330 Partners
>SHUUUUUU!!!<
A swirling pool of light enveloped a dark area, and then two beings emerged from the portal.
Their silhouettes were accentuated by the brimming bluish glow of the portal behind them.
One of the two resembled an adult male, ad the other was a young girl.
Soon, the portal vanished, and the two were left in the silent, dark room—all alone.
“Keukk!!”
The man knelt abruptly, gripping his chest tightly as he made an agonizing sound.
“Paul!” The girl cried out, quickly kneeling by his side and showing immense concern.
Even in the darkness, her innocent eyes pleaded with him to be alright.
“I’m fine, Lily… I just need some rest…” He wheezed heavily.
Though he said that, the man’s pale face and sweaty skin told his concerned partner that he was lying.
“You don’t need to put up a front with me. I know you’re going through a lot of pain. You overexerted yourself back there…”
Her voice trailed, and the girl’s crimson eyes seemed to hide some form of pain.
“If I didn’t… we wouldn’t have been able to win. Still, it wasn’t enough… Nng!”
The man—Paul—raised himself, until he stood. Still clutching his chest tightly, he made for a sofa by the corner of the room.
Lily, his partner, followed suit and sat on another chair opposite him.
Both their eyes shone in the darkness.
“Ah, I nearly forgot. Light.”
Instantly, the room became enveloped in light and the features of both of them came into view.
Their outfits were a mess, and their bodies had bruises all over. It was as though they had just survived some terrible accident, but both of them gave each other knowing smiles.
These wounds would soon heal on their own, anyway.
“… It was tougher than I thought.” Paul resumed.
His white hair swerved as he coughed some more, and his eyes narrowed in both anger and determination.
“You did great, Paul! We were able to get the Boss.”
“That’s not enough!” He snapped.
Lily, the girl, was taken aback by this, and then kept quiet.
She had only intended to comfort him, but aggravated the man instead. She knew the reason why he was so angry even though they had conquered a whole Tower by themselves.
“We couldn’t get the Hidden Floor… shit!”
The Rule was that they had to complete every single quest in the Tower without failing a single one or using a Return Stone.
They had a pretty good run and managed to surpass all the challenges until they arrived at the 91st Floor.
Due to the sudden change in the Tower’s challenge, they lost the first time and had to challenge it again.
As a result, even though the two had adapted and managed to give their all into facing the other Floors—reaching and defeating the Boss—no Hidden Floor appeared.
“We used up a great deal of our assets, and it’ll take some time to restock them… yet, I couldn’t get it!”
Lily bit her lip.
She felt guilty.
Despite how hard they both worked, the girl felt inadequate compared to Paul. He was their leader, as well as her everything. She would do anything for his sake and even throw her life away for him, yet…
… Even she was too useless to help him achieve his goals.
She was too weak!
“Are you having those thoughts again? You should stop.”
Lily, upon hearing Paul’s gentle voice, bobbed hair hung hear and gazed upon him.
“A—ah…”
He had already stripped halfway, revealing his well-toned skin and perfect muscles. He had wounds all over, but they were already healing.
“You should clean up in the other room too… we can’t remain like this forever, can we?” He mumbled with a slight smile.
Lily’s heart skipped a beat.
Paul, despite his obsession with the goals he had set for himself, was still so kind to her. Even after suffering so much and pushing himself for her sake, he still gave her his smile.
All her negative thoughts were immediately washed away by the young man, and just seeing his deep crimson eyes gave her strength.
“Okay!” The innocent girl beamed and charged in the direction of her room.
There were lots of spare clothes there, so she could change into something more comfortable while they rested in the meantime.
Well, only one of them would rest.
“Hoo…” Paul heaved a sigh and looked around the room.
It was clean and tidy, all thanks to Lily’s efforts.
His eyes darted in the direction of a door. He knew what was beyond it.
“I should start soon…” He mumbled as he walked there.
What was beyond the door was a storage room. It was a place where he kept so many tools and materials.
Of course, the most important items were in his INVENTORY, but the Slots he had was limited.
Even though his current Level was incomparably higher than anyone in the world, he still had limited INVENTORY Slots.
There was nothing he could do about that, so this Safehouse served as a place to stash his other important items and raw materials.
“… It will take some time to regain our strength…” He mumbled, entering the room.
Once Paul declared light, the entire place shimmered with illumination.
He found a place to sit among so many poles of ores and jewels.
From items that resembled Gold, Diamonds, Rubies, and several others, to even rarer objects that could only be found in legends—Paul had them all.
“… I’ll also have to restock on all the items we expended the last time, and make new ones too…”
Thankfully he had gotten quite a deal of items, Skills, and Titles, from the Tower of War—a majority being Items.
With those Items, he would be able to create even more powerful tools for himself and his partner.
His red eyes eyed a shimmering board in front of him, and the flat surface offered Paul a reflection of himself.
So much had changed ever since that day.
To survive, he had done so many unspeakable things.
He clawed his way out of the hellhole where he was trapped, and by using his [Smithing] Gift—as well as a little guidance—he was able to reach this point.
Throughout his journey, there was one factor that pushed him above all others… one critical drive that drove him to the point of obsession.
—Revenge.
“… Jeremy should have already seen the System Notification of the Tower being cleared. I’m sure he’ll hurriedly raid the other Towers.”
That was why he couldn’t waste any time. In his current state, he wouldn’t be able to survive the ordeals of another Tower, but if he hurried and prepared for what was to come, then…
“It won’t be long now, Jeremy… you just wait!”
… Paul wasn’t going to let the enemy have his way!