[STT] Chapter 63: Top (Patreon)

Slamming into his target, the [Mana Cannon] detonated right in Theodore's face, but the resulting cloud of smoke instantly cleared to reveal a shimmering shield blocking the attack.

On further inspection through [Mana Sonar] and [Focus], Ben found it was made of mana, and he quickly filed that away as something he wanted to try later, and focused on Theodore instead.

He really wanted to test himself.

"Rude, Benjamin, very rude. You shouldn't do that. Though I suppose I probably startled you."

"...yeah."

Looking up at the older guy, Ben felt a sudden, incredibly stupid urge bubble up in his chest. He honestly just wanted to test himself against someone this ridiculously strong. And he had a pretty good read on Theodore by now.

He definitely won't kill me over a little test.

Theodore was the kind of person that liked to play. Ben was probably some kind of little project for him, and so he refused to play into his hands. That would only make Theodore more interested, right?

And that meant all the more reason to not kill him.

It was admittedly stupid of him to do this, but he didn't care. Ben aimed his staff and immediately launched another [Mana Cannon] right at the guy's chest.

But the projectile blew through empty air.

Theodore's smiling face simply wasn't there anymore.

Jerking his head to the side, Ben had maybe half a second to react and scramble away, but Theodore was already standing right behind him. Reaching out, something cold and incredibly light brushed against the back of Ben's neck.

His vision went dark, and he lost consciousness. When he awoke groaning into the hard surface beneath him he'd realized the difference in strength between them. Theodore had to be at least Tier 3.

And as expected, Ben was still alive. At least this confirmed his hypothesis. A headache was splitting his skull, though…

And his spine pained like he had been haphazardly tossed onto a pile of bricks.

Which was not far from the truth, he realized, as he took in his surroundings blinking away the blurry spots from his vision. He was quite literally sprawled out on the stairway, quite a bit high, too.

Squatting beside him, Theodore watched him wake up, relaxed and completely unbothered. Then, with a smile, he warned Ben.

"Don't do that ever again."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck and forced himself to sit up.

Message received loud and clear. Just how high is this guy's Tier?

Sighing, Ben leaned back against the cold stone wall and waited for the pounding in his head to subside. He'd known the gap between them was huge, but experiencing it firsthand was just entirely depressing.

"I was just checking your reflexes," he replied lamely.

Theodore chuckled, shaking his head as he stood up.

"Your reflexes are terrible, Benjamin. But your boldness is certainly something to admire."

He had pushed his [Focus] to do more with [Mana Cannon], feeling pretty good about his growth, but Theodore had just swatted him down like a mildly annoying mosquito. It humbled Ben, but humbling wasn't really something he needed. He knew where he stood. He was weak. But it was still frustrating.

A hand clamped his shoulder. Tensing his muscles, Ben assumed this was a threat for stepping out of line, but that turned out to be wrong.

"Though I have to admit, I'm disappointed. You decided you'd lose before you fired." Dimples widened. "I don't mind being attacked, Benjamin. I mind my time being wasted. If you want to fight me, make sure you come with the intention to go all the way. I don't like half done things, you see."

For some reason, Theodore was heavily invested in Ben's progress. Ben didn't understand why.

"I've been up here for days, Benjamin, but nothing happened. It was getting boring, since I can't intervene too much. She'd be mad otherwise. Then you made things interesting. You built all that. Everyone down there who wanted something, you took it away. All of that because of what, a hunch? Did Ethan tell you what they'd do once the Tide gets in?"

"Protect the monolith from us, mostly stop us from climbing. Or… stop the competition, at least."

Ben replied entirely on instinct. How does he even know that much? He hadn't told Theodore a single thing about their plans or Ethan's hunches.

"Smart. He's trying to break parameters, I see, I see. Mm. Should be easy since it's a Tier 1 rift, even if it is growing. The beasts are not slowing down, so yeah, congratulations."

Frowning slightly, Ben followed the man's gaze down toward the battlefield below.

Smashing right through the disorganized nobles, the monster horde was no longer fighting the humans at all. Instead, the massive wave of beasts was pouring directly toward the monolith's base. They were swarming straight up the exact stairs the two of them were currently sitting on.

Watching the approaching tide of monsters, Theodore frowned for a fraction of a second before his signature smile returned.

"You know what, Benjamin. Climb. I will sit here and have some fun watching."

###

Starting ahead, Ben climbed. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. [Focus] took over, and he no longer existed. All that existed was a climber. And a climber only knew to climb.

And honestly, the first half of this staircase was practically a joke to him now.

Thinking back to his previous attempts, he remembered breezing through this exact section without breaking a sweat. His body was already constantly reinforced by the passive effects of [Warforged], making the physical exertion of a simple hike completely negligible.

