Chapter 500 - 7th Floor

I blink, and the Champion is gone. Instead, she stands near us, the remains of our defenses crumbling. She looks at the sky, the dust once again filling it, the light of the sun blocked.

The vyssari looks at Tess for a moment and smiles. "Good luck to you and your party, Tess."

With those simple words, she disappears again, moving at speeds that we can't follow, only a lightning trail remaining in the air behind her.

Just a few seconds later, lightning streaks across the blood-red sky, visible even from this distance, signaling the fight's renewal. Hundreds—thousands—of bolts crash down in rapid succession, and only after several seconds do we hear the first thunderclap, a stark reminder of how far away the battle truly is.

Then we begin to feel the tremors too—a constant barrage of vibrations from the shockwaves of the distant fight.

The air becomes noticeably colder, and in the opposite direction of the lightning and storm, a blizzard appears on the horizon, stretching nearly through its entirety.

"Did that eye free the remaining prisoners? The lightning vyssari and whatever it was in the north behind permafrost?" Min-Jae asks, unable to take his eyes off the clash far in the distance.

"It seems like it. Nat, Sophie, we might need to hurry, like really really hurry. I don't think we are far enough to survive as they increase the output and that last prisoner might be worse than the two of them combined," Tess says, taking her eyes off the blizzard.

"I should be done," I answer and start putting the pieces of the array on the ground. "You two, help."

Dennis and Aaron quickly join me, just as we practiced, their skills activating momentarily and connecting the parts. Sophie, meanwhile stands here with her eyes closed and brow furrowed, and I can imagine the amount of work she is currently doing in her mind. Tess realizes it as well and leaves her alone.

Izzy's flames surround us, blue and warm, fighting against the increasing cold that is already creating ice all around and causing snowflakes to start falling gently. Izzy´s blue flame even touches us, but there is no damage at all; it just burns gently.

Noodle expands his size, becoming as thick as a tree trunk and making a circle around our ground, his mouth open as he devours all the mana radiation gradually reaching us.

The others join as well, doing their best to set up defenses while the fight in the distance becomes worse. The sky becomes a darker shade of red until it feels like you can touch it. High in the sky, fleshy veins grow within it, resembling both vegetation and inscriptions.

Just the fact that we can see them from so far away tells about their size. Just how big might they be? Miles and miles tall and wide.

They form into shapes of inscriptions, generating fields, attacks, and defenses that crash against that small figure that flew there to fight the one who freed her.

Within the blood-red sky, red and white lightning crackles relentlessly, unleashing attacks that obliterate the eye's creations. These strikes form colossal lightning weapons, each as massive as a mountain. Explosions ripple through the air, scattering the dust and tearing through the red domain of the sky, allowing shafts of light to break through.

And there, from the other side, a blizzard coming closer, within it an unknown presence. The closer it moves, the more sluggish my mana feels, as if the cold is slowly freezing it.

Done with setting up the array, I move to help Sophie. The twins connect our efforts, and we push to make it all work. All while the moon, the Astral prison around us, starts breaking apart. A little part of me watches it all happen.

The anger that has been simmering within me resurfaces. The realization that there is nothing I can do currently. There may be "just" a 200-level difference between me and the Champions, but the gap is still immense. I don't try to push this anger away; instead, I let myself feel it. I let it fuel through my body and make sure to remember all the feelings I feel now. My weakness and powerlessness.

Then Sophie activates the array finally, pushing through with her all before collapsing, and together with the twins, all of them being caught by others before hitting the ground.

I feel the same as the entirety of my mana is channeled through my body, all of it sucked away by the array, but I endure. It's something I can do.

One by one, everyone in group four passes through the array. I take a step forward but pause, turning to look back, engraving the scene behind me deep into my memory.

Only then do I cross through, and as the view shifts, notifications appear.

Congratulations! You've successfully completed the 6th floor's main quest in the fifth round of the tutorial for Hell difficulty.

Welcome to the 7th floor: Battlefield.

You have acquired:

Active skill combination token

Epic-grade passive skill

5000 Shards

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to rare rarity)

Increased daily Community limit

So Battlefield it is.

I force strength into my legs and stand upright.

There are dozens of people passing by us: lynthari, humans, thylarin, demons, all sorts of races. Everyone is wearing full armor even as we are in something akin to an outpost—temporary buildings made of stone, wood, some inside the trees that seem to have grown naturally, or buildings made of crystals.

A constant barrage of words can be heard.

"... heard they need more on the 5th front, the pay is nice..."

"I won't fight alongside any demon, those guys are..."

"There is said to be a spy in the main camp, they offer an arcane item if you bring information to reveal them..."

"... no, only Champion Safie and Feroy are taking disciples, not everyone. Especially Feroy is... picky. Did you hear..."

"... so maybe? It's said a Champion-grade monster appeared on the 2nd front so you bet I will fucking skip that place."

"... attacked smithies. Weapons became more expensive again."

"Nobody can get through that array in that cursed forest—not even Champion Owain. There’s a rumor he’s planning to ask his master for help, but yeah, good luck with that. The Absolute is the only thing keeping us alive, so I’d say he’s got his hands full."

