Chapter 62: The Staff of the End

Intense explosions echoed continuously within the enclosed space.

You didn't expect that, did you? I'm going straight for the ultimate spell!

However, the one drawback of fire-type magic is that after a single skill, the area becomes choked with dense smoke, making it impossible to discern anything within.

Naturally, Qin Yuan was not going to let such an opportunity slip by.

Bolstered by the golden skill frame, the fire butterfly quickly condensed and flew once more into the billowing smoke.

Feather was not idle either, snapping off a pair of soul blades in rapid succession.

A precise hit.

A muffled grunt emanated from within the smoke.

Qin Yuan continued weaving his magic, preparing to cast the Bear Spirit Summoning technique.

At that exact moment, as the spell concluded and the dark smoke dissipated, he was finally able to clearly observe the situation inside.

The gargoyle presented a rather pathetic sight, its body covered in wounds and cracks.

Gray blood flowed out in steady streams.

"You..." It fixed a fierce gaze upon Qin Yuan, its lips parting as it actually managed to spit out a human syllable.

Then, swaying unsteadily, it could support itself no longer and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

It shattered directly into pieces.

[Congratulations, you have cleared the first floor.]

"Is that it?"

Qin Yuan was quite satisfied with this outcome.

The damage dealt by the Minor Meteorite spell was indeed impressive, at least not bringing shame to its tier.

Crucially, he discovered that the experience provided by this monster was quite substantial, causing his experience bar to jump by a full thirty percent in one go!

This meant he was now less than ten percent away from reaching level eight.

Qin Yuan briefly checked his internal condition, discovering that after the rapid succession of spells, less than a third of his mana pool remained.

After all, both the Minor Meteorite spell and the Bear Spirit Summoning technique were notorious mana hogs.

Earlier, to play it safe, he naturally had to give it everything he had.

Now it appeared... the damage had been somewhat excessive.

After briefly sorting through his thoughts, Qin Yuan suddenly became aware of another issue.

According to the information he had seen in the Grimoire of Whispers' bestiary, gray-skinned gargoyles did not possess very high intelligence, so why had it been able to speak just now?

"It's very simple," the Grimoire of Whispers replied calmly.

"You can think of these boss creatures in the Trial Tower as mere empty shells devoid of souls; what operates them is the tower spirit of this structure."

"In theory, every Trial Tower possesses a tower spirit, but their personalities are erratic and their true forms vary. Normally, however, they simply perform their basic duties and rarely communicate with adventurers..."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yuan wore a knowing expression and looked around.

"Where do I collect the reward?"

"Walk forward."

Following the guidance of the Grimoire of Whispers, he walked to the very end.

Suddenly, with a crisp click, a new portal of light materialized ahead.

"This is the door leading to the treasure room, and beyond that is the second floor."

Stepping through, the scene before him warped.

He faintly caught the sound of someone cursing and grumbling.

"Insidious, despicable, shameless!"

"Abominable human!"

"Good heavens, why did I have to run into a guy like this!"

In the blink of an eye, the scenery before him returned to normal.

Qin Yuan found that he had arrived inside a small chamber.

[You have entered the treasure room. Upon completing each challenge, you will enter the treasure room to claim a reward.]

Scanning the area with his gaze, he quickly located the source of the cursing.

In the corner, a mimic was ranting and raving.

Indeed, due to his intense agitation, his face had flushed bright red, and white steam was rising from the top of his head.

On the wall, several large characters were helpfully inscribed.

[Reward Collection Point.]

"So, you're the one who hands out the rewards?"

With a gentle smile, Qin Yuan approached the mimic.

Within his field of vision, the information regarding this mimic had shifted once more.

......

[Mimic Kent (LV 12) (Tower Spirit Form): A creature that loves collecting treasures and excels greatly at deception. It feeds on various coins, possesses virtually zero combat capability, but has extraordinary escape abilities.]

[Treasure Vision (Ability): Through a specialized field of vision, it can roughly estimate the accumulated wealth a person carries, with a margin of error not exceeding three gold coins.]

......

"The move you pulled just now was cheating!" the mimic protested loudly. "No, I strongly protest and demand a redo!"

As it spoke, another large cloud of mist puffed out from the top of its head.

Even from a short distance away, one could feel a wave of intense heat.

"..."

Qin Yuan smiled indifferently. "A win is a win. Give me the reward I've earned."

"You..." Seeing that smiling face, the mimic gnashed its teeth internally, wishing it could lunge forward and tear off a piece of flesh.

Yet, after all, this was the duty of a tower spirit. Bound by the covenant, it could not defy the terms, and withholding the reward from the victor was entirely out of the question.

In the end, with a disdainful spit, it coughed up a purple sphere of light.

Appearing before him was a staff.

Entirely ash-gray in color, an aura of dead silence permeated its surface.

......

[Staff of the End ★ (Epic): A magical item with a chance of being birthed in the Shadow Lands.]

[①: Your affinity for shadow-attribute elements +2 (White).]

[②: Your spells have a chance to inflict Shadow Flames upon casting, continuously dealing damage upon hit (Blue).]

[③: Active effect, allows you to briefly enter a shadow form, evading all damage for five seconds, with a cooldown of twenty-four hours (Purple).]

......

An epic staff...

Although tailored for the shadow attribute, the effects looked quite impressive.

Particularly the purple affix, which thoroughly captivated Qin Yuan.

Accepting it with a beaming smile, he did not forget to deliver a critical blow:

"Thank you, you're truly a good person."

Just as the mimic opened its mouth to speak, it choked on its breath, unable to catch it in time. A massive plume of smoke billowed from the top of its head once more.

"Abominable..."

Seeing no other items in the room, Qin Yuan summoned the bear spirit and Feather, preparing to head to the next floor.

The bear spirit had just been successfully summoned when the gargoyle fell, leaving no time to utilize it.

Figuring it shouldn't go to waste, he brought it along.

Of course, when challenging the second floor, Qin Yuan would first dismiss the spell, as sneaking in a pre-summoned minion was technically a foul.

Meanwhile, the mimic watched his departing back, grinding its teeth fiercely as it sneered inwardly: "Just you wait, you'll get what's coming to you shortly."

Stepping out of the small chamber.

Before him lay a narrow, elongated corridor, with the portal of light leading to the next floor situated at the very end.

Lightfootedly entering the portal, he quickly arrived at the second floor of the Trial Tower.

[Do you wish to initiate the challenge for the second floor?]

The prompt sounded once more.

Qin Yuan did not rush to respond, choosing instead to observe his opponent this time.

Before him stood a massive turtle-like monster, its shell covered in heavy spikes. Its size was considerable, and at a glance, it looked extremely difficult to deal with.

Especially after noting its level.

......

[Spiked Giant Turtle (LV 10): An ancient creature of very distant origin, possessing extreme aggressiveness and the ability to retract into its hard shell when encountering danger.]

......

"..."

Qin Yuan turned around and walked straight back.