Chapter 2 - First Test (1/2)

Turning around, Lumen saw two humans, and a weird-looking creature walking up to him.

The creature's skin color was pure white, and he was wearing blue shorts and a blue sleeveless hoodie. His head resembled that of a rabbit, except that it didn't have eyes. It only had a slit resembling a mouth on his face. The creature also had blue orbs embed in his hands and feet, and it was carrying a staff that had the same blue orbs on each end.

The two humans with him were a female and a male one. The male one was very short and was wearing a green explorers jacket and green pants. He had white/silver hair and carried a backpack that was as large as him. Nothing that impressive, considering his short stature.

The female human was exceptionally beautiful. Lumen had to admit that she is the most attractive woman that he has ever seen. She looked slightly shorter than him with piercing red eyes. Her hair reached her ankles and it was tied in a ponytail with a red stylized fascinator on the left side of her head. Her clothing consisted of a white long-sleeved jacket, black shirt, red tie, red skirt, and black leggings. She said something to the smaller human next to her while pointing at Lumen, but he didn't understand a word she said.

”I just sent off one Irregular, and another one pops out right after.” The white creature chuckled, in the same manner, Loki did, annoying Lumen in the process.

”Nevertheless, I welcome you to the Tower young man. My name is Headon, and I'm the Guardian of the First Floor of the Tower. What is your name young man?” Headon asked.

”My name is Lumen.” He responded to the rabbit-looking creature.

”So tell me Lumen, why have you come to the Tower?” Headon questioned.

”I came here since I was promised a grand adventure.” Lumen said with a grin.

”A grand adventure? Hahaha, that's something I haven't heard in ages. Well, I can guarantee you climbing the Tower is an adventure like no other.” Before Headon could say anything else, he was interrupted by the beautiful woman. Again, Lumen had no idea what she said since he couldn't understand her language.

”Ah, you are correct, Princess. I almost forgot for the second time today.” Headon chuckled and a black marble appeared in his hands. He flicked it, and the marble appeared in front of Lumen.

”This is an E-ranked Pocket. It's a device that provides a variety of functions that aid Regulars and Rankers in the Tower. One of those functions is to enable the owner to understand the different languages spoken in the Tower by translating them all into Macsethian.” Hearing the explanation, Lumen took the marble with his hand, and he felt the Pocket binding itself to him. After binding to Lumen, the marble simply floated next to him.

”You could also make it invisible by focusing on it saying 'Invisible mode'.” Doing as told, the Pocket disappeared from view. Despite that, Lumen still felt it's existence.

”What an interesting little thing.” Lumen said.

”Now that we got that out of the way. I think it's about time we get started with your test. Unless you want to get kicked out of the tower that is.” Headon smirked.

”Nah, I would like to see what's so special about this tower.” Lumen answered him back.

”Haha, the Tower is definitely special. Whether you are looking for wealth, immortality or absolute power, you will find them all up there.” Headon said while making gestures with his hands. Afterward, he walked up next to a wall.

”We are missing one of our objects for the test, but we will make do with what we have.” Headon tapped a wall with his staff. With a rumble, the wall slowly lifted itself revealing what's behind it.

There a cage stood with a weird blue substance inside it that almost resembled water. A giant eel with wings was swimming around in the blue substance. The eel's body was red, and it had a steel-like armor covering it from the middle up until its head.

”Wow! Is this what Sea King looks like?” Lumen questioned in surprise.

”I don't know what a Sea King is, but that's a White Steel Eel. They live in highly dense Shinsoo environments, like the one you are seeing.” This time it was the beautiful women that explained. She then turned towards Headon. ”What are you going to make him kill it now?”

”That's exactly my plan,” Headon replied while grinning creepily.

”You really don't like letting Irregulars climb the Tower. Even though this one looks a little bit more handsome and has a better physique, Evan said he feels no special power from him. Even Regulars from the 20th floor would have trouble killing a White Steel Eel.” The black-haired woman complained to Headon.

”I simply give suitable tests for Irregulars. It's his choice whether he wants to take it or not, Princess Yuri. So what do you say, Lumen?” Headon chuckled.

”So this substance is not water? And does the eel have any special abilities.” Loki had told him that he wouldn't have a problem with water, but Lumen didn't want to experiment with his life to test if it's true or not. Nevertheless, he was excited since this was an opportunity to test out his Devil Fruit abilities.

”Despite being a Divine Fish, the White Steel Eel only has a strong physical body with no special powers. While Shinsoo is a substance that flows through and is produced by the Tower. In lower concentrations, its density makes the substance act like a gas, but in higher concentrations, it behaves like a liquid.” This time the silver-haired dwarf answered.

”Perfect!” Lumen exclaimed and started moving towards the cage.

”Are you crazy? Why would you give your life away just for some stupid adventure?” Princess Yuri got in his way and stopped him.

”Princess Yuri, I hope you are not planning to interfere in this test as well. You already did it once, and I can't allow you to do it again. Please stay out of this.” Headon told her with a friendly, yet threatening voice.

Since Yuri was standing right in front of Lumen, he got a closer look at her. Observing her up close, she was by far the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Her face was perfect and her red eyes made it even more alluring. She also had just the right proportions to her body.

”Princess Yuri is it? How about me make a bet. If I pass this test, you will go out on a date with me.” Lumen asked her with a smile. He was confident that he would be able to kill the beast since it didn't have any special powers. Yuri is also exceptionally beautiful so it's a win-win situation.