Chapter 257 First Floor

When the group finally crossed the storm, most of the crew looked beat, but at least they would be able to rest on the coast since the place couldn't be found by most people. In fact, once the waters calmed down, they could see the island and a massive round tower in the middle of it… Aion's ancestors probably worked to create something that pierced the clouds in the sky for a while.

Still, it looked like it was always raining in that area. So, the ocean was never completely calm… and the area was also always dark. When the ship anchored, the crew began to hug the beach and feel the pleasure of having a nice footing under their feet. Meanwhile, Aion looked around and could only see a dark island that looked quite ominous when lightning bolts were falling around. Instead of the tower, it would have made more sense if there was the demon king's castle there.

"While we are on the final part of our journey, I think we should take our time and set camp here before heading to the tower," Sauros said. "What do you two think?"

"Fine by me," Aion said.

"We can only do so much work, and the others have more numbers, so why not let them rest and do that tomorrow while we head to the tower?" Seris asked.

"It seems that you are the one who is in a hurry now…" Sauros said and then sighed. "Even if that is true, some of your tools can help them, and only you can use them."

The source of this content is nov/el/bin[./]net'

"Humph," Seris snorted and then went to grab most of her tools from her cabin.

"It would be great if you could help take some things from the warehouse as well since you are the one who can carry most weight from us," Sauros said once he saw Aion moving to check the base of the tower.

Aion sighed and then got to work as well. Thanks to that, the crewmen felt motivated to get up and work since Aion was a newbie when it came to the sea and was feeling exhausted like them.

After a couple of hours, everything was ready, and they could move. Sauros wanted to sleep for a bit since he didn't get a wink in the last two days, but the other two wouldn't let him. Sometimes he wondered who was the Captain of the ship…

The island was around ten kilometers wide and long, and the tower apparently had proportions that were five hundred for five hundred… it was hard to be sure. In any case, after walking for a while, they confirmed that no animal lived there. There were no signs of people either…

There was a forest around the tower, but it was that dense, so they crossed it after just one hour. When they approached the base of the tower, the group began to feel a lot of mana coming from it… it seemed like the same thing they would feel inside a dungeon. Did Aion's ancestor mimic the structure of one when she created that?

The place had no windows, but there was a single door that was five meters long and there meters tall. It was also made of the same rectangular stones that made the whole structure… since it was gray, Aion could tell that each one of them had been made with a lot of mana… or perhaps they had absorbed it over the years.

"I feel like we won't be able to leave once we enter… we should really rest for a while before moving ahead," Sauros said.

Aion shared the same feeling, but he didn't want to waste even more time on that. They waited for four weeks, after all… only the last part had been rough. Still, it wasn't like everyone had as much stamina as him.

"All right," Aion said.

The group returned to the base and then began to rest in their tents. Aion decided to rest while meditating and working on his cores. After doing some tests, he confirmed that the current amount of mana he could store in each was similar to his current magic power added to his mana pool. So, it would be better to use them with a magic class… but that would only increase his magic potential.

After doing some more tests, Aion improved things a bit. Still, it required a lot of concentration to add even a bit of mana to the three cores without risking breaking their balance.

"This will really be a slow process…" Aion thought. "Still, I should focus on doing that slowly as well since the next tier of classes will also increase the potential of Force Release."

In any case, after a couple of hours, Sauros and Seris showed up in Aion's tent, and he left. It didn't seem like they were able to sleep that much due to the constant lightning strikes falling around.

Since the tower resembled a dungeon, it wouldn't make much sense to bring a lot of people with them, so only the usual team headed toward the tower after not so long.

When Aion touched the entrance, the door opened, and then they saw the first floor of the place. There wasn't anything around aside from a big hall, and there were no stairs either…

"It seems that we need to find or do something to get the chance to move to the next floor…" Sauros said.

"So, it is like that kind of system, huh," Aion said. "I guess it is way better than filling the map of a dungeon."

"Still, this is a challenge from your ancestor, so don't drop your guard," Sauros said. "I don't think that she would create a challenge that she wouldn't deem worthy for someone who wants the relics that she created…"

"That goes without saying," Aion shrugged.

When they began to walk toward the center of the hall, a creature suddenly appeared in the middle of it…