Tower of Heaven

The 11th Floor. As it was a trial floor, Atlas faced some restrictions when he arrived.

Firstly, his cultivation was restricted to the Earth Sage Realm. He could feel that a part of his dantian and qi was inaccessible, but it didn't bother him. All three of his Daos were still present, as were all of his techniques and abilities.

Compared to the cultivator he was when he first entered the 11th Floor…

While he was moving through the forest, he found himself assailed by a pack of eight wolves. They didn't seem to instinctually sense his strength, perhaps because he kept his qi reserved within his body.

Without paying them any mind, Atlas rushed forward. Sharp blades of qi appeared on his sides and moved with him. They could not even be considered an attack, but the moment they touched the wolves, they sliced right through them.

All eight were left as mutilated corpses on the ground, and Atlas was long gone.

'This is my first time invading a lower floor.'

To say he was unprepared was wrong, but to say he was prepared properly was also not quite the truth. He couldn't block the Celestial Ladder or do any extreme damage to the floor itself.

'In other words, I must focus on the Cosmic Dragon Clans first.'

Their geniuses were doing this Floor's trial. If Atlas didn't catch them in the process, they would leave the floor to continue climbing the Tower, making his whole pursuit pointless.

The Dusk base would remain where it was for as long as Dusk still stood, but if Atlas moved too rashly, he would alert them to his presence.

'I have to disguise my traces, but that was already the plan.'

Atlas was tied to Divine Sanctuary through the Tatsuya Clan even if he was not a part of their influences. It may have seemed like a reach, but if the Cosmic Dragon Clans tried hard enough, they could absolutely use it as an excuse to persecute their enemies.

'This kind of scheming was my most hated thing in the past.'

When he stood at the peak of the world, he despised petty schemes. Because of them, he decided to live separated from the world.

In this life, he could not live the same way.

Those petty schemes and squabbles could only be ignored by those with great power. For the rest of the population, the same petty schemes ruled the world. They caused irreparable damage and destroyed families.

Schemes could not be ignored. They had to be fought with better schemes and greater power until all those who schemed lost their lives or motivation.

It was almost enough to feel pity for those young Cosmic Dragons. They, who were innocent, were being constantly corrupted by those above them. They, who possessed a mindset of superiority, had no idea that they had been designated as sacrifices.

However, Atlas did not feel pity.

His spiritual sense spread through the 11th Floor cleanly and coldly. He could not cover the entire floor with his senses, but he could scan a large portion of it. If he found nothing like a Dragon bloodline in his search, he knew that he could move far away to a new area.

Using this method, he located the Cosmic Dragon Clan geniuses rapidly.

They were in a large group. As they knew that they would have to be on this floor for some time before they either hatched a beast companion or found a beast soul, they gathered and created a camp together where they could share ideas and grow together.

It was a heartwarming scene that was being observed through eyes that reeked of indifference.

'No more hiding.'

The new goal was not to climb the Tower while avoiding conflict. The new goal was to make himself the center of attention so that everyone would know not to touch him or his people.

The skills he hid, the Daos he hid…

It was time for all of it to come to light.

***

Dragonik. That was his name. He was a member of the Pendragon Clan, a Cosmic Dragon Clan of light-attributed dragons. He had no real interest in the Tower. To him, it was a place for lower beings to fight amongst each other.

But, he was forced to climb by his elders.

'It is good enough that everyone else is here as well.'

If nothing else, Kalia was also a member of the group that had come to this floor. Through climbing, he'd been able to interact with her more than ever before.

With just a little more time, he was confident that he could have her heart.

'Perhaps tonight, I can tell her how I feel.'

He was returning to camp quite late. It couldn't be helped. He found the location of a hidden Beast Soul and took the time to search for it before returning. He did not get his hands on it, but he was confident that he could get it if he had the help of some of his allies.

The moon was high in the night sky, perfectly painting the world in its pale light. The camp was in a forest clearing. Every time he arrived there, Dragonik was able to see the sight of happiness that was the campsite.

He had to admit that they, the younger generation of the Cosmic Dragon Clans, had never been able to get along well. That only started changing when they began their climb.

Now that they were here, they were looking at brighter horizons.

'We can finally stand above those Heavenly Dragons.'

It was a desire that was second only to his love for Kalia. The desire to see the Azure Dragon Clan princess beneath his feet.

Thinking such thoughts, Dragonik arrived back at the campsite.

The pale moonlight shone down in rays through the canopy of the trees. It was odd that the usual trail of smoke was not rising from the campfire, but Dragonik didn't suspect a thing.

He walked into the clearing fully expecting to see the sight that he had become accustomed to.

But that was not what he saw.

The moment his eyes gazed past the tree line, he dropped everything in his hands. His body trembled and his eyes shook like miniature earthquakes were spreading through his nerves.

There was no campfire.

There were not people sitting in front of their tents chatting happily. There were not beast eggs everywhere, carefully placed so that they would hatch into the most prized spirit creatures. There was not a jovial atmosphere of peace and prosperity that looked ahead to the future.

What he saw when he stepped into the clearing was a hill of corpses.

"Hali, Gornick, Fasha, Vinian…"

His voice broke into pieces.

"...Kai…Kaila…"

The person he loved most in this world was staring back at him as a cold corpse in the pile.

"I knew it. If I just wait here, the rest will come on their own."

The voice spoke in an unbothered tone that was more terrifying than anything else.

Dragonik's trembling eyes shifted up to the top of the pile, where a single living body sat.

Those two eyes, grey like there was no soul behind him, stared at him through the only two slits on the completely white mask that covered that man's face.

"You…who are you…how could you…?!"

Dragonik's mind was in pieces, but he did not lose his ferocious instincts. He grabbed the sword on his hip as his body was suddenly covered in draconic scales.

"You…HOW DARE YOU?!"

The sorrow within him did not have time to fester before it turned into rage.

But, the expression on the masked man's face did not change.

"With this one, it's thirty-five. There should be five more somewhere around here."

With those words alone, he jumped off of the hill of corpses and faced Dragonik directly.

It didn't look like he saw this as a fair fight at all.

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