The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 134 (Part 2)
Chapter 134: Tower Of Trials (Part 2)
During the ascent to the 19th floor, Ryu Min had permanently gained 7 strength, 7 intelligence, 7 agility, and 5 luck in stats.
Even reaching this far was an incredible achievement.
‘But a first-time climber would probably reach their limit around the 9th floor.’
The difficulty spikes with every ten floors, making it hard for ordinary players to conquer past the 10th floor.
‘You’d need at least 150 agility and be over level 50 to even consider reaching the 20th floor.’
Thus, for an ordinary player, just reaching this point would be an extraordinary feat.
Of course, Ryu Min was no ordinary player.
‘From the 20th to the 39th floor, monsters will appear.’
One needs to be over level 50 to ascend beyond the 20th floor, and the monsters that appear are far from easy.
‘Minotaurs are the basic enemies, which says it all.’
For Ryu Min, they’re merely a source of good experience.
‘It’s also an opportunity to stack the Rune of Slaughter.’
He hasn’t been able to kill any monsters yet, so his Rune of Slaughter’s stack is still at 0.
He is eager to quickly get the buff that doubles all stats once it reaches 100.
‘Grrrr.’
A monster’s growl echoed through the dark passageway, but
Ryu Min merely smiled.
He ran forward, scythe in hand.
‘ROAR!’
Thud-
The body of an ogre, now headless, fell powerlessly to the ground.
[You have slain the ogre!]
[Title effect: Experience increased by 1.5 times.]
[Experience +5.7%]
[Gold +12,000]
[Current kill count: 200/100]
[Effect of the Rune of Slaughter: All stats increased by 100%.]
[Effect of the Demon’s Ring: Damage increased by 15%.]
Having just cleared the 39th floor, Ryu Min opened his status window.
His level had already risen to 85.
He had accumulated the Rune of Slaughter buff and gained 2 stats from the Beads of Eternity.
‘And I’ve obtained the rewards from each floor’s conquest.’
From expert-level rare equipment to unique equipment, the variety was vast.
[You have cleared the 39th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[As a reward, ‘Necklace of Ordeal’ is granted.]
[You will move to the next floor in 10 seconds.]
Ryu Min checked the reward he received.
[Necklace of Ordeal]
-Category: Necklace
-Grade: Unique
-Effect: Strength, Intelligence +39
-Durability: 5,000/5,000
-Usage Restriction: Master rank or above
-Description: A necklace that can only be obtained by conquering the Tower of Trials somewhere in the world. Obtaining this means you’ve cleared the 39th floor.
This time, the reward was a Master-grade unique equipment.
Ryu Min grinned.
It seemed like a good piece to use in situations where he couldn’t use the Beads of Eternity.
‘Now it’s the 40th floor.’
Ryu Min’s eyes filled with tension.
If what came before was just a warm-up, now the real challenge begins.
Upon reaching the 40th floor, Ryu Min took out the Unyielding Resistance Potion he received as a sub-quest reward.
This potion was essential from here on out.
‘Use.’
[You have used the ‘Unyielding Resistance Potion.’]
[Fire resistance is fixed at 95%.]
[Ice resistance is fixed at 95%.]
[Wind resistance is fixed at 95%.]
From now on, traps that can’t be conquered without the potion’s help will appear.
‘Traps that heat the entire passage like an oven, or gales so strong you can’t walk through, or floors that test your mental limits with extreme frost, and so on.’
No matter how high your stats are, you can’t withstand elemental attacks of this magnitude.
The environment was designed to be reliant on potions from the start.
‘Phew, shall we go once more?’
Ryu Min took a step forward with renewed determination.
He must at least reach the 80th floor.
As each floor’s concept of traps differs, so do the rewards.
[As a reward, fire resistance permanently increases by 5%.]
[As a reward, ice resistance permanently increases by 5%.]
[As a reward, wind resistance permanently increases by 5%.]
From the 40th to the 59th floors, the traps were related to elements.
Hence, rewards that permanently increased elemental resistances were given.
By the time Ryu Min had finished the 59th floor, he checked the resistances he had accumulated.
‘Fire resistance increased by 35%, ice resistance by 35%, wind resistance by 30%.’
There are two types of resistances.
Normal resistance, which prevents status ailments, and elemental resistance, which protects you against elemental attacks like the above.
A 50% resistance increase from the Rainbow Effect falls under normal resistance.
This means the elemental resistance he obtained now is entirely different.
Thus, Ryu Min was pleased.
‘Elemental resistance isn’t something you can easily increase.’
Items that increase elemental resistance are extremely rare.
Usually, one would give up on finding them and rely on potions.
Having it permanently increased was a tremendous privilege.
‘Shall we start on the 60th floor?’
From here to the 79th floor, monsters will appear again.
They’re not necessarily stronger, but they come in combination with traps, so a bit of caution is needed.
‘I can’t run through it as I did initially.’
Ryu Min, holding his scythe, moved forward with caution.
* * *
There was a reason why Ryu Min set his minimum goal as the 80th floor.
[You have cleared the 79th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[As a reward, ‘The Rune of Stealth’ is granted.]
[You will move to the next floor in 10 seconds.]
The Rune of Stealth.
Finally, the item he desired appeared.
Ryu Min used it immediately, engraving it into his body.
[Rune of Stealth]
-Effect: When using invisibility, it completely hides all traces including breathing, footsteps, and the sound of clothing.
It is undetectable by any means of search or trace detection.
After attacking while invisible, the cooldown of invisibility resets.
A smile spread across Ryu Min’s face.
With the Rune of Stealth, perfect invisibility was now possible.
‘But I shouldn’t be satisfied with only this. The real challenge is still ahead.’
As Ryu Min reached the 80th floor, he took a moment to catch his breath before moving forward.
Now, the combined challenges of all previous traps awaited him.
‘There’s still about 2 hours left on the potion, so it should be enough to reach the 99th floor.’
It wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Various monsters, storms, typhoons, frost, and pits of fire.
He overcame all sorts of traps as he ascended the floors.
[You have cleared the 83rd floor of the Tower of Ordeal.]
[You have cleared the 87th floor of the Tower of Ordeal.]
[You have cleared the 92nd floor of the Tower of Ordeal.]
…
…
…
‘Phew. No matter how many times I climb, the path to the 99th floor is hard.’
Ryu Min, having reached the 98th floor, wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The journey here was fraught with numerous obstacles.
The previous floor, the 97th, even tested mental fortitude with hallucinations.
Thanks to the Rune of Mental Barrier, he breezed through the hallucinations.
‘The easiest floors were the 97th and 98th.’
The 98th floor had similar traps, so he simply walked through to pass.
However, the last 99th floor was not so easily conquered.
[You have cleared the 98th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[As a reward, your resistance permanently increases by 10%.]
[You will move to the last floor in 10 seconds. Good luck.]
Eventually, Ryu Min arrived at the 99th floor.
The final challenge awaited him.