What was happening in the private space was temporarily unknown to Mike. Having sent Rolling away, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
Mike now felt like a collector in a game, wanting to gather everything he saw.
“Exploration Rate maxed?”
By purifying the River Styx and completing Rolling’s destiny, this floor was naturally conquered.
“Settlement!”
Placing his hand on the core crystal of truth, Mike began the instance rating settlement.
The familiar global announcement echoed in the ears of the humans within the Tower of Truth.
“Congratulations to participant [Thor] for achieving SSSS-level rating conquest on floors twenty-three to twenty-six!”
“Congratulations to participant Thor for achieving SSSS-level rating on floors twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six, rewarding all humans within the Tower of Truth with the buff [Purifier of the River Styx]!”
“Limited-time buff [Overall Enhancement]: All attributes of humans within the Tower of Truth +45%, limited to 24 hours!”
“Limited-time buff [Robust Physique]: Humans within the Tower of Truth will not enter a weakened state after death and returning to the Core City of Truth, limited to 24 hours.”
“Limited-time buff [Experience Boost]: Humans within the Tower of Truth gain +20% experience, limited to 12 hours!”
“Limited-time buff [Maze Master]: Humans within the Tower of Truth will automatically receive a partial map before entering a maze, limited to 3 uses!”
“Permanent buff [Purifier of the River Styx]: Humans within the Tower of Truth deal an additional 30% damage to creatures within the River Styx!”
Clearing four floors with SSSS-level ratings in one go, the rewards were exceptionally generous!
Buffs like [Overall Enhancement] and [Robust Physique] were familiar faces, no need to elaborate.
24 hours was enough for everyone to use for four days.
If used sparingly, it could last six days!
Once Calderon’s plan was set in motion, Mike would definitely head to the abyss. Before setting off, he made sure to stack these buffs for everyone to avoid delaying their progress.
As a potential Supreme Being, Mike always considered rewards and buffs thoroughly. Among the rewards, [Maze Master] and [Purifier of the River Styx] were particularly notable. The former had only three uses and wasn’t very useful to Mike, but the latter, as a permanent damage boost buff, significantly increased Mike’s output against River Styx creatures.
After settling the rewards, a flash of lightning transported Mike back to the Core City of Truth. Before Mike could check his personal rewards, a new prompt appeared.
[Ready to view the information on the 95th floor of the Tower of Truth?!]
Clearly, the Eye of Truth had become even more powerful after the second awakening. “View!”
Mike couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. What had Shadow Nine been hiding from him?
[The 95th floor, battling against one’s own talent…]
The initial lines were a bunch of fluff, identical to what Apollo had told Mike before.
Mike’s gaze suddenly stopped, fixating on a line of text:
[…During the battle, the talent will transform into all things…]
Transform into all things?
Mike’s heart skipped a beat, a bad thought crossing his mind,
“Does that mean the talent could… transform into a human?”
[There is a probability]
Like a bolt from the blue, Mike stood frozen, his face showing unmistakable shock.
Little Nine, young and innocent like a child…
Calderon’s talent was called [Near-Death Power Up]…
Calderon had asked Shadow Nine to take care of Little Nine after his death…
All the clues pieced together in Mike’s mind, forming a clear picture, illuminating the truth hidden in the mist:
Little Nine wasn’t Calderon’s true body, nor was he a false body!
Little Nine’s true identity was Calderon’s talent [Near-Death Power Up]!
Back then on the 95th floor, Calderon had deliberately driven himself mad! Paying the price of severe injury and near-death, with Apollo’s help, Calderon had successfully brought Little Nine out of the Tower of Truth!
This was part of his plan!
Because Shadow Nine was familiar with Calderon’s character and knew the content of the 95th floor,
The moment Shadow Nine saw Little Nine, he saw through his true identity!
Seeing the truth, Mike fell silent, speechless for a long time.
After a while, Mike took a deep breath and muttered to himself,
“What a madman.”
Through the Eye of Truth’s introduction to the 95th floor, Mike gained more insight into
Calderon.
