The second test subject, contrary to Eric’s fears, hadn’t been anywhere near as deadly as the first one he encountered. If he were to verbalize the difference between the two, he could do it with ease.

  “The first was a stealth character and this fucker’s a brawler,” he whispered.

  After an hour of searching through the warehouse he had actually noticed that they were arranged by body parts. The only parts that weren’t where they were supposed to be were those that that were in the racks that had been part of the fight. But after Eric noticed the arrangement, he moved through the racks at a quicker pace than before, finishing only an hour or two later.

  On his way to the target, he began to read The Bladesong Chronicles, one of the books that Ta’ir had tasked Ondal with delivering because he was too busy with the library in order to deliver them himself.

  Like its name suggested, it was a book about a specific sword style that was all about composition. Every stance, movement and swing, was reduced to a musical note, but not to the musical notes he was familiar with. Whoever wrote this book, or developed the fighting style, used words to signify music.

  It had taken Eric most of his journey toward the target to finally grasp what each “note” was and what they meant. A simple example was even included, but Eric still struggled to truly grasp it.

  There was an actual musical note that he recognized, and when he touched it a short guitar strum was heard and beside were some words: “The wings,” then there was another musical note that played another strum with one word beside it: “take.”

  “The wings take?” Eric said with both visible and audible confusion. “What does that even mean. No, before that, how did you even get that from a two second strum of a guitar?” Eric stopped in place, shaking his head. “Fuck this multicultural bullshit.”

  Before the book really began there was a note saying that this book was written by a species that could not talk. It was only when they discovered music that their minds expanded, even allowing them to develop a language.

  It was only when Eric finally grasped that he was translating a language and not actual music, that he began to make sense of things. That being said, he ignored most of the musical stuff and stuck to memorizing the movements and literal translations.

  “I’ll probably only need to know the language if I decide to really dig into this,” he said to himself, sure of his words. “Probably when cultivation becomes more abstract and all that. But I still have some way to go before I reach that point… I think.”

  During whatever remained of his journey Eric did his best to truly understand what he was reading. How each swing was performed and its respective name, or note, for that matter.

  “‘The wings take’ turns into ‘The air that glides,’ ending in ‘Rising dust,’” Eric muttered, remembering the correct order of movements. “Stance, swing, strike. Stance, swing, strike. I always thought that the swing and the strike were the same somehow.”

  Putting the book away, Eric began to mimic part of the movements, repeating them nonstop even when he entered the landfill. He only stopped to make sure that he was in the right place, and he quickly made sure that he was.

  He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he had forgotten what happened in the warehouse, where he was quickly discovered and skewered two times.

  By the time he remembered that he was in enemy territory, he quickly stopped everything that he was doing and lowered himself to the ground.

  He stopped as his chin scraped the dirt, frowning. “The fuck is this going to do?” he whispered to himself, standing up again.

  When he stood, he patted his clothes a bit; he hadn’t changed since he knew he was going toward another battle, and he didn’t want to ruin more clothes.

  When he was done, he brought a sword out from his storage. It was a katana, one of the weapons that Ondal had handed to him. The design was simple and nothing about it really stood out, it was missing a scabbard though. Or maybe I lost it.

  Now that he was more aware of his situation, he began to advance with far more caution than he had before. The deeper he made it into the landfill, the more a specific sound became more prevalent.

  “It sounds like something heavy is hitting metal,” he said to himself.

  Taking a few more steps he saw the metal that was being hit, a large dump truck. It was a dark gray and somewhat futuristic, but it was just as big as those from Earth, if not bigger. With a few more steps he also saw what was hitting it.

  Standing beside the truck, slightly swaying back and forth, was an almost cartoonishly giant person.

  Their proportions, just like with the previous test subject, were also off, but here it only served to add to the cartoonish feel. Their torso, chest and arms were large, the modifications being evident since there was nothing natural about them.

  Observing some more. Eric was able to see the giant subject actually use its arms to hold itself steady. Kind of reminds me of a gorilla, he told himself. Now that he had been looking at the target for some time, he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t like the previous target.

  “‘The wings take’ turns into ‘The air that glides,’ ending in ‘Rising dust.’ ’The wings take’ turns into ‘The air that glides,’ ending in ‘Rising dust.’”

  Holding the sword steady, he recited the movements over and over in his head. There was some caution in his advance since he didn’t actually know what his opponent was capable of and he hadn’t actually practiced the movements, only mimed them.

  With every step that he took, his senses heightened even more, not wanting to miss anything that could put his seriously injure him. When he stood a few steps behind his swaying target, all his hair was standing on end, and cold sweat dripped down his back.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  First, he tightened his grip on the sword, resting the blade vertically against his open palm to his side, mimicking a scabbard.

  The wings take.

  His eyes settled on a specific part of the giant’s arm, right where it connected with the shoulder. Twisting the blade slightly to turn it vertical, he unleashed a completely vertical swing.

  The air that glides.

  Knowing that the metal was harder than he expected, he prepared, mana circling through his body and being projected toward the sword. When the sword was only a few centimeters away, it was completely enveloped by mana.

  For a fraction of a second, barely enough time for Eric to even notice the difference, everything was just as it was supposed to be. Somehow, even though the conditions weren’t the best, the strike was exactly what it was always meant to be. He could feel something within him instinctively trying to reach out, but ultimately failing to even start searching for connection.

  Then, the sword made contact, dispelling every other thought and bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.

  Rising dust.

  The sword strike was beyond what he expected, it didn’t stop where he had wanted, it went deeper. His aim was only to reduce some of the capabilities of its arm, reducing the threat, and he got what he wanted.