And many more.

We are mostly ignored and passed by without notice. Even the levels of all these people are not that dissimilar from our own, some rarely breaking through level 300. There are some with levels just over 100, but I don't think I can see anyone lower. Most of them hovering close to 200 or over.

We grab the still unconscious twins and Sophie and pull them to the side, walking in between the massive buildings until we find a quiet spot far away, just below a simple wall. It's made entirely out of wood. There are no joints, no gaps in the wall at all; it all seems like one single piece.

Catching our breath, we sit quietly, all of us likely reminiscing about what happened while Lily heals everyone who needs healing.

I want to warn her to hide the candidate title like me and Tess, but she is already doing so, likely Tess told her when I was busy.

"At least the rewards for the floor quest are nice, right? I got a passive skill combination token," Maya is the first to open the conversation. "And I can communicate and send some stuff to my disc..."

Her eyes move to the unconscious Aaron, likely remembering his disciple who died, and then she buries her face in her palms with a loud groan. "Fuck, I forgot."

"Be careful, please, he is still sometimes sad because of that," Izzy warns her and gently taps the boy's head.

"Yeah, I will," confirming it, Maya reads the invisible message from the air. "So the floor quest is..."

"We will need to talk about it and decide what to do," Tess confirms. "This one is unusual."

The same as them, I open my notifications and reread them.

Floor Quest:

Survive as many waves as possible.

Note: You can leave at any time and head to the 8th floor.

Rewards:

???

???

Communication with your disciple for 10 minutes

Send a single item to your disciple (up to epic rarity)

While doing so, I randomly pick an epic-grade passive skill from the offer and sell it for a bit over 10,000 shards.

I think it's reasonable to say the longer we stay, the better the reward will be or the better we do. The question is how long should we stay? At what point does it become more worth it to head to the next floor rather than trying to maximize our rewards here?

Or at what point does it become too dangerous—because I'm sure that's something that will happen. Especially hearing all these people talking about Champions, frontlines, mercenaries, and such.

***

Wandering around the outpost, we collect a bit of information and let our bodies heal and mana regenerate. My crown is already over my head, ready to store all the mana that won't fit into my body or reservoir.

The planet we are on this time is nicely warm but not hot, a feeling of the last warm days of summer with a nice breeze present. In the sky, there are a few floating islands far in the distance, and I can sense something akin to the Veil surrounding us. It's not as powerful as on the 5th floor, rather it is much more basic. There are a lot of triggers, so I don't connect to it or examine it too deeply.

Tess is able to use some of the materials we have to pay for rent for a small house near the edge of the outpost, near the wooden wall. The house is just big enough for all of us, making us share a room with at least one other person.

We spend a few days without trying anything. Just taking our time, training and healing, and collecting information, the Beyond expedition coming close in just a few days. Me, Tess, Sophie, and Lily all should be able to go. That would leave Maya, the twins, Izzy, Noodle, Biscuit, and Min-Jae behind.

So we do all our best to make a somewhat safe base for the ones staying behind.

During one of these days, a message appears in the Beyond community.

Hadwin - Little pup, what floor are you on?

***

POV Earth

"Did you see? There was that guy, he came out of nowhere and broke all the records like it's nothing."

"Oh, you mean that Italian with all those viral posts?"

"Yes! He looks barely 70 kilos and he deadlifted 1 ton and then went for reps. The bar was bending! Then he ran 100 meters in five seconds, benched half a ton, and..."

"My man, everyone knows it's all fake, don't let..."

***

POV Earth

"Yesterday, a video went viral, originating from Africa. A new type of ant was discovered—each one the size of a cat."

"Do you think it’s connected to the phenomenon?"

"Yes, sir. There have been reports of returnee group in Africa, likely responsible for or accelerating these changes. We’re doing our best to keep it out of the public eye, but additional groups have been reported in Europe and China. Possibly even in Russia and North America. We’re working on confirmation."

"What’s the classification?"

"Still Easy-tier difficulty, sir. Estimates suggest all current groups will remain in this category. However, based on information shared by returnees, we predict Normal-tier difficulty to emerge within the year."

"Did you review yesterday’s report and recommendations?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thoughts? Be honest."

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"Honestly, sir, I don’t like it. But I understand the logic behind the recommendation."

"Good. You’ll be joining that unit as my intermediary."

"I… as you command, sir."

"Speak your mind."

"I agree that involving the families of suspected returnees is a logical next step. However, I’m concerned, sir. If individuals from Hell-tier difficulty finish their tutorial at Grade 5 on our scale, even only speaking to their families about them could provoke a dangerous reaction.”

“Let me ask you this instead: what happens if we’re left with no information or means to negotiate with one?"

The room falls into a heavy silence.

"No response? Then carry out the orders."

"Yes, sir!"

***

Next Chapter

***
Author's Note: 
Hell yeah, chapter 500—a nice, round number!
I'm so glad you’re here with me, enjoying the story. I’m having a blast writing it, and seeing so many people along for the ride is an amazing feeling.

I hope you enjoyed the 6th floor, and hooray for the 7th!