Chapter 21: Underwater Sushi

William sat cross-legged on the grass with the IronSkin technique resting in his hand. It was the first thing he’d gotten from the cultivation system. He’d been planning to buy another technique from the tower merchant after his sword technique hit intermediate proficiency, but after getting this, that plan could wait.

He was both lucky and unlucky getting this technique. Lucky, since he could learn it even without Qi. Unlucky, because the way you learned it was pure hellish torture.

William skimmed the manual’s instructions. Three stages, one for each proficiency level. The first stage targets skin. It’s like forging metal, get beaten up, let new skin grow, and repeat.

Next up was the intermediate stage. Like the sword technique, he would need Cent’s help. William would just have to stand in a defensive stance and take hits from him. This stage targets the muscles.

Lastly, high proficiency can only be achieved through real battles. William knew it was going to be pure hell, but the 10 Strength and Constitution attribute points at each stage would make every bruise worth it.

He stored the manual in his inventory. Now, the only thing left was to get something for the second floor. With 360 TP left after summoning and gacha, he set aside 80 for the hut and emergencies. That left a 280 TP budget. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He figured putting a dungeon on the second floor would be a better choice, as the traps would get useless as the climbers get stronger. With that settled, he called for the tower merchant. A few seconds later, Liola appeared, dressed in her sleek black tuxedo.

"Greetings, tower lord! Congratulations on clearing your first trial!" she greeted, more enthusiastic than last time. Maybe she’d had a good day hustling with other lords. William gave a polite nod. "Thank you. It wasn’t easy."

William didn’t bother wasting time. "Show me dungeon deals under 220 TP. Can you please keep it short, just the top three or four?"

Hearing that budget, she flashed her two bunny teeth. It’d been a great business day for her. After the trial, the lords finally understood they could actually die here, so now they were spending TP like it actually mattered. "Sure," she said. With a wave of her hand, four deals popped up in front of William.

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Deal: Old School

Items:

Goblin Dungeon Blueprint

Respawn Core

1500 Stone, 500 Wood

Description: An OG goblin cave. Spawns 8 Tier 1 (Low) Goblins and 1 Tier 1 (Intermediate) Goblin. Troops can respawn up to 3 times using the respawn core.

TP: 125

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Deal: Boners Parade

Items:

Undead Maze Blueprint

Respawn Core

1800 Stone, 750 Wood

Description: A twisting maze filled with 20 Tier 1 (Low) skeleton soldiers. Upon death, units can respawn up to 3 times.

TP: 149

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Deal: Death by Pleasure

Items:

Lonely Forest Blueprint

Respawn Core

2200 Wood, 200 Stone

Description: A quiet forest filled with spirits with censored desire. Spawns 8 Tier 1 (Low) Moaning Widow spirits and 2 Tier 1 (Intermediate) Illusion Succubi spirits. Units respawn up to 2 times.

TP: 189

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Deal: Underwater Sushi

Items:

Swamp Forest Blueprint

Respawn Core

3500 Wood

600 Stone

Description: A 4-foot deep flooded forest swamp filled with those who love their meat raw. Spawns 12 Tier 1 (Low) Razor Piranha and 3 Tier 1 (Intermediate) Thunder eel. Units respawn up to 2 times.

TP: 209

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William blinked at the deals. It looked like a clearance sale. Even the cheapest one gave nine troops that could respawn three times. From his past experience, he knew that nothing from this rabbit could be this good.

Loila saw him staring at the list like he’d seen a ghost. She knew exactly why. "The troops in the deals aren’t real, they’re mana constructs. Once the respawn limit’s reached, you’ll have to buy another respawn core." Then she smiled and added," They’ll cost you 75 percent of the original deal."

William glanced at her from the corner of his eye and muttered in a barely audible voice, "I knew this fucking carrot grinder would never give anything cheap." Loila either didn’t hear him or just pretended not to. "Did you say something?"

William shook his head. "No... just talking to myself." Loila let it go, and William went back to deciding which deal to pick.

The first deal, "Old School," was your typical goblin cave. 90% of tower novels have it, and goblins are just too predictable and weak. Next was "Boners Parade," clearly named by some degenerate. Undeads are slow, shambling sacks of bones, and they were all Tier One (Low), so neither of these deals were worth putting in his tower.

And "Death by Pleasure?" No fucking way he was going for it. The last thing he wanted was a dungeon full of monsters jerking to illusions while the background echoed with those cursed Moaning Widows.

That left "Underwater Sushi." William smirked. "Now that’s more like it. I’d love to watch that swamp turn red as climbers get their asses chewed off."

He locked in the Sushi deal and started looking for a new sword, an uncommon one with enhancements, like the BruteStick. After browsing through the options, he found one and tossed it into Bunny’s cart.

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Item: Venomedge Sword (Uncommon)

Description: A sword commonly used by VenomHiss serphs as their third fang. Gives +2 Constitution and a small chance to inflict poison.

TP: 65

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Item: Bonk (Common)

Description: Just a classic wooden Bonk.

TP: 4

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He picked up the Bonk for his technique. Out of all his troops, only the Cent could help beat him up, and there was no way in hell he was letting him swing a spear at him. So, the Bonk, it was. The total for everything came to 278 TP. After he paid, Loila vanished with a happy merchant’s smile.

Now he finally had everything he needed for the trial. He could start the technique, but before diving into that torture, he needed rest. What he craved most was a solid sleep on a real bed.

He wandered away from the tree. He already had the resources to build a Garden Hut. The moment he found a decent spot, he said, "Rollie, build the hut."

As soon as he spoke, materials spilled from his inventory, wood rising into walls, stone slapping down for the floor. A few minutes, and it was done. From outside, it was just a plain wooden hut, each wall with a square window to keep the inside alive.

He walked in and glanced around. The place was almost empty, a ten-by-ten box with a single bed by the window and a door to the bath. He really didn’t need anything else. He dropped straight onto the bed and muttered, "Ahhh... It’s soooooft. The next three days are going to be helllllll."

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[Story Progression Note]: If you feel the story becoming repetitive, please wait until the second trial ends, a new event(s) will start afterward. I’m not going to give a major spoiler now, but there would be a lot of lord fractions after the event.

[A/N]: Please send some Powerstones, Golden Tickets, or Gifts. Your support keeps me encouraged to continue writing.