Chapter 135 - Final Floor

Now Anny stood in the middle of the protective formation, ready to absorb the rest of the kilosouls. She seemed eager, grabbing the first handful and starting the absorption right away.

Unlike Nova's dramatic transformation, her power increase was steady and controlled. She had learned to manage large influxes of energy through her beast cultivation, and her body was already capable of handling the increased energy with ease. The recent corrections Nova had made seemed to help as well, letting the energy flow through her with less resistance.

Her Soul Power climbed steadily from 100,000 to 300,000, then to 600,000. Finally, she stopped at 739,000—still below the million-point threshold, but formidable enough to be a real threat to whatever monsters awaited them on the tenth floor.

"How do you feel?" Nova asked, sensing the new power from her soul.

"Powerful," Anny replied, flexing her fingers and watching small arcs of energy dance between them. The beast powers responded to her will, as scales rippled briefly across her skin before settling back into human flesh. "I'm starting to think this floor won't be as dangerous as I feared."

"Well, let's not get overly confident…" Nova cautioned, though he couldn't deny the surge of hope he felt watching her display of control. “The sword should be strong enough to endure whatever we meet, but it is still two tiers below the enemies here.”

"It's a legendary sword, made by a legendary blacksmith. I'm sure it will be fine." Anny's voice carried absolute faith in his craftsmanship, a trust that warmed him more than he expected.

"...Just don't trust it too much,” Nova replied bitterly. He had experienced losing people to broken weapons more than once. It was what drove him to improve as much as he did, preventing the same from happening again. But it was many lifetimes ago now.

He moved forward, taking Anny’s place in the formation. “I'll absorb the fragment now."

"Yeah, go ahead." Anny settled back to watch, standing a bit further away than last time.

Nova unequipped the fragment before starting the familiar process once again. The temporary power was useful, but permanent integration would serve them better in the trials ahead.

[Would you like to absorb the Fragment of Nova Baolin?]

'Yeah... Give me the first trait, please.' Nova focused his will on the Dragon Meridian trait. The power to convert essence into qi would be invaluable in the future, allowing him access to many techniques he had figured would be worthless in this world.

The fragment began to dissolve the moment he gave his consent. He felt it breaking apart within his core, spreading through his body like glowing magma. A sense of power flooded him that dwarfed anything he had previously experienced, greater even than Cardinal Darius's soul, which had nearly torn him apart from the inside.

[Soul Fragment of Nova Regis resonating… Fragment absorbed.] 

Finally, the power settled in his core, coming to a rest.

[Fragment trait "Dragon Meridian” obtained]

[Warning: Maximum number of traits reached. Would you like to replace an existing trait with the new one?]

‘Oh, think god! I would be sad if I lost that one. But now the choice is harder since all my traits are at least Legendary tier… Do I replace the Relentless Stamina, or one of the ones that are almost useless in combat? I’m obviously not removing my unique trait, but the Soul Reader…’

He weighed each option carefully, considering their long-term strategic value. The ability to detect lies had already proven invaluable in negotiations and could be crucial when dealing with whatever entity controlled the dungeon. His combat regeneration and void-touched mental defenses were similarly irreplaceable. But stamina, while useful, seemed the most replaceable given his other abilities.

'Stamina won't matter much if I can convert essence to qi efficiently. And knowing truth from lies could be vital in the future.'

[Relentless Stamina replaced with Dragon Meridian]

Nova could feel the pathways opening throughout his body again. His essence had shifted, now with a new purpose and direction. When he flexed his fingers experimentally, the air around his hand shimmered with power, like a wave of heat bending the light.

‘Three million Soul Power… I’m growing so fast that it’s hard to believe. But that is how this world is structured.’ The acceleration of growth was dizzying, but he supposed it made sense. Power attracted power, and each breakthrough made the next one more achievable.

He summoned Naia’s staff into his hand and looked over at Anny. “I’m headed out, then. If I think you’ll be fine, I’ll come back to get you.”

Anny looked up at him. She'd been staring at her hands, probably still getting used to how the power felt. "What if you get in trouble?"

“...Mmh, if there’s something you can help with, I’ll unequip the ring as a signal for you to come to me.”

"Sounds good." She stood up, brushing dust off her pants. "But remember that your dying means all of us dying, so don't hesitate."

“Right…” 

‘Not to mention the thousands of lives still in danger in the New Garden… And then all the others in the world. But after this floor, we’ll finally have the power to challenge the king.’

He couldn’t afford to mess up.

Nova stepped up to the blue membrane and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how the lack of traits would affect him, but most likely, he would be fine. The system had only said traits would be disabled, not removed entirely.

“I’ll see you in a bit, then.”

“Good luck.”

He stepped through the membrane, feeling the stale dungeon air suddenly turn fresh against his skin. The transition was always jarring—like walking from an underground cave into open air.

