After writing that message on the board, Mike didn’t concern himself with the potential repercussions and continued on his way. Along the journey, he consciously collected pure water.
Besides the giant lizard, Mike also encountered a dying miner, half of whose body was crushed under a huge rock, his legs shattered with only a small portion sticking out. The Eye of Truth informed Mike that the environment was protected by the rules of truth, making it impossible to use magic to free the miner.
The miner begged Mike for some pure water. Mike gave him a small amount, which the miner drank eagerly as if it were a treasure.
“Are you looking for Morgana’s husband?” the miner sighed. “It’s not his fault, really. He didn’t need to do this for everyone; it’s too dangerous.”
Huh?
Mike narrowed his eyes slightly; this didn’t quite match the story he had heard. According to Morgana, her husband had ventured deep into the tunnel to mine and earn money for her medication. But when Mike entered the tunnel, the Eye of Truth clearly indicated [this is a long-abandoned tunnel]!
Mining in an abandoned mine was odd enough, but from the miner’s implication, it seemed they were not mining but fleeing! There must be more to this story, possibly involving Morgana herself!
The crying woman hidden behind the rocks.
Finally, the miner shared a valuable piece of information with Mike. “Our companions are just ahead. I got trapped here, so I told them to go on without me. They said they would leave marks as they moved forward: a triangle means safe, a circle means unknown, and a cross means extreme danger! They left not long ago; if you can find them, they might be able to help you.”
After parting with the miner, Mike continued forward and soon reached the nineteenth square.
[Caution: Giant pythons spotted ahead, stay alert!]
“Having walked so long, I finally encounter another boss,” Mike noted, glancing at the time.
Compared to others, Mike’s progress was nothing short of miraculous! If it weren’t for his desire to collect more clues and uncover the true story, he could have progressed twice as fast.
12:21.
He had been in the Tower of Truth for 21 minutes, with a current Exploration Rate of 18%. Compared to others, Mike’s progress was nothing short of miraculous! If it weren’t for his desire to collect more clues and uncover the true story, he could have progressed twice as fast.
“Giant python, petrification… feels like it’s tied to some mythological story. Medusa, perhaps?”
Mike didn’t ponder long; his Charge Up was always at maximum readiness. He charged into the next square.
“Thunderclap Strike!”
The Giant python barely had a chance to show itself before it was struck by a bolt of red lightning, turning instantly to ash.
“Killed Mine Python (Lv.18), gained +20 experience points.”
Mike couldn’t help but complain, “That’s a bit stingy, isn’t it?”
The Tower of Truth’s experience system was flexible and intelligent. Killing monsters of the same level granted 100% experience. Over-level kills provided extra experience. Thus, at level 26, killing an 18-level boss only yielded 20 experience points. This experience mechanism prevented participants from leveling up in lower floors. As they progressed, the monsters’ strength grew exponentially, making leveling increasingly difficult. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
“No wonder when all humans received buffs, everyone rushed into the Tower of Truth. The logic is simple: use powerful buffs to farm monsters, quickly level up, and surpass the threshold.”
Mike kicked at the dust on the ground, finding nothing, and sighed, “What a poor boss, not even leaving scraps!”
A prompt appeared from the ashes:
[The most valuable part of the python was its skin, which, as you can see, is now ash.]
“Give me a heads up next time; we can’t waste resources like this, snake skin is money too!”
Saying this, Mike stepped forward to the next square.
The twentieth square, and the familiar message board appeared again. Mike eagerly opened it, curious to see what the predecessors were bragging about this time.
[Morpheus: Killed the boss in 3 seconds, beat that!]
He didn’t just leave a message; he also attached a clearance certification.
“Morpheus killed the Mine Python in 3.98 seconds.”
This guy is shameless!
Mike couldn’t help but retort, “That’s nearly 4 seconds, not 3!”
Continuing to scroll, a familiar name appeared again:
[Ares: How can someone not manage to kill the boss in 1.48 seconds?]
Good grief, straight to the point with the sarcasm!
Mike admired Ares’s audacity. According to historical records, [Morpheus] was the first human supreme being. Many of the initial instances and levels were pioneered by Morpheus, who set many records. Ares, a later rising supreme being, often broke these records. Not only that, but Ares would also occasionally mock Morpheus!
Knowing that in the era before Ares rose to prominence, Morpheus had already achieved supreme being status. In other words, even when Ares was still weak, he could joke with Morpheus.
“That means supreme beings are pretty broad-minded,” Mike thought to himself. “I wonder if they’d get mad if I posted my score?”
Looking at their times, Mike hesitated for a moment.
Morpheus, 3.98 seconds.
Ares, 1.48 seconds.
Thor, 0.01 seconds…
That last number seemed almost unreal. 0.01 seconds is a record that might never be beaten. After much deliberation, Mike decided to post it anyway. Not to show off, but just to fit in.
Message Board:
[Thor: Not my best day, will do better next time! Attached·Clearance Certification (0.01 seconds to kill the Mine Python)]
After posting the message, Mike moved forward again.
Ha! Post and dash, what a thrill!
And his message once again shook the world. Every forum and social platform buzzed with discussions about Thor.
“Thor has broken through the 20th square of the Tower of Truth’s third floor!”
“How could he be so fast, it’s only been a short time since the 10th square!”
“Let’s see what Thor said, how long did it take him to kill the boss?”
The Mine Python boss had always been a speed challenge. For ordinary participants, just killing the Mine Python was tough enough, many died repeatedly without success. But for the talented, killing the boss was easy; they cared more about the time. The faster, the stronger and more promising they were considered.
Typically, an A-grade talent killing the boss within 3 minutes was considered excellent for their tier. S-grade talents had a 1-minute limit, and SS-grade talents, 30 seconds. Maxen Stoneheart, who killed the Mine Python in just 21.6 seconds, had drawn global attention!
As for SSS-grade talents… that was a realm beyond ordinary understanding. Even the worst record among them, held by Morpheus, was only 3.98 seconds to kill the boss.
However, a commonly accepted view was:
[Ares’s record of 1.48 seconds should be the limit for SSS-grade talent!]
Among the three supreme beings, Ares might not have been the strongest, but he was definitely the most lethal! His rise was meteoric, far surpassing the other two supreme beings, displaying overwhelming power, breaking records as easily as eating and drinking!
1.48 seconds, it was hard to imagine who could break Ares’s record. If someone did, it would truly be a miracle. And miracles are called so because they happen against all odds!
When Thor’s record was announced, the entire human world was like a pot of hot oil into which a spoonful of cold water had been thrown.
The world boiled over!
0.01s!
A true miracle had happened!
Today! Right here, right now!
At the top of every leaderboard, a new entry appeared:
[Ares, the record of you has been broken!]
The number 0.01 seconds was enough to drive everyone crazy!
Thor’s glory, even stepping on the shoulders of Ares, just as Ares had once stepped on Morpheus’s!