The water turned darker as they reached the platform that was surrounded by a literal cloud forming from the water bursting against the ceiling and the platform itself. The maelstrom narrowed even further until they could hear the vibrations of the water hitting stone with full force. It sounded like rumbling thunder, just not in the distance, but right next to them. Roger was the first one to climb through the small square like opening on top of the platform.

"I'll stay here with the net until we are ready to go up." Mortimer said queasily as the rest of the group got out of the water.

The platform was made out of white marble with intricately drawn spellforms carved into the stone. The carvings formed small channels for the water to flow off the platform. Right next to the opening was a spiral staircase leading up into the heavens and the ceiling. When Aaron saw the ceiling for the first time he was not entirely surprised that it looked exactly like the walls of the tower. The gray stone was beaded with water and around them was the most magnificent spray of water imaginable. The air was filled with water droplets and if they had not all been in their wet suits they would have been soaked within seconds. It basically felt like stepping into a not so gentle shower.

Roger stepped onto to staircase and made his way up a few spirals until he reached an instrument fastened there pointing in the direction of what Aaron guessed was Oceanview. The contraption looked like a telescope, but Roger did not look through it, instead he activated a small contraption that opened a shutter to a brightly glowing glowstone. The telescope like thing then sent out a beam of light into the spray of water as Roger started to signal Oceanview. It was loud on the platform, like standing next to a roaring waterfall or inside of a storm. It was a cacophony of noise, of bursting water hitting rock magically reinforced to withstand the immense force of nature. Indeed magic was all around Aaron, filled the air, was so dense under his feet it felt like stepping on solid magic. After five minutes or so of signaling and what looked to Aaron like repeated messages, a beam of light came back to Roger, who paused to receive the message.

Aaron took a look around, but kept away from the edge of the platform that had no guardrails. At the edge of the platform the water was basically a tumultuous mass of roaring spray, broken by the platform but still bursting into the sky with a force that could be physically felt with your whole body. The Water in the air made everything look a bit foggy and difficult to discern, but Aaron's enhanced senses pierced the fog easily. He saw beyond it into the water bursting against the top of the third floor. He saw the sheer energy expended to make this maelstrom function and he could feel the magic surrounding him. It was a thick and viscous feeling. When he focused on his magic senses it felt like standing within a whirlpool of magic. The spellforms around him were all activated, the magic was doing things, ensuring the platforms stability, the maelstroms never changing cycle that was fueled by the entire floor and a thousand other things Aaron could not even guess at. He wondered if everyone with mana senses like him could feel this. How would a mage react to this? But it was probably just as far beyond them as it was to Aaron, who had no idea how this entire thing was even possible.

The tower itself felt impossible. The floors, everything. But he could not deny its existence nor the power of the one who had created this. And yet Aaron remembered that Emnu was a small fry on the inter dimensional scale. That the great master had been a lot more powerful. That he had only a glimpse of the man that had tied his entire existence to the concept of harmony. His own attempt at comprehending and using the great master's technique was laughable compared to the feats Aaron clearly saw were possible. And this was only the third of who knew how many floors. More than 50 at least, he knew. Aaron felt daunted by the prospect of trying to close that gap between him and the true titans of this strange and novel existence he had found himself in. But then he remembered that he would live for hundreds if not thousands of years.

No matter how far the distance was to the powers that could create things like this, eventually if he survived and kept learning, kept accumulating power, eventually he would get to their level. That, he reflected as he stared into the fog, was the true value of Cultivation. There was no limit to him, no set objective he could reach and be done with. Aaron craned his neck as he stared up into the bursting water and felt it rain down upon him. Instead of feeling intimidated by the difference between himself and those who had his fate ultimately in their hands, he decided to strive forward and do what he could every day. Be it for a year, a decade or a century. There was no use in fretting over who was more powerful than him, he suspected most of the things in the tower were. But time was on his side. Eventually he would eclipse them all, including Emnu. All he had to do was to move forward and never stop. Aaron could feel his own mind settle, felt resolve flow through him and he wondered how the man that had woken up in the Summoning Chamber three floors of the tower beneath him would have answered this question just a year or two before.

In many ways he was not that man anymore and in all others he still was. It was a strange paradox to be that different and yet still the same.

A hand tapped his shoulder and Aaron turned, torn from his thoughts. Roger pointed down to the open hatch into the water and Aaron nodded and followed him. When they were both under water and could take clear breaths, they were finally able to talk to each other. The noise of the water above made communication difficult and Aaron felt relief not being bombarded by sound in the water.

"I got the signal from Ocenview. It will take them a few hours to get everything together and then even more until they got it shipped up here. We should rest until then and plan for what we are going to do on the fourth floor." Roger turned to Aaron and looked him in the eyes before he continued.

