Chapter 256: Viceroy Aphrodite and an evaluation of Kai’s current strength!

Words : 1950 Updated : Oct 9th, 2025

Chapter 256 - Viceroy Aphrodite and an evaluation of Kai's current strength! 18th floor, The Primordial Tower Inside the walls of a castle, the godswood's multitude of trees created a dense canopy over old, packed earth and humus and moss. Among the many trees, the most common ones were ash, chestnut, elm, hawthorn, ironwood, oak, sentinel, and soldier pine. And at the center of this grove, standing tall over a pool of steaming, black water, was an ancient weirwood with a face carved into it. A heart tree. On the moss-covered bank of this pool, under the red shade of the redder leaves of the heart tree, was a woman. Her hair was golden pink, with a touch of redness at the ends. Her eyes were like a peacock; brilliant teal pupils, so fascinating that they could snatch the breath away at one sight. Her face was round, soft, pink, and devoid of the tiniest blemishes. She was wearing a thin, green silken gown, hoping to cover the voluptuous bosom marked by a cleavage that could very well be mistaken as a depthless valley. A beauty mark, just over her left breast, threatened to make men and women alike lose the hold on their senses. She was beauty; and beauty was her. One dared not speak of beauty and not of her lest one should do the folly, for she was Contestant Aphrodite, a Viceroy to the King-level Contestant. Aphrodite was seated on a round, plain rock, with a sword in her lap for a lover. Sword was a mild term to describe this thing, whose hilt was resting on her left knee with heavy majesty. It was over 6 ft long and around 2 ft wide, and had one edge, with thickness increasing to become several inches towards the edgeless side. The sword's end wasn't a point, but it was flat and blunt. Yet, it was the sheer sharpness of the sword's edge, and the very steel carrying it, that made it a hazardous sight, drying throats, eyes, and minds alike. It was a Buster Sword, weighing several tons, and made of one of the rarest, costliest, and most desirable materials among the top Contestants of the Primordial Tower — Valyrian Steel. Today, Aphrodite was whetting the sword, her hand carrying the whetstone, stroking the sword's edge in an even rhythmic motion. Her feet were bare under the sword, wet and soiled. However, even this only gave her an earthy smell, embellishing her otherworldly attraction. In front of her, towards the pond, hovering mid-air was a screen. Her eyes observed the complete whiteness of the screen, waiting for the live feed to commence. Suddenly, the screen shook. Aphrodite's slender fingers paused, her eyes narrowing at the odd sight presenting itself to her. A blue-skinned and white-haired man, with mysterious hazel eyes, was standing at the place of the red-haired and red-eyed Candidate she was hoping to see. There was a blood-colored jewel embedded in the forehead of this man, and he also had a tail, thrashing at the snow under him. On his shoulders was a wooden case, strapped and bolted. "Ara-Ara!" Aphrodite smiled. "He's handsome." The lack of humane appearance failed to bother her even for a second. She was a Viceroy; a Contestant just under the level of Kings. In her vast lifetime, one could count the things that could surprise her on one's hands. And yet, she could remember that it was one of those things that had made His Grace command her to send out the Sponsor's request for Red. Color of Observation... Aphrodite recalled, her smile widening. That too, under the 1st Threshold, was it? Hmm, handsome, indeed. Candidate Red's mission details had already been shared with her, other than the Mission's grade. This she had expected. The Systems scarcely played games with the Tournament of Worth. However, how unique the Random World Timeline Red would face, it would be revealed eventually, she knew. Would it be what His Grace had predicted? Aphrodite asked herself, resuming the whetting. Now that would be amusing and quite erotic. Hehe! A rosy blush, like that of sweet red wine, surfaced on her cheeks as she thought of the king's prediction about Red's Unique Random World. She felt an itch between her thighs. Aphrodite pressed together her plump and sensuous thighs, and an electric pleasure sprouted from her nether regions, making her bite her lower lip. Her right hand had just slid down, reaching under her gown, and aiming for more stimulation, when she heard the tink of a familiar clash. The strikes of swords. The thought of battle made her open her eyes and give the screen a look. She saw the fight between the Red and Tanjiro Kamado, their sword styles, and then the Red ran away, caught off guard by the sudden ambush. Then she saw the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, attacking the Red, who seemed to be rooted to the ground like a statue. Suddenly, the Red moved as though he had gained an incredible boost in strength and met Hashira's slash head-on. Red lost half his tail and ran away like a bullet, causing a snowstorm in his wake, and preventing the Water Hashira from chasing him. She then saw Red hiding in a cave like a rat. That amused her quite a bit. For an entire day, Red didn't go out of the cave, recuperating himself and regaining the lost flesh. One day was nothing but a blink of an eye for Aphrodite. At her level, days seemed to have lost meaning. She had been whetting her Valyrian Buster Sword for the last 30 years, and who knew for how long she must whet to reach a King's level? A notification popped up, then. ... [ Candidate Red is using his privilege to converse with Sponsor Aphrodite. Do you acknowledge? Once acknowledged, a countdown of 1 hour will begin. The time of conversation will be deducted from the hour-long limit. Note: Other Sponsors cannot hear or perceive the conversation ] ... Oh! Am I the first, then? Aphrodite thought, licking her lips. That's so exciting! Her thighs parted, and the whetting continued, as the Viceroy gave a nod of acknowledgment. A new Chapter of the history of the Primordial Tower had just begun. * * A few minutes before, Random World - ToW: 2nd Stage Kai wasn't weak. It did little to simplify the circumstances he found himself, though. Especially because he wasn't weak that it baffled him the most. There were two reasons that Kai had to make a run for it a day before, hiding and recuperating within a cave without consuming an HP capsule First, he had only recently gained many Attribute Points. 2nd Set's Set Quota had 50 Attribute Points within it. 1st Stage's rewards had already given him 10 Attribute Points out of the purview of this Quota. Then, selecting the five sponsors again rewarded him with 5 Attribute Points. Not to mention, upgrading Dementor's Blood Essence had also awarded him 1 Breath Point that didn't come under Quota, either. 16 Attribute Points! This number wasn't a joke. Generally, as a rule of thumb, 4th-floor Contestants could squeeze out 10 Attribute Points from their missions. 5th-floor Contestants could get up to 15-20 points on their floor based on the historical records, as told to him by Meg. Only the top-level Contestants, and more often than not those who were backed by top organizations, could reach the max count of 50. Otherwise, one could very well spend an eternity on the 2nd Set, and yet not fulfill one's Quota. But time favored none. Even if one were to defy everything to get the entire 50 points, their life essence would run out before reaching their goals. That's why uncountable Contestants ascended to the next Set, despite not fulfilling their Quotas. This created a discrepancy in the quality of the Contestants on the upper floors, dividing them into low, medium, high, and top-level Contestants of a single floor, just like the Items. Hence, Kai getting 18 Attribute Points, including the 2 he had received from Milestone, meant that when considering Attribute Points alone, he was already equivalent to a medium-level 5th-floor Contestant. Not to mention, having Items, Skills, and Abilities, and if used extravagantly, allowed him to have the battle-prowess of a top-level 5th-floor Contestant. Add the monstrous presence of Selene, and Kai could even remain alive or attempt assassinations of low-level 6th-floor Contestants. So, it baffled him that he couldn't even defend against a single blow of the young man who had cut his tail, even if he represented the top power of this Random World. The second reason was directly related to the first. His attackers were no doubt human, Kai knew. So he could guess them being Demon Slayers. But, despite sharing the same power, he couldn't figure out the reason for the gap in their strengths, for Kai could feel even then that both Demon Slayers had shared some water-based sword style. Kai winced hard as he remembered the Sword-Style. What even was that? It punctured his Twin-Saber Style as though it was nothing. Even the boy who matched Kai in strength penetrated his defense, giving him a deep cut. If it wasn't for his instincts, that slash would have severed his neck. No doubt. So, after careful deliberations, Kai decided to do a few things before eventually going out, as hiding in a cave for an entire month wasn't an option. His Bad Luck would work with others' good luck to let them find him. Moreover, he wanted to obtain rewards, showcase his abilities to the observers, and use Heart Rhythm. Any of the three wasn't possible with him playing at being a rodent in a cave. The very first thing he had decided was to not use HP capsules. Kai's Stamina now stood at 15. That meant 150 HP and 7 per minute HP Regeneration Rate. In case of injuries to vital organs, internal bleeding, and missing limbs, both HP capsule and HP Regeneration Rate would deal with these in descending order. That meant, even if he had used an HP capsule yesterday, it would have just stopped the bleeding stump at the end of his cut tail before regenerating it, adding not a single point to his HP. Kai would rather not waste HP capsules like that. The HP capsules given to him by the 9th-floor Contestant were a special case. Those capsules let him play wild, wreaking havoc, and gaining excessive rewards. He could not afford to waste them anymore, especially when he only had a few left on him. The second thing he had decided to do was to contact a Sponsor and get as much info on this Random World as he could get, and if possible, to know why he had so much trouble yesterday against those Characters. Thus, after sharing his intentions with the Systems, and making sure that it had been 24 hours since he had arrived in this cave, Kai found himself face to face with a black screen, showing the countdown of an hour. And now was the time to get some answers! *************** AN: Now you can access 15 Chapters of Chaos and Order ahead of Webnovel on Patre0n (including up to 60 montly Chapters). If you would like to access the exclusive content, while simultaneously supporting the fanfic, then do consider becoming a Patron Bonus Chapter Deal - 70 Power Stones per day: +1 Bonus Chapte

Chapter 256: Viceroy Aphrodite and an evaluation of Kai’s current strength!

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