Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 451: Ninety-Fourth Floor, Multiple Realizations (2)

Chapter 451: Ninety-Fourth Floor, Multiple Realizations (2)

Wow. What is this?

A strange, almost alien sense swept over me. It felt like something inside of me had connected. As I perceived the connection, Soulbound twitched. However, I hadn’t used mana, divinity, or causality; I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

Within my inner world, Soulbound remained buried blade-first into the ground. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

I steadied my thoughts. The moment I resolved to lift it in earnest, the axe shuddered and rose into the air with a gleam of blue-golden light. I willed it left and right. Though I couldn’t physically grasp it, the weapon moved in exact accordance with my intent.

Hmm?

Another odd sensation fluttered through my mind, as if Soulbound was trying to speak. I didn’t hear a specific voice, nor did I comprehend what was being said, but I felt undeniably linked to it. I wasn’t sure why, but my mind wandered back to the first floor. I recalled facing goblins and instinctively guided Soulbound through those motions once more.

Of course, I wasn’t repeating the exact same clumsy strikes from back then.

I have grown since then.

Each swing was as if I had returned to that first trial with Soulbound in hand, with the techniques I had learned up to today. The goblins fell, and after them the orcs. I cleared the second floor, the sixth, the seventh, the eleventh, and onward.

I commanded Soulbound as I traveled through every memory, every moment I had raised a weapon as I ascended the tower. The more it moved in this inner world, the stronger the tether between us became.

It felt as if Soulbound and I were merging into one. The cord that bound us deepened, and stray thoughts faded away.

For a time, there was nothing.

***

I didn’t know how long had passed.

When my awareness returned, I stood in my inner world, having just severed Eternal Feast’s neck on the ninety-second floor. Defeating him had been far easier this time, with repetition smoothing the path.

As his body disintegrated, the blue-golden tide flooding my inner world dissolved. Only Soulbound remained, faint and hazy like an afterimage against the darkness.

What the hell?

All of a sudden, something blinded me—a single bolt of lightning. As it fell from above, it struck Soulbound dead on. The axe, charged with lightning, shot toward me. Even immaterial as I was, I could immediately tell that the mass of lightning and steel had entered me. My mind was vastened.

When the brilliance faded, and I opened my eyes, the only visible thing in the void was the tower’s message.

[Gain enlightenment in more than one area. Time remaining: 1 hour 16 minutes.]

The remaining time caught me off guard. When I had begun meditating, nearly six hours had remained, so that “moment” had taken five hours.

No, simply calling it a “moment” isn’t accurate.

I had been lost in a state of nonself, with no memory of time or memory of myself.

From the first floor onward, I had retraced my growth alongside Soulbound. In one sense, it had ended swiftly. Still, a feeling of relief welled up inside me. Whatever had just transpired, I had attained enlightenment through my axemanship. I was one step closer to conquering this floor.

How do I describe this?

In my inner world, I had become one with Soulbound. Through the process of enlightenment within the state of nonself, we had merged. Of course, it wasn’t that the countless souls within the axe had fused with me.

Seo Ho-Su mentioned something about the unity of man and blade.

Whether that was what I had experienced, I couldn’t say. It had to be something akin to it, though. It was hard to describe it precisely.

I had always believed Soulbound suited me, and it did. This was on a whole other level, however. Now, it felt as if we had truly become inseparable. Through every trial I had endured, Soulbound had come to see me clearly.

Thinking about it, this isn’t that weird.

I had first obtained Soulbound on the fifty-ninth floor. I had seen its origin and how they made it, but the reverse wasn’t true. Soulbound had known nothing of me before then. It had reshaped itself to suit me, then fixed its form over time. That form matched my style of combat, which itself had been forged from the accumulation of my experiences.

However, that didn’t mean the souls within Soulbound had understood me fully.

It is hard to explain.

What mattered was that, together with those souls, I had retraced my journey from the moment I first took up a weapon. In doing so, Soulbound’s souls had come to understand me, and I, too, came to understand them. Although I had heard it cry out before, this was different—I could now perceive some of its intent.

Well, it is forged from soulsteel.

Perhaps from now on, the souls and I would directly commune. The people who had forged Soulbound had called their weapons companions, after all.

Wait.

Soulbound hadn’t entered the floor with me, yet I felt its emotions pulsing from my side.

I looked down.

What—?

Without realizing it, Soulbound had appeared in my right hand.

It didn’t feel unnatural. On the contrary, it was so seamless that I hadn’t even noticed, as if it had always been part of me. I realized then that I had become enlightened on the unity of man and blade. In the truest sense, we had become one.

So this realm really does help someone gain inspiration.

