After storing the magic staff in his inventory, Aster wanted nothing more than to head straight to his room.
Unfortunately, this place was so enormous that he had no idea where to go.
He walked back to the reception counter and asked the lady for directions. She simply pointed toward a nearby elevator.
Aster thanked her and walked over.
As expected, another scanner was waiting beside the elevator. He tapped his wristwatch against it.
Beep.
The doors slid open. Inside stood another robot. Aster stared at it for a moment before sighing.
"...Seriously?"
Another scanner. He scanned his wristwatch once again.
"Damn, how many times do I have to scan this thing? If I ever lose this watch inside the tower, I’m completely screwed."
The robot scanned the watch and spoke in a mechanical voice. "Aster Vale. Room Number 98. Floor 10,824."
Aster blinked. "Floor... 10,824?"
"What is this place? Are we heading into space... or miles underground?"
The elevator began moving. Ten minutes passed before it finally stopped.
Ding!
The doors opened.
"Reached Floor 10,824."
Aster stepped outside and froze. Because...
There was an endless corridor stretched before him. It was so long that its end disappeared beyond the curve of the world itself.
Rows of identical doors lined both sides of the hallway, each with a room number above it.
The corridor was eerily silent.
Only the faint echo of his footsteps and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat accompanied him as he walked.
The air felt slightly cold. Every foot or so stood another door, making the hallway seem almost endless.
After several minutes of walking, he finally arrived.
Room 98.
Naturally... There was another scanner. Aster silently stared at it.
Then, without a word, he scanned his wristwatch.
A message appeared.
Identity Confirmed. Welcome Home.
"Welcome home my ass. Just open the door already. This place is creepy." He Shouted in frustration.
The door slid open. Aster’s eyes widened. The room inside was unbelievably massive.
He immediately stepped back outside and looked at the tiny gap separating his room from the neighboring doors.
Barely a foot.
Yet the space inside was enormous. After thinking for a moment, he shrugged.
"Why am I even surprised? They hid an entire tower from the outside world. Manipulating space should be easy for them."
He walked inside. There was three more separate rooms.
A spacious bedroom with an enormous cloud-soft white bed.
A luxurious bathroom whose bathtub was literally the size of a swimming pool.
And a fully stocked kitchen overflowing with expensive food.
"Wait... are all of these free?"
A devilish grin spread across his face.
The next moment...
"Sloth’s Inventory."
Whoosh!
Every single piece of food vanished from the kitchen in an instant. "Much better."
After taking a relaxing bath in the pool-sized tub, Aster flopped onto the bed. He immediately activated his Slumber Domain talent.
And e centered the dream realm. There, he manifested the magic staff.
System
Skill
Fire Ball Level 1
"Alright... Let’s see what you can do."
"Fire Ball."
The staff glowed crimson. A tiny spark of fire appeared before its tip.
Almost instantly, the spark greedily absorbed Aster’s mana, rapidly expanding into a massive blazing fireball before launching forward.
BOOM!
The explosion was far larger than Aster had expected. Even he was caught in the blast. Fortunately, this was his dream realm. He felt no pain.
"This thing is stronger than I thought. Most people would probably run out of mana after casting it once or twice."
A grin slowly spread across his face.
"Hehe... But mana is the last thing I have to worry about."
"Fire Ball."
"Fire Ball."
"Fire Ball."
After repeatedly casting the spell, the skill finally leveled up.
System
Fire Ball Level 2
Aster scratched his chin. "The casting speed is still too slow. At this rate, I won’t reach Level 25 before tomorrow."
He thought quietly for a second. Then his eyes lit up.
"I’ve got it."
He manifested a second magic staff beside the first. An identical copy.
He grabbed one in each hand.
"Fire Ball."
Thanks to Dual Manifestation, both staffs glowed simultaneously.
Two sparks appeared. Both expanded into enormous fireballs before shooting forward.
Aster immediately opened the system window. The skill use had increased twice as much.
His grin widened.
"Perfect... With this trick, I can level up my skills much faster."
"Fire Ball ×2."
"Fire Ball ×2."
"Fire Ball ×2."
The entire night passed in a relentless barrage of flames.
Finally...
System
Skill
Fire Ball Level 25: Manifest 5 Fireballs per second while holding a Magic Staff Range: 40 meters
Aster returned to reality and slowly opened his eyes. He stretched lazily.
"Ahh... This is the best feeling."
"Even after training all night in the dream realm, I still wake up completely refreshed."
He smiled to himself.
"Maybe my talent puts me into such a deep sleep that my body gets perfect rest."
Aster left his room.
Scan.
He entered the elevator.
Scan.
He selected the destination.
Scan.
He reached the lobby.
Scan.
By this point, the vein on his forehead was twitching.
"Seriously..."
"Scan. Scan. Scan."
"Am I entering a military base or a prison?"
Grumbling to himself, he finally entered the tower. White clouds formed around him against and instantly disappeared. A vast golden desert appeared in their place.
A hologram projected from his wristwatch.
Floor 11
The moment Aster arrived, countless scorpions burst out of the sand. As soon as they felt his presence.
Within seconds, they surrounded him from every direction.
Aster merely smirked.
He summoned the grappling gun in his hand. "Palm Strike." Five golden palm strikes materialized around him.
"Grapple."
Using the manifested palm strikes as base points, he used Grapple to shot forward. Aster instantly launched himself high into the sky.
While suspended in midair, he summoned his magic staff.
"Fire Ball."
Unlike before, because this time the skill was used from the system. Five giant fire ball manifested instantly and shoot down.
The massive fireball crashed into the swarm below.
BOOM!
Ding!
System
Killed Scorpion.
Killed Scorpion.
Killed Scorpion.
Killed Scorpion.
...
"Fire Ball."
"Fire Ball."
"Fire Ball."
One after another, blazing fireballs rained from the sky.
Whenever gravity began pulling him down, Aster simply used Palm Strike and Grapple again to launch himself back into the air.
Before long...
Every scorpion had been reduced to crispy charcoal.
Aster then flew across the desert at high speed until he reached the opposite end.
Standing before the door of the next floor was a gigantic scorpion guarding the entrance to the next floor.
Aster didn’t even give it time to react.
"Fire Ball."
Five enormous fireballs descended from the sky like meteors.
BOOM!!
The giant scorpion was instantly engulfed in flames and burned to death before it even understood what had happened.
Ding!
Level Up!
System: Passive Collection
Acquired: Scorpion Poison Needle.