novelraw Chapter 183-1: The Arduous Tower Climb, Seeking the Star-Chasing Corridor (1)
Chapter 183-1: The Arduous Tower Climb, Seeking the Star-Chasing Corridor (1)
Lin Xun once again browsed the Illusion Book, and the illusions inside had already reset.
Not only did he have to experience the Grand Scholar’s scenario all over again, but he also had to start the challenge from the first floor of the Starvault Tower.
Lin Xun swiftly brute-forced his way from the first floor to the tenth.
In the end, after defeating the guardian on the tenth floor, he did not obtain the memory item again.
“What a pity. If I could repeatedly earn the rewards, I could grind my Knowledge cap here to 99,999…”
He sighed with regret and continued climbing.
Though the strength of the Starvault Tower’s guardians increased floor by floor, the rise in power between adjacent floors was not particularly drastic.
However, every tenth floor, the guardians’ strength would increase sharply.
Before the twentieth floor, he could rely on the eyeball’s special skill, Infusion of Illusory Knowledge, to instantly kill any guardian.
It was worth mentioning that the reward on the twentieth floor, Memory of the Starry Sky, could raise his Knowledge cap by 2,000 points!When he used the memory item, the Omniscient True Knowledge did not cast its gaze upon him, nor did it dispatch the Beast of Disordered Knowledge to correct him.
For the time being, it seemed he could safely use the Memory of the Starry Sky.
After defeating the guardian on the twentieth floor, he kept going.
However, the guardian of the twenty-first floor gave him a small surprise.
As soon as he initiated the challenge, the Scholar Guardian, without a word, used an item similar to a Stored Spell Treasure Ring, raising a Knowledge Barrier to protect itself.
Fortunately, the Epic-grade Knowledge Radiance Staff he inherited from the President of the Direct Vision Association possessed the ability to ignore the enemy’s magic resistance, and its destructive power against Knowledge-based defensive skills like the Knowledge Barrier was extremely potent.
He no longer used Infusion of Illusory Knowledge and instead fired a Knowledge Spear to shatter the barrier and slay the guardian.
Much later…
[…]
[The giant spear formed of characters instantly pierced through the guardian’s body, tearing it in half.]
[You have defeated the Thirtieth Floor Guardian of the Star Tower. You did not gain experience points.]
[You feel somewhat fatigued!]
[The starlight formation beneath your feet slowly rises, carrying you upward.]
[The radiant Milky Way flowing above your head draws closer. You gaze up at the river of stars, observing countless celestial bodies, and seem to gain some insight.]
[You obtained Memory of the Starry Sky (Item)]
Seeing the ‘Fatigue’ warning displayed in the text, Lin Xun felt a chill in his heart.
The higher the skill’s grade, the greater its power, but the corresponding consumption of mental energy also increased.
After frequently using Infusion of Illusory Knowledge and Knowledge Spear, the mental power of the President Shell had been heavily depleted.
Now he finally understood why the two Presidents, despite their immense strength, had stopped at the thirty-ninth floor.
Even the dejected Grand Scholar he had just run into didn’t say it was because he couldn’t defeat the guardians that he failed, but rather that he couldn’t endure any longer.
As it turned out, the main reason most people could not ascend higher was simply that their mana bar ran dry…
“What a shame that in the Knowledge Illusion, I can’t summon the Valkyrie.”
Earlier, during the illusion of the Dark Dragon Knight, Lin Xun had tried summoning the Three-Headed Lion while facing the endless sea of monsters.
But the wretched game had informed him that the Knowledge Illusion could only be entered solo, and summoning creatures to assist in the conquest was not permitted, nor could he summon them within the illusion.
Otherwise, Lin Xun would have simply let the Three-Headed Lion and Valkyrie take turns challenging the guardians to automate the climb.
The reward on the thirtieth floor, Memory of the Starry Sky, was even better than before, increasing his Knowledge cap by a full 3,000 points.
After using it, Lin Xun’s Knowledge had reached a terrifying 600/11,200.
He pressed on with the challenge.
