In the Tower of Truth, on the eighth floor, which serves as a traditional monster leveling instance, Mike found no challenge.
Upon entering the eighth floor, he immediately sensed something unusual. The area was eerily empty, devoid of any other participants except for NPCs.
This suited Mike just fine; with too many people around, he wouldn't be able to use his Thunderclap Strike without drawing excessive attention.
Following the strategy laid out by the [Eye of Truth], Mike headed to the nearest leveling spot and began slaying monsters to accumulate a high Exploration Rate.
"Wind Fury!"
"Thunderclap Strike!"
"..."
Lightning strikes rained down, and monsters fell in heaps. On a distant hillside, an old man in blue robes, leaning on a cane, watched someone grinding through monsters and couldn't help but remark, "The young ones these days are far more formidable than we were."
"Boring," muttered a man standing next to Professor Gregory, his gaze slightly downcast. A colorful butterfly landed on his fingertip, only to disintegrate like a bubble, vanishing without a trace.
"You find everything boring. I'd say that catchphrase of yours is the most boring of all," Professor Gregory chuckled, then added, "I'd actually like to see the day when the legendary Supreme Being Apollo finds something amusing."
"Human affairs are the most boring," Apollo spoke again, asking, "Professor Gregory, are you sure you want to go to the Abyssal Plane?"
"Yes, didn't you say you wanted to see me? What's the matter?"
"It's a perilous journey."
"Then we'll turn danger into safety."
"I've brought boredom upon myself."
If others witnessed this scene, they would be astounded. Supreme Being Apollo, in the presence of Gregory, seemed more like a junior!
"Professor Gregory, you are the highest person authority on the soul..."
"Stop right there, what nonsense are you spouting? Aren't you a person?"
Professor Gregory seemed slightly irritated, slamming his cane on the ground, "And what about your instructor Shadow Nine? Isn't he a person too?"
Apollo remained unmoved, murmuring to himself, "Maybe I am a butterfly, maybe all this is but a dream."
Once again, a butterfly appeared on Apollo's fingertip, only to have his figure start to disintegrate as the butterfly restored itself.
Professor Gregory sighed, "You're still troubled by that question... You're a good kid, but you think too little and worry too much."
"Before I leave, I have a question for you, Professor Gregory."
"Go ahead," said Gregory, his expression serious.
The butterfly, fluttering its wings, spoke with Apollo's voice, "Are there those born with innate knowledge?"
Innate knowledge? Gregory looked puzzled, wondering where this question was coming from.
Before he could respond, Apollo interrupted, "No need to answer in haste. You can respond before entering the Abyssal Plane."
With that, the butterfly slowly flew away, ascending from the eighth floor to the ninety-ninth.
Left behind, Professor Gregory continued to watch the Thor grind through monsters, deep in thought.
...
[He's gone.]
Mike glanced at the notification in the corner of his screen and breathed a sigh of relief. Not long after he entered the eighth floor, the Eye of Truth had become blurry.
The last time it blurred was due to Supreme Being [Ares]. Every encounter with a Supreme Being caused the Eye of Truth to enter a state of blindness.
"Can't you show some backbone, display the spirit of your SSS-tier talent?"
The Eye of Truth retorted: [When your level reaches 900, I naturally won't fear Supreme Beings.]
Today, the eighth floor was effectively Mike's private domain. Only [Apollo] could have arranged such a scenario.
Without the worry of revealing his true identity, Mike unleashed his full potential, clearing monsters at an astonishing rate. What would normally take days for others, Mike conquered in less than 40 minutes.
Unfortunately, since the monsters were all below level 60, aside from some coins and equipment, Mike gained little else.
After reaching a 100% Exploration Rate, Mike summoned the core crystal of truth to settle his conquest.
"Calculating conquest rating..."
"SSSS-tier rating for conquering the eighth floor, you receive the reward [Behemoth's Claw]!"
An S-tier piece of equipment appeared in Mike's hands. He glanced at it briefly; it was quite ordinary, and he wasn't in the mood to study it, so he tossed it into his backpack.
After settling his personal rewards, a global announcement echoed in Mike's ears.
"Participant Thor has achieved an SSSS-tier conquest of the eighth floor, granting all human beings in the Tower of Truth the buff [Exotic Gourmet]!"
"Temporary buff [Food Absorption]: Food effects increased by 30% for humans within the Tower of Truth, lasts 6 hours."
"Temporary buff [Robust Physique]: Humans in the Tower of Truth do not enter a weakened state upon death and returning to the Core City of Truth, lasts 6 hours."
"Temporary buff [Experience Boost]: Humans in the Tower of Truth gain 18% more experience, lasts 3 hours."
"[Exotic Gourmet]: Consuming food grants a powerful buff layer, lasts 5 minutes, cooldown 5 minutes, lasts 6 hours."
Among the four buffs, [Robust Physique] and [Experience Boost] were particularly significant. For all humans, [Robust Physique] reduced the cost of trial and error, while [Experience Boost] allowed for more efficient use of the temporary buff, accelerating strength enhancement.
"Exotic Gourmet... that's interesting."
Mike thought of [Anderson and Cain], the duo for whom these buffs would be especially beneficial. According to Anderson's training plan, even within the Tower of Truth, Cain needed to keep eating.
With his thoughts in order, Mike focused his mind.
"Next level!"
...
Tower of Truth, ninth floor.
Second class change realm.
A flash of white light, and Mike appeared on a giant stone floating in the void. Before him, three elemental gates appeared.
[Lightning], [Wind], [Fire]
[Choose one to complete the class change and settle the conquest]
[Or complete all and then choose to settle the conquest]
Mike was well aware of the ninth floor's class change realm process. The process was straightforward:
Battle with corresponding elemental monsters, collect elemental cores dropped by them.
Fuse the elemental cores to create new skills, unique to oneself!
Based on the strength of the created skills, complete the class change and settle the conquest.
Typically, a mage would only need to battle with one element.
Besides the overwhelmingly powerful Lightning element, Mike also mastered wind and fire. If he wanted to retain all, he would need to create three skills, taking three times longer than others!
But the effort was worth it!
Three powerful skills, just the thought was very appealing.
Mike's eyes sparkled with excitement.
These uniquely created skills had one feature: they could be used to produce skill books!
Selling skill books externally, the profit margin was up to 99.99%!
This is why the second realm was also known as the [Wealth Realm].
Creating a popular skill could ensure a lifetime of financial security!
Rumor has it, the creator of [Windstride Slash] earned unimaginable wealth from just that one skill.
"Lightning and Fire can wait."
Mike planned, looking towards the wind elemental gate,"Let's create a wind element skill first. I promised to revive the glory of wind magic, can't go back on my word."
"Let's set the bar a bit lower, an SSS-tier skill will do, don't be too hard on yourself."
With that, Mike stepped into the wind elemental gate.
Lifted by a gust of wind, his feet left the ground, and Mike was thrust into a realm space.
Surrounded by roaring winds, the forms of monsters began to clarify amidst numerous whirlwinds.
A voice like the wind whispered in Mike's ear.
"Attention! In this realm, only wind element skills are allowed!"
"The realm space will continuously refresh wind elemental monsters, the more you defeat, the stronger the monsters that appear, and the higher the probability of dropping high-tier elemental cores!"
"Smelt wind elemental cores to create your unique skill."
"If dissatisfied with the unique skill, you can choose to recast, losing half of the wind elemental cores."
"[Stormweaver·Wind Element] Second class change, officially begins!"