One year later, the sky on the 75th floor of Hell's Spire was nearly pitch black. The clouds hung heavily, obscuring the vibrant red hues and any trace of the few glimmering rays that managed to seep through.
An emotionless expression graced Lara's face when she glanced at the pile of dead bodies in front of her. The bodies belonged to the same creatures that killed her countless times. The once wide wings behind their backs were burned to crisps and their horns were pulled out from their heads.
"One, two, three..."
She muttered under her breath, desperately trying to wipe the blood from her fingers. However, the blue tunic draped around her body failed to remove the stains from her hands.
"I will buy a black tunic next time."
The panel of 'system shop' in her status has everything she desires. Clothes, food, skills, and all the necessary things someone would need to stay alive in the Hell's Spire. But the players need 'coins', the only currency of Hell's Spire to buy from the shop.
Earning coins was not an easy task in the Hell's Spire. After killing one low-level monster Lara could only earn a few coins. The Authorities could bestow coins to the players but their demands were too difficult. Moreover, the Authorities usually only gave their coins to those who entertained them.
Lara's hands grew numb. In the end, she dragged her body to sit beside the corpses with a frustrated expression.
Countless towering boulders, emanating intense heat, concealed everything in her surroundings. She gazed at the boulders and her breath hitched for a moment, but she stabbed her nails into her palm to maintain her consciousness. After all, the floor maintenance was long done. Now, if she lost her breath, she might not wake up again.
Amidst the gruesome scene, a square, bright golden card hovered in mid-air. The air around the card swirled gently as if screaming its importance. It was a skill card, something that rarely emerged from the bodies of the beasts Lara killed.
In the Hell's Spire skills were divided into five tiers; low, medium, advanced, supreme, and legendary.
Among them, gaining low-tier skills was rather easy because whenever someone defeated a boss monster, the highest-level creature of its kind, they would receive a skill card. Moreover, if luck was on their side, they might even acquire a higher-tier skill.
However, Lara was too weak. That's why in the past year the only thing she could do was to kill low-level, weak monsters. But, it seemed she was a bit lucky today because a medium-tier skill emerged from the lifeless body of a low-level monster.
She gingerly touched the card with her fingertips. A cold sensation spread out across her fingers when the card burst into thousands of shimmering particles.
Lara looked up at the sky. It was as if the night itself had swallowed up all signs of illumination, casting an eerie and foreboding atmosphere over the scene.
Amidst the darkness, a bright screen flashed in front of her eyes.
"#The_Soul; Congratulations for surviving again."
Lara let out a laugh. The other Authorities left the moment they lost interest. Yet, the one who placed the highest bet on her death was still lurking around her.
The screen flashed again but this time the content was not good.
"#The_Soul; Leave this place, a few powerful players are in your surroundings."
Just like any other floor, the 75th floor of Hell's Spire was occupied by a lot of strong players, but not every player was good. After all, in this hellish place who could hold onto their morals?
Lara closed her eyes with a cold glint. Right now, she was in the territory of low-level winged hurricanes. She never left this place in the past year because she was too weak to confront the stronger monsters. Amidst this, she did encounter a few players. Unfortunately, her encounter was not pleasant at all.
Their sickening laughter and curt remarks were still fresh inside her head. She clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
'Maybe I should be content with the fact that they left me alone after seeing my battered condition?'
She let out a mocking chuckle. Her choice of not buying any healing medicine from the system store indeed proved to be useful.
'It's painful but it's hundreds of times better than the worst.'
After that encounter, she tried her best to avoid the other players. And even though she hated to admit it, Soul's presence helped a lot in this matter.