[Name: Kael Voss]

[Title: -]

[Class: Void Sovereign]

[Class Perks: Void Absorption, Null Field, Sovereign Claim, Echo Strike]

[Level: 8] [27%]

[Health: 938]

[Mana: 660]

•—Stats—•

[Strength: 35] 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

[Agility: 34]

[Endurance: 37]

[Intelligence: 44]

[Vitality: 33]

[Constitution: 29]

•—Stat Points: 21—•

•—TC Balance: 3,000—•

•—Talent: Infinite Reward Multiplier—•

---

Kael let the status screen linger before him for a moment before closing it, the faint glow fading from his eyes as his expression settled into something neutral.

For most hunters, this would have been more than enough. One tower run, five levels gained, and a noticeable rise in strength. Something worth feeling proud of.

But Kael didn’t feel much.

Not disappointment, not satisfaction. Just a quiet acknowledgment that it wasn’t enough. Not for what he had set his sights on at least.

Before he could dwell on it any longer, the space around him began to twist. The remains of the trial blurred and peeled away, like a scene being erased, until the familiar stone walls of his start room took their place.

The transition came without warning, yet carried a strange smoothness to it, leaving him on the cold floor in the same position he had been in before the shift.

He stayed there for a second, breathing slowly, then pushed himself up with a slight grimace as his body protested.

A flicker of movement caught his attention.

Aiona had been floating quietly in the corner, but the moment she noticed him, she moved toward him at once. Kael glanced at her, his brows drawing together slightly.

Had she been here the entire time he was in the trial? The thought crossed his mind.

And if that was the case... did it mean that even when he wasn’t in the tower, she would just remain here, spending all her time in this empty space?

His gaze moved across the space. Bare stone walls stretched in every direction, dull and lifeless. He remembered she had mentioned he could design the room however he wanted, but at the time, he hadn’t cared, deciding to treat it as nothing more than a place to store things.

Now, the thought felt different.

Aiona didn’t feel like some lifeless tower guide. From the little he had seen, she reacted, spoke, even showed hints of emotion. Leaving something like that in a place this empty felt... off.

He exhaled quietly, pushing the thought aside for later. It wasn’t urgent, but he’d deal with it eventually.

For now, he focused on her.

Aiona stopped in front of him, her expression bright with excitement.

"Congratulations, Challenger! You’ve completed your first tower trial and performed exceptionally!"

Kael frowned slightly at that.

"Exceptional?"

That didn’t sound right. He remembered his result clearly. An A rating. Good, yes, but not something he would call exceptional.

Aiona tilted her head slightly, as if sensing his doubt.

"The Hell Difficulty trial is different from the lower tiers," she explained. "As you may have noticed, it does not follow the standard format. Because of that, the threshold for an exceptional performance is adjusted. An A rating qualifies."

Kael paused, then nodded slowly.

That made sense.

Thinking back, the difference had been obvious. From what he knew, Normal and Nightmare difficulty trials followed similar structures, survival, combat, straightforward objectives, just with increasing difficulty.

Hell difficulty was nothing like that.

Clinging to a cliff while being hunted wasn’t exactly standard.

He let out a quiet breath, a hint of self-awareness creeping in. The name alone should have been enough of a warning. Hell was never used to describe anything mild. It always meant suffering, something brutal and unforgiving.

Choosing it without thinking it through properly... that was on him.

Aiona, unaware of his thoughts, raised her hand slightly.

"You have also received an additional reward for your performance. Would you like to claim it now?"

A soft shimmer formed in the air, and a small gift box appeared before him.

Kael looked at it for a moment, curiosity flickering, but it faded just as quickly.

"Later," he said, shaking his head.

Right now, his body felt like it was barely holding together. Leveling up had kept him going through the trial, but it didn’t erase the exhaustion underneath. What he needed wasn’t rewards.

It was rest.

With a simple motion, he sent the gift box into his inventory.

Aiona gave a small nod, and Kael didn’t linger any longer. He waved briefly before stepping away.

The stone walls dissolved again.

A moment later, he was back in his room.

Warm sunlight poured in through the window, filling the space with a soft glow, but he barely noticed it. Without hesitation, he stripped off his gear, letting it fall where he beneath him until only his underwear remained.

Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out two vials, a health potion and a stamina potion, and drank them both without pause, not even registering the taste.

A faint warmth spread through his body.

That was enough.

He dropped onto the bed, and the moment his head touched the pillow, sleep took him.

---

When Kael opened his eyes again, the light in the room had shifted.

The sun sat lower now, shadows stretching longer across the floor. A few hours had passed, at least, and even without checking, he could tell from how his body felt. The exhaustion was mostly gone.

The pain hasn’t though.

He slowly pushed himself up, wincing as a dull ache ran through his entire body. Faint bruises marked his skin, dull purple patches left behind by injuries that still hadn’t fully healed.

Without hesitation, he reached into his inventory again, pulled out another potion, and drank it.

Warmth spread through him again as he felt his injuries begin to heal at a faster pace, not something visible at a glance, but still noticeable enough for now.

Leaning back against the headboard, Kael let out a slow breath as his thoughts returned to the trial.

An A rating.

Objectively, it wasn’t bad, especially considering how things had gone. But that didn’t sit right with him.

He remembered it clearly. The close calls, the moments where things could have easily gone wrong. He had cleared it, yes, but not cleanly.

And that mattered.

A victory decided by luck wasn’t something he could rely on. It wasn’t strength, it was a warning. A reminder that next time, things might not fall in his favor.

His gaze hardened slightly.

He needed to be better prepared.

That much was obvious.

The problem was figuring out what exactly to prepare for.

The tower was already unpredictable, but the Normal and Nightmare difficulties at least followed patterns. Enough hunters had gone through them, shared their experiences, and built some level of understanding of what to expect at each stage. You could at least plan around that.

Hell difficulty didn’t offer that.

No records. No guides. No certainty.

Either no one had survived it...

Or those who did kept quiet.

Kael let out a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair.

That made things difficult. With the resources he had, he couldn’t prepare blindly for everything. He needed direction. Something solid to work with.

His gaze shifted slightly, and a small spark of interest returned.

Right.

The reward.

He still had that.

"Let’s see if I get lucky," he muttered under his breath.