Despite his need to finish the trial quickly for the golden ticket, Arthur also wanted to level up along the way. That's why he consumed more mana to detect any nearby abnormalities. The Arculas managed to hide their lifeforce so Arthur had to dig up any abnormalities in the terrain.
After he calmed down, Arthur rubbed his cheek sourly. It didn't hurt at all. Despite the Arcula being troublesome, its strength was barely at the peak-mid-tier. However, it had slipped by his senses using the terrain and its camouflage ability.
Arthur started walking again, unbothered. As he neared a nearby tree's root, he punched downward using his fire runes and the tree's root broke with a scream. The Arcula tried to run away but Arthur grabbed its arm and pulled it upward before using his fire rune to burn it away.
Its screams resounded throughout the thick forest before it turned to light particles and disappeared. Arthur saw many of the shadows move and he smirked.
'They're scared.' Arthur bolted forward again without any hesitation. Along the way, he killed any Arculas that came his way. He reached the door easily but there was a giant ape in front of it.
"Gou…" The ape growled threateningly. Arthur found that it was wearing an armor made of stone. It wore giant gauntlets that shone with brilliant light. Giving a threatening howl, the ape punched its gauntlets and a shockwave pushed Arthur back.
'Runic artifacts?' Arthur watched with shock. 'This tower is generous.' However, he wasn't scared. With excitement rushing through him, he bolted forward as his feet created craters beneath them.
He was already a superhuman.
The ape met Arthur's fist with one of its own and the force of their collision made the trees bend. With a grunt, Arthur pushed the ape back using his Release rune. He then used his teleport and appeared behind the ape as he created a flaming spear and threw it at the ape's back.
The ape fell to the ground with a scream of pain and Arthur ignited the fire rune as it burned its body from within. The ape's body began turning ethereal and turned into light particles.
[You have leveled up.]
With a sigh, Arthur touched the door that leads to the third floor. Had he dared to venture here when he was only a neo-ranker, he would have died for sure. Luckily, he didn't overestimate himself and waited until he was a rei-ranker.
Arthur's body disappeared and reappeared back at the beginning of the tower.
"Time of completion: 31:41. You have ranked first again, Challenger." The tower's voice was almost affectionate, but Arthur ignored it. He grabbed the golden ticket the appeared in front of him. "Do you wish to use the same name?"
"Very well, we'll use that lame name again."
"I'm sorry?" Arthur frowned. "Did you call it lame?" However, the tower didn't answer his question. With displeasure, Arthur sat down to recover his mana.
As befitting of the resting place for the challengers, the tower's beginning ring boosted his mana recovery. Thus, he was able to replenish his mana at an astonishing rate.
His body teleported again after he touched the door. This time, he was underground with a single crystal on top to illuminate the surrounding.
"Welcome to the third floor, challenger."
"Now you can talk again?"
"Survive the incoming waves. The more you kill, the higher your ranking shall be. If you kill one hundred creatures, you can pass. To rank, you need to kill five hundred or more. The record is 3030." With that, the voice disappeared and left Arthur alone.
Buzzing sounds then reached his ears from somewhere. As he looked around, he saw mana openings in the walls around him. From those openings, hundreds of giant bees started coming out and attacking him.
'This floor is perfect to level up.' All of these bees were at least in the middle-mid-rank. Arthur threw his hand in an arc as flames danced in his palms. 'Let me show you the might of genuine runes.' With a clap of his hands, the flames covered his body fully.
'More.' Arthur commanded as he used the manablood to supply the rune. The rune obeyed as it began to shake and the flames grew larger. 'More.' Arthur threw his hands and the flames rolled like a raging wave as they began to dance around.
The bees came rushing his way as they sensed his presence. There were hundreds of them in the first wave alone but Arthur gleefully welcomed them as the flames began rotating around him like a tornado.
When the bees were close enough, Arthur clapped his hands again as he used more mana. The tornado raged and spread everywhere before the bees could react and they began falling, scorched, like rainfall.