That didn’t mean it guaranteed it, as I had originally assumed.

Anyway, Soulbound’s form had shifted ever so slightly. Not drastically, but subtly. It was still a double-headed axe, but one blade now seemed just a little smaller. Soulbound rested calmly in my hand, feeling composed.

At that moment, I felt like I could even cut through this void—not yet, though.

Nearly an hour remained, and I had only reached enlightenment once. I felt like it was time to aim for inspiration of something more mental.

***

[Gain enlightenment in more than one area. Time remaining: 7 minutes 32 seconds.]

I had spent the past hour madly brainstorming, but it had led nowhere. My plans after conquering the tower couldn’t be called enlightenment. In truth, I was still a little lost as to what I should do then. So instead, I considered how I would govern Earth once I became a god.

Unfortunately, it didn’t progress anywhere.

I had never managed or overseen anything before. Without such experience, there was little to build on. I lacked a foundation in that regard. Nor did I even know how gods were supposed to govern a world in practice.

I am not some learned scholar capable of drafting policies for an entire planet.

In the end, the future was something I would simply have to confront head-on. After becoming a god, I would inevitably face countless trials and errors.

Barely six minutes remained in this trial. Whether this world would truly yield to my will, I couldn’t say. In the end, I could only cut it down, but that caused a question to pop into my mind.

If I carve my way out of this place, what divine name will I receive? What can it be, really?

I was only assuming that the realization I gained here would connect to my title as a god, but the possibility felt strong. I considered what I had attained on the ninety-fourth floor. Since I had failed to enlighten myself a second time, I wouldn’t receive a dual-meaning name like “Omniscient Thunder Axe.” Naturally, it would lean toward the axe, toward battle.

Still, lightning had flashed as I bonded with Soulbound. Perhaps that would factor in.

Come to think of it, Thunder Axe also wields lightning and an axe. How will my name compare, then?

Of course, it wouldn’t be identical. Considering the sheer number of gods, not every one of them wielded completely unique powers. Even back when they had offered me sponsorships during the tutorial, that had been the case. They had been pseudonyms, meant to deceive me, but multiple gods had possessed similar names or foundations.

Hmm, will I be Thunderstriking Axe?

I immediately shook my head in disgust.

Crude and awful.

Even I had to admit my naming sense was abysmal.

Perhaps it was for the best that the tower determined a god’s title. There had to be a reason for it. If left to their own devices, I was sure a god would mess around, like a fire deity calling themselves the god of water.

Hmm.

The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed that my title would include the name of a weapon at all. At least, I couldn’t recall ever seeing a divine title that directly included a weapon—other than Omniscient Thunder Axe. Perhaps there were some I had never encountered, but still.

Forget it.

Speculation wouldn’t manifest anything. Perhaps my title wouldn’t even connect to my enlightenment. I looked down at the axe in my hand. I couldn’t move, but it didn’t matter.

I can maneuver through thought alone.

Closing my eyes, I fixed all of my focus on Soulbound. In my inner world, the axe appeared. I could wield neither mana, divinity, nor causality, but as I gathered my will, a shimmer of blue-gold rippled across its surface.

It felt less like I was channeling power, and more like Soulbound was doing it in my stead.

There was no reason to hesitate. I swung it downward.

In my inner world, Soulbound drew a radiant golden line through the void. A flash tore across my vision, and when I opened my eyes, the same line had been carved into reality. Beyond the tower’s message, the darkness split, and light flooded in.

The feeling of weightlessness faded, and I regained control over my limbs little by little.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has cleaved the Space of Enlightenment. All stats increased by 10. Time remaining: 5 minutes 52 seconds.]

[Though further realizations are possible, would you like to exit the trial?]

It wasn’t a warning, nor did it say I had failed.

I nodded. “Yes.”

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the ninety-fourth floor of the Tower of Ordeal: Multiple Realizations.]

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has acquired the title ‘The Coming Dawn.’ Achievement points will be calculated.]

As expected, the trial had been tied to divine names.

“The Coming Dawn,” huh?

Not bad. It was far better than that laughable “Thunderstriking Axe” I had come up with myself.

One question still lingered in my mind, however. I had clearly gained enlightenment through my axemanship.

So why The Coming Dawn?

Dawn was the light of daybreak.

True, I wielded lightning, but that alone hardly justified such a name. Especially since I had failed to find inspiration through lightning. Perhaps that thought that an axe infused with thunder could pierce the dark and illuminate it. In that sense, it resembled dawn.

At least it wasn’t a strange or embarrassing name. Still, my doubt remained, and I wondered if the tower was trying to send me a message.

As I wrestled with that thought, the weightlessness returned once again.