Two hours passed by as Aeron continued to clear the floors and increase the ranking of his tower card.
In the end, he didn't stop much at the 10th Floor because he wanted to see more advanced Phantom Abilities and combat of more experienced and stronger Phantom Hunters.
…
On 24th floor…
This floor was wider with a hard sand floor and five platforms.
There was also a pond in the center, with greenery and trees around it.
Several people were fighting at the various spots on this floor.
Aeron couldn't see them all, but he could feel the clashing of exotic auras of Phantom Abilities.
This floor had more people and experienced D-rank Phantom Hunters.
The ranks were given upon clearing two requirements: 1: Having sufficient Curse and Spirit power. 2: Clearing a rank-up task.
To become an E-rank Phantom Hunter, one needed to have 500+ spirit power and curse power in their source region.
To become a D-rank Phantom Hunter: 5000+ spirit power and curse power. A task of killing 10 D-rank Haunts.
To become a C-rank Phantom Hunter: 15,000+ spirit power and curse power. A task of killing 10 C-rank Haunts.
Aeron was considered a C-rank unofficially, but he was not as powerful as a regular C-rank in terms of stats.
This 24th Floor was for peak D-rank Phantom Hunters, meaning that all of them had above 10k spirit power and curse power.
Aeron didn't plan to ascend above because he couldn't. He already lost three times against the 23rd Floor's challenge simply because of his lack of Phantom Abilities while his opponent had them. He barely won by meeting the minimal requirement of passing.
As such, it was time for him to settle, spar with others, and improve more so that he could create a Phantom Ability suited to him.
There was an option to directly get a Phantom Ability Potion, but it was someone else's creation and Aeron didn't want that. One would also need to practice a lot regarding the Ability after drinking a Phantom Ability Potion.
…
Aeron walked towards the desk before the pond area at the center and said to the lady wearing a light dress and a big round hat.
"I would like to get matched with someone for sparring."
The lady nodded with a smile, "Wait a minute here and sit there. I'll call someone who's available and also wants a spar."
"Thanks," Aeron said and sat down on one of the chairs to the side, waiting for a sparring partner.
…
The very top floors of this Phantom Tower have unique names.
Visionary Floor, the very top of the tower and only accessed by top echelons of the Phantom Guilds and Phantom Association. This floor was at the very top and allowed specialists and the lookout device to check the Haunts.
The orders and information about danger would be then passed to various Phantom Guilds so they could dispatch people in case of emergency.
At the moment, this Visionary Floor was basked in a somber atmosphere, more than ever for several years.
"Any chance for that Lady Shears to visit here?"
"We have studied her a few times, but unlike that Blood Ring Monarch, she is not bloodthirsty so the chances of her entering our city are rare."
"A Supreme Haunt had a battle with that entity in the Dark Ruin and she clearly won, but maybe she also got weakened?"
"What are you trying to say, Reddo?"
"We haven't measured Lady Shear's power, but the six of us with 70k Spirit and Curse power should be able to survive against her, right?"
On the floor, the table had six people sitting with the other people sitting at different tables and chairs behind them in the meeting room.
Three of them looked like in their twenties, one girl and two young men. However, their appearance reflected their true age incorrectly.
Due to the power of Spirit energy, it wasn't hard to maintain young looks and some prefer it that way.
The other three people looked in their thirties and forties. Two women, one man.
These six were the leaders of the six strongest Phantom Guilds in the Fourth Sanctuary City.
But one more chair was empty at the table and it was soon filled up by a short and slick black-haired man wearing a gray-black suit.
He appeared behind the seat like a mist and sat down.
"You're late, Blackmist."
"I am late, but I found crucial information that'll save us time," Blackmist narrowed his eyes. "Lady Shears is not injured and despite using my main Phantom Ability, I still got hit by her after escaping 50 kilometers away."
"That right arm?"
Everyone released a sigh, externally or internally.
Blackmist's right arm's sleeve was hanging, indicating that he had lost his entire arm.
Blackmist was the strongest Phantom Hunter in terms of Spirit power and Curse power among others in the Fourth Sanctuary city.
Larken, the Blackmist—the current chief of Phantom Association.
"Damn it! If only we can measure the power of those X-rank Haunts."
"What now?"
"Abort it," Blackmist plainly said. "If we go there and get killed instead, it won't be long before the Fourth Sanctuary City gets wiped out by those S-rank Haunts."
