Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 445: Gains

[Seventh Floor Complete. Upgrading Title.]

[Choose Reward: Evolution of [Verun’s Bite], Duplicity Core Upgrade to E-Grade, Upgrade of Port Atwood to World Capital]

[Additional Reward 8th place: Limited Title Slots +1, Peak F-Grade All Attribute fruit]

Zac’s pitch-black eyes went back and forth between the three choices, the pain and exhaustion almost completely blown away. Then again, the black dimension seemed to have some sort of suppressive effect on wounds, so he probably wouldn’t be as chipper when he left this place.

A quick look down at his chest proved that the crazy girl had left a burn-mark that almost looked like a fractal, but the wound showed no signs at spreading at least. However, that didn't provide much comfort, as there had obviously been something off about that piece of flame she had shot at him.

His best guess was that she had formed some sort of Karmic Tie to him for some reason. Iz Tayn came from some top tier force though, and Zac hoped that the distance to his remote sector would prove too far away to make it worth tracking him down. If it was even possible since she was just an F-Grade cultivator.

However, the encounter with the crazy flame girl wasn't enough to put a damper on his feelings at the moment. He had passed the 7th floor, a feat that only happened once every few millennia in a star sector with trillions of cultivators. And were no two ways around it, these rewards were amazing.

Better yet, they were clearly custom-made for himself, which was a first since he entered the tower. The reward for clearing the 6th floor had been pretty great too, but it was still something generalized apart from the compatibility.

Was it because he had cleared a high-tiered floor, or was it because there had been a special event?

Even better, there was actually a bonus reward for reaching the 8th place, and it provided something he had never even heard of before. Getting a fourth slot for a Limited Titles was an extremely powerful boon, and Zac started to understand why so many had been fighting tooth and nail even to the point that some died.

Getting another spot for Limited Titles wasn’t as simple as having another title. If that was it then Zac wouldn’t have been so excited, since he already had thirty of them. Limited Titles had never been too important for Zac until now, simply because he hadn’t encountered any such opportunities so far.

But Galau had properly described the roles of Limited Titles during their climb. The merchant had already confirmed that getting real titles would get harder and harder, and most people got almost 80% of their titles during the F-Grade. That’s why some called normal titles ‘Foundational Titles’. They set the foundation for your entire cultivation journey.

Limited Titles were something that you could continuously improve though, and there was almost an unlimited number of opportunities for such titles in the Multiverse. They were the lure the System used to keep luring cultivators into deadly trials and unexplored Mystic Realms, and they just kept getting better the more dangerous the trial was.

One single Limited Title snatched from a deadly D-Grade trial might be even better than the Tower-title he had worked for the past 70 days. Getting another Limited Title slot was essentially getting a 15-20% boost to your power, provided you could get a good title that provided Efficiency.

The reward might not be useful at the moment, but Zac would quickly be able to acquire a few Limited Titles after leaving Earth. As for the scions who risked their lives, it was understandable as well. This was a reward that no amount of treasures, wealth, or guidance could provide, and they no doubt had a bunch of top-quality Limited Titles to choose from through their forces.

Not only that, the System even threw in a small bonus in the form of an All Attribute fruit, which was equivalent to a pretty good Low-Tiered Title. That was the most valuable of all the Attribute fruits, even more so than Luck Fruits. Zac was extremely thankful that he didn’t give in to the fear in his heart that told him to cut his losses after narrowly surviving his soul getting crushed.

The rewards from this floor alone far eclipsed the rewards from the first six floors combined.

It also made him wonder just what the others received. Take Iz Tayn for example. She was already strong to the point that it felt like she had somehow snuck inside the Tower while being E-Grade. Just what level would she reach after getting her individualized reward plus whatever reward was awarded the first spot. Did she get multiple Limited Title slots?

Remembering the traumatizing encounter where he almost died made him think of something else, and he reluctantly turned his eyes away from the rewards. Zac wasn’t ready to immediately make a choice what to pick, so he first opened his Status screen to check something, and just as expected he had taken a huge step forward.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

75

Class

[F-Rare] Hatchetman

Race

[E] Human

Alignment

[Earth] Port Atwood - Lord

Titles

Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, Planetary Aegis, One Against Many, Butcher, Progenitor Noblesse, Duplicity Core, Apex Hunter, Heaven's Chosen, Scion of Dao, Omnidextrous, Eastern Trigram Hunt - 1st, Tyrannic Force, Achievement Hunter, The First Step, Promising Specialist, Tower of Eternity - 7th Floor, Heaven's Triumvirate

Limited Titles

Frontrunner

Dao

Fragment of the Axe - Early, Fragment of the Coffin - Early, Fragment of the Bodhi - Early

Core

[F] Duplicity

Strength

980 [Increase: 75%. Efficiency: 163%]

Dexterity

498 [Increase: 60%. Efficiency: 155%]

Endurance

1282 [Increase: 80%. Efficiency: 163%]

Vitality

673 [Increase: 65%. Efficiency: 163%]

Intelligence

264 [Increase: 60%. Efficiency: 155%]

Wisdom

386 [Increase: 60%. Efficiency: 155%]

Luck

243 [Increase: 80%. Efficiency: 155%]

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

[F] 6 830 543 287

Zac’s stared with confusion at his attributes, unable to compute the changes for a few seconds. It was a welcome problem through; he had gained too many points. He already knew he would get a small boost from fusing his last two Dao Seeds, but that alone couldn’t explain the growth. But he soon enough realized what was going on as he kept opening menus.

The first thing he checked was the Dao Menu. He had taken a quick look during the Battle Royale, but he didn’t have the time to properly look at the attributes at that time.