"First of all the fourth floor is what we would call a Labyrinth. Its challenge is to find a way out of it to the next floor. The third floor in comparison is more of a race, or a challenge run. You move towards an objective through challenging terrain until you reach the next floor, fairly straight forward. The second floor is a boss rush type of floor. These three types are the most common in the Tower."

Shia yawned and Roger gave her a glare, which made her straighten up.

"Sorry, but we all know that, right?"

"I did not. I did not really learn anything about the Tower besides what I could learn by challenging it." Aaron said.

"That is fine, you are doing well, I might say. But Cultivators are all monsters, so its to be expected at this point." Roger said with a shrug and a small smile.

"So, back to the topic at hand. The fourth floor is a labyrinth. It's specialty is darkness. The entire floor is basically underground, tunnels, caves, underwater rivers, you get the gist. There is no natural occurring light on the fourth floor. These glowstones." Roger pulled one out from his pocket.

"They originate from the fourth floor. They seem to run forever on other floors, which is why they are so popular as light sources, but on the fourth floor they need to be recharged. There are pools of light that can be reached within a charge of a single or multiple glowstones. If you deposit your glowstones in those pools of light they recharge. Now here comes the tricky part." Roger said with a smirk.

"Light attracts monsters who would otherwise leave you alone and every pool of light basically has a guardian that guards it from Climbers. So the intended challenge is to go from light pool to light pool fighting your way through the labyrinth until you finally find the fifth floor."

"So if light attracts monsters, why don't you try to challenge the floor in the darkness?" Aaron asked.

"You would meet a lot fewer monsters, yes, but none of us could do that. We can't see at all without the glowstones, so even if we could compensate for that fact, we would be far slower and it would be much more dangerous. Because there are creatures that hunt exclusively in the dark and although they are rare and illusive they are significantly stronger than the monsters that show up if you keep your light lit."

"How strong are those monsters in comparison to the giant sharks or octopuses we encountered on this floor?"

"Significantly stronger, they are basically the closest you get to the magical beasts you face on the fifth floor without actually being magical beasts. That said, none of the beasts I have heard of that live in the dark are anywhere close to that big, so they might be weaker in that aspect. If you want to challenge those monsters, go ahead, you do not seem to need any light." Roger said with a slightly incredulous head shake.

"But common wisdom is to always move with light unless you want to do that. Some parts of the fourth floor can only be opened by glowstone light and others, usually shortcuts, only in absolute darkness. It is not worth it to use those shortcuts for normal groups, but we might be able to skip a lot of the annoying parts of the fourth floor if you want to fight the monsters in the dark."

"Sure, I can give it a try. Fighting the towers monsters is one reason I am here."

"Right, the other one is to find and capture, not kill, a group from upstairs. I do not have any more information about them than you do, Aaron, but we do know where they are supposed to be. I can't really show you the maps of the fourth floor we have, not in all this water. But basically this group is in a very deep and out of the way place that is marked on most maps as either inaccessible or as monster infested. We can lead you there though, we have spent a lot of time on the fourth floor."

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Roger turned to the rest of the group.

"Our secondary objective for the floor is to collect crystal dust. Sadly our usual hunting ground for that its not really on the way to where the primary target is. So we will first navigate our way to the primary objective and set up a base camp to hold and guard any of the enemy group Aaron manages to kidnap. Then on our way back we will go through one of the dust caverns."

"Roger, its not like Crystal Moths are rare. They are basically everywhere on the fourth floor. We might find a nest close to the camp if we look for it." Shia interjected.

"True, but our main objective is to set up the base securely to have a fallback position." Mortimer nodded at that and Robin sighed.

"I will be so happy to have my axe back. I hate spears."

"Alright, so we are in agreement on this plan?" Roger asked and included Aaron in his question. Everyone agreed with nods or otherwise.

"Good, then get some rest. Going up the stairs without being able to breathe sucks, so be prepared for that."

Aaron spent most of the time on watching the ocean through the transparent part of the maelstrom. The view was spectacular and reminded him a bit of flying in a plane or helicopter. He watched the mass of water move upwards into the sky and then when he had enough of the sight, he settled down and meditated. Cultivating here was significantly more efficient than it had been on lower floors. The magic concentration in and around the maelstrom was extremely high compared to the first or second floor. But it still felt like adding water drop by drop to an ocean. Like any progress he made accumulating Qi was not really worth his time. It was the fault of his enlarged dantian and his higher Qi density that made it feel that way. He knew both of those things were objectively good and beneficial to him, especially long term. But he cursed the lack of any visible progress even after hours of cultivating.

