｢The Twenty-Fourth Floor – Divine Quest
Description: Welcome to the Rooms of Reflection! In these ten sequential rooms, you will fight against a copy of yourself with all your powers and abilities plus a bit more to provide a challenge! Here, you will discover your flaws and strengths, and either come out stronger than ever or in a body bag!
For the Fourth Reflective Room, you need to reduce your enemy's HP to 15%.
Limitation 1: Enemies are limited to within your Rank.
Limitation 2: You may retreat from the floor at any time, but upon re-entry, you would have to resume from the exact situation you were in at the time.
Limitation 3: Any external help summoned (Combat Pets, Attack mounts) will also be mirrored and forced to fight separately.
Limitation 4: This Floor's Shadow has 130% of your full power.
Provision 1: You have full use of all your powers and abilities in the same way as you would outside.
Provision 2: You may use any items within your Inventory to help, but any item used can only be used 4 times during the battle.
Provision 3: The Shadow mimics all forms of your powers, (Techniques, Equipment, Class, Titles, Bloodline, etc) but cannot use items.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Silver-Tier Reward Selection.｣
What was it the kids said nowadays? Let's get this bread? The grind never stops? Epstein didn't kill himself?
Whichever it was, Draco and Eva were like machines as they tackled each new floor without stopping for even a second. They were in the zone, and making progress as if things would never be as easy as it was now.
They rushed through each floor and made comprehensive gains in each one.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Twenty-Fourth Floor
Time elapsed: 240:22:23
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: SSS+
Reward:
22,000 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Silver Grade｣
They spent 10 days on Floor 24.
｢Draco's power up: (23rd-24th floor)
1. Swordsmanship – Peerless Sword Style, Sword Skill 501-600 had been completed, combining the lovely Light element with his sword skills. This was easy for him given his frequent interfacing with Eva and learning about the intricacies of light through her.
2. Subjective Magic – Once again, the majority of his interest had been on support magic. This time, Draco had focused on positive self buffs, and would now be able to maintain buffs for the entire Umbra guild for an entire battle.
3. Control – Once again, his base physical damage had been boosted by 10%, making for a total of 50% at this point. Apart from his boons from merging with Eva, Draco had begun working on battle augmentation.
4. Class – …
5. Psychic – Draco could now crush an area with his mind, instead of a specific item. He could make an area of 10 x10 squeezes everything about the atomic level into mush.
6. Demon – Finally, he had somewhat perfected the Horned Demon True Body. His time in this form had been increased to 10 minutes, yet all Techniques now required the usage of Aetheric Energy.
7. Dragon – The Dragon form was trailing a little since its energy drain was parallel to the Horned Demon, but also had some adaptation issues. However, the transformation time was now 7 minutes and 90% of Techniques could be used with Aetheric Energy.｣
｢Eva's power up: (23rd-24th floor)
1. Assassin/Stealth – More progress with the Extreme Killing Techniques. The second fundamental skill had been created, the Veil of Worlds.
2. Divinity – Her Time Stop could now hold a single foe for 20 seconds and a group for 10. She could now banish parts of a person's body with a success rate of 30% for all those who would be considered 'strong'.
3. Control – Eva had decided to focus her Void of Perfection in a new direction, which was attempting to destabilize the atoms in a person's body. As you could imagine, this was both dangerous and tough, but if successful, it worked just like Destruction Energy.
4. Class – … cough.
5. Psychic – Eva had perfected her mental suggestion, which allowed her to place the <Confused>, <Enslaved> or <Deranged> status effect on any target upon eye contact.
6. Goddess – Eva had finally perfected her Heavenly Goddess True Body as well. She could maintain the form for 30 minutes with ease and rewrite the laws of a place using only a minimal amount of energy.
7. Light – Eva had reached a bottleneck in her Ultra Violet Light mastery, but she had begun to grasp the intricacies of infrared light which was very close on the spectrum to it.｣
Next floor!
