When the corruption is in the start stage and slowly grew with time, he could feel a faint burning sensation in his energy network.
All of his meridians were being refined by this energy. When he was full of corrupt energy, the refining went to the point of literally burning his energy network. He felt injured and weak. The pain constantly distracted him.
So, all he could do was suppress it.
When he suppressed it, the burning pain reduced by a lot, but he could feel that his energy network was still under pressure because of it as his own energy needs to suppress the corrupt energy.
When he finally released it into the pillar, he could feel that his body changed a bit. Not only did his meridian network was tempered, but the more he kept the energy in a suppressed state, the more his blood and muscle fibers also being slowly treated with it.
Of course, there is a sense of exhaustion after he finally lets this energy go, but as he slowly recovered, he also saw an increase in his physical strength.
This made him feel content. This is another one of the benefits in this scenario. This is also going to help him in long term.
He then looked at the entrance that leads to the second floor. He doesn’t know if he wants to visit that floor immediately. The strength of the first floor itself is very bad, there is no way, he would be able to finish off the second floor scot-free.
And also, he doesn’t have very small ammo like the single-use bullets that have only one purpose of just killing the other person. Even the weakest bullet under Sam can create an explosion that could affect a decent-sized area.
The explosion is always concentrated. But it still affects its surroundings.
After thinking for a while, he finally came to one conclusion.
He needs to enter the second floor, even if he is unable to deal with the hell that would be presented to him there, he will have that extra time in which the corruption can temper his body and bones.
So, he took the leap of faith, but only decided to move exactly one day later, so that he can relax, recover and also get ready for what is about to hit his face.
The next day.
Sam appeared on the second floor of the tower.
When he entered the second floor, the first thing that came to my mind.
“WOW.”
Even Sam who rarely expressed normal series of emotions no matter what couldn’t help but let out this amazing sigh.
He stood on a cliff and looked at one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen. From above that cliff, he can see the forest expanding far away and on the other side of the forest, he saw a large mountain range that has a huge waterfall.
This is the first time, he has ever seen such a big waterfall. It is so huge that Sam could faintly hear the sound of the waterfall from his position.
As he slowly took in the whole scene, he suddenly felt a sense of threat and looked around. He instinctually turned on energy vision as he looked around.
At first glance there is nothing, but after he increased the intensity of the energy vision a little bit, he managed to see.
It is the presence of the Bees.
Some small bees that are just a little bit larger than a normal bee on earth are flying towards him.
They should have buzzed, but they didn’t. they are completely silent. Except for the sound of the forest and the waterfall he is faintly hearing, there is not a single sound from the bees.
Even the energy waves caused by it are very small that he barely noticed them.
He activated his energy barrier just in case and it turned out to be the right decision because as soon as the barrier was formed, it was hit by a bunch of small stingers.
Not only did they land on it, they also managed to stick inside the barrier as if it is made of some soft wood and they are some nails shot from a nail gun.
Sam is confused and surprised by how sharp the stingers are. He was tempted to take a closer look, but before he knew it…
*BOOM*
The stingers exploded, at the same time. The red hot flames that have a slight corrosive effect spread across the surroundings, and even the barrier that he was holding was cracked completely. It barely stood there.
And it completely broke after another round of stingers from the bees.
Sam could only jump forward and dodge the attack before creating another barrier. He rolled on the ground with that barrier around him and managed to escape both the explosion and the stingers.
He extended his hand and the golden flames shot out toward the bees.
Then Sam did something so miraculous that he never it is possible for the bees.
The golden flames that almost reached the bees, seemed to have been deflected by those small vibrating wings.
Sam was surprised once again. He didn’t even know how to deal with this.
As he was thinking, he jumped down the cliff and started going down.
“There is no point in thinking. It will only stress me out. I might as well do first and think later.”
As he rapidly climbed off of the cliff, when he reached a certain altitude, he moved on to the harbinger and then only he noticed how high the cliff really is.
And he couldn’t understand how the bees managed to make that far away.
While he was contemplating that, he noticed that the bees stopped following him, but something else started.
He saw some birds that looked like pigeons.
The first thought that came to Sam’s mind is that it would be delicious if cooked well.
But the next actions of those pigeons made him realize that he is still in hell. The pigeons opened their mouths and started screaming. Just the scream itself is a sonic attack and for some reason, they can also release flames as if that is not enough.
The sonic waves distributed the chaotic flames evenly and they spread all over the cliff walls.
Sam was even more surprised when he noticed that the whole mountain is on fire.
The rocks, grass, trees, and even the soul. Everything that is part of the cliff started burning as if it is made of paper.
Sam took out his guns and started shooting the pigeons down.
He went down the cliff and finally touched the solid land that is not hundreds of meters high above normal ground level.
He looked at the fascinating beauty of the large trees that made him feel small and tiny. He touched one tree and all of a sudden, he sensed a movement nearby.
*HISS*
A snake came out of nowhere and started coiling around Sam’s hand. The snake didn’t wait for long before it took a good large bit.
The flesh of course wasn’t torn apart. But the fangs carefully injected a bunch of venom into his body.
“Good thing, I am immune. This poison is very different.”
He muttered to himself and looked at the snake that is hissing away.
He stomped his leg on the ground. A small earthen barrier completely surrounded the snake. Before it could try to escape, the barrier soon grew some spikes and they were all focused on the snake before they moved in.
The snake that was supposed to die, didn’t. It just stayed there with all of the spikes lodged into the leather. The attack itself is a complicated one as they all targeted the vital points that Sam remembered at least.
But it is impossible to penetrate.
Sam waved his hands and the earthen barrier turned its shape once again. This time, it is not just the surrounding barrier prison, rather this time, it was locked in completely from all sides, from the top and the bottom as well.
The snake was trapped and Sam decided to capture it and test it to his heart’s content to see if there is really anything that he could use against the rest of the creatures on the second floor and the third floor.
Sam camped there wondering how the was caught up in all of this. And then he remembered that this life wasn’t his choice, but the choice to be here was definitely his. He was offered a drink and an invitation.
With a chance to even get out the fuck out of this place. But he still chose this. Which seemed kind of stupid when he came across the pigeons and the chickens that are almost as strong as him and they are still in their small bodies without much change.
Sam quickly left to take care of the snake. He just sat there and started his experiments. Most of them are not as usual, just like how everything around them is weird.
