[You have slain the "Mantis Lords."]

[You have defeated the third floor's bosses.]

[You have been credited 250 Credits for completing the third floor.]

Karl exhaled, his shoulders relaxing as the notifications appeared before him.

The battle had been tough, and even though he'd emerged victorious, it wasn't without loss.

His spirits had fought bravely, and for the first time, he'd truly seen their mortality.

His [Spirit Command] range had increased from 100 meters to 300 meters, allowing his summons to fight from farther away.

That had given them an advantage, but it hadn't guaranteed their survival.

The reality was that his spirits, no matter how strong, could still die.

And he'd just watched it happen.

His [Orc King] had fought ferociously but had struggled due to its missing left arm.

Maybe if it had been at full strength, it wouldn't have fallen. But that was only an excuse.

The truth was simple: no matter how powerful his spirits were, sustained damage from multiple enemies could bring them down.

These were lessons Karl burned into his mind.

'Power matters, but endurance matters more. Even the strongest spirits aren't invincible.'

He clenched his fist. He wouldn't forget.

[You have reached Level 21. All stats increased by 2.]

His body tingled slightly from the level-up, and a quick glance at his status showed his progress had jumped to [Level 21 (33.00%)].

[Your proficiency with "Spirit Gun" has increased by 0.6%.]

Karl frowned, 'I fired three bullets, and that only raised it by 0.6%… Meaning it takes five shots per percent. That's 500 shots to upgrade it to B-Tier.'

Skill progression wasn't easy.

You couldn't just spam your abilities against weaklings or the air to grind proficiency.

The system prevented such exploits, it required real combat, real enemies.

That was what made progression in the [Tower of Trials] so brutal.

Still, he wasn't done checking his gains.

[Your proficiency with "Spectral Blade" has increased by 4%.]

[Your proficiency with "Spirit Flames" has increased by 1.3%.]

Karl exhaled. As his skills grew stronger and more numerous, leveling them up would take even longer.

But that was the path of a summoner, each step forward demanded twice as much effort as the last.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

Celeste stood beside him, watching quietly.

She had also reached Level 21, though she hadn't done much in the fight.

Most of the battle had been handled by Karl and his spirits.

Even so, she could tell that Karl wasn't entirely happy.

The deaths of his spirits had affected him.

Her [Frenzied Rabbit], still perched atop her head, twitched its ears and let out a few soft noises.

It was either mimicking Karl's emotions or feeling them itself.

Celeste remained silent.

She didn't offer words of comfort, nor did she try to downplay the losses.

Some things were better left unspoken.

She simply watched as Karl took a step forward, walking toward a nearby tree.

Without a word, he snapped off two branches, then returned to where his spirits had fallen.

Kneeling down, he gathered some dirt, forming two small mounds, and planted the branches into them.

A makeshift grave.

Karl stared at it for a moment, then nodded to himself.

"See you later, spirits," he murmured.

They would meet again in the [World of Spirits] anyway, though as enemies.

With that, he slapped his cheeks, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

At the same time, two figures emerged from the shadows, the [Sovereign Wolf] and the [Shadow Assassin Lizard]. Neither of them bore any visible wounds.

They had each defeated a [Mantis Lord] on their own.

Karl gave them a nod of approval before turning to Celeste.

"Give me a minute," he said. "I need to grab the spirit orbs and cores."

She nodded without hesitation.

Karl moved quickly, first retrieving the orb and core from the [Mantis Lord] that his [Ghoul Zombie] had decapitated.

Then he went inside of the forest to try to find the other two, noting the damage inflicted by his summons.

Sovaryn and the Assassin Lizard had done well. Their kills were clean.

After collecting the three boss orbs as well as their cores, Karl glanced at them in his hand.

[3x Nightmare-Level Mantis Lord Cores]

These could be sold for a fair price.

Plus, Karl now had four high-quality spirit orbs, the three from the [Mantis Lords] and the one from the [Corrupted Archbishop].

His next summon was going to be powerful.

With a satisfied nod, he returned to Celeste. "Alright, let's go."

She nodded back.

[You have completed the third floor. Do you want to proceed to the fourth?]

The system prompt hovered before them.

This time, they both hesitated.

They weren't just exhausted, they didn't know what to expect on the fourth floor.

The third floor had already been brutal, especially on [Nightmare] difficulty.

If they accepted now, they would be forced to continue on the same difficulty, and that wasn't a gamble either of them wanted to take.

Celeste frowned, "The only thing I'm wondering is… does leaving the [Tower of Trials] affect our specialized class judgment?"

Karl had been thinking the same thing, if they exited now, would it hurt their final evaluation?

[Your specialized class only considers your battles inside the "Tower of Trials."]

Karl and Celeste both blinked at the notification.

Then, they grinned.

"That's good," Karl said.

With their concerns cleared up, there was no more hesitation.

"No," Karl continued, responding to the tower's previous question, "We'll go back."

And with that, they made their choice.

As the teleportation began, Karl quickly unsummoned all his spirits except for the [Frenzied Rabbit].

The sensation of being pulled through the vortex was familiar now.

Within moments, they arrived back in the real world.

But something was different.

Instead of appearing in the same plaza where they had entered the second floor… they were somewhere new.

Celeste glanced around before nodding to herself. "We're in the third-floor square."

Karl understood immediately. Since they had climbed the tower, their return point had changed.

Looking around, he noticed the difference immediately: the third-floor square was far more luxurious than the second-floor one.

The structures were grander, the space more refined.

It was as if the academy recognized the strength of those who made it this far.

More importantly, it was far emptier than before.

Karl counted only seven others in the square.

Two groups of three. One person standing alone.

All of them had cleared the third floor.

Karl could feel their eyes on him.

Celeste's voice was low as she leaned in, "Be careful. I don't think everyone here is friendly."

Karl grunted, "It's fine. Let's just go to the cafeteria."

She nodded.

Food sounded good right now.

And some of the little knowledge they had about [Starlight Academy] was that the cafeteria had amazing food, though you needed Credits to pay for it.

Atop Celeste's head, the [Frenzied Rabbit] twitched at the mention of food, its ears perking up.

But as Karl and Celeste turned to leave, they could still feel the gazes of the others on them.

Watching. Judging.

Karl didn't like it.

But for now, he ignored it.

They had survived the third floor. That was enough for today.

And so, without looking back, he and Celeste walked forward.

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