Aster summoned the Scorpion Poison Needle from his inventory.
System: Lazy Inspection
Name: Scorpion Poison Needle
Rank: A
Effect: Needle imbued with Scorpion Poison.
System
Skill
Poisonous Poke Level 1: Manifest one poisonous poke per second while holding a poisonous needle. Range: 1 m
"This might come in handy in the future, but I don’t need it right now."
Aster returned the needle to his inventory. He then stepped through the door leading to the twelfth floor. The familiar white clouds surrounded him before quickly dispersing, revealing another vast desert.
The hologram on his wristwatch displayed: Floor 12
As Aster stood there, looking across the endless sea of sand, he felt a faint vibration beneath his feet. His experience in the open dungeon immediately told him what it meant.
"Palm Strike!"
"Grapple!"
A golden palm manifested while the grapple used them to launch him upward, pulling him into the air in an instant. Almost simultaneously, a gigantic sandworm burst out of the ground directly beneath him.
"Haha! I knew it was you guys. Though you’re nowhere near as big as the ones in the open dungeon."
Already knowing their weakness, Aster calmly landed back on the sand and waited.
The moment another sandworm emerged...
"Palm Strike!"
A golden palm slammed into its soft belly, launching the monster high into the sky.
"Solar Slash!"
Five blazing slashes manifested, slicing the sandworm into pieces before burning every fragment to ashes.
Using Grapple to travel across the desert, Aster repeated the same strategy. Every sandworm that appeared was blasted into the air before being finished with Solar Slash.
...
As he climbed higher through the Tower, stronger monsters began appearing. The difficulty increased with every floor.
Eventually, Four more days passed.
On the seventh and final day inside the Tower, Aster stepped onto the twentieth floor.
His wristwatch displayed: Floor 20
The monsters waiting for him were familiar. Iron Crabs.
However, unlike the ones from the open dungeon, these appeared in enormous numbers. But to Aster...
They were nothing more than walking experience points. Hundreds of Iron Crabs formed a massive swarm and charged toward him. Aster immediately climbed into the sky using Palm Strike and Grapple.
"Fireball!"
A gigantic fireball descended like a blazing meteor. Although the Iron Crabs possessed incredibly durable shells, the flesh inside remained soft and vulnerable.
The overwhelming heat of the massive fire ball instantly cooked every single crab beneath it.
A delicious aroma filled the desert. For a brief moment, Aster’s stomach growled. He slapped his own face. "No. I don’t have time for food."
Continuing forward, he encountered several more swarms. Each one met the same fiery fate.
Eventually, Aster reached the end of the floor. The door leading upward stood before him.
He expected another Queen Iron Crab to appear.
Instead...
A massive three-headed lion slowly emerged. Each head was protected by thick golden fur that resembled natural armor. Its four legs ended in razor-sharp claws. Its long tail swayed like a whip, while its golden eyes stared at Aster with terrifying intelligence.
System: Lazy Inspection
Name: Trimaw Lion
Level: 50
Aster immediately recognized the danger. So he remained high above the monster, he launched attack after attack.
"Palm Strike!"
Golden palms rained down from the sky.
Yet the lion effortlessly dodged every single one with incredible speed.
"Solar Slash!"
Even the blazing slashes failed to connect.
"Slash!"
Invisible slashes shot toward the beast.
To Aster’s surprise, the Trimaw Lion seemed capable of sensing the mana fluctuations before each slash manifested. And dodged every invisible slash within fractions of a second.
"Damn... I can’t even land a single hit."
He frowned. "Even Bind probably won’t work on something this big and strong."
Aster quickly opened the system. "System! Tell me its weakness!"
System: Lazy Inspection
Weakness: None.
Aster stared at the screen. "No weakness? Then how am I supposed to beat this thing?"
Just then, another system window appeared.
System
Skill
Slash Level 49(149,000 / 151,000)
Aster blinked. "Why is it showing me my Slash skill?"
He thought for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened.
"The system is answering my question... It wants me to level up Slash!"
"There must be another milestone waiting at Level 50!"
A smile slowly spread across his face. Without hesitation, Aster flew back to hunt more Iron Crabs. This time, instead of using Fireball, he repeatedly used Slash, targeting every joint in their armored bodies.
One by one, the crabs were cut apart.
Half an hour later...
System
Skill
Slash Level 50: Manifest 10 slashes per second while holding a sword. Range: 150 meters.
New Effect: Multi-Directional Manifestation.
"Ten slashes per second... and Multi-Directional Manifestation?"
Aster grinned. "Hehe... now I know exactly why the system showed me this."
He immediately returned to face the Trimaw Lion. In one hand he summoned the Wind Edge Sword. In the other, he held Aegis Fang.
"Slash!"
"Dual Manifestation!"
"Multi-Directional Manifestation!"
Instantly, slashes began appearing from every direction around the lion.
Front.
Back.
Left.
Right.
Above.
Below.
Although the Trimaw Lion could sense where each slash would appear, there was nowhere left to dodge. Twenty invisible slashes manifested every second, attacking from every possible angle.
At first, its thick golden fur blocked several attacks. But under the relentless barrage, the fur was gradually torn away.
Soon, chunks of its golden coat fell to the ground. Without its natural armor, countless cuts began covering its body.
The lion became increasingly desperate.
It couldn’t dodge.
It couldn’t block.
And it couldn’t even reach Aster, who remained safely suspended high above the battlefield.
Blood continuously poured from its wounds. Growing weaker with every passing second, the Trimaw Lion finally slowed.
Aster seized the opportunity.
"Solar Slash!"
Five blazing slashes appeared simultaneously. They shot out at high speed across the desert and struck the exposed three-headed lion.
The flames engulfed its body.
System
Killed Trimaw Lion.
Ding!
Level up
System: Passive collection
Trimaw Lion toothx2
Trimaw Lion furx50
System window
Class: Lazy Overlord
Level: 30
Attack: 248
Mana: 242.5
Intelligence: 70
Speed: 205
Vitality: 205
Stat Points: 70