So he just took the steps two or three at a time, letting his magically hardened muscles do the heavy lifting while he ignored the sounds of the monster horde below.

It was funny, actually, how good his body and strength was despite having no essence on those essence paths whatsoever. He wondered if it bled over into other paths, or if they were all more connected than he thought.

He easily cleared the first few hundred steps in a matter of minutes, but crossing the halfway mark, the feeling around the stairs changed as expected.

Slamming into his body like a wall, the monolith's defensive pressure finally kicked in, further making him wonder… Just why?

Why did the monolith do this?

Ben had a theory. The monolith, or the system, didn't want them to climb, so it made it harder and harder the farther they climbed.

So, then, what was the point? What was at the top?

Thanks to [Focus], Ben had the mental bandwidth to think to himself even under all the pressure as he climbed. The rare rank evolution clamped down on his fraying emotions in a heartbeat, chilling his emotions into nothingness.

It partitioned his thoughts, locking the pain away in an isolated mental thread while leaving him plenty of processing capacity to spare. He hadn't even come close to finding the upper limit of the skill yet, so handling mental pressure put by the monolith onto him was well within his capabilities.

Calming his breathing, he kept his pace up, though he'd gotten more paranoid given how many times invisible monsters ambushed him, so he had [Mana Sonar] constantly rippling outward, running a continuous sweep of the immediate area just to be safe.

He used [Mana Manipulation] to tinker with the frequency on the fly, actively checking for any invisible traps, spatial shifts, or hidden monsters lurking on the stairs ahead, but the path was completely clear of tricks.

And the higher he climbed, the more that mental weight slowly translated into a crushing physical gravity. Ben felt his bones actually groan under the escalating strain. [Warforged] was pushing his skeletal structure and muscles to the absolute limit just to keep his legs moving forward.

But he was definitely starting to slow down. Though relying on his passive [Regeneration] helped, as he let the life mana flood his system to instantly repair the micro tears shredding his muscles.

Regardless of everything, it was miserable. His body tearing itself apart and knitting back together with every single step was not, as one would expect, a fun thing to experience.

But knowing that it probably meant his skills would level gave him enough strength to keep on going. By the time he looked back up again he realized the top of the monolith was just a few dozen steps away.

But the gravity up here was completely insane, practically pinning him flat to the stone. He physically couldn't lift his leg high enough to take another step.

…right.

Decision made, he ignited a [Fire Burst] from his feet.

Given the reason why the monolith had stopped him previously and blocked out his skill, Ben didn't try to fly.

The last time he tried to cheese this exact climb with flight, the monolith had instantly disabled his skill and dropped him.

But this time, he used [Mana Manipulation] to hyper-compress the flames, turning his feet into literal rocket thrusters to just forcefully shove his body up the steps.

Using the skill this way shouldn't be against the rules, right? He wasn't flying, after all.

It seemed to be working at least, as the monolith didn't shut off his skill this time.

He literally crawled up the last few steps, though honestly, he couldn't remember what really happened.

Snapping bones, suffocating pressure, both mental and physical, coupled with the fact that he was nonexistent given how deep into [Focus] he was… Ben just didn't remember anything.

Until the weight just completely vanished as he blew past the final step, launching himself over the edge. He plummeted toward the ground of the peak, hit the stone floor with all the strength leaving his body, and let out a groan, rolling to his back and staring up at the sky through his blurry vision.

He didn't even want to think about his body's condition right now.

Triggering the [Healing Mark] stored in his chest, he let the burst of concentrated life mana detonate through his veins through his limbs into his body.

The bomb of healing energy instantly washed over him, completely erasing his exhaustion and knitting his scorched hands and fractured bones back together in a matter of seconds.

Much better.

Ben stared up at the sky for a long moment to just catch his breath. He had practically killed himself getting up here, burning through every skill he had just to bypass a stupid staircase.

But he was finally at the top.

And he'd gained some levels too.

[Warforged Lvl 11 > Lvl 12]

[Focus Lvl 7 > Lvl 8]

[Fire Burst Lvl 19 > Lvl 20]

[Regeneration Lvl 14 > Lvl 15]

[Mana Manipulation Lvl 10 > Lvl 11]

Congratulations! [Fire Burst] has reached the pinnacle of its current rank.

Evolution Requirements met. You have four paths you can walk forward in. Do you wish to proceed?

Ben was torn. On one hand, he was finally on top of the monolith, so he was incredibly curious to see what was up here. On the other hand, [Fire Burst] had finally evolved! So he was excited to look at his options, too. He didn't know what to do first…

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