Chapter 97 : Status update

Emily stopped looking around and stared at Sora with arrogance. "Who do you take me for? If I have time to babysit you, it’s because I don’t need anyone to test me. Do you really think there are many people in South Korea who can hold a candle to me?"

She laughed, happy, before leading them to see the results of their guildmates' qualifiers. Sora shook his head at her antics, thinking, 'She's so childish.'

As they passed through the crowd of thousands of players, Sora couldn’t help but ask Emily, "How many regions are there in our Kingdom?"

"This year, we have 20 regions. It was 15 last year," Emily responded as they neared the group.

Kim Dong, noticing Emily’s smug expression, asked, "From your smile, I assume they both passed?"

"They passed, of course, what about your group ?" Emily replied, looking pleased as if their success was her own achievement.

"They all passed as well," Kim retorted, annoyed at her tone, before addressing everyone. "Everyone rest for now, we'll meet tomorrow."

Sora and Kara, like the others, left the assessment area. Their minds were buzzing with thoughts of the upcoming Ascension event. Emily stayed behind, grinning with satisfaction as she studied the other regions, clearly relishing her guild’s success.

Once outside, Sora and Kara exchanged a glance, their understanding tacit—it was time for one last round of training. They quickly made their way to a level 140 zone near Fukuoka, enjoying an experience bonus. After arriving, they disappeared into the [Time Space], charged with condensed mana, the effect strengthened.

Inside the realm, Kara turned to Sora and said, "Do you remember when you told me to try condensing life force? I’ve been working on it for years, and I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough... Maybe I can reach my goal before the event."

Sora was taken aback by her words. 'I remember mentioning that ages ago, back when I first started experimenting with my [True Mage] class... Has she really been working on it all this time?'

Nodding, he wished her luck and headed toward the lake within the [Time Space] to continue his own skill training.

'Last time, I worked on my biggest weakness, mental power. Now it's time to refine my skills. Everyone says I have too many...'

As they both focused on their training, their clones were battling beasts lured into the [Time Space]. Sora's perfected clones, combined with Kara's summons, easily handled the occasional appearance of monsters.

Kara, having full control over the realm, ensured no humans could intrude, protecting their sanctuary as they pushed their limits, readying themselves for the trials ahead.

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Sora and Kara arrived at Nara's Adventurer's Guild just before 8 a.m. Their levels had risen once again, and there was a sense of excitement in their eyes. After some recent successes in their training, they were more confident about their chances in the Ascension event.

Sora observed other regions' groups. Most players were standing in groups. They either formed groups of people from the same region, or guilds.

Sora observed other regional selections. Most players were standing in groups, either from the same region or guild. The highest-level players he saw were around level 160. Emily had warned him about the top groups, and he looked at them, hoping to gather more information using his [Mana Eyes].

The first group that caught his attention was Russian. Russia, which had refused to join the New European Union, was an intermediate-level zone, with an average player level higher than Europe's, but lower than the East Asian regions.

This group was led by a young man who looked confident and proud. Sora could see through his mana flow and guessed the level 148 player had a strong magic-related class. His mana was dense, reminding Sora of his early days using [Condense]. Some players in the group wore uniforms that reminded him of special forces or soldiers from before the world update.

The next group he noticed had no flags or obvious signs of origin, but Sora suspected they were from the Middle East. They had a few players at level 140, but their overall level was lower than Europe's, with a few players below level 100 mixed in.

Moving on to another group, Sora almost jumped out of his skin. Just as he was about to check their levels and mana fluctuations, someone turned and stared directly at him. Sora felt a powerful pressure on him, as if he could die any moment. The man grinned, flipped Sora off, and a barrier appeared over the entire group of players.

"Was that an attack? Nigerian region... They are built different..." He couldn't help but comment.

Beside him, Emily said "That was bloodthirst ... What a monster. Ralph, I introduced the main regions in order to avoid such events. Stop probing everyone, or you'll draw a target on our backs... In this era, privacy is the rule, and probing someone stronger than you can be fatal."

