the projectiles kept getting faster…Now some of them had managed to scrape me. They split my skin apart like a hot knife split apart butter….

I barely managed to dodge an arrow that was heading straight for my face, I bent backward as much as I could and assumed the bridge position.

'I still have two seconds left…'

I thought to myself. Two seconds before the next arrow came, it should be enough to get out of this troublesome position…

"..?!"

However, a shiver went down my spine as I instinctively put all my force into my arms and pushed myself up, far from the ground.

There was no arrow this time…the ground opened up!

"Damn…"

I let out a sigh of relief, I just barely avoided that…

[The Supreme Dragon of Chaos tells you to focus!]

Yeah, got it.

[You have cleared the fifth trial.]

Hmmm? It seems that was the end of the trial. I had prepared to dodge a bit more when I entered that bottomless pit. I transformed my body just enough so that I had wings.

[Draconic Transformation has been activated.]

Wait…wings?

Why didn't I use my wings to fly up in the first trial? Why did that never cross my mind?

"...Strange."

I muttered…it was as if I had completely forgotten about the existence of my ability to fly.

Did the tower do something? Or was it 'him'?

His silence since what happened in Aror disturbed me… he had completely disappeared after Samantha got sick.

It was eerie.

[You have advanced to the 6th floor.]

I received the notification from the tower and arrived at a world full of purple, empty skies.

"Hmm?"

I wondered what this trial was.

The notification answered me.

[Trial of Balance commences.]

"Balance? Does that mean I have to be!"

In just a second, my wings seemed to have lost all power, and an unknown force catapulted me towards a large platform made of an unknown material.

The entire world was full of empty purple space, the only things present here were those platforms.

"Shit!"

I cursed as I was unable to stop my descent, even with mana.

I crashed into one of the platforms and a crater of considerable size was formed.

"Agh!"

I tried to move my body but the force acting on me was strong, incredibly strong.

It was some kind of mana!

The force was so strong it pushed me deeper and deeper into the platform. At this rate, I would fall into the endless ground below after this shallow platform is done with!

I used the little time I had to analyze the properties of the mana. It was purple…but different from chaos, no…it felt like it was similar to spatial mana.

It had a similar…vibe.

"Ugh!"

I expelled my mana everywhere to gain a moment of respite and examined the mana further.

"Gravity!"

I finally understood it, it was gravitational mana that was abundant here!

The power of gravity is abundant here in this realm… It's filled with it to the brim, and it's all concentrating on me! Shit!

"Hah!"

I expelled my mana in the surroundings to get this devious mana away from me, the expulsion destroyed the platform I was buried in.

Now that the gravity mana was gone, I could use my wings again.

I hurriedly flew away from the torrent of gravitational mana and examined the trial more clearly.

Only after I looked around a bit…did I find the exit.

The smallest platform, and the highest, held a small portal on top of it, leading to it were a dozen or so bigger platforms, acting as a staircase.

I could see the dense mana of gravity around the small platform in the sky…

My initial guess was wrong, the gravitational mana was most dense there, and the entire realm mana was not focused on me.

About ninety percent of it was centered around that platform, acting as a domain that had the power to crush almost anything.

A column on The gravitational mana hit me in the form of a column and sent me hurling towards the lowest platform in the staircase.

"Cough!"

I coughed up the dirt that had gotten in my mouth and was ready to run from another column…but none came.

I waited and observed the mana around me cautiously. The gravity mana didn't enter the area of this platform, instead, it surrounded the other platforms in the staircase.

"So this is a resting point huh…"

I muttered to myself, it seems that the lowest platform is a resting place…

"Hmm…"

The gravitational mana possesses a similarity to the Spatial mana. The spatial mana within me reacted to it. Why?

I asked myself, however, Suleras answered me instead.

[Supreme dragon of Chaos Suleras explains it is because Gravitational mana is derived from Astral mana.]

Derived? So Basically a subtype of astral mana huh…

Makes sense actually, it's just like how the mana of magma and heat is derived from Fire mana.

"If that's how it is then…"

Suddenly, I had a wild thought.

'I can make my version…'

I've experienced the type of mana once, although it may not be in the form of a skill, I can still do something about it…considering it's derived from Spatial mana.

I spread out my mana of Space as much as I could and isolated a little bit of the Gravity mana.

"It's more about controlling pressure…"

I muttered as I examined it. It deals more with exerting pressure and decreasing it.

Isn't gravity the force of attraction between two bodies of mass? Why does the mana function differently then? Why is it related to exerting pressure instead of attraction?

I examined it further and broke it down, and only then I realized.

Within the mana, there is a small bit of mass, it's extremely small but it's present.

"So that's what it is…"

I thought to myself, feeling a little bit accomplished and proud.

Gravity mana is of two types, the attractor, or the mass, and the other type, the pressure setter, or controller I guess. The second type is the most important, but it cannot function without the attractors. It needs a medium...

Small molecules of the first type are present everywhere in this field, this is acting as the attractor, attracting the other type of mana around it and controlling it…by setting another mass as the other object of attraction. The second type of gravity mana follows the attractor and the density of mana decides the force exerted, and also the size of the two masses, distance has little connection to this however which is strange…the difference that distance causes is easily offset by the second type of mana… the first type is the controllers, whilst the second one could say to act as an amplifier and a barrier to outside forces.

Every molecule here is connected, each molecule of the first type of mana acts as the same body of mass, and even though they are far apart they are connected by the second type of mana. Like threads, extremely strong threads.

They work because there is another body of mass here that is not connected to them…which allows the force of attraction to work… which gives them an unknown enemy it needs to destroy.

That body of mass, which is me.

The mana is connected like a complex system and I am the one who isn't part of it, so it treats me as another body of mass and focuses a large amount of the force of attraction on me… the 'unknown enemy'.

Interesting…

I think I know what I can do now…

I smirked and destroyed a little bit of the platform I was on.