Tower of Heaven

Chapter 139: Hidden Secrets [2]

The 25th Floor's trial was calm. It was a stark difference when compared to the excitement of the secret realm.

Atlas finally found his way to the city. What he had to do from that point made him think that he never wanted to experience the life of a mortal again.

Who knew writing would ever become so important? Atlas naturally learned how to read and write, but not to the extent that they required!

They called his handwriting chicken scratch from the moment he walked in, and with every day that passed, his suffering only increased.

Papers and papers and papers.

Papers and papers and papers.

That was the life that Atlas lived for the next two weeks.

He signed documents, read documents, discussed documents with others, and transcribed documents. In the morning, he went into one building and stayed there until the moon rose. Then, he left, spent the night cultivating, and returned to do the exact same thing the next day.

It was truly a terrible existence.

Of course, there were also positives. This was the first time Atlas was able to truly experience a city on an intermediary floor. It was a different atmosphere when compared to the cities in the Neutral Zones.

There were both Ascenders and Replicas living in harmony. At times, it was hard to tell them apart.

The Replicas lived real lives with real emotions. They were real people in every way except for the fact that they were not.

It wasn't as easy as picking apart those who lived ordinary lives and those who focused on the trial task.

'There are Ascenders here who chose to never leave.'

The 25th Floor gave anyone the ability to pass. Even an illiterate cultivator had the resources to become literate and complete the task. However, for some, this was enough.

They were done with the Tower after experiencing its first twenty-five floors. They chose to give up, and rather than risk losing the peace of this trial by continuing onward, they stayed and created entire lives in these small cities.

They walked a path that provided them with a happiness that Atlas couldn't fathom.

And that feeling made him feel somewhat alien. He couldn't quite explain it.

Nevertheless, he focused on completing the trial and lived minimalistically. There were only a few times when he left his mortal facade and behaved like a cultivator.

'I should find Heaven's Eye.'

An information organization with such a wide reach was important at times like this. He would be inadvertently revealing his own information to them in the process, but that was a chance he had to take.

'It would take too long for me to find the things I need on my own. That is more of a risk than sharing my information.'

He scouted the city in search of a sign like the one he found on the 21st Floor. With [Intrinsic Foresight], the subtle qi they used to signal their customers was easy to see.

Unfortunately, even after searching for two days, Atlas did not find it.

'They have branches on every floor, but not everywhere. If it is not in this city, then I have no choice but to find the other cities in this trial world…'

"Haa…"

As it was mentioned, Atlas only found it easily through luck last time. Now that he had ascended a few floors, he had to put in the proper work to earn his right to meet them a second time.

Atlas was forced to stay in the city for a long time due to the task. If he left, it would be an automatic failure and he would be forced to try again from the beginning. For the next two weeks, Atlas could only find different maps of the world to find the locations of its other cities.

[Ascender [Atlas Vaun] has completed the 25th Floor Trial.]

Only after that message appeared could he leave and begin his search.

The second city was also empty of anything like an information organization. The third also looked the same, but Atlas actually found what he was looking for on its outskirts.

He had been traveling for over a month at this point, so it was truly a relief. The fourth city was much, much further, and he did not want to make that journey. Discover more stories at ???

Still, he started it. He exited the third city and started running through the forest when he was forced to suddenly halt his steps.

'That is…'

He activated [Intrinsic Foresight] only to determine his path, but it was the perfect timing.

He approached a seemingly ordinary boulder that sat between two tall trees. After circling it once, he planted both of his feet firmly in the ground and both hands firmly on its surface.

Rumble!

The boulder made a loud noise as it was forced to move from its position. Atlas was forced to move it forward and push it upward at the same time to remove it from the natural indent it made in the ground after so long.

But that small divot was not a natural thing at all.

Atlas pushed his foot into the dirt with some small amount of power, and as if it had been waiting for this moment, it crumbled away. His body fell into the space hidden below and landed on solid ground.

It was a familiar environment.

'They truly do get creative with hiding it.'

Atlas couldn't tell if it was a subspace that was being connected to many different points with formations or an identical version of the same building. He wondered about it as he waited for someone to greet him.

"Welcome, esteemed customer. What kind of services can we provide for you today?"

The one who finally approached was a man wearing a rabbit mask. Atlas looked him up and down before deciding to satisfy his curiosity.

"Is there someone called Scarlet Fox here?"

"..."

The man was silent for a moment before bowing.

"I will call upon your desired provider. Please wait, and they will be with you shortly."

'Shortly? As in she is not present, or as in she is here, but occupied?'

Were they using teleportation arrays to move different brokers to different floors and bypass the Celestial Ladder?

Atlas noticed his thoughts becoming more diverse after integrating more with the Formation Spark. He could no longer view the arts of secondary professions as side paths he only took for convenience.

They were becoming a part of him that he wanted to explore just as much as the path of cultivation.

A genuine curiosity… No, an almost gluttonous greed for knowledge existed inside of his mind. When such a thought appeared, he felt nearly suffocated by not knowing.

His mind delved into the depths of the Tower's rules and tried to justify the existence of such a formation. He became so engulfed in it that he didn't even notice when a presence arrived beside him.

"Ehem…!"

A throat was cleared in order to bring him out of his thoughts. Only then did he flinch and look up.

There, just a few feet away, stood exactly the person he came to see.

With her eyes glowing, knowing that he was here to spend tons of money, was the Scarlet Fox herself.