"Instead of that, we will go to a recently formed Dark Ruin four thousand kilometers away that I found three days ago," Blackmist said. "It's an S-rank one, so form your parties and get ready. I've informed the 7th and the 2nd Sanctuary City. Their A-rank and S-rank Phantom Hunters are coming in as well."
Everyone was surprised.
"Why are you also inviting them?"
Blackmist nodded. "This S-rank Ruin feels like that one we encountered two years ago. It's massive and inside a subspace, with a high chance of having troublesome Haunts. We'll need more people to go inside and explore it fully for resources."
"Based on your guts?"
"That's right," Blackmist nodded. "I will not permit anyone to die. If you die, I'm going to control your corpses mercilessly. Remember that."
"Bastard. Stop cursing us before we even started."
"Hahaha, alright! We can't do anything about Lady Shears, so going to that new S-rank Ruin is the best. We need to get stronger."
…
*Smack!*
Aeron was thrown several meters before he crashed into a boulder.
The person before him was a woman in her late twenties. She wore a blue-black sporty outfit, modestly revealing her shapely curves.
"Damn it. One more, Selina," Aeron wiped his mouth with blood. Shooting forward by stomping his feet, Aeron arrived before the young woman, his palm wrapped by a razor-sharp blue aura.
But this time, Aeron also wrapped his entire body in the razor-sharp water aura, going all out. 'I can now do this perfectly. It should cut that sticky stuff or whatever it is.'
"That's not going to help, Aeron," Selina chuckled.
Aeron was using water around his chop-motion palms and body while manipulating the water to rotate it at high speed making it as thin as possible.
However, Aeron once again felt as if he was entering a sticky area when he entered within 3 meters of Selina. Slowing him down physically.
'What the hell is this Phantom Ability?'
[I think I've broken it down. I'll tell you after the battle.]
Selina leisurely grabbed Aeron's hands with hers as Aeron failed to land his hits and threw him again.
Aeron crashed into a boulder, cutting it into pieces due to the razor-sharp water aura around his body.
"Alright, that's enough," Selina arrived before Aeron and gave him a hand while smiling. "Don't think too much about losses."
Aeron looked up at her and grabbed her hand, "You are not even going all out. What's with that ability?"
"I call it Temporal Chains," Selina grinned and ruffled Aeron's head, using her spirit energy to boost Aeron's natural healing factor to recover his injuries.
"You need to create something more solid than just that razor-sharp water aura, but your basics got solid enough to impress me during our fights, so you need to create something for yourself to improve your combat power."
Lapis internally wryly smiled.
[She is powerful and talented, alright. If we rate her Phantom Ability she showed us, it should be easily B-rank. And she must have more than one of course.]
"Yeah, I watched many Abilities and it's time that I make one for myself," Aeron grinned at Selina. "I have a rough idea. And it won't be long before I beat you."
"Good luck," Selina chuckled and waved her hand. "I am from Star Horn guild. Since you are not in any guild yet, you can attempt our entry test once you get better."
Selina left while Aeron went to one of the private rooms to focus on creating his Phantom Ability.
'Tell me about her Ability.'
[She created a Field-type ability that's a combination of Manipulation, Field, Transmute, and something from her Trait. Within that field, she can essentially slow down time, but she's not actually slowing time.]
[With the use of the Sticky concept using Transmute and manipulating it to spread into a micro invisible net that sticks to everything within 3 meters of her, she managed to create an Ability that can slow everything down. The slowness depends on the sticky power of hers and its potency.]
'You sound impressed.'
[Well, she is a C-rank Phantom Hunter and this Ability is the result of her current culmination. But once she gets stronger, she'll upgrade her Abilities to new heights for sure. I think she named her Ability Temporal Chains with some ambition in mind, so she must have ideas and vision of what her ideal Ability should be that can bring out her full potential.]
[A talented young woman indeed.]
Lapis cheekily grinned and added.
[Now then, what's your plan? You said you had an idea of what you want?]
'I have an idea, but since I reached 100% proficiency in all basic things, I am going to do some experiments first,' Aeron's grin widened, his excitement surging. 'Let's first start experiments with some long-range full offense Phantom Abilities.'
All in all, Aeron's horizons were broadly expanded in the last two hours and it thrilled him to no end.