Aaron could sense the boat before the others. He could actually hear it. He opened his eyes and looked down the maelstrom in the direction of the novel noise. A ship was fighting up the maelstrom, being dragged with it and keeping steady speed with huge anchors that were like sails dipped into the water, reducing the vessels speed. It was a paradoxical sight, the anchor like sails were made out of metal and the boat was dragged upwards not faster, but slower because, Aaron guessed, the speed of the water on the maelstroms surface increased the higher they got. So the anchor would be in slower water, keeping the boat back a bit. It still accelerated incredibly fast as it shot up the maelstrom. Then before even the transparent part of the maelstrom Aaron watched as a man pulled a winch and slowly removed the anchors out of the ocean. The anchors were lifted up into the air and the ship accelerated as it shot upwards. Fascinated Aaron watched as the anchors inflated like balloons and a thin membrane on their bottom filled with air. Then the ship passed his spot and shot into the sky.

Aaron dove upwards towards the opening and shouted:

"The boat is here."

But the others had already heard the ship and were on their way. Even Mortimer stepped onto the platform and Aaron, who had been the furthest below, pulled himself last on the platform. The boat turned out to be more like a Zeppelin or a hot-air balloon as it had floated down to rest on the platform that was plenty big enough for that. Its strange anchors and the balloon filled with air or another gas made it look like a strange floating basket with iron handles.

Aaron watched as the group took their things and some more supplies and then handed over the net with their samples. Roger shouted instructions to a man in a thick sweater an a gruff beard, who seemed to be the captain of the vessel. There were only 4 or maybe 5 people on the ship, who did not seem to be bothered by the precarious location, the spray of water or that they must have come close to the staircase winding itself upwards into the ceiling while flying here the rest of the way to the stone platform. After exchanging supplies, the group shared the bags around and Robin pressed a rucksack into Aaron's hands before Roger nodded upwards to the staircase. The flying ship took a while longer to store the samples safely, then Aaron felt a ripple in the magic and he looked back to watch the ship being pushed into the air before the sailors hopped back into the vessel. Aaron paused on the stairs to watch the flying ship float away into the fog and away from the maelstrom.

Then Aaron turned around and walked up the spiral staircase into the sky. It was a long staircase, but Aaron did not really mind not being able to breathe. The others in the group had a lot more problems with that as they hurried up the steps. It was a long staircase a few hundred meters into the air and soon they left the third floor behind. Aaron was still keenly sensing the mana in his surroundings and noticed from one step to another that they had moved floors. The mana density spiked and the spellforms that had been surrounding him were gone. He could still hear the spray of the water from below but he knew he was on the fourth floor now.

It did not take long after that until the sound of the water underneath them vanished and they reached the top of the stairs. The gray stone walls opened up into a dimly lit cave. Mushrooms sprouted out of the dirt floor and gnarled roots tangled from the ceiling. The walls were made out of tightly packed earth and stone. Some parts entirely solid rock, others loamy soil that looked like it would crumble at the slightest touch. To the right of the staircase was a pool of glowing water that was the only source of light in the cavern. Aaron could see the rest of the group sprint to the water and dunk their heads into the shiny liquid to breathe. Aaron did not need to yet, so he scanned the cave for any threats, but did not find any. It looked like an empty cave that opened up in the distance into an oppressive all consuming darkness.

Aaron took in the new sound of the fourth floor. The drip of water falling from stalactites, the sound of creatures moving in the dark. There was skittering, screeching and clicking in the distance. It sounded like insects and rodents fighting. Aaron could hear the sound of bats echolocation with his senses, sounding like short high pitched screams that echoed in the caverns. Insect wings beat in the dark and many legged beasts crawled over rock and soil. This empty and dark cave was deceiving in its lifelessness. This floor was full of life. It was everywhere. Even in the soil Aaron heard worms crawl and when his own breath sounded like a storm wind he pulled back into his mind, loosening the focus he had on his sense of hearing.

He dropped his pack next to the small pile of supplies the group had made and joined them in the water. The water itself was not glowing on its own, but glowed because of the tens of thousands of glowstones that rested in its shallow depths. A small spring fed the pool and when Aaron walked into the water it felt cool and clear, even through his wetsuit. Under water he turned to the rest of the group.

"Do we just wait until the kelp loses its effects and the bubble around out mouths disappears?" he asked and Roger nodded.

"Yes, it sucks, but there is no other way unless you have a mage skilled enough to dispel it and those don't usually frequent this floor. I have seen it done before though."

"Huh, interesting. So how strong are the monsters that come because of the light?"

"Weak, but there will be many of them. Mostly insects, crystal moths, cave ants or black spiders for this part of the fourth floor. There are 13 levels of the fourth floor, each with hundreds of caves and hazards. But this floor has been mapped fairly extensively. So with a good map you can make it through. Most teams do a dusk run first though."

"That is when you go with minimal light for the fewest amount of monsters." Shia cut in helpfully.

"That works?"

"Oh yeah, most teams level up on the fourth floor for a long time. It has the most monsters and if you stick to the rules and ensure you walk around with the right amount of light, its not that difficult."

