[Author note: Thank you very much @Sonya. Your ko-fi donation and comment meant a lot to me. Because of that, I want to return the favor by releasing a bonus chapter :D. I hope you'll like it :3]
Jason didn't have the slightest idea of what commotion he had caused, and his mind was solely focused on finding a way to the first floor as well as the alteration process of his second sub area.
Unfortunately, the former was easier said than done, while the alteration process of his second sub area was much easier than Jason had estimated.
Instead of taking two weeks, Jason had easily separated his soul energy cycle into four strands, much earlier without burdening his mind too much.
This was exceptional, and he could tell that another strand could possibly be created.
However, instead of five, Jason felt that four were more than enough for now because it felt as if everything would become more burdensome once the four strands had been fully integrated into the subconscious processes in his sub area.
Despite that, he was still able to increase his soul energy production by four times, which was an exceptional feat.
In the future, this could be further increased, but Jason was unable to even calculate how many soul crystals it would require to bind a single being at the Ascendion stage.
Earlier, he had a premonition that this might not work, but the sole thought of his late mother, who seemed to have been much stronger than he had initially expected made him change his opinion.
Thinking about his mother, he wondered how strong she must have been to be forced to shatter her cultivation just to return to Argos.
'She shouldn't have had enough time to enter the Specta stage...As such, she should have been at the Ascendion stage…'
This was much weaker than Jason had previously expected, but at the same time, the Chaos Emperor, or whatever kind of mythical being's soul fraction was imprinted into his body, had to be much stronger.
He had only heard from the mythical being that his mother had helped it with something, and in return for the favor, it had sealed a portion of its soul within Jason.
With that in mind, Jason understood that his mother might not have been strong based on her cultivation stage, but she had definitely been a strong woman.
Thinking about his mother in that way made him proud, and even if she was dead, he wanted to make her proud in any way possible.
Clenching his fist in determination, Jason spent the remaining days on finding the path to the next floor.
Oddly enough, he didn't have to fight a single beast, which was quite satisfying because Jason had some time to sort his mind.
Every single notification of the robotic voice was still ringing through his head, and to make sense of all of this, Jason truly required time to concentrate without worrying about anything else.
Three days before the countdown would end, Jason finally found what he had been looking for.
It was a large gate in the middle of nowhere, and he wondered how he hadn't been able to perceive it before.
However, it was only then that realisation struck Jason because the gate was perfectly concealed, and not a single bit of energy was radiating from it.
This shocked him a little bit because every material, object, and living being that was exposed to mana, primordial energy, or spirit force would be swept through by the respective energy after some time, even if it was only faint.
That meant the gate's concealment was perfect, which Jason had never seen before.
Even with his Emperor Eyes, he was unable to see through the concealment, and for a moment he believed that the gate was just an ordinary gate, made out of material that repelled the three energies.
Yet, only a moment after he thought this, the gate opened magically, releasing tremendous amounts of energy.
Jason's Emperor Eyes could almost immediately tell that the mana intertwined in the blue liquid that manifested within the gate's frame was transmuted by spatial energy.
Under normal circumstances, one would simply want to walk through the gate, thinking that it was the path towards the first floor, but Jason did no such thing.
Entering a defensive stance, his eyes turned serious while Petri entered his mana core, amplifying his physical strength tremendously.
Without Jason realising, Petri had just completed the construction of his first solidified prismarine crystal, indicating his advancement to the Prismar stage!
Feeling his soulbond's energy surging through his body, Jason felt eerily calm as the muscular body of a five-meter tall beast emerged from the portal.
Its fur was brown and the hooves of the half-bull half-human beast caused the ground to tremble, as the beast roared out loudly.
"A Minotaur...is that supposed to be the guardian?" Jason mumbled while staring at the Minotaur that was the strongest beast he had seen on the ground floor, until now.
Its cultivation base was still at the Prismar stage's first threshold, but it had seven prismarine crystals solidified within its body.
At the same time, its physique seemed to have received an additional enhancement.
As such, Jason could tell that it was a mutated Minotaur, with an advantageous physical mutation.
Yet, instead of being flustered, Jason simply smiled as his golden eyes gleamed brightly.
"Maybe it's finally time to have some fun once again?"
Despite having only one prismarine crystal, Jason didn't think that he was at a disadvantage.
Rather, looking at Byakur, before taking a glance at the extremely heavy longsword which the minotaur was holding, Jason couldn't help but think that Byakur was still much better.
While his soul weapon lost in terms of quality, the soul connection still allowed Jason to have the upper hand in terms of overall capabilities as it gained many benefits.
Unfortunately, he was still aware of the fact that he would have to improve Byakur's efficiency soon or exchange it with a better weapon.
His speed of improvement was simply too fast, after all!
However, for now, this could be ignored.
Instead, Jason didn't hesitate a single moment as he faced the Minotaur, telling Petri to fuse with him.
This was not necessary for his opinion, but there was something he wanted to test out- how high his pure, physical strength could become by utilising all means to enhance it!
Thus, a black armor of scales that had a golden vein-like pattern all over it, grew on his skin, while a seven-meter-long tail grew from his coccyx.
Clenching his fist, he heard faint noises, and Jason couldn't help but smile vibrantly behind the mask of scales that covered his entire body.
He didn't even think about using his curses, or anything else than his physical strength, as he rushed towards the Minotaur, as small cracks appeared on the ground below him.
Through his unique prismarine crystal, the tremendous advancement his physique underwent by unsealing more than 20 minor seals, Petri's physical enhancement and fusion, Jason's strength and speed overwhelmed that of the Minotaur as he emerged in front of it.
The Minotaur had already charged towards Jason, yet, it didn't expect Jason's entire being to turn so terrifying the moment it rushed in his direction.
As such, the moment it slashed out with its heavy longsword, it had already lost the fight, owing to the velocity at which Jason swung Byakur.
In the end, Jason's choice of weapon, speed, and strength had been enough to inflict several lethal injuries before the longsword brushed past him, missing Jason by a hair's breadth.
It took the Minotaur a few seconds to realise what had just happened, as its body began to bleed, slowly depriving it of the life force within.
The moment the Minotaur collapsed, Byakur returned to the soul world, while Jason's fusion with Petri started to dissolve.
"That was short, but still a good way to know how strong I am…"? Jason mumbled with a satisfied smile, only to add to his mind.
'I hope the difficulty of the following floors won't have much difference to that of the ground floor…'
With that thought, Jason used the remaining days that were left to pass the first task, to cultivate and finish sorting his thoughts. He entered the gate on the 14th day, advancing to the tower's first floor.
Only a moment later, the much-awaited robotic voice announced in his head.
[Congratulations on passing the ground level of the Endless Tower. Good luck in the following Floors-1]
[Time left to advance the floors of the Endless Tower [1Y:364D:23H:59M:59S]
[Remark: Placid behavior of beasts has been removed!]
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