  Suddenly, the giant’s entire robotic right arm began to spark, release pressure and to crumble slightly. Whatever Eric had severed caused enough problems for the giant to have difficulty staying upright, its right arm collapsing somewhat.

  But the giant wasn’t dumb, it immediately shifted all its weight toward its left arm and with a powerful pivot, swung its malfunctioning arm toward Eric.

  Eric had already retrieved the sword and created more than enough distance, or so he thought.

  The giant was able to open one of its robotic fingers, one that was as big as Eric’s head.

  Being caught by surprise, Eric couldn’t even dodge as he was sent backward by a couple steps. Before he was even able to steady himself, the giant’s left fist was already hurling in his direction.

  Eric was barely able to lift his arms up to his chest, but not actually defend, immediately feeling how every bone in both his arms, his chest and back, all broke under the impact. Then he was sent flying backward into a pile of trash.

  Once more he felt that burning sensation within him that came every time he was recovering.

  Eric had no idea what was happening, his vision obscured under all the trash, before he knew it, he felt another impact against his entire body, driving him deeper into the junk pile.

  He now felt that the bloodline assimilation was working overtime, slowing or even stopping the healing of some areas to prioritize others. Two strikes were all that was needed for him to be completely incapacitated.

  I fucking knew it, he told himself. Everything was way too easy. From the fact that I survived the first test subject, to how complete that sword attack felt. I got careless and now I’m here, being beaten to what could be a literal pulp. Let’s just hope he leaves me with enough to—

  This wasn’t a fight like those in the stories he read. Whatever advancement he had made during the previous floors meant nothing when faced with a trial of this magnitude.

  Eric had more or less pieced together what the Tower of Revelation was, he had read about similar scenarios in many of the stories he used to like.

  In each of those stories, the main characters had to prepare before entering their respective towers. When he thought back to what he saw on the first floor, this idea that the tower was a place that required preparation was further cemented. Many challengers were fighting against a giant enemy while they had restrictions imposed on themselves.

  Eric knew that he was nowhere near any of the other challengers’ level, and he was now facing the consequences of being so outclassed. This wasn’t a fight, this was a beatdown and he was a mere victim that couldn’t put up any semblance of a fight.

  Suddenly Eric began to feel something burning deep, deep within him, as if something was being seared into his very being. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. A pain so intense that he felt that his very soul was being burned, leaving nothing but cinders.

  At some point, amidst all the strikes that the giant was delivering, Eric had been exposed, so the giant could see him in his entirety. There was no conflict in his eyes, what it was doing brought no trouble to them, and yet, it suddenly stopped, backing away.

  Eric began to cough up blood, and his body was engulfed in all sorts of pain. There was more than enough reason to be in pain, but it somehow felt different. There wasn’t a single source for the pain as cuts, bites, bruises, broken bones, and a myriad of other injuries began to overtake him. It wasn’t like they were caused by the cyborg giant, no, they literally appeared out of nowhere, even after the giant stopped attacking.

  Some of the injuries were familiar to Eric, they were recent enough for him to remember them. The two stab wounds he had gotten during his fight with the first test subject, on his arm, to his side, and his abdomen. Then there was the gaping hole in his chest that the lizardman made, as was the missing part of his neck that was frozen and crumbled to dust.

  “What… the… fuck…?” Eric managed to say through gritted teeth.

  It was as if every injury he had ever had across his entire lifetime had resurfaced, regardless of how small or big they were. Amidst the sea of pain Eric remembered something, Muscle growth is also a series of small injuries. On cue, every single muscle fiber in his body began to tear open.

  The pain was so agonizing, that to Eric, it felt like hours had passed, when in reality, only a few seconds had. Fighting to keep himself conscious, either out of sheer determination or because he didn’t know what else to do, his eyes began to roll toward the back of his head. However, just as he was about to give up, a window appeared before him.

  Bloodline assimilation increased!

  ????????????????: 100%

  Bloodline acquired!

  Eternal Fountain.

  Immediately, he began to feel all the injuries that had suddenly appeared begin to close and heal, as if they had never been there to begin with. But even if Eric had resisted up until this point, he could no longer continue and allowed unconsciousness to take him completely.

  ----------

  The giant cyborg staggered backwards, stunned by the scene that suddenly developed before them. Unsure of what to do, it only stood there, observing the changes that happened to the human before it.

  Wounds that they had hadn’t caused appeared without explanation. Blood poured like fountain. For a moment, their attacker was submerged in a sea of their own blood, most of their body obscured.

  Seconds passed and when it seemed that whatever was happening was nearing its end, the giant began to walk toward his target once more, already having forgotten the scene from only a moment ago, ready to kill.

  But just as the giant took its first step forward, its right arm was completely detached. With its addled mind, it was sure that it was because of the damage the human had done earlier, so it adjusted itself, putting more weight on its left side and continued.

  Another step forward and this time it was one of its legs that gave out. It was sure that it heard some noise from behind it, but it couldn’t turn around, and why would it, this was probably that human’s fault.

  Just as it added weight to its left arm, ready to advance, its entire arm was cut into three pieces, causing it to fall forward. Panic began to set into its mind, something that it had only experienced once before, when it saw mother for the last time.

  As the panic and fear fully set into the giant’s mind, it released a guttural scream. With it, it conveyed everything it was feeling, the fear, the doubt and more than anything, longing. Suddenly, the scream died out as an axe descended on its completely robotic neck.

  “Does that count for us?” one voice said, rough and mean.

  “Oddly enough, yes, it does,” another similar voice answered.

  “Forget about the quest, search him,” a third voice said. “I can see a ring on his finger, maybe he has in—You know what, bring him. He might have more storage items, and I don’t want to search him while in literal trash.”

  “What about the giant?”

  “Bring it too, there might be a hidden quest and the points couldn’t hurt.”