"In that case I would like to start with what you consider a dusk run and then increase the light as we go to where we need to go. Roger you know where, right?"

"Yes, I have the map in my pack, but we know this floor pretty well even without it. Most red-light district teams do."

Robin smiled as he stared at his axe in his hand and cut in. "Its because of the crystal dust. District groups bring the most of the stuff with us. Other groups don't like fighting crystal moths in big numbers."

"Why? Does the dusk give you a high when you inhale it?" Aaron joked.

"Nope, but you start hallucinating like crazy. We usually have an antidote with us that neutralizes it though. Perks of having dozens of alchemists in our employ."

"Huh, do those moths create the stuff then?"

"Yep, they have it in a dust form on their wings. If you fight them they blow it into your direction, make you hallucinate and then eat you alive." Shia said with a broad grin.

"Lovely." Aaron said with raised eyebrows.

"Don't worry, unless there are a lot of them it does not affect a grown adult. But their nests are toxic and hazardous unless you take the antidote. Newbies always underestimate the moths because every strike basically kills them. They remain one of the apex predators on this floor though. They eat everything. Spiders 100 times their size? Just a snack."

"Well I suppose I could do with an antidote then, although, I am fairly tough to poison." Aaron mused. He had not been able to get drunk. His body had detoxified him too quickly. It was possible the same would happen with the crystal dust. But he was not sure. Better safe then sorry.

"What are the rest of the monsters like on this floor?"

"Well the rats are just rodents, from normal size to big dog sized. There are millions though and they bite. Mostly scavengers but their numbers do make them dangerous." Mortimer said while he shrugged out of his wet suit. He held pieces of his armor out of the water and started to treat it for rust.

"Last but not least in this level there are black spiders and cave ants. The black spiders are basically giant spiders the size of a cow. Dangerous, strong and deadly. They stay away during dusky light and stick to their nets unless disturbed. Lots of sharp legs and sharp pincers. Also poisonous. But cave ants are more dangerous. They have entire hives on this floor and can get as big as a man's head. Usually they come in a wave and bury and eat everything in their wave. They are a hazard, you can't really fight them when they swarm. Otherwise they are weak and you can crush them under your boots." Roger explained.

They waited in the water for a few hours, which was an annoying and boring ordeal, but the group used it to make preparations, repack things, get their weapons and outfits set and when the first of the bubbles started to fail they left the water, dried themselves off and waited for the others around a small fire they built. The camp site was much used and the fire fueled by hacking into nearby roots that seemed to regrow quickly and indefinitely.

Aaron was out of the water the last as he had eaten the most kelp during their stay on the third floor. But the rest of the group used it productively. Roger poured over a map he showed to Aaron at the edge of the pool. It was a multilevel map with pathways up and down all the 13 levels. The path to the fifth floor was marked as well as a few others that lead to the groups usual hunting spots for crystal dust or spider silk. Latter was also a great thing to harvest and bring with you, since it was light and costly. It was what most groups made their first real payday off. There were also markers for alchemical ingredients like mushrooms, different lichens and plants that grew in these lightless conditions through symbiotic relationships with the roots that were everywhere on the fourth floor. When Aaron asked where the roots came from Roger just shrugged.

"Nobody knows. Some have theorized that the fourth floor is actually underneath a jungle floor and that you could dig your way up to that floor. But nobody has ever tried it. Its more than ten miles up at least, at least as far as I know. Some mages have cast spells to check, but only found solid earth, rock and roots above."

They all had changed outfits to be more comfortable and kept the wetsuits in a bag. Mortimer was still polishing his armor when Aaron was finally ready to depart himself. He got into his comfortable spider silk clothes he had gotten, since he did not really need armor and checked his belt for potions. His rucksack contained everything he had left in Oceanview, which was honestly not much. Just a sleeping bag and some supplies. He shouldered the pack and The group formed up. Robin took out at least two dozen glowstones and placed them securely in their packs. The group only placed two on people and both were dimmed underneath some clothing. Mortimer fastened one at his chest and Shia one in a cloth bag at her belt as they took positions in front and in the back of the group. Roger strung his bow and then checked if everyone was ready, before he gave Aaron the nod to go.

"We move straight ahead with low lighting so you can experience the monsters. You go on ahead. We will move down this cave for a while. I will tell you when to stop."

Aaron stepped into the darkness, checked his dagger and his potions a second time before he activated Wind Steps and walked slowly forwards into the darkness. The group followed him behind and as soon as they had left the light from the pool behind them they moved forward in a dim twilight with lots of shadows. It was dark and they had to move slowly so they would not stumble on a random rock or root on the ground. Aaron moved ahead, listening with all of his senses and waited for the monsters to come for them as they walked into the darkness of the fourth floor.

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