Dao

Stage

Effect

Fragment of the Axe

Early

All attributes +10, Strength +110, Dexterity + 80, Endurance +15. Effectiveness of Strength +5%

Fragment of the Coffin

Early

All attributes +10, Endurance +80, Vitality +50, Intelligence +15, Wisdom +60. Effectiveness of Endurance +5%

Fragment of the Bodhi

Early

All attributes +10, Endurance +60, Vitality +80, Intelligence +15, Wisdom +50, Effectiveness of Vitality +5%

Gaining the Fragment of the Bodhi was all thanks to the [Praj?ā Cherry], and Zac wondered if the Zethaya had even known the true value of that thing since Boje had considered a soul-healing treasure. Then again, they did cherish it to the point that they weren’t willing to part with it for money, so they probably knew that wasn’t the limits of its capabilities.

There wasn’t a lot of change to his attributes as far as Zac could remember, with the fragment essentially only adding the +10 to all attributes and a little bit of Wisdom. However, he immediately noticed how similar its distribution it was to the Fragment of the Coffin. The weight of attributes was almost identical, with just the focus on Endurance and Vitality being switched.

Getting the Fragment of the Bodhi rather than something like the Grove or the Forest was a bit unexpected, but perhaps not as much as getting the Coffin. Zac had read up on Buddhism a bit since learning that it was an actual cultivation system in the multiverse, so he knew a little bit of what the word represented.

The Bodhi was a divine tree that the Buddha gained enlightenment under, and the word was the term for true Enlightenment, the escape from the cycle of reincarnation. The only issue was that such a Dao sounded related to Buddhism, and he wasn’t sure how good a fit that would be to his current cultivation path.

Ogras had joked about him embarking on the path of ascetic cultivation like a monk, but he wasn’t ready to take a vow of silence just yet.

But his instincts told him that it wouldn’t be an issue. The name of a Dao Fragment wasn't important, what mattered were the concepts the Fragment contained. The main focus of the vision hadn’t been the Buddhist praying, but rather how the cherry tree had changed after the blessing. It had turned into a divine tree that became the guardian of the desolate badlands.

It didn’t only provide the whole area with vitality, but it also empowered everything within its domain. Normal weeds and grasses had become full of life and power, quickly growing far stronger than they would be able to on their own. From what Zac could tell the healing he had enjoyed was just part of the picture. The fragment might have a huge impact on his Hatchetman class, as many of its skills were related to nature.

What would happen if he turned the wooden hand of [Nature's Punishment] into a divine hand?

Getting the third Fragment early was a huge relief to Zac, and it took a lot of pressure off. It was a shame that it came at the cost of the Soul Mending Medicine, but now that he had passed the Seventh floor he should have a stronger position for bargaining when he exited. Perhaps he could buy another one off the hands from some powerful clan who wanted to make a connection with him.

It also meant that the chance of gaining something from the Tower Apparition was a lot higher since he now could upgrade any of his three Fragments. Ideally, he wanted to upgrade the Fragment of the Axe, but it wasn’t completely necessary at this point. Any of the three would allow him to gain an arcane class, as long as the System considered his new path to be unique enough to be called a ‘creation’.

He couldn’t wait to experiment some with his new fragment during his ascent of the 8th floor. He had finally managed to use the bronze flash for something useful just now, and it had been shockingly effective. It felt like confirmation that he was on the right path, and he needed to capture the moment of inspiration and expand it to his new Fragment as well.

Of course, getting the final Dao Fragment wasn’t the only surprising gain from the 7th floor. He had not only upgraded his Tower Title, but he had actually gained another one, the first one in a good while. He had assumed that he wouldn’t get any more titles before evolving unless he got something from his massive pool of luck, but it appeared he had underestimated himself.

[Tower of Eternity - 7th Floor: Reach the 64th level of the Tower of Eternity. Reward: All stats +10, All Stats +10%, Effect of Attributes +5%]

[Heaven's Triumvirate: Attain three Dao Fragments while still at F-Grade. Reward: All stats +5%. All Stats +5. Effect of Attributes +5%]

The Tower-title had upgraded, but not quite as expected. It had immediately given him +5% all efficiency, rather than just for his three main attributes. That meant one would probably get the perfect 10/10/10 from completing the 8th floor. But then what would happen on the 9th? Did it provide a separate title?

The guy earlier had mentioned ‘tower breakers’, and from context it sounded like someone who would be able to defeat the whole Tower of Eternity. Was Tower Breaker perhaps the name of not only the achievement, but an actual title?

Zac unfortunately knew that the 9th floor was out of his reach unless the rules drastically changed on the final floor. The progression of strength had been pretty even during the climb, and he knew that he would start entering true life-and-death battles on the 8th floor.

Even the defeating guardian wasn’t a given, and he had already decided to start looking for clues to amazing inheritances as a back-up.

Time was a precious resource, so Zac held off on choosing a reward a while longer and instead to sit down and recuperate while he was in this special zone. Getting chased down by Iz Tayn had only worsened his wounds from the battle with Faceless 9, and he needed to give himself and his poor shield some time to rest up.

[Everlasting] almost looked like a melted clump of metal, but it was truly a tenacious item as it was slowly regaining its original shape. Just like his body, it would probably be in serviceable condition within a few hours.

However, the situation with his soul wasn’t as easy to fix. The verdant glow had completely disappeared by now, leaving his soul whole. But his soul had inexorably changed after the experience. It was now crisscrossed by black lines where the fractures once were, reminiscent of a Kintsugi bowl. There were also some splotches here and there, marring the picture even further.

He had already felt the effect during the battle earlier, where bloodlust had coursed through his body, almost to the point that he was ready to run straight into a sun. Zac was afraid that the effect would only become worse as the corruption grew. The energies might even start damaging the miasmic runes from the outside.

He quickly needed to find a solution.