It was a fact known by many that the tower would leave opportunities for people to collect. Some required one to work for them, while others could simply be picked up without much effort. Of course, getting this stuff was harder said than done. That wolf he had just killed was a level 10 creature, one capable of fighting opponents at level 18. It was a boss, so naturally, it stood far stronger than most monsters that roamed this floor.
"Level 10 Divine Gear?" Zenryu said softly, his eyes widening slightly as he picked up the gear he found within a treasure chest nestled deep inside the cave. This was massive. For everyone who entered the tower, gear came in distinct tiers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, Legendary, Mythic, and lastly, at the very peak, Divine.
A 10 divine-grade item carried power equal to a level 40 common item. This gap grew even wider when taking into account that divine-grade gear offered unique abilities that lower tiers simply couldn't match. Plus, divine-grade items were completely unbreakable, unlike other grades of gear, which gradually lost their durability over time through repeated use and the wear of battle.
Well, Zenryu threw the gear into his treasury without a second thought and set off to find the other locations that his Cosmic Awareness and law senses felt were somehow off. For this, he took to the sky, easily moving faster than the speed of sound as he soared above the forest canopy, allowing him to quickly reach a distant waterfall that crashed down among the ancient trees.
A mermaid sat perched on a rock in the middle of the pond below the waterfall, water misting around her elegant form. She was beautiful—easily the most beautiful woman Zen had ever laid eyes upon. But that was an illusion. She was using her power to weave a glamour, making herself appear as captivating as possible to any who stumbled upon her domain.
"Hi handso—" Before she could finish her attempt to charm him, her voice cutting off mid-word, she froze as she found a beam had pierced clean through her chest. Her beauty vanished in an instant, the illusion shattering to reveal a horrifying true appearance beneath the glamour.
She toppled forward and fell lifeless into the pond, where her blood spread quickly through the clear water, drawing a swarm of ravenous fish that instantly set upon her and cleaned the flesh from her bones in moments.
Zenryu looked toward the waterfall, studying it for a moment before walking forward. He passed through the curtain of cascading water and entered the hidden space behind it. Inside the damp cavern, he found items that had been left here by people the mermaid had killed over her time hunting in this spot.
Those she killed would respawn back in reality, but by the looks of the accumulated stash, it wasn't easy to locate this particular waterfall. Her victims couldn't return for revenge even if they desperately wanted to.
He took all of the treasures into the Gate of Babylon, watching them vanish one by one into the golden portal. All but one, which he drew into his palm to study more closely. That being a Divine Grade necklace, which boosted the XP one gained by 25%, with a limit of +1 million XP before the effect would cease.
He put the necklace on, feeling it settle against his chest, and went on to continue his treasure hunt. He traveled all over the massive planet, which was many times larger than Earth in scale. This naturally took hours of flight and searching, at which point he finally stopped as he had gained everything that could be gained on this floor. As for how he knew this for certain—simple. The tower itself made an announcement that rang out across the entire level.
[System Holder, Zero, has collected all of the opportunities left behind on the First Floor, and has been given the title: Treasure Hunter.]
This instantly drew the attention of everyone present on the first floor, since, naturally, finding so much stuff wasn't an easy task by any measure. They all guessed it had to be the person they had seen flying around earlier, the one who had quickly drawn the attention of many people in the tower, thanks to his incredible speed cutting across the sky.
Many went back to their world to look into this mysterious figure. After all, opportunities that could be found on each floor weren't limited to just items, as even skills could be discovered hidden away in secret locations. Whoever found every opportunity on a floor could potentially sell a map leading others to those zones for a hefty profit.
Those opportunities would respawn given enough time; they were not a one-time thing meant to be claimed once and never again. Finding them was normally left to chance, since the tower naturally did not make it easy for anyone to keep farming those areas repeatedly. But with how one person had managed to loot every single area in a matter of hours, they, of course, wanted to know how he did it and claim that knowledge for themselves.
Yes, those on higher floors couldn't come down to the lower floors. Meaning they couldn't just descend, use their overwhelming power and heightened capabilities to locate these treasures with greater ease... well, let's jump ahead to the next day.
[System Holder, Zero, has collected all of the opportunities left behind on the Second Floor, and Treasure Hunter has evolved into Golden Luck.]
That message shook the second floor, causing everyone present to freeze in shock. News of Zero on the first floor had only just begun to spread, yet here he was, already collecting everything on the second floor as well? But more news came just a few hours later—Zero had already moved on to the third floor and was flying around at high speed, continuing his relentless hunt.
[Congratulations on reaching Level 5. You have reached a milestone. Please select an ability from the list below.]
Zenryu paused mid-flight, seeing the notification appear before him. He had just finished killing a large group of level 50 monsters, the experience finally pushing him over the threshold to reach level 5. By the way, the level range for Floor 1 was 1 to 10. Floor 2's levels ran from 1 to 25, and Floor 3 spanned from 1 to 50.
Zenryu was going by the name Zero in the tower; he didn't even fully know why he had chosen it. He guessed it had something to do with the novels he had read back on earth, stories that featured people hiding their true identity behind aliases.
Anyway, he turned his attention to the list of rewards laid before him. He could pick two of the items listed. Something only he could do, others couldn't pick and had to cross their fingers and hope for the best.
[Inverted Spear of Heaven], [Yoru], [Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu], [Flash Step], [Curse Speech], [Rasengan], [Sage Mode], [Zanpakuto]... etc.
Zenryu didn't need to see more than that. He had already spotted everything he needed. He wanted the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu to make treasure collecting far simpler going forward, and thanks to being an angel, he possessed an endless amount of Ki to draw upon. This meant he could theoretically create an endless number of shadow clones without exhausting himself.
Lastly, a Zanpakuto. It was a Zanpakuto—the soul-cutting sword of the Shinigami. He wanted to form his own unique blade as soon as possible, so having one now would be ideal. He didn't know if it would take years of meditation and training before he could finally hear his Zanpakuto's name and unlock its true power.
'...Cool.' He thought with a satisfied smile, seeing how the jutsu came packaged with knowledge on chakra control. Sadly, he didn't have a bloodline from the Naruto world, so he lacked the physique needed to actually mold and use chakra himself. But his Zanpakuto did allow him to tap into his Reiryoku, also known as spiritual power, giving him another avenue of strength to explore.
Anyways, wasting no time, he created thousands of clones. Some shot upward to higher floors, while others spread out across this current floor like a swarm. With each clone capable of creating its own clones in turn, he honestly just had to sit back and wait for the gains to start flooding in.
If a clone were destroyed, all of the experience it had accumulated would return to him. But with each clone being exactly as strong as him, possessing all of his abilities and power, there wasn't anything for him to worry about. All he needed to do was kick back and wait as each clone threw every opportunity they came across into the Gate of Babylon.
[System Holder, Zero, has collected all of the opportunities left behind on the Third Floor. The title Golden Luck has evolved to Fated Riches.]
[System Holder, Zero, has collected all of the opportunities left behind on the Fourth Floor. Zero has been rewarded with the ability Treasure Magnet.]
[System Holder, Zero, has collected all of the opportunities left behind on the Fifth Floor. Zero has been rewarded with the title Collector.]
[The Tower has noticed Zero, who in one day has managed to collect all of the treasures from Floors 1 to 5. The Tower has rewarded Zero with the title: He Who Forges His Own Luck.]
This all happened within seconds. Once his clones reached the sixth floor, they had to slow down considerably since that floor contained beings whose levels reached 250. It wasn't anything he couldn't defeat, but it took time. Plus, every floor was larger than the last, and by the sixth floor, the size had expanded to a planet as massive as an entire solar system.
While everyone else was running around in shock at what had just happened, scrambling to find anything they could still get their hands on, Zenryu had reached level 10. Another milestone—but this time, he had to complete a trial to officially reach level 10, so he called his clones back to him.
'...First, let's see my rewards.' He thought, pulling up what the system had given him.
[Fated Riches] — You are fated to possess the riches of the world. Becoming one of the wealthiest beings in existence isn't a challenge for you. Fate itself would twist and turn to ensure you remain among the richest, so long as you don't meet an early death.
[Treasure Magnet] — You are a treasure magnet. Powerful and rare treasures of all shapes and forms would naturally make their way to you. The stronger you become, the greater the range of this passive ability. If you grow strong enough, treasures could simply float into the air and fly directly towards you. Otherwise, fate works in subtler ways, having treasures pass from one hand to another until they eventually end up in yours.
[The Collector] — You are a born collector. You will experience great ease when gathering treasures and resources. What proves difficult for others, you shall accomplish with far less effort.
[He Who Forges His Own Luck] — You are not limited by your luck, making you immune to bad luck entirely. When it comes to chance, outcomes will tilt in your favor, or you can simply force them to go your way.
'...He Who Forges His Own Luck... wouldn't that mean that if my enemy's ability depends on luck, he would experience bad luck instead? Or else the rules of luck would be erased entirely, leaving only a fair duel of pure capability?' Zenryu grinned at that last talent. It was truly overpowered since he would never face bad luck in battle, no matter the circumstances.
But he shifted his attention to the trial awaiting him. He was ready to push beyond level 10. There were a total of six types of trials, each offering the user different rewards for passing them. For example, the one-star trial, once passed, would simply grant rewards equal to if you had reached the milestone normally, similar to how you would be rewarded for simply reaching level 5.
From there, the rewards grew better with each star until you reached the six-star trial, which was considered impossible by most. Each trial was also graded based on how well you completed it. For example, if your trial involved defending a village, you would be scored on how effectively you carried out that task.
Anyways, five stars was already hell, and Zenryu recalled hearing about someone with the Sun System who had taken that trial and passed. Completing it gave him the ability [Sun Rise].
This was an overpowered ability that allowed him to grow stronger as the sun rose, reaching his peak at noon. Yes, pretty much Sunshine from Seven Deadly Sins. The massive power the man with the Sun System wielded was so great that he could fight someone more than fifty levels above him when the sun reached its zenith. That was crazy to think about.
So, with a skill like that being available for someone who finished a five-star trial, what about the impossible six-star? Zenryu decided to take that trial and find out for himself.
Zenryu appeared in a city that resembled ancient Rome. Grand stone buildings rose around him, columns and archways stretching toward a clear sky. He materialized in the air, a glowing magic circle hovering right below his feet.
"Great hero, please save us." A King knelt before Zenryu, his head bowed low. The mages who had performed the summoning knelt alongside him.
"Tell me everything I need to know," Zenryu said calmly. First things first—he needed to gather information and understand exactly what this trial required of him. This King was powerful, sitting at level 90, which seemed to be the highest level anyone in this world had reached.
As this was a trial given to someone at level 10, Zenryu wondered if the trial wanted him to do something more than simply slaughter monsters. Something that even someone as powerful as the King couldn't accomplish through brute force alone. He guessed this was a trial that required the participant to use their mind to clear it. Since he wanted a perfect score, he intended to be careful.
"I have summoned you, wise one. Lead my people to victory." The King raised his head, his eyes carrying the weight of responsibility.
"We have experienced an era of peace that has lasted hundreds of years. War isn't something my people are suited for anymore. I'm a King who wasn't tempered through blood and conflict. I'm not suited to lead my people through these hard times." He spoke truthfully and honestly, and in its own way, that admission was a form of wisdom.