"I didn’t think they’d notice..." Sora replied, embarrassed.

Emily sighed, "Thank God you didn’t try that with the Chinese or American teams. Nigeria's team is overpowered, but they like to make friends. The others? They won’t give South Korea any face."

Sora let out a sigh of relief, glad he’d avoided a worse situation. 'Even with [Mana Eyes], I can’t spy on people in peace... I guess I need a better way to gather information in the future.'

Emily added, "You’ll meet plenty of people inside the tower. Don’t go around provoking anyone, or I’ll kick your ass after the event."

As they waited with the others in front of the guild, a towering structure suddenly materialized out of thin air.

Sora glanced up and read the glowing words in the sky:

[The Ascension Tower is now open!]
[Adventurers, enter and find glory in Ascension!]
[Description: Enter a different space and face trials. The more progress you show, the higher your final reward!]
[Warning: The Tower is a PVP zone.]
[Candidates: 0/400]

Sora noted that dying in the tower seemed possible. It should have been scary, but he felt indifferent.

Kim Dong glanced at his group and said, "Let’s go."

The group advanced toward the portal-like entrance to the tower.

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[Welcome to the 1st floor of the Tower]
[Please choose a setting: Squad, Solo, Duo, Trio]

Sora recalled Emily’s earlier advice: "If you're confident in damage, recovery, and tanking, pick solo mode. It has the best rewards. The more people with you, the more they can compensate for your weaknesses, meaning lower rewards. But a good way to go further."

Turning to Kara, he smiled. "See you later, Kara."

He selected [Solo].

[You have chosen the setting: Solo]
[Reward multiplier: x2]

As soon as the notification disappeared, Sora felt his body dissolve and reform without any pain or effort.

[Welcome to the 1st floor of the Tower]
[Trial: [Endurance] Defeat waves of enemies]
[Please set difficulty]
[Easy: Enemies at your level]
[Normal: Enemies 10 levels higher]
[Hard: Enemies 20 levels higher]
[Extreme: Enemies 30 levels higher]
[Maximum: Enemies 50 levels higher]

Sora pondered for a moment. 'My god... If I had reset my level before entering, I’d be crushing this.'

Curious, he opened his status profile:

[Status Update]
Profile: Ralph Eden (Sora Hashino)
Status: Alive (Prestige 1803)
Class:  True Mage (Level 120)
Power Level:  Omega 29
Body Level: Omega 29
Energy Level: Omega 26
Mental Power : Omega 21
Soul Level: 450
Talent Level: 1048576
Growth Factor: 1

Skills: (...see more...)

Supreme Skills:
• [Mana Evolution] (Click to see effects)
• [Eternal Body Craft] (Click to see effects)

Innate Skill:
• [Prestige] (Click to see effects)

He had reached level 120 thanks to Kara who was siphoning monsters in the zone near Fukuoka the previous day and whole night, but the respawn rate was too slow to sustain both him and the few other players grinding there at the last minute.

Those players frantically chased after the disappearing monsters, frustrated that the creatures were disappearing in front of them. Kara ensured that no one was accidentally teleported inside.

His Status Profile was a mess...

Years of passive and active body forging had pushed his [Eternal Body Craft] to incredible heights. His [Mana Evolution] struggled to keep pace, but his control over mana had reached an unfathomable level, allowing him to create and comprehend skills in an instant.

He didn't understand why his supreme skill effect was "affected" by the accelerated time in [Time Space], but he was more than happy to see the effects.

'Raw power isn’t the goal for this skill. I need to use it effectively.' He’d figured out several new things during his last training session and couldn’t wait to test them against stronger enemies.

'My mental power is quite lackluster when compared to my other aspects, but I've hit a wall and can't go further for now it seems.' He sighed, feeling the limit appearing to early, as he had no Supreme Skill to break through limits.

He selected the difficulty, and monsters started to appear around him.