[After the talent detaches, one can enjoy all the talent’s bonuses but cannot activate its special effects]
Enjoying the talent’s bonuses meant Calderon’s combat power wouldn’t be significantly affected.
The 95th floor of the Tower of Truth required challengers to battle against their own talent.
It would grant challengers a status boost, and Calderon had used this boost to split his body into nine, with eight false and one true.
As the false bodies died one after another, Calderon’s true body would grow stronger!
Without his talent, but he would gain an extremely brief and overwhelming power,
potentially surpassing level 1000!
Calderon had only one chance to strike.
He aimed to kill a god.
The Archdemon!
Mike was almost certain that Calderon’s ultimate target was the Archdemon.
Calderon had schemed for so many years, abandoning his talent, nearly cutting off all his retreats, risking everything. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
The target he aimed to kill could only be one of the Archdemon or the Supreme Demon God!
The Supreme Demon God… even if Calderon reached level 1000, he probably couldn’t win.
That left only the Archdemon.
From what Mike knew about Calderon,
He was notorious for ‘bullying the weak and fearing the strong.’
Since he had bet so much, he would choose a safe target.
Kill the ones he could first, then consider the rest.
Having roughly understood Calderon’s plan, Mike still had a few uncertainties.
“Even so, what does Shadow Nine hope to achieve by leveraging Calderon’s plan?”
“Let’s set that aside for now and focus on how to win the third match against Calderon.”
The most important task before Mike was to win the third match!
If he lost the third match, Calderon would undoubtedly leave him severely injured.
At that point, Shadow Nine would definitely not step in to heal Mike.
Mike, dragging a severely injured body, would be completely incapacitated.
By the time he recovered, Calderon and Shadow Nine’s plans would already be completed!
Thinking of this, Mike couldn’t help but curse, “These old fools, can’t they wait for me to become a Supreme Being and just strike down the Supreme Demon God with a lightning bolt? Why so impulsive? Can’t they be more cautious?”
Mike was furious, “How can I defeat the Supreme Demon God with these old men around!”
Anger aside, he still had to deal with the situation.
Mike casually opened the Tower of Truth’s prompt.
Clearing four floors with SSSS-level ratings in one go, the Tower of Truth was generous,
directly gifting Mike a maze in his private space!
Returning to his private space, Mike took a quick look around. With no time to spare, he
decided to explore it later.
“Pig, I mean, Vladimir!”
Mike waved, calling Vladimir over.
“I might be going on a trip.”
“Understood!”
Vladimir stood straight, looking towards Master Fool, patting his chest, “If that demon
creature dares to rebel, I’ll return to prince level and defeat her!”
Mike shook his head, “Even if you become a prince, you probably won’t be her match. If she
really wants to kill you, you won’t survive.”
Hearing the danger, Vladimir quickly said, “Master, then take me with you! I want to leave
with you.”
Mike continued, “I might be heading to the First Abyss and dealing with the Archdemon. Are
you sure you want to come with me?”
Vladimir’s expression changed again, “Then I’ll stay home and guard every bit of your
property with my life!”
“I was just talking. But in any case, do you have a choice?”
Mike’s words dealt a heavy mental blow to Vladimir.
“Stop thinking about rebelling or escaping. Behave yourself. I might need you to protect
someone. Do well, understood?”
“Understood!” Vladimir nodded vigorously, “I’ll complete the task!”
From Thor’s tone, the task shouldn’t be difficult.
Otherwise, It wouldn’t be given to Vladimir!
After chatting with Rolling for a bit, Mike left.
He was very busy tonight, and time was precious.
Mike calculated, “According to the plan, I’ll visit the Slaughter Stele again to see if there’s
anything new.”
Fighting Calderon’s projection had been highly beneficial for Mike.
Their second match was a test of close combat skills, relying purely on techniques and
reactions, not skills.
Mike had to force Calderon to use Fate’s Reversal in the second match.
Only then would he have a chance to win the third match.
His figure disappeared from the private space, arriving at the fourteenth floor of the Tower of
Truth.
“Challenge [I Want to Be the First]!”
Touching the text with his finger, Mike’s figure vanished, entering the slaughter space.