Arthur watched as his experience rose. It was at 3% before, and now it began to soar. 4, 5… 10, 20… 30… When the first wave ended, Arthur was at 40% of this level. He had killed more than two hundred bees in this wave alone.
He ceased using his rune as he began using his art to replenish his mana. After a few minutes, the bees came back again.?This time, their numbers were almost three hundred. Arthur repeated his method as he burned them down. He thought he'd level up again, but he was still a few percentages away.
The wave ended and his kill count surpassed five hundred. He sat down to rest again until the third wave came. This time, it was the realm of rankers so this wave's numbers were almost double. The cave was filled with the sound of their flapping wings as they tried attacking Arthur again.
'Again, burn down!' Arthur's flames turned the cave into a hellish inferno as the bees fell one after the other. His level kept rising until he finally leveled up.
[You have leveled up.]
[Level 30 has been reached. Skills-tree has been unlocked.]
Arthur couldn't check what he had unlocked because the bees were growing more frequent and his flames needed his undivided attention to not let them escape. After the third wave came the fourth and then the fifth.
By the time Arthur exhausted all of his mana, he had killed more than 4000 bees. Not a single one managed to get close to him.
"I concede." His body was teleported the moment the words left his mouth. He reappeared in the ring at the beginning and Arthur sat down immediately to recover his mana.
"You have ranked first once again, Challenger." The tower spoke to him, almost in awe. "You've earned another golden ticket."
The ticket appeared in front of him and Arthur grabbed it. However, his biggest win from this wasn't the tickets, but his leveling up and the new function in the legacy.
'Jizo, what is the Skills-tree?' Arthur asked in his mind and words began appearing in front of him.
[Skills-tree: Skills can now be evolved through constant use. Once the highest form of the skill has been reached, the corresponding rune can be obtained.]
Arthur's eyes turned around at this. He had received a runes tree before, but it only allowed him to evolve his preexisting runes. This time, he was able to gain a rune as long as he trains his skills?
Skills couldn't evolve unless a new skill stone was used. That was an ironclad rule in this world. No matter how much you've used them, they wouldn't evolve.
The way you handle your mana can allow you to use your skills at a more efficient rate and the type of your mana essence would also allow you to do so, however, the skills general effect would still be the same.
Arthur opened his legacy to see what changed he had.
[Scholar Guardian's Legacy]
[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (54%), Useable Runes: 21]
[Skills: Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill (F – 53%), Poison Strike (F – 33%), Camouflage (F – 20%), Earth Manipulation (E – 30%), Bladeless Wind Slash (E – 96%), Shadow Swap (E – 98%), Monster Claws (D – 10%), Iron Skin (D – 7%), Goblin's Bond (Unique – 89%)]
[Arts: The Art of Creation – Part One]
Arthur's mind was filled with numbers as he tried to analyze each one of his skills. The highest was Shadow Swap and Bladeless Wind Slash, and that was expected. However, what was the way of increasing his proficiency? Can he sit at home and keep using the skills?
Arthur then began sending Wind Slashes across space. He wasn't trying to evolve it now, just to raise its proficiency. However, after fifty bladeless slashes, there was no increase in his proficiency.
'So, the legacy means 'use' as in a battle, huh?' Arthur grabbed his chin and realized a few hairs were coming out; he needed to shave. 'If that's the case, this would be reasonable.'
To Arthur's disappointment, he couldn't train in the fortress until he gets the runes for all of his skills.
'The next question is this: what did the legacy mean by the highest form? Does it mean that some skills can evolve further? Are their evolution infinite?'
The latest upgrade to his legacy had given him a new path to undertake, but more work to do. He needed to start buying skills from the market and they weren't cheap. Furthermore, he'd have to train them to get the runes they came from.
Despite seeming extremely useful at first glance, Arthur knew he could only make use of it as a side revenue of runes. After all, in an actual battle, he'd use his runes to emerge victoriously. There were certain cases that he needed skills for, but they weren't many.
That's why skills would be a way he can get runes from in the long run. It was tiring and not instantaneous, but it would be a great boost to his strength.