Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Wrik followed her gaze and found lights coming from there in blue, purple and gold, before forming a circle. A transmission gate. He couldn't see past it; it was still fluctuating. Then a tall figure came from it. Wrik remembered the figure, it's the guide that instructed them in the summoning room.

"It seemed you all had a blast here." the guide gave a hollow laugh, but his expression turned even more awkward, noticing their disgruntled gaze. "Well, cheer up, I got some good news, but before that let's announce the final evaluation."

[The final evaluation is open now.]

[Congratulations to User Wrik Evernight for grading A in the evaluation.]

[100 Omega Points are credited as a bonus for achieving an A grade in the Trial.]

Wrik noted that the 100 were Omega points, something different from Omega credits which he has over thirty thousand. But that was not his concern for now. He looked at the guide and asked, "Are you not going to explain how this thing was here and. . ."

"Slow down lad," the guide shook his head. "I'm not obligated to answer any of your questions, but as you all seem to be in a terrible state, I can offer some amount of clarifications.

"First of all, everything that happened here could be said as part of the Trial, including the Ghoul thing. On most occasions, it didn't get the chance for evolution, but in your case, it seems special."

"Then why is the Trial finished abruptly?" Wrik asked again. "If there's no mistake, we would have to clear the whole dungeon before the quest would be completed."

"Didn't you get the message saying it's a special case? In this case, the task is considered completed as long as you fled away from here or killed the Ghoul."

"You're not going to give us any explanation about how such a horrifying thing was here?" Tanya joined in the conversation with an annoyed expression.

"Are you the sister of Lady Syfinn?" The guide didn't answer her inquiry, but asked another question.

Tanya didn't answer, but her silence affirmed the guide.

"You two didn't seem to share much in common, apart from that frosty glare. Well, It's good that you're alright," the guide sighed in relief. "Your sister had threatened me to break off the Trial zone if anything happened to you."

The guide appeared to be relieved of something heavy. It seemed Sophia Syfinn didn't just threaten to break the trial zone.

"You didn't answer my question yet," Tanya said.

The guide sighed. "As I said before, everything was part of the trial. In normal cases the infector was not supposed to have an evolution, but who could foresee those god-forsaken creatures." The guide looked around the tunnel before continuing. "So, in your case, the trial became a bit special. With that, the participants gained the chance to get further rewards through the hidden task. it became a bit difficult too. All you have to do was flee safely from the dungeon or finish the ghoul. I didn't expect anyone could succeed against that monster—it was totally out of the league of the trial. Guess I was wrong."

"But couldn't you guys stopped infector from the evolution?" Davin joined in as well.

The broad shoulder guide shook his head. "Nobody outside the participants can enter the Trial, not even me nor any Quisition, or even the Omega Guardians. Well, they could enter but they have to break a path to enter here but that comes with deadly consequences as well."

"So, you left all of us to die here?!" Davin muttered. He could not believe that.

"Lad, remember this—no, all of you remember this." the voice of the guide became solemn. He gazed at everyone from the group of Wrik to Aasan and Lamen. "You knew all the risks before coming here, there's no insurance of life when you agreed to climb the Tower in the first place when you tore the ticket. And the danger would only grow with each floor you climb, get used to it."

Wrik felt a slight chill, hearing what the guide said. It's true, he came here knowing that there's no guarantee of life. He won't get the answer he wanted so simply, he wouldn't get the cure for his mother either. Lucas had said that the Tower was not a wish-granting machine—you have to pay with blood if you wanted anything.

Wrik didn't ask anything anymore, remained silent, but his friend Davin was about to open his mouth when the guide interrupted again.

"Well, you would understand it better after climbing a few floors," the guide said in a softer tone than before. "The functions of the Tower are far from perfect; it's flawed but you would get used to it. We all got used to it.

"Wait, didn't I say I have some good news? Yes. You didn't just suffer for nothing. With high risk comes high rewards. Wait a second. "

The guide tapped a few times in the air. It appeared that he was communicating with the Omega window.

Soon a blue window greeted Wrik and others.

[Additional rewards for succeeding in the killing of the Infector(Ghoul). Special case #x013xxxx.

User Wrik Everknight will be awarded an additional discount of 90% over the facility in the Trial sanctuary, be it Omega stores or any other.

May Maha be with you.]

Barely having read once, his mind bounced on with a couple more questions. Wrik still had much stuff to learn.

"That's the reward for succeeding in the hunt of the ghoul." The guide continued. "If you only fled safely from here, you would only get 50% discount. For the 90% discount, you needed to finish the ghoul."

Nobody responded to the guide's explanation. They did not have much energy left to celebrate with joy.

"Why are you all still with that long face? Don't you know how valuable each Omega points are? Moreover, you got a 90% discount on anything for finishing the ghoul, which means you could buy anything for a tenth of its price. Even I envy that."

Wrik and others understood what that means but they were too tired to answer.

"Let's move from here now.. .we'll discuss this later." Tanya got up, shouldering the red hair girl, Michelle—who was asleep. Everyone else followed as well.

'Ton and others should be at the sanctuary by now.' Wrik thought as he tried to get up. He felt that his body was ten times heavier. He got up after putting in a lot of effort, balancing on the broken sword. It appeared his fatigue and injuries are more severe than he imagined. And the pain in his head wasn't helping much, either.

After that, one by one, they disappeared into the teleportation gate.

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End of the chapter: End Of Phase-II

Next Chapter: Trial Sanctuary.

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