Chapter 48: What Else But SSS-Rank?

Chapter 48: What Else But SSS-Rank? Within the floor arena, Ken stood in front of the snake spirit; the figure in front of him was trapped in the air, held high by his strings, which he had been planting throughout the match for a grand finale. "Thank you for the pointers, Challenger Ken." The snake spirit who was in the air bowed once again towards Ken with the part of her body she could still move. Ken also bowed in return, returning the words. His figure looked battered, but not as much as the snake, who seemed almost at death’s door. Both he and the spirit knew that, in fact, he wasn’t injured at all, but it was just him letting her hit him here and there and eating dirt to make it look like he was struggling. Even acting needs skill. Ken then transformed the strings into chains before he launched himself at the spirit. The spirit braced for impact as he used all of his strength to finish her in one strike. Then he dropped to the ground. The chains fell with *Clank* *Clacks* all over, and he watched as the spirit transformed into tiny golden dots and disappeared. He knew that the last strike wasn’t painful, so he made sure the most powerful punch was the last. And for the spirits fighting, it wasn’t a disgrace to be defeated this way but more like an honor instead of being forced to surrender, even though in front of Ken, one is defeated within the first few seconds. "Challenger Ken, I am joyful to announce that you’re the first disciple in this sect to reach the 10th floor within the first year." The tower spirit’s cheerful voice, which cared less about the elders by now, spoke. "You are eligible to move to the next floor and are granted 30 minutes of rest." She added. "I would like to leave." Ken then said. "Very well." The tower spirit, without missing a beat, took hold of Ken’s consciousness and brought him to the dark space where no one could intrude. "WAAAAA! Ken! You were the best! You took all the enemies easily and even gave them pointers, not even the genius spirits at the 5th and 10th floors! Those are the most promising of this generation, just so you know!" The tower spirit couldn’t help but spew out every word she held in her chest till now. "Those other disciples would never be able to defeat them until they’re replaced with other newbies! But you just toyed with them!" She added. "I bet you can’t even reach the 15th floor! But well... you seem to always have your own plans." "I guess I do." Ken’s consciousness chuckled as he basked in the energy of the tower spirit. "Sometimes a cheerful friend does you more good than a rest." Ken said. "..." "Right..." The tower spirit once again went silent; Ken’s words caught her defenseless. But the man hadn’t said what he said without a plan, though he meant every word. He was still acting on the advice of the first hint when he had just interacted with the spirit the first time. "What is my rating this time?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "What else but SSS-rank? The elders are rewatching your battles again and again, especially the 5th and 10th floor ones." "It’s been a while since they were so restless... or so I believe." She forgot that she was only born recently. "I guess not a lot of disciples can show such prowess." Ken almost laughed. "Right?" The tower spirit jokingly added. "By the way, your rewards are crazy! 5,000 low-quality spirit stones, fasting pills, and qi gathering pills. 100 mid-quality spirit stones—I don’t even know what these are doing here, but it gets weirder. a 3rd-floor library pass once again. 100 blood pills, 10 attack talismans with enough strength to blow an entire house, 10 defense talismans that can save your life, a teleportation talisman, and lastly a flying cloud." "These are your rewards; you have also been granted a larger storage ring... normally this is reserved for core disciples, but you got it." The spirit herself was surprised by the generosity of the sect. She knew that they loved talents more than anything, but this was more because of the compound effect. He wouldn’t be getting this much anymore, unless he does something as crazy. But Ken wasn’t planning on doing that anytime soon. Sure, he would regularly visit the floors, but only up to the 14th floor, and that too would take quite some time. The difficulty rose exponentially, and it would be weird for him to take on any more than 1 late-stage qi refining as a 1st stage even with his unfair advantages. For now, he will lay low; he has shown enough to appear a genius worth grabbing but nothing worth studying. He knew enough about the talents of this world to know just how much he had to show. It was good to note that although not many combat geniuses like him have appeared, as seen by the fact that no one before him had taken 10 floors in the sect’s history. But other kinds of geniuses were more than abundant. Some had talent in certain professions: alchemy, formations, and artifacts. Others had more than one talent or had some traits that stood out, like good analysis or a brain that perceived more than the normal disciple would. Or some who were rigged to walk the path of a cultivator. All of these were treasured by the sect, but he who had both combat talent and calm analysis and calculation to know what he was doing and when to do it was also praised by the entire sect to the sky. Combat geniuses were rare, but what the sect needed more were sharp minds. "Lastly, tower spirit. When I leave, make sure my final floor is the 8th." Ken didn’t forget to give this instruction. For the normal disciples, he still had other plans. An 8th-floor result meant that he had reached it but didn’t pass. Good enough to keep his reputation as the strongest of the generation. He was doing a tad bit more than he had initially said he would, but it hadn’t gone out of control from what he was planning. The intensity of what he showed had a wide range, but for him, as long as it would give the desired effect, He could let himself loose. ------End------