"Hmm… if that's what you want. Let's go."
"Yes."
Master moved towards the cliff, leaving me to follow after him.
"Master, don't we have to take something with us? Like, safety measures and such?"
"What for?"
I would surely fall off the cliff and die painfully. The thought of me getting squashed by the Earth was terrifying.
"We don't need anything like that. One can only grow stronger when he sees death up close."
'But I have been through death though?'
Death was nothing to me. Of course, that didn't mean I liked pain. I was a human too. The deaths I had been through were all painless and instant.
'Looking at the cliff now, there's no way I can climb up and down a thousand times.'
Maybe around fifteen? Twenty? Yeah, I would fall to my death around that number.
'And there's another thing that has been bothering me…'
Would my stats also regress with me or would they stay the same?
'I'd like it to be the latter.'
If it's the former, regressing would only give me a few tips and a headstart on the events that would happen.
'But if it's the latter…'
That would change a lot of things. I could do the simplest of exercises to raise my stats and then kill myself and repeat all of that again. But of course, the Tower won't be that kind.
'Doing the same thing over and over again will slow the growth of your stats and eventually stop… that's what I heard from Master.'
But I could squeeze the maximum from something, it didn't matter if that was stats or secrets. Everything was within my reach.
"We are here."
While I was thinking of all those things, we reached the foot of the cliff.
The towering cliff stood in front of me, so high and seemed mighty. I had to question myself again. Would I be able to climb this thing even once?
"Hmm…"
"What's with the long face?"
It was pretty high and my physical stats were pathetic. Even if I put my life on the line, I didn't think I could do more than ten. Even ten was a great number in this case.
"...it's manageable."
I could always regress back too.
'And I can clear my doubts too.'
"Let's do it."
"Hmm… undress."
…what?
Undress?
"W-What do you mean?"
"You should take off your clothes if you want to use your body efficiently and without interruptions."
"Oh…"
I almost had the wrong idea.
What he said made sense, somewhat. It was probably best if I could give my all right now.
'Let's not back off now.'
I took off my clothes and my tiny, buck-naked body glistened in the blazing sun up above.
I might get tanned at this rate.
"Since you don't have any technique, I'll show you once."
"Yes."
Master took a step forward towards the cliff and fit his foot on the cliff, bare feet. Then, he shot up. A jump long enough to cover almost half of the cliff. And then another one, reaching the top.
[And that's how you climb.]
"Huh?"
What was that? It was as if Master was speaking in my head.
[Don't be too surprised. You are going to learn that too. Anyway, you can climb down on your own.]
"Yes!"
Master jumped from the cliff in a terrifying way. Not even the slightest bit of hesitation and he took a step off the cliff, falling straight down.
Tak!
Just a small sound and Master's feet touched the earth softly.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Uh… ah, yes."
I snapped out of my daze and faced the rock.
'Huh? Those were not there before… right?'
Holes on the rock that were intentionally made… those were for me, made by my Master.
'In that instant?'
That was too fast…
Wonder if I could reach that level.
'Yes, I can. But first, I have to take my first step.'
It was a baby step, but it would surely prove to be helpful.
'First, put a foot in one of the holes.'
Something sharp scratched my foot. I looked down and found a sharp piece of rock sticking out like a sore thumb.
'Haha… I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.'
Those were purposely left by Master to make the climb difficult and more challenging.
'It's a test!'
I had to push on without faltering.
"Hap!"
I jumped with all the might I could muster.
'Don't miss, don't miss, don't miss.'
The jump wasn't that big but it neither was that small for me to fall, just enough to reach the next pink point.
"Fuu…"
My feet fit snugly inside the pink point.
'Now, again!'
I pushed my body once more and repeated the same thing over and over again.
"Haa… haa… I reached the top…"
Bam—
"...!"
The ground shook in a violent tremor. What was that? Master?
"Do you think you are going to get time to rest?! Try to rest and I swear I am going to smash your head!"
What the hell?! So now I didn't have any time to rest?!
Bam—
The ground shook again and the cold eyes that always stared at me turned fiery from rage. I felt threatened.
"No time to rest!"
I started the descent, which was a lot harder and more painstaking than the ascent.
Bam—
"Stop slowing down!"
"Fuck, yes!"
***
'Wow, I guess I underestimated myself quite a lot.'
It was my 21st ascent. Who knew I could push myself this far? But I was reaching my limits, no, I had already reached my limit a long time ago. I could not feel my hands and I felt my legs falling apart, unable to move even a little. My vision was blurry and my head was spinning dangerously.
'Just a little more…'
I had to hold on. I could not fall there.
'Just… there…'
Ah…
I lost my grip.
"Fuck…"
I was falling and all I could see was the disappointing look face of my Master.
'So he doesn't care about weaklings like me...'
He didn't come to save me.
***