The first room seemed to be some sort of cabin, with wooden walls and a large door right ahead of him. Completely different from the stone corridors they'd grown used to.

‘An extra space to get used to the new effect?’

He didn’t feel any different after stepping through, other than his essence no longer flowing through the meridian channels that were forming. His ability to sense lies was only noticeable when someone looked him in the eyes, and his ‘I Am King’ trait only when he activated it.

He reached inward, probing for his fragments. They were still there, but strangely muted—like voices speaking from behind thick glass. Unresponsive to his mental touch, and likely impossible to equip as well.

His 'Void Touched Mind' would only protect him against madness, which had no reason to affect him here. He had no intention of entering the void again after Lady Silveria's warning.

Nova rolled his shoulders, working out the tension. 'Guess I'm ready to leave, then. Time to see what this floor has in store for us.'

He grabbed the door handles and pulled them open. A gust of fresh forest air hit his face, carrying scents of earth and growing things. The sight that greeted him was nothing like what he'd expected.

A gigantic forest stretched out before him, with trees that towered over a hundred meters high. Their trunks were so massive that he couldn't see around them. And above the canopy, only open sky was visible—no stone ceiling, no blue crystal formations.

‘A forest of giant trees, and what appears to be a real sky? This dungeon king really saved the best for last, didn’t he?’

Nova stepped onto what felt like actual soil beneath his feet. The sensation was strange after so many floors of stone corridors. He immediately cast his Greater Life Detect, feeling the essence flowing into his eyes as he searched the surrounding area. Every living thing within three hundred meters should light up in his vision, assuming the trees didn't block his magic like the dungeon walls had on earlier floors.

‘...But it seems like they do—unless this forest is devoid of life. I should have Anny absorb the heart. I’ll just have to hide my presence while searching this place…’

He raised his staff, the wood warm in his grip as he focused on a complex spell he hadn't used in a long time. In his past life, he rarely had any reason to hide himself—at least near the end, when few dared to challenge him.

‘With a mental control of over two million, I should be able to bend space, right?’

Nova began weaving the spell, tracing runes in the air. They formed slowly, requiring precise control as he bent the fundamental laws of space around himself. It was like folding reality into origami—one wrong move and the entire construct would collapse.

The spell settled around him like an invisible cloak. Light bent around his form, sounds grew muted, and even his scent seemed to dissipate into nothingness. To any observer, he would appear as nothing more than a slight shimmer in the air, easily mistaken for heat distortion.

[You have created the skill: Spatial Cloak (Master - 13%) {Grade 12}]

[You pull the space around you to hide any sign of your presence, only pierced by higher-grade perception skills. You’re able to cast spells from your hidden position without being revealed, but this would reduce your cover.]

'Perfect. Now let's see what's hiding in this forest.'

Nova moved forward carefully, heading in the direction of Millie’s signature. The forest floor was soft beneath his feet, covered in a thick carpet of fallen leaves that had accumulated over what must have been centuries. Massive roots created natural pathways between the towering trees, and shafts of sunlight filtered down through the canopy far above.

The scale was overwhelming. Each tree trunk was wide enough that it would take dozens of people holding hands to circle it. Vines as thick as his torso spiraled up the bark, disappearing into the green darkness overhead. The air hummed with an ancient energy that made his skin prickle.

He crept forward for several minutes, following game trails that wound between the giants. His concealment spell held steady, though maintaining it required constant focus. He was also keeping his Unification skill and his Meridian Cleanse skill active at the same time, so his focus was straining.

Then he heard it—a low rumbling sound that seemed to come from the earth itself.

Nova froze, pressing himself against the bark of a nearby tree. The rumbling grew closer, accompanied by the crack of breaking branches and the rustle of disturbed foliage. Something massive was moving through the forest, and it was heading straight for him.

A shadow fell across the forest floor, blocking out the filtered sunlight. Nova looked up and felt his breath catch in his throat.

A creature the size of a building moved between the trees with surprising grace. Its body was covered in moss and bark, making it almost indistinguishable from the forest itself. Ancient eyes, each one larger than Nova's entire body, scanned the undergrowth. When it moved, smaller creatures—birds, squirrels, even what appeared to be tiny humanoid figures—moved with it, living symbiotically within the grooves of its bark-like skin.

'A forest guardian. These guys are empowered by the forest they protect, and this is among the oldest forests I’ve seen. This one might not be stronger than me, but he has an incredible environmental advantage.'

The creature paused directly above him, turning its head slowly like it sensed something was off. One enormous eye fixed on the spot where Nova stood hidden, and for a terrifying moment, he was certain it could see through his concealment.

A root underneath Nova’s foot suddenly moved, snaring around it and binding him firmly to the ground.

‘Shit! It knows I’m here!’

Ch.134 --I-- Index --I-- Ch.136