With the huge increase to his Knowledge cap, the power of his Knowledge-based skills rose sharply.
However, the strength of the guardian on the thirty-first floor also skyrocketed. The guardian successfully used Knowledge Barrier to withstand his first Knowledge Spear, then launched a fierce counterattack.
Had it not been for Lin Xun’s magic shield being an instant-cast skill, he might have been defeated right then and there.
On the second cast of Knowledge Spear, he finally broke the barrier and killed the fragile guardian.
[You have defeated the Thirty-First Floor Guardian of the Star Tower.]
[…]
“At this rate of skill usage, even if I conserve my mana, I’ll probably only make it to the fortieth floor or so…”
Although the President Shell’s offensive power was tremendous, the fatigue of mental energy was a clear limitation. Lin Xun decided to switch to the Earth Giant Shell to attempt the next challenge.
When faced with the thirty-second floor guardian’s Knowledge Barrier, the Earth Giant endured the enemy’s spell attacks and smashed down with its giant club imbued with Undying Flame, battering the barrier several times before finally breaking it and crushing the fragile opponent.
“Without magic penetration, breaking the barrier is really exhausting…”
Scorching Gaze of Flowing Fire and Knowledge Spear were both Epic+ grade skills, but compared to Knowledge Spear, it lacked the magic penetration effect and the bonus damage scaling with Knowledge.
This caused the single-target power of Undying Flame to fall far short of Knowledge Spear.
Lin Xun stroked his chin in thought.
The Earth Giant consumed negligible stamina when fighting a single monster, but tanking enemy spell attacks over time would eventually deplete his HP bar.
The President Shell ran out of mana fighting enemies, while the Earth Giant risked bleeding out.
“Sigh, I’d better keep using the Earth Giant for now, and switch back to the Mage Shell when I can’t endure anymore.”
“It’s all the Dancer’s fault for being so worthless. If I had a powerful assassin Shell, these fragile Scholar Guardians would be nothing, one stab after stealth and done.”
To help the Earth Giant climb higher, Lin Xun stripped the President’s Robe and equipped it on the Earth Giant.
The robe increased resistance to Knowledge-based skills, so with it on, tanking spells wouldn’t hurt so much.
And so, he continued his journey up the tower.
—
[You have defeated the Fortieth Floor Guardian of the Star Tower.]
[You obtained Memory of the Starry Sky (Item)]
[You are covered in wounds, and your severe injuries make each step difficult…]
The Earth Giant had tanked the guardians’ spell attacks all the way up to the fortieth floor, and by the end, its health bar was nearly empty.
Lin Xun had no choice but to switch back to the Mage Shell.
“So it seems I don’t just lack a powerful assassin shell, I also need a healer shell…”
Independent Apostles rarely used healer shells. On one hand, because healer shells were rare in the game; on the other, their combat strength was weak, making it as hard as Hell Difficulty to clear even ordinary chapters.
Those independent Apostles who couldn’t keep going would just switch shells and give up on the healer altogether…
But in the Logistics Division of the Apostle Security Council, there were still some healer Apostles.
The official side provided them with some resource support, so healer Apostles wouldn’t have such a miserable time, in order to maintain the number of support personnel in the organization.
Lin Xun continued climbing the tower in the Mage Shell.
Facing the guardian on the forty-first floor, the mage fight was anything but easy. The guardian repeatedly used Knowledge Barrier and Knowledge Spear.
This was a duel between two mages, and the exchange of spells looked like a massive fireworks display.
Lin Xun didn’t dare use Falling Starlight, as the mana cost of that skill was simply terrifying.
Even with his conservative strategy to conserve mental power, he completely ran out of mana by the forty-sixth floor.
Helplessly, he had to exit the illusion.
After using the reward from the fortieth floor, his Knowledge stat had reached 600/15,200, nearly three times what it had been before entering the Starvault Tower.
Lin Xun felt a bit unwilling to give up; he was just four floors away from the reward on the fiftieth floor.
After pondering for a moment, he gritted his teeth, flipped open the book again, and entered the illusion.