｢The Twenty-Fifth Floor – Divine Quest
Description: Welcome to the Rooms of… etc
For the Fifth Reflective Room, you need to reduce your enemy's HP to 20%.
Limitation 1: Enemies are limited to within your Rank.
Limitation 2: You may retreat… etc
Limitation 3: Any external help… etc
Limitation 4: This Floor's Shadow has 140% of your full power.
Provision 1: You have full use… etc
Provision 2: You may use any items within your Inventory to help, but any item used can only be used 5 times during the battle.
Provision 3: The Shadow mimics… etc.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Silver-Tier Reward Selection.｣
And so, with their newfound power, Draco and Eva proceeded to get beaten up until they got good.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Twenty-Fifth Floor
Time elapsed: 216:10:57
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: SSS+
Reward:
24,500 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Silver Grade｣
They had even managed to conquer Floor 25 one day earlier than the last.
｢Draco's power up: (24th-25th floor)
1. Swordsmanship – Peerless Sword Style, Sword Skill 601-700 had been completed, bringing the obviously fitting Darkness element into the set. With his natural disposition, this was like making a female lose their mind through sexual pleasure.
2. Subjective Magic – This time, Draco had worked on some elemental defensive magic. He had realized that he didn't need to necessarily set shields to be spherical, but could mold them into any shape.
3. Control – Base physical damage had increased to a total of 60%. He had finally achieved battle augmentation, which was the ability to shift his body parts during battle to avoid damage, reduce damage and increase power.
4. Class – *Crickets chirping*
5. Psychic – Draco could now interact with energy directly through his mind. Now, he had gained a fourth way to gather energy, with the first being State of Being, the second being Void of Perfection, the third being Cause and Effect Theory/Willpower, and now Psychic.
6. Demon – Draco had started experimenting with summoning. If Eva could bring her Angels out to fight, why couldn't he also bring out his Demons? However, he had discovered that doing so drained Worldly Energy too fast to be sustainable.
7. Dragon – The Dragon form was now thoroughly perfected. He could stay in it for a full 10 minutes and all techniques were powered by Aetheric Energy.｣
｢Eva's power up: (24th-25th floor)
1. Assassin/Stealth – More progress with the Extreme Killing Techniques. The third fundamental skill had been created, the Ethereal Clone.
2. Divinity – Her Time Stop could now hold a single foe for 30 seconds and a group for 15. Her partial banishment of a person's body had improved by 30%, making for a total of 60%, for all those who were considered 'strong'.
3. Control – Eva had learned that while her idea had been good, the execution required refinement. Out of a 1000+, she had only succeeded once, though it had been horrifying to watch her target just turn to dust right then and there.
4. Class – *Breeze whistles*
5. Psychic – Now done with mental suggestions, Eva had focused on her mind control. She fully believed she should be able to enslave her foes without having to put in much effort, and this was true mostly thanks to the Celestial Coronet.
6. Goddess – Finally, she had fully optimized the Third Sphere of her angelic army. Now, Principalities could be summoned on Earth with a minimal drain towards her Bloodline Energy. In Boundless, they obviously weren't a problem.
7. Light – Finally, Eva had grasped the limits and power of the infrared spectrum. Infrared when used like this was able to emit intense amounts of raw heat. A beam of infrared-focused light could vaporize a pool of water instantly.｣
Onward!
｢The Twenty-Sixth Floor – Divine Quest
Description: Welcome to the Rooms of… etc
For the Sixth Reflective Room, you need to reduce your enemy's HP to 25%.
Limitation 1: Enemies are limited to within your Rank.
Limitation 2: You may retreat… etc
Limitation 3: Any external help… etc
Limitation 4: This Floor's Shadow has 150% of your full power.
Provision 1: You have full use… etc
Provision 2: You may use any items within your Inventory to help, but any item used can only be used 6 times during the battle.
