After resting for a few hours, Kyle took out the skill cores he picked from the 9th floor and absorbed them.
The knowledge of the skills entered his mind within a few seconds. After learning the skills, he gazed at Alec and Jian.
Jian had given up on trying to read the books present inside the room while Alec was still trying.
With a sigh, Kyle closed his eyes once again to sleep.
…
On the other hand, on the second floor.
A golden-haired youth was standing on top of a large cliff while holding a spear. He looked down from the cliff with his deep black eyes. The youth was Carcel.
A beautiful blue-haired girl was standing beside him. Her long hair was cascading down on her thin waist as she looked below the cliff with a serious expression. It was Mia.
After leaving the first floor again, both of them met up on the second floor a few weeks ago and started moving together.
Some more humans were standing behind the duo. They were all holding their weapons. Among them, Blaine the second-year senior from Royal Academy was also present.
Blaine approached Mia and Carcel and looked below the cliff with a sigh.
“Are you sure we can defeat it?”
Carcel looked at Blaine and nodded.
“I think we can if we all work together.”
Mia also gazed at Blaine and nodded. Below the cliff a lot of large green trees were present. Among the various green trees, one tree was emitting a chilling aura. More than 10 blue-colored fruits were hanging around the cold tree branches.
After finding the tree they wanted to obtain the fruits but a (C+)-Rank ice lizard was sitting in front of the tree. The lizard was 7-8 meters large and its body was completely covered with ice scales.
Carcel broke through to (D)-Rank a week ago while Mia was (D-)-Rank, both of them were the strongest among the team.
Only a week was left before the Tower sent them all out so their team was crazily looking for treasures to make the most out of the remaining time.
Carcel looked back at all the team members and asked them to get ready because they were going to attack the ice lizard after a few minutes.
Unbeknownst to Carcel another team was looking at the same tree from the opposite side. There were only three people on that team.
Two elves and one human. They have been moving together for a while now and discovered the fruit tree at the same time as Carcel’s team.
The human yellow eyes sparkled as he gazed at the tree from behind some bushes but when he saw the ice lizard his expression turned ugly.
He sighed while ruffling his brown hair. One of the green-haired elves sitting beside the brown-haired human looked at him with a frown.
“Nine, I don’t think we can defeat it. The two of us are only (E+)-Rank, while you just broke through to (D-)-Rank yesterday. There’s no way we can defeat a (C+)-Rank ice lizard!”
Nine looked back at the green-haired elf with a serious expression.
“Rowan, are we just going to leave so many precious fruits behind? Even if we only got half of the fruits, they will be enough for all of us to break through to the next rank!”
He whispered slowly while looking at the green-haired elf. Nine had been quite lucky after returning from the 6th floor and found a few treasures. That’s why after arriving at the second floor again with the help of a white stairway, he broke through to (D-)-Rank easily.
Well, mostly he was chased around by a lot of monsters but for him, the process didn’t matter only the result mattered!
With a sigh, Rowan looked at the other black-haired elf sitting behind him. The other elf was a girl. They met up with Nine a week ago and knew he was quite reckless.
Usually, people from different races don’t interact with each other much but because Nine helped them, they were willing to form a team with him.
The black-haired girl gazed at Nine softly.
“So what do you think we should do? It’s not like we can fight the ice lizard head-on.”
Nine gazed at the girl and blinked his eyes. After looking at her, he hesitated for a moment because she was the weakest. He didn’t want anything to happen to anyone.
“Elli…”
He was going to say something when he heard loud sounds of movements behind the bushes.
Nine immediately turned around and his eyes narrowed.
“What’s happening?”
Under his gaze, more than 5 humans suddenly rushed down from a nearby cliff. They directly attacked the ice lizard.
His eyes widened when he saw the golden-haired youth leading the group of humans.
“Carcel?”
Nine whispered under his breath and his eyes lit up. Elli looked at Nine and questioned.
“Do you know them?”
“Of course I do! The one leading the group is my classmate.”
Nine spoke and stood up.
“Rowan, Elli let’s go help them so we can get a share from the fruits.”
Elli looked at Nine.
“Are you sure if we helped them they will give us a share?”
Nine gazed at Elli and started walking toward where Carcel and his team were fighting with the ice lizard.
“Don’t worry I know them personally. We need to help or else we won’t get anything.”
Elli and Rowan looked at each other. They were hesitant because they were elves and all the other people were humans but when Elli looked at Nine back she stood up and started following behind him.
With a sigh, Rowan also followed behind Nine.
At the same time, Carcel and Mia who were fighting with the ice lizard also noticed the movement coming from their left.
“Who is it?”
Carcel shouted and looked at the three individuals who just come out from the bushes.
Nine laughed while running toward the ice lizard with his sword. He shouted in a teasing voice.
“It’s me! I wanted to steal the fruits but after seeing your innocent face I decided to help.”
Carcel was stunned for a moment but when he looked at the brown-haired boy who was laughing nonstop he smiled.
The other humans fighting with Carcel wanted to attack the sudden arrivals but Carcel hurriedly gestured for them to stop.
“Don’t worry I know him.”
Nine rushed toward Carcel and attacked the lizard together with him.
Some of Carcel’s team members were not happy because they had to share the reward with three more people but after seeing Nine (D-)-Rank strength they didn’t say anything.
With Nine helped the burden on Carcel lessened. Also, because so many people fought together with the ice lizard within five minutes they killed the lizard.
The most damage was given by Carcel, Nine, and Mia but after the lizard was dead they divided the fruits evenly.
After they were done, Carcel looked at Nine.
“So are you going to follow us or not?”
Some people from his team were dissatisfied at his suggestion but because Carcel was the strongest they didn’t voice their opinions.
Nine gazed at Carcel and his team but shook his head before pointing at Elli and Rowan.
“I already have companions.”
Carcel looked at the two elves who were quietly standing behind Nine.
“Okay. Only one week is left before we leave the Tower just make sure not to die.”
He said and left the place with Mia and his other team members.
Nine chuckled and shouted at Carcel who was already a few meters away.
“Don’t worry about me, I am very thick-skinned. I didn’t suffer even after stealing a skill core under the nose of 5 (C+)-Rank monsters how will I die now?”
The humans following behind Carcel were shocked when they heard Nine words. They looked back at Nine. Unlike before, now their eyes showed admiration for him. Even Carcel was stunned for a while but then he shook his head with a sigh because he knew Nine very well.
‘He is bragging!’
Elli who was standing behind Nine giggled when she saw him boasting. She was with him when he stole the skill core from the monsters but the monsters were not (C+)-Rank. They were all (E+)-Rank!
After Carcel left, Nine and his team also left in the opposite direction.