Immediately, a good portion of the cultivators scattered, using various movement techniques. They seemed in a hurry, despite the thirty minute grace period. Most teleported, but a few used more exotic abilities. Sam paid them little heed, and instead headed towards Glakassa and Jacob, who were closer to one another than they were to him. As he went, he scanned them, interested in seeing how far they had come.Their real names were gone, replaced with their pseudonyms.

Ego's Vanguard(Tower Alias)

Human

Level 174

Glacier Rose(Tower Alias)

Nepthyian

Level 173

"Sam!" Glakassa called out. "I'm glad to see you here."

Sam smiled, although it couldn't be seen underneath the helmet. "I'm glad to see you too." He turned a bit. "And you too, Jacob. How's everything been in the Tower?"

Jacob waved his hand in a noncommittal manner. "Not too difficult. What about you?"

"Fine. I had a few near death experiences, but I came out stronger for it."

The Overlord raised an eyebrow. "Near death experiences? You? What the hell is the System throwing at you?"

Sam smiled. "You'd be surprised. Let's catch up a bit before we go hunting for treasures. I doubt most of those here are much of a threat, right?"

Jacob, of course, laughed derisively.

Glakassa was a bit more reserved. "I'm probably around the middle of the pack here. I don't think you two truly understand just what caliber of cultivator makes it to this level of the Tower."

"And us?" Sam asked.

Glakassa snorted. "What do you think? The top. Especially you, Sam."

Jacob's face soured somewhat, but he was moving further and further away from his previous persona as the Overlord. As he did so, the corruption of Isabella Dantorian lessened. He would never be truly free, not until Sam confronted the A Ranker himself, but for now, it was bearable.

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Jacob looked around, noticing a few hostile glares from the cultivators who had remained. "We should find a safer place to talk, then."

Sam nodded. "Agreed. We need to find out a bit more about this place as well."

They walked to the edge of the caldera, not expecting too much. The previous challenge floor had been incredibly small, room for a few minigames and an arena. Most of the challenges had been in separate dimensions. Here, though, it was all in one.

As far as the eye could see, which was very far indeed for an E Ranker, a vista of desolation spread. Thousands of volcanoes belched smoke and lava into the air, like the maws of slumbering dragons. All around them, canyons dug into the ground like scars, with more roiling molten rock at their bases.

"God-damn!" Sam exclaimed. "How is anyone supposed to find anything here?"

Neither of his companions had much of an answer. Instead, they all leaped off the edge of the volcano, teleporting down to its base a moment later. The ground was hot, even through Sam's armor. It was easily a thousand degrees, though to him, that was like a warm summer day. Glakassa was a bit more affected, given her cultivation path.

She summoned a path of ice beneath herself, and let out an audible sigh of relief. "That's better. Now, Sam, what were you saying about near death experiences?"

"Right…" Sam took off his helmet, and then proceeded to regale the others with an abbreviated account of his adventures since the twenty fifth floor. He lingered on the fight with Granthar, perhaps the most disconcerting experience he had had in the Tower so far. When he finished, both Glakassa and the Overlord looked a bit sickened.

"Everything's been normal for me," Glakassa said. "I mean, there's been a lot of challenges, but overall, nothing like that. Just fatigue. Your entire body was crushed in half?" She shuddered. "Shit…"

"Nothing like that for me," Jacob added. "I mean, I didn't expect much. Maybe the System is fattening me up with Dao energy in preparation for the later floors."

"Right. How far do you both expect to reach?" Sam asked.

"Maybe another ten floors or so. I think I can reach true B Rank potential," Glakassa said hopefully. "If I do, I'll be the first in my family to do so. Even my father only reached the sixty fifth floor."

Sam grinned. "You're already ahead of the curve, or at least, you will be after this."

"For me," Jacob declared, "I think I can easily get to the early nineties. At least going by the difficulty curve. I know the true test of the Tower isn't really that, but it gives me hope."

"Quite impressive," Sam replied. "As for myself, I'm not sure. Maybe somewhere around your floor, Jacob?"

He didn't bother saying that he thought he could make it all the way to the hundredth floor. Doing so would invite ridicule from Jacob, and probably something worse from Glakassa. She still didn't know about Sam or his father's Dao Incarnation statuses, and that was something that he didn't want to get into until he knew her better. Besides, one hundred was close enough to ninety.

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