Provision 3: The Shadow mimics… etc.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Silver-Tier Reward Selection.｣
At the somewhat halfway point, Draco and Eva now had to deal with their Shadows at 150%. This was a significant barrier, as 50% better in this case was not easy to deal with, even with their progress so far.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Twenty-Sixth Floor
Time elapsed: 459:34:52
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: SS+
Reward:
21,000 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – Peak Silver Grade｣
A whopping 19 days. That's how long they had spent on this floor, the longest by far. This went to show just how tough it was, and just how much it had pushed the White-Haired Duo to the edge.
｢Draco's power up: (25th-26th floor)
1. Swordsmanship – Peerless Sword Style, Sword Skill 701-800 had been completed, adding the insidious and deadly Poison element to the set. Now, you'd better do everything in your power to make sure you don't get sliced, otherwise there will be a party in your insides.
2. Subjective Magic – Finally, finally, the fellow had shifted his focus on offensive magic. His current task was to cycle through all his available spells and skills repeatedly until he reduced his consumption and increased his tolerance.
3. Control – Base physical damage had increased to a total of 70%. He had improved battle augmentation in the sense that he could now absorb external energy to temporarily crated body mass in himself. If Draco could continue like this, he might unlock the ability for himself and Eva to gigantify.
4. Class – "The fuck, y'all lookin' at?"
5. Psychic – Draco hadn't tried to unlock a new power, but had rather focused on refining his energy control while in battle. He had used the gathered energy to form material weapons that he attacked with using Telekinesis.
6. Demon – Somewhere along the line, Draco had realized that he actually hadn't explored his Nine Hells, as well as Eva, did her Seven Heavens. Because of that, he could only summon some low-tier demon torturers to fight in this situation, which greatly displeased him.
7. Dragon – Now that he had mastered transforming into a Dragon, Draco began working on his techniques in that form and how to optimize them for battle. ｣
｢Eva's power up: (25th-26th floor)
1. Assassin/Stealth – More progress with the Extreme Killing Techniques. The fourth fundamental skill had been created, the Dagger of Death.
2. Divinity – Her Time Stop could now hold a single foe for 40 seconds and a group for 20. Her partial banishment of a person's body had an increased a success rate of 30%, making for a total of 90%, for all those who were considered 'strong'.
3. Control – Eva had practiced repeatedly and finally achieved some more remarkable success. Out of a hundred attempts, she could now succeed on a maximum of 7 targets, which was a marked improvement from before.
4. Class – "Scram!"
5. Psychic – Eva had taken off her Celestial Coronet and had channeled her mind power directly into her foes, even her shadow. It soon became a battle of the mind, and the pressure Eva had suffered forced out her potential as she refined her mind control further.
6. Goddess – Eva had hit upon a bottleneck with her Heavenly Eye Inheritance. Until Rank 4, she couldn't make progress, so she began focusing on the Abyssal Eye Inheritance.
7. Light – On the spectrum of light, Ultra Violet was on the left of visible light while infrared was on the right. Eva decided to pursue the rightmost direction because that was the part of light that mostly deal with heat.｣
Let's goooo!
｢The Twenty-Seventh Floor – Divine Quest
Description: Welcome to the Rooms of… etc
For the Seventh Reflective Room, you need to reduce your enemy's HP to 30%.
Limitation 1: Enemies are limited to within your Rank.
Limitation 2: You may retreat… etc
Limitation 3: Any external help… etc
Limitation 4: This Floor's Shadow has 160% of your full power.
Provision 1: You have full use… etc
Provision 2: You may use any items within your Inventory to help, but any item used can only be used 7 times during the battle.
Provision 3: The Shadow mimics… etc.
Rewards: Score Points, 1 Silver-Tier Reward Selection.｣
Now that they were 2/3rds of the way through, Draco and Eva could happily say that they wished they could punch themselves in the face for being so overpowered.
Oh wait, they already were!
Yet, it didn't make them any happier.
｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Twenty-Seventh Floor
Time elapsed: 507:45:32
Objectives complete: All
Assessment: S+
Reward:
24,000 Score Points
1 Treasure Selection Reward – High Silver Grade｣
3 weeks! 3 whole weeks gone, just like that!
｢Draco's power up: (26th-27th floor)
1. Swordsmanship – Peerless Sword Arts number 801-900 had been completed, bringing the wood element to the set. This seemed lackluster in comparison to other elements, but wood was some of the most versatile resources.
2. Subjective magic – Some significant progress made here. Draco had refined his offensive magic casting prowess by more than 100%, meaning that whatever he could do before in terms of casting amount was now doubled.
3. Control – Base physical damage increased to a total of 80%. He could now gigantify one part of his body during battle to increase his sheer force of power.
(Author's note: Yep, just like Luffy gear 3.)
4. Class – "Reader-chan no bakaaaa!!"
5. Psychic – Draco's energy control using his mind had caught up in proficiency to his Cause and Effect Theory. This was good, as its utility meant that he could now barely convert Worldly Energy upwards himself if he used all four of his means.
6. Demon – Draco gave up on the summoning bit and decided to fight with his raw power. He focused on reducing his consumption for his techniques, like Demon's Eyes, Berserker Rage, Rain of Hellfire, Maelstrom of Death, and more.
7. Dragon – Draco had optimized his Dragon form techniques. They now cost 30% less to cast and were 50% more powerful by his estimates. He now had a lot of leeway in this form.｣
｢Eva's power up: (26th-27th floor)
1. Assassin/Stealth – More progress with the Extreme Killing Techniques. The fifth and final fundamental skill was created, the Vanishing Technique.
2. Divinity – Her time stop could now hold a single foe for 50 seconds and a group for 25. Her partial banishment of a person's body was now perfected, and she went back to training her full banishment.
3. Control – Eva had progressed seven further. Out of a hundred attempts, she could now succeed on 15 of them, which was more than double her previous progress.
4. Class – "Why are we brought to this world… just to suffer?"
5. Psychic – Eva could now create a mental clone of herself and send it into the minds of others to disrupt their thoughts. It was similar to Draco's Mind Sunder, only that this was more durable and cruel.
6. Goddess – Eva realized that each time she forced her angels to transform into their eldritch forms, they remembered none of it. Not only that, but it had no lasting effect on them. This deserved investigation.
7. Light – Eva finally edged slightly past infrared and was sticking her head through the doorway she had just cracked open slightly with an axe, saying 'heresssssss Eva!' while the new light element was screaming in the corner, weakly holding a knife.｣
After completing Floor 27, the White-Haired Duo, who had a mop of sweaty hair, decided to finally take a break again. This time, when they returned to the Inner Universe, there was no time to play around as they barely managed to clean themselves up before falling asleep from exhaustion.
They had really pushed themselves to the limit. If they were to see their bodies outside, the usual green light of the pods had long since become yellow, indicating a warning.
The nanites that coated their body had worked overtime to carry heat away from their brains and cool them down. If they had tried this foolish stunt while they were using helmets, they would have been forcibly logged out on the twenty-first floor.
The pods saved them from the stress, but they could only do so much in the end. The two were thoroughly exhausted and ended up sleeping for 3 in-game days non-stop as the pods in reality went about making sure everything was optimal, especially for Eva who was heavily pregnant at this time.
When they woke up, they acted just like normal people who were groggy. It should be known that with Control, they usually woke up like those people in infomercials who seemed to be clean and chipper.
Now, their eyes were bloodshot, drooping and their hair messy. They both looked like shit, but the annoying part was that due to their attractiveness, they looked like sexy pieces of shit, the same way Hollywood portrayed their characters after a night of heavy drinking.
They didn't even have the common decency to look like the rest of us on a bad morning.. After washing up again and lazing in bed for the whole day, they managed to recover enough to start talking to each other.
