Chapter 410
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Chapter 410 – Exit Interview
White room, bland and featureless. Reminiscent of the original room he'd appeared in, before the testing began. Except, he wasn't tested anymore - that was the entire Tower. Now, it was time for him to get his grade.
Or, well, rewards.
Arthur breathed in, making sure he could draw as much of the Tower Energy as he could into his stores. He wasn't as worried about Refined Energy, but making sure he was fully topped up before he left was the smart thing to do. Once he left, there was no more Tower Energy and he'd be slowly losing it, dying a bit each day and needing the monster cores to top him up until he entered a new Tower.
Cultivation Speed: 2.943 Yin
Energy Pool: 30/30 (Yin) + (7/7)
Refinement Speed: 0.1614
Refined Energy: 0.08 (40) +(0/3)
Attributes and Traits
Mind: 15 (Multi-Tasking, Quick Learner, Perfect Recall)
Body: 25 (Enhanced Eyesight, Yin Body, Swiftness, Fast Twitch Faster, Lightning Reflexes, Explosive Strength)
Spirit: 15 (Sticky Energy, From the Dregs, Strengthened Aura)
Techniques
Night Emperor Cultivation Technique (87% compatibility)
Focused Strike (114%)
Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVc) (0.4%)
Heavenly Sage’s Mischief (148%)
Refined Exploding Energy Dart (162%)
Steel Skin (108.5%)
Seven Cloud Stepping Technique (227.8%)
Pocket Simpanan Tua (173.7%) (Refined Exploding Energy Dart 99% Integrity)
Imbued Strike - Yin Poison (104.4%)
Yin Aura (Level 1) (133.3%)
Yin-Yang Energy Exchange (100.2%)
Partial Techniques
Simultaneous Flow (245.4%)
Yin Poison Darts (52.6%)
Shadow Sense (88.7%)
He stared at the large floating status screen before him, taking one part of the empty room, just floating there with a slight grey shaded background so that he could differentiate it against the white room. Next to it, were other details about himself and his clan.
The Benevolent Durians Clan Status
Organizational Ranking: 157,888
Number of Towers Occupied: 1
Number of Clan Buildings: 6
Number of Clan Members: 587
Overall Credit Rating: E
Aspect: Guardianship
Sigil: The Flame Phoenix
That was a rather nice bump up, really, for the number of clan members and their organisation ranking. Just as interesting, the credit rating had gone up, which was an overall indicator of how much funds the Tower would lend him if he went into another location and tried to buy new buildings. It didn't matter in the first Tower, but once he started entering other Towers and started acquiring out Clan buildings there, without his deal with the Chin's; it'd become significantly more important.
Aspect: Guardianship
● Minor increase in effectiveness of protective, healing and shielding cultivation techniques.
● Trivial increase in effectiveness of precision, speed and bonding cultivation techniques.
● Variable increase in cultivation and refinement speed dependent upon the number of Clan members within close proximity.
● Tower quest types have been expanded.
Reading the last notice, Arthur bit his lip. He wondered, if perhaps that was the reason for the strange tenth floor quest. It certainly had been significantly different from the usual. If so, what he thought was an overall bonus might be a double-edged sword. After all, his knowledge of what might happen was one of his advantages.
Sigil: The Flame Phoenix
Sigil Bonus (Clan Head): Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IVc)
Sigil Bonus (Clan): Cultivation Exercise – Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade Ib)
Sigil Bonus (Clan) - Enhanced Magnetoreception and Equilibrioception
He still wasn’t sure what the new sigil bonus did, other than give him a slight sense of where everything was and a greater sense of balance. Arthur had noticed some of those effects whilst jumping around on his Cloud Step, a greater surety of his location and place in the world, but beyond that… nothing.
Of note, the increase in his own Accelerated Healing had not transferred to his Clan, unlike previous times. He wasn’t certain why, as yet; but he hoped there was a reason. Or a method to push it onward, because the most recent upgrade was significant.
“Well, that’s me. Not a lot to look at, see.”
As though having waited for him to finish reading, the Tower pushed the information to the sides, a new notification displaying itself before him.
Tower Run Duration: 11 months, 28 days and 13 hours.
Speed Rank: 483rd
Calculating Rewards
Top five hundred.
Arthur debated how he felt about that. Top hundred was what they all wanted, that was what Casey had aimed for. She had a few months on him, what with having entered after him and his rather long-slog in the first floor and then his delay, again, here.
He hoped she had done okay.
Eleven months. Nearly a year, really. A lot of things could have changed in this time, a lot of information about him and the Clan and what they wanted from him. Exiting would be a brand new challenge, one he was still not certain he was ready to face.
So, instead, he pulled up the next line as the rewards came in.
Rewards: Choice between increase in cultivation base, proportionate level of gear or a new cultivation technique
Arthur stared at the information, spinning the options through his mind. Cultivation techniques, while tempting, was of less use to him since he had the Night Emperor technique. While not the best technique out there, it was still a 2-star technique which, historically, was about the best the majority of Climbers could expect to acquire. Since he wasn't in the top 100 where the real rewards increased, he doubted he would get anything useful himself.
With his Yin Body, it was even worse, of course. It wasn't as though he could acquire the technique and then pass it on to his Clan, since it would not work for the majority. So that was right out.
New gear was useful. He desperately needed more gear - whether it was new armour, better boots or gloves or accessories, there were a lot of things that could be upgraded. Of course, it could also try to give him something he already had - like more weapons. Which was the downside of choosing gear, though sometimes there were mentions that you could choose, though he recalled that was among the more efficient Climbers.
He just couldn't remember exactly where the cut-off was. It wasn'ta s though he ever expected to be part of that group. Hadn't even been his plan...
More importantly, instinctively, he leaned towards the increase in his cultivation base. What that usually meant was an increase in his base stats. It was indicated to be an overall increase in attributes rather than a directed one, a quick rush of power that bolstered the body.
One of the major reasons he leaned towards it was because of how fast he had risen. Most Climbers - a good 80% - who made it this far were at their Second Transformation. Arthur was still a decent way there, but he wasn't. Which would make him one of the weakest individuals - at least by attributes - to exit the Tower.
That was, of course, the trade-off. His techniques were good, and he'd saved a lot of time by using and having his own Clan base with its greater concentration of Tower energy, allowing them to climb faster. But at the same time, it was still a massive rush to get Casey up here for her top 100 spot.
For him....
Well, maybe getting an increase now to his attributes would save him the one thing he desperately needed. A savings in time.
"Attributes, please."
The Tower notification flickered, disappeared.
Moments later, he felt Tower energy pour into him. Except this time, it was more directed. Arthur dropped to his knees and sat on his ankles, breathing deeply as he cycled the energy through him, letting it pour through his meridians into his body, trying his darndest to keep it running and ensure that it was properly utilized.
For if the energy poured in and wasn't properly contained and run through, the overflowing energy escaped back into the Tower. Rather than let that happen, he churned his cultivation and poured energy into his body and mind and soul, feeling it soaking in, strengthening him with each moment. Guiding the refined energy where it needed to go, even if it was happening at a faster rate than ever.
Until, after uncountable minutes, sweat running down his body, his breathing like the bellows, the energy stopped.
Leaving him changed, once again.