**************************************

 

 

'I shouldn't try to touch it but it seems different from what the guardian had said earlier. And there isn't any information about it in my sister's book.' Caesar was looking at his status info and was taken aback by the Darkness talent.

 

Caesar was curious about it but decided to put it in the back of his mind. He has to look for his father on the 68th floor and manage everything smoothly until he is summoned to Mavis.

 

'For now, let's follow the plan I carefully made based on my brother and sister's information.' He thought.

 

"Hey buddy, We are planning to head straight to the first town, would you like to travel with me? We can also kill some monsters on the way." Luigi asked trying to be friendlier than ever.

 

New hunters have more knowledge now since more than 2 years have passed since the towers opened. Luigi mentioned that he was part of a squad supported by a company earlier.

 

'I guess he was trying to invite me to their squad after seeing my potential earlier. He already asked 2 people before coming to me.' He knows what Luigi is trying to do.

 

"No, I'm fine. I will meet my family subordinates somewhere." He lied.

 

Luigi just nodded his head. He heard from Caesar earlier that their family and company were also part of the tower expedition so he didn't push the issue.

 

"See you then, I hope you don't forget about me when you grow stronger brother." Luigi gave a meaningful smile and then walked away with 2 people.

 

'He's pretty decent.' Caesar thought.

 

 

Caesar heard from her sister that some guilds and groups will try their best to ask people who have Rank C and above to join their group. Caesar had a good impression of how Luigi approached him.

 

He was also thinking how shrewd her sister is because in the span of 2 years they were able the double the size of their group within the tower.

Furthermore, they only recruited the ones who entered the tower a month ahead or a month late during the time they entered the tower so that everyone will be summoned to Mavis together.

 

"She really knows what she's doing huh. Her looks also help I guess." Caesar once again admires his witch older sister's beauty and brain.

 

'Let's start.' Caesar started walking straight to a forest nearby.

 

**************************************

 

2 days since Caesar entered the tower.

 

 

A feral-like monster died after getting stabbed several times by a wooden spear that Caesar made on the first day.

 

"It's starting to get harder the further I go." He said while trying to check the dead monster for a crystal on its skull.

 

The monsters inside the towers have a chance to have monster cores inside their skull. These crystals are made of Mana that the monsters accumulated and help enhance the growth of hunters by consuming them in 2 ways.

 

The first is the breathing technique used to drain the Mana inside the crystal and make it flow inside your meridians to strengthen your body while the second method uses a magic circle to extract the pure Mana inside the crystal to strengthen the heart.

 

Both methods can be used even without a crystal but would produce a slower result unless you do it to a place where there is a Mana vein.

 

Monster cores are also used in weapon and potion crafting. It serves as a weapon core to store power and the pure Mana inside can be extracted for potion-making. The more powerful the crystal is the better.

 

The breathing technique and magic circle formation don't really matter because the one they can learn on the 1st floor was already the best the gods provided and you only need to learn it from the guardian stationed there.

 

Caesar looked at the mountain ahead of him. It would take at least 5 more days until he can go out of the forest to start trekking the mountain.

That's his first goal. His brother who spent his 2 years inside the tower role-playing as a treasure hunter found something on top of this mountain range.

 

'My Aura rank is really low. Now I regret not going to the gym.' Caesar thought while resting.

 

Aura like the guardian said, represents the physical strength of the hunter. His brother said that this is designed to make it simpler for hunters to understand instead of having several stats like in games.

 

He also said that hunters can manifest Aura on their weapons once their Aura hits rank B and coat their body with Aura once they hit higher ranks. As for the exact rank, he didn't know since Ram still can't use it even after reaching rank A+ on his aura.

 

 

He remembers what his brother Ram said when they talked about aura. Ram also said that the guy is younger than him.

 

"tsk tsk. There's also a big difference between genius and monster eh?" He said smiling. He knows that people on Earth consider his brother and sister geniuses because of their talents and growth.

 

**************************************

 

10 days had passed since Caesar entered the tower.

 

Caesar was still inside the forest and right now currently facing a wolf monster that was 3 times the size of a regular wolf.

It is big as a cow, for 10 days he was only fighting smaller species of monsters so he was in a panic right now.

 

 

'D*mn, why am I facing this kind of monster this early.' He thought.

 

The wolf found him earlier when he was taking a rest on a big rock. At first, Caesar tried to run for his life as it was his first time encountering this kind of creature.

 

But the chase only lasted for 10 minutes as Caesar felt his stamina getting used up. He will surely die without even fighting back if he kept on running.

 

 

The wolf was having a staring contest with caesar and is ready to pounce at any time. Caesar was in a defensive stance as he thinks about how he would deal with it while trying to catch his breath.

 

 

 

The monster made the initial strike, rushing straight to him using its claws.

 

Caesar rolled sideways to dodge it but his posture was a mess, he tried to stab for a counter but missed as the wolf jumped creating a distance right away.

 

He stood up and tried to step backward but he found out that there was a tree behind him.

 

 

He immediately corrected his balance and pointed his spear forward while using the tree to his back for support as he was out of breath and cornered.

 

The wolf growled after seeing the spearhead pointed at it, then started walking sideways trying to look for another chance to attack while Caesar was also waiting for an opportunity to counter.

 

They were on standstill and Caesar has a lot of things going on in his head right now. He was scared, he can feel his back full of cold sweat.

The smell of death is approaching him and it's messing his mind even more.

 

'I need to calm down. I can do this. My siblings would laugh at me if they're watching me right now.' Caesar tried to calm himself and inhaled strongly.

 

 

 

 

As if taunted by Caesar's shout, the wolf pounced to welcome the sudden provocation and used its claw to aim at Caesar's body.

Caesar rolled to his right while the tree he was using as support was cut down by the wolf's claw. He then stabbed the spear forward using his right hand.

 

But missed again as expected though this time Caesar is smiling.

 

"Fireball!"

 

 

 

A huge explosion happened, and a large number of birds got disturbed and went flying everywhere while animals and monsters alike within the area started running away from the source of the explosion out of panic.

 

"Hahaha. I did it!" Caesar felt relieved after dodging death for the first time.

 

He can feel his tensed muscles calming down and fatigue started taking over his body. But is not time to rest, he reminded himself.

Caesar walked to the burnt corpse. He can smell the burnt flesh of the wolf but ignored it, he then stabbed the forehead of the wolf to open it and found something shining in it.

 

He took the crystal and checked the trees near him and climb the biggest one he saw using his remaining strength.

 

**************************************

 

On the 15th day, Caesar was finally able to get out of the forest.

 

He was consuming every monster crystal he gets from the monsters using the breathing technique his brother had thought him outside the tower.

 

"I'm finally out and my aura went up from D- to D while my Spear Mastery went from F- to F+ ." He said as he looks at the mountain in front of him.

 

"Thinking back I almost died several times facing that wolf and gorilla." He looked back to the forest and was thankful that he learned basic magic from his sister.