Leonel took deep breaths, observing the scene before him. He couldn't quite understand what was happening. Since nothing had been explained before, he had headed into this completely blind. He had no way of telling what he should be doing, if this was an enemy, if it was a break room, or if he should be worried or not.
He had no way of communicating with Wise Star Order, even his Innate Node which had been beneath his tongue couldn't be felt by him any longer, let alone any of his other treasures. If it wasn't for this, Leonel wouldn't have had nearly as many problems using his Destruction Runes.
'I guess since this is the tenth floor it was due for a bit of a change. They must treat this a lot like a video game with a 'Boss' every tenth floor. But why is this environment so different, and why hasn't this man attacked me yet?'
Despite his thoughts, Leonel took every second he had to regain his breath. He couldn't do much about the drained state of his mind, but he could at least try to let his healing factor kick in a bit to help with his physical fatigue.
At the same time, he circulated his Force through his Nodes, allowing them to do the work they were meant to and quickly flood his body with oxygen.
Leonel looked around. 'No needles, no daggers, I used up the last of my javelins on those apes. It seems that all I've got now is myself…'
Leonel stood. He didn't understand what was going on but what he did know was that if this was an enemy, their patience wouldn't be nothing more than a detriment to him. He didn't believe that in such a trial, an enemy would be so nonchalant without cause or reason. This individual was definitely benefiting from his inaction somehow, or at the very least, this was the highest likelihood of what was otherwise a toss up.
Leonel liked to live his life based on probability, so knowing such a thing, he couldn't remain inactive.
The moment he stood to his feet, though, the young man seemed to 'finally' notice Leonel's presence.
The moment their eyes met, Leonel took an explosive step backward, his pupils constricting and his heart nearly leaping out of his chest. Any fatigue he had had seemed to be forgotten, allowing adrenaline to rush forward in its place.
'This is bad.'
Leonel didn't like his reaction just now at all. Adrenaline sounded nice, but the crash that came on the other side was very much real. It would have been better if he out put what remaining stamina he had left in a steady stream rather than releasing it all in a sudden outburst.
However, Leonel couldn't help it. Right then, his hairs had stood on end and his mind rang with blaring warning signs. He had quite literally felt as though his very soul was about to be pulled out of his body.
The feeling was similar to when Wise Star Order had tricked him into reading the protected technique of the Spirituals except a hundred times more potent. It was almost like a harpoon had latched onto him.
…
Leonel had not a single clue just the kind of commotion his actions just now had caused. Let alone others, Cornelius finally stood stunned, unable to speak a single word.
One of the most cursed objects of the Void Palace was the Void Tower. This was because so much of one's progress during a single run could be decided by good or bad luck, and definitely more especially the latter.
There were a few things, though, that went beyond just 'bad luck'. These chance events of the Void Tower were known by the students as 'drawing dead'. It didn't matter what happened, how prepared you were, how good your run up until that point had been… So long as one of these events occurred, your run would be over.
One of these so-called 'drawing dead' events was the appearance of a Spiritual as a Boss.
The only way to combat a Spiritual in real life was to have a soul protecting treasure on hand. The Human Domain never did battle with the Spirituals without outfitting an entire army with them, and missions were never completed in Spiritual territory on the Void Battlefield without them either.
However, as one might have already guessed, it was impossible to bring treasures into the Void Tower and the only weapons available in the armory you got to choose from were very simple weapons without any special effects whatsoever.
So, what would you do in the face of a Spiritual without a soul protection treasure? Well, what else could you do but wait to die? There was nothing else you could do.
Some of the spear Factions had already begun to feel sorry for Leonel. After all, even though he didn't know it, they knew well that so long as he cleared this tenth floor on his first run, he would become among the few in Void Palace history to ever be directly admitted as a Galaxy Ranked disciple.
However, running into a Spiritual after having the bad luck of being given beast hordes to begin with… It could only be said that luck was truly not on Leonel's side.
According to the usual pattern, so long as you remained unmoving, the Spiritual would be too enamored by its precious tree to even bother with you. But, the moment you did, it would look at you and your mind would go blank.
Game over.
And yet, somehow, Leonel had risen up, moved, made eye contact, and still managed to explosively retreat, all without losing…? How was that possible?!
Within the crowd, a particular young man stood in silence. His hair was bronzed, his eyes deep and somber. His stature was large and his shoulders were broad. His presence was sharp as a spear and as sturdy as a mountain. Even now, there was no shortage of looks of admiration and respect being aimed in his way.
He was none other than the First Nova, Adawarth Morales.
He smiled to himself seeing this scene. Then, he turned on his heels and walked into the distance.
😉