Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 32 – The Eve

—–CROW—– 

The Lizardman heroes were indeed very strong.

Each one wielded their weapon more freely than their own body, and their combined techniques were also excellent.

However, my skills, honed through long periods of secluded training on the 3rd floor, were already a step above theirs.

I won without much difficulty, collected the insignificant clear rewards, and entered the 4th floor.

I was already far beyond the 4th-floor level in both specs and skills, and in fact, none of the monsters that appeared on the 4th floor were a match for me.

Of course, that didn’t mean everything went smoothly. There was one existence on the 4th floor that was far more annoying than the monsters.

It was the goddamn sun looking down on me from the sky.

“Damn it, it’s hot as hell.”

The main theme of the 4th floor was a desert.  A desert of endless heat without night.

Whether I was lying down at the inn or hunting, I had to suffer from the scorching heat all day long.

Even the monsters all used fire attribute attacks.

They were palette-swapped versions of the monsters I had seen so far while climbing the tower, like Goblins, Kobolds, and Lizardmen.

Their patterns weren’t much different from what I had seen before; they just had the added ability to throw and spew fireballs.

Naturally, it didn’t help me improve my skills at all, and the more I fought them, the hotter I got, which only annoyed me.

Moreover, my Fire Resistance was already maxed out from the 3rd floor, so there was nothing more to gain.

“Isn’t there something like Heat Resistance?”

I grumbled to myself as I stepped on the remains of the field boss I had just defeated.

Although I said that, I already know there’s no such resistance skill.  Fire Resistance probably serves a similar purpose.

The dehydration symptoms that the open community strategy posts warned about haven’t shown any signs of appearing.

– *Drip, drip.*

The ice cubes I put inside my clothes to cool off melted away in seconds.

This is because my body is heated to almost the temperature of a steel plate.

Despite being so hot, my body temperature hasn’t changed much, and I haven’t suffered from heatstroke yet.

That means the Fire Resistance skill is protecting my body from the heat. It doesn’t seem to be protecting my mind, though.

“Should I just go up now?”

By defeating this field boss, I’ve collected most of what I can get from the 4th floor.

There’s still a quest to escort a caravan crossing the desert, but the rewards aren’t that great, so I think I can skip it.

I looted most of the medium and large treasure chests on the first day I came to the 4th floor, so all that’s left are small ones containing gold or enhancement materials.

Even if I scrape up the remaining quests and monsters, it’s unlikely I’ll see any more growth.

“Let’s move on.”

Today is the fourth day since I entered the 4th floor. Having conquered the entire field, I immediately headed to hunt the boss.

**

The 4th-floor boss monster was a fire-breathing lizard monster, a Salamander.

After seeing bipedal lizardmen all the time, it felt incredibly strange to see a lizard crawling normally on all fours.

The Salamander’s main patterns were flamethrower, fireball throwing, and biting attacks with burning teeth.

For me, who had already significantly raised my Fire Resistance, it wasn’t a big deal even if I just took the hits.

And in the second phase, it would charge at me with its whole body engulfed in flames, but its attack pattern was so simple that I dodged everything.

It was probably a difficult boss for ordinary 4th-floor challengers, but it had a terrible matchup against me.

[Congratulations. You are the first to clear the 4th floor of the Trial Tower.]

The first clear reward I obtained was [Salamander’s Soulstone], which can imbue an item with the fire attribute.

Attribute imbuement sounds amazing, but the amount of additional attribute damage was insignificant.

Moreover, according to the community search, you can easily obtain better imbuement items on higher floors.

So, I just used it on a trash item I had and got rid of it.

The maximum contribution reward was the [Fire Resistance] skill. Yes, the same skill I already have.

I wondered what was the point of giving me a skill I already had, but it merged with my existing resistance and increased the level by one.

The final blow reward was a staff called [Salamander’s Eye]. Since it’s a mage item, it’s destined to rot in my inventory.

At first, I thought about selling it to another challenger during the festival, but I heard trading is not allowed on the event map.

Apparently, you can only trade event-related currency and items on that map.

There were posts on the community about ways to indirectly trade using various loopholes and tricks.

But after reading them carefully, I realized those methods were also impossible for me, a solo player.

“I wonder if it will be useful for anything.”

**

The soulstone and staff I obtained on the 4th floor were useful on the 5th floor.

The main theme of the 5th floor was a snowy field, the opposite of the 4th floor, and the two items were a great help in the cold, snowy mountain area.

As a flint and tinder.

I couldn’t equip the staff due to restrictions, but if I hit the red decoration on the end of the staff hard, sparks would fly.

I could prepare kindling with any flammable material and light a bonfire quickly by striking it with the staff.

And the dagger imbued with the fire attribute was also very suitable as a hand warmer.

The monsters that appeared on the 5th floor were more elaborate than those on the 4th floor.

Of course, most of them were recycled monsters with only the cold attribute added, but occasionally new monsters appeared.

Like Snow Rabbits that use powerful ice attacks, or Snow Trolls that look like white orangutans.

In particular, the Snow Trolls were monsters that I really liked.

Except for their large size, trolls have almost the same structure as humans and have exceptionally good regeneration abilities.

Thanks to that characteristic, they were perfect for practicing bare-handed techniques.

You know, they didn’t die even after I beat them up for 30 minutes with my fists.

Ah, of course, they started wailing as if begging for death from the middle point.

Anyway, thanks to that, I was able to raise my Brawling skill by two levels in a week. My grappling skills also improved a lot.

But since they are still beast-type, there was definitely a limit to the skills I could practice.

Except for the trolls, the other monsters were all similar, and like the 4th floor, I collected everything I could get early on.

Most of the quests and hidden elements in this area were for mages, so there was nothing special to explore further.

“Let’s move on.”

After conquering the snowy field in two weeks like this, I set off again to hunt the boss.

**

The 5th-floor boss was a Yeti, which looked like a giant version of the Snow Troll.

That didn’t mean it acted exactly like a troll; it was quite intelligent.

Its patterns were swinging an ice club, firing magic icicles, and slamming the ground with its fist.

The ice club attack, combined with the Yeti’s ridiculously large size, boasted a wide range, but its trajectory was too obvious.

The icicle firing was quite powerful, but it had a similar speed to the Lizardman’s arrow attack, so I could just dodge it.

I only understood what the pattern of slamming the ground with its fist was after defeating the boss and searching the community.

“Ah, so that was a paralysis-inducing AoE attack.”

I just ignored it because of my high paralysis resistance, but according to the community challengers, it’s surprisingly one of the more dangerous patterns.

Since all of its attacks have a wide range and are quite powerful, you could be screwed if you get paralyzed even for a moment.

The standard strategy is for ranged dealers to position themselves outside the pattern range, and for a small elite tank group to completely mark the Yeti’s aggro.

It’s important to have a tank with specs that can withstand at least one hit, even if they get paralyzed and allow an attack.

I ignored all that and charged in, killing it with infighting, but that’s how solo play usually goes.

The rewards I obtained for clearing the 5th floor were [Yeti’s Ice Club], classified as a blunt weapon, and [Yeti’s Fur Cloak].

The club, like the Goblin Lord’s axe, was ridiculously large and had high attack power.

The fur cloak was a unique item with an option that increases cold resistance.

It’s a pretty good option, but getting elemental resistance from items might hinder the growth of resistance skills.

So, I just equipped it along with the club, received the achievement reward, and then put it away in my inventory.

[Activate the floor transfer gate?]

“Yes.”

After clearing the 4th and 5th floors in less than a month like this, I entered the 6th floor.

**

With a slight floating sensation, my vision was engulfed in light, and the next moment, another world appeared.

The entrance to the 6th-floor area was distinctly different from the areas I had passed through so far.

“It’s really indoors.”

A completely closed passage without any light came into view, as if I had already entered a labyrinth area.

According to the open community, the entire 6th floor is a traditional labyrinth.

They said various monsters like Minotaurs, Skeletons, Zombies, and Slimes appear.

– Welcome to the Trial Tower Open Community.

I opened the community again after a while to find more detailed information. Then, a new piece of news caught my eye.

[Breaking News) 4th Festival Date Confirmed]

One month until the festival, a large-scale event where Trial Tower challengers gather.

—–CROW—–