When Adam arrived at the foot of the Blood Tower, he saw King Slayer was already here, alongside with the Vampire King. When the two saw him, they stopped talking about whatever they were talking about, and the Vampire King asked "Did you have a good night's sleep?"
Ignoring how weird it was for the ruler of a whole race asking him this question, he replied "I did sleep well. I will definitely do my best to reach the top of this tower. Could you tell me more about the tower, so that I will know what I will have to face?"
The Vampire King, Vald, nodded and said "I intended to anyway. The tower is split in exactly 60 floors. Each floor is actually a sub dimension within which enemies will appear. There will be two kinds of enemies, first are those generated by the tower, and secondly are the past challengers."
Adam tilted his head, and Vald continued "Don't worry, their strength will be restricted, but for example, if you manage to climb to the 49th floor, then you will have to fight against my phantom self, with lowered strength of course. Even higher you would start meeting the different Sovereigns and Chosen ones who entered too."
On the side, King Slayer couldn't help but ask "What is the highest floor anyone has ever managed to reach?"
Vald's face turned unsightly as he replied "55th Floor… There is something you need to understand about the tower. Every 10 floors is a hurdle, a checkpoint. Usually, those with a C Class will reach between the 1st and 9th floor, B Class the 10th and 19th floor, and so on… The weakest in their class would reach the round number, and the strongest would reach the one ending by a nine."
The two nodded, but a moment later they both frowned, and King Slayer said "Isn't there a problem then?"
Vald sighed and said "As you guessed, there is indeed a problem. Following this logic, Sovereigns will reach between the 50th floor and the 59th, leaving the 60th floor. Since no one ever reached that floor, we couldn't be sure, but we fear that to reach the 60th floor, one would need a talent even surpassing a Sovereign…"
Adam put on a frown as he thought about Vald's words, but King Slayer didn't stay silent "Can you tell us more about the sub dimensions inside the tower?"
Vald nodded and said "They are functioning sub dimension, or lower planes, that are each bigger than the city we are standing in. Each of them recreate different living environments, some are worlds of flames and lava, others of snow and ice…"
"This is also one of the reasons why no one ever reached farther than the 55th Floor. Some of the most powerful beings to ever live visited the tower. For example, the one who reached the 55th Floor was the fearsome Undead Emperor of old. While he was strong enough to suppress the entire secular world with his power, the 55th Floor is a holy plane within which angels mingle. This was exactly his weakness, and so he was forced to leave."
King Slayer sent a look at Adam and said "As far as I know, no one doesn't have a weakness, but this guy should be quite good for the task…" His eyes went back to Vald and he asked "How long can we stay in that plane?"
Vald's face turned shinier as he was asked that question. He replied with glee "As much as this tower made us suffer, we cannot completely hate it, because it is one of the best training grounds. While it is extremely dangerous inside and one can die at any moment, since there are so many planes it allows one to train in any skill, Concept or Essence with the perfect environment."
He looked at Adam and said "You train in cold based skills? Just stay in the cold planes longer and practice your skills there. You practice the sword? Go to a sword floor and battle it out with the swordsmen inside. I can guarantee that training in the Blood Tower will definitely allow you two to make great leaps in your combat ability."
He looked back at King Slayer and said "Back to your question, the duration of your stay will depend on which floor you are. For the first nine floors, you can stay for one hour, for the next ten, the limit is two hours, and it doubles every ten floors. In the end, you can stay for 32 hours on every floor for the ones between 50 and 59."
Adam nodded and said "So we can stay for half a month in there… But I guess no one would stay in there for so long." Vald smiled and said "Indeed."
Inwardly, Adam intended to stay in there for some time though. He would linger in every plane that had a water environment, a sword environment, or a fire one. Unfortunately, he didn't think that there were any good ones for his Concept of Self.
After all, the Concept of Self wasn't really something that he could train like he did with his other concepts, it was more of a matter of understanding his true self.
Soon, the Vampire King left the two on their own as he went to organize the festivities. Adam couldn't help but say to King Slayer, when they were left alone "He is quite nice to talk to, you wouldn't think he went through so much."
King Slayer replied "Don't underestimate him. Let me remind you that he was the one who led his entire race to safety, and who fought against the entire world. Although he had the help of Blackheart Mountain, that was only at the end of the conflict. For multiple years he protected his whole race on his own."
He then pointed at the tower and said "King Vald is one of the strongest beings on the whole Mortal Plane. He was one of the few who was able to reach the 49th Floor, which is right below the Sovereign Level."
Adam nodded and said "Of course I wouldn't underestimate him, I just find him respectable. Well, if today we are successful, we might become business partners."
King Slayer titled his head, so Adam said "Weren't vampires also known as the best merchants in the world, because of their great social skills? If I can cure them of their curse, then they would be able to travel across the entire world, without the need to fear the sunlight. By then, if I can make them work for me, wouldn't it be great?"
King Slayer whistled and said "You are quite ambitious, planning for an entire race to become your subordinates."
Adam shrugged and said "I'm not enslaving them, just giving them a job. Most of them were merchants five hundred years ago, before they were chased around, so if they are cursed they will most certainly turn back into merchants. If they do so, they might as well work under me, their ally. They will still have their freedom to do whatever they want to do in the end."
King Slayer crossed his arms and said "If that's the case, then I will take the rest as assassins." The two looked at other for a moment, silent, before grinning to each other.