Celeste came back stating she had to make a trip to Floor 25 to fetch the pills and left.
She came back within fifteen minutes and handed it to him.
Julien went back to his room and woke Amelia up. He then fed her the pill and went back to sleep in relief.
Next day.
The party left the Inn to clear the remaining floors.
While on the way, Julien checked his cards.
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[Arcana Cards: (3/3)]
Slot #1: Flame Poke(Common)
Slot #2: —
Slot #3: Stone Wall(Uncommon)
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Flame Poke barely did any damage and was a Common Arcana Card. He could find a better version of it if he just asked his mother or Celeste.
Julien removed the card and added the Forbidden Arcana Card.
His bad luck resulted in him having one slot forever blocked, but on the bright side, none of his card slots had any restriction to them.
He could put any category’s card in his slots and didn’t need to wait to rank up.
The only restriction was that he had to be capable to wield the card’s power.
The Forbidden Card Crimson Requiem could be wielded. It was only for 10 seconds, but could be used nonetheless.
And the effect of it was really great too.
Julien looked at his system screen again.
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[Arcana Cards: (3/3)]
Slot #1: Crimson Requiem(Forbidden)
Slot #2: —
Slot #3: Stone Wall(Uncommon)
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If he cut someone with this card’s power, the wounds would never heal and the person would continue to bleed. It was quite overpowered and Julien was happy to have it.
With his newfound powers, Julien continued with his adventure, trying to clear the floors and reach Floor 25 at the earliest.
…..
The journey up until Floor 20 was smooth. There were no more quests as challenging as Floor 17’s.
While this was a good thing, it came at the cost of the trio obtaining nothing from their adventures.
They did not get any treasure or leveled up as much as they hoped.
When they reached Floor 20, they found themselves to be weak compared to the overall population.
Celeste consoled them by saying it was normal.
All kids from a strong background would be of low level at the higher floors as compared to the majority, but that wouldn’t be for a long time.
They had a lot of challenges available on the higher floors and could level up fast as the XP gained was huge.
The rewards they would get would also be much better, so it was way better to be on this floor than on the bottom ones.
From Floor 20 onwards, things had begun changing.
Julien saw that the NPCs appeared more human and sentient. They still seemed preprogrammed as they did not have many responses available and couldn’t answer most questions, but things were starting to change.
Julien kept note of it and moved on.
Floor 21 was a windy flatland consisting of storms. The main quest may have been cleared but the raging storms stayed on.
This was another change he noticed.
Clearing quests did not result in the floor returning to normal or any change in terrain or climate.
If Celeste wasn’t here, they would’ve struggled to reach the Stairway of Ascendance which was located in the middle of a huge tornado on this floor.
Floor 22 contained active volcanoes and the Stairway of Ascendance was on top of a volcano that could erupt at any moment. The area was so hot that special uniforms were needed to traverse that.
Celeste wasn’t needed here because on Floor 21, right at the base of the stairs, in the middle of the tornadoes, there was a man selling those special uniforms. The price was reasonable too.
Everyone bought those and cleared Floor 22.
Floor 23 was a flat land consisting of underground tunnels. The main quest was to reach the core and the challenges were traps, monsters, and claustrophobic spaces.
Celeste knew her way through this tunnel and the trio did not encounter any traps. They found monsters occasionally and defeating them brought great amounts of XP.
Amelia leveled up as well, despite only proving healing support to the two.
From Floor 20 onwards, if a person engaging with a monster had his wounds healed by the healer, then the healer would gain XP too once the monster was defeated.
It did not take much time to clear Floor 23 either and the party then reached Floor 24, which was a normal, thriving world with peace and prosperity.
The main quest here was to solve the world war that almost looked like an apocalypse. There was extreme poverty, hunger, and diseases everywhere.
Clearing the main quest required a lot of man power and took a long time, but everyone eventually succeeded.
The NPCs here were smarter than the previous floor’s.
The Stairway of Ascendence was located in the Imperial Palace’s central courtyard and the entry could be gained by doing tasks that would let one gain entry inside or simply by sneaking in, if one had the ability.
There were major risks involved if one sneaked in. The NPCs were powerful and one may die if they were found.
Julien and his party cleared this floor by completing quests.
They spent a week in this place and the quests they did were related to trades, import, and export with nearby kingdoms.
One of the Imperial Palace’s officials was impressed by the influx of money into the empire and invited the party inside.
They then went to the courtyard and ascended, finally reaching Floor 25.
Floor 25 was bustling with Players. There were barely any NPCs.
This floor was quite vast and had a population of ten million Players.
There were four countries in the four cardinal directions. Each consisted of multiple cities.
The North was ruled by the major churches.
The West was ruled by the major guilds.
The East was ruled by the strongest Players.
And at last, the South,
The South was lawless and free.
The South consisted of a lot of criminals and dark organizations. The people here caused extreme troubles at the borders of the North, West, and East.
The country was referred to as the dumpster of Floor 25 and housed all the ones who couldn’t afford to stay in the other three countries.
The other countries required a minimum payment every month and worked on a penalty system.
If someone incurred three penalties, they would be thrown out.
The minimum payment also wasn’t too high, but there were certain Players who couldn’t afford even that, and thus were forced to go to the South.
Julien and his party were in the West, staying at the Crimson Night Guild’s headquarters.
The headquarters here was much much grander than what was on Floor 10.
Floor 10’s building seemed like a small toy replica in front of the actual thing.
Everything was exquisite and intricate, full of dark gothic tones. It felt lovely and refreshing to be here.
Julien and his party were given a warm welcome by the staff as they came in with the Vice Guildmaster herself.
Celeste’s job was done and she parted ways with them after showing them their room.
It was big and contained multiple bedrooms within along with a lounge area, kitchen, balcony, and a swimming pool.
The three were exhausted from climbing the floors nonstop and decided to rest for a few days.
Julien and Amelia stayed in one room while Jackie did so in another. The two indulged in unholy wrestling everyday, and this time, Julien ensured to wear rubber or have those birth control pills available for 50 points.
Even if the condoms were available for cheap and were thin, they didn’t feel as good as going raw.
Having pills thus felt better and Julien continued to take one everyday.
For five days, they did not leave their room and lived lavishly.
They planned to stay here for another two days, but a guest soon came knocking at their